A World of My Own

I’m really trying to focus on blogging about my own life, rather than blogging my fanfiction.  I can’t actually delete this blog because it’s also hooked to my main account.  I will probably no longer update this blog, but here’s the link to my main one: http://chroniclesofagamer.tumblr.com/

When I entered the next room, I faintly heard the demonic sounds of an organ.  The room itself was small and in a circle shape.  A dim, golden light bathed the area and I looked around.  On the ground were the remains of two Stalfos, which were huge, armored skeletons.  From what I gathered, Link the Goron and maybe some others had already been through here to clear the way for me. 

        As I walked through the next two rooms, I realized that that was exactly what happened.  I eventually came to a corridor of sorts where I realized that the leitmotif that Ganondorf had been playing started to get louder. 

        “We’re almost there,” Max said with a tinge of fear in his speech.

        I just nodded my head and went up a spiral staircase, dodging various bats.  That’s when I got to a huge staircase.  My feet made a soft sound on the long, blood red rug that went all the way up the stairs.  I swore that, with every step I took, the organ music got louder and louder. 

        I was afraid that the staircase was never ending; an evil trick that someone like Ganondorf would play on me.  It almost drove me insane walking up those stairs and passing the same stained glass windows that were on each side of the wall.  And that music…

        But, before I knew it, I reach an ending point.  To my left side was a huge door.  I stopped there before touching it.  I looked at Lux, who was shaking with fear and then Max.  I bent down to Lux’s height to comfort him.

        “This is some pretty big stuff,” I told him and looked up at Max.  “I know you may disagree, but I want you both to stay right outside this door.  Do you understand?”

        “I don’t think I should let you go alone,” Max said.  “What happens if-“

        “Whatever happens, well it happens,” I said to him.  “I can’t have you two go.  It will be too dangerous.”

        “Rai,” Lux said calmly and I noticed he had tears in his eyes.  I didn’t know what else to do, so I grabbed him and hugged him tight.

        “Don’t worry buddy,” I whispered to him, “I’ll make it out alive.”  I gave him one last squeeze before I let him go.  “Just wait for Link and I,” I repeated to them both.  “We’ll make it out, I promise.”

        I looked away from them both and then walked up to the huge door I had to open.  There was no handle or even hinges on the door, so I was a bit puzzled.  I touched it on a whim and it opened.  A blast of music hit my ears and immense fear hit my heart.  With a sigh I walked forward into the music room, only to be scared by the huge door slamming behind me.  The noise from the door was so loud that I knew Ganondorf must have heard it.  However, he just continued playing.

        With complicated harmonies and an unforgettable melody, Ganondorf’s tune sunk into my skull at an instant.  The running lines made me shiver and gave me goose bumps.  I was scared beyond belief. 

        Above this huge organ was one pink crystal, which contained Princess Zelda.  She had a terrified expression on her face as she hung there with nothing to do.  I looked up at her, trying to put on a brave face, but I couldn’t.  This was all too much.

        But, where’s Link?  That question was floating around in my mind.  Where the hell was he?  I had to know, so I balled up my fists and shouted, “Hey, asshole!”

        Suddenly, the music stopped.  I saw Ganondorf put his head down and heard him say, “Have you ever been taught proper manners?  One should always been quiet when another is performing a musical piece.  Have you no shame?”

        “Have I no shame?” I repeated.  “And what is this whole deal with proper manners?  From what I was told, being polite was not taking over a kingdom by force, trying to stop the good guys, and enclosing innocent, nice people in pink, crystal things.  Before you speak to me on proper etiquette, you should look into it yourself.”

        I heard a couple deep chuckles and heard him crack his knuckles.  He stood up straight and kicked the organ chair out of the way.  Grabbing his huge cape, the King of Evil swung around.  Ganondorf help his head high and a smirk formed on his face.  His beady red eyes looked down upon me and all of the courage I had seemed to slowly seep out of my little, puny body.  He seemed taller and much broader than he was seven years ago.

        “You look scared, my dear,” Ganondorf said gently.  “I’ll give you a chance to leave that sword with me and get out of Hyrule.  That way, we both win.  I get to keep this kingdom and my power so thus, you get to keep your life.”

        “Why would I do something stupid like that?” I snapped at him.  “I could never leave this kingdom to suffer under your unfair rules.  I’ve met a lot of people that you have hurt, Ganondorf, and I won’t stand for it any longer.  It’s time for you to perish!”

        I could say to you, my reader, that I had never felt so heated in my life.  Hot tears ran down my face as my hands shook violently.  I couldn’t believe that I was crying in front of this guy.

        Ganondorf’s smirk faded and he crossed his arms.  “You’re a pathetic fool, you know that?” he shouted.  “You will lose to me and you will die by me.  You deserve nothing more than an early grave because of how pathetic you are.  I should have taken care of you seven years ago!”

        I wiped the tears from my eyes and looked straight at him.  “You can’t kill me,” I said.

        His expression became angrier.  “And why not?”

        “Because, I have something that you want,” I said and I took off my right hand glove.  The middle piece of the Triforce was glowing brightly on the back of my hand.  It was so surreal to me.  I showed it to him and he just laughed.

        “You think that Triforce piece will make me scared?” Ganondorf said harshly.  “Out of all four, yours is absolutely the most insignificant and the weakest.  I could take that from you with no problem.”

        “But you won’t,” I said sternly, “because I will not let you.”

        He laughed again and a big smile remained on his face.  “You won’t let me?  How stupid are you?  I’ve almost gotten one of the pieces away from that little runt boyfriend of yours.”

        “Link?”  Thoughts began to rush and my emotions did as well.  “Where is he?  I want to know where he is.”

        “Oh, I don’t think you do,” Ganondorf said.  “However, I will do as you wish.  Shannon, Leon, bring us Link!”  And then he clapped his hands, which echoed strongly throughout the music room.  I kept staring at Ganondorf, trying to fool him into thinking that I wasn’t scared or frightened.  He just smiled back and looked to the side.  I heard a door open on the right side and saw Shannon and Leon, who was gravely wounded, lug in a lifeless body.

        “Where would you like us to sit him, my lord?” Leon asked.

        “I don’t care,” Ganondorf said.  “Just put him somewhere and leave.”

        I watched as Leon stared at me.  He smiled and had Shannon let go of Link.  Holding both of Link’s arms back, kicked him forward.  He made a noise when he hit the ground, so I knew that he was at least alive.  From what I could see, his tunic was covered in blood, gashes, and his hair was messed up and wet.  His equipment and his hat were missing. 

        I felt my lip quiver, but I said: “What did you do to him?”

        “Well, I had to figure out some way to get that pesky Triforce piece of his away from him,” Ganondorf said and he looked at his nails like the jackass he was.  “Seeing as how the goddesses bestow this power to the ‘chosen ones,’ I needed to figure out how to get this from him and without killing him.  I just did some experiments and the like.  He’s pretty much almost dead but, if I need to put him out of his misery, I will.  After all, his Triforce piece will leave his body if he dies and go to someone new.  I can wait to figure out who else has it in the coming years.  Meanwhile, you and Zelda will be my guinea pigs.”

        I didn’t know what to do.  I wanted to run over to him, but I couldn’t.  I just couldn’t show any sign of weakness in front of this man.  I kept looking back at him and Link.  I had no idea what to do.

        “Go see him, if you want,” Ganondorf said and he smiled.  “I don’t mind.”

        I hesitated for a bit, but I ran straight over to him.  I held up his head, seeing how he couldn’t seem to move it, and watched as he slowly opened his eyes.  The bright blue that I was used to seeing had escaped and left his eyes a sickly, grey color.  I stroked the side of his face as tears swelled in my eyes.  His lips were dry and blood ran down the side of his mouth.

        “It will all be okay, Link,” I said to him and he just looked straight at me.  He said nothing back to me.  I grabbed his left hand, which was missing the gauntlet he usually wore.  Unlike the Triforce on my right hand, which glowed yellow, his was now grey and barely glowing at all. 

        I looked up at Ganondorf, who was still looking at his nails.  Looking back down at Link, I felt a rush of depression and anger.  I held his left hand tight as I laid his head down on the floor softly.  I kissed his cheek quickly, just in case Ganondorf began to pay attention.  With my hand on his face, I got up and prepared to face Ganondorf.

        “Why did you do this to him?  I want to know why,” I pleaded to him.

        “Well, that boy has something that I need,” Ganondorf said, now looking at me.  “My job as king is to continue to gain power so that I can expand my kingdom and take over the world.  Duh.  It would really help if I had every Triforce piece on hand.  But, this whole Triforce extracting thing is just in its Beta stages, so you and Zelda may end up not suffering as bad as Link here.”  I thought he was finished, but he smiled and said, “Or, you could suffer more…”  He must have thought that that statement was funny, because he chuckled.

        At that moment, it hit me.  Where did Link’s Master Sword go?  I walked back over to face Ganondorf and said, “Where are Link’s things?”

        He must have known exactly what I was talking about, because he created a huge smile on his face.  “You mean the Master Sword?” he asked.  Before I could say anything, he grabbed the hilt of a sword by his side and unsheathed it.  He had Link’s Master Sword.

        I stood there speechless as he looked at the blade like he had never seen it before.  “It’s quite the weapon, I’ll give it that,” Ganondorf said.  “But, without its other half, it’s pretty much useless.  Well, against me, anyway.”

        “Give-give it here,” I said.  My voice was beginning to sound really pathetic.

        “Why, so you can strike me down and I’ll be killed?  No way; I’m much smarter than that.”  He walked a little closer to me, but stopped, looking at the blade.  “Really, it’s a shame that the goddesses picked you two as their ‘heroes.’  This sword really could have gone to someone else.  Maybe then Hyrule would have been saved.”

        I was angry.  The way he was speaking, the way he didn’t care.  How could he hurt someone the way he did and not feel sorry?  How could he make a whole kingdom of people suffer and not feel upset?  I had to do something, so I unsheathed my sword quickly and rushed after him.  I lifted myself off the ground to try and hit him overhead, but I suddenly stopped midair.  I freaked out and tried to move, but I couldn’t.

        “Are you that stupid?” I heard Ganondorf say.  “You must be stupid.”  He then flicked his wrist and flung me to the left.  I slammed into a wall and hit the ground.  Despite this, I held on to my sword tightly.  I couldn’t let him have it. 

        I slowly got up and saw him walking towards me with Link’s sword in hand.  I readied myself.  He stopped walking then and just smiled.  “So you’re going to fight me, huh?” he said.

        “Yes,” I said defiantly, “yes I am.”

        “If you insist,” he said. 

        There was a short pause of no movement whatsoever.  He broke that by coming at me with the Master Sword.  I deflected his slash and tried to counter by getting him on his right side.  Since I was right handed, I left myself open when I tried to counter, so he got me in my right side.  I felt the burn of the blade making a gash in my side and quickly jumped back to try and avoid another wound.  Simple mistakes like that would cost me my life, so I had to be extremely careful.

        We stepped around each other for a little while.  I tried to predict his next move and I honestly wouldn’t doubt that he was doing the same thing.  Unlike me, he grew impatient and came at me.  He tried an overhead vertical slash, so I held my blade horizontally and above my head.  When his blade collided with mine, it felt like I was hit by a truck.  We were face to face with the blades separating us.  Since Ganondorf was a bit beefier than I was, my blade was being pushed closer and closer towards me.  I bailed out however, and snuck around Ganondorf.

        I quickly took my sword and stabbed it straight into his back.   Ganondorf shouted in pain and landed on the ground.  He dropped the Master Sword, so I took my chance and swiped it up. 

        While Ganondorf was down, I rushed over to Link and tried to put the Master Sword in his left hand.  I kneeled down by his left arm and cupped his hand around the hilt. He looked at it for a second, but closed his eyes.

        “C’mon Link,” I said and I started to shake his body.  “Wake up, please wake up.”  I looked over at his hand and the Triforce was almost completely faded.  I kept shaking him, but realized that he quit breathing.

        “No way,” I whispered.  “No fucking way!”  He was dead.  Link was actually dead!  I watched as his fingers curled up and my heart dropped.  I put my hands on my head and then buried my face in them.  What was I going to do?

        “Oh, boo hoo,” I heard Ganondorf say.  “He was a useless piece of crap.  I have no sympathy at all.”

        I started to bawl.  I didn’t know what to do or what was next.  I couldn’t save Hyrule without Link.  What was I supposed to do now?  The only thing that I could do at that moment was cry.  I kept crying and had trouble breathing, but I stopped when I felt a hand on my shoulder.  The hand was broad and I realized who it was as soon as they spoke.

        “It will all be okay, my dear,” Ganondorf said.  “Or rather it will be, if you surrender to me now.”

        I stood up and walked a little forward; keeping my back towards him.  I had to do something.  I was told it would be impossible to kill Ganondorf without Link.  But, I was also told that it was impossible for me to somehow be deeply involved in this whole ‘Hero of Time’ stuff and now I had a piece of the Triforce.  This was not the end…at least not for me.

        I balled my hands into a fist and held on to the hilt of my Master Sword tightly.

        “So, what will it be, my dear?” Ganondorf asked.  “Bow down to me as your king, or suffer the same fate as this boy.”

        I became heated and noticed that my Triforce piece began to glow brightly.  “I know what I shall do,” I said quietly.  Then, in one quick turn around, I shot a ball of my electric power at Ganondorf.  He wasn’t prepared and slammed against the wall.  I didn’t give him any time to get up, either.  I went straight for the asshole.

        I tried to get Ganondorf with my sword, but he quickly moved out of the way.  I turned around to face him, only to see him hovering in the sky.  Blood trickled down the side of his lips, which were curled in disgust.

        “You want to play that way, huh?” Ganondorf said.  “Fine, but you won’t make it out of this place alive.”  He held up his hand and black, electric looking energy built up.  He shot it right at me, so I rolled out of the way.  I was able to dodge it, but barely. 

        He prepared another and a quick thought came to mind.  In the beginning of my adulthood, Link and I had to fight Phantom Ganon.  Whenever he threw his power at me, I deflected it, like a baseball, and hit him.  I needed to do that with Ganondorf, so I prepped myself like a baseball player.

        The power did exactly what I hoped it would.  The power shot back and hit Ganondorf, who seemed to become paralyzed.  He fell to the ground with his long cape covering his body.  I didn’t think twice and rushed over to him.  With hot tears in my eyes and a sunken feeling in my chest, I hacked away at him.  He quickly recovered and dodged one of my unorganized hacks and punched me square in the face.

        I fell backwards with a huge headache.  The next thing I knew, Ganondorf was one top of me.  He held back my wrists and looked right at me.  I could barely move my torso, so I kicked him off me by getting him in the stomach.  I lifted him up a little bit, but it must have been the pain that sent him back. 

        I quickly picked my sword off from the ground and charged after him again.  He deflected most of my hits with various sets of armor he had on.  He then grabbed the blade of my sword without showing a bit of pain.  I tried to pull it from him, but it wouldn’t budge.  I charged my electric power and released it, throwing Ganondorf back again.  He let go of my sword when he went backwards, so that was a plus.

        Ganondorf came back from his injury rather quickly.  Jumping off the wall he slammed into, he came right at me and slammed my body against the opposite wall.  I had trouble breathing, but came back and punched Ganondorf in the face with my left hand.  With my right, I slashed him with my sword and got him across the face.

        He must have gotten angry over that, because he yelled and a purple and white light started to form around him.  It was sort of like he was sucking something in.  Before I realized it, he released this power right on top of me and my body fell to the ground.  He started to charge another one when I recovered, so I prepared to run. 

        It was no use, however.  This power still found me and rained down upon me.  I had to recover quicker, so I immediately got up and charged some of my own power.  It didn’t work and I was hit again.  Ganondorf did this cheap move again, so I charged after him with my sword.  He had some sort of defense around him when he did this move, but my sword slashed right through it and I was able to get Ganondorf across the chest.

        Ganondorf grabbed my neck shortly after and squeezed it.  He then threw me head first into his huge organ.  I hit the keys, making a god awful noise, and saw my blood cover the ivory keys.  I turned around quickly to see Ganondorf charging at me, so I dodged quickly.  He must have realized he missed me, for he started to hover above me again.  This time, I charged my power and directed it straight at him.  He couldn’t block it and was slammed into the huge pipes of the organ.  Pieces began to fall off and landed on the keys.   

        A loud, hellish noise filled the room as I awaited Ganondorf’s next move.  He was underneath the pipes and dug his way out as quickly as he could.  He came at me as soon as he could and punched me over and over again.  Despite the pain, I still held on to that sword and stabbed him in the right shoulder with it.  I tried to get his heart, but I wasn’t sure if that worked.

        He must have been in intense pain because he withdrew.  He held onto his shoulder and began to cough up blood.  My nose was bleeding like a fountain and my eyes were filled with tears.

        Link is dead, I thought to myself.  Finish this asshole, once and for all!
        I dropped my sword and began charging my power.  He did the same.  In one moment, our two powers, light and shadow, met.  I could barely see, but it seemed they intermingled with one another.  Physically, my body was draining from using all the power I was and the several wounds I had weren’t helping either. 

        I don’t know what caused it, but there was a sudden explosion of our powers.  We both flew backwards; me slamming against a wall and Ganondorf slamming against the organ.  I could barely see as dust was everywhere.

        Coming from this dust was the body of Ganondorf, who grabbed my neck and slammed me against the wall, choking me a little.

        “You little shit,” he said, his eyes blood shot and his face a mess.  “You really thought you could defeat me?  The King of Evil.  You’re nothing but a worthless bitch.”  Ganondorf then showed me the back of his hand, where his Triforce was, and then quickly balled it into a fist.  He pulled it back with dark energy surrounding his hand. 

        I had to think quickly, so I used my electricity power to pull my sword over to me.  As soon as he punched me, I stabbed my sword right into his chest.

        I fell to the ground, barely conscious, but I saw Ganondorf stumbled backwards with my sword still stabbed deeply in his torso.  Blood drained from the wound and his mouth as he fell to his knees.  I walked over to him, holding my head.

        Ganondorf’s eyes were huge as he was about to taste death.  He must have been surprised or in shock.  I was limping over to him and set my foot on his stomach.  With my right hand, I withdrew my sword from his chest and kicked him backwards.  He was still breathing and I heard faintly, “The Great Evil King defeated…by this…child…?  Damn you…”

        With one last attempt to kill me, Ganondorf released a huge power, but failed to take me down.  Instead, he took down one of the walls and a good bit of the roof.  Nothing more happened however, so I presumed him to be dead.

        I looked out at the dark sky that still remained around the castle.  It was still raining heavily and the rain poured down onto my bloodied face and washed the Evil King’s blood off of my Master Sword.  Ganondorf’s lifeless body was soon engulfed by rain and I watched his mouth fill up with the water. 

        It’s all over, I said to myself.  It’s done. 

        I dropped my sword and looked up at the rain.  It cooled me down and washed away all of the pain or rather, most of it.  I looked to my right to find Link still lying there.  Luckily, the roof had not collapsed where he was, so the rain wasn’t pounding on his already cold body.  I limped over to him and got on my hands and knees.

        For some odd reason, I looked at his left hand, just to see what was there.  The Triforce was still faded.  I felt up his cold arm and then touched his face.  He was pale, but his eyes were closed.  He looked so peaceful. 

        I felt my eyes well up and I decided to kiss him one last time.  Even though his lips were cold and blue, I still got an excited, warm feeling when kissing him.  I stayed there with my eyes closed for a second or two until it hit me hard that Link was dead.  I removed my lips from his and touched his once flowing, blonde hair.

        I moved my hand down to his chest and felt absolutely no movement.  I grabbed his right hand and just looked at him for a while, hoping that his eyes would open and I would see those sky blue eyes looking into mine and that warm, friendly smile he always had.

        I would see that no longer. 

        I began to cry furiously.  I had no idea what to do, so I laid my head on his chest.  I just lay there, like I had when he invited me to bed that one night after he had been gravely wounded.  Except this time, rather than a heartbeat, I felt nothing.  I felt no hand stroking my hair, I heard no deep breathes, and I felt no warmth.

