Author's Note

Justalad wrote some of the scenes at the second half of the chapters.

Chapter 181: Blowing Wind

After following a path where they had to fight some enemies guarding it and jump/use the hookshot/levitate to pass some gaps, the group entered Ganon’s Tower, Ganondorf’s fortress within Hyrule.

The first room was revealed to be simple. A stone bridge leading to a large stone pillar above lava with another stone bridge leading to the exit door.

Ganondorf chuckled and said to Toon Link, “I had something in mind for this room. I would have used my powers to add four wings, each based on one of the four dungeons you had to explore where I had a hand; the volcano, the jungle, and the temples. Each would have ended with you forcing to fight the guardians of said dungeons for the second time. A mere nuisance to you now that you have the fully powered Master Sword, but still a nice obstacle just to see how much you have advanced since the first time you fought them.”

“The guardians… You mean, like, that giant centipede or the carnivorous plant?” Toon Link asked. “Wow. With the Master Sword, they wouldn’t last one minute.”

“Especially now that you have us,” Apple Death said.

With that, they passed the exit door and climbed some stairs before they arrived at a room with a large doorway before them and two smaller doors at the left and right. Ganondorf pointed at the left one.

“The moment you took the Master Sword, you gave me the possibility to create a portal between here and the Forsaken Fortress. I would have made a little puzzle to open it. I didn’t get the occasion however. Now, follow me.”

Ganondorf moved toward the right door, to everyone’s confusion.

“Shouldn’t we pass the big doorway that is obviously where we must continue?” Sonic asked.

“Not if you want to get the Light Arrows. They are in the tower’s basement, and the fastest way to reach it is this way.”

At that, they entered the room beyond the right door, where they found themselves face to face with a pit.

“Now, we have to jump,” Ganondorf said.

“Eh. Fastest way indeed,” Phantom said.

Apple Death levitated everyone down into the pit, eventually landing in a room with four doors at the four cardinal points.

“Now, we are in a maze. If someone hadn’t killed Phantom Ganon, his sword would have guided us. Thankfully, I know the way.”

And so, Ganondorf led the group through random doors until entering a room with a single exit door and a chest in the middle. Ganondorf waved at it.

“For you, boy.”

Nodding, Toon Link opened the chest, getting the Light Arrows.

“So, I guess that I have everything now,” Toon Link said.

Link nodded.

“And now, we just have to reach the roof of the tower,” Ganondorf said.

“Are there many obstacles to reach it?” Zelda asked.

“None. I didn’t get time to post guards. Not that they would have held you back long with the Light Arrows. Anything of evil origin hit by them is killed right away.”

“Really? Wow!” Toon Link said.

They passed the exit door, and they were transported back to the room with the big doorway.

“Now, a special door would have blocked this doorway. Phantom Ganon would have been the guardian if he hadn’t been killed. I probably would have recreated him if I still had my powers.”

They passed the doorway and climbed a long series of sets of stairs until they reached a big red and golden door, the gold forming the image of Ganon’s head.

Behind the door, they arrived in a large circular room with water covering the floor in the center. There were rafters very high up. Too high to reach with the grapple or the hookshot. And yet, they could see the exit up there. And no stairs in sight.

“I didn’t put stairs here because I didn’t need to. I could float at will, and I would have made a way for you, certainly after a long and difficult fight against something I would have made to face you,” Ganondorf said.

“Well, at least, I can make stairs,” Phantom said.

“Or Ah can make us float up there. It’ll be faster,” Apple Death said.

And she did so. Quickly enough, they reached the exit, and then, they were on the roof.

Almost all of Hyrule could be seen from here, to some of the heroes’ amazement.

“Ok, now, how do we bring Mewtwo here?” Amy asked.

“The Triforce,” Ganondorf said, gaining everyone’s attention.

“Uh?”

“Use your Triforce pieces as a beacon that the creature will be able to see from the surface.”

Toon Link and Zelda looked at the back of their hand, at their Triforce, then exchanged a glance.

“I think that I know what he means,” Zelda said. “Come with me, Link.”

Zelda then walked toward the center of the roof, quickly followed by Toon Link. Once they were in the center, Zelda raised her right hand, and Toon Link followed her example by raising his left hand. Zelda then grabbed Toon Link’s hand and raised it above their head, willing the triforce to do what they wanted.

