Operation: MASKED, Part 10: A War Between Wolves

Chapter 10: A War Between Wolves

Holoska Snowfields

The morning sun weakly shone over the mountains as Cheren, Thomas, and Panini continued their trek across the snowy fields. Cheren was still unable to see well, having lost his glasses in the blizzard, so he held Panini's hand as the girl happily guided him. The three had finally come to a small village of igloos within the snowfield. At the village entrance, a little girl in a light-brown coat was curiously staring at some red glasses when she saw the trio approach.

"Hey, look!" she pointed her mittened hands at them, and two adults, a man and a woman, looked over. "We have visitors!" she smiled, running over to them.

"Where are they from?" the woman asked with curiosity.

The young child ran up to the three travelers, and she looked rather blurry to Cheren's eyes. "Hi! I'm Marketa! What's your names?" she asked kindly.

Cheren looked at the spectacles in her hand. "Hey… those are my glasses!" Cheren quickly took the glasses, putting them over his eyes. They were a little smeary, but Cheren could see fine once again, seeing the clear image of the beautiful young girl and the village behind her.

"Oh? Those glasses blew here in the snowstorm." Marketa replied.

"Hehe. They were mine." Cheren sheepishly grinned.

The slim woman and her large husband approached them. "Are you outsiders? How did you get out here?" she asked.

"It's a… long story." Cheren replied. "But we're sort of.. um… adventurers."

"Yes, my name is Tony Johnson, this is my assistant, Cherrywood Jones and his lady, 'Rabbit Ears'." Thomas replied with a smirk.

"Those aren't our NAMES!" Panini yelled.

"Hehe!" Cheren grinned. "Rabbit Ears is, though!"

"Grrr!" Panini growled playfully.

"We don't have very many visitors out here." the woman said. "Holoska's not an ideal vacation paradise."

"Unless you're into frost." the man joked.

"Cheren isn't." Thomas smirked.

"And lately, our land has been facing hard times. Just days ago, strange monsters have appeared, terrorizing the local wolves." the woman followed. "If that weren't bad enough, our daytimes have become strangely shorter. It could be morning one minute, and, pitch-black the next. And remain that way for hours. Not to mention the blizzards that follow, making it impossible to stay out for long."

"I think it all started around the time I saw a strange masked girl, walking to the Wolves' Mainland." the husband said.

Thomas and Panini looked at Cheren, who flinched slightly. He was silent as he tried to form a question that would avoid having to tell them about his being from another dimension. "…Why… would she go there? W-What's out there?"

"We don't know what reason she would have… however, there is an ancient citadel high up on a mountain peek. According to legend, it was the site of a great battle that ended an ancient war. It's been rumored that an ancient spirit now inhabits that place."

"Hmm…" Cheren felt that sounded familiar. "Do you think… this girl might've done something to the spirit?"

"We aren't sure…" the woman said.

"Then it's something worth checking out." Cheren smirked.

"Hoho. You aren't thinking of heading out there, are you?" the husband asked. "Pretty gutsy adventurers for such a young age."

"That's 'cause we're young enough to wanna have guts." Thomas remarked.

Panini whispered to Cheren, "'Course, that husband probably has more guts than each of us." Cheren gave a snicker.

"A-Anyway, we have to go there." Cheren stuttered, getting the last few laughs out. "We also think there might be an important treasure somewhere in this land, and we'd like to see if it's true."

"A couple of kids running around on your own…" the woman began, "your parents must really trust you."

"But if you're heading out, we'd like to treat you to some of our Perma Meat." the husband offered, pulling out a few chunks of frozen meat. "Of course, it'll take a while to defrost. And if the blizzards kick in…"

"Ahh, that's no problem." Panini smirked as she took the meat and tossed a piece to both boys. The Irish girl ignited her hands with emerald green flames and warmed the meat in seconds, much to the amazement of Marketa and her parents.

The three had seated on a mound of snow as they started to chew their meat. "Boy, I needed this." Cheren said through his chews. "All Thomas brought us were chocolate bars and diet soda."

"Woulda been your first, buddy." Thomas remarked.

"So, boys, tell me 'bout yer adventure so far." Panini insisted. "Who'd ya meet? Any scary monsters? Weird alternate species?"

"Ask Cheren, he's the one that's been everywhere." Thomas told her.

"Hehehe." Cheren laughed. "Nothing too special. We met some apes and some robo-pirates at a jungle, and some crazy carnie at a circus. …And apparently, we gotta rescue Giant Spirits in the temples across the world."

"Well, then Ay've been missin' a lot. So, Ay'm guessin' that's why we're out here in the first place."

"Actually, I think the Master Sword may be out here somewhere. If I had that, Majora wouldn't stand a chance!"

"I thought the point of rescuing these Giants was so you can beat Majora." Thomas replied.

"And if ya could beat Majora with just the sword, couldn't ye have done it before?" Panini asked.

"Yeah, but… I dunno." Cheren sighed and looked away. The thing was, he didn't know if he could trust these Giants. The Master Sword might be the only other option.

Just as Thomas was about to take another bite into his meat, the sun went behind the grey clouds, and snow started to pour down. "Yuh-oh… it's starting again."

"We've wasted enough time." Cheren declared in a serious tone, standing up. "It's time to move out."

"You sure you don't wanna wait for the storm to pass?" Thomas asked.

"Don't worry." Cheren smiled as Panini walked beside him. "We have our own heat source. Unless of course the cold is too much for you?"

"Feh. Fat chance." Panini smirked. "I'm just worried yer wee jelly legs don't become as stiff as that meat."

"What if it's too cold, and you go from firebender to ice-"

"O-kay, are we gonna throw bad puns at each other, or are we going out?" Thomas asked as he already walked ahead.

They exchanged quick glances and said, "Race ya!" before dashing past Thomas and out into the snowfields, with Thomas hurrying behind them.

Stage 13: Snowy Mainland

Mission: Locate the Frosty Citadel.

It didn't take long before another heavy blizzard started. The atmosphere was white and foggy as wind pushed against their faces. Cheren was walking ahead of the group, an arm held up in front of his eyes as he trudged forward. There was a crumbling below Cheren's feet, and the boy wobbled as he nearly fell off a cliff. "Wh-Who-oa!"

Before he could fall, Thomas and Panini grabbed both of his shoulders, pulling him to safety. "Phew… thanks, guys."

They looked around until they saw a pathway along a cliffside, barely visible in the whiteness. "Man, this place is pretty treacherous…" Cheren observed. "Maybe I can use Wolf to sense our way forward.

"Hey, if your sword is somewhere out here, shouldn't you be able to sniff it?" Thomas asked.

"The only thing I smell is Panini's feet."

"Uuugh." Panini moaned.

Cheren slipped on his Wolf Mask and used his animal senses to see a foggy, but more clearer path across the cliffside. His friends stuck close behind him as he led the way across the slippery rode. At some points, the terrain crumbled after he ran across them. Thomas and Panini stopped in time before they fell, so they could step back and make the short jumps across. Cheren stopped when they came to a dead end in the path, beside a discarded wooden board. They looked across a dark chasm to see another lower path on the other side. Cheren saw the small platform sticking up from below and was able to step back, and run and jump to it in his wolf form. From there, he jumped to the following pathway, but saw that his friends were left behind.

