Chapter 52: Close at hand…
The group entered a room that appeared to be closed off ahead, but as they stepped in, the door closed behind them, trapping them in the room.
"Now what? Not lava again?!" Ruto asked.
Just then, the group was surrounded by a group of Armored Dinolfos, ready to hack the heroes into pieces… only to be disabled without warning by a few cannonballs smashing on top of them, making the group blink.
"What the-?!" They all said in unison.
"Hey, you!" A female voice then came from above.
Link and the Sages looked up and saw a woman whom was piloting some kind of aircraft coming towards them. It was a Gerudo woman, whom had a smile on her face. At first, the group blinked at this, but then the ship came to a halt next to the platform the group stood on, making the group blink at her. Link was the first to speak.
"Reimu?! How did you get here?!" He asked.
"We've been following your travels out here with a ship of our own to assist you. At first, we went down the mountain trail you went down before, when we felt the explosions caused by the destruction of the underground base. At this point we went back to the ship to collect these babies to look for you, the search eventually leading to this tower." Reimu said.
"I see. So, where did you get these air machines? We've only seen these kind of airships with some of the enemy troops…" Nabooru asked.
"The Terminans were quite helpful in giving this a redesign to make it more suitable for moving around quickly without that balloon being a hindrance in these tight areas, before the invasion of Termina caused the plans for these to be stolen by the enemy troops. What it basically is now is a boat that can move on water, but with these booster rockets at the back, it can also maneuver into the air. This is one of the only solid and perfectly functioning prototypes we managed to save and keep out of enemy hands during the invasion." Reimu said, smiling.
"I see." Nabooru said, nodding.
"Come on, hop onto the ship. Leia's waiting for us with some other Gerudo. We can take you towards the top where Ganondorf and Majora have been staying for some time now." Reimu said, getting ready for take-off.
Link, Saria, Zelda, Ruto and Nabooru hopped on right away, with Nabooru taking place next to Reimu, Link and Saria behind them, with Zelda sitting behind Link, Ruto behind Saria, Impa went behind Zelda and Rauru behind Ruto, while Darunia took place at the back seat, at the rear cannon.
"Make sure you hold on tight; this is going to be quite a ride." Reimu said.
"Right." The group said, before Reimu used the boosters to take off.
Reimu steered the vehicle further up into the cylindrical room the group was in as a whole.
"By all that is holy out here, how big is this tower?!" Ruto exclaimed.
"Definitely higher to rival the Stone Tower, if not even higher than that!" Link said, looking around.
"Geez!" Zelda exclaimed, before the airship shifted to normal position as they went through a door which opened for them, leading in a room where numerous gears and cogs were moving around and about, as if operating some kind of heavy machinery. There they met up with Leia and most of the liberated and allied Gerudo the group had encountered and freed, including Reimu's personal guards and the four Pirates whom accompanied the group throughout the Inverted Stone Tower Temple.
"Ah, sister, you found them!" Leia said, smiling.
"That I did. It must have been quite a climb for you…" Reimu said, turning back to the group.
"That it was indeed, coupled with a bit of haste since lava began to rise in the inner areas…" Nabooru said.
"What?!" Leia asked.
"Yes, we were in a bit of haste regarding that." Impa said.
Reimu nodded.
"Well, we'll now take and escort you to the top room where Ganondorf and Majora dwell. In a way we too have a score to settle, but we know that we wouldn't stand that much of a chance against him if we would face him now. The least we can do is to help you to him and join you in the final battle." Reimu said.
"Thank you, we appreciate that." Zelda said, smiling, before the small fleet went on their way.
No sooner had the fleet took off, making their way through the giant gears around, when suddenly another set of ships came towards them… these were being piloted by Corrupted Soldiers however…
"What the-?! Enemy soldiers here too?" Link asked.
"They're coming about and preparing weapons!" Leia warned.
"We have weapons too! Do what you must, but make sure that our friends make it through here safely!" Reimu shouted.
"We'll help too! Just make sure everything remains stable during flight!" Link said, preparing Silver Bomb Arrows to fire.
"Right. I'll keep you on the ship." Impa said, harnessing her Shadow Sage powers to extend her shadow to grab Link, Saria, Zelda and Ruto as they got ready to engage the enemy.
