Kids Next Door Gameverse: The Nextgen Kids

[Gamen Watch]

Here, we'll begin the next stage, and continue to the dungeon. Oh, and we have some backtracking.

Chapter 13: Miyuki's Choice

Groggy Whale

Cheren and Melissa had their arms around the other as they lay unconscious in the bar's closet. Rusty Pete stepped in with a bucket of water and dumped it on the two, startling them awake. "Wakey, wakey, lad and lass. Looks like you two had bit of a conk out after all that rum (hiccup)." The skinny pirate reached behind his back and pulled out a can of Mountain Brew, inspecting it closely. "I told those lads using LSD was a bad idea. 'Course, no one ever expects any kids to come here; let alone little lads who can transform into a pirate captain at will. By the way, I saved you a photo, to commemorate your first time here on Tortuga." He presented them a picture of Cheren and Melissa, lying atop each other in a romantic kiss.

Cheren and Melissa exchanged a shocked, disgusted glance. "BLEEEEUUUUHH!" The two frantically began shaking and brushing their tongues off.

"Congratulations! You two 'ave officially drunken your first adult drinks (hiccup)!"

"I'm a disgrace to Kids Next Door everywhere…" Cheren moaned, the two now feeling very woozy.

"I think… I need a restroom…" Melissa moaned.

"Outhouse is outside, lass." Rusty Pete told her.

"I think I'll… step out, too." Cheren said, still holding his stomach. Rusty Pete led Melissa downstairs while Cheren limped toward another doorway, which led onto a small balcony that overlooked the jungle and coastside. The once cloudy, gray daytime sky was now clear and dark blue, with stars hanging over. The waves brushing over the shore in the distance were the only sounds aside from the still-playing accordion music inside the bar, the music now quieter behind the closed balcony door. The sound of waves calmed Cheren's mind as he sat along the balcony's edge, the boy sighing depressedly. He leaned his head against the balcony's fence as Fi emerged from his sword.

"Something is troubling you, Master?"

"Fi, I've been wondering, lately… do I deserve to be leader? Is my whole mission in rescuing Miyuki all out of… desire? After all this time, it feels like the only reason I've been trying to help her is just to… be like my mom."

"Your mother was a caring person, Master. There is no shame in wishing to follow in her footsteps."

"Yeah, but… that shouldn't be the only reason, right? To wanna help someone? It just seems too… selfish."

"I cannot say whether it's right or wrong, but you wish to save Miyuki from possible sadness. Your actions are noble, Master, even if your reasons are not."

"Yeah… I guess so. But-… what if Majora was telling the truth, and… she really doesn't wanna leave him. I couldn't just leave her… with him, can I?"

"I am unable to provide a reasonable response. Perhaps if we locate Majora and Miyuki, there is an 85% chance we could find the answer."

"But we have no idea where they are, or how to find them."

"Do not forget, I still have Miyuki as a selection in my dowsing options."

Cheren suddenly remembered this as he reached in and pulled his locket for Miyuki from his pocket. "Oh yeah! I forgot! Let's try it out." Fi jumped back in the sword as Cheren started to aim it around.

When he aimed it in the direction of the bar, it began to glow and beep a little. "Hey… I think she's close."

"I conjecture that whatever my dowsing is indicating is within the range of the island with 90% accuracy."

"Then she's here!" Cheren exclaimed. "Wow, I… We gotta go find her! I mean, after Melissa's done… throwing up."

"Perhaps until your friend settles her uneasiness, you may take this time to accomplish other missions. Use the owl statue on your right as a means of returning here."

Cheren immediately took notice of the owl statue beside him. "I wonder how he actually moves these around." Cheren said to himself as he proceeded to strike the statue with his sword. "As a matter of fact… I know just where to go." He played the Song of Soaring on his Spirit Flute, and was warped away in a gust of wind.

Land of Wind and Shade

Cheren reappeared at the owl statue in the Land of Wind and Shade. From there, he made his way to the Chasm of Wind, where the whirlwinds still spiraled over the dark pit. With his new Pirates' Sail, Cheren jumped over the edge and threw it open, allowing the whirlwinds to propel him upward. He was able to safely glide over the chasm using the sail, eventually reaching the cliff on the other side. There, he saw a bunch of those salamander creatures dressed in white robes, which looked more like bed sheets. "I'm not even gonna begin to question it." Cheren stated as he walked past the salamanders, who were each pestering him to behold their robes.

Cheren walked up a small hillside and discovered a giant chest. The sign beside it read, To hold the spirit of the one who never sleeps, open this chest. Yes, to never have to sleep, all you have to do is open a chest. Real challenging, isn't it. Cheren rolled his eyes and went to open the chest. Inside, he found a rather odd mask that was nighttime-black with wide, red eyes.

You got the All-Night Mask! Wear this and you'll never want to go to sleep! Try missing your favorite midnight shows now!

"Hey… I know what to use this for!" Cheren smirked as he pulled out the Spirit Flute. He performed the Song of Soaring once again.

Le Carnivilia

Cheren quickly found himself in the massive carnival again. The boy made his way through the sea of tents and carnival-goers to make it back to Jigglypuff's Musical Dream tent. "Hey, Jigglypuff!" he called as he entered and saw the little round creature on stage.

"Hooooh?" Jigglypuff turned and shot a nasty glare at Cheren before turning away. "Puff-puff!"

"Come on, Jigglypuff, I'm sorry for falling asleep before. I won't this time, I promise."

"Hmmmm… Puff-puff." She shrugged.

"Okay. Sing away." Cheren instructed as he slipped on the All-Night Mask.

Jigglypuff cleared her throat and began singing. "Jiiiiggl-ly Puuuff, Jiiii-ggly Puuuff… Jiiiiggl-ly Puuff, Jigglllyyy…" With his new mask, Cheren felt more wide awake than ever. "Jiiiiggl-ly Puuuff, Jiiii-ggly Puuuff… Jiiiiggl-ly Puuff, Jigglllyyy…"

The song went on like that for a while until Jigglypuff stopped. Cheren gave a round of applause and Jigglypuff happily bowed. "Great singing, Jig!"

"Jigglypuff!" she gave a twirl.

"So, how about that mask?"

"Jiggly…puff!" As thanks, the creature happily tossed him the frog mask.

You got Don Gero's Mask! They say the leader of the frog choir once used this mask. When you wear it, the frogs might just mistake you for their leader!

Groggy Whale

Cheren warped back to the bar's balcony afterwards, stuffing his new masks into his jacket. "Ohhhh…" He looked as Melissa weakly tumbled out of the door, held standing by Rusty Pete as she still looked sick to her stomach. "I think…I think I wanna stick with regular soda."

Melissa wobbled forward as Cheren caught her. "Heheh… feeling hung over?" However, a thought occurred to his mind as he let Melissa drop. "Oh yeah! Where did Nerehc go? I almost forgot that was the whole reason we came here."

"The little lad fainted, and 'is little Mexican buddy took him back to the ship." Pete replied.

"Oh…" Cheren looked down with disappointment as Melissa helped herself up, holding her head. "Well, at least it isn't a total loss. Miyuki's here! If we hurry, we can find her!"

"That's just what I was about to tell you, lad (hiccup)!" Pete spoke up. "The lads reported and said a little white-haired girl was walkin' up the mountain… in the direction of our secret grotto (hiccup)."

"Secret grotto?" Cheren questioned. "Definitely sounds like Miyuki…er, Majora, really. That grotto must be another temple."

"It's only the most sacred place in all of Tortuga." Pete replied. "Reckon it's why all the monsters are 'ere in the first place. And why we were hopin' Nerehc would get rid of 'em for us (hiccup)."

"Well, you put your faith in the wrong place." Cheren told him. "Nerehc really doesn't have power over demons. But we can drive 'em back for you; and if we hurry up, we might stop the one who's responsible for all this. So, point us in this grotto's direction and we'll get on it."

"Not so fast, lad and lass. We don't know how that girl got in there, but the entrance is hidden inside of a cave, and will only be revealed by a special-"

"Song?"

"Um…yes. A pirate shanty. But not like any old shanty, a special one, of course. Only captains can know it… so we're in bit of a rough spot, aye? But the only other one 'o knows is an old swabbie 'o lays asleep in the Cursed Hillside."

"Uhh, Cursed Hillside?" Cheren asked, worried at the word 'cursed.'

"Relax, lad, it's just a fancy li'l name. There's nothin' real deadly… well, except for all the monsters that's been runnin' around, but you're really used to this stuff, aren't ya? Anyway, the pirate's sealed inside an old building, and the door can only be activated by three pirate guardians. Just find the three guardians and pass their trials, and the rest should be easy (hiccup)!"

"There's always gotta be three of something." Cheren noticed.

"We figured it's traditional. Anyhoo… the hillside be just up these stairs. Oi wish ye luck, Cap'n! Hiccup!"

The pirate stayed behind as the two operatives went up the staircase on the left of the balcony, reaching what appeared to be the highest point of the island. There were a few shrubs and trees, though there wasn't much vegetation, and there was an excellent view of the rest of the island. "Hey, Cheren, about that kiss we had-"

Cheren put a finger over her mouth and said, "Stays between us. Don't tell anyone. Especially Panini."

"…Mm-hm." Melissa only nodded. (Play "Dutchman's Graveyard" from SpongeBob BFBB.)


Stage 18: Cursed Hillside

Mission: Pass the three trials and learn the song from the Ancient Swabbie.

The first small area of the hillside seemed rather empty, but when they walked to the center, they were surrounded by a pack of Leevers; strange, green spinning creatures with teeth-like spikes on their heads, that emerged from the ground. The Leevers formed a circle and moved around the duo as they closed in. "Duck." Cheren told Melissa as he drew his sword. Melissa did so as the Leevers drew closer, allowing Cheren to perform a spin attack and wipe them all out in one hit. Melissa stood up and sighed in relief as they approached a gate with a Pirate Doorkeeper on it. It took notice of their presence and gave the expected reaction.

"SOO, ye want ta attempt the trials, do ye? Well, too bad! Only pi-"

"Yeah, yeah, only pirates may enter, so HERE." Cheren aggravatingly stated as he threw on Slag's Mask.

"Oh…well, ye-"

"Do a dance, aye." he finished. A disco ball was activated as three robo-pirates appeared, each raising a sword and dancing, so Cheren did the same. He begrudgingly mimicked the right pirate as he used the sword to clean his ears. The left pirate then used it to scratch his back, so Cheren followed him, thankful that his body was metal. The middle pirate proceeded to clean his teeth out with his sword, and Cheren disgustedly did the same. The pirates finished their routine by slowly sticking their swords down their throats, so Cheren hesitantly followed. One of the pirates decided to smack Cheren on the shoulder, causing him to drop his sword down his throat. This resulted in Cheren burping out some flames as the pirates laughed.

"Ha ha ha! Gets them every time! A'ight, you can pass." The doorkeeper said as the gates opened.

"Oi hope that sword still isn't in there when I'm in human form." Cheren said, changing back to a human and pounding his stomach. He couldn't feel the sword inside him and sighed, "Okay, good."

The gate revealed a fork in the road, so the two decided to take the left path first. They had to jump across a few platforms over some piranha-infested waters to reach a small trench area. They were at a dead end with several colored seeds laying around, patches of dirt, and several tiny openings in the wall. Cheren decided to lay the seeds under random patches and water them with the S.Q.W.I.R.T.. They grew into small platforms that reached to different heights, and were shaped like small pathways. Cheren noticed each patch was under two holes in the wall, so he made the plants shrink with the poison water and reorganized them.

He was eventually able to make it so that each plant was at level with its right path. Seeing this was her cue to go, Melissa shrunk herself and drove into the opening on the ground. She went up a slope in the first tunnel that led to one of the plant platforms, used it to reach the next tunnel, and kept driving along until she was at the ledge above. From there, she was able to lower a ladder down for Cheren to climb up. They arrived at a cliff with six metal pipes, aligned in two rows of three, baring a resemblance to organ pipes. On a metal post beside the pipes was a robo-pirate's face that looked like one of the doorkeepers. The metal post was also connected to some wires, which went to a telephone pole-like device, then flowed over to a dome-shaped building.

"Well, look what be here. A wee pirate junior!" it greeted them. "And his salty wench."

"Who you callin' a wench??" Melissa yelled.

"Saucy wench. If yer lookin' ta find the way to the pirates' sacred temple, ya need ta pass our tests. 'ave anything that makes music?" Cheren showed him the Spirit Flute. "Perfect! All ye must do is match the pipes with yer own. Let it be!"

The first round was pretty simple: shortest pipe, second-shortest, third-shortest, then longest, in which the pipes made the sounds of an organ. Cheren matched these four with his flute's pipes easy. The second round was slightly longer, starting at shortest, third-longest, third-shortest, longest, second-longest, then shortest. Cheren mimicked the organ pipes, almost forgetting to blow the second-longest one fifth, but still succeeded nonetheless. Then, the third round was played: shortest, second-longest, third-shortest, second-shortest, second-longest, shortest, third-shortest, third-longest, then longest.

"Um…okay." Cheren said quietly. He tried his best to memorize the order: shortest, second-longest, third-shortest, second-shortest… third-longest?"

"OII, I've 'eard better music from monkeys 'o've drunken intelligence potion and developed such musical talent! Get 'em, Leevers!" At his command, another swarm of Leevers emerged and started to circle and close in on Cheren. The Uno son only did like last time and spin attacked the monsters when they got close. "Arrr, Ay knew we should've ordered the death beams. A'ight, troy again."

The pipes repeated the same order once more, and Cheren paid close attention. After this second try, he was able to memorize the nine notes and replay them on his flute. After successfully completing the three rounds, the six pipes began their own little show in which they played a remix of "A Pirate's Life For Me" (it basically sounded like Davy Jones' organ).

"Ahhh, very good, laddie. But I've heard better. Still, yer good enough ter pass. I'll open the lock for ye." The doorkeeper sent sparks across the line of wires and reached the dome. They believed one of the three locks to be open. They returned to the beginning area and took the right path this time. There was nothing to use to cross the piranha water, but they did see a small plant with a leaf dangling over the water. Cheren used the S.Q.W.I.R.T. to make the leaf grow into a leaf-boat, which they used to float to the path.

The path led down onto a cliffside that had a great view of the jungle and sea. There was a pool up there with clean, swimmable water, with a closed gate underneath. They swam underneath and observed the gate, attempting to squeeze through the bars, but it was too tight. After a few more moments of searching, they resurfaced and swam to the ledge to catch their breath. "If you were tiny, you could get through." Cheren breathed. "Too bad that car of yours isn't seaworthy, is it."

"Actually…" Melissa thought aloud, taking out the car and shrink ray, "I seem to remember them making these for undersea missions, too." She decided to test this out as she shrunk herself and drove the toy car into the water. To her surprise, the toy car instantly retracted its wheels and took the form of a submarine, floating perfectly. "Hey, it works!" With her toy submarine, she was able to drive between the bars of the gate and swim through the tunnel. There was a slope on the other side that allowed her to drive onto land and re-expand. She pushed a switch on the other side that caused the gates to slide open. Cheren was able to swim through and join her no problem.

They found the broken body of a robo-pirate hanging on a post like a scarecrow, holding a jug in his right hand, and four tubes on both of his sides, each containing an element. On their left was a Water tube, Earth tube, Fire, then Air, and on their right was a Poison, Shadow, Psychic, then Fear tube. The tubes each had a switch beside it and had pipes connecting to a faucet above his jug. The pirate was also connected to some wires that flowed over to the building. They walked over to ask the pirate what this was about.

"Well, what have WE. A young lad and 'is wench visitin' me?"

"Why is everyone calling me a wench?!" Melissa said exasperated.

"'Cause you're a soda-drunk lassie." Cheren remarked.

"I see ye be wantin' ta visit our grotto. But not 'til ye've passed the tests, that's our motto. All I be wantin' is no hard task. Brew me the drinks I desire, and pass with yer masks."

"I get you're trying to have a rhyming gimmick, but it's not working, dude." Melissa told him.

"Let us begin the first brew. A refreshing drink. Ingenious power. Terrible dreams. And don't give me a shower." Cheren looked around at the eight element tubes. A refreshing drink… he walked over and pressed the water pump. Ingenious power… he pressed the psychic pump. Terrible dreams, he knew was the fear pump. And don't give me a shower, he first suspected water, but he already used that. If he didn't have a shower, he'd be dirty, so he pushed the earth pump.

The four elements mixed together to form an oddly colored drink in the pirate's cup. He had a drink as the liquid dripped right down his gutless form. "A wee bit much on the terrible, but nevertheless: A dash of banishment. A hint of creativity. A gallon of anti-dark, to breathe life into my heart." Cheren let this riddle play through his head. A dash of banishment… the only thing that seemed close was the shadow, so he pressed that pump and let it flow into the cup. Next was the hint of creativity; obviously referring to the psychic again. The last thing was the anti-dark, and what lit up the dark, Cheren believed was fire. After pressing all of these pumps, the pirate had a drink.

"PBBFF!" He immediately spat it out. "ARR! What are ye tryin' to do, kill me again? Troy it again!"

Cheren cursed in his mind. Which one did he miss? He was sure he had them all… he played the riddle in his mind again: "A dash of banishment. A hint of creativity. A gallon of anti-dark, to breathe life into my heart." His eyes widened: after pressing the same pumps again, he then pressed the air pump; to breathe life into his heart. Once all pumps were pressed, the pirate drank away.

He smacked his lips from the drink and said, "A wee bit salty on that, eh? Anyhoo… Two molecules of hydrogen, two more of oxygen. A wee bit of geology, shouldn't bring me pain." This riddle sounded easy; two molecules of hydrogen, Cheren knew, existed in water, so he pressed that pump. Then two molecules of oxygen was blatantly air, so he pressed that one. Geology likely had to do with the earth, so he pushed that one next. However, the "shouldn't bring me pain" part rang in his mind. He figured that hinted to put fear in as well, so he finished off with that pump.

The pirate had his drink, smacking his lips from the taste he couldn't feel. "Ehh, maybe I shoulda asked for extra hydrogen. Oh well. An ounce of thought, and sprinkle it with chilly. Gimme eight times the nobility, and may the morrow grant you tranquility."

An ounce of thought sounded like psychic. And the only thing that could freeze was water, so Cheren pressed that one second. Nobility sounded like earth… but "give me eight times of it" sounded suspicious. Cheren recalled learning about the noble gases and how they have 8 electrons… it also reminded him how complicated chemistry was. Regardless, he pressed the poison pump to see what would happen. The last bit was "may morrow grant tranquility." Well, the sun usually appears in the morrow… he tried pressing fire.

When the drink was brewed, the pirate chugged away. "Aaah, now that be a fine brew! Ahh, if only I had taste buds…oh well. Here's yer lock." Sparks made their way from him across the wires, opening the second lock on the dome. To continue forward, they saw a grabable ledge along a nearby wall, grabbing on and climbing around to a new pathway. The path led them to another swampy area with piranha waters, and several lilipads, which were almost lined up in a perfect path. There was a set of platforms that led to a closed gate, and they saw the lilipads led into another small tunnel. Cheren had to use his S.Q.W.I.R.T. to spray the water around the lilipads to push them into alignment. Once they were lined up properly, Melissa was able to shrink down and drive across them. She drove through the tunnel and came out behind the gate on the other side, where she re-expanded and pressed a switch.

The gate was lowered, allowing Cheren to join her. However, when Cheren looked across the swamp again, he saw there was another strange cave far on the other side. He didn't see any way of reaching it yet, so they decided to press forward. They finally reached the dome-like structure, which had three locks on its door in the shape of a triangle. The two bottom locks were turned and had lights on them, while the top one had yet to be opened. Straight across from the dome's entrance was a small radio tower with a pirate's face strapped to the bottom. In the space between the tower and dome was a flat, tiled floor with three poles with odd shapes on top of them. The tower was also shining a bright light on the dome's entrance, making the shadows of the shapes appear along it as well.

Before they were going to attempt this puzzle, Cheren spotted an Imp Poe's lantern on the other side of the area. He became a wolf to see the Imp Poe and ran to attack it. After easily tackling it, he grabbed its chest in his teeth and yanked its soul out, watching it fly away. Cheren changed back as the Poe disappeared, and they went to ask the pirate about the puzzle.

"Well, Oi see you've opened two locks now. Oi'm impressed. The melody that will show ye to the temple lies just in yer wake. After ye solve my riddle that is."

"Just tell us what it is so we can get out of this world." Melissa demanded.

"Fine, ye saucy wench. Ahem… 'A face from the past shall reveal your path.'"

They figured this had something to do with the weird shapes on the poles. They started to move the poles around the floor, keeping an eye on the shadows as they tried to make the shadows fit like a puzzle. Since the shapes were different sizes, they had to be moved to different positions. They were able to fit the first two parts of the shadow; one pole had a shape with spikes along the sides and the other had one with two spikes on the top. The last pole could only be moved left or right, so it was easy to figure out. When the last shape with eyes on it was moved into position, they saw the shadow shaped Majora's Mask.

With the puzzle formed, the third lock on the door was open, gaining them access into the dome. Inside was a bunch of old pirate supplies, and an ancient-looking robo-pirate with a long, metal beard and a cane. (End song.)

"HOYYyyyyyyy!… Did those landlubbers finally get ta sendin' the repair man?" he asked in a dry, elderly voice.

"So are you… the Ancient Swabbie?" Cheren asked.

"AYYYYEEE, yes! That be me."

Melissa looked confused. "Wait… did he actually tell us his name was the 'Ancient Swabbie'?"

"It was in the mission prompt." Cheren replied.

"The what?"

"Ayyy 'aven't 'ad a visitor 'ere in 75 years. A few scallywags pass by… every now and again. But alas, I 'ave been left here alone. Ta guard this blasted song. Oi, whoy do Oi 'ave ta guard a SONG, anyway? I's not loike anyone c'n just TAKE it unless they'd force it outta me. But Oi still 'ave me a few moves up my sleeve, I tell ye wot."

"Well, that's why we're here, actually. We need you to teach us this song to get into the temple."

"The temple? Arrr, ain't you runts a wee bit young ta be engagin' in… PIRATE business?"

"Well, Cheren's the new captain of the Slag Pirates, and my mom used to hang out with Candy Pirates, so I guess that makes me sure-blooded!" Melissa grinned.

Cheren eye-rolled, "Listen, I'm not really big on this pirate business, but if this island of yours is going to be saved, we need to get in your temple. And I've won the right to, I bested Captain Slag. At least, I'm… assuming that's what the deal is."

"Hhhho ho ho! Yer not big on the pirate business, laddie? Yeh don't even know what pirating is about."

"If I were to guess, it's…" Cheren began to dance around as he unemotionally sang, "'We're devils 'n' black sheep and really bad eggs, drink up me hearties, yo ho. Yo hooo, yo hooo, a pirate's life for me. We pillage and plunder and don't give a hoot, drink up me hearties, yo ho.'"

"Ohhhhh Oi love that song!" the Ancient Swabbie coughed. "But ya've got it all wrong, Laddie. First off, you're way off tune. Second, pirating ain't all about the pilfering and plundering… although that stuff is really fun! Cough, cough. Pirating is about freedom! Feelin' the wind and the ocean spray on yer skin as yer ship sails away into adventure… of course, if yer a robot like me, ya only have the sailing into adventure part! Cough, huack! I figured a bunch of kids like you would be so hyped on adventah."

"Well, I know someone who is…" Cheren eye-rolled. "But some adventurers have more important things to worry about, like saving a friend."

"Ahhh, wee adventurer who inta treasure more valuable than gold, I see. Your style, kid, it's…ehh, I'm not particularly into it. Now, ehhh…what were ye here for, again?"

"The song, dammit!" Cheren yelled.

"Does your mom know you cuss?" Melissa smirked, earning a glare from Cheren.

"Fine, ye scurvy brat! Ehhh, Oi wish I hadn't sold me pipe organ." The pirate said as he searched around his clothing. "Ah well… this mini piano will do."

The pirate took out a small electric piano and switched it to the pipe organ setting, then used it to play the pirate song, "Hoist the Colors." The Ancient Swabbie played the first part on his own, then Cheren mimicked him using his Spirit Flute. Their music seemed to echo across the island as it was reaching the ears of other pirates. The pirates stopped in their activities and began to calmly sway left and right to the peaceful song. The rugged pirate island never felt more peaceful than with these notes flowing through the air.

You've learned Hoist the Colors! This sea shanty is loved by all pirates! Only captains may use this song to get into the temple!

"Well, there's my daily breath exercises." Cheren joked. "There's just one thing that's not clear: where is the temple, anyway?"

"Ahhh… come this way, lads." The Ancient Swabbie instructed, leading them outside.

"I'm a girl, you know." Melissa said.

The old pirate brought them to a cliff high over a river. Cheren gulped at how big a drop that was. "The temple's entrance is hidden below the river. The only way in is ta tempt fate and dive."

"Uhhh, when you say 'tempt fate,' can I take that as 'fate is feeling merciful and gladly lets anyone who jumps into this certain death live to tell the tale'?" Cheren asked.

"Oh, I wouldn't kill ye, lad! Or would I? Hahahahaha!… This be a test for pirates, ter see if ye have the will of an adventurer. But ye have my pirates' oath that the drop will not kill ye."

A 'pirates' oath' didn't really sound like something they would trust. However, it was the only lead they had. "I'm ready if you are." Cheren told Melissa.

"On 3." she replied.

They both counted, "One: Two: THREE!" and dove headfirst into the river below.

Not too far down did Cheren THROW open his Pirates' Sail, guaranteeing a safe, soft landing as he drifted slowly toward the river. "Yeah, I'm not feeling that gutsy!" he said.

Meanwhile, Melissa fell the rest of the distance herself, yelling up, "You chicken sh-!" She splashed into the river.

After a few minutes of slowly dropping, Cheren made a calm, weak splash in the water. Shortly after landing, Melissa resurfaced beside him with an annoyed look. "It turns out, it was a safe landing after all. Come on, there's a secret cave below here." She dove back under with Cheren following her as they began to swim through a hidden cave that led underground. They came to a wider area of the cave that had strange puff-fish enemies, called Froaks, swimming around, and a pile of rocks blocking the way forward. Since Cheren couldn't use his M.A.R.B.L.E.s underwater, he decided to ask Fi for help.

"Master, I have information to report: the path further into the cave appears to be blocked. As you have likely guessed, your M.A.R.B.L.E.s are unavailable to you underwater."

Cheren gave an angry look and gurgled something that they couldn't understand, but he sounded rather pissed.

"While you are underwater, you have the ability to maneuver a Torpedo Spin. Perhaps using one on one of the nearby Froaks to push them into the rubble will result in a probable solution, Master."

Cheren gurgled a 'Thank you' and swam to the Froak nearest the rocks. He spun his body and shot faster with enough momentum to push the exploding puff-fish into the rocks, blowing them up. Cheren and Melissa exchanged excited nods and swam through, reaching the surface before they ran out of air.

They appeared inside a dark, empty cave with several tiny water droplets dripping from above, their sounds echoing in the small area. "Is this where he wanted us to play it?" Melissa asked.

"Only one way to find out." Cheren took out the Spirit Flute and proceeded to play a part of "Hoist the Colors." After his small rendition, the flute's notes bounced off the cave walls, creating a dim, green light. Cheren and Melissa looked up and gaped when they saw all of the water on the ceiling. The tiny droplets that once fell from above were now returning upward, and the two felt their bodies being moved upward as well, as if the gravity had changed. They were forced into the water on the ceiling and began to swim through another tunnel. They resurfaced shortly, finding their selves in the entrance to the cave that was the Pirates' Grotto. (Play "Crystal Caves" from Donkey Kong 64.)


Dungeon 4: Pirates' Grotto

Mission: Locate Miyuki Crystal somewhere in the caves.

"Wow… this place is beautiful." Melissa said, staring in awe at the cave around her. The Pirates' Grotto was rather dark and crumbled, its only light coming from the glowing emerald-green crystals and tiny, glowing green fireflies drifting around the darkness. The only sounds that could be heard were that of tiny droplets hitting the ground, waterfalls in the distance, and singing pirates echoing throughout the caves.

"Yeah, it is…" Cheren agreed, mesmerized by the light from the crystals glimmering in his glasses. "No time to lose." he said, getting focused again.

Melissa sighed, "Always the serious type, huh?"

The two walked ahead and found a crystal wall, blocking their way to another cave. Cheren simply pulled out his M.U.M.B.L.E.R. and fired a M.A.R.B.L.E. to blow it open. They went inside the cave and turned a right corridor to find what appeared to be a Fatblin wielding a flamethrower. The chubby demon noticed the two walk in and proceeded to spray the flamethrower in Cheren's direction. Cheren turned into Captain Slag and easily forced through the incoming flames, reaching the Fatblin and doing away with it with his sword. When the monster was defeated, a treasure chest appeared in the center of the small room. Cheren reverted to normal and opened it to catch his first Stray Fairy, this time an ocean-blue one.

They left the small cave and walked up the path to the main area of the grotto, in which a river seemed to flow down the caverns, sparkling light reflecting off its surface. The cave was nearly pitch-black, but they could tell it stretched a great distance by all of the fireflies and emerald-green crystals. They went up the path on their left to a small corner of the ledge above the river. They found a tiny hole in the wall, so Melissa shrunk herself to drive inside, then re-expanded herself on the other side. She entered another small cave where two robo-pirates were gathered. Along the wall beside them appeared to be some circular device. "Whaddya mean ya couldn't fix it?" one of them asked.

"I dunno what the problem is, I think one of the wires came loose inside. I ain't takin' this apart, though."

"Well, how else are we supposed ta… oi, it's that brat!" The pirates drew out their swords and approached the Gilligan girl. Melissa dodged behind them and hit one in the rear with her S.P.L.A.N.K.E.R.. The other pirate grabbed her by the shirt, but she was able to flip behind him, and when he turned, she shot him in the head, knocking its robo-skull off.

When the pirates were defeated, Melissa curiously approached the circular device, noticing the opening in the side. Melissa shrunk herself down and gripped the ledge of the opening to get inside, examining the structure of the device. She found a few broken wires deep inside and used all her tiny strength to push them in alignment. Afterwards, she used her welding device to stick them perfectly together, leaving the machine's insides and dropping down to her toy car, which she used to drive back and exit the hole.

Melissa re-expanded herself beside Cheren as he asked, "So, what'd you find?"

"Nothin', just some weird, circle machine that I decided to fix. You know, now that I think about it, why don't you just shrink with me?"

"No thanks. I've had some bad experiences with shrinking."

"If you say so."

They returned in the opposite direction and followed the path on the right of the entrance, finding a stone door that blended in with the wall. It led to a room small in width, but extended up a couple floors. On their left was a small hole that led to a pathway that led up the room, in which a pirate was rolling small rocks down the slope from the top. "Ehhh. Why are we rollin' these puny BOULDERS down as a means of defense? Unless we're protectin' against mice, I don't see how anyone could get up here."

Cheren gave a nod at Melissa, who nodded back as she shrunk herself and entered her toy car. She drove it through the mouse hole and began to make her way up the slope, having to hide in small openings to avoid the rolling boulders. When she was close to the top, she drove in to a small hole that led to the top, where she re-expanded herself. The pirate's eyes widened when he turned to notice her. "Huh? How'd you get up here?" A thought then occurred to him. "Now that I think about it… how'd I get up here?" He didn't have time to think as Melissa knocked him out with her S.P.L.A.N.K.E.R..

Melissa looked around and found some kind of circular pad on the floor, with a picture of two arrows swapping directions. At the same time, Cheren found a similar pad down below where he was. When both kids stood on their respective pads, they began to glow, and they instantly swapped positions, much to their surprise. Melissa saw that she was on the bottom of the room while Cheren found himself at the top. Sensing his confusion, Fi popped out of his sword.

"A report, Master: the strange device you and Melissa have stepped in appear to be Swap Pads, designed by the pirates for switching areas with others who stand on corresponding pads. Therefore, I conjecture an 85% chance you and Melissa have switched areas when you stood on them."

"I wonder, is 85 your favorite number or somethin'?"

"True, it is a very unlikely coincidence that most of my data comes 85% accurate."

Cheren found a small, narrow cave in which the floor was covered in a river of lava, and a chest on a platform on the other side. Cheren was about to turn into Slag, but Fi interrupted him again. "A report, Master."

"Uuuuugh!"

"While Captain Slag's body is able to withstand simple flames, there is a 40% chance it can withstand the temperatures of boiling magma for long."

"Well, I guess it was good to know before I turned into molten copper. Thanks, Fi." The spirit returned to the sword as Cheren launched his Hookshot at the wooden chest to pull him over. He opened the chest and found a Small Key; but when he looked back, he didn't see any way of getting back across. He saw how close the walls were together and proceeded to Wall Jump across, and landed barely on the ledge, wobbling to keep himself from falling in the lava. He jumped back to the lower floor as he and Melissa left the room. With nowhere else to go in the main room, Cheren launched his Hookshot to a target across the river, pulling him and Melissa to the parallel path.

They headed left and climbed up some rocky stairs to reach a higher stone bridge, where a Fatblin guarded in the middle, wielding a metal shield that extended above his head. Cheren tried to run at it and leap above its shield, but the Fatblin spun around to knock him off. He climbed his way back up and whispered a possible plan to Melissa. Once again, Melissa miniaturized herself and drove beneath the legs of the Fatblin, who curiously turned around and followed her. When his back was turned, Cheren took this opportunity to strike at his exposed back, easily defeating the Fatblin in a few strikes.

When they crossed the bridge, they found only a dead end, with only a small hole located above it near the ceiling. It didn't seem like anything could get up there, and make its way through afterwards, so they decided to leave it for now. They jumped down to the lower path; on the other side of the river; and continued down the opposite way. The slope seemed to lead up a little higher as the river drew further away from their eyes. As they stared down into the pure blue river below, Cheren suddenly remembered something as he slipped on his Great Fairy Mask. The hair indeed began to sparkle, but Cheren figured the fairies could be hidden anywhere in this massive cave. He decided he wasn't gonna bother looking for them until he found the Compass.

They eventually reached a wider area where the ground was more flat, and four robo-pirates were standing around a fire, cooking something as one held up a map. "Look what I stole from the monsters, lads! It's the map we use ta navigate through these 'ere caves!"

"Ayrr, and they be usin' this map to find all our secret loot then, aye?"

"Couldn't if they wanted to. They'd need our special Compass fer such a task. But nobody but us pirates will be havin' these beauties!"

"Sounds like a plan." Cheren said quietly as he turned into Captain Slag. He approached the pirates and greeted them with a jaunty, "HELLO, lads!"

"Oii! It be Captain Slag!" a pirate exclaimed. "What'd you do with your hair, Captain?"

"Belay that. I see you lads 'ave gotten yer mitts on that handy little map thar."

"Aye, Cap'n. We stole it from the monsters, aye? We'll keep it safe 'til the monsters are long outta here."

"Ye mates couldn't be trusted with eh chopstick. Gimme the map and get yer rusty arses outta here. Leave the monsters ta me."

"Oh, aye, Captain! The monsters are all on you!"

"AYE!" They gladly handed Cheren the map and bolted out of the caves.

You got the Dungeon Map! Makes a little more sense in this dungeon, aye? Use this ta search all the caves fer tasty doubloons! 'Course, it's… useless without the Compass, as you already knew.

Cheren changed back as they crossed another stone bridge and entered a door, which led to a room that had a tiny maze path underneath some crystal glass. Seeing the small opening at the beginning of the path, Melissa minimized herself and began to drive through. She pushed a switch upon her entry, which uncovered a similar switch at the end of the maze, and a timer started, indicating she had to drive through fast. The maze seemed pretty basic; some areas had switches which Cheren had to press to alter the paths for Melissa to get through, and there were Moldorms; centipede monsters, that crept through the maze in search of prey. She was able to make it to the other switch in time, pressing it to make a chest reveal itself on the other side of the room.

Cheren went over to collect another Small Key from the chest. When he crossed back over the maze, he noticed the tiny, worm-sized hole along one of the left walls. Feeling it looked suspicious, he put on Sackboy's Mask and became the boy of yarn. He unraveled himself into a single strand and was able to slither through the maze himself. He made his way to the tiny hole and slid through, finding a secret room that contained a Stray Fairy. After collecting the fairy, he made his way back to join Melissa as they left the room.

On their right was a small path that led to a locked door, which they easily accessed using one of their keys. They found a room that was almost completely covered in emerald-green crystal, where they stood on a cliff over a vast chasm of prickly green. Several long crystals grew on the ceiling and looked like they were about to fall off. Cheren shot the top of the first crystal, causing it to drop and stick in the ground. The part that stuck up looked flat enough to stand on, so Cheren used the Pirates' Sail to glide him and Melissa over. The crystal felt like it was about to fall over, so Cheren shot another, shorter crystal down for them to glide to. He shot the next crystal down, but it was too tall to glide to. It was conveniently leaning against a wall below a Hookshot target, so Cheren latched the Hookshot to it to pull them over.

From there, they were able to glide to the ledge at the end of the room. They found another crystal wall that Cheren blew down with a M.A.R.B.L.E., revealing a hall that led to another room. This next room had a path carved into the ground, leading upward through the caves. As they trekked up the slope, a few of the crystals grew eyes and feet, coming to life as they ran to attack the kids. The S'Hards were easily taken out in one slice of Cheren's sword. They looked to their left and saw a small platform near the ceiling, with a long, skinny crystal leading up to it. They were able to climb this short crystal, finding a small tunnel on the platform.

Melissa shrunk herself and entered her toy car to drive into the tiny corridor. At the end, she found a room behind some crystal glass that had a Stray Fairy. She re-expanded herself to collect the fairy, then shrunk down again to leave the hidden room. She gave the fairy to Cheren afterwards before they continued further up the cave. At the end of the path was a cliff over a deep, dark chasm, with only a few, spread-out platforms leading across the pit, and set too high to glide to. Cheren turned into his wolf form and was able to make the far leaps to the platforms, successfully reaching the ledge on the other side.

He found a short cave with a single door at the end, which Cheren entered. The door was immediately sealed with metal bars, locking Cheren in a room that was nearly pitch-black. The only thing giving light to the room were the emerald crystals around the floor, but they only gave so much light. Cheren walked forward a little and discovered an unlit torch. Feeling it was his only lead, he decided to light it with a Fire Arrow. He then searched around the rest of the darkness and found three more torches, alighting them all. (Pause song.)

Each of the torches puffed bigger for a second as they lit up a rope hanging above them like a fuse. The room was given more light, giving Cheren the vision of a bunch of scrap metal, with a robo-pirate's head in the center, tied up on the ceiling. When all of the rope was burned, the many parts dropped with a loud bang on the ground. The pirate head sparked to life as all of the parts pieced themselves together to create one massive being of scrap metal. The scrapped giant gave a distorted roar as Cheren readied to fight it. (Play the Mini-Boss Theme from Majora's Mask.)

Sub-boss: Scrappar the Salvaged

The robotic giant stomped forward as it swiped its long, electrical arms, trying to hit Cheren with its metal pipe claws. Cheren was easily able to dodge the claws as he ran further away from the giant to think up a strategy. When Cheren was out of the giant's reach, its mouth opened as red flames began to charge inside it. When it finished, it unleashed a series of fireballs around the room as it spun around, with Cheren having to quickly defend with his shield. "Fi, now's the time I could be using your help."

On his command, Fi jumped out and examined the being. "Target locked: Scrappar the Salvaged. This appears to be an ancient space-pirate from an earlier point in time, left here by his old crew. He seems to have bonded with many other pieces of scrap metal abandoned by the pirates. Similar to Captain Slag, his insides seem to be filled with old grog, which he burns to emit flames from his lungs."

"That should do." Cheren said as he dodged another round of swipes from his claws. The pirate charged another breath of fire in his mouth, but Cheren took this moment to launch a Fire Arrow into his throat, causing Scrappar to swallow it and explode on the inside, making a few of his scrap parts blow off. This process repeated a few more times as more of his pieces fell off. Eventually, his entire body fell into pieces, but the pirate didn't seem finished yet.

More pieces of scrap formed on the robot as they shaped into a large ball, with the head still in front. Four electric beams extended from it, attaching to more scrap pieces that formed four hands. It began to crawl around like a spider, shooting fireballs at Cheren as it chased. Cheren tried to launch Fire Arrows into its mouth, but it didn't stay open long enough. With its mouth still closed, Scrappar charged more heat in his mouth. Cheren quickly threw on Slag's Mask as the scrap being unleashed a powerful breath of fire. Cheren withstood the heat as best as he could in his large robotic body, but his temperatures were steadily rising. Just before Cheren reached his limits, Scrappar ran out of breath and took a moment to catch it.

During his moment of weakness, Cheren took this time to hurry around in Slag's body and rip off all of the robot's hands. When each scrap-hand had been ripped clean, Scrappar was only a ball now, and he began to roll around in attempt to run Cheren over. The pirate could only push Cheren a little bit while he was in Slag's body, but the scrap-made ball kept rolling back to add more momentum to his shoves. When Scrappar rolled in to attack the fourth time, Cheren used his strength to grip the scrap ball and was able to throw it against the wall. Scrappar rolled around and continued to try and ram Cheren, but the pirate-boy threw him against the wall two more times until Scrappar's mouth was left hanging open, dizzy. Cheren reverted to a human and, rather than a Fire Arrow, he shot a M.A.R.B.L.E. into the robot's mouth, blowing the scrap ball to pieces. (End song.)

The sounds of banging metal echoed loudly in the caves as the pieces flew everywhere, with Scrappar's head landing in the middle. "'ey…" the head hopped up to face Cheren as he hurried over. "Ye were just Captain Slag, weren't ye?"

"Um… yeah, long story."

"That mask ye used… ye must be the new chosen one."

"Um… chosen one?" Cheren asked, as if he didn't already know.

"The new captain of the Metal Skull crew, who would save our holy island when it fell ill to beings of darkness. The fact ye wear Slag's face, means ye must have bested him, no?"

"Well, yeah, but I'm not their captain…"

"Nay, it's the pirates' code! Look at you, ye've already got the workings of a buccaneer. Ye wield the sword, ye sailed the sea… and I can tell ye've opened quite yer share of treasure chests, aye?"

Cheren rolled his eyes. "Alright, fine. Then I don't suppose you'd be willing to help your captain out?"

"Arr, Ay see ye've gotten yer mitts on a Bananarang. Thems used ta be delicate pirate treasures. Let ol' Scrappar patch it up for ya, aye?" The pirate formed up a smaller version of its body before taking the boomerang and turning away, making some repairs on it that Cheren couldn't see. When he turned around, Cheren saw the Bananarang was now fixed with an antenna and other mechanical parts. He was also given a remote control. "'ere ya go, lad! Now ye'll get yer grubby mitts on treasures that were nigh unreachable!"

You got the Remote Control Bananarang! Rather than covering a short distance, this Bananarang will now fly wherever you choose it to! Reach new heights with this baby as you hit out-of-reach switches and other items! Yep, definitely a must-have for any adventurer on the go!

Cheren looked at the robot with a smile and said, "Thanks." (Replay the Crystal Caves Theme.)

The boy left the room afterwards and hurried out onto the cliffside to wolf-jump back over to his friend. However, when he got back, he saw a bunch of Miniblin strapping dynamite to the platforms he used. The little demons waved their arms excitedly, but one of them accidentally pressed the detonate button. They waved frantically before the platforms were blown up, sending them all falling into the chasm. On the other side, some armored Bulblin shook their heads in disbelief before readying their arrows, in case Cheren tried to glide across.

If this wasn't obvious enough, Fi came out to explain it. "Master, I have information to report. Signs indicate the previous way to the other side of this chasm was destroyed. Furthermore, they have troops wearing armor stationed on the other side, making it impossible for aerial travel. Their armor also makes them 80% resistant to projectiles such as arrows. I'd suggest finding another way to cross the chasm safely, Master."

"Yes, I… kinda got that. Thanks." With that, Fi jumped back into the sword as Cheren started to look around. There appeared to be a small cave in the wall above the ledge on the other side. Ready to try out his new item, he threw the Remote Control Bananarang out and used his remote to help it fly across the chasm, going surprisingly ignored by the Bulblin. He flew the boomerang into the cave and did a tight right turn to hit a crystal switch. The switch seemed to detonate some bombs above the Bulblin as the ceiling exploded, causing stalactites to drop down and take the monsters out. With nothing impeding his progress, Cheren proceeded to glide across the chasm on his sail, landing on his feet by an unconscious Melissa.

Cheren shook the girl lightly a little before giving her a rougher shake. She awoke groaning and gripping her head. "Owww… what happened?"

"You're so drunk, you got the illusion of monsters banging you to sleep. Alright, let's go."

The two left the room and returned to the chamber will all the crystal. There was a ladder that would take them onto a higher pathway, but Cheren first wanted to search around the room for any secrets. He sent his Remote Control Bananarang out to search the chasm and found a small hole within one of the walls. He flew his boomerang threw a narrow tunnel and found a hidden room with a bubble containing a Stray Fairy. He popped the bubble and caught the fairy with his boomerang to bring it back.

He and Melissa climbed the ladder and crossed the path to find a door that led to the second floor of the main chamber. All they had was a small path that led to another circular device, similar to what Melissa found earlier. They noticed its wires leading to a hole in the wall, so Cheren sent his boomerang in to investigate. After flying through another tunnel, his boomerang flipped a switch, connected to the wires, that sparked the device to life. A strange, green see-through portal appeared in the circle, and Cheren and Melissa exchanged curious glances before stepping inside.

Right away, they were taken to the room Melissa was in earlier, coming out of the other portal device. Cheren noticed another tunnel in the wall on their right, but it was blocked by a massive crate. Cheren turned into Captain Slag and used his enhanced strength to pull the crate away from its spot, gaining them access into a small tunnel with a large chest. Cheren approached the chest in Slag's body, so it was rather small to his height, and he was able to crack it open with his hook hand and grab the item inside with his normal hand.

You got the Compass! We'd give you an explanation, but we're sure Fi has that covered. …No? Alright, your loss.

The two kids stepped back through the portal and returned to the second-floor path. The compass and map indicated a Stray Fairy down below, so they dropped back to the first floor, since the area where the pirates were gathered was right below them. The map read there was a Stray Fairy in the water somewhere, so Cheren dove in on his own. He swam around in a wide, open area that the river eventually led to, in which the water wasn't that deep, but big enough for Cheren to swim in. He found a secret cave along one of the walls and swam in, shortly coming to dry land inside a secret room where a chest sat. Inside the chest was another ocean-blue fairy, which Cheren captured before swimming out of the room. The ledge where he jumped from was too high to climb, so he was forced to swim to the beginning area of the grotto, where the river was closest to the ledge.

They remembered the area where the long-shield Fatblin guarded and returned up there to toss the Bananarang into the small tunnel that was above the stone bridge. After navigating the boomerang through another tight corridor, Cheren hit a crystal switch that caused a small gate underneath the nearby waterfall to open. They jumped to the lower floor as Melissa shrunk and drove her toy car into the river, transforming it into a submarine. She drove in the newly opened tunnel and resurfaced on the other end, where she drove up a small slope that connected to the land. A group of pirates patrolled around the area, but Melissa was able to drive by them unnoticed as she made it to a lone switch. When she resized and hit the switch, Cheren watched as the waterfall divided into two, revealing a secret cave by the higher path.

Cheren went up to the stone bridge and used his Pirates' Sail to glide into the new path, which brought him to the other side of the main chamber where Melissa waited. When he dropped down onto the open area, the pirates immediately took notice of him and raised their swords. Cheren performed a spin attack when the first one ran up and rolled behind the second one to strike it from behind. The other pirate fired his gun, but Cheren bounced the shot back with his shield and hit him in the knee. When the last pirate tried to attack him, Melissa flung his head off with her S.P.L.A.N.K.E.R. from behind. Cheren caught the head as it said, "For the record, we aren't this bad in combat. But we lost all our best fighters in a Davy Back Fight with-" Cheren just kicked the head away.

They found a door that led to a small room where a large structure of crystal glass sat over a chasm, with a crystal switch in the center. There was an entrance into the structure, but it seemed to be a complex maze of tunnels that eventually led to the switch. Cheren tossed his remote Bananarang into the entrance and began to navigate the maze, having to slow it down to make the tight turns. After a few fails, he eventually reached the center and hit the crystal switch. This caused another portal device on their left to be activated, but the portal wasn't quite there.

Knowing they'd have to activate another one somewhere, they left the chamber and returned to the main area. They walked up a slope on their left and used their other Small Key to enter a new door, entering a small, cylindrical room that seemed to stretch to the second floor. Above them on the second floor was a ledge, but there was nothing to climb to it. However, there were several sets of crystals sticking out of the walls. Cheren turned into a wolf and was able to leap his way up the crystal footholds, but when he was close to the top, a Bulblin shot an arrow and sent him falling back down. Cheren changed back to a human and tried to aim an arrow at the Bulblin, but it was safe above the top of the platform. Instead, Cheren sent his Remote Control Bananarang up and crashed it in the Bulblin's head, knocking him dizzy. Cheren quickly became a wolf and jumped his way up again to take out the Bulblin in its dizzy state.

The Bulblin appeared to be guarding a small cave at the top, which Cheren entered, only to find himself in a small opening on a wall in the main room, overlooking part of the river, as well as a ledge with another door on the other side. He figured this Bulblin would've kept him from gliding to that ledge from the upper pathway from earlier, if he tried to. Now that it was gone, he was free to glide there, but he jumped down to get Melissa first. Since she couldn't Wolf Leap with him, she had to minimize herself so he could grab her car in his teeth, then he was able to jump back up and bring her with him. Melissa re-expanded and Cheren reverted to human so they could use the Pirates' Sail to safely glide to the ledge across the river.

They went in the door and found a large, glittering room, where they felt a windy draft blowing upward. There was nowhere else to go in the room, so Melissa held onto Cheren as he flapped open the sail and allowed the draft to carry them upward. There were several ledges with spiked crystals sticking out from the walls, so they had to navigate around them carefully. There was a bubble with a Stray Fairy below one of the ledges, so they drifted away from the ledge, but stayed close enough to pop the bubble and evade the spikes in time. They were able to reach the top of the room and land on the platform with the door on it. Cheren put on the Great Fairy's Mask to call the Stray Fairy toward him, and he collected it before they entered the door.

They found their selves in another wide-open cave, overlooking a larger river from a high cliff. There was a ledge far down on the river on their left, so they decided to fly to it first. They entered a door that led to a room that was erupting with flames. A pit of lava lay below a metal-barred floor with flames shooting down from the ceiling, burning a tiny pathway that was below the bars. Already knowing what they had to do, Melissa minimized herself while Cheren put on Slag's Mask. Melissa drove into the opening and began to move slowly down the winding path, with Cheren having to use Slag's body to shield the path from the flames. At points, he had to step out of the flames and cool down while Melissa parked in a safe zone. They soon reached the other side where Melissa hit a tiny switch, which not only opened the exit out of her little course, it made a chest appear on a walkway above the side of the room.

They both reverted to normal form and climbed the stone steps to the walkway, finding a chest containing a Small Key. The walkway also took them around the flaming course, allowing them to jump back to the room's exit. Back in the second big room, Cheren looked at his map, seeing there was a Stray Fairy on the ledge across from them. It was too high to reach, but they noticed a Hookshot target on one of the stone beams that connected the ground with the ceiling. Melissa held onto Cheren as he launched the Hookshot and pulled them up there, and before they dropped down, Cheren threw open the Pirates' Sail to glide to the ledge. There wasn't anything on there except for a few crystals. Cheren checked the map and found the Stray Fairy was in the place of a crystal. Cheren threw a M.A.R.B.L.E. and destroyed the crystal, confirming his suspicion when a Stray Fairy emerged from it.

They checked the map again and saw there was a hidden room behind the area where they came in from; a hidden room with a single chest. They jumped in the river and swam around the chamber where the upward draft was, finding some stairs that led onto a ledge with a stone tablet, but nothing else. The tablet had this inscription:

Close ones and high ones.
May farthest come before close.
Like your enemies.

-Haiku

This riddle confused them at first, but they saw the crystal switch just on the wall across from them. Before hitting it, Cheren sent his Remote Bananarang to fly around the draft room and explore the main area. He first found a crystal switch beside another stone beam, but left it alone for now. The boomerang flew far across the river until he found another switch on the ceiling, surrounded by Keese. He avoided the Keese and hit the switch, but that's when a timer started, counting 10 seconds. Cheren quickly sent the Bananarang out again and sped it up to hit the second switch that he saw. Before the timer could reach zero, he threw the boomerang at the closest switch, hitting it just in time. Cheren looked on his map and watched as a symbol lit up near their spot, a symbol that matched that of the other portal device. Seeing nothing beside them, they peeked over the edge, seeing a crystal window in the wall beneath them.

They jumped into the river and looked up to find the portal device behind the crystal window. Since there wasn't any other way in there, they knew they had to return to the lower floor and enter the portal from there. As they swam along, they found a waterfall pouring over a spot with a hole in the river. They curiously swam into this hole, and were suddenly washed down into the first main area's river, having come down the waterfall which they opened. They got up to the upper path and used the Sail to glide into the hidden way behind the waterfall. They made it back to the room with the intersecting portal and went inside, immediately finding their selves behind the crystal window. To have a shortcut open, Cheren used a M.A.R.B.L.E. to blow open the crystal window.

The portal brought them inside a small tunnel that led to a door. They went inside, and the door was immediately shut with bars. It was another dark room, though still bright enough to see, with a very wet floor and lots of water dripping from the ceiling. In the center of the room was a very familiar orange lizard which they despised. (Pause song.)

"OIIIAAA! It's-a YOU!"

"Gekko!" Cheren glared, readying his sword.

"For a minute, I thought it was Jar Jar Binks." Melissa remarked.

"You mean 'Blinks'."

"No I don't."

"Gekko, where's your master?"

"HAHAA! I'll-a never tell! My mashta's power returnsh shoon! He shtays nicsh and shafe in hish private room. I guard the key there sho no one dishturbs!"

"Sooo he's in the boss room." Cheren figured. "And you're guarding the Boss Key."

"Uhhhhh." Gekko looked dumbstruck. "YOU-SHA NEV-NEV reach Majora! You-sha drown in de deep blue seas of blue! Whensh the cave floodsh… YOU-SHA MEET YOUR GRAVE! Hah!" At the stomp of his foot, several holes opened on the ceiling, letting in tons of water as the room began to slowly flood. (Play the Mini-boss Theme from Majora's Mask.)

Sub-boss: Swim 'Em, Gekko

Gekko jumped behind one of the columns of water as Cheren and Melissa ran behind to catch him, only to find he wasn't there. Gekko tackled Cheren from behind another column and scratched his face before jumping through another. Melissa helped them up as they kept trying to catch the Gekko, but he was quick as he hopped his way through the water, successfully attacking them. "Ugh… if it keeps going on like this, we'll drown in no time."

"Well, how did you beat him last time?" Melissa asked.

"Hmmm… okay: he can only attack one of us, so then the other person gets him quickly."

"Okay." They kept their guard up and started to track Gekko again. Gekko hid behind a nearby column and jumped out to attack Cheren, but the moment he did so, Melissa quickly bashed him with her S.P.L.A.N.K.E.R.. He was knocked dizzy for a moment, giving Cheren enough time to strike him with his sword. Gekko recovered and jumped behind another column as Cheren and Melissa walked around, ready to ambush him again. Gekko suddenly tackled Cheren from behind a column and scratched him before jumping back. They walked around some more until Cheren was tackled again, but when Melissa tried to shoot him, Gekko swiftly flipped over and grabbed her head in his legs before slamming her on the flooded ground, then hopping away.

With that plan out of the solution, Cheren had another idea and turned into Captain Slag. They waited for Gekko to ambush them again, but when he did, he was unable to tackle the heavy form of Slag's body. Cheren took the lizard by the neck and threw him on the ground before jumping and butt-smashing the lizard. Gekko recovered and clapped his hands, making the water drop in and flood the room faster. Cheren quickly removed Slag's Mask as the kids were forced to float in the water. Gekko grabbed Cheren's legs from below the water and pulled him underneath, swimming toward and pushing Cheren against a wall, then swimming away.

Cheren recovered and turned to see Gekko left a crack in the wall with his collision, giving him an idea. Cheren resurfaced to get some air, then dove back in to see Gekko swimming at him. Cheren dodged down when Gekko tried to grab him, then swam far behind and came at him with a Torpedo Spin, shoving Gekko onto the cracked wall. Gekko recovered and swam at Cheren, the two engaging in an underwater wrestling fight before Cheren kicked him against the crack, then Torpedo Spun at him again. Gekko hurriedly tried to swim away before Cheren could attack him again. Cheren tried to aim his Hookshot at Gekko, but every time he fired, Gekko was able to dodge. However, Gekko was ambushed by Melissa, who grabbed and held him in place. Cheren was able to grab him with his Hookshot, pull him over, and bash his head to knock him dizzy. Afterwards, Cheren swam back and shoved Gekko against the crack one last time. (Resume Crystal Caves theme.)

The impact left a big enough crack to drain all of the water out of the room. The water stopped coming in from the ceiling and they were all on safe ground in a matter of seconds. Gekko wobbled dizzily, rubbing his throbbing head before he threw up a small, dark-pink frog. "Ahhh… takesh the key. I-ish need medic." And with that, the Gekko hopped away.

The metal bars blocking the room's exit opened, as well as the metal bars blocking the door to the Boss Chest. However, Cheren took notice of the pink frog that started hopping in place. He remembered the Don Gero Mask he acquired from Jigglypuff and slipped it on his head.

"Um, where'd you get that?" Melissa asked.

"Don Gero! Don Gero!" the frog ribbitted. "It's been so long! How are you?" he hopped at each sentence.

"Um, I… am here to tell you, to go back to Carnivilia!" Cheren ordered, confused.

"Really? You want us to go back? We left 'cause we were bored. But this place is scary! I'll head back now. Good luck finding the others! Ribbit!" And for some odd reason, the frog vanished in a puff of smoke.

"Ummm…okay then." Not even going to bother asking why that happened, Cheren and Melissa entered the new door. Inside was the blue and yellow decorated chest. Knowing what was already in it, Cheren opened it, waited for the light show to end, and retrieved the Boss Key.

You got the Boss Ke—you know what, forget it, you know what it is.

The two left the mini-boss room and were able to jump back into the second main room with the window having been broken open. They checked the map and saw the only way to go was down the rest of the river, and there were Stray Fairies down there, too. They swam down the river as quick as they could, eager to finish this dungeon. They neared the end of the river, but the ledge was too high to climb to. They climbed onto a platform along the left wall and found a Swap Pad. There was also an Arrangement Pad on the parallel platform. Cheren became Sackboy and jumped over to the pad to see what he could move.

He had an overview of that particular area, and he was able to move the crystals in the walls. They noticed the crystals were in carved slots in the walls and could only move within them. He had the first crystal lay beside the platform so it was touching the ledge, allowing Melissa to shrink down and drive onto it. Cheren slid the crystal to the end of its spot, where Melissa drove onto the second one, which Cheren had to slide upward. Melissa then drove on the third one, which couldn't move anywhere, but Cheren was able to pull and stretch it out of its spot. He stretched it to reach a tiny path on the parallel wall, which Melissa drove onto and re-expanded. There, she found the corresponding Swap Pad, standing on it while Cheren stood on the other, switching places with her.

Cheren found himself on the ledge while Melissa was back on the lower platform. Cheren launched his Hookshot to grab and pull her up. The door was locked, so they used the Small Key they found. The last room was a wide hallway where an eerie gust echoed from a dark abyss. There were a few platforms over the chasm, but they were too out of reach. They saw a Hookshot target high up on the left wall, but it wasn't over anything. Regardless, Cheren launched the Hookshot and pulled them up, then quickly threw open the Pirates' Sail to float them to the first platform.

The rest of the platforms were pretty close to glide to, but they saw two Flamethrower Fatblin at the end of the hall, guarding the door. They glided their way across the platforms and reached the end, but the Fatblin immediately started blowing their flamethrowers to prevent them from jumping on. They also wielded shields, so arrows wouldn't work. They decided to head back to see if they missed anything. They did see a Stray Fairy in a bubble behind one of the stalactites above, so Cheren popped the bubble with an arrow and used the Fairy Mask to call it down.

When they returned to the start, they saw there was a monkey hiding in a small cave on the ceiling. They weren't sure why the monkey was up there, but Cheren tossed the Remote Bananarang to catch its attention. After flying by the monkey, Cheren flew it down the hall, over each of the platforms, making the monkey jump across each platform to try and catch it. He was able to guide the monkey to the end of the hall, on the ledge where the Fatblin guarded. The monkey screamed when the demons noticed and began to chase him around the area. Cheren and Melissa took this moment to make their way across again, successfully getting onto the ledge without the Fatblin noticing. Cheren proceeded to slice the Fatblin up before they ever knew.

They entered the door and were brought to the last room. All it was was just a simple staircase leading to the Boss Door. On the sides of the staircase were different layers of ground, each with a few crystals on them. Cheren studied his map and saw that one of the crystals on the right contained a Stray Fairy, so he went up to destroy that crystal with a M.A.R.B.L.E..

"And that's all of them." Cheren spoke after collecting the last fairy.

"Now let's pointlessly make our way out of this dungeon and RETURN the fairies before just fighting the boss first!" Melissa exclaimed exasperatingly.

"If we fight the boss first, we just get warped back to the treehouse after the cutscene, that's why we're doing this."

"We go back to the treehouse because you faint and we TAKE you there! Why don't you just tell me to not do that?"

"Pssh, the game doesn't let me."

"What?"

"Never mind, let's just go."

"Uuuugh! Fine." (End song.)

Outside the grotto

They hurriedly left the Pirates' Grotto and swam above the river where its entrance was hidden. They found another cave near the river's surface and climbed into it, finding the island's Fairy Fountain. Inside was a swarm of ocean-blue fairies fluttering around a cave where clear waterfalls poured in from above, the ripples reflecting off the walls. Cheren emptied his bottle of the captured Stray Fairies and allowed them to merge with the others of their kind. As they squeezed together, a ball of water encased them and floated upwards, shooting into the fountain with great force, splashing the duo.

They watched as a sword cut the bubble open, and the one wielding it was a fairy just like the others, wearing black shorts, a black bellybutton shirt, black bandana on her head, eye-patch over her left eye, and black sandals with straps that stretched up her legs. The smiling fairy girl immediately shot over to Cheren, aiming the sword at his face with a playful look.

"Arrrr, matey! Ay be Afryn! State yer name and business, er walk the plank! Ayyyy!"

Cheren stared wide-eyed, the tip of the sword just inches from his face.

The pirate fairy pulled her sword away and giggled, "Hmhm! Ay'm just kidding, of course. Ye must've seen it anyway by now. Tortuga be full of swashbucklin' miscreants, aye?"

"Yeah. This place sure is a wreck, huh?"

"Oh no, not at all, really. The spirit o' pirating be what Tortuga is all about, aye?" The fairy began aimlessly swinging her sword as she paced back and forth. "After all, pirating be so much more than plund'ring and pilfering, and getting drunk on alcoholic brews. Pirates'r men and women o' the sea. They follow where the wind blows. Wind be the Element o' Freedom, and the pirates are symbols o' that freedom." She took Cheren by surprise when she zipped over and caught his shirt collar on the tip of her sword. "And ye scallywags had a taste o' this freedom, too. Havin' yer rum-soaked party and exchanging yer bit of saliva."

Cheren and Melissa blushed as Afryn jumped away. "W-Well… I still think freedom should be limited." Cheren said.

"Aye, maybe so… when the waves of the sea blow freely, it sometimes may be best if a stone or an iceberg were to make it crash. Which is why Ay pass on to ye a gift. Hope ye put more use ta it than Ocarina did." And with a twirl of her blade, she encased Cheren in a small column of water, which seemed to flow onto his assortment of arrows. Cheren took one of his arrows and watched as ice formed on the tip.

You got the Ice Arrow! With the element of ice at your disposal, you can freeze baddies in their tracks and even make platforms on the water!

"Wouldn't it've made more sense if the fairy in the ice area gave you that?" Melissa asked.

"Well, we couldn't make the quest too easy for you." Afryn told her. "Now that that business be done… ye best be gettin' back ter lookin' for your mate."

"You mean… Miyuki?" Cheren asked, feeling anxious.

"Aye. She be waitin' for ye just beyond the door. I be sensin' the bond between her and Majora growin' stronger. When the toime comes that ye face them… ye may have ta make a sacrifice."

"What do you mean? What sacrifice?"

"Ye may find out. If the winds of fate be on yer side. Best of luck to ye, ayyye!" And with a wink and a few more sword twirls, Afryn sliced herself to pieces with the sword, turning into water and splashing back in the fountain.

Outside the grotto Boss Room

"Well… here goes." Cheren sighed, nervous about what's on the other side of the large door. If Miyuki and Majora were back there… he wasn't sure if he was ready to face him. But he had to try. Without anymore hesitating, he stuck the horned key in and opened the door.

They were surprisingly taken outside of the cave, appearing on an enclosed cliffside on the side of the island, overlooking the vast ocean under the midnight sky. Standing on the cliff's ledge, overlooking the sea, was the girl Cheren sought all this time for.

"Miyuki!" he exclaimed. "Er, I mean… Majora…"

Melissa sighed, "Come on, we both know that's Majora pulling the strings, you don't need to correct yourself every-" But at that moment, Miyuki turned around, revealing her pale, emotionless face, holding Majora's Mask to her chest. "Um… I stand corrected."

"Miyuki!" Cheren seemed overcome with happiness. "You're not wearing the mask!"

"Of course not. It's hard to breathe wearing it all the time."

"Hehe!" Cheren shook the joy out of his mind and said quickly and seriously, "Miyuki, gimme the mask. We have to get rid of it."

"No." Miyuki held a hand out, stopping Cheren before he got close. "I…I like this mask."

"But Miyuki, that mask is possessed, and if you put it on again, you'll be-"

"I know. I'm…I'm helping Majora… complete his goal."

"What?"

"He and I have something in common. He just… wants to get back… what he lost…"

"But he's trying to destroy the world; don't you think that's selfish?"

"Thanks to him… I've come to realize… that everyone will be selfish. In one way or another. Everyone has a goal in life they wish to fulfill. And I want to help Majora fulfill his… and take revenge on the selfish people who sent him away."

"'Sent him away,' what are you talking about? And what people?"

"You ask too many questions, boy."

"AHH, IT TALKS!" Melissa screamed.

Cheren looked surprised as well. "Hard to tell when these things are actually awake."

"You told me Miyuki was your friend… didn't you, boy?" the mask asked. "Then as her friend, you would respect her decision… and let her remain with me."

"But I… wait, you're probably just controlling her! You won't trick me!"

"There is no trick. 'Twas the very reason I allowed her to remove me. Much like your own masks, once she removes me from her face, the magic is gone. This way, I've given her a choice."

"And I choose to help him."

"But Miyuki-"

"You wanted her to be happy, right? She is happy with me… You wouldn't take her away from what made her happy, would you?"

Cheren was at a loss for words. Truth be told, it didn't really sound like Miyuki was hypnotized… which means Miyuki did want to help him. But no, he couldn't just let Miyuki go with him. He was dangerous and had to be stopped! But… the whole reason for this was to make Miyuki happy. If letting her go with a dangerous demon bent on world conquest… no, he couldn't do that! But then he…

Cheren sighed in defeat and stuck his sword in the ground. Melissa only stared at him with disbelief. "…Really? You're letting him go."

"That's what I thought." Majora stated as Miyuki placed him back on her face. "If you're really true to your morals, you'll stay away." Cheren kept his head down as the girl leapt off the edge. Melissa gasped quietly, but saw that they were safe when Miyuki levitated and calmly flew off into the night.

"Oh, come on!" Melissa whined. "After everything we went through to find her, you're just going to let them go?"

"I…" Cheren pulled his sword out of the ground and stashed it back in its sheath, "I had a moment of weakness, okay? I just…" Cheren held his forehead, beginning to walk forward, "I need to think."

Melissa followed him as she replied, "Well, beating the snot out of the boss might help you think."

The small path led to a door, which the two entered to find a massive, circular room, standing on a cliff over a wide, deep dark pool in which a waterfall poured into beside them. As they stood upon the ledge, looking down at the water, Cheren could only feel worried. "Nowhere else to go." Melissa told him.

"There must be some way." But much to his contradiction, Fi jumped out of his sword.

"Master, I am detecting no other points of entry ahead. I calculate a 0% chance we will find what we want unless you dive into the abyss before you."

Cheren sighed and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I… kinda got that, Fi. Thanks." She returned to the sword. "Welp… here we go. …But let's hold hands."

"Hm-hm, okay." Melissa chuckled.

Both held hands as they dove headfirst into the abyss. They shot below the surface and held their breaths as they began to swim, deeper and deeper into the darkness. They seemed to reach some ground, and their only way to go was a wide cave up ahead. The area became blacker and blacker as they swam, and they clutched the other's hand even tighter. The fear in their hearts continued to grow, feeling anything could snap at them any moment. However, there was something in the darkness that uplifted their hearts: a light at the end of the tunnel. A tiny, light-blue light brimmed in their eyes ahead, and they quickly swam forward.

