Chapter 22: Giant's Mask.
Without saying a word, Link and Zak gripped their weapons. In a flurry, Zak unsheathed his spear, while Link pulled out his sword and shield. While Zak walked out of the ranch house, the two encircled each other. Zak smirked, and Link leaped at him, swinging his sword down at him as he jumped through the air. Zak sprang to the side, narrowly dodging the attack. He stabbed at Link, his spear bouncing several times off of Link's shield. Link jumped backwards and fired several arrows at him. Zak turned his back, barely blocking the arrows with the shield on his back. While Zak's back was turned, Link seized his opportunity to charge, sword at the ready. Zak spun around wildly, his spear arching towards Link. At the last second, Link managed to block the attack with his shield, the force of which knocking him off of his feet. As Link tried to get up, Zak stepped on his arm and put the spear tip to his throat.
"No wonder you killed Zak," Link snarled, "Kill me, then. You'll be doing me a favor."
Zak narrowed his eyes, "Did you kill that monster Zora?"
"Why do you care?" Link asked, "You're the enemy."
Zak sheathed his spear, "I don't have time for this. I'm Zak. We don't have a lot of time, and I need your help."
Link's eyes widened, "That's impossible. You're-"
"I have to stop an even bigger threat," Zak interrupted. He extended his hand to help Link up off of the ground, "It's coming out of Ikana Canyon now."
"Why should I trust you?" Link replied, standing up without Zak's assistance.
"You shouldn't," Zak said, handing him his shield, "Follow me. I'll tell you what we're up against on the way."
A young Zak followed the royal Hylian guards through the castle. He couldn't help but quiver in his shoes with each step he took. They led him to the throne room and forced him down onto his knees. While he knelt, a woman approached him and touched his chin lightly, forcing his gaze up at her. Zak looked at the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. She studied him with her intense, radiant sapphire eyes. She stood up straight and nodded to the guards. They picked him up off of his feet and then left, leaving Zak alone with her.
"I am Princess Zelda," she said to him, her voice a soft velvet, "And I am going to train you how to be a true warrior."
Link stared at Zak, at a loss for words. Zak kept his eyes ahead, unresponsive. The moment of silence grew larger and larger. Link swallowed hard and opened his mouth to reply.
"So, how long exactly have you-" his question was interrupted by an earsplitting roar echoing from the bowels of the Stone Tower. From its entrance, a massive pair of stone hands erupted out, crushing the remains of the door in its palms. A massive stone monster slowly crawled its way out before standing up fully erect. It let out another massive roar, its stone mouth showing two rows of jagged teeth. The monster stood easily as tall as the Clock Tower. As it shook off the debris, Zak jumped off of his horse. Link quickly followed suit. Sensing danger, their horses fled away from them towards the field. Zak pulled out his hookshot and dropped his shield onto the ground.
"What are you planning to do to that thing?" Link asked, bewildered.
Zak aimed the hookshot at the dead tree, "I'm going to climb it, of course. Keep it distracted, alright?" He fired his hookshot, his feet sliding over to the cliff. As he ascended, he grabbed his second hookshot with his other hand and aimed it at his shield. Link pulled out his bow and took aim at the giant stone monster. He charged an arrow of light and waited, bowstring drawn. The monster lumbered closer, closing the gap between them easily. Zak stopped short near the top of the cliff, and fired at his shield. The hookshot struck the back of the shield, bounced up, and wrapped around the strap. He steadied his breathing and studied Link's expression. The stone monster's shadow spilled across them.
"Now!" Zak shouted.
Zak held the heavy shield on his arm, all the while staring down his opponent. Zelda haphazardly wiped down her rapier's blade with her gloved fingers. He hoisted his shield up and charged at her. Zelda easily dodged his charge and poked him several times with her sword. Zak swung wildly at her, and she expertly disarmed him of his sword. Zak hid behind his shield, and Zelda stabbed him almost effortlessly in the legs several times. Zak yelled out in pain, dropping his shield. She placed the blade's tip up to his throat.
"I told you," she said, amused, "You'll never beat me like that."
"But," he whimpered, blood leaking from a cut he received above his eye, "M-my dad, he-"
"Your dad would get beaten just the same," she declared, "You're too slow. Now, pick up your weapon." Zak motioned to grab his sword, earning him a fresh slash wound from Zelda's rapier. Frustrated, he grabbed at his shield with both hands. She darted to a new position to engage him again. When she lunged, Zak pinned her weapon down with the shield with enough force to snap the tip off. Zelda jumped back, surprised. Seizing his opportunity, Zak charged for his sword. Zelda's pointless rapier struck his shoulder, knocking him down to the ground. Zak struggled to get up, but Zelda forced him down to the ground with her heel.