Cheren found a mound of snow beside him and started to dig it up, discovering another fallen piece of wood, which had the inscription, Hunk of wood, Copyright of Wooden Boards Inc.. We make wood… and lose it. Cheren reverted back to a human and launched his Hookshot at the wooden board beside his friends, pulling him back over. He held onto Thomas as he shot his Hookshot back to the one he uncovered, pulling them both over the chasm. Cheren was about to go back and grab Panini, but watched as the girl hopped across on her own, landing firmly beside them. She smirked as she said, "Rabbit ears aren't the only bunny feature I have." Cheren exchanged a glance with Thomas and shrugged.

Cheren became a wolf once again and led their way. The path stayed along the cliffside before splitting away from it, and they were now going across a stone walkway with the chasm on both sides. At the same time, the wind was starting to pick up, so they had to crouch in order to keep from blowing off. They came to a point where the path broke off into a set of smaller platforms. The wind was too strong for them to jump, but it calmed down at a few points. The points when it calmed down was when it was safe to jump across, but they crouched when the wind picked up again. They safely made it to the path on the other side and kept going as they went along another cliffside. The pathway led upward a little, the kids having to dodge falling icicles from up above.

The path led to a rocky wall that was rugged enough to climb. Cheren became a human as they climbed the wall, reaching a strange, small cave in the cliffside, where a few discarded tools lay around. The path up ahead had a gaping hole, and the road ahead was too far to jump. At this time, however, Thomas searched around the abandoned tools, finding one that caught his interest.

"Hey, check it out! It's a hammer!" Thomas exclaimed, picking the item off the ground.

"Come on, my Sackboy already has a hammer." Cheren told him. "Why would we need-"

Thomas cut him off by slamming his hammer into the wall over the broken pathway, causing a stone path above to come down and fill the gap. "Can your little toy hammer do THAT? ?"

"Uhhh…" Cheren blushed, "no."

Thomas got a hammer! A weapon like this is as strong as an earthbender! Feel the power in your hands as he quakes the earth and sends big objects flying!

They crossed the new pathway and came to another gap in the road, in which Thomas had to slam the wall with his hammer to make another path come down and fill the gap. A couple of Ice Keese woke up and flew down to attack them, but Cheren had no problems cutting them away with his sword. When they walked further, there was another gap in the road, so Thomas slammed his hammer in the wall and made another path drop. However, when they tried to cross it, the path dropped even lower, taking a land beside a cliffside cave. After recovering from the surprise, the three entered the cave.

Inside, there was a ledge that was too high to jump, so Thomas slammed his hammer into the wall to see what would happen. Subsequently, the ledge collapsed and conveniently formed a slope. However, there were a bunch of giant snowballs up above, and the operatives ran for it as they all rolled down. They jumped to the side of the cave, safely avoiding the snowballs as they rolled over the edge outside, falling into the dark chasm. The trio was then able to trek up the slope and continue across the cave. They made it outside again as they were met with the harsh blizzards, crossing a stone pathway over the dark chasm before they reached a platform held up by three pillars. The chasm was between them and the next ledge, and a lever sat on the other side, along with a strange, floating lantern.

The three noticed that the lower part of the pillar on their right seemed crumbled. Cheren had an idea as he put on his Wolf Mask and stood on that side of the platform, while Thomas slammed his hammer into the part connecting the two pillars. With nothing connecting to it, the unstable platform toppled over toward the ledge, and Cheren successfully made the tricky jump on his wolf feet. Before changing back, he noticed the floating lantern and used his wolf sense. To his surprise, a creepy, short white ghost with a scythe was shown to be holding the lantern.

The Imp Poe drifted over to swing its scythe at Cheren, but the werewolf jumped back and ran around it before lunging at the ghost. He was able to tackle it to the ground and bite into its chest, releasing a glowing blue ball from its form. He watched the ball fly away as the ghost disappeared. Afterward, Cheren reverted to a human and flipped the lever, causing a wooden bridge to stretch over to where his friends were. The two hurried to his side as they looked up at the zigzaggy hill ahead of them. It was a little too dark with all the blizzards, so Cheren became a wolf again to see their way up. Panini and Thomas stayed close behind him as he led the way. A couple of White Wolfos tried to attack them on the way up, but Thomas was able to knock them out with his hammer.

The trio finally made it to a wide-open area at the top of the slope, where many wolves seemed to roam around. Panini and Thomas crouched behind a rock while Cheren walked out first. Immediately, the wolves turned and looked at him. Cheren stopped and stood in place, keeping his guard up as the wolves approached him. "Hey, Humphrey, ya made it back!" one of the wolves exclaimed happily. "Maan, I thought the yetis mighta gotcha!" The wolf sniffed around. "Say, what's that smell? Smells like sweaty boot. Oh?" the wolf glanced behind Cheren and saw Thomas and Panini sticking their heads out from behind their hiding place. Caught, the two decided to walk out and nervously approach. "Hey, that's the girl the search party used to leave a trail!"

"Huh? W-What do you mean?" Cheren asked.

"The search wolves found that girl out in the fields when they went out looking for you. They took her and left her boot, hoping you would find it and sniff them out. Did it work?"

"Hehe… it did." Cheren blushed.

Thomas and Panini exchanged confused glances, having no idea what the wolves were saying, however.

"Say, there's something different about you." The wolf said. "Is it your hair?"

Cheren glanced up at the brown hair on his head. "Oh, yeah, it's uh… sort of uh… thing—SO, guys, what's up?"

"Meh. Same old stuff." Another wolf said. "Those monsters are tearing up the valley like Hell's business. And those ghosts aren't helpin' much either. We think they might've come from that old abandoned fortress."

"Ghosts? …F-From the fortress?" Cheren questioned.

"Man, Humph, where is your mind?" the first wolf asked. "I guess bein' lost in that storm shook your head a little. There's a bunch of ghosts scarin' up all the wolves in the valley. The leaders are doin' all they can to sniff 'em out, but it ain't goin' well. Those ghosts are crafty. And you know the abandoned war fortress, just up the hill? We think that's where they're comin' from. Probably come back for vengeance or somethin'."

"Hmm… maybe we should go up there and see what's happening." Cheren suggested.

"Feh heh heh! When'd you get such a backbone?" Cheren's wolf "friend" asked. "That place is forbidden, you know. Too many evil spirits and stuff. Plus, the entrance is sealed shut. The only way to open it is to sing some kind of song. Unfortunately, the only ones who know the song are the Alphas, and THEY ain't gonna tell ya. Even with all this crud, they're just minding their own business. 'Course, yer girlfriend might tell." He smirked. "Just don't worry about it and leave this whole thing to the professionals." The wolf said as they turned and walked away. "Oh, and if you're gonna have humans walk around here… I'd be careful. Heheh." With that, they ran off.

Panini and Thomas walked up beside Cheren as the wolf boy looked up at Panini. Staring with her, he thought to himself, What did he mean my girlfriend might?

Cheren remained a wolf as the three headed up a slope on the left. They reached a mountain range of tall, skinny stalagmites. They were too close together to squeeze through, so Cheren put on Sackboy's Mask and became the boy of yarn, unraveling himself into a single strand as he slid in between. He made his way through a tight maze of the stalagmites before coming out atop a platform on the other side. He overlooked a small field where wolves seemed to be trying to battle another Imp Poe. Cheren became a wolf himself and leapt down to assist them. While the Poe focused on attacking the other wolves, Cheren was able to tackle it from behind and rip its chest open. Its soul came flowing out as the Poe fell defeated.

"No need to thank me guys, I'm glad to help!" Cheren immediately said pridefully. However, he noticed that the group of wolves he just saved were glaring at him with hate. "What? …Oh, the hair? Yeah, that's-"

"And just what right do you have interfering with our business?" one of the wolves said hatefully, getting in Cheren's face.

