Hello folks, this week we continued the story of Ocarina of Time. Link only has two more temples to go, but who or what will he encounter in these mystical but dangerous places...?
Link and Navi's journey took them to Kakariko Village to meet with Sheik, only to see him near the center of the village near the windmill, staring down at a well Link had past by many times before.
"Sheik?"
"Hero... get away!"
Suddenly out from the well came a shadowy creature that grabbed the two and hurled them around like rag-dolls. Eventually Link was thrown into a building and landed down on his rump, he weakly looked over and saw the shadowy creature moving across the ground towards the Kakariko Graveyard in the back of town. He turned and saw Sheik laying on the ground in a daze, and went over to help him up.
"You alright there?" Link asked, feeling another strange sensation again like before, though this was even more confusing compared to past times...
"Yes, thank you." gasped Sheik.
The ninja explained the situation to Link and Navi; an evil being was sealed away inside the well many decades ago by the remaining members of the Sheikah clan. Zelda's nanny Impa, who was also Sheik's mentor, had been tasked with watching over the seal since their passing, but upon finding out Link's recent victories at the other temples, Ganondorf decided to release the being and use it to curse the Shadow Temple, so Impa had gone off to put a stop to it.
The ninja then told Link the words he was dreading to hear, that Impa was the one to become the Shadow Sage, and he pleaded with Link to save her.
The Shadow Temple turned out to be a truly horrifying place. It reminded Link more of a torture chamber than a sacred temple. The giant guillotines and pitfalls were scary enough, but seeing the bones and blood everywhere, as well as the ghastly decorations, chilled him even further.
At one point, Link found himself huddled in a small room with a treasure chest he found a map to the temple at, in order to have a safe rest. He was hugging his legs and shivering at the horrific images and creatures he had experienced there so far, including a horrible monster called a Dead Hand that tried to grab and devour him.
Navi couldn't fight at all, so she just did whatever she could to comfort him through the horrifying ordeal...
Soon Link arrived at the end of the temple where he found himself in a black void on top of, oddly enough, a giant drum, and saw Impa also standing atop it staring down the true form of the shadowy creature that attacked him and Sheik earlier; a giant ghostly creature with large dismembered hands and single yellow eye know as Bongo-Bongo.
"It's time I put an end to you." Impa spoke with a kunai out, "You've been a blight on the Sheikah for long enough!"
"Impa, do you need a hand?!" Link asked, running up alongside her.
"Little Hero?" exclaimed Impa at the sight of the green-clad hero with his fairy friend, she saw the Master Sword in his hand and smirked, "Glad to have you here."
The two of them both charged in against the monster. They found damaging the eyes on the hand palms stunned it long enough for them to wail away at the eye of the monster itself. It didn't take long after that before Link and Impa dealt the final blow to the creature and it was finally destroyed.
Shortly after, the two were engulfed in bright light and stood in the Chamber of Sages, and Link sadly looked over at Impa now standing on the purple symbol of shadows.
"You did well Hero. You helped me destroy that fiend that's caused my people so much trouble in the past." Impa spoke.
"Listen, is what Ruto told me true?" Link asked, "Is Zelda still alive?"
"Indeed she is." nodded Impa, then said with a bit of regret in her tone, "We Sheikah devoted ourselves to protecting the royal family of Hyrule, and I aimed to see it through to the end... Unfortunately though I can't do anything to protect Zelda anymore as I am now, thanks to my destiny as a sage..."
"..."
"But seeing you with that sword, you've become far stronger then I could have imagined, so I'll leave her in your capable hands."
Before Link could even respond to that, he and Navi were transported back to Kakariko Village.
Link looked around Kakariko Village and saw the darkness that had been lingering around the place caused by Bongo-Bongo to be gone now, and then saw Sheik standing beside a nearby house.
"Well done Hero, that's four temples down, one to go." Sheik spoke.
"Listen... I'm sorry about what happened to Impa." Link said walking up to him, "You said she was a mentor to you right?"
"...yes indeed." spoke Sheik, "She was strict but patient, and I owe so much to her. I don't know where I would had been without her..."