        My tears began to rain down my face as I grabbed and held on to his shirt.  I hugged him tightly, hoping he would be brought back to life, but I knew that would be a silly thought.

        As the rain poured, I held onto Link’s lifeless body.  I realized that I had saved Hyrule.  I had freed a lot of people and brought prosperity back to the Golden Land.  I killed the King of Evil with my own weapon.

        But…even though I was still breathing…I knew that I was dead, just like Ganondorf…

        And just like Link…

Think, think, think, I said silently to myself.  I had to think fast, otherwise Lux and I would be in a shit load of trouble.  I looked around quickly as the door creaked open ever so slightly and the voices got louder.  I grabbed Lux and put my hand over his mouth and headed for the bed.  I rushed us underneath and felt a wave of relief.  Luckily, the sheets of the bed hung over the sides, so we were covered from outside view.  The sheets also created a soft, crimson light underneath, so I relaxed a little.

        “Your father being worried about this rebellion is completely asinine,” I heard Leon’s voice say.  “He’s been watching that princess and that boy ever since he took them.”

        “He’s just worried that someone will release them,” Shannon said.  She seemed a bit annoyed.

        “Who is going to save them?  That stupid girl?”

        “I wouldn’t underestimate that ‘stupid girl,’” Shannon snapped at him.  “You’ve seen how far she and the boy have gotten.  They both know what they’re doing, even if you don’t want to admit it.”

        “If I really wanted to, I could kill that bitch in a heartbeat,” Leon snapped back.  “If your father would have taken care of both of them seven years ago, none of this would have happened.”

        There was a pause.  Leon was right, though.  Why didn’t Ganondorf kill us when he had the chance?  I waited for an answer, which came to me from Shannon.

        “You know that if my father killed those two, he would never get those Triforce pieces,” Shannon said.  “If you kill someone who holds them, they will either be passed down to one of their kin, or will be passed down to a random individual who the goddesses see fit.”

        “Whatever,” Leon said and he sat down on the bed.  I felt the mattress move above us and my heart jumped.  I looked at Lux and he put his face in-between his paws.  “I just wish that your father would let us get involved.  All of those feeble idiots in the lobby could be killed in minutes just by the two of us.  But, your father feels the need to keep us upstairs; awaiting some sort of demise.”

        “I’m sure that my father has his reasons,” Shannon said.  “I don’t quite understand them myself, but he knows what he is doing.”

        “He better,” Leon said.  “I would have liked to have even the fraction of the power he took from Soul Edge just to take over this pathetic kingdom.”

        Soul Edge?  That was the sword that Edge Master had told me about; the sword he never told me to never go after.  That was how Leon met Ganondorf and Shannon.  He was after that sword just like they were and got caught up in this whole mess.  But, did Ganondorf have the sword?

        “I know you would, Leon,” Shannon said, “but my father has dealt with evil magic his whole life.  I would be worried if you would get ahold of Soul Edge.  I don’t know what it would do to you…”

        “If my dumbass brother can handle it, so can I,” Leon said.

        “But your brother can’t handle it!” Shannon shouted.  “You know how sick he is.”

        “Regardless, he has what I want,” Leon said back gently, “and I won’t stand for it.  Once this is all said and done, I’m going back to my dimension and taking that sword.”  He got up and I heard his footsteps on the floor.  He walked over to the front of the room where that his family shield was.  “Wait a second,” he shouted suddenly.  “Where did one of the Flamberts go and what the hell is this?”

        I heard Leon pull the Gerudo style rapier out from behind the shield, the same rapier that I replaced with the fancy red one.  He threw it on the ground and it almost hit me in the face.  I tense up and held on to the carpet.  I was so nervous.  My cover was about to be blown.

        “Where is the Flambert?” he snapped.  I then heard him overturn the desk.  This ass had some anger problems.

        “Calm down, Leon!” Shannon yelled.  “We’ll find it.”

        “Someone has been in this room,” Leon said quietly, but with some severity.  “That damn girl is in this room.”

        “I doubt that,” Shannon said.  “She’s probably down in the lobby with the others right now.”

        “She’s in here!” he shouted.  There was a pause and he said calmly, “But where?” 

        I heard his feet creep around as he looked for me.  My heart was pounding and my palms were sweating.  I put my hand on the rapier hilt as Lux huddled against me in fear.  He was shaking violently.

        Of course, in a few minutes, I found myself face to face with Leon.  “There you are,” he said and he grabbed my hair and tried to pull me out from underneath.  I took out the rapier and slashed his hand and he withdrew quickly.

        “So we’re going to do that then?” he snapped.  I got out from under the bed quickly and saw Leon take the other sword from the family shield.  Shannon, fortunately, decided to sit back and watch.  “It’s time to end you once and for all,” Leon said.  “I don’t care if that Triforce piece will disappear, you’re dead.”

        Rather than play petty name-calling games, I made the first strike.  He saw it coming and deflected it with his blade. 

        And thus, the swashbuckling fight pursued.  I will admit Leon was an amazing swordsman.  He would jump on furniture and work his way around it so gracefully that I felt like giving up, but I wouldn’t.  Not to an asshole like him.

        I didn’t have fancy jumping abilities, but I had fast moving eyes and feet, which gave me a slight advantage against him.  I was even able to give him a couple wounds, but only slight scratches.  All of my thrusts were missing him, so I wasn’t able to give him any deep wounds that would stop him. 

        With quick swings to the right and left, he deflected every single one and became confident.  He thrust forward and I dodged by moving my body sideways.  He was quick and stabbed me right in my arm, just below my right shoulder.  He pulled out his blade and I felt the burn.  I grasped my arm with my left hand as blood gushed out and ran over my glove.  I kept fighting with my left arm to the best of my ability, but I was getting tired and so was my leg.  If I wasn’t careful, it would have collapsed and I would be defenseless. 

        I moved back away from Leon and he realized that I had been wounded and would be on the brink of losing at any moment.  What I didn’t notice was that the balcony’s sliding glass door was open.  As I backed away as quickly as I could, Leon came at me.  Before I knew it, I was pinned to the low balcony wall and accidently let go of my sword.  I had no idea where it went and, for all I knew, it fell in the lava pit below.  I tried to go for my Master Sword, but Leon grabbed my right hand and held me up against the balcony with his rapier’s blade to my throat.

        “You have nowhere to go,” Leon said.  “What will you do now, little hero?”

        Rather than slit my throat, Leon took his blade off me and kicked me right off the balcony.  I flew down but stuck my hand out the entire time to try and grab on to something.  I was able to grab a gargoyle kind of thing with my left hand and just hung there.  I barely noticed on the balcony, but it had begun to rain in a downpour. 

        The rain hit my face as I tried to pull myself up.  My right arm was in so much pain but I was having trouble lifting it.  I was able to get it on the bottom jaw of the gargoyle statue, but I was unable to find any footing to assist me in pulling myself up.  The wet rain and the lack of hold made my feet slide as I desperately tried to hold on.

        I tried to look down, but I kept catching sight of the lava pit and felt sick to my stomach.  I quickly looked up only see the boots of Leon.  I looked up further to see his face.  He had on a hideous smirk and his blonde hair was dripping wet and in front of his eyes, but I could still see the evil look in them.

        “It’s such a shame that you lasted this long and it all comes to this,” Leon said and he touched the thin blade of his rapier.  He got on one knee and put his face close to mine.  “Too bad, right?”

        I didn’t know what to say or do, so I spit directly in his face.  He wiped it off with his glove and sneered.  “Game over,” he said angrily.  He then took his rapier and held it up.  I thought he was going to stab it through my head, but instead he stabbed right through my left hand.  I yelled in pain as he removed the blade.  I couldn’t hold on any longer, so I let go.  The pain was just too much.

        My body hit a hard, stone slope.  I laid there for a couple of seconds and felt the rain water wash down the slope.  I looked over at my left hand to see it dripping blood, which washed away with the water.  I carefully got up but had so much trouble breathing.  I must have had fractured a rib or something. 

        Even though I tried to be careful, I started to slide down the slope.  There was a gutter of sorts that I used to keep me from falling off the slope and, right in the gutter, I found the rapier that I had dropped.  I picked it up and waited for Leon; holding my side in pain.  It was hard to see where he was in the rain, but before I knew it, I was kicked square in the face and fell down the slope. 

        I landed in a huge bush and sunk through to the ground.  Mud covered my body, but I had to get up.  I tried and tried to stand straight on my feet, but I kept falling.  I must have looked absolutely pathetic.  But, I had to stop Leon and get back to the army.  I pushed forward, despite the fact that I kept falling, and got to decent ground with no mud below my feet.

        As the rain poured down on our heads, Leon and I were caught in a stare.  He was standing up straight with a smirk on his face and I was leaning over in pain.  He was practically clean while I had mud and blood all over my body. 

        “Why don’t you give up already?” he said with a serious expression. 

        “Until you cut off my hand, I’ll still be able to hold my sword, won’t I?” I said.  “I won’t let a couple of cuts and bruises stop me.”

        “Cuts and bruises?” Leon said and he chuckled.  “I think you have a lot more there than some cuts and bruises.  But, no matter.  If you still want to fight rather than surrender, then be my guest.  Just try not to get any blood on my rapier there, will you?  It was quite expensive to make.”

        I thrust forward quickly and he dodged it.  “Too slow!” he shouted and did a small slash towards me, but I did a parry and a quick counter attack.  The problem was we had a lot of back and forth fighting, but no real results besides just scratching each other.  I knew that Leon was holding back, however, seeing as I was weak and tired.  He and I both knew that I would have to give up eventually.

        I felt that time creep nearer and nearer as the fight waged on and the rain poured even harder.  My leg began to give out from the pain of walking on it and my right arm was getting incredibly sore.  I started to slip around in the mud and would lose balance, which I needed dearly for fencing.

        He tried to do a quick thrust, but I dodged it and got his side.  He came back, this time knocking me in the head with the hilt of his sword.  It broke the skin and I felt the rain hit the new wound and saw blood rush in front of my eyes.  I couldn’t freak out or anything, despite the raging headache I now had, so I did several quick thrusts and actually poked him a couple of time around the stomach and chest area.  He jumped back to get away and held his stomach.  I had gotten him pretty bad in the side as well.

        With a mix of blood, mud, rain, and emotion, I went forward, but slid on my stomach.  I was right below Leon, who prepped his rapier’s blade to go through my head, but I grabbed his ankle and pulled him into the mud with me.  This gave me time to get up, so I did just that, but he too had already recovered and we stood as two wounded warriors.  Again we started hacking away at each other with slices to the left and right and thrusts here and there.  We met in a heated moment with our blades and eyes locked.

        “Now, I’m irritated,” Leon said and he kicked me back.  I landed right in the mud on my back and felt a huge pain in my ankle.  I tried to shake it off and stood up, but the pain was too much.  I could only manage to limp, but I tried to keep going.  I stayed light on my toes to the best of my ability, but couldn’t move as quickly as Leon. 

        Leon used my ankle and other wounds to his advantage.  I was kicked down on the ground several times and every time he tried to stab me, but I dodged with a roll and just kicked him, or at least I tried to. 

        I must have been lasting longer than he expected, for he began to lose his temper.  He kicked me on the ground again, but dropped his rapier.  He grabbed the collar of my muddy tunic and slammed me against the castle walls.  My back began to ache and my ribs were in so much pain.  He held me up with one arm and punched me over and over again with the next.  With my body lifeless, he threw me back into the mud.

        I laid there for a second or two, but I used my arms to try and push myself up.  Leon was extremely pissed at that and came and kicked me in the side several times.  I just laid there and took it.  I didn’t know what else to do.  I also didn’t notice that Link the Goron came to the rescue.

        I heard a lot of yelling, but I was so in and out of consciousness that I didn’t know what to do.  I decided that the best thing to do was take a nap. 

        I woke up on some cloth with pain all over my body.  I could barely open my eyes from being punched so much, but I could see that I was in a rather dark place.

        “It’ll all be okay, Ashley,” I heard someone say.  They sounded like a girl.  “I just have to give you some medicine.  It won’t taste well, but try to keep it down.”

        I then felt a thick, disgusting liquid go down my throat.  I tried to keep it down, but spit some of it back up.  I just felt a calm hand on my face as I was fed more of the same liquid.  The person that was tending to me began to say things and some foreign language.  I didn’t know what the hell she was saying, but my eyes began to feel better and the swelling began to go down.  I also felt someone wrapping my left hand and my ankle.

        When I tried to open my eyes, I could only see a hand over them.  “Shh, just wait a moment,” the woman’s voice said softly. 

        I waited patiently and felt a hand on my forehead.  It was a bigger hand than the woman’s, like that of a man.  Even though my eyes were closed tight, a bright flash of light hit my vision and I felt refreshed.

        “You can open your eyes now,” I heard a man say.  “Just get up slowly, however.”

        I opened my eyes and saw that I was in a castle.  The walls were stained and dark, so I knew it had to be Ganondorf’s.  I propped my body up by my elbows and saw who was mending my wounds.  Standing there in a line was Rauru, Saria, Darunia, Ruto, Impa, and Nabooru.  I looked over and saw the little rebellion waiting for me to wake.  Then, I saw Lux coming through the crowd holding my green, floppy hat.  I looked down at my clothes and saw that I had been redressed into the green clothes that Link and I first wore when we suddenly became adults.  Around Lux’s head was Max.

        “Ashley, we have been freed from Ganondorf’s clutches,” Rauru said to me.  “Now that we are free, we can lend you our power once more.  In his organ room, Ganondorf is waiting with three Triforce recipients.  Expect, he’s missing you.  He’s awaiting your arrival so that then all of the pieces of the Triforce will be in one room.  You must rescue Link to help you; otherwise your one Master Sword alone will be utterly useless.”

        “But, he’s in some sort of crystal,” I said.

        “I am aware of that,” Rauru said.  “The only way to open this crystal is to use Ganondorf’s power to do so.  When he tries to hit you with his magic, deflect it with you Master Sword and try to use it to save Link.  You will have to stop him together.  Do you understand?”

        I stood up and nodded.  From the rebellion army came Link the Goron who held my shield and Master Sword out to me.  I took the sword and buckled it around my torso and mounted the shield on my back.  To my surprise, Link the Goron bowed to me, so I did the same.  I got down to Lux’s level and took my hat from him.  I scratched him behind the ears and stood up. 

        “Through that door there, you will be lead to some corridors, which will lead you right to Ganondorf’s organ room,” Rauru said.  “Once you are in that room, remember to save Link as quickly as you can.”

        “Understood,” I said and face the six sages.  Lux was on my right and Max was floating around my head.  I gave them a strong nod and started to walk towards the door.

        “Oh, and Ash,” I heard Rauru say.  I turned to him.  “We’re all counting on you.  “Good luck, our Hero of Time.”

        I smiled a little and opened the door. 

        My heart pounded as I realized the moment of truth was getting nearer.

Before I knew it, the sun was almost ready to set and let the night begin.  Spending more time working my leg, I felt ready to take on Ganondorf and give the throne back to the royal family.  I looked at myself in the mirror once again when I heard my door open.

        “Ashley,” I heard the voice of Malon say, “Link wanted me to tell you that it is almost time to bring together the troops before heading out.”

        “Erm, alright,” I said and turned around.  “How do I look?”

        “In all honesty,” Malon said with a smile, “and pardon my language, but you look like you’re ready to kick the shit out of an evil king.”  She said it so nicely, but with a pinch of harshness, which made me giggle.

        “That makes me feel so much better,” I said and whistled at Lux to follow.  I went down the stairs behind Malon and, when I reached the door, I felt a rush of excitement flow through my body.  After days and days of traveling and fighting, plus the seven years of sleeping, Ganondorf’s chapter was going to come to a close.  A shifted my hat around nervously and then made my way out the door.

        The sky above was beginning to turn a light orange color.  I went to the center of the ranch to see the small army in the middle of the corral. 

        “Get on my shoulder, Lux,” I said.  I didn’t want him to get lost in the crowd.  He hopped right on as soon as we entered the mess.  Thankfully, most of the crowd recognized me and let us through.

        There was a little stage made out of crates but the only person actually standing on it was Mido who had a clipboard and a slingshot.  Everyone else was standing on to the side.

        “Over here, Ms. Brandt,” I heard King Zora say.  He was with Link the Goron sitting on his own crate.  I walked over with a small smile.  “I can see your leg is feeling better.”

        “Yeah,” I said.  “I mean, it still hurts a little, but I can handle it.”

        “Good,” Link the Goron said.  “As you can see, the Hylian Rebels are ready.  We all thought it would be good to give them a little pep talk and run through our plans before we leave.”

        “I think that would be a great idea,” I said.  “By chance however, is my horse here?”

        “The Gerudos brought it here this morning,” Sheila said suddenly showing up from the crowd.  “They will bring it around to you before we leave.  Gentlemen,” she said to King Zora and Link the Goron, “shall we begin?”

        “Yes, Sheila,” Link said and he turned to me and King Zora.  “Sire, you should just sit here.  Ashley, how about you come up with us?”

        “Uh, sure,” I said and I followed him to the crates.  I went to the front of this make shift stage by Mido who was looking intently at his clipboard.  Mido looked up and stared at me for a second, but then looked straight back down at the thing.

        “Quiet down, everyone,” Mido said loudly and, to my surprise, the talking stopped.  All that was left was silence and I looked as everyone’s eyes focused on Mido.  “We will now begin the rebellion briefing before we head out.”   

        I watched as the crowd shuffle up to the stage and saw all eyes, whether they were beady or huge, laid on Mido.  He looked up casually and seemed to not be phased by the huge crowd in front of him.  Most of Hyrule was present, from what I could see.  I could see Hylians, Gorons, Gerudos, Zoras, and some Kokiris.  They were all there.  I desperately wished that Link could have been there.  He would have been proud.

        “Now, I’m not too good with encouraging words,” Mido said and he put his clipboard down beside his tiny, child body.  “I’ll just cut to the chase.  Sheila, bring me that board thing.”

        There was a pause as Sheila and Link the Goron left the stage and then came back with what looked like a dry erase board.  The last time I had seen one of those was back at home.  It was weird that a medieval type place like Hyrule had dry erase boards.  I dismissed the thought and decided to focus. 

        There were already instructions written on the board for us to follow.  There was a huge triangle that was labeled ‘Us.’  The tip of ‘Us’ was pointed towards a black square which was labeled ‘Castle.’ 

        “As you can see,” Mido said and he positioned himself beside the board, “we, the army, are the big triangle.  The big block, as it is labeled, would be Hyrule Castle.  If you haven’t been told, this is the castle that we are seizing.  From what we have gathered, the draw bridge that leads into the ruins of the Castle Town is broken therefore we have an easy entry up to that point.  Hours ago, we had a Kokiri child ride a forest owl to get an overhead view of Hyrule Castle.  She reported that there is a deep, fiery moat of lava underneath the castle, which is basically floating above it.  Because of this, we have constructed a bridge that a team of Gorons and humans will carry in the middle ranks.”

        “This bridge must be protected at all costs,” said King Zora.  “We’re not exactly sure if Ganondorf will have an army ready to take us on so, in case he does, we need to protect that bridge at all costs.  It is our only way into the castle as a group.”

        “Which means,” Mido popped in, “that once we get close to the castle, the front lines will need to open up so that the middle can sit the bridge down.  But, we don’t have all day, so this has to be done quickly but precisely.  If the bridge falls into the moat, we will have to rebuild the bridge, which could take a couple of hours.  We don’t have much time of course, so that is not an option.  The group of thieves that we have available will be taking another route.  They will come up the left side by grappling hook and sneak in to take care of any enemies waiting for us.”

        “Once you all are in the castle, you will wait for once of my thieves,” Sheila said.  “Once they make it there and say the coast is clear, we can then begin to help Ashley get to Ganondorf.”

