Chapter 28: Arbiter's Grounds Part 2
After obtaining the Spinner from a hard fought battle with Molgera, Link and company continued to trek their way through the Arbiter's Grounds in hopes of finding Nabooru.
"I wonder how this spinning disk thingy that we found is going to help us in this place," stated Chun-Li.
At that moment, Link spotted a wall with tracks on it and pulled out his freshly acquired Spinner. Link boarded the Spinner and began to ride along the tracks across the tracks leading him up to a higher level within the dungeon as the others gazed up in the area Link was riding up to, at that moment, they saw the Spinner descending towards them as Zelda caught it.
"Use that to get up here and then relay it down!" called out Link.
Not wasting any time, Zelda and the others then used a relay system where one would follow Link up on the Spinner and then toss it back down for someone else to head up. As soon as all six were done getting up to the higher level, they continued their trek through the Arbiter's Grounds were they found more Stalfos emerge each brandishing dual swords.
"More of these guys, time to crack some skulls guys," commented Alex.
Link and the others started to fight the skeletal creatures making sure to aim their strikes between where they had their blades up to guard. After a few minutes of combat, the Stalfos soon fell and Link and company continued their expedition. The six soon came across another long chasm where the walls were lined with tracks for them to ride the Spinner across.
"Back to the relay system again?" asked Zelda.
"You got that right," answered Link as he boarded the Spinner and rode along the tracks jumping between walls where needed to until he reached the other side of the chasm. Link then tossed the Spinner across the chasm thus beginning the Spinner relay system again. After all six got across again, they saw a gear shaped hole in the middle of the ground.
"From the looks of that, we could probably use the Spinner on that to trigger something," chimed in Ken as he looked at the hole.
"It is worth a shot," added Ryu.
Link deployed the Spinner and rode the device into the hole and a rumbling sound became audible as a platform rose up from the ground and led them to a plateau with a door leading further into the dungeon.
"I wonder what will be waiting for us on the other side," said Zelda.
"Only one way to find out," replied Link as he put the Spinner away.
Link and company ran across to the plateau and opened the door, as they entered the room on the other side, they saw that the floor was covered in a clear liquid leading them all to cock their heads in confusion.
"What the hell is that stuff on the ground supposed to be?" inquired Alex.
Chun-Li knelt down and examined the liquid which was thick and sniffed it and licked her finger afterwards.
"It's olive oil," answered Chun-Li.
"Olive oil, either someone made a mess cooking, or that means you know who is around here," remarked Ken.
"What do you mean by you know who?" questioned Link.
At that moment, crashing down came a large red skinned man with an odd turquoise colored hairstyle as well as a uniquely styled mustache. He was wearing black pants as well as a black strap across his chest and was also wearing a belt with a large buckle that had a large lion emblem on it. He was carrying a large barrel with him that a lion's head on one end.
"Hakan, I'm guessing he's under mind control as well," said Ryu.
"Looks like it's time to oil up!" exclaimed Hakan as he poured some of the oil from his barrel onto his body and placed the barrel down and made a ready pose.
"Let's snap him out of it," said Zelda as her and Link ran towards Hakan however they slipped on the oil and fell flat on their faces.
"All this oil all over the place is gonna make this fight a real pain in the ass," grumbled Alex.
"Tell me about it, nevertheless, we gotta save Hakan from his mind controlled hell," said Ken.
"We'll attack him from a distance!" exclaimed Link as he fired an arrow at Hakan who slid under the arrow. Zelda tried to fire off a Din's Fire but was swept back off of her feet by Hakan's Oil Slide and he then followed it up by jumping on Zelda with all his bulk yet again. Chun-Li spun forward with a Spinning Bird Kick nailing Hakan multiple times, however Hakan tackled Chun-Li to the ground and rolled with her into a wall sending her crashing against it. Every time one of the six heroes tried to mount an attack, they would wind up slipping and sliding around before crashing to the ground in the oil while Hakan seemed to move about without any impairment much to the heroes' amazement.
"How is he moving so gracefully across all this oil?" asked Link.
"He's a professional oil wrestler in his home country of Turkey, he's used to it," answered Ryu as he fired a Hadoken at Hakan's head only to have Hakan slide under it. Ken leapt in with a kick to Hakan, nailing with it, however upon landing, Ken began to lose his footing as Hakan grabbed him and squeezed Ken tightly until shot out of Hakan's grip and flew into the air, landing right on top of Link.
"I know you didn't intend to, but thanks for breaking my fall," said Ken.
