The Legend of Zelda - Union of Evil Powers Ch 28

The Legend of Zelda: Union of Evil Powers

Chapter 28: The preparation

Clock Town is the most prosperous and largest town in Termina, lying in the center of the land and providing the center of government and commerce for Terminans everywhere. Run by Mayor Dotour, the town is often filled with life with its numerous shops, entertainment buildings like a Shooting Gallery and also providing things that were never seen in Hyrule before, such as a Bank for rupee storage, the Trading Post and even a Lottery shop. Tourists who arrive there usually stay in the town’s only inn, the Stock Pot Inn, if they so desire and for musical performances, people can come down to the Milk Bar, the one place where townsfolk and tourists alike can congregate and chat together and providing the venue for the bands that have planned and are scheduled to play there for when they are on tour. Arriving in East Clock Town were the group of people native to Hyrule, being Link, Saria, Zelda, Ruto, Nabooru, Darunia, Impa and Rauru, accompanied by their horses. Darunia, Impa and Rauru were very much in awe of the town, while Link, Saria, Zelda, Ruto and Nabooru have visited the town before and are in a way more familiar with the businesses around. Around them, the daily routine of life, working, eating and sleeping continued as if it was for countless years. There were no big events in town so business was easy; when the Carnival of Time would draw near, the town would be even more busy than usual. It is this that also proved fortunate for the group as it allowed them to rent the room in the Stock Pot Inn, which was approved of by Anju, the current owner of the Stock Pot Inn, and her husband Kafei. Settling in their room, the group decided to sit together and discuss their plans of action.
“Alright, we now know that there is another outpost of Ganondorf and Majora out here in Termina, but its exact location is currently unknown to us, as is the way of how to even reach it in the first place. So it is likely we may need to ask the folks here if they know anything about the place.” Nabooru said.
“What is known about it so far?” Darunia asked.
“All that is currently known is that the outpost is located in the area between Snowhead and Ikana Canyon, but it is said that we can’t enter it from those areas, as if it’s deliberately made so in order to make it into a perfect stronghold in preparation for the major invasion that is about to befall this land, seeing as Hyrule is already largely conquered by Ganondorf and Majora together.” Nabooru replied.
“We do know that there is a path that leads to it, but where that path exactly is or where it can be accessed in the first place is something that none of us know so far.” Ruto then said.
“It is likely that we must be able to access it somewhere within Ikana Canyon or look into the Woods of Mystery once again. I thought to have seen a path going up to the right when we followed the monkey towards the unknown land that laid between Ikana and the Woods of Mystery itself.” Link said, bringing out a map of Termina and its surrounding areas, pointing to the locations he mentioned.
Saria and Zelda both nodded.
“But what is left for us to do around here until we have that information?” Ruto then asked.
“I suggest we sharpen our sword-wielding skills in the Swordsman’s School in West Clock Town for those who need it. West Clock Town also has the Trading Shop and the Bomb Shop we can use to restock on supplies of weapons and medicines if we are in need of them.” Link said, marking the locations.
“Those who prefer ranged weapons can test their skills in the Shooting Gallery in East Clock Town or even within the Southern Swamp to test it against moving targets.” Zelda added.
The others nodded.
“We could also hold sparring sessions against each other to test our skills more thoroughly, so that we know how we fight and can counter each other’s moves.” Darunia said.
“True, since I have a feeling that we may need to face our worst fears and overcome them if we are to get anywhere.” Link said.
Zelda nodded at this.
“Like what we went through when Majora put us in that dream world?” She asked.
“Yes, but possibly even worse. We could very well need to master ourselves for real if we are to make a stand now… besides, there have been dark copies made of you and me for one, so it could be very well done to the others as well.” Link replied, making Zelda shudder.
“Either way, we have it going to have it very busy…” Impa said, making the others nod, while Navi, Tatl and Tael settled somewhere to rest inside the room, leaving the discussion to the group of eight…

At the same moment, Majora felt what has happened in Hyrule and teleported to the area of where he felt the energy come from, seeing two large holes in either side of the Temple of Time, heading for the one which gave a view of the mountains close to the tower he resided in with Ganondorf, moving at high speed. Upon his arrival, he discovered Ganondorf, who looked worse for wear, despite being fully conscious as he dug himself out from underneath the rubble. Ganondorf grunted as he freed himself from his current trap, before seeing Majora floating nearby.
"What happened?" Majora asked.
"Take a guess..." Ganondorf snarled as he got up.
"You confronted the Fierce Deity..."
"More or less, he confronted me... I almost had them beat, as the Seven Sages were with him. However the eight people combined their energies into a single attack which blasted me all the way down here."
"They are becoming a greater threat than I thought. We need to put an end to them somehow..."
"That is for certain. It's either that or have the group perish by our hands again... or they could die at their own hands..."
"How do you mean?"
"Let's give Dark Link and Dark Zelda some more friends..."