The Triforce pieces on the back of their hand glowed, then emitted a light that turned into a column of light that enveloped the two of them and a large part of the roof. The column of light went through the water above them and continued into the sky.

Mewtwo saw it right away and immediately understood what it was. It could feel it with its Triforce. It teleported to it, then flew into the water.

Zelda and Link stopped emitting the light, then quickly moved toward the others, Zelda shouting, “Be ready! It’s coming!”

“We’ll need a plan of attack,” Amy said.

“I have a plan. Attack,” Sonic replied just as Mewtwo arrived.

Sonic then ran toward Mewtwo, then suddenly circled it before he Homing Dashed at its back. Mewtwo, however, stopped him with its telekinesis, keeping him in the air.

Phantom facepalmed.

Mewtwo didn’t lose time. It used its Triforce right away to gain size while taking on its Mega Evolved XY form.

Link quickly took his Fierce Deitiy Mask, not putting it on yet. “If this is like when I fought Ganon, then try to hit its head or its… uh… head appendage. Everywhere else, it will be invincible. The Master Sword and Light Arrows will be the only things effective. Everything else will only distract it at best.” He then gave his bow and Light Arrows to Zelda. “Take these. I won’t be able to use them in my Fierce Deity form.”

Zelda took the bow and arrows. “Thank you.”

Link nodded, then put on the mask, turning into the Fierce Deity Link. Right away, he attacked by sending cutting waves of energy at Mewtwo’s head, forcing it to use its arms to protect it.

Ganondorf, two swords now in hands, talked. “Actually, the creature isn’t protected by evil like I was. You were able to attack it even in its base form, which wouldn’t have been the case with me. So attacking it will be effective, no matter what.”

“Good to know,” Phantom said.

Meanwhile, Mewtwo threw Sonic at Toon Link, seeing that he had the Triforce of Courage, but the hedgehog was caught by Apple Death who dropped him.

“Phantom, Link, Zelda, and Ah will attack from the front.”

Meaning that Toon Link, Ganondorf, Sonic, and Amy will attack the head appendage. They understood that.

Mewtwo, still protecting itself from Link’s waves, casted Protect. The created shield quickly disappeared after stopping only one wave however, but then, Mewtwo casted it again, and again, and again. Normally, spamming the move would cause its success rate to drop, but because of the Triforce of Power, Mewtwo didn’t seem to have this problem, allowing it to continuously cast it to stop Link’s projectiles.

Mewtwo quickly understood that it couldn’t remain on the defensive forever however, so it stopped casting Protect and instead levitated Link to throw him away, only for him to be caught by Apple Death.

At the same time, Zelda fired a Light Arrow at Mewtwo’s head, stunning it. Toon Link’s group immediately took the occasion to attack its head appendage, effectively hurting it, especially the boy in green. Mewtwo quickly recovered however and turned around to attack them. Toon Link fired a Light Arrow to try to stun it again, but Mewtwo used Protect, blocking the projectile.

Mewtwo then put its paws at its side and accumulated energy. Phantom quickly teleported before it and threw a lightning spear at its head, electrifying it. This gained Mewtwo’s attention who targeted her instead, firing a powerful beam of energy that Phantom avoided by teleporting. The beam continued its path and caused huge damage to a mountain in the distance.

While Mewtwo had its back turned, Apple Death attacked the appendage with purple electricity, hurting Mewtwo a lot. Link also sent his waves, and while the first ones hit the appendage, the following ones were blocked by repeated Protect. It also used Recover, healing all damage it took, to the frustration of everyone.

Mewtwo then levitated beyond the edge of the roof, facing it, meaning that Toon Link and the others who couldn’t fly couldn’t reach the head appendage anymore.

“Now what?” Sonic asked.

Phantom smirked. “Behold! The Phantom Ruby’s power!” she shouted before she sent a wave of phantom energy. The next instant, there was a path that extended from the roof and circled Mewtwo, allowing everyone to reach the appendage. To this, Mewtwo answered by floating away, but the path changed shape at the same time so it continued to circle it while still extending from the roof, so the heroes could always reach the appendage. Mewtwo blasted the path, but it just reappeared with a glitch.