"Next time, find a different landing target though," replied Link.
Ryu spun forward with his Tatsumakisenpuukyaku, Hakan sidestepped the attack as as Ryu landed he started to slip and slide and crash right into Zelda.
"This is quite the challenge I will admit," grumbled Ryu as he lay on the oily ground.
"You're mine!" shouted Alex as he dove at Hakan. However, Hakan doused himself with more oil and lay prone on the ground as Alex slipped off of Hakan's oiled body, the Turkish fighter mounted the buff blonde warrior and spun around and started to squeeze Alex with all of his might.
"Here I come!" yelled Hakan as Alex shot out from under Hakan like a slingshot and crashed right into Ryu and Zelda which caused the two let out a shriek of pain as they were pinned against the wall by Alex's bulk.
"Hazashu!" shouted Chun-Li as she nailed Hakan across the head and chest with a flipping split kick, which caused Hakan to stagger back into Ken who followed up with a Shoryuken nailing Hakan three times and sending him flying back and hitting the ground with a thud. Using the opportunity to attack, Link brandished his bow yet again and shot an arrow at the crystal on Hakan's forehead shattering it immediately. Hakan let out a shriek and then shook his head and looked around his surroundings in bewilderment.
"Wow, what a dream that was. But where am I now?" inquired Hakan.
"You're in a dungeon known as the Arbiter's Grounds, you were brainwashed but we were able to save you," answered Link.
"I'm terribly sorry for any inconvinience I may have caused you during that time. Speaking of oddities, what is thing that I am carrying on my person?" asked Hakan as he pulled out a black key with a purple jewel in the middle of it.
"The boss key! May we have that good sir, we wish to defeat the monsters roaming this dungeon and need that to progress further," said Zelda.
"By all means, it's the least I can do to repay you for saving me, now if you'll excuse me, I must find my way out of this place," said Hakan as he handed the heroes the boss key before departing.
"The boss of this dungeon should be too far from here, I suggest we get moving if we are to save Nabooru," suggested Link.
The other five nodded in agreement, and after splitting a red potion, they all walked towards a door on the other side of the room. In the next room, they found another gear shaped hole in the middle of the room. Link pulled out the Spinner again and this time, the walls spun around revealing a passageway that led to a large locked door indicating the boss of the dungeon was sitting on just the other side waiting.
"All right! Time to take care of whatever is on the other side now!" exclaimed Chun-Li.
As the six walked forward, a cage fell from the ceiling and landed down around Ryu prompting the others to look back and see if they could somehow release Ryu from the cage. However, three more fell and landed around Zelda, Ken, and Chun-Li resepctively.
"More traps, man this dungeon has been crazy," said Alex.
Link looked up and saw a cage falling towards him, before it fell around him, he tossed the Spinner and boss key aside right as the cage slammed down around Link.
"Alex, don't worry about us, we'll get out of this somehow, go and finish the boss of this dungeon and find Nabooru!" exclaimed Link.
"We'll catch up to you, we promise that," added Zelda.
Alex nodded to show he understood what Link and Zelda said and grabbed the Spinner and boss key off the ground and ran towards the door and used the boss key to unlock the door, heading into the lair of the dungeon's boss. Alex found himself looking around a large circular room with a sandy pit in the middle. As the door shut behind Alex, the room began to shake as a large skeletal monster rose out from the ground and roared loudly at Alex.
"Great, so I'm gonna have to beat this big bonehead on my own, we'll see if this Spinner really helps," grumbled Alex.
Not wasting any time Alex mounted the Spinner and took off towards the giant skeleton known as Stallord. Alex surveyed the area around Stallord tried attacking the front with his Spinner but found himself merely bouncing off of the monster's ribcage.
"A frontal attack won't work, might as well try the rear," mused Alex to himself as he rode towards Stallord again and piloted the Spinner around to the creature's spine and drove the Spinner into Stallord's spine crushing part of it making Stallord let out a loud monstrous shriek as numerous Stalchildren started to rise out of the ground. Alex weaved side to side to avoid crashing into any of the Stalchildren. Alex continued to swerve around the Stalchildren waiting for his opening and when he saw it, he nailed Stallord in the spine yet again shattering another portion of it. Even more Stalchildren rose out of the ground making Alex's pathway in the sand pit even more cluttered. Alex started to get annoyed at being deflected off of his path by the Stalchildren milling about the pit.
"Sheesh, I'll be glad once this ordeal is over with," grumbled Alex to himself.