The light seemed so far away, but it was actually much closer, and very tiny as their faces loomed close to it. They stared widely at the beautiful wonder, exchanging smiles as the light drifted away from them. They curiously swam after the light, feeling the strange desire to catch it. It kept switching from left to right, but still moving ahead of them. Trying to catch it just seemed so fun! It was also very familiar. Like something they've seen in Finding Nemo. … …Oh, crud.

"RAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Immediately, to their extreme shock, the light flashed and expanded in size, revealing the terrifying form of a massive, vicious eel demon. It gave a deafening roar, exposing its two rows of sharp, shiny teeth. Cheren and Melissa lost a little breath from being startled by its roar. Its eyes brimmed a bright white, and large fins puffed on its cheeks. The gleaming light which lured them was now bigger and dangling at the tip of its antenna. The eel demon seemed safely tucked in a hole in the wall, with only its head poking out as it battled them. (Play Lord Woo Fak Fak's Theme from Banjo-Tooie.)


Boss fight: Masked Aquatic Predator, EELION

The two kids swam around as the monstrous eel started launching electric beams from its antenna, easily avoiding its slow-coming attacks. Cheren swam toward a stream of air bubbles near the ground to get some breath back, but had to dodge quickly as the monster gnashed its jagged teeth at him. The eel roared as it unleashed a series of electric spheres, which still came slowly, but was still a narrow dodge as they avoided them. Eelion slammed its head into the wall, causing the cave to shake as several boulders slowly sunk down.

Cheren had an idea as he stared at the boulders and quickly swam far behind one. He swam toward the boulder and performed a Torpedo Spin, and was able to knock the boulder at Eelion's head, knocking him dizzy. When the monster was stunned, Cheren and Melissa took this time to swim around it in search of any weak spots. When they weren't able to find anything, Fi emerged from Cheren's sword.

"Master, I have analyzed parts of the structural figure of Eelion. There are tiny holes on the sides of his head, which seem to serve as ears, that connect to his brain."

Cheren nodded to Melissa, who understood without them having to speak (since otherwise they would drown). She minimized herself with the shrink ray and entered her toy car, which became a mini submarine as it emptied all the water. She drove it into the beast's right ear and was able to reach the brain. She took aim and fired a few mini torpedoes at the massive organ, feeling the area shake as the monster was taking damage. She quickly drove out of there and re-expanded as Eelion recovered.

The eel demon unleashed another series of electric spheres, which the kids swam under and dodged. When it missed, the demon sucked in some breath and released a swarm of air bubbles, catching the two inside. While it did give them more breath, the bubbles were holding them in place, allowing the eel to unleash more electric spheres and damage the two. When they were stunned, Eelion slammed his head into the ground again, causing more boulders to come down. Cheren recovered in time to notice one of the boulders falling to Melissa, who was still dizzied, so he quickly swam and Torpedo Spun to knock the boulder at Eelion's head.

The monster looked a little dazed, but it wasn't enough as he growled ferociously at Cheren. It opened its mouth wide as a current formed, catching Cheren as it led straight into its mouth. Cheren was unable to fight the strong current and was sucked straight into the belly of the beast. The inside of its stomach was rather dim, but was also thankfully shallow with green water. But even though he had a moment to breathe, Cheren already felt the digestive acid burning him. Quickly, he threw on Captain Slag's Mask, using his metal form to withstand the acid.

"Arrr… only one thing this salty pirate c'n do now." Cheren thought aloud to himself. He imagined a catchy disco theme playing in his head as he began to dance ecstatically. His metal feet moved quickly on the squishy floor of the belly, shaking the room as he belly-bounced off the walls and on the floor. It didn't take long before his rapid dancing caused the monster to roar. Cheren quickly pulled off his mask and took a breath before the demon hurled him out at rocket speed. He soon found himself back inside the underwater cave with Melissa as they stared at the dizzied form of the monster.

Melissa shrunk herself once more and entered her submarine as she drove into the left ear of the eel. She found the monster's brain once again and took aim with torpedoes, adding more damage. The eel demon shook her out of its head once again, the pain unbearable. With an eerie holler, the eel retreated deep into its hole, and the kids quickly swam after him. They found their selves in a bigger, more open underwater chamber, in which the eel was freely swimming around, his whole body in clear view to them.

They swam after him as quick as they could as he launched more electric spheres from his antenna. Cheren was able to get close enough and Torpedo Spin into the antenna, which seemed to make him wince with pain as he hurriedly swam into one of the many dark holes around the walls. The two searched for him when they heard a roar from behind, quickly swimming out of the way when the monster shot over in attempt to eat them, disappearing into the parallel cave. The eel tried this again, but the operatives luckily managed to dodge again.

When the eel tried to catch them a third time, Cheren noticed its two fins sticking out as it did so. He waited for the monster to charge again and quickly charged at its left fin with a Torpedo Spin, which seemed to make it hurt. Eelion retreated into another cave and attempted his tactic one more time, but failed as Cheren Torpedo Spun into his right fin, making the eel stop in place. Cheren took this time to attack the antenna again, making the eel swim away faster. Cheren kept on the eel's tail, or antenna rather, swimming as fast as he could to keep up with the head. But whenever Cheren got close, the eel would only speed faster to get away from him.

Cheren decided to try a different tactic. When he got close enough to the eel's antenna, he launched his Hookshot and latched onto the antenna just before it sped away. Since it was relatively far from Cheren now, it took a little longer for the Hookshot to pull him towards the target, and Eelion only kept swimming. The eel launched electric spheres in attempt to knock Cheren off, but the boy maneuvered around and avoided, keeping his grip on the Hookshot as it pulled him nearer. The eel failed to protect its weak spot as Cheren finally reached and grabbed hold of it. He drew his blade and cut the light clean off its antenna. (End song.)

"AAAAAAHHHH!" Immense pain was flowing through the eel now, unable to control himself as he swam aimlessly. He stopped when he collided with a wall at the bottom, forcing a huge crack into it. The water quickly began to drain out of the chamber, giving the heroes a breath of air, and leaving Eelion to dry. With the water having been reduced to puddles, the eel demon shrunk down to the puny, shriveled size of a regular eel.

Cheren and Melissa approached the eel, staring unimpressed at its less-imposing size. "I'm just going to assume there was a hidden tunnel behind that wall, and that's where the water flowed to." Melissa commented.

"Oh, goodie! You lads are all right!" They looked up as Rusty Pete dropped down from a secret hole in the high ceiling above, using a rope ladder.

"How'd you get in here?" Cheren asked.

"Oi used the secret entrance!"

"SECRET ENTRANCE?!" they screamed.

"Yes! The secret entrance we pirates use to get to our treasures faster! Without havin' ta go through all that dungeon rubbish." At this, they both performed an anime falling animation. "Anyhow… grab that li'l pest and come with me." he instructed, climbing first up the ladder.

They grabbed the shriveled form of Eelion and followed Pete up to a hidden room that was alit with piles of treasure. "And here it is! The treasures of all the best pirates in the world!" Pete proclaimed as the two's eyes transfixed on the gold. "Of course, that's not all of it. Our real treasure's hidden somewhere else… but I'll never tell. You see, kids, all this stolen treasure isn't meant for being rich, you see. It symbolizes all the adventure we've 'ad over the ages, in all the oceans, all our freedom. It's why this cave is sacred ta us. It was discovered by the Pirate King himself. It wasn't meant for any landlubber who's lookin' ta have us put down, aye? …But take a couple, if ya like! It's what pirates do."

"No thanks. I have enough trouble carrying the items I already have." Cheren laughed.

"I don't suppose the Candy Pirates have a similar stash like this, do they?" Melissa asked.

"Oh, that's on Candied Island, eh?"

"UUUGH! Well, why couldn't we go theeerre?"

Cheren laughed. "Maybe next time." He then remembered the shriveled Eelion in his hand and threw it on the ground. After a quick performance of the Song of Healing, the fallen eel vanished and became a mask.

You've seized Eelion's Remains! You've just freed the innocent spirit that was kept imprisoned within the body of evil Eelion!

"Say, how do you carry all your items, anyway?" Melissa asked.

"My mom took me to Uncle Facilier's to have him cast a spell to give me infinite pockets."

"Ahh… sounds reasonable." Melissa nodded, not fully believing it.

And just like last time, the mask swallowed Cheren in a flash of light. (Play the Giants' Theme from Majora's Mask.)

Spirit World

Oceans surrounded Cheren as pirate ships all around launched firecrackers from cannons. In the misty distance ahead of him stood another one of the red giants.

"Okay… so I wasn't able to stop Majora. I thought I had him. But… Miyuki sounds like she cares about him. I'm not sure if she's hypnotized or… But if she isn't… what am I supposed to do? Would it be wrong to stop the first person Miyuki's ever cared about, in order to save the world?"

"…"

"No, of course it's not wrong! Majora's dangerous. I HAVE to stop him. It's just, if I do… Miyuki might never be happy. And I…I really do want her to be happy. …Or do I. Is that my honest side talking, or is it just that side of me who wants to make myself seem better?"

"Errrr-oo-oo-ERRRR-RR-RR."

"'Do what your heart says…'" Fi translated.

"What my heart says, huh? Heh, it's never a clear answer, is it?" Cheren sighed. "Okay then… I guess I have to stop him. And if Miyuki gets upset… so be it. I can't make everyone happy. But I wonder… what's your play in all this exactly? You never mentioned where you come from."

There was silence.

"What? No answer? Oh well. I'm sure I'll find out eventually. Until then… see you after next world." And in a blinding light, the vision ended. (End song.)

Unknown grassy meadow

The starry, indigo sky still blanketed the heavens as the bright full moon alit the entire landscape. Miyuki Crystal, once again wearing Majora's Mask, walked out into the vast, empty landscape, their eyes fixed on the moon's lunar glow. "At long last… my spirit has adjusted enough to this body… to enact my final plan. With my enhanced magic mixed with your timebending… nothing should stop me. But first… I must ask… is this truly what you want? Would you sacrifice all for my wellbeing?"

Surrounded by pure darkness in the confines of her own being, Miyuki drifted in emptiness. "Yes… I understand now that all actions are based from selfishness. All I wish now… is to get back what you've lost."

"Are you sure?" The shadowy silhouette of a being wearing Majora's Mask, as tall as Miyuki, drifted close to her in the darkness. "The gods will not be kind to you. By aiding MMe… you will have MMade the ultimate sacrifice."

"I do not believe… the gods show mercy to anyone. I believe that… everyone is meant for Sanzu."

"Hmm…if that is… what you wish. Let us begin… Operation: MMoonfall." Both beings focused up at the moon and began channeling Miyuki's timebending. They stood firmly in place, hands aimed directly up as the years of the moon moved forward.

 

[Gamen Watch]

Alright, guys, we are going into the 5th​ world! The Land of Fire! But first some backtracking and story stuff.

Chapter 14: A Land of Choppy Animation

Sector V Treehouse… Termina

Cheren woke up that next morning after Melissa dragged him home, feeling more tired than he usually did. Probably since it was late at night when they did the dungeon. Cheren felt a shadow loom over his head: when he rubbed his weary eyes, he was startled by Truman's sudden appearance, looming over Cheren with his unrealistic blue eyes. "Gyah!"

"Oh, sorry." Truman apologized as he backed away. "Melissa wanted me to make sure you were okay, so I watched after you last night."

"All night?" Cheren asked, feeling that sounded a little creepy.

"I got some sleep!" Truman chuckled.

"Well, tell Melissa I appreciate it, but I'm used to this stuff." Cheren said tiredly as he helped himself up and got dressed. He then took notice of Panini asleep in the nearby chair, her head upside-down while her legs bent up along the back. She looked awfully uncomfortable in that position.

"This girl seemed really worried about you after you left."

"I wonder why, Panini's not usually so worried. She's usually a lot more energetic."

"That could be just her mask." Truman remarked.

"How come? She knows me, I said I'd be fine." Cheren smirked. However, he then just realized what Truman said. "Wait… 'just her mask'?" That sounded familiar to him.

"You know… like a metaphorical mask. It's just a saying."

"I never hear anyone say that."

"Well, people should start!" Truman grinned.

"I'd rather they didn't, in this case." Cheren looked down at Panini again, remembering her awkward angle. He decided to lift the Irish-Polish off the chair and lay her flat on the couch, covering her in his sleeping bag. "That's better." He smiled. "Hey, watch after her. I'm going out for a bit."

"To pick up more masks?"

"No." Cheren replied, slipping on the Don Gero's Mask. "To collect frogs." On that note, he played the Song of Soaring on his flute and was whisked away.

After watching him vanish, Truman looked to Panini, fast asleep. His right arm reached out to touch her, but he fought against the urge and pulled his arm back.

Jungle Temple

Cheren warped back to Jungle of the Apes and afterwards made his way back to the Jungle Temple. He made his way back to the room where they fought Gekko and, as Cheren suspected, found the light-blue frog still hopping around. He kept Don Gero's Mask on and went to speak with him.

"Um, hey, are you part of Rainier's frog chorus?"

"Who wants ta know?"

"Um, Don Gero?"

"Oh, Don Gero!" the frog hopped excitedly. "I didn't recognize you! You look taller. It was scary! I was eaten by some lizard! And then these kids saved me. They looked weird, ribbit."

Cheren furrowed his eyes behind his mask. "Yeah, so I need you to go back to the park." He went straight to the point.

"Oh, absolutely. Better than lizard digestive, ribbit." He vanished in smoke.

Holoska Snowfields

Cheren returned to the snowy wasteland, which was thankfully free of its harsh blizzards, allowing him to roam around with ease. He became a wolf and dashed across the fields as he made his way back to the frosty lake. He changed back to a human and used his new Ice Arrows to make icy platforms in the water, allowing him to jump across into the secret cave, which he couldn't access before. At the end of the small cave was a ledge where a dark-blue frog was hopping on a pedestal. He slipped his mask on again and went to talk to him.

"Are you Don Gero?"

"I am Don Gero."

"You want me to return to park?"

"I want you to return to park."

"Good-bye." The frog vanished in smoke.

"Hmm… I wonder what else I could do." Cheren thought to himself. "Oh! There was that one place on Tortuga! I wonder what that's about?" He played the Song of Soaring again.

Cursed Hillside

Cheren returned to the area of the Cursed Hillside where he recalled seeing a secret cave across the piranha waters. He used his Ice Arrows to make platforms in the water once again as he crossed over to enter this small cave, which seemed rather dark and eerie. He hopped onto a ledge in what appeared to be a dead end inside the cave. He looked around for anything of interest and noticed a particular gap in the wall.

The gap looked to be the size of a torch, so Cheren decided to shoot it with a Fire Arrow. Amazingly, a torch lit, causing the wall to slide open. Cheren quietly walked into this secret passage, which felt nearly pitch-black, the only lights coming from fluorescent bulbs inside cages of cockroaches. There were also several tanks of some kind of gas, which Cheren couldn't quite make out what was written on them. This cave was making Cheren more afraid by the second; and even more so when he found an unconscious (human) pirate sitting with his head down on a chair.

Cheren wasn't sure if he was asleep or waiting to surprise him, so he tiptoed at his slowest rate possible. He bent down a little to look at his eyes, not sure if they were closed. And when Cheren stood just inches from the man, looming his head closer-

"EEYAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRGHH!" the pirate screamed at the top of his lungs and shook uncontrollably before slumping back in the chair, dead.

Cheren's ears rung from the scream, and his body shook with absolute fright. Deciding not to explore this cave any further, he blew the Song of Soaring in his flute as fast as he could and warped away in a flash.

Alternate Sector V Treehouse

When Cheren appeared at the treehouse again, he desperately tried to catch his breath. Upon his arrival, he discovered a strange piece of paper on the balcony floor. He picked it up and unfolded it to find a note.

I have been watching you, and seen you are very confused. Come to Numbuh Zero's hideout, I will make things clear.

"…Hm." Cheren stuffed the note in his pocket and curiously made his way downstairs.

Uno Household

Cheren snuck into the Uno house and was about to sneak upstairs; he wouldn't have to if it was his real house, but since it was Harry's house, it would've been suspicious. He didn't quite make it to the stairs on time when someone came around the corner, Cheren giving the look that he'd been caught. And it wasn't just anyone.

"Umm…who're you?" Rachel Uno asked.

"Uhhh…" Cheren looked nervous, "Hey, Mom—uh, I mean, uh… Mrs. Uno."

Rachel chuckled. "Are you a friend of Harry's?"

"Y-Yeah, my name is Cheren; Cheren Un—" he remembered that he probably shouldn't say his last name. "Er…Cheren."

"Well, glad to meet you; I don't think I've seen you around before. Are you new here? Where do you live?"

"I live, um, er…in the orphanage, downtown… I'm an orphan." Was the best lie he could come up with.

"Oh." Rachel frowned. "Well, I'm sorry to hear that."

"He-yeah, it's nothing." Cheren chuckled. "Anyway, Harry sent me to get something from his room, so…"

"Okay. I'll see you later." Rachel smiled.

"Hehe, bye." On that awkward note, Cheren headed upstairs.

"Oh, Cheren?" Rachel called.

Cheren turned around. "Yeah?"

"If you're looking for a family, we wouldn't mind adopting you. We did just have another son, but we wouldn't mind another!"

"Hehe. I'll think about it." Cheren smiled. To tell the truth, it didn't sound like a bad idea to him. If they couldn't find a way home, Cheren could live with Harry and Rachel could be his mom again. …Of course, she wouldn't be the same as his REAL mom… even if they sounded the same.

Cheren soon found his way to Harry's room, which was the same as his old room back in his world. It even had the part of the treehouse growing in the corner. Cheren approached the tree and pressed his ear against it as he lightly tapped it with his fist. Afterwards, he proceeded to kick the tree, revealing the secret door.

Cheren slid into the dimly lit treehouse and started to look around. "Helloooo? Mysterious person? Are you there?"

"WOO!"

"AHH!" Cheren fell on his bottom when a strange man with a hideous face jumped out.

"Ah ha ha ha ha ha!" laughed the Happy Mask Man, pulling off his mask.

Cheren looked dumbstruck. "You?" He stood and brushed his pants, feeling at a loss for words. "How…How did you get here?" (Play "Inside Clock Tower" from Majora's Mask.)

"A person's desire can drive them to do many things." He sported his same, creepy grin. "Just as your desire to save Miyuki drove you here, so did my desire to retrieve what I had lost."

"Well… not the person I would've picked to get a surprise visit from."

"Hmmm. I suppose you wish I was your mother."

"Well…" To tell the truth, Cheren was hoping to see his real mom; seeing the alternate Rachel in the living room just now made him deeply miss her.

"Do not fear…" he gave a comforting grin, "if your beliefs are strong, you will see her again."

"Yeah, yeah. I wonder, are you the one who brought Nerehc here?"

"Hmhmhmhm." He gave an innocent grin. "Oh no. What brought him here was the Coincidence Factor. You see, each universe has its own corresponding Negaverse, to balance the light sides and dark sides of the coin. Each person in each dimension has their own Negative. And this rule applies when people travel between dimensions. When you warped to this world, there was no one in the Negaverse to balance out the Dark Side. This is why Nerehc was warped to this world, too. Of course, he was transported here by some other means, not directly because of you. Such is the bizarre law of the Coincidence Factor."

"Hmm… Nerehc mentioned that when me and Panini got shrunk, he was shrunk, too. Do those rules apply to size changes?"

"Not necessarily. You and your friend entered a Minish Door. Minish Doors are portals into another dimension as well; the Minish Dimension is in coexistence with your own, but dimensions can only coexist at different sizes. That's why the Minish are smaller in your eyes, while you are massive in their eyes. When you were shrunk by that portal, you actually entered a different dimension. And Nerehc must have coincidentally walked into one as well."

"Wow…" If there was one thing that drove Cheren bonkers, it was stories having to do with complex laws of dimension-traveling. However, one thing suddenly came to mind. "Wait… how did you know about the Minish Door incident? How long have you been following me?"

"I always need to be sure. Better to be safe then than be sorry later." He grinned.

"Uhhh…creepy." Was all Cheren could say. "But; we're getting off track. Why'd you send the note?"

"Ahhh…yes… may I please see your masks?"

Cheren gave a baffled look, but decided to show the man the masks he had collected. The Mask Man bent over and observed them, first taking the Great Fairy's.

"The Great Fairy Mask…" he grinned, softly rubbing his fingers against its surface. "Several innocent spirits have had their scattered souls reformed again. And is this?…" he picked up the Cobra Mask, "the Cobra Mask… a poor soul has gotten his much-needed sleep after years of unrest. The All-Night Mask…" he picked said mask up, "thanks to this, an aspiring singer has finally had a brief moment of stardom. Already, I can see these masks are filled with great happiness…"

"Yeah, but they take up too much space. Some of them I rarely even use, what's the point of them?"

"Ohh!" the man was shocked. "These masks have incredible points to them! You must keep them with you! People do not see it now… but this world was once rich with the strongest happiness and light you've ever seen… and still is. Masks were just simple, physical forms of happiness. Each mask you see has a special light about them. It is filled with a light that keeps this world young; a light that has slowly lost its value over the ages. WHY would you EVER want to LEAVE them?" he started bawling.

"O-Okay! I was just-"

The man calmed down, his grin returning. "Please forgive me. Majora's power is the opposite of what these masks stand for. These masks were made from happiness and love… but Majora's Mask was crafted for terrible, evil things. And it has ONCE been used for the most terrible thing of all!" He started crying again.

"What?! What was that terrible thing?"

The man calmed down and grinned immediately. "Why, the terrible darkness it is using now. The darkness it uses to take away all the happy feelings from the masks. And people have lost track of that happiness over the eons so much… that the guardians of this world lost their power, too."

"You mean… the Giants?"

"That's right." He grinned. "Those Giants are embodiments of the happiness that make this world. They were once honored by the people using the masks themselves. Each Giant represented a form of light. The Giant from the jungle was the embodiment of life force. That life force was what helped the jungle to flourish. The Giant in the park was the embodiment of the joy and fun that's expressed by children, when they have time to not worry and relieve their stresses. The Giant of the snowcaps represents the care and protection that humans and other creatures devote to each other, even in the harshest conditions. The Giant of the sea is the embodiment of freedom; the feeling of roaming free in search of great adventures, as expressed by the pirates. And it isn't just them; the Great Fairies are also embodiments of this energy. They were meant to serve their Giants and help keep peace around the land."

"So that's who the Giants were? I expected a bit more."

"Of course, you've only rescued four so far. There are two more who await freedom; one in the Land of Fire, a prosperous nation hidden in the woods of Japan, and one in the ancient ruins of Old Scotland. These six powers of happiness bound Majora's evil inside the mask. However, they only made it so that Majora himself couldn't use his power. But other beings could hold the mask, and use its darkness for whatever they pleased. The old gods entrusted the mask to the shadows of the Twilight Realm, hoping they'd keep it out of human hands. But the Queen of Shadows, Malevolous, became power-hungry, the moment she laid hands on the mask. The gods warned her that it couldn't be used six times, for doing so would break all six seals of light the Giants placed."

"But she ignored them." Cheren figured.

"That's right. Majora's spirit was freed from the mask as a result. The gods were able to subdue him again, but he regained control of his magic, so whoever would wear the mask, while they would seem to have free will, would be under Majora's control."

"But why couldn't the Giants hold him back when he possessed Miyuki?"

"I already explained that the Giants are embodiments of feelings of light. They were meant to hold back Majora's magic… but Majora overpowers them by traveling the world, creating chaos and misery in his path. Long ago, he poisoned the jungle, raised the dead from the ground… and even created the never-ending blizzard you've encountered before. This misery weakened the Giants' power, and Majora turned them into masked monsters as well. It was only when Link brought the happiness back to the world using the masks that they regained their power."

"But the Giants don't seem to be interested in taking out Majora. I mean, they said they could break the curse, but they also sound like they wanna let Miyuki hang with him. I mean… Majora's evil, right?"

"Is anyone truly evil, child?" he asked with his usual teary eyes.

"Uhhh…kind of?"

"Perhaps they do not want to destroy him because they are bound by fate. Never has Miyuki felt more joy! The same happiness goes on in Majora. For once, his mask is delivering happiness. Maybe that's why the Giants are so hesitant."

"But don't they know what Majora might do? You said it yourself, people seem to have free will, when he's really controlling them!"

"The case is different here. Miyuki is allowing Majora to control her by choice. Because of that choice of free will, the bond between them is stronger than ever. He is just a troubled creature like yourself and Miyuki." The Mask Man frowned. "He is eons of sadness and anger embodied within a mask. That's why the mask does terrible things… and looks so terrifying. Oh, but you shouldn't judge someone because of their mask." He said as he turned around, giving Cheren the view of his mask-covered backpack. "One looks at Majora's Mask and shudders at how terrifying it looks… but none ever wants to wear it, and see what's on the inside."

"But Miyuki got where she is in the first place because she—er, I… put the mask on her." He mumbled quietly. "And wearing the mask at all is a bad thing, right?"

"Maybe… but because she did, she has gotten to know the real Majora. She sees more than what is shown on the mask. Why, just think…" the Mask Man looked terrified as he placed his hands on his face, "I may look joyous and happy to you… but if you saw what was under my mask, you would shudder with fear!"

"You mean… you're wearing a mask, too?"

The man grinned and turned back around. "Why, of course I am. Everyone wears masks. Metaphorically of course. It lets us wonder… what lies deep inside…" as he spoke, he loomed his grinning face closer to Cheren. Considering the way he acted and how he smiled constantly, Cheren didn't wanna know if this man had a real form, afraid of what it might look like.

Cheren backed away in fright. "Mr. Mask Man… just who are you, anyway?"

The man's grin grew wider. "A name is an important thing to have, Dear Child. It holds much power… and when uttered, that power could be released, and cause immense chaos. Maybe when you need it most… I will tell you my name. Until then… your friends should be awaking soon. I'd suggest going to greet them."

"Okay…" Cheren turned and was about to walk out. But questions still flowed through his mind, so he turned around and asked, "Can I talk to you later, 'cause-" However, the Mask Man was long gone. Cheren sighed and made his way upstairs.

Sector V Treehouse… take a guess which one

"Well, look who's back from his midmornin' walk." Panini smirked when Cheren returned.

"Enjoy your frog-collecting?" Truman asked, half-rhetorically.

"For a time." Cheren replied, remembering his little scare. "Then I got an unexpected space lesson from someone who I'm hoping is an evil science teacher. My brain hurts."

"Ya should 'ave paid attention in astronomy." Panini remarked. "Oh, and Cheren, Melissa told me what happened on yer mission."

Cheren flinched, his expression turning to worry. "Uhhh…she did?"

"Yaah. Ye didn't think ya were goin' ta hide it from me, did ya?" she grinned.

Cheren grabbed her by the shoulders and began screaming, "IT'S A LIE! IT DIDN'T HAPPEN! SHE'S BEEN OUT FOR ME ALL THIS TIME! YOU!" Cheren glared at Melissa and angrily grabbed her by the shirt. "I KNEW I couldn't trust you! Where's that shrink ray so I can minimize you and SMASH YOU LIKE A STINKING COCKROACH!"

"GET a GRIP, Cheren." Panini retorted. "Don't blame Melissa because ya got captured by pirates!"

"IT WAS AN ACCIDENT! I DIDN'T EVEN LIKE… captured?"

"Ya!" Panini jabbed a finger in his face. "Ya got captured by pirates the MOMENT ye took off! That means I shake my butt atcha!" And that's just what she did, laughing cockily.

"…" Cheren felt totally stupid right now. He glanced at Melissa, who glared hatefully at him, so he sported an innocent grin as he unruffled her shirt and patted her head. "Hehehe…"

"Soooo any news on Majora?" Truman asked, trying to change the subject.

"Huh? Oh, right." Cheren shook back to reality. "Well, we almost had him, but he…he knows how to manipulate." Was all Cheren could think of. "But next time, he's mine. For sure."

"But what about that Nerehc guy?" Thomas asked. "That was the whole reason you went to Tortuga."

"Oh yeah… I almost forgot about him." Cheren answered as he rubbed his head. "Being a drunken pirate can sure make a kid woozy."

"Just throwing it out, would've been so much better if we went to Candied Island." Melissa commented, earning a disbelieving look from Cheren.

"We still have a track on him." Harry told them. "Wanna try and go after him?"

"No… we may be opposites, but I have a feeling Nerehc can take care of himself. I think I wanna just focus on Majora. Besides, knowing him, he'll come look for me."

"So, what's next?" Celeste asked. "We haven't found any other leads."

"I have." Cheren said. "We're going to save the last two Giants. I just learned that they're sooper important… oh, and so are the side quests I keep running off to do. There's two more we haven't rescued, in the Land of Fire, and Scotland."

"The Land of Fire?" Kellie asked. "You mean in Japan?"

"Y-Yeah. You've heard of it?"

"Yes!" she answered cheerfully. "I always wanted to go there, ever since my mom told me about it! But she said it was too dangerous."

"I've never heard of it… but then again, I'm not from this world. What does it have?"

"It's some place they train ninjas to fight bad guys, and demons!"

"Demons? Sounds like a hotspot."

"Ay dunno." Panini replied. "Ay've always wanted ta visit Scotland. Me grandma says Ay have ancestors from there. Ancestors who aren't crazy demons."

"Yeah… but a supposedly demon hotspot sounds like a place that could use a demon fighter."

"In other words, you're up next, Kell." Thomas said to Kellie.

"Yaaaay!" she cheered. "Oooh! Can we ride H.I.P.P.I.E.-H.O.P. there? I feel like we don't use him much anymore."

"We don't use him much because we're tired of fixing him!" Melissa shouted. "Or at least I am. Besides, Japan is across the ocean, so you'll need something that flies… and is fast."

"Well, it's not like we have a S.C.A.M.P.E.R. sitting around." Harry grinned sarcastically.

"Leave the jokes to someone whose dad was a comedian." Melissa remarked.

"You know he couldn't tell a joke to impress unfunny clowns."

"Actually, her grandpa did use to be a clown." Celeste reminded.

"O-kay, if this isn't going anywhere, we'll just be on our way." Cheren stated, on his way to the hangar.

"Bring back a postcard!" Panini shouted.

"Your grandpa just ripped off of Bill Cosby!" Harry argued.

"Not exactly, his jokes were actually good."

"They were not!"

"Were too!"

Slag's Flagship

"Buy me some screw nuts and FIIIRECRACKS! IIII don't care if we EVER-" The robo-pirates merrily sang, raising bottles of grog in the air.

"Oi, lads!" Their singing stopped when a pirate ran in, holding Nerehc's cellphone. "Take a look wot Nerehc dropped in the bar!"

"'is cellphone?" a pirate asked.

"Lessee wot the little runt 'as on this!" he excitedly began searching the phone as Sprocket and the other pirates gathered behind and looked over his shoulder.

"'e's got a bunch o' messages from this Lehcar person." Sprocket noticed. "'o's that lass, 'is girlfriend?"

The pirate clicked one of the messages, and Lehcar's voice was heard. "Nereeeehhhc? I'm heading off to the store, I need to know if I should steal any clean underwear." He clicked another one. "Nerehc, where are you? If you're out stepping on too many bugs again, don't expect me to scrape your shoes." He clicked one from Arorua. "Bro, did you take my favorite dress when I was asleep? I swear, if you did anything to it, don't expect to sleep well tonight." One from Sirhc. "Um… N-N-Nerehc? Mom's really gonna be mad if you don't hurry up before dinner. Sh-She might spank you, and I get scared when she spanks."

"'e 'as some pictures, too." Sprocket pointed out. The pirates searched through Nerehc's collection of photos. There was one of Lehcar fixing Young Nerehc's booboo, one of Nerehc and Arorua pushing each other in the mud, and one of Lehcar spanking Nerehc, with Sirhc cowering in the back, and the following one of Arorua smirking and winking at the phone's camera.

"Ye know what I'm thinkin', lads?" a pirate asked. "I'm thinkin' this lad ain't no Demon Prince at all. 'e's jest a wee scallywag."

"AYE." they all agreed.

"Yawn, sorry I'm late." Nerehc said, rubbing his eyes as he walked into the cabin with Pablo. "So, did we catch Cheren? And where's Captain Slag?"

He was only met with the hateful, deadly glares of the Slag Pirates.

"…What?"

"'eeeeyyyy, lads!" Rusty Pete exclaimed, suddenly bursting in as well. "I think you'll be happy ta know our captain came through for us! The grotto is saved! Oh, and don't mind the wee bit o' treasure I 'ave in me pockets. …Oi, wot's going on here, lads? Are we havin' a staring contest?"

Before Nerehc knew it, he was tied by the arm and legs as the pirates shoved him into a cannon aiming out at sea. "'I be the Demon Prince,' ye told us." Sprocket said mockingly, trying to squeeze Nerehc in, "'Ay'll save yer island from the monsters.' Yer nothin' but a wee mama's boy." They tilted the cannon a little upward and prepared to fire. "Ye'll wish ye had your mummy's spankings when Davy Jones drains the last bit of life from your lyin' lungs." As they lit the fuse, they tossed Nerehc's phone into the cannon with him. "'appy swimmings."

With that said, the cannon launched, and Nerehc flew miles out into the sea.

When he was far out of earshot, the pirates directed their attention to Pablo, who watched the scene with worry. The frightened child quickly strummed a quick tune on his guitar before zipping off.

Land of Fire

It wasn't long until the S.C.A.M.P.E.R. arrived in Japan, taking land on a clear spot near the edge of a vast forest. The weather felt much warmer than any other area they've been to as they stepped out to view the forest. Fi jumped out of Cheren's sword.

"I have a report for you, Master. I can confirm with 85% accuracy we've arrived in the Land of Fire. Signs indicate that nearly 93% of the land is covered in forest. This was likely designed to conceal the Hidden Leaf Village, where the ninjas are trained and the people thrive. This land is so named because of the constant warm temperatures throughout each year. This particular area, known as Hidden Passe, is a trail to the Hidden Leaf Village, leading through the forest and mountains."

"Well, then we won't have to save time by flying. Thanks for the info, Fi." Cheren said half-interested as Fi returned to the blade.

"Does she always do that?" Kellie asked.

"Kind of. It's her thing." Cheren then skimmed the small area around them, feeling the landscape looked very strange. "This place is… kind of different."

"Really? How come?"

"I dunno… it's just the way things look. Ah well." He shook it off. "Let's just look for this… Hiding Leaf Place or whatever. Heh. I wonder if these ninjas are as cheesy as the ones on T.V.." (Play "Kung-Fu Alley Part 1" from Ape Escape 3.)


Stage 20: Hidden Passe

Mission: Find the Village Hidden in the Leaves.

Cheren and Kellie began their venture across the trail. The first bit of the path was a rocky trail between two walls. They were already ambushed when a squad of Miniblin, dressed as ninjas, appeared out of puffs of smoke. The pretend ninjas started leaping around and throwing pitchforks. Cheren protected them with his shield while Kellie tried shooting at them with her T.H.U.M.P.E.R., able to knock them to the ground. When Cheren shot arrows at them, they suddenly turned into logs and kicked them from behind. They avoided their pitchforks and kept repeating these maneuvers until they were able to take the monsters out.

They progressed further down the path as Bulblin archers launched fire arrows at them from atop the walls, while at the same time, Bulblins riding Bullbos came charging down the trail. Kellie tried to shoot up at the archers, but her T.H.U.M.P.E.R.'s teddybears were only shot down by the arrows. "Heeey! Those bears cost 5 cents each!" she yelled. Since Cheren's arrows didn't work on the Bullbos, he launched Ice Arrows instead and froze the bulls solid, causing the Bulblin to fall off. The Bulblin raised shields as Cheren ran to attack them, but he simply flipped over and attacked their exposed backsides. He saw that his friend appeared to be taking a lot of beatings by distracting the archers, so he quickly shot the archers down with arrows.

They trekked further down the trail, only to come to a large, wooden gate that blocked the way through. There wasn't a doorkeeper for Cheren to do the pirate dance, and no switches that they could find. However, they did look back and see some of the ice wore off on the Bullbos, which were now standing in place. The kids smirked at each other and ran to hop on a Bullbo, riding it like a rodeo bull as they had it charge through the series of gates, successfully getting through. "In the Underworld, this is what passes as pony riding!" Cheren panted as they rode the Bullbo further down the trail.

"WHEEEEEE!" Kellie cheered, raising her arms in excitement. They passed along a trail through a forest before they were coming to a small ledge with a mountain trail behind it. "WHOOA!" The Bullbo crashed facefirst in the ledge, flinging Cheren and Kellie on top.

The mountain trail was wider than the previous trail and between two rock walls. They saw some Bulblin archers on a ledge up ahead, but were luckily too out of range to be shot. So before going ahead, Cheren decided to shoot the Bulblin and take them out now. When they walked further ahead, they were ambushed when a group of Nejiron appeared from the ground. Cheren ran to strike the first one, but the Nejiron exploded, covering him in soot. So to avoid taking damage, the two backed up and shot the Nejiron with their respective projectiles from a safe distance.

The two then approached the large cliffside, looking for a way up. There weren't any ledges for Wolf Cheren to leap to, no Arrangement Pads, or any Hookshot targets. "Any ideas?" he decided to ask Kellie.

The Japanese girl looked up to the right, seeing that part of the trench wall stuck out a little. Smirking, the girl charged toward the corner, leaped, kicked off the cliffside to bounce higher, kicked off the trench wall, then kicked off the part sticking out to successfully reach the ledge. Once up there, she found a rope ladder and lowered it down for Cheren. However, the ladder stretched too short, but Cheren was able to latch it with his Hookshot and pull himself up. "Nice move!"

"Ta ha! It's my Triangle Jump! My parents taught it to me!"

The rest of this trench trail had several large stones laying around, and when they walked further, the stones transformed into Ninja Miniblin and started leaping around. The kids only dodged and countered with their projectile weapons. To take them out quicker, Cheren froze them using Ice Arrows, then shattered them with Fire Arrows, preventing them from turning into logs.

They hurried further down the trail afterwards, in which the path brought them along a cliffside where they had a great view of the woods below. The only thing that assaulted them were Bulblin riders, which Cheren easily took out by shooting arrows at them. They followed the winding path as it led them around several corners of the cliffside, eventually coming to a point where bombs lay in parts of the path. When they approached the first one, they all immediately exploded, creating large gaps in the path. Cheren could easily glide them across, but a Flamethrower Fatblin guarded the ledge, ready to blow his device if they flew across.

Instead, Kellie stepped back, charged toward the wall, then jumped over the edge and wall-kicked over onto the Fatblin's head, getting behind him. When the monster turned to attack her, Cheren quickly glided over with the Sail and sliced the monster's behind, taking it out. They approached the next ledge and found a Long-Shield Fatblin guarding the other side, meaning Kellie wouldn't be able to jump off of it. Cheren decided to toss his Remote Bananarang and hit the Fatblin from behind. It didn't damage him, but the monster turned around to see what hit him. They took this moment of distraction to glide over and quickly slice the Fatblin, taking him down.

They came to the next gap and saw a third Fatblin guarding the next ledge, only it stood further away. The Fatblin was unarmored and unarmed, and was dressed like a sumo wrestler. Cheren tried to shoot arrows at it, but it swiftly swatted the arrows away. The two exchanged glances and shrugged as Kellie decided to wall-kick over first, and when she did, the Sumoblin immediately charged over and pushed the girl over the edge. Cheren launched his Hookshot down quickly to pull her back up, watching as the Sumoblin stepped back to the other side. Cheren thought of a plan and glided over by himself, quickly switching into Captain Slag's form. When the sumo charged over, Cheren used his equal strength to push the monster back. He was able to push the Fatblin over the other ledge, changing back afterwards to pull Kellie over with his Hookshot.

The two then glided over this last gap and continued along the windy path. They were eventually led into a forest area, the path unclear by all the trees in their way. As they traversed around the trees, Cheren heard quick whooshing sounds above them, the image of quick, silhouetted beings zipping over their heads in the corner of his eyes. "Hm?" Kellie looked at him curiously when Cheren stopped and looked up.

"Did you… see that, Kellie?" he asked.

Kellie looked up at the tree branches. "I don't see anything. Did you drink too much salt water when you went to that island?"

Salt water's what I shoulda drank. He thought to himself. "Just keep your guard up, Kell."

They reached a clearer opening in the path, but the sky was blocked almost completely by the leaves from all of the long branches. They didn't walk far when a small, sharp knife-like projectile shot in their path, forcing them to stop in shock; it was a kunai knife, like the ones ninjas use.

"HALT!" They looked up and saw three men in blackish-blue jumpsuits, having only their eyes exposed like ninjas, and wearing headbands around their foreheads that bared a strange symbol, which almost looked like a swirly leaf. The first man spoke something in Japanese, "お名前と祖国を述べる、または私達は敵としてあなたを信じるよ。 (State your name and homeland, or we'll believe you as enemies.)"

The second one said, "ええ、それは、彼らが速いが誰であるかを教えていない場合である敵の見知らぬ人を非難する私たちのもののようなものだ。 (Yeah, it's sort of our thing to accuse strangers of being enemies if they don't tell us who they are fast.)"

"Uhhhhh…" Cheren was totally dumbstruck.

Kellie cheerfully said, "うーん！君たち忍者ていますか？君たちはテレビで愚かです！ええと、どのようにそのマスクで呼吸するのですか？ (Oooh! Are you guys ninjas? You guys are silly on T.V.! Um, how do you breathe in those masks?)"

"Oh, yeah, I forgot." Cheren remembered. "Good thing I brought you along."

"Ta ha ha! Yeah! Otherwise, you'd be all, duuuuuhhh."

Cheren looked annoyed. "Makes me wish I brought Makava along."

"Who?"

The first ninja said something else that Cheren didn't get. "What?"

"He said, for not stating who we were when they asked, they're going to kill us." Kellie answered.

"Oh—WHAT?"

Immediately, the ninjas threw more kunai knives, and Cheren jumped in Kellie's way to defend her with his shield. "Stay behind me." He ordered, running to attack the ninja. As he did so, the camera turned to face Kellie, who stared confusedly at it.

"Why do all these Naruto fights always happen offscreen?"

My new assistant, Kris Hallows, who was the cameraman, said, "Ahh, sorry. Following this guy around everywhere gets so boring, and I get distracted."

"Just point the camera at him!"

"Alright, geez!" The camera redirected at Cheren, who had already defeated the ninjas.

"Kellie, I won."

"Already? Man, this adventure needs tougher enemies."

They continued through the forest, keeping their guard up in case other ninja tried to attack them. Immediately, a ninja shot by their left. …It looked like the ninja was moving fast, but he was actually slowly moving in place, making him an easy target for Cheren's arrows. They faced ahead when another ninja leapt above them. The ninja stylishly reached under its clothing to throw a kunai knife, but it moved too slow to avoid Cheren's arrow. Kellie yelped when another ninja jumped out of some bushes on their right, running like a cheetah toward them… or at least, it looked like he was running, but he wasn't going anywhere fast. This made him yet another easy target for Cheren's arrows.

"Man, what's with these guys?" Cheren asked confusedly. "It's like we're in some anime or something."

They gasped when another ninja dropped on the ground a few feet in front of them. The ninja had his kunai ready, eyes fixed on Cheren as he thought to himself internally. This boy is quicker than anyone I've ever seen. His garb is strange… he doesn't even resemble a ninja, and yet he flings his arrows so quickly. If I'm going to defeat this boy… I need to-

Cheren just decided to shoot the ninja and knock him out, for just standing in one place made him an easier target. "And THAT'S why it's better to not think, and just go." Cheren remarked.

They came to a cliffside area where a ledge above launched darts from small holes. There was a staircase on their right that led up to the ledge, but the darts shot out from it awfully fast. Kellie decided to shoot her T.H.U.M.P.E.R. at some of the holes, and was able to clog them with her teddybears. Cheren gave a congratulatory nod and began to sidle along the ledge while Kellie clogged the dart holes from below. He made it across with no troubles, then pulled Kellie up with his Hookshot.

Before they moved forward, Cheren noticed a snake crawl into a tiny hole in the wall. This reminded him of his Cobra Mask, which he placed over his head to speak to the snake. The snake crawled out of its hole and spoke, "It'sss believed the Cobra Mask was manufactured in Japan, by sssomeone who was friendsss with itssss buyer."

The two entered another forest area, which was covered in thick, steamy fog. There were geysers of piping hot steam popping out of the ground. Cheren almost walked into one, but Kellie pulled him back quickly. "Man, this place is dangerous." he commented. To make it easier, Cheren turned into his wolf form and used his senses to see through the fog.

"Awe, you're a puppy!" Kellie cooed. Cheren used his wolf sense to see the gaps in the ground, safely navigating their way around the geysers. Along the way, Green Chuchus emerged from the ground and leapt at Cheren, but the wolf boy easily ripped the jelly to shreds with his teeth.

When they arrived at a more clear area of the forest, another ninja stood in their way. Cheren growled, getting ready to attack it, but the two took notice of something different: an evil look brimmed in his eyes, and he was surrounded by a strange, dark aura. "どれもここに渡してはならない。 (None shall pass here.)" he said in Japanese. They avoided as the man threw a kunai, and Cheren leapt to attack him. The ninja used another kunai to hold back Cheren's teeth, but the wolf grabbed and tossed the weapon away before gnawing at the ninja's chest. During his weakened state, Kellie hurried over to jump on the man's face and knock him out.

Cheren reverted to normal as they curiously watched the dark aura leave him. "This guy was… odd." He said.

Fi came out and reported, "Master, I have some information for you. The aura I sensed from this ninja was different from the ninja I have scanned earlier. There is a 90% chance that an evil presence is overtaking these people. I'd advise extreme caution, Master."

"Relax, Fi, I set the difficulty to Easy before we started this adventure. But thanks for the heads up."

They progressed a little further through the forest as more possessed ninja ambushed them. The ninja still moved in an anime style—in other words, rather slow, so Cheren was able to knock them out easily. The duo then arrived at a narrow trench with a mist-filled chasm down below. The walls were close enough to Wall Jump across, but steam geysers erupted from holes in the trench. The geysers could be avoided if they timed their jumps carefully, but to make things easier, Cheren shot Ice Arrows at the geyser holes and froze them shut. After Wall Jumping across the chasm, they arrived at another foggy area.

The path was pretty straightforward; the only thing that intervened were a few Fatblin patrolling the area. Kellie distracted the monsters by dancing around in front of them as they tried to hit her with their spears, leaving Cheren to run behind and slice them up. They eventually came to another Sumoblin, which took them by surprise as it charged over, grabbed them, and threw them back. Cheren turned into Captain Slag's form and pushed against the sumo. He saw an even larger geyser coming out of a hole behind the sumo, so Cheren pushed the monster in and clogged the geyser, allowing the two of them to pass. (End song.)

The two suddenly found another ninja warrior, bleeding and panting heavily as he faced some kind of puppet being, surrounded by darkness. "Orokana ninja wa... Anata no ishi wa ningyō-han no mono to wa itchi shite iru. Anata no yūjin ga motte iru yō ni narimashita sarendā. Ningyō no sore ni anata no ishi o teishutsu shite kudasai. (Foolish ninja… your will is no match to that of the Puppet Clan. Surrender now like your friends have. Submit your will to that of a puppet.)"

The ninja panted a little before speaking. "Anata dake no ningyō wa, nō ya shinzō... Ga attara watashitachi wa kesshite akiramenai riyū wa... Anata ga shitte iru to omoimasu. (If only you puppets had a brain… or a heart… then you'd know why we never give up.)"

"Anata no kokoro wa anata ga osoku narimasu. Anata no kettei wa anata no botsuraku to narimasu. Atode anata no tamashī o seikyū sa sete itadakimasu to, ima no tatakai ni wa pointo wa arimasen. (Your hearts and minds slow you down. Your determination will be your downfall. There's no point in fighting now, when we will claim your soul later.)"

"Sōna no? Anata wa kore o sanshō shite kudasai? (Is that so? You see this?)" he pointed at his headband. "Watashi wa akirametanode, watashi wa kono heddo bando o kakutoku suru koto wa dekimasendeshita. Toshi ga ninja no yō ni jibun no sukiru o migaku tame ni no tame ni watashi ga kunren o uketa. Kono heddo bando wa watashi no seishin o arawashite imasu. Watashi no tamashī wa eien ni atte mo, watashi no karada wa shimasen... Sore ni baindo sa remasu. (I didn't earn this headband because I gave up. I trained for years to hone my skills as a ninja. This headband represents my spirit. My soul will forever be bound to it… even if my body won't.)"

"What the crud are they saying?" Cheren asked.

"Well, the puppet guy told him to surrender, but the ninja says he'll never give up." Kellie explained. "But what are they doing? …Ooh! They're probably playing hide-and-seek!"

"Yeah, I… don't think hide-and-seek involves getting beaten to a bloody pulp." Cheren told her.

"Hmm…well, maybe it's paintball!" Kellie grinned.

Cheren rolled his eyes and continued to watch this battle unfold. The ninja and the puppet stood silent and still, facing each other with fierce glares. The air was thick with tension… anxiousness wore on their faces. Who would make the next strike… and who would fall. Those questions rang in Cheren and Kellie's faces. The fog was increasing from all this tension, the two opponents wearing tight, determined stare-

"WILL SOMEBODY JUST DO SOMETHING?" Kellie screamed.

"Nani? (What?)" the ninja turned and spotted the kids. "Ooooh!" Immediately, he was pierced in the back by the puppet's knife.

"Oops…" Kellie blushed.

The puppet kept its knife in for a few seconds before yanking it out and allowing the ninja to fall down. Cheren immediately leapt and sliced the puppet up with his sword, his severed bits falling to the ground.

The ninja lay panting heavily on the ground as more blood spilled from his backside. "Oooh! I'm sorry, Mr. Ninja!" Kellie apologized, reaching into her backpack and pulling out a yellow Rainbow Monkey. "Here! You can have my Don't-Die-From-Being-Stabbed-With-A-Knife Rainbow Monkey!"

The fallen ninja weakly glanced up at them. "…Kodomo-tachi wa anata ni daredaredesu ka? Anata wa, sutōrī wa yori ōku no tenponohayai doko anata ga sekai kara kite, dare mo shinu n… Noyōnimieru. (Who…Who are you kids? You look like… you come from a world where the storylines are a lot more fast-paced, and no one ever dies.)" he panted.

"I don't think he likes the Rainbow Monkey…" Kellie frowned.

Fi emerged from Cheren's sword and spoke, "Master, chances of this ninja surviving in this state are 24%. I'd suggest playing the Song of Healing to give his soul peace."

Cheren figured that was the answer… but by playing the Song of Healing, he knew exactly where this would lead. "Holy crap, this is gonna be so cool!" That said, he excitedly pulled out the Spirit Flute and played the song.

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

And just like every other time, the ninja vanished in a flash of light. Only his headband remained, which lay slumped on the ground. Kellie knelt down and skimmed the ground in confusion. "Where'd the ninja go?"

"He…" Cheren picked the headband up, "his soul is in the headband… I think."

"It is?" Kellie took the headband and observed it from all angles. "How do you get in there?"

Cheren took the headband back and chuckled. "It's… not like that, Kell."

You got the Hidden Leaf Headband! Within this headband lies the soul of a proud, fallen ninja. Wear this and you can inhabit the body of a ninja-

"HO YEAH!" Cheren exclaimed.

Um…as a ninja, you'll be able to move quicker and be a master at stealth. You can also understand Japanese!

"What?" Kellie looked baffled at Cheren's outburst.

"Oh, it was just the… nothing." Cheren laughed. "O-kay, let's try this baby out!" He slipped the headband on, tying it around his forehead. However, after a few seconds, nothing seemed to happen. Cheren only stared at his forehead with disappointment. "Uhh…"

"It looks great on you!"

"I don't get it. Aren't I supposed to transform?"

Kellie stared at it for a second. She noticed what was wrong: "You're wearing it backwards!" She turned the headband around so that the symbol's side was over his forehead.

Immediately, Cheren felt the transformation overcome him. He grew twice his normal height, the ninja mask was forced over his mouth and nose, and the jumpsuit appeared along his body. Only difference was his hair was visible above his head and the red glasses were still on his face. Indeed, Cheren had become a ninja. "Awesoooome!" he said in a gruffer voice.

"Ta ha ha! You look like Waldo!" Kellie giggled.

"Silence! I am a ninja now! I must be quick! Vigilant! Sneaky!" he said quickly as he made swift, anime-like motions. "And talk really fast! And make as little motion as possible! Because that would add to production value! And animation costs money, OO-OOOHN?!"

"Fanfictions don't have animations, silly!"

"I wish." Cheren chuckled. But right away, the warping sound reached his ears again. He raised his kunai knife, putting on a serious ninja-face.

"Does you being a ninja mean you get sooper hearing?" Kellie asked, not hearing the sounds.

"No, but it means I'm about to fall asleep randomly, as far as you can tell."

"Zoni." Cheren was ambushed from behind as the alien creatures zapped him into unconsciousness.

Land of Crypts and Helium (Play "Medium 03 Rain" from Homestuck.)

When Cheren awoke, he found himself in yet another unfamiliar land. The sky was pitch-black, the land was dead and grey, and salamander skulls lay everywhere. The only signs of color were that of the clear blue river, and the thousands of colorful balloons that drifted across the heavens, sprinkling water down onto the lifeless planet. "Wow… I wonder what could've happened here."


Stage 21: Land of Crypts and Helium

Mission: Explore the strange land.

Cheren began the venture along a curvy, narrow pathway that brought him to an expansive valley, where a small waterfall poured into the river. The road split into two paths, and both seemed to lead to far-off areas. Cheren was just confused as to where to go; the land was so massive. He decided to head along the right path for now, which zigzagged as it led up over a hill. Cheren ran as quick as he could, knowing it was going to be a long way. It didn't take long until he made it to the other side of the hill. All he found was an open, empty area, with a few large holes in the ground, and a balloon sprinkling water into one of the holes.

Cheren peeked down into each of the holes. They were both far too dark for him to see. Cheren reverted to his human form and launched a Fire Arrow down one to see if it would create enough light. The arrow hit something, but the flame went away too quickly. He decided to return back up the hill and into the valley. Upon his return, he looked at the river, curious if anything might be in it. He dove in and began to have a swim around. To his good fortune, he found a tunnel along one of the ledges. At the end of the tunnel was a large button, too big for Cheren to push normally, so he had to perform a Torpedo Spin to shove it in.

Cheren resurfaced afterward, wondering what the switch did. Fi came out to confirm his suspicion. "Master, I have detected a tremor emitting from the region we previously were to the east."

Cheren nodded and hurried back to the area with all the holes. To his surprise, a strange tower had risen from a spot on the ground. Atop the tower sat a large, round mirror. Cheren walked around and studied the tower, still not sure of its purpose. He decided to leave it for now and return to the valley. This time, he decided to follow the western road. Part of the road split off and led into a secret cave behind the waterfall. The cave led him deep underground, eventually bringing him to a flooded cavern. There were two mirrors spread apart along the stalactite-covered ceiling, and two more mirrors sitting on stalagmites in the water. There were also a few platforms in the water where air seemed to be pumped into balloons, but rather weakly, and along the corner of the left ledge was an orange crystal switch.

He saw there were Keese blocking the mirrors on the ceiling, so he shot the bats with arrows to uncover them. However, he still wasn't sure what the mirrors were for. Cheren then walked over to hit the orange crystal switch, but nothing happened. Cheren entered the door on the other side and found a smaller room with a door that had three round slots. They were each aligned like a triangle around the middle, with two on top, and one lower one. Aside from the door, there was also a strange fossil sitting on a pedestal. It was a skull, but it wasn't shaped like any Cheren had seen. Cheren removed the fossil, but nothing happened. Not seeing anything else of interest, Cheren made his way out of the cave, but kept the skull with him.

Cheren followed the rest of the western path and came to what appeared to be some old ruins. Inside were several stone tablets laying about the ground, likely talking about prophecies and crud like that. Cheren decided to ignore them and continue ahead, eventually reaching the center of the ruin. There was a strange chandelier with four different colored lanterns; a blue one, a purple one, an orange one, and a green one, which was the only one that wasn't lit. The chandelier was held by a rope, which went up to the ceiling, then came down to another pedestal.

"Master Cheren, I have information to report," Fi spoke, popping out of the sword. "Signs indicate the height of this chandelier is weight-controlled. If something were to be placed on the pedestal before you, I conjecture an 80% chance the chandelier will be risen."

"Weight-controlled, huh?" Cheren said as he pulled out the fossil from earlier. "Thought this'd come in handy." The fossil held down a switch on the pedestal, causing the chandelier to lift up. The lanterns were lifted up in the center of four magnifying glasses, creating four colorful beams that shone in different directions.

Cheren hurried outside and saw the four beams stretching miles across the land. He suddenly realized the purpose of the mirrors and dashed across the valley to reach the eastern side. Indeed, the blue light was being deflected off the mirror, making it shine onto the giant balloon's hole, where the water was leaking from. Cheren didn't quite understand the significance, so he returned to the valley. The purple beam was shining out to the south; where Cheren first appeared in this realm, so he hurried in that direction. He ended up finding a wide chasm behind the point where he started, and two mirror towers stood on the other side. The purple beam was aimed at the top of the right tower, but the mirror was on the other side.

However, Cheren spotted a blue crystal switch stationed atop the tower. He fired an arrow to hit the switch, but it wouldn't activate. After shooting a few more arrows up to hit it, it dawned on him that he had to shine the blue beam onto the switch. Cheren hurried back to the ruins and studied the chandelier. Curious, he threw his Bananarang up to hit it, causing the chandelier to turn. Now the lanterns were each shining beams in a different direction. The blue beam was aimed south now, so Cheren dashed all the way back to find the beam making the crystal switch alight. Cheren shot it once more with an arrow and activated it, causing the mirror tower to turn so that the beam was reflecting off the mirror.

Cheren peeked into the pit, seeing the beam was being deflected into it. Cheren also noticed a few other mirrors within the pit, but the beam wasn't hitting them. He sent the Remote Control Bananarang to search for any more switches, but found nothing that could change the direction of the mirror again.

Cheren decided to return to the eastern area, seeing the purple beam was now shining in that direction. Amazingly, he saw that the mirror deflected the purple light into the nearby hole, when the position of the tower hadn't looked like it changed at all.

Fi came out to report this, "Master, I have new information to report."

"Can't you come out just to say 'hi'?"

"While I am unfamiliar with this type of mechanism, it would appear that the mirrors deflect each different light in a different direction. It is unknown how the beings who designed these mirrors were able to create them this way, but I would suggest using this knowledge to your advantage, Master."

Cheren peeked down into the pit to see the light bouncing off several other mirrors, eventually shining on a purple crystal switch. Cheren fired an arrow down below, and it sounded like a door opened inside of the pit. However, feeling it wasn't very safe, Cheren threw his Remote Bananarang down to skim around. There appeared to be other ground inside the pit, but the area where the switch sat was surrounded by an invisible barrier.

Cheren decided to look into the other pits for a solution, namely the pit that the balloon was over. He noticed the water pouring out of the bottom and remembered how the blue light shone on it earlier. Cheren decided to shoot an Ice Arrow at the balloon's hole, and successfully froze it solid. This caused the balloon to slowly sink into the hole. Cheren quickly jumped on and rode it down. The balloon stopped partway down the pit beside a tunnel pathway, where Cheren could see the platform with the switch.

The end of the path had an open door, which revealed a room with a stone with a strange symbol. Cheren proceeded to collect the symbol, knowing it had to be used somewhere. He went back to the balloon to search for a way out of this pit. He saw one of those Arrow Spheres along one of the walls, and peeked down to see a series of Arrow Spheres, in which the last one aimed at the bottom of the balloon. He saw the solution to this puzzle and shot a Fire Arrow at the first sphere, making it redirect at all the other spheres before hitting the ice on the bottom of the balloon. The water was free to pour out again, making the balloon lift back into the air.

Before jumping off of the balloon, he saw a ledge that was within gliding distance with a chest on it. Cheren glided over with the Pirates' Sail and opened the chest, finding another strange symbol. Afterwards, he jumped down and hurried all the way back to the ruins. This time, he turned the lanterns so that the orange was facing south. He dashed back to the southern region and found that the orange beam bounced off the right mirror, to the left mirror, and into the chasm where it bounced off the series of other mirrors.

Wondering where that mirror trail ended up, Cheren hurried back to the cave behind the waterfall. The orange beam had indeed been led into the flooded cavern, bouncing off the four mirrors as it was led to the orange crystal switch. Cheren was able to hit the switch, and it caused one of the balloons on the platforms to inflate and lift off. Cheren watched as the small balloon floated up to the ceiling and popped on the stalactites. Another balloon was inflated then, and Cheren ran to grab and hold it shut. The balloon wouldn't lift him off, so he put his Kateenian Mask on to make himself lighter.

He held on with both his small hands as the balloon lifted him off. Cheren saw an opening in the wall far on the other side of the stalagmite-filled water, so he pushed himself further in that direction. The balloon kept floating upward, so he had to squeeze tighter to hold the air, er, water inside, to keep himself from touching the stalactites, but then release the water to keep from touching the stalagmites. He got a little aggravated from having the water spill over his head as he floated, wondering how these balloons stay afloat this way.

He was able to reach the opening and let go of the balloon to open a chest containing the third symbol. Afterwards, he changed back to a human and swam across the water to reach the foothold. Before entering the door, he saw a snake crawl out of a tiny hole, then retreat. He slipped his Cobra Mask on and approached it. The snake slithered out with some information.

"They sssay that when the new era has begun, the 20 will come once 20 have passed. When that happensss, Time will be at war with its own self…"

Cheren entered the room with the three-slot door and placed each of the symbols within the right slot. Nothing appeared to happen, so Cheren figured he had to turn them the right way. He discovered that the three symbols, when turned the right way, formed some kind of strange heart. After turning them correctly, the stones seemed to fuse with the door as the symbols magically moved into the center and formed the heart symbol. The symbol emitted a bright light before the door creaked open, allowing Cheren access to another computer terminal. He studied the terminal to find another chat session. (End song.)

VeneerGuise began pestering MajorMonstros

VG:

MM: MMmm, what is it this time?

VG: DiD yoU see what i maDe for yoU?

MM: MMmm, it's a MMask.

VG: Do yoU love it? :,)

MM: … ovMvo

VG: i'D say it Closely resembles yoU. ^U^ look! It has yoUr horns, the spikes on yoUr hair, anD it is even shapeD like yoUr faCe! ^U^

MM: It is hideous.

VG: ==C

MM: It looks little like MMe. You've wasted your time.

VG: i Don't ConsiDer it a waste. Whether it has the faCe of an angel… or of a Demon. A frienD maDe it for yoU. shoUlDn't that be all that matters?

MM: Friendship can only last so long… having pointless keepsakes around will only strengthen the pain of the MMemory of what once was.

VG: …):

VG: Zanifr…

That puzzle was the same one that was in Homestuck, but I added my own touches. And the Land of Fire comes from Naruto. While the Ninja Headband isn't really a mask, but Majora's Mask had two hats and a hood that counted as masks, so I figured, why not a headband? :/ This is also the first time I'm heavily including an anime crossover; as such, I threw in those animation jokes since that's how I perceived Naruto at the time. But later, there'll be many more anime crossovers.

…

Trivia: The planned main villain of Nextgen was originally Orochimaru from Naruto, but the idea was scrapped.

 

[Gamen Watch]

We have a much longer chapter today with two stages and a dungeon!

Chapter 15: The Way of the Ninja

Somewhere in the sea

"Cough, cough, hack, huack!" Having nearly drowned in the sea, Nerehc found himself rescued upon a small boat. After wiping off his sunglasses and regaining his vision, he saw it was his Mexican sidekick, Pablo. "Well, I guess you're good for somethin' than just playin' music."

"Era difícil escabullirse, casi me ahogué. (It was hard to sneak away, I almost drowned.)"

"What? Ugh, no one can understand you. It'd be easier to learn Japanese." He sighed. "Damn pirates. I'll get them back somehow. Hey, maybe I can trick Cheren into helping me! He hates them, too!" Nerehc smiled. "Where is Cheren, anyway? …And where are we?" As he spoke, they could see they were nearing close to a strange island of forests.

"…Hey, what's this?" Nerehc asked, suddenly spotting something red floating in the water. He quickly grabbed it and turned it over, discovering that it was a familiar shield.

Land of Fire

Cheren awoke to the sounds of birds chirping, rustling leaves and dim rays of sun looming over his face. The sun and leaves were soon blocked by Kellie's vibrant face. "Hey, Cheren? I know you're supposed to say 'Good morning' when you wake up, but since it's afternoon, do I still say 'Good morning,' or 'Good afternoon'?"

"Huh?" Cheren questioned, still in his ninja form.

"Oh well, I'll just take a guess. Ahem… Good morning, sleepyheeeaad!"

Cheren sat up and found a red Rainbow Monkey was placed on his chest. He held the Rainbow Monkey and stared at it closely. It looked awfully familiar…

"That's a Don't Have Scary Dreams When You Randomly Fall Asleep Rainbow Monkey!" Kellie explained. "I borrowed it from Harry; the others keep talking about how you just conk out."

"…So this is Harry's…" Cheren asked in his gruff ninja voice.

"Mm-hm! I think his mom got it as a birthday present."

"Makes sense… this looks just like mine."

"Oh?"

"My mom got it for me… I used to have nightmares. Not so much anymore… well, almost."

"Almost?"

Cheren stood up. "Never mind. Thanks." He gave the Rainbow Monkey back. "It was nice. But let's keep going. The village should be up ahead. I really wanna try out this ninja form."

Village Hidden in the Leaves

The rest of their journey wasn't long before they reached the Hidden Leaf Village. It was a wide, expansive town of colorful roofs, trees towering over almost every street, and a humongous mountain that towered over the town on the other side, which bared a resemblance to Mount Rushmore. Engraved on the mountain were seven heads of what they believed to be very important people. The head that stood out was the one engraved beneath the other six; it was of some man with spiky hair and whiskers on his face.

Cheren was surprised at how big this place was; far bigger than the villages from every other area they've been to (excluding Carnivilia), and much bigger than he was expecting to be a village. Kellie, however, was just taking in the sights with wide, eager eyes. "Wooow! This place is gihugic! You think these people know where the Leaf Village is?"

"This is the Leaf Village. Finding this place was the easy part. The real hassle is finding the temple. So let's find whoever's in charge, do a little test-thingy that requires finding three of something, learn the song to enter the temple, and then do the temple."

"Hey, how did you know we'd have to do all that?" Kellie asked as they started walking down a street. "Are you psychic?"

"Not unless this ninja was a psychicbender; otherwise, I'm closer to fire. But since I didn't have a chance to try out this form in the dream world, let's see if any of these people know anything about being a ninja." Right away, they spotted a random child reading a book titled Ninja Training in the Hidden Leaf (in Japanese) and walked over to him. "Hey, kid. Is that a ninja training guide?"

"Um… yeah?"

"You studying to be a ninja?" Cheren smirked.

"Um… I guess so."

"Great! Then refresh my memory: what can these ninja guys do?"

The child stood in thought for a few seconds before pointing upward. "You see those Hidden Leaf symbols on the buildings?"

Cheren looked up and saw what was apparently the village symbol along the rooftop ledges. "Yah?"

"It says that you can leap to any ledge that has that symbol, and hang on to it."

"Don't I already have a tool that can latch onto targets?" Cheren asked. "That's pointless."

"Wait! It says more." The kid spoke up, eyes fixed on the book. "It says if there's another symbol nearby, you can leap to it, and make sort of a Wall Jump chain. You can also camouflage yourself in some areas and sneak up on enemies, and you have shurikens that can explode."

"Is that what being a ninja is about? I thought it'd be a bit more complicated; like spiritually and days of endless training."

"Huh? Oh no, this is a guide to a game that came out in March; if you wanna know how to be a real ninja, you should go to the academy."

"Ehh, I'll just go with the game guide. Thanks, kid." Cheren patted the kid's head before walking away.

Kellie followed her ninja-transformed friend with a look of confusion. "Umm… Cheren?"

"Yeah?"

"I thought you didn't know Japanese."

"I don't. But he was speaking English."

"No he wasn't!"

"Yes he was, that was clear English."

"IT WAS JAPANESE!"

"How would that…" However, when Cheren looked around at all the large Japanese signs, they suddenly appeared as pure English to his eyes. "Hey… I can read Japanese! Well, when I'm in this form, anyway."

"Cool! You think he used that headband to cheat on his language tests?"

"Probably… not." They stood in thought for a few seconds before a thought occurred to Cheren. "Hey, Kellie. Why did you want to come here, anyway? You don't look like someone who'd be into this ninja stuff." But then again, this is Mr. Beatles' daughter I'm talking to. Unless he's different in this universe.

"No. But I wanna be a ballerina when I'm older! And I heard this place has the best ballet school in Japan!"

"So they have something aside from ninja training?"

"They also have Rainbow Monkeys here they don't sell anywhere else! I wanna bring a few home!"

"You do that. I'm trying out this form." Cheren looked to one of the many symbols atop the roofs and took a tremendous leap to one. Already feeling the rush, he started leaping around every building in the village. "Ha ha! Batman and Mr. York got no dibs on this!"

Gotham City

During one of his regular scouting missions, Batman was reading this fanfic with disappointment. "Sigh…there's another one." He added Cheren's name in the list of People to beat the snot out of for ripping off my look, under Nolan York's name.