"Aren't you sad you might not ever see her again?" Link asked.
"... ...the last temple you should find is the Spirit Temple out in Gerudo Valley." Sheik ignored his question, "I'll do some investigating into that place myself and get back to you, good luck Hero of Time."
With that Sheik disappeared with a flash, leaving Link and Navi little choice but to go off on their way.
Link and Navi eventually arrived at the desert canyon of Gerudo Valley, where they came across a giant stronghold known fittingly as Gerudo Fortress. The place was populated with tan-skinned desert women known as Gerudo. From what he was told, this was the tribe Ganondorf was born from, and he was the rare male born once every one hundred years, so by their laws he became their king.
Link had never seen women like the Gerudo before; their tan-skinned bodies, golden eyes and round ears were a huge contrast from the fair-skinned, pointy-eared people of Hyrule. They were rather pretty, but also incredibly strong and hardened warriors. They also had a zero-tolerance policy about men invading their territory, as they had imprisoned some carpenters who tried to meet them. Link decided to free the carpenters and plan out a way to get to the desert. The Gerudo proved to be powerful, but Link was able to win against them in combat and free each of the prisoners.
The carpenters told Link about the rumors they've heard about the Gerudo, namely one of their greatest warriors known as the Grand Colonel Nabooru. They said she was second-in-command of the Gerudo army, that she was a dangerous killer, she had a knack for manipulating people through hypnotism, and that she used the Spirit Temple as her hideout. Whoever this woman was, it seemed she was going to be a difficult opponent for Link if it came down to it...
After his accomplishment of freeing the carpenters though, the Gerudo recognized his feat of strength and cunning, and made him an honorably member of their people. Before they were hostile, but after freeing the prisoners, the Gerudo treated him quite well. He even got a chance to try out the tests of their training grounds, as well as compete in Gerudo Horseback Archery where he managed to land a perfect score which surprised and delighted them.
One day as he was resting to prepare for his journey to the Spirit Temple, a Gerudo woman approached Link and gave him a flirtatious smile.
"Hey there, I heard about your success in the archery game, nice work." the Gerudo said, "The only other person to pull that off was Lady Nabooru herself!"
"Oh thanks..." Link said, looking a little embarrassed at the silk outfit the woman wore and how much skin it showed off.
"You're not a bad looker either, much better than the fat, homely carpenters we captured before." she spoke with an increasingly lustful voice as she knowingly pressed her breasts against Link's body, "How'd you like to ride something other than a horse for once?"
Link's face turned bright red as he looked eye-to-eye at the woman. Her golden eyes seemed to be piercing into him, and was experiencing a warm feeling from her chest pressed against his own...
"E-Excuse me I gotta go!" he pulled himself away and ran off, leaving the woman confused. When he went into his sleeping quarters the Gerudo gave him he locked the door and gasped out.
"Wow, those girls are pretty shameless, aren't they?" Navi asked.
"Ugh... it hurts again..." Link said trembling, as he clenched at the spot between his legs.
"Oh no, why did it happen this time?" Navi asked, not being well versed on humans and their anatomy, she was baffled about what was causing that part of Link to react like it was.
"I don't know... that lady was getting all close like Malon did before... and something about her is making me feel weird..." Link groaned, "I hope this isn't some kind of curse..."
'Poor Link... he's been through so much...' Navi thought to herself as she watched Link get under his bed covers in some attempt to relieve himself.
After a long journey across the desert, Link and Navi soon found themselves at the Desert Colossus, the location of the Spirit Temple. Link looked up at the towering statue engraved on the impressive-looking temple. According to the Gerudo, the statue was that of the Gerudo Desert Goddess Aifet.
When Link and Navi attempted to go inside though, compared to how huge it was outside, they saw very little to it inside. There was one small hole that Link couldn't even come close to fitting inside, and other route blocked off by a strange silver block with a crescent moon engraved on it.
"Huh, kinda cozy isn't it?" Navi asked.