        “Oh, and about that,” I said with hesitance.  The crowd actually turned their attention to me, which startled me.  I quickly composed myself and stood up straight to look a least a little heroic.  “Once we get close to Ganondorf, I want everyone out of the castle.  He’s too dangerous for even an army to be around.  On my order, when I say fall back, I mean fall back.  Stay as far away from the castle as you can.  I don’t want anyone coming back in.”

        “And she is right,” King Zora said.  “Once she gives the command, you all need to leave.  Ganondorf’s power is too great and Ash has been around it more than anyone here.  It would be best to stay away from him.”

        There was a pause between us all and Mido said, “And, I suppose that’s pretty much it.  Ladies and gentleman, I’m sure you will all do well and will make this kingdom proud.  Face your fears and fight for your kingdom.  The late King of Hyrule would be proud of what we have done today.  Let’s take Ganondorf down!”

        There was a loud cheer from the crowd as Mido put a small smile on his face.  It must have been amazing for him, talking the way he was and getting that response.  After all, he was only a kid or rather, he only looked like one.  He looked over at me and winked. 

        After the whole pep talk, the middle line of Gorons went to pick up the heavy bridge and everyone started to get into place.  I had a final meeting with the leaders before we got into our positions.  Mido had brought my horse before our last meeting, seeing as I had to quickly get to the front of the ranks.

        “Alright,” Link the Goron said, “here is what we’re doing.  Mido, you’re staying here with King Zora.  You will stay in the base in front of a map of the castle.  The castle might have changed, but it’s a start.” 

        Link then pulled out these stones from a bag.  They were light blue and glowed a bit.  Around them was a brown, tough leather lace that let us hang the stone around our necks.  I chose to put the stone in my pocket as the shining blue from the stone might have blown my cover as I snuck around the castle.

        “These are Gossip Stones,” Link said.  “No matter where we are, we can communicate with these.  Keep them close and please, do not lose these.  If one of Ganondorf’s minions gets ahold of one of these, we are screwed.”  I watched as Link the Goron hung the stone around his neck.  Sheila tied hers to her belt buckle, King Zora kept his in his hand, and Mido put his around his neck as well.

        “Are you sure you’ll be able to hear us with that in your pocket, Ashley?” Mido asked. 

        “I, uh, think I can manage,” I said with a small smile.  “I just can’t keep it out or my whole thief sneaking could be blown.”

        “About that,” Sheila said.  “I told the girls to let you do your own thing.  Try to find anything you can to help you, but be careful.  You can’t stay in the castle too long before someone finds you.  I also need you to remember that the army will be waiting.  They cannot stay long before they are attacked, either.”

        “I’ll keep that in mind,” I said.  “I just want to do some dirt digging.”  I specifically wanted to figure out where Ganondorf received his power.  And maybe I could figure out exactly where Leon came from.  He seemed a bit mysterious to me. Why not take advantage of ratting around in his and Shannon’s stuff?

        “Now, we can do this, guys,” said Link the Goron.  “Ashley, you will be in the front.  Sheila, you will stay in the middle.  Malon is going to stay in the back with the Kokiri’s.”

        “Wait, Malon’s involved in all of this?” I said.  “I don’t think that’s really a good idea…”

        “She insisted,” King Zora said.  “Many men from the human race stood up for the challenge of leader, but she was extremely passionate.  She has asked to just stay in the back and take care of the wounded.”

        I shrugged, a bit surprised.  I didn’t see Malon as one to step up and volunteer to be a leader.  I was glad that she would be kept safe, however.

        “I, of course, will be in the front with you, Ash,” Link the Goron said, “and I will remain there when you leave with the thieves.  Alright, now let’s head out.”

        And the group dispersed.  I mounted my horse with Lux to get to the front, which was now organized outside of the ranch corral.  The front stopped at the welcome gate, which is where I positioned myself.  I looked behind me to see the tiny army.  If Ganondorf was waiting for us with his own army, I had to do all I could to keep myself and the others alive.

        Link the Goron rolled up beside me.  He uncurled himself and stood up straight.  “Ready?” he asked without looking at me.

        “Yep,” I said and we went forward.

        “Well, they’re waiting for you, Ash,” he said.  I took a deep breath and held up my right hand.  I reached back to the hilt of my sword and felt my fingers touch it.  I felt sparks of excitement go through my fingertips as they touched and felt the hilt.  With a small pull, I heard the blade go up and out of the sheath.  With a nice timing, Lightning went on his back legs as I shoved my blade forward and shouted, “For Hyrule.”

        We took off and I gripped the blade of evil’s bane in my hands, ready to take Ganondorf down once and for all.

        The sun was almost out of our sights when we got to the broken draw bridge.  I stopped there just so the army could catch up.  So far, all was clear. We hadn’t even run into one enemy.  I decided that maybe it would be a good idea to stop before we got to the Castle Town.  As far as I knew, no one had entered the town since Ganondorf made it into the dark ruin that it was now.  I knew that the state of the town would cause a rush of emotions to most of the army, so I just wanted to stop right before we went in.

        “What’s wrong, Ash?” Link the Goron asked me.  I must have looked worried or something.

        “Oh, nothing,” I said to him.  “I’m just a little nervous.”  I paused and just looked straight at the entrance.  “Have you ever been to the Castle Town?” I asked him.

        “I was born two years after Ganondorf came into power, so no,” Link the Goron said.  “I am sure that a couple Gorons from my tribe have, however.  Why?”

        “It’s depressing,” I said and sighed.  “I guess we all have to face the darkness sometime, though.”  With that being said, I took a deep breath and continued forward.  I looked back quickly and saw everyone following.  I felt so bad for them.

        When we got to the broken drawbridge, Lightning hesitated to go on it.  He put one hoof down and resisted, almost knocking me back.  I gave him a sharp kick in his side and he jumped over most of the wrecked bridge.  Honestly, I didn’t blame him for not wanting to walk across.  Once the army began to walk, the bridge began to crack under their feet.  It became so bad that we needed to cross over in groups. 

        That took at least twenty minutes from our plans.  Mido, of course, was going insane on the Gossip Stones.  He kept yelling about time and how Ganondorf could have been sending millions of minions after us.  Knowing Ganondorf, he wouldn’t send anyone for us.  He would decide to take this whole thing on by himself.  I knew the army would fall under him, though.  It was just me he had to worry about.  We pretty much had all of the time in the world.

        Once the whole bridge fiasco was taken care of, we came to the Castle Town.  Right at the beginning, Lightning’s hoof stepped on a dusty, dry skull.  Even though I had seen the Castle Town before, the sight of it still pounded into my heart.  It was hard to believe all the people that used to run around.  I heard gasps and sighs from the army behind me.  I even heard some burst into tears.  Even Max, who decided to wake up after the whole pep talk, looked a little down.

        “How did this happen?” I heard someone say from behind.

        “My house used to be right there,” I heard a fainter voice say.

        I gripped the hilt of my sword.  This is why I wanted the entire kingdom to rebel, and not just me.  I didn’t lose a home or a family to Ganondorf.  Most of the people behind me did.  They also lost their king and their guards.  It was disgusting what Ganondorf took from them and I knew he felt no remorse for what he did.  That’s why we had to beat him and get the throne back to the right person.

        When I felt the ground change from stone to dirt, I knew that we were getting closer to the castle.  It was a small hill to climb to get there, but it felt like I was scaling a mountain.  The clouds that hung above our heads began to get darker and the air began to get more humid.  When we got over the hill, the dark, ugly castle was in full view.  Lightning and thunder struck and boomed at the right time to give me the chills.  There was a light, hot wind that blew through the air.

        “Clear the way!” I heard a man behind me yell.  I looked back and saw Harold the carpenter, who had on a small smile.  His bald head was glistening with sweat as he turned to face the bridge carriers.  “C’mon men!” 

        The special thieves group started to go off to the side.  I looked down at Link the Goron and said, “Well, this is where we part for now.”

        “Not entirely,” he said with a nice smile.  “Remember, we can still communicate via Gossip Stone.”  He held his up to show me and I patted my pocket.  “You have to promise me that you will contact us if there are any problems.”

        “I will,” I said, and trotted over to where the thieves were beginning group up.  Sheila was one of them.  When we were all together, she took the lead.

        “Okay girls,” she said, “our jobs are to take out any guards that may be around with stealth.  We must stay separated.  Pick a path to go down and try and get to the main lobby without getting yourselves killed.  If anything goes wrong or you run into someone who you think may be stronger than you are, run and try to escape the castle.”  She put her hand on my shoulder and said, “Ashley, I do not know what you plan to do, but please…be careful.”

        “I will,” I said with confidence.       

        All of the thieves were entering from the left side of the castle.  A small ledge made this a bit easier, as it ran up to the castle at some degree.  There was still a lava pit between the ledge and the castle wall, but I had to be brave and make it over.  I unwound the grappling hook from my belt and prepared to use it on the castle.  I found the perfect stone to get it to grapple on.

        “What are you doing?” Max asked.  “Why do you have that?  Are we going into the castle because I don’t think that’s a very good idea!?!”  He said this so fast that I could barely understand him.

        “You need to keep quiet, or my ass is grass,” I said.  I grabbed him and took off my floppy hat and shoved him back in.  “Now, stay in there and go back to sleep.”

        I put my hat back on my head and started to swing the grappling hook.  I threw it at the building and tried to make it to the stone, but it just bounced off.  I did this three times and it just bounced off.  “What the hell?” I said and saw that most of the thieves had already gotten on to the castle.  I kept trying and, around the tenth time, I was able to get the hook around the stone I wanted. 

        “Lux, get on my back,” I said.  He jumped up and I jumped off the ledge.  It took every fiber in my body to keep me from screaming.  If I let go of that rope or if the hook came off the stone, I would be sunk into the fiery pit of death below.  With a hard smack, I hit the side of the wall.  My right side ached from the smack of the wall, but I got my feet positioned and began to scale the damn thing.

        It took a good ten minutes to scale the wall.  The stone were a bit eroded and covered in black moss, so I had some slips.  Nothing I had faced was more frightening than losing my footing and having to look down the lava pit.  The whole time I had sweat running down my face and wanted to wipe it off, but I couldn’t.  The worst part was when my nose began to itch and I had to rub my face again the wall.

        I pathetically climbed up off the wall and onto a balcony, sweating like King Zora would have if he scaled it.  I sat down for a second with Lux, trying to catch my breath and regain my sanity.  My legs were all wobbly and my head was a mess.  I really just wanted to pass out right, but I knew I couldn’t.

        “Ashley?” I heard someone shouting.  “Ashley, are you there!”

        I realized it was the Gossip Stone, so I took it out of my pocket.  “Yeah, I’m here,” I said breathlessly.

        “Jeez, I’ve been calling you forever,” Mido said.  “I thought you were dead or something.  Where the heck are you?”

        “I just climbed up the wall,” I said.  “I’m on a balcony now.  That’s all I can tell you.”

        “Then you must be on the second or third floor,” Mido said.  “From the castle plans, it shows that only the bed chambers have balconies.  That means you’re on the third floor.”

        “Gotcha,” I said.  “I’ll spend some time on this floor, just to look through some stuff.  Then I should be right down with the army.  Are they in yet?”

        “We’re getting there,” I heard Link the Goron say.  “We’re trying to position the bridge right, which is taking a while.”

        “Have you run into any enemies yet?” I asked.

        “No, we haven’t,” Link said.

        “We haven’t either,” Sheila’s voice whispered. 

        Figures, I thought to myself.  “Aright then,” I said aloud.  “I’m out.”  I put the Gossip Stone back in my pocket and got up.  “We’ll have to be extremely quiet,” I whispered to Lux.

        “Raichu,” he said softly, but with a pinch of determination.

        To exit the balcony and actually enter the castle, it looked like I had to go through a sliding glass door.  I thought it was a little bizarre that Hyrule had sliding glass doors, but my whole adventure had been pretty bizarre thus far, so it didn’t faze me.  I peeked through the blinds covering the windows and couldn’t see anyone, so I opened it.

        Even the soft slide of the door made me sweat.  Any small noise could blow my cover.  I worked my way passed the dark red blinds and a lavish bedroom was revealed to me.  A four poster king-size bed with a dark, red cover over top was seated on a round pedestal.  The carpet was also dark red.  There was a desk on the left side of the room that had a quill and a lamp.  The room was dimly lit. 

        This castle has electricity? I thought to myself.  What the hell?

        I looked around a bit to try and figure out whose bedroom I was in.  I went over to the bed and quickly realized it by the cloth being held up.  It had Gerudo writings all along the edges.  The comforter on the bed had the same thing as well.

        “This is Ganondorf’s bedroom,” I said to Lux and began to take out my Gossip Stone.  “Hey, Mido,” I said and waited for his answer.

        “Yes, Ash?” he said. 

        “I’m in Ganondorf’s bedroom,” I said and sat down on the bed.  It was extremely comfortable.  “Would you know where it is on the map?”

        “Well, maybe,” Mido said and I heard him flipping some pages.  I watched the big, wooden door, hoping that Ganondorf wouldn’t come in.  “This map is from seven years ago, as we don’t have a current one,” he said, “however, the rooms are labeled.  This is only a guess, but I suppose that Ganondorf’s room is located in the late King of Hyrule’s bed chamber.”

        “That’s what I was guessing,” I said.  “What else is labeled on this floor?”

        “Princess Zelda’s room is all the way down the hall on the left of the King’s,” Mido said.  “Everything else is labeled guest.”

        “Okay then,” I said to him.  “I’m out.”  I shoved the Gossip Stone back into my pocket and lifted my tired body off the comfy bed.  Lux had curled up to sleep, so I nudged him a little.  “C’mon, let’s do some snooping.”

        The first place I went to was the desk.  Maybe Ganondorf kept letters or memos stuffed inside there somewhere.  When I walked over, I saw that there was a piece of parchment on the table with writing on it. 

        “Hmm…” I said to Lux.  “Let’s read this.”  And I began to speak aloud, word for word.  “Dear King Bowser.  I am afraid to announce that my plans may not be as tight as I thought.  The two heroes, Link and Ashley, have journeyed across Hyrule and have actually collected the power of all the Sages.  I had no idea that they would be so close to thwarting our plans.  Fortunately, I was able to find Princess Zelda and capture her, along with Link.  Ashley was not standing where I had hoped when I put a spell on the group.  She is wandering around as I write, most likely.  I’m a little worried, but I know that Link is carrying some Sage medallions, the objects that lets one borrow the power of the Six Sages.  Without all of them, neither Link nor Ashley will be able to defeat me, especially since I have double the power as usual.

        “I am a bit worried however.  It seems that Hyrule has been stirred by the two.  I am terrified that the people of this pathetic land have gained some sort of…hope from the two heroes.  I believe that the people of Hyrule have begun a rebellion against me.  My son-in-law, Leon, thinks otherwise, but you and I both know what hope can do to people.  Despite all of this, I should have Hyrule taken care of as planned.  I will stand strong against any rebels and hand over this kingdom to you when you are ready, my lord.  Take care.  Ganondorf.”

        I put the piece of parchment down.  “I wonder what he means by ‘double the power,’” I said to Lux.  I leaned over the desk for a moment and tried to think, but nothing came to mind except the fear that I wouldn’t be able to take this guy down.  I shook the fear out of my mind and snooped through the desk drawers.  They were mostly empty, but contained things like ink, extra quills, and a couple of copies of ‘Gerudo Valley Babes.’  I put those down in disgust and decided that there was no use staying in his room any longer.

        I unsheathed my sword and slowly opened the big, wooden door that led out of the bedroom.  Outside was a long hallway with a red carpet that was running down the middle.  Broken vases were smashed on the floor and some lights were covered in cobwebs.  I peeked through the door to the left and then to the right.  Though the hallway was dimly lit, I was able to see that no one was present.  I motioned Lux to come out and let my guard down a little but still kept the hard grip on the hilt of my sword.

        I remembered what Mido said about Zelda’s room being to the left of the King’s and all the way down the hallway.  I crept quietly through to try and reach the room without being caught.  I made sure not to step on a shattered vase as it would make too much noise for comfort.  Even the soft footsteps I made on the carpet made me a little nervous.  I pressed on, even though the hallway seemed to be longer with every step I took.

        I finally reached the door to Zelda’s room.  It also had a big wooden door like the King’s.  I put my ear against the door and listened for some sort of sound.  To be extra safe, I looked through a small keyhole.  From what I could see the room was furnished, therefore someone must have stayed there.  I went to pull on the door handle only to discover that it was locked.  Finally, I would be able to put my thief tools to use.

        I took the lock pick off my belt which sort of looked like a Swiss Army knife, like the kinds back at home.  Instead of knifes and other trinkets, it held different sized lock picks.  I began to test each pick and, to my surprise, the third one worked.  I pushed the door open a little bit and peeked through the crack just to make sure no one was inside.  It was clear, so I walked in with Lux.

        This room was a bit smaller and had a bay window by the big, four poster bed on the left of the room.  There was a desk, a wardrobe, a dresser, and a nice soft couch.  The carpet wasn’t blood red, like everything else, but a finished hard wood floor with a fluffy, white rug in the middle.  On the walls were different types of swords and shields.  Most of the swords seemed to be rapiers and the shields were rather small. 

        There were two swords behind a shield that caught my eye.  The shield was purple and black and the two swords behind it had different sized hilts.  The blades were crossing each other behind the shield.  The shield had an emblem of sorts on it.  The emblem was of two lions on their back legs.  Their huge claws were up against the blade of a sword that was just above them.  Underneath was a plaque that said: Sorel Family Shield.

        The sword on the left had a bigger, more artistic hilt than the other.  The hand guard was red with beautiful silver lines in random areas.  The hand guard curved at both of its ends, but those ends didn’t connect to the hilt at all.  The blade was thin and sharp, like most rapier blades. 

        The rapier on the right had a simpler hilt than the other.  The hilt was a dark grey color and the guard was more like a cup on the end towards the blade.  That was pretty much it, honestly.  It definitely wasn’t as artsy as the one of the left. 

        I was beginning to leave when I had this awesome idea.  Seeing as Leon probably wouldn’t need it anymore after we took down Hyrule, I could steal the sword.  I took the Gerudo rapier out of its sheath and carefully used the other hand to take the fancy rapier.  I looked around for any sign of movement after I got the thing down and then carefully replaced it with the Gerudo rapier.

        “Sweet,” I said and I looked down at Lux who had a smile on his face.  I sheathed the sword with ease and went on to the desk in the room.

        The desk was completely bare on top except for a quill and a tiny clock.  I sat down in the wooden chair in front of the desk and got to work looking for something in the drawers.  I finally found a journal after going through tons of papers and junk.  The journal had a red leather binding and the paper looked yellowed from age.  I opened it up and was met with tons of dust.  The ink on the paper seemed a bit faded, but still readable.  I started to read:

        I’m not sure how I will get away from my family here.  My fifteen year old brother, Raphael, is always following me and my parents won’t let me leave.  I need to leave and search for that cursed sword.  I have a plan that may or may not work, but I will make sure that it leaves my family in ruins. 

        There was a break and the writing began again.

        It’s all set.  I will leave my family by faking my own death.  Of course, I’ll make it look like I went out nobly; I don’t want to soil my name.  I just need to get that sword so I can get its power.  Once I get it, I will make sure I come back and kill my entire family.  They’re such a burden and idiotic.  I will leave tomorrow for my journey and never look back.

        “So Leon left his home?” I said to Lux.  I skipped a couple pages and landed on a section talking about his family again.

        I have decided to hang up my journey and leave with the man, Ganondorf, back to his home land with his daughter, Shannon.  I just met them on my long journey and have begun courting Shannon.  Ganondorf seemed to be after the same sword that I was and said that he had already taken a bit of that power.  He told me that he planned to return home and take over the kingdom there and offered me to come along as his partner.  I accepted.

        But…before I leave…I have decided to stop by and see how my family is doing one last time.  I’ll be leaving this dimension and I don’t know if I will come back, so why not?

        There was another break in the writing.  I continued; wanting to know more.

        I have been taken to my own home.  After my ‘death’, the Sorel house has been ruined, as I planned.  My brother is now very sick.  From what I have heard around town, he had recently had a child out of wedlock and at a young age.  By god, he is still fifteen years old!  I even heard that he named the damned child after me, as some sort of honor for my death.  How ridiculous. 