Hidden Leaf Village; Rainbow Monkey shop

"THIS one's the most adorablest!" Kellie exclaimed, cheerfully hugging a Rainbow Monkey with a ninja outfit to her chest. However, another one caught her attention. "No, THIS one's the adorablest!" She gasped widely. "No, THIS ONE is the adorablest!"

The shopkeeper, a man with a wide, creepy forced grin, watched her as he said, "They are all quite fascinating, dear girl! Why not buy them all?" And quit holding up my LINE.

Kellie searched her pockets. "Oopsie… I forgot to bring money."

"THEN WHAT GOOD ARE YOU TO ME?!"

And in a flash, Kellie was thrown out of the shop, landing face-first against the ground.

On Cheren's end, the ninja boy excitedly leaped around the many buildings. The ninja was able to leap at quite a long range, depending on where the targets were of course, and he was also able to hang on to the symbols and stick to the walls like a chameleon. "Definitely the best mask I've found so far." he decided. "But I should probably try to learn a little more about this Puppet Clan. Who runs this village, anyhow…" After skimming the village for a short time, he spotted a building with a red roof, designed like three domes, that almost looked like a mansion. There were guards outside the building, and the Japanese symbol on the front could be translated as "Hokage".

Feeling like this could've been the mayor-or-something's house, Cheren leaped into the building's courtyard and onto the roof. He crouched down and crawled to the roof's ledge as he hung his head by the window. He saw a group of ninja inside an empty room, and they appeared to be talking to someone he couldn't see. "Five of our men were found unconscious in the forest, and we have found no sign of Konohamaru." a ninja with bushy eyebrows spoke.

Konohamaru? Could this be THAT ninja? Cheren thought to himself.

"You think he was captured by the Puppet Walkers?" a female ninja asked.

"No." The unseen person, a calm-voiced man, responded. "The Puppet Walkers possess anyone they overpower on the spot; and if he was taken to their hideout, our spies at the shrine would've noticed. Something else must've happened to him…"

"Something else doesn't add up." a third, male ninja said. "When we examined the ninja unconscious in the forest, they were still alive. And if the Puppet Clan possesses anyone on the spot, something else must've defeated them."

Guilty. Cheren thought.

"You're right, Shikamaru. Someone else must be in the village. But we don't know if they're friend or foe. Keep an eye out for any suspicious types."

Cheren quickly lifted his head up and crawled back on the roof. "Hmm. I better be careful. I'd hate to get on these guys' bad side. Have another problem to deal with. Huh?" He suddenly noticed a strange rustling in the trees along the hillside. Cheren leaped over and followed the rustling, seeing it was a strange, wooden child with an orange raggedy shirt, yellow shorts, and an orange hat, all made out of straw. The creature also had tiny bright red eyes.

Cheren chased the creature all the way up the mountain monument, watching as it hurried into an opening in the forest. Curiosity overcoming him, he chased the Skull Kid. (Play the "Sacred Grove" theme from Zelda: Twilight Princess.)


Stage 22: Lost Woods

Mission: Chase the mysterious Skull Kid.

Cheren wound up in a calm, quiet, mystical forest, where dim sun rays shone through the trees. As he took his first steps inside, the Skull Kid himself appeared just a few feet away. The strange being carelessly danced around as it played a wooden ocarina. When the creature took notice of Cheren, it played a long, hard note into the ocarina, summoning a squad of Puppet Walkers. Cheren threw a series of quick kunai knives at the puppets, using his agile ninja form to slip away as they tried to grab him. He tossed a shuriken to chop the heads off a row of puppets, and afterwards flipped behind the last one to rip its head off.

After wiping them out, Cheren quickly noticed the Skull Kid had run off. He dashed down a path between the woods, but quickly came to a fork in the road. He decided to run to the right, in which he came to an area where there was a path on his right, and a path down below. He decided to jump to the lower path and head through, but to his surprise, he ended up back at the start. Or at least, it bared a resemblance to the starting area. He ran through and came to the same two-way fork from before. He decided to take the left path, and he ended up at the start again.

That's when another group of Puppet Walkers ambushed him, so Cheren leapt around and started throwing kunai. The Puppet Walkers didn't prove much a match as Cheren took them out. He hurried down the first path, then took the right road. He was about to take the next path on his right, but he suddenly noticed a ledge above with a Hidden Leaf symbol. He leapt onto that ledge and pulled himself up to find a third path. He followed it and came to a pond area, where the Skull Kid was dancing to his ocarina on a higher ledge.

Cheren got in the water and swam around to find a lower ledge, but it was too high to grab onto. He looked back at the shore and noticed the leaf-boat plant dangling over the water. He swam back and reverted to a human to water the plant with his S.Q.W.I.R.T.. As the leaf grew into a boat, a squad of Puppet Walkers appeared to the Skull Kid's call. Cheren let the monsters surround him before performing a spin attack, wiping them out in one fell swoop. Afterwards, he used the leaf-boat to gently cross the water, arriving at the ledge for him to climb onto where the Skull Kid waited. Unnoticed by the Skull Kid, Cheren successfully struck him in the back.

The Skull Kid jumped down to the lower path and ran further through the woods. Cheren followed him along the path, only to find himself on a ledge over a chasm. There was an opening down on his right, but there was a platform with a pathway above him, too, as well as a third one in a corner. Cheren switched to ninja form to leap to the symbol on the right wall, and from there leap to the upper path. Immediately, a squad of Puppet Walkers appeared, so he reverted to human to wipe the puppets away with a spin attack. Regardless, he still wasn't sure which path was the right path. Before he made a decision, Fi jumped out with a report.

"Master Cheren, I have new information to report."

"Well, what else is new?"

"The instrument the Skull Kid holds is an ocarina, Master. Listen closely for the notes the ocarina creates. The path where these notes can most be heard is likely the path the Skull Kid has ran."

"Hmm… good tip." Cheren went to stand by the path he was currently at, looming an ear close to listen for the notes. Not hearing them well enough, he jumped over the ledge and threw open his Pirate Sail to glide to the path in the corner. He took land along the ledge and heard the ocarina notes much stronger. He followed that path and came to a new area, which had four different paths on four different levels, each on top of the other. The lowest path Cheren could just jump down to, and use a ladder to get back up. The second lowest Cheren could glide to with the Sail. The one above it had a Hookshot target for him to latch to, and the last one above that had a Hidden Leaf symbol.

Cheren became a ninja and leapt to the highest path, but he quickly took notice of the strange tunnel on the ceiling. The tunnel had vines growing along the walls, vines that the Hookshot could grab onto. Cheren became a human and climbed down to the second-highest path to get a good angle, using his Hookshot to latch onto the vines and pull himself to the tunnel. As suspected, the ocarina notes could be heard fairly well, and as he climbed the cramped tunnel, they only got stronger. Cheren had to dodge around the vines as rocks dropped down from above. As he drew closer to the top, he could see the Skull Kid happily swinging upside-down, his legs wrapped around a plum dangling from the ceiling.

Cheren made it into an opening along the tunnel wall, in which he had a good angle to stand and shoot the Skull Kid. He pulled out his bow and shot the Skull Kid directly, sending him falling down the long tunnel to the ground below, along with the plum. The creature recovered from his thud and ran down a newly opened path as Cheren dropped down as well.

Cheren grabbed the plum and followed the Skull Kid, ending up at another area with a wide chasm. A wooden, circular device sat over the chasm as it spun around, and the four ends around the circle had spikes with skulls on them. However, one of the spikes was empty, so Cheren was able to throw the plum onto it. He waited for the circle to loop around again before jumping on the plum. Around the chasm were four pathways which the plum platform passed by in a loop. Cheren jumped onto and checked each one, but neither of them had music sounding out. When Cheren looped around again, he noticed an out-of-place ledge on the wall between two of the paths.

He leapt onto this ledge and found an Arrangement Pad. He turned into Sackboy and got an overview of the chasm, and was able to grab and lift the spinning device higher, realizing there was a second level of this area. When he got out of Rearrangement State, he wondered how to get to the second floor. He soon noticed the Hidden Leaf symbols around the area and became his ninja form. The Leaf symbols led upward, allowing Cheren to Ninja Leap his way to the second floor. He stopped and grabbed hold of the last symbol, waiting for the plum platform to come around. When it did, he made a successful leap onto it, gaining him access to four more paths. He jumped off at a random path and immediately heard the music sounding from it.

The next area was another chasm with several wind currents blowing up from it. Simple enough, all Cheren had to do was glide around using the Pirates' Sail and check each of the four pathways. However, when he checked all four, none of them had music sounding from them. He didn't see any second floor to this room, or any area below. However, he released his grip on the Sail a little to get lower, and when he was near the chasm, he heard faint notes coming from it. This gave him the crazy idea to drop down and plummet to the dark chasm. To his total shock and relief, he landed on solid ground, hurting his legs a little in the process.

The chasm was still too dark to see, so Cheren became a wolf to get a grip on his surroundings. He found a secret, pitch-black cave and wandered around, the ocarina sounds becoming louder and louder. As he kept aimlessly wandering, he stumbled upon the Skull Kid himself, immediately slashing him with his wolf fangs. The Skull Kid cowered away immediately and escaped through a new opening, which let light into the area.

Cheren followed him down a staircase to another water area. There was no other way to go except the tunnel beneath the surface, so Cheren dove under and began to swim through. He swam into a wide underwater cavern with several tunnels and a Froak swimming around. The tunnel in the farthest corner was blocked with boulders, and when Cheren swam by it, he heard the ocarina notes sounding from behind (strange since they were underwater). However, the Froak was all the way at the cave's entrance, so Cheren had to swim over and lure it to the rocks (having to grab an air bubble along the way). The slow puff-fish took its time, but Cheren was able to lure it over and bash it into the rocks, blowing them open.

He resurfaced and found himself in a small area with five different paths. From left to right, it was a long jump over a chasm, a path with unstable platforms over a chasm, a ledge with a Hidden Leaf symbol, a path blocked by a flame wall, and a ledge with a thin, wavy crack below it. There was also a stone tablet by him, which read, From first to last. Remember your journey. Cheren wasn't entirely sure what it meant… maybe this part of the maze was different from the others. He first decided to choose the path on the very left, turning into wolf form to leap to the platform over the chasm, then to the continuing path.

To his total anger and annoyance, he ended up at the very beginning of the maze. He mentally smacked himself, having to make his way through the whole maze again. When he finally arrived at the 5-way intersection again, he studied the tablet more closely. Remember your journey… he noticed that each path required a different mask. He put on his Kateenian Mask and leapt over the chasm with unstable platforms, ending up in a similar area. He then became Sackboy and unraveled into a single strand to slither up the crack to the path on the ledge. This led him to the same area again, where he then became a wolf and leaped over the long-jump chasm. The fourth mask was Slag's, so he became the chubby captain and passed through the flaming wall in the fourth area. Finally, the only one left was Ninja, so he switched to his ninja form and leaped onto the ledge with the Leaf symbol.

Cheren was brought to a wide, circular enclosing of the forest with several ruins laying about. The Skull Kid stood upon a thin platform in the center, mindlessly playing his ocarina. He immediately noticed Cheren when he dropped onto the arena's ground. He flinched and, not seeing any other path to go, blew in his ocarina to summon more Puppets.

Sub-boss: Skull Kid

The Puppet Walkers were sent after Cheren as the Skull Kid leapt to one of the platforms on the ground. Cheren took his time in doing away with the Puppets before turning his attention on the Skull Kid. He tried to run and strike, but the Skull Kid was quick to leap to one of the platforms along the walls.

As the Skull Kid summoned more Puppet Walkers, Cheren noticed all of the Leaf symbol targets around the highest part of the wall. He tossed an exploding shuriken to distract the Puppets before leaping up to one of the symbols, then started Ninja Leaping above the arena. He stopped and gripped one of the symbols as he stared down at the Skull Kid, who looked confused as to where he went. Cheren leaped to the symbol across from the Skull Kid before leaping over and knocking him down directly.

The Skull Kid recovered and shook from the dizziness before leaping down to one of the floor platforms. From the angle the platforms sat, Cheren figured he couldn't ambush him from above; not to mention the Skull Kid started looking around upward. Cheren wiped out the newest round of Puppet Walkers before thinking of a way to sneak up on Skull Kid. He saw there were plenty of ruins to hide behind, so he used them to his advantage to make his way closer, moving a bit closer whenever the Skull Kid looked away. However, the Skull Kid summoned more Puppet Walkers which took notice of Cheren, alerting the Skull Kid to his location and causing him to retreat to another platform.

Cheren beat the puppets away again before starting to think of a plan to catch him. He searched around in the ninja's pockets before pulling out a strange cloak. When he held it up, it seemed to blend in with the environment around it like some invisibility cloak. He used this to his advantage when sneaking up on the Skull Kid a second time. When he summoned the Puppets, Cheren used his cloak as he lay flat on the ground to blend in with the environment. He was eventually able to make it to Skull Kid, flipping onto his platform to kick him.

The Skull Kid leapt to a random spot in the field and summoned more Puppets. As Cheren took them on, the Skull Kid only ran around the field of ruins, and when Cheren tried to get close, the Skull Kid leaped to the opposite end. Cheren pulled out a kunai knife and decided to use a different tactic: after taking out the Puppet Walkers, Cheren kept a reasonable distance as he tried to stay behind the Skull Kid. When the Skull Kid stopped to look around, Cheren quickly threw the kunai knife and stuck the creature into a wall by his shirt. Unable to shake away, Cheren ran and dealt the final kick against the creature.

The Skull Kid only sported a smile as it recovered from his attack. He jumped and vanished in thin air as the forest began to shine brighter. "Heeheehee! What fun!" the child giggled.

A new path was opened on one end of the arena. Cheren removed his Hidden Leaf Headband and returned to human form before seeing where this path led. (End song.)

Cheren came to a more peaceful, sunny area of the forest, hearing only the sound of wind rustling through the trees, and calm ocarina notes filling the air. The Skull Kid sat all by his lonesome on a tree stump, freely playing his ocarina like always. Cheren quietly approached from behind and stood patiently until he finished his song. When the Skull Kid's instrument silenced, he turned to face Cheren.

Cheren only stared weirdly as the Skull Kid sniffed him and laughed playfully. "Heeheeheehee! You have the same smell as him! The fairy boy from the woods! Well, almost like him. He wore masks like you do."

"You mean… Link?"

"That was his name. I think. People called him a lot of names. I was never really sure. But he did turn into weird things. By putting on masks. It was like he was a whole different person. When he wore that mask. People saw him as that person."

"Well… he did become that person, didn't he? Because those peoples' souls were-"

"Not just them. Others, too. Like that froggy. So no one knew who he was. Many different names. Different faces."

"The heart of the masks…" Cheren thought aloud, remembering what the Mask Man said.

"You could say that. He did many great things with those masks. Righted many wrongs. Won many hearts. (Literally and fig.) Righted my wrongs. When my heart was stolen."

"Stolen? Your wrongs?"

"I wear mask, too. Evil mask. Caused much pain. But friends forgive."

"You mean you wore… Majora's Mask?"

"Mm-hm. Evil mask evil. Heart of darkness. Was saved by him. And big friends forgive. And stop evil."

"'Big friends'… the Giants?"

"Big friends stop evil. But not without Link's help. Or whatever the name. But scary mask back again, huh?"

"Yeah… it's possessed a friend of mine."

"Mmm. But things not feel so bad now. Maybe something different. Mask find… special body."

"Don't remind me…" Cheren sighed. "But, wait… you've worn Majora's Mask before. What did Majora do?"

"Hmmmm. Don't remember. Mind too foggy. Only made of wood, after all. But I remember him needing something. Pretty ocarina."

"You mean… that one?" he pointed to his wooden ocarina.

"No no. Other one. More shiny. Very special. Controlled time."

"It… controlled time?"

"Mask thing need it. Used it with his power. Controlled time. I dunno."

"And Miyuki's a timebender…" Cheren began to think, "and that means he DOES need her power for something. Er, but how did you and Majora get to this dimension? Or were you already…?"

"Took big doorway. Underground. After making boy Deku."

"The same one he tried to take before." Cheren remembered. "So then… we still don't know how he got here this time."

"I dunno either. Neither did Link. Place was mysterious. How's anything happen?"

"Heh heh heh." Cheren remembered something else. "Oh yeah, those Puppet Walkers… were you the one controlling them?"

"A little. They just came. They like ocarina. They bother you?"

"Well, not really… but they're terrorizing the town. I thought maybe they came from you."

"Noooo. Maybe. I like playing. I can never remember it all. Maybe check temple."

"Temple?"

"There's temple somewhere. Somewhere hidden. I dunno where. Maybe use this?" he held up what looked like a ballerina's dress.

"Where'd you get this?" Cheren asked, taking it.

"I found it. At school. Inside locker. Dunno who lost it. You want?"

"Umm… no. But I know someone who might. Nice meeting you." Cheren hurried back to the Hidden Leaf Village.

Village Hidden in the Leaves

As Cheren exited the forest, he realized he was at the top of the massive mountain monument. He carefully stepped closer to the monument's ledge, gaping at the amazing view of the village below. His eyes and smile grew wide at how high he had gotten just from chasing that Skull Kid. He heard a 'ribbit' sound all of a sudden and looked to see an orange frog hopping on one of the monument's heads. He put on his Don Gero Mask and went over to speak to the frog. The frog mentioned the name 'Don Gero', but everything else he said was in complete Japanese. Since Cheren couldn't wear the Don Gero Mask and Ninja Headband at the same time, he would never know what the frog was saying. Regardless, it seemed to work as the frog vanished in a puff of smoke.

When Cheren went back to staring at the vast horizon, he just couldn't resist what he was about to do next. He grabbed his Pirate Sail, leapt over the edge, and threw it open, gliding high above the village as if he was a skydiver. As far as he remembers, this is probably the most exciting thing he's done on his journey. Flying what felt like several hundred meters in the air really gave him that sense of adventure.

Slowly, Cheren sunk lower and lower before his feet touched the ground on some random street. "There you are!" He turned around at this familiar girly shout. "Where've you been, Cheren?" Kellie asked with her usual cheery smile, carrying tons of souvenirs. "After I remembered I had some money, I bought loads of things! By the way, do you have a credit card?"

Cheren sighed. "Anyway, I got you a little something of my own." he said, showing her the ballerina dress.

Kellie gasped excitedly, dropping all of her other items. "My own ballet tutu?!" she exclaimed, taking it and twirling around. "Where did you get this?!"

"From a… friend in the woods. Well, put it on!"

Kellie hurriedly fit the dress around her waist. "It fits! (Though there's something weird about it.) Oh well WHEEEEEEEEE!" When Kellie attempted to twirl, she was suddenly spinning around at high speeds. When she came to a stop, she became dizzy, wearing a goofy smile. "That was cra-a-azy-y-y-y."

"Heheheh. You'll have plenty of fun with that." Cheren chuckled.

Kellie got the ballerina's dress! Her dream as a ballerina has come true, sorta! Her ability to spin like a whirlwind will dazzle most enemies! Oh, and she can float, too! (But both people can use the Sail, so it doesn't matter.)

"そのことですか？ (Is that them?)"

"ええ、彼らは、この法案に合う。 (Yeah, they fit the bill.)"

The two raised their brows at some Japanese voices, turning to find three ninjas, which Cheren recognized as the three he eavesdropped on. "子供たちは、あなた誰？ (Who are you kids?)" the ninja, Shikamaru asked.

"Uhh, 'scuse me a sec." Cheren said as he threw on his Hidden Leaf Headband, becoming a ninja before their eyes.

The three's eyes widened. "Ko…Konohamaru?" Shikamaru asked.

"Umm, I guess so." Cheren replied. "That was, uhh, one of my new transformation jujus."

"But I thought you really WERE Chere- OOP!" Cheren bonked Kellie on the head.

"Lies!" the bushy-browed ninja exclaimed. "You are not Konohamaru! Any trained ninja would recognize that brown hair as…er, an imposter!"

"Am I really that obvious?" Cheren remarked.

"State who you are! And what you've done with Konohamaru!" the female ninja demanded, raising a kunai knife.

"Would you let me go if I told you I healed his soul, and now it's in his headband?"

"I see. So by trapping his soul, you were able to take his form by wearing his headband." the bushy-browed deduced. "What power is this?"

"I'm not sure if we should take him to Hokage." the female said. "His powers might be too dangerous."

"Nah, they're pretty limited in most areas." Cheren remarked.

"We shall take him anyway." Bushy-Brows said. "Keep your guards up and do not let him try anything."

"Can I come, too?" Kellie asked cheerfully.

"Umm…I guess so." the female replied.

"Yaaay!"

Hokage's Residence

The two were escorted to the Hokage's office, which was the room Cheren was previously spying on. They stood in an empty room with a flat, wooden floor, before a desk with a crystal ball. Behind the desk was a man with messy silver hair and reserved eyes above his ninja mask. He wore a white and red robe.

The man sat silently with his hands folded, staring curiously at Cheren, who bared close resemblance to the ninja named Konohamaru. "Lord Kakashi!" the bushy-brow ninja spoke. "This boy was the one who defeated our ninja in the woods! He has the strange ability to imprison peoples' souls and take their forms. And this girl is…er, his less-remarkable partner."

"Hey!" Kellie yelled.

"Boy, you guys learn fast." Cheren remarked.

The Hokage calmly stood and walked around the desk. "…You can relax, Tenten. These two aren't evil. They didn't kill anyone, did they?"

"Well, she did." Cheren gestured at Kellie.

"I did not, the puppet did!" she snapped back.

Cheren chuckled. "Anyway, your friend was stabbed by one of those Puppet Walkers. I played this song and healed his soul; which sort of involved trapping it in his headband. It's a long story, and… I don't even get most of it."

"Hmm…I see." Kakashi looked down with remorse. "So, Konohamaru is no longer with us."

"Well, unless you count spiritually."

"Well… as long as we have you to fill in for him… maybe we have a chance. A few days ago, this little girl in a mask went to the Naka Shrine. She broke the three elemental seals inside and awakened the Puppet Clan."

There we go. Cheren thought when he heard the word 'three.'

"The Puppet Clan is an ancient race that seeks to control the world by robbing everyone of their free will. We've done our best to fight back, but the puppets keep resurrecting. We think they're being controlled themselves, by another force. Coincidentally, a group of monsters have moved into the Sarutobi Tower, so we think the force might be coming from there."

"SO," Cheren said immediately, "we have to go into this Naka Shrine, get the three seals back, use them to hold back the Puppet Clan and then learn a special song that opens the path to the tower, where we will defeat the source of the monsters and save the day. Right?"

Kakashi was speechless at how quickly he figured all of that. "Um… yes."

"GREAT! Then point us to the shrine so we may do so!" Cheren exclaimed with fake enthusiasm.

"Um…it's this way." Kakashi made an anime sweatdrop, leading the two outside.

"He has Konohamaru's spirit, that's for sure." Tenten commented.

Outside the Naka Shrine

Kakashi guided the two to an area in the woods, not far from the village, with a small building. Inside was just a small, dim concrete room with a stone slab laying on the other side. "This shrine used to be a meeting place for a certain family in the village. It was also where we keep the Puppet Clan sealed. We normally keep the entrance closed so not many get out. The seals are still down there, too, so-"

"Yeah, yeah, just open the cruddy thing." Cheren interrupted.

Kakashi approached the slab and performed some kind of jutsu that caused the slab to slide to the left, revealing a staircase into a dark dungeon. "After you bring the seals back to the sealing room, they'll reveal the song that opens the way to the tower. Be careful in there."

Nodding affirmably, Cheren and Kellie began their venture into the dungeon. (Play the "Shadow Temple" Theme from Zelda: Ocarina of Time.)


Stage 23: Naka Shrine

Mission: Find and return the three elemental seals.

Cheren and Kellie passed through a dark, dank tunnel and came to a fork with three different paths. Each path had a symbol on the wall beside it: water symbol on the left, fire symbol right, and air symbol in the middle. There were also Warp Gates beside each one, deactivated at the moment. They decided to take the left path first, going down a few ledges that led progressively lower in the cave. Their first little trial appeared to be a narrow hallway with several puddles of water, formed by the tiny droplets that came from the ceiling. On the other side was a giant Blue Bubble, the skull alit with a big blue flame. It was turned away from them at the moment, but when it turned and spotted the two, it shot over and burned them with its fire.

They recovered and watched the Bubble fly back. When it turned around, Cheren was able to hide him and Kellie with the cloak. When it turned away, they took this time to sneak over quietly, but when Cheren took a tiny step in a puddle, the Bubble heard the splash and shot over to push them back. Seeing their slipup, the two repeated the process again, hiding whenever the Bubble looked over, and careful not to step in the puddles. When they reached the Bubble, it was still turned away as Cheren quickly reverted to human form and used a shield bash to knock it out of its fire. Cheren sliced the Bubble and destroyed it, and the two pressed on.

They came to a cylindrical room where a path led around the room, downward over a chasm. They followed the path as Skulltula ambushed them from the ceiling, the giant spiders frightening both Kellie and Cheren. Cheren defeated them like usual by flipping them on their backs and stabbing them, and they continued as the path led them to a wider open cave (though in retrospect, they could've used the Sail to float down there).

The ground was covered with spikes, but there were three open square areas in the spikes with pink, circular pads with flower designs on them. The pads were slowly rotating, so they probably meant for Kellie to use her twirl attack. The Asian girl ran at the right wall, jumped, and kicked off to use the dress's hovering ability. She landed on the first square and spun rapidly on the Flower Pad, making the surrounding spikes sink below. This allowed Cheren to cross to where she was, and when she stopped spinning, the spikes returned. Cheren held his hands open for Kellie to leap off, allowing her to float to the pad on the right side.

She spun and deactivated the spikes around her, letting Cheren cross over. Blocking their way forward was a large fence, and the entrance on the left side was sealed with metal bars. When Cheren reached the right side, he noticed the small opening and stepped inside, finding an eye switch inside the gate. He shot the eye with an arrow and unsealed the gate. He jumped back to where Kellie was as the girl wall-kicked off the fence and floated to the left Flower Pad, spinning to make the spikes sink. However, the spikes from the right side got in Cheren's way, so he had to use the Sail to glide from the ledge in the fence over to Kellie. He couldn't get back there with the spikes in the way, so Kellie had to float over to him and put the spikes down again.

When both had made it over to the left, there was a clear path that led to the door, giving them easy entry. They didn't walk far before they suddenly slipped down a slope into a great, wide pit. They fell with a thud on the bottom, seeing there were plenty of Leaf symbols around the wall, on different levels. They saw the Flower Pad on the ground and Kellie went to activate it. The pad came out like a screw as Kellie spun on it, causing water to flood the room from below it. Cheren became a ninja and quickly leaped to one of the Leaf symbols, watching from above as the water filled partway up the pit. It was at level with a ledge with another Flower Pad, but electric eels swam out of some open gates and aimed to shock Kellie.

Cheren kept his position above the water and threw kunai knives at the eels as Kellie swam over to the Flower Pad ledge. It didn't take long until she made it, doing a Ballet Twirl to unscrew the pad and flood the room some more. Cheren was caught in the water this time, having to revert back to human, and when the water stopped rising, they saw there was a tunnel still UNDER water, likely leading to the next pad. They both dove under and swam through the tunnel, where Cheren had to take out Froaks in the way using a Torpedo Spin. Their air was also pretty limited, since there were no air bubbles, but the tunnel didn't go too far before they made it to a safe ledge with the Flower Pad.

Kellie spun on the pad, and the pit flooded the rest of the way. The tunnel had an exit directly upwards, allowing them to swim out easily. They reached the surface and climbed onto a ledge with a stone pedestal sitting by the wall. A dark-blue spherical gem sat on the pedestal, and it looked like the Water Seal. The inscription on the pedestal read, Revive the seal with its element. This likely meant for Cheren to squirt it with the S.Q.W.I.R.T..

The sphere brimmed light blue as water flowed through it, making it theirs to collect. On the left wall was a deactivated Warp Gate with a crystal switch beside it. Cheren struck the switch and activated the gate, giving them a shortcut to the start. This time, they took the right path, which was apparently the Fire trial. It was another narrow hallway, similar to the previous, but it led to a wall where the path above was cluttered with rocks. There was a Leaf symbol below the rocks, but it didn't help in getting rid of them, and M.A.R.B.L.E.s wouldn't reach that high. However, Cheren remembered his ninja form had exploding shurikens, so he became a ninja and tossed one up to blow the rocks away.

He then Ninja Leaped onto the ledge and used the Hookshot to pull Kellie up to him. The path led downward into a small room covered in small flames. They had to walk around a narrow, snaky path between the flames to reach a stone tablet, which read, The light can only be found within the darkness.

Cheren's sword starting flashing just then, so he answered Fi's call. "Master, I have a report. I have examined Kellie's dress, and it appears to be made with an air-like substance, which enables her to spin so quickly. I conjecture this substance also allows her to spin fast enough to quickly put out flames. I'd suggest using this to your advantage."

"On it. Kellie?" Kellie spun around the room like a whirlwind. The flames caught on her dress as it burned in a Hunger Games fashion, cleaning the entire room of them as it turned darker and darker. They saw that one of the walls had a crack in it with light peeping in, so Cheren fired a M.A.R.B.L.E. at it to blow open the path. It led to a similar room with torches lined up in a particular, snaky N-like shape. The room that followed was a wider open cave in which the floor was covered with the small flames. Slag Cheren could withstand flames, but they seemed to go too far to make it, plus the fence door on the other side was sealed with bars.

However, they reentered the torch room and memorized the particular pattern, feeling it might be a solution. They went to the flaming cave and Kellie began rapidly spinning through the flames, trying to leave a trail that matched the lineup of the torches. This plan succeeded as all the flames vanished, and the gate opened. Behind the fence was the pedestal with the Fire Seal. Cheren launched a Fire Arrow at the seal and made the sphere alight with orange. They activated the nearby Warp Gate and warped back to the start.

Lastly, they took the middle path, which was the Air trial. Already, they were brought to a wide open cave where Puppet Walkers ambushed them. The Puppets were stronger than the ones from the Lost Woods, but Cheren was able to take them out in seconds. There was also a Beamos in the cave, a one-eyed sentry that stood in one place as its eye slowly rotated. Cheren shot the Beamos with an arrow, but it didn't penetrate, then he tried to use a bomb, but it seemed immune.

As a backup plan, Cheren decided to have Kellie spin around the sentry. The Beamos spotted her and began firing its laser, its eye spinning faster as it tried to chase her. It eventually spun so fast that its eye popped out and exploded, opening the sealed door ahead. Behind was a room with a great wide chasm. There was a Leaf symbol hanging from the ceiling by a pole over the ledge, so Cheren jumped to it in his ninja form. Kellie spun on the nearby Flower Pad and made the pole lift upward and turn and move toward another symbol, which Cheren jumped to. Kellie stopped spinning and jumped over the ledge to float to a platform with another Flower Pad. She spun on it to make the Leaf symbol face a higher ledge, allowing Cheren to leap to it. He became human and pulled Kellie up with the Hookshot.

The ledge had a Swap Pad and another Flower Pad. Kellie spun on the pad, and they lowered three poles that square panels, each lined up like a triangle. Kellie started to Triangle Jump her way up as the panels rised back upward. When they reached maximum height, Kellie floated to a ledge with the other Swap Pad. Both her and Cheren got on theirs and swapped places. Cheren launched his Hookshot down to pull Kellie back up, and the two climbed onto another ledge and continued.

They arrived at a straight, slightly narrow hallway with a large fan on the other side. Kellie tried to twirl her way through, but the winds were too strong. Instead, Cheren turned into Slag and lifted Kellie to carry her through, his heavy metal body unaffected by the fan's strength. Slag moved slowly, but they eventually made it as they dropped into a gap in the ground to a room below. This room had the Air Seal, but they don't recall having any items to make air. They instantly remembered Kellie's dress, so the Asian girl spiraled around the symbol, the wind from the dress making the sphere glow white.

They activated the Warp Gate and used it to return to the starting area. With all of the seals gathered, the ground opened to reveal a stairway, leading to a room with a large, stone circle with three slots on each side. Each slot had a symbol by it, meaning Water, Fire, and Air respectively, so Cheren placed each seal in its respective slot. The stone circle began to rotate slowly as the symbols glowed. (End song.)

"Is that all?" Cheren asked, unimpressed. "I expected a bit more."

"Ah well. I'll take a simple level between long ones." Kellie shrugged.

"Well… the song should be playing now. Let's get it over with."

Cheren pulled out the Spirit Flute and began to play along as the stone wheel emitted some kind of tune. The music sounded like a rock-and-roll, encouraging tune that echoed throughout the caves and outside of the shrine. The Puppet Walkers that dwelled throughout the forest began to lose their grip on the ninja slaves, feeling powerless to the echoing tune. The song came to an end shortly, and Cheren felt more empowered than ever.

You learned the Leaf Ninjas' Rock! Nothing grants encouragement more than hearing this! (Unless you heard something better. XP) This song opens the way to Sarutobi Tower! (And once it's open, it'll have no more use. )

Outside Sarutobi Tower

Night fell by the time the kids made their way out of the caves. Kakashi led them to another path through the woods, arriving at a ledge over a vast chasm of waterfalls, sort of like Niagara Falls. In the middle of the chasm sat a large platform with a massive tower, designed like an ancient Japanese palace. "That song was written a long time ago, to give encouragement to those who needed it." Kakashi explained. "Its notes contain powers that weaken those of the Puppet Walker Clan. You hit them pretty good, but we won't get rid of them until you destroy the monster in the tower. If you succeed, you'll have our gratitude, so feel free to ask us for anything. …But you think you can tell me where to get one of those flutes?"

"They are… sorta rare." was all Cheren could say.

"Hmm…oh well. Good luck." The Hokage left them to their business.

Cheren stood on the edge of the cliff and performed the song before the tower's imaginary ears. The tunes echoed across the roaring falls as slight tremors could be felt. Pillars rose up from the depths to where the kids were, making a pathway that led to the tower's entrance. They began to make their way across, but two of the pillars were too far apart from one another. There was a small platform with a Flower Pad, and when Kellie spun on it, it moved the platform over to the other pillar. The rest of the pillars were easy to cross, and on the last one, they had to use the Pirate Sail to glide to the massive pillar where the tower stood. They went up the wide stairs and entered the palace-like building, and the 5th​ dungeon began. (Play the "Dragon Road Night" theme from Sonic Unleashed.)


Dungeon 5: Sarutobi Tower

Mission: Destroy the source of the evil in the tower.

The inside of the tower had a flat, wooden floor and several Asian decorations lying around. There were a couple of Beamos around the room, but Kellie defeated them like before by spinning around the eyeball creatures and getting them dizzy, causing them to explode. The first door was locked, but there didn't appear to be any chests around. Cheren smashed the large, black pots in the corners, but didn't find a key, although he did find the first Stray Fairy, this time colored orange.

They saw there was a second floor above them, with only a narrow walkway around the sides of the room. There was a poster hanging from the ceiling by ropes, at level with the second floor, and it was perpendicular with one of those old Asian curtain panels on the floor. Across from that was a platform hanging from the ceiling, at level with the walkway, indicating what Kellie had to do. She ran and kicked off the curtain panel, then off the painting, and onto the platform, where she then leapt to the walkway. In one of the corners, she could see a small chest, which she ran to open to find a Small Key. She jumped down to Cheren and went to open the locked door, allowing them into the next room.

This room looked smaller in width, but was actually a bigger room divided by a wall in the center. There was an entrance to the parallel side in the wall on the other side of this room. There was also a wall of lasers piercing the wall in the center, aimed horizontally at the left wall. Cheren and Kellie were a little worried as to what these were, so they approached slowly as Cheren whooshed an arm by the top one. Nothing happened, so the two shrugged and walked through them. However, the entrance to the other side was immediately sealed with metal bars. They exchanged confused glances and walked through the lasers again, and the bars opened. They walked through again, and the bars shut, and this process just kept repeating until they got the gist of what was going on.

To help solve their dilemma, Fi emerged from the Master Sword. "Master, I am detecting One-way Beamos on the other side of this wall. As the name implies, it is a type of Beamos that only faces one set direction. Rather than attack, they act as a security system, shutting down the route ahead if a presence passes their vision. The route will only reopen if each of the presences passes through their vision again, from the opposite side."

"I get it… they still have the top unguarded. Can you Wall Jump, Kell?" Cheren asked.

"Okay!" The cheerful girl ran at the wall beside the lasers and kicked off, going over the exposed opening. Kellie grinned as she passed through the lasers from the opposite end, making them close the door. But when Cheren passed through, they tricked the door into opening. Cheren smiled ecstatically at this, and Kellie Wall Jumped over the lasers again to follow him. When they crossed to the other side of the room, they found the six Beamos' perfectly lined up and facing the center wall, each at different heights. The only way by was a tight opening on the very right; but the real problem was, there were lasers coming from the CEILING, too! There was a row of Beamos on the ceiling, making a perfect row of lasers aimed at the floor.

When they cut through the gap and passed the lasers, the door ahead sealed shut with metal bars. They came back through, and the bars reopened. Kellie tried to Wall Jump over the horizontal lasers, but passed through the ceiling lasers instead. The same result happened as she walked back through. They tried every way possible to solve this puzzle. Cheren tried walking through first, then having Kellie go to the previous side, Wall Jumping the lasers, then walking through, but they couldn't because the door to that side closes. Obviously, Cheren couldn't Wall Jump like Kellie… so the only way through was for ONE of them to pass. Cheren had Kellie go back to the previous side and Wall Jump the lasers, then pass through from the doors' end. This allowed Cheren to walk through from the other side, allowing the doors to open.

As Kellie hurried back to the other side, Cheren told her, "Sorry, Kell. I think only I can get through. We can't get both of us past."

"But you can't go in there alone!"

"I have to. But I'll come back for you, I promise. Hopefully, this dungeon might have something for this."

Trusting her safety, Cheren entered the next room without Kellie. The next room was rather small, and most of the middle was taken up by a sandpit. On Cheren's left was a sealed door with a Flower Pad in front of it, and another sealed door straight across from Cheren. When Cheren walked onto the pit, a circle of Leevers emerged and began closing in on him. Cheren simply did like before and wiped them all out with a spin attack. He noticed a slight crater in the sandpit and went into his wolf form to dig it up, finding a hidden switch. He stepped on the switch, opening the metal bars blocking the southern door. Cheren became human and entered this door, finding a small storage room with two big, brown hand monsters, called Floormasters.

The hands both turned green and lunged at the Uno child, but Cheren dodged to the side. He quickly struck the first hand, then dodged when the other tried to attack. He lunged at the second with a jump attack, then turned to do away with the previous. However, both hands broke into three smaller hands as a result, making six smaller hands. Two of them leapt onto and grabbed Cheren's neck, using all of their might to choke him, and Cheren struggled to pull them off as the others approached. He was able to yank them off and dodge-roll out of the way before performing a spin attack to wipe them out. Having defeated the monsters, a giant chest appeared in the center of the room. Cheren grabbed the item inside, and it was just what he suspected.

You got the Dungeon Map! Whaddyou wanna pa'ty or somethin'?

Cheren returned to the sandpit room and searched for another way to go. Above was another second floor area, with an eye switch on one of the ledges. Cheren shot the switch with an arrow, and the eye turned to reveal a Leaf symbol on the other side. He went into ninja form and leaped to the symbol to climb onto the second-floor walkway. From there, he could enter a northern door, appearing in a smaller room with a One-Way Beamos on the left side, and some kind of mirror statue sitting in the center. Near the top left corner of the room was a strange, blue eyeball. Cheren shot the eyeball with an arrow, but when he faced it, the eye closed immediately, and it would only reopen if Cheren looked away. Slightly confused, he had Fi examine it.

"Target locked: Eye Guardian. Similar to One-way Beamos, they serve as a security measure. The door is kept shut whenever a presence is sensed in the room. If said presence is facing the Eye Guard, it will shut itself to avoid possible harm. However, its eyes are very sensitive to light energy. I'd suggest finding a means of using this, Master."

"Simple enough…" Cheren figured, looking at the Beamos and mirror statue. Cheren saw a little path carved alongside the Beamos and he was able to push it, and when the laser touched the mirror, it bounced off onto the ceiling. It wasn't facing the eye, however, but there were handles on the sides of the statue which enabled Cheren to turn it. It was inches away from the Eye Guard, but wasn't at the right angle to touch it. Cheren had to move the Beamos a little further down to get the laser to aim directly at the eye. The laser aimed dead center on the eye, the Eye Guard began to well with tears and turn red before falling down and breaking.

The metal bars unsealed the door on the right of the room, and Cheren entered to find himself on an outside balcony. He had to jump to another balcony foothold over a short gap, but there were Beamos lasers lined up on the edge, aimed at the ceiling. He decided to jump through them, but this caused a large gate to seal the way ahead. He jumped back through, making the gate open, and looked up to find a Hidden Leaf symbol on the ceiling past the lasers. This still didn't help him, however, as he would trigger the lasers anyway. However, he noticed a small platform on the ceiling beyond the lasers, with an eye switch below it. He shot the switch, and the platform began to move back and forth in midair.

Cheren noticed it blocked the lasers whenever it came by, and it was also at a good alignment with the Leaf symbol from his view. He went into ninja form and leaped at the symbol when the platform blocked the laser, the foothold serving as the perfect shield to get across. There was nowhere else to go, but there was a Hookshot target on the balcony above. He pulled himself up there to find a door on this new balcony; but he saw another balcony foothold far across the roof, with a Beamos on it. When he tried to run across, he learned the roof was slipperier than it looked, and he was forced off the ledge, landing on the lower balcony. He latched his way back up again, figuring he'll know how to get there later; it's not like he COULD kill a Beamos, anyway.

He went in the door and ended up in a room with a larger sandpit, taking up almost the whole floor. The door was locked ahead, so he figured the key might be buried in the sand somewhere. He became a wolf and ran out to search the sand, but just as his feet touched the sand, something began to quickly burrow in his direction from underneath. When it reached him, a large, dark-yellow wormlike creature snapped Cheren in his mouth, the wolf-boy furiously shaking around until the creature spat him back on the safe foothold.

Cheren reverted to normal and had Fi examine the creature. "Target locked: Sandworm. As the name implies, it is a large worm that dwells underneath sandy areas. It waits for its prey to set foot on the sand and runs to strike instantaneously. A Sandworm is only vulnerable when it shows itself above the sand. Unfortunately, a Sandworm only reveals itself when it is confused as to where its prey has gone."

"I see." Cheren said, noticing all of the Hidden Leaf symbols above the pit. He switched to ninja form and leaped to one of the symbols, quietly dropping down on the sand. When he saw the Sandworm burrowing over, he quickly leaped to a symbol on the other side of the room. He held on tight and watched as the Sandworm surfaced below where he just was. As the worm looked around confusedly, Cheren tossed a shuriken that exploded and killed the beast.

Cheren dropped back on the sand, knowing it was safe, and went to retrieve the key the monster dropped. He opened the locked door and found himself in a small room with doors on each side. The door ahead was locked, the door on the right was sealed with metal bars, but the door on the left was open. There were also Beamoses standing guard around the room. There was no other way to go, so Cheren entered the left door. (Pause music.)

He ended up in a nearly pitch dark room as the door sealed with metal bars behind him. He only took a few steps before purple flames were thrown at him, Nerehc EiznekCm skidding to a stop in front of him. "I wasn't expecting a total stranger here; unless you're who I think you are."

Cheren pulled off his headband and reverted to human form as he readied his sword. (Play the "Dark Pit Battle" theme from Kid Icarus: Uprising.)


Sub-boss: Nerehc EiznekCm Onu

Cheren immediately jumped forward and started swinging his sword as Nerehc countered. Their little clash stopped when Nerehc shield-bashed Cheren, stunning him as Nerehc kicked him against the wall. Cheren defended when Nerehc tried to strike him when he was down, then tried to slash Nerehc, who back-flipped as Cheren got up. Cheren drew out his bow and tried to shoot him, but Nerehc protected with his shield. When Nerehc raised his shield, Cheren's eyes widened as his image reflected off it. "Is that… THE MIRROR SHIELD?"

"I found it." Nerehc said simply. "I figured it wouldn't hurt to get you in trouble with your mom after giving you a beating." Nerehc then tossed the shield at Cheren, who ducked as it returned to Nerehc like a boomerang. During Cheren's unguarded state, Nerehc sped over to throw more swings, but Cheren was quick to counter. There was a point when the two swords pushed against the other, with Nerehc slightly overpowering Cheren, but the Positive boy hit him with a shield bash and struck him while he was stunned.

Nerehc jumped back and began to wave his blade around as sparks surged through it. He charged an electric ball with his power and launched it at Cheren, who quickly bounced it back, but Nerehc kept knocking it back with his shield as this game of sword-tennis seemed to have no winner. "Ugh, this is hopeless!" Cheren proclaimed, deciding to knock the electric sphere to the side. Rather than hit the wall, however, the ball swung around to Nerehc's side, the Negative quickly turning and sending it back with his shield. It then came around Cheren's side, but he knocked it back, and Cheren got an idea as this repeated. When the ball came around at Cheren, he would knock it to go around Nerehc again. When Nerehc turned to bounce it, Cheren ran in to strike him while his guard was down. Nerehc defended from his strike, but ended up taking the shock from the sphere instead.

This allowed Cheren to get some easy hits off of him. He got several blows before Nerehc flipped behind him and swung his blade, but Cheren dodged behind Nerehc, who turned as both clashed their blades against the other. They were both able to score some hits off of the other before Nerehc suddenly leaped away. As Cheren searched the darkness for him, Nerehc suddenly jumped out and circled him in a ring of purple fire. The space inside was very tight, and being so close to the flames hurt Cheren's eyes. He tried to stay dead in the center as the circle slowly began to close in. Cheren began to sweat greatly, looking for a way out, but then remembered Slag could walk through flames. He threw on Slag's Mask and stepped through the purple flames quickly, in the opposite direction of where he saw Nerehc's shadow.

Nerehc watched the flames vanish, becoming confused when he saw no trace of Cheren. Nerehc kept his guard up and calmly searched the room for his counterpart. Unknown to him, Cheren became a ninja and used his cloak to blend with the floor. When Nerehc walked close, Cheren quietly crawled behind him and tackled him to the floor, dealing a series of rapid punches against him. Nerehc got to his feet as Cheren took off the Leaf Headband, defending from Nerehc's quick strikes again. When their swords came in contact once again, both counterparts used all their strength to push against the other. Sadly, Cheren was overpowered as his sword was sent flying into the wall. He tried to run and grab it, but Nerehc immediately slid in his way, making sure Cheren doesn't grab the sword.

"Not gonna happen!" Nerehc declared. The Negative charged an electric sphere and threw it at Cheren, who tried to bounce it back with his shield, but ended up taking the shock anyway. Nerehc smirked as he kept throwing fast electric balls at Cheren, who dodged as fast as he could. He tried rampantly to think of an item to counterattack those spheres. He reached in his pocket and the first thing he pulled out was his Empty Bottle. He gasped as another sphere was sent at him, so Cheren immediately took a swing with his bottle. To his and Nerehc's utter surprise, the ball was sent straight back. "What?!"

Nerehc took the painful shock as Cheren ran behind to grab his sword. Just as Nerehc became unstunned, he raised his blade to defend against Cheren's, but the Uno son knocked it out of his hand in one swing, making Nerehc fall to his knees. (End song.)

Nerehc started to pant heavily as he stared at his empty hand. "If only I hadn't almost drowned… I would've had you, Uno." Nerehc threw the Mirror Shield against the floor and sped over to grab his sword. "I guess I'll look for another way out of this dimension myself. Feel free to stay here if you want." He burst through the wall of the dark room and escaped, creating a hole with a light shining into it.

Cheren watched as little Pablo hurriedly ran toward the hole, using all the strength his little legs could muster to climb into it, going after Nerehc. Cheren only shook his head in disbelief before retrieving his stolen treasure. (Replay "Dragon Road Night" theme.)

You got the Mirror Shield! This is another one of the Three Sacred Treasures, along with the Master Sword! Its reflective surface can bounce back attacks and even reflect light! Despite that it's a mirror, this shield is impenetrable! (So sorry, old shield. :3)

Cheren then began to look for a way out of the dark room, seeing as the metal bars still sealed the door. However, he took notice of the strange sun-face on the wall across from the door. As he stepped into the new patch of light, his shield immediately began to bounce the light directly off. He smirked and redirected this light onto the sun switch, making it illuminate with a grin. The room's entrance opened, allowing Cheren outside.

Cheren didn't have anywhere else to go at the moment, so he made his way all the way back to the first floor, to the room with the One-way Beamos where Kellie waited. "There you are!" the girl yelled from the other side of the beams. "Do you know how long me and Left-Alone-In-A-Spooky-Dungeon Rainbow Monkey had to wait?"

Cheren chuckled playfully. "Just hang on." Cheren was able to use his shield to redirect the lasers at the Beamos. Despite the fact the lasers weren't deadly, they made the Beamos' tear before exploding. Cheren made sure to take them all out before Kellie could cross. However, as a result of defeating all of the Beamos, a chest appeared in the room, which contained a Stray Fairy. Kellie joined Cheren this time as they returned to the small sandpit room. There, Kellie stood on the Flower Pad and did her Ballerina Twirl to make the sealed door open.

Inside was another small storage room with a One-way Beamos on the left facing directly at the right. There was an Eye Guard in a corner of the room and a mirror facing it from the intersecting corner; but neither the mirror nor the Beamos was movable. Instead, Cheren used his Mirror Shield to redirect the laser at the mirror, making it bounce into the Eye Guard. The Eye Guard welled with tears before collapsing, causing a large chest to appear. What awaited inside came as no surprise to Cheren.

You got the Compass! You bring great honor to all compass-finders everywhere!

Cheren led Kellie up to the balcony area, where Cheren checked the map for any Stray Fairies. There was one on the floor above them, which Cheren recognized as the lone balcony with the Beamos on it. As they looked around for a way up, they found a pot in the corner with a strange sprout inside. Cheren watered the sprout with his S.Q.W.I.R.T., and it instantly grew into a Peahat. He held onto Kellie as he latched onto the Peahat with the Hookshot, letting the floating plant carry them to the third-floor balcony. The Beamos spotted them and immediately tried to shoot with its laser, but Kellie does her rapid twirl around the monster, making it dizzy and explode. A Stray Fairy came out as Cheren caught it, and the two made their way across the balconies.

When they returned to the larger sandpit room, Cheren saw there was a Stray Fairy marked on the map. It was buried in an area of the sandpit, so he became a wolf and hurried over to dig it up. He reverted to human and captured it before they continued to the room with the two Beamos. Kellie spun around the Beamos and wiped them out, causing the metal bars sealing the north door to open. They went outside and found their selves on a small balcony, on the backside of the tower. The parallel side of the balcony had a gap in the fence, but they couldn't see a visible platform below. Cheren studied the map and saw there WAS a platform on the first floor below, and that they might have to use the sail to glide to it. Cheren also noticed a Stray Fairy far to the left of where they were. The fairy was trapped in a bubble, so Cheren shot an arrow to pop the bubble, then used the Great Fairy Mask to call it over.

Kellie wrapped around Cheren as they jumped off and used the Pirate Sail to safely float onto the platform on the first floor. They went in the door and appeared in a small room with a Beamos. On the right side was an entrance to a hallway with several mirrors lined up along each side, with a mirror statue in the middle. Kellie was about to take out the Beamos, but Cheren held her back, suspecting it might have to do with a puzzle. They walked out to examine the hallway, which led to another open room with several mirror statues sitting around, each facing a different direction.

Cheren noticed the Eye Guard on the ceiling, as well as the mirror on the eastern wall, and one hanging on the ceiling that aimed right at the Eye Guard. Each of the statues had handles on them, so Cheren immediately realized what he had to do. He began turning each mirror to set up a possible path for the Beamos' beam, knowing he'd probably have to get the angling just right. Afterwards, he returned to the hall and had to push the statue over in front of the hall's entrance, so that the Beamos could hit it. With all that done, he ran in front of the Beamos and had it zap its laser at him. Cheren blocked with his Mirror Shield and bounced the laser into the hall's mirror, where it deflected and bounced off the other mirrors, and into the room where it made the series of ricochets off the mirror statues, successfully hitting the Eye Guard and destroying it.

This caused the metal bars protecting the door to open. They entered a smaller room with three Flower Pads and One-way Beamos that seemed to move back-and-forth in a set direction. One of the Beamos was on the left wall and aimed at the right as it moved along that wall. Another Beamos was on the ceiling near the other side, facing down and shifting left and right as it passed over a pad on the very left. The third Beamos was on the wall on the other side, facing the parallel side as it shifted up and down, in which the beam was over the third Flower Pad.

Cheren knew he had to defend Kellie from the beams as she spun the pads, but was curious as to what the beams would do, since the door was already sealed. Kellie happily skipped forward and let a beam pass her to find out. "AAAIIEE!" she screamed when trapdoors opened all over the floor, and Cheren quickly shot his Hookshot down to pull Kellie up. She caught her breath before proceeding to activate the first pad, in which Cheren only had to protect her from the one laser. The next pad was protected by the ceiling laser and the east-wall laser, so Cheren had to defend Kellie from both so she could activate it. The last one was guarded by the ceiling laser and south-wall laser, but Kellie was guarded against both as she activated the last pad.

The metal bars opened and the two entered another storage room. All it had was just a small chest with a key inside, likely used to open the door on the third floor. But first, Cheren checked his map and saw there was a Stray Fairy in one corner of the room. There was a box in that corner, so Cheren Youth Rolled and broke it, freeing the Stray Fairy. Cheren also noticed there was a Stray Fairy in the trapdoor room, on the west side. He figured it was beneath the trapdoors themselves, so he let one of the lasers pass by and quickly flipped onto the safe foothold. Indeed, he saw a Stray Fairy in a bubble and proceeded to free it with an arrow. He called the fairy up with the Fairy Mask before the trapdoors closed.

They crossed the trapdoors and reentered the mirror room when a particular locked door caught Cheren's eyes. It looked to be the entrance to the basement, but it happened to have the Boss Lock on it. He smirked and made a note of that door before the two made their way back to the third floor; the platform which they glided to had another Peahat plant, which Cheren watered with the S.Q.W.I.R.T. to make it grow, afterwards latching on with the Hookshot to lift him and Kellie back up to the third floor.

They went in the locked door and appeared on another balcony. There was a wide gap between their foothold and the next, but there was a gutter on the side of the wall between the two. The only problem was there were One-way Beamos on the roof below, aiming a wall of lasers directly upward, and some of them went past the gutter. The two decided to grab hold of the gutter and climb across anyway. Like any cliffhanging area, Cheren had to cut away Snapdragons that were in the way. When they passed by the lasers, they heard a gate close, but the path ahead seemed open.

They reached the foothold and looked around for what the lasers may've closed. They noticed a closed gate on the wall that happened to have a bubble with a Stray Fairy inside. Cheren had an idea, but to their dismay, they had to climb all the way back to the previous platform. The gate reopened when both of them passed through, and when they got on the first balcony, Cheren launched his Remote Control Bananarang to go around the lasers and pop the Stray Fairy's bubble. Cheren called the fairy over with the mask and caught it before they returned to the next platform.

They found a small platform with a Flower Pad, so Kellie began spinning on it to make the platform levitate. It hovered to the second floor before beginning float over the lower balcony, toward another foothold. They had to go through a square-shaped archway that had laser beams coming from the left and right, making it impossible to defend with the Mirror Shield. When they passed the lasers, a window where a ray of light was coming out ahead closed, blocking the light. They also noticed the sun switch near it, and when they made it to the platform, they saw the door was sealed with metal bars.

They got back on the platform and Kellie didn't spin so that it could return on its own. They passed by the laser archway and saw the window open, wondering how they could get past them. Cheren later took notice of the Leaf symbol on the wall above the archway. He became a ninja and leaped to the top of the archway and let Kellie pass through the lasers. Cheren then hung onto the opposite end and flipped below the top, then back on, causing the window to open when he passed the lasers. Cheren leaped back to the platform and had Kellie stop spinning so they could go back to the window light. Cheren used the Mirror Shield to bounce the light at the sun switch, causing the door to open.

The door led to a small room with a yellow switch. Cheren stepped on the switch, and a hatch opened on the floor, lowering a ladder down to make a shortcut to the lower room. Afterwards, they entered the door on the south side, coming to a small room with several sun switches along the walls. There was a patch of light in the center and a barred door on the left side. Cheren stood in the light and used the Mirror Shield to shine it on one of the suns. The sun switch strangely faded into nothingness, but a chest appeared under it. Cheren decided to open the chest, and was suddenly frozen with a freeze blast from it. Kellie giggled at his frozen shocked expression, and Cheren glanced hatefully at her before the ice broke.

Cheren shined the light on another switch, but that one shot darts at him. He shined on a third one, and a piano fell on him. The fourth one, a mechanical arm reached out and beat him with a frying pan. When shined on the fifth switch, the sun actually illuminated and opened the door. However, when Cheren checked the map, he saw there was a chest containing a Stray Fairy in there. He looked at the sun switch the chest was apparently under and shined on it, but he was crushed by a safe. He stood up aggravatingly and shined on more switches, and was tackled by wild coyotes, flipped like a patty by a spatula, and crushed by another piano. He was finally able to find the right switch to make the chest appear, retrieving the Stray Fairy inside. "How were they able to set all those traps up?"

The next room had what looked like a barred elevator in the middle, and a Beamos in front of it. On the left wall was another Eye Guard, and in the right corner was a mirror. Cheren knew he had to bounce the laser off the mirror, but it wasn't at a good angle with the Eye Guard yet. He noticed a crate in the far left corner and went to break it, finding an Arrangement Pad underneath. He became Sackboy and used the pad to scoot the mirror over so it was level with the Eye Guard. He then changed back to human and got on the Beamos' side, opposite the mirror, and deflected the Beamos' laser off onto the mirror, bouncing it at the Eye Guard behind him.

The elevator opened, and Kellie decided to spin around the Beamos first and take him out before they entered. The elevator took them upwards, and they suddenly found their selves at the top of the tower. (Pause song.)

The elevator sealed with metal bars upon their exit, and directly across from them was the blue and yellow chest, surrounded by flames. There were eight torches, four parallel on each side of the chest, that began puffing. Before their eyes, the torches grew larger and circled around in one spot, forming a tall, slim entity that was made out of fire, with the exception of its tiny, ball-shaped head. "Heh heh hah hah heh hah!" The entity laughed and drew out two flaming sticks as it began to dance. (Play the Mini-Boss theme from Majora's Mask.)


Sub-boss: Flare Dancer

The Flare Dancer started to twirl around rapidly, throwing fireballs out as it did so. Cheren tried to shoot Ice Arrows at its head, but it didn't seem to penetrate as the Flare Dancer started skiing around the area. It skied circles around them as it threw more flames from its sticks, leaving a circle of fire in its path. The dancer stopped skiing eventually and sucked its flames back into its body, then repeated the process as it began twirling. Not sure how to defeat it once again, Cheren called Fi.

"Target locked: Flare Dancer. This flaming entity has the ability to make flames dance. The flames can be easily scattered apart using explosives, but the dancer will call them back to its body if they do so. The flames' controller will only be vulnerable once all the flames are extinguished, Master."

Right away, as the Flare Dancer was twirling in place, Cheren grabbed the M.U.M.B.L.E.R. and shot a M.A.R.B.L.E. at it, making the Flare Dancer slip and fall as five small flames were blown from it. Cheren quickly tried to put the fires out with Ice Arrows, but the dancer got back on its feet and sucked the flames back in. Cheren shot another M.A.R.B.L.E. and blew more flames out, but the dancer leapt to another side of the field to avoid rapid explosions. It was about to suck the flames in, but they remembered the flame puzzle back in the shrine. Kellie began twirling around and catching all the flames with her dress, setting her dress aflame in a Hunger Games style. The flames were eventually blown away as she kept spinning.

Cheren kept bombing the Flare Dancer and Kellie kept blowing out the flames. Soon, the Flare Dancer's body was blown out completely, leaving just the tiny, armless bomb-shaped imp. The imp started running around as Cheren tried to chase it, giving a swipe with his sword whenever he got close. After a few more hits, the eight torches alit with green flames, and the controller gathered them all over his form to grow into a green entity of dancing fire.

Cheren did the same as before and blew the dancer up with M.A.R.B.L.E.s. However, the Flare Dancer broke into smaller versions of itself, rather than small flames. Cheren blew up the dancer with the controller, but it simply jumped to another Flare Dancer. When Cheren blew up these smaller dancers, they scattered into flames that Kellie had to blow out quickly. The last remaining Flare Dancers started to ski around the area, leaving a trail and tossing flames at them, but Cheren shot bombs in their path and had them explode anyway.

When Kellie extinguished the last of the flames, the controller was free to be attacked once again. Cheren chased it around the field and dealt more blows before the torches alit with blue flames. The controller formed a blue Flare Dancer and the third round began. Cheren tried to blow it up with a M.A.R.B.L.E., but when he approached it, the dancer immediately leaped to the other side. The only other option Cheren had was to become a ninja and throw shuriken bombs. The shurikens succeeded and broke the dancer into smaller flames. Before Kellie could put them out, however, the Flare Dancer made the blue flames levitate in the air and fly at Cheren like missiles.

Cheren reverted to human and bounced the fires away with the Mirror Shield, sending them at Kellie, who was able to catch them in her twirl and put them out. They repeated the process until the dancer was left defenseless again. Cheren chased the controller around the field again and dealt the last round of blows when he was close. The Flare Dancer swelled like a balloon and vanished in an explosion. (End song.)

With the monster defeated, the elevator reopened, and the flames surrounding the chest disappeared. If it wasn't obvious before, well, the item inside the chest was…

You got the Boss Key! It's a key… and, not sure, but it MIGHT have something to do with the BOSS.

Before they left, Cheren checked the map and saw the final Stray Fairy was in that room (or roof), and was dead in the center. However, they saw nothing there. The ground wasn't diggable, and there were no hidden switches. However, Kellie tapped Cheren's shoulder and pointed upward, spotting the neon bubble high up in the sky. Cheren fired an arrow directly upward and freed the Stray Fairy. He called it down using the Great Fairy Mask, and the orange fairies were saved. "Okay. Now to search for the Fairy Fountain."

Outside Sarutobi Tower

Upon their return across the series of pillars, they saw there was a secret platform behind one of the pillars, with a Flower Pad. They got on and Kellie did her twirl to make it float toward the side of the falls in the distance. It turned out, there was a secret cave behind those falls, and the Fairy Fountain was inside.

Cheren released the bottled-up orange fairies and let them merge with their friends in the center. If their show hadn't gotten old already, they vanished in a bright flash, and the Great Fairy emerged from the fountain.

The fairy wore a white sleeveless shirt and long, thin pants. She was barefoot and had a Hidden Leaf Headband on her head as she sat cross-legged, eyes closed as she hovered in midair in a meditative state. The fairy calmly opened her green eyes and looked at Cheren before closing her eyes again, still in her meditative state. "Sooo, you have come this far." she said in an Asian accent.

"OOOOH! A fairy!" Kellie stared in awe. "Are you a princess with a floating castle? Do you have glass slippers?"

Cheren rolled his eyes and focused on the fairy's statement. "…You… know what I've been doing?" he asked, confused a little.

"Of course. I sensed the feeling of desperateness and determination in your heart. You have traveled quite a ways to find that which you seek. My name is Chin."

"Ta ha ha!" Kellie laughed.

"Heheh, that is kinda funny." Cheren chuckled.

"I see what is in your mind." Chin continued. "There is a war that wages inside you. Would saving Miyuki at the cost of her happiness be a right choice? Or is her happiness worth more than the world itself. These conflictions slow you down, steering you away from your goal."

"I see you're apparently the wisest of these fairies." Cheren said.

"In the Land of Fire, many people have set powerful goals over the years, and have struggled on their way to achieving it. Why, if you just knew how much Naruto had to go through… Many don't know where their path would lead them, many didn't know what would happen… but they set these worries aside, knowing there was only one way to find out: to continue on their paths and achieve those goals. The Puppet Clan is the opposite of these feelings. They are mindless beings created from the doubtful emotions of people in ancient days. Their goal was to suck all the strength and willpower from the world and make it their own. But to be able to steal the willpower… they would need willpower to begin with. In the end, their mission was a hopeless one."

"So, what you're saying is… that I should defeat Majora and save Miyuki from him. And I shouldn't let my worries about how Miyuki might feel get in my way."

"Yes… discovering the answer is all part of the journey."

"Yeah, I kinda figured all that already. Anyhoo, got any new abilities? Although I don't exactly use them much…"

Chin chuckled. "It sounds like your path is already decided. May the winds of favor blow in your way. And to ensure that they do… I shall grant you this." Chin fell into total silence as a calm breeze blew across the fountain, giving Cheren and Kellie the chills. Cheren watched as a strange green sphere, encased in a mystical blue diamond, formed before him.

You've got Farore's Wind! This ancient magic allows you to create a warp point in any room of a temple! Simply go to that room and set your warp point, and you'll be able to return to it if you leave! …You are now kinda pissed you didn't get this way earlier.

"Well… this came a bit late." Cheren said simply.

Chin closed her eyes and went back to meditating. "I see you have been much informed before your journey to this land. But be forewarned… the ears can often deceive… as what the ears touch can be deceiving."

"Hm?" Cheren raised a brow.

"Farewell… and may the winds of fortune bring you peace." And on that note, the fairy disappeared with the wind. Cheren stood there looking confused at her warning.

Sarutobi Tower

The kids made their way back to the northern area of the first floor, where they previously discovered the oddly-placed Boss Door. It was just as big as a regular door, and when they unlocked it, they saw it really was a stairway that led to a deep, dark basement. If they knew anything, it was that basements always spell trouble… especially when they happen to be the locations of Boss Rooms. Cheren carefully took the first step on the stairway, the decaying wood creaking beneath his foot.

Cheren just sighed and continued the rest of the walk down casually, Kellie stepping behind him. There was barely any light down there, if any at all, and Kellie looked totally worried. The only thing that scared Cheren down there were the spider-filled webs, but he tried not to let it bother him. Though he was praying to Arceus they didn't have to fight any giant spider monster. Though, since he fought one back at the circus, perhaps that satisfied that Zelda tradition.

They reached the bottom of the stairs and began to look around; though it wasn't easy, seeing as it was pitch-black. The eerie quiet within the darkness was subdued when a calming tune caught their ears. It sounded like a piano, playing probably one of the saddest tunes they've ever heard. The piano sounded close, but far away at the same time. They felt their way around the basement cave before coming to what seemed like a vast, open space, a realm of infinite blackness. The only thing that had color was the enormous pipe organ in the distance, in which the keys appeared to be pounding themselves to produce this sad music; even though it was making piano sounds.

The kids went down a few more flights of stairs before reaching a ledge with a Flower Pad platform. But rather than use that, they noticed the organ was in reasonable distance for the Pirate Sail to glide to. So they used the Sail to glide there instead, their flight feeling more at ease with the piano sounds. The music grew louder as they drew closer, and they still had no idea what was making it play. They expected to find out when they took land.

The two dropped on the keyboard as the mysterious force continued to pound the keys. As they watched this, two large, purple ghostly hands suddenly appeared, the fingers of each one pounding keys on both sides as the kids jumped with fright. Connected to the hands, skinny purple arms appeared that vanished into a big, purple cloak. At the top of this cloaked body was the demon's face: a purple plastic theater mask, with a grinning mouth, long nose, and joyous eyes, with no real eyes or teeth visible in the sockets. Seeing this creature reminded Cheren a lot of the Mask Man, or rather what the Mask Man really looks like.

The demon's song slowly came to an end before he officially took notice of the operatives' presence. After a few seconds of silence, the demon played a few more notes, the organ sounding like an actual organ now as he mimicked the first bit of the haunted house theme. "HoooooOH. HOOOH!" the demon cried in an eerie tone that echoed across the realm. The battle began as he continued playing the organ, providing his own haunted house theme for the battle. (Play "Inside the Church" from Banjo-Kazooie.)


Boss fight: Masked Musical Demon, MOZAND

The terrifying demon swiped its right hand across the first row of keys in attempt to smack them, the operatives quickly jumping to the second row. After a few more notes, the demon swiped his left hand across the row, and they rolled down to the first row. The monstrous organist then rapidly played a series of keys, slowing to a stop around the end. He sat and did nothing for a few seconds, but the kids were taken by surprise when a bunch of keys became electrocuted, giving them a painful shock, the demon afterwards slamming his hands on the keyboard.

The demon gave his echoey, cocky laugh as he swiped his hands across the keyboard again, the operatives dodging each swipe. When Mozand started pounding random keys again, Cheren kept an eye on the ones he was pressing. When Mozand stopped, Cheren quickly pulled Kellie onto one of those keyboards, as the ones he pressed didn't electrify. When Mozand slammed down on the keyboard, the kids were sent flying into the air, taking land on top of the pipes.

As Mozand searched frantically and confusedly for the kids, the two saw the top of the pipes had Flower Pads. Kellie hurriedly began spinning on each one, and each one caused part of the pipe to rise upward, revealing mirrors that faced directly at the monster, as well as Hidden Leaf symbols below them. Meanwhile, Mozand activated dim purple searchlights from his eye sockets, and he was thoroughly searching the top of each pipe. Seeing how many pipes there were to activate, Cheren quickly became a ninja and ducked down with Kellie, using his cloak to hide them. When Mozand didn't see them, he searched around the opposite area, allowing them to safely activate the other pads.