As soon as the enemy soldiers lined up their craft and began to prepare their forward cannons, Darunia blasted them with the rear cannon he was controlling, while the four children helped by launching Bomb Arrows at those which Darunia couldn't reach or would be at a too awkward angle to be actually hit. The four children took turns in firing, so they could continuously fire at the enemy aircraft while ensuring they couldn't take advantage of the gaps that were left between firing and reloading.
The four children aided Darunia in taking down several enemy airships, sending the soldiers down to the ground, some of them becoming stuck on the gears and or end up being crushed among the cogs that kept moving about without pause.
"EVERYONE, KEEP AN EYE ON YOUR SURROUNDINGS!" Reimu barked to the other pilots, as if to prevent them from suffering a similar gruesome fate.
Thankfully each of the other Gerudo airships had one controlling it and a second Gerudo being in charge of weapons control, with the only exception being Reimu's own ship for obvious reasons. Reimu took a few sharp turns while avoiding as many of the gears and enemy fire where possible, while Link, Saria, Zelda, Ruto and Darunia helped in retaliating and destroying enemy airships, with the four children going so far as to intercept those trying to attack the escorting Gerudo ships.
"So far, so good, keep it up; we've gotten them almost down!" Leia exclaimed to them as she watched the enemy numbers dwindling rapidly.
The group continued on shooting at the enemy craft until none of them were left pursuing them in this area, allowing the group some reprieve.
"Wow, if this keeps up, we'll be running out of arrows and bombs more rapidly than expected." Link said.
"Don't worry, I've got a stash of both of them on this vessel, just take what you need in order to fend them off." Reimu said, opening a hatch close to Darunia's position that revealed a good stock of bombs and arrow bundles to use as ammunition.
"Thanks, Reimu." Zelda said as she and Link restocked right away, before letting Saria and Ruto restock as well, ensuring they had plenty of ammo on their hand in case it was needed.
Once the fleet had gathered once more and the children had restocked on ammo, Reimu proceeded onward with her airship into another door, which opened up, leading into a corridor where several pillars were in the center and in offsets to the left and right as if making it obstructions for the group to pass over them. Reimu was taking it slow to prevent the children from falling off or otherwise damage her airship, wanting to be sure the group reached the other side safely. After passing by the pillars, another set of doors opened, revealing a room that had pillars on the sides and a pool of water at the bottom.
"Wow, they really must have taken their time with this place." Link said.
"I'll say; this is much bigger than I actually expected it to be." Zelda said, nodding.
"Yeah. I wonder how they have been able to build this in over less than a year's time…" Saria said.
"Probably they used magic or the tower itself must have existed for some time, it's distant location made it simply fade into obscurity in a way that we just never heard of it." Impa said.
"Those are the only probably causes." Nabooru said.
Reimu sighed as she moved through a corridor, blocked initially by a set of doors which opened up one after the other, leading into a much larger room with pillars all around the place and murky water at the bottom.
"Wow, what in the world did they have in mind with this?!" Nabooru asked as she looked around.
"I don't know, but it looks like it has no actual purpose other than just being a supporting room…" Reimu said, but then Link suddenly spotted something.
"Enemy vehicles approaching from behind!" He exclaimed as he prepared his Silver Bomb Arrows once more.
"All hands to the weapons! We must fend them off until we have diminished their numbers!" Reimu said, moving to steer on to pull off evasive maneuvers where needed.
This time, the battle was more fierce as the enemy appeared more numerous this time around, thankfully the other ships offered assistance right away.
"Oh man, talk about an air strike…" Link said.
"I'll say… what the-?!" Zelda then said as one of her Silver Bomb Arrows hit one of the pillars by accident, immediately causing it to crumble down into the murky water below, taking several enemy ships with it.
"Watch the pillars!" Leia said as one Gerudo also made a pillar collapse while shooting down enemy ships along the way.
"YIKES! Low bridge!" Link said as a pillar crumbled down just beside him, missing Reimu's ship, but taking out several enemy ships which he had missed.
"WATCH IT!" Nabooru said as parts of another pillar narrowly missed her as it collapsed from another Gerudo ship shooting at it, the debris colliding against another enemy ship, although it did cover an enemy shot that struck Reimu's ship from the side, in retaliation Saria fired a Silver Bomb Arrow at the enemy's engines, sending it careening out of control and towards the water, only to collide with the already sinking debris from an already destroyed pillar, destroying the ship.
