Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Zelda franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't straight up hate or flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.
Thank you and please enjoy
The Legend of Zelda: Interloper of Time
-Chapter 29-
-Last Time-
"It's too late to help her! Don't you get it! A great fairy fountain only collapses when the great fairy residing there dies!" She yelled, getting Naruto to freeze. "Lady Lanayru is dead! She's no longer here! She's…! She's…! She's..." Navi's voice died down as she spoke, becoming little more than a whisper as she went from floating in Naruto's face to desperately clinging to his cheek as tears poured down her own.
"She's… gone."
-And Now-
It was a beautiful day in Hyrule Field, the sun's warm rays fell upon the grassy earth with a mild breeze blew that kept it from getting too hot. Various small critters and insects could be seen enjoying the delightful weather conditions, filling the air with the sounds of rustling, chirping, ect.
Despite this, there was a noticeable somber air around our heroes as they trekked across the landscape. Saria was in the lead with Elia and Fi floating next to her, the ex-kokiri holding out her map for the sword spirit to be able to learn how much the terrain of Hyrule had changed while occasionally glancing at Naruto.
Said blonde was trailing several feet behind the trio, his hands held up to the side of his face where Navi was latched on. The blue fairy's natural glow had dimmed down to almost nonexistence as she sobbed quietly against the whiskered cheek she clung to.
It had only been a few days since Lanayru's passing and Navi had taken the loss hard. She had to be forced to eat, barely slept, and refused to let go of Naruto for long ever since that day. The whiskered blonde hadn't minded one bit on the last part, instead focusing on giving the small fairy the comfort she so desperately needed.
He would have preferred to let her recover a bit before they headed off, but Sheik had come to them yesterday saying that the next sage and temple would be found all the way back at Kakariko and that they needed to hurry as Ganondorf was likely preparing for them every second they wasted. Of course, Naruto punted the ninja guy halfway across Zora's Domain for disregarding Navi's emotions.
…and the fact they had to walk ALL the way back to Kakariko for a temple they could have already taken care of when they were there in the first place.
Who knew Sheik could scream at such a high decibel?
Anyway, they were headed back to Lon-Lon Ranch to ask Malon if they could use Epona again. Said ranch was slowly coming into view in the distance as they trudged along, the place looking a lot better than when they'd been there last.
A small smile appeared on Naruto's lips as he saw a healthier looking Malon out front scrubbing the sign for the ranch while humming happily. As Naruto was about to run up and greet her with his usual enthusiasm, he paused mid-step as he heard a soft sniffle coming from his small passenger.
Knowing Navi wouldn't want to be seen in her current state, the whiskered teen gently pried the fairy off his cheek and set her atop his head. The moment she made contact with the messy golden mop he called hair, Navi quickly burrowed herself down to the scalp and entwined a few of the locks around herself until she was in a cocoon-like ball.
Feeling her do this, Naruto gave a quiet sigh and patted the shivering bundle of hair softly before returning his attention to the redhead in front of him. "Hey Malon-chan! How's it going?"
"EEP!" Malon jumped in place with a loud squeak of shock, the scrubber in her hand falling to the ground with a soft thump. Spinning around to face the source of the call, the redhead barely had time to blink before she was engulfed in a tight hug.
Blinking a few times in surprise, she smiled brightly once the surprise wore off and returned the affectionate gesture with her own. "Hey Naruto, I'm doing fine. How about you guys? What are you doing back already? Who's your new friend?" As she spoke, Malon hugged Saria as well then stood in front of Fi with a curios and excited look in her eyes.
"Greetings Miss Malon, you may call me Fi." The sword spirit said with a bow. "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."
"Um, nice to meet you as well." Malon said while giving an awkward curtsy, a bit surprised by Fi's polite greeting.
"It's good to see you again Malon, but sadly we can't stay long." Saria said, getting the redhead's attention. "We're headed back to Kakariko in a hurry and were hoping that you'd let us take Epona again."
"Oh, that's not a problem, she'll be happy to see you guys again anyway." Malon said with a smile. Picking up the scrubber and bucket of soapy water at her feet, she led the group onto the property and into the stable, gawking a bit as Fi vanished back into the Master Sword.
To the two teens and one fairy's surprise, inside said stable Malon's father Talon could be found hard at work stacking large bales of hay into a pull carriage. Sweat was dripping from his brow like a fountain, but his face was locked in a determined expression.
Hearing their entrance, the stout man turned his head a bit towards them and broke out into a wide grin. "Well, well, if it isn't the young fellas who saved both my daughter and my ranch." He said, setting down the bale in his hands and pulling a rag out of his pocket to wipe the sweat off his face.
"Hey Talon-san, glad to see you less drunk than last time." Naruto said, getting a hearty chuckle from the man as he walked over and patted the blonde on the back.
