The Legend of Zelda Time Loops Special Chapter: Navi's Resolve
Authored by masterofgames
Disclaimer: Guess what? I don't own Legend of Zelda.
17.1
Navi giggled to herself as she snuck away from Link. He was so focused on forging his little pet project that he hadn't even noticed her slipping off with a shard of one of the Master Swords he was trying to combine. A few more trips for some more conventional forging materials, and Navi was all set up in a little cave she had found.
"Heh heh... Man, Link is going to be surprised when he sees this!" she grinned, pulling a set of fairy sized tools out of her pocket, placing them around a mini-forge made from the combination of fairy magic, embers of the Fires of the Goddesses, and the Spiritual Stone of Fire. "He thinks I don't see it. The way he looks at me when I try and give advice but realize he already knows. Don't see the pity in his eyes..." she muttered as she tugged a pair of tiny smithing goggles on, and slipped on a scrap of leather for an apron. "I know that look when I see it. 'Poor Navi!' he thinks! 'Her only real skill is completely worthless now! What's she going to do now?' Hmph... Think I'm worthless, will he?" she growled, hefting the hammer and flaring the forge, placing the shard inside. "Well! I'll show him! I'll show him all!" After a moment she blinked and frowned, hand on her chin. "... Wait, was that right? Hmm... Wow, I never noticed before, but time travel and reincarnation are hell on grammar." she pondered. "Well... it sounds right at least. (Ahem) I'll show him ALL!" she cackled, placing the final piece in place, a mold for a sword shaped cocktail stick. "Navi will NOT be useless, and will NOT be PITIED!"
Her maniacal laughter echoed through the tiny cave.
Link paused his work and perked his ears, tensing as a faint noise caught his attention. A moment later he smiled and relaxed, identifying the sound as Navi's laughter. "She's enjoying herself. That's a relief. She's been so moody lately, I was starting to think something was wrong. Good to see she's coping well." he chuckled, turning back to his work.
17.2
Navi snarled as she hovered in the face of her target.
"What do you MEAN you won't train me?! It's not like I'm asking you to teach me to replace you, I just need the one move!"
Her would-be instructor sneered and poked her away with a finger. "Little bug, in order to request something of someone, you must first have something that they themselves desire, be it currency, a service, a favor to call in, or simple good will. You have none of these things. Now go away. I am napping." he demanded, shifting his hat to cover his face.
Navi promptly landed, folding her arms with a smirk. "Oh, but I DO have something you want. Three things in fact." she called up to him. "One is your interest. You can try and hide it, but analysis is my specialty! You've never seen anyone like me before. 'What potential might this tiny creature posses?' you think to yourself." she grinned. "You wonder if my potential might rival your own skill someday. I know your type. What you desire above all else is a challenge! You've gotten so good, that nobody else even makes you break a sweat anymore. The only way you're ever going to face an opponent that skilled, is if you make one yourself, and you know it! I also have someone who thinks I'm worthless. And deep down, you want to know I'll prove him wrong!"
After a minute, the man slowly lifted his hat once more. "And the third thing?" he asked, piercing gaze locked upon her.
She glared back. "I have a sword. A sword that is filled with my resolve. And I would have it shown to you by crossing blades, just once. The language of the swordsman. Feel my resolve yourself and then turn me away, if you can!"
The man was still, simply gazing at her as he pondered his answer. Then he chuckled, and started to clap slowly. "Very well, little bug. You desire my technique?" he grinned as he stood, his cape catching the wind behind him as he towered over her. "You wish the power of the Greatest Slash?" An enormous fullblade strapped to his back was drawn, black as night and pointed straight at her in a perfectly steady hand. "Then draw your weapon, and prove you deserve to learn under Dracule Mihawk!"
17.3
Navi grit her teeth as she reforged her sword yet again, luminescent sweat pouring from her brow. Countless loops had passed, and in each fused one, she sought out the greatest warrior in the lands. Her thirst to prove Link wrong meant she had learned well. She had drunk of their teachings like a sponge, and one by one her list of special techniques grew. But she left them with more than just teachings. Tiny shavings of metal, knocked free by the clashing of legendary blades, had painstakingly been gathered, and each had been mixed into her own as she crafted her weapon time and again. From Mihawk, she had obtained the Greatest Slash, and shavings from The Black Sword. Meta Knight had armed her with the Sword Beam, and a tiny flake of Galaxia, granting her weapon not only even greater power, but limited sentience, as the self aware holy blade met the merest fragment of Fi from the shard she started with. From an inattentive Link in several lucky variants for her, she studied the Skyward Strike, and reforged her weapon with the new abilities to split herself into up to four of herself, and dowsing abilities.