"What? That ghost was attacking you, wasn't he?"

"He was… but that was Alpha business. Worry about your own pack, Omega. Consider this a warning." With that, the group of wolves hurried away.

Cheren turned away and sighed in disbelief. "No wonder my dad hated wolves." Cheren ran back to the stalagmite maze and became Sackboy to slip through the maze again, making it back to his friends. He changed back to a wolf and led the two across the center area and to the other side of the wolves' village. Along the way, however, they ran into some other wolves, who turned and noticed the two human children. The three saw hunger in their eyes as the wolves stepped closer, drooling and snarling. "Hold on, guys," Cheren tried to reason with them, "these two are sort of friends of mine, so if you could just-"

The wolves just ignored him and lunged at Panini and Thomas, who quickly defended with their firebending and hammer respectively. Cheren jumped at the wolves and began biting at them ferociously, eventually biting them hard enough so that they turned tail and ran. With them out of the way, the three proceeded to the cave on the other side of the village. There were a few skulls lying around on the ground, and some of them alit with an ice aura and began flying around. Cheren changed back to a human and bashed the Ice Bubbles with his shield to disable their ice aura, then proceeded to strike them.

The three continued through the cave and came to a cliff over an abyss, the other side far out of their reach with no way across. "Um, Panini? I don't suppose you wore your rocket boots today?" Cheren asked.

"Ay decided ta go casual on the way here." Panini grinned.

"Great. Okay, Thomas, I have another plan, hit that wall over there." Cheren instructed as he became a wolf again. Thomas slammed his hammer into the wall, causing a series of boulders to crumble from the ceiling. Cheren leaped and began jumping off the many boulders as they fell, successfully reaching the other side. He watched as another group of wolves battled another Poe. Cheren teamed up with them as they tackled the ghost together, with Cheren having the honor of ripping its soul out.

Just as they jumped off, one of the other wolves smacked him across the face. "What do you think you're doing? !"

"Saving your life, Dumbo!" Cheren retorted.

"Still that tongue and go back to your pack!" he said before the group escaped through an opening in the wall.

Cheren walked over to the cliff and said to himself, "Now I remember why we should spend our time saving kids." The boy then gave a howl, and Thomas took that as the signal to slam the wall again, causing another bunch of boulders to come down. Cheren quickly jumped across and barely grabbed onto the ledge, his friends grabbing his paws to pull him up. They hurried back to the village and took the remaining path in the middle. It brought them to a long, narrow, zigzaggy slope that led up another mountain. They carefully moved the slope, walking slowly to keep from slipping off the ice and ducking whenever a fierce wind blew by. Panini was nearly blown off the edge, but Cheren grabbed her shirt in his teeth and kept her up.

As they continued up, large icicles strangely fell from the cloudy heavens, crashing on the path and becoming Freezards. They tried to blow Ice Breath at them, but Panini easily defeated them by throwing fire and melting the monsters. They soon reached the top of the slope, reaching an area where a female wolf was dealing with another Poe. When Cheren used his senses, he saw that the wolf was dealing with a taller, more terrifying Poe. "I hope this wolf isn't as ungrateful…"

Just before the Poe swung its lantern at the wolf, Cheren jumped in its way. The ghost hissed through its sharp teeth and swung its lantern, but Cheren leapt at the ghost, but it dodged. Cheren tried to leap at him again, but he ended up phasing through it. The ghost turned purple and grabbed Cheren by the neck, lifting him up to strangle him, but Cheren bit into its arm and made it release. The Poe flew down in attempt to bash Cheren with its lantern, becoming purple again. Cheren noticed it was solid when it was purple, so he was able to tackle it to the ground. Cheren ripped its chest off and set its soul free as the ghost's cloak became lifeless.

"Oh, Humphrey!" the female wolf exclaimed as she ran up and rubbed her cheek against Cheren's, making the boy-wolf blush. "I thought you didn't make it…"

"Heh. Of course I made it, errr…" He tried to think of the wolf's name.

"Kate?-"

"KATE, yeah, I was gonna say that! Heh, my mind was sorta lost for a minute there."

"Well, anyway, the way you took down that ghost was pretty amazing. If my father found out an Omega took on an evil spirit, hm, our relationship is pretty much set then, isn't it?"

At this, Cheren didn't say anything. He bore a look of sadness and regret.

"What's wrong?" Kate asked worriedly.

"Um… it's nothing. Hey, listen, uh…" Cheren assumed this was the 'girlfriend' mentioned earlier, "I need to ask you… Do you know anything about a song that opens the fortress?"

"Huh? Why do you wanna know all of a sudden?"

"Well, I think the problem with these blizzards has something to do with the fortress, and I can probably stop them by seeing what's wrong."

"You'll need to ask my father about that. I'll take you to him, but I'm not sure he'll comply. Only the Alphas are supposed to know it."

"I think I can reason with him. Lead the way." Kate did so and walked first down the path, followed by Cheren and his friends.

Side mission unlocked: Find the scattered Poe Souls throughout the world.

When they made it back to the village, they found a group of other wolves snarling viciously at the lot. "What's there problem?" Cheren asked.

"Come with us." One of them said gruffly. Cheren exchanged nervous glances with his friends and Kate as they followed the pack.

They were taken into a cave that bared a resemblance to a courtroom, with many other wolves as Cheren stood on a platform in the center, Kate by his side, and Thomas and Panini being watched by two guard wolves, the two kids shuddering as the wolves stared with hunger. Before them, a large, white and grey wolf walked onto the judge's stand. "What's going on here?" Cheren asked.

"Humphrey… you have been accused of interfering with Alpha affairs. Do you deny it?" The Alpha leader, Winston asked.

"No I don't."

"If you recall, the Alpha-Omega Pact of '98 states that both packs shall leave the other in peace if we remain on our own sides of the Mainland. Any member of a pack caught interfering with the members of the other must be banished to avoid going into conflict."

"Well, I wasn't going to just let those ghosts attack you!"

"Please, he was only trying to help!" Kate tried to reason with him.

"It wasn't his concern. All wolves are to only be concerned with the members of their own pack. I've shown you mercy, Humphrey, by letting you date my daughter… but I will NOT make any more exceptions for you this time."

"Why wouldn't we be allowed to help you once in a while? If one side is in trouble, you should be thankful the other side is there to help. I mean, why do our packs hate each other anyway?"

"Come ooon, Humphrey, you know this!" one of Humphrey's supposed friends exclaimed. "It's 'cause…um… why do we hate each other?"

"Because our packs are too different." Winston told them. "The Alphas are hard-working, the Omegas are lazy. We do not belong together."

"At least we're not a bunch of stuck-up jerks!" Humphrey's friend yelled.

"YOU say that to my face!" one of the Alphas shot back. Almost instantly, the wolves ended up in a brawl. Cheren and his friends shielded their eyes as both packs flew around and piled up.

"EVERYONE, STOP!" Kate yelled, causing all the wolves to stop and look at her.

"Guys, it doesn't matter if our two packs are different!" Cheren yelled. "We're all wolves, aren't we? We should be working together if we're going to survive."

"Oh, come on!" one of the Alphas responded. "Just last week, you were mocking us about how being so hungry, we'll 'chew our tails off.' Why the sudden change of heart?"

"If there's one thing I learned from being lost in that storm…" he spared a glance over to Thomas and Panini, "it's that we need to stick together."

"Hm… well, you did save my daughter." Winston thought aloud.