        Like he should be, my parents have put him on heavy medication and made him train for hours a day with no break.  He is also unable to be with anyone outside of the family, seeing as he picked up some random tourist chick from Yousa, he continent in the west.  I was too disgusted to stay there much longer, so now I am off to meet Ganondorf and Shannon and leave this disgusting town and start a new life.

        There was a lot of information in that journal and I wanted to read more.  It was hard to put the journal down and even harder to take in the information I received.  From what I gathered, Leon left home to follow Ganondorf who was after some sword…but I couldn’t find its name anywhere in the journal. 

        Whatever it was, the sword had some sort of rotten power to it and gave Ganondorf some of his power.  The rest he must have gotten after Link and I pulled the Master Sword.

        I flipped through more pages, trying to find some information that could be beneficial to me, but I heard voices and the bedroom door began to creak open.

        My palms started to sweat and my thoughts began to rush…

Unlike usual, I wasn’t teleported back to the entrance of the current temple after leaving the sacred realm.  I was actually taken to the Temple of Time.  I landed right in front of the entrance on a big Triforce that was engraved on the ground.

        “Ashley,” I heard a voice say enthusiastically.  I immediately recognized it as Link’s voice and felt my heart jump.  I turned around to see him sitting on the pedestal where we sat the three Spiritual Stones.  He hopped off it and ran towards me right away.  With open arms, he embraced me and I put my arms around him.  It had only been two days, but I felt that I was away from him for a month.  I missed his warm hugs and the way he held the back of my head.

        “I missed you,” I said quietly.  I just couldn’t help it; I had to say it.

        He let go of me and looked at me face to face.  “I missed you too,” he said with an affectionate smile that made my heart melt.  I then noticed that he had a gash on his cheek. 

        “Are you okay?” I asked and I touched it.  “What happened?”

        “I had a pretty heated battle with Dark Link,” he said and grabbed my hand.  “Don’t worry because you seemed to suffer more physical damage than I did.”  He pointed to several cuts and bruises on my arm and a couple of tears in my clothes which had cuts under them.  He kissed me softly and smiled.  “Did you get the Spirit Medallion?”

        “Yeah,” I said and reach for my tunic’s pocket.  I held out the dark orange circle and Link took it.

        “We finally have them all,” he said and then let out a sigh of relief.  “It’s almost over.  Now all we have to do is defeat Ganondorf.”

        “That will not be an easy task,” I heard a voice say.  Link let go of my hand quickly and I turned around to see Sheik standing before us.  “You have both done very well for the people of Hyrule.  The power of the Sages now belongs to both of you, but you will need more power than that to defeat the Evil King.”

        “What else could we possibly need?” I asked. 

        “I will get to that later,” Sheik said.  “First, I need to tell you both something.  As Ganondorf’s reign begins to end, he will be scrambling to try and capture both of you.  You see, though Ganondorf has the power of the King of Hyrule, he is missing one thing that he really wants.  Being the king of this golden kingdom is not enough for him.  He wants to be able to rule the universe and every dimension it includes.  Just being the king of Hyrule and having the Triforce of Power isn’t enough.  He needs all pieces of the Triforce.”

        “Like the Triforce of Wisdom and Courage?” Link asked.

        “Exactly,” Sheik said, “but you have forgotten one piece.”

        There was silence but then I remembered what the Deku Sprout told me.  “Do you mean the Triforce of Balance?” I said faintly.

        “Yes, the Triforce of Balance.  The goddesses of Hyrule gave out each piece of the Triforce to individuals that they saw fit to hold the different pieces.  The Triforce of Power was given to none other than a magician who, in the beginning had pure intentions.  However, their hunger for power overtook their sanity. The Triforce of Wisdom was given to one of royalty, who knew what was best for the kingdom and upheld justice to the people.  The Triforce of Courage was given to a sole hero who used his bravery to save the people of the golden land.  The Triforce of Balance would be given to one that held the characteristics of the other three Triforce holders.  That individual would uphold justice, save the people, but also be powerful and hungry for more. 

        “All one would have to do is bring each of these individuals together and either ask for the pieces or take them by force.  The only person that could take these pieces by force would be a powerful magician, which is what Ganondorf is.  He, if you’re unaware, is the holder of the Triforce of Power.  Unlike regular people who seek the each piece of the Triforce, the holders have a huge advantage.  If a chosen holder is close to another whom also carries a piece, a mark on the back of their hand will begin to glow.  That mark is the Triforce itself recognizing another piece.  If all four holders are together and someone takes their pieces by force, that person will be granted the ultimate power.  They will be in front of the Triforce itself and, when they touch it, they shall be granted a wish.  Ganondorf will do whatever it takes to get every holder of the Triforce pieces together, so that he will have ultimate control.”

        “But, who holds the other pieces?” Link asked. 

He seemed to be focused on Sheik and what he had to say.  While he wasn’t looking, I removed the glove from my right hand and saw that it had the marking of the Triforce.  The middle was glowing brightly.

“The holder of the Triforce of Power is, as I stated, Ganondorf,” Sheik said.  “The owner of the Triforce of Courage is none other than you, Link.”

        “Me?” he said and seemed to be a bit surprised.

        “Remove the gauntlet from your hand, and you shall see.”

        So, he did as he was told and removed the gauntlet from his right hand.  The bottom right Triforce piece was glowing on his hand.  He looked down in awe. 

        “And, Ashley, as you already know, you own the Triforce of Balance,” Sheik said to me.

        “But, uh, what about the Triforce of Wisdom?” I asked him.

        Sheik was silent and stepped back for some reason.  He unwrapped his right and held the back up for Link and I to see.  A sudden burst of bright, yellow light filled blinded my eyes and slowly faded away to reveal to us the holder of the Triforce of Wisdom.

        “Princess Zelda?” Link said breathlessly and he walked up to her looking mesmerized.  I stayed back awkwardly feeling uneasy.  Though I should have felt more focused on the task at hand, I felt my heart break in two as Link walked up to the Princess.

        Zelda put her hand down to her side and said, “Yes, I am Princess Zelda, the holder of the Triforce of Wisdom and the Seventh Sage of the Sacred Realm.”

        “You were Sheik all along then?” I said.  Maybe saying something would make Link realize that I was still there.

        “Yes,” Zelda said and she grabbed her arm and looked a little upset.  “I apologize for having to stay in disguise the whole time.  I had to stay away from the King of Evil.  If he knew that I was Sheik all along, you two would have had no guidance.”

        “That’s completely fine,” Link said and he was very close to Zelda.  I sort of just looked away.

        “So, you will still help me destroy Ganondorf then?”

        “As you wish, Princess,” Link said and he grabbed her hand.

        Oh, come the hell on, I thought.  What was Link doing?  “So, what do we need to do next?” I asked Zelda and she actually looked at me and spoke directly to me.

        “The three of us will enter the castle and stand up to Ganondorf,” Zelda said.  “We cannot let him take our power, but fighting him together should make us strong enough as one.  There is one thing that I need to give the both of you.”

        Link turned to her and asked, “What would that be, Princess?”

        “I will bestow upon you both the power of Light Arrows,” Princess Zelda said and she held her hands up high.  In a flash of light, two quivers lined in gold appeared.  They each came to Link and I.  “Switch them out with your regular quivers and, when your arrows come from them, they will be enchanted.  These arrows will attack the dark energy surrounding the Evil King and will weaken him, thus making it easier for you two to defeat him once and for all.”

        I quickly switched my quiver out, but Link was still mesmerized by the Princess and held it to his side.  “It’s almost over then?” Link said.  “Don’t worry.”  He then grabbed her hands and cupped them, staring right at her.  “I’ll defeat Ganon and restore your throne.”

        “Yeah, I will too,” I snapped.  This was getting ridiculous. 

        A second passed and I heard Lux begin to growl at my feet.  Before I could ask him what was wrong, the ground began to shake violently.  It was so bad that dust started to come off the walls and some stones began to break apart.

        “What the hell?” I said aloud and, before I knew it, Link and Zelda were both enclosed in a pink crystal.  The ground quit shaking and the crystal remained, so I went up to it and began banging on it, but the crystal was too hard to break.  It was practically stone.

        “Well, would you look at that?” I heard a voice echo through the temple.  It came from behind me, so I quickly turned around to see Ganondorf, Shannon, and Leon standing together.  Ganondorf had his arms crossed.

        “Let them go!” I shouted.

        “Why,” Ganondorf said with a nasty sneer, “they’ll look nice in my music room, right above the organ.  I can picture it now.”  He held his hands up and made a square with them, like the crystal was in a picture frame.  “I’ll call it Beauty and the Twat.” 

        “I’m not playing games, Ganondorf,” I shouted sternly.  “Let them go right now.”

        “And you think I’m playing games, Ms. Brandt?” Ganondorf said with a harsh tone.

        I said nothing and withdrew my Master Sword.  I felt a tingling sensation in my palm as I charged towards the King of Evil, but I came to a complete stop when he charged at me and grabbed me by the throat.  I looked into his eyes as he tightened his grip.  I had no choice but to drop my sword and try to grab his hand to ease his grip.

        He tightened it yet again and put on an even sinister face.  Lux came to my rescue however, and covered Ganondorf in his electricity.  Ganondorf dropped me and retreated backwards.  I sat on the ground and tried to recover the lost breath but I was extremely light headed.  I looked up to see Leon and Shannon coming towards me with their rapiers drawn. 

        “Stop you two,” Ganondorf said.  “Leave her alone.  She’s mine.”  He snapped his fingers and I heard Zelda yell. 

        I quickly turned to see the crystal float up towards the ceiling and disappear right before it hit the temple ceiling. When I turned to Ganondorf, he was already close to me.  I looked up and saw his huge nostrils and his stupid smile.

        “Unlike Link and the Princess,” he started to say, “you’re completely worthless to keep around.  I will kill you here and now and take that little Triforce.”

        I said nothing and released my electricity power from my hand, but Ganondorf shielded himself with his cape and it completely absorbed my power.  The next thing I knew, I had a punch to the face which knocked me back a couple of feet.  I heard Lux release some power, but he was immediately thrown back to where I was.

        My face felt swollen and my heart ached with pain.  I felt like giving up and, reader, I basically already did.  As I heard Ganondorf’s heavy boots approach me I also heard him unsheathe his long sword.  The blade was right over my head as tears began to roll down my eyes.  I couldn’t believe how rotten that day had become.  I prepared for the worst when I heard a bunch of shouts and saw spears fly over my head and hit Ganondorf.  Of course, the ass still managed to stab me like he planned but rather than doing so in the head, he stabbed me almost clean through my thigh.

        I yelled in pain and began to lose consciousness as a lady came to aid me.  I saw many feet run towards Ganondorf but heard them stop instantly.  “He got away,” I heard a woman yell.

        The lady that was standing over me was none other than Malon.  “It’ll all be okay Ashley.  Just close your eyes for a little while.”

        I closed my eyes and drifted into a heavy sleep.

        When I woke up, I was in a nice, comfy bed.  I sat up quickly and saw that I was in the Lon Lon Ranch house’s guest room.  Lux was at my feet, sleeping soundly.  The sun shone in the window and warmed me up, so I moved my leg out from under the covers.  That’s when I noticed the huge, bloody bandage on my thigh and remembered that Ganondorf had Princess Zelda and Link.  I stood up hastily, but ended up falling right back down on the floor.

        “Ashley?” I heard someone say after they opened the bedroom door.  I heard quick footsteps and saw Malon help me up with Link the Goron aiding her.  “You shouldn’t stand up yet, your leg is still sore.”

        They sat me down on the bed and Malon rushed over to a bucket of ice water and put it right on my leg.  My neck, face, and thigh hurt so badly.

        “You took quite the beating,” Link the Goron said to me.  “You should keep calm.”

        “But what about Link and Zelda?” I asked.  “Ganondorf has them both.  He’ll kill them if he wants to.”

        “As long as he doesn’t have you, the Triforce will be safe,” Link said.  “Anyway, we’re already working on the rebellion.  We have troops and everything waiting for your command, Ashley.”

        “What do you mean a rebellion?” I asked him.

        “I may sound crazy, but I had this dream.  My father told me to gather all races of Hyrule and prepare them to battle.  He then told me to save you in the Temple of Time.  I don’t know why he told me all of this, but when I got to the Temple of Time with a small group, you were getting beaten, so I believe my dream was real.”

        “Link the Goron came to me and asked to use the ranch as a headquarters,” Malon said while pressing cold water on my sore face.  “When I heard his story, I went to the temple with him, just to see if he was right.  I was surprised that even the Gerudos came with us to save you.”

        “Did they agree to help?” I asked Link the Goron.

        “Yes, they were absolutely eager to help,” he said.  “They talked about how Ganondorf treated them unfairly and that they have waited ages for this day.  We have all the races here.  The Zoras have even been thawed out from under the ice and hey, they’re still alive!” 

        “Even the Kokiri children?” I asked.

        “Actually yes,” Link the Goron said.  “They insisted, even after I tried to get them to stay behind.  Of course, we keep them in the back lines with their slingshots and what not.”

        Malon put away the bucket and grabbed two crutches in the corner and my boots.  “Here, you can observe the training grounds with Link here,” she said while putting on my boots. Then she helped me up.  “Just try not to put too much pressure on your leg.”  I put each arm over the crutch and made sure to keep my left leg off the ground.

        “You ready?” Link the Goron asked me.

        “Yeah,” I said and I whistled for Lux to follow.  Before I walked out, I picked my hat up off a coat rack and slowly ventured down the stairs with some aid from Link the Goron.  Once I got outside, I was hit by the bright, hot sun above. 

        “How long was I sleeping?” I asked Link as we walked.

        “You were out for a day,” Link the Goron said.  “We were scared that you weren’t going to make it.  You had a huge, red rash around your neck, a bloody, swollen face, and that stab wound in your thigh.  But, you woke up, obviously.”

        We made it to the corral, but there weren’t horses in the middle.  Instead there were people training and talking to each other.  All of the races were mingling and helping each other with their crafts.  Link the Goron led me over to a small group by the tree outside of the corral.  This group included King Zora, Nabooru’s Second-In-Command, and Mido.  They were sitting at a table made out of three crates which had some sort of paper on it.

        “Oh, Brother Link,” King Zora said when he saw us, “I see that the Hero of Time has awaken yet again.  It’s good to see you again, Ms. Brandt.”

        “Good to see you too, King Zora,” I said with a small smile.  The smile really hurt, but I was able to squeeze one out.  “What’s going on here?”

        “Well, ma’am,” said Mido, “we have here a map of Ganon’s Castle and the surrounding area.  We’re trying to create battle plans.  So far, that moat of lava will be a doozy for us to get over, but we can do it.”

        “Well, I say that the Kokiri start to build a bridge and the Gorons will carry it over when we go to infiltrate the castle,” Link the Goron said.  “That way we can at least get the thieves across so they can begin their part of the infiltration.”

        “If we’re unable to get the bridge for my thieves,” said Nabooru’s Second-In-Command, “we can use this ledge on the side.  One of them should be able to get an arrow with rope attached to it across the pit.  Then everyone can use that to get across without causing too much of a distraction.”

        “What are we doing before we actually get to the castle?” I asked.

        “We will group up in lines,” Link the Goron said.  “The front lines will be my men, and then there will be the Gerudos, then the Zoras, and then the Kokiri’s.  However, Special Forces of each group may be mixed in other lines.  Say for instance, the Gerudo Thieves will be in the back with the Kokiri’s and the Heavily Armored Zoras will be in the front with the Gorons.”

        “Did we agree that the Catapulting Gorons will be in the back?” King Zora asked.

        “Whoa, we’re not using Gorons as rocks, are we?”  I asked.  “That would be suicide.”

        “No,” Link the Goron said, “we’re having some Gorons drag along a huge catapult.  Some will also be carrying rocks for ammunition.  Have we gotten the catapults going yet?”

        “We do, sir,” said Nabooru’s Second-In-Command.  “We have made sure that the rocks fly far enough to avoid our own front lines.  The Gorons can also handle them completely.”

        “Have all of my people been fitted for spears?” King Zora asked.

        “You would have to ask Archibald about that one,” Link the Goron said and I suddenly remembered the Zora that guarded King Zora’s chamber. 

        With all of this talk about Special Forces and junk, I felt a bit left out.  “So, will I be involved in any way, or…”  And I let myself trail off from there.

        “We were going to ask if you wanted to be involved,” Nabooru’s Second-In-Command said to me.

        “But, in all honesty, we’d rather you not be,” King Zora said.  “You seem to be very ill and low in strength.  But, we all know too well that you won’t let us stop you.”

        “We would like for you to choose where you would like to be on the field and what you would like to do,” Link the Goron said.  “After all, if it wasn’t for you, none of the Hyrule races would have decided to come together and stop the King of Evil.”

        “Well, who will most likely be in the castle first?” I asked.

        “That would be my thieves,” Nabooru’s Second-In-Command.  “However, I’m afraid that, with the state of your leg, you may not be able to join that group. You have to be light on your feet and stealthy, which your wound could keep you from doing.”

        I turned to Link the Goron awkwardly.  I just wasn’t use to crutches at all.  Back at home, I had never needed them, so they were proving to be a challenge to walk and maneuver with.  “When will we be attacking the castle?” I asked him.

        “Later tonight,” Link said.  “We will gather the troops up at sundown and send them out right before dark.  Why?”

        “I want to go with the thieves,” I said.  “For the rest of the day, I will be walking on this damn leg.”  I threw my crutches and put my left leg on the ground.  It hurt like hell putting pressure on it, so I had a huge limp when I walked, but I would walk it off by nighttime.  “I can handle it.”

        “If you say so, Ash,” Link the Goron said.  “You will need to go with Sheila to receive some extra items used to break into the castle.”  He pointed at Nabooru’s Second-In-Command, so I assumed her name was Sheila.

        “Very well,” she said to me.  “Follow me.”

        I walked behind her as we passed many groups practicing with their weapons.  We passed a small group of Kokiris using their slingshots on paper targets.  There was a child instructing them and telling them how they needed to improve.  They were cute, but extremely serious which surprised me.

        Sheila took me to the back of the ranch by the stone building that held hay and cattle.  There was a small group of Gerudo women with tight, black suits on.  They still had a veil over their faces, but they had their hair cut short.  They kept it messy but stylish.

        “Thieves,” Sheila said, “Ashley here, the Hero of Time, would like to join you in invading the castle.  This will give Ash upper hand to getting to Ganon without causing alarm to his daughter and that nasty husband of hers.  It’s up to you, Ashley, with what you want to wear and lug around.  Maria, set Ashley up and change your plans accordingly.”

        Sheila left and Maria came to me.  She looked like the other girls but had stunning yellowish green eyes.  “Come with me,” she said and she took me over to the stone building.  There was a tool shelf of some sort that was set up for the thieves.  On it were various belts, lock picks, small daggers, tiny ball things, pouches, small bows with small arrows, and many other things.

        “The standard suit for the Gerudo Special Thieves is the tight black clothes that my girls are wearing,” Maria said.  “I expect that you will want to wear your ‘hero’ clothes instead.  Correct?”

        “Uh, yeah,” I said awkwardly, almost tumbling on a small rock as we moved.

        “Good, because I don’t have any extra uniforms anyway,” she said and then went to the tool shelf.  “Standard equipment can vary from person to person.  I myself carry the small dagger, lock pick, smoke ball, and a pouch for extra things I may find.  Others carry bows or ropes and the like.  Seeing as you need that sword of yours to defeat Ganon, I suppose you won’t need a dagger.”

        “No, I won’t,” I said.  Then I thought of Leon and Shannon for some reason and said this: “Do your girls, by chance, sometimes carry a rapier?”

        “Very rarely, but yes.  They’re light and quiet, of course.”  Maria walked over to the shelf and grabbed a rapier which was behind some daggers.  She held it up to me.  “The hilt protects the hand, of course, and has a Gerudo touch with the cloth around it.  The blade is strong and thin for cutting away branches or stabbing an enemy.  It’s not my weapon of choice, but it works.  When I give you your thief belt, you can put it on that.”