"Yeah, cozy enough that someone was staying here." Link noticed a sleeping bag, some books, some eating utensils, and a lot of empty liquor bottles, though none of it looked like it had been used in years, "Maybe it was that Nabooru person?"
"Wonder what we can even do here?" Navi asked looking around.
"When the present brings mystery, sometimes it's best to look back into the past." spoke a voice, as Link and Navi both turned to see Sheik standing before them.
The ninja gestured to a snake statue with some writing on it, and pointed out a musical note score engraved on it. He told Link it was the Requiem of Spirit, and he could use the Ocarina of Time's magical power to transport himself to the Spirit Temple by playing it. He suggested Link go to the Temple of Time and put the Master Sword back in the Pedestal of Time to return to the past.
Link was baffled at the aspect of returning to the past, but went ahead and did as he said.
There was a certain bittersweet feeling Link had from returning back to the Hyrule of the past and seeing it in the relatively peaceful time before Ganondorf conquered it, but it still hurt knowing that this peace wouldn't last for much longer. Rauru had advised him not to say or do anything that could drastically change what has already happened, as it could lead to damaging to what Link had already accomplished.
There was a part of Link that wanted to go meet Saria, Darunia and Ruto while he was still here, since they hadn't yet become sages. But he knew if he did he would only feel sad about it, now knowing what was to become of them. He just went ahead and used the Requiem of Spirit to travel straight to the Desert Colossus and get into the temple.
This time when Link ran in, he saw a new person standing before the small passage on the left.
It was a tall and beautiful young Gerudo woman. Like most of them she had flaming red hair and shining golden eyes. She was dressed in a pink silk outfit, and had a top-down ponytail held together by a jewel. She had curves to her body, but also plenty of muscle. She also had twin scimitars attached to her belt.
Link found himself awe-struck by her beauty. It was a similar feeling to how he felt when he met Zelda for the first time, but in this case it was something... far different. Zelda was sweet and cute, but this woman was on a whole other level.
"Hey Link?" Navi whispered, "You doing okay there?"
"Uh, yeah." Link shook his head and went up to the woman to greet her, "E-Excuse me!"
"Hm, and who might you be?" spoke the woman turning to see him, "What's a child like you doing all the way out in a dangerous place like this?"
"Hi... um... my name is Link, and this my fairy Navi." he said.
"... ...Link you say? What kind of name is that?" spoke the woman, leaning down and squeezing his face in her hand to examine him.
"Hey, leggo!" Link exclaimed, as Navi laughed out.
"Well whatever, you must be pretty tough to make it all the way out here! I gotta admire that!" she said with a smirk, "Pleased to meet you, the name's Nabooru. Now what brings you out here?"
'This is the Nabooru I heard about?!' Link thought, she seemed so much different than the rumors he had heard about her. Regardless, he sucked up his nerve and stated, "I'm... I'm here to stop Ganondorf from taking over Hyrule!"
"Wait Link, remember what those carpenter guys before said? If she's part of their army then maybe you shouldn't tell her-!" Navi whispered, but Nabooru spoke up.
"Taking on Ganondorf huh? That's pretty reckless and dangerous... but I can admire that!" Nabooru stated with a big smile.
"Really? Don't you work for him or something?" Navi asked.
"Well I may be considered the Grand Colonel of the Gerudo army, but I've grown fed up with that fiend. He has no qualms about hurting or killing innocent women and children, he has a blatant disregard for his own people... and I can never forgive him for what he's done..."
Nabooru turned away with a sad stare in her eyes for a moment, but then looked back down to Link and grinned, "For you to stand up to a bastard like that... I think I like you, kid!"
"I'm not a kid!" the child protested, prompting Nabooru to laugh out.
"So here's the thing kid, I've been investigating this temple to find the power I need to stop Ganondorf, and I think it's deeper inside this place." Nabooru stated, putting a hand up to the left wall, "I've discovered a hidden door here, but the switch to open it is on the other side. I found a way through under this little passage. I can't fit down there, but I think a shorty like you can get inside!"
"Shorty?!" Link exclaimed, making Navi giggle, "Don't you talk, you're even shorter than me!"