When the two hurried to the opposite side of the organ, they were too late to hide as Mozand spotted them. The demon was about to raise its hand and smash them, but Cheren tossed a shuriken and exploded the hand. The demon cried and shook its hand from the pain and smoke, but when he looked in their direction again, Cheren immediately hid them. Mozand began his search around the organ once again as Kellie finished activating all the mirrors. When Mozand caught wind of this, he punched the pipes and sent the kids falling to the keypad.

Cheren saw Mozand charging energy in his eyes and had an idea what the mirrors might be used for. In his ninja form, he leaped to the Hidden Leaf symbol below the mirror on the very left. Mozand unleashed heat vision lasers at the mirror before lowering them down to Cheren, who already began leaping to the other targets. Since Mozand was now slowly swaying left and right, he had to get the lasers to redirect at the right angle. He was able to grab below a mirror at level with the demon's head, tricking the beast into zapping lasers at the mirror and making them bounce back at his masked face.

The monster cried from the heavy burns, gripping his unchanging face before his head fell and thudded against the organ. Cheren reverted to human and began striking his mask with his sword, which surprisingly did damage, since the mask looked like it wouldn't take hits from a sword. The demon sat back up and gripped its scratched face, roaring with anger. Mozand rapidly swiped his fingers across the keys, knocking Cheren down in the process, before smashing his hands on the organ, the tremor causing most of the mirrors to pop out of their slots in the pipes.

The monster went back to playing his organ, using one hand at a time in attempt to crush the two while he used his other hand to pound the keys. When he failed to smash them with either hand, he was preparing to do more rapid swipes across the keyboard. Cheren hesitated to find a way to avoid it, then remembered the Leaf symbols on the pipes. He quickly became a ninja and grabbed one of the symbols, while Kellie Wall Jumped off the pipes and used her ballerina dress to float, the two safely avoiding Mozand's quick swipes.

When they dropped back on the keys, Mozand proceeded to do the same pattern again. Rather than just stand around and allow him to do so, Cheren decided to take action by striking the hand playing the organ with his sword. He was able to cut both hands, cancelling Mozand's attacks. Roaring with rage, the shadowy demon unleashed heat lasers at the keyboard, attempting to singe the two. Cheren raised his Mirror Shield and attempted to redirect the heat at Mozand's face, but the demon immediately stopped and wagged a scolding finger at him when he saw what Cheren was doing.

Cheren simply ran and avoided the heat vision to think of a way to beat him. He noticed the mirrors had fallen onto the keyboard, and when the heat vision passed over one, it bounced off, giving him an idea. Cheren got behind one of the fallen mirrors and caught the heat vision with his Mirror Shield. Afterwards, he had it bounce off the lower mirror, right up into Mozand's face. The demon felt his mask burn as he collapsed onto the keyboard, allowing Cheren another round of swings at his face.

Mozand recovered and angrily shook his head once again. This time, he decided to swipe all of the mirrors off the keyboard, stuffing them safely under his cloak. He also banged the keys with enough fury and force that he sent Kellie flying to the top of the pipes. Mozand continued with his previous pattern and attempted to smash Cheren with one hand at a time. Cheren ran to strike the hand playing the organ, but Mozand quickly swiped him away before returning to playing. Knowing that wasn't gonna work, Cheren just avoided the attacks to think of another plan.

When he was about to do the finger-swipe attack, Mozand's eye sockets were suddenly clogged by familiar teddybears. Cheren looked up and smiled at Kellie on the pipes, wielding her T.H.U.M.P.E.R.. Mozand confusedly searched around, unaware of blindness, as Cheren became his ninja form and threw shuriken bombs at the hands. Mozand screamed from the pain in his hands and used his heat vision to burn the teddybears blinding him. Cheren reverted to human and used his Mirror Shield when Mozand zapped more heat vision his way. With no mirrors to bounce the beams to, and knowing he couldn't redirect directly at his face, Cheren was puzzled at how to damage him.

During his moment of thinking, Cheren was absentmindedly directing the beams at Mozand's cloak, burning parts of it off. He soon saw all the mirrors Mozand had taken and tried to direct the beams at them. The lasers bounced off, but they shot in the opposite direction, almost hitting Kellie on the pipes. When Cheren looked up, he noticed the mirrors still in the pipes and got an idea. "Kellie! Grab one of those mirrors!"

The Asian girl nodded and bent over the ledge to yank one of the mirrors out of the pipe. When Cheren directed the heat lasers to where she was, she held it like her own Mirror Shield and bounced the heat at Mozand's face. Mozand ceased firing when he instantly caught on to their trick. He roared angrily at Kellie before unleashing heat lasers at her this time. Kellie defended with the mirror and directed it at the exposed mirror in Mozand's cloak. The beam began burning on the keyboard as a result, so Cheren quickly ran in front and bounced it off with his Mirror Shield. He aimed the beam right at Mozand's face from below and had his mask burning in seconds.

Mozand screeched from the flames and his head collapsed onto the keypad for the final time. Cheren ended this battle by dealing the last series of strikes against the mask. (End song.)

"OOOOOOOOOOooh! EeeoooooOOOAAAAAIII." Although Mozand was shaking and screaming in immense pain right now, his expression didn't change a bit. The smile and happy expression remained on his visage as it collided with the keypad one last time. The mask popped off its body and fell flat on the keyboard, while the rest of the shadowy entity fell into the dark abyss.

Cheren sheathed his sword in a stylish fashion as Kellie gently floated down beside him. The two grinned and did a fist-touch before Cheren approached the fallen mask.

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

The mask brimmed with light and shrunk back to its normal size, the spirit having been freed thanks to the Song of Healing. "Awww! Now it's a tiny mask!" Kellie grinned.

"Yeah, but I wouldn't wear it." Cheren chuckled. He then went to add the mask to his collection.

You've seized Mozand's Remains! You've just freed the innocent spirit that was kept imprisoned within the body of evil Mozand!

"Yaaay! We won!" Kellie cheered. "So, what happens now?"

"Well, now I fall asleep, meet the Giant, and you drag me back to the treehouse."

"Okay!"

With that said, the evil mask flashed and sent Cheren into slumber.

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

Once again, Cheren and Fi were in the Spirit World. This time, they stood on a platform over an endless forest with Japanese buildings, looking at the Giant in the distance. "Well… that makes five of you. And I know who you are now. You're spirits of happy feelings. Right? You're made of the good of this world."

"Roooooorr-rr-rr-rrrrRRrr."

"But that's not the whole story, is it? There's something else about you… something that sets you apart from other gods."

"OOORRRrrrrRRRROR."

"'Save… our… friend…'" Fi spoke.

"Yeah, I know… I'll save the last one. And by the time I do… maybe I'll have solved this mystery."

Cheren's vision ended in a flash of light.

This is also set 20 years in Naruto's time, so if you recognize any of the kids' names, well, they're adults. XP But as for why Naruto HIMSELF wasn't there… you'll see. DX Anyhoo, five worlds down, that makes only 1 more world to go (seemingly), with 1 more Giant, and 1 more member of Alternate Sector V! ;D

 

[Gamen Watch]

Okay, everybody! In this chapter… stuff happens.

Chapter 16: Cheren's Inner Demon

"Are you sure this will work?" Majora asked, their faces hidden in darkness.

"The bloodline has had it for generations. He has it stronger than anyone."

"Very well… I will give word to our agent. …But may I just say this plan is entirely cliché."

"Agreed."

Sector V Treehouse. Gee, I wonder which one.

Cheren found himself on the couch of Alternate Sector V's treehouse when he woke up. On the floor below him, he saw Panini tucked warmly in her sleeping bag, and Truman was laid back in the chair, seemingly bored as he stared up at the ceiling. "Oh, hey, Truman!" Cheren smiled, carefully stepping over Panini as he got up. "You sleep out here last night?"

"Harry figured you needed a watch guard." The blue-eyed boy replied. "So, how was the Land of Fire?"

"Great! Being a ninja was awesome!" Cheren smirked, doing air-punches. "And Kellie was a fun person to hang out with."

"Careful." Truman smirked. "She's taken by Thomas. But don't tell him that."

"Hahah! Hey, you're my last partner, aren't you? And only one Giant to go! I can't wait 'til we get to Scotland!" Cheren said enthusiastically. "We're so close to beating Majora!"

"You sure seem excited. Why the change of attitude?"

"I've just been feeling really good! We're one world away from stopping Majora, and I can finally save Miyuki! And best of all… I'm not really worried what'll happen anymore. If Miyuki gets upset… it won't matter. I'll have saved this world. I'll just find another way to make her happy!"

"But would beating Majora be that simple? What exactly do you have to DO, anyway?"

"Hmm… well, Majora keeps the Giants at bay by spreading misery across the world. If I made people happy… Majora's power might be weakened, too."

"So, you're going to go around and make people happy?"

"Eh heheh! I know it sounds kinda complicated when you put it like THAT… but, the Mask Man said that happiness is expressed through… masks. Or, somethin' like that. So… maybe the more masks I have, the greater my chances with Majora. So, I have to help people with masks."

"How do you plan to find them?"

"Good question. Maybe I'll—WHAH!" Fi jumped out of the sword suddenly, startling Cheren.

"Master Cheren, I have important information to report. I have analyzed the various masks you have collected across your travels, and it has enabled me to use my dowsing ability to search for people with masks."

"Oh! …Well, there's your answer!" Cheren beamed. "I guess until we leave, I can do some side quests. In fact… I just remembered that Facilier wanted a new crystal ball." He thought aloud to himself. "And the Hokage had a crystal ball in his office…" He snapped his fingers. "I'll be back, Truman. Make sure Panini doesn't worry." And with a wink, Cheren played the Song of Soaring on his flute and was warped away.

Almost immediately after, Truman heard the sound of the Irish girl's yawning and turned to see her waking up. "Oh. Well, you're up early."

"Ay can say the same about ya…" Panini replied groggily, rubbing her eyes. "Where's Cheren? Did he leave already?"

"Y-Yeah. Just doing backtrack stuff. Listen, you wanna go out and get him some ice cream? He only has one Giant left to save, so he'd probably like something nice to set off with."

"Yah! Sounds like a good plan. We'll buy him some cherry!" Panini smiled as she hopped to her feet and slipped her boots on.

"So, that's where he got that name!" They both joined in laughter as they headed outside.

Village Hidden in the Leaves

Cheren reappeared at the owl statue in the Land of Fire and became his ninja form as he made his way to the Hokage's Residence. When he made it to Kakashi's office, the calm-faced ninja greeted, "Konohamaru—I mean…"

"Cheren." he corrected.

"Right. Cheren. I never had a chance to thank you. We saw your friend dragging you through the streets. You okay?"

"Yeah, that just happens. Anyway, remember when you told me if there was anything you could do to repay us?"

"Yeah?"

"You see that crystal ball there? I kind of need that."

"Oh, this old thing?" Kakashi looked at the crystal ball on his desk. "I think the old Hokage used it to see where people were. Kinda creepy. I guess you can have it… but will I give it to you?"

"What do you mean?"

"If you're a ninja, you should try to take it from me, without me seeing you."

"Ahh. A catch. Well, I guess I'll just leave and-" Right away, Cheren swiftly flipped over in attempt to take the ball, but the swifter ninja zipped in front of him and punched him away.

"You'll have to do better than that."

"Hmph." Cheren glared. He glanced up and saw the ceiling had plenty of wooden beams above. "Just forget it. I'll find another one." And with those words, Cheren left.

But once outside, the ninja-child stealthily looked both ways before leaping onto the house's roof. He crawled toward the window which he eavesdropped through earlier and peeked his head down upside-down, seeing that Kakashi was intently watching the crystal ball. Cheren pulled up and tossed a kunai knife below the window. "Huh?" Kakashi looked over with confusion. When the Hokage walked to check the window, Cheren quietly flipped into the other one, going above the wooden beams. While Kakashi was still distracted, Cheren crawled above the crystal ball, dropped and hung upside-down by his feet, grabbed the ball, and pulled upward before Kakashi turned back.

When Kakashi walked to his desk to search for the missing ball, Cheren had swiftly flipped out the window. Back on the roof, the ninja held up the crystal ball in victory, letting it sparkle in the sun. He stashed it away for now and reverted to human form to play the Song of Soaring.

Carnivilia

He returned once again to the land of carnivals, and after such a long time, returned to Facilier's fortune-telling tent. Along the way, he found a tiny hole in a barrel with a snake inside it, so he put his Cobra Mask on to speak to it. "I heard that Dr. Facilier getsss hisss crystal balls from Japan."

"Well, thanks for confirming this is the right ball." Cheren told it before entering Facilier's tent.

The Shadow Man was currently turning some cards in his fingers in boredom before he saw Cheren walk in. "WEEEELL, look who's back!" the African-French man grinned vibrantly. "The spirits told me you'd be arriving soon. What favor can As ask mah friends on the other side to do for ya?"

"Well, you can have them take this crystal ball off my hands."

Facilier gave a wide, excited gasp when Cheren presented the crystal ball. "It's…It's marvelous." He spoke softly, taking and examining the shining crystal. "Why, this…this belonged to the Hokage of Konohagakure!"

"Konohuwhuuuuhh?"

"The Village Hidden in the Leaves, if you're a short-minded. Still, a crystal ball this special don't come 'round this often. Ya done a good deed for this poor sinner, boy. And for that, I keep my end of the deal." Facilier set the crystal ball on his desk as he began rummaging below his table. "Voila!" he presented the mask with the brown hood and the shadowed face. "My reward to you, the power to speak with the deeead. Enjoy it, kiddo."

You've got the Garo Mask! This is the mask of a ninja from an ancient, long-forgotten tribe of warriors. If you wear it in the land where their kind has fallen, you may be able to speak with them.

"Thanks, Mr. Facilier." Cheren smiled. "Even in this universe, you're a pretty cool guy."

"Ah still don't see whatchu man, buuut… I 'preciate it, kid!" Facilier grinned.

"Well, it was great to finally help him out." Cheren said as they exited the tent. "Okay, let's look around; Carnivilia has plenty of side missions, doesn't it." And as he thought, his sword started beeping when he aimed it around. He followed it through the park and arrived at one of those dunk-tank attractions, where you hit the target and make the person fall in the water. Unfortunately, the tank was completely empty.

Cheren also recognized the person who worked at the tank and went over to greet him. "Hey, Mr. Whitby! I didn't know you worked here!"

"'Mr. Whitby'? How do you know my name?" Lenny asked.

"Umm… instinct?" I keep forgetting, this isn't my normal universe. "So, what's the matter?"

"Sigh, my tank's been dried up for days and they're not sending my special shipment of water."

"If it's water you want, I might be able to help." Cheren said as he held up his S.Q.W.I.R.T..

"I don't think a squirt gun can fill that much. And just for the record, I don't want toxic water."

"Ahh… I see." Cheren understood. "I'll see you later, then."

Side Mission unlocked: Fill Lenny's dunk tank with water.

"Guess we can't do this, yet. I wonder where else we could look… hm, I guess we could try Tortuga again. (As long as we aren't going to that secret cave.)" Cheren played the Song of Soaring and warped again.

Tortuga Island

When Cheren arrived on Tortuga, he used Fi's dowsing ability, and the sword beeped in the direction of Slag's Fleet. He made his way to the beginning of Tortuga Backpass and rode the floating sailboat to reach the fleet. His sword was aimed at what Cheren remembered to be Sprocket's botany lab, so he turned into Captain Slag to easily sneak past the guards. He entered Sprocket's room and saw the stove-like robot watering his plants just like the last time he saw him. "Arr, me plants be actin' really strange the other day and I don't know why…"

"AHOY thar, Sprocket!" Cheren exclaimed.

"GYAAAH!" Sprocket jumped in shock, flailing his arms and making water fling everywhere. "Oh, Captain! Where've ya been all this time?"

"That info be classified. Whatcha be doing here, Sprocky Old Boy?"

"Well, Captain… I've always 'ad a soft spot for plants. But none of the other crew members would understand… that's why Oi keep 'em in here. It feels so… girly."

"Girly? HAH! I seen fully-grown videogamers who warr more girly! Thar be nothin' wrong with your love in botany! I seen many o' interesting plant myself! This be quite a lab ye got here."

"Aww… thanks, Cap'n. I have nearly every species of plant. Of course, it's not perfect. There's one species I've been lookin' to get for many moons now. They be callin' it Ancient Flowers. But Oi've heard it's gone extinct in most parts of the world. During the old days, they used ta be everywhere. Oh, if I can just get me what passes for hands on one o' them…"

"Arrr! Fear thee not, Sprocky! For yer noble captain shall traverse to the ends of the earth in search of the plant you seek!"

"That'd be great o' you, Captain… but unless ye can go back in time, ye'll only be finding dead saplings."

Side Mission unlocked: Bring Sprocket the Ancient Flower.

Cheren left Sprocket alone and reverted to human form to think to himself. "Hmm, a plant that's gone extinct for centuries… this one might take awhile. Sigh… I guess I'll return to the treehouse for now. After I save the next Giant, I'll have a better chance at completing some of these side quests." He played the Song of Soaring again and flew off to the treehouse.

Sector V Treehouse

When Cheren arrived back at the treehouse living room, he saw that each of the Sector V members; excluding Truman, oddly enough, were gathered around the couch, staring at something. "What's going on, you guys?" he asked, approaching the couch.

"There you are." Harry said. "Someone just left this on the couch."

Cheren walked around and saw the item left on the couch appeared to be some kind of small, black hood with bunny ears. Cheren picked up and examined the hood, and saw there was a small tag hanging from the hood. Cheren looked at the tag and noticed the black symbol of Majora's Mask.

Cheren gasped, totally stricken with horror. "It's… Panini."

"That?" Celeste asked.

"Majora must've snuck in here after I left… wait, where's Truman? He was here before I left!"

"He left a note and said he went out to get us ice cream." Melissa replied.

"Grrr!" Cheren gritted his teeth. "I told him to watch her! Why'd he decide to run out now?!"

"Hang on, hang on." Thomas spoke up. "If anyone broke in here, our alarms woulda went off."

"Did you make sure they were on last night? Maybe Miyuki used her timebending to freeze the system!"

"Dude, calm down, you're overreacting." Melissa told him.

"Overreacting?! How can YOU all be so calm?! Just because we're not from the same world as you? How'd you all feel if Celeste got taken and I didn't care?!"

"Dude, this might be the rootbeer talking, but, I think your hair is on fire-" Celeste tried to say.

"Forget about that!" Cheren yelled. "Majora's probably taken Panini's soul! We have to find where he's hiding! Fi, look at this tag. Can you trace where it came from?"

Fi jumped out of the sword on his order. "I have examined the tag ahead of time, Master. You are now able to use dowsing to track its origins."

"Good." Cheren sighed, his eyes looking more angry by the minute. "Let's go."

"Hang on." Thomas stopped him. "What if this is a trap? I mean… kidnapping the hero's girlfriend? How many times has someone done this?"

"She's NOT my girlfriend!" Cheren's eyes bore a deathly glare. "And if you don't wanna save her, that's fine by me. It's not like you guys do any more of the work that I do."

"Say what?" Celeste asked. "Dude, if it wasn't for us, you couldn't even get to the first dungeon."

"I'm still dizzy from all that spinning I had to do!" Kellie yelled.

"Also, you can't repeatedly go from big to small and back again several times without feeling woozy later." Melissa followed. "I mean, you're basically changing the volume of your stomach. It's sickening."

"If I was any stronger, I could've gotten everywhere on my own." Cheren said. "I guess it's my fault then… it's always been my fault. I should've been here to begin with, not running around looking for masks. But I'm not going to hold back with this anymore, and I don't need anybody slowing me down!" With those last words, Cheren stomped off to the hangar. The Sector V group said nothing and just watched him go, feeling there was no way to stop him.

"…You saw it, too, didn't you?" Celeste whispered to Harry.

"Yeah…" he nodded.

Sector V S.C.A.M.P.E.R. (Play the "Seer: Descend" theme from Homestuck.)

Cheren piloted the S.C.A.M.P.E.R. on his own, at the same time aiming his sword as it beeped in the direction of the tag's source. His eyes fixed tight on the skies ahead of him, determined to get to where the sword led. The whole way, he was feeling really angry. As if manipulating Miyuki to his side wasn't bad enough, Majora's already taken 3 of his operatives… and one of his villains. It only made it worse to know that those guys didn't care at all. He hated being even paired up with them, since they only slowed him down. He wishes he could've been stronger, so he could just venture to all those places on his own. If he was more competent, he wouldn't need them, and he could've stopped Majora from attacking anyone. The whole ordeal just made his blood boil. …The demonic blood within his veins.

He didn't really listen to what Celeste said earlier. Nor did he take the time to notice now. Indeed, his hair was on fire. And slowly, his shoulders and arms were beginning to alight as well. His whole form became darker, and his eyes brimmed with dark hatred. The sword began to beep faster as the giant stone castle island was coming into view. As his destination loomed closer, there was only one thing on his mind: killing Majora.


Stage 25: Giftalot Castle

Mission: Find Majora and recover Panini's soul.

Cheren came crashing through the walls of the castle, not taking the time to land properly at all. The Bokoblin in the hall took notice of him instantly, and they all raised their swords to fight him. But as Cheren stepped out of the wrecked S.C.A.M.P.E.R., there was something different about him. He now possessed a terrifying aura, one they haven't seen for a long time. The monsters trembled at the sight of Cheren, stepping through the burning wreckage as flames brimmed all over his darkened body. The would-be Hero of Time drew his sword, but the blade of evil's bane now carried a dark look similar to Cheren's. It barely even looked like a sacred sword now. It almost looked like… the Devil's.

The minute Cheren drew his blade, he zipped over to the nearest Bokoblin and slid by him as fast as lightning. The unfortunate monster only had a short time to comprehend what happened before his body was divided by the waist in two. The other Bokoblin roared and charged at the Demon Prince, but Cheren zipped around faster than they could keep up, slicing the lot of them to pieces, and making blood spill everywhere. He turned his eyes to another Bokoblin, who bravely ran up in attempt to slice him, but he stopped when Cheren zipped his sword upward, and the monster was cut into a perfect half.

Cheren leisurely walked down the hall as Miniblin were scampering his way. The simple monsters' only tactic of poking Cheren with pitchforks was foiled when he kicked the forks into their eyes, and beheaded the lot of them with a deadly spin attack. Cheren got to the end of the hallway and found some stairs, and as he trekked upward, a swarm of Fire and Ice Keese flapped down to bite him. While the Keese would either burn him or freeze him upon impact, Cheren grabbed and squeezed each one in his hands before throwing it to the ground. The rest of the Keese decided to fly away, but Cheren leapt up and sliced them to little, bloody pieces before moving on.

When Cheren got to the second hallway, he saw there were Moblin and Fatblin patrolling. He calmly approached the first Moblin from behind, pulled him over by the shoulder with his right hand, and stabbed him clear through the back. When the Moblin stopped screaming, Cheren pulled the blade out as the other monsters approached. The lot of Moblins tried to bat Cheren away with their spears, but the demonic child swiftly cut the spears in two in a flash. While the Moblin dumbly stared at their shortened spears, Cheren stabbed one through the face, sliced another one diagonally, sliced the upper half of the third one's head off, and stabbed the fourth in both eyes before just stabbing it.

The Fatblin who were currently approaching became absolutely terrified. They backed away slowly and kept their shields raised, but Cheren zipped over to the first one and sliced its metal (usually indestructible) shield and sliced its stomach open, letting blood spill out as it died. Two more Metal Shield Fatblin cautiously approached, and when one tried to stab Cheren with its spear, Cheren zipped behind it and pierced its backside with his sword. He raised his sword as the Fatblin remained stuck on the tip, and he twirled around before hurling the Fatblin at the other, knocking it down. Cheren glanced behind when a Sumoblin charged his way, and just when the monster thought he had him, a series of slashes zipped all across his face. When the sumo's vision cleared, he saw Cheren was behind him. He couldn't understand what happened before his body fell into several pieces.

With them out of the way, Cheren approached the second staircase, in which a group of Chuchu dripped from the ceiling and readied to pounce on him. If the Chu weren't already slow enough, Cheren walked up the stairs leaving tons of squished jelly all over the floors and walls. Cheren reached the third floor, and the hall was guarded by the armored demons known as Darknuts. The beasts approached Cheren without the slightest hesitation, feeling their armor was strong enough for them to defeat him. Normally, one would have to knock off parts of a Darknut's armor at a time to be able to deal damage. But Cheren stabbed the first one through various areas of its armor, finishing with a waist slice before it fell down.

The second Darknut approached Cheren and tried to hit him with a slow-paced sword strike, but as always, Cheren zipped behind it and forced himself into the Darknut's armor through the weak spot on its back. The Darknut looked around in confusion before its armor suddenly began shaking. It stopped when Cheren shot out of the back, and blood started leaking out between the parts of its armor. The other three Darknut just exchanged glances and fast-walked away from the demon child. Of course, Cheren didn't plan to let them slip away, so he zipped forward and waited till he was at a good angle to throw his sword and slice all three of them in one shot. He went to pull his sword from the wall before walking further.

Rather than another staircase, Cheren reached a large, empty room at the end of the hall. He approached a pedestal in the middle of the room and picked up a small, discarded tag with Majora's symbol, similar to what was on the Bunny Hood. (End song.)

"I'm sorry." Cheren looked up at a large T.V. above the other side of the room, showing Miyuki/Majora's image. "Were you expecting to finally catch me? I know how your little dowsing thing works, you know. But you can only track things of similar material. I made sure not to get my DNA on these things, and instead had my subordinates do the touching. They weren't among the ones you've slayed. But how can you possibly live with yourself, Cheren, knowing you killed all those demons? Or have you finally decided that other lives mean nothing to you, as long as you get what you want?"

Cheren merely stayed silent, keeping a steady, deadly eye on the one on the screen.

"Well… no matter. It seems he was right. Triggering the Demon State is for those who seek their own destruction. It just cannot be controlled. And depending on the tragedy, one could be trapped that way forever. Like your great grandfather for example, when that pesky Shadow Queen died. I can't say I'm not glad. But I am truly thankful I wasn't the one responsible."

Cheren remained silent, still keeping his glare on Majora. It wasn't even clear if Cheren was hearing his words or not, and was merely thinking about his own things.

"Well… just for the fun of it… how about we give it a true test?"

Cheren glanced to his left and right when huge doors opened on both sides. A tall, golden knight was marching out of the left door, bearing a sword on its back, and holding a shield. From the right door, a silver knight was marching out, not wielding any weapons or defense. "These two are among the strongest Darknuts in the Underworld Army. Goldnut here is a master at swordplay, whereas Silvernut majors in simple martial arts. Their armor is next to impenetrable. Even the greatest of warriors would near death at the hands of these-"

Faster than their eyes could keep up, Cheren flipped above Silvernut and sliced him perfectly down the middle, and both halves fell apart. He glared at Goldnut, who raised his shield, but Cheren flipped above, behind his head, and began chopping various portions of his body as he dropped down, leaving only his shoes left as he smashed them to pieces.

"Well then… you just shamed the entire Demon Army. But here's a monster that might just test your wits!" Cheren glanced to the room's entrance to find a seemingly ordinary black Darknut wearing a cape march in. "This one might seem like your run of the mill Darknut, but he's so much more on the inside! Defeat it if you can, but prepare to face terror like you have never imagined!"

"RrrrrrRRRAAAAAAHHH!" Cheren exploded in a burst of fire, feeling more angry than ever. Cheren swung his sword at the T.V. and sent an air slash that sliced it in two. Afterwards, he fixed his glare on the Darknut and slashed it across the armored chest, sending it flying through the air. The helmet came flying off as the armor fell apart, and Cheren gaped in total horror at what was underneath. Panini Drilovsky now lay unconscious with a bloody gash across her chest.

Cheren's face became frozen with shock as he approached the injured girl. He fell to his knees as the flames and dark aura around his body suddenly vanished. He dropped his sword and stared at his hands. Inside, he was panicking incredibly… and feeling more afraid than ever.


Anyone wanna guess where Giftalot Castle comes from? Hint: it's a location from the KND show, but which episode?

 

[Gamen Watch]

Okay… single body! XD We're going to the sixth world of the story, to finally complete this saga! And may I just say, the first part of this world definitely has the saddest music in this story.

Chapter 17: A Land That Once Was

Alternate Sector V Treehouse

Panini was still unconscious when Cheren had brought her back to the treehouse. She was laid on Harry's bed as Kellie finished wrapping bandages around the cut on her chest. "Well, she's still alive…" Harry said relieved, noticing the girl's low breathing. "We'll take her up to Moonbase for better treatment."

"Dude, this looks more serious than a papercut." Celeste replied. "I think a real hospital would be more like it."

"You might be right." Harry figured. "Of course, there's always the trial of explaining what happened."

"I wish somebody would." Melissa said, looking over at Cheren. The Supreme Leader was seated on the floor and turned away from them, arms around his legs as his eyes were wide with horror, and his hair a mess.

"I just…I just lost control there." Cheren said, his heart racing after the experience. "I don't even know what happened. One minute I was angry, and the next…!"

"Was this something to do with your head catching fire?" Celeste asked.

"More like somethin' to do with him being part demon." Thomas figured.

Cheren stared at his open hands, still shaking. A Demon State… is this what happens when we…

"Aww, cheer up, Cheren!" Kellie smiled happily. "A lot of people go crazy and make mistakes! See?" She held up a picture of Amanda Bynes. "You know what makes them feel better?" She took out a purple Rainbow Monkey and said, "A Make You Feel Better After You Accidentally Almost Kill Your Best Friend Rainbow Monkey PLUS!"

When Kellie tried to give him the monkey, Cheren just raised a hand up and blocked her. "No." He finally stood up. "I just…I need to try and put this whole thing behind me. I'm going to Old Scotland… and rescuing the last Giant."

"Truman still isn't back yet." Thomas reminded.

"That's okay." Cheren sighed. "I'm going alone this time. If I ever turn into… THAT again… there's no sense in letting anyone else be hurt."

"Come on, dude, you really think you'll turn into that 'flame head' again?" Celeste asked.

"Well, it's probably better, anyway." Cheren said in a more hateful tone. "This way, I won't be slowed down as much. We'll be able to rescue the Giant a lot faster if I go on my own."

"Cheren, you know you'll never get far unless one of us goes with you." Melissa told him.

"You never know unless you try." Cheren said. "Anyway… I'm going. I'm hoping you guys can look after her better." And with that frustrated look, Cheren walked to the hangar.

Unknown Location

"Well, well… it worked." Majora said, somewhat amazed.

"Yes, and now that he's all by his lonesome, being rid of him should be a blast!"

"It should make things a bit easier. Regardless, the process is already near completion. By the time he would find the next Giant, it'll be ready. First, we must have our agents enact the next step. That way, none of them can prevent this."

"You still remember our end of the deal, right?"

"Yes, yes, I'll get you what you want. So long as we conquer this world without any problems."

"I'll hold you to it."

Old Scotland (Play the Little Girl's Theme from Kid Icarus: Uprising.)

Cheren landed along the edge of what looked like a vast, desolate valley of decrepit ruins and several fallen weapons. The winds blew across the grass of this ancient land as the gray, gloomy clouds drifted above, not a speck of sunlight touching this wasteland.

Fi emerged from Cheren's sword to confirm their location. "Master Cheren, we have successfully arrived in the ruins of Old Scotland, mostly referred to as DunBroch Ruins. My records show that this was the site of an incredible battle that eventually brought this land into ruin. As you can see, remnants from the ancient days are scattered around this land. Aside from the grass and trees, it is clearly free of almost any form of life that once thrived here. But if what the Mask Man says was true, the final Giant which we seek lies somewhere in these ruins, awaiting rescue within a temple. I'd suggest finding this temple as soon as possible, Master."

Cheren was a little saddened at the look of this place. The atmosphere just felt so depressing, and among these ruins, there were also many gravestones. Everything just felt so lonely… it's time like this he wishes he had a friend to give him company. …No, no. That would only make things harder, having to watch after another person. It's better that he's on his own. He shook off these thoughts and began his journey across the valley.


Stage 26: DunBroch Ruins

Mission: Search for the temple in which the Giant sleeps.

There was a clear path that stretched across the grassland, so Cheren decided to follow it and see where it would lead him. There were skulls littered around almost all parts of the ground, and some of them grew wings and came to life when Cheren walked by, as they turned out to be Bubbles. Having to fight them ruined the calm and quietness of this land, so Cheren took them out quickly. After doing so, he looked down at a tiny pond that was beside the path. The pond looked as filthy and dead as all the ruins, and floating in was what appeared to be the bones of a dead frog. This made him question if frogs really had bones.

Cheren kept walking as he passed by an old, abandoned stand with barrels in the back, and the shopkeeper's skeleton lying against the counter. Fi stopped Cheren from continuing and spoke, "Master, take a look." She indicated said stand on his left. "This shack resembles the Powder Keg shack we found on Tortuga. Master, I can sense a strange force emitting from these remains."

"Ohhhhh…" a faint, eerie sigh sounded from the bones as tiny, blue lights floated around it.

"Huh?…" Cheren curiously examined the bones closer.

"There's not been visitors… for several hundred years. This land has been decayed… for centuries."

"Y-Yeah, several hundred years, I got that." Cheren nodded.

"It was all the war's doing… demons came out of nowhere… with the walking dead. There was no end… Scotland fell. I remember it like it was yesterday… when the little masked girl visited my shop. After that… bad things happened."

"A little girl?!" Cheren gasped. "What did she look like?"

"She was… wearing a scary mask, I know that much. It… gave me nightmares. I… don't remember anything else. It was soooo long ago…"

But Miyuki came to this world just recently. Cheren thought. How would she…

"If you wanted to visit… you'll find nothing here now. The path ahead… is blocked anyway. A landslide… there's no way through. Unless you want a Powder Keg. They… hold up well over the generations… But I don't think you're strong enough-"

Cheren immediately threw on Slag's Mask and became the buff, chubby captain. "ARR, lay one to me, ancient lad!"

"Ohhhh… you're just another figment of my ghostly mind. Okay… you can have one." An invisible, ghostly force lifted a Powder Keg up and dropped it by Cheren. The force also held a lit match and used it to alight the long fuse. "Just for fun's sake. Better hurry."

Cheren sighed and lifted the keg above him as he trudged down the path. The path got a little wider as ruins laid in his way, forcing Cheren to walk around and make him lose time. When the road looked a little more clear up ahead, there were ruined columns stationed along the sides, and these columns fell over and blocked those parts of the path, still forcing Cheren to go around. Already, the keg's fuse was nearly burned, and it seemed a lot shorter than the one on Tortuga. He came to a shorter point in the path that was blocked by a single boulder. Cheren set the keg down a safe distance and reverted to human to use a M.A.R.B.L.E. to blow the boulder away. He quickly changed back to Slag and carried the keg through a much wider path, down a slope between a slight trench.

The landslide was right there, and Cheren threw the keg over and hurried away before it could explode. The pile of boulders vanished in the huge explosion, revealing a tunnel. Cheren hurried through and came out on a platform within a trench with a vast chasm. There weren't any paths too follow, but in the left direction, there was a distant platform where the trench made a turn. It was too far to fly over with the Sail, but there was a Walltula covering something a few feet over the trench. Cheren shot the Walltula with the Hookshot, and it fell down to reveal a hidden Hookshot target. Cheren latched himself to the Hookshot, and this got him high enough to make it to the platform with the Sail.

Cheren kicked off the flapped the Sail open to safely glide over, and from the platform, he looked to the second part of the trench. There were Hidden Leaf symbols stationed on both walls, so Cheren became a ninja and used them to leap his way across the walls. He came to a wider area where he leaped off onto another ledge. There were no other ways to go, but Cheren's sword started flashing, so he summoned Fi. "Master Cheren, I have important information for you. I am sensing a strange thirst for blood lurking around the area. Perhaps there is a mask you are holding that is able to summon the unseen, Master."

"Hmm…" Cheren remembered the Garo Mask he got from Dr. Facilier and put it on to see if it would do anything. A few seconds went by, and nothing. When Cheren took a few steps forward, he flinched when a dark-yellow hooded figure leaped from the ground, dressed in a garb that almost resembled the mask, white eyes staring out from the blackness of his hood.

"Master… you called?" it asked.

"Uuum." Cheren was already confused.

"…! You!" The figure whipped out a sword and pointed at Cheren. "What are you?!" Suddenly, the area was surrounded by fire, and the Garo whipped out a second sword. It zipped by Cheren, who tried to dodge to the left, but ended up taking a cut against the leg. It was a small cut, so he only winced a little. The Garo turned and aimed to slash at him again, but Cheren raised his Mirror Shield in defense and knocked his swords away. His guard down, Cheren leapt and slashed the figure across the chest, and the flames vanished.

The Garo fell to his knees in defeat and spoke, "Regrettable! Although, my rival, you are spectacular. I shall take my bow by opening my heart and revealing my wisdom. To witness the grave history that happened here, you must gather the stones that open the way to yesterday. Belief or disbelief rests with you. To die without leaving a corpse… that is the way of us Garo." The creature stood, took out a bucket of oil, dumped the oil on him, then lit himself on fire with a match before jumping into the chasm, where Cheren watched the light of his fire fade away as he fell.

"…Well, no wonder they all died." Cheren said.

"Hm hm hm. My, my. You certainly put on a show."

"Huh?" Cheren looked up at the trench's ledge, where there sat a purple-cloaked figure, wielding a stick in one hand, his bare legs hanging over the edge.

"That was a Garo. They were once a race of ninja from a neighboring country, used for spying and assassinations. Their spirits only awaken when one who wears their mask calls for them. There's an interesting aura about you, boy. An aura I haven't sensed for some time now."

"Well, I… get that a lot, sort of." Cheren smiled sheepishly.

"This land has been in ruin for some time. It has lost its guardian deity long ago. That was what caused this land to go into war."

"But Majora didn't return again until just recently. How could he've been the cause of these centuries of ruin?"

"Time is an illusion in this world, boy. When you look close enough, it's as easily traversable as the ocean, or sky. The way to history… may only be a few steps away. Or in this case, a Hookshot to a tree." With the snap of his fingers, a short, decayed tree emerged from the ground beside him. Before Cheren could ask any more, the ghostly man disappeared.

Cheren only shrugged before using his Hookshot to latch himself to the tree, reaching another path above the trench. The path led straight toward what appeared to be the remnants of an old town. He passed through the town's ruined front gate and walked to the center. Strangely, he found a Warp Gate, that looked in perfect condition, but it was deactivated and connected to two cords attached to slots. It looked like something was supposed to fit in those slots. Still, to confirm this, Fi came out.

"Master Cheren, judging by the shapes of these slots-"

"Fi, just SHUT UP." And Fi went back in the sword. Cheren first decided to head in the left direction of the town, where he found a withered garden. There was a mound of dirt that looked out of place, so Cheren became a wolf and dug it up. He found a strange brown sphere with dark-blue stripes, and suspected that was what fit into one of the slots. He reverted to human form to pick it up and carry it to the left slot. Afterwards, Cheren went to have a look around the ruined town, thinking the next sphere was buried in the ruin. He broke open a withered crate in an alleyway and found an Arrangement Pad. He was able to use Sackboy to move some of the rubble out of the way, and under that rubble was the second sphere. He reverted to human and went to place it.

He wasn't sure what these spheres were for. That's when he had Fi to give useful info. "Master Cheren: I have analyzed the spheres, and have concluded they are Timeshift Orbs. They are mystical orbs that can revert any area to a time-state from the past. They are activated by means of timebending energy, or at least some Time Dust, matter produced by means of timebending, to give them fuel. By my records, Timeshift Stones were mainly a mass production on Planet Secco, and it is the only planet that manufactures them to my knowledge."

"Then what would they be doing here?" Cheren asked. "I'd understand if this dimension had its own Secco… but how would they get to Earth?"

"I cannot provide an answer to these questions, Master. However, the device which the orbs are linked to appears to be a Warp Gate designed for traveling through time. There is an 88% chance the orbs' energy serve as the power source to do so, but their energy has been depleted as of the moment."

"Great. Know any good timebenders we can contact real fast?" Cheren said sarcastically.

"Unfortunately, I am not familiar with any quick-access timebenders, Master. However, there may be another solution: the Master Sword was forged with some Time Energy. It enabled the sword to be kept in a special time stasis field, to keep it from withering away across the years, and it once enabled your ancestor a means of traversing two different eras."

"Seriously?!" Cheren asked eagerly.

"Indeed. There is a 70% chance a simple thrust of the sword will give the orbs power."

"Okay… let's try it." Cheren struck the first orb, and it lit up. He went to strike the second one, and watched as a light-blue energy transferred through the cords. The Warp Gate was powered, opening a spiraling, blue door. Cheren curiously stared closer, the sounds of roaring and weapons clinging on the other side. A white light engulfed him as he stepped through, and he had no idea what to expect.

DunBroch Kingdom, more than 800 years in the past (Play Magnus' Theme from Kid Icarus: Uprising.)

Cheren landed smack in the middle of a battlefield, screaming and rolling away quickly before a Scottish warrior charged him. All around him, skeleton warriors, and a few demonic forces, were clashing with muscular, rather hairy, human warriors. They appeared to be in a small town of stone buildings, which bared resemblance to the ruins he was previously in. As clear as Fi would make it, he's been transported back to the past.

Cheren hurriedly made his way through all the fighting, as he seemed to be in the middle of several warriors' conflicts. It was like trying to fight your way through a crowd of dancing teenagers, only now with the risk of being stabbed with a sword or an axe, or causing someone else to meet such a fate. Cheren was able to squeeze into the alleyway where the Arrangement Pad would've been in the future, panting heavily as he sat behind the crate he would destroy. He peeked out and fearfully watched the bloody clashes between the Scottish men and the undead forces. Cheren felt a presence loom behind him, and he turned and gasped at the imposing Scottish warrior glaring at him.

"Who are ya?" he asked. "You're supposed to be out fighting! Wait, you look a little too young. How old are ya?"

"Um… 9-and-a-half?" Cheren answered.

"Eh…what was the age restriction again?" the warrior thought to himself. "Eh, whatever. Ya got the sword, so get out there!" The warrior grabbed Cheren and threw him out into the battlefield.

"Waaah-" Cheren was hurled headfirst through the mouth of a skeleton, getting stuck. The Stalfos looked around confused before discovering the boy in his head. He forced Cheren out and attempted to strike him, but Cheren bounced his weapon back with the Mirror Shield and dealt a series of blows to finish him.

Since he wasn't sure of where he should go next, he decided to run around and cut down all of the skeletons he could. Normally, a Stalfos would be harder, let alone an army, but since they were already occupied with the DunBroch army, that eased up on the difficulty. When he turned another corner of the town, he was behind a squadron of Stalfos slowly closing in on a group of distracted warriors. Cheren shot a M.A.R.B.L.E. in the center of the Stalfos and blew them all away in one blow.

He fought his way to the other side of the town, where there stood two wooden towers on the sides of large, wooden gates. The Scottish warriors were trying to climb up the left tower, but two Bulblin Archers were easily keeping them down with arrows. Cheren shot the Bulblins down with his own arrows, and the warriors cheered when they were able to reach the top and pull a lever. Cheren fought his way to the right tower, where a Fatblin was guarding at the top, kicking down any soldiers that tried to climb up. Cheren got to the side of the tower, at an angle where the Fatblin was unprotected, and shot a few arrows at him to make him turn around. His distraction allowed the soldiers to reach the tower and pull the heavy monster down. They climbed to the top and activated the second lever, causing the large gates to open.

"The way to the castle is open!" one yelled. "Assist the king! Move!" Cheren ducked as the horde of soldiers charged by him, leaving the town as they charged toward a castle in the distance. But what really caught Cheren's attention was the gigantic treehouse growing over the castle. Is that a Kids Next Door's treehouse?

Cheren followed the soldiers, feeling this 'king' would give him some insight, and also curious about the treehouse. As they charged down a field, Cheren saw some Bulblin Riders charging from the opposite way. Cheren shot the Bulblins with arrows and caused the Bullbos to stop in place. The warriors soon arrived at a series of wooden fences with Bulblins shooting rapid arrows from towers. Cheren ran to the nearest discarded Bullbo and rode on top of it, using it to charge through the series of barriers and knock the towers down.

The warriors cheered once again as they followed Cheren on his way to the castle. After crossing a bridge, Cheren got off the Bullbo and charged into an open field with a row of Fatblin in his way. Cheren figured he'd leave the Fatblin to the soldiers and ran past the chubby monsters. He was coming to a small bridge that led to the castle, but a Sumoblin was guarding it. Even though he knew how to beat a Sumoblin, this particular one had no chasm behind him. And Cheren wasn't strong enough to haul him over the edge.

He figured he'd need to enlist the help of the DunBroch soldiers, who were currently occupied with the Fatblin. Cheren ran to lay a series of blows against each Fatblin, then allowed the Scottish warriors to finish the rest. When a good number of them had gotten by the Fatblin brigade, they charged toward the bridge. Two of them ended up in a shoving contest with the Sumoblin, who was strong enough to hold them back. Cheren assisted the soldiers by shooting the Sumoblin with arrows to weaken his defenses, and the soldiers were able to overpower the Fatblin and throw him over the edge.

Cheren joined the soldiers as they charged up the pathway to the castle. When they made it to the castle's courtyard, they found more soldiers being overpowered by much smaller skeletons, called Stalkin. When he looked to the castle's entrance, he saw a very large man, with brownish-red, messy hair, a puffy mustache, a left peg-leg, and a cape made of some kind of fur, battling the four-armed Stalfos, Stalmaster, along with four normal Stalfos.

Cheren left the other soldiers to assist their friends while he went up to battle the Stalfos. While the skeleton soldiers had their eyes fixed on the large man, Cheren shot a M.A.R.B.L.E. under the Stalmaster and blew them all away. However, the Stalmaster survived the explosion, fixing his head back on before turning angrily at Cheren. Cheren kept his shield raised when the monster was about to attack, but the peg-legged warrior behind him pierced the Stalmaster with his sword and threw the skeleton down the stairs, his bones scattering apart.

The other warriors were about to attack the Stalmaster's head, but it floated away as his body parts came back together. "Mrrrr… that must be the one we were warned about. Everyone retreat… for now." And just like that, the Stalmaster and any other undead forces sunk back to the ground. (End song.)

Cheren sheathed his sword and took a moment to catch his breath from the fighting, but was startled when the large man gave him a forceful pat on the back. "HAA ha haaa! Now 'ere's a lad who knows how ta fight! I 'aven't seen a wee boy fight so well since… I WAS FIVE!"

The gathered warriors joined in laughter, and Cheren blushed.

"So what's yer name, lad?" the man asked.

"C-Cheren." He stuttered. "Um, I need to see the king about something."

"Yer lookin' at 'im." The man smiled proudly. "What is it ya want, lad? OOH, let me guess: ya want to marry my daughter!"

"WHAT?!" Cheren wouldn't ever expect that. "N-No, I'm-"

"Ahh, don't be sheepish, lad, come on in! We'll let ya meet her!" Cheren was forcibly pulled in by the king's large, buff hand, his attempts at protests gone unheard.

DunBroch Throne Room

The king led Cheren to a throne room of three thrones, a big one, small one, and medium one, and a dining table in the center. "'ey, Elinor! Bring Merida out now, we 'ave a guest!" The king called as he brought Cheren before the thrones. Other warriors were gathered around the room as well.

A slender woman, with long brown hair and an emerald-green robe, walked out with who Cheren believed to be Merida, a girl about his age, wearing a silky, smooth blue dress with golden patterns at the bottom, and a tight, white wimple over her head.

"Everybody, this is Cheren!" the king introduced. "Ehh, Cheren, Ay don't think we've introduced ourselves. That man over there is Dorry!" he pointed to a random soldier, who smiled and waved. "And that one is Brogy!" The soldier beside him waved. "Beside him is Oimo! And there's Kashi. That's Hajrudin. And that's Stansen. And way over THERE is Goldberg. And there is…" Cheren just stood there in boredom, tapping his foot impatiently. He spared a glance over to their princess, watching as a thick strand of hair stuck out from under her wimple. Her mother squeezed the strand back in, and the princess put on a grumpy look. "…That one's Road, that one's Gerd, and THAT one's…eh…" the king finally reached the final man, but he was having trouble recalling his name. He closed his eyes and snapped his fingers, trying to think. "Eh, was it… Rubar… somethin'?"

"Elbaf-"

"RIGHT, ELBAF, Ayyy… was going to say that!"

Cheren sighed. "And you would be-"

"You're right! King Fergus!" he grinned. "This is my wife, Elinor, and daughter, Merida! Go on, say hi!" he insisted as he shoved Cheren toward Merida.

Cheren stared at the princess's surprised, beautiful blue eyes, and gave a light blush. "Um…hi?"

"Fergus, what are ye doing?" the queen whispered to her husband.

"Ooh, right, right, forgive me. This boy wants ta marry her!"

Both Cheren and Merida jumped back from each other in shock. "I NEVER SAID THAT!" he yelled.

"Are ye crazy, Fergus?!" the queen asked. "Only one of the LORD'S sons can marry her! And they're not even old enough, yet!"

"Oh, that's right…" the king slumped in realization. "Eh, what was the age restriction again?"

"Sixteen! Besides, he'd have to win a competition to be able to marry her, ya can't decide now."

"Ehhh, Ay can pull a few strings!" Fergus grinned. "Actually, Boy, where are ye from, anyway?"

"Er, Virginia?"

"Aye, Virginia, Virginia…" Fergus began to think. "Umm, is that by, Rome or something?"

"No, it's… in the future."

The entire room fell into a dead silence. There wasn't even a coughing sound, or someone dropping a pencil. Cheren began to feel very nervous about this response. But in an instant, the whole room burst into laughter. "HA HA HA, THE FUTURE!" the king laughed, putting an arm around Cheren. "Looks like we got a wee little TIME-traveler!" The men laughed some more. "Aye, but seriously, lad, where are ye from?"

"Uh, just… far away, okay?" Cheren slipped out of the king's grasp. "Anyway, there's a few things I need to ask you. First about that giant tree growing over your castle."

Merida gave a light gasp.

"Ehh, the big tree?" Fergus asked. "Ehh, it's just a wee little treehouse our daughter likes to climb up to sometimes. Ah wouldn't say it's that big."

"You sure?" Cheren asked. "It's about as high as, well, I guess you don't have skyscrapers, yet."

As they talked, the queen noticed her daughter backing away slowly. "Merida, where are ye goin'?"

"Oh… Ay just…" Merida quickly shot her finger forward. "Dad! Is that Mor'du?!"

"What?!" Everyone gasped and looked to where she pointed, including Cheren. "Where?!" The many warriors had their weapons ready.

In a flash, Merida whipped out a smoke bomb and threw it to the ground, shrouding the whole room in white smoke. As Cheren tried to see his way around, a hand was cupped over his mouth, and he saw the princess grabbing him from behind. "Just keep silent and everythin' will be fine." she whispered.

Cheren muffled an 'Okay.' But that's when Merida slammed the boy's head hard against the ground, and everything went black and quiet.

Somewhere on the sea

Nerehc and Pablo were back on their little rowboat, drifting along an empty part of the vast sea, with Nerehc still looking frustrated over his latest defeat with Cheren. "Sigh, I can't leave that do-goody Cheren alone for 1 second without him being able to turn into several new forms. Is that just the special treatment he gets in this dimension?"

"No sé. (I dunno.)" Pablo said.

"Sigh, I shouldn't even be trying to worry about Cheren. All I wanna do is get the heck outta here. …Of course, that's why I went after Cheren to begin with. Still, if I don't get back, Mom's gonna fry me to a crisp. There's GOT to be a way back."

"Tal vez si deja de tratar de luchar con Cheren, se le puede decir cómo volver. No veo el momento de la lucha contra él, Señor. (Maybe if you stop trying to fight with Cheren, he can tell you how to get back. I do not see the point in fighting him, Mister.)"

Nerehc clutched Pablo by the shirt and yelled in his face, "DUDE! LEARN ENGLISH! LEARN!! ENGLISH!!"

"English."

"Wah!" Nerehc flinched when the Zoni suddenly appeared behind him.

"English..."

Nerehc exchanged a confused glance with Pablo. "Um… y-yes, I would LIKE him… to learn English."

"English… ENGLISH!…" the Zonis' eyes grew wide.

"Um…"

"STOP… THE ENGLISH!"

"Um, I was only saying 'cause I can't understand-" Nerehc was given a shock by the Zoni, and he fell unconscious.

Kingdom of Darkness

Nerehc found himself in a strange city of tall, purple buildings under a pitch-black sky. When he stood, he saw that a purple jumpsuit with a three-swirl symbol, that lined up like a triangle, was over his body. "What…What is this place?" (Play "Blarg Space Station" from Ratchet & Clank.)


Stage 27: Kingdom of Darkness

Mission: Look around and see if you find something.

Nerehc used his rocket feet and skied through the first road of the purple city, getting weird looks from the passing pitch-black shadow people that looked like chess pieces. He turned a corner to find a road that was apparently in some kind of gang war, with the white pieces shooting against the black pieces. Nerehc was currently on the shadow creatures' side, so they were shooting away from him, but this didn't stop him from slicing the weird things with his sword. This made the other shadow creatures angrily shoot at him, but Nerehc blocked with his sword and went over to knock them out.

The white pieces cheered at this, but Nerehc was kind of peeved at them for almost shooting him. So, he sliced the happy white beings and knocked them clean out. He skied further down, coming to a row of purple trash cans and trash bags, but more of the black chess pieces came out and began shooting at him from behind. Nerehc raised a wall of purple flames to hide from the assaulters, then skied along the right wall to slip behind the black creatures, where he sliced them all in one slide.

Nerehc then turned in to an alleyway and Wall Jumped up the walls to reach the rooftops of the city. He could already see a horizon, but it wasn't very far off. Nerehc figured he was on some kind of moon. He began jumping across the rooftops, keeping his eye down below for anything of interest. As he crossed the moon, it looked like it was rolling, since it was that small of a planet. Eventually, a large, purple castle rose up in the distance, definitely catching Nerehc's interest.

Nerehc looked below to see two more black chess guys reading a newspaper, and he jumped down behind them. "Hey, the Queen's got a new prisoner. Some guy that fell on Derse a few weeks ago."

"Was it a salamander?"

"No, it's… a human."

"Human? You mean those things with the snow-white skin?"

"No, this one has a light-brownish color. …Like that kid."

"Huh?" the two finally noticed Nerehc, and the Negative child immediately took out the right one, then kicked the left one down before standing on and aiming his sword at him.

"Hey." He grinned innocently. "You mind telling me the name of this planetoid?"

"Um… it's Derse."

"Ahh, Derse. And, how would one get into that castle?"

"Um… try knocking?"

"Okay. Lemme try." He bent down and lightly tapped the guy's forehead with his knuckles. "Knock…" followed by a punch that knocked him out, "KNOCK. Yeah, that doesn't work for me. I prefer to get creative about it." Nerehc turned a few more corners of the town, where more black creatures tried to shoot him on his way to the castle. They were all very terrible shots, and Nerehc was able to slice them all in seconds. They were probably aiming their guns upward, or backwards.

When Nerehc made it to the front door of the castle, he decided to try what the chess man suggested: he gently knocked on the door, and said, "Knock-knock."

A tiny slot opened to reveal a black chess's furrowed white eyes. "Who's there?" he responded.

"Shocking."

"Shocking who?"

"It's shocking that I was going to do this." Nerehc zapped the guard through the slot and afterwards used lightning to blow the door open. "Well… not really."

Nerehc charged into the first hall as several guards were already coming to shoot him, but Nerehc swiftly sped around and sliced them all. There was one guard remaining, so Nerehc threw his sword and stuck him to the wall by his collar. "Where's the prison block?" he demanded.

"Downstairs. I think the stairs leading downward should help you."

"Okay, Sarcastic." Nerehc knocked the guard out and pulled his sword back before heading to the nearest staircase. He slid down the stairs into a hallway with several prison cells, and apparent criminals behind them, mostly white guys. Nerehc looked at a sign on the ceiling that read Minor criminals. There was an intersecting hall that read Major criminals/Refused to pay taxes, and straight ahead was a door labeled, Prisoners so special that the Queen just has to see them. Why are they so special?

Nerehc nodded (disbelieved) and sped into that door, only to appear in a smaller hall with another door, labeled Door 2. He sped forward, and found Door 3, then passed 'Nother Door, then into Yet Another One, then into We Sure Love Doors, then finally reached a room with a large, secured door labeled Finally, You Made It. Nerehc peeked into the small window to see what was up. (End song.)

Sitting on one end of the room was a pitch-black queen, wearing a black crown and rather colorful getup, and she was facing who Nerehc assumed was the human. He couldn't get a good look at him, but he was baldheaded, and a slight mustache and beard. "Who is he?…"


But you won't learn who he is 'til a later story. S'anyway, here is DunBroch, from Brave, if you couldn't guess by Merida. This world actually borrows features from both Ikana Canyon, from Majora, and Lanayru Desert from Skyward Sword. Lol and if you look back at Firstborn, this isn't the only time we've seen Timeshift Stones. That's basically the gimmick of this world.

 

[Gamen Watch]

Time to meet a unique crossover partner for this story!

Chapter 18: Merida and the Giant
​

Sector DB Treehouse

Cheren felt a throbbing in his head as he awoke on some kind of couch, finding a rather chubby boy with yellow hair, wearing dark-green Scottish garb, watching over him. Behind him, a slim, taller boy with puffy brown hair called out, "Oi, Princess, that weird kid is awake."

Cheren shook his head awake and sat up to see that he was in a treehouse. "How many times have Ay told you not to call me that?" a familiar voice replies. Cheren looked behind to see Merida, the princess that Fergus wanted him to marry. Cheren watched as the princess stripped herself of her tight garb, making Cheren squint his eyes from what would lie underneath, but saw that she was wearing a long, dark-green cotton dress, with brown boots underneath, and her hair was very orange, puffy, and frizzy. Similar to Mrs. Drilovsky, Cheren thought. "Honestly, can't me mum fit me in that WITHOUT putting it over my normal clothes?"

"Wait a second… is this a Kids Next Door treehouse?" Cheren asked.

"Yep!" the chubby boy said, plopping down beside Cheren and wrapping an arm around him. "Welcome to the club of boys whom our dads want ta marry the princess! Ay'm Arbur MacGuffin, that's Stephen Macintosh," he pointed to the taller boy, "and that's Willie Dingwall." He pointed to a third boy in the corner, with big ears, brown boots, a grass-green garb, and he looked rather oblivious. "And of course, ya already know Merida."

Cheren snickered. "You all have some funny names!"

"'ey, we're the sons of the Lords!" Macintosh responded. "Our names are respected throughout the country! Besides, what kind of name is CHEREN, anyway?"

"Whatever." Cheren eye-rolled, still smiling. His serious look returned. "So… you're all supposed to be marrying the princess?" he asked, confused.

"Ugh, it's this stoopid tradition in our kingdom," Merida huffed as she went over to sit at another bench along one of the trees, "where the Princess of my family has ta get married to whichever of the Lord's sons wins the special tournament of her choosing; when she's 16, of course. Ay'm still 6 years away. But Ay don't want ta marry anyone! Not until Ay feel like it." Merida sighed and pinched her nasal bridge. "Ay can only hope mah own great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great granddaughter has a SIMILAR problem. And besides, they don't want ta go through with it either. Right?"

"Ew, no!" MacGuffin said.

"Yer not my type." Macintosh said with a smirk.

"Uhhhh…" Dingwall was speechless.

"Well, I don't want to marry you." Cheren said with a laugh. At the risk of becoming my best friend's long-lost distant cousin.

"Great, ye've passed the test, welcome aboard." Merida remarked sarcastically as she approached them. "Anyway, you know about the Kids Next Door, so ye must be one of us. Who ah you?"

Cheren stood up and faced her as he spoke professionally, and really fast, "My name is Cheren Uno, Numbuh 3621 and Supreme Leader of the Kids Next Door. Or at least, in my universe. I have journeyed to here from the Hyrule Dimension in search of a dangerous demon who has possessed a fellow operative. My journey led me here to the ruins of DunBroch, where I have activated and entered a Time Gate portal to travel to this time where you live, 800 years in the past."

The four operatives fell dead silent, and they stared confused and about as dumb as Dingwall looked. "…WELP, should we call the Moonbase and have them pick up a patient for their loony wing?" Macintosh half-joked.

"Wait a second," Cheren shook, "YOU guys have a Moonbase?"

"Of course we have a Moonbase!" Merida exclaimed. "What century do ya think this is, the Cavemen Era? We barely had an Arctic Base back then!"

"So 2x4-technology goes back THAT far?"

"Ay don't know. I was just jokin' there. Ay dunno how far the Kids Next Door goes, but we do have a Moonbase."

"Oh." Cheren didn't think the Kids Next Door went that far. Still, he was surprised they had a Moonbase in this era. "So, where am I now?"

"You're in Sector DB. Ay'm the leader, Numbuh 1286-"

"Nice number." Cheren smirked.

"-and you claim to be, not only from the future, but another dimension entirely where YER the Supreme Leader?"

"Y-Yeah… it's a long story." Cheren replied, scratching his head sheepishly. "Anyway, about this tradition problem… maybe I can convince the Lords or whoever to, you know, let you marry whoever you want. I mean, I've been pretty persuasive in the past."

"Forget about it. It's not your problem. If Ay'm lucky, Ay can find a way through it myself." Merida said.

"Well… okay then." I probably shouldn't try to change the past, anyway. Cheren thought. He then remembered, "Oh yeah, the reason I came here. This might sound weird, but've you guys seen a white-haired girl in a mask?"

The four thought for a second (well, 3 of them did). "Ya know, Ay think me dad said 'e saw a wee lass like that walk into the forest. A few hours later, that's when these monsters and skeletons showed up! That girl isn't a friend of yours, is she? How would she get here from your time?"

Cheren thought he knew how. "She probably used her timebending to activate the Timeshift Orbs."

"Timebendin'?" Merida asked.

"Um, I'll explain later. But I think this girl had something to do with this whole war. Do you guys have some kind of temple, or other sacred structure where, I dunno, some spirit is said to live?"

"Dude, ya start to sound more and more weird by the minute." Macintosh said.

"Actually, me dad used ta tell me that DunBroch was watched over by Giants." Merida replied.

"Go ooon?" Cheren nodded, sensing they're getting on the right track.

"And that their temple exists high in the sky, above the clouds of DunBroch. They say the temple is kept levitated by DunBroch's life force and fighting spirit. And if the kingdom ever fell, the temple would collapse onto the ground."

"So basically, the temple currently exists on the GROUND, in my time."

"Why would ye reach that conclusion?" Merida questioned.

Cheren was silent for a few seconds. "Um, it's… just a thought."

"Okay…" Merida was confused about what he meant.

"Anyway, thanks for the info. I'll find a way back to the present and try to look for the temple's ruins. Then I'll be able to save the Giant." Cheren was on his way to the exit.

"Wait!" Merida ran and stopped in his path. "Ay'm coming with you!"

"You are?" Cheren asked. "Ohhh." He had an idea why, remembering her little problem. "Because you want to prove to your parents that you're strong enough to make your own decisions. Right?"

"Heck nooo! But Ay'm tired of sittin' around and doin' nothin'. My parents've kept me inside ever since this war started. And even if it isn't any of my business, these monsters are a threat to children, too, so it's mah duty."

"Well, I was kinda hoping to do this mission alone."

"Ya won't make it far through here alone, so Ay'm comin' with ya."

Cheren sighed. If he knew Panini, or even her mother, well enough, there was no changing her mind. "Well, I doubt it'll even DO much. I mean, we're going to save the Giant in MY time, so that won't have much effect on the state of your country in THIS time."

"If you were able to get here, maybe this temple has a way of going through time."

Cheren sighed again. "Fine, you can come with me. Though I have a strong feeling you won't like the future."

"Ay'm anticipating it. But first, Ah can't leave without meh bow."

"Your bow?"

"Yes. Ah'm one of the Kids Next Door's best archers. When this war started, me mum took me bow and hid it in the armory. Oh, and a sword wouldn't be bad either."

"But I already have both!" Cheren said, holding up his sword and bow. "I don't really see the point in having extras."

"Well, ya won't be using them, Ay will. Now let's go. Me parents probably 'ave guards watchin' the place, so watch yer step." Cheren sighed and followed the Scottish girl as she walked ahead.

"Okaaay! We'll just stay 'ere and guard the place!" MacGuffin called. "Sigh… when're they gonna invent videogames?…"

DunBroch Castle

Cheren and Merida peeked out of a secret compartment in the wall above the bed in Merida's room. After making sure the room was clear, they crept in and shut the entrance. Afterwards, they snuck over to the door and opened it just a crack to see two guards patrolling the hall. "Well, they're not givin' us much ta hide behind." Merida whispered.

"Don't worry." Cheren said, getting his bow ready. "A few guards like this, it'll be easy." He took aim at the first guard and…

"No!" Merida whispered, pulling his arrow down. "Ay don't want ta kill them. Besides, if they scream, the whole castle will be on lookout. Ya've got to be stealtheh."

"Oh, all right." Cheren pouted. He looked up at the wooden beams across the ceiling, which had Hidden Leaf symbols on them. "Okay, I have an idea." The two pulled back in as Cheren slipped on the headband and morphed into a ninja.

"Aaah!" Merida fell back in shock.

"Oh yeah… uhh, I can do that." Cheren replied in his gruff ninja voice. "You'll get used to it. Anyway, stay close." (Play "Eldin Eruption" from Zelda: Skyward Sword.)

Cheren hopped to the wooden beams and flipped above them while the guards weren't looking. He crept above the spot where the guards would approach each other, and then turned back around. Cheren quietly dropped down and cupped his hands over the first guard's mouth and nose, and he failed to shake away before he fainted. Afterwards, Cheren snuck up behind the second guard and performed the same action to knock him out, silently.

With both guards unconscious, Merida was able to sneak over undetected. They approached the stairway and crouched behind the railing to peer over at the dining room below. They crawled their way down the staircase for a better look. There were two soldiers standing guard at both sides of the exit, and one more larger guard walking back and forth in the middle of the room, with one of his turning points being by the stairs.

When the guard stopped by the stairs and turned around, Cheren and Merida quickly but quietly crawled out and hid behind him to avoid being spotted by the two at the exit, even though they were further away, while also not getting caught by the large guard himself. He stopped to turn around beside the door to the kitchen, so Cheren and Merida quickly crawled away while he was turning, going in the kitchen undetected.

When they got in, they saw another large warrior searching through a cabinet, and they quickly crawled under the table to avoid being spotted. The guard turned and approached the table, beginning to chop up some vegetables, though didn't seem to notice the two. They noticed the door to the armory was locked, and the guard had the key around his waist. When he turned back to grab more stuff from the cabinet, Cheren crawled out and quietly swiped the key. He crawled back under the table to wait for the guard to walk away from the door. When he walked to the other side of the room to get something, Cheren and Merida hurried to the door, unlocked it, and crept inside.

"Any idea why the armory is inside the kitchen?" Cheren asked.

"It's their favorite place, I guess." Merida said as she went to take a bow hung up on the wall. "Ahh, me good ol' bow. What would Ay do without ya?" she smiled. "And Ay'll just take this, too." She grabbed a sword.

Merida got the sword and bow! With these weapons, the DunBroch Princess will be able to fight and defend herself! 'Course, you already have both, but you know what they say: two heads are better than one!

"Well, I'm sure those'll come in handy." Cheren remarked sarcastically. "So, where now?"

"We get out of here, duh." With that, Cheren and Merida snuck their way through the kitchen and returned to the audience room. The guard in the center was thankfully turned around, so Cheren and Merida were able to sneak by and hide between the stone pillar and the fence that divides the audience stands. They peeked out at the two door guards, looking for a way to take them both out silently. They noticed the shelves above each guard, with an empty pot directly above them. The shelves were both held up by a rope, so Cheren and Merida took aim at their own rope with their arrows. They released and cut the ropes, and the pots fell and perfectly caught the guards' heads.

The two made muffled sounds as they tried to look around, giving Cheren and Merida the perfect time to run by them and sneak out the front door. (End song.)

Downtown

"Well, I'm glad we didn't spend too long in there." Cheren said as he and Merida walked together in the town.

"We never had very good security. It's why the others are always able to sneak over in the treehouse."

"But if you're the princess, aren't you worried about being out in the open?"

"Noo. Me mum always makes me wear the tight-dress when we go out, so I look like a 'proper princess.' They never see what Ay really look like." Merida smirked.

"I think you look a lot better in these clothes." Cheren smiled. "But don't take that the wrong way, you just are."

"Ah know. Now, where is this portal ya were tellin' me about?"

They stopped in the center of the town and looked around. "This is where I came in." Cheren said. "Maybe it has its own time limit."

"Wouldn't that mean yer trapped here?"

"I hope not." Cheren said, worried. "But if Majora used those orbs to come here, and bring his demons along… I would think it took him awhile to attack the Giant and wake up the dead. So he should have a way to get back to our own time. Not to mention he should've left a way for his demons to return. Like, maybe some Time Dust. …Unless… he didn't really care about them."