"Exactly!" Kate spoke up. "If it wasn't for Humphrey, those ghosts would've taken us. And it won't be long until they come back. We'll have a better chance at fighting them if we work together."

"And also, I might have an idea on how to stop them from coming back." Cheren spoke again. "If you could teach me the song to get into the fortress, I could find the problem in there."

"What? ! You can't teach him our song!" one of the Alphas told Winston.

"Enough. I think… young Humphrey may be right." Winston decided. "This feud has gone on for too long. It might be time we combined our two packs. Together, we could take on any opposing force. And as a sign of our friendship, I will happily teach Humphrey our song."

"Aaauuugh!" the Alpha moaned.

"What in the world are these guys saying?" Panini whispered to Thomas.

"I don't speak wolf!" he whispered back.

"Okay, Humphrey: get your lungs ready."

With that said, Winston sat on all fours as all Alphas burst into a song of howling. The howling was the most peaceful thing they've heard in this snowy wasteland, and the blizzard outside seemed to subside a little bit. It even made Cheren's mind a bit more calm as he started to howl along with them. The song only lasted for so long until they slowed to a stop.

You've learned the Howls of Nights! A song that's been passed down to the Alpha wolves for generations, this will open the entrance to the abandoned war fortress!

"Now onto the next order of business:" Winston spoke up. "Who's hungry for human?!"

All eyes directed on the terrified Panini and Thomas.

"Not for lunch." Cheren told them.

"Awwwww…" they all moaned.

After the trial, Kate led them up a secret path that brought them before the massive war fortress. The citadel looked very dark and ominous through the darkness of the blizzard, and the drawbridge entrance was high above them. "Here it is." Kate told Cheren. "I don't know what you plan to do in here… but just be safe. Good luck, Humphrey." The female wolf gave Cheren a lick across the cheek before running back to the village.

"Hehehe…" Cheren blushed.

Panini saw his blush and yelled, "Just howl the stoopid song!"

Cheren shook back to reality and howled the shorter version of the wolves' song. His howling echoed across the snowy valley, and once it stopped, the only sounds they heard was that of the windy blizzard. The quietness was shattered when the cranking of the drawbridge suddenly came down, providing entrance into the fortress.

As Cheren changed back into a human, he bared a look of remorse. Panini noticed this and walked over to ask him, "What's wrong, Cheren?"

"…That girl wolf—Kate… she was this wolf's girlfriend. The wolf that's… i-in that mask right now." Cheren spoke in a regretful tone. "She thought I was him. She doesn't know… w-what happened. Was it wrong to keep the secret from her?"

"Hmm… hard to say. 'Course, with all these masks, it won't be hard to live some second lives!" Thomas said. "Ow!" Panini elbowed him in the rib.

"Well, Cheren… when it comes ta war, sacrifices have ta be made, right?" Panini asked. "Maybe, when this is over, we…we'll show them the truth."

Cheren sighed. "Yeah. No time to worry about it now." Putting his serious look back on, he led them into the fortress. (Play the Icy Citadel's theme from Spyro: A Hero's Tail.)

Dungeon 3: Frosty Citadel

Mission: Find the Master Sword.

The first room was rather small, but had a high ceiling with several stone pillars connecting to it, and a snowy ground. Upon their entry, they were already assaulted by a swarm of Ice Keese. One of the frosty bats nipped Cheren's left ear, freezing it, and the boy immediately reacted by swinging his sword and slicing it. Panini swiftly dodged the Ice Keese flying at her and shot flames to take them out. As Thomas swatted the last few bats away with his hammer, he was suddenly yanked under the snow by the arms of an Eeno. He was beaten up before being tossed above the snow. He recovered and saw several lumps moving about the snow. Raising his hammer, the Drilovsky boy slammed the ground, causing the snowy monsters to come above the snow, their heads dizzy. Panini took this time to shoot fire at each of them, instantly melting the snowball-throwing creatures.

The metal bars on the door on the other side of the room opened as a result. But before moving forward, Cheren put on his Great Fairy Mask and found that its pink hair was sparkling. He noticed a set of small platforms attached to the pillars and walls around the room, each one going higher until it led into an opening by the ceiling. Each platform was too far to jump, so Cheren put on the Wolf Mask, proceeding to mask long leaps to each platform before reaching the opening at the top. Inside, he found a chest and became a human to open and free the white Stray Fairy before catching it in his bottle.

He jumped down to the floor below as the three continued through the door. They walked up a small staircase before finding their selves in a massive outside area. Snow poured down as much as ever, though it wasn't as dark, over this area inside the fortress walls. There was a gaping, bottomless chasm that seemed to go across the whole area. There was another pathway on the other side, which had a massive statue of a warrior in a wolf uniform. To their right was a wall blocking their path, and a locked door beside it, and on their left was a small gap in the ground, with a higher ledge on the other side. They approached the ledge and looked down, seeing that the parallel ledge seemed a little unstable. Thomas slammed his hammer against the wall on their left, causing that ledge to sink to their level, revealing the rest of that path on the other side. Cheren shot his Hookshot to a target on that side, pulling him and Thomas over, while Panini jumped across on her own.

At the end of this path was a wall, but an unlocked door was beside it. However, Cheren noticed a wooden crate atop a ledge above that wall and used his Hookshot to pull himself to it. He found a large treasure chest above that ledge and went to open it, peeking inside and pulling out the very item he knew it'd be.

You got the Dungeon Map! Use it to see where you are and blaah-blaah-blah-blah.

After jumping back down, Cheren and his friends entered the new door, finding a wide room with an icy floor, with several sharp rocks sticking out of the floor in the ice, and a block sitting beside them at the start of the icy floor. Along the far, left side of the room was a gap in the wall, and a high ledge above it, in which the block would serve as a good stepping-stone to reach. Cheren already knew this as an ice-block puzzle and began examining the slippery maze. He slid the block forward, letting it collide with the nearby stone. He then slid it to a stone on the left, pushed it ahead again, then slid it to a stone on the right. However, there was no other way to go from there, as pushing it further down the room would make it fall into a chasm, and no other way would seem to work.

However, as Thomas twirled the hammer with his hand, Cheren got an idea. He told the boy to stand along the right wall, parallel to the gap for the block on the other side. When Cheren slid the block down the floor, it was about to slide right past Thomas before the boy bashed it with his hammer, sliding the block right into the gap. Cheren grinned, seeing his plan work, as the three fist-pumped. With the block in place, the three were able to jump up to the higher ledge. They entered a doorway that led to a narrow, snaky hall with an icy floor that led upward and around. As they tried to walk up, a Mini-Freezard slid down the slope and made the group trip and slide down. They recovered and tried to run further up as Panini shot flames and melted any incoming Freezards.

When they reached the top of the slope, they found that a Red Freezard was guarding the door at the end. Panini tossed some flames, but they had no effect on the thick, red ice. Cheren ran up to try and strike it, but the Freezard hit him with an Ice Breath that froze him solid, leaving Panini to unfreeze him. Thomas then slammed the wall with his hammer, making the monster dizzy and hang his mouth open. Cheren proceeded to shoot a M.A.R.B.L.E. into his mouth and blow the monster up, allowing them to enter the door.

They made it back outside, finding their selves on an area high above the wide-open area within the fortress walls. A seesaw with a giant snowball sitting on one end seemed to be facing directly at the giant soldier statue. They already saw where this was going as Thomas raised his hammer and slammed it onto the seesaw's opposite end, sending the snowball flying across the chasm and straight at the statue's left leg. It collided with the knee and broke the leg, causing the statue to topple toward the other side, creating a bridge that linked both sides. With that, the kids dropped to the lower ground and crossed the fallen statue. The path on the other side didn't seem to have anything special on it, with only a single door.