The edge of her blade pressed against his throat, "You're now dead, kid. Attacking only my weapon will do little to stop me. Now, go get cleaned up. That's all for today."
Zak flung his shield high into the air right as Link fired his light arrow. The arrow clinked against the shield, which knocked the shield out of the hookshot's grasp and sent it flying towards the stone monster. Zak jumped off of the tree, retracting one of his hookshots and firing the other at the stone giant. It swung its massive hand at him, narrowly missing him as he flew past. He deployed his other hookshot's chain.
Link sprinted back towards Termina field, firing wildly at the stone monster with his arrows. Unphased, the monster continued marching towards Clock Town. Zak's other hookshot chain wrapped around the monster's stone wrist. His retracting hookshot brought him to his shield, which was buried into the monster's collarbone area. Zak pulled the chain around the monster's wrist as tightly as he could manage.
"Fire arrow!" Zak shouted at the top of his lungs. Link spotted his hookshot, took aim with an arrow billowing with red magic, and fired. The arrow struck Zak's hookshot, which made the chain glow a bright red. The monster howled out in pain as its hand was torn off by Zak's red hot metal chain. It reached up, grabbed him, and pitched him off. Zak flew up high into the air before he started falling down towards the ground. Link fired one of his hookshots at Zak's shield. It stabbed the shield further into the monster's collarbone. It cried out in pain, desperately clawing at the spot to get the foreign object out of its neck.
Zak put away his hookshots and narrowed himself so he could fall as fast as possible. His left hand was engulfed in green magic, while he right hand had blue magic. The monster turned its attention to Link. Right as Zak nearly hit the ground, he vanished in a flash of green light. The monster swung at Link, who stepped into the iron fittings for his boots and stuck out his hands. The monster's hand pushed down hard on him, and Link slid across the ground even with his iron boots on. He struggled against the monster's strength, aided only by his golden gauntlets. The monster wrapped its hands around him, crushing the wind out of him. Link squirmed in the monster's grip.
Zak gasped for air. Zelda held out her hand and fired several more fireballs at him. He hid behind the shield, the heat of her relentless attacks burning his arms and legs. Zak yelled out in pain, but Zelda didn't let up. She leaped to another side of the room and fired a few more fireballs at him. Barely seeing her move, Zak rolled forwards, barely avoiding her first fireball. Desperate, he threw his shield at her. Zelda caught it lazily and spun it around with her free hand while firing more fireballs at him. Zak dodged back and forth. He ran towards the side of the room where his sword had been discarded. Zelda wound up and launched the shield at him. It stabbed right in front of him, showering him with sparks from its collision with his sword. He stared in awe at the shield stuck into the stone floor with two halves of his sword on either side.
He was surrounded on all sides with fire. Zelda yawned, and the fire rushed towards him at blinding speeds. Terrified, Zak shielded himself and awaited his gruesome death. Moments passed, and he opened his eyes. Zelda stood in front of him, smiling. She stuck out her hand towards him.
"Again," she said, smiling.
Zak zoomed through the air down towards the stone giant monster, fresh from warping himself high up into the air. With his right hand, he activated his blue Love spell while he grabbed his Zora spear with the other. He unsheathed it and held it out in front of him, aiming for one specific spot. As the stone monster crushed Link in its hand, Zak crashed into the monster's collarbone. His spear struck the shield, which, still imbued with the power of Link's light arrow, erupted in a brilliant white light. The stone monster's head exploded from its body, crashing down onto Termina Field. Link fell to the ground out of the monster's grasp, gasping for air. It's body trembled, and he struggled to stand to his feet. He put his ocarina to his lips and played Zak's Song. The body dissolved, leaving nothing but its head, which shrank into a stone mask that covered the head of the wearer with an elaborate mouthpiece carving and carved eyes.
Zak's shield flew out of the crater left behind by the monster's body, slicing the mask in half. A white light drifted out of it and into the sky before fading away. Link took off his iron boots and put away his ocarina. Zak walked over and retrieved his shield.
"You're lucky," Link laughed, "You're too reckless with that shield, you know."
Zak shrugged, "I'll worry about that when it breaks. C'mon, we have more work to do."
Link held onto his knees, "Fine, fine. But, at least give me a chance to catch my breath."
Zak strapped his shield to his back, "Hurry up."