Soon, after much patience, Alex soon found his opening amongst the cluster of Stalchildren and smashed Stallord's spine yet again and all the Stalchildren disappeared in a puff of smoke as did all of Stallord's body save for the skull. The sand began to disappear into the ground as a large pillar with tracks around it was exposed.
"Something tells me this battle isn't quite over yet, I better be on guard," said Alex.
No sooner than did Alex finish his sentence, Stallord's skull rose up and started to float in the air, Alex boarded the Spinner yet again and rode along the tracks leading up the pillar, as Alex rode up the pillar, he eventually came across Stallord's skull, the floating skull began to breathe fireballs at the buff blonde who jumped onto the opposing tracks with the Spinner avoiding all the fireballs that Stallord spat at him. Eventually Alex smacked Stallord's skull with the Spinner sending it crashing to the ground.
"I think now is a good time to use these," said Alex as he donned the Titan's Gloves. A strange aura surrounded him as his skin turned a brown color, his hair a slate gray and his clothing black as the white kanji symbol for "Strength" became emblazoned on his torso, Alex picked up the skull and tossed it against the wall and began laying numerous punches into Stallord before it regained its composure and rammed Alex into the opposing wall before floating away again.
"Oh no you don't! Get back here!" shouted Alex as he rode the Spinner yet again, this time, spike covered disks also ran along the tracks, the first one catching Alex by surprise and knocking him down. Alex quickly got back up and rode the tracks yet again, jumping along the adjacent tracks each time a spiky disk came spinning along the track he was on. Stallord was more aggressive with his fireballs too, forcing Alex to be on his toes the whole time. After a while of aggravation, Alex was able to successfully connect the Spinner with Stallord yet again sending it crashing to the ground once again.
"This time, I'll finish you!" hollered Alex as he once against the strength of the Titan's Gloves to toss the skull against the wall and proceed to lay numerous punches into Stallord before picking up the skull yet again delivering a hard suplex to it. Stallord's skull let out a hoarse yell as it flew up into the air yet again slowly but stopped in its tracks and exploded in large purple puff of smoke as Alex breathed a sigh of relief as he rode the Spinner to the top and saw Link and the others waiting for him.
"Hey Alex, you look different," commented Ryu.
"Oh yeah, the power of the Titan's Gloves, it helped me out quite a bit against the big bag of bones I just defeated," answered Alex.
"So Stallord was the boss of this domain I see, now where is Nabooru though?" pondered Link.
From out of nowhere, a cage lowered itself to the ground and lying inside of it was a Gerudo woman with her hot pink hair done up in a large ponytail, she was clothed in all white and wore a jewel encrusted necklace around her, lying next to her appeared to be another Secret Text.
"Nabooru! Let's get her out of there!" exclaimed Zelda.
"No problem," stated Alex as he effortlessly ripped through the bars of the cage before removing the Titan's Gloves, returning his body to normal.
"That's something we should have used when we got trapped in those cages the past times in this dungeon," stated Ken.
"Yeah, now that I think about it, we should have," said Alex.
Nabooru began to slowly stir awake and as she looked up at the six heroes, she breathed a sigh of relief.
"You guys came to save me I assume," commented Nabooru
"You are correct Nabooru, thank you for protecting that Secret Text from the clutches of evildoers though," commented Zelda.
"Don't mention guys, to those of you who don't know me, yes I am Nabooru, the leader of the Gerudos. When I heard that Ganondorf was causing trouble here, I came in here to see if I could stop his plans, unfortunately, I wound up getting caught by his minions. Who knows what would have happened had you not shown up when you did," answered Nabooru.
"We're lucky we did save you too, the others have been worried about you, we're glad we can bring you back safely to them," said Chun-Li.
"Good to hear that Aveil and the others are okay, let's not waste any time in getting back to them," suggested Nabooru.
"My thoughts exactly, let's be on our way now," added Link.
Without a moment's hesitance, the heroes along with Nabooru stepped into the pillar of light in the middle of the dungeon which instantly transported them outside the Arbiter's Grounds.
Author's Note: Well, things have been quite a mess on my side with work and all. Plus a break up with my girlfriend put me in a funk for a while. Thankfully though, it was a peaceful break up and we're still friends though. Anyways, I'm still waiting for word on a US release for Zelda Hyrule Historia and also I am enjoying Street Fighter X Tekken as well, it is quite fun. On another note, I'm looking forward to this year's upcoming FanimeCon and my next update should be ready sometime after Fanime. Anyways, I'm off to go plan the next chapter, until then, please read and review.