        She handed me the rapier which I took and clipped on the side of my regular belt. 

        “I suggest that you take the smoke ball for quick get-a-ways,” Maria said and she grabbed a couple of them.  “Oh, and the lock pick is essential for any thief.  Seeing as you may have to do some climbing, I think you will need some rope.  I will also grab you some wire, which can also be used to choke a guard without much noise.  Other than that, I believe you will be set.”

        Sheila handed me a belt and the items I would need.  She added an extra pouch to the side.  “Now then,” she said, “make sure you continue to walk around on that leg.  I do have some boots I can give you that will quiet your step.  Would you like them?”

        “Yes, please,” I said and she went inside the stone building.  In a second she came back out with a pair of black, leather boots.  “They have padding on the bottom that will quiet your steps significantly more than the boots you are now wearing.  Break them in today while you build your leg back to strength.  Now, go back to the others at the tree.  I’m sure they will instruct you further.”

        I took my new items back with me to the table.  I was offered a small stool to sit on so I wouldn’t have to stand the whole time.  I decided to switch my boots there.

        “We have a new set of clothes waiting for you up in your room,” Link the Goron said to me while I tied new boots on.  “The boys grabbed you a new Goron tunic, seeing as that is what you’re wearing right now.”

        “That will be fine,” I said and didn’t speak again until I laced the last boot.  “How big would you say this army is?”

        “I would say that it has about two hundred,” King Zora said.  “I mean, it’s not that much, but I think it will do.”

        “Do you know if Ganondorf has an army waiting for us?” I asked.

        “No,” Mido said.  “Ganondorf may have a small group of enemies, but they don’t really have enough sense to really follow anyone.”

        “You’re right about that,” I said, “but Ganondorf is extremely strong.  I bet he could take out half of the small army we have on his own.  That’s why I want you all to make sure that I am the only one to face him.  I don’t want anything terrible to happen to anyone here.”

        “Unfortunately, this is war, Ashley,” Link the Goron said.  “We’re willing to die for our kingdom.  If someone gets hurt, they get hurt…”

        “You’re right,” I said, “but no one touches Ganondorf.  I can’t let anyone put themselves in that dangerous situation.  I just want you guys to focus on getting inside the castle and keep any of Ganondorf’s followers away from me.  I’m sure he has people protecting him.  They are your army’s first priority.  Make sure no one interferes.”

        “If that is what you want,” King Zora said.  “I just don’t feel safe letting you go alone.  Ganondorf is a force to-“

        “He’s a force to be reckoned with by Link and I,” I interrupted sternly.  “Who will be leading the army?”

        “Well, Ash,” Mido began, “we sort of wanted you to do it.  If you don’t mind, of course.  Seeing as you have saved all of us and have the most trust and fighting experience, we feel that you would be the best choice.”

        “I would be glad to,” I said and smiled.  I stood up and stretched a little; ignoring the pain in my thigh that came with it.  I picked my tools off of the table.  “Mido, at the first sign of sundown, get together the troops.  I will go and train alone for the time being.”

        “I will have you alerted when the time has come, Ms. Brandt,” Link the Goron said.  “Go get some rest and work a little on your leg.”

        I smiled and limped to my room in the ranch house.  I wasn’t sure what I would be doing in the meantime, but I knew that I just needed time to think by myself before facing the King of Evil.

        “God dammit,” I shouted and collapsed on the ground.  I grasped my thigh and dropped my rapier to my side.  I wanted to give up and take a nap or something, but I couldn’t do that.  Instead, I got right back up and started to do fast footwork while practicing my fencing style all at the same time.  I kept trying to picture Leon in my head and how he executed each and every slash perfectly.  I just couldn’t seem to get it down.

        Then, suddenly, I seemed to get it.  I was able to do my footwork and my slashes all with no problem.  I was doing it!  Until, of course, I tired my thigh out and I fell over.  I tripped on the table and let go of my rapier’s hilt.  I felt the thin blade slide across my cheek.  My body hit the wooden floor with a bang, but I didn’t feel like getting up.  I just laid there and watched my blood go between the cracks of the floor board.  I was pathetic.

        “Raichu,” I heard Lux yell in desperation and he came to my side.  His big, soft face was right beside mine and his eyes were full of worry. 

        “Lux,” I said and then let out a sigh.  “I can’t do this…”

        Lux looked at me with small tears in his eyes and shook his head.  “Rai, Raichu,” he said and grabbed my hand with his paws.  It seemed he was trying to make me get up.  I decided to do as he said and slowly got up, putting my left hand on the bed for support.  I picked up my rapier on the way up and looked at the blade.  It had barely a scratch from the fall but some of my blood went down it.  I touched the tip of the blade and tilted the sword to watch my blood travel faster.  It was mesmerizing in some way.

        I took the sheath from off the bed and put the blade safely inside.  I looked down at Lux who was now looking straight up at me.  I felt my heart sink and picked the little guy up.  I have him a warm hug and then sat him on the bed.  It was getting closer to the time of departure, so I walked to the other side of the room to grab my new, red tunic.  I stopped to look at myself in a tall mirror.

        My skin was pale, my eyes were baggy, and blood continued to fall from my cheek.  I rubbed it, only to smear it.  I decided to take a long hard look at myself at that moment.  I stood up straight, held up my chin, and put on a stern face.  There would be no funny business from them on.  I had faced Ganondorf before, but never with the intent to kill him.  But, just looking at my worn down body, I felt my heart sink for Hyrule.  There was no way I could defeat Ganondorf, even if Link was by my side.

        Ganondorf was a strong, evil king and I was a lowly nineteen year old.  With my heart was still broken from how Link handled himself around, I felt doomed.  However, I would not let that feeling stop me.  Ganondorf had to be stopped.

        With a rush of excitement, courage, confusion, and a frightening feeling, quickly changed my clothes and buckled my thief tools around my waist.  I put the Master Sword on my back and buckled the sheath on the front.  Finally, I put my Hylian Shield safely over the Master Sword’s sheath and then looked at myself in the mirror again.

        I was one of the Heroes of Time.  I was someone that everyone looked up to.

        I would defeat Ganondorf.

        I would be a legend.

Chapter 32

The Evil King’s

Mommies

        I climbed down the chain slowly and looked below the pillar to see Lux, Pasta, and Minncino looking up with concerned expressions.  I waved to them and Lux cried out. 

        “Pasta,” I said, “go ahead and bring them up, if you would.”

        The two Pokemon gladly jumped onto Pasta’s back and he flew them up to the platform.  Pasta wasn’t able to actually stand on the platform because of how small it was, but Lux and Minncino hopped right on board.  After a quick hug from Lux, I began to get back to work. 

        I noticed that a big beam of light was shining right down on us.  I didn’t really know what else to do, so I looked at the face of the statue and decided to shine light on it.  Surprisingly, the face actually broke into pieces, which stumped the hell out of me.  But, I just shrugged and jumped over for there was a small door behind that face.

        The room we entered was a rectangle shape and had some pillars standing tall in it.  In front of us was a big think, covered in huge armor.  It was sitting in a big, stone chair holding this huge axe.  I stood completely still for a minute or so, but the thing didn’t move.  Hell, I didn’t even think it was breathing.

        After a minute passing with nothing happening, I decided to approach the metal of junk.  It must have just been for show or something.  This whole temple was constructed rather well, so why wouldn’t someone want a cool, metal statue to sit as a decoration. 

        “I wonder what this thing is,” I said aloud.  I was really close to this statue and decided to tap on it.  That wasn’t a very good idea.

        In a split second, my neck was completely grasped by this thing’s hand.  I was thrown against a pillar, which crumbled to pieces.  I got up quickly and wiped some more blood off of my nose and unsheathed my sword.  With that huge axe and armor, this guy had to be extremely slow, so I knew my sword would do the trick.

        I rolled out of the way before this guy’s axe slammed down right on me.  I found an opening to attack, but the guy blocked it with the shaft of his axe.  He then swung it around and the hand part hit me square on the shoulder.  The guy kept moving this axe, so I tried to move, but the handle took me with it.  I slammed against the big stone chair he sat upon before the battle began.

        I crumbled to the ground with the chair and laid there for a second.  With a loud cling, I saw the huge blade of the axe land right by my face.  Thankfully, this guy didn’t have great aiming skills; otherwise I would’ve been done for.  I rolled out of the way quickly, desperate to never be that close to anyone’s axe again.  I ran over to the other side of the room and stopped by Lux, Pasta, and Minncino.  I didn’t want them to get involved, but Pasta may have been my only chance at winning against this guy.  However, I didn’t want to use him just yet.

        I slowly approached the armored fiend and took light steps.  I had to be light on my feet if I wanted to evade his attacks.  Even though he was slow, I knew his axe could do a lot of damage to me in the long run.  One hit with that axe and I would be down for an extremely long time.  With my sword out from me and my feet apart as I walked, I cautiously circled the armored man.

        The air was tense as I began to hear the man breath harder, as if he was becoming more annoyed by the second.  With a huge roar, the man lifted his axe above his head and prepared to slam it down upon me.  I rolled out of the way and saw my chance.  I rushed forward as the armored man tried to lift his heavy axe again and pierced through his armor.  I didn’t do much damage, but I heard a heavy metal plate hit the ground.  I jumped back and noticed that his left shoulder was now open for me to stab a way at.  Before I focused on his body however, I wanted to knock off more of his armor.

        Thankfully, this guy not only had a short fuse, but he was also not very bright.  We both went through the same thing; him trying to hit me, me dodging, and then me coming up on him and knocking another piece of his armor off.  Eventually, all the armor this guy had left on was his helmet.  Once he realized this, he dropped his axe and went for a sword sheathed on his side.  Now that he was free of all that armor, he started to quicken his fighting style, which was when things began to get interesting.

        It was a surprise to me how stealthy this guy was, but I was able to block his first attack.  Our swords met horizontally with a sharp cling sound and I was able to peek inside of this guy’s helmet.  I saw eyes, but they were closed.  I at least knew that this guy was human, but he must have had a major problem with sleep walking because this was ridiculous.  The way this guy was fighting now, he didn’t seem tired at all, so I was stumped as to what was going on.  I didn’t have much time to think for this guy was wasting no time with me.

        His sword, which seemed to be some sort of broadsword, enabled him to move faster than he did with the axe, but he was still severely slow.  His method of swinging his sword was more underhanded, which put a ton of pressure on my blade.  I was afraid that the ‘blade of evil’s bane’ was going to shatter right in front of me.  After I got the groove of things though, I realized that this guy left himself open between swings.  All I needed to do was stab him quickly in the side and then abort, otherwise I was have a broadsword in my skull.

        And the moment came.  I stabbed the armored man and quickly drew back.  Blood gushed from his side as he swung his blade around blindly.  I stepped all the way back towards Lux, Minncino, and Pasta to keep myself from being hit.  After swinging violently for ten seconds, the armored fiend fell to the ground on its hands and knees. 

        I expected nothing more, but I heard a small cling noise and looked down to see that the armored man had lost his helmet.  It was then that I realized that this enemy wasn’t a man at all; it was a woman.  I looked closer and recognized the face.  Her face was tan, but missing the make-up she had on seven years ago.  Her flowing red hair was pulled back, but was wet with sweat.  Her eyes were wide open as she struggled to breathe.

        “Nabooru?” I said quietly and she looked up at me.

        “Ashley,” she said slowly, “the stone…they have the Shiny Stone.”

        “Shiny Stone?” I said to myself and looked back at Minccino who actually had a worried expression on his face.  “Who’s they?”

        “Ganondorf’s mothers,” she said.

        “His mother?”

        “His mothers.”

        “Wait a minute,” I said, “this makes no sense.  You’re saying mothers, as in more than one?”

        Before she could say anything, I heard a rotten sounding laugh that pierced my ears and echoed through the room.  I then heard another laugh which sounded a bit different.  They sounded like female laughs. 

        “The mothers,” I whispered harshly.

        And, in an instant I saw two figures spinning around.  They stopped spinning and I saw that they were two women who had green tinted skin.  On the back of their head was, of course, their hair which was elevated like a bee-hive and held by a Gerudo style head band.  It had greyed with age, but looked pretty damn thick.  Like Ganondorf, on each of their foreheads was a jewel, though they were a bit larger than the jewel that Ganondorf toted on his face.  Seeing as they both looked alike, the jewels were different colors.  One had a red jewel on and the other had a blue one.  Their faces were hideous and I immediately realized where Ganondorf got his honker.  But the question still remained in my mind.  How the hell did Ganondorf have two moms?

        “Tsk, tsk,” the red jeweled one said.  “What a shame, Kotake.  She wasn’t that good at fighting, despite all the training.”

        “Yes, what a shame, dear sister,” the other said. 

        “Wait,” I said, “which one of you is Ganondorf’s mom?” 

        “I am,” they both said at the exact same time.

        “You’re both his mother?” I said.  I was so confused, but I wasn’t here for family crap.  “Regardless, who are you two and why is Nabooru dressed in heavy armor?” 

        “We are the twin sisters of this desert,” said the one with the blue jewel, who had been called Kotake by the other sister.  “I am Kotake and she is my sister, Koume.  We guard the Spirit Temple from pests like you.”

        “Well, great,” I said, “now can you just tell me why Nabooru was dressed in armor and what is going on here?”

        “Oh, Nabooru,” said Koume and she threw her head back and looked at the ceiling.  “Because of her persistent betrayal to our son, she needed to be taught a very hard lesson.  All she has done is cause the group trouble.  I think it is just because she is jealous of our boy for being such a strong leader, but who knows.  Now, she seems to be dead, which isn’t a pity at all.”

        “Not quite, dear Koume,” Kotake said.  “She’s still breathing, the pathetic thing.  I guess even one of the great Heroes of Time can’t kill this disgusting woman.”

        “I guess we will have to do it ourselves, Kotake,” Koume said and smiled.  Her teeth were yellow and crusty looking.

        “I’m afraid I can’t let you do that,” I said and I was all ready to protect Nabooru.

        “No,” I heard her say quietly.  “Let them kill me…they need to kill me.”

        “Huh?” I said.  I didn’t understand right away, but in a couple of seconds it finally got through to me.  Nabooru was the sage that I needed to awaken and, for her to actually need to be awakened, she needed to be dead.

        “You want us to kill you?” Koume said.  “Did you hear that, Kotake?”

        “I did, Koume.  Suit yourself, young lady.”  And then, both of the sisters looked at each other with a smile.  Koume began to glow red and Kotake began to glow blue and, in a burst of light, they shot Nabooru.  She let out a horrid scream and then completely collapsed on the floor.  Blood seeped in the cracks on the ground and I watched as Nabooru failed to take anymore breaths.

        “What a waste, dear sister,” Kotake said.

        “Yes, Kotake,” Koume said and she suddenly took out a stone.  The stone was a light yellow color and right in the middle looked like an orange sphere.  Unlike the other stones, this one was actually glowing brightly.  It seemed to me that the small sphere in the middle was a tiny sun.

        I assumed that the stone they had was the stone I needed to awaken Nabooru, which was confirmed by Minccino.  I felt him on my foot, gazing at the thing. 

        “I’ll go ahead and take that,” I said.  Maybe, for once, this whole awakening stuff would be a bit easier than usual. 

        “You want this stone?” Koume said with a smile.  “I suppose we can give this to her, right Kotake?”

        “You are right, Koume,” Kotake said.  “I mean, we have no use for the thing, anyway.  But, before we give it to her, let’s have fun with this Hero of Time.  Seeing as she’ll most likely try to take down our son, I think we should play with her.”

        “Great idea, Koume,” Kotake said with enthusiasm.

        Awesome, I thought.  Everything has to be so difficult. 

        “Alright then,” I said allowed to the two, “I’ll take you both on.  But, I do get that stone afterwards, right?”

        “We promise, girl,” Koume said and she put the stone in her thick head of hair.  “Now, let us go and get ready for this girl, Kotake.”  The two them took off on their broomsticks into a new room that was behind the now crumbled throne.  A huge door shut and echoed throughout the small room, leaving me alone with my Pokemon and the corpse of Nabooru.

        “Well you guys,” I said to Pasta, Lux, and Minccino, “it would probably be best for you all to stay here.”

        “Minccino,” Minccino said harshly.  He grabbed the top of my boot and tried to pull me forward.

        “Minccino, you’re too small to go in and-“ I said, but he kept yelling and I saw little tears wet the fur under his big eyes.  He was so ambitious and passionate that I couldn’t say no.  “Alright,” I said and caved, “all of you can come in with me if you so please.”

        “Char,” Pasta said and shook his head.  I took out his Pokeball and had him return.  I wasn’t sure why he didn’t want to help but he was a bit big and would have been in the way.

        “Okay, all set then?” I asked Lux and Minccino.  Lux smiled up at me and walked over to Minccino and picked him up.  Then Lux placed the little guy between his ears.  Minccino stood up straight on Lux’s head and still had tears strolling down his eyes, but he had so much drive in his eyes.  I felt so inspired by the little guy myself that I began to walk towards the huge door without hesitation.  Once I stood directly in front of it, the door began to rise automatically.  Dust floated in the air as the stone door slowly went up. 

        What was revealed to us was a big room with an elevated platform in the middle.  There were some other smaller platforms around this huge platform as well.  Leading up to the top of the platform was a ladder on the wall made out of metal.  I climbed it with Lux handing onto my shield.  On top of the platform was a flat service that had a round, red rug in the middle.  I unsheathed my sword and went to the center of the room. 

        “Whenever you’re ready guys,” I said after a few seconds.  Then, in a cruel, evil fashion, Koume and Kotake let out their stupid laughs which, once again, hurt my ears.  It was all cackly and crusty sounding and made me cringe. Then, there was a bright light of red and a bright light of blue on both sides of me and the two appeared.

        “Are you ready for this, Kotake?” Koume asked her sister.

        “Yes I am, Koume,” Kotake replied. “Are you ready, Hero of Time?”

        “Hell yeah,” I said and pointed my sword at Koume.  “Let’s do this.”

        “Such a terrible child you are,” Koume said and her hair turned into a hot, red flame..  “But, you’ll be a nice sacrifice to the great Ganondorf for sure.”  Then, this weird circle thing came from the butt end of Koume’s broomstick.  It contained weird looking patterns and was a dark orange color.  She seemed to be charging a beam of some sort because, after a couple of seconds, her broomstick caught on fire.  She put the broom end towards me and out shot this dark red beam.  I was able to get out of the way, but I could feel extreme heat emanating from this red beam. 

        Jeez, I thought and I looked up at the twins who were now floating around in the air.  If that beam hit my sword, the blade would melt for sure.  If I didn’t think fast, we’d all be roasted.  But then I wondered about Kotake.  Her hair seemed to be frozen by ice.

        After floating around a bit, Kotake then stepped up to the plate.  That weird circle came back again, but this time it was a light, icy blue color.  She charged the beam and then the end of her broomstick had a block of ice on the bristles.  I wasn’t really thinking, but couldn’t melt my Master Sword’s blade, so I decided to test it.  I held the sword in front of me with the blade completely horizontal to try and block Kotake’s attack; if I could, anyway.  To my surprise, the sword blocked the attack from hitting me.  Unfortunately, the sword became very heavy because the entire blade froze into a huge block of ice.  It stopped just a bit after the hilt began, but I had to drop the damn thing.

        When I dropped the sword, it landed on the soft carpet and the ice didn’t crack a bit.  It would take too long for the Master Sword’s blade to thaw on its own, so I used the next weapon I had.  I took the Spirit Staff off its holster behind my back and was ready for the next attack.  I wasn’t too confident on what to do, but the staff did seem to hold some sort of magnificent power, so it was worth a shot.  It would buy me time while I waited for the Master Sword to melt, anyway.