There were exceptions of course. Like the time she had requested training from Julia Diggers. All she had gotten from her was a great deal of experience on how to get her ass kicked by both armed and unarmed foes alike, as well as a new figure, more muscular than she had ever dreamed she could be, and carefully honed reflexes, forged from pure paranoia and self preservation instincts.
Grudgingly, she had to admit that she had most likely gotten the most from that loop. She had gotten a lot of her resentment beaten out of her.
Not all of it though.
And now, all that remained was one last forging, to give her weapon the perfect shape.
Not a longsword, heavens no! Link would think she was copying him!
No, here, she forged a thinblade, of elvish design. The width of a pine needle, and just as green, it was engraved with runes and holy symbols, jeweled with carefully cut bits of the three Spiritual Stones, and shone with a shifting patchwork aura of many colors and powers.
It was sharpened to a razor edge on both sides, needle sharp at the tip, and just over three inches long.
She smiled as she finished, etching the name onto the hand guard. "Next loop is it Titania. Next loop we stop hiding from Link. We'll show him what we can do. We'll show him we aren't useless!" she giggled. "Let the lazy fairy boy sleep in. I'm saving Hyrule MYSELF!"
Navi Awoke in a land of pastel equines, as a creature known as a breezie.
With no hands.
"Damn it!" she squeaked.
17.4
'The downside of the perfect weapon,' Link mused, 'is that most weapons can very easily turn on the ones that wield them.'
Then he was forced to duck and roll to the side to avoid a stab and chop combo from Dark Link.
Dark Link had once more been formed as a direct copy of Link, with an identical blade, and identical skill with it. Link's practicing with a balance of attack and defense had resulted in him gaining an indestructible shadow shield as well.
As always, the two were perfectly matched, and so Link started pulling out new tricks to test the extent of his copy, while Navi hovered in the air in the background, pouting. Link had just HAD to have finished his sword that loop, hadn't he? He had asked Navi for a baseline run so he could test it, so Navi had to put her plans to show him up on hold.
With a flare of power from his sword, Link vanished, and Green, Blue, Red, and Purple Link faded into existence. A second flare, and Green, Blue, Red, and Purple Fi joined them.
"Huh... well that's disappointing." Green Link muttered, his entire team glaring at Black, Grey, White, and Shadow copies of themselves.
While the army of Fi clashed in the air, kicks and swirls forming blades of wind in a hurricane of violence, the eight Link charged each other.
Navi just scowled as she watched the two armies pull out new trick after new trick, none of them working, as perfectly symmetrical violence had never solved anything, and likely never would, but each still enough to further her resentment. She had worked hard for her new skills, and here Link was with several of his own, unknowingly threatening to render her obsolete once again.
Her thoughts fled her mind in cold terror a moment later.
Almost in slow motion to her mind, as each of the Links locked blades with each other, she saw a ball of light leap free from each of the Dark Links, formerly hidden in a fold of their tunics.
She saw each of them drawing a blade.
She saw them fade away, and split from four into sixteen.
She saw the blades flash.
And she saw each Link sliced into pieces as four crescents of energy cleanly passed through each of them.
"... Oh Goddesses, what have I done?" she whispered, eyes locked on her friend's unmoving forms.
"I'll tell you what you've done."
Navi's head darted upwards. The lights were surrounding her, now close enough that she could make out forms inside them, identical to her own. "You can TALK?!"
The lights flashed and merged back into four, then once more into a single entity.
Dark Navi sneered down at her, sword drawn, and the name Mab just barely able to be seen etched onto it. "You've screwed up." she chuckled, licking her sword tip with a sadistic grin.
Her normally rich blue glow fading to a pale farce of itself, Navi didn't even have time to draw Titania before Dark Navi lashed out. "Final Wave!"
She fell, and joined Link on the floor.
17.5
Link and Navi sat on opposite sides of the deserted island, each gazing out to sea from their respective shores.
The effect was rather ruined by the island being just big enough for this to mean they were both leaning against the same palm tree.