Mewtwo glared at Phantom and sent a powerful psychic attack at her, attacking directly her mind. It was stopped, however, by a Light Arrow from Zelda, stunning it. Everyone immediately attacked the head and the appendage before it recovered.

Immediately upon recovering, Mewtwo targeted Zelda, sending a very powered Aura Sphere toward her. She was saved by Sonic who took her out of the way. The Aura Sphere, however, hit the roof instead and destroyed a huge part of it that, thankfully, quickly rebuilt thanks to Phantom’s power.

The filly also materialized a laser machine gun, firing hundreds of beams in a matter of seconds. Mewtwo quickly put a hand before its head, not even Protect able to defend it against that. It then raised the other hand, and storm clouds materialized above it. The next second, lightning rained all over the roof. Almost everyone ended up hit by a lightning bolt at least once.

Apple Death flew into the cloud and used her powers to take control of it and redirect its lightning toward Mewtwo, hitting it with countless lightning bolts. Mewtwo had to use Recover several times, and Phantom used the occasion to heal everyone who had been hit. She had to wake up Zelda who had dropped unconscious.

Mewtwo eventually sent a shockwave that cleared the clouds and sent by the same occasion Apple Death flying very far. It then attempted to directly crush Link under its paw to stop him from sending his waves, but Link avoided the paw and actually used it to climb on its arm. Once he was close enough, Link jumped toward Mewtwo’s head and planted his sword into its forehead.

At the same time, Ganondorf jumped on the appendage and began to repeatedly stab it. Mewtwo trashed its head to get rid of them, but they held strong. It eventually grabbed Link and removed him before throwing him far, only to be hit by a Light Arrow from Toon Link, stunning it.

Sadly, as soon as it recovered after another general assault, it used Recover, healing itself again.

“Will this ever stop?” Amy wondered.

“We need a decisive blow,” Zelda said.

Apple Death returned, Link levitating behind her, and also a giant boulder that she threw at Mewtwo’s face. In return, it sent a shockwave that sent everyone flying off the roof. It even was able to remove Ganondorf from its appendage. Apple Death had to catch everyone with her telekinesis and bring them back on the roof, except Phantom who just floated back and used her power to grow to the Pokémon’s size. She then began to punch him in the face only to be hit by a giant spoon materialized by Mewtwo in return. Zelda sent a Light Arrow, but Mewtwo blocked it with the spoon.

Apple Death entered the spoon and took possession of it, levitating it out of Mewtwo’s paws and repeatedly bonking Mewtwo on the head with it. Mewtwo, however, eventually caught it in its telekinetic hold and teared it apart, forcing Apple Death out of it.

Tearing the spoon apart seemingly gave Mewtwo an idea, because it then took hold of everyone and began to do the same. Apple Death, spared from this due to being a ghost but still trapped in Mewtwo’s power, used her own telekinesis to grab Zelda’s bow and Light Arrows and fired one at Mewtwo, stopping it.

Link quickly recovered from being almost teared apart and grabbed his toon counterpart, to his surprise. He then threw him toward Mewtwo’s head. Toon Link crashed into it, but as he was sliding down, he understood what he had to do and quickly planted his Master Sword into Mewtwo’s forehead.

Mewtwo screeched in pain like never.

Despite that, Mewtwo raised its paws and gathered energy into a ball, ready to end everything. Its head was raised also, in pain, allowing Toon Link to stand on it to remove his sword. He then raised it above him, the Triforce of Courage on his hand glowed, and he replanted the sword into Mewtwo’s forehead.

Mewtwo’s following screech was deafening, and the energy ball dispersed before the Pokémon began to drop, crashing at the tower’s foot with Toon Link still on its head.

Zelda jumped from the roof and, midjump, teleported with her magic and the help of her Triforce of Wisdom to appear just beside Toon Link. She then grabbed the hilt of the Master Sword, which was still in Toon Link’s hold, and together, they removed the sword, raised it, Triforce pieces glowing, before they replanted it again with all their strength.

As Mewtwo screeched again, its body began to glow before it returned to its normal size. Seeing this, Toon Link removed the Master Sword and moved away with Zelda.