Cremia smiled as she watched her sister Romani, having done whatever she could to cure the fever that Romani was suffering from. So far, nothing else of interest has happened, not even the Gorman Brothers trying to harass her this time, allowing her to focus on helping her younger sister to get better. The results were paying off; no longer was Romani sweating or crying or even suffering from the fever, the color had returned to her face and given the way how she feels right now indicates that Romani was making a swift recovery. It brought very much relief to her to know that Romani was just going to be fine, allowing her to stroke Romani's head while she slept, taking comfort in the fact that everything would be alright after all.

Sakon in the meantime smiled as he finally was done with his work, hoping he would get revenge on that forest kid and his accomplices this way. He had set up his new security system to where he believed it couldn't be broken this time, as his old system failed as the Sun's Mask was taken from him by that forest kid and the kid he stole the mask from in the first place. He would see to it that this time he would be pulling the shortest straw and emerge victorious, so he could once more steal things without being interfered or otherwise interrupted. He had to make his own living after all as he was dependent on his earnings of the Curiosity Shop too, coupled with the other things he had stolen and kept for himself. It would only be a matter of time before he had completed his work, the pests being dealt with and he being free to do what he wanted.

Deciding to call it a night, the group decided to go to bed early in order to get fully prepared for the following days, where they could do what is necessary to prepare themselves for the journey towards the latest outpost that Ganondorf and Majora had set up, from where they would launch their large scale invasion of Termina and bring that land under their control like they had control over Hyrule. While Darunia used his own way to sleep, the others went into their respective beds, although when Link briefly woke up for a moment, he spotted Saria lying right next to him, vast asleep and with her face turned to him. Making him smile, he made the best of it and fell back asleep swiftly, although at first he had a bit difficulties doing so… it made him think about a nightmare he experienced only a few days after he returned from Termina during a sleepover, where he dreamt about himself and his friends being in Termina Field, only to be greeted with the sight of the Majora-possessed moon falling on top of Clock Town’s clock tower, making it collapse as the moon utterly crushed the town, killing all of its residents before the fiery shockwave was released from its impact, lambasting all of Termina’s surroundings and incinerating Link and his friends in the process as the Terminan Apocalypse concluded. Thankfully it was just a dream as this disaster was averted, but it was definitely confirmed that, despite his courageous bravado and his determined demeanor, Link was STILL a child and has lived through horrors that not even an adult would wish to experience. It made Link more or less extremely relieved to know that he always had friends to rely on even in the darkest of times, especially the ones he had made during his travels in Hyrule.  While he loved all of his friends dearly and would come to their aid no matter what happened, there were so far two whom Link had grown very attached to, Princess Zelda being one of them. He smiled as he remembered the times they had fun together, playing the games in Hyrule Castle Town (Bombchu Bowling being a personal favorite), fishing in the lake and generally catching up on things together. While he definitely enjoyed spending time with Zelda, it was Saria whom he also had grown close to as, especially during his time in the forest, she was the one capable of chasing his nightmares away and giving him the comfort he sought in his hour of need, just as much as he provided her with the same shoulder to cry on if Saria needed an outlet for her sorrows. This special kind of friendship also earned him the initial ire of Mido, whom had taken an interest in Saria himself, but felt that Link was trying to steal her away from him, just because he was different from them. It was one of the reasons why Mido still saw Link as an outsider and never really accepted him for who he was until his return from Termina, where words of his deeds spread throughout the land of Hyrule. It also helped that, during his travels back and forth through time in his attempts to avert the Future That Almost Was, that memories of those events were replicated within his own mind as well as those of the Sages, effectively changing them to a degree. It shocked many Kokiri to see Saria becoming far more serious as well as very nervous during Link’s initial time in Termina, which in turn explained why she was so elated when Link returned to them. Thankfully none of the Kokiri bothered to question it all, but found it rather strange that Link and Saria both spent a lot more time in the Sacred Forest Meadow together. With all those memories returning, Link couldn’t help himself to hug Saria close before falling asleep himself, making Saria stir, but she remained asleep as well…