"Yer goin' too fast." Merida stated, shaking her head. "Who is Majora? What is Time Dust?"

"Oh, Majora is the one who's behind all this. He's a demon, and Time Dust is the stuff that timebenders leave when they… timebend."

"And timebending is…?"

"The ability to manipulate time at will."

"Yer people are very strange."

"Yes we are. Anyway, Majora is sort of using my friend to destroy the world, so I'm tryin' to stop him."

"But if Majora could travel back in time, why couldn't he just destroy the world here, where ya couldn't reach him?"

"Probably because if this world was already destroyed, he would have no reason to come here. Ergo, nonexistence. Apparently, destroying the Giant would've been a safe change to the timestream. Like going reeeeeally far back in time to prevent your brother's genes from existing."

"Well, yer people must be pretty informed on the subject."

"Heh, it's basic stuff. Anyway… since the portal isn't here, we'll have to find another way. Know any place we could search for clues on how to get to the temple?"

"Well, we could ask the old witch if she has anythin'."

"The old witch?"

"There's a witch that lives in the forest nearby. Ay've never seen her, but I heard people go to her fer magical charms."

"Sounds familiar. Still, it's a good place to start. Where's the forest?"

"Just outside the east gate. Over here." Merida led him to a gate on the east side of town, another large wooden door with two eye switches on the sides.

"Not the best security measure." Cheren smirked as he readied his bow.

"A bit trickier than you think." Merida smirked, readying her bow. "This is why Ah got mah bow. Both switches need to be hit at the same time. Give er take a few milliseconds. Shouldn't be too hard." She aimed at the left switch, while Cheren took the right, and both released their arrows and struck at the same time (give or take a few milliseconds). The gates opened, allowing them entry into… well, the exit.

The two of them hurried down the path that led to the forest up ahead. Along the way, a swarm of Stalkin emerged from the ground, but the two did away with them with a few quick spin attacks. "Lately, it's been pretty dangerous to open the gates," Merida said as they walked forward, "what with all the monsters."

"Ehh, they aren't really that tough. In my time, demons've gotten kinda weak."

It wasn't long before they reached the forest. Even though it was still daytime, the forest was awfully dark with no sun pouring through. "Ya might already guess, but this forest used ta be prettier before all the monsters."

"Ehh, you've seen one, you've seem 'em all basically." Cheren said, recalling all the forest areas he's been to on this journey.

"So, Cheren, what is it like in your time?"

"Ehh, nothin' special. It's almost the same as here. Although, we're a bit more high-tech. And just for the record, there's gonna be this AWESOME thing called television in the future, you will just love it."

They eventually reached what looked like a large, flat-bottomed rock covered in moss, with a small dent in the ground with stairs that revealed a wooden door. "This must be the witch's cottage!" Merida beamed as she hurried in the entrance, followed by Cheren. (Play Koume and Kotake's Theme from Majora's Mask.)

The cottage was packed with tables of potions, and strange bear decorations. It was an interesting place to wanna try and hide, as the bear heads, claws, and figurines gave Cheren the utmost creeps. The two approached the potion-filled counter, where a strange person in black and white garb had their back turned. "Um… excuse me?" Merida spoke.

"Well, helllOOO, deeears." She twirled around, revealing her big-nosed, dark-yellow face, a red emblem on her strange hat.

Cheren gasped, recognizing the woman, and he immediately whipped out his sword and aimed at the hag's face. "WAAAIIIIIINNK!" she wailed, holding her hands up in defense.

"KOUME!" Cheren yelled.

"Cheren, what are ye doin'?!" Merida shouted.

"My parents told me about her. She and her sister are old witches that worked for Ganondorf. They were his moms, I think. Now, keep in mind, I'm Rachel's son, so you better stay back." Cheren stated with hate.

"WHO is Ganondorf?" Merida asked.

"Yes, who is Ganondorf?" Koume asked, curious but afraid. "I just sell potions in my cottage! (You can't go anywhere without some young'un pointing big, shiny daggers at you.)"

Cheren took a moment to think. When he finally got the gist, AGAIN, he looked a little sheepish. "Oh…you're the Terminan version of Koume. Eh hehehe." He grinned and nervously put his sword away.

Koume just glared at the boy before speaking, "Well, aside from being incredibly rude, what are you kids doing out here in the forest? You know about all the monsters crawling around, right?"

"Actually, we were wonderin' if ya had any way of findin' this land's temple." Merida explained.

"Temple? You mean the ancient ruin that hangs in the sky? Or so the legends say…"

"That would be the place." Cheren figured.

"My, why would a couple of young'uns be looking for this temple? You don't plan to try and SAVE this land, do you?"

"Well, I've had a fair amount of experience." Cheren said simply. "But her, I dunno."

"Heeey." Merida glared.

"But if I could guess, we'd need some kind of special song to make the temple come down, or at least make a way to let us up."

"Oh ho ho ho! It sounds like you do have experience. Unfortunately, there is no such song. The temple was kept in the heavens so that evil would not reach it easily, and there is no way up there. The only way to possibly make the ruin come down would be to ruin this kingdom. Tear it to shambles, rob all the hope from the land, and the structure will come toppling down."

"Well, we might already have a solution." Cheren said. "Believe it or not, I'm from the future. You ever hear of Timeshift Orbs?"

"Oooohhh." Koume looked fascinated. "I thought you were different, young man. It's funny actually. Just yesterday, my sister and I were hiking up the mountain, when we noticed this strange portal. Kotake tried to have a peek and ended up falling inside, and the portal closed. I don't know what could've made it. But the thing is, we actually found the portal after following some monsters."

"Hmmm. I think Kotake might be experiencing future shock." Cheren figured. "Don't worry. We'll get your sister back. Um, where did you see this portal?"

"Atop the Crone's Tooth, where the Fire Falls… uh, fall."

"The Fire Falls?!" Merida looked excited. "Aww, strewth! Ay always loved climbing up the Crone's Tooth! Heh, me mum doesn't want me to because she says it's dangerous." She smirks at Cheren.

"Wait, did you just say strewth?" Cheren noticed. "I thought you were Scottish."

"Me voice actor's havin' a hard time gettin' Scottish right from Australian. It's not an easy accent, ya know."

"Um… 'kay." Cheren looked confused. He looked back at Koume and asked, "Well, can you take us to where you saw the portal? We could think of something."

"Of course I can!" Koume beams. "As long as my sister can be saved! Just don't lose your footing along the way." The fire witch waved her hands and caused a broomstick to appear out of a puff of smoke. "WHEEE heeheeheeheehee!" The kids watched as the witch shout out the window on her broom, soaring into the heavens. (End song.)

"…Not very patient, is she?" Cheren remarked.

The kids left the cottage and began the walk through the forest toward the Fire Falls, with Merida leading the way. Surprisingly, as the kids hopped stones across a rushing river, a tiny ounce of sun poked through the grey sky, making the river sparkle. "I have to say, Merida, your world isn't that bad; it's really pretty." Cheren complimented. "Even when it's ruined in the future, it has a nice aura to it." He smiled.

When they made it across the river, Merida turned to him in slight surprise. "What do you mean 'ruined'?"

"Well… this country falls into kind of a slump." Cheren only said, not wanting to worry her too much. "But if we save the Giant, it MIGHT come back to life!" he said hopefully.

Merida sighed, not liking Cheren's words at all. "Ay hope so. But at least Ay would've tried to do something about it."

The two eventually reached a tall, steep cliffside with a small waterfall pouring from above, the sun making it light orange. Cheren stared wide-eyed at the Fire Falls, and Merida gave a vibrant, excited look. "There it is!" Merida said in awe. "The Fire Falls! They say only ancient kings were brave enough ta drink from it."

"Heheh. They really know how to make a steep-" Cheren stopped himself when he noticed Merida readily climbing the steep cliffside, reaching one of the platforms and taking a sip from the falls.

"Are ya stayin' down there?" Merida shouted in a cocky tone. "It's okay! Ya look much better like an ant!"

Cheren glared and smirked, throwing on his Wolf Mask and morphing into a wolf. "WAAAH!" Merida immediately was shocked, falling on her behind. The wolf-boy doggedly began leaping up the many stones as Merida hurriedly climbed up the cliff. She reached another foothold, but gasped in fear when Cheren suddenly jumped up and tackled her on her back. The wolf growled ferociously at her face, Merida's heart racing as she stared at his drooling, jagged teeth. But at that moment, Cheren blew a raspberry in her face, and Merida looked annoyed as Cheren licked from the falls and bounced up the rest of the mountain.

Cheren watched as Merida soon climbed up, looking very annoyed at Cheren's panting, smiling wolf-face. "Is EVERYONE from your time able to change like that? And if so, are they that ANNOYING?"

Cheren pulled off his mask, getting back on only two feet. "We are unique, I'll give you that. Now, where'd that old bag land?"

"I may be a bag, but I can still hear just fine!" Cheren flinched as they looked up and found the witch hovering over a part of the forest. "Now, the spot where my sister vanished is this way. If you're bold enough to come out here, you kids better have something."

The kids hurried over to where Koume instructed, finding the witch standing in an empty area, with no grass or trees and just dirt. "This is where I last saw my sister. The portal disappeared and it hasn't shown any signs of coming back."

"Still doesn't tell us how to open it." Cheren said. "If only there was another portal device. It's how I got here."

Fi suddenly emerged from the sword. "Master, I am sensing another thirst for blood, similar from earlier. It seems your Garo Mask is required, Master."

Cheren did so and slipped on the mask, staring at Merida with his darkened, white-eyed face. "…So, aren't ya gonna change?" Merida asked, waiting for Cheren to become something weird and freaky.

"Hehe!" Cheren laughed.

"AAAH!" Merida fell over startled, grabbing onto Cheren when a Garo suddenly sprung up behind her.

"Master! You called!"

The three stared blankly at him.

The Garo stared in surprise. "What the f&^k?!" They were surrounded by fire as the Garo drew his dual blades and launched at them, but Cheren and Merida dodged to opposite sides. The Garo jumped at Cheren, but he bounced the ninja back with the Mirror Shield, knocking him to Merida, who sliced him through the middle back.

The Garo screamed as he fell to his rear, the flames dying. "Regrettable! Although, my rival, you are spectacular. I shall take my bow by opening my heart and revealing my wisdom. To return to the world of whence you came, play the ancient song that warped the time stream itself. Belief or disbelief rests with you. To die without leaving a corpse… that is the way of us Garo." The ninja pulled out some material out of nowhere and fixed himself a wood-chopper. His legs straight and arms kept down, the Garo remained stiff as he jumped and dove into the chopper, and the three watched as shredded clothing and blood came out.

Fi came out from the sword again and reported, "Master, the words from the Garo has sparked an important piece from my memory. It is a song that Link once used to manipulate the flow of time: the fabled Song of Time. The song channels energy from the time around us, just as timebenders, and alternates time as the notes are played. Mystical instruments like your Spirit Flute can utilize the power of the song, but only small fractions."

"For REAL, though?" Cheren asked, excited to do anything that involves traveling time. "So, let's do it!"

"Very well. I will perform the song, Master. Naa-noooo. Noo-naa-noooo. Noooo…." Fi sung the notes in a beautiful, otherworldly voice. She sung them again, and Cheren forgot how pretty her voice was when she sang. When they were little, Rachel used to have Fi sing them a lullaby, and they went to sleep immediately.

When Fi finished singing, Cheren repeated the notes using his Spirit Flute; the pipes were Yellow, Green, White, Yellow, Green, White. Doo-dooo. Doo-DOOO-dooo. Doo-do-do-DOO-DO, do-do-do-DOO-do-do-dooooo…

They faced the air ahead of them as it started to become wavy, with mini blue sparkles drifting about. They flinched in surprise when a swirling blue portal suddenly spiraled to life, luring them forward with a gentle breeze.

You learned the Song of Time! This was a sacred, ancient song that enabled the Hero of Time to manipulate time's flow. If there is an area in the future or past with a Time Gate stationed, the Song of Time will activate it from the other end! And the song may have other properties, too…

Fi spoke once again, "Master, judging by the appearance of this portal, the Song of Time must have stirred the fragments of Time Dust that filled the air in this area. By that logic, I calculate a 90% chance this portal will warp us to your original time, Master."

"You'll get used to her doing that." Cheren said to Merida, who chuckled lightly.

"WAHP." Koume looked shocked. "Well, I will never understand where you've come from or how you work, young man… but if you're as reliable as you look, you'll save my sister."

"(Why do people always think that?)" Cheren said to himself.

"Well, come on." Merida said eagerly. "Let's go." She was about to step in, until Cheren grabbed her shoulder.

"Um… Merida?" Cheren held a look of worry. "Just to let you know, if you come with me… you won't like what you see."

"Oh, quit being so sentimental!" she yelled, smacking his hand. "Ay can handle whatever's in there." Without another second to waste, the Scottish princess jumped in the portal.

"Siiigh…" Still feeling worried, Cheren jumped in after her.

DunBroch Forest; 800 years later

Cheren came rolling out of the portal ('cause that's the coolest way to EXIT a portal) and stopped on his feet, looking up at Merida, whose back was turned. Cheren's worried look returned, seeing Merida overlooking the cliff. He stepped beside her, noticing the blank, emotionless stare on her face. "Merida?" Cheren overlooked the cliff, too. The forest was still there… but most of it had been withered away, it seemed. The sky was filled with gray, depressing clouds, and in the distance, Merida could see a field of ruin replaced her town of DunBroch, and her treehouse was no longer visible. The Fire Falls below her had become quiet and nearly dried, and no light reflected from its surface.

Cheren stared at her with sympathy, her green dress and frizzy hair blowing in the wind. He couldn't find a trace of emotion in her face. She must've been so traumatized on the inside. So full of hopelessness. To know that everything she ever knew or loved would fall into pieces. Cheren could almost imagine that pain… but he didn't know it for real.

Merida gave a calm, simple sigh and turned around. "Let's go. We'd better find the witch's sister." She walked forward, not even sparing a second glance. Cheren wondered how she could be that calm, or maybe her operative instincts were telling her to just focus on the mission. He could see where Panini's mom gets it. Er, Thomas's mom, he means.

The portal they rolled out of was apparently attached to a Warp Gate device, with Timeshift Orbs linked to it, so this was likely how Majora's minions managed to traverse time in this area. The two of them continued through the near-wilted forest, much darker than it had been in Merida's time, as Blue Bubbles popped and aimed to gnaw on their heads. Cheren jumped in front of Merida and bounced the winged skulls back, disabling their blue fires and allowing Merida to slice them in two.

"I hate to tell you this, Cheren, but I kind of prefer my world better." Merida said casually as they walked along.

Cheren wondered how she could say that like it was no big deal her country gets wasted, but decided to play along. "Yeah, we've gotten kinda downhill. I mean, I guess your place is more… natural."

"If ye call walking dead natural. Now, where do ya suppose this old bag wandered off to?"

"I hope she isn't too far; otherwise we'll have to fight our way through a whole stage."

The area around them seemed to become more grey and dusty. They were slowly leaving the forest, and coming to a field of ruin, swallowed in the greyest fog they've ever seen. "Hey, Ay think Ay know this place." Merida mentioned as they kept going. "These are the ruins of the ancient kingdom. It's where the royal family's catacombs are."

"So, this place was ruined before DunBroch got ruined?"

"Aye. Ay'd imagined this place has gotten pretteh dusteh."

As they turned around another fallen structure, they stopped as they noticed a strange silhouette a few feet away, an ice-white emblem on its forehead. They exchanged curious glances and headed over, finding an identical old witch stuck halfway in the ground. "…Kotake?" Cheren bent down and asked.

"Oooohhh…" the witch moaned, moving lightly.

"Ya think the monsters did somethin'?" Merida asked.

"Maybe." Cheren stood up. "She probably needs medicine. We'll have to go back and ask Koume if she's got any."

"…Huh?" The witch's eyes opened. "No no, I sleep like this sometimes. It's good for the back." Kotake helped herself out of the ground, leisurely brushing the dirt off. "Wait. You kids know my sister? Did she finally get to sending a rescue team? Lazy bag, too cheap to buy a…"

"Hehehe." Cheren chuckled. "Well, I guess we're a rescue team. But more importantly, we're trying to find the ruins of the sky temple. …You see anything like that around here?"

"Eee hee hee! Lucky for you, I happened to be doing research on that matter. I wasn't gonna wander around this wasteland doing nothing. I've been trying to find the structure for years, flying around and getting lost in a sea of clouds. But I knew it had to be somewhere above this area. When I wound up in this future time, I knew I was bound to find it on the land. But it looks like the years took their toll on this land. Too much dust. I can't even see the lake anymore. But I happened to find a few interesting things. Like this:" she reached under her sleeve and pulled out a small, glowing green ball, the size of a gumball.

Cheren took the strange ball and stared at it confusedly. "A gumball?"

"It is a Rumble Ball, young man. They're special drugs that enhance one's abilities for a short time. I found it while scouring around the old catacombs. Aside from that ball, I discovered an ancient tablet. It read that only by the power of the Giants will the lost temple be uncovered. You see, according to legend, the Giants created a special mask long ago. A mask imbued with their very strength and will. They entrusted it to the old kings of DunBroch, but their misuse of its power brought the kingdom to ruin. So the Giants removed the mask of its power, and buried it in the catacombs."

"What did the mask do?" Cheren asked, feeling this sounded very familiar. Not Majora. …?

"The mask allowed its wearer to become a Giant their self. Their enhanced size would give them the powers of a god, to stomp the earth and create earthquakes, splashing the ocean like a pool and make tsunamis. The rulers of the ancient kingdom could never have been trusted with this power. The only way to breathe new life into this mask is to implant it with Rumble Balls. But even in a short amount of time, its power can be deadly."

"But you're saying that this mask can help us find the temple?" Cheren asked.

"It might young'un. But I don't have the energy to search that junk pile for the mask." She spoke as she began to limp away. "You kids look agile enough. I can get back to my sister now, right?"

"The portal should still be open." Cheren mentioned.

"Good." She continued limping away. "I don't know why you kids want to find the temple… but if you have the Giant's Mask, be careful what ya do with it."

Cheren and Merida reached a small, cylindrical structure atop a cliff, overlooking a vast sea of gray, dusty fog. "There used ta be a lake here." Merida said. "It made this area look a little prettier. …Ay guess it got a little dry."

"Eee-yup…" Cheren still wondered how Merida could look so calm. The kids looked at the structure beside them and entered, finding the place crumpled with cobwebs and broken murals. A small stairway led a little bit downward, and there was a particular spot on the floor with a pile of small, broken pieces of the building.

"Ay think this was where the catacombs was located." Merida mentioned. "We may as well clear them out of the way."

Cheren whipped out his M.U.M.B.L.E.R. and shot a M.A.R.B.L.E. at the pile, immediately blowing it out of the way. "Easy as that."

Merida uncovered her eyes and saw that a hole was revealed in the spot where the ruins lay, with a ladder going downward. "Ay… guess that's the place."

"Looks nice." Cheren said sarcastically, not liking how dark and black the pathway looked. "Ladies first?"

"Um, you go." Merida said, slightly worried. Cheren proceeded to head down the ladder first, with Merida climbing down after him. (Play the Sandship Theme from Zelda: Skyward Sword.)

Stage 28: The Ruined Catacombs

Mission: Find the Giant's Mask somewhere in the ruins.

The two carefully climbed down the ladder, the ruin growing darker the farther they went. It was like climbing into a dirty, dusty basement that hadn't been used for ages. They didn't know where the ladder would end up, or how far, so they were very careful to watch their step. But Cheren felt more afraid of unseen spiders landing on his head, crawling to bite him before he ever noticed. Sadly, Merida's foot slipped when she tried to step to a lower handle, and she ended up falling and pushing Cheren down as they collided with the bottom. "Waaaah- uuh!"

The dust cleared up from their crash as Cheren found himself crushed under Merida's butt, her legs rested over his head. "Ummm… sorry 'bout that." She grinned sheepishly.

"This will be a regular thing for your family in the future." Cheren mumbled. The boy pushed Merida off of him and stood to brush his pants off. "Man, this place is all kinds of ugly. I want out of here ASANow."

"Ya mean 'P'?"

"Um, no, they'll say that in the future."

"Okay then…"

The two trudged forward down a narrow hall, stepping over several fallen ruins and cutting down cobwebs in the way. They passed by several piles of dust, in which Arachas, little baby scorpions, jumped out and tried to latch on them. They frantically shook the bloodsuckers off and sliced them in one hit each. A tiny web strand got caught in Cheren's nose as they passed an archway, the boy yanking the web off as his tickly nose twitched. They stepped down a short staircase into a more open room, though still rather cramped due to all the debris and piles of dust.

All of the entryways were cluttered with debris, making it seem like a dead end, but they spotted a cracked wall on one end of the room. Cheren used a M.A.R.B.L.E. to blow the wall open, revealing a large, blue cube with a strange mural of the sun shining rays over the land. Fi emerged from the Master Sword to explain the cube's purpose. "Master Cheren, I have identified this cube as a Block of Time. By performing the Song of Time, this cube would automatically transport itself to a location it was in a previous time, and come back again as requested. Data shows that, when fused with a Timeshift Orb, these cubes will warp you to different points in time."

"So we'll just find a Timeshift Orb." Cheren figured, looking at the piles of dust. Cheren changed into his wolf form and began to dig around the piles, which were oddly thick for just being dust (or ash). Arachas leapt out in some of them, but the wolf-boy was able to bite and tear them away. He was eventually able to find the Timeshift Orb in the dust, and he reverted to human and carried it to the Time Block. When he tossed the orb at the block, both began to brim as the orb sunk into the block. The block continued to glow a light blue, so Cheren and Merida stood before it as Cheren played the Song of Time.

The block seemed to react to the song as a bright beam of blue light erupted from it. The operatives shut their eyes, caught in the blue beam, and when it died down, they saw that the ruin was a lot more clean now. It was obvious they had been transported back to the past. A couple of Beamos had spawned in the areas where some of the dust was. Cheren approached the first one and used his Mirror Shield to deflect its beam at the Beamos behind it, and afterwards take out the first Beamos itself.

The narrow hallway on the left side of the room was free of debris, so they were able to pass through. It was a slightly bigger room, with two pillars stationed around the middle, and two fierce-looking knight statues, with a flat, stamp-like bottom, a sword, a shield, and emblems on their front and back, floating around the room.

Fi came out to give info on this monster. "Target locked: Death Armos. Designed as a temple guard in ancient days, this Armos is programmed to stomp anyone that approaches. The emblems on its front and back channel its life force, and it will only be destroyed if both are damaged. Unfortunately, a single emblem will heal itself after a few seconds if the other is not dealt with."

"Guess this is another test of our teamwork." Cheren exchanged a smirk with Merida. The two walked in as Merida hurried behind the first Armos, but the creature spotted her, flew above, and tried to smash down, but Merida rolled back. Cheren shot the Armos from behind while it recovered, but when Merida tried to shoot the front emblem, she had to dodge when the second Armos tried to smash her. The first Armos was able to recover as a result, and Merida backed up as both were trying to crush her. Cheren ran behind the first one and shot it again. "Hurry up, shoot it!" Merida hastily grabbed her bow and shot its front, making the Death Armos explode. She ran from the second one as Cheren shot its behind, allowing Merida to shoot the front and destroy it.

The bars blocking the archway opened, and the two passed another hall to a relatively small room with a huge, wooden wheel on the wall at one end, and a smaller wheel on the floor a few feet in front of it. The giant wheel had a sword slot on its left side and a ball-shaped slot on the right, and there were also openings in the wall on both sides. The smaller wheel also had a sword-shaped slot on its side, and Cheren curiously stuck his sword in and walked around to turn the wheel. As a result, the bigger wheel was apparently turning with it. Cheren had Merida switch places with him as she stuck her sword in the smaller wheel and turned it so the sword slot was at the bottom of the bigger wheel. Cheren stuck his sword in the big wheel's slot as Merida turned it beside the right opening. Cheren saw there was only a Time Block, so he had Merida turn him beside the left end, where he hopped off into a short hallway.

The hall led to a small room with an altar, with a Timeshift Orb seated in the middle. Cheren took the orb and brought it to the previous room, but couldn't get it to the Time Block by usual means. He remembered the ball slot on the other side of the wheel and had Merida turn it so it'd be beside him. Cheren set the ball in its slot, and Merida turned the wheel again to get the sword slot beside him. Cheren stuck his sword in as Merida turned him to be beside the Time Block, where she then turned so Cheren could get the orb. Cheren fused the Time Orb with the Time Block, then used the Hookshot to pull Merida to him. Cheren blew the Song of Time and had the block transport them to the future.

The minute they returned to Cheren's regular time, they could see the distinct differences between the clean, relatively polished ruin in Merida's time, and the ugly, crumbled ruins in Cheren's time. The turn wheel was rotted and likely used up of its function, and several debris were fallen and stacked to serve as platforms to the parallel pathway, where the Timeshift Orb was found. Of course, it wasn't far for a Pirate Sail to reach, but they decided to use these stepping stones anyway, since the ruins went through all the trouble of ruining their selves for them.

The room with the altar was now decrepit, and the wall beyond the orb's resting spot had a gaping crack. Cheren used a M.A.R.B.L.E. to blow the wall open, revealing a slightly wider hallway with coffins leaning along the walls. As they stepped forward, the coffins' lids suddenly fell open, and zombified corpses slumped out, their faces totally lifeless. They were Redeads, probably the scariest enemies in all of Zelda. As they faced the first one with determined looks, they let out a blood-hurdling scream, and the operatives froze with utter terror and fright. They don't know what, but a sensation overcame them that prevented them from moving for a few seconds. When they were mobile again, the zombies unleashed another scream, and they couldn't get away before Redeads took them from behind and began to choke them.

Cheren desperately tried to pull the Redead's hands away, the zombie's grip surprisingly strong as it clutched tight to Cheren's neck. He was able to yank it off, whipping his sword out as he dealt blows against the Redead, eventually knocking it out, and then slaying the Redead choking Merida. The rest of the Redeads ran at the operatives, but Cheren and Merida swung their blades quickly and knocked them down. They quickly hurried down the hall and turned left at an intersection, then turned right another corridor, and then left before they reached a dead end.

The coffin at the end fell open to reveal a Stalfos, and the warrior's bones formed to life and faced Cheren with a fierce look, wielding dual swords. Cheren raised his shield as the skeleton rapidly banged his swords against it, and Merida ran to strike it from behind. The Stalfos spun around and used both his swords to defend from the two operatives, struggling to strike them on either side. Cheren rolled behind him while Merida rolled in front, and both sliced him upward in a perfect half, making his bones fall. They saw the coffin had a secret room behind it, cutting through the open casket to find a Timeshift Orb.

Cheren carried the orb across the other side of the corridor, but as he did, several Skulltula dropped down and tried to take the orb back. Cheren looked at them in fear, but couldn't defend himself while holding the orb, so Merida had to take them out herself. Cheren looked impressed as Merida flipped every giant spider upside-down and stabbed it in its belly, screaming fiercely with each stab. Merida looked like a true warrior, and Cheren couldn't help but think how beautiful she looked the way she fought. This must be where her descendants get it. …Eww, gross, Cheren shouldn't think that! She's 800 years old in his time! Well, it could be the traits of PANINI he thinks are beautiful… yeah, that. Wait, this was Thomas's ancestor. GROSSER!

The kids reached the end of the hallway, where a Skulltula was seated on a web, completely blocking the small archway. Merida tried to hit the giant spider, but it didn't budge from its web at all. Cheren was able to set the Timeshift Orb safely down, and helped as he tried to use M.A.R.B.L.E.s, Fire Arrows, and Slag's body, but the spider was apparently well-armored. And there wasn't enough room to cut the web with the Bananarang. However, the two noticed a secret room on their right with a Time Block, and Cheren proceeded to toss the orb inside. He played the Song of Time, and the two were transported to the past.

In this time, the Skulltulas were simple, tiny Walltulas, and Cheren sliced the ones on the web in one, simple hit. The hall ahead was protected by numerous security lasers, coming from either side to prevent Cheren from slipping through with the Mirror Shield. When the two stepped through the first laser, they saw metal bars seal the other side of the hall, and when they retreated, it reopened. The two decided to return to the future via Time Block, and the Skulltula that blocked the archway was no longer there.

The security lasers were also gone in that time, allowing them to pass by the hall with no problems. They arrived at a room where a set of three platforms led up to a door on their right, but the door was sealed with metal bars. There was another hall ahead of them, which turned a left corner to show a wider hall with many dusty floor panels, and a Timeshift Orb at the other end. Cheren and Merida exchanged worried glances, feeling suspicious about those panels, but shrugged as Cheren took the first step. Immediately, that panel crumpled to dust, and Merida grabbed and pulled him up quickly before Cheren fell into a pit of spikes.

They looked again at these crumpled panels. There was a particular row of panels that was lighter gray than the others. Cheren stepped on the first of these, but it crumbled anyway, and Cheren jumped back up quickly before the spikes were shown. However, that panel lasted slightly longer, so it led him to believe they were still a little stable. Cheren slipped on the Kateenian Mask and morphed to his shorter sized form, not really terrifying Merida, who thought this form was cute. Cheren hopped across the broken spot and was able to walk across the stable path of panels, light enough so they don't fall. He kept a close eye on the light-gray path, having to make several turns as the path went.

He managed to reach the safe foothold where the Time Orb was rested. His tiny Kateenian body struggled to lift the heavy orb above him, and when he began to cross the path again, the extra weight from the orb caused the panels to crumble after a second. Cheren had to quickly hurry back, moving as quick as he could with the heavy orb, and carefully so as not to stray off into the spikes. Since the last panel was already broken, Cheren quickly tossed the orb to the safe ground before jumping over himself.

Cheren changed back to human and carried the orb a lot easier as they returned to the room with the three platforms. There was a Time Block on the right of the platforms, so Cheren tossed the orb inside and played the Song of Time. They were transported to that room in the past, much cleaner, but the metal gate was still blocking the way above. They saw they were on the other side of the security lasers. Cheren glanced to the metal gate above and got an idea, and decided to pass through the security beam. The metal gate sealed him from the room, but Merida saw the gate above the platforms open. She nodded to Cheren, who smirked and nodded back as he hurried to the Time Block past the hall and warped to the future. He ran back through the hall, now free of security (and thankfully THAT metal gate had apparently crumbled away), and jumped in the other Time Block.

He re-met with Merida in that room in the past, and the two smiled as the gate above was now open. They climbed onto the tall platform stairs and reached the hallway. There were many Redeads lined up along both sides of the hall, emitting their creepy, otherworldly moans. The two were afraid to go forward, not sure they could take on that many zombies. Thankfully, Fi appeared just then for some advice. "Master, I have analyzed the Redeads' functions… limited as they may be. But it appears many of these zombies were ecstatic dancers back in their day. Embarrassed to show their movements to the souls of the living, but in the presence of someone from the dead, they would be tempted to dance. Your Garo Mask may qualify in misleading them of your death, Master."

"Hmm…" curious about this, Cheren slipped on the Garo Mask, and before their eyes, the Redeads began to break out in dance, and a disco ball lowered from the ceiling as well. Cheren and Merida stared silly at how ridiculous the Redead looked, the zombies boogying away like '80's people at a disco club. The two easily made their way through the hall with the zombies too distracted to attack. At the end of the corridor, they found a door with a skull head guarding the passage. Cheren knew he had to become Captain Slag, so just to be safe, he cut down all the dancing Redeads in that area (even though he didn't want to).

He then turned into Captain Slag and spoke to the skull. The skull brimmed with a ghostly blue as it spoke in an eerie tone. "Ooooh… you don't look very agile… but if you dance well, I'll let you pass."

The disco ball appeared once more, and three Redeads appeared as Cheren began to dance with them. "Yaw-yawn." The left Redead moved his body in a wavy fashion, which Cheren tried to imitate, but his chubbier metal body was saying otherwise. The zombie on his right bent over like rubber and shook his bottom, which Cheren embarrassingly tried to imitate. The middle zombie fell backward, his feet still on the ground as he was bent in a yoga style, and when Cheren tried to imitate, he merely fell back on his back. They both stood straight back up as the three zombies finished off by twisting their own bodies. Cheren gripped his stomach and tried to twist his body, but it didn't fair too well at all as the zombies vanished.

"Aaaah… well, you tried." So, the door opened.

Cheren pulled his mask off and took this time to catch his breath. He glanced over at Merida, and saw the girl's face completely red, her hands over her mouth as she struggled desperately to hold in laughter. "…Go on." Cheren said disbelievingly.

"PFFFFTTHAAAAH HA HA HA HA HA HAAAAAA!" the Scottish girl exploded with uncontrollable laughter, falling on her back and rolling around. Cheren shook his head in annoyance, waiting patiently for the girl to finish her laughter. He was used to this sort of thing. A close friend did it all the time. And the Scottish accent was just the same. "Ahhh ha ha! Ahh ha! Ooohhh…" Merida was beginning to calm down, standing to wipe a tear from her eye. "Ay, that's gonna last a while."

"Right." Cheren knew that was true. "Are you done?"

"Aye." She said, a happy smile still on her face. "Let's go."

They passed through the door and appeared in a small, wide room with a blue, armored monster, twice as tall as them. The Eyegore opened its big, bulbous blue eye and began to shoot blue lasers. The operatives rolled to the side and avoided as Cheren shot the eye with an arrow. Its eye began to water for a few seconds, but it was able to recover quickly. The Eyegore stomped over and slammed the ground, attempting to knock boulders at the kids, but they avoided as Cheren had Fi examine it.

"Target locked: Eyegore. An armored monster used to guard small areas, this beast attacks with a quick-recovering eye. In the brief moment its eye is disabled, the mouth on its rear side opens. The inside of this beast is weak and fragile, so a strong enough force will be able to vanquish it."

"A M.A.R.B.L.E. should do the trick." Cheren said with a glare as he attempted to shoot the eye up close. But the moment Cheren stepped up, the Eyegore sent him flying against the wall with great force. Cheren decided to shoot the Eyegore from a safe distance, then tried to run behind to shoot a M.A.R.B.L.E. in his butt- er, mouth. However, the mouth shut quickly as the Eyegore smacked Cheren away. The Eyegore then approached Merida, and the Scottish girl looked as Cheren nodded to her. Merida shot the monster in the eye with an arrow, and Cheren, already behind it, shot a M.A.R.B.L.E. into its butt-mouth, exploding the monster from the inside.

With the monster defeated, the kids watched as a large chest appeared in the center. Merida questioned how the chest magically spawned like that, but Cheren waved it off saying, "It's a thing that happens." He then proceeded to open the chest, going through another display of golden lights. Cheren was tired of this, but for Merida, it was actually new. Cheren bent over and retrieved the item, and the lights went out as Cheren held up a gray stone mask, designed like a Mayan artifact. (End song.)

You got the Giant's Mask! This mask is imbued with the power of the Giants. Right now, it's useless, but when imbued with a Rumble Ball, you'll feel ultimate power as you tower over your enemies!

Back above the catacombs' entrance

The kids climbed their way out of the catacombs, now in Cheren's time, and overlooked the vast field of dusty fog. Cheren stared at the stone mask in his hands, wondering what to do next. "So what'm I supposed to do with it?"

"How should Ay know? The old hag says the will of the Giants would reveal the temple… or something. She must've meant the mask, right?"

"I guess it means I'll have to put it on." Cheren figured. "But will I really become giant if I wear it?"

"Ya become whatever those other masks are."

"Heheh. Well, here it goes." Cheren pulled out the glowing green Rumble Ball and shoved it into the inside of the mask. Cheren nervously slipped the mask on his face, his eyes shut tight as he anticipated a painful transformation. But once the mask was on his face, nothing happened, and his eyes opened with confusion. "OOOGH." Finally, Cheren felt a painful sensation in his body, feeling random parts of his body become wavy and swollen, sinking up and down. Suddenly, his right shoulder puffed like a water balloon, the huge amount of blood flowing to his hand to make it swollen. He looked down as his red rubber shoes suddenly puffed in size, his feet feeling extremely heavy.

Merida fearfully backed away as Cheren's belly turned bulbous, and his left hand, and later the rest of his arms, grew incredibly big and muscular. The rest of his body, and his clothes, soon began to stretch to stretch to an equal proportion, and Merida gaped in amazement as Cheren grew and grew and grew. Cheren was feeling more sick to his ever-expanding stomach as his body reached to incredible heights. Finally, the growing came to a halt. Cheren reopened his eyes, which hurt from the swelling, and the endless mist and the vast land of DunBroch became very tiny to his view. Cheren could see for miles, but everything looked to be short, simple meters at his height. "WHOOOAA." Cheren was still trying to comprehend what just happened. "THIS IS SOO WEEEIRRD." Cheren stepped his left foot back just a tiny bit.

"AAAH!" Merida's eyes widened as the sole of Cheren's massive shoe loomed over her, and she ran back just as his foot missed her by a few inches, causing her to fall as it quaked the ground. "ARE YE TRYIN' TA SQUISH ME LIKE AN ANT?!"

"UMM, SORRY." Cheren spoke in his deep, booming voice. He looked down by his shoe, and Merida did look like a teeny tiny ant. "I'M TRYING TO GET USED TO THIS FORM." It's true that Cheren never imagined being so enormous.

"IF YE STEP ON MEH, AY WILL HAUNT YER WEE SOUL TO THE ENDS OF TIIIME." she screamed very fiercely.

"OKAY, OKAY. HEHEH… EVERYTHING LOOKS SO TINY FROM UP HERE. BUT I STILL CAN'T SEE THE TEMPLE FOR SOME REASON. AND YOU'D THINK AT A HEIGHT LIKE THIS, I COULD SEE ANYTHING."

"Too bad it has ta be so foggeh here." Merida complained. "If yer GOD-sized now, can't ya just BLOW it all away?"

"HMMM… WELL, THE MASK KINDA BLOCKS MY BREATH. …BUT ALTHOUGH…" Cheren reached behind and pulled out his sword, the gargantuan piece of metal making an earsplitting ringing sound as it was unsheathed. Cheren squatted down, his sword arm stretched out as he faced the tiny, foggy landscape with a fierce expression, his sword seeming several miles long. "YAAAAAAAHH!" Cheren unleashed a spin attack with the greatest force he's ever given. His incredible size and mass made him look like a tremendous tornado, the force of his spin blowing a powerful wind across the land. The trees were blowing like they were in a storm, and Merida clutched tight to the ground, not wanting to be blown away by Cheren's tremendous wind.

The force of the wind was able to blow away the grey fog covering the landscape, and as Cheren slowed to a halt, Merida stared with surprise. The gigantic Uno child held his head dizzily, trying to keep his ground, for moving a single inch at his size would crush Merida under his shoe. When he regained composure, the fog was long gone, and a vast, ruined structure lay in its place.

Merida crawled forward and asked, "Is THAT the Heavenly Ruin?"

"WHATEVER ABOUT THAT PLACE YOU CONSIDER HEAVENLY." Cheren said, sheathing his blade.

"Hasn't been very looked-after, I'll give ye that. Shrink back down so we can go in already."

"ARE YOU KIDDING? I'M HUGE!" Cheren exclaimed, now full of excitement. "I CAN JUST STOMP THAT PLACE, AND THE MONSTERS WOULD NEVER SURVIVE!" he yelled as he stomped his feet, quaking the earth. "THE PLACE IS ALREADY RUINED ANYWAY, SO I CAN JUST STEP OVER ALL THE DUNGEON STUFF, AND WE'LL BE GOOD TO GO! HA HA—" However, his moment of victory came to an end when the power suddenly wore off. Cheren's arms and legs shrunk back to their regular scrawny size, as did the rest of his body as he found himself hundreds of feet above the ground. "Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!…"

Merida watched as her downsized friend fell fast toward the earth, getting to her feet and running below him with her arms held out, only to be smashed under his body.

Cheren and Merida dizzily recovered, finding the Uno boy seated atop the Scottish lass, with his feet rested on her frizzy head. "Ugh! Would ye get OFF meh?" she demanded, standing and forcing Cheren off of her. "Honestleh. Boys like you are gonna terrorize my family for generations."

"Pssh, you don't know the HALF of it." Cheren mumbled, standing and brushing himself off. The two operatives stood along the edge of the cliff and overlooked the dusty, ruined structure. Even with all of the gloomy fog gone, the place still looked sad to look at. "Well, I guess we should get in there."

"Ay really don't want to." Merida replied, not impressed by the look of the temple.

"Ladies first." Cheren humbly bowed, gesturing her to go forward.

Merida shot him a glare and grabbed the cliff ledge, carefully climbing downward as Cheren followed. "Even if we're in your time, ya think our country can still win the war?"

"I would hope so. Otherwise, you might not have a movie."

"Ay hope." Merida kept climbing down, these worrying thoughts still in her head. However, that last statement made her confused. "Wait, what?"

 

[Gamen Watch]

Time to begin the sixth dungeon of this story! And despite confining it to its own chapter without any additional stages, it's STILL just as long as the prior two dungeon chapters! Play the "Stone Tower" theme from Majora's Mask.

Chapter 19: A Giant Reigns Over DunBroch

Dungeon 6: Heavenly Ruin

Mission: Rescue the last Giant somewhere in the ruin.

The inside of the temple didn't look any nicer than it did on the outside. It looked like an old, abandoned basement no one used anymore, that was torn down and left to gather dust. Almost everywhere you looked, something was broken. It was a surprise to them that there was a path that led through the first bit of ruin. They were brought to what looked like a more open, central area, with four crystal switches surrounding a mural on the floor, which was the same as the murals found on the Time Blocks. Cheren hit one of the crystal switches, but it went off in an instant. He tried to hit them all in a combo with the Bananarang, but they went off too quickly. Cheren and Merida BOTH tried to hit each crystal as fast as they could, but they quickly ran out of breath, unable to hit them fast enough.

They decided to head along the north path between some ruin, and entered a door to their first official room. They appeared atop a ledge over a floor with a turntable, similar to the one in the catacombs, where a Clear Chuchu, made of water clear enough to see through, roamed around mindlessly. The kids dropped down, and when the Chuchu tried to attack them, Cheren sliced it in half once, and it immediately collapsed into a puddle. Cheren then stuck his sword into the sword slot on the turntable, and began walking around it counterclockwise. There didn't appear to be anything the table connected to, as the north side of the room was a mere pile of ruin. As a result, the turntable was slowly rising out of the ground as Cheren turned it, but it eventually got so high that he couldn't reach the sword handle, forcing him to withdraw his sword.

At the same time, the Clear Chuchu formed back together, and Merida proceeded to slice it from behind as it tried to attack. Since Cheren couldn't reach the sword-slot from the ground now, he decided to get on the table and stick the sword in from there, but he wasn't able to turn it. That's when he decided to ask Fi for advice. "Master, judging by the height of this turntable, you will not be able to turn it from where you would normally stand." Cheren rolled his eyes. "At times like this, it is helpful to have a special foothold to boost your height. Perhaps you should find such a thing, Master."

Cheren sighed in slight frustration. He would think that meant Merida, but they were too heavy for each other, and if Cheren went in Kateenian form, he wouldn't have a sword. The only other thing in the room was the Clear Chuchu.

But that's when it hit him. As the watery Chuchu formed itself together again, he stopped Merida from attacking it for a moment while he got down and shot it with an Ice Arrow. Although the Chu was round-shaped, a rectangular ice cube formed over its body, forming a perfect block to stand on. He pushed the block beside the sword-slot and climbed on, getting equal height with the slot, then had Merida push the block around the table as Cheren turned it. It took a while, but when the table was finally turned all the way, it came out like a screw and fell onto the ground.

They unveiled the small hole that the lower part of the table stuck into. It was rather dark, but the two managed to squeeze in and climb down, finding a tiny room with a door. The door led to another narrow hall, which brought them to a rather cramped room filled with dust and junk. They dropped down a small ledge and turned around a crumbled wall, finding only a dead end. They searched around the dark room, but they couldn't find any clues despite that it was so cramped. They went back to the dead-end area, and Merida glanced up and tapped Cheren's shoulder, indicating the trickle of light pouring from a crack in the ceiling. It was too high to shoot a M.A.R.B.L.E., so Cheren tried to Youth Roll into the wall, but the rubble wouldn't come down. This time, Cheren and Merida Youth Rolled into BOTH sides of the room simultaneously, and the rubble came down, letting in a ray of light from above.

Considering the weather outside, it was a surprise to them to get sunlight in here. Cheren stood under so that the light would reflect off his Mirror Shield, but he kept it on his back as he looked around for something to shine it on. As he turned around in that same spot several times (making Merida flinch every time the light shined her way) he couldn't find anything, so he stood in place with his back facing the eastern wall. With his shield facing only the east wall, Merida watched as the wall was slowly starting to decay. She kept Cheren standing in that spot until the light caused the wall to decay completely, and a new hallway was revealed.

Don't understand the physics behind that, but, okay. Cheren thought. They entered a wider room with small holes in the ceiling, letting in tiny bits of sunlight. A large, neck-deep pool separated them and a slight higher platform, but Cheren shot Ice Arrows and made platforms in the water, allowing them easy access across. They climbed onto the platform, which seemed rather wide on top, and stared across another pool with another land on the opposite side, which held a sealed barred door. There were also two twin blue switches sitting parallel in front of the door; the kinds that needed to be held down. Along the left side of the ledge on their platform, there was a block with Majora's symbol, and they knew it could be used for one of the switches. However, the only way to get it across, it looked like, would be to move it along ice platforms.

Cheren froze the first three ice platforms in the water below the block, and had to keep them close together. He pushed the block down onto the first one, then jumped down behind it to pull it along the ice footholds. He had to keep stopping to freeze new platforms; but whenever he got more than three, the first of those three would disappear, so it was a very slow process. Not to mention, some areas in the water had ruins sticking up from the floor below, so he had to navigate around them. Eventually, Merida, who was casually swimming around the water and waiting, suggested that she could pull the block, while Cheren froze the platforms, and save himself the trouble of alternating between. He was sort of aggravated he didn't think of that.

He climbed onto the platform (he didn't add THAT much extra weight to it) and let Merida pull it along while he froze a path behind her. They were able to reach the dry land, in which Cheren hopped off and helped Merida bring the block onto the right blue switch. Nothing seemed to happen, so they must've had to hold down the left switch. Cheren stepped on it, and a small platform on the left side of the foothold rose into a tall pillar, getting up beside an opening in the wall too high to reach. Cheren stepped off, and the platform came down. There were no blocks in the immediate area, so Cheren had Merida stand on the switch, while he ran onto the platform and allowed it to bring him up.

There was a door up there, and Cheren entered by himself. The door sealed with metal bars on the other side, and he was trapped in a small room with two skeleton clumps, both wearing armor. The bony warriors came to life, and their hands were apparently made out of round buzzsaws. The Stalsaws' blades spun to life, emitting their usual loud buzzing sound as the left skeleton launched its saw hand at Cheren, who dodged quickly to the right. The right skeleton launched his saw afterward, and Cheren ducked and ran between them. Cheren ran at the first one and swung his blade, but it swiftly defended with its buzzsaws before launching an arm at Cheren, who dodge-rolled away.

Cheren looked at the other one and ducked quickly before its saw-blade came. He ran to one end of the room and called Fi for help. "Target locked: Stalsaw. Warriors from ancient days who have had their arms removed and had chainsaws installed. Even in death, their bladed hands remain intact. Their buzzsaws are programmed to retract immediately to the arm after completed launch, usually in a straight path. Often, if a force were obstructing its return to base, it would cut through whatever was barricading it, depending on the force's strength."

"Hmmm." Cheren dodged another saw-blade, and felt like he had an idea. He looked at the first Stalsaw, and ran at it as it threw its blade. He dodged, and then rolled behind the Stalsaw, and when the skeleton turned, its saw-blade was still out, and it came and sliced him through the head. Cheren smirked, and dodged the other Stalsaw's chainsaw. Cheren got up when it retracted, then ran at him, and dodged when he launched, going behind so he would turn, and be sliced by his own chainsaw.

The metal bars opened (at least something still functions) and a giant chest appeared in the center of the room. Cheren opened it and endured a fancy, new-item lightshow, even if this was the sixth time he's gotten this item.

You got the Dungeon Map! Look, buddy, I dunno what to say! Ya've SEEN it before, ya should KNOW what it does by now! Even if it IS hundreds of years old! UUUUGHH!

Cheren left the room and jumped back down to join Merida. They weren't sure where to go next, but as Merida stood on the switch, she indicated over to the foothold in the middle of the pool, and they saw that two slots were open, revealing eye switches, likely open due to both switches being down. They exchanged nods and shot each switch simultaneously, and the door behind them opened.

The next room seemed small and rather dark, except for the blare of red coming from below. They stood on a small foothold and looked over an edge, seeing a deep chasm with several flamethrowers sprouting fires from the walls. On their right side was a locked door, so the only way now was down. Merida wrapped her arms around Cheren as he whipped out his Pirate Sail, and the two jumped off and carefully floated down. There was reasonable space between each set of firewalls; enough for the two and the puffy sail to pass through, so all they had to do was navigate around the fires, and know when to do so. When they were through with the fires, they were hovering several feet over a pit of lava, but there was a safe landing along their left, so they hovered that way and dropped.

The floor had plenty of space as they walked into the center, looking around for where to go next. In such a deep place underneath so much ruin, it was almost pitch-black, aside from the orange glow coming from the lava. (They questioned how a sky temple could even have lava, especially if it crashed on top of a lake.) There was a rumbling in the lava then, and they looked behind to see two tall, muscular stone beings, whom sort of bared a resemblance to Sprocket, with oven stomachs and flaming mouths, emerged from the lava, covered in fire. They backed away as the Stoviemons breathed a slow wave of fire, and Cheren aimed and launched an Ice Arrow at the one on his right.

The Ice Arrow seemed to work as the flames around its body were dispersed, but its stove-like chest was still alit. Cheren decided to shoot the left one and put out its flames, but as the monsters breathed fire at them, the ground itself was set on fire where they breathed. Cheren turned into Captain Slag and stepped through the flames, and used his superior robot form to grab the stove's hatch and yank it open. The Stoviemon smacked the robot-boy away, and once Cheren was safely out of the fire, he pulled off his mask and hurried away. He proceeded to shoot an Ice Arrow and dissipate the stove's flame, making the burning demon cool lifeless and fall down. The other monster had reignited his flames again, but Cheren shot and cooled it before turning back into Slag and stomping through its flames. He gripped the stove's hatch and yanked it, having to defend from its breath of fire. Cheren trudged away from the monster and reverted to human form, using the Ice Arrow to put out the flaming heart, and deactivate the demon.

A small chest dropped in the center of the floor, and inside was the Small Key. Now there was the matter of getting out of there. They looked across the pit of lava, and a Hidden Leaf symbol was stationed on the wall high above it. Cheren wrapped on his headband and became a ninja, making a stylish leap over the lava and latching the symbol. This seemed to pull open a small hatch, and Merida could see an eye switch appeared behind it. She aimed and launched an arrow at the eye, and they watched as a platform with a fan came out of the wall and floated to the center of the lava pit, along with another platform that floated between it and the safe land. The fan started to blow up through the chasm they came through, making a way back up.

Cheren leaped back over to Merida and changed back to human. But before they went up the draft, Cheren noticed something: they haven't found any Stray Fairies since they got there. When Merida asked what Stray Fairies were, he replied it's a thing they have to find. Cheren skimmed the room a little more, and found another Leaf symbol high up along the left wall. He changed back into a ninja and leaped to it, pulling the hatch open as a yellow Stray Fairy immediately flew out, going above the firewalls of the chasm.

Cheren jumped down to Merida and reverted to human to put on his Great Fairy Mask. But while the mask's hair glowed, the fairy didn't seem to come down on its own, and it sounded panicked when it flew out of the hatch. He figured they would have to grab it on the way back up, so they jumped to the platform, and Merida held onto Cheren as he used his Pirate Sail to make them drift up the fan's draft. They had to navigate around the fires again, only this time they were going upward, and it was a little harder to see. They managed to evade the fires safely, but they saw the Stray Fairy backed into a corner. They had to drift over quickly so Merida could catch it, and then fly out of the fires' range.

When they reached the safe foothold at the top, Cheren stuffed the fairy in his bottle, and they used the key to open the locked door. They were brought to a small room, in which most of it was covered with swamp water, and hungry piranhas roaming around. On their right, there was another locked door, and ahead of them, across the piranha pool, there was a door sealed with metal bars. On their left was a tunnel, which a river of the swamp water led into. Cheren figured they would go in the tunnel, so he shot an Ice Arrow and froze the first platform. But almost instantly, the piranhas circled around it and chewed the ice to bits. One of the piranhas stuck out of the water and said, "We don' like yer smelly tootsies, we don' like yoo coldin' up arr water neither."

Cheren stared in disbelief. "Shouldn't you guys be dead already?"

"Them birds fly in here ev'ry now an' agin." He went back to swimming with his friends.

Cheren pinched his nasal bridge and tried to think of another way. He really hated these "no cheating" puzzles. He looked to the platform on the other side and saw a Leaf-Boat Plant was dangling over the water. The distance between them and the other foothold was actually small enough for the Pirate Sail to make it; with Cheren by himself, so the boy jumped off and whipped it open to hover across. He landed safely and used the S.Q.W.I.R.T. to make the Leaf-Boat grow and land in the water. Cheren got in and drifted over to allow Merida in the boat (she wasn't gonna bother to ask "What up with the super-squirter"), and they used the S.Q.W.I.R.T. to push their selves over through the tunnel. The riverway was littered with fallen fragments and dust, but it didn't intervene with their voyage as they took land on a small area; a hallway that was small in width and height, but long.

Before them was a tightrope that led over a pit of spiky ruins. Cheren told Merida that it looked too weak for their weight to cross, so he went over on his own, using the Kateenian Mask to lessen his weight. Along the way, he passed by several openings in the wall, which happened to hold Keese. One of the Keese woke up and spotted him, and alerted his friend.

"(Hey, hey, Jimmy! That's the kid who took out our cousin Marty, back in the jungle!)"

"(Huh? Huh? Where?)"

"(Oh, f^&k.)"

Cheren flinched when the Keese were about to fly at him, but Merida used her bow to shoot the bats away. Cheren kept calmly crossing the tightrope, while bats tried to fly at him from both directions, only to be shot away by Merida. Near the end of the path, two Keese were flying at him at the same time, but Merida shot them both quickly, allowing Cheren to make it.

Cheren turned back into his human form and entered the door on the other side. This room was rather small and empty. The Dungeon Key was merely seated perfectly still in the middle of the room. Cheren looked left, right, and upward, but there didn't appear to be anything else. Just a totally unsuspicious key, waiting to be picked up to serve its one, simple purpose. With these thoughts in mind, Cheren shrugged and walked over to pick it up. But, as fate would have it, getting a key is not that easy. Immediately, a big, greyish, blob-like creature sprouted from the ground and caught Cheren in its vacuum-like mouth. The Like-Like sucked tenderly on Cheren's form (Oh gods, I just realized why they're called that XD), and the Uno boy frantically tried to shake away. Finally, the Like-Like spat Cheren out of its mouth. The moment he got up, he realized that the Like-Like had taken his shield and glasses.

Without his glasses, the world became really blurry around him, but he could make out the blurry grey image of the Like-Like. The Like-Like seemed to be moving closer, and Cheren hurried away as it aimed its vacuum-mouth, and began to suck him in. Cheren crouched and held tight to the ground, and was able to withstand the Like-Like's sucking. When it ceased, Cheren got back up and ran away, using his hands to feel around the walls. He turned around and squinted his eyes for a look at the Like-Like. He felt around for his bow and aimed with a Fire Arrow, launching at the grey blur and setting it to flames. He heard the Like-Like screech with pain as it turned into a flaring red blur, and he launched one more Fire Arrow to finish the sucker off.

As the Like-Like shriveled to a puddle, and poofed into nothingness, Cheren's glasses, shield, and the key dropped out. Cheren immediately went to put on his glasses, and smiled once his vision returned.

You got your glasses back! Now you'll be able to see clearly again! …Dork. ;D

Next, he went to pick up his shield.

You got your Mirror Shield back! This is a precious item, so don't lose it to fake keys again. -_-

And finally, he went to retrieve the Small Key.

You got a Small Key! Wait, why're we telling you this now?

Cheren left the room and reverted to his Kateenian form to cross the tightrope again. More Keese were flying at him again, so Merida had to shoot them down with her arrows. When Cheren made it back over, he reverted to his human form and they got in the Leaf-Boat, using it to sail over to the foothold with the locked door. They went inside, and came to another room with a turntable, and the huge wheel it (supposedly) connected to stationed along the northern wall; between two parallel walls. There was a Clear Chuchu roaming around casually, so they had a feeling what to expect from this room. There was also a ruined door across from them, and a locked door on the left side.

Cheren decided to slice the Chuchu and knock it out for now. Afterwards, he stuck his sword in the turntable's slot and began walking around it counterclockwise. As they expected, the table began to slowly rise out of the floor like a screw, coming higher and higher as Cheren kept turning. As was also expected, the table soon got too high, and they would need a foothold. The water Chuchu formed back into a blob, and Cheren immediately froze it with an Ice Arrow before it got close. The Chu turned into a block of ice, and Cheren climbed on as he stuck the sword into the slot, and had Merida push him around.

Merida was struggling to have to push the heavyweight Cheren and ice around, but the redheaded princess kept at it until the table was loose. However, the table soon got too high for Cheren again, and it STILL didn't come loose. Merida decided to slump down and catch her breath, and Cheren climbed down to join her and think about this. The water Chuchu unfroze from the ice, and Cheren froze it again so it wouldn't annoy them. He then proceeded to look around the room for another solution. Behind the wall on the right side of the wheel was a wooden pillar with a Majora block on top. Cheren moved the Chuchu ice-block beside the pillar and used it as a stepping stone to get atop the pillar.

From there, he pushed the Majora block onto the ice-block, and immediately knew how to reach the top of the turntable. He tried to pull them back over, but their combined weight made them too heavy. He had to turn into Captain Slag to pull the stacked blocks, but the Chuchu suddenly unfroze, and was crushed under the Majora block. Slag Cheren put on a look of annoyance and changed back into a human. They waited annoyedly for the Chu to reform, but once it did, they had to get it onto the block. The watery block came back together and started to jump at Cheren, and the Uno boy lured it onto the Majora block and quickly shot it with an Ice Arrow. With the ice block safely atop the Majora block, Cheren turned into Slag and moved it beside where the sword-slot was. Of course, since Merida couldn't push it, she would have to be on top. But there was no room to step onto the Majora block, then climb to the ice block.

Thankfully, a Hookshot target was stationed above the turntable. Cheren launched the Hookshot and pulled himself up, then launched it down to pull Merida up. He then dropped back down, but before they began turning, the Chuchu unfroze yet again, so Cheren had to freeze it back. Afterwards, he turned into Slag, and Merida stood on the stacked blocks and stuck her sword in the slot, as Slag Cheren pushed the stack counterclockwise, allowing them to turn the table. At long last, the turntable finally popped out like a screw. They were able to climb into the dark hole it led to, and enter the new door.

It was another near-pitch-dark hallway, made up of nothing but ruins. The hall went a little straight at first, but then made a turn toward the left. They went down a mini staircase and came to what felt like huge piles of dust. Cheren had to go in his wolf form to start digging around the mounds of dust, eventually clearing enough to go through. But first, Cheren suspected a Stray Fairy to be hidden within the mounds, so he kept digging around until they were all clear. Strangely, there were no Stray Fairies, but Cheren did notice a small gap in between some ruins. Cheren peeked through, and he could see the neon glow of the Stray Fairy's bubble. He changed back to human and shot an arrow through to pop it, then used the Fairy Mask to call the Stray Fairy out.

They went up the small stairway behind the cleared path and came to a new door on the left side of the hall. This next room featured a wide pit of spikes, with a series of rows of walls and chains on the ceiling. A teeter-totter was stationed in the middle of the ledge before the spikes, and was aimed at the center chain. Cheren turned into Sackboy and had Merida sit on the down end of the seesaw, then he used Sackboy's hammer to smash the upper end, and send Merida flying to the first chain. She grappled on tight with her arms and legs, looking nervously at the spike pit below. She looked to the next chain, on her left, and gained enough momentum before she was able to swing over and grab on. The next chain was right in front of her, so she easily swung forward and took hold.

However, the next chain was far away to her right, and the only way to get through, it looked like, would be to Wall Jump between the parallel sets of walls. Each set had gaps in between, so Merida had to aim her jumps carefully as she proceeded to bounce through. She was able to grab the chain, and saw the next opening was over to the left. She wall-kicked her way over safely, but when she reached the opening, she saw there was no chain, only a view of the next wall. She kept Wall Jumping in place to get her bearings (THAT must be difficult to do), and once she timed it right, she kicked over, and just barely kicked the bottom of the wall to kick off the other side of the previous wall, and then kept kicking along to the right. She reached and grabbed a chain in the middle, using it to swing over to the safe foothold.

From Merida's view, she could see an eye switch stationed on one of the walls of the closest row. She took aim and loosed an arrow at the eye, and the operatives flinched when many chunks of the contraption fell down with a tremendous quake onto the spiky floor, eyes shut tight and their bodies stiff from the impeccably loud and sudden shaking in this otherwise stiff, quiet ruin. The two shook it off and saw that several platforms were made for Cheren to cross. He changed back to a human and began to hop across; but he checked all the openings where the chunks came from and found a Stray Fairy in a bubble in one of them. He shot the bubble with an arrow and called it down with the Fairy Mask.

He finally joined with Merida as they entered the new door. The floor was pretty clean at the start of this next room, but the rest of it seemed completely covered with ruin. There was a chasm below them, it seemed like, and a very narrow trench made of ruined fragments. Along some of the ruins, there were Hidden Leaf symbols, indicating the need of the ninja. They were worried that Merida couldn't come with Cheren, but they noticed the Swap Pad on the right of their small area, so Cheren told her not to worry. The ninja-boy began leaping his away across the trench of ruins, having to make several turns and get slightly higher, with a piece of ruin always falling from above him, and threatening to knock him down had he not moved.

He soon reached a safe foothold with a slightly wider clearing, and a huge door along the wall. There was the other Swap Pad on the left side, so Cheren got on to switch places with Merida, who was already standing on the first one. Merida was up where he was, and Cheren had to jump his way through the ruined trench again to join her. Considering the rather cramped style of the room, there didn't appear to be anything else of interest, so they decided to head in the large door. They were a little confused at the sight of the door, being so big; and there was a small pile of ruin in front of it, which included some rusty chains. They decided to bypass this and go inside, entering a rather wide, circular room. (Pause music.)

They stood over a ledge over a dirty floor down below, and the grey, gloomy sky was widely exposed to them. When they dropped down to the floor, the ground was rather soft; almost like it didn't belong to the temple, but rather the actual earth. When they stepped a little toward the middle, a small rock suddenly landed in front of them. They stopped and looked up, seeing a purple-cloaked figure, with a skinny, golden head, and two tiny black eyes, standing atop the open sunroof, its cloak blowing in the wind. "Houh-houh-haaaah-hahaha." The strange being leapt down and landing softly on his feet. He pulled out two dual-swords, both alit with deadly pink flames, as the terrifying Garo scraped them against the other, eyes fixed on the operatives. (Play Mini-boss Theme from Majora's Mask.)


Sub-boss: Garo Master

The purple-clad ninja leaped at the operatives with both its flaming swords, and while the kids jumped back, the tips of the blades gave them a light, burning scratch. The ninja tap-danced as it faced Cheren, and the boy raised his shield expecting another strike. But when the ninja came, he suddenly vanished, and Cheren became distracted in confusion while the ninja dropped behind him from above and slashed him with both blades. Merida leapt at the ninja, aiming to strike, but the Garo held his blades behind him and blocked, then swiftly spun-slid behind Merida and knocked her beside Cheren. They looked up to see the Garo tap-dancing again, and quickly got on their feet to block his swords-strike with their own swords. Cheren blocked his right sword while Merida blocked his left. The Garo tried to swipe his blade around Cheren's, but he was able to change position quickly and defend. However, Merida was not so fortunate, and their hold was lost on the Garo as he jumped. This could either be because Merida wasn't quick enough, or the player had a hard time swiping two fingers across the Wii U Gamepad.

Merida recovered from the burns (ain't easy to kill them, is it?), and the Garo launched at them again. The two blocked with their blades, and both were quickly able to change positions in response to the Garo's movements. After a short round of blocks, Cheren was finally able to lay a hit on him, stunning him as Cheren and Merida dealt a round of blows. The Garo shot into the air upon recovery, coming down and swiping his swords to both of them, but they back-flipped just in time. The Garo Master danced around and started to throw fireballs from his swords, the kids dodging quickly as Cheren ran in to try and land a blow. Garo Master leapt and hopped off Cheren's sword, flying to the air and coming down with his swords aimed at Cheren, the boy dodging away.

The Garo Master shot at Cheren and swung, but Cheren raised his shield in defense, only for the Garo to flip over his shield as his blades came in impact, and then sliced Cheren from behind. Cheren got up weakly, keeping a firm hold on his sword, and blocked as the Garo slashed more fireballs their way. The Garo Master shot over again, and Merida ran beside Cheren as they both blocked an individual sword. Once again, they both had to keep switching sword positions as the Garo did so, continuing to block his strikes. At the end of his combo, however, he swung BOTH blades at the same time, and both operatives were knocked away.

The Garo hopped behind Cheren and immediately started slashing more flames, but the Uno boy got back up and hit them away with his shield. As he threw the last flame, the Garo shot at them again, and both operatives swung against a blade and started blocking. Thankfully, the Garo Master repeated his same patterns, so they were able to block pretty easily. After blocking the double-strike, Cheren landed a hit on him, and he and Merida dealt a round of strikes during his moment of weakness. The Garo Master shot to the air upon recovery, so Cheren and Merida dodged before he came down and struck.

The Garo Master danced a few feet away, and two clones of him suddenly appeared around the duo as they leaped overhead, touched, and spiraled into a spinning flame as they shot down attempting to strike. Cheren and Merida managed to avoid it, the ninjas making a small shockwave of fire before the clones vanished. Garo Master hopped away and faced Cheren, looking like it was about to do the double-strike, but instead, it swung its swords wildly in an "X" fashion, making an 'X' of fire as the two operatives dodged to the side. Garo Master hopped back up and faced Cheren again, jumping back, indicating he was about to do the double-strike, but as he shot forward, his two clones appeared again and knocked Cheren down as they came.

Merida ran over to help her friend up, facing the Garo as he was about to do the attack again. Both kids pulled out their bows, and as the Garo came, his clones by his sides, they shot the doubles and made them vanish in an instant, and THEN the operatives engaged him in a blocking combo. The Garo Master switched his blades faster than ever, forcing the duo to pay close attention to his movements. They were switching positions so fast, they were hoping he would drop his guard soon. Finally, the Garo stopped, but Cheren and Merida still pushed their blades against his. The ninja being was taking a moment to catch his breath, awaiting the perfect chance to surprise them. After about five seconds of waiting, the Garo lashed BOTH blades, but Cheren and Merida saw this coming and defended, afterwards swiping at the Garo's legs and making him fall on his back.

With the Garo weakened, Cheren and Merida exchanged nodding smirks. They flipped high above the purple-cladded ninja and impaled him with both blades. "HUHUHA-A-A-A-HUHUHU!" was apparently his scream indicating he's beaten. (End song.)

They flipped off the Garo as he got back up, and fell to his rear, panting in exhaust. "Regrettable! Although, my rival, you are spectacular. I shall take my bow by opening my heart and revealing my wisdom. As this temple is now, there is no way in the world to rescue the spirit that dwells here. Nor is there a way to restore this temple to its rightful state. If it cannot be saved now, you must save it beforehand. If you perform the song engraved here, your very history will be recorded, from that moment, 'til when you play again. Use this history, and you will find this temple's history. Belief or disbelief rests with you. To die without leaving a corpse…" The Garo Master stood up and began to fix himself a sandwich with ketchup and mustard. When he finished, he stuck a bomb with a lit fuse inside, and leisurely gobbled away. He stood, munching on the tasty sandwich for a few seconds, until his body exploded, covering Cheren and Merida in blood. "THAT is the way of us Garo."

As the two tried to brush the blood off, Cheren asked, "Wait, don't the Jedi do that?" (Replay "Stone Tower" theme.)

A ladder suddenly appeared out of nowhere, allowing them access out of the small pit. Just as well, another ladder appeared on the upper level, gaining them access to a new doorway. But before going up, a stone tablet emerged from the center of the dirt pit. Cheren and Merida approached it, and saw that a song was inscribed on it. The order of the notes was apparently the third-highest, second-highest, third-highest, third-lowest, third-highest, highest, and then second-highest.

Doooo-DOoo-dooo-do-Do-DOOO-Dooooooo!

Immediately, there was a roaring sound as Cheren's body flashed, and his body began to glow with a dim light, and he studied himself curiously. "Hmmmm… what happened?"

"Didn't he say something about playing it again?" Merida asked.

"Hmmm. Well, let's try." Doooo-DOoo-dooo-do-Do-DOOO-Dooooooo! He played the song again. Cheren flashed again, but this time, he saw a pair of holographic arms sticking out of him. "Waaah!" Cheren jumped away in fright, and both stared with wonder at a holographic clone of Cheren, staring at his arms in the same fashion Cheren was just doing.