"So... That was Eiken." Link sighed, starting the no doubt awkward conversation between them by completely avoiding the subject.
Navi just groaned, her arms wrapped around her legs and her head buried in her knees. "Ugh. I hate that place. I swear, my back is still killing me..."
"Sort of boring too, once you get over the change in culture and technology levels."
"You could have warned me."
"I did."
"Well you could have said more than, 'It's Hell in disguise'!"
"Yeah, I probably could have."
"Yep"
"..."
"..."
"..."
"So you taught Fi how to fight with you?" Navi asked.
"Oh, yeah, I did. She's a quick learner."
"She was pretty good."
"Thanks."
"She looks kind of silly in red though."
"Heh, yeah, she does." Link agreed with a chuckle.
"..."
"..."
"I can't help but notice you never offered to teach me to fight..." Navi muttered, absently doodling in the sand with a finger.
Link winced. "Yeah... I never did. Did I?"
"Nope."
"Huh."
"Yep."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"It wasn't on purpose you know." Link assured her, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly. "It's just... most of the enemies we face are more her size... so I guess she just came to mind first."
"Mmm. No doubt."
"Completely accidental."
"Right."
"..."
"..."
"Those were some pretty strong moves I got hit with though. Was that just a variant, or...?"
"Hmm? Oh. No, no, I can really do that."
"Impressive."
"Thanks..."
"..."
"..."
"So... when did you learn-"
"Around the same time you started thinking of me as worthless!" Navi snapped.
"Wait what? How did I-"
"Never once asking me for any of my hard earned knowledge. Never once asking me to do something to help. Never once asking if I COULD do something to help. Ignoring me in favor of your OTHER partners. That time you went on our ENTIRE ADVENTURE without joining up with me, leaving me wandering alone, utterly clueless and worried out of my mind, looking for you the entire loop, and STILL finishing without problems, and then never so much as mentioning it the next time you saw me! I could go on..." Navi snarled.
Link flinched. "... Oh."
"SO I WILL! Never asking for any tips on how to survive while small, for your stupid little Minish loops! Never asking how I was holding up! Spending entire loops practically pretending I didn't exist!" she shouted, eyes clenched shut tightly as they started to tear up. "And if all that... ALL THAT, wasn't bad enough, you have the NERVE to do it all while thinking of me as just a... a cheap accessory!" she sniffed, wiping an eye with the back of her hand. "I-I'm not defined by who YOU are! I'm not just 'your partner'! I had a life before I ever even met you, going back nearly two centuries! I-I have a family! My mom, and dad... and little sister... And you never... once... asked! You just don't CARE! You complete... and utter... bastard!" she sobbed, falling to her hands and knees and punching the sand under her.
Link didn't really have anything to say to that.
The island was silent except for the sound of Navi's sobbing for quite some time, before Link spoke in a low voice.
"So...how is Zinni doing?"
*sniff* "...what?"
"Zinni. Your sister. Is she still flittering about whatshissparkle, Glitz?"
"...no...she...how?"
Link sighed, staring out towards the horizon. "Navi, I...I've been you. A dozen times, at least. I've been you watching over a baseline version of me, I've been you watching over a Hylian version of you. I know about your history, the Wood Dragon, your father and the Meadow War, Him" Link's tone turned slightly venomous, but then faded back to a quiet monotone. "I knew it, and so I didn't ask, because...because I took it, I took you, for granted."
Link rotated to look at her. "I'm so sorry. I didn't even think. I..." He shook his head. "No, there is no excusing it. I was wrong." He glanced away, back towards the ocean.
"I think...out of all of my companions, you are really the only one I felt was mine. Tatl and Tael, they were just hanging around till we found the Skull Kid. Ezlo and the King of Red Lions, both of them had their own agendas, they were more like mentors than partners. Midna..." Link chuckled while Navi let out a low growl. "Midna is complicated, but we were always more like master and butler, or princess and noble steed, than actual partners. Fi probably comes closest, but..."
Link let out a long breath. "Every partner I've had comes with a quest attached. Without the mission to stop Demise from rising, there is no need for me to wield Fi. Without Zant's lust for power, there is no need for me to even meet Midna. And yeah, you first came to bring me to the Deku Tree to start a quest. But even in the Loops where Ganondorf was a noble man and Hyrule was at peace, we were still partners. You were still there for me."