Back to normal size, Mewtwo got up with difficulty, a paw on its head.

It used Recover.

This is not over! it said as it raised its right paw, showing its Triforce of Power to use it again to return giant.

Only for Toon Link to cut the paw off in the blink of an eye. It took Mewtwo several seconds to register what happened, and when it registered, it was ugly. Holding its stump, it knelt in pain. It then began to use Recover, but the move just couldn’t regrow its now missing limb, no matter how many times it used it.

Meanwhile, Apple Death levitated everyone else down from the roof, and as soon as he landed, Ganondorf walked toward the cut paw. Seeing this, Mewtwo levitated the paw only for Amy to hit the Pokémon with her hammer, stopping it. Ganondorf then grabbed the paw and removed the Triforce of Power from it, back into his own right hand. He then threw the now useless paw away.

Ganondorf then began to walk toward Mewtwo with a scary expression, swords ready to end it.

Mewtwo could still fight. Thanks to Recover, it was still in full health despite its missing paw, and thanks to the Triforce of Power, it still had all its stamina. A battle of attrition would begin.

But Mewtwo knew that it stood no chance against all the heroes now that they had the three pieces of the Triforce, so it decided instead to escape, opening a rift. With a last look of utter hate at the heroes, it passed through, ending the battle.

Some of the heroes breathed in relief at avoiding a battle that would have promised to be very long. Link took off his mask.

Ganondorf snorted. "Good riddance…"

He then turned towards the heroes.

"Well, guess it is time. You two, come. We must make-" he was talking, referring to Toon Link and Zelda when suddenly he fell to his knees, clutching his chest.

"Grrraaa…" he growled in a low voice.

Everyone immediately turned towards him in both worry and wariness.

"Huff… This pain… Is this… that curse?" he said in-between labored breaths.

"Seems our 'friend' is finally breaking out of my binds. It sure took him time," Apple Death said.

"If I had to wager, I'll say Ganondorf getting the Triforce back gave it the power to start its push," Link said.

"So it seems… Quickly! T-The wish is our best bet now to get rid of it! Bring your Triforces and let’s unite them!" Ganondorf said with desperation, his grip getting tighter and his face constraining as the pain seemed to augment.

Toon Link and Zelda nodded and quickly came beside Ganondorf while lifting their hands, their Triforces glowing in the back of them as Ganondorf repeated the action.

"Wait!" a voice spoke, and everyone saw King Daphnes materializing.

"...I have a confession. When you first arrived at our shelter in the ruins of Hyrule. You said something I… have to recognize as true: as it is now, with its people separated in an empty sea, there's… little hope for the future. Which is why I must ask of you: please, also wish for the future of the people!"

Ganondorf met the King's eyes, and didn’t say anything. Then, with a solemn nod he said, "You can count on it," and gave a small smile.

Daphnes was surprised at first, but quickly, his expression turned to one of peace and gratitude. With that, he vanished.

Toon Link, Zelda, and Ganondorf thrust their fists with the Triforce forward in a triangle formation, their Triforces shining with a golden light until, from their fist, beams of light connected above them and a familiar set of three golden triangles manifested above them.

It then descended and each wielder clutched to the triangles.

In his mind, Ganondorf could hear the loud shouts and banging of what he had known all his life to be that who talked when no one was around. Who he saw in every dark corner, and that when he was taken by strange fits of rage he saw just in the corner of his vision, smiling viciously.

"NO, NO! YOU MUST LISTEN TO ME.

HYRULE COULD BE YOURS FOR THE TAKING NOW! JUST SMACK ASIDE THE LITTLE PESTS AND GO FOR THE WISH! THE OTHERS WILL NOT HAVE TIME TO STOP YOU!"

Shut up.

"Gods, hear what we have to say! W-we wish f-for… h-hope! Hope for these… souls a-adrift on this endless s-sea! A-a-and for… for…"

"FOOL! YOU THINK I WILL LET YOU RUIN WHAT I'VE BEEN WORKING SINCE THE VERY START OF THIS WORLD!? SUBMIT TO ME! YOUR FATE ISN'T OTHER BUT TO BE MY PUPPET!"