"You may be short, but it's because of that you're going to be a huge help!" Nabooru said, "You help with this, kid..." she smirked a little, "...and I promise to give you something really great in the future!"
"Alright, sounds good!" Link nodded with a smile, as the two took and shook each other's hand.
With that, Link crawled into the passage and sure enough found a switch to open a secret door. This gave Nabooru the chance to follow him in and search the temple with the young lad.
There was numerous monsters and traps like Link was used to from the previous temples, but they were far more daunting for him as a child. Thankfully unlike other other temples he wasn't alone, as he had Nabooru by his side helping him avoid the traps and fight off the monsters. She was an amazing fighter with her twin scimitars, even more so than the Gerudo he had fought in the future.
"Look out kid!" Nabooru shouted, grabbing Link and dodging to the side to avoid a rolling boulder, "You okay?"
"Y-Yeah..." Link blushed at her holding him so closely.
"Watch out!" Navi shouted. They looked up to see some flaming bats known as Fire Keese coming at them, so Link puled out his slingshot and shot them all down.
"Heh, nice shootin' there." grinned Nabooru.
"Learned it from a friend of mine!" Link nodded, thinking about the times he would play Berry-Blitz with Saria in the forest. He dwelled on those memories, remembering the last time he saw his friend in the Chamber of Sages...
"Hey kid, snap out of it!" Nabooru shouted, using her scimitars to cut down a bandaged undead monster known as a Gibdo down. She looked to see the pained look in Link's eyes, wondering just what he had gone through, "Come on, we better get going before more come."
"O-Oh, right. Sorry." Link said, following after Nabooru.
Soon the three came to a stop in an empty octagonal room. It appeared to be a dead end, but they found a gap for someone as small as Link to crawl through.
"Looks like this is the end of the line for now. Let's stop and take a break." Nabooru said, she pulled out her canteen and drank some water down, letting out a gasp. He looked over at Link drinking from his own, "Gotta say kid, I knew you were tough already, but you really pulled through back there!"
"Thanks, I've been doing this for a while now." Link gasped, savoring the water, "So what are we trying to find in here anyway?"
"I spoke with a Gerudo mystic who sides with me, she said if I came out here to the temple, I would find a great power that could help me defeat Ganondorf." Nabooru explained, "I've read about a pair of Silver Gauntlets that are said to give the wearer great strength, so they must be it!"
"So that's what you're after." Link nodded, "Wait, you said a mystic from your tribe is helping you?"
"That's right, most of our people pledge their loyalty to Ganondorf, but I do have a few allies that share my views. We've been working in secret to try and overthrow that bastard king of ours."
"Wow, I didn't know that there were Gerudo fighting the demon king too!" Link spoke in astonishment.
"Yes, while there's been some resentment about being ruled under Ganondorf, none of them have had the courage to confront him. Those who oppose the Gerudo king in the past were often met with imprisonment or death..." Nabooru spoke distantly, "But I couldn't allow the fear to let us consume us forever, so I decided to start this little uprising."
"You're a lot different than what we were told." Navi said.
"Yeah,we Gerudo don't exactly have the best reputation around Hyrule as thieves and killers, and I honestly can't blame anyone for thinking that."
Nabooru took a sip of her water and stared upwards.
"But I want the Gerudo to be more than that. What I want more than anything, is for the Gerudo to live free from Ganondorf's authority, and become more than what we are. To ally with Hyrule and peace peacefully among the people, and build a better future for everyone."
"A better future... for everyone..." Link whispered, his eyes lit up, "That's amazing Nabooru, you're a really neat lady!"
"Heh, you're a pretty amazing little brat yourself!" Nabooru grinned, giving him noogies on his head with her fist, "You remind me a lot of myself when I was a kid. I'm sure we're going to make a great team!"
Link smiled at those words, but then stared back up at the beautiful desert woman sitting beside him, as she took another gulp of water. He squeezed at his canteen as he thought about Ruto saying something similar back when they defeated Morpha, just before she...
"I really hope it's not you..." Link whispered.