The whole fight lasted only for a few minutes, despite the numerous enemy ships. The pillars did an excellent job in 'helping' in dwindling the numbers of the enemy soldiers rapidly, although most of them were shot down. Reimu's fleet didn't come out unscathed though; while all of the group were still alive and all, their ships were showing signs of damage.
"Darn, that was a bit too close for comfort." Reimu said.
"Sis, your ship…" Leia said.
"I know. We should still be able to make it to where we have to take our friends, but after that we may need to repair the ships…" Reimu said as the fleet regrouped and took off for the other side, past an entrance between two pillars and entering a corridor, leading into a large tunnel, where four spinning wheels were present, the first and third spinning clockwise and the second and forth one spinning in a counter-clockwise direction. Each of the spokes had spikes on them, although there were large openings between them, allowing the fleet to fly through in turns.
"I have no idea where these machinery are for and frankly I don't want to know either." Link said.
"That makes two of us." Zelda said, shivering as the group moved on to the far side of the room itself, seeing an exit in the form of a circular passageway that led into a room with numerous pillars at the side and mirrored tiles on the floor.
"Well, this is as far as we can take you. We can't go any further than this, for which I'm sorry." Reimu said as the group entered a room with a gate opening above.
"It's alright, Reimu. At least you could take us for as far as you could." Nabooru said as the gate closed up once the rest of the fleet had entered the room itself as well, the ships gently parking on the ground before the engines were shut down.
Link and the others disembarked from Reimu's ship, smiling.
"You need any help?" Saria asked.
"Thanks for the offer, but we can manage. Just be careful when you go up there, Ganondorf and Majora are waiting for you at the top." Reimu said.
"We'll keep it in mind, Reimu. Thanks for the help." Zelda said.
"If we'll make it through and Hyrule is safe, I'll make sure you'll be rewarded for your efforts." Nabooru said.
"Thank you, Lady Nabooru. It is an honor with such a wonderful leader such as yourself." Reimu said, bowing politely.
Nabooru smiled, patting Reimu on the shoulder, before she and the others moved on down the corridor which had this time a purplish hue to the tiles of the floor and the walls, while further up ahead the bluish hue from the inner section returned. The corridor was long, that was for certain, but the thing that was out of place was the deadly silence that resonated in the area; that is the only sounds being audible being the group's footsteps and their breathing whenever they were standing still…
Hopping down a hole ahead, the group arrived in a completely different room. The first things to note were that the tiles on the walls and the ground now had a yellowish hue to it and a circular staircase was up ahead. Seeing this, Link went to the room available below the staircase itself and just sat down, indicating he wanted to rest up a bit before he would continue on. The Sages went to join him, obviously understanding his point and reason in that. Link and the Sages could already feel the ominous presence of their nemesis being strong, which indicated they should be close to the top. Link sighed, although there was a bit of a smile on his face.
"Well, I guess this is it, huh?" He asked.
"It appears so. It's been quite a long trip to get all the way here…" Zelda said.
"Considering what we have gone through up to this point, I believe the whole thing must have been working on our bodies as well…" Saria said.
"What do you mean?" Ruto asked.
"Face it, we've been teleported to one of the most hellish regions in Termina, got ambushed by Stalfos, had to deal with a prancing prick multiple times, entered an unknown land with an unknown, mystical history, dealt with death and resurrection, went through outposts in a forest and a vast lava sanctuary, went into a rather empty temple, entered a vast mountain area, went through an underground base that is likely destroyed now and finally this entire frigging tower," Saria said, "if this hasn't done anything to our bodies physically as in making us stronger, I don't know what has."
"Saria has a point," Link said, "all the traveling we did on foot and all must have improved our condition one way or another. Now that I think of it, my legs did feel kinda sore on several occasions, but since I was too focused on the objective at hand, I either ignored it or just bit through the pain."
The others nodded at this, while Darunia smiled.
"That's my Sworn Brother, never giving up no matter the odds." Darunia said, patting Link on the back, making the boy on his turn yelp at this.
"But now that we have gotten this far, how are we going to handle this?" Ruto asked.