Fi emerged from Cheren's sword to clarify this. "Master Cheren, I have new information for you. The song you just played, the Elegy of Emptiness, holds properties that are similar to the timebending technique, Time Recordance. When you perform the song, the actions you've made at anytime between then, to when you perform the song again, will be recorded using holographic illusions of yourself. My scans show that you can make up to three clones of yourself, Master. I'd suggest you keep track of your movements whenever you've played the song." With that said, Fi went back in the sword.

You've learned the Elegy of Emptiness! Use this song to create holographic clones of yourself! While these clones are intangible, any actions they make are as physical as if YOU were doing them! Which you did! ;D When these clones finish their sequence, they start over again! Just make sure you keep track of them. To disable all your clones, either leave the room or deactivate them yourself.

Cheren and Merida climbed the ladder out of the pit, and then climbed the new ladder to the upper doorway. They were brought to a slightly wide room, in which a small pit separated them and the next path. Granted, it was a fair distance for the Pirate Sail, except that a huge fence ALSO obstructed the parallel ledge. But along their ledge were two crystal switches; too far apart for a spin attack, but Cheren and Merida did like usual and struck them both simultaneously. Despite this, nothing at all seemed to happen, and the switches' lights went off about a millisecond later.

The two looked around after a while and saw another crystal switch on the ceiling. Obviously, they couldn't hit all three at the same time, so Cheren had to try out his new ability: he strummed the Elegy of Emptiness, and when his body started to glow, he took aim and shot an arrow at the ceiling switch. He played the song again, and at the same time his clone shot the switch, Cheren and Merida both struck a switch, and the fence fell down to make a bridge to the other path. There also happened to be another small hole, leading into that same pit. They saw there was ground below there, specifically a small staircase, so they decided to hop down.

They were now underneath the fallen fence, and they saw there was a an opening in the wall below the ledge they were just on. Cheren launched his Hookshot to the bottom of the fence and pulled himself on, giving him a view of the small chest inside the opening. The slope before it looked slippery, so that would probably prevent them from dropping in there beforehand. Now that he was on the fence, he could Hookshot over to the chest and stand on the stable foothold. Inside the chest was another Stray Fairy, and once they had it, they used the small stairway to jump back onto the parallel ledge (they figured those stairs were deactivated beforehand).

They made a left turn down the passage, and saw their way was blocked by a very long Majora block, made of steel. Cheren turned into Slag and tried to push the huge block, but it was apparently too heavy for him. Cheren turned back to a human and played the Elegy of Emptiness, then reverted to Slag's form to begin pushing the block. Afterward, he changed back and played the Elegy again, changing back to Slag so that he and a Slag clone could push the block together. Their combined strength was enough to push it into the hole ahead, allowing them entry into the exit.

They arrived at another room that was filled to the brim with swamp water. The room was very dark, but they could vaguely see other parts of the room below the water. Still, there wasn't any way to get down with all the piranhas, so they watered the Leaf-Boat Plant beside them with the S.Q.W.I.R.T. and used it to float across. Along their way, Lockjaw piranhas were leaping out of the water, munching their sharp teeth rapidly, so Merida had to shoot them with arrows while Cheren moved the boat along with the S.Q.W.I.R.T.. They were able to get to the safe land and leave out the door, coming to a very thin pathway.

They went down a small staircase to an outside area, which was a series of narrow paths through a field of rubble piles. They made their way through to the right, coming to a clearer area, but found that the door was sealed with metal bars. They went back into the maze and made their way beyond the doorway, coming to more disheveled parts of the maze. In one of the dead-ends, they found a crystal switch, but when Cheren hit it, it went off a millisecond later. Cheren suspected there were multiple switches, so he played the Elegy of Emptiness, hit the switch, and then played it again. His clone began to whack the switch over and over again, so Cheren and Merida went off to find the next one.

They found the second switch on a left corner, up on the wall, so Cheren shot it with an arrow (at the same time he heard the other clone hit his in the distance) and played the Elegy again. HOWEVER, since he was just wandering through that maze beforehand, after he had already activated the previous clone, his second clone was following in his tracks. Cheren face-palmed and shot the switch with an arrow before making a THIRD clone; but he had to shoot the switch when he heard the ringing from the first clone's switch. The duo made their way across the maze and eventually found the third switch in the corner of some rubble. Cheren couldn't make any more clones, so he hoped this was the last one. When each of his clones struck their switch, Cheren immediately struck his at the same time. His switch stayed alit, so he figured that all the others were lit as well.

They heard the metal bars opening in the distance, so they hurried through the maze as quick as they could. The door brought them to a small ledge that was over the room with the parallel-sided pools; where they pulled the Majora block across using ice. They passed through the passage to the junked room, and from there, they climbed the ladder up through where the turntable was, and soon reached the starting room again.

With the Elegy of Emptiness, Cheren proceeded to hit the first of the four switches, then played the song again before walking to the second switch, and striking at the same time as his clone. He played the song again (he was gonna be out of breath by the end of this dungeon), and both clones were hitting their switch at the same time. Since there were only two more, Cheren and Merida struck the remaining two by their selves, and with all four crystals hit simultaneously, they all alit as the central floor flipped over, revealing a Time Block on the other end. They wondered where the Timeshift Orb could be found, but Merida indicated a small platform in the northwest portion of the area. It was short enough to jump onto, so Cheren hopped up and found the Timeshift Orb.

The Uno boy picked it up and threw it in the Time Block as it began to glow. They stood before the Time Block as Cheren performed the Song of Time. (End song.)

Doo-doooo, doo-DOO-doooo, do, do-do-DOO-Doo, do-do-DO, do, do-do-dooooo.

The operatives shielded their eyes as the Block of Time swallowed them in a column of blue light. However this temple was in the past was about to be unveiled to them.

Heavenly Ruin; 800 years in the past

The brightening blue light faded away, and Cheren and Merida stared around in confusion. The sky looked the same as it did before… but when Cheren took a few steps forward, he found himself suddenly wobbling on the edge of the temple. "Whoooaa-whoooa-WHOOOAA!" His heart filled with fear and panic as he fell, his eyes fixed wide on the endless chasm of clouds that lay below him.

"GOTcha!" Merida dashed and fell to her front as she gripped Cheren's right hand in both of hers. Cheren looked up at the Scottish girl's face with extreme gratitude and relief as she hauled him back up onto safe ground. She got up and helped Cheren to stand, the boy brushing himself before they both stared over the heavens. Their eyes widened with amazement. Before them lay a vast realm of gray, glum clouds, below them, to the side of them, and high above them. The Heavenly Ruin was hovering high above the heavens. (Play "Stone Tower Temple (Inverted)" from Majora's Mask.)

"Whoooa…" Merida still couldn't believe her eyes. "The temple really DID use to hang in the heavens. …Have ya ever seen anything LIKE this, Cheren?"

"Ehh. Kind of. In my world, there's a place called Skypia. It's where all these angel people live on floating, solid clouds, and they grow plants there and everything. ...If this temple didn't end up on the ground, I would assume it's made out of Island Cloud."

With the temple arisen from the ground (or never having been ON the ground), it was a lot more clean and rubble-free, and there were also a few more floors to it. Their first destination was a room to the west of there, since it wasn't a pile of rubble any more. They went in the door, and were immediately sealed in with metal bars. The small room only had a simple Death Armos, except this one had an extra eye on its side. Cheren got around its left side and played the Elegy of Emptiness before shooting the Armos' side eye. He played the song again so that his clone would keep shooting the side eye, but it only angered the Armos as it tried to smash Cheren.

Cheren led the Armos away, then had to get it to turn so that the clone was shooting the eye. He stood in front of the Armos while Merida got behind, and all three managed to hit the eyes at the same time. The Armos exploded and the door opened as a chest appeared in the middle. It was a big chest, so Cheren expected the fancy lightshow and the item that would come after.

You've got the Compass! Blah blah BLAAH, for the one hundredth TIIIME, use it to find STUUUUFF, can I go home now?

They left the room and headed north of the center, returning to the first turntable room. The northern area of the room was free of the pile of rubble, and the huge turnwheel was clear in their view. The wheel was also stationed over a bottomless pit. Cheren stuck his sword in the table and turned counterclockwise, and the interconnected wheel was turning with it. Of course, this meant that they couldn't take the secret passage underneath the turntable.

Cheren stopped turning as they approached the ledge and saw the sword-slot on the lowest left area of the wheel. On the upper-left area, there was a cube-shaped slot. Beside them was a teeter-totter for the Sackboy's hammer, so Cheren had Merida sit on while he turned into Sackboy and slammed the other end. Merida went flying at the wheel, smashing flat against the top-right corner. Her body peeled off, and she flailed her arms frantically as she was about to fall in the clouds. Cheren panickingly changed back to a human and pulled her back with the Hookshot. Angered, Merida smacked the boy hard across the face, saying she hopes boys aren't dumb like that in the future.

Cheren climbed back up to turn the turntable again so that the sword-slot was facing the upper-right direction. Merida got on the seesaw again so that Cheren could fling her over, and she quickly stuck her sword in the slot and hung on. She saw that the top-right side had an opening with a blue switch and decided to hop off and stand on the switch. A door that was by the left side opened, but when she got off, the metal bars sealed it again. Merida stuck her sword in the wheel so that Cheren could turn her to the left side, where a small box sat beside the barred door. Cheren turned the wheel some more so that Merida could stick it in the cube-shaped slot on the wheel, then turned so that Merida could stick her sword back in the sword-slot.

He turned to let Merida off by the switch, then turned to let Merida grab the box. She placed the box on the blue switch and kept it down so the door would open. Cheren was going to turn Merida beside the door, but he checked his map and saw there was a Stray Fairy in the southern part of the room. He turned around and saw there was a wooden panel high up on the wall, and the catapult was apparently facing it. He grabbed Merida down with the Hookshot and had her sit on the opposite side of the catapult and launched her over, successfully breaking her through the wood into a small chamber where a treasure chest sat. She opened the chest and retrieved the Stray Fairy inside, going back down to join Cheren.

Cheren turned the wheel to launch her to the sword-slot again, and let her off beside the left opening before using his Pirate Sail to float himself beside her (but looking back, he could've used the Sail for BOTH of them). They went in the door and saw they were on a ledge over the two-sided pool room again; along the right wall. But now that they were in the sky, the pools were gone, and it was just a bottomless chasm of clouds. Before they jumped down, Cheren looked on his map and saw there was a Stray Fairy in the hidden passage; below the turntable. They jumped down to the starting ledge of the room, but the hidden passage was sealed in this time. Cheren banged his sword against the wall, but it remained solid, blocking their entry. Cheren pinched his nasal bridge in annoyance and told Merida to wait there. The ledge where they just came from had a Hookshot target; which was apparently crumbled in Cheren's time, and he used it to get back up as he made his way to the Time Block.

Cheren traveled back to the future by himself and got to the passage below the unscrewed turntable. The Stray Fairy was located under the small platform at the beginning of the room; but all that was under there was rubble. Cheren used a M.A.R.B.L.E. to blow the rubble away, and a chest was unveiled underneath. Cheren retrieved the Stray Fairy inside and aggravatingly returned to the past where Merida waited.

Cheren pulled the girl back onto the ledge with the Hookshot so the two could float safely to the middle platform using the Sail. From there, they used the Hookshot to latch onto the target over the opening on the parallel wall, and entered the door that would lead to the rubble pile maze. In this time, however, the rubble was long gone, and they were between towering walls in an expansive field overflowing with monsters; Stalfos and Fatblin standing guard at posts, with Bulblin waiting atop the wooden pillars. There were so many enemies in the room, and so many other obstructions, they wondered if they could handle them all.

But seated a few feet away, in front of some crates, there was a small chest. They expected it to be either a Stray Fairy or a Small Key, but instead, it was a Rumble Ball. Cheren exchanged a wondered look with Merida as he stuck the ball in his Giant's Mask. Merida immediately hurried to the back corner as Cheren stuck the mask on, watching as the boy grew into a tremendous giant once again.

The transformation dizzied Cheren again, and it was still hard to comprehend being so big. The wide-open outside area was so small, and the enemies looked like little ants. At his size, he was surprised he didn't make the whole temple collapse all on his own. …He felt like he was actually BIGGER than the temple. The sounds of tiny, panicky screams were caught in his humongous ears, and below him, the Bulblin were firing fire arrows at his pants—they were MUCH too small to set them on fire—and itty-bitty Stalfos trying to pierce his rubber shoes. Cheren smirked, feeling an immense surge of power in his bigger form, as he happily started to stomp his feet and squish any little demon he saw.

Taking down simple enemies was easy enough as it is, but it never felt more fun. Cheren was wiping out hordes of them in seconds, and all it took were the bottoms of his soles. He was stomping on all of the blockades as well, so by the time he was done, the room should be more clear for travel. When he was done stomping all the demons, the mask seemed to have a bit more power inside it, but there was nothing left to stomp. However, when he looked above to his right, he saw there was a tiny platform hovering several hundred feet above the walls. It was too high for him to see what was on it, but Cheren figured he could lift Merida up there.

He saw the tiny princess pressed against the corner, not wanting to be caught in his stomping spree, and bent down to hold his pinky finger beside her. Even though the finger was little, it was huge at Merida's height, and there was enough space for her to stand on his nail. Cheren gently lifted the princess up and held her beside the platform, where she opened a treasure chest containing a fairy. He let Merida onto his finger and carefully let her off by the ground, just in time for the Giant's Mask to wear off. Once Cheren shrunk back to his normal form, he was filled with disappointment at not being able to squish anything. Merida gave him a comforting pat, but she looked like she was happy to see him in his powerless form. Before they walked on, they took notice of a strange pattern that was lined up on the east wall. It was the symbol of a sun, a moon, a cloud, and a lightning bolt. They weren't sure what it was about, but they noted the pattern just in case.

With that done, they went up the small staircase to the room that was filled with piranha water. The water was gone now, so they were open to a lower area of the room, with the bottomless chasm looming underneath. They headed down a staircase and saw that their only way through was a locked door along the right side. They observed the room a little more and saw an eye switch was stationed alongside the platform the staircase led down to. Cheren shot the eye, and a Hookshot target appeared above the ledge where they first came into that room. Cheren launched the Hookshot and pulled them up, and they entered the door to the post-mini-boss room.

They were on the opposite side of the long Majora block, which hadn't been pushed down yet since they were back in time. They had a view of the pit it was pushed into, and there was another opening in the wall with a chest inside. Cheren hopped into the opening and retrieved the Stray Fairy inside the chest. He then hopped back to Merida as they went back in the room with the locked door.

Since they couldn't find anywhere else to go, they decided to return to the room with the (nonexistent) parallel pools. They jumped to the central platform to study the map, and saw that there was another part of the temple far behind and underneath the southern part of this room. Merida held on Cheren as they glided down using the Pirates' Sail taking land on a small ledge where a door sat. They entered a room with a few Fire Keese flying around, and a muscular, floating stone creature, colored a fiery yellow, with a triangle-shaped head and grinning, freaky face, guarding an opening with a treasure chest in the middle.

Cheren first shot down the Fire Keese, but when he tried to approach the Fouch, the grinning monster sent him flying back with a fist of fire. There was a huge icicle hanging above the Fouch, so Cheren shot it down with an arrow. It stuck over the monster's head as it looked around confusedly, but when Cheren tried to approach, it knocked the boy back and smashed the icicle on its head. Another one respawned over the Fouch, but Cheren knew it wouldn't work that easy. He saw the icicle was attached to a round contraption, and another icicle was frozen at the top part, facing upward.

They knew there had to be a turntable somewhere. There was a ledge above the room's entrance, and a square-shaped tile on the floor below it; similar to what lifted Cheren to the Dungeon Map. In the right corner of the room, there was a Hookshot target at the bottom of a part that stuck out. Cheren latched himself to the target, and it was pulled down, causing the floor tile to lift up. He let go of the target so the platform would lower, letting Merida get on as he latched the target and raised the platform again. Merida stuck her sword in the turntable that was up there, and the device that held the icicles turned as well.

Cheren shot the first icicle down on Fouch's head, and Merida turned it quickly so he could shoot down the second one. The second icicle pushed the first through Fouch's body and destroyed him, allowing Cheren to get the Small Key in the chest. They went outside the room, standing once more on the small ledge over the abyss of clouds. There was a patch of dirt with a small plant beside them, and Cheren watered it with the S.Q.W.I.R.T. to make the Peahat grow. Cheren and Merida latched on the floating plant with the Hookshot so it could carry them back to the central platform in the pool room.

They hurried back to the former-piranha room and went in the locked door, coming to a small, dark hallway with several strange black holes along the floor. They were a little worried at the sight of the holes. Cheren quietly stepped forward, having his sword ready in case a monster would come out, but when he was just inches away, nothing popped out. He shrugged toward Merida, who shrugged back as they walked through the hall with no problems. They had to make a left turn before reaching the door, but it was sealed with metal bars, with a blue switch beside it. They returned to the start of the room, and saw there was a crate placed beside the door.

The minute Cheren picked it up, a long, shadowy hand, with a purple outline, rose from each of the holes. Merida walked out first and defended Cheren as the Holemasters tried to swipe the box. One of the shadowy hands managed to grab her blade as she tried to yank away, but she was able to flip over and slice the top of the hand, swiftly zipping back and forth to cut the other hands away from Cheren. They were able to reach the switch as Cheren put the box down, opening the door.

This door led to the first piranha room they came to; with the tunnel, but they were on the floor that used to be under the water. A trio of Like-Likes roamed around this floor, but the duo easily shot them away with arrows. A Hookshot target sat on the left ledge's wall, so they latched their selves on and got up. They entered the south door on that ledge and came to the room with the second turntable. As expected, the wheel along the wall turned as well when Cheren turned the table. All the wheel had was an open spot, revealing strange symbols that were aligned around the wheel.

As they turned and studied the symbols, they noticed that two of them were a sun and a moon. They recalled the pattern outside; sun, moon, cloud, bolt, so Cheren had Merida shoot each of those in order as he turned. After shooting them in the right pattern, the barred door on the east side of the room came open. They went in and came out on an outside area, standing on a pathway over the cloudy abyss. They stood on a small ledge beside a grappable ledge; with Snapdragons below and under it, like usual, except there was only one portion of ledge, while the rest was a gap.

There was a turntable in the middle of their ledge, and when Cheren turned it, the cliff portion moved toward the right. He moved it back and let Merida grab on first, moving the ledge slowly so she would stop by the Snapdragon. She sliced the Snapdragon when it popped out, and did so with the others as Cheren moved her along. She dropped off over the next foothold, where another turntable sat, and Merida used it to move the ledge back over to Cheren. The Uno boy grabbed on and let Merida bring him over; it was easier since the Snapdragons were already gone.

Another chasm separated them and the next foothold, but there were two pointed branches sticking out from the wall. Beneath their foothold was a small ledge with a Rearrangement Pad. Cheren turned into Sackboy and knelt down to get an overview of the area. On the roof of the temple, there were two plums, so all Cheren had to do was stick them onto the branches, and they were able to jump across. Next, there was another turntable and a small grappable ledge, except this one had more room, but it still had to be moved. There were also several Security Beamos facing the ledge from different directions.

Cheren decided to get on first and have Merida move him. The first laser came from the wall, so Cheren hung on to the front of the ledge and passed by undetected. The second laser came from above the front, so Cheren climbed around to the side and got past. The next one was also from the wall, so Cheren held the front again, but the fourth laser was also close by, and pointed down at the front; the space between the two was as long as the grabbing ledge. Merida had to move the ledge slightly, giving Cheren enough space to climb to the side, without touching the previous laser. He managed to slip past, and took land on the foothold. Once again, there was another turntable, and Cheren had to repeat the process with Merida.

They entered the door at the end and came out on a ledge above the spike floor room. They jumped down and saw that the rows of walls and chains were now moving sideways along the ceiling, slipping into slots on the parallel walls. They didn't quite understand how the contraption worked, but regardless, Cheren had Merida sit on the teeter-totter and turned into Sackboy. They waited until a chain was about to come in the middle, and Cheren launched Merida quickly so she could grab ahold when it came. As the walls were moving along, she had to swing to the next chain quickly, and then had to Wall Jump her way down the next set of moving walls.

When the gap was clear, she kicked over and narrowly kicked off the bottom of the next row, then managed to reach the chain and swing off onto the safe foothold. From there, she saw the eye switch moving with walls and shot it. Rather than collapse onto the ground, all of the rows lowered their selves, as well as some platforms for Cheren to get over. Cheren had to swing and Wall Jump across himself now, but was able to make it to Merida.

They came to the room that was previously flooded with rubble, where Cheren had to use the ninja to leap his way through. Now it was a lot more wide open, with most of it being the endless chasm, and the only footholds being the one they started on and the parallel foothold with the Warp Gate and big door. There were a few Hidden Leaf symbols around the room, too. Cheren leaped to the one over the edge on the right, and from there he hopped to the one below the upper foothold and climbed on.

It turned out, the big door they had entered the mini-boss room was the Boss Door. He didn't understand at all how the Boss Door of all doors had its lock rusted, but he didn't push it. Parallel to the Boss Door, there was a barred door. Cheren decided to look for clues and hopped down to the Leaf symbol by the lower ledge. To his slight shock, the symbol opened a compartment when he grabbed on, and he struggled to look above and behind it to notice there was a crystal switch. He decided to check out the others; the one under the upper ledge had nothing, but the one near the ceiling above the first foothold opened to reveal an eye switch, and the one in the western corner had an eye switch, too.

He hopped down beside Merida and played the Elegy of Emptiness in his human form, then changed back to hop over and hold open the first hatch. He held for a few seconds and hopped back, played the Elegy again, then hopped to the Leaf symbol in the corner. While he held it down, he had a perfect view of the crystal switch unveiled by his first clone, and proceeded to throw a shuriken and strike the switch; of course it went off instantly like usual. He hopped back beside Merida and played the song a third time, then hopped to hold down the symbol above the entrance.

When he finished, he played the song for the last time, and all three clones were holding open a hatch, and the second clone was striking the crystal switch. Cheren leaped back to the upper foothold and switched places with Merida with the Warp Pad. With Merida on the higher floor, she had a view of the eye switch above the entrance. Cheren reverted to human and aimed at the corner eye switch, and both loosed an arrow at their switches at the same time as the second clone struck the crystal switch.

The barred door opened, and Cheren hopped up beside Merida as they went in. It was just a long, narrow column going downward via ladder; but instead of the ladder, they just dropped down and used the Pirate Sail. They then entered another door, which sealed with metal bars behind them, trapping them on a skinny, fenced bridge with an Eyegore on the other side. The Eyegore awakened and stomped toward the kids, shooting lasers that Cheren bounced away with the Mirror Shield. There was no room to run behind it, but there were Hidden Leaf symbols on the ceiling.

Cheren changed back to ninja and grabbed hold of the barred ceiling, easily climbing over the monster and dropping behind. Merida shot his eye, making its butt-mouth pop open, and Cheren shot a M.A.R.B.L.E. inside to destroy the monster. The barred doors on both ends opened, and Cheren and Merida entered the next room. (Pause song.)

Again, they were sealed inside by metal bars. The room was pretty vast, and rather dim, as they looked around and stepped forward quietly. They sensed a strange presence behind them, looking back and gasping in fright. A giant, smiling face stared at them from the wall, shutting its eyes as it moved down onto the floor in front of them. The face had no skin color of its own, as it seemed to be part of the room itself. It sported a creepy grin as they prepared to battle. (Play the "Mini-Boss" Theme from, guess which game by now.)


Sub-boss: Façade

The evil face began to move about the floor, coughing energy balls that homed in on the operatives. They were able to dodge them easily as Cheren ran over and shot a M.A.R.B.L.E. into the face's mouth. The smiling face munched on it for a few seconds before its eyes popped out upon its explosion. Cheren and Merida dealt a teamwork combo against the eyes to deal some damage before the face monster faded away. A few seconds passed before they saw that the monster appeared directly above them, on the ceiling, and was trying to suck them in. Cheren and Merida crouched tight to the ground as the monster tried to suck like a vacuum cleaner, but it failed to catch them and disappeared again.

Façade was now trying to avoid them when it appeared on the floor again, keeping a distance from the two as it spat more energy missiles. Since they couldn't catch it regularly, Cheren played the Elegy of Emptiness, then shot a M.A.R.B.L.E. forward before playing the song again. His clone began to shoot M.A.R.B.L.E.s in the same place as Cheren ran around and tried to chase the face the opposite way. The face was unknowingly approaching Cheren's clone, falling into his trap as the clone shot the M.A.R.B.L.E. into Façade's mouth. His eyes popped out once again, allowing Cheren and Merida to deal the round of blows.

This time, the face monster split up into two faces, so Cheren already knew where this was going. He deactivated his first clone and played the Elegy again, shot a M.A.R.B.L.E. in a random spot, and then played it AGAIN. He had Merida run over and lure the first face toward the clone while he went for the second, playing the Elegy again as he shot a M.A.R.B.L.E. forward. Merida was able to lead the monster over for the first clone to shoot a M.A.R.B.L.E. inside, but the effect wore off after a few seconds. Cheren led the second face over for the second clone, but it was difficult to get BOTH faces to swallow a bomb at the same time. Eventually, both faces took the pounding, and they fused into one face again.

Before they had a chance to attack, the monstrous face began moving along the walls. Its eyes were closed as it launched a series of energy missiles, which the operatives quickly had to avoid, as the monster opened its eyes when it was done firing. Merida shot the right eye, but he breezed it off as his left eye was okay, keeping his cocky smile as he spat more missiles at the duo. They managed to dodge just in time to shoot both eyes at once.

The monster began to weep as a result, its mouth dropping wide open as its tongue stuck out. Cheren hurried over and shot a combo of three M.A.R.B.L.E.s onto the tongue, and when it retracted, the monster's eyes widened as its face poofed, and popped into nothingness. (Replay "Stone Tower Inverted" theme.)

The metal bars on both parallel doors opened. Cheren immediately ran to the new door and entered the small chamber with the Boss Chest. Yet another lightshow display shone from the chest, but Cheren was able to retrieve his Boss Key.

You've got the Boss Key! It has absolutely NO differences, NO changed chest, NO changed name… so why on earth do we keep telling you? Oh, wait! We're actually NOT on Earth!! GWWAAAH HAAAH HAAAH!

"Hm… that was disappointing." Cheren commented. They proceeded out of the room and back to the bridge. Before heading to the Boss Door, they checked the map to check for Stray Fairies, and saw that the last one was directly above them. It was apparently in a chest on top of the bridge's cage. They hurried back to the pre-Boss Room (climbing the very long ladder), and Cheren decided to hop off the ledge and use the Pirate Sail to glide down onto the bridge. He was able to make it safely onto the bridge's cage, and the last Stray Fairy was as good as his.

Conveniently, a Peahat floated beside him, and it began to take him back up when he latched on. He excitedly joined Merida and said, "Swwweet! We're done!"

"We have ta fight this boss now, don't we?"

"Yeah. But we have to bring these to the Fairy Fountain first."

"Uuugh." Merida eye-rolled. "So we have ta make our way ALL the way back?"

"Nnnnot quite!" Cheren smirked. "I have something that can prevent all that!" The Uno boy summoned Farore's Wind, and stationed it beside the Boss Door. "And since we're already in the past, we can warp to your town!" He then stood beside Merida and played the Song of Soaring, and they were went flying away. (End song.)

Outside the would-be Ruined Catacombs

Amongst the ruins beside the Lake DunBroch, they discovered an old cave that led to the Fairy's Fountain. A yellow aura surrounded the fountain as the yellow Stray Fairies fluttered about.

Cheren stepped forward and popped his bottle open, allowing the swarm of golden fairies to join with their friends. It wasn't anything new. The fairies spiraled around the fountain and merged, the operatives shielding their eyes from the flash of light. A portion of water arose from the center, forming a humanoid body, and eventually flashing as another fairy was formed. She wore white raggedy shorts and a white raggedy sleeveless shirt, brownish-gray sandals, and was wielding a bow. She smirked as she aimed a small, pointy arrow at Cheren, and the boy flinched as it launched at him at high speed. He glanced to his left to see it grazed his hair, and stuck into the wall.

The fairy stylishly twirled the bow in her hand, holding it by her hip. "It's all about aim. Am Ay right?" she spoke in a Scottish accent.

"VERY right." Merida nodded.

Cheren's heart was still racing after almost being pierced. "Ehh, heheheh." He merely chuckled nervously.

The fairy kept her smile as she approached the Uno boy, walking around him casually. "Ye've been to many places, Ay can feel. And yet, it feels as though you haven't been anywhere, yet." She stopped in front of him and looked at him. "Ay'm Ira. …Like Ireland! But don't let it confuse ya, Ay'm Scottish."

"Eh heh!" Cheren smiled. "I get it!"

"Ay know. I can see a lot in yer mind." She smirked. "We fairies are good at that, ya know. Ya've been on many adventures. With friends, too. Ya've had happy times with 'em. Like with this little lass here."

Cheren and Merida exchanged slight glances, and blushed a little.

"But Ay can sense bad times, too. Ya've had with 'em, aye?"

"Um… aye." Cheren spoke, feeling upset about his latest moment with Alt. Sector V.

"It's reasonable ta feel with them at stuff. But ya must remember the good times, too. As years go by, nothin' lasts forever. Even this land, for example. One day, it will fall. Whether it be by the undead army, or natural extinction, a land comes to its end. But you shouldn't forget this land. Ye must remember it for what it was. And ye must remember yer friends, too. Remember what times ya had together. Because ye never know what may happen."

"Yeah…" This almost reminded Cheren of having to leave everyone behind to come here. Even though Panini ended up coming, there were a lot of people he was hoping to see again. …And he wanted to make up with the Alternate Sector V, too. Since he's been here, they've been his only friends, almost, and he felt bad about yelling at them.

He looked up when Ira rested an arm on his shoulder. "Don't feel bad. I'm sure they want ta be yer friend, too. But right now, Ay'm sure ye have business teh do." she said as she walked away. "But ta help ya along the way, Ay've concocted this for ya. Have at it." The fairy faced her eyes firm on Cheren as she made movements with her hands. She threw her arms toward him, clutching the air tight in her hands as Cheren felt a strange compression. He found himself surrounded in a blue, diamond shield, which shrunk down in front of him and encased an ocean-blue sphere. Cheren lightly held the diamond and stared at it in wonder.

You've got Nayru's Love! The love of the ancient goddess shall protect whoever wields this! Wear this over you, and you'll be invincible for a short time! But it can only be used once per battle.

Ira opened her eyes and smiled at Cheren again. "Never doubt your friendships with people. And always keep them in mind. Nothing is stronger than Time. Because Time is made up… of memories." And with no other words, the fairy closed her eyes in peace, fading back into the sparkling fountain.

"…What does that mean?" Merida asked, confused at that last statement.

Cheren chuckled. "It's a long story."

Back inside the temple; in the heavens

"Fin-al-LY." Cheren exclaimed exasperated as he opened the Boss Door. They had used Farore's Wind to warp back to the temple, eliminating the need for a second trip through. "I never have to collect Stray Fairies a-GAIN."

"Ya still haven't told me what that fairy was about." Merida demanded as they entered the Boss Door.

"Ehhh, they're guardian spirits that work with the Giants. And each of them represents some kind of moral, that represents the land or somethin'. I'll tell you later; let's just beat this guy."

They were back in the room where they fought the Garo Master in the future. With the temple in the sky, instead of a dirt field, the wide, round circle was just a gaping hole, leading to the endless abyss of clouds. The two walked around the chasm for a few minutes, but no sign of a boss made itself known. They were kind of worried that the monster would randomly POP up out of the hole and scare them to death. They decided to look away to test this theory, Cheren's eyes shut tight in fear as he exTREMELY anticipated this, while Merida didn't seem worried at all. Despite Cheren's obvious signs of fear, the boss didn't show up at all.

They turned and peeked down over the edge, staring into the cloudy abyss. Since the boss didn't show up, Merida came up with a crazy idea: "Maybe we have ta JUMP."

Cheren's eyes widened. "Are you NUTS? No WAY we'll survive a fall like that! Even if there IS some kind of hidden ground."

"Hmmm…well, Ay was goin' ta die, anyway. See ya there." Merida unhesitantly dove over the edge, falling fast toward the abyss.

"W-WAIT!" Cheren tried to stop her, but it was far too late. "…Well, I'm not lettin' Panini's ancestor beat me. …I mean, Thomas's." Cheren dove over the edge as well.

The kids kept falling and falling, and the temple drew further away from their vision, eventually disappearing into the gray, gloomy clouds. They were surrounded in gray and white, and no matter how far they fell, they didn't seem to get anywhere beyond the clouds. But suddenly, they collided with a soft ground. They appeared to have landed in a vast field of solid clouds, but it was hard to tell since it was so foggy. However, there appeared to be several pieces of ruin scattered around the cloud.

Cheren and Merida stood close to each other, back-to-back with their bows and arrows raised. The ground, er, Island Cloud quaked beneath their feet all of a sudden, and they exchanged curious glances. Another quake, and they nearly fell over, the two keeping their guard raised. A few more stomps were heard, and in the distance, and yet very close, the silhouette of a tremendous being stepped closer, glowing eyes glaring at them from its head high above. The kids were curious if this was the Giant, still in his regular form, only possessed. However, he stepped into whatever little light they had in there, and was revealed to be an enormous skeleton demon, with armor, a Viking helmet with horns, and swords in both hands.

The duo was slightly stunned by his appearance, but didn't let it faze them as they readied to fight. The massive skeleton unleashed an underworldly roar that echoed across the heavens, yet it didn't seem that loud to their ears. (Play the "Boss Theme" from Rayman 2: The Great Escape. (Not the N64 version. ))


Boss fight: Gigantic Masked Colossus, STALGOD

The colossal Stalfos stomped toward the kids slowly as Cheren and Merida hurried around him. The skeleton beast kept his gaze on them as he raised his left blade, and swung down, the tip of the blade missing by a few inches as they ducked. The Stalgod raised its right foot and attempted to smash them, but they easily dodged as Merida aimed up, and loosed an arrow straight at his left eye. "OOOOOOoo…" The Stalgod seemed to be hurt, but he shook it off like it was nothing. He stabbed his right sword down at Merida, but the girl dodged and ran underneath him, searching for a weak spot on his back. She spotted an opening where his back was exposed, and three colorful gemstones were brimming. Stalgod turned and saw the girl behind him, turning as he kept his fearful glare.

Cheren hurried beside his friend, and both jumped back to avoid the jabbing of his right sword. Since he seemed to be weak in the two eyes, this marked an obvious weakness, and both operatives exchanged nods as they aimed their bows, and launched an arrow into separate eyes, with Cheren's in the left, and Merida's in the right. Blinded in both eyes, the monster roared with pain, stomping and swinging his swords aimlessly. Eventually, he fell to his knees and gasped for breath (they questioned if a giant skeleton HAD breath), and they immediately hurried behind to have a view of his weak spot.

Cheren shot one of the emblems with an arrow, and it zapped off, but came back to life one second after. Obviously, this would call for the Elegy of Emptiness, so Cheren proceeded to play it. He fired at the upper gemstone, then played the Elegy again. A Cheren clone appeared and shot at the upper stone, at the same time Merida shot the left one and Cheren shot the right. The colossal skeleton screamed as a glowing, green ball shot out of his back and landed by Cheren. Cheren picked the Rumble Ball up and stuffed it in his Giant's Mask, and Merida hurried away as Cheren put the mask on, and grew to his tremendous giant form.

The Stalgod recovered from his pain at the same time, standing to glare at equal height with the Uno boy. Cheren and Stalgod clashed their tremendous blades, but whereas Stalgod's blades were much smaller, Cheren succeeded in dealing a number of hits against the armored bone man, knocking off several pieces of armor. They both swung their blades and began to push against the other's, but Cheren's Giant Mask unfortunately ran out of power, and he shrunk back to normal size. The Stalgod tried to stomp on him, but he avoided and stared up at the giant. The armor on his knees has been cut open, as was his belly, exposing his bare boney areas. On each of those areas, there appeared to be another glowing gem with a sword slot, so the two had an idea what to do next.

First, the duo shot him in his eyes again, and he fell to his knees as he shut his eyes tight. With his knees at ground level with them, Cheren ran to the left knee, while Merida took the right, and both stuck their swords in the slot and turned them at the same time, yanking them out like screws. Stalgod got to his feet and began hopping around frantically in pain. From their point of view, the giant looked silly while he was doing so, but they had to dodge and duck quickly as it swung its tremendous blades.

The giant opened its mouth wide and released a swarm of five Blue Bubbles, which began shaking their mouths frantically as they flew at the operatives. Cheren bounced the first couple back with his Mirror Shield, then sliced them in half, while Merida couldn't shoot them with her bow. The Scottish princess ended up taking a hit, and a blue cloud surrounded her as she was rendered defenseless. Cheren disabled and wiped out the remaining three Bubbles, but they ducked quickly when Stalgod's blades came again. They were impatiently waiting for Merida's curse bubble to go out, and it did just when the Stalgod brought its foot down in attempt to smash him.

Cheren and Merida shot its eyes and brought it to its knees again, and they hurried to its backside, where Cheren played the Elegy of Emptiness. He shot the top gem afterward, and then played the song again, so that, he, Merida, and his clone could shoot a gem at the same time. Another Rumble Ball dropped from the giant, and Cheren stuffed it in his Giant's Mask to grow into… well, a giant. The Stalgod growled angrily at the Uno kid and both began to clash their blades in a thundering duel. In the conflict, Cheren managed to get more blows off of the monster, knocking the armor off his chest, his shoulders, and his back.

Cheren shrunk back down to normal as he and Merida dodged his incoming sword-stab. As they ran from the giant again, they wondered how they could get to the large gems on his belly and chest. When he fell to his knees, they weren't low enough to reach, and Cheren apparently can't hit them while he's big. The two ran around the giant to search for a way, and saw that his knees had other weak points on their undersides. Before they could get a shot at the glowing gems, the giant turned around and quickly stabbed its sword in the ground, trying to hit them. As a result, his sword seemed to have gotten stuck, and they were given the perfect opportunity to run around while he tried to get it out.

Merida ran by the left knee and fired, while Cheren shot the right knee's gem, and the giant flew up in the air a little as it plopped down on its back. The two quickly ran up its arms and onto its front, hurrying down to the belly, where they both had to stick a sword in the gem's opposite slots. They both turned the gem counterclockwise, popping it out like a screw as the giant jumped to its feet and angrily smacked them off. The Stalgod hatefully began stabbing his blades at the ground faster than ever (but still relatively slow), quaking the cloud-ground as the operatives tried to dodge. The Stalgod stopped stabbing and leaped high above the operatives, and they hurriedly ran away as it came down and created a tremendous quake, knocking the two off their feet. They got up quickly and dodged as he slashed his blades, both operatives taking aim at an eye and loosing an arrow.

Stalgod fell to his knees from the blindness, and the two quickly hurried around to shoot the gemstones on his back. However, with more of his back exposed, he now had five gemstones, having uncovered two more. Cheren had to play the Elegy of Emptiness three times, shooting an arrow at a gem after each time. With three clones each shooting a gem, the other two were shot by Cheren himself and Merida, and the giant screeched as another Rumble Ball came out. Cheren grabbed it, but stuffed it in his pocket for now, not wanting to use it just yet. The Stalgod got back up and swung furiously at them again, the kids dodging like usual. They noticed that there were two more gems on the back of his hands, so they shot at the eyes to make him fall to his knees.

Coincidentally, he also laid his hands on the ground as he fell, allowing them to unscrew the small gems. Merida ran to the left hand while Cheren took the right, both unscrewing a gem simultaneously. The Stalgod got back up quickly, shaking his hands from the pain as he glared at the operatives. Their next target was the huge gem on its chest, so they waited until the Stalgod took a stab with his sword, and got it stuck. Once the Stalgod was stuck, the kids hurried behind and shot his knee-gems with an arrow, causing him to fall back on his back. They quickly ran onto his chest to unscrew the gem together, but it turned out it had three sword-slots. Cheren had to play the Elegy, and afterwards stick a sword in the slot and (fail) to turn it. When he (didn't) turned long enough, he played the song again, and he and Merida got in their own slots and began to turn, while the clone helped with the third one. The chest-gem popped out of the boney giant, and he angrily swatted them off and got up again.

They dodged a few more of his sword-strikes as they scanned his body for any more weak points. They decided to shoot his eyes and stun him for now, and then Cheren launched his Remote Bananarang to search for another weakness. He flew it above the Stalgod's neck, and one more small gemstone rested there. However, they couldn't get it when he was on his knees, nor when he was on his back. There was only one other option: Cheren threw on the Giant's Mask and grew into his towering self, rapidly swinging his sword at the Stalgod to make him dizzy enough. Cheren then carefully allowed Merida onto his finger, then carefully held her beside the monster's shoulder. Merida hopped on and ran to the gem behind his neck, sticking her sword in and twisting to make the gem pop out.

The Stalgod shook from the pain, causing Merida to drop and land on the soft Island Cloud, and Cheren dealt another round of blows against the skeleton. Cheren shrunk back to normal as the skeleton suddenly froze stiff and straight, his body parts separating and falling to the ground, his head last. Cheren stared at the fallen skeleton head, its mouth agape, and hurried over, thinking it was time to play the Song of Healing. However, the Stalgod's severed head suddenly bounced to life, its helmet falling off as it hovered around the air.

The skull-head still wore its angry face as it started to munch munch munch, chasing them around as it did so. The skull moved a lot quicker, so they had to move quick as they aimed and shot its two eyes. The skull was pushed back as it shook the pain off, and coughed out a Rumble Ball. Immediately, the Stalgod shook back to its senses and kept chasing them, but Cheren ran around, grabbed the Rumble Ball, and stuffed it in his mask. Cheren put on the Giant's Mask and grew to his tremendous size, and from his view, the skull looked like a regular skull now. The angry skull flew to his crotch, and Cheren flinched with pain as the skull snapped his teeth on it. The giant child frantically tried to punch it off, and immediately dealt him a series of blows after doing so, knocking it around like a simple Bubble.

Cheren also noticed the glowing gem that took up the back of its head. He was about to pierce it, but the skull immediately got back up and tried to fly away. Cheren easily kept knocking the skull around with his enormous sword, and when the bodiless skull finally had enough, Cheren flipped into the air, and brought the piercing blade down. (End song.)

Jungle of the Apes

"RRRRRRR-rr-rr-rr-rrrrRRRRrr!" As the African apes were calmly going about their business, the Giant's roar suddenly echoed throughout the land.

Le Carnivilia

"RRRRRRR-rr-rr-rr-rrrrRRRRrr!" The amusement park goers stared at the heavens in wonder at the sound of the Giant's call.

Holoska

"RRRRRRR-rr-rr-rr-rrrrRRRRrr!" The wolves' ears perked at the call of the Giant. By its sound, it seemed as if something great has happened.

DunBroch Kingdom

Back in the past, the warriors were in fierce battle with the skeleton army, when the undead warriors began to shake, and suddenly fall down lifeless. Their eyes widened with wonder as rays of light shone onto the land from the cloudy heavens. The clouds had become much more bright, and the only shade of darkness was the enormous shadow of a strange being with its sword into something round. "Mor'du's carcass… it's the Giant of DunBroch!" Fergus said with amazement.

From Sector DB's treehouse balcony, Merida's would-be suitors recognized the titanic shadow; Macintosh wore a smirk, MacGuffin looked amazed, and Dingwall looked dim as always. "Oi… yer somethin' else, Kid…" was all Macintosh said.

Heavenly Ruin

The gigantic Uno boy pulled his blade out of Stalgod's skull, and shrunk back to his puny size. He sheathed his sword as Merida ran beside him, staring at the lifeless eyes of the monster. "It mustn't be fun being a giant if ya have such easy weak points." Merida commented.

"Well, you can't be too powerful." Cheren approached the giant skull and pulled out his Spirit Flute, proceeding to play the Song of Healing.

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

The giant skull sparkled with light and vanished, its faces shrinking down into a regular mask.

You've seized Stalgod's Remains! You've just freed the innocent spirit that was kept imprisoned within the body of evil Stalgod.

"…Soooooo, HOW do we get outta here?" Merida asked.

"That'll be up to you to figure out."

"Why me?"

"Just 'cause." The mask swallowed Cheren in light, and he was off to the Spirit World.

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

Once again, Cheren stood upon a towering pillar, overlooking a vast realm of grassland and ruin, and columns of water flowing into the sky as the sixth and final Giant stood before him in the distance. "Well… there you have it." Cheren said simply. "I've rescued all of you. So, it's time for YOU ALL to return the favor. You have to do something about him. Okay?"

"Rrrrooorrrr-rr-rr-rrrRRROORR."

"…Call…us…" Fi spoke.

"Call you? Okay then… All that's left to do is find Majora. And once I do, I'll call you to destroy him. But… how will I get to you?"

"RAAAAWWWRRR-raawwwr-rooorrr-ooorr-OOORR-OOOWWWRR."

"Um… what?" Cheren looked baffled.

"RAAAAWWWRRR-raawwwr-rooorrr-ooorr-OOORR-OOOWWWRR."

"It appears to be some kind of song." Fi examined. "Master, I would suggest pulling out your flute."

Cheren did so and held the six sacred pipes by his mouth. Fi made little dancing motions at different altitudes, making different-toned dings. Ding… doong, doong, Doong, DOng, DONG… And again, Ding… doong, doong, Doong, DOng, DONG…

Cheren followed with his flute. The pipes were third-highest, third-lowest, second-lowest, third-lowest, third-highest, and then highest. Dooooo-dooo-dooo-Dooo-dooOO-DOOOOO!

You learned the Oath to Order! People of the ancient days used this song to summon the Giants in times of crisis. Play this in Majora's presence, and the Giants will save the day!

Cheren stuffed the Spirit Flute away and gave a nod. "So, this is how. Okay. I'll look for Majora as quick as I can. …But when I'm done… you think you could help us get back home? I really wanna get back there, too. …I mean… not to sound needy or anything." As he spoke, Cheren instantly remembered something. "Or better yet… I could take Majora's route. How did Majora get here, anyway? …Do you know?"

"RAAAAWWWRRR-raawwwr-rooorrr-ooorr-OOORR-OOOWWWRR."

"…He has… accomplices…" Fi translated.

"Accomplices? You mean, there's someone behind the scenes? Who…?" Cheren didn't have a chance for an answer, as the blinding light brought him out of his dreams.


Seriously, looking back on these dungeons, I am astounded at myself. Astounded by how committed I was to their length and detail. And so proud. By the way, I wanted to name the boss Stalking, but, I learned that that's how you spell stalking. XP

 

[Gamen Watch]

Okay, everyone! It's time to find Majora and END this adventure once and for all! We'll just have a little pre-victory party and be good to go! ;D

Chapter 20: Operation: Moonfall

After Cheren's victory, the boy awoke once again on the treehouse's couch. …Although… it wasn't the couch he remembered. It was harder, and generally uncomfortable. When he got up, he realized he was in Sector DB's treehouse. "Ahh great, yer awake!" Merida grinned, just coming in to bring Cheren some soup. "You've been out all night. It's mornin' now, so the others aren't here yet."

Cheren smiled and proceeded to eat the soup.

"When we beat the monster, the war sorta ended. The whole town is celebratin'. You oughta come down. Yer sorta the town hero, actually. When I carried ya home, Ay told me parents that Ay was kidnapped by the monsters, and ya came to save me, and ended up gettin' conked on the way. Of course, it's not an excuse Ay'm usually fine with, sooo… ya owe me." She smirked.

"Heheheh!" Cheren laughed. "Maybe in the future." Cheren reached in his pocket and pulled out the remains of Stalgod. "But I really should get home now. With all the Giants rescued, I'm probably only a few Hookshot launches away from saving Miyuki."

"Ahh, come on, Chereeen!" Merida whined, playfully punching his shoulder. "Ya have time fer a banquet, the future'll still be there, right?"

"Hmmm…well, okay. But not for too long, though." I wanna save the REAL partying 'til AFTER I beat Majora.

"If ye say so."

"Um, actually that reminds me, do you guys possibly grow any… special flowers around here? Any type called 'Ancient Flower'?"

"Hmmm… ya know, we might have somethin' like that in the garden outside West Gate. Ay could ask the guards to bring one for you."

"That'd be great." Cheren smiled. "It's for a friend… sort of."

"Well, come on!" Merida insisted, standing up excited. "Let's go meet everyone!"

"Ha, race you!" Cheren and Merida began their excited dash to the castle.

DunBroch Castle Grand Hall

"Und did Ay ever tell you 'bout the time Ay fought with Tralfolgor the Terrifying?" King Fergus asked as they were all gathered at the dining table. There was old Scottish music in the background, and several warriors were dancing, while Cheren, Merida, and her parents sat at the table, eating various types of meat and other grub. "He was BIGGER than this table! And one of his eyes was replaced with a bull's horn! He-"

"Honestly, Ay think Dad just makes these up." Merida whispered to Cheren, the two of them simply tuning the man out.

"Eh, I dunno… he might be recollecting his own KND adventures." Cheren winked.

"My dad a Kids Next Door operative? Ay'll buy that."

"Oi, Lad? Is this the flower you wanted?" a soldier asked as he brought Cheren a flower with purple petals and a big, golden center.

"I dunno… is it, Fi?"

Fi popped out and answered, "Master Cheren, I can confirm with 90% accuracy this is the Ancient Flower which Sprocket spoke of."

"Perfect! Then I'll take it!" Cheren beamed as he took the flower.

You got an Ancient Flower! These used to be all over the place! Sprocket will sure love to see this!

The soldier walked away, and Cheren continued to eat his piece of bread. "…Hey, Merida?"

Merida chewed on some meat and replied, "Hm?"

"I just wanna say thanks." He said, feeling a little sheepish. "I wouldn't've been able to get through there without you. I guess it turns out… having one person with you makes all the difference."

"Well, just make sure to tell yer friends about meh." Merida smirked. "And we'll keep yer memory alive down here. After all, if yer still around 800 years in the future, ya must be a pretty important guy."

"Heh, you're too kind." Cheren said as he was beginning to walk out. "I'll tell my friends to come and see your movie."

"Come back and visit sometime!" Merida yelled, waving as he left, while he waved back. However, a thought occurred to Merida just then. "What's a movie?"

Downtown

"Shall we return to Sector V's treehouse, Master Cheren?" Fi asked as Cheren walked down the street. "I believe the Song of Soaring will allow us to warp through the portals as well, Master."

"Not yet. There's something else we gotta get first."

By the Powder Keg stand

At this time, the Happy Mask Man was taking a little stroll down the path through the grassland. Cheren made his way all the way to this area, and was surprised when he ran into him. "Happy Mask Man!"

"Ooh?" the grinning man looked curiously at him.

"I rescued the last Giant!" Cheren exclaimed, feeling very excited. "Did you come here to see it for yourself?"

"…" The man kept his vibrant grin. "I've never seen you before in my life…"

Cheren only looked confused as the man walked by him. Before he went further, the Mask Man turned back at Cheren. "You rescued the Giant, have you? Such a task does not come small… Only one with vast courage would want to even try. It seems this land is safe now… thanks to you."

"Shyah…" Cheren gave a light blush; he really couldn't take this much praise. He was still confused how the Mask Man didn't remember him.

"But still… a land must fall… one way or the other. Whether the war was ended or not… the kingdom will see its last days. At least now… it won't die in vain." The man's grin grew. "I shall remember your face… Boy…"

With those last words, the Mask Man walked out into the fields. Cheren thought his glasses were foggy, but the Mask Man soon vanished from his sight, into thin air.

He wiped his glasses with his shirt, but when he slipped them on, the Mask Man was still nowhere to be found. "Hm… weird. Anyway, the frog!" Cheren turned his attention to the nearby pond. He recalled the pond being dead in the future, but now it was full of life, with a little green froggy hopping happily on a lilipad. Cheren slipped on Don Gero's Mask and spoke to it.

"Oh, hi, Don Gero! Ribbit! I was hoping to see you! Ribbit! I followed the monsters in the time portal—rib—in the hopes of finding you in this time—bit! Now that I've met you, I guess I'll return to my home time, ribbit! Come with me and see me at the show soon!" The frog vanished into thin air.

"Why do they do that?" Cheren asked, totally confused. "Oh well. It's time to head back." He pulled out the Spirit Flute and blew the Song of Soaring to be warped out of there.

Slag's Fleet

He made his way to Slag's Fleet and turned himself into Captain Slag as he entered Sprocket's room. The hot-hearted pirate was tending to his plants as Cheren presented him the Ancient Flower. "Yarrr, here be what yer lookin' for, Sprocket."

"Whoy, Captain!" Sprocket's eyes beamed with joy as he carefully snatched the flower. "I's magnificent! Wherever did you get this??"

"Don't 'ave doubts in yer fair captain, Sprockey old boy!"

"Oi, I won't, Captain. I'll be takin' good care of this. Here's your reward, Captain."

"A pleasure, Sprockey old boy." Cheren said as he took a brown mask designed like a tiki face. "Should ye need any other favors, just aaask." But please don't.

You got the Rain Mask! Ancient Indian tribes once used this mask to make it rain! Once you wear it, perform a little dance to make it shower onto the withered ground! Just don't try to ruin anyone's day at the beach.

Cheren left Sprocket alone and performed the Song of Soaring, and headed straight for Carnivilia.

Le Carnivilia

Cheren returned to Carnivilia (for the hundredth time in this story) and made his way to Lenny's dunk tank, where the bucktoothed man was impatiently waiting. "Hey, not that I'm rushing you, but I've got an empty tank here and not reeling any customers."

"Yeah yeah, calm down, I'm on it." Cheren stated annoyed as he slipped on the Rain Mask. Cheren began to make some kind of chant as he danced around, drawing weird looks from nearby park goers. Everyone looked up as the sky began to fill with clouds, and rain poured down in seconds. For some people, it kind of ruined their park day, but for Lenny, he was joyous that his tank was filling with water again.

The rain eventually came to an end when the tank was filled to its required level. "Whoa! I don't know how you did that, but… my tank's filled! I can finally start dunking people! …Uh, I mean, getting customers… to be dunked."

"Heheheh." Cheren chuckled, giving a disbelieved smirk.

"Still, I'm not really sure if you did that, or if it was just by chance. Oh well. I've had this snorkel mask lying around that I don't need, so… I'll let you have it!" Lenny grinned as he presented Cheren the aforementioned snorkel and goggles.

You got the Snorkel Mask! No diver can last long without this! …Er, except you. Regardless, with this, you'll be able to stay underwater a lot longer without air!

"So, if you end up getting dunked by one of your friends, you won't have to worry about drowning!"

"Heh. Eat that, Panini." Cheren smirked. At that instant, he remembered: "Oh yeah! I better check on Panini. There's still something I need to do, though."

He walked to Rainier Narboneta's frog choir attraction, and saw that all the frogs he's found throughout the journey had returned safely home. However, one of the seven lilipads was still empty. "I'm still missing a frog? Where else could they be, I've been to all the Giants' lands. …Waait…" Cheren beamed, "I remember! Guess we're stopping by home, anyway!" Cheren played the Song of Soaring again.

Cleveland Park

Cheren returned to the playground just blocks away from Sector V's treehouse. As he expected, the little grey frog was still hopping happily, ever since they saved him at the beginning of Cheren's Terminan adventure. Cheren slipped on Don Gero's Mask and spoke to the froggy.

"Ribbit! Don Gero! You've returned RIBBIT! I was just playing with the kids RIBBIT! They're pretty annoying. I don't know how anyone puts up with 'em RIBBIT! I'm going back to Carnivilia. 'Course, things aren't much different there RIBBIT! See you around!" He vanished in a puff of smoke.

"That should be all the frogs! I guess we should meet up with the guys now."

Fi emerged from the sword and asked, "Master Cheren, should we not see if Rainier Narboneta has a possible reward?"

"Naah, it's probably just a Heart Piece, it's not very relevant. We'll get it when we become an actual game. I really wanna check up on Panini." Cheren hurried back to the treehouse ('cause side quests have lost their value).

KND Moonbase

Panini was calmly at rest in the Moonbase Hospital. Her wound was wrapped up, but she still only breathed softly as she lay unconscious. While the doctors were checking up on her, Truman Kirman walked in to visit her as well. "Hello, Numbuh Medical-Jargon-57. Is Panini doing alright?"

"'ey, Numbuh 40! Yeah, she's been fine since last night. We're wondering why she won't wake up."

"I think I know why. It's because you're still in charge."

"Uh heheheh." The boy chuckled confusedly. "You mind clarifying that for me?"

"Gladly." Without a moment's hesitation, Truman grabbed the doctor and slammed him to the ground facefirst.

"Hey, Truman's going crazy!" a soldier outside yelled. "Grab him! Hnngh-!" Both soldiers were held back by an unseen force. Truman smirked at Miyuki Crystal/Majora behind them.

The possessed child stepped forward and touched the soldiers as their bodies vanished in a flash of light, leaving only their helmets. Miyuki twirled the helmets around in her fingers as they both spoke, "Good work, my special agent. Infiltrating the Moonbase was much easier with a fellow operative in hand. They would never have suspected I used the special Delightful Serum my cohorts have provided me. You walked in right under their noses."

"I shouldn't take all the credit." Truman spoke, his face baring a devious look as his eyes brimmed more blue than ever. "These kids are so hyped about their card games and candy that they can't even think straight. Besides… I never could've done so if you hadn't stolen the soul out of this body."

"You should be amazed you didn't need a soul." Majora said as he pulled out Truman's real glasses and dangled them by Miyuki's finger. "I'm amazed the Delightfulization had effect on a body with no soul. Of course, I should remember, Delightfulized beings really HAVE no soul. It just makes it easier when their body is empty."

"Of course. That's why we emptied the rabbit girl of her soul." Truman said, looking at Panini. "Were it still there, she'd be waking up. But it's not."

Truman approached the firebender girl and shook her. "Panini? You can wake up now."

Panini's eyes shot open, completely blue and lifeless. "Is Master ready to begin now?" she said in a dull, emotionless tone.

"Master? You make me feel like-" Majora turned around, then turned back, holding a mask of Caesar Clown by his face, "Shulululululu!" He threw the mask away and said, "With Moonbase's defenses immobilized, my demons have begun taking over without mercy. With nothing else around to stand in my way, Operation: Moonfall can proceed as scheduled! Continue as planned, while I finish operations." The possessed child left the room.

Miyuki/Majora made their way to the Moonbase's generator room, where she unhesitantly grabbed the guards' heads and forced their souls into their helmets. Majora approached the generator and spoke, "Thanks to Miyuki's timebending powers, enhanced by my darknessbending, the moon, excluding the Moonbase, has successfully been restored to its appointed state. However, the timebending alone wasn't enough. It needed a direct touch by my darknessbending. But darkness on the outside will never do. I must channel the energy to the moon where it really matters: the heart. This very device links the treehouse's roots perfectly with the heart of the moon. By channeling my energy through here, the moon will be touched by my darkness, and it will carry the task it was designed to fulfill from the very birth of creation: Destruction of the whole world.

"Ahhh… how it pains me to eliminate… such worthiable adversaries. Demons feed off energy from this planet, and I must take it away." Majora released a sigh. "Oh well. When I'm done, I shall make an even better home for them. Let us begin… Operation MOONFALL!"

The demon placed Miyuki's hand against the tree's stem, and began to channel the dark energy right down to the roots.

Sector V Treehouse… you know which one by now, right?

Cheren warped back to the treehouse's balcony and excitedly burst through the door, raising Stalgod's mask above his head. "Yo, guys! I got the last mask!"

The five Sector V members flinched and looked away from whatever they were doing. "Dude, you scared us!" Celeste yelled as they hurried over to him. "We thought you mighta died by now!"

"Heh, come oooon, guys. I'm not Supreme Leader of my universe for nothin'."

"So I guess you didn't need us after all?" Celeste asked.

"Well… not totally true. Let's just say, I found some help where I went, and… you really can't get that far without any help. You guys were a bigger deal on my journey than I would've thought at first."

"Well, it's not like you can swing a vine and shoot a slingshot at the same time." Harry remarked.

"Or move your own platforms while you're tiny." Melissa said.

"Hehehe…" Cheren grinned sheepishly. "I don't know how else to tell you this… but I was pretty mean to you guys before, and-"

"Apology accepted." Harry winked. "Now can we get on with this quest and avoid any cheesy emotional scenes? We are still just a kids' cartoon."

"I thought we were anime." Celeste commented.

"Hahaha! The quest is pretty much over! I rescued the last Giant."

"So are they gonna help you beat Majora?" Thomas asked.

"I… would think so?" Cheren said, confused. "They taught me some kind of song. I wonder if I just play it in front of Majora and they come and stomp him?"

"Well, you'll have to find Majora first, right?" Melissa asked. "Where is he hiding?"

"Heck if I know. But there's someone else I wanna see first: where's Panini?"

"She's up at Moonbase Hospital." Melissa replied. "Truman went up to check on her a while ago."

"We still got her mask, too." Thomas said as he held up Panini's Bunny Hood. "But are you really sure her soul's trapped in here? She was still breathing."

"Having her soul taken isn't the same as killing her. Her body may be alive, but she may not having anything controlling it. But if her soul is in there, I can probably bring it back with the Song of Healing. So let's get up there and wake her up. I'll bet she wants to join me in taking out Majora!"

"I know I wouldn't miss it." Thomas smirked. "Let's get up to Moonbase! You brought the S.C.A.M.P.E.R. back, right?"

Cheren flinched, putting on a recalling look. "Ooooh… I left it back on DunBroch by accident. It's the first time I wasn't dragged to this treehouse."

"What do you mean 'this'—oh, never mind." Harry said. "We'll use the C.O.O.L.-B.U.S.. Let's go, team!"

"Incoming transmission from Moonbase." The operatives were interrupted when alarms blared throughout the treehouse.

The kids hurried to the living room monitor as their Supreme Leader, Jeremy's face came onscreen. "Sector V, this is Kids Next Door Moonbase."

"Duh." Melissa remarked.

"The demons have attacked, we're requesting immediate back-" The screen immediately blanked to static.

"Jeremy!" Melissa yelled, worried.

The static cleared, and Truman Kirman's face was shown, baring his devious look. "Hello, Kids Next Door."

"TRUMAN??" they were all shocked.

"I'm no longer the Truman you remember. Rather, the first Truman you may remember. I've gone back to my Delightful roots, and I am quite pleased."

"You're… Delightfulized?!" Melissa exclaimed.

"Yes. We've excluded the childish soul from this body, and have replanted a better, delightful one. And I'm not the only one. Many of us have joined Delightfulization. Including one you may be familiar with. Say hello to everyone, Panini." The camera rolled over to show Panini's emotionless face.

Cheren gasped with horror. "Panini!"

"The Moonbase is under Majora's command now. I'm sorry, but his rule is much better. The moon is a far more sacred place to be owned by a bunch of brats. Majora will put this rock to better use."

"If it's so sacred, a demon like Majora shouldn't control what happens with it." Cheren said, anger rising inside him.

"Ahh, but Majora is far more than just your regular demon. He will be this world's savior. And he will ergo save your world."

"What does that mean?!" Cheren demanded.

"Talking wastes time. The show is about to begin. The moon's looking pretty today. Come to the top if you wish to see." The T.V. switched off.

Everyone hurried to the highest balcony around the top of the treehouse and watched as the moon became shrouded in darkness. It was daytime, so the moon was barely visible, but the evil purple surrounding it made it more noticeable than ever. The purple slowly faded from the moon, and they already noticed the distinct differences: wide, yellow-red eyes, almost like Majora's, a huge nose, and a mouth exposing terrifying teeth, appeared to form an enormous face. The face's eyes peered down at the planet below, and it emitted a strange, rumbling sound.

"Heeey… is the moon getting bigger?" Kellie asked.

"No, it's… getting closer!" Harry realized. Indeed the moon was drawing closer and closer, and didn't stray at all from the Earth's surface.

"If that thing collides with Earth…" Melissa said, her voice filled with fear.

Kellie gulped and sidled over to Thomas, clutching his arm tight.

"Was this what Majora was planning?" Cheren asked, amazed at the sight.

"Did you hear what Truman said?" Thomas asked. "He said Majora would 'save' your world… Does that mean YOUR world will get hit, too?!"

Cheren flinched remembering those words. The Uno boy bit his teeth together, panicking on the inside.

"It's true." Everyone jumped around, finding Miyuki/Majora at the balcony's stairway. "This world and Cheren's world are linked. While the door between worlds is sealed, the road still lies. The moon will implode on this world, and the incredible impact will spread through the tunnel, burning down the door and setting flame to the other world you're so fond of."

"Grrrrr!" Cheren got to his feet and aimed his sword at Miyuki. "Not if I take you out first!" He ran to swing at the girl, but she jumped back and hovered in the air.

"You would hurt your friend?!"

"I'm focused on the mask. Not her. I'll tear that mask apart and STOP this whole thing!"

"Like I'll let you beat me! Come at me, Boy!" (Play the Mini-Boss Theme from Majora's Mask.)

Boss fight: Possessed Masked Child, MIYUKI CRYSTAL

The rest of the operatives stepped back to let Cheren and Miyuki fight. Cheren kept his eye trained on her as she floated around. He pulled his bow out and tried to shoot the mask, but Majora zipped to the side and began to charge a sphere of darkness. "Oh, THIS old thing?" Cheren remarked, remembering this tactic from EVERY Zelda game he's seen. Majora launched the sphere, and Cheren knocked it back to start this game of midair Ping-Pong. If you've played any Zelda game, you know how this goes. (In fact, Nerehc actually did it.) At the end of this little back-and-forth, Miyuki took the hit and sunk to the floor. Cheren dealt his blows across the evil mask, careful not to damage Miyuki's body.

Miyuki slipped away and took Cheren from behind, binding his arm behind him as Cheren fell to his knees. Cheren tried to pull away and stand, but Miyuki held his arm tight, and Cheren felt his strength decreasing. "Heh…" he panted, "Never knew you were this strong, Miyuki."

"Unfortunately, this is Majora keeping you down. Tell me, Boy: do you know how darknessbending works?"

"Ummm…kinda? Tell me anyway."

"Remember darkness is the element that exists inside. It involves pulling forward the negative emotions that lay inside you. For example, the doubt that you would have the strength to push a little girl holding you down. By making the doubt grow, the confidence you would have decreases, and so does your power. You simple humans could never stand a chance."

"You forget… one thing… Majora." Cheren grunted, keeping a confident smile, the image of Panini's boots weighing on him playing in his mind. "I remember… lifting MUCH heavier things."

Cheren elbowed Miyuki and knocked her back, grabbing and throwing her against the wall. When she turned, Cheren slashed at the mask, but the possessed child jumped and hovered overhead. Majora started to charge and throw a series of quick Dark Spheres, but Cheren swiftly dodged and bounced some attacks away with the Mirror Shield. Cheren threw his Bananarang, but Miyuki dodged and grabbed Cheren in a Time Brake, reducing him to 1/4th​ his speed. Thankfully, the Bananarang came back and bonked her in the head, releasing her grip.

Cheren immediately latched Miyuki with the Hookshot and pulled her down, giving him a chance for more strikes at the mask. Miyuki glided back and tossed five dark spheres, but Cheren knocked them all away with a spin attack. Cheren charged at the white-haired girl, but Miyuki leapt, hopped off his head, and hovered back in the air as she charged and unleashed a dark laser. Cheren deflected the laser with his Mirror Shield, but its size was providing Cheren a challenge as he tried to keep it blocked. He tried to redirect the laser up at Miyuki, but the girl dodged to the side and launched another laser, but Cheren was able to block it as it pushed him against the wall.

Miyuki smirked under her mask, seeing Cheren struggling to defend from Majora's attack. But just as Cheren was about to drop his guard, "UUH!" Miyuki was hit on the side of the head with a pellet, forcing her to stop the attack. The possessed timebender glared to her left, seeing Harry Uno wearing a cocky smirk as he wielded his slingshot.

"Never say the slingshot's useless!" he smirked.

"NNN!" Majora was taken by surprise when Cheren suddenly yanked them down with the Hookshot, proceeding to deal blows against the mask. Miyuki slipped away, and as Cheren leapt for a jump attack, Miyuki instantly slowed him in time. The demon-child chuckled evilly, but her arms were suddenly binded by a lasso, looking over and glaring at a smirking Celeste. Miyuki failed to try and dodge Cheren, who was still moving slow, but was able to land a successful strike against the mask, breaking free of the Time Brake.

"Or a dirty rope you find in a closet!" Celeste followed.

Miyuki flew to the air and raised her hands high as she began to channel a larger dark sphere, almost larger than her body. Cheren readied both his sword and shield, wondering if he could bounce it back, but when Miyuki launched it, Thomas jumped in the way and batted the sphere back with his hammer, forcing Miyuki to dodge to the ground. While grounded, Thomas smashed the girl against the floor, twirling his hammer with a victorious smirk. "Need I say more?"

While Miyuki was down, Melissa shrunk herself with her shrink ray and ran up the girl's sleeve. As Miyuki got back up, she immediately felt the Gilligan girl crawling around under her clothing. "Err, hey! Get out of there! Those are a girl's private areas!"