"...for…"

"YOU WERE AND ALWAYS WILL BE BORN, AGAIN AND AGAIN, AS THE INSTRUMENT, THE CARRIER OF MY WILL. DEFYING THAT IS LIKE-"

Toon Link and Zelda shouted with all their force, "Grant our friend Ganondorf his freedom and restore his will! Destroy his curse!"

"NOOO!!"

At once, the Triforce shone with fierce golden light and a column of light formed around Ganondorf, lifting him from the ground.

"GRYAAAA!!" he shouted as a figure started to come out of him, his and the being's voice overlapping each other less and less as it exited his body.

"NO! LIKE I WILL LET IT END LIKE THIS! STUPID GODS, YOUR POWER CAN'T SNUFF MY ETERNAL HATRED!"

The figure started thrashing as it was getting out of Ganondorf, seeking with desperation to exit the pillar of light.

"Tough luck, fella," Apple Death said, getting in front of him.

"Y-YOU…!"

"Aww, you remember me!" she said in a cheery mode.

The next instant she made hundreds of spectral chains bind the curse.

"Ya ain't getting away. It’s only right that as Death Ah see vengeful spirits like ya get sent to where they deserve," Apple Death said with a wink.

"YOU… D-DAMN YOU!! I WILL NOT FORGET THIS! I AM DEMISE! AND NO MATTER WHAT I WILL BRING DESTRUCTION TO-"

Demise didn’t get to say more as he finished separating fully from Ganondorf and was promptly and quite eagerly smitten into oblivion by all the gods in the pantheon of this universe.

Ganondorf was brought back to the floor, seemingly unconscious. The pillar of light that engulfed him promptly disappeared too.

The Triforce was gone.

The next instant, torrents of water began to fall everywhere, whatever keeping it up there having disappeared.

Everyone looked around in wonder, or in panic in Sonic’s case.

“Hyrule… It’s…” Link began.

Suddenly, Daphnes was here, looking up at the falling water. “It’s disappearing. For the future of everyone living on the surface, the divine force keeping this sea bare had to disappear, meaning the end of this fallen kingdom. Fishes will come and populate it. The islands will prosper as a result. Don’t worry, everyone will safely return to the surface. The gods won’t let you and them drown.”

Sonic sighed in relief.

“I guess we'll just have to transport them back to their islands,” Phantom said.

“What about you?” Apple Death asked.

Daphnes closed his eyes. “I’m just a ghost of the past, who lived in regret, bound to Hyrule, like Ganondorf. But where Ganondorf was able to move on, my place remains in the past. I will disappear with Hyrule, and finally find peace knowing that I have helped the future.” He looked at Toon Link and Zelda. “There may be nothing left for you... But despite that, you must look forward and walk a path of hope, trusting that it will sustain you when darkness comes. Farewell…”

“W-wait!” Zelda exclaimed. “You could… You could come with us! Yes, of course… We have a ship! We can find it. We WILL find it! The land that will be the next Hyrule! So…”

Daphnes smiled. “...Ah, but child… That land will not be Hyrule. It will be YOUR land!”

And at that, the group was entirely submerged. Wrapped by some kind of bubble, they began to float back to the surface. Toon Link tried to reach for Daphnes’ hand, and the King even went to grab his hand, but at the last moment, he lowered it, accepting his fate. And so, he disappeared in the depths of the ocean.

Apple Death, who was left behind, gave a last look at him and nodded before she followed the others to the surface, seeing that Zelda transformed back into Tetra.

As soon as Phantom arrived at the surface, she created a ship for everyone. Then she went on to search and help the inhabitants of the surface who had been hidden in the castle and who must now be at the surface of the ocean too, near the Tower of the Gods. There, she found the dragon Valoo as well as what seemed to be a giant anglerfish, except that he looked more like a whale, and his light was actually a lantern. Both creatures had people on their backs, but many others were still in the water. Phantom didn’t lose time creating ships for all of them.

Meanwhile, the heroes were approached by a pirate ship which Tetra was very happy to see. Toon Link too when he saw that his sister was on it, waving at him. Present on it were also Medli and Makar.

Suddenly, something else came out of the water: the King of Red Lions, now lifeless. This saddened Toon Link before Sonic put a hand on his shoulder to reassure him.