"We'll see if the two first play up to their usual fighting styles, or if they want to first figure out whether they can find a way to counter our new skills. My Dark Self may have fallen for the Mortal Draw technique successfully, but I feel certain that Ganondorf knows better and would try to strike me from afar, probably trying to set up a Dead Man's Volley game. As for Majora, he may try to use his Mask again to attack at first, perhaps summon remains of the bosses we've beaten before to further antagonize us, use a fire beam of its own which we can use the Mirror Shield to counter or use its tendrils to attack, I don't know for sure." Link said.
"Right. You should keep us posted on Majora's attacks, since you're the only one of us whom have fought him in person." Rauru said.
"That I will. It's only a matter of staying alive and keeping a close watch on our nemeses."
"Right. We should rest up for as much as we can; we probably need every bit of energy we have at our disposal to properly fight them, even though we are still having the benefits of unlimited magic, thanks to the Chateau Romani we drank at the underground headquarters yesterday." Zelda said.
"So it's only today and tomorrow that we can benefit from it before it wears off?" Saria asked.
"That's right. I feel it will be more than useful in the time to come." Link said.
"No specific time planned?" Nabooru asked.
"I just have no idea how long this will take." Link said.
"Point taken."
"I'll keep watch, just in case." Darunia said as he moved up to the entrance of the crevice underneath the staircase the group sat in.
"Right. Even though this isn't exactly comfortable, we'll just have to make the best of it." Link said, yawning as he moved into a for him comfortable position to rest in, using his quiver as a makeshift cushion.
A few hours later, the group woke up, feeling well rested as they geared up once more. Although they had been asleep for a decent time, to say that it was pleasant would came out wrong. Link in particular suffered from a harsh nightmare in which he and his friends were overtaken/covered by the lava during their escape from the doomed headquarters or otherwise falling into the lava due to platforms collapsing or enemies kicking them off. This was in particular caused during Link's initial travels in the Fire Temple and Death Mountain Crater in the Future that Almost Was, coupled with a few close calls in the Gerudo Training Grounds, Ganon's Tower and the lava outpost with the hidden temple altogether. However, since he knew it were just a couple of bad dreams, Link didn't make too much of a fuzz about it, even more when he remembered that he and the others had very much survived through it all up to this point, fueling his drive to finally put an end to the suffering and misery that Ganondorf and Majora had caused and bring back peace and prosperity to Hyrule. He sincerely hoped the Triforce by itself would help in repairing the damage done, even if it was to restore life to the ruined parts of the lands which the forces of Ganondorf and Majora had laid waste to, Hyrule Field in particular. Zelda also hoped that they could rob Ganondorf of that Triforce of Power he had in his possession and complete the Triforce for their own wish to restore peace to their homeland. Nabooru on her turn wished she could brighten up the reputation of the Gerudo tribe now that this all had taken place. Gerudos in general weren't exactly viewed as good people because of their thieving skills and usual disdain for men, but it was definitely apparent that even the Gerudo had standards; as of now, the majority of the tribe has shunned Ganondorf and his vile, despicable ways and would rather live with an outsider as their ruler instead of following the Gerudo laws of accepting him, considering the statement that every male Gerudo born should automatically become King, seeing as males are born once every 100 years among the tribe itself. Ruto had her wish of purifying the Zora's domain and by extension the Zora River and Lake Hylia, mostly due to her concern that the deity her people worshipped, Lord Jabu-Jabu, would feel 'green around the gills' shortly again if the area remained unchecked. Saria wished to purify the forest on her turn and perhaps help in kick-starting the growth of a new Deku Tree, seeing as Ganondorf had killed the Great Deku Tree itself and felt that the forest needed a guardian in case of her and Link's absence. On top of that, it would also guarantee the safety to her fellow Kokiri so they could once again play outside, like before. Speaking of which, the Kokiri themselves were still in their homes, trying to pick up their lives as much as they can, hoping that Link and Saria somehow have gone to a nicer place together, where they are free of the worries and other bad things that have been bothering them ever since Link initially returned to them so long ago. Impa and Rauru on their turn didn't have any specific wishes, although Impa suspected something was going on in the Kakariko Well, so she would have to find a way to strengthen the seal again, while Darunia on his turn wanted to ensure the Gorons would still be able to mine the rocks from Dodongo's Cavern without anyone trying to seal the entrance again. As long as it would ensure that the Gorons would not be deprived of their primary source of food ever again…
Straightening his outfit, Link moved to the base of the staircase, sighing as he braced himself for the inevitable, the Sages joining him as they walked up the circular staircase.
