The Legend of Zelda: Union of Evil Powers

by Martian Tempest

One year after the events of Majora's Mask, Link makes a safe return to Hyrule and is reunited with his friends. However, two of the villains which Link has slain have formed an alliance through the power of one and are ready to take their revenge. Can Link and his friends stop them before it's too late?

49. Chapter 49: From one battle into another

Chapter 49: From one battle into the other

Link finally regained consciousness after what seemed like hours, Saria, Zelda and Ruto sitting near him as they had recovered a couple of minutes before, while Darunia and Rauru were already awake, Impa also just woke up and Nabooru was stirring.
"Ow, my aching head!" Link said as he carefully sat up.
"Thank the Goddesses, you're alright!" Zelda said, before gently hugging Link along with Saria and Ruto.
Link smiled, returning the hug gladly.
"I'm happy to see you too alright." Link said.
"That was… quite a harsh landing…" Impa said.
"Yeah. At least the headquarters of their troops is now destroyed…" Nabooru said, before Link felt a slight kiss on the cheek.
Looking around, he suddenly spotted Navi flying close to him.
"Navi, glad to see you back with us." He said, smiling before nodding at seeing Tatl and Tael nearby.
"Glad that we managed to reach you again." Navi said with relief in her voice.
"Indeed." Tael said, while Tatl blushed a little, her tsundere side acting up again.
"So, where are we?" Saria said.
"I'm pretty sure we're now at the base of the tower of Ganondorf and Majora." Nabooru said, looking up.
Link and the other Sages looked up as well, blinking at the mere size of the tower.
"Good grief! I knew that the Stone Tower already is tall as it is, but this could pretty much rival or even go beyond it!" Link said.
"I'll say, it's as if they too have tried to reach the Goddesses." Zelda said.
"And we have to scale the whole thing too!" Ruto said.
Link sighed as he went to check his inventory.
"Well, I still have my weapons, but I'm running a bit short on ammo, in particular arrows. I spent a good amount of them against that machine we fought." He said.
"Same here, although I have still my Slingshot to full capacity." Saria said.
"At least it's better than having nothing at all. I just hope we can get some new supplies underway." Zelda said.
"Right." Link said, just as Navi floated beside him.
Tatl went towards Zelda, while Tael floated beside Saria, deciding to hide with them while they went underway.

The area flashed for a moment as another lightning bolt crossed the dark clouds above, followed with some distant rumbling as the group walked on towards a chest, which contained some additional medical supplies in the form of bandages and a couple of Red Potions. Taking them with them, the group then carefully climbed to a higher part of the outside base of the tower through a net that was hanging in the area safely, taking it slowly to not overexert their bodies yet, considering they have just recovered from unconsciousness. Once on the higher ground, the group stopped to take another look at the tower itself.
"Do you think they know of our presence here?" Zelda then asked.
"Positive, but I bet they're simply waiting for us to come to them, provided we get past whoever's left of their troops here." Link said.
"True. Given that this is their stronghold, we should expect heavy resistance." Rauru said.
Link nodded, adjusting his outfit and popping his neck a little to loosen up the muscles there.
"Well, here goes nothing." He said as he entered the tower's main entrance, which was now nothing more than a stone hallway that almost appeared to be simply carved out of the stones and rocks that were present in the area.
Zelda and Saria followed him silently, until they saw Link stopping at a torch, looking at it in wonder or confusion.
"What's the matter?" Saria asked.
"Check out this torch; it's green flame reminds me of one I saw in the Forest Temple." Link said.
"That's odd. Perhaps it's some kind of magic?" Zelda asked.
"Possibly. I wouldn't be surprised if we would find the Poe Sisters in here somewhere." Link replied as he made his way around the corner towards a ladder, which he climbed, now standing in the entrance room and the first actual room of the grotesque tower.
No sooner had he entered the tower's first room, or Link could already hear the squeals of Lizalfos in the room, hearing their steps coming closer as they were preparing for combat. Immediately Link drew his blade and readied his shield, just as Zelda climbed in the room, soon followed by Saria and Ruto, each of them also drawing their weapons. Even though they waited for the others, Link and Zelda already took on a defensive position, with Link peeking around the corner from behind a pillar, seeing not only a good number of Lizalfos, but also a few Assault Spear Soldiers, Bow Soldiers and even a Ball and Chain Soldier.
"We have company… and quite numerous too." Link said.
Zelda took a peek around the corner of the pillar herself.
"Yep. Good thing most of them are easily dealt with…" She said, as Darunia came in the room as the last one of the group.
"Well, shall we have a good time and give those creatures what's coming to them?" Link asked with a very uncharacteristic smirk.
Zelda returned the expression with a nod.
"Let's do this." She said as she was ready.