They entered this door and made it to an empty room where a Small Key lied on the other side of an icy floor. When Cheren took his first step across, he immediately felt the ice crack. He gestured for Thomas and Panini to stay in place while he put on the Kateenian Mask, using his smaller form to cross the thin ice. He was able to retrieve the key and head back over, the group returning outside. They crossed the statue over the chasm again and headed for the locked door on the other side of the previous pathway.

They entered a small, cube-shaped room with an icy floor, a locked door on the left, a wall of wooden boards on the other side, and several lanterns hanging around the room. The three searched around the room, but couldn't find a key or anything to help them along. However, when Cheren looked up at one of the lanterns, he noticed it wasn't hanging from anything. He went into his wolf form and sensed that there was an Imp Poe floating there. The Poe swung its scythe at him, but Cheren jumped back and lunged at the ghost, biting into its chest and ripping its soul out, causing it to disappear. As a result, a key appeared where it fell. Cheren changed back as he grabbed the key and unlocked the door.

They entered a slightly bigger room with a large chasm covering almost the whole floor, with only a small pathway leading up and around, with a door at the top. At the top of the pathway, a yeti was rolling large snowballs down, but the snowballs were crashing at the end of the second floor of the pathway. They waited for the last snowball to go before dashing up the small slope. They tried to run for the second slope, but the yeti had already thrown another snowball down and rolled them back to the start. They jumped back to the first floor of the path, wondering how to get past the creature. Cheren seemed to remember something like this, so he took out his Bananarang and threw it at the end of the path. The yeti was lured away from his spot as he went to stare at the banana.

The trio hurriedly ran up the path during his distraction and made it up just before the boomerang came back. Cheren struck the yeti with his sword and took him out before he noticed. Once at the top of the path, they looked across and noticed there was a locked door on the first floor. Right above it, near the ceiling, was a platform with an eye switch on it. There were some ropes hanging from a metal bar that led to it, but they were too far apart. Instead, they just decided to enter this new door and see what lies within. They entered a circular room with many stone pillars as metal bars sealed the door behind them. (Pause song.)

The circular room was fairly dark as the three operatives skimmed around. They stopped when arrows were suddenly shot by their feet, and a figure skidded into the middle of the room, his feet leaving a trail of purple fire. "Is that-" Panini began.

"Nerehc?!" Cheren exclaimed.

The demon-blooded Negative turned and faced Cheren with a smirk. "Hey, Cherry. Long-time, no see." He held up his sword and prepared to strike. (Play Dark Pit's Theme from Kid Icarus: Uprising.)

Sub-boss: Nerehc EiznekCm Onu

Right away, Cheren and Nerehc were in a clash of their blades. Nerehc was using a sword he borrowed from the pirates as both opposites swung their swords fast before both blades came in contact, their forces pushing on the other. "What's the big idea…" Cheren grunted, "and how did you get here?"

"You tell me." Nerehc replied. "It's your fault."

They jumped to opposite sides of the room. "Me?! Why are you blaming me for your being here?!"

"Does the shrinking door sound familiar?"

"What??" Cheren looked surprised. "How did you-"

"Because when you went in that door and got shrunkified, I shrunk, too! Do you how scary being a bug size is? ?" he shuddered. "It was a nightmare. And now I'm splorped to this dimension, immediately I knew it was you! So you're going to help me find a way outta this world, as soon as I teach you a lesson!" With that said, Nerehc shot at Cheren with his rocket feet, and the two opposites clashed blades again.

Cheren swung as fast as he could to try and hit his Negative, but Nerehc kept zipping around him, Cheren turning and defending with quick blocks. Cheren was able to kick his foot up into his shin, then give him a strike across the chest. Nerehc jumped back and pulled out a bow as he fired quick arrows at Cheren, which the boy defended with his shield. Cheren ran and tried to swing his sword at Nerehc, but the Negative flew up with his rocket feet and fired more arrows down, hovering safely above the room. Cheren chased him around while avoiding the arrows. After a short while of chasing, Cheren noticed the small ledges that were around the walls of the room.

Cheren threw on his Wolf Mask and turned into his werewolf form. "HOLY CRAP! !" Nerehc exclaimed with a look of utter shock. He fired arrows faster as Cheren began jumping around the wall's platforms, getting close enough to Nerehc to leap at the Negative and tackle him to the ground, forcefully biting at his chest. He ripped a piece of Nerehc's shirt off as the Negative jumped up and flew near the ceiling. Nerehc started to charge lightning in his fingers, so Cheren quickly ran around in his wolf form to dodge when Nerehc fired. Nerehc charged another lightning strike, but Cheren hid behind one of the pillars and avoided. When he peeked back out, Nerehc immediately threw another strike, but Cheren dodged.

Nerehc flew down again as Cheren changed back to a human, clashing with his Negative once again. Nerehc zipped behind and tried to shoot an arrow, but Cheren ducked and rolled behind to perform an upward strike. Nerehc flew back as he charged a ball of purple fire in his hand. He threw it at Cheren, but the boy simply used his shield to bounce it back and knock the Negative dizzy, allowing Cheren to run and deal a few strikes. Nerehc started flying around the room again as he launched more quick arrows.

Cheren turned into a wolf as he started to jump around the small platforms again. He was catching up to Nerehc, but the Negative quickly zipped to the other side. Cheren jumped his way across, but the speedy Negative kept zipping back and forth. However, that's when Panini decided to throw a fireball and burn Nerehc's pants, distracting the Negative long enough for Cheren to jump over and tackle him to the ground. Nerehc tried to crawl away, but Cheren kept him down as he furiously tugged on Nerehc's jacket collar. Cheren ripped another piece of his clothing off as he threw Nerehc to the side. (End song.)

Nerehc lay tired on the floor as he turned at Cheren, his Positive changing back to a human as he gave a smirk. "Didn't know I could do that, huh?"

"Okay… that is almost slightly cooler than being able to fly." Nerehc replied as he got to his feet. "But screw this. I'll catch you some other time. Later, Cherry." With that, Nerehc threw his bow to the ground as he flew out of a hole in the ceiling. (Resume the Icy Citadel theme.)

The metal bars unsealed the door as Cheren went to retrieve his bow.

You got the Hero's Bow! This bow was stolen from you by Miyuki Crystal, and somehow Nerehc found it, but it's yours again! With this, you can fire arrows and hit objects at a great distance! That's the way it's been since the medieval days! …Yyep.

"And when we get the Master Sword back, yer mom might be less angry atcha." Panini remarked.

"Shuddup…" Cheren told her with a chuckle.

They went back into the previous room where Cheren shot the eye switch. The ropes began moving along the metal bar, allowing Cheren to grab one and let it take him to the other side. He opened the chest and retrieved the Small Key inside, afterwards dropping to the lower floor as his friends accompanied him. The locked door led back to the outside area in the fortress's center, on the other side of the wall where the first locked door sat by. On the other side of the chasm was another wolf-warrior statue, and on their right was a gap in the path with a drawbridge on the other side. The drawbridge was kept up by some ropes tied to the wall, so Cheren shot the ropes and made the drawbridge come down. They crossed it and entered a door to another small room.