"...Link..."
Link slumped slightly. "I know that you have a life beyond being my partner. Heck, most of the time, I'm not even your first partner. Or second." Link turned to look at her again, where she had fluttered up to his eye level. "Navi, I've never thought that you were useless or worthless. Yeah, I have enough skill that I can beat almost any foe we will face with nothing but a Deku Stick. That's not the point. I don't need you to be a better fighter. I need you to be you. To be my partner." He took a deep breath, and then crossed his left arm across his chest, the Triforce symbol glowing. "And I swear, upon the Triforce, that I will be a better partner for you. I will be there for you, and I will listen when you have something to say." The mark glowed, and he then nodded.
Silence followed his declaration for over a minute, before Link spoke again. "So, can you give our partnership another chance, Navi?"
Navi floated, turning away, before nodding. "Yeah...I think I can."
Link smiled.
Navi smirked. "I'm still going to kick your ass to show off what I've learned. No way is all that training going to waste."
Link stuck his tongue out at her playfully, quickly reaching over to grab her, then rubbing her head rapidly with a finger. "You can try, 'Flitter Glitter', you can try."
"Hey! Only dad gets to call me-Ack! Link! No! Not the hair! Damn it, that's fighting dirty!"
17.6
Link and Navi stood at the edge of Hyrule's northern border, with nothing but the great mountain range as far as the eye could see.
Link smirked down at her. "You sure you want to do this? I put a lot of time into my moves. You've already got the size disadvantage in this. I really don't see how I'll wind up losing."
Navi just huffed, nose in the air as she pointedly looked away, one hand resting on her hip, the other casually on Titania's hilt at her side, resting in a brand new scabbard on her custom made, jewel encrusted tiny belt. She was grinning though. "Why Link! It almost sounds like you're scared! If that's the case, you might as well hand over my prize right now, before it decides to run away from you."
Link chuckled, holding his hand out teasingly towards her as his Triforce shone for a moment. "Oh I'm not scared, and I have no intention of giving this little beauty away. You just be ready with MY prize."
Navi shot him a dirty look. "Take Zelda's place in all things paperwork, political, and patriotic for an entire loop? From Skyloft to wherever it branches off? You made a mistake there Link. I was already going to win, that bet only got me motivated."
Link merely drew his sword with a grin in response. His masterpiece, for the time being at least, was nearly three times the size of the Master Sword, almost half as big as the Biggoron Sword, and thanks to his gauntlets was happily being twirled in one hand, despite being a two-and-a-half handed sword at the very least. One edge was straight, but the other was the interwoven bands of the Helix Blade, giving it a curve, and letting Link use his traditional, Fierce Deity, or Gerudo styles with equal ease.
Navi rolled her eyes with a smirk as she drew her own sword. "Yeah, okay, it's pretty. But it's so bulky and unwieldy, no finesse at all, and your style leaves much to be desired, waving it around like a feather duster. You fight like a dairy farmer!"
Link's eyes sparkled. "How appropriate, you fight like a c-"
Navi's eyes narrowed in a flash as her head whipped around to look him dead in the eyes, the world almost going dark around her as her glare seemed to fill his entire field of vision.
"... N-nevermind..." he relented.
Link started things off with his usual playfulness, winding up and twirling into a spin-attack, a green band of energy forming in the wake of his sword tip. After a few rotations, he halted his movement and flicked his wrist. The wake of energy shot off, fusing end to end into a disc, as if Link had merely thrown a large Frisbee, or chakram.
It cleanly sliced through four large oaks before exploding on impact with a fifth.
Link grinned. "I call that one the Light Slicer."
Navi yawned, making a big show of it. "I call it the Grass Cutter. Master it, and you may one day own a lawn care business of your very own."
Link folded his arms with a huff. "Let's see you do better then... and there is nothing wrong with practicing a move and making some cash at the same time!"
Navi smirked. "Gladly." she teased with a mock bow.
Drawing her sword, she lazily fluttered through the trees, casually passing them one by one while smiling and humming a little tune. After a ways, she turned back, and fluttered back to Link, landing daintily on his shoulder, and removing her scabbard from her belt.
Link just raised an eyebrow. "... Was that it? You didn't do anything."