        Koume went next, as it was her turn, and started to charge up her fire beam again.  I wasn’t sure what was going to happen to the Spirit Staff, but I held it in front of me horizontally and closed my eyes.  I heard the beam shoot towards me and began to feel the hot flame.  It was then that I heard a weird noise, like the noise of a siren.  I opened my eyes to see the fire beam shoot off to the side from the mirror medallion of my staff.  Right in the way of the beam was Kotake herself and she yelled in pain as the beam burned her and surrounded her in smoke.  She recovered, unfortunately, and attacked back at me immediately.

        I put my staff up and saw that the beam of ice traveled up the handle of the staff and went right towards the medallion.  I maneuvered the medallion with my hand, pulling it upwards so that the beam would reflect directly on to Koume.  Though it seemed rather bizarre to me, Koume was actually injured by the beam of ice.  She yelled in a similar fashion as her sister and then attacked me for fun.  Of course, I just did the same as before and redirected her fire beam towards Kotake.

        I did this a few times and I was extremely excited about how easy this whole thing was.  Compared to everything I had encountered on my long adventure, these two were a piece of cake.  But, as my life goes, things got sour.

        The twins stopped floating for some reason and looked at each other.  “It’s time to get serious, Koume,” Kotake said to her sister.

        “You’re right, Kotake,” Koume replied and they started to spin above me.  Suddenly, they both disappeared in a flash of light, just to leave one younger, taller looking lady floating above.  She was much prettier than the sisters as individuals, that was for sure.  Her hair was like the sisters’ except like pigtails and one side was fiery while the other side was completely frozen.  In each of her hands were a wand, one which had fire on the tip and another that had ice on the tip.

        “Behold the power of Twinrova,” she said and then winked at me.  She floated backwards and stopped for a second to look at her wands.  Then she shot ice right at me.  I was able to get it with the medallion on my staff, but it didn’t reflect back.  Instead, the medallion just turned light blue and the siren sound kept going.  I was so confused at what was going on, but I just made sure to concentrate and try to get everyone of Twinrova’s shots on my staff’s medallion.  She released another beam of ice and the siren grew louder and went off quicker.  The medallion was blinking a bit faster as well.  Nothing was happening, however.  No beam of light shot out of my staff, so I waited for another shot from Twinrova.

        Twinrova got ready to shoot me again, but she used the other wand.  I wasn’t thinking very well, so I got my staff ready to take in the shot.  The red beam hit the medallion on my staff, but the siren noise went slower and the medallion went from blink light blue furiously to blinking red slowly.  It was then that I realized that my medallion could only hold one element at a time.  I just had to make sure that my medallion absorbed more fire.

        It only took two more fire beams for my medallion to release its own beam of fire.  The beam was so strong that it almost knocked me off my feet.  I quickly made it steady just in time to hit Twinrova.  She let out a yell, but recovered in a second of two.  Thus, the process repeated two more time and Twinrova fell to the ground from exhaustion.

        She was on her hands and knees when the stone fell from her hair.  “Minccino!” I shouted, “grab it!”

        Minccino jumped straight of Lux and ran after the stone, but Twinrova snatched it right up before Minccino even put a small paw on it.  “You think it would be that easy, you little rat?” she said and grabbed him by his tail.  He flailed in the air and screamed. 

        “Let go of him,” I shouted and used some of my electric power to shoot at Twinrova.  Lux even joined in.  It seemed he really cared about Minccino.

        Twinrova shot back ice, which actually stopped Lux and I’s power to a degree.  Most of it was absorbed inside of the beam of ice and shot back at us, but some actually hit Twinrova, who immediately dropped Minccino.  Lux and I hit the ground and I felt freezing cold from the beam.  I jumped up however, and ran towards Twinrova, who was still on the ground.  I dodged Minccino and took the sharp end of my staff and stabbed it right into the jewel in her head.

        The jewel shattered and the pieces fell to the ground.  I withdrew my staff and watched as Twinrova grabbed her forehead and started to scream.  She began to glow red, like she was going to explode, so I grabbed Minccino and ran over towards Lux.  I shielded them both and turned my back towards her.  I heard a loud blast and felt some heated wind which was followed by snowflakes gently floating in the air.  I heard something fall to the ground, so I stood up straight and turned around.

        “Rai,” Lux said and seemed to be fascinated by the snow falling.  It was actually falling rather quickly and thick, so the ground began to become glazed with the white, cold snow.  Lux and Minccino danced together while I put my staff back and walked over towards the Master Sword.  The blade was no longer covered in ice, which most likely melted from the blast.  Instead, it was lightly frosted with snow.  I picked it up and sheathed it. 

        I turned and saw Lux and Minccino on the ground making snow angels.  “Alright guys,” I said to them both, “it’s time to wrap this up and awaken Nabooru.”  I walked over to the stone which shined brightly in the white snow.  I picked it up and looked at Minccino who began to walk towards me.  I actually felt a little sad letting him go to the Sacred Realm, but it had to be done.

        “You ready, Minccino?” I asked him and he nodded.  I put the stone down to his little body and let it touch him.  A bright light came from him and faded shortly, revealing a similar looking Pokemon, but with a beautiful coat of white fur wrapped around its body.

        “Cinccino,” he said to me and pointed one of his tiny paws at a circle of blue light that just formed on the ground.  He walked into it himself and waited for Lux and I.  When we were all in the light, a sudden flash appeared and we were lifted off the ground.  I felt a bit sleepy and closed my eyes…

        I felt my feet land on the ground gently and opened my eyes slowly.  I could hear the soothing sounds of dripping water and looked up to see Nabooru with Cinccino by her feet.

        “We’re glad you could make it,” Nabooru said with a small smile.  “As you know, I am Nabooru, the sage and guardian of the Spirit Temple.”

        “Sorry I, uh, killed you back there,” I said awkwardly.

        “That’s quite alright.  I was brainwashed and trapped in my own body for seven years.  You did me a great favor.  I’m extremely grateful that Hyrule has someone like you protecting it.  Ganondorf needs to be stopped and now you’re one step closer to taking him down.”  She then took out a dark orange colored medallion and handed it to me.

        “Thank you,” I said.

        “Before you go,” Nabooru said, “I have some advice.  I know you’re a bit of a lone wolf.  I am a lone wolf as well, but I know that I can’t do everything alone.  When it comes to Ganondorf, you will need help.  You can’t face him alone, as he has allies that will do everything to stop you.  Remember that you are not the only angry one.  Hyrule is ready and willing to take this man down, especially if you or the other Hero of Time leads a rebellion.”

        “So, I should storm the castle with an army?” I said.

        “Yes,” Nabooru said, “that may be the best way.  But, the angriest of races in this kingdom may be the Gerudo tribe.  I know they may seem different and less cooperative, but they were affected most by Ganondorf.  If you feel that you will need help from the kingdom, do not forget my people.  They will be more willing and more driven to take down the Evil King.”

        “I won’t forget them,” I said.  “I promise.”

        “I would join the rebellion myself, but I can only do so in spirit, unfortunately,” Nabooru said with a frown.  “Just take him down.  We’re all in your corner.”

        “I’ll remember that,” I said with a smile and put the medallion in my pocket.  I felt myself begin to float in the air and closed my eyes again.

        “Remember my people,” I heard Nabooru say quietly.

Yes, yes you may.  :)

        I decided to look around before I went into the temple.  Though it looked like a barren desert, there could be something lying outside of the temple.  On the left, I found a pit that was made of sand, but the sand was wet, so it must have served as an oasis at one point in time.  Honestly, that was the biggest mystery in the desert.

        It was when I decided to go to the right that I felt my hat wiggle around.  Suddenly, Max woke up and shot out of my hat and started to shout.  He took off like a speeding bullet.

        “Hey, where are you going?” I asked.

        Max stopped and faced me, or at least I think he faced me.  “The Great Fairy!” he shouted and flew into a cave.  I looked down at Lux and shrugged at him.  We then began to walk towards the cave.

        When we walked in it was dark, but once the ground became white marble, I knew where we were.  Once I walked a couple more steps, light shown all around us and I was able to see the Fairy Fountain.  Floating above it was Max, who was placing himself for something.

        “Uh, why are you still?” I asked.  “Usually you freak out and shake a lot.”

        “If I place myself in just the right spot…” he said, but didn’t continue.  “Just play the song or whatever.”

“Okay,” I said and stood on the Triforce plate.  I took out my ocarina and began to play Zelda’s Lullaby.  Once I was finished, I heard a deep laugh and then some coughing. 

Out from the fountain came what seemed like a forty year old fat guy.  On his back was a pair of fake angel wings.  Unfortunately for my eyes, he was wrapped in weeds, like the Great Fairy usually was, and it was just as revealing as it was on the female Great Fairy.  Luckily, he wore striped boxers, so his junk didn’t burst out of the weeds.  He had five o’clock shadow and he had a cigarette in his mouth.  On his thick neck was a gold chain and, between his man boobs the size of bunnies, was Max, nuzzling between those moobies.

“Um, hi,” I said awkwardly and the guy looked at me.

“Whad do you want?” the guy asked.  He had a thick accent that reminded me of Boston, a city back at home.  I had never been there, but I heard their accents on television.  When Max heard his voice, he flew out of his moobs and went straight back into my hat.  I could feel it shaking.

“Uh, I’m here to see the Great Fairy,” I said.

“Well, unfortunately for you, I am da Great Fairy,” he said and he took a puff of his cigarette. 

“What happened to the regular Great Fairy?” I asked.

“Okay, I’m not really da Great Fairy,” he said.  “To be all, technically, I’m a stand-in.  I get paid for dis gig.”

“So, do you have something to give me?” I asked.

“Whad do ya mean, give you somethin’?” he snapped.  “Ya come in here and demand me to give you somethin’?  I’ll give ya somethin’.  A punch right in da face.”

“Well, uh, the Great Fairy usually gives me something when I visit her.  I guess they’re supposed to, because I’m one of the heroes of time.”

“Oh, you’re one of those brats.  Yeah, I was told to give ya somethin’, if I could remember what it was.  Ya took so long ta get here.  I’ve been waitin’ for five years for one of you brats to show up.”

“Well, I’m, uh, sorry about that.  I was asleep for all five of those years, you know.”

“Eh, whatever.  Excuses is all you got.  Anyway, what do ya want from me?”

I looked around nervously, trying to pull something useful from my brain, but it didn’t work.  Instead, I said: “Um, I guess some sort of power up or something.”

“Whaddya mean by a power up?” he snapped.  “Go train your lazy ass.  Then you’ll get yerself a power up.”

“Are you even going to help me, or should I just leave?” I asked and sighed.  I was a little tired of this guy already.

“Nah, don’t leave.  I’ll help ya.”

“Well, thank you, Great, uh, Fairy.”

“No no, call me tha Great Karl,” the guy said. 

“Alright, Great Karl,” I said and looked around nervously.  This guy was quite the character.  What I failed to notice was that the little rat that I had gotten from Jose escaped my little pocket and scurried towards the fountain.  Once it got towards the Great Karl, he held out his hand and made the guy float in the air.  It scurried violently, but didn’t get anywhere.

“The first way I’ll help ya is wit dis guy,” the Great Karl said and he snapped.  Suddenly, the rat transformed into a tiny, grey thing with big ears.  It had a rather long tail for being such a small rodent.

“Minccino!” it screamed.

“See?” the Great Karl said with a smile under his mustache.  “Things aren’t whut they seem sumtimes, ya know?  This here is a Pokemon named Minccino.  You’re quite the lucky lady, seeing as dis thing is pretty rare.  It evolves with dis thing called the Shiny Stone, which is in the Spirit Temple.  This guy is also the key to reawakening the next sage.”

“Wow,” I said and the Great Karl lowered the little guy into the palms of my hands.  He was a bit heavy even though he looked like he was barely over a foot tall.  He had these big grey eyes and a confused expression on. 

“Make sure you don’t lose the little guy,” the Great Karl said.  “Anyways, I don’ really have much for ya.  I can heal you, dough.  You’ll definitely need it wit whut’s in the temple.”

He was right, but I already knew what was in that temple.  It was me. 

“Wit that bein’ said,” he continued, “do you need anything?”

“Nah, I think I’ll just head out,” I said.  “I don’t really need anything.”

“Well, be careful and kick sum ass,” the Great Karl said and he did a stupid laugh and disappeared in the fountain.  I looked at my cupped hands and looked at the Minncino.

“Alright buddy, you should stay close to me, alright?” I said to him and he nodded.  I plopped him down by Lux and started out of the fountain.  The fountain’s atmosphere was both warm and cold, but when I stepped out into the desert, a blast of hot air hit me and I suddenly became uncomfortable.

I had wasted too much time with the Great Karl, so I didn’t take any more time to explore the place.  We went straight under an arch and then went up a small set of stairs to the entrance of the Spirit Temple.  I wielded the Ling Sheng Su Staff, just in case Dark Ash was waiting for me. 

When we entered the temple, it was surprisingly cool.  The inside was rather impressive in art and structure.  To my right and left were two statues that looked like cobras.  They seemed to have something written on them, so I decided it would most likely be in my best interest to read them.  I walked over to the one on the right, which read:  “If you want to travel to the future, you should return here with the power of silver from the past.”

“What the hell?” I said aloud.  I had no idea what this stupid statue was talking about, so I went over to the other one to read it.  This is what it said: “If you want to proceed to the past, you should return here with the pure heart of a child.”

I tilted my head a little and realized that I was royally screwed.  How the hell was I going to go back in time?  As far as I knew, that was totally impossible.  I didn’t even know what the power of silver was.

“Hello again, Ms. Brandt,” I suddenly heard a voice say.  I quickly turned around, ready to whoop some ass, but to my surprise, it was Sheik.

“Uh, hi, again,” I said awkwardly.  I’d never been alone with this dude. 

“I couldn’t help but over hear you say something,” he said and I could see a smile curl up from under the white cloth that hid his face.  “I can help you with your problem.  As you may have guessed, you need to go back in times to awaken the next sage.”

Back in time? I thought.  Screw that shit.  I didn’t want to go back.  Then, I said to him, “I think I’ll just stay in my time period for now.  Now, can you tell me what this ‘power of silver’ junk is?”

“Yes, I can,” Sheik said and he rolled his eyes like he was annoyed or something.  “The power of silver that you speak of is nothing other than the silver gauntlets, which can only be obtained by someone who can crawl through a very small hole.  That would be a child.  The goddesses set it up this way for the Hero of Time, or rather the Heroes of Time, I suppose.”

“Well, that’s dandy, but I don’t want to waste anymore, er, time,” I said.  “Anyway, what do those gauntlets do anyway?”

Sheik sighed and put his face in his palm and then rubbed his eyes which must have been another sign that he was completely annoyed, but I didn’t care; I was going to do things my way.  “Follow me, then,” he said and led me up a set of stairs.  There were two different openings on the temple.  The one on the left of the staircase was a hole which I definitely couldn’t fit through as an adult.  The one on the right was blocked by a huge, grey block which had a black crescent with a little star at the end of the tips carved into it.

“This block can only be picked up by one who wears the silver gauntlets,” Sheik said.

I looked at it and had an idea.  “While having enormous power is rather nice, I have a better idea,” I said to him and I took Pasta’s Pokeball off my belt.  I shouted his name and he came out from the ball and looked a lot better than he did a day or so ago, when Volvagia gave us both a run for our money. 

“Hey Pasta,” I said to him, “could you pick this thing up for me?”  Pasta smiled and picked up this huge square and threw it forward.  I looked at Sheik with a smirk.  “See, I have this covered.”

Sheik sighed and said, “Well, if you say so.”

There was a bit of a pause, so I decided to say something.  “Oh hey, have you seen Link lately?  I just want to know how he is.”

“Link’s mission involved him going back in time also,” Sheik said, “so he actually did what I told him to do.  He’s in the well thing in Kakariko Village.  I suggest, once you are done, to meet him up in Kakariko.  Seeing how he actually followed directions, he’ll probably be done before you.”

I could have gotten angry, but I just put on a nice smile for my friend there.  “You may be right, but I’ll get through this thing nonetheless.”

“If you say so,” Sheik said and we stared at each other for a while until things got awkward.  The one thing I noticed was that he had rather girly eyes for some guy.

“Uh, anyway, I’ll be seeing you around,” I said.  I waved to him and started to walk down the hall that Pasta had cleared for us.  I had this absolutely weird feeling that he was watching me which made me uncomfortable.  Those girly eyes could have been looking at my ass.

I didn’t bother to turn and see him because he was probably gone anyway.  He usually just did what he needed to and left.  Beyond that little hall was a room with sand in the middle.  There was really nothing of interest in that room, neither was there for a couple rooms, honestly.  It was when we got to a huge room that things did become interesting.

        This room was vast, but the most noticeable feature was a giant statue of a woman.  It seemed like she had a cobra that went up to her face and curled around her body.  She looked similar to the lady that was above the entrance to the temple, so she must have definitely been a goddess to the Gerudo people.  I looked around and in front of me was a long staircase that led to another floor.  On my left was a ladder which went down to where the base of the statue was a big floor.  I decided to go for the ladder just because I wanted to look at the statue.

        I had my three companions follow me down the ladder and once I landed on the floor, shit got real.

        “Well, hello there beautiful,” I heard a voice say.  I instantly recognized that voice as my own.  I looked towards the area that it came from, but I couldn’t see anyone.  I walked out to the middle of the room so I could hopefully spot myself easier.

        “Hey there,” I replied, “why don’t you come out so I can see you?”

        “I would,” she said, “but I’m a big fan of surprises.”

        I walked around and looked everywhere.  I couldn’t see her at all.  “Well, if you stay hidden, you do have the advantage to give me a surprise attack,” I said while walking.  “But, that also means you’re a coward and that you’re afraid to confront me.”

        “Ha, afraid of you?  You’re funny.”  Then, immediately after that was said, Dark Ash came from the shadows by the statue.  She was whistling and swung her sword around.  “I suppose I’ll play fair…for a little while, anyway.”

        Good, I thought.  At least she still has the sword.  That means I stand a bit of a chance. 

        I unsheathed my staff and put on a smile.  “Well look at you,” my dark self said.  “I wish I was as hip as you.  Oh wait, I am.”

        All of a sudden, a bunch of tiny shadow balls came from the shadows of the room and went up Dark Ashley’s arm.  The little balls began to form a stick and then, in just a matter of seconds, a staff was created. 

        “Shit,” I said out loud and Dark Ash just put on a smile that made me want to smack her on the face.  Little bitch.  I couldn’t believe she had the power to do that.

        “Now, now, there’s no reason to get like that,” my dark self said wagging her finger.  She got into a fighting stance and said, “Now, time to play, just like I promised.”

        Of course, she came at me first and without warning.  Her staff slammed the side of my head and knocked me to the side.  When I was able to see straight, I saw her in the air, ready to take the base of her staff and slam it into my body.  I rolled out of the way and looked over at Lux. 

        “Lux, get Minccino out of here,” I shouted to him in the little time I had.  Before he could even say anything, my dark self was after me in a heartbeat.  Unfortunately for me, it seemed like Dark Ashley had been studying her staff technic for years, rather than the couple hours I had to train.

        There was a lot of back and forth fighting going on.  It was so hard to keep up with my dark self, but I was actually able to deflect most of her attacks.  But, just like me, she liked to toy with her opponents, so an ass whipping was coming my way. 

        In a split second, my dark self suddenly became really good with the staff and started knocking me across the face with the damn thing.  She began to twirl the staff around hit me several times.  I realized that I had to grab that thing before I lost consciousness, so I grabbed her staff and held on with one arm.  She began to lift me up and swing me around wildly.  I took my staff and hit her on the side of the head, which fazed her for a little while, but not long enough.

        As the battle progressed, it became easier to block dark Ashley’s attacks.  That, of course, made her a bit angrier.  She didn’t have any trick left which surprised me seeing as she always seemed to be a thousand steps ahead of me.  She tried to step her game up a little more again, but both of us were tired.

        “Screw this shit,” she suddenly said and threw her staff to the side.  She immediately looked down at the ground and air began whipping her hair back and forth.  Her eyes started to glow even more red than before and I knew straight away that shit was about to go down.  But what could I do?