This room had a snowy floor and a few mounds moving about the floor. Cheren suspected them to be Eenos, and when he approached the first one, the snow creature made itself known. However, the Eeno was wearing a stone helmet, preventing Cheren from striking it with his sword. Thomas bashed it in the head with his hammer and knocked it dizzy, but the armor wouldn't come off. However, Cheren noticed the weak stalactites and shot the one above the Eeno with an arrow, causing it to come down and penetrate the monster's armor. The armor came off, and Panini proceeded to burn and melt the monster. They repeated this process with the other Eenos, luring each one under a stalactite, Thomas stunning it with his hammer, Cheren shooting the stalactite down, and Panini burning the exposed Eeno.

The metal bars opened on the door, but Cheren first put on his Great Fairy Mask and found the hair was glowing. He noticed a disheveled patch of snow in a corner, so he went into his wolf form to go and dig it up. He found another Stray Fairy and caught it in his bottle.

They entered the door and reached a room that was rather small in width, but stretched up a few floors. There was a metal lift of several platforms that led up higher, but the device was inactive. The three noticed a small hole in the wall between two crystals. Cheren peeked in and saw there was a frozen eye switch deep inside. Panini tried to throw a fireball into it, but her flames wouldn't fit into the small hole. Cheren got her to stand in place and hold a flame in front of the hole, while he shot an arrow through the flame and into the hole, setting the arrow on fire as it hit and melted the ice. The eye switch was hit and activated the platforms as they began scrolling up. They got onto a platform and were brought to a pathway on the second floor of the room.

The path led alongside the wall, where Freezards hid inside of holes and blew ice onto the path in attempt to freeze them. Thomas slammed his hammer into the wall and the Ice Breath stopped, for the Freezards had turned dizzy. Panini took this time to toss flames into the holes, melting the ice monsters. Coincidentally, one of the Freezards contained a Stray Fairy, which Cheren allowed into his bottle. They came to an icy slope where a Red Freezard guarded at the top. Thomas slammed his hammer into the wall and made the Freezard dizzy, but Cheren couldn't get close enough to shoot a M.A.R.B.L.E. without slipping down the slope. However, he noticed the unstable stalactite above the Freezard and shot an arrow at it, making it drop and shatter the Freezard.

They dashed up the slope and many more after that as they were led further up the room. They eventually reached the top of the chamber, where there sat another large treasure chest. Cheren opened it and found the second main dungeon item inside.

You got the Compass! Well, don't you feel special?

Afterwards, they passed down a small hallway that led to a door, which brought them outside on another balcony. There was another catapult that seemed to be aimed at the statue across the chasm, but there were no giant snowballs. However, Thomas directed behind them as they noticed the giant snowball seated on the roof above the door. The Drilovsky boy slammed his hammer against the wall, causing the snowball to roll off and onto the end of the catapult. He then proceeded to slam the other end, flinging the snowball over the chasm to ram the bottom of the statue. The statue toppled over and created another bridge across the chasm.

"Ya know, with all these puzzles and crazy contraptions, it makes ya wonder how these guys made their way around." Panini thought aloud.

"No wonder these guys lost." Cheren remarked.

As they made their way back down to the center area, Cheren checked his map mixed with his compass. He saw that there was a Stray Fairy in the room with the Poe, so they headed back there. They noticed that there was an eye switch behind the wooden boards, so Cheren fired an arrow through a gap and hit the switch. A stone door opened on the other side, where a giant snowball rolled out, the kids dodging as it smashed through the boards. They went into the cave where the snowball came from and found a chest containing the Stray Fairy.

Cheren checked his map and saw there was a Stray Fairy in the block puzzle room. The fairy was marked on the location of a stalactite on the ceiling. Cheren shot the weak-looking stalactite with an arrow and knocked it down, releasing a Stray Fairy that Cheren caught into his bottle. With that done, they made their way back and crossed the fallen statue to reach the newest side of the chasm. They followed the path to a circular area of the chasm, in which the chasm continued beyond an open wall in the middle, but no path seemed to lead alongside it. There was also a gap in the path where the open wall was. The three peeked down the trench—careful not to fall over the edge—and saw the silhouette of a large building of the fortress on the other side.

The three decided to enter the doorway they found on the left side of the circular area. This room had a rather large chasm with a huge glass wall protecting a maze of large pipes. One of the pipes seemed to come out over a platform where a large switch sat. The pipes seemed to intersect a lot in the maze, and a few of those intersections had eye switches on those spots on the glass wall. To their right was a mechanism that bared a resemblance to one of those "ring the bell at the top" games, in which the bar led all the way above the ceiling. For that reason, Thomas bashed the device and sent the little bar flying all the way up, ringing some bell that they couldn't see.

In a small room above the chamber, a sleeping yeti was startled awake by the ringing of the bell. The yeti grumbled angrily as it walked over and grabbed a giant snowball, proceeding to roll it down a tunnel.

Back in the lower chamber, the trio watched as a giant snowball rolled down the pipe above, going into the maze where it rolled down the series of pipes, eventually coming out and falling into the abyss at the bottom. The three put on a confused look, but Cheren took out his bow and shot an arrow at one of the eye switches, causing a pipe in that intersection to change direction. The three saw the trick to this puzzle as Thomas bashed the device again, and another snowball started rolling down. Cheren began to shoot any eye switch the ball approached in attempt to direct it onto the large switch in the center. They had to repeat the process a couple times, but they eventually found the right path that led the ball onto the switch.

This caused a door on the left of the room to open. They went inside to a smaller chamber that had a strange, water-pump-like device. "Hey, this looks like some kind of hydro generator." Thomas observed.

"In an ice fortress?" Cheren questioned. "I'd be surprised if this thing still works." They noticed the frozen lever in front of the machine as Panini used a flame to melt the ice. Cheren was able to flip the lever, and, to their surprise, the machine sparked to life. They looked out a window into the larger as the chasm began filling with water that flowed into the fortress. Subsequently, the water flowed into the chasm outside, filling the river up halfway. They left the generator room and saw that a few ice chunks were floating in the water. Cheren opened his map and saw there was a Stray Fairy on the left of the chasm. He jumped the platforms to reach a platform with some snow on it, turning into a wolf to dig up the patch of snow. The Stray Fairy came out as Cheren reverted to human and caught it in his bottle.

They went back into the central area and found the river half-full. There was a Hookshot target on the other side of the gap, so Cheren held onto Thomas as he launched his Hookshot and pulled them over, while Panini jumped the gap on her own. They entered a door that led to a room with a rather long hallway. The hallway had an icy floor with several movable blocks along the way. The three noticed a yeti behind a glass wall along the side of the hall, up on a higher pathway that seemed to lead to another giant switch.

Cheren saw where this was headed and tossed his Bananarang in front of the yeti to draw its attention. It began to follow the boomerang as Cheren tossed it further down to make the yeti move closer. Along he came to a gap in the path in which Cheren had to push one of the blocks into the wall to allow it to cross. The yeti was coming to another gap, but the block wasn't in front of it, so when Cheren pushed it ahead, Thomas had to whack it with his hammer to get it to go into the gap. A couple of White Wolfos emerged from the floor and tried to attack them, but Thomas and Panini kept them back to allow Cheren to make it to the end, eventually leading the yeti onto the switch. The barred door back on the other side of the hall opened as a result.

Before they went back down, however, Cheren noticed the ledge that was up by the yeti's switch. He turned into a wolf and jumped up a platform to reach the ledge. He found and entered a door that brought him to the room with the Boss Key. The chest was protected by a gate on the other side of a snow-covered floor. As Cheren walked into the center, he flinched when a whirlpool suddenly spawned onto the floor. He ran away to keep from being sucked in, but it stayed on his tail as he ran about the room.