"Yeah, I was certainly a mess then." Talon said sheepishly before puffing his chest out proudly. "But as you can see, I'm all cleaned up and sober as the sun."
"You certainly look more… energetic sir." Saria said, pausing briefly to think of a nice way of saying 'less lazy and depressed'.
"Thanks for noticing, now if you'll excuse me I must get back to work." The man said while moving back to his cart and grabbing the handles. "The cows aren't going to feed themselves after all."
"Uh, this may be a dumb question," Naruto started as he watched the man drag the cart away with no small amount of effort. "But are you sure that's your dad?"
"To be honest, I asked myself that same question when daddy first came back." Malon admitted with a giggle as she walked through the stable to where Epona was, briefly petting each of the horses she passed along the way. "You should have seen my surprise when he came charging in the day after you left wielding a pitchfork, hollering and screaming for Ingo to let me go."
"I guess he got tired of moping around and decided to do something to help his daughter." Saria said, getting a nod of agreement from the redhead as she let Epona out.
"That's what daddy told me once I'd explained that you guys had already dealt with Ingo. Ever since, he's been working harder than I've ever seen, saying he'd done enough slacking off." Rubbing the mare's neck, Malon led the horse to where the saddles were.
"Speaking of the scrawny ass, what happened to Ingo-teme?" Naruto asked curiously, with just a hint of anger, as he started helping put Epona's saddle on.
"He's currently enjoying the accommodations of Kakariko's jail house." Malon told him, a slight frown crossing her lips as she thought of the man before returning to her usual cheery smile. "Daddy took him there himself."
"That's good, jerk deserves it." Naruto muttered while tightening the last strap. "There you go Epona-chan, all ready to go." Neighing happily, the horse bumped his shoulder with her snout playfully, making Naruto laugh as he stroked her pure white mane. "I missed you too girl."
"You know, it still amazes me how well she's bonded with you." Malon said as they guided the horse outside and the two adventures saddled-up, Elia making sure to settle firmly inside the collar of Saria's shirt so she wouldn't get tossed around like last time.
"Must be thanks to my charming good looks." Naruto said jokingly as he struck a few poses, getting a playful slap to the head from Saria while Malon burst into giggles.
"Well either way, I wish you guys luck on your journey." The rancher girl said once her laughter died down. "And don't be strangers, it would be nice to have your next visit be longer than half an hour."
"You got it Malon-chan." Naruto said with a mock salute as he pulled his hood up and spurred Epona into a gallop. "Thanks again!"
"It's the least I could do!" Malon called out as the duo rocketed out of Lon-Lon Ranch, the redhead waving bye to them as they past the gates and hurried down the trail leading to Kakariko.
'Are your alright Mistress?' Saria jolted slightly as she heard Fi's voice echo inside her head. 'I am detecting an increase in your heartrate and unusual tightening of your jaw muscles, indicating that you are under emotional duress.'
Blushing lightly at getting caught surprising her jealousness, which she'd only recently figured out was that nasty angry feeling she'd been feeling around Malon, the greenette coughed awkwardly. 'Nope! All fine! Just a bit excited at riding Epona! Nothing else!'
'Of course Mistress.'
'…Are you patronizing me?' Saria asked, only to get no response.
-Few hours later-
Thanks to both Epona and the clear weather, it took only a fraction the time that it had before to traverse the rest of the way across Hyrule Field. The last rays of twilight were shining through the air as the horse ascended the stone path towards the settlement with her passengers.
As they approached the main gate though, Naruto gave a firm pull tug on the reigns as he heard the sound of bows being drawn, causing the mare to neigh in annoyance but stop nonetheless. "Halt, identify yourselves or we will shoot."
"Nice to see you too Marvin." Naruto said as he and Saria dropped their hoods. "Still stuck on guard duty, huh? Weren't you blabbering about a big promotion coming up?"
"Yeah, unfortunately I was only a candidate and Lady Impa doesn't take to kindly to boasters." The guard who had called out to them chuckled tiredly before turning serious as he signaled for his men to lower their weapons and the gate opened. "Speaking of, you best hurry inside, no doubt she'll be wanting to speak to you immediately."
"Got it, thanks Marvin." Saria said as she and Naruto dismounted and walked in on foot, Naruto making sure to keep a firm hold on Epona's reigns as she trotted along behind them. However, barely twenty feet in, the pair halted in shock.
In the center of the village, where there was once a simple well surrounded by a grassy clearing, there was now nothing but a shallow crater filled with muddy water and broken rock. Several of the nearby buildings were also damaged, with multiple holes and burn marks covering them. The oddest part was the multitude of indents left in the dirt that looked suspiciously like giant hand prints.
"What happened here?" Elia wondered aloud as she nervously sank deeper under Saria's shirt.
