Since Link's argument had been neatly filched from under him, and the groundwork had been laid for me to meddle in every following Hero's quest, I wasn't surprised to find Groose had used the opportunity to slip past me and convince Impa to let him take over for me. Naturally, she wasn't having any of it.
"While your persistence does you credit, it is not enough to change the simple truth of the matter," she was telling him. "Your Zelda, the spirit maiden, is not destined to be saved by you."
"You mean that Knuckle-head?" Groose demanded, then flinched back violently when I tapped him lightly, having not heard me approach. Once you get used to chain-mail, it's not too difficult to move quietly. You just need a large echo filled temple with someone yelling loudly – like Groose.
"Didn't I tell you that already?" I asked him, then to Impa, "Do I really need to tell you?"
"Of course," she responded. "If you didn't, we wouldn't be allowed to continue, and after that discussion you probably don't want to upset Link any more, hm? So did you catch up with Zelda?"
"Briefly, as you know Impa – you were there. And I got given the harp-"
"So why don't you just hand it over to me and let me take it from here?" Groose interrupted again. This time I actually did hit him, though not as hard as I could have done.
"Will you cut that out?" I demanded of him. "If you don't want to accept it, go ahead and be a big baby about it, but stop bringing it up because if you want to convince Fate to change Her mind, you'll also have to convince Her that I'm not suited to the job! And I've been doing the damn job since I first left Skyloft, so I've got a fair head start on you!"
Link, who'd returned unexpectedly, appeared nearby and simply murmured, "Let me," as he passed. I don't know what he said to Groose, but I do know that the big man quickly got up and headed out through the other door – the one I'd had to unlock on my first visit.
The God didn't bother to explain, just giving a satisfied look and vanishing again.
"Perhaps now we can get somewhere," Impa murmured.
"Like confirming that it was you with Zelda?"
"You know I am not permitted to explain that," she said reprovingly. "She is a servant of the goddess even as I am."
"Because you're the same person," I persisted. "You went through the Gate too, didn't you?"
"Perhaps that is the case, perhaps it is not. Your persistence will also not change that I shouldn't be confirming that yet."
"I knew it!"
Impa sighed somewhat theatrically. "And I tried so hard to conceal it as well. At any rate, since the Gate of Time has now been destroyed, there exists only one remaining way to locate them. Naturally, it is up to you to do this."
Would you like a guess at what she said next? Even she couldn't miss my profound lack of enthusiasm.
"It is time for you to play the harp Zelda entrusted to you," she told me, confirming exactly what I'd hoped she wouldn't say.
"This is not going to end well," I muttered, retrieving it.
"Then you have not yet attempted to play it?"
"Attempted is the right word, Impa. I'm not a musician, and my hands aren't made for this."
"Fortunately, Link has thought of this – after some prompting – and you will find yourself a startlingly good pupil under my tutelage. Once we have passed the basics, pay attention to the song I will sing, as it will aid you greatly."
Sound familiar? I didn't have nearly so many songs to memorize as Silver did. I don't pretend to be particularly good with the harp, and I'm fairly sure a good part of my 'skill' was actually Link lending some divine assistance, either his own or any other divinity he probably now owed a favour to. A part of my surety comes from the fact that once I got the knack of the melody Impa was teaching me, several ethereal instruments started playing other parts, to bring it out better.
"Sort of like the Wind Waker," Sonic remarked, taking out what appeared to be an ornate silvered conductor's baton. "Haven't used it since I left, but I got an entire orchestra."
"Show off," Manic said. "Tails howls, Silver had five instruments that were all the Ocarina of Time, Knuckles got a Lyre with a bit of accompaniment, but only you get the whole thing."
"What about you then?" Silver put in. "You didn't have anything of the sort."
"Never needed it. Could have done if I'd needed, but there was never a point. So I displayed my other art instead."
"You mean the one you've been happily corrupting children around town with?" Rusl said slightly reprovingly.
"Who, me? Would I do a terrible thing like that?" Manic replied with a typically impudent smirk. The responding general agreement he would seemed to come from everyone at the same time.
"Hyrule's valuables may never be safe again," Auru chuckled.
Once I'd finally displayed that I could play the Ballad of the Goddess to Impa's satisfaction – with a suspicion that Link wasn't quite so concerned with how well I did it, and that it was more her own need for precision, a large stone tablet rose out of the floor behind where I'd been playing.
I don't read the either the Hylian or Skyloftian scripts, so naturally I couldn't tell you what it said.
Impa, however, took up her account once again.
"That Lyre is truly the instrument of Her Grace who once watched over this land, and the melodies you will play on it are imbued with Her power to produce a variety of strange and otherworldly effects."
I could have commented on my own otherworldly origins compared to Hyrule, or that Gorko was slightly ahead of me on what they might be, but Impa didn't give me the chance to say anything.
"That stone slab before you is known as a Gate of Time – the last remaining one, and the only one binding our world to that in which Zelda resides. As yet it is not open, but if you can open it..."
"Then I can catch up with her. Again. But since it's not open, I have to go on another long and arduous trek across the various lands down here, don't I?"
"Stop stealing my speech," she rebuked me gently. "Link went to a great deal of trouble to write it for me, and has a certain flair for ornate language. Let's not let it go to waste."
I almost responded, but something shook the ground with a roar from outside.