The next morning, the group went to get some breakfast together, wanting to be refreshed before they went on to their zealous training mission, having decided to check out the Swordsman's School first in order to sharpen their skills with their blades. At the same moment, Ganondorf and Majora went inside their tower to push their own plans forward to ensure that their will would be spreading further around Hyrule and Termina. With the heroes out of Hyrule, they decided to first expand their influence in there by strengthening their existing strongholds there, before moving on towards Termina itself, knowing that the sanctuary the occupied there already would be enough to give the group trouble and in effect buy them enough time to finalize their plans for total domination. Perhaps it would finally be the realization of their dreams, to rule over everyone of the world or otherwise destroy what can't be taken. Already Ganondorf was somewhat looking forward to what could be the final confrontation, envisioning him holding Link and Zelda both high in the air, standing among the fallen bodies of the Six Sages, to extract their respective Triforce pieces of Courage and Wisdom respectively, before impaling the both of them on his sword to deal the death blow, watching with glee as the hero and the princess's death throes ceased forever, before tossing their bodies as well as those of the Six Sages into an abyss or otherwise a pool of lava so they would never be seen again. Still, there was the imminent threat of what the Fierce Deity posed, so Ganondorf felt that its power could be of use to him, unaware of the ritual that had taken place of purifying it by his arch nemeses. He simply felt that all the power that Link and Zelda both and by extension the Six Sages had in their possession should be his and his alone, so he could use their powers to enforce and enact his will all over the world, woe and behold those who dared to oppose him as they would be met with severe punishments, even the death penalty... All in all, Ganondorf knew that in any of the upcoming days the fate of Hyrule and Termina both, as well as that of the world itself, would be decided. This, coupled with the visions that Ganondorf had in front of him, proved more and more that he was evil and rotten to the core, not letting anyone stop him from achieving his goals. He chuckled as he watched Majora going off to instruct the forces present to guard their primary stronghold to guard it with their lives...

While Ganondorf and Majora were making their own preparations for what could be the greatest battle, Link and the Sages have proceed with their training together, holding a massive sparring session together inside the Swordsman's School, not just one, but multiple whenever their bodies allowed them to. At a few occasions, Saria and Zelda urged Link to take a rest, proclaiming their admiration for Link being so determined to keep fighting or training despite the injuries suffered, but advising him to rest as well, otherwise he would be too exhausted to continue with the overall mission. Thankfully, Link heeded to the advice of his friends, knowing that him continuing to get up after a beating did impress his friends as well as annoying his enemies to no end and telling his friends that this was also a force of habit on his side, which his friends didn't mind. It was as if the Hero of Time and the Sages had no secrets between each other, having an understanding of each other that would help in backing each other up. Impa on her turn was able to fight on equal terms with Nabooru; even though the latter was very agile and moved swiftly for incoming strikes while being ready to block another strike with her other blade, the former could make use of her ability to teleport to get in a few sneak attacks of her own. Link, Saria, Zelda and Ruto had at one point sparred with Darunia. Even though Darunia did receive some damage, he was very good in hand to hand combat, mostly in being able to repel lighter sword strikes effortlessly with his hands. Of course, Darunia held back on the power in his punches as he didn't want to hit the children too bad, but it was still enough to have them double over at times or have them struggle when blocking the attacks. At first, both Link and Zelda did hesitate at such an attack as Ganondorf brutally manhandled the both of them with his vicious gut-punches, but Darunia gave his word that he held back on his strength on that part, a word that he kept with vigor. At the end of a rather vigorous training day, Link and the Seven Sages were resting up in the Infirmary of the Training Center, their wounds bandaged and healing up quickly thanks to drinking a bit of Red Potion. It was rare to see them actually having a good time while they were fully aware of the crisis going on, but then again, having something to keep the mind a bit occupied instead of worrying all the time was healthy after all. It also took their minds off of what has happened to them so far, which in turn allowed them to maintain their focus and not get hindered by what’s in the past.

Reimu and Leia managed to reunite the Graveyard Boy with his mother, whom blinked at seeing the two Gerudo women bringing her boy back, even more so that, upon finding him, the Gerudo sisters have been looking after him while escorting him to where his new, temporal home was and guarding him with their lives. It was something that did have the desired result of the village people respecting the Gerudo for this. While they understood that some of the villagers remained distrustful, it did show that there were Gerudo who were honest and had it in their hearts to do what they believed is right. The fact that Reimu showed proof that she, her sister and their unit had sworn fealty to the Hyrulean Royal Family through a note Princess Zelda had given her before their departure after the latter's resurrection convinced most of the villagers and the guards present that these Gerudo did harbor no hostile intentions and refused to accept Ganondorf as their ruler, going against Gerudo laws in the process. As an act of good faith, the Gerudo decided to stay in the village, effectively bolstering the numbers of the remnants of the Hyrulean Army whom were assigned to guard the village of refugees, something that was appreciated as the Gerudo were known for their agility and their professional to excellent skills with handling weapons, the glaives and dual scimitar swords being favored, although some did take up archery without trouble.