With that, the battle went underway as Link and the Sages moved from behind the pillar, immediately seeing the group of enemies charging at them. The group had very little trouble in cutting through the Lizalfos, four of them charging at the group only to be taken down in a single strike each. Four more of them were at the back, while Link took down one of the Bow Soldiers, but when Zelda engaged the Ball and Chain Soldier, she bumped into a barrier casted by yet ANOTHER Barrier Wizrobe, whom had casted the barrier around the Ball and Chain Soldier. Nabooru relieved her by striking at the Wizrobe, while Impa and Ruto took down two of the Assault Spear Soldiers, followed by Saria aiding Link with taking down two more Bow Soldiers. Rauru helped Zelda by using his Light-based attack to blind the Ball and Chain Soldier, allowing Zelda to take it out herself. This left the remaining five Lizalfos and six Assault Spear Soldiers as Impa took down the last two Bow Soldiers with great vigor.

Using his shield to deflect incoming spears, Link boldly charged at one of the Assault Spear Soldiers, whom at first backed off, only to be hit by a slingshot projectile from Saria, allowing Link to take the soldier out using the Ending Blow technique. Nabooru and Zelda both took out two Lizalfos each, while Saria and Ruto defeated one Assault Spear Soldier each. Darunia took out two more of them while Rauru fought the last one and Impa slashed the final Lizalfos to bits, the group's gold-colored blades proving very effective at dealing heavy damage against the enemy forces. However, the group was given no time to rest; as soon as the last Lizalfos was killed and its body vanished into nothingness, a large horde of Dinolfos, both with and without armor, as well as Assault Sword Soldiers and Stalfos entered the room as if ambushing the group. Of course, the group didn't take kindly to this and retaliated with the same vigor, this time changing tactics. Both Link and Zelda kept attacking the enemy targets with their swords and shields, making good use of the abilities they learned at the Swordsman's School, the Helm Splitter, Back Slash and Ending Blow being used quite often. Saria summoned vines to constrict or hold enemies in place or pulling allies out of harm's way, allowing Darunia to strike the constricted enemies apart with his Fire Punch Barrage or use his own fireballs or summoning fire from the ground to lambast the enemies in range. Ruto doused some of the enemies in gusts or spouts of water, occasionally using a water-based shockwave-type attack to knock the enemies back in case they put on too much pressure. Impa produced two Shadow Clones to aid the group, bolstering the group's numbers a little as it gave them a greater fighting chance, especially as Impa was manipulating shadows to make some of the enemy Soldiers hit each other or their reptilian allies. Nabooru was now adding her own abilities to aid the group, one in particular being a self-enhanced version of the Mortal Blow that, when striking a desired target, separated their spirits from their bodies, effectively killing the victims instantly due to the spirits having no body to return to, leaving the bodies as nothing more than empty, lifeless husks that soon disintegrated into nothingness, never to be seen again. Rauru's light-based spells allowed him to effectively blind his targets, allowing the elder Sage to come in quickly for close combat, or otherwise stun them long enough to smite them to their doom with his own Light Blasts. This varying amount of attacks and defense patterns allowed the group to plow through the enemy forces, easily slaughtering the attacking Dinolfos without the armor, although their armored comrades were tougher to beat. Still, it did happen that one Dinolfos managed to strike both Link and Zelda with its Fire Breath, although the damage was minimal due to the heat-resistant Goron Tunics the two were still wearing, leaving them with only a few marks which were easily extinguished thanks to Ruto being nearby and using a gentle spray of water to cool their burns down.