"Damn. I thought you had more time," Link said, reappearing nearby – still facing the wrong way. It took him a while to get the hang of that. "You're going to have to get out there and repair it again Knuckles, and this time it won't be as simple as a Skyward Strike. And look out for Groose!" he called after me.
When I got outside and got to the edge of the pit, I noticed two things immediately. One was Groose, who'd apparently gone down into the pit the long way, and was now busying himself running in terror out of it.
The other was what he was running from. The design seared into the rocks below had faded, and no longer had a spike stuck in the centre. Instead it was embedded in the head of a giant black beast with a gaping maw of teeth, every scale on its body as large as I was, and some stained but similarly giant white toes on its feet.
In best traditions of just about every boss monster with a giant mouth like that, the stink of its breath was almost overpowering.
I vaguely remember Link and Impa warning me not to let it leave the pit, although at the slow pace it was going it'd take it a while. I do remember as I dived off the edge toward the bottom that they started arguing over whether I'd notice something.
The only noticeable things I could see about this… this thing were the spike in its head and those nails – everything else was black except for them. But I wanted confirmation.
"Fi!" I shouted over the rushing air. "I need a weak spot to attack!"
Naturally, Fi appeared without any kind of concern for the situation and in her unruffled calm way responded, "Insufficient data to perform a detailed analysis. I hypothesize that damage may be inflicted by driving the stone pillar into the creature's head."
"I need to be able to reach it first Fi!"
"Then I recommend assaulting the beast's feet, as there is a high probability that the beast will be unable to move if you destroy all of its toes. I recommend liberal use of the air vents in this vicinity in order to place yourself ahead of it."
Sometimes I wonder if Fi knew about my rock climbing ability or not. She never seemed to mention it. Either way, she did know what I needed to know, and for all he hypotheses and probabilities, she hadn't taken too long to let me know.
It had to have gotten free while I was finishing up in the temple's remains, as it was already part way up. I glided rather than pull out the parachute to land just ahead of it while I was listening to Fi, then dived in and immediately started attacking those toes. They were tough and red lightning sparked around them each time I destroyed one, but fighting yellow ChuChus had ensured that I wouldn't make the same mistake again.
As always, I didn't bother with my shield, falling back on a mixture of fist and sword, darting between its two massive feet – even for me, it wasn't hard to avoid getting stepped on. Three toes a foot in front, and one more behind, and once all of them were destroyed it toppled over backward with another great roar. At least it made the spike easy to reach.
Rather than use the air vents, I scrambled down and along the side of the rock face to get past its huge body to the spike in its head. I paused only for a brief moment before realizing that Link wanted me to strike it with the sword, but I could do more damage punching it in instead. A good solid blow later and the beast was back on its feet, howling in pain, then fell over forward with its scales turning red – and started slithering up the path, much quicker than he'd been walking. Groose, though he was near the top anyway, somehow found even more speed out of himself and hid behind Link, who looked like he was too busy gnawing on his own knuckles.
There was no way I was climbing up quick enough to catch up with it. This time there was nothing for it but to use the air vents to catch up, and even then it took three of them because I hadn't guessed how far it would go correctly.
The beast didn't stay that way for long though. The scales gradually turned back to their polished black, and when there was no red left it got back up – with toes back intact again. It'd regrown them with impressive speed while it was red.
Since I was still up the path from it, I ran down to meet it and got stuck in destroying the toes again, which naturally made it fall over a second time. When I got to the spike I saw it had been pushed back out again, so of course I punched it back in.
"Master, I have further information," Fi said just afterwards.
"This really isn't a good moment, Fi!"
"Available information indicates a high probability that you need not attack the toes of the beast. The stone pillar remains a vulnerable target even while it is standing. You may utilize the advantage of higher ground to reach its head, which will then render the pillar accessible."
It had turned red and started to slither back up again while I was listening to Fi, and it had achieved a fair distance, but this time knowing how far it would probably get and pestering Fi for a few quick calculations meant I knew exactly which air vents to use to soar up, past it and on to a higher part of the path.
Then when it stood up again, I leapt off and landed between scales on its head. It was either unaware of me, or unable to do anything about me as I picked my way through the scales and, once again, shoved the pillar back in. With a second punch too this time, just to make sure it got the idea that I didn't appreciate it pushing it back out again. And to top it off, I added another Skyward Strike, as I had the first time I was here.
The pulsing energy from that strike shone through the black scales, briefly illuminating them and the area brightly each time, with the beast itself howling all the while. Then it froze mid-howl, turned so bright it was actually painful to look at, and exploded into shards of light, all except for the stone pillar, all of which was drawn back to that lowest, central point. What was left of the great beast was sucked into the scorched spot where the pillar had been, followed by the pillar itself hovering above it.
Then with another Skyward Strike from me, the pillar plunged back into place and the seal blazed back into existence, becoming a scorched engraving in the rock.
A/N: Yes, that apparently is an actual thing you can do to it. If nothing else it saves the time of beating up toes all the time.
As you might have noticed, if not from this chapter, then from yesterday's (to a different story - don't worry, you didn't miss anything here), I'm finally back and finding time to write. Last year didn't turn out to be so good for finding time to write, I'm hoping this is going to be a good start to putting that right this year.
It's probably about time I let Knuckles find out what else I made him get up to in Skyward Sword.