Navi just raised an eyebrow. "Didn't I?" she giggled lightly, sliding her sword slowly into her scabbard in front of her, one in each hand, though stopping with the barest hint of the blade still out. "Three Step Humming..." she muttered, before a huge smirk crossed her face. "Arrow-Notch Strike!" she finished with a shout, snapping her sword all the way in with a sharp 'chink'.
The moment her weapon was fully sheathed, every tree she had passed collapsed as one, sliding apart on sharply angled cuts before crashing to the ground.
"... I could do that if I wanted."
"Sure you could. Your move?"
"Yeah, but let's take this up a level and take this to the boulders."
"Fine by me."
Link merely watched as Navi settled herself into a bracing stance, her sword drawn and arm wound back. Several boulders were set before her in a row, each guarding the next like a solemn shield bearer. Navi closed her eyes and took a deep breath, steadying her hand.
So she needed calm huh? He could work with that. "Don't strain yourself. We can always get some rocks you can actually handle instead. I think I have some slingshot pebbles somewhere you can use." he teased.
Navi shot him a dirty look, but said nothing.
"Nice to see you're aiming high though. Those are almost half the size of the ones I used when I started training Fi."
A rapidly twitching eyebrow was his reward."Link... I know what you are trying to do, and it won't work..." she growled.
He was getting to her. One more choice push should do it.
He waited until she had fully pulled back for her strike before delivering. "Super Sonic THR-"
"Nice stance by the way. ALMOST perfect. Maybe Ruto can give you some pointers."
"I AM MORE SKILLED THAN THAT GOLD DIGGING PARTNER STEALING FISH!" Navi roared, eyes glowing bright red as she turned to yell at him.
This of course meant that her aim was off, and the row of boulders she had been planning to skewer instead performed a masterful imitation of a pool table shot, flying in all directions and smashing off the landscape at top speed. Link had to duck to avoid one more than once.
It didn't go exactly to plan however, as the repeated pounding of the rocks against the cliff wall behind them rapidly cracked and collapsed it, causing an avalanche to cascade down as the tremors demolished everything they passed through.
When the dust had finally settled, Link managed to get back to his feet and shook the rubble and powder from his hair and clothes. "Huh. Well that backfired." he sighed, gazing up at where a fairly large mountain used to be. "Yep, not beating that with a thrusting move."
Navi hadn't noticed his ceding of the round. Nor, in fact, had she noticed her own move going wrong, or the rampant destruction around her.
She was too busy ranting. "-with four goddess damned eels, tied into a rope! Sideways! Calling her a warrior!? HA! If all is fair in love and war, she only heard half of it! It's a wonder-"
"Note to self..." Link muttered as she spelled out step by step several increasingly anatomically improbable things his occasional fishy fiance would probably mistake the use of various weapons for rather than fighting. "Navi has more issues than she'll admit..."
"-tartar sauce! And let me tell you another thing! She CAN'T explain it away by being my sister that time! She'll deny it, but you don't steal FOUR of your little sister's prospective love interests by accident! Just because-"
17.7 - (By Me)
Navi's eye twitched as the old Picori launched into yet another story of his youth. Navi loved learning new facts as much as anyone (probably more than most), so she was dutifully taking notes, gleaning bits of information from the rambling tales. Still, she had come to see Librari after hearing that his large feather came from a Cucco he fought against in his youth. She wanted to train in the techniques used by someone her size to fight larger opponents.
A sharp scream from outside of the book cut off Librari's latest tale (and masked Navi's sigh of relief at the distraction). More shouts followed, and the two of them made their way out to see what was going on.
A large black cat had apparently ran in through the front doors of the library, and was dodging the human's attempts to grab it. Suddenly, it twisted around and leapt up the side of the bookshelf they were on! Navi leapt back lightly, drawing Titania, as a black paw clawed into the shelf, and the bulk of the cat pulled itself up. However, before she could leap forward to attack, she felt her hair stand on end as a massive spike of energy rose behind her.
She glanced back to see Librari in a vaguely familiar pose. The chant he then uttered connected the dots.
"Pi-co-ri-co-HA!"
- Well, that was an amazing journey. And it's not over yet. Navi will continue to grow, and her future adventures will be contained in future chapters of the Legend of Navi Time Loops, along side her sidekick
Navi, what are you doing?
Oh, um, bye!
Right, well, anyway, thanks for reading, and do stay tuned for further adventures from all of the Legend of Zelda Loopers.