Upon their return to their room in the Stock Pot Inn, Link and the Sages were conversing together as they were resting up from their training. While they did sport several bandages here and there, these were only for minor cut wounds on their arms and legs, which weren't severe enough to be put in plaster or, in case of the arms, having to be worn in a sling. As they were talking, each of them felt shivers down their spines... Remaining silent for a moment, the Sages wondered why there were shivers down their spines like that. However, Link wasn’t stupid and knew exactly where it came from. It was the kind of shiver that he had felt many times before, where one could feel as if they were surrounded by bloodlust or death, which in turn caused Link to look out the window to the east side of Clock Town. As the Sages looked outside the window with him, they could see the Milk Bar to the east and the Town's Wall that surrounded the entire town, complete with guard posts and everything. But that wasn't what they were specifically looking at; their attention went beyond the town walls, as in the far distance the high, looming Stone Tower and its Temple were towering high in the sky, which meant that they were looking straight in the direction of Ikana Canyon. Immediately, as they gazed upon that area, the Sages knew. All of them had information about the area, but so far, only Link, Saria, Zelda, Ruto and Nabooru have actually been there before, if not for a short time. But even then, each of them knew all too well about the area itself... after all, History about the different lands of the world did spread to keep the many nations informed on the other nation's movements.  
“Ikana...” Link began.
“... a cursed, inhospitable land...” Saria continued…
“... a land where the stench of death is overwhelming...” Zelda continued.
“... where those who live have no business there...” Ruto said.
“... where the foolish ones will eventually join the ranks of the dead...” Nabooru added.
“... where they will be plagued by their own regrets and misery...” Impa continued
“... for trespassing in an area stained with a history of darkness, drenched in blood...” Darunia added
“... And to this day it remains a place where troubled, regretful spirits gather...” Rauru finished.
"Strange... how one land could be so... embroiled in such a dark, menacing history..." Zelda said sighing.
"Indeed, coupled with the fact that the land itself was cursed... in fact, I also met a cursed Sharp there..." Link said.
"Sharp? As in one of the Composer Brothers?" Zelda asked.
"His name was Sharp, but he was not of the Composer Brothers in Hyrule... when I confronted him in the Spring Water Cave, he played a death song that he composed, known as the Melody of Darkness. Anyone who listens to that will have their life force sapped away until they have joined the ranks of the dead. Thankfully I used the Song of Storms to lift the curse from him when he tried it on me, but still..." Link said.
The others nodded in understanding.
"And I'm definitely NOT looking forward to travel through these lands again; the Shadow Temple and the Kakariko Well are nothing compared to Ikana." Link then said, making even Impa shudder...

"Any word on the Stalfos Commander?" Ganondorf then asked a Garo that was under his control.
"He's dead, Master. He fought well and injured the group good using his four weapons on his four arms, but the forest kid suddenly transformed into this grotesque being that completely decimated the Stalfos Commander, cutting it apart. I left before any of them could notice me to bring you this report." The Garo responded.
"Hmmm, you've done well. This confirms the threat that the being poses to our strongest troops if it can disable one of them like that so soon." The King of Evil said, obviously thinking about it.
The Garo nodded as it vanished, its report completed. Ganondorf looked down at his hand, the Triforce of Power still brimming with life as it always had been. He then grunted, as he rubbed over the scars that were still present from the wounds that Link and Zelda had inflicted on him before he dealt the, albeit temporal, death blow to them. He was annoyed at the fact that those wounds actually still bothering him, even though they had already healed over...
'Why are those two scars bothering me so much?! They already have healed over, yet they still make me flinch whenever I touch them!' He thought to himself as he touched them.
"Ganondorf." A voice then said.
"Majora... what news do you bring?" He asked.
"Your new armor is almost ready. It'll be infused with magic so it will protect you also from magic attacks as well." Majora said.
"Good, that saves us some trouble..." He said, nodding.
"So, what are you planning now?"
"We'll continue to make the preparations for the arrival of our 'friends' and prepare the proper site for them on top of the tower." He said.
"And if they manage to best us there?"
"Then we'll take them to a different place altogether for a TRUE final showdown, of which only one party can return..." Ganondorf said, smirking.
Majora couldn't help to chuckle at this, apparently enjoying the kind of sadism that Ganondorf was displaying, liking what he had in mind for them...
"First we'll 'test' them inside that sanctuary, to see if they TRULY can overcome the dangers inside. They seem to make a habit of changing the impossible to the possible, so it's only natural of us to see if they truly have the courage needed to overcome the dangers..." Ganondorf said.
"This is true, so we'll make sure to put ALL of their abilities to the test... along with some new ones..." Majora said.
"Let's depart for the sanctuary to make the final preparations." Ganondorf said, nodding as he got up.
Majora nodded before he and Ganondorf left, using their own teleport magic to make it work.