        All I could think of doing was twirling my staff in front of me just so it could maybe reflect whatever power my dark self would unleash.  I didn’t realize that sparks began to come from my finger tips and this huge ball of electricity began to form.  Of course, as the ball of electricity became bigger, I noticed that something peculiar was going, I just didn’t know what the hell was going on.  The ball itself began to push me backwards and made me tense.  I had to keep cool, so I relaxed all of the muscles in my body and, in a split second, the electricity ball shot from my staff and hit my dark self before she could release that power she was concentrating on.

        Dark Ash shot backwards and hit the statue of the sand goddess.  She fell to the floor and I noticed that she actually left a dent in the damn thing, despite the fact that it was made of stone.  She immediately got up and charged after me.  The next thing I knew was that she had me by the collar and threw me straight in the air.  I held on to my staff as I went up several floors and I came face to face with the statue of the sand goddess.  Right in front of me was a pillar that seemed to be held up by a chain but I was nowhere near the thing to get my footing and be on safe ground.

        But of course, Dark Ash knew what she was doing and jumped all the way up to the pillar.  I was still in the air, beginning to descend when she grabbed me and kicked me square in the middle of my legs which made me fly upwards.  She then proceeded to jump and follow me so she could kick me in the stomach and make me fly into a wall.  I ended up hitting a window and pulling down a ragged cloth that served as a curtain.  When the cloth came down with me, a small circle of light came into the room.  It was that window that possibly saved my life.

        The thing is, Dark Ash decided to totally ignore the window and the light.  All she did was step in the light when she came to confront me and she began to yell in pain.  I looked up wearily and noticed that the light was burning her dark skin which made her jump backwards to escape it.  I stood up quickly and tried to figure out where I was.

        It seemed Dark Ashley had thrown me into a whole other room which had what seemed to be a jail cell in it because there were bars isolating the room itself.  Then I noticed that someone must have escaped this room for, a little to the right, there was a huge hole in the wall.  I couldn’t see very well, but light shrouded the cell, so I knew I had to get in there.  I ran for it, but felt a thin hand grab my ankle and pull it.

        My body slammed to the ground and Dark Ashley began to drag me all across the room which caused my face to get many scratches and bruises.  I shot electricity out of my hand in desperation and it actually hurt her a lot.  The light must have not only hurt her physically, but it must have sucked the energy out of her. 

        In anger, she swung me around by my ankle and then threw me.  Fortunately, she threw me right through the hole in the wall.  As soon as my body hit the ground, I got up and ran into the cell.  I almost tripped over a skull or two, but I got to the treasure that this cell was actually holding.

        The middle of this cell contained a lot of sand, which probably came from the hole that was in the ceiling which actually produced the huge beam of light.  Stuck in the middle of this pile of sand was a crimson staff.  At the tip was a silver, pointed end which I could use to stab or cut someone, but that wasn’t the best part.  When I pulled this staff out of the sand it was revealed to me that there was actually a round mirror on the other tip which seemed to be made of a very strong and reflective glass as the light bounced right off of it when it came out of the sand.  When the light from the mirror hit the wall, I saw a crescent star symbol, which was that of the Gerudo people.  Conveniently, the mirror on the end could be tilted so that I could control where the light went to some degree.

        I thought quickly and turned the mirror so that light shined on my dark self through the cell bars.  The mirror wasn’t that big but the small beam of light it reflected caused my dark self a lot of pain.  Unfortunately for her, whenever she tried to move away I was able to move the staff and put the light back on her. Seconds later, she fell to her knees and began to cry it seemed.  I took the light off of her and rushed out to finish her.

        It was pathetic seeing her in that state.  She was crying and couldn’t get up off her knees.  I decided to end it for her and stabbed her torso with the sharp end of the staff which caused her to collapse in little black balls and they disappeared.

        I breathed a sigh of relief and wiped my bleeding nose.  That staff would come in handy but I couldn’t afford to carry the other one, so I left it be.  It was very well crafted it seemed.  The staff was made of some sort of crimson metal which gave the staff a nice shine to it.  It was also expertly designed as carved ivy went up and down the staff for a decorative touch.  It was a beauty, honestly, and I never felt so proud to carry that weapon. 

        I dusted it off a bit with my hat and sheathed the staff.  I the preceded to climb down the chain that led to the pillar in the middle of the room I was in previously and got mentally ready for whatever would be next.

When I left the training hall, the Gerudo that guarded the entrance closed the gate and smiled at me. 

        “How was it?” she asked me.

        “Uh, it was, um, good, I guess,” I said.  “I passed the training.”

        The Gerudo woman had wide eyes and said, “Really?”

        “Yeah,” I said and smirked. 

        “Where will you be heading off to now?” the Gerudo woman asked and I replied, “I need to go to the Spirit Temple next.”

        When I said that, the Gerudo woman put on a stern expression.  “I don’t think that’s a good idea, girl,” she said harshly.  “There hasn’t been a soul in that temple since Ganondorf was born.  Anyway, you have to cross the Gerudo Desert to get there.  Many go to the desert and many don’t return.”

        I was a little intrigued, so I asked her some questions.  “Why don’t people return?”

        “The Gerudo Desert is vast so many get lost there,” she told me.  “That’s not what will get you, though.  There’s a vicious storm that has blew for hundreds of years and claimed hundreds of lives.  I honestly don’t think that anyone has made it passed the desert and entered the Spirit Temple.  Well, actually, there was one person who went there and came back.”

        “Who was that?”

        “She’s our leader, or at least she was,” the girl said.  “Her name is Nabooru.  She made a journey to go there as a teen and came back with weapon that was said to be in the Spirit Temple as proof that she actually made it there.  However, things began to get bad for us quickly as Ganondorf became ruler and a foul storm brewed through the valley.  Nabooru decided that it was her fault that the events were taking place, so she decided to return the weapon to the Spirit Temple to please the gods.  She never returned, though the storm and Ganondorf both left.”

        “Well, technically, Ganondorf is still here,” I said.

        “You’re right,” the woman said, “but he’s no longer a threat to us in the meantime.”

        “Why do you have no compassion for the people of Hyrule?” I asked angrily. 

        “Do you think they have compassion for us?” she snapped.  “We sent many pleas to the King of Hyrule to help us, but he ignored them and became allies with Ganondorf.  It serves him right to be killed by that man.”

        I didn’t agree that he deserved to be killed, but I also didn’t agree with the King’s course of action.  It was then that I realized that the Gerudo race must have been driven to the desert like they were a bunch of savages.  The Gerudo people were angry, which led me to think for a split second that maybe Ganondorf was angry too.  However, Ganondorf caused chaos among the Gerudo people, so he must have had his own goals when he came to Hyrule.

        “Hyrule has been very unfair to you,” I said.  “I apologize for any offense you might have taken from me.”

        The woman smiled and said, “That’s fine.  A lot of people just misunderstand us.  I’m afraid that their opinions of us will continue to get worse however, seeing as Ganondorf is now ruling the land of Hyrule with an iron fist.  We may never find peace with the Hylian people.”

        “Well, I’ll make sure that Ganondorf’s reign is put to rest so that the Hylians may put their stereotypes aside,” I said.  “I’ll make it to that Spirit Temple, even if the desert makes it difficult for me.”

        “It won’t be easy,” the woman told me, “but good luck.”

        I nodded to her and continued on my way.  I wasn’t really sure what was up ahead, but I was extremely scared.  I was kind of missing Link a little bit.  Being scared was a lot easier to cope with when you had a partner.  I started to wonder how he was doing as Lux and I walked towards the entrance of the Gerudo Desert.  From what I had gathered, Link would be dealing with some darker stuff than I would be.  Link would probably be in some damp, dark place, which didn’t actually seem that bad as the hot Gerudo sun pounded down on my skin. 

        I had to wait for a couple of the Gerudo women to open the entrance to the desert.  To keep random people from going through, a huge, wooden gate was put up to separate the fortress from the desert.  If one wanted to enter the desert, they needed to have the gatekeepers pull ropes and put the gate up.  They gave me the okay to walk through and, as soon as I was clear, they dropped the gate.  A gatekeeper was always stationed there, so if I came in through the night, someone would surely help me.

        The Gerudo woman was right.  A windstorm was blowing violently through the desert, which caused sand to kick up and rush into anyone who walked through.  The beads of sand hit my body and made it so that I had trouble seeing in front of me.  I had to put my arm up to shield my eyes from the storm.  It wasn’t much help, but I was able to see a bit better.  Lux, on the other hand, was having trouble walking with me, as the wind was too strong for him.  His thin tail was blowing fiercely with the wind.

        As we walked farther into the desert, I started to see something in the distance.  I decided to investigate, so I walked closer to this object and discovered that it was a wooden pole and on that pole was a ripped flag, which I had seen all over Gerudo Fortress.  I looked out a bit further and saw another blurry object, but it seemed to look like another flag.  I found it odd that there were two flags close to each other.

        I shrugged and decided to continue on, dismissing the whole flag thing.  A couple steps later, I discovered why the flags were apart.  In just one step, I felt half of my leg sink into thick, wet sand that seemed to flow like a river.  Fortunately, I was able to jump backwards, which was strong enough to get my leg out of the quick sand.  I fell backwards right beside Lux. 

        “Raichu!” he shouted and sounded worried.

        “It’s alright Lux,” I said as I sat up.  I patted his head and he smiled, removing the worried expression from his face.  I stood up and tried to wipe the sand off my body, but realized that was pretty much useless. 

        I needed to figure out how to get across the river of quicksand.  Since the pole across was most likely made of wood like the one behind me, I could use my hookshot to get to the other side with no problem.  I lifted Lux up to my shoulder and asked him to hold onto the collar of my tunic.  I took the hookshot off my belt and held it steady, trying to aim straight for the pole without missing.  With one push of the trigger, a spear held on by a chain shot out and, in a split second, the spear at the end pierced the wooden pole. 

        “Hold on, Lux,” I said and, with my free hand, I held onto the top of my hat.  With another pull of the trigger, the chain went back into the hookshot and flung Lux and I forward, right across the quicksand.  Once we hit the ground, I pulled the trigger to stop the chain from going any further and walked to the pole.  The spear was in there rather deep but, with some wiggling, I was able to get the spear to come out and then let the chain go back into the hookshot completely.

        I looked forward and once again saw another pole, so I cautiously looked at the ground I was walking on to make sure that I didn’t walk right in to some more quicksand.  I was getting closer to the next pole so I anticipated running into some sort of quicksand, but I didn’t.  I was able to get to the next flag without any type of issues.  But, there was something else beside the flag.

        Covered in sand was a small, wooden sign.  I used my hand to clear most of the sand and found a message on the board.  On it was an arrow that pointed to the left and it said:  “Need help?  Come to Jose’s.  Keep left and don’t be scared if you don’t see a flag.”

        I pondered whether to follow the sign, but I did know that I needed help, so I decided to give Jose a visit just to see what kind of help he had to offer.  I honestly had no idea how to navigate through the stupid desert anyway, so I definitely could have used some insight.  So, I kept walking right and eventually found another sign.  It said:  “You’re getting closer and closer, my friend.  Keep at it to get help from Jose.” 

        Right after that statement, there was a nice smiley face, which made me feel better.  It was when I kept going that I began to feel a little ill.  In the distance, I could see a huge pit, which wasn’t too promising.  I continued on anyway, still having to shield my eyes from the ever growing sandstorm.

        As I got closer, I saw that there was a pier that extended over the pit.  Once I stepped on the pier, I began to see the figure of a rather hairy man.  As I got closer, I saw that the man was floating.  The actual sandstorm disappeared.

        “Eeeeh, do I see a womean out ‘dere?” I could hear the man say.  He had a thick Spanish accent, so he must have been Jose.  I decided it was safe to keep walking and when I got to a certain point I could a big pit of quicksand below me.  “Eeeeh, don’ be a-frayed,” the man said. 

        I took the guy’s word for it, or at least the words I could understand, and started to walk down the pier.  As I got closer, I realized that the man wasn’t floating all by himself.  This guy had a mammoth sized magic carpet.  That carpet must have been the help I was looking for.  With that thing, he could fly me over to the Spirit Temple in no time.  There was only one problem.  Once I reach the end of the pier, I realized that he was rather far away.

        “Um, could you scoot this rug up a bit,” I asked.  “I can’t really jump that far.”

        “No ken do,” Jose said. 

        “And why not?” I snapped.

        “Dis is just part of thee adveanture,” he said.  “You ken do eat.”

        “I don’t think so.  Just move this thing up a bit and-“

        “Whut are you, cheeeken?” he asked.

        “You mean chicken?”

        “No, cheeeken.”

        “No, I’m not ‘cheeeken,’ I’m just a realist.  There’s no way I can jump all the way over there without falling into that quicksand.”

        “I theenk you ken do eat.  Jus’ go fo eat.”

        Reader, this guy was stupid.  There was no way I could jump as far as he wanted me to, but I needed to do as he said so I could get on that stupid carpet and he could transport me to the stupid temple.  I looked down at Lux and said, “Go ahead and jump over.  I know that you can make it.”

        Lux looked puzzled, but did as I said anyway.  Once he made it over safely, I decided to back up.  If I could get a decent running start and then do some sort of roll, I could probably make it over.  Oh, and by make it over, I mean barely make it over.

        So, I did just that and, of course, I barely made it.  I didn’t actually land on the carpet, but I grabbed on to the end piece and made my way up from there.  When I was able to successfully stand up on the carpet, I looked over at Jose, who was sitting with his legs crossed.  From his long, hairy beard I could see his white toothed smile gleaming back at me.

        “See, I told you dat you ken doo eat,” he said. 

        “Yeah, yeah,” I said and tried to sound annoyed so maybe this guy would take a hint.  “Anyway, can you just take me to the temple?”

        “Whut?” he asked so I repeated my last statement and he just stared at me for like, twenty seconds.

        “Ya know, the Spirit Temple.  Your sign said that you would help me get there.”

        “Aktually, eat deedint,” he said.  “My sign wus an advotisement for my bissness.  I sell theengs.”

        “So, this flying carpet is just a store?”

        “Yeesh,” he said. 

        I looked to the side and sighed.  I wanted to cry.  I didn’t even think I would be able to find my way back to the right path again.  I would end up dying her all because of some hairy Spanish guy.  But, what the hell, I might as well have gotten the best of it.

        “Okay then,” I said, “what do you sell?”

        “I have a varieaty of wears,” he said.  “First, I ‘ave dis.”  And, he pulled from his beard what looked to be a mouse. 

        “What the hell is that?” I said, but I kept calm.  This guy obviously had some issues.

        “Dis eis a Bombchu,” he said.  “Eat ecplodes.”  The poor little mouse scurried in the air as Jose held him by his thin, little tail.

        “How does it explode, exactly?”

        “Weelll, to make ‘im ecplode, you neid a mini-boom.”  And, of course, Jose pulled a small device from his beard.  It was circular and had a harness on it.  “All you neid to do is tie dis on thee leattle guy.  Once eat is secure, let ‘im go.  ‘E will deen scurry and ecplode.”

        “What are these ‘mini-booms’ made out of?” I asked.

        “I maide thee concoction myself,” he said.  “Eat’s maide of my hair, a steeck, a tv remote, two gallons of appeeel cider, an’ ureane from my cat, Juabone.”

        “Juabone?”

        “Eat meens big balls een Hylian.  Thee balls make a lot of ureane.”

        “Yeah, sure,” I said and was very disappointed.  The beam of hope this Jose’s sign gave me was just dowsed in the urine of his big testicled cat.  “Anyway, I’ll tell you what.  If you fly me to the Spirit Temple, I’ll give you all of the rupees I have in my possession.”

        “I wuld do dat, but dere’s one problem,” he said.  “I don’t know ‘ow to drive dis theeng.”

        “Then how the hell did you get this carpet?”

        “I don’t know,” he said and he scratched his head.  “I don’t remeamber.”

        “Then let me try to drive it,” I said. 

        “I kent let you do dat,” he said.  “Dis is my shop.  Enyway, you ken meake it to thee tempeel from thee desert.  Jus follow thee flags.”

        “Well, I know that,” I snapped. 

        “You shuld go-“

        “I know where to go.  I can do this without you.”

        I turned around and was going to make an angry exit, but I realized that the pier was too far away.  “Wait a second,” I said, a little embarrassed.  I looked around for some way to move the stupid carpet, but couldn’t see anything.  I looked over at Jose who had a smile on his face and noticed there was something behind him.

        I walked around him and saw a steering wheel, a red stool, and two pedals.  “What the heck is this?” I asked him and he turned around.

        “I don’t know, amigo,” he said.  “Sumtimes, during thee weeenter, I use eat as a Christmass treeee.”

        I was on my last nerve with this guy, so I sat down at the stool and grabbed the steering wheel.  “Hold on tight, Jose,” I said.  “You too, Lux.”

        “Whut are you doooeng?” he asked.

        I decided to surprise him and just take off like the badass I was, so I put my foot on the left pedal and kicked it all the way down.  Instead of taking off, however, the carpet stopped floating and started to fall towards the pit.  I looked in front of me and saw Jose’s hair flying wildly in the air.

        “Other pedall,” he shouted.

        I pulled the steering wheel back and hit the other pedal, taking off at full speed in the air.  I pulled the steering wheel forward a little while still keeping my foot on the gas and we started going straight forward rather than up.  I turned the carpet around and started at full speed towards the flags.

        “Where are you takeng meee?” Jose asked.

        “The Spirit Temple, of course,” I said.  I looked forward and saw the first flag, so I began to look for the next.  Once I saw the next flag, I went towards it and then continued doing the same thing until I made it to the temple itself.

        The sandstorm just disappeared out of nowhere and I was able to see the temple clearly.  Above the entrance of the temple was a carving of a lady, who I assumed with a sand god or something.  I was a little confused as to why there was another goddess, seeing as there were only three, but I dismissed the thought.  Seeing as the Gerudo people were segregated from the rest of Hyrule, they must have created their own goddess.

        I pulled the wheel forward just a tad to have its nose go towards the ground.  Once I was close to crashing, I pulled the wheel back to level the carpet out.  I pressed the brake and held it and the carpet landed on the hot, golden sand.

        “Where are wee?” Jose asked.

        “The temple, of course,” I said and I took out my wallet.  “Here, I promised you all that I had.”  I handed him about seven hundred rupees and he smiled.

        “Weell, you ken have dis, dhen,” he said and handed me a rat and the mini-boom device.

        I hesitated, but grabbed the rat’s tail and then took the mini-boom.  “Uh, thanks, I guess.”

        “Now, I weel be on my way,” Jose said and he sat at the stool.  I jumped off with Lux and he started the thing up.

        “Wait, I thought you said you couldn’t drive this thing,” I said.

        “I deed,” he said, “but learning to drive a mageak carpet eis all part of thee adveanture.”  And with that, he took off in the sky.

        I looked down at Lux who looked up at the rat who was scurrying in the air.  I decided to keep him around, so I opened a pouch on my belt and put him in it, letting his little head stick out to see the action.  As for the mini-boom, I just threw that on the ground.

        We walked towards the temple, unsure of what awaited us as the hot sun beamed down upon us.  It wouldn’t be long before I would have to battle the dark me and awaken the next sage.  But the difference was that, this time, I would have to do this all by myself.

I was able to get the carpenters back to Lyle’s tent and they had a nice little reunion with him by being scolded and being put straight to work.  I couldn’t blame him because Dmitri had a week of letters to catch up on and the carpenters probably had other things to work on after the bridge was finished.  Despite being angry towards the workers, Lyle was calm towards me and thanked me, offering lunch as a reward, but I declined.  I was very eager to start working with Edge Master so I could challenge my dark self.  Of course, I didn’t tell Lyle that, but he said he understood and I went on my way back to the fortress.

        I grabbed Lightning and walked with him as Lux sat in the saddle.  The noise of progress was echoing through the canyons, so it didn’t fade from our ears until we got to the fortress area itself.  Once we got there, I received some dirty looks from some of the guards, but the Second-In-Command was waiting for me.