Everyone climbed on the pirate ship, Toon Link attaching the Red Lion to it. Apple Death levitated the still unconscious Ganondorf on it. The pirates were surprised to see him, but Tetra quickly reassured them. They then proceeded to hug her like the big softies that they were.

Ganondorf then woke up, and Link proceeded to tell him what happened, about Hyrule disappearing in the water. Ganondorf let out a sigh, but accepted it.

“From now on, I shall live on… Free…” he said before tears began to flow from his eyes.

In the following hours, everyone returned to their islands, and when morning came, rebuilding began. Windfall Island received some damage from Mewtwo. Outset Island, not as much.

Toon Link’s grandmother hugged him and his sister as soon as she saw them.

Everyone congratulated Toon Link and the heroes for defeating The Beast.

The pirates remained at Outset Island as the heroes discussed what was coming next in Toon Link’s house, his grandmother serving tea to everybody.

“Let’s remain here a few days to rest and gather provisions,” Tetra said, and the pirates agreed. “Then, we will leave the Great Sea in search of new land.”

Toon Link nodded.

“It will be a long journey,” Ganondorf said. “I… honestly can’t wait to see what we will discover. All this time, I only had my eyes on Hyrule, never bothering to look at what was beyond. It… will be a welcome change.”

“You won’t get bored! The world is a wonderful place, there is so much to see!” Amy said.

Toon Link’s grandmother wasn’t happy to hear that her grandson will soon leave to explore the world, and Aryll was sad too, but they accepted his decision and decided to spend as much time as possible with him in the following days, together as a family. They probably won’t see each other for a long time, if ever.

Phantom cleared her throat, gaining everyone’s attention.

“I guess it’s time for us to tell you why us, outsiders, came to this world. We are actually in search of help for a coming war. You see, there is this army…”

Phantom then proceeded to tell everything about the Alliance, the Subspace Army, Galeem, Dharkon, and the war that was approaching against them. She also told about their current problem with Crazy Hand, the one responsible for Mewtwo.

“So we came to this world in search of allies to fight them. So, Toon Link, Tetra, Ganondorf, will you join us? Or at least join the Alliance? If you don’t want to be part of the war, then we will understand, but we can help you if you encounter problems in your journey, or even when you will start building your new kingdom.”

Toon Link, Tetra, and Ganondorf exchanged glances.

“Well…” Toon Link began. “I don’t mind joining this war. It is the right thing to do, to defend innocents from what Master Hand has planned and save whole universes. Also stop Crazy Hand and the villains he has recruited.”

Tetra winked at him. “As expected from you.” She looked back at the heroes. “And yes, I want to join too and offer my help when possible.”

Everyone then looked at Ganondorf who remained silent.

Then, after a few more seconds, he said, “I had hoped for peace, but… this counterpart of mine who has joined Crazy Hand… I want to help him. And if these two want to join, then I guess that I have no other choice. I’m in.”

The heroes thanked them.

"Before any of that however, I have a favor I would like to ask," Ganondorf said, looking at Phantom and Apple Death.

Then at Link.

For a moment, Ganondorf stood completely still, his eyes hardly believing it.

Behind him, Tetra looked around with curiosity, while Toon Link…

"This is SO COOL! We're in the real, non-destroyed HYRULE!" he said, excited.

Indeed, the heroes were right now in the middle of Hyrule's plains. The sun was setting, and a comfortable breeze washed over everyone.

"My, what an incredible view!" Amy said.

"Yeah, I've seen my fair share of sunsets and I must say, this is easily on my top ten!" Sonic said.

"Hehe, thanks. How about it, Ganondorf?" Link asked him.

"...It’s… simply perfect. Thank you… truly thank you, for accepting my request."

"Don't sweat it. Ya're one of us now! We do anything for Ah friend,"Apple Death waved him off.

Ganondorf for his part just sat on the grass. At each of his sides, Link and Tetra did too. The rest of the heroes similarly each sat at either side, taking a moment to just appreciate the moment.

There, for the first time in his life as a truly free man and with friends at his side.

"Such a strange concept still… but not an unpleasant one."

The former Gerudo King couldn’t help but close his eyes and smile the most pleased, genuine smile he could muster. Completely free of any malice.

"The wind… It blows…"