"Huh?"
"Nothing."
Once Link had rested up, he crawled under the passage to try and find a way to let Nabooru in with him like they did back at the entrance, but found there was no such switch.
"Ugh, I don't even see a hint of a door. Looks like this is as far as I go." Nabooru called out, "You sure you don't want to double back?"
"It's okay, I'll go get the gauntlets and be right back for you!" Link called back.
"Okay, look for a way outside, that's where the gauntlets should be. Good luck kid!" Nabooru said.
"Hey Navi, I see some light, I think we're almost outside!" Link said going down a hall after doing some more exploring of the temple.
"Alright, just like Nabooru said!" Navi exclaimed.
"We just need to get the treasure to her and hopefully it'll help us get to the other side of the temple." Link said.
"Sounds good!" nodded Navi, "I gota say, Lady Nabooru's a lot cooler than I thought, and you two work really great together!"
"You think so too?" Link asked, rubbing the back of his head.
"Definitely!" Navi nodded, as Link ran ahead, she stopped for a second thinking about how Darunia, Ruto, Impa and Nabooru all fought alongside him against the monsters before, and whispered to herself, "I wish I could do more to help you like that..."
"Navi?" Link called out.
"Coming!"
Link ran outside into the hot desert air seeing the path led to the open palm of one of the Goddess Aifet statues' hands, and saw a treasure chest on it. He opened it up and sure enough found a pair of silver gauntlets. They were too big for a kid like him to wear, but they were exactly what Nabooru wanted.
"Got em!" grinned Link.
"Hey kid!" shouted out a voice, as Link looked down from the statue's palm to see Nabooru had made it outside, "Nice work! Come on down and we'll figure out our next plan of action!"
Link nodded, looking down at the shape of the statue to see he could probably just slide down it to get to the ground. He called out, "Okay, just me a second to-!"
"Eeeeehehehehe! Not likely!" spoke out a cackling voice.
Link and Nabooru looked around in confusion for the mysterious voice, before they saw two witches, one blue and one orange, fly down at the young Gerudo woman. They were Koume and Kotake, the surrogate mothers of Ganondorf, and were also known as the dark sorceress Twinrova.
"Hello again Grand Colonel!" cackled Koume of the twin witches.
"You two..." Nabooru said narrowing her eyes, unsheathing her scimitars, "Ganondorf must have sent you, didn't he?"
"Keheheheh, indeed! You defiant little worm, you've gotten in King Ganondorf's way long enough!" said the other witch Kotake, "Time to deal with you!"
Before Nabooru could attack them, she felt the ground open up underneath her, and she started getting sucked into a strange purple void like quicksand. Try as she might, she couldn't break free.
"Nabooru!" Link shouted out.
"K-Kid! Help me!" Nabooru shouted out, reaching out at Link, only to sink inside the void. The two witches then flew inside the temple.
"Not her too..." Navi whispered, she turned to see Link was clenching his fists, shaking slightly.
"No, I'm not going to lose anyone else!" Link shouted.
"Let's go down, maybe we can save her in time!" Navi exclaimed. He quickly climbed down the statue and ran into the temple to confront the witches. There he saw them floating in the center of the room.
"Well, well, who's this little runt now?" Kotake asked.
"Dunno, but we got more important things to deal with." Koume said, "Namely the traitorous Grand Colonel!"
"Let go of Nabooru now!" Link shouted, pulling out his Kokiri Knife and wooden Kokiri Shield. He charged at the witches but Koume easily blasted him away with fire, destroying his shield.
The witch looked to Link with a big grin and a creepy round eye, "You weak little fool, it's going to be years before you could ever hope to challenge us!"
The two flew off and disappeared through a wall on the right side of the temple where the giant block was. Link tried pushing on it but it didn't move, he desperately tried putting on his gauntlets in some hope of getting the strength to move the block, but found his arms couldn't even hold them properly.
"Poor Nabooru... What are we gonna do?" Navi asked.
"..." Link looked up at the block. Try as he might, he couldn't move it., and even if he did, could he even fight the witches as he was now...?