Melissa stuck out of Miyuki's shirt collar as the terrifying mask looked down at her. "You should respect her TOO, dummy!" The tiny girl jumped off as Cheren swung his blade and struck the mask. Majora recovered and swiftly dodged Cheren's following blows, dancing behind him and kicking him against the wall.

"Heeeey Mr.-Mrs. Spooky Mask Thiiiing!" Kellie called cheerfully, drawing Majora's attention. "Let's daaance!" Kellie kept a happy, bubbly smile as she began to dance freely around Miyuki in ballet style. The Masked Demon only looked confused as Kellie performed various twirls, her feet moving like the wind. As Kellie danced to the front of Miyuki, she leapt in the air and floated as she did a twirl, finishing her dance with a wide smile as her arms and one leg stretched out.

"…Weren't you going to attack?" Majora asked.

"Oh. Okay. HEEE!" With a fierce look, Kellie kicked Miyuki painfully upside the chin, her head bent back with great force as she wobbled backward. Cheren shot arrows through the tips of her shoes and stuck them to the ground. The Uno flipped to her front and dealt a series of slashes against her mask, the arrows eventually coming off as Miyuki slid along the floor on her back, knocked down. (End song.)

Cheren stylishly twirled his sword and sheathed it. "Is that all? You've lost your touch, Majora."

"Nnnnnn…" the demon was feeling weak.

"I may not be in my normal world… but I still have friends to support me. I just wish I knew that before. Then I wouldn't've gone crazy. But it just goes to show, as long as I have friends, there's NO ONE that can—"

"Uhhh, hate to cut in on your victory, dude, but we still got THAT to deal with." Thomas stated, indicating the gigantic moon coming right toward them.

"How the heck can we stop that thing?!" Celeste exclaimed. "You'd have to be a GIANT to keep it back!"

A lightbulb appeared above Cheren's head. "That's it! …Where do these things come from?" He took the lightbulb and threw it away. He whipped out his Spirit Flute and said, "This is what that song was for: to prevent something like this!"

"What? You think you can call the Giants?" Celeste asked.

"Only one way to find out. Here it goes!"

Doooooo dooo-dooo, doooo DOOoo DOOOOO!

The moment the Oath to Order ended, the earth began shaking tremendously, making it hard for everyone to stand their ground.

"What?! What's happening?" Majora asked. "…Wait. That melody. It—"

"Uhhhh what's he so worried about?" Celeste asked.

"I dunno… but if he's worried, maybe help is on the way." Cheren hoped.

Across the world

From the towering treetops of the vast, African jungle, Kerchak and his fellow apes watched as the Jungle Temple brimmed with a powerful light from the distance. "Why temple… glow bright?" Kerchak asked.

"Maybe human… do something." His wife said.

A powerful beam launched from the temple and soared across the heavens.

Booster watched from his tower, as did all the park goers, as the Grand Bigtop brimmed and launched a powerful light into the sky.

Marketa, her family, and all the wolves from the Mainland stared in awe as the Frosty Citadel launched a powerful beam into the heavens.

The pirates ceased their partying and stared amazed as a light launched from the island, from the spot where the Pirates' Grotto would be. "Oi… blimey…" a loyal Slag Pirate was struck speechless.

Kakashi and the people of the Hidden Leaf Village stared as a light launched from the Sarutobi Tower. "Hmm… is that what…?"

Within the vast ruins of the ancient land, the fallen Heavenly Ruin emitted a light that could be seen across the land, launching a beam that alighted the cloudy sky.

Sector V

The six lights came together in the heavens before the operatives' eyes. They closed in on the moon, and as they were about to touch, the lights transformed into the Six Giants.

The operatives gaped as the moon rammed the Giants, and came to a complete halt thanks to the Giants' strength. They looked almost as tall as the moon, and their combined strength was enough to subdue the world's destruction.

"You know… they're just like us…" Harry said, eyes fixed on the Giants' teamwork.

"Yeah… dude, wouldn't it be AWESOME if we were giant?" Celeste asked.

"I have a Giant Mask." Cheren said, smiling. "But it won't work anywhere."

"At least we stopped the moon for now." Thomas followed. "I wasn't looking forward to being smooshified."

"There's something I don't really get about all this." Celeste spoke.

"Okay, has anyone noticed she's hogging almost ALL the lines?" Melissa commented.

Harry eye-rolled, "What is it, Cel?"

"How was Majora able to Delightfulize Panini and Truman to begin with? I mean, there's only one person we know that could HAVE that technology, and that's-"

"Yours truly."

Everyone gaped. At that moment, Miyuki's modified S.C.A.M.P.E.R. hovered by the balcony, with a certain silhouetted gentleman standing in the opening. "FATHER!!"

"Uncle… Ben??" Cheren questioned.

"Long time, no see, Cheren." Father greeted, a smirk under his silhouette.

"Ahhh, my dear employer." Majora spoke. "I was hoping you'd show up."

"Employer?" Cheren asked, surprised. "So you're… Majora's BOSS?"

"Weeell, I helped him on a few occasions, in exchange for some… commissions."

"Commissions?"

"Ever since dear granddaddy Malladus got defeated, things haven't been the same." Father said, sounding half-depressed. "I lost my job at Evil Adult Industries and lost all respect from my fellow villains. And then that lousy Brain stole it all from me. Malladus died and my own dad decided to retire for good. I fell into such a slump, I got doubt in myself! I wanted to call it quits… but then one, fateful day, I heard a rather interesting tale: the tale of Majora and the Giants of Termina. Apparently, Majora was some wondrous, ancient demon that could make anything happen. I knew that if I could help bring BACK this ancient demon, he would destroy the world for me and HELP ME rebuild it, where adults rule everything and kids are all Delightful! NOOOW who's got the top spot in the villains list, GUUUYS?!?"

"I don't understand! That tale takes place in THIS dimension, not our own! Where did you hear about it??"

"From ME." Another, similar silhouetted figure stepped in the doorway.

Everyone gaped. "TWO FATHERS???"

"This old man came AAAALL the way to my world from the Termina Dimension!" Father A said, happily patting Father B's back.

"Using the special Dimensional Transferifyer I designed, using all the Star Dust I gathered around while looking for NIGEL UNO IN OUTER SPACE after he STOLE MY PIPE AND RAN OFF WITH THOSE GALACTIC KIDS NEXT DOOR!"

"I forgot how much he yells." Cheren said.

"I heard that the demon Majora was locked somewhere in the 'Hyrule' Dimension, although I didn't expect to run into a fellow adult who looked exactly like myself!"

"Nor did we expect the demon Majora had already found its own vessel AHEAD of time!" Father A finished. "Thanks to this handsome individual, I was finally brought out of my slump!"

"So you didn't have anything to do with Miyuki finding the mask." Cheren deduced. "But why exactly did Majora team up with you?"

"Let's just say, what you said is true. You cannot go far without help." Majora admitted.

"We first made our little deal shortly after he found the original gateway closed." Father A said.

"That turned up very lucky, for us." Father B said. "We allowed him the access of our dimensional traveler, if he promised to help us."

"Sounds pretty simple." Cheren said, expecting a somewhat better deal.

"Along the way, we offered other services." Father A continued. "I told him about the Demon State that runs in the Uno Family of my universe."

"We convinced him to take the souls of your friends and put them through the Delighfuling Process, turning them into zombie slaves that would hide under your operative noses." Father B explained. "We did that with one of my more favorite subjects, Truman, and enabled Majora to gain complete control of Moonbase Command."

"You see, Majora needed control of the Moonbase in order to reach its core, where he would channel his dark energy to the moon's heart. His darkness awakened the true evil that slept within the moon, and that's what you see ABOVE YOU TODAY!"

Everyone looked up at the terrifying face on the moon, still held back by the Giants' power. "Father: you have no idea what Majora might do once this is done." Cheren said. "How do you know he'll keep his word?"

"Personally: I don't really care." Majora admitted. "But I have no quarrel against them, and they did help me. I think I'll entertain them."

"As long as it works in our favor." Father B stated.

"Now it's time we finish our last preparations. Farewell." Miyuki got back up and drifted into the ship. The hatch closed as the S.C.A.M.P.E.R. faced up and shot toward the moon. Missiles launched from the shabby camper and hit the Giants, causing them to lose their grip as the moon drifted even closer. As the villains landed inside the Moonbase, the moon's eyes glowed more evil than ever.

"I…I shall consume…consume…consume everything!"

"Noooo! We gotta stop the moon NOW!" Melissa screamed. "Don't you have another song?!"

"You think I'd be USING it now?" Cheren snapped back.

"Quit arguing, guys! There's gotta be SOMETHING we can do!" Thomas yelled.

"Oooh-ooh! Maybe we can ask the moon, REALLLY really nicely, to go back in the sky!" Kellie said gleefully.

"I don't think the moon's in the mood to listen." Cheren said simply. "Still… if the Giants don't work, I don't know what else we could do."

"Do what you've always done." Everyone turned at the Happy Mask Man's teary, joyous voice, his grin the same as it's always been. The creepy man knelt beside Cheren and spoke, "The Giants can only do part of the work. Remember they are beings made up of Earth's positive energy. You must give them more strength by joining together, and standing against Majora. Together, with your friendship… the darkness that takes the moon will NOT last long!" his eyes began to tear again.

"In other words, we go up, kick Majora's butt, and get our Moonbase back?" Harry asked.

"That would be the less cheesy way of saying it." Mask Man said simply.

"Ah…well, it's what I've been waiting for ever since Seriousman arrived." Harry started eagerly. Cheren shot him a dirty look that said 'Really?'. "And now that TWO Fathers are there, that just adds to the butt-kickin'!"

"Kids Next Door, BATTLE-" Cheren tried to finish.

"HEY!!" Harry stopped him. "… …Ah, go ahead, you're Supreme Leader."

Cheren smirked. "KIDS NEXT DOOR, BATTLE STATIONS! (Man, when was the last time we said that?)"

"361!" Harry exclaimed.

"52!" Melissa followed.

"43!" Kellie cheered.

"80!" Thomas yelled.

"58!" Celeste fist-pumped.

"…" Cheren looked confused.

"COME ON, dude!" Thomas yelled.

"Oh—right! 3621! (Man, I've got to brush up on my history.)" Cheren cheered.

"ANNNND…" Harry pointed over at Truman… who was nonexistent. "Ohhh…right."

"LET'S GO, TEAM!" Cheren declared.

Sector V Hangar

The five Sector V members hopped in the C.O.O.L.-.B.U.S., feeling more hyped than ever as they readied to lift off for Moonbase. Cheren stood outside the spacecraft for a moment to think and unwind after his battle just now, and was greeted by the Mask Man again. "Ahhh… it seemed just only yesterday… when he made his daring venture into the moon. …Only he didn't have the spaceship."

Cheren glanced at him with a curious look. Could he be talking about…?

"It was sad when his time came. But then I met a little boy… just a few years later. He saved a beautiful land from predestined destruction. And that boy…" the man bent over and stared into Cheren's chestnut-brown eyes, "was you, wasn't it?"

Cheren jumped away in utter shock. So he WAS the same Mask Man in DunBroch Past? "Just…Just what are you?" Cheren finally asked.

"A mask conceals the most precious of things…" he grinned, rubbing his own face. "As you go on this perilous journey… I still must ask you… to bring Majora's Mask to me."

"Why do you still want that mask?"

"I cannot say. I am sorry." His grin became a frown. "However… I will still help you, by telling you one last thing: my true name."

Cheren's eyes perked. He never was given his name.

The man got down and whispered in Cheren's ear with a big grin. "My true name… is…" he spoke very quietly, and Cheren felt his breath touch his ear, "Sanula."

Cheren backed away in shock. The Mask Man kept his innocent grin as he stared. He… KNEW that name from somewhere. But where…

"Yo, Cheren, you getting on or are we leaving without you?" Harry yelled.

Cheren jumped back to reality. "Um, coming!" he quickly dashed into the C.O.O.L.-B.U.S..

The Mask Man kept his hopeful grin as he watched the spacecraft take off. The 2x4-tech bus headed straight for the Moonbase, which has long since been enclouded in Majora's darkness.


Next time, we will begin the final dungeon of this story! Majora's Moonbase!

 

[Gamen Watch]

It's time for the seventh and final dungeon of this story. It's time to invade Majora's Moonbase and bring an end to the demon once and for all.

Chapter 21: Majora's Dream
​

Closing in on KND Moonbase

The C.O.O.L.B.U.S. swiftly swerved and dodged all of the gunfire that came at them on their flight to Moonbase. Many 2x4 ships had been captured and redecorated by demon troops, who tried desperately to shoot the opposing operatives out of space. "Grrr, they aren't letting us get in very easy." Cheren grunted, holding onto his seat as the ship shook from several hits.

"How long until we reach the hangar?!" Harry yelled, also trying to keep a grip.

"They've got the hangar closed off!" Melissa yelled. "Using some kinda forcefield."

"If there's one technology that demons love, it's forcefields." Cheren remarked.

"I'm gonna try and breach through the audience chamber." Melissa announced. "I have it marked with the scanner."

Fi emerged from Cheren's sword and said, "Master, the odds of successfully surviving the impact are around 97%."

"Fi, this is no time for od-" Cheren stopped himself. "Oh, actually, those're good. Okay, Melissa, go for it."

"Okay. Here goes!" Melissa barrel-rolled and deflected a bit of laser fire as they shot away from the Moonbase, turning and taking aim at where the audience room sat.

"Didn't your dad do something like this?" Thomas asked Harry.

"Well, we don't have 97% for nothin'."

"But didn't he-"

"BRACE FOR IMPACT!" Melissa screamed as the C.O.O.L.B.U.S. launched straight toward the Moonbase.

"WHOOOOOAAAA!"

The scrappy school bus came bursting through the wall with incredible force, crash-landing along the many rows of chairs. Cheren and the Sector V team came stumbling out of the burning ship, holding onto some of the still-standing chairs to regain their balance. "Well guys, you succeeded in mimicking your parents' bad example precisely…" Celeste remarked dizzily.

"You don't think that hole will do too much damage, do you?" Thomas asked.

"Naaah, the air stays in here pretty good." Harry answered.

"Heeeelp!" The looked to the stage and saw a group of Fatblin wearing blindfolds as they knocked Decommissioning Troops, hanging upside-down from the ceiling by their legs, around like piñatas.

"I hope one of these has horCHATaaaa!" a Fatblin exclaimed.

"They're in trouble!" Cheren exclaimed as the operatives charged over. Kellie wore her ballerina dress as she spun around the first Fatblin, making him dizzy. During his dizziness, Celeste latched her rope around its leg and pulled, making the Fatblin trip. Melissa shrunk herself with her shrink ray and zoomed around in her toy car, catching the attention of the second Fatblin as he tried to chase her, failing because of his slow speed. Melissa drove behind Thomas's foot, and the Fatblin was too late to notice before Thomas bashed his hammer into the monster's face. The last Fatblin was trying to approach Harry, but the Sector V Leader kept shooting slingshot pellets in his eyes, until Cheren Uno sliced up the Fatblin from behind.

Cheren used his Bananarang to cut the Decom. Troops free, but the moment he did so- "Stop! Enough!" Miyuki/Majora's image appeared on the massive T.V. screen. "That's as far as you go, Cheren. I know… you couldn't forgive yourself if this poor operative lost his soul." He reached offscreen and pulled over the Supreme Leader, Jeremy himself, tied up as Miyuki softly stroked his hair, signifying she was going to maskify him (that's what they called it now). The operatives just decided to drop their guard and look at him. "Now how does it feel, Cheren? All your courage… all your hard work to make it here, all gone to waste. Imagine how I felt, Cheren, when Link defeated me many centuries ago, after yeeeaars of waiting."

They glanced to both ways to see demon soldiers pouring in from all exits, quickly surrounding them. "Oh well. It doesn't matter now. At last, all my plans can go into order. At long last, I will be able to return home. It pains me… greatly… that you will not be able to join me. You have proven yourself a formidable adversary, Cheren. Just as your ancestor, Link. And now, this is where our long, drawn-out rivalry comes to an end. Do not worry. I promise to take Miyuki with me, as we enter the next world. Good-bye, Cheren… and thank you… for the battle. Now… DESTROY them."

The T.V. switched off, and the demons began to close in on the operatives. There were so many of them, and not even Cheren thought he could defeat them all. However, a bolt of lightning struck down and wiped out some of the monsters. They looked up, and their eyes widened at who was standing on the upper audience balcony. "Lowering your guard THAT easy?" Nerehc smirked. The Mexican boy, Pablo stood behind him as he strummed a dramatic tune on his guitar.

The Bulblin Archers began to shoot arrows at the Negative, but Nerehc swiftly flew around using rocket feet and launched more lightning bolts. With a good chunk of demons defeated, Cheren and Sector V did away with the rest of them while they were focused on Nerehc.

The Negative boy took land on the stage as Cheren approached him, giving a thankful smile. "Hey, Nerehc! What made you decide to join us?"

"Getting the heck out of this dimension." Nerehc smirked. "And something tells me, only you know the way back. But as soon as we're back, we're picking up our fight."

"Deal. We'll need all the help we can get."

"Come on! We gotta get up to the leader's office!" Celeste yelled. "Majora's probably holding him there!"

"Right!" Cheren nodded, his expression serious. "Let's go, team!" The kids charged out the audience chamber's exit, while Nerehc flew out, and began their siege on the conquered Moonbase. (Play "Moon Base 1" from Ape Escape 2.)

Dungeon 7: Majora's Moonbase

Mission: Get to the Supreme Leader's office and defeat Majora!

Cheren dashed down the hall between the audience room and the main bridge, and arrived to find many rebelling operatives at battle with the demons. Cheren was amazed at how much the Moonbase changed in this short amount of time. Demons were swarming everywhere, and they had set up decorations that honored Majora, such as statues of Miyuki in Majora's Mask, balloons with Majora's Mask, and several crystal shards growing from the structure that brimmed with the purple glow.

A few operatives were at battle with Bokoblin among the bridge. Cheren ran from behind the first bit and easily did away with them with his sword, and the troops shot the Bokoblin while they were down. A couple female troops were trying to hold back Bulblin, but Celeste tossed her rope and grabbed the two monsters by the neck. She yanked them back, and as they fell on their rears, Harry fired his S.P.I.C.E.R. and burned their rears, making them cry as they shot into the air and came down on a couple Moblin.

Melissa did like before and drove around the Fatblin in her tiny toy car, keeping them distracted so Thomas could bash them forcefully with his hammer. As they finished wiping out the demons on this floor, Cheren noticed an assortment of barrels, in which some were shaking. Cheren ran and Youth Rolled at the first one, saving a kid who was apparently trapped (or cowering) inside. He turned into Captain Slag and used his superior strength to smash all of the other barrels, saving kids. He broke the last one, but to his surprise, a purple Stray Fairy came out.

Cheren looked at it curiously before changing back to a human and catching it in his bottle. He was still confused by the appearance of the fairy as Sector V hurried over to him. "Why would a Stray Fairy be here? There aren't any Fairy Fountains on the moon, are there?"

"It'd be the first we heard about it." Melissa said.

"I guess we'll just collect them then. Let's move on!"

"They blocked all the ways to the upper levels." Thomas mentioned, indicating a metal debris clogging a hallway. "But now that I think about it, I think the scientists recently invented the new S.U.P.E.R.M.A.R.B.L.E.. If we brought one of those things, we could blow the way open."

"Only problem is, they're on the upper floors." Harry followed. "What do we do about that?"

As Cheren tried to think of a plan, Fi emerged from his sword. "Master Cheren. Due to the enhanced security Majora has added throughout the Moonbase, there is an 80% chance you will need to put to use, not only your own, but the skills of your teammates as well. Memorize all of your techniques acquired on this journey as you make your way to your final showdown."

"Or I could just have Nerehc blow through everything." Cheren stated in a dull tone. "Where'd he go, anyway?"

"Flew ahead, probably." Celeste said.

"Siiigh. Alright, then. We'll just find another way up." Cheren looked at all the Majora balloons above them, and noticed the particular blue one that was bigger than the others. It was relatively low, so he launched his Hookshot to grab it, but the device was apparently too strong as it popped the balloon into nothingness. "Whoops…" They looked to what appeared to be a balloon machine, watching as it pumped an equally-big Majora balloon and released it to the air. Since his Hookshot didn't work, he looked to Celeste and ordered, "Celeste, grab it!"

"Mmm!" she nodded with a serious look, using her lasso to catch the balloon around the bottom and pull it down. Cheren threw on his Kateenian Mask and became a Kateenian, jumping and grabbing hold of the bottom of the balloon. Celeste released it, and Cheren's body was light enough for it to lift him upward, but only a short way. There were plenty of smaller balloons floating around him, each at different altitudes, so Cheren swung to the closest one, bounced off as it popped, then bounced his way around all the others until he was able to make it to the second bridge floor.

The floor seemed pretty empty, but when Cheren took a few steps forward, a swarm of Red and Green Chuchu dropped down. Cheren ran around and sliced all the one-hit kill enemies, but he was suddenly bombarded by arrows from above. He looked to the third floor bridge and saw some Armored Bulblin shooting arrows. Cheren held up his Mirror Shield and blocked the arrows, thinking of a way to take them out, since he couldn't directly shoot them. Along one of the walls, a round stairway led up to the next bridge, but at the top, there was a yeti rolling boulders down, making it impossible to go up. Cheren noticed a tiny tunnel in the wall that led up beside the stairs, so he would've had to come back here with Melissa.

Cheren saw an operative tugging hard on the lock of a door, failing to yank the tight chains off. "Come OOON! Stupid door, let me back in!"

Cheren walked over, looking disbelieved, and asked, "Something wrong?"

"These monsters locked me outta my bomb room, and I wanted to try out my new S.U.P.E.R.M.A.R.B.L.E.! When did we even GET these locks?"

"Hmmm. I'll try and look around." Cheren launched his Remote Control Bananarang and began to skim around the first bridge. He flew by the Miyuki statue, in which her right arm was raised and pointing her index finger, and the key happened to be hanging on the finger. The Bananarang grabbed the key, and Cheren had it bring it back. He smiled as he used the key to open the bomb room, and the operative smiled excitedly as they hurried in.

"All right!" the kid exclaimed. "Let me show you my S.U.P.E.R.M.A.R.B.L.E.!" However, ahead of them was a hallway of laser beams sliding left and right along the walls, and also a small pit of lava. "Oh yeah. I added new security." The kid said sheepishly.

Cheren rolled his eyes as the two of them jumped the first laser, simply walked under the second laser since it was too high, and made another jump over the third one. As for the pit of lava, there were three crystal switches lined up like a triangle, and Cheren stood in the middle and spin-attacked them all, making two small platforms rise up from the lava. The kids jumped across the platforms and reached a giant machine, which looked like a gumball machine slot.

"A-halright! Thanks, Man! 'kay, let me get one started up." The kid began typing on a computer, and a huge, round, enhanced M.A.R.B.L.E. came down the slot.

Kids Next Door: S.U.P.E.R.M.A.R.B.L.E.

Super Ultra Powerful Explosion Really Makes Absolute Ruin Bombing Losers Endlessly

There was also a timer on the M.A.R.B.L.E., and it began to count down. "Uh-oh. I forgot, the timer automatically sets." The kid spoke, embarrassed, again. "Hehehe. Still has a few bugs to work out."

"Ugh." Cheren turned into Captain Slag and began to carry the huge M.A.R.B.L.E.. However, the platforms that led across the lava were gone, as the switched deactivated (ugh, this guy's security). Cheren quickly set the M.A.R.B.L.E. down and became human. He tried to hit the switches in a combo with the Bananarang, but they went off too fast. His only other option was to use Elegy of Emptiness. Cheren quickly strummed the song, then waited a few seconds before shooting the first switch with an arrow.

Cheren played the song again and waited a few seconds before shooting the second one. He played it one more time and waited the equal amount of time before shooting the third crystal at the same time as the others. The platforms reappeared, and Cheren became Captain Slag to throw the M.A.R.B.L.E. onto each platform. He got the bomb across, and the next hazards were the three lasers. Cheren threw it over the spot where the first laser would come back, then became human and jumped over the laser. He could lift it again because the second laser went as high as Slag's arms, but it thankfully passed over them, allowing Cheren to carry it forward (as Slag) and throw it over the third laser before either would come back.

Cheren carried it through the door (thankfully it was automated) to the bridge outside. Unfortunately, the bridge was suddenly filled with Holemasters, the Floormasters in holes of darkness. And to add to the situation, the Bulblin Archers were still shooting from above. Cheren just pressed forward, carefully navigating around the Holemasters while evading the (bad shot) Bulblin Archers. One of the Holemasters ended up swiping the S.U.P.E.R.M.A.R.B.L.E., and Cheren was about to throw a rampage if it got away. To his extreme relief, a Bulblin Archer shot the Holemaster by accident, and Cheren took this moment to grab the dropped M.A.R.B.L.E. and hurry forward.

The timer began to tick faster as Cheren dropped to the lower floor. The pirate-boy hurriedly threw it to the scrap rubble, and the hall was blown open.

A few minutes ago, however, the Sector V team had entered the hangar ('cause they ain't gonna do nothing while they wait for Cheren to come back and give player commands). "Alright, team, we've gotta take this room back and shut down the barrier." Harry announced. "Even if we can't take the base back now, we'll be able to leave if we want."

"Give Cheren a chance to do more sidequests?" Melissa asked.

"Eh. Let's go!" As they charged in, groups of Ninja Miniblin poofed out of nowhere and started to throw shurikens at the team. Three of them leaped at Harry, and the Uno boy shot his S.P.I.C.E.R. and burned the monsters, but they only poofed into logs. Kellie spun forward and kicked one across the head, but it poofed to a log and appeared behind her.

Kellie spun around and punched it, but he appeared behind her again. She punched it, but it poofed behind again. When the Ninjablin appeared the fourth time, Thomas simply bashed him with the hammer and knocked it clean out. "That's how it's done." He stated, twirling his weapon as Kellie grinned sheepishly.

Celeste roped one of the Ninjablin and swung it into other Ninjablin before sending it at Thomas, who punched it away with his S.L.U.G.G.U.H.. When the monsters were cleared, Harry went over to the barrier generator and flipped the switch, shutting off the barrier blocking the exit. "Okay. At least some operatives will be able to retreat."

At this time, Celeste and Kellie finished untying the hangar workers. "You all right, dudes?" the Stork girl asked.

"Yeah, we think so." The female hangar operative said. "Thanks. You think you can help everyone else? We have a Moonbase Map in case you get lost." She smiled, gladly handing them this dungeon's Dungeon Map.

"Thanks!" Melissa nodded. "We'll give it to Cheren!"

The five operatives hurried back to the bridge just in time to see Cheren blow open the hallway. The boy reverted from Slag to his human form as the team eagerly approached him. "Hey, you got the hallway open!" Thomas exclaimed.

"Heheh. It was a blast." Cheren smirked.

"Yo, we found a map." Celeste said, handing him the Dungeon Map.

"Thanks!"

You got a Map of Moonbase! Despite the fact it's got a different name, it still serves the same purpose of a regular map. Can't make anything new for this last dungeon. Ay…

"Wouldn't be a dungeon without one." Cheren said. "Anyway, let's move!"

They proceeded down the hall, finding one door along the left wall, and a locked door at the end. They entered the left door, labeled Pretzel Room, and came into the aptly named room where pretzels are stored. Their only room was a small area safely behind a glass wall, giving an overview of the large pit where pretzels were dumped and stored in a deep pit, coming from a glass tube on the right side of the room. In the back corner of that chamber, they could see another room, likely where they controlled this place, and on their right was a barred door that led around to there.

There were Fire Keese flying in from a hatch on the left side, and along the parallel wall, there was what looked to be long, oddly-shaped pretzels connected together to form a path to the back room. The pretzel tunnel started on their left side, and looked round enough for Sackboy's yarn string to fit through, so Cheren threw on the mask, became Sackboy, and began to slither through.

The group could vaguely see his string through the pretzel, but so could the Keese. The Keese were trying to penetrate the pretzel and damage him, but his worm-like form prevented him from defending himself. However, there was an opening in the glass wall, in which Harry was able to shoot the Keese with his slingshot, but they kept coming out of the hatch. He was able to defend Cheren until he made it safely to the control room. There was a simple Bokoblin, with a shield, working the controls, and he freaked when Cheren suddenly wrapped back together. As Cheren changed back, he noticed the Bokoblin wearing a key along his belt, and the Bokoblin cowered into what looked like a small panic room, sealing himself behind bars.

Cheren saw a boy in a red jumpsuit, and helmet with a pretzel on top tied up in the corner and went to cut him free. "Thanks." He said, going to the controls and unlocking the door that connected with the viewing room. When Sector V saw this door opened, they walked in to join Cheren, noticing the monster in the panic room.

"Mind opening his door?" Cheren asked, nudging toward the Bokoblin.

"Can't, you can only open or close it from inside. I don't suppose you know how to reason with them?"

Cheren shook 'no.' Since the Bokoblin was using a shield, his arrows probably wouldn't work, and his Bananarang or Hookshot wouldn't fit through the bars. However, he remembered Celeste's rope and had the Stork girl lash it through the bars and swipe the key from his belt. Cheren smirked as he took the key, waving cockily to the demon and saying, "Enjoy your stay in there.", as he began to walk around.

"Cheren, wait!" Melissa stopped him, looking out the window. "There's something in there." She indicated the hatch where the Fire Keese came from, and the others looked as well to catch a glimpse of the neon bubble whenever it opened up. Cheren knew it was a Stray Fairy, so he ran out to the viewing deck and tossed his Remote Bananarang through the opening. He ran down a few Fire Keese, then slowed his boomerang down to wait for the hatch to open. Cheren waited for the right timing before he was able to fly the boomerang in and pop the bubble, retrieving the Stray Fairy.

They hurried out of the room and used the key to open the locked door, entering the base's nacho room. A slot on the right wall poured the cheese into a large pot in the center, where a machine stirred it. Nachos poured in from the left wall, and they flowed down a river, where a lifting device hauled the nachos to the second-floor river. They noticed the Hidden Leaf symbols going around the top of the room. They also noticed the particular Warp Gate in the back of the room.

They saw the nachos looked big enough for Melissa's toy car to fit on, so the Sector V pilot minimized herself and got in her car. Cheren lifted her onto the edge of the pot, and she waited 'til a nacho floated by before driving onto it, careful not to fall into the boiling cheese (she liked nachos, but she wasn't ready to be served as part of the filling. Even if she was small enough ).

The nacho she was on was about to sink due to her weight, so she quickly drove to a nacho that was touching, and she had to keep switching nachos as she floated her way to the lift. When she made it and was carried to the second-floor river, Cheren became a ninja and leapt to the Hidden Leaf symbol above. He watched as Melissa kept steadily making her way across, but along the way, some Cheese Toadpolis emerged from the cheese. Cheren had to quickly toss shurikens at them and get them out of the way for Melissa to keep going.

Eventually, Melissa made it to the safe foothold above the first-floor entrance, and was able to get off on the mini opening. Cheren leaped to where she was as she unshrunk herself, and he changed back. They went in the door to a deserted hallway with a barred door and a switch in front of it. Pressing the switch was all they had to do to open the door, allowing them entry to the second-floor bridge.

Since Melissa was with him this time, she was able to shrink herself and drive through the tiny tunnel alongside the rounding stairs, avoiding the giant boulders coming from the yeti. She came out of the opening at the top, driving around the third bridge and avoiding detection from the Bokoblin and Bulblin. She spotted the Warp Gate on one end and drove over, seeing the opening up on its side. She unshrunk herself for a brief moment beside the gate, then shrunk down again to fall onto its tiny slot. She began tinkering with the gate on the inside, eventually fixing it up.

The demons flinched and looked over when the Warp Gate suddenly activated, and the four Sector V members came charging in from the nacho room's gate. The Bulblin Archers tried to shoot them, but Kellie swiftly danced over and kicked them over the edge. The yeti picked up a boulder (they weren't sure where they're getting them) and was ready to smash Thomas, but the Drilovsky boy powerfully swung his hammer and sent the yeti bouncing down the stairs. Cheren watched as the yeti made several comical poses as he bounced perfectly down the rounded, rail-less stairs, landing dizzy and knocked out at the bottom. Cheren gave a light chuckle before dashing up the stairs, reaching the third bridge just in time to see Harry setting fire to Bokoblins' rears with his S.P.I.C.E.R., the demons crying and running frantically in midair.

They found the next door, which brought them to a hallway with an electrified floor down below. A grabbable ledge along the left wall led across, so Cheren grabbed on and began to climb across. The kids looked down as mini, electrified snakes slithered up the wall aiming to shock him, but Harry shot them with his slingshot and was able to keep them down. As always, Cheren had to slice the usual Snapdragons that popped out of holes in the wall.

Cheren landed on the other side, giving him a view of a higher ledge with a Hookshot target. He launched the Hookshot and pulled himself up, going up a small staircase to a higher floor. An eye switch was mounted over a barred door, only it was frozen in ice. Cheren shot it with a Fire Arrow, and a small, square platform lowered down from his area, down to Sector V, and the team squeezed on as they were brought up to Cheren.

There was a Flower Pad turning slowly in the middle of this area, and on the left side was a small, unlit torch on top of a strange circular pedestal. Cheren lit the torch with a Fire Arrow, and Kellie got on the Flower Pad to do a ballet twirl, making the circle turn to reveal another torch on its right side. Cheren lit it with an arrow, and Kellie kept turning 'til Cheren lit up all four torches; however, when she made the full turn, the first torch was revealed to have been extinguished, and the rest of the torches followed shortly after.

This time, Cheren had Kellie keep spinning, and he rapidly tried to shoot the torches with Fire Arrows. But they moved too fast, and went out too quickly. Cheren was getting tired of the constant shooting, and figured there must be another way. Cheren remembered Harry's S.P.I.C.E.R. and how it, you know, made fire. He had the parallel Uno boy stand before the turnwheel and blow fire onto the torch, and keep blowing fire, so as Kellie spun it rapidly, the other torches were lit in mere seconds. This caused the barred door to open, and the kids jumped in victory as they hurried out.

They appeared upon a short bridge, stationed above the third floor of the central area. Up by their left, there was a net filled with cannonballs hung from the ceiling, and a little string handle beneath it. Celeste curiously threw her lasso and grabbed the handle, pulling the net open as the piles of cannonballs spilled out of there, along with a circus cannon, which aimed directly at a set of four spinning purple targets. Cheren shrugged at his teammates and jumped down to the third-floor bridge, and stuffed a cannonball into the cannon. He lit it with a Fire Arrow and shot a random target, but nothing happened. He put another ball in and fired at another target, and this one happened to have a Stray Fairy. Cheren called it over and caught it, then had to make his way up to rejoin his friends.

They entered the door on the other side of the crossing bridge, coming to a wide-open, circular room. Demons were roaming about, terrorizing nearby operatives. A duo of Moblin were grinning as they forced a bowl of tapioca down a kid's throat, but the first one was bashed in the back of the head by Thomas's hammer, which then flew to the face of the second one. A Bokoblin screamed and charged wildly at a worried female operative, but it suddenly tripped on Melissa's tiny toy car, sending the girl flying across the air and bonking another Bokoblin in the head. His dizziness wore off in time to see Kellie's foot come in his face.

A trio of Bulblin launched fire arrows at Celeste, but the Stork girl wrapped one in her bow and hurled it back, piercing the center Bulblin. She raised her hands up and let Harry hop off of them, flying above the Bulblin and throwing a blast of flames at the other Bulblin. A swarm of Miniblin tried to surround Cheren, but these low-level minions didn't stand a chance as he whirled a spin attack and sliced them all up. With the monsters cleared, the six headed up two parallel-sided stairways, reaching the second pathway of the room. On both opposite ends of this path were two more stairs that led higher. However, there was a door in the middle of this area, and they decided to enter this first.

They came out on a small area over a pit of lava, with the rest of the room on the other side. A Rearrangement Pad sat before the ledge, so Cheren became Sackboy and knelt down for an overview. There were small, square, spatula-like platforms inside the walls, which Cheren was able to pull out, leading around the left of the pit and toward the other side. However, Cheren could only hold on one at a time, and the ones he let go of went back in quickly. He decided to hold them one at a time, in order, allowing each Sector V member to get across carefully. When he was finished, they had a view of an eye switch, and when Harry shot it with the slingshot, the platforms all popped out simultaneously.

Cheren reverted to human and jumped across quickly before they all went back in. They came to another ledge, and all Cheren had to do was stand on a blue switch, which made a similar spatula-like platform come from the wall on the other side, turned vertically. Harry aimed and launched his G.R.A.P.P.L.U.H., pulling himself over. Afterwards, he shot another eye switch, making three spatula platforms come out along the left side. They were too far for Cheren to jump, so he had to become a wolf and leap across, making it safely.

There didn't appear to be any way for the rest of Sector V to cross, so Cheren and Harry entered the next door on their own. Immediately, the door sealed with metal bars, and they appeared to be in some kind of weapons room. Swords, grenades, guns, and other such devices were leaned along shelves against the wall. When they took a few steps forward, an old friend immediately surprised them. (Pause song.)

"YOOOOOUUU!" came the familiar scream of Gekko as the crazy henchman dropped onto the floor. "Ya-sha make-a me look like a FOOL in front of Mashter Majora! Yush dinksh yush cansh makesh me baddie MINION. Well, Gekky show yooou! It'sh time Gekko showsh you who'sie baddie guy ONCE AND FOR ALL! HIGAAAAAAHHCK!" Gekko whipped out a machinegun. (Cue Mini-boss Theme from Majora's Mask.)

Sub-boss: KILL 'EM, Gekko!

"NEEYAAAAAAHHHH!" The insane Gekko immediately unleashed a series of bullets, which pushed Cheren back a little as he blocked them with the Mirror Shield. Gekko ceased firing, and Cheren quickly ran at him, but the lizard hopped to his side and unleashed another round of bullets, forcing Cheren to defend. Not paying attention to Harry, the Alternate Uno boy leapt and kicked Gekko on the side of his cheek, sending the lizard flying across the room. Cheren ran over and tried to slash him, but the Gekko swiftly dodged his attacks before hopping to the center of the room. The lizard unleashed a storm of bullets at Harry, who frantically ran around the room in circles. When he ran by Cheren, the Hyrule Uno boy ducked the bullets and ran at Gekko, only for the lizard to hop away again.

Gekko was about to launch another wave of bullets, but Harry immediately shot slingshot pellets into the holes of his machinegun. Gekko was unable to fire; surprisingly, and while the lizard peeked confusedly at the little pellets, Cheren ran up and dealt a round of blows against the lizard. Gekko slipped away and tried to bash Cheren with the machinegun, but Cheren easily avoided and sliced the weapon in two before kicking Gekko upside the chin. Harry whipped out his S.P.I.C.E.R. and shot flames at the lizard, but Gekko hopped to the wall and leaped over to a belt loaded with grenades. Cheren tried to shoot him with an arrow, but Gekko jumped away quickly, climbed up the wall and onto the ceiling.

He pulled a grenade open and threw it down to Cheren, who jumped away quickly and kept trying to shoot the Gekko. The Gekko was quickly crawling around the ceiling, throwing rapid bombs down and filling the whole room with smoke. Cheren and Harry stood back-to-back with their weapons aimed, struggling to see through the thick smoke. "NEYAAAAH!" The lizard suddenly dropped down and slammed their heads together, knocking them down. "Not so fun NOW, HUH? Sidiqoop-sidiqoop!" The frantic lizard began to slam their heads one after the other against the floor, making the two's glasses bend a little. He then took both of their heads and pressed their faces together, as if they were kissing. "HICAAAAAAAHCK!" He raised their heads high and smash both faces powerfully against the floor.

The smoke had cleared as Gekko crawled to the ceiling, the operatives struggling to recover as Gekko threw a grenade beside them. The bomb exploded and sent them flying away. Cheren got back to his feet and tried to aim at Gekko, but the lizard moved to quick, throwing another bomb that Cheren dodged. Since the arrows wouldn't work, Cheren had another idea and whipped out his Bananarang, taking aim at Gekko and launching. The lightweight boomerang bonked Gekko in the head, and the monster dizzily fell to the ground. Harry approached the lizard and set him to fire with the S.P.I.C.E.R.. Gekko frantically bounced around as his grenades lit aflame, and immediately exploded. Gekko flew out of the smoke, totally covered in soot. In his weakened state, Cheren ran over and dealt a series of blows against him.

Gekko eventually hopped away and sucked in a deep breath. He pumped some air into his thumb and PUFFED, blowing the soot off his body. "NearrrrrrrrRRRRGGGH." Gekko angrily hopped over and grabbed a set of dual-swords, whipping them out of their sheathes and swinging them rapidly. "NAERRRRRRRR!"

Cheren raised his shield and blocked the quick-swinging Gekko, but the lizard zipped behind and dealt an upward-slice, knocking him away. Cheren looked back, freezing with fear as Gekko rushed at him ready to strike, but Harry suddenly tackled the lizard from the side, holding his wrists in place, but Gekko pulled his arms free and flipped behind Harry, kicking him to the side. Cheren ran and dealt a strike against Gekko's rear, the monster leaping in pain and facing Cheren to throw another round of rapid strikes. Cheren blocked with his blade and struck at the quickest opening, getting another hit.

Gekko dodged to his side and gave another round of quick blows, which Cheren managed to dodge, having to jump to the side when Gekko stabbed both toward him. Cheren swung at his legs, but the Gekko jumped and pinned him down with his legs, aiming both swords at his head. "Yer time ish UP, Boyaaah! I-sha SHERVE Mashter Majora. You-sha bad boy who mushta DIE. NEAAAAAAHHH-" Gekko was ready to pierce both blades into Cheren's head when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He looked behind, and was immediately met with a blast of fire from Harry's S.P.I.C.E.R., a serious look on the boy's face as he set Gekko's face to flames. "BLOOORRAAAAAGGGHH." Gekko frantically flailed around the area, unable to shake the flames. By the time he finally put them out, he turned, only to be whacked upside the face by Cheren's sword, falling to his back. The Hyrule Uno boy leapt into the air, and brought his blade through Gekko's belly. (End song.)

"OOOOoohhh. Mah…mah belly'sh been speliched. I…I dink meh shpine been shpiced, too. I…Ish shorry, Majora. Ish…Ish a baaad baaad Gekko…"

Cheren didn't really feel sympathy for Gekko, like he did Slag. In fact, he didn't wanna heal his soul and be able to turn into him. However, Cheren felt a shaking in his pants, and he reached in and pulled out the Don Gero Mask. For some reason, the mask was glowing green, and seemed to be shaking toward Gekko. Cheren walked over and put the mask over Gekko's head. The Uno boy pulled out his Spirit Flute and calmly played the Song of Healing.

Doo-doo-dooo, doo-doo-dooo, doo-doo, do-do-dooooo.

Gekko felt a sense of relaxation overcome him. The Don Gero Mask fused into his body, and his body was swallowed in light. When the light cleared, the orange, psychotic lizard was long gone. In his place, a large, old, wise-looking green toad, with a white beard and big, bushy white eyebrows that nearly covered his wrinkled, squinted eyes. He also had a brown smoking pipe in his mouth.

"Mmm, I say…" The old toad spoke in deep, British-sounding voice. "Another moment as that ruffian, I might have gone berserk. Or rather… moderately more berserk, hmhmhmhmhmhm."

"Uhhhh… and you are?" Cheren asked.

"Don Gero, my good lad. I've been brainwashed into doing Majora's bidding for, I forget how long. My memory isn't what it used to be, kyu-kyuuu." He blew a group of bubbles from his pipe. "But I am very grateful to you for freeing me. Still, the way you wielded your sword, reminds me of another gentlemen, whom I believe was the one who slain me long ago. It was unpleasant, but for all the better. Majora was forcing me to eat my own students. I saw, from the eyes of my mask, that you took the time to save their descendants. Your work is much appreciated to me, kyu-kyuuu." He looked over at Harry. "And how do you do, Sir?"

"Hey there." Harry said simply.

"Well then." Gero looked at Cheren. "I must try to find a way out of here, kyu-kyuuu." And with another blow of some bubbles, the ancient frog hopped his way to the barred door. He said to the door, "If you don't mind…", and the bars opened right away. The door also opened as Don Gero showed himself out. (Replay "Moon Base 1" theme.)

Right after he left, a giant treasure chest spawned in the center of the room. Cheren exchanged a curious glance with Harry. Was he about to get another new item? Cheren stepped to the front of the chest and slowly began to open it. Another lightshow began to play before his eyes, but this time, it seemed brighter than ever. Cheren had to shut his eyes tight as he reached in, feeling for and grabbing the item inside. It felt skinny and wooden, like an arrow. …Cheren gave a bright smile, immediately knowing what it was. He raised his last Sacred Treasure up high.

You've got the Light Arrow! At last, the last of the Three Sacred Treasures is yours! With all three in your possession, you stand a chance against Majora! Use the sacred light from this arrow to pierce his darkness!

The two left the mini-boss room and returned to the lava pit passageway. Immediately, they realized there was a tiny opening in a wall, leading behind a glass area on the left side of the pit (the right from Sector V's view). Harry shot the eye switch again, and Cheren hopped across with his wolf form. He had Melissa shrink down, and he picked her up in his teeth before hopping back across. The shrunken Gilligan drove into the tiny hole and resized to open a treasure chest. She retrieved the Stray Fairy and brought it out to Cheren before they crossed over again. When Harry hit the eye switch, a spatula stuck out on the other side as well, and he held Melissa this time as he launched over, followed by Cheren, who jumped the footholds.

They repeated this process with the other pit and returned to the wide, round room, heading up the parallel stairways to reach another door. They appeared on a crossing bridge in the center room, above the one from earlier, and saw that this one was guarded by an Eyegore. This particular Eyegore was purple, and surrounded with a dark aura; it was a Darkgore. As expected, Cheren couldn't shoot it with a regular arrow when it came, launching beams of darkness at them. Cheren pushed the beam back with the Mirror Shield before pulling out the Light Arrow, and dealing a blow to the eye. The Darkgore squinted in pain, but failed to launch another laser in time before Cheren slew him with the Light Arrow, destroying his body with light.

They were allowed into the next door, which led to a room that was slightly large. On the right and front sides of the room, on the second level, were the entrances to two, massive tubes, which they recognized as the Moonbase's transportation tunnels. On the left side of the room was a Warp Gate. The tunnel on the parallel side was above a round ledge, which seemed to have no way to climb it, except for a small wooden peg stationed along its ledge. Celeste launched her rope up to grab it and pull herself up, where she stepped on a switch that made circular platform rise from the floor, and begin levitating up-and-down between floors. The five operatives got on and reached the round ledge, finding a group of two Bokoblin standing guard before the tunnel entrance. Cheren ran to the left one and leapt overhead, dealing a blow, while Thomas smashed the second one with his hammer, despite the monster raised his shield.

They couldn't quite enter the tube, yet, as it was protected by a huge barrier of darkness. There were three eye switches lined up around the center in a triangle fashion; except these eye switches were bigger, and designed like golden suns. Cheren already knew he had to use Light Arrows to shoot them. He shot the top eye, but it went off quickly, as did the following eyes. Cheren had to use the Elegy of Emptiness, playing the song three times and having each clone shoot an eye switch. All three eyes were soon struck at the same time, and the three combined forces of light caused the barrier to crack and shatter. They felt a gust of wind blowing up through the wide, long tunnel, but saw no means of transportation of which to carry them.

"These things normally have small trains or something." Harry mentioned. "Majora musta disabled them."

"Guess I'm goin' up." Cheren said, pulling out his Pirate Sail. "Anyone wanna come with?" The five operatives exchanged shrugs, so Cheren just did an "eenie-meenie-minie-moe" thing and ended up picking Kellie, the girl grinning cheerfully. In fact, Cheren remembered that she was able to glide, too. They both flipped open their sail/ballet dress and let the calm wind carry them upward. Inside the glass-made tunnel, they had a marvelous view of outer space, and could vaguely see the Giants still struggling to hold up the moon. Bulblin were waiting on small platforms, launching fire arrows at the kids, but they managed to avoid and keep a steady pace. The tunnel made several slight turns, but the wind carried them normally, until they suddenly spotted a group of footholds along a left side of the tunnel. The kids quickly dropped and landed, the wind still blowing them slightly, as they ran to battle a group of Moblins and Bokoblin.

A Moblin tried to bat Kellie with his spear, but the Beatles girl flipped overhead and kicked off his nose, landing perfectly behind him. Another Moblin charged and tried to poke her, but Kellie dodged and caused him to poke the first Moblin's rear. The big monster gripped his rear and began hopping around, weeping pain, while Kellie spun over and kicked him hard, sending him over the edge. The other Moblin hatefully stomped over and tried to bash her, but Kellie dodged, jumped and held down the spear, then leaped over to deal a round of kicks against his face. Meanwhile, a trio of Bokoblin had swords raised, ready to attack Cheren, but the boy pulled back a Light Arrow and launched at the middle one, destroying it in a burst of light. Cheren smirked at the terrified looks of the other Bokoblin, and the monsters cowered away quickly, jumping over the edge.

There was a Flower Pad on one side of the platform, so Kellie spun rapidly on it, turning over the shorter next-door platform, and revealing a small chest in a glass dome. A tiny opening led into the dome, and Cheren mentally cursed, figuring they should've brought Melissa (since he didn't need to carry Kellie). He was also starting to think Melissa had too many puzzles in this dungeon. They jumped off the edge and continued to let the wind guide them. It felt like they made a loop around half the Moonbase when the tube finally dropped them off in another room. This room was on the opposite side of the tube's starting point on the map, but on a higher level. A lever was stationed beside a Warp Gate on the wall, so Cheren proceeded to pull it and activate the shortcut between the starting point and the ending point. Cheren and Kellie decided to step in themselves, meeting with Sector V.

They floated down the wind tube again, this time bringing Melissa with them, who held onto Cheren as he glided. They dropped on the footholds, and Kellie spun to turn the platform again, allowing Melissa to shrink down and enter the tiny hole. She re-expanded, opened the chest, and retrieved the Small Key before shrinking back down to come out. The three glided across the rest of the tunnel and landed on the other side, meeting Sector V as they came in through the Warp Gate. The kids stood on an elevator that took them to a slightly higher ledge, which had a locked door. Before they entered, however, across from the ledge was another wind tunnel; likely leading to the end of the other one they saw in that room.

Cheren jumped off and glided inside using his Pirates' Sail. As the tunnel passed, Cheren then had to avoid electrical barriers stationed in his path, just narrowly missing the electricity using his reduced aerial dodging. He was relatively high as he approached another turn, and saw a Stray Fairy trapped inside a bubble. Cheren tried to list downward and grab the fairy, but missed as Cheren was forced around the corner, soon coming for a land in the original starting room. Cheren decided to throw his Remote Bananarang up there and pop it, but the wind was strong enough to force it out. …And yet, the bubble holding the Stray Fairy was able to float in place, despite being much lighter. Weird. Cheren aggravatingly stepped through the Warp Gate, and glided through the tunnel again. This time, he managed to pop the purple fairy's bubble and grab it. He returned to Sector V again as they entered the locked door.

They appeared in what was the second tower of bridge floors; regardless, they would refer to this first one as the fourth bridge floor and so on. This first area was rather cramped as they were blocked by a huge door with a worm maze, which has switches scattered throughout. Cheren turned into Sackboy and unraveled into a single strand as he began to slither through the maze. Just like he did before, he simply had to crawl around and flip all the switches throughout the maze, before the door would deactivate and open. Cheren raveled back together and reverted to human once it was open, and a small staircase took them to a second level of this bridge.

The door ahead of them was guarded by four simple Bokoblin. They wondered why Majora bothered with these monsters as they ran forward and attacked. Cheren upper-sliced one and sent him back, Harry punched and swiped the second one's Deku Stick before beating him with it, Kellie rapidly spun around the third one and dizzied it before kicking its head, and Thomas used his S.L.U.G.G.U.H. to punch the fourth in the crotch, and then punch its head to knock it back.

They entered the new door, but Cheren could only get in by himself before the door sealed with metal bars. Cheren was in a small room with three Darknuts, who immediately took notice of him and marched over. Cheren held his sword ready as he faced the first, and when the monster swung its sword, Cheren leapt and knocked its helmet off. Once behind him, Cheren struck its weak spot and took out its armor. The second Darknut tried to strike him, but Cheren rolled behind it and sliced the armor off via its weak spot.

Cheren backed away as the unarmored beasts charged at him, but the boy only smirked and shot both of them with Light Arrows, destroying them in light. The remaining Darknut, who was still armored, wore a nervous look behind its helmet. Cheren gave him a smirk, and the Darknut immediately charged out of the room, unbarring the door. A giant treasure chest appeared in the center of the room. Since Cheren already had the Dungeon Map and the new item, he knew just what this was gonna be as he endured the giant-chest-lightshow for the umpteenth time.

You got the Compass! It's the last dungeon, so make sure you get those collectibles! Other wise, we wouldn't put this same exact item here when you already know what it does and what it's for. I'm sorry, but that's just it. Simple as that. Uh-huh. Okay, have fun, now.

Cheren went back out to his friends, studying the map to check for Stray Fairies. It turns out, he missed a Stray Fairy on the third bridge floor, apparently. Cheren sighed in aggravation and hurried back down. He couldn't find anything on the third bridge, so he went to the second bridge down below. He looked up and saw a purple balloon floating underneath the third bridge, so he shot an arrow to pop it. He used the Fairy Mask to call the little stray down, and with that, he hurried back to his friends.

They didn't see any clear way to the fifth bridge floor, but along the eastern wall (or rather, window), there was a set of small platforms, leading upward, that were slumped down. Above those platforms were a set of flip-switches, so Cheren aimed his Bananarang and launched, hitting each one in a row. The platforms got horizontal and made a staircase, but they were too high and too far to jump. Cheren had to become a wolf and hop his way up, reaching the fifth floor before they slumped again.

Cheren followed a path around the west side of the room to reach the floor above Sector V's. There was a door in the middle of that area; locked; and a door on the left side. Inevitably, Cheren entered the left door, coming to the Moonbase's botany room, as the sign read: Because some operatives like plants. The botany room looked nearly like Sprocket's room, except the plants were watered by Miniblin as Boko Babas rose from the pots. Cheren proceeded to slice the Miniblin, dodging just before a Baba gnashed on his head. All he had to do was slice the plants across their mouths, then had to find out what to do in the room.

Along the left wall, by the door, there were different-height shelves with a different colored plant on each of them, probably indicating the height that those plants grew. However, on the opposite end, Cheren noticed the closet door, and how it was shaking. Cheren walked over and opened it, finding a female operative bound and gagged to a chair. Cheren ripped the tape off her mouth and cut her free as she stood up and smiled. "Thanks for that! I don't know what's wrong with these demons." She said in a country accent.

"The simple fact that they're demons." Cheren stated.

"Anyway, if yer lookin' fer help, you c'n have this." She handed him a purple plant. "This makes a long beanstalk, so you might be able to climb up faster."

Cheren smiled. "Thanks." He then hurried out the room and dropped down to the fourth bridge floor. On the lower part of that floor, there was a convenient dirt patch. Cheren buried the seed underneath and watered it with the S.Q.W.I.R.T., causing a huge beanstalk with several footholds to sprout up to the fifth floor. Sector V grinned excitedly and began to climb their way up, followed by Cheren.

They returned to the botany room to find the Small Key that was likely in there. There was an opening up on the wall, and Cheren's map read there was a chest there. Cheren decided to randomly water all the plants that were in there, and to their shock, many of them grew tiny leaf platforms, as well as vine paths. Obviously, it would be another puzzle regarding Melissa. The Gilligan girl shrunk down and got in her car, and Cheren started her on the leaf platform at the start of the left side. She carefully began to drive across the tiny footholds, having to use the vine roads to cross to other plant tables. Some of the vines and leaves were actually in her way, so Cheren had to look for where those plants came from and shrink them with the S.Q.W.I.R.T.'s reverse setting.

Melissa made her way to the right side as the plants led her up higher. She reached the end of the path, but it was much too low below the ledge. They noticed there was a larger pot on the floor below the ledge, likely fit for one of the seeds. Cheren decided to grab the middle seed and plant it, afterwards giving it water. The plant grew to an equal height with the ledge, and a small vine path was wrapped around it, allowing Melissa to drive up and reach the ledge. She resized and opened the chest, pulling out the Small Key. She hopped off as the six of them left the botany room and entered the locked door.

As they sort of expected, the small room had three patches of dirt, lined up with the right one under a ledge above them. They went back and gathered each of the seeds from the botany room; and Cheren shrunk down the one they used just now. They lined the plants from left to right smallest to medium; as the shelves indicated. Cheren watered them to make a perfect stairway to the ledge, and they jumped up. There was a door on that area, stationed above the door they came in from, but they saw an opening high up along the left wall. Cheren dewatered the middle and left plants to shrink them, then tossed the second-biggest in the middle, and biggest in the left patch. Cheren watered them, and with the medium plant already stationed, they made another staircase to that opening. Cheren jumped up, opened the chest, and retrieved the Stray Fairy inside.

They entered the door and came on a floor above the one with the botany room's entrance. On the floor above them, the underside was frozen and filled with icicles. The jagged icicles dropped down, forcing the operatives to dodge quickly to avoid being pierced. A simple stairway along the big glass window, starting on their left, led up to the sixth bridge above them. However, there were multiple holes along the wall above those stairs, launching quick, mini arrows. Kellie recognized this, and she smiled as she shot teddybears from her T.H.U.M.P.E.R. and blocked the openings. They quickly hurried up the stairs before the arrows shot through, coming to the sixth bridge floor, which was covered in slippery ice.

A group of Icy Armos (they were the Freezards of Ocarina of Time) were stationed around the bridge, and a Red Freezard guarded the door ahead of them. Cheren simple shot the Ice Armos and melted them with Fire Arrows, but the flames had no effect against the Red Freezard. Thomas remembered this monster, and he walked forward and slammed the floor before the Freezard, making his mouth hang open. Cheren shot a M.A.R.B.L.E. inside and blew the ice being up, allowing them entry into the Moonbase Freezer.

The freezer was as dark and cold as Frosty Citadel, and Melissa and Kellie were already shivering tremendously. They trekked across the icy floor as Ice Armos emerged from the ice and slid over, but Cheren chopped one up with his sword while Thomas smooshed two of them with his hammer. There were Ice Keese flapping around the room, so Cheren went ahead and shot them all with arrows. "YEEP!" Kellie yelped when an icicle almost fell on her, jumping to the side just in time. Behind a stalagmitecicle (icicle on the ground) along the right side was a Majora block. Cheren pushed it forward, and as expected, it slid along the ground and stopped at a stalagmite.

Cheren then had to push it left, so it hit a stalagmite. He almost pushed it right next; going further down the room, but when he looked to both sides of that stalagmite, the block would've fallen into dark holes. Instead, Cheren pushed it left of the current stalagmite, hitting another one, then pushed it left to stop at another one. The block now had a clear path down the middle, but when he looked ahead at the wall it stopped at, the left and right sides of that center had holes. But a few feet from the wall, on the left, was a peculiar, large floor tile that looked like it would rise.

Cheren recalled a puzzle like this, and had Thomas stand across from the tile, a little to the right of where the block would slide. When Cheren shoved the block, Thomas raised his hammer and knocked it onto the platform, where it conveniently stopped on the wall. The kids took the slope on the right side of the room to reach the upper floor. Kellie stood on a Flower Pad and happily spun around to make the block's tile rise to their level. The tile was lined up with a narrow pathway, which would guide the block across a frozen treadmill that led into a closed hatch on the block's right side.

Cheren got behind the block and had Thomas stand facing the hatch, on the block's left, so when he pushed it, Thomas bashed it and sent it sliding toward the hatch door, which automatically opened and shut. The block landed on a switch on the other side, and a barred door on the left of the hatch opened. They entered and found a smaller, frozen office room, where a female doctor operative was frozen in the corner. Harry used his S.P.I.C.E.R. to unfreeze the girl, and she fell out, shivering greatly.

"Are you okay?" Harry asked.

"Y…Yeah-h." She quivered, trying to force a smile. "Th…Thanks." She reached under her coat and weakly pulled out a Small Key. "H-Here's the… key to the doo-or…"

Cheren took the key as the operatives smiled and nodded in thanks. Before they left, Cheren looked at his map, and saw a Stray Fairy was inside one of the frozen ceiling cabinets. He reached up and tried to pull the cabinet open, but it was stuck tight from the cold. So instead, Thomas slammed his hammer on the wall, and the cabinets slid open. The poor, purple fairy was shivering inside, so Cheren took it out gently and slide it in his bottle.

They used the key to open the locked door in the freezer room, coming to a floor above the frozen bridge below. A small staircase led to a slightly higher bridge, a much wider area where Beamos were gathered around. Kellie excitedly spun around the laser sentries and exploded them upon their dizziness. There was an elevator in the middle of the area that was locked, and two doors on the left and right sides. They decided to enter the left door first.

They were suddenly greeted with excited carnival music as they entered some kind of game room. A seesaw catapult faced directly at a set of giant, purple targets that moved upward, with a bottomless pit between them and the targets. On the right of the room was a "Ring the bell at the top" game, which Cheren and Thomas recognized from the Frosty Citadel. The Drilovsky boy proceeded to raise his hammer and smash the board, sending the ringer high upward and bashing the bell.

A boulder fell onto the catapult, and was ready to launch at the targets. Thomas slammed the catapult and sent the boulder flying over, breaking a target and revealing a secret place inside it, which apparently moved upward with the targets. Thomas had more boulders come down, and kept them flying and smashing targets until they were all destroyed. Inside each of the small rooms was a blue switch, but nothing was in there to hold it down. Cheren turned into Sackboy and had each Sector V member sit on the seesaw, so he could use Sackboy's hammer to send them flying into a room.

When all of the switches were pressed, a small chest dropped in the center of the room. Cheren found a Small Key inside, then used his Hookshot to pull each Sector V member back as they passed by. (Apparently when the targets vanished upward, they magically appear from the bottom like it was an infinite repeating stream.) Before they left the room, they noticed a high platform on the left side. Cheren used the Sail to fly to one of the openings, and let it take him up so he could glide over. Curiously, he found a Timeshift Orb, and proceeded to take it with him as they left.

They decided to set the Time Orb before the elevator door before heading into the parallel room on this bridge floor. They entered the Moonbase's arcade, and were filled with shock and fear at the sight of all the Redeads. The zombies made their usual "Yawn-yawn-yaaaaawn" noises as they stared blankly at the many bright screens, the consoles featuring a variety of games. There was Mario Bros., Sonic 3 & Knuckles, The Legend of Zelda, Kid Icarus, and Wreck-It Ralph.

"Cooool! Zombies!" Harry stared in amazement.

"Heh, you think that's cool." Cheren smirked, taking out his Garo Mask. The minute he put it on, a disco ball appeared from the ceiling, and the room full of Redeads burst into dance. The colorful disco lights rotated 'round the room, making the zombies seem full of life as they danced happily to the music. They were making all sorts of movements, like waving their boneless arms and spines, and shaking their zombie booties. The operatives snickered at the zombies' movements, and were able to move freely about the arcade because of their dancing trance.

They walked around to a left end of the room, finding a barred archway with a switch behind it. Above the archway, to the left, was an open vent that led behind it, but it was too high to reach. They explored the room a little, and found a monkey that was dancing in the corner near the entrance, on top of some arcade machines. Cheren used the Remote Control Bananarang to get the monkey's attention, leading him across the arcade as he jumped across the various machines. Cheren eventually led him inside the open vent, and the monkey jumped and crawled through. The Bananarang came out behind the barred gate, letting the monkey land on the switch.

The gate came open and the kids hurried inside. There was a sealed door with a kid's face icon mounted on it, and Cheren approached and spoke to it. "Hey, you know the rules, bub! NO getting in to play the special game unless you DANCE. And YOU don't look like you GOT the GUTS."

Cheren rolled his eyes and put on Slag's Mask, turning into the pirate captain. "Euuuhh! Now you're a fat OLD guy. …Ehh, but ya look good. Alright, dance to this, and you pass."

Disco music played again as three Moonbase soldiers appeared around Cheren, beginning to dance. The left soldier squatted and made a rock-and-roll sign, so Cheren mimicked this embarrassingly. The right operative thrusted his hip forward and made some air-guitar motions, so Cheren mimicked this. The middle operative raised his hands high, smiling excitedly as he shook his hip. Obviously Cheren looked silly doing this. The dancing trio finished their routine by hopping, rolling in midair, and landing on their heads and doing a breakdance that lasted for several seconds. The furthest Cheren got with that was making the jump, not having the strength to do anymore.

"PFFFBBBBTTTHH HAAAA Ha Ha Haaaa! Ohhh, it's good to make people dance for stuff! Alright, you can come in, hehe! Enjoy the special game, kid!"

The door opened, unveiling a room with a single arcade machine, which featured the 'special game', The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. In front of the console was a Timeshift Orb, which Cheren picked up. He was about to carry it out when the arcade floors suddenly filled with Holemasters. Cheren put on the Garo Mask to keep the zombies occupied with dancing, while Sector V defended Cheren from the dark hands. One of the Holemasters grabbed Celeste by her rope and was about to pull her in, but Harry immediately set it flames with his S.P.I.C.E.R..

They made it out of the room, going over to unlock the elevator door. Harry picked up the other Timeshift Orb as they entered and were lifted up to the seventh bridge floor. They went around a walkway to the actual bridge, finding it was guarded by Floormasters. Harry started pelting the first one with slingshot pellets while Thomas smashed another with his hammer as it came at him. Eventually, the two Floormasters broke into threes, and Harry wasn't quick to shoot his in time before they latched around his neck and began to strangle. Thomas's three mini Floormasters scampered up and attempted to jump at his neck, but he punched each of them away as they came with the S.L.U.G.G.U.H.. He then ran to carry and bashed him in the back with his hammer, knocking the Floormasters off, while Kellie spun and kicked the hands away. Cheren leapt and struck the third Floormaster with a jump attack, and when it broke in threes, he proceeded to finish them with a spin attack.

This bridge area had a door on its left side and right side, and a broken elevator in the middle. The right door was locked, so they decided to take the left one first. The sign outside the door read, Room with the really big, rusted safe that's been around since Medieval Days. We don't know what's inside, nor do we care. They entered the room, and indeed there was a giant, rusty safe, and a turntable that sat before it. There were two slots, so Cheren had to play the Elegy of Emptiness, sticking his sword in a slot and trying to turn it for a few moments. Of course, it wouldn't turn anywhere, but when he finished, he played the Elegy again, and a clone began to turn that side while Cheren turned the other side. The turntable was lifting out of the ground like the other broken tables, and it didn't need much turning before it popped out like a screw.

Inside the small hole was a key, so they grabbed it and crossed to the room on the parallel side of the bridge. They entered the locked door and found a small room with a Time Gate device. The sign read, Time Machine Room. Like we need an incident like THIS again. The operatives set the recovered Timeshift Orbs into the slots that connected to the portal, and Cheren proceeded to strike the orbs with his sword to make them alight. The bright blue portal spiraled to life, and Cheren entered the past, by himself.

KND Moonbase; 800 years in the past

Cheren came out of the portal, and saw the Moonbase now consisted of mostly wood. Cheren walked out the door, seeing the Moonbase run by operatives in old-timey outfits. Among them was Merida DunBroch, who took notice of Cheren almost instantly as she walked by. "Cheren?! What are ye doin' here?"

"Nice to see you again!" he grinned. "Wanna help me out with some puzzles?"

"Uuugh." Merida rolled her eyes. "Do ya ever get tired of this stuff?"

The two headed into the safe's room, and saw the safe was clean and new. (But to Merida, it already was.) The two stuck their swords in the turntable's slots and began to turn it. The safe's center lock had two holes on opposite sides, and as they turned it, they saw two separate eye switches appear briefly on both sides. "So, how's this work?" Cheren asked.

"Ya have to shoot the eyes as they come. It sorta takes more than two people."

"In that case." Cheren and Merida released the slots as Cheren played the Elegy of Emptiness. He played it twice and had both clones turn from the opposite sides. As the wheel turned, Cheren and Merida took aim and shot the eye switches simultaneously when they showed. Two more eye switches appeared in random spots, and this pattern repeated 3 more times. For this last one, one of the switches was a holy eye switch, which threw them off as Merida hit it with a regular arrow. Because of messing up the combo, the lock immediately went back to its starting position. The turntable went back as well, causing the clones to disappear.

Cheren face-palmed in anger, having to make the clones again (he really hated this ability). Cheren and Merida restarted the combo, keeping a sharp eye when the holy eye would appear. When it showed, Cheren whipped out the Light Arrow and shot, and they hit both switches at the same time. The safe flew open, but nothing appeared to be inside. "Hmm… must've cleaned it out." Merida figured.

"In THIS time." Cheren reminded. "Listen, can you make sure they hold this open for the next 8 centuries?"

"Um… yes?-"

"Great, be right back!" Cheren ran to the Time Gate and returned to the present. The big, rusted safe was still left wide open, and in sat a Timeshift Orb. Cheren grabbed the orb and returned through the portal. In place of the elevator in Cheren's time, there was a wooden ladder. The sign beside the ladder read, Enjoy this ladder while you can before the lazy humans of the future make fancy up-down whozmawhatsits. Cheren set the orb down, climbed the short ladder, and pulled the orb up with the Hookshot.