Saria in the meantime was cut in the right shoulder by one of the Assault Sword Soldiers, but Nabooru quickly came to her aid and drained a portion of the Assault Sword Soldier's life-force, donating its converted energy to Saria to quickly revitalize her and lessen the cut wound she received to a minimum. At the same moment, Darunia was having a great time smashing several Stalfos to bits, using fire-powered punches to break through the Stalfos' shields and shattering their skulls with following punches, despite the Stalfos' attempts to cut him all over. Link and Zelda came to his aid after the Dinolfos were finally taken care of, effectively dwindling their numbers rapidly while Impa showed several Assault Sword Soldiers who's boss using her Shadow Clones to intercept those who tried to strike Link and Zelda in the back, although one of the Sword Soldiers managed to stab her in the side, at which Nabooru responded by cutting the Soldier's head off, before donating its energy in a similar way to heal Impa's wound. Once the army of Dinolfos, Stalfos and Assault Sword Soldiers were finally taken care of, a single Big Poe appeared in the area, ready to swoop down towards the group and strike them with its lantern, although a few Silver Arrows easily defeated the ethereal being with only a few hits.

Finally, the room was cleared, as a few chests appeared in the area, which allowed the group to restock on arrows, before Link used a Nice Bomb on a Wooden Barrier that was blocking the group's path. Moving through the now opened area, the group entered a corridor that was lit by more of the green flame torches, as well as a very undeep patch of lava in the middle of the path. Although there were two nets at the side to help the group over, the adrenaline within Link and Zelda was apparently high enough for them to move through that patch of lava, bearing the same effects as if one would run through the lava patches within Dodongo's Cavern or the Fire Temple, with the added protection of the Goron Tunic that allowed them to move through this part of the lava unharmed for the most part, despite their feet being a bit too hot now. Ruto chose the safer option using the nets, just as the group reached a lava room that had platforms floating in it. Fortunately, these platforms didn't sink as the group hopped over them one after the other, seeing as the group could see the floor of the room itself through the lava surface. Still, they decided to play it safe this way as they made their way along to the far side of the room where a pathway went down to a lower section of the area, into a small room with a bridge over another lava ditch. It was there that the group stopped for a moment to get a breather.
"Whew, if I didn't know that this was their final stronghold, we could be far worse off." Link said, panting as he stood next to a wall where a few crates were being stacked.
"I'll say. To think that this is only the first floor…" Zelda said.
"Coupled with it being just the outer section… " Nabooru added.
"Yeah. It makes Ganon's Tower in the Future That Almost Was look like an apartment store compared to this." Link said, to which the others nodded, right before Saria managed to defeat a Business Scrub nearby, who offered the group some Red Potion, which they accepted and drank from it after paying the Business Scrub the 40 Rupees.

Revitalized after drinking from the Red Potion, the group made their way into the next room, first entering a lower section of it, but after climbing into the room using a rope net, the group stopped as they blinked at what they saw. For starters, the room itself was really big, possibly big enough to rival the Kokiri Village in size, from the log that was the entrance/exit of the village itself, all the way down up to the entrance to the path leading to the deceased Great Deku Tree. A total of nine stone Pillars were present in the room, obviously meant to provide support to the ceiling area, with at eye level holes in the pillars that contained the same green flames the group had seen with the torches along aside the wall. At the back side to their right was a stack of crates set up as a form of a last-resort supply chain, but that wasn't what the group was worrying about. Like with the Entrance Room, the Central Room was filled with enemies at the back, this time being four Aeralfos, a Darknut, two Iron Knuckles, four Eyegores, three Floormasters, four Red Taros, four Ball and Chain Troopers, a group of four ReDeads huddled together in the far side corner, two Spear-wielding Moblins and a single Club Moblin guarding a gate.
"Well, crud." Saria said, annoyed.
"Chin up, Saria. We survived the onslaught back at the entrance. I'm sure we'll be able to live through this too." Link said, patting her on the shoulder, making Saria smile.
"They've spotted us!" Darunia said.
"Everybody move to the back! Let's show them who will have the endurance to fight on!" Link said, moving as the Aeralfos were flying up in position, the Ball and Chain Troopers were moving towards the group, as were the Taros. The only enemies that remained docile for now were the Darknut, Iron Knuckles, ReDeads, the Club Moblin and Eyegores, giving the group the initiative to ignore them for now, letting them focus on the approaching group.