"This reminds me more of Ganon's Tower itself, although this staircase is a bit shorter when going in a circle…" Link said.
"Really?" Saria asked.
"Yes, coupled with the fact that those stairs had red carpet on it in the center area…" Link said, as the group reached the top of the first staircase, seeing a corridor with a door in the center of the wall to the right and another staircase at the far side of the corridor.
"Well, looks like they can keep people in suspense…" Saria said as the group moved onward to the second staircase… only to receive a slight scare as the door suddenly opened up as they passed by, revealing a hidden room…
"What the-?!" The group said in unison, deciding to check it out.
Entering the open doorway, the group entered a room with two pillars that each had green torches within them to illuminate the area, which was for the rest empty.
"Is this some kind of a joke?" Ruto asked.
"Wait, there's a net down here hanging against the wall…" Zelda said, having made a turn to the right and spotting the net.
"I can also see platforms on a higher level… perhaps it's leading to something…" Saria said.
"Let's check it out, perhaps it will lead to something…" Link said, moving to Zelda as she went already up the net, followed by Saria.
"We have to take a good jump from here…" Zelda said.
"I can arrange something…" Saria said, before using her powers to create vines in the lines in lieu of a bridge for the group to safely cross the gap to a set of wooden planks which went to the right.
Turning to the right, they came across a large path with a small corridor leading into a room with several Business Scrubs. Initially trying to attack, the Business Scrubs were immediately foiled in their defenses by a safe Goron Pound courtesy of Darunia. Immediately after that, one of the Business Scrub, whom apparently looked in charge of the whole set, approached them.
"Please, quit it! We'll never do it again. If we'll offer you some of our merchandise, will you let us go?!" He asked.
"What do you have?" Darunia asked.
"Everything you need: Arrows, Bombs, Deku Nuts, Deku Seeds, Deku Sticks, Bombchus, Potions, you name it." He said.
"Well, this is very convenient; we need to restock anyway." Link said, smiling.
"Alright. Speak to one of my charges to get the items you need." The Lead Business Scrub said.
"It's kinda funny to do a bit of shopping before facing our nemeses…" Zelda said.
"Well, as long as have plenty of ammo…" Saria said, giggling.
"True."
After purchasing what they needed on ammunition and medical supplies (being just the Red Potion), the group thanked the Business Scrubs and made their way back down into the corridor, moving to the right to the second staircase. Going up the stairs, they blinked at seeing another corridor with yet another staircase at the far side and several chests at the walls. Opening the chests, the group blinked at seeing they all contained Silver to Giant Rupees, each with the 100 to 200 Rupee value.
"Wow…" Saria said.
"I guess these could be collected in case we were running short on Rupees…" Link said.
"Let's leave them for now, I doubt we have much use for them on this part." Impa said.
"You're right. Let's go." Zelda said.
Leaving the rupees for what they were for now, the group moved towards the last staircase. At its base, Link stopped for a brief moment, taking a few deep breaths to calm himself. Zelda and Saria understood this all too well.
"Well, this is it. No more turning back, the fate of the world lies on our shoulders." Link said, looking up before he and the Sages went to ascend up the third staircase, possibly one of the longest as it went up and up and up… Being one of the last to move up, Impa took a brief look behind her, before joining the rest. After about a minute or two, the group finally arrived at the top of the tower, which by itself looked like a large, circular arena with a rocky wall surrounding it, preventing them from falling off. Looking around, the group noticed they were really high into the air; looking to their left, they could see the Stone Tower in the far distance, while on the lower areas, they could see the landscapes of both Termina and Hyrule beneath it, including the ruined Hyrule Castle… but they all seemed so distant from their current height…
"So, you have finally arrived…" a dark voice said.
Looking forward, Link and the Sages immediately saw someone with his back turned to them, showing off the cape he was wearing. They all recognized him right away, due to the flaming red hair and the sickly greenish skin, wearing the black knight's armor that was a trademark of his, as well as those unnatural red eyes. It was Ganondorf in person and he seemed unnaturally calm…
"I didn't think you would even be bold enough to scale this tower completely, much less having lasted against our forces…" He said, before turning to the group…