Cheren decided to turn into a human and shot a M.A.R.B.L.E. into the whirlpool. It exploded on the bottom, causing a floating lantern to shoot out. Cheren became a wolf again and used his senses to see and tackle the Poe, ripping its soul out once again. With the Poe defeated, the gates opened. Cheren went back into human form as he opened the yellow-and-blue chest to claim his prize.

You got the Boss Key! Figure out which door THIS goes into, ya little slugguh!

Cheren returned to the long hallway where his friends waited as the three headed into the room with the hydro generator. Once again, Panini had to unfreeze the lever so they could flip it. Right away, more water flowed into the river outside, quickly filling it up the rest of the way. They returned outside to find the river flowed all the way to the large building at the end. Cheren jumped in the river, and was frozen solid immediately. Thomas and Panini shook their heads at him as Panini pulled him out and unfroze him. "Hehe… I kinda forgot where we were." Cheren blushed.

The three noticed the ice chunks flowing down the river and decided to hop on one, allowing it to take them down. They flowed to a rather tall staircase of large stairs that led to the fortress's boss door. Before going over, however, Cheren looked at his map and saw there was a Stray Fairy on the walkway along the left of the staircase. They jumped onto one of the ice chunks to flow in that direction first. There were a few pots seated along the pathway, and Cheren smashed one of them to retrieve the last Stray Fairy.

"Okay, let's get these to the Fairy Fountain, see what she gives us." Cheren decided before they made the journey out of the fortress. (End song.)

Outside the fortress

When they made it outside, they found another hidden path that led around some stalagmites, into a small cave. Inside this cave was the fairy fountain, barely visible with all the snow that poured into the cave, creating a white fog. Cheren released the fairies and let them join their friends in the fountain.

Just like before, the fairies spiraled and mixed with the fairies in the fountain, disappearing in a flash of light. The three shivered as the blizzard winds blew past them from the cave's entrance, the snows forming a tornado in the center of the fountain. The snows cleared and revealed yet another fairy child, with a white, fur coast, white boots, and a white ushanka on her head. She folded her exposed arms and shuddered herself, but stopped and smiled when she noticed Cheren, who gave a quizzical look. The fairy unfolded her arms and shook the cold off before speaking. "That fortress was too cold, even for me. Much too lonely inside, you know?"

"Well, unless you count all the monsters." Cheren said.

"My name is Alyssyn by the way. Might I ask yours?"

"Um, Cheren."

"Ooh, Cheren?" her eyes widened with wonder. "That's a very interesting name. You know, a name has more value than one would think. Speaking your name could speak your whole identity. Some people channel all of their power into their name. When it is spoken by someone else, they could lose all of that power. If they speak it willingly, they give power to the one they spoke it to. By exchanging names, it's as if you and I now share powers."

"Um… cool?" It was always with random conversations, Cheren thought. However, this story did seem a bit familiar.

"This poor realm." The fairy continued. "It's been suffering for the longest time. No one being can withstand the frozen tundra for long. They're bound to freeze to death eventually. Even the wolves have a difficult time adapting to it."

"Hyeah, Cheren nearly broke down when we were walking through that blizzard!" Thomas exclaimed, earning a glare from Cheren.

The fairy breezed over and got in Thomas's face, making an icy wind as she glided. "Would you find that funny if it was YOU who broke down helplessly in the cold?"

"Um…" Thomas leaned back nervously.

The fairy breezed back to the center and continued, "You were lucky to be there for each other at all. Like I said, no one person can withstand the tundra for long. It's much better to have someone with you." She smiled. "After all… it's how the two of you slept so well." Cheren and Panini exchanged glances and blushed. "And you've taught the two packs of wolves that much as well. The war that happened here years ago was fierce because both opposing sides didn't know how to combine forces and stick together to survive. Always too stuck on what made them different. There was barely any real victor, they all destroyed each other. You only made it this far by sticking together. Young Cheren here couldn't make it on his own."

"Yeah, he sorta needed someone to be his mommy." Thomas remarked. Cheren growled.

"Your friendship is a valuable thing, remember that. And just as I gave you my name, I shall now grant you the strength to go farther." With that said, the fairy child put her hands together, opening them as a snowball formed. She blew on the snowball as the many flakes scattered, breezing past Cheren's body as the boy shivered. However, the shivering didn't last for long as Cheren felt more strength in his body.

You got increased strength! Now you'll only take half as much damage as before! …Which is kinda pointless since you never die. -_-

"I know it's not much, but… I've something else, too: when dawn shines bright, strike the rising sun with your arrow. Good luck!" And with one last giggle, the fairy child faded away as the blizzard winds blew past her.

Frosty Citadel

The three returned to the citadel and made their way up the large stairs, unlocking the massive door with the horned key. The boss door slid open, and once they entered, it slammed shut behind them.

They entered a chamber that was incredibly misty and dark. Frozen stone pillars connected the floor with the ceiling, where there were several pitch-black caves. The center of the room had a giant, bright blue ice cube, which glistened in the darkness. The three stared at the colossal, robotic goat that was frozen in the chunk of ice. Cheren touched Panini's shoulder and nodded at the girl. Panini stepped forward and tossed a few green flames at the frozen figure. The ice immediately began steaming and dissolving. Soon, it was nothing, and the robot was free.

The robotic entity breathed and looked around the room. Its black eyes focused on the heroes as steam came from its nose. Its front-left foot scraped along the ground as he prepared to charge at the trio.

Boss fight: Masked Mechanical Monst-

"GOOOOOHH!" The monster roared as it was immediately destroyed by a powerful ball of energy, vanishing in a puff of black smoke. Cheren, Panini, and Thomas gaped in utter shock as the robot's pieces flew everywhere, its severed head landing right in front of them.

Um… GOHT?

The smoke cleared as they looked up to where the energy ball came from. From a cave above, a pair of angry yellow eyes glared at the heroes. Their mouths dropped when the mighty figure jumped down, quaking the ground before them. It was an ice-covered, draconian deity with small arms, a hunched back, and bulky legs. It had two, solid-stone wings on its back and horns on its head. The entity gave a powerful roar as the operatives readied to fight it. (Play Moldarach/Koloktos' Theme from Zelda: Skyward Sword.)

Boss fight: Ancient Pokémon Deity, KYUREM

The three kept their guard up as the entity did nothing, keeping its glare on them. Cheren ran in first with his sword raised, but Kyurem swung its large wing and sent him flying into a pillar. Thomas ran at it afterward and swung his hammer, but Kyurem dodged and bashed him into another pillar. Panini ran to the side and tossed green flames at him, but Kyurem jumped behind her and knocked her away as well. Cheren recovered and saw Kyurem inhaling some breath. He raised his shield when the deity unleashed an ice-blue fire breath, successfully blocking the flames. Cheren then tried to toss his shield at the monster's head, but it had no effect as the shield bounced off Kyurem's rock-solid head.

Cheren stared into the monster's bright yellow, glaring eyes as it stomped closer. The deity stopped in place and began to charge another attack. Cheren's mind sparked as he remembered his mother's old stories. The boy took his bow, aimed an arrow, and fired into Kyurem's left eye, making it stop charging and shut it. While Kyurem rubbed his eye, Thomas ran in from the side and slammed Kyurem's left foot with his hammer. The monster hopped around on the other foot as Panini took this moment to toss flames at the monster's side. Kyurem ended up losing his balance and falling on his side. They were able to get a look at Kyurem's underbelly, and Cheren noticed the big crack in it. The boy went into his Wolf form and ran at the deity, digging his teeth into the crack and trying to yank the armor off.