"You weak little fool, it's going to be years before you could ever hope to challenge us!"
"Link?" Navi asked.
"... ...I think there's one way we can get in here. I have to get the Master Sword and become an adult again..." Link spoke, "Then I can wear these gauntlets."
"I guess that makes sense." Navi admitted.
"Yeah, but Nabooru..." Link whispered, he looked back up at the block. He brought his hand up and stroked the block, thinking about the smile she gave him as she complimented how well they worked together, "Hold on Nabooru, I'm coming to help you... no matter how long it takes."
Link traveled to the Temple of Time where he pulled out the Master Sword, transporting him back to the dark future ruled by Ganondorf, and he used the Requiem of Spirit to transport himself to the Spirit Temple once again.
He ran inside with the Silver Gauntlets on his arms, and while as it turned out they didn't literally give him superhuman strength, they did offer him the power to specifically push the silver blocks, which was all he could ask for, and he and Navi ventured deep into the temple. Using the knowledge he had gained from exploring the temple with Nabooru, he was able to outmaneuver the traps and take down the monsters. He even managed to find the Gerudo treasure known as the Mirror Shield on the temple statues other hand.
Eventually Link made his way to one room with an armored knight called an Ironknuckle blocking off a door that led to the temple's inner sanctum. The knight wielded a powerful battleaxe as it's weapon, and Link found it's battle ability to be pretty impressive, far greater than any other Ironknuckle he fought before. Regardless of it's skill, he was able to break off it's armor piece-by-piece whenever he had an opening.
When Link finally managed to knock off the helmet, the armor disintegrated off of the strange knight who then fell to their knees, and he was shocked at who it was underneath.
"Nabooru?!" Link exclaimed.
Nabooru groaned out in a daze, "Ugh... who are...?" she gazed up at the young man before her, she saw the fairy flying around him, the blonde hair, the green clothes, and his blue eyes...
"Nabooru are you okay?" Link asked kneeling down to her.
"Kid...?" Nabooru whispered, looking into his eyes, "Is that you...?"
"Yeah, it's me." he spoke with a goofy grin.
"Oh dear, looks like she's snapped out of the mind control we had on her. Such a stubborn one." spoke a voice, as Link saw Koume and Kotake appear before them.
"You stay away from Nabooru!" Link shouted.
"You..." whispered Naboru, snapping out of her daze, she narrowed her eyes angerly, "You damn witches... I'll cut you both down!"
Nabooru took her scimitars and swung them out at Koume and Kotake, but they quickly teleported away behind the door before them.
The Gerudo woman took a breath, and turned to Link, seeing the Silver Gauntlets on his wrists. He also had the Mirror Shield in one hand and the Master Sword in the other hand. She gazed at his strong body and young handsome face...
"Hey kid, there's a lot we should probably talk about later, but first let's deal with those two hags!" Nabooru said.
"Definitely." Link nodded. He asked with some concern, "You sure you can still fight though?"
"Of course I can." grinned Nabooru, "Now let's do it!"
Link, Navi and Nabooru burst into the room of the temple's grand sanctum. They saw Koume and Kotake flying around, seeming to be in a heated argument over what to do about Nabooru being freed and the strange man that had interfered with them. Link pulled out his bow and arrow and fired a shot at one of the sisters, making them turn and leer at him and Nabooru.
"So they followed us after all!" said Koume, igniting with flames.
"Let's freeze and fry them both then!" cackled Kotake, engulfing herself in ice.
"Bring it you hunched-over old farts!" Link shouted, Nabooru snorted in amusement at his choice of words as the witches got angrier from it.
"I'm going to make you both pay for the last seven years, with interest!" Nabooru shouted, as they charged into battle.
The two witches fought back against Link and Nabooru with their fire and ice magic. Nabooru did her best to evade and distract the witches, while Link used the Mirror Shield as an effective weapon against the two, repelling the elemental magic of one to strike at the other.