        “Ashley, come here please,” she said with a smirk.  In her hand was what looked like a leather square that had the Gerudo symbol on it.  She held it out to me and said, “This is a Gerudo membership card.  If you ever need to come here for help or use our facilities, you will just need to show someone this.”

        I took the card from her and looked at it.  “So, uh, what can I use this for exactly?” I asked.

        “Well, our training hall, where Edge Master is, can only be entered with this card,” the Second-In-Command said to me.  “But, there’s also a dining hall, an archery practice area, and a free pottery class, which makes the pots to be broken for the archery area.  All of this can be utilized with your card there.”

        I smiled and was a bit impressed.  For savage thieves, they sure had a great operation in the desert.  Back at home, we had this thing called a YMCA, which you needed to membership to join to use their facilities, like a pool and all that junk.  The Gerudos seemed to create something similar to that without knowing it.

        I thanked her and went on my way to the training area, which was closed off by a metal gate.  The Gerudo watching the area welcomed me with a warm smile and then offered to take my horse to the stall up the hill.  I let her take Lightning and she opened the gate and let Lux and I in, then closed it behind us. 

        The path ahead of us was dark, but I could see a few torches in a chamber that was ahead.  It was actually rather quiet, except for a couple of drips of water, which echoed throughout the hall we were walking down.  Once in the chamber, I reunited with Edge Master who greeted me with a nod, but no smile.  I knew this was going to be some serious business.

        “Good evening, Ms. Brandt,” Edge Master said and he was stroking his beard.  “I hope you’re ready for hours upon hours of training.”

        “Oh, I’m more than ready,” I said with a smirk.

        “Now then, what did you want me to teach you?”

        “I want to learn how to use a staff,” I said.

        “Oh, the staff, huh?” Edge Master said and was thinking to himself, or at least it looked like he was thinking.  “I can teach you the staff, but I will warn you that it is a whole different weapon from the sword.”

        “I’m aware.”

        Edge Master paused and then asked, “If you don’t mind me asking, why do you want to learn how to use a staff?”

        I sighed and said, “It’s a very long story…”

        “Please, do tell.  I’ve seen that Hyrule is in some troubles, anyway, so I know that something is up.”

        “Well, if you insist,” I said and pondered where to start.  “Okay, so this other guy and I are working together to try and save Hyrule.  I guess we’re the chosen ones or something.  Anyway, we have to reawaken these sages of Hyrule so they can lend us their power and so we can defeat Ganondorf, this king of evil.  For the last two, my partner and I needed to split up, so I’m here in the desert and he’s in a village.  I’m also given the task of clearing the temple located in the desert.  But, for me to clear this temple, I need to get passed my dark self, who is guarding the final boss from me.  For me to defeat my dark self, I need to take a different approach to my fighting style, thus I need a different weapon to use against her.  I guess, somewhere in the temple, is a legendary staff called the Spirit Staff, which is my best option for beating dark me.  That’s why I have come to ask for your assistance.  I need to master this weapon as quickly as possible.”

        The Edge Master frowned.  “It takes a little longer than a day to master a weapon, Ashley.”

        “I know that,” I said, “but I need to challenge myself and awaken the new sage so Hyrule is saved.  I would love to take all the time in the world to learn how to use the staff, but there’s no way.  I can’t let Hyrule’s fate hang in the balance for several years just so I can master something.  I’m begging you, even if you are setting me up for failure, to let me learn from you.  I might not be your best student, but I bet I’m the most driven.”

        “You might be right about that,” Edge Master said and he stroked his beard and walked back and forth.  “Unfortunately, some people regard drive as being useless.”

        “Well, I don’t,” I said defiantly.  “I have to save Hyrule.”

        There was a long pause as the Edge Master just walked back and forth.  He finally stopped and looked at me. 

        “I will teach you, Ashley,” he said, “however, it will not be easy.  I don’t usually give people like you lessons, but you seem determined enough, so I think that I should help you out.  The staff is a very useful weapon, as it covers more ground than the blade does in some instances.  There are many different methods and ways of the staff, but the way that I know best and think is the best is the way of the Ling-Sheng Su.”

        “I’m not familiar with that one…” I said.

        “The Ling-Sheng Su is a temple that existed in the Animus Dimension,” Edge Master said.  “I taught at that temple for a short while, but all of my students were killed by a man that was driven by an evil force.  I was able to stop him, but I was too late; the whole temple was killed.  I was able to calm down the young man and he was full of grief for his friends.  His rampage wasn’t his fault, but I would rather not get into that.  But, I took him under my wing and trained him so he could destroy the evil that caused him to go insane.  He wielded a staff and was already a novice at the Ling-Sheng Su staff style.  It took me a year to make him a pro at it.”

        “I don’t have a year, unfortunately,” I said with a stern face.  It wouldn’t be easy, and Edge Master knew that, but I had to learn how to use a staff. 

        “That is right, which is why I will need to work you harder than I did Kilik, the young man that killed hundreds of people,” Edge Master said. 

        “I’m ready for anything you have to give me,” I said.

        Edge Master nodded, but still looked serious.  “Fine then,” he said.  “For your first part of training, I want you to work on your footwork.  Though the staff doesn’t use quick footwork like a rapier, I would still like you to be quick.  In the room to the left, there is an obstacle course.  I want you to collect all ten silver rupees in there before time is up.”

        I smiled and said, “Sounds easy enough.”

        “Oh but, Ms. Brandt, I’m not done yet,” Edge Master said.  “To make it a little more difficult, you will have this on your back.”  I waited for whatever ‘this’ was as the Edge Master walked to the back wall and took a staff off the wall.  I was finally going to handle one.  The Edge Master held it out to me and I grabbed it with one hand, but quickly held it with two.

        “What the hell is this thing?” I asked as I was forced to slouch because of the staff’s weight. 

        “That is called an Iron Rod,” Edge Master said and he cracked a smile.  “It’s made completely of iron, which is why it’s so heavy.  I use it for training purposes.  Now, I will holster this to your back.”

        I rolled my eyes as the Edge Master took my shield off my back.  “Unbuckle your sheath, if you will,” he said and I did what he said.

        “At least those are gone,” I said, relieved that I only had to carry the Iron Rod.

        “Don’t get ahead of yourself, Ms. Brandt,” Edge Master said.  “You’ll still have your sword and shield on for this task.  It’ll add on that extra weight, which should make you stronger quicker.”

        The belt that went around me to hold my sheath had another hook for the small, round holster that the Iron Rod could go on.  The hilt of my sword was usually a little over my right shoulder, so Edge Master put the holster so that the staff was diagonal, starting above my left shoulder.  My shield was then put right in the middle.  I felt like a damn camel with all that stuff on my back.

        “Now, if only I could get some Iron Boots,” Edge Master said.

        “No!” I shouted and then tried to play it off cool.  “They don’t make Iron Boots in Hyrule.”

        “I’m sure they do.”

        “They don’t and-er, regardless, I need to get started on training, like now,” I said quickly.  I tried to evade the mentioning of Iron Boots again. 

        “Well, that is a shame,” Edge Master said and he pointed me to the first door to my left.  I walked up to it and he said, “Now, you have five minutes to collect all of the rupees.”

        “Sounds easy enough,” I said and I walked through the door and turned around.  Edge Master was holding a lever, and then added, “Oh, yeah.  And did I mention there are giant rocks?”

        “Wait, what!” I shouted, but before I could do anything Edge Master had already pulled the lever and a door slammed down.  I walked a little farther and noticed that the room I was in was nothing like the room that Edge Master described to me.  What I saw was a room that had a lot of sand in the middle.

        “Oh, I did also forgot to mention one room,” the Edge Master said, but I looked up and saw a small speaker.  He was speaking through an intercom.  “Before you begin the initial task, I want to give you a warm up.  The room in front of you obviously has sand on it.  It’s not quick sand but it will deter your movements, especially since you have more weight on you than usual.  Anyway, enjoy.”

        I rolled my eyes and took one step on the sand and felt my foot sink a little.  I then put my other foot in the sand and my whole body sank a ton.  Before I could react, these lizard monsters came straight at me.  These guys were light and quick, so I was already in trouble.  There were three of them and they surrounded me.

        “Remember, utilize the staff,” I heard Edge Master say.  “It can cover more ground than the blade, even enemies behind you.”

        I grabbed the Iron Rod quickly and swung it around at the tip.  I felt it slam against the lizard monsters and heard them retreat.  They weren’t done yet however, as they started to jump at me.  I received a couple knicks from them, but nothing too serious.  To stop these guys, I did some fancy spinning moves above my head.  I heard them all cry in pain and saw that one of them wasn’t moving.  I looked around and saw that they were all down and out.

        I fought my way through the sand and was able to get to the other side when I heard Edge Master from above, “Very good.  “Now the next room is the rock room, I promise.”

        “Thanks for the tip, asshole,” I said, but he shot back with:  “I heard that!”

        I didn’t bother saying anything else and walked through the next door, which immediately shut behind me.  Bars also came down and locked me in so I couldn’t leave.  I walked down the first path of the obstacle course and noticed that, on a ledge in front of me, there was a silver rupee up against something.  I walked forward but immediately stopped when a rock rolled right in front of me.

        “You have the choice of either running, or fighting the rocks,” I heard Edge Master say.

        I chose to avoid the rocks and started to run.  I looked over at an opening that was on the wall and figured out where some of them were coming from.  There were a couple boulders behind me, so I knew that there must have been another opening somewhere.

        There were a lot of steep hills in this place, which made it even harder for me walk, since I had a lot of weight on my back.  It also made it easier for my rock friends to pick up speed and chase me across the damn place.  It was a good thing Link wasn’t there, or I would be hearing it.

        I was able to collect the goddamn rupees, but barely on time.  The last rupee was the worst.  It was just floating in the air, right above a ledge.  The problem was, rocks were making their way down to the ledge, so I had to think fast, which I did, however, I forgot about the enormous amount of weight on my back, so when I jumped to try and reach the last rupee, I ended up falling on my face.  The rock behind me launched off the ledge and was just under the rupee.  Seeing that, I knew what to do, but I didn’t have much time left.

        I ran up a path that lead me to the ledge, but I waited for a rock.  As soon a rock fell and began to roll, I jumped on the side of it and held on.  Once I was close to being on top, I stood up and ran with the rock.  Unfortunately, I forgot one detail which was the way the rock was rolling.  I planned on just running forward on the rock, but I actually ended up running backwards because of the way the rock was rolling.  A cold sweat broke out as I feared falling off, but I was able to concentrate and keep my balance.  Once at the end, I felt the rock lift off of the ledge and saw the rupee right in front of me.  I grabbed it and saw the door I came into unlock.  I rolled out of the way once I hit the ground and the huge rock I rode on hit the wall and broke into little pieces.

        “Congrats,” I heard the Edge Master say and I sighed.  Maybe I was done with training.  “Now, return to the lobby for more instructions, my dear.”

        I left the room and exited through the sand room where I fought those stupid lizard things.  Once I got into the lobby, I met the Edge Master once again.

        “How did I do?” I asked with a smirk.

        “It was impressive,” Edge Master said with a smile, “but not good enough.”

        “What do you mean by that?”

        “For a beginner, you did wonderful, but you do not have enough time to be a beginner.  Now, I will follow you on your next task.”

        “And what would that be?” I asked.

        “Shh, you will see,” Edge Master said and he grabbed a staff for himself.  I walked behind him and saw Lux on the ground sleeping.  Lux was probably more bored than tired.  I just hoped that the training would be done soon.  I just wanted to go and fight my dark self and then reawaken the next sage.

        Edge Master led me to a door and it opened at the touch of a button.  Suddenly, I felt intense heat coming from the room, but I had no choice but to continue in.  Edge Master turned around and looked at me with a smile.  The door slammed shut behind me.

        “Because we are so short on time, this will be your final test,” Edge Master said with a stern expression.  “I wish I could train you further for you do possess a rather determined soul.  However, our time is cut short.  The last part of training pushes you to use balance and concentration, while keeping style in mind.  If you forget these elements…I’m afraid you will fall to your death.”

        “Wait, what!?!” I shouted and Edge Master moved over.  I walked to the end of the ledge and saw pillars; some were thick and some were thin, and right below that was a lot of lava.  He wasn’t kidding; if I couldn’t pass this part of training, I would definitely die.

        Edge Master jumped backwards and landed right on a pillar.  I sort of wished that he had fallen in the lava, just so I didn’t need to do this ridiculous test.

        “Now Ashley,” Edge Master said, “you have the choice to leave and never come back.  If you choose to fight me, then step on the pillar in front of me.”

        I looked at the pillar and then turned and looked at the door.  This seemed a little extreme, but I had to do it.  If I wanted to save Hyrule and ultimately defeat my dark self, I needed to finish my training.  I reach back for the Iron Rod and took it off its holster.  With the rod in my left hand, I jumped on to the pillar in front of Edge Master.

        “Are you sure about this, my dear?” Edge Master asked and he still looked serious, but I could see some surprise in his eyes.

        “I’m sure,” I said and cracked a small smile.  I needed to keep cool, even though there was tons of lava below me.  I put the rod on my left side and placed my left hand on the bottom with my right hand in the middle of the rod.  I was ready to fight the Edge Master despite the fact that I knew I was only a beginner.

        The Edge Master sighed and said, “Very well.”  He bowed to me and got into his stance. 

        It was extremely quiet and tense.  I liked to give my opponent the first move; I just thought that was courteous.  Edge Master realized this and came at me, thrusting his staff forward.  I quickly jumped to the pillar beside me, but miscalculated how wide the pillar was and almost jumped right over it.  I felt a cold sweat as I realized my mistake, but I had no time to stop for the Edge Master took his staff and swung it at my ankles.

        I jumped over the staff and used my first attack against the Edge Master by trying to slam the end of the staff on the side of his head.  He jumped out of the way however and waited for me to attack again.  I thought too quickly and went after him, not realizing that I was setting myself in his trap.  He jumped over me and onto the pillar behind me and took his staff and slammed it against my back.  I almost lost balance, but I used his hit to catapult myself to the next pillar.

        I had to figure out a trap of my own, but I didn’t want to kill this guy, so I wasn’t sure what to do.  My own question was if he actually wanted to kill me.  There was no way that this guy was using his all during our fight.  I heard that the Edge Master was probably the best warrior anyone could ever encounter, but I just didn’t get that feeling from this guy.

        He came at me while I pondered this, but I was more than ready.  I just had to trap him and then pin him, rather than throw him into the lava.  He swung at me sideways, but I put my staff in the way so that his swing didn’t hit my side.  When he drew back his weapon, I heard his wooden staff scrap against my Iron Rod.  His staff was lighter, so it enabled him to be quicker, but I had sheer force with my staff and I needed to use that.

         I blocked several of his attacks and kicked him.  He did these really cool somersault things and landed on a pillar that was farthest from mine.  There was a pause, of course, and then he ran straight for me.  I put my staff over my head and swung it around like it was the propellers on a helicopter.  I did this at the right moment and the staff slammed against the Edge Master’s cranium several times before my wrist became tired and I had to stop.  The Edge Master jumped back to a pillar.  He dropped his staff and held his head with both hands and then collapsed.

        I smirked and jumped to the pillar he was on and took the end of my staff and put it right on his chest as a way to pin him down.  “Ha, gotcha,” I said smartly and the Edge Master just looked to the side in pain.  His head was bleeding and I felt a little guilty, so I definitely let my guard down.

        What I didn’t know was that Edge Master was just waiting for me to feel sorry for him and let up.  I didn’t expect him to grab his staff that was on the ground beside him and slam it into my head.  It hurt like hell and I immediately dropped the Iron Rod which fell off the pillar and landed in the lava.  I heard the hot lava engulf the rod as the iron bubbled and melted. 

        My head was pounding and I lost balance.  I tried to stay still and put one foot on the pillar, but my foot didn’t land on the pillar and I felt my body fall backwards towards the lava pit.  I prepared myself for the burning death I would face, but I actually felt a tug on the collar of my tunic and then a hand on my back.  I opened my eyes and saw double of the Edge Master.  I couldn’t help but crack a small smile. 

        He picked me up off my feet and jumped across several pillars to get us both back to solid ground.  He opened the door to the lobby of the training hall and sat me on a rug.  I began to regain my senses and sat up slowly.  My head still hurt like hell, but I could finally see straight again.

        “You did a lot better than I thought you would out there,” Edge Master said.  “You’re a worthy opponent, Ash.  You don’t deserve to be killed by something like lava.”

        “Speaking of lava,” I said, “I’m sorry about your Iron Rod…I think it’s gone.”

        “No, it’s fine,” Edge Master said.  “I have piles of those damn things lying around at home.  I always have them ready for someone to use for training.  I actually have three with me right now.”

        I stood up slowly, but still held my head as I saw little dots.  I breathed slowly and the little dots disappeared and I was able to see rather clearly.  “Well, I suppose I should go now,” I said.  “I have a lot of things to do.  But, thank you for all the training, even if it was short.”

        “Before you go, I would like to give you something,” Edge Master said and he walked over to a wall that had staves hanging on it.  He looked at several staves and then nodded.  He lifted up a staff that was a dark orange color and had a black jewel on the end, which was held by a grey claw.  He walked over to me and set it in my hands when I held them out.  The rod was a lot lighter than the Iron Rod and I felt a lot more comfortable holding it.

        “This is called the Ling Sheng Su Bo,” Edge Master said.  “This staff is from the Ling-Sheng Su Temple and there are only a few left in this world, since the temple was destroyed.  From what I have heard, only the most driven of warriors can handle this weapon and I think you’re a good choice.  Take what I have taught you, Ashley, and save this kingdom.  I wouldn’t like to see this place end up like my homeland.  I’ve heard of how the Triforce drives men made, like the current ruler here.  This Triforce thing reminds me of a sword from home called the Soul Edge, which drove many men mad, like the young man I had trained after he destroyed his family in the Ling Sheng Su Temple.  I hope you can overcome any madness that the Triforce might bring.”

        “Thank you, so much,” I said and I put the staff through the holster on my back, underneath my shield.  The load I was now carrying was extremely heavy.  “I do have a question, however.  The sword that you speak of, what is it called?”

        Edge Master looked at the ground and said, “I will only tell you if you promise me that you will not try to seek it.”

        “I promise,” I said with a smile. 

        “The sword is called Soul Edge,” Edge Master said.  “I wouldn’t really call it a weapon, despite the fact that it is in the form of a huge zanbato as we speak.”

        “What’s a zanbato?” I asked.  I had never heard of one before.

        “It’s sometimes called a horse-slaying sword,” Edge Master said.  “The blade is usually very thick and very long.  Only a skilled and large person can handle these swords.  The Soul Edge thought that this would be the best weapon to take over, seeing as it could break the thin blade of a rapier into pieces.  It’s a truly disgusting sight to see whenever Soul Edge takes over one’s weapon.  Unfortunately, if one holds the hilt of the weapon that Soul Edge uses as its host, they will become a host to Soul Edge as well.”

        “But, this sword is only in your dimension, right?” I asked.

        “Yes, and no.  As you get older and continue on your journey, you will realize that your soul is intertwined with people you haven’t even came across yet; people from a whole other dimension.  Or even people that are closer than you’d think.”

        Closer than I think? I thought to myself and I thought of people that I knew.  It was scary to think that someone like Link knew about this Soul Edge and, when I left Hyrule, what if he was driven mad and decided to pursue the sword?  He seemed a little smarter than that. 

        “Now, don’t worry about this sword,” Edge Master said.  “You have other things to worry about.  Just remember that people’s reasons for fighting may differ from yours and that people who seem like friends could be enemies and people who seem like enemies could be friends.”

        That didn’t really ease my mind at all, but I nodded anyway and smiled.  “I won’t let you down, sir.”

        “Good,” Edge Master said with a smile.  “Now, do what you need to do and save this kingdom from evil.  It needs someone like you to defend it.”

        There was really nothing more said.  I went over to Lux and woke him up and we basically got on our way.  The Edge Master and I exchanged our goodbyes and I walked out.

        Unfortunately, I would never see him again.