Link and Zelda managed to snag two of the Aeralfos out of the air using their Clawshots, before slashing at them with their swords to deal damage, while Saria managed to take out one of the Spear-wielding Moblins and the Club Moblin with Silver Arrows from a distance, making them much less of a nuisance. However, before she could target the last Moblin, it was already charging at her at high speed. Although she managed to avoid being skewered by the spear, she along with Link and Zelda were unceremoniously knocked aside, before Ruto took the offending Moblin out instead, while Darunia intercepted the last two Aeralfos by grabbing them as they swept down to strike at the children, breaking their wings afterwards so Nabooru and Impa could finish them off. Helping Link, Saria and Zelda up, Impa and Nabooru then clocked two of the Taros and Ball and Chain Troopers coming quite close to the group. Nabooru had little difficulties in dealing with the Taros, slashing their throats with a few quick swipes of her blades, only to get clobbered in the chest by one of the Ball and Chain Troopers, which in turn received a Ball and Chain in the face, courtesy of Link. Zelda saved Impa from the Ball and Chain of the second Ball and Chain Trooper, allowing Saria to take it out with a Silver Light Arrow, before Ruto helped Link in taking out the first one as Rauru helped Nabooru back on her feet. Darunia managed to incinerate the first of the Floormasters as it got into range, using a Goron Pound to tackle the Mini Floormasters along the way as Link and Ruto took out the two remaining Taros as they came in at the group, while Saria and Zelda worked together in defeating the two remaining Ball and Chain Troopers, leaving only the two Floormasters to deal with as the moving enemies, which Link and Saria first took care of by striking them with Silver Fire Arrows, after which Zelda casted Din's Fire to destroy the mini Floormasters that came from the fallen normal ones. This left only the silent monstrosities to deal with, but not before Link, Saria, Zelda and Ruto used Silver Fire Arrows to take out the ReDeads from a safe distance. But just as the four children moved onward to engage the Darknut first, a Like-Like dropped from the ceiling and promptly swallows the four children whole, before spitting them out… but now without their Shields and Goron Tunics! Immediately Nabooru fired a Silver Fire Arrow at the gelatinous creature, defeating it instantly and allowing the four children to regain their Goron Tunics and Red Shields, just as two of the Eyegores woke up and moved in to engage them.

While the four children equipped their shields and got hold of their Tunics to put them back on in the safe corner, Nabooru and Impa helped by taking out the two approaching Eyegores with the Silver Arrows, defeating them instantly, before luring the other two Eyegores over to take them out as well, leaving now just the two Iron Knuckles and the Darknut. After having put their tunics back on, the four children resumed their plan of attacking the Darknut en masse, while the four adults went to engage the two Iron Knuckles, two against one Iron Knuckle each. Using Silver Arrows to wake them up, the behemoths went on their way in a spreading motion towards their attackers, just what the group had intended all along. This allowed them to properly focus on the slow moving enemies, yet also prevented them from getting in each other's way and/or getting caught in the attacks from the other swinging parties. Link, Saria, Zelda and Ruto managed to stun the Darknut before slashing at it from all sides, effectively destroying its shield and armor in less than a minute, before diving out of the way as it tossed its broadsword away in favor of a smaller, rapier-like sword while also having increased speed. Darunia, Rauru, Impa and Nabooru stayed clear of the Iron Knuckles and their massive axes, Nabooru in particular, instead opting to pelt the behemoths with Nice Bombs, Nice Bombchus and Silver Arrows to inflict the damage, also rapidly destroying the outer armor of the behemoths, while keeping their distance as the two ran towards their attackers, making sure they had free path behind them as more Arrows and Bombs eventually did the Iron Knuckles in, just as the four children finished the Darknut off. This cleared the room of the enemies so far, but as the group got back together to regroup, a gate closed at the entrance area of the room, locking them in the room itself! The gate that the Club Moblin was guarding first then opened up and another large group of enemies moved in the room, being Assault Sword Soldiers, Stalfos, Eyegores, Garo Robes, a single Garo Master, Armored Dinolfos, Moblins, Red Taros and Flare Dancers!
"Brace yourselves!" Link said, getting ready as his Golden Master Sword and Red Shield were ready.
"Remind me to give my blessings to that Swordsman whom taught us those skills…" Zelda said, standing next to Link, her own Golden Sword and Red Shield ready as well…
"You can concentrate on the Garo and the Sword-wielding enemies," Darunia said, "I'll handle the Flare Dancers!"
"Right." Link said as the battle began…