Eventually the two witches decided to step up their battle strategy and fuse together into the mighty sorceress Twinrova. Her power was far greater combined, but that in turn made the attacks Link reflected back at her much more powerful. With a final mighty swing of Link with his Master Sword and Nabooru with her scimitars, the sorceress was cut down and destroyed. The two witches departed to the world of spirits, nagging back and forth at each other the whole time.
With Twinrova gone, Link let out a deep breath as he sheathed his sword. He looked over to see Nabooru smiling proudly at him, but he could only sadly brace himself for the bright light to send him to the Chamber of Sages, prepared to see the one he guessed would be next to be a part of that place...
Sure enough, standing before him in the fountain room chamber was Nabooru. She had a hand to her hip and staring out at Link with a small smirk on her lips.
"Nabooru..."
"Hey kid, nice work saving me from those witches." Nabooru said, "They used their hypnotism to make me do some horrible things over the past years that I'm not proud of..."
"I-I'm sorry it took so long for me to save you..." Link spoke sadly, wondering what she went through, "I had no idea what to do for you back then..." he hung his head down, "...cause I was too small and weak..."
"Heh, don't worry about it kid, I know you didn't have much of a choice." Nabooru shook her head, "Besides, sometimes life can just surprise you. I mean, who would have thought someone like me would end up becoming a sage?"
Despite her attempts to hide it behind her smile, Link could see even she was trying to force it. Unlike Saria, Darunia, Ruto and Impa though he didn't know much about Nabooru and her past life, so he wasn't sure what regrets she had about being put into this position. Link wished he could have talked more with her before all this happened...
"Listen kid, no..." Nabooru shook her head, "Link, the Hero of Time, you did good freeing me. Now I'm going to use this opportunity to make Ganondorf pay for what he's done to me and my people, heh heh heh..."
"So, what about that promise we made before?" Link asked.
"..." Nabooru looked somewhat distantly, "...unfortunately we don't have time anymore for that promise. Instead, I'm going to fulfill this destiny I've been given, and lend you my aide in taking down Ganondorf now that the six of us are all assembled."
She sighed out, and played with her ponytail, "It's too bad, I really liked working with you, and I would had loved to help you fight Ganondorf side-by-side... but I'm not going to be able to do that, or much of anything else beyond my new duties from now on..." she spoke quietly, "I'm really going to miss the taste of booze..."
"Nabooru..." Link spoke softly, seeing the sadness in her eyes telling him there was more to it than just what she said.
"And if I had known you would have grown up to be such a fine, handsome man..." Nabooru spoke.
As Link started to become engulfed in the bright light to be transported away, he briefly saw a tear start to roll down Nabooru's cheek,
"I wish I could have been able to keep that promise I made to you... ..."
Link and Navi soon found themselves standing out in front of the Spirit Temple. The young swordsman looked silently up into the blue sky that contrasted the brown and orange desert landscape.
One more monster destroyed, one more temple freed of Ganondorf's curse...
…and one more dear friend of Link's gone from his life.
"Link, I..." spoke Navi. She wanted to congratulate Link, but saw the pained look in his eyes and kept silent.
Soon Link finally spoke, "... ...I'm going to bring peace to Hyrule and save everyone..."
The young man took one last look up at the Spirit Temple, gazing at the statue of Aifet. He remembered the smile of Nabooru, and with that, remembering his resolve,
"...everyone."
And that ends this week's chapter. With Impa and Nabooru in their positions as sages, all that's left is the showdown with Ganondorf. While we all know how this will turn out, just what lead to Link going back in time...? Tune in next Friday and find out!
You may have noticed I added some extended scenes with Link and Nabooru, since his interaction with her was a bit limited in the original game. I also wanted to emphasize that Link felt guilty about Nabooru having to wait for seven years to be freed. After having Darunia, Ruto and Impa all help Link fight the boss monsters, I decided to let Nabooru help Link in the fight against Twinrova. It felt pretty good to let her get back at them, and it was a nice callback to Chapter 1 (can't believe it's been a little over two years now since I stated this story!).
Anyway, leave a like, follow, comment, or just send me a PM at your leisure. Your feedback is always encouraged!