Kyurem yelped in pain and shook Cheren away, getting to his feet. Thomas ran at the deity, but Kyurem leapt behind him and pushed him away with his tail. Panini tossed more green flames, but Kyurem blocked with his tail and turned to smack Panini away. The deity saw Cheren approach and ready his arrow, but he immediately unleashed a breath of Icy Fire around the room. The blue flames stood tall and bright around the room as Thomas and Panini hurried to Cheren's side. They each faced a certain direction, watching out for Kyurem. Panini saw the beast's yellow eyes glaring behind the fire in her direction, and she tapped the two's shoulders just before it unleashed an energy ball.

They jumped away from the flames as Cheren faced it and shot an arrow, successfully damaging its right eye. Panini used her power to blow some of the blue flames away, allowing Thomas to run over and hammer Kyurem's foot. The beast fell over on its side, and Cheren became a wolf as he leapt across the flames and bit into the cracked underbelly. After a few more strong tugs, Cheren yanked a chunk of Kyurem's stone skin right off.

Cheren saw that there was some softer flesh beneath Kyurem's armor. The deity quickly got to his feet and leapt into one of the dark caves above. They looked up and kept an eye out for where the deity would appear, but it was too dark for them to see. Behind them, an energy ball was charged and released from one of the caves, blowing the operatives in different directions. Panini recovered and started randomly throwing flames up in the caves, but Kyurem still evaded their sight.

It was then Cheren noticed the severed piece of Kyurem's stone skin. He detected a scent coming from it and went to sniff it. With the smell in his nose, he was able to use his senses to track the deity's trail. He ran around the room, aiming his nose upward as he sniffed for the strongest source of the scent. He detected Kyurem in one of the caves and looked at Thomas, nodding up at that cave. The Drilovsky boy nodded and charged at the wall below the cave, giving a mighty swing and quaking that wall, causing Kyurem to fall out.

Cheren became a human and readied to shoot Kyurem with an arrow. The deity quickly hit Cheren with Glaciate, making the boy shiver with cold. Cheren weakly raised his bow and slowly pulled an arrow back, still shivering from the cold. Kyurem stepped forward and began charging a Freezing Shock, but he couldn't charge it enough in time before Cheren launched an arrow at his left eye. Kyurem proceeded to rub his eye while Thomas ran and slammed his hammer on Kyurem's right foot. As he hopped around, Panini tossed flames to knock the entity off balance. Cheren was able to shake off his cold and run forward to start dealing blows against Kyurem's exposed underbelly.

Kyurem got to his feet and hollered another mighty roar. The deity charged a Hyper Beam in his mouth and released it at the heroes, who quickly ducked out of the way, letting the beam explode into one of the pillars. Kyurem jumped to another corner of the room and released another Hyper Beam, which the heroes dodged again as another pillar collapsed. When Kyurem destroyed another pillar, Thomas looked up as a boulder was about to fall onto him. The Drilovsky boy held up and his hammer and gave a mighty swing, sending the stone flying straight at Kyurem's face. The deity was bashed hard in the face, making him grow dizzy. Thomas afterwards ran forward and slammed his hammer on Kyurem's left foot, making the entity hop on the other as Panini shot flames at his side.

Kyurem was knocked onto his back, his exposed underbelly facing upwards. Holding his sword tight, Cheren ran up, leapt high in the air, and brought his sword into the stomach. (End song.)

Cheren got off as Kyurem got up, roaring with extreme pain, his cry echoing throughout the fortress. His crying soon came to a stop as he faced the three heroes. He looked at the severed head of Goht and ran to catch it in his mouth before retreating through a cave that was above a door that just opened.

"YOU ARE SO OFF MY POKEDEX WHEN I GET HOME!" Panini cried.

"Don't worry about it, Panini." Cheren told her. "Let's see where he went."

The three entered the doorway that just opened, finding a room with a short, steep staircase that led up to another door. They proceeded upward and entered this door. Before them was a small room with a dim light shining on the center, where none other than the Master Sword sat impaled in the ground. Cheren stared with amazement as he walked forward. He glanced right to find the severed head of Goht, the would-be dungeon boss. He looked around the room for Kyurem, but found no sign of the entity. "I guess he's gone. …What was that about, anyway?"

Cheren proceeded to walk over to grip his sword and pull it out. Cheren felt the mighty power of the Master Sword in his left hand, swinging it around before raising it skyward. It was then that the sword's spirit, Fi jumped out of the sword. Thomas flinched in shock, while Cheren gave a wide smile. "It is good to see you again, Master." Fi smiled. "I must deeply apologize for being unable to accompany you earlier."

"Hehehe. I missed you, too, Fi." Cheren then focused his sight on the fallen head of Goht. Cheren felt his sword sheathe suddenly transform into the blue and yellow one that belonged to the Master Sword, and sheathed his blade. He pulled out his Spirit Flute and approached the head, playing the Song of Healing.

Doo-doo-doo, doo-doo-doo, doo-doo, do-do-doooo.

Just like the others, the head glowed with a mystical energy before becoming just a regular mask. The Uno boy picked it up afterwards, because you should always pick discarded masks off the ground.

You've seized Goht's Remains! You just freed the spirit that was trapped within the body of evil Goht! …Actually, Kyurem sorta did it. You just played a pretty song. :\

And just like the others, Goht's mask started to shake and swallowed Cheren in a bright light.

Spirit World (Cue the Giants' Theme from Majora's Mask.)

Cheren stood upon another pillar that towered over a white, snowy realm. The blizzards across the realm made it difficult to see the Giant in the distance, but Cheren could make out his blurry image. "Are you guys going to listen to me now? ? Because you have to do something! You can't just leave Majora running around on his own!"

"Rooowwwr-rr-rr-RRRROWRRR."

Fi translated, "…You understand… wrong…"

"I understand wrong?? What are you talking about? Majora's dangerous, isn't he? He's controlling Miyuki and using her to cause destruction to this world! Are you honestly just gonna let that slide?"

"…She is… his matesprite…"

"Matesprite?? What the crud is that?? Whatever that means, I can't let Majora be around Miyuki. I have to destroy him, one way or another. Even if it's without YOUR help."

"…"

"…Huh? Well? Don't you have anything to say?" There was silence. "…Alright… I'll rescue the others. In return… you stay out of my way."

The light swallowed Cheren and Fi, and the vision ended. (End song.)

Unknown Location

"Hmm… this bed is soft." Miyuki/Majora spoke as they rubbed her hands against the surface of the purple blanket. The possessed girl jumped out of her shoes and plopped onto the bed, lying on her back with her head rested on the pillow. "This poor girl… she really is beautiful. At first, I was only fascinated with using her as a vessel, like Medusa promised me. But now…" Majora looked behind his own mask, staring at the beautiful sleeping face of Miyuki Crystal. "She is so troubled… So… innocent. And making her do all of these crimes… who am I to control her? It saddens me that… I need her… to do… the worst of all crimes. Huh?" He sat up when a warping sound was heard. He watched as the red-eyed, red-aura Zoni flew his way. The possessed alien stopped and stared into Majora's eyes. "…So… you've made it after all."

The Zoni's left eye showed seven pupils.

"After all this time… you've kept your word."

Eight eyes and a wink could be seen in the Zoni's eye: :::;)