Rolling up, Darunia prepared his Magic Goron Roll, using his spikes to knock two of the Moblins, a Garo Robe, several of the Assault Sword Soldiers and Armored Dinolfos and four Red Taros aside, reaching the Flare Dancers within seconds and using the Goron Pound to disable the suits of those he could reach, ready to squash them flat. Four Assault Sword Soldiers charged at Link and Zelda, with the hero and the princess coordinating their attacks and making sure not to hit each other as they fought for their lives against the aggressive, corrupted soldiers. Saria and Ruto provided cover by tackling the Moblins from a safe distance using their Silver Arrows, repeating this procedure with the Eyegores, while Impa and Nabooru engaged the Armored Dinolfos, while Rauru himself took on the deadly Garo Master. Despite being one of the elder Sages, as well as being the eldest of the entire group, Rauru was still very much capable of combat if the lives of himself, his friends and his home were at stake, doing whatever is necessary to smite evil. With this, he was easily capable of observing the Garo Master's moves and, using the knowledge that Link provided him about them, he knew when to strike, avoiding his attacks several times before dealing the death blow with a powerful Light Blast, causing the Garo Master to commit its form of ritual suicide upon being defeated.

Once the Eyegores had been taken care of, Saria and Ruto went to assist Link and Zelda against the ruthless Assault Sword Soldiers. Although the two had slain a decent portion of them, there were still several more to deal with, all of which attacking with quite the vigor inspired by the need to take them down in the name of their dark masters Ganondorf and Majora. Darunia had no problems in slaying the Flare Dancers, his Goron Pounds, Goron Roll and Goron Power Punches proving very effective in dealing quite the damage, taking out several Garo Robes and Red Taros along with his actions, even if they were just in the way to his intended targets. Nabooru and Impa attacked the Stalfos after taking out the Armored Dinolfos using the Helm Splitter and Ending Blow, while on occasion Nabooru used her Enhanced Mortal Blow to take care of the nemeses. Impa deployed her Shadow Clones this time to assist the four children against the raging Assault Sword Soldiers, seeing that they were in quite the deep trouble due to the aggressors' relentless attacks on them. Still, the four stood their ground, despite having several cuts, bruises and slash wounds, diminishing the enemy numbers rapidly.

Having killed about four Flare Dancers, Darunia looked around to ensure there were no more of them, before he went to assist Rauru against the remaining Garo Robes, who were furious after seeing their Master being killed by the hands of an elder Sage. While Rauru was capable of handling them, personally taking out two of the Garo Robes in a single strike, he did find himself surrounded and using evasive maneuvers to dodge the attempts they made to strike him from the sides or from behind. Link and Saria both took out a few more of the Red Taros that tried to attack them from the sides before focusing on the last of the Assault Sword Soldiers, who were now rapidly dwindling in numbers as now only less than ten of them were in the room, while Impa and Nabooru both plowed through the Stalfos forces as if they were nothing, sending bone fragments all over from those who literally shattered after taking too much damage. Once the last of the Assault Sword Soldiers were finally slain, Link, Saria, Zelda and Ruto aided Rauru and Darunia by attacking the remaining Garo Robes from the flanks, with Link striking several of them down in a single blow with a well-timed Quick Spin attack. Once the Garo Robes were dealt with, the group joined up with Impa and Nabooru and together the eight fighters attacked the remaining Stalfos en masse, making sure not a single one of them remained behind, along with the remaining Red Taros. Once the room was empty again, save for the group itself, each of them either leaned on their weapons after stabbing them in the ground, or otherwise collapsed to hands and knees as they were quite exhausted. Impa managed to get herself and he others some more of the Red Potion she had saved, something which the group could definitely use to revitalize a bit and have their worst wounds treated.
"Dang, that was one battle I wouldn't want to experience again." Zelda said, wincing a bit as Impa nursed her sides, while Nabooru tended to Link.
"It definitely won't be of this kind, but this is only the beginning of what has yet to come." Link said.
"You're absolutely right in that. I must admit that you are quite the smart kid for someone of your age… I wonder why you and the three other children aren't playing with other toys instead of those you have now…" a dark voice said.
Immediately the group was on alert as the gate ahead opened once more… and Dark Link stepped out from it!
"Surprised to see me? Yes, you did manage to defeat me back at the forest outpost, but Ganondorf apparently had some more use for me and gave me another chance." Dark Link said.
"I take it you're not alone?" Link scoffed.
"Cheeky and yet catching on so quickly… you're right. I'm not alone…" Dark Link said with a chuckle… just as dark versions of Saria, Zelda, Ruto and Nabooru appeared around the group… along with Dark versions of Rauru, Darunia and Impa, surrounding them!