"An evil spirit called Bongo-Bongo is what." A dreadfully familiar voice said from behind them as a slender hand grabbed Naruto and Saria's shoulders. Their heads swiveling to face the source, the pair paled as they confirmed that it was indeed Impa standing behind them.
"H-hey Impa-sensei, how's it g-going?" Naruto asked weakly as he tried to inch away from the woman without avail thanks to her iron grip.
"It would seem that you two still haven't learned to always remain aware of your surroundings." Impa stated in her usual deadpan. "That will need to be rectified."
"O-oh really?" Saria whimpered…
…before a smirk suddenly appeared on both her and Naruto's faces when Impa glanced down to see the daggers digging slightly into her waist. "Because I think we got it down pretty good."
Silence filled the area as the standoff was held, with neither side budging an inch for several minutes. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Impa sighed deeply and allowed her patented mini-smirk to appear. "Not bad," She said while letting go of their shoulders, allowing the small inch long blades in her palms to be seen as she put them away. "Not bad at all."
"We had good motivation." Naruto said with a proud grin before turning back to the destruction. "So what were you saying about this Boingy-boingy thing?"
"Bongo-Bongo, it's a malevolent entity that I sealed within the well years ago when it attacked the village." Impa said, rolling her eyes in mild amusement.
"Only sealed?" Navi asked dully, her voice hoarse and cracking slightly as her head popped into view atop Naruto's head, surprising said blonde, Saria, and Elia. "If it was so evil, why didn't you just deal with it?"
"A good question," Impa admitted with a nod, "But let me ask one of my own. How do you kill something that is already dead?" Seeing the confusion on the groups faces, she elaborated. "Bongo-Bongo was once a man, a Sheikah in fact, who betrayed the tribe during the great Hylian Civil War and was executed for his crime. Unfortunately, that man was fluent in the study of magic and placed a curse upon himself that prevented his spirit from leaving this plain of existence."
"Which left you stuck with dealing with his vengeful ghost." Navi finished tiredly as she sank back into Naruto's hair until only her wing tips were visible. "And let me guess, said ghost got supercharged with Ganondorf's magic, broke free, and is now waiting to make our lives a living hell inside the next temple?"
"That about sums it up yes."
"Great… let's go kick its ass and get this over with already." Navi mumbled unenthusiastically.
"I'm afraid that it isn't that simple." Impa said, getting Navi to peek out again. "The entrance to the Shadow Temple can only be revealed using a sacred Sheikah relic known as the Lens of Truth that was also sealed within the well."
"Okay, so we have to go get that first then, let's go." Naruto said, only to blink in confusion when Impa simply reached into her pocket and pulled out a bent-up piece of purple metal with small shards of red glass on one end.
"I already have, and as you can see it isn't exactly going to be useful anytime soon. Without it, there is no way to enter or navigate the temple." The silverette said while dropping the useless hunk of metal in Naruto's hand.
"Could we get another one made?" Saria asked.
"Impossible, the knowledge on how to craft this item was lost during a great cataclysm many decades ago."
"So what do we do? Hop back in time and get it before it's broken." Naruto suggested sarcastically.
"Yes actually, that's exactly what you'll do."
…
…
"…Say what?"
-End Chapter-
-Omake: Acquiring the Fire Arrow-
-Lake Hylia-
"Are you sure this is how we get these so called magic fire arrows?" Saria asked as she stood on a slightly raised stone platform, her bow drawn and aiming towards the sun as it started to rise over the horizon.
"Lady Eldin said it would… so I'd say the odds are about one of five that this was just a prank of hers." Navi said with a shrug.
"Besides, we're already here so we might as well try. The worst that could happen is that we end up wasting an arrow." Naruto added.
"Fair enough." Saria conceded with a nod before focusing back on the sun and firing.
-Meanwhile, Realm of the Goddesses-
"YEOUCH!" A deafening screech of pain filled the air as Din suddenly fell down with her hands grasping her rear end. The cause of this sudden outburst, the arrow currently embedded inside her left butt cheek.
Quickly pulling out the offending item, Din carelessly tossed it aside as she looked around the area with her eyes ablaze, not noticing as the now glowing projectile fell straight through the floor. "Alright! Where's the wise-guy who did that?!"
'Heh, looks like I owe little Eldin those cookies I promised.' Farore thought with a suppressed giggle as she peeked around a corner to watch her sister rage.
-End Omake-
AN: I am so sorry about the long wait for this update, but there had been two things that had gotten me hung up with this story. The first was a bad case of writer's block. The second one was that, as those of you who've been with this story since the beginning know, this was the first story I started posting. Because of that, it is also my roughest and most blocky story starting off, and I have been seriously debating tearing the whole thing down and rewriting it.
In the end though, I've decided not to as to be honest, I find it nice to be able to go back and see just how much I've improved since the beginning. If any of you feel like doing an improved rewrite of it though, feel free to try, just make sure to give credit where credit is due please. Thank you for reading and please review.