A Time Block sat in the middle of the floor at the top, so Cheren set the orb inside, then played the Song of Time to warp back to the future. When he stepped out of the block, to his time, he was immediately surrounded by Bulblin Archers. His eyes widened as they all pulled, and loosed flaming arrows at the same time. Cheren ducked and rolled quickly, swinging his blade and slicing all the Bulblins quickly. Once they were out of the way, Cheren looked over the edge to pull Sector V up with his Hookshot.

They seemed to be at the highest point in the bridge tower, and the door ahead of them read, Aquarium Room. They went inside, coming to a huge room with a giant aquarium tank. Through the huge glass, they could see many aquatic creatures, 'course some of them were actually Majora's monsters. They went around the left side of the tank, having to take out a few simple Moblin.

Thomas swung his hammer as one stabbed its spear, smashing the simple wood and knocking the demon in the face. The second one raised its spear horizontally to defend from Kellie, but the girl leaped on the spear and spun around rapidly, kicking the demon across the face repeatedly before it knocked out. Melissa ran at the third Moblin, who was about to bat her, but she shrunk herself down, avoided the swing, and leapt to grab its crotch. The Moblin flinched slightly and immediately threw his fist down. Melissa released, and the monster's eyes widened as he punched his crotch hard. Celeste roped the monster around the neck, pulled him over, and kicked him away as Melissa unshrunk, the Gilligan girl shaking her hands in disgust.

The kids continued to the end of the path and climbed the ladder that led onto the tank. They crossed a small bridge, over a smaller part of the tank, to another foothold, overlooking the much larger tank. A locked door was on the left of that foothold. There were jellyfish floating around in the water, and some Froaks. From the left wall, a Security Beamos was aiming its laser in the water, but there looked to be plenty of room around it. Across the water was a foothold fenced behind bars, and there appeared to be a Leaf-Boat Plant there. Also, in the ceiling corner beside the Beamos was an Eye Guardian, its eye shut tight as it looked at them.

Cheren dove in the water and swam toward the right corner. There was a pile of boulders, so Cheren had to lure a Froak over, getting behind the puff-fish and Torpedo Spinning to knock it into the boulders, and explode. A tunnel was open for Cheren to swim to another area beyond the tank. He resurfaced in a shallow area of water, coming onto land and turning left as the path went. Two barrels were stationed between two parallel forks in the road, and along the left path, a Bulblin wielding a gun stood guard.

Cheren crouched behind the barrel, feeling the need to put on his Hidden Leaf Headband. He carefully peeked out as the Bulblin turned to look around the area. Cheren snuck over, his ninja form providing perfect silence as he raised a kunai, and impaled the monster from behind. He crawled quietly forward, reaching the end of long block that separated the paths, and saw another Bulblin guarded the end, facing the right side, so Cheren couldn't sneak around the right. However, since he was on the left, he was behind it, allowing him to stab the demon.

High on the left side of the room was a Hidden Leaf symbol, now in his view. He was able to jump and grab onto it, overlooking the large room, seeing a trio of soldiers held hostage on the lower floor, surrounded by three Bulblin wielding guns as the kids held hands behind their heads, and on their knees. "Man, why do all those other guys still use arrows? GUNS are the way to go, yo." A Bulblin said.

Cheren saw Bulblins patrolling the walkways, and knew if he got spotted, the Bulblins would slay them. He hopped to a Leaf symbol on a ceiling vent, getting directly above a standing Bulblin who turned in place quickly. Cheren dropped down while it was turned, stabbing it quickly. He hopped back to the symbols and leaped to the other side of the room. A Bulblin stood firmly with his back against the wall, so Cheren couldn't get behind him. However, he saw an air vent was behind the Bulblin, so Cheren hopped further downward and found another vent. He crawled inside as it went upward, and found the other end was behind the Bulblin. Cheren pushed it open and stabbed the monster quickly.

Sensing trouble, two of the three Bulblin guarding the kids began to patrol the room, leaving the middle one to guard them. Both Bulblin went up parallel stairs, and Cheren carefully dropped behind the first one to pierce it from behind. He quietly crawled to the second, and was able to take it out. Cheren leaped to the Leaf symbols around the room to overlook the last Bulblin, who stood under a ledge while he aimed his gun at the kids. Cheren saw a Leaf symbol just above the bottom of the ledge, and quietly as he could in his ninja form, he leaped over, and flipped to the underside of the ledge, where there was a grating that allowed him to hang on. He was able to drop behind the Bulblin, and stab it.

The kids stood up, panting in relief. "Thanks." A boy smiled.

"No problem." Cheren said in his gruff ninja voice. "But can you help a guy out?"

"We can open the door so you can get out." A kid pressed a remote, and the metal bars sealing a door along the lower left corner opened. Before he left, Cheren checked his map. A Stray Fairy was in the spot where the kids were kneeling, and when they moved away, he saw a vent underneath. Cheren pulled the vent open, and grabbed the Stray Fairy inside. Cheren hurried to the door and entered, finding himself behind the bars that protected the foothold beside the fish tank.

Cheren pressed a switch and opened a part of the bars. He reverted to human and watered the Leaf-Boat Plant, allowing him to float around the water. He floated to the Security Beamos' laser, and found out it actually sealed the tunnel down below. There was a mirror on a small pole on the edge of the tank, and Cheren saw it could be angled at the Eye Guard. He reflected the beam with his Mirror Shield, bouncing it off the mirror and toward the eye. A treasure chest dropped on the foothold where Sector V waited, and bumped Harry in the head as it did so. The chest contained, as expected, a Small Key.

Before they left, Cheren saw there was another Stray Fairy marked in this room. They looked below the water of the smaller tank and saw a tiny drain, lightly sucking water in. Once again, this required Melissa's help. The girl shrunk down and drove her toy car into the water, so it turned into a submarine. She drove downward, and was immediately sucked into the drain, going fast down the pipe before a small waterfall dropped her in a pool.

A Moonbase janitor was using a fishnet to pull dirt out of the water, and he scooped Melissa's submarine in the process. The boy curiously pulled the submarine out and asked, "Man, how many times have I told those guys the fish tank is not a pool?! Huh?" The tiny Melissa suddenly jumped to the floor, and re-expanded. "Whoa!"

"Sorry!" Melissa grinned, taking her car back. She found a small chest in the room and opened it to retrieve the fairy. She shrunk down again and drove in the water. There was another pipe in the side of the wall, so she drove in and was sucked back into the larger tank.

She resurfaced and unshrunk, joining the others as they entered the locked door. They came out on a bridge over a deep chasm, with a Sumoblin guarding the other side. Cheren put on Slag's Mask as the sumo charged, and the two engaged in a shoving battle. Slag's superior strength was able to push the sumo, but there was no ledge of which to push him off, and Cheren couldn't throw sideways. However, as he pushed, they passed over a Flower Pad. Kellie skipped over and twirled rapidly on it, and Cheren saw a trapdoor opened ahead of them. Cheren smirked and kept shoving, and was able to shove him into the trap, and send him falling to the chasm.

They were free to enter the door, but Cheren checked the map and saw another Stray Fairy, along the left side. They saw a mini walkway within the window wall, and on the right of it, a happy monkey waited. Cheren threw his Remote Bananarang and lured the monkey along the path, though he was still behind glass. The monkey was led to a switch, opening a small hatch in the glass when he pressed it. A Stray Fairy floated behind it, so Cheren just had to call it with his Fairy Mask.

The six kids entered the doorway to the next part of the Moonbase. "The leader's room shouldn't be too far." Harry said as they strode forward confidently. (Pause song.)

Inside the leader's office

Supreme Leader Jeremy was bound and gagged in a corner of his office. Miyuki/Majora stood before the window and overlooked the endless space. A Zoni hovered beside the Masked Demon, glowing a red aura and red eyes, with seven pupils in its left eye. "Such a wide universe… we created. Isn't it, Vriska?"

"Ehh, it's alright. ;;;" The strange girl said through the Zoni.

"I can't believe the time has already come. I do not wish harm on Miyuki… but our bodies are a necessary sacrifice. And, my other body is safe where it needs to be, yes?"

"Yeah, yeah, don't worry. I'm still a girl of my word. :::"

"Then it is time to uphold our deal." The white-haired child helped herself/themself onto the cozy purple bed on the side of the room; the one that Booster had made for them. As the child lay on her back, Majora relaxingly felt her arms around the softness of the bed. "Mmmm… no bed could be better, as her final resting place. Ahhh… but for me, it is her very face. This will be such a relaxing death."

"Siiiigh, all this melodrama about death. I was hoping putting you to sleep would be a little more fun."

"Trust me, the fun will come before long. Now… fulfill your end of the bargain. Send us to the Dream World."

"Fine, fiiiine. 8ut if something 8ad happens, don't think I won't enjoy it! ;;;;D" Vriska gave the two a jolt of electricity, and they fell into deep sleep.

With the others (Resume Moon Base 1 Theme.)

The kids reached what Cheren recognized as the main bridge area of the Moonbase. They started in a small area and went up a short staircase to the larger area. Before their very eyes, the bridge was overrun with Delightfulized operatives. "Majora's really been busy." Melissa observed.

"Careful not to hurt them, guys." Harry cautioned. "They're still operatives." The zombified kids wore blank expressions and gaping mouths as they stepped toward the operatives. They decided not to use their weapons and wipe the kids out with simple combat. Once all the kids were unconscious, they headed up a nearby staircase, to the part of the bridge where the leader's office was. The office door sat where it always has, except a huge, horned lock kept it sealed. It was the Boss Door.

Cheren glared hatefully. Majora was just inches away, Miyuki moments away from being rescued. But they couldn't, because they were safely behind a huge, locked door. Cheren hated how these villains were so cowardly. Near the left of the Boss Door was the set of mini terminals which the Global Command used to contact operatives, and monitor areas on Earth. The screens flicked with images of random people from the worlds, like Slithers, Lenny, Facilier, and Mikaela Corella. These were likely people who had masks to collect.

Further down the left was the door to the Decommissioning Chamber, but it was locked. Down on the lower floor was the entrance to the cafeteria, so they decided to head in there first. The cafeteria was overrun with hordes of Fatblin slobs, happily chowing down on the biggest piles of food imaginable, while Delightfulized kid waiters were bringing their food. There were way too many for them to fight, but Cheren did away with them easy by shooting Light Arrows. The Delightfulized operatives were surprised to see their masters vanished, and the heroes hurried over to knock them out.

They entered the kitchen and saw a single Delightful operative washing dishes. Cheren ran over and knocked him out, but that's when they were ambushed by Like-Likes that fell from the ceiling. Cheren and Harry were swallowed by the monsters as they happily sucked on the operatives, eventually spitting them out. Cheren's glasses and shield were sucked, and his blurry sight rendered him nearly helpless. Thomas smashed one of the Like-Likes with his hammer, while Celeste used her rope to catch the second one and squeeze its middle. She forced Harry's S.P.I.C.E.R. out of its mouth, which the Termina Uno boy grabbed to set the blob to flames.

Cheren recovered his stolen items as they entered a small closet, finding the Small Key. There weren't any Stray Fairies marked in the room, so they hurried back to the main bridge to open the locked door. However, they weren't able to get far past the Boss Door when… (End song.)

"That's as far as you go." Truman Kirman stood in their way, a smirk on his brainwashed face.

"Hm… I didn't think we'd have to fight you again, Truman." Harry stated.

From behind Truman stepped out Panini Drilovsky, the once-energetic girl baring mindless, brainwashed eyes. "Panini…" Cheren spoke lowly.

"You kids are impressive for making it this far," Truman spoke, "but I can't let you go any further. You see, Majora is resting right now after a hard day's work. I can't possibly let you disturb him."

"Well, Majora's getting an early wake up call." Cheren told him with a glare. "As soon as we get that Boss Key."

"It won't be long until the moon crashes to the Earth." Truman smirked. "You can never hope to stop him in time."

"I have plenty of time to kick your butt first-" Cheren stopped when Harry put a hand on his shoulder.

"Save your strength for the mini-boss, dude." He said. "We'll handle them."

"…" Cheren looked at him seriously and gave a nod. Immediately, Cheren dashed around the two, and before Truman could chase him, Celeste caught her rope around his wrists.

"Not so fast!" she yelled.

"Nnnnrr!" Truman tugged on the rope and yanked Celeste over, kicking her back and freeing himself. "Very well. I'll just let him deal with Cheren. Panini: attack them!"

With a quick nod, the firebender girl flipped and launched two waves of green fire, which Thomas and Kellie quickly dodged. Thomas raised his hammer, but Panini kicked the large tool away and punched Thomas back. Harry tried to burn Truman with the S.P.I.C.E.R., but the Delightful swiftly rolled behind and grabbed his head in a headlock. Melissa shrunk herself and crawled up Truman's pants leg, making the boy hop around trying to shake her out. Celeste tackled him from behind, smirking as she binded his arms together. "Not so fun the other way around, huh?"

Melissa excitedly hopped out of Truman's shirt collar and jumped on her car, driving away as Truman shot her a glare. "I've had about enough of her." Truman said, getting to his feet and throwing Celeste toward the tiny car.

"WHOA!" the mini Gilligan yelped as Celeste almost crushed her, her car nearly flipping over. "That was close. WAH!" Panini immediately threw a wall of fire in her path, and Melissa barely swerved around before Thomas tackled the Drilovsky girl.

With Cheren…

The locked door brought Cheren to the Decommissioning Chamber. The four chairs sat with their backs to each other on the small platform, just like his own universe. The room seemed rather empty as he walked around, studying the device. He eyes directed to the round window, showing a view of space. He could vaguely see the Earth down left, and knew the moon was getting closer. He had to stop Majora fast.

"Weeell, weeell, well…" Cheren whipped around with a start, weapon ready as the shadow man, Benedict Uno, stepped out from behind the Decommissioner. "I must say, Cheren… I pegged you all wrong. I thought you were just some weak little boy who couldn't go ANYWHERE without his mommy. But look at yoooouu!" Cheren glared hatefully at the half-demon, smirking behind his silhouette. "You came this far and haven't even hit PUBerty. You've officially taken my annoying nephew and his naggy girlfriend and mixed an UGLY combination."

Cheren stood up straight and brushed his sword aside for a second. "I had you pegged all wrong, too, Uncle Ben. I thought you were just some lazy old drunk that's lost all meaning with life. I didn't expect you to be up and at it again. Heheh! And if THAT weren't funny enough," Father's eyes furrowed as Cheren grew a smirk, "you're still signing up with powers that are higher than you as a means to achieve something that you could never do. You're weak, Uncle Ben."

"I see you have that smug tone, too." He said scoldingly. "I would hope your generation learned better manners, but it seems they just get worse. Once Majora is through with your world, though, that's ALL gonna CHANGE. Finally, I can reMAKE a world where ADULTS RULE."

"That's the part I DON'T get." Cheren stated. "What's all this remaking the world stuff about? You can't just REMAKE a world after it's been blown up."

"You really don't know the story behind Majora, do you?"

"Uhhhh, no?"

Father shook his head ashamed. "Poor, deluded boy. They can't teach them ANYTHING in school nowadays. Oh well… I suppose it wouldn't be good for me if you knew. I can't let you get anywhere near Majora now. It's time we settle this long, drawn-out battle ONCE and for all," both opponents readied a fighting position, "and END the unholy era that BELONGED to you KIDS. AAAAAUUUUGGGHH." Father exploded with flames, filled with anger. (Play Slag's Battle Theme from Ratchet: Tools of Destruction.)

Sub-boss: Benedict Uno

Cheren dodged as the shadowy half-demon threw punches with fiery fists, running behind the decommissioning chairs to strike his uncle in the back, but Father dodged and threw another fire punch, which Cheren blocked with his Mirror Shield. Cheren thrusted his shield forward and made the uncle wobble backward. Cheren leapt for a jump attack when- "Armament!" his sword came in contact, but didn't penetrate the silhouetted man at all. Cheren looked confused and kept swinging his sword, but he was unable to penetrate the man.

Father grabbed his great-nephew by the collar and tossed him over the edge, Cheren gripping tight as he could with his fingers. "Ha ha ha ha!" Father laughed, an evil smirk on his face as he approached the defenseless boy. "I wasn't JUST laying around doin' nothin'. I've been brushing up on my skills, too." Cheren gritted his teeth and flipped back to the platform, throwing his sword against Father as the man dodged. Father's hands caught aflame as he grabbed the sword, trying to push it back. Cheren swung his foot and kicked Father's shin, the man wincing from the pain as Cheren punched him upside and knocked him on his back.

Cheren jumped on Father's belly and glared as he raised his blade, about to stab down, but Father activated his "Armament"; whatever that was, Cheren didn't know. But rather than attack him, Cheren jumped off and sliced one of the walkways with his sword. He hopped over and sliced the second walkway, then sliced the third. "Whoooa!" Father wobbled a little as the platform shook. "What do you think you're doing, Boy?"

Cheren merely shot him a glare before slicing the fourth walkway, and the entire platform fell straight down through the chasm. "WHOOOAAAAAAHHHHH-UUH!" The two collided with the platform down below, and Father became dizzied. Cheren took this opportunity to deal him a round of blows, cutting up his silhouetted suit a little. Father glared as he flipped to his feet and threw fireballs at his great-nephew. Cheren bounced the flames back with his Mirror Shield, but his great-uncle ran forward and tried to pry the shield away from him.

Cheren did a shield thrust and tried to strike his uncle, but Father defended himself with this Armament again. Cheren backed away in thought before pulling out his Light Arrow to see if it would do something. Father apparently took a slight shock, leaving himself open to Cheren's blade. He took only a few hits before he got back up and flipped away. "Little boys shouldn't be playing with swords." He stated. Father launched a storm of fireballs at Cheren, but the boy did a spin attack and knocked them away, only for Father to zip behind him and punch him down.

Cheren raised his shield when Father tried to punch him, flipping to his feet to swing his sword, but Father defended with the Armament once again. Rather than strike him some more, Cheren pulled out his M.U.M.B.L.E.R. and shot M.A.R.B.L.E.s at the four bridges holding the platform. "HEEEY-" Father yelled to stop him, but was too late as the platform fell into the abyss once again.

They crashed powerfully against the floor on the bottom, ending up in an old office. The dust cleared as Benedict was seen sitting dizzy again, and Cheren ran forth to deal another round of blows. "THAAAT'S it." Father yelled angrily, getting back up. "If I can't teach you myself, I'll need a LITTLE help! Father BEEEEE!"

Cheren turned around, and saw the Termina Father behind him. "Why are YOU the Father A?" Father B questioned.

"Just turn dragon."

"Okay." The Termina Father began to shake tremendously as he got on all fours. His hands and feet turned into claws, wings appeared on his back, and he grew sharp teeth and a tail. Father B glared at Cheren, a fiery, demonic look in his dragon eyes.

"I STILL can't believe he can do that." Cheren commented, not really fazed by the dragon's appearance. Cheren raised his bow and was about to launch a Light Arrow, but Father A punched him away from the side. Cheren recovered and glared as Father A bore an evil look and flaming fist, while the Father B Dragon hissed with malice. Cheren got up and tried to shoot Father A with a Light Arrow, but the shadow dragon leapt forward and batted Cheren away with his tail. Cheren's glasses became crooked a little as he got up to face them. He raised his sword and ran at Father B, but the dragon easily smacked him away with his tail again.

Cheren was struggling to stand up this time, feeling he may be powerless against two Fathers. But just then, a bolt of lightning shot down and struck the area around Father B, and they all looked up as Nerehc came flying down, taking a land beside his Positive. "Nerehc!" Cheren exclaimed.

"I didn't think I could trust you with this." Nerehc smirked. "Now… let me handle the mopey guy. You get the dragon."

Cheren's look became serious as he nodded. Nerehc flew overhead and shot lightning at Father A while Cheren got back up and ran at the dragon. Father A used his Armament to defend from the lightning, but Nerehc landed behind him and stuck lightning in his back. "AAAAHHHCK!"

"Heh! You may've learned Haki, but you aren't very good at it, I see." Nerehc smirked.

Father B blasted fire breath at Cheren, but he dodge-rolled sideways and ran to strike at his belly. The dragon tried to stomp on him, but Cheren ran back and shot a Light Arrow at Father B's head. The dark dragon flinched with pain, shielding his eyes, as Cheren ran behind to do a jump strike on his tail. Father B screeched, attempting to bat Cheren away, only for the boy to dodge and roll away. He raised his bow and launched another Light Arrow, stunning Father B's face, and Cheren ran to strike the tail again.

Father A was desperately trying to burn the Negative, but Nerehc was fast as he flew around, launching more lightning strikes at the shadow man. The Hylian Father was panting tiredly, his body emitting electric sparks. "Heff… what am I doing… I SHOULD be able to handle this." Father A got up straight, holding two fingers together as he faced the smirking Negative. Nerehc charged another bolt of lightning in his fingertips, launching without hesitation.

Father A was able to catch the lightning in his fingers, letting it flow across his body. "Ha haaa! Now for a taste of your own MEDICINE." Father A was ready to launch the lightning back at his great-nephew's counterpart, but Nerehc kept flying around, still wearing his cocky smirk. "Grrr, hold still…" Father A was becoming frustrated, unable to get a perfect aim. "Aha!" Nerehc faced him eye-to-eye, floating perfectly still in one place. Finally, he shot the lightning straight ahead, but Nerehc dodged immediately, allowing him to strike the Father B Dragon.

"AAAAAAAAHHHH!" The shadowed dragon fell on his stomach, looking totally weary.

"Whoops." Father A looked embarrassed.

The Father Dragon sparked and shrunk down to his regular form as the Benedict B looked very dizzy. "Ooooh… I'm suddenly not in the mood for electric zap."

With the Terminan counterpart down, Cheren and Nerehc stood side-by-side at the terrified Benedict A, confident smirks on their identical faces. Father tried to throw fireballs at both of them, but Cheren jumped back and Nerehc shot upward, launching another lightning bolt at his form. In his weakened state, Cheren tried to strike him with his sword, but the electrical charge on Father's body gave him a shock. Father angrily grabbed his great-nephew and threw him against the wall, headfirst, and was about to go in for more. Once more, he didn't get the chance as Nerehc zipped in front of him and pelted him with lightning.

As Cheren got up, he drew his Light Arrow and launched, dealing another powerful shock through Father's stomach. Father fell to his knees, too weak to fight anymore, and Cheren finished him with an upward strike, sending him backwards. (End song.)

"Huff…yyooou…" Father gripped his stomach, weakly getting to his feet as he filled with more anger than ever. "All I wanted… was simple peace and HARMONY for you kids. And I wanted to accomplish that… by making a world where you're all POLITE and OBEDIENT… so you WOULDN'T get into trouble. But WOULD you let me? NOOOO. Instead… you insist on riding your bikes, busting your butts, and GETTING bruises. Well, I…I have had ENOUGH of you. Your parents… were the worst people that ever lived. You are… the worst thing that ever could've come from them. I will finish you…" Cheren's expression remained unchanged, glaring at the rage-filled uncle. "I will make you regret… EVER standing against me." Father's hands alit with flames that began to grow and grow. "All of you… when all this is done, I will make the New World. And everyone in that world will know the name of Benedict Un-NOOO!" The flames immediately vanished as Nerehc's blade pierced his stomach from behind.

"Aaaah!" Cheren froze with shock and horror.

Nerehc wore a hateful look as he pulled the blood-covered blade out, the shadowed man falling to the ground. Nerehc wiped the blood off and said, "Well, that takes care of it."

Cheren filled with anger and hate, gritting his teeth as he approached his Negative. "Why'd you do that?!"

"What, he was getting annoying."

"He was my UNCLE. He's family."

"So? It's not like anyone actually cares about him, anymore."

"You don't get it…" Cheren sighed.

"Ahh, quit cryin', I stabbed his stomach, not his heart. See, he's still alive."

"Oooooh…" Father A held his hands over his stomach, feeling extremely sick. "Can I have some… rocky road, Mommy?…"

"Siiiigh." Cheren calmed down a little, but was still pretty peeved. "Nerehc… sometimes, I worry."

"Worry about yourself." Nerehc stated, walking over and bending down to search Father's suit. "But hey. At least we got this." Cheren looked up as Nerehc presented the Boss Key.

You've got the Boss Key! Even though it's the seventh time, it feels more rewarding than ever! This key will lead to the room where Majora waits! Get back up there and FINISH the job!

Cheren smiled and stuffed the key in his jacket. "It's a long way up." Nerehc mentioned. "You probably don't wanna get up normally. Let me help."

"Wait!" Cheren checked his map, and saw the last Stray Fairy. He checked behind the office desk and found a small chest. Inside was the final purple fairy of this dungeon. "There… but I still don't know where they go. Anyway, let's go, Nerehc." Nerehc wrapped his arms around Cheren's and kicked on his rockets as they flew directly upwards.

With the others…

Harry and Truman's arms were locked in a shoving battle, in which the brainwashed operative was able to knock him away. He looked down and saw Melissa driving around his feet in circles, and Truman growled in anger before trying to squish her. Melissa laughed with excitement as she drove away, avoiding his feet as he chased her, but screamed when Panini's massive boot suddenly came down and stopped her car cold. Melissa tried to back up, but was stuck tight as Panini added more pressure and began to flatten the car, the windows cracking and bolts popping out. Melissa frantically climbed out the window before she was squished, but was immediately snapped in Truman's hands.

"Ahhh, the consequences of using a shrink ray." Truman smirked as Melissa struggled helplessly in his hands. "You become swifter to hit, but much more weak. I can crush you like a measly grape." Melissa desperately tried to reach her shrink ray, but Truman kept her arms from moving.

"Hold on, Dude!" Celeste tried to throw her rope and catch the Gilligan girl, but the minute she launched, Panini launched fire and burned the raggedy rope. "Awww… I didn't even get many puzzles." Celeste stared sadly at her burned rope. Immediately, Panini kicked fire and knocked the Stork girl back.

"That was disappointing." Truman said, adding more pressure between his hands. "No matter. After I'm done with you, the demons could use your squished organs for sustenance. It was nice knowing you, Lissa." Melissa's eyes widened, feeling an incredible amount of pressure flow into her head. Her skin turned blue, and she felt her head would explode at any minute. Ironic that her closest friend would be the death of her, she thought. It made her angry to never be able to take revenge on Majora for doing this to him. Not to mention, she would never see Jeremy again.

Still laying on his stomach, Harry weakly pulled out his slingshot, pulling a pellet back and launching at Truman's eye. "Ah!" The boy covered his eye, dropping Melissa, and the girl immediately took a huge breath, the hugest breath she's ever inhaled. Her skin reverted back to normal color, and as she quickly unshrunk herself, she never felt more like a balloon, never felt her organs squished so tightly together.

Melissa grabbed Truman by the shoulders and bashed her face against his, breaking his fake glasses in the process. Truman wobbled about, holding his dizzy head, as Harry ran and dealt a punch against his Delightfulized face, knocking him clean out. Meanwhile, Thomas swung his hammer at Panini, but the lifeless girl gripped its handle and pushed it back with equal strength. Kellie smiled gleefully as she skipped over, and tickled Panini's hips. Apparently the mindless girl felt the tickle and released her grip, Thomas pulling his hammer back. Kellie jumped away as Thomas swung the massive mallet, and bashed the side of Panini's head with great force, sending her sliding across the floor beside Truman.

At that time, Cheren and Nerehc returned, seeing their battle's concluded. "Hey! You guys okay?" Cheren called.

"Yeah, we're fine." Melissa said, brushing her shoulders casually. "Delightful guys were never this hard."

Cheren bent down over Panini and slipped her Bunny Hood on her head. The group also noticed a pair of glasses sticking from Panini's pocket, and Cheren pulled them out to see they were Truman's. "Quick, put those on!" Melissa yelled. Cheren quickly slipped the glasses onto Truman's bruised face, and played the Song of Healing.

Doo-doo-dooo, doo-doo-dooo, doo-doo, do-do-dooooo.

Panini's Bunny Hood fused into her body, and a mist of light flowed from Truman's glasses into his eyes. In seconds, the blond-haired boy woke up, his blue eyes back to normal. "Oh, I… What was I doing?"

"Heheh, he's back!" Melissa jumped as Celeste helped him up, with Kellie giving him a hug.

"Err!" Truman grunted in pain. "Why am I so… Ooow!"

"Well, dude, you were kinda brainwashed." Celeste answered.

"So we had to knock some sense into you." Thomas said with a playful smile.

"Oh, I… thought I felt hazy. Well, I'm sorry if I hurt you guys."

"Ehh, it's fine." Melissa said simply.

"We're glad you're back now!" Kellie smiled. "If your head still hurts, I'll let you have my Get Better From Booboos After You've Been Brainwashed Rainbow Monkey!"

The seven kids then approached Panini, the girl still peacefully asleep. "I hope we didn't hit her too hard." Thomas said.

"She'll pull through." Cheren told them. "If I know her… Our next objective is taking down Majora."

"Ready when you are." Nerehc told him, already standing by the Boss Door. Cheren faced him and nodded, all operatives wearing serious looks as they joined the Negative. Cheren stuck the Boss Key into the horned lock, turning it as the chains fell loose. Without a moment's hesitation, the operatives charged in, remaining weapons ready.

"YOUR plan ends NOW, Major-…" Cheren stopped himself as they stared at the relaxed, sleeping form of Miyuki Crystal, her face snoring under her mask.

Melissa spotted the Supreme Leader, Jeremy in the corner, hurrying over to untie him. "Jeremy!" she exclaimed, embracing him in a relieved hug.

"Hehe…" he blushed.

Cheren, Nerehc, and Sector V stood over Miyuki curiously. She looked so peaceful on the soft, comfy purple bed, and the evil mask didn't look harmful at all. Cheren was about to pry the mask off her face, but was suddenly stopped by the Zoni.

"It's no use." they said in monotone.

"WHOA!" Melissa jumped in surprise, and Sector V looked shocked, too.

"You… can see them?" Cheren questioned.

"He has fallen asleep, and escaped to the Dream World. The moon will fall here, while he is there. You must go in to stop him."

"You mean… fall asleep?" Cheren questioned. The Zoni nodded.

"Simple as that." Nerehc stated. "But I'm going, too."

"Fine by me." Cheren nodded. "The rest of you guys, stay here. Watch over our bodies."

"Are you sure?" Melissa asked. "Taking on Majora all by yourselves? I mean, what about needing at least a second person?"

"HellOOOOO?" Cheren gestured toward Nerehc, who looked annoyed. "Though I hate to say it, long as I got Nerehc, I'm all set. You guys are needed here at Moonbase. Find the masks that belonged to the other Delightfulized operatives. We can take Majora."

"If you say so." Harry said. "Just be careful, Bro."

"Bro?" Nerehc questioned.

"We're SORTA brothers." Harry shrugged.

"Hehehehe!" Cheren grinned and chuckled. "…Listen… thanks for all the help you've been to me, guys. I don't know what I would've done if I didn't meet you. I…I'm proud to have served alongside you guys."

"Man, is EVERYONE from his universal so sentimental?" Celeste eye-rolled.

"Dude, just forget about the cheesy crud and get goin'." Thomas demanded. "You gotta stop this guy before the moon squishifies the whole world!"

"But if you need help sleeping, I have pretty Help You Get To Sleep When You Have To Stop An Evil Demon In The Dream World Rainbow Monkey!" Kellie grinned.

"Heh…" Cheren smiled warmheartedly. "I'll keep that all in mind." With that said, both Cheren and Nerehc got on opposite sides of Miyuki in her bed, wrapping arms around her (and feeling silly in that position). The Zoni charged their energy and zapped the opposite operatives, and were immediately sent into sleep.

Majora's Dream World (Play "Nowhere to Run" from Rayman Origins.)

Final stage: Land of Living Dead

Mission: Find Majora and defeat him once and for all!

Of all the dream worlds the two have been two, this one was probably the ugliest. The sky was dark and filled with red, gloomy clouds. They stood on a beach area, surrounded by purplish-pink, gooey water. The only inhabitants of the beach were more of the Zombified Trolls which Cheren encountered earlier. He still wasn't sure what these creatures were. Regardless, the path ahead seemed relatively clear except for them.

Nerehc was already skiing across the beach using his rocket shoes, while Cheren had to follow him normally, slicing the Zombified Trolls that tried to grab him. There were a few gaps in the beach that were filled with the gooey water, so Cheren hopped across the sandy platforms; he didn't care to know what happened if he fell in. He then came to a spot where withered lilipads led the way across. Cheren turned into a Kateenian and jumped across quickly before the lilipads sank. More Zombified Trolls rose out of the beach ahead, so Cheren changed back into a human to slice them away. Cheren then entered a small forest area, making a few turns as the path went while dealing with more trolls.

He came to a gaping chasm, watching Nerehc slide down a slope on the other side. On Cheren's left, there was a Rearrangement Pad, so he turned into Sackboy and studied the area. There was a long, wooden plank on the other side, and a pointed stake sticking up from the ground below. Cheren lifted the board and fixed it onto the stake through the center, and it began tilting back and forth, both ends facing both cliffs. Cheren became a Kateenian again and jumped to it, carefully crossing and keeping a balance.

Cheren jumped to the other cliff and reverted to human, going down a golden staircase to a rather gold-lit town area. He saw Nerehc skiing around in circles in an open plaza, his way of 'impatiently' waiting for his slowpoke Positive to hurry up. When Cheren was coming, Nerehc swiftly skied sideways down the town street, wearing his usual cool-guy smirk. Cheren followed him, and more Zombified Trolls were coming around the corners. Cheren proceeded to beat them some more, watching Nerehc Wall Kick his way across several buildings, before going on top.

There were a few platforms that led upward, so Cheren turned into his wolf form to jump his way up. Cheren came to a large stone wall, covered in moss and leaves, with a gap that was blocked by a huge Majora block. Cheren turned into Slag and pushed the block forward, until it fell into a hole its exact size, allowing Cheren into a smaller, village area, where Troll Zombies casually roamed around. Cheren wanted to leave the lot alone, even though they slumped over to try and choke him (they moved slowly, of course), and followed Nerehc as he skied up some stairs.

The Negative boy Wall Kicked his way up some walls again, going to a ledge above. There was no other way up, except for the Hidden Leaf symbols around the walls. Cheren turned into a ninja and leaped his way up, going to join his Negative as they stood over a dusty abyss.

Before they went forward, however, they spotted a hidden path behind the wall to their left. They followed it curiously, finding a hidden door in a small enclosing. Inside this door was, to their surprise, a Fairy Fountain. The fountain was alit with purple aura, and purple Stray Fairies fluttered around it. Cheren quickly pulled out his bottle and let the Stray Fairies out. As they spiraled and joined their friends in the center, Cheren wondered what kind of fairy would show up here, and with what power?

The fairies fused in the fountain, and vanished in a purple flash. They uncovered their eyes, and nothing was there. A greyish-purple mist began to form in the center, and a pair of pitch-black, bare feet were the first to step out. Soon, the rest of the spirit's body stepped out slowly. She was shaped like the other fairies, the same long, white hair. But the rest of her was pitch-black, except there was a skeleton painted where her bones would be. Her face seemed to have no mouth, just a skull; or the upper portion of a skull, rather. They couldn't tell if it was her natural appearance, or just a jumpsuit. She had no color or life to her eyes. They were just big, white spots.

The skeleton-ish fairy stared at Cheren with its lifeless eyes. A sense of fear filled the boy's heart. With no pupils in her eyes, he couldn't tell what she was thinking. The fairy just stood there, completely silent and blank.

"…Um… do you have a name?" Cheren decided to ask.

The fairy approached him quickly, and Cheren flinched slightly. She stopped just inches in front of him, peeking her head over and observing his body. She still didn't speak or make a sound. Cheren became more creeped out by how she studied him. "…Are we going somewhere with this?"

The fairy perked, backing up as she reached behind her. She pulled out and presented Cheren a very strange mask. It looked like an Indian face; red whisker-like markings were painted on the side of its face, it had long, pointed ears, black eyes, and white hair. Cheren took the mask and studied it. No mask he's found on this journey peaked that much interest.

You've got the Fierce Deity's Mask! This mask holds the spirit of a fierce, powerful god. Could this mask's dark powers be as terrifying as Majora?

Cheren looked at the fairy again, who remained staring lifeless. She raised his right arm halfway, and gave a small, light wave before fading away. Nerehc walked beside his Positive and stared at the mask, too. "…You gonna try it?"

"I…I'm not sure." Cheren replied. Considering that fairy's creepy aura, he didn't know what the mask would do. It felt creepy just looking at it. Cheren stuffed it under his clothing and said, "Let's keep going."

They walked out, and stood over the cliff above the endless chasm. There was nothing but darkness and despair below, it looked like, but a powerful gust of wind was blowing upward. There seemed to be nothing up above but dark clouds; however, they could hear the echoing roar of something metallic up above, like a ship. Nerehc kicked on his rockets and flew up first, while Cheren jumped over the edge, and threw open his Pirates' Sail. The wind caught in the sail sent Cheren flying way up high. He soon was at a level altitude, flying slowly straight as dark clouds fogged up his path.

The roaring of the ship grew louder and louder, and as Cheren cleared away from the dark-red fog, he gaped in awe at the roaring's source. Indeed, it was a ship, a giant, bright red battleship, that looked like something from the navy, only it was hovering in the sky. Cheren calmly allowed the breeze to carry him above the ship's deck, and he dropped down safely on top. The roaring could be heard across the heavens, and a dusty wind blew across the deck as blackish-red storm clouds spiraled around them, creating lightning that didn't make a sound.

Zombified Trolls walked about the deck, and didn't seem to bother Cheren or Nerehc as they walked by. They soon came to a stairway to a higher level of the ship, but it was guarded by three Zombie Trolls. The center zombie held a hand up gesturing to stop, and they did so as the zombie pulled out a notepad. He stared and skimmed down a list of people, searching intently until he reached 'Cheren Uno's name. It read 'Plus 1 guest' beside it, so the zombie humbly bowed to Cheren and Nerehc as they stepped aside.

Cheren and Nerehc stepped up the stairs, and a wide, clear path led directly to the huge door at the end. On both sides of the path, parallel rows of Zombie Trolls began to clap and dance, moaning echoey vocals as they gestured toward the door. Cheren and Nerehc merely glanced at the undead trolls confusedly. They weren't sure what they were cheering about, or what they could be leading them to. However, there were several blowing flags stationed around the deck, which bore Majora's symbol in white surrounded by red. The big, square door was bright red and had Majora's white symbol painted as well. They knew for sure, the Masked Demon was behind this door. They had no idea what to expect. Would Majora still be in Miyuki's body, or would he hold a new form, more terrifying than they ever expected? And why did Majora wish to lure them here of all places? Why the fancy entrance and location?

These questions loomed in their mind as they stood before the big square doorway. But one thing was sure in their mind: this was the final battle. They would face Majora beyond this door, and end his Operation Moonfall. The two exchanged serious looks and nodded. They gripped the huge door together and shoved it upward. The duo unhesitantly stepped into the darkness, and the door sealed them inside.

Ahhhh…at last. Now WHAT could make for better pre-battle music than old Western whistles and vocals? You know, this isn't really my favorite dungeon in the story, but I still think it's one of the best levels in the entire Gameverse, mainly for how well I involved all the story's game mechanics and partners in it. (Also, I have the tendency to base Truman like Bakura, from Yu-Gi-Oh. X33)

 

[Gamen Watch]

Okay, everybody! At last, the final boss of this arc is here! Once Majora is defeated, it'll finally be time to close the Termina Arc and END this overdue story!

Chapter 22: Cheren, the Fierce God

Cheren and Nerehc walked calmly and quietly, firm resolve in their irises as they entered a dark, dim-lit room, in which the only thing visible were wavy auras along the wall. They came in various colors, but all had a shade of darkness. The room seemed rather wide from what they could see, and on the very other side, there was an opening in the wall, where a pitch-black silhouette sat. The duo took a careful, quiet step forward, and the room suddenly alit to a brighter color. The dark, colorful auras moved all around the walls around the flat, polished floor. The being in the opening ahead was still too dark to see, but the mask on his face could be made out.

"Good shooow, goood shooow…" Majora spoke calmly, his dark voice echoing across the vast, empty room. Without Miyuki, it was just Majora's singular voice they were hearing. "Made your way aaall the way through my fortress and chased me to the Dream World. Although, it depends on how much of this you call dreamed. Who knows what happens in the afterlife. Are we cursed to wander through dreams, or have we entered a brand new world. I guess it's how… death tortures you."

"Well, frankly, I have an idea what happens in the afterlife." Cheren spoke. "But I guess those rules don't apply here. Right? Zanifr."

Majora's body flinched. He calmed down almost right away, a smirk behind his mask. "You really should learn not to snoop around others' property. They prefer to keep things secret."

"People shouldn't have their property lying around."

"The reason I hid those was to hide the evidence. SOME people don't know how to keep their mouths shut. Even in your world, my moirail manages to keep following and pestering me."

Cheren shook his head; another term he didn't understand. "All right, Majora, this can go one of two ways. You can tell me your, or possibly a FRACTION of your, backstory, I'll refuse to care and proceed to kick your butt… OR we can skip the backstory and go straight to the fighting. In which I'll kick your butt."

"I really don't feel in the mood for explanations." Majora answered. "My only goal is to come back to my world, and take revenge on the ones who had me banished. By bringing the apocalypse to Termina, and ending both worlds, I shall finally be allowed to come back. As was written in the prophecy."

"So, Termina WASN'T your world." Cheren deduced with disgust. "It was just a disposable pawn in your plan. But what about Miyuki? If her body is left on Moonbase, she'll be killed when the moon collides with the Earth."

"That isn't entirely true. As it turns out, Miyuki has a dream self, too. At this moment, she is awake somewhere among Prospit or Derse. I shall see to it she becomes God Tier, and when such happens, she will never have to worry about death again. As long as her dream self doesn't sleep again, she will be just fine."

"I don't really understand any of this, but I don't want to right now!" Cheren stated, angry. "As long as Miyuki's and everyone else's lives are in danger, I'm going to stop you! And now that I've said your name, you can't really DO anything about it."

Majora looked unfazed. "It's true… by speaking one's name, you render them powerless. But you forget, you've only spoken part of my true name. As long as my surname remains hidden, I can still rain down on you with HALF of my true power. We shall let this battle decide the fate of this poor world. Let us finally see, how long the bloodline of Link and Shadows has lasted…" The shadowed body was encased in a whirl of darkness, leaving only the mask visible on the outside. The body disappeared as the darkness dispersed and flowed into the mask, its orange-green eyes sparking to life. They brimmed wide and unchanging as the mask grew many skinny, wiggly tentacles from its backside, hovering around the air as it appeared twice their own size. (Play "Majora's Mask Battle" from Majora's Mask.)

Boss fight: Masked Demon, MAJORA

Phase 1: Majora's MASK

The demonic mask leisurely hovered around the boss room, its spikes flapping up and down like little wings. Cheren immediately whipped out his bow and shot arrows, but the mask whipped around and blocked with simply its armored front side. Cheren ceased firing and tried to run around behind it, but Majora merely turned so that Cheren only shot his front. Nerehc, tired of watching his opposite get nowhere, flew up using his rocket feet and got behind Majora, where he charged a bolt of lightning and fired, making the demon shake with pain from the shock. Majora sank to the floor, stunned, and Cheren hurriedly ran behind and dealt some blows against the back, knocking the lightweight mask around in the process.

Majora got back in the air and faced the two with a deadly glare as darkness emerged from his form. The darkness surrounded himself in a sphere of dark, but Nerehc merely smirked as he flew behind and blasted another bolt of lightning. However, the lightning didn't penetrate the shield, and Nerehc flinched as Majora flew behind him and lashed his tentacles. Nerehc swiftly dodged the tentacles in the air and countered with his own dark fireballs, but Majora calmly absorbed the darkness and shot it back, knocking Nerehc out of the air.

Cheren watched him fall, then looked back at Majora as the mask spun into a horizontal saw blade, flying down and sliding along the ground as he tried to chop Cheren. Cheren was able to jump the mask, and at the points when the mask hovered a little, he ducked. Majora eventually stopped and hovered around the air again, likely taking a breather. Since Majora encased himself in darkness, Cheren figured, he would whip out his Light Arrow and fire one at the mask's face. The light seemed to penetrate as part of the shield cracked, so Cheren kept his aim on Majora and fired another beam, successfully destroying the front part of the shield.

The front of the mask was exposed, but that didn't matter when the front was already armored, and the rest of the shield protected the back. Nerehc shot up behind Majora and tried to throw more lightning blasts, but they still did not penetrate, and Majora wouldn't even turn to glare at him, allowing Cheren to shoot the barrier. Cheren kept firing Light Arrows whenever Majora turned around, but he whipped back around just as quickly to defend. Eventually, Majora spun around like a saw blade again and glided along the ground, aiming to hit Cheren. When Majora glided above him for a brief moment, Cheren saw the perfect opportunity to hit the dark shield, and he did. Eventually, Majora's spinning came to a stop, and for the brief moment he was turned around, Cheren shot and destroyed the shield.

Majora simply flew around casually some more as Nerehc flew up behind and launched a lightning bolt. Majora whipped around and avoided, but Cheren was able to shoot an arrow in his back as a result, and Majora sank to the ground. Cheren dashed over and dealt his series of blows, though didn't deliver that many before Majora was knocked away and recovered.

Majora hovered to the center of the room as the kids simply watched him. Majora stuck his own tentacles into his mask and began to pump some kinda substance, like blood. The heart-shaped mask grew a little more round, and the front side became puffy, while the back stayed the same: flat with tentacles squiggling around. Majora tilted over so his front faced the ceiling, and his back to the floor, so he now looked like the shape of a brain.

Phase 2: Majora's MIND

The dark, ugly brain brimmed with a light before spawning several random objects from its mind (such as fallen trees, barrels, boxes, Powder Kegs, and broken ruins), letting them scatter all over the room. He then began to use his telekinetic abilities to pick up the random objects and hurl them at Cheren. Cheren shot Light Arrows at his underside—since it was already exposed—but the brainstem tentacles swatted the arrows away like flies. Nerehc attempted to fly at Majora and shoot lightning, but he suddenly found himself caught by the brain tentacles, which pulled the struggling Nerehc in and began sucking on his form. Nerehc desperately tried to pull away, but he felt himself completely helpless as Majora pleasurably sucked his body like a tasty lollipop.

Disgusted at this sight, Cheren fired a Light Arrow and pierced the tentacles, setting Nerehc free. The Negative dropped to the ground, and when he weakly stood and threw his arm to try and launch fire, he fell to his knees, panting heavily. "My…My bending…" he panted.

Cheren stared and immediately knew, it was Majora's power to render one's energy. Cheren watched as Majora levitated and launched objects at him again, but he simply dodge-flipped to his sides. However, that last object was a Powder Keg, and it explode upon impact, knocking Cheren forward a little. It took this long for Cheren to recognize that this was similar for Sackboy's ability to alter areas. The Uno kid immediately ran around the room, and found a particularly placed box on a stage that looked like it was from Carnivilia. He climbed on and Youth Rolled at the box, breaking it and revealing the Rearrangement Pad.

Cheren turned into Sackboy and knelt on the Arrangement Pad, getting an overview of the boss room as he saw the Majora brain floating around. Majora was lifting objects and throwing them at Cheren, but Cheren was able to hold them back and cause them to drop. Cheren wasn't sure what to do, since he couldn't move objects with enough force, so he simply grabbed a ruined totem and brought it to Majora, then grabbed a random barrel and brought it to Majora. For both objects, Majora grabbed it with tentacles and proceeded to absorb it into his brain. His brain pumped and brimmed with light as he launched a swarm of energy spheres, knocking Cheren out of Arrangement Mode and sending him flying across the room.

The sack-boy gripped his head and shook as he recovered, and discovered a Powder Keg beside him. At this point, Nerehc had regained his energy and was flying mindlessly around the room, waiting for something to happen. "Nerehc!" Cheren yelled up. "Get your fire ready!" Nerehc nodded, a serious look on his face. Cheren hurried back to the Arrangement Pad and went into Arrangement Mode as he grabbed the Powder Keg and gave it to Majora. As Majora was beginning to consume it, Nerehc unleashed a bolt of lightning and struck the keg, causing it to explode and deal great pain to Majora.

Majora shook the soot off and hovered above Cheren's platform. The sack-boy was still knelt down in Rearrangement Mode, but when he saw Majora above him, charging an attack, he quickly ran off as the brain unleashed a powerful laser directly downward, destroying the platform and the Arrangement Pad. Upon destruction of the platform, a group of four round mirrors came flying out in different directions. Cheren had an idea where this was going, and he told Nerehc to pick up one of the mirrors. The Negative had to hold one in both arms seeing as they were as tall as them.

Majora's Mind calmly hovered around aimlessly as Cheren anticipated its next move. The brain brimmed with light as it released five energy balls around the room, and those balls formed into Bokoblin upon landing. The simple monsters charged at Cheren with swords raised, but he swiftly dodged their attacks and struck by, taking them all out in seconds. He heard an energy surging sound, and was surprised when Majora suddenly released a beam of energy from the top of his mind (the side with the mask's face), having turned vertically to be able to face him.

Cheren used the Mirror Shield to deflect the beam away, and he tried to redirect it at Majora, but the front part of his mind was just as armored as his last form. However, Nerehc was facing the underside of Majora, and he noticed a strange, swelling object suddenly appear by his tentacles. Nerehc charged a bolt of lightning and fired, but the brain immediately teleported, having heard the lightning charge. Majora ceased firing and turned horizontal again, the swelling area sinking back into his brain. His mind glowed as he released eight more energy spheres, which then formed into Miniblin. These monsters were more simple than the Bokoblin, so Cheren was able to wipe them out in a few simple strikes. He looked at Majora as he tilted over to face him, wiggling his tentacles as he prepared another energy beam.

Majora unleashed, and Cheren held up his Mirror Shield to defend, and the beam deflected to the other side of the room. Cheren nodded to Nerehc, gesturing to get the mirror. Suddenly, Nerehc realized what he meant (not very smart), and he grabbed the mirror and flew behind the floating brain, holding the mirror so it faced Majora's weak spot. Cheren aimed the beam and bounced it off Nerehc's mirror. It made the mirror slightly heavier, but Nerehc kept his grip as he redirected the beam at the swelling weak spot.

Majora screeched and sunk to the ground as the brain was set on fire. Cheren didn't really have the opportunity for a round of strikes as Majora was back in the air quickly. The brain simply hovered around some more, and Cheren kept his eye on him, patiently waiting for the next attack. Finally, Majora glowed and released three spheres, which this time turned into Metal Shield Fatblin. Cheren ran to the first one and hopped over its shield to begin dealing blows at its behind. At the same time, Majora was using telekinesis to pick up some of the random objects still laying around, and Cheren had to run away when Majora chucked them. He ran in front of another Fatblin when Majora coincidentally threw a Powder Keg, and the Fatblin was destroyed as a result.

Cheren ran back behind the first Fatblin and finished dealing his rounds until it was destroyed. Cheren focused his sights on the third Fatblin, but Nerehc suddenly flew behind it and dealt a blast of lightning, taking the Fatblin out in one hit. He smirked and winked at Cheren before going to grab another mirror, then flying behind Majora when the demon began charging its energy beam. He unleashed the beam at Cheren, who easily deflected it to Nerehc with the Mirror Shield. Majora immediately stopped and switched around to Nerehc, shooting his laser at him while Cheren viewed Majora's backside. Nerehc simply bounced the laser toward Cheren, but Majora floated in his path and kept in front of him so that he couldn't see Cheren.

Both boys gritted their teeth in anger, unable to see the other very well. It was then that Nerehc noticed another fallen mirror lying on its back beneath Majora, and Nerehc could vaguely see Cheren's reflection in it. Nerehc smirked at Majora before directing the beam onto that mirror, and Cheren smiled excitedly as he was able to catch the beam with the Mirror Shield. Cheren smirked as he directed the beam onto Majora's swelling spot, and the brain was set on fire again. (End song.)

"UUUUuuh!" Majora grunted, sinking to the ground and recovering as his brain stems retracted into his body. He floated to the center of the room as his face turned facing forward, and his brain started to pump again. A pair of humanoid, scaly arms appeared from his sides, and two very long, exposed legs from his bottom. His swollen brain-mask became heart-shaped again as one, tiny eye sprouted from his top. Thin string leggings appeared along his legs, a ballet tutu around his waistline, and ice-skater shoes appeared on his feet. "HooooOOO…" he squatted and shook anxiously, seemingly building up energy. "HUAH!" he sprouted up, and suddenly, the entire floor turned to smooth, solid ice. (Play "Majora's Incarnation" from Majora's Mask.)

Phase 3: Majora's BALLET RECITAL

The Masked Demon began skiing around the icy, reflective floor, gracefully dancing and twirling as he kicked his feet in the air. Cheren and Nerehc tried to run at him, but both boys immediately slipped on the icy surface. Majora performed another twirl, looking at them as he slid sideways, then skied forward in a taunting fashion. Nerehc glared and simply flew above using rocket shoes, launching quick lightning blasts at the demon, but Majora swiftly spun and jumped to both sides while avoiding the lightning. The demon suddenly skied up the wall, using only one leg, and flipped upside-down as he leaped and kicked Nerehc away, the Negative sliding fast across the icy floor upon landing.

Cheren tried to stay on his feet, but the floor seemed much too slippery. He watched as Majora slid back over to him and kicked him directly with his shoe blade to Cheren's face, sliding the boy all the way beside Nerehc against the wall. Cheren wiped some blood from his nose as he and Nerehc glared at Majora, skiing away from them. Cheren decided to try on his Wolf Mask, and surprisingly, the wolf moved fairly well across the icy surface. Nerehc kicked on his rockets and hovered above again as Cheren began to chase the demon, and Majora simply spun and twirled like a ballet dancer as he evaded. He stood and twirled on the tip of his right foot while he had his left leg bent, but then he stretched it out with the tip of his shoe-blade spiraling around.

Cheren tried to leap at Majora, but the tip of his blade knocked him back, and Majora began to ski normally again. Cheren growled at him and ran forward once again, and when Majora was about to come at him, the demon suddenly leapt overhead and skied the opposite way. He was swiftly evading Cheren, but Nerehc also kept him busy by shooting lightning at him, forcing Majora to slow down as he jumped the strikes. Cheren managed to keep up, and Nerehc stopped firing so his opposite would be able to catch him. Majora stretched his leg out and began to twirl his blade again, but Cheren simply ran under the too-high blade and got closer to Majora, before leaping and gnawing at his standing knee.

"AIEEEEP!" Majora screeched in a higher-pitched voice, coming to a slow down as Cheren chewed him. Cheren eventually let go, having yanked a part of the knee off and making purple blood drip. Majora started to ski away again, making little twirls with a leg kicked out, in which he launched energy spheres at Cheren. The wolf-boy easily jumped the spheres and ran at Majora, but before he could get a hit, the ballerina demon skied and spun right over him, going to the middle where he leapt, and performed a quick spiraling maneuver in the air before he landed on the floor, still spiraling at high speed as the force caused the ice to crack, with Majora coming to a stylish stop where he made a pose.

Majora began skiing around normally again, but when Cheren tried to move forward, he flinched when the ice cracked a little more, and he knew it would be too dangerous to walk any more. Cheren was forced to pull off his Wolf Mask and put on the Kateenian Mask, his lighter body able to stand its ground on the ice. They looked around for a solution, and Cheren noticed a strange bobsled sitting a few feet away, likely having shot out of the ice due to the quake Majora made. He hurried over as fast as his Kateenian body could, and when he got on, he reverted to wolf form. Nerehc flew down and grabbed the rope attached to the bobsled and began to pull Cheren around, chasing Majora as the demon swiftly skied away.

Majora skied backwards as he faced the operatives and began to kick energy spheres at them. Cheren had to list left and right to make his sled dodge in those directions, and Nerehc had to dodge left-and-right to avoid, too. Majora was coming to a wall, but his top eye was turned backward, so he saw it coming and made a left turn, and Cheren's bobsled bumped the wall upon Nerehc's sudden turn. Majora kept away from the walls and kept kicking energy spheres at them, but Nerehc countered with his lightning strikes and made Majora jump and twirl. Majora kept jumping so much, he couldn't see where he was going, and he ended up crashing into the wall, backfirst. Nerehc slowed the bobsled beside him, allowing Cheren to jump and bite onto his crotch, giving a few tugs before pulling off.

Majora dizzily skied to the center of the room as the ice and bobsled suddenly poofed away, and the room was back to normal. Majora recovered and ripped his tutu off, and the operatives were about to cover their eyes until they saw there was nothing underneath. Majora kicked his ski-shoes off as he bent his upper-body (which was mostly legs) completely back like rubber, and he stretched and bent sideways and front-ways as well. Majora got on all fours as his body extended a little, his arms and legs becoming a little more puffy, and he mimicked the movements of a beast as he ran around and turned totally invisible.

Phase 4: Majora's STEALTH MISSION (should he choose to accept it)

Cheren already knew to use his wolf senses to find the invisible demon, and when he found Majora, he ran at him attempting to bite, but the demon ran toward him and smacked Cheren away, then continued running around the room. Nerehc began to fire lightning wildly, but he wasn't able to hit Majora at all, as Majora simply dodged whenever a bolt came at him. Cheren used senses to see and run at him again, and Majora leaped a few feet away before running at the wolf. Cheren dodged to the side and avoided Majora's arm-swipe, and once Cheren was behind, the wolf-boy proceeded to bite into his rear. Nerehc smirked when he saw Cheren holding onto Majora, and the Negative charged a bolt of lightning and fired at where he hung on to.

Cheren jumped off so that Majora could take the shock, and the demon began to spark with electricity as he ran further away from Cheren, a little visible. Cheren reverted to human form as Majora turned and readied to charge. Cheren whipped out his bow and shot an arrow when Majora ran at him, but the demon jumped to the side and kept at him. Cheren whipped his sword at Majora when he came, but took an immediate shock from the electricity on his body, then was knocked away. The electricity wore off, and Majora was invisible again, swiftly dodging Nerehc's attack when he tried to shock him. Cheren became a wolf and chased the demon using his senses, and Majora jumped away once more before running at the wolf and attempting to swat him. Cheren jumped to the side and leaped at his butt, biting the demon once again as Nerehc fired lightning.

Majora was partially visible again, and Cheren reverted to human, anticipating Majora to charge at him. This time, Cheren put on Slag's Mask, held his arms open when Majora came, and grabbed the demon's hands in his own. Majora's arms and legs were much longer compared to Slag's, and the demon was closer to overpowering Cheren. The robot-child mustered his strength however, and managed to lift Majora above him and slam the demon to the ground. He was still electrified, so Cheren had to use Slag's sword as he dealt his round of blows, slamming his sword powerfully down on the demon.

Majora kicked back to his feet and ran away as he turned invisible. Cheren changed back to a wolf and used his senses, but he saw that Majora had climbed to the ceiling. Immediately, Majora crawled above Cheren and dropped down, pinning the wolf with his huge arms and legs and dealing punches across his head. Nerehc shot above the area where Cheren was pinned, but he missed the demon as Majora jumped off, climbed up the wall, and leaped to grab Nerehc and pull him down. He held the Negative by the legs as he spun and spun, and eventually hurled Nerehc headfirst against the wall.

Both kids shook back to their senses as Cheren used his senses to see Majora crawl up the ceiling again. Cheren ran under him, and when Majora dropped down to grab him, Cheren leapt forward and avoided, then jumped back to gnash at Majora, successfully biting his knee. He was kicked off almost instantly, Majora dodging a lightning strike from Nerehc, but the bite caused purple blood to drip from his knee. Majora was still invisible, but Nerehc could see the blood trail dripping from his knee, little bits at a time. When Majora was trying to climb the wall, Nerehc shot lightning at him, making Majora leap off the wall, but when he landed, Cheren (having reverted to human) shot a Light Arrow at the space around the blood, the powerful light making Majora brim visible. Cheren hurried over and dealt a round of blows against the demon before Majora recovered and leaped away.

Majora got on two legs and flailed his arms around as he began to run around frantically, his legs moving in a fast-paced anime fashion. Nerehc rapidly tried to shoot him with lightning, but Majora moved too quick, and Cheren couldn't get a good aim with his arrow. Majora zipped left-and-right as he ran at Cheren, pinned the boy down, and immediately pounded rapid punches. Nerehc shot lightning, but Majora jumped off and kept running around, eventually jumping up to grab and pull Nerehc down by the legs, and then rapidly pounding his face against the wall. Majora slammed Nerehc to the ground and jumped on him before running around some more. Cheren held his blade ready as Majora drew closer, and when the demon was about to grab him, he quickly slashed a spin attack and made Majora screech as he scampered away.

Nerehc saw Majora running toward him as he recovered, and the Negative flew overhead and tried to launch lightning at him. Majora zipped and dodged the attacks before launching a series of quick energy spheres, which Nerehc dodged as quick as he could, only to be knocked away by the last one. He shook back to his senses and saw Majora run around some more, flying away before the monster could run him over. Cheren had his sword ready, expecting him to come over, but the demon surprised him with another barrage of energy balls, knocking Cheren over. He got to his feet as Majora ran around some more, zipping every which way while getting closer to Cheren. Cheren rolled between Majora's legs just before the demon could grab him, and he managed to strike his legs and make Majora fall over.

Majora got up and ran around some more, jumping when Nerehc flew at him. Nerehc continued to chase the demon, not bothering to throw any attacks as Majora frantically tried to evade. Cheren smirked at their little antics, readying his Remote Control Bananarang. Cheren launched the boomerang and drove it around slowly as he tried to aim for Majora's eye. Nerehc kept chasing him around the room in circles, and Cheren kept a steady route as he managed to ram the boomerang into Majora's top eye. Majora immediately stopped to rub his eye, and both operatives smirked as they readied their swords and charged. Nerehc dealt a series of strikes in his back, and Cheren swung back and forth between the legs, before both finished with a sword impale through both legs. (End song.)

"EEEEEEAAAAAAHHHH!" Majora shot into the air, screaming with unbearable pain, before landing smack in the middle of the room. He fell to one hand and put his other on his chest, gasping for breath. "Mrrrff. MRRRFF." His voice remained high-pitched. "You are… PERSISTENT. YOU ARE… annoying." He got back on both feet, stretching his arms out as he faced them. "Had my first name only remained a secret… I would have extinguished you by now. But I'll be rid of you yet! Just wait and see! After all, I only need to extinguish ONE of you in order to win." He panted. "That's the weakness of opposites. The weakness… of TEAMS." Another breath. "You bond your friendships so well… that all of you LOSE IT when only one PERISHES. So I…" another pant, "I will end BOTH of your selves' now! HAAUU-GMM." More blood began to pump through the demon's limbs, from his left arm, his right arm, to his legs. His central body morphed to become a semi-normal, humanoid shape that matched his strengthened limbs. And atop his body, a small head with a fiery orange mouth, with the small eye on his forehead, and two spirals where regular eyes would be, emerged with a dark breath.

Majora shook with energy, forming a strange sign with his hands. "FWAPOW!" (Play "Majora's Wrath" from Majora's Mask.) Suddenly, Majora was garbed in a ninja outfit, with his mask eyes and his top eye exposed, and the next phase began.

Phase 5: Majora's KARATE LESSON

Cheren immediately wrapped on his Ninja Headband, and readied a battle stance as he glared at the demon. Cheren leapt forward, swinging his hand in a karate fashion, but the taller demon grabbed his wrist, twisted it behind Cheren's back, and then kicked the ninja away. Cheren rolled on his back as Majora leaped above him, coming down and dealing a series of rapid punches against him. Cheren held his arms in an "X" to defend, but Majora kicked Cheren again. Cheren flipped back to his feet, dodging to the side when Majora tried to punch him, and then threw a shuriken into Majora's hip. The demon disappeared in a puff of smoke, and a log fell in his place, with the shuriken exploding on it, and Majora appeared behind Cheren, wrapped an arm around his neck, and slammed the boy's head against the ground.

Majora jumped away and launched a trio of kunai knives, but Cheren jumped to the side and threw his own two kunai knives. Majora ducked and ran at Cheren, launching a series of finger-jabs that Cheren defended with his arms. Finally, Cheren grabbed Majora's wrist and bent it downward, but the taller demon sent him flying across the air. Nerehc managed to strike Majora with lightning from behind, and during his stunned moment, Cheren tossed a series of kunai into his front, dealing some damage.

Majora poofed into smoke and appeared on Cheren's left, dealing a punch, poofed to the right and dealt a punch, then appeared in front for an uppercut, flinging Cheren high into the air as Majora poofed behind and kicked him away. Cheren got back up, turning to face Majora as the demon gestured him to come forward with his fingers, in a ninja fashion. Cheren flipped backward and tossed a shuriken, but Majora rolled to the side and ran at the boy. He threw a series of quick punches, but Cheren managed to dodge every one, then crouch and kick at Majora's left leg. His own leg stopped upon contact, and Majora stared confused, not sure if the attack was supposed to work. Cheren smirked at his confusion, shooting up to grab onto his head, then flipping overhead to slam the demon's head against the ground.

Majora sat up and glared at Cheren, his one eye furrowing, but looked away when purple flames were thrown at him from his right. Nerehc smirked as he rocket-skied toward the demon, sliding on one foot while he kicked the other out and shot a flame at Majora's eye. Majora kicked back to his feet immediately, spin-sliding and grabbing Nerehc in his right hand. The Negative kicked fire up at his face with both feet before sliding away, and as Majora shielded, Cheren tossed a shuriken into his front and blew him up. Majora hopped out of the smoke and tossed two kunai at Cheren, who easily jumped back and threw two of his own. Majora side-dodged again and began launching a series of kunai knives, but the ninja-boy was able to dodge each one and counter with his own, which came in contact with Majora's, making both drop to the ground.

The round stopped, and Majora threw one last kunai, hitting Cheren in the front, but the ninja poofed into a log and appeared behind Majora to lay a kunai into his back. Majora whipped his arm behind and tried to smack him, but Cheren had ducked to the ground and proceeded to stab some kunai into his knees. Majora slouched a little, and Nerehc was given the perfect opportunity to strike him with lightning. Cheren smirked and reverted to his human form, proceeding to deal a series of blows with the Master Sword.

Majora quickly hopped to the center, desperately catching his breath. He stood up straight as his ninja outfit suddenly poofed away, and he reached his arms out and bent forward. "STRRRRIFE SPECIBI. WHIPKIND!" he exclaimed as dual brown whips suddenly appeared in both his hands. Majora continued to shake with energy, the kids watching as his back swelled, and two more arms suddenly sprouted from it, both wielding whips, making purple goo pop out as a result. His head tilted up, and the two spirals on his face opened to reveal two more eyes. His skin began molding and moving, and his head reshaped to mimic that of a round-headed, bald person. His skin nearly looked like that of a human, but still Majora's colors, and with the upper layers of skin peeled off. A creepy smile was carved around his regular, grinning mouth, and the crazy demon increased in size to fit nearly the height of the room.

Phase 6: Majora's PISSED

"WIICKAAAAAAAWWWW!" Majora screeched incredibly insanely, shaking his four arms wildly. Cheren tried to put on his headband again, but Majora immediately whipped it away. He tried to put on Slag's Mask, but it was whipped away, tried to put on Wolf Mask, but it was whipped away, tried with Sackboy's Mask, and IT was whipped away. He pulled out the Kateenian Mask and stared with doubt at the useless mask, but Majora whipped it away anyway. The crazy demon wrapped a whip around Cheren's legs and sent him flying and screaming overhead, and when Cheren landed, Majora immediately wrapped and hurled him across the chamber again.

He landed by Nerehc, who glared angrily at Majora before flying forward and launching lightning. Majora swiftly dodged and lashed his whip at Nerehc to grab him, then launched a whip over to Cheren to grab him, then began spinning both kids around the air above him in circles, causing both boys to bump their heads on the other as they whipped by. Majora was shaking his crotch as he spun them, keeping this routine for a few more moments before sending them flying away. "FWAHhooooooooOOOWAH!"

Cheren struggled to recover and rolled onto his front, coughing blood out as he tried to crawl away. Majora fastly whipped him from a distance, making Cheren stop for brief moments before he kept trying to crawl, only to be whipped again. Still on the ground, Cheren searched his clothes for an item that may prove useful. His eyes perked when he found the Fierce Deity's Mask, and stared at the white-haired mask with extreme curiosity. He put on his serious look and stood to glare at Majora, preparing to fix the mask on.

Majora looked with extreme horror and shock. "NOOOO!!! DON'T PUT THAT MASK ON!"

Cheren stuck it on his face, not giving a crap what Majora said. "HNNNNUUUGG!" The transformation immediately started to kick in as Cheren faced the ceiling, the room turning black as lightning shot up from the mask. Cheren found himself in a realm of darkness, staring up in wonder as Link floated above him in a bright blue light. The green-cladded ancestor smiled at his descendant, but Link shut his eyes tight, screaming with pain. "EEEEEAAAAAUUUUUUHH." His eyes shot open, and were now totally white with no blueness or pupils.

Cheren grunted as Link shot into his body, and pain began to surge through. Cheren's hair turned white, an armored vest appeared around his center, his clothes turned white, brown boots appeared, and the red markings appeared on his face, and his eyes were white and lifeless. He grew a few feet taller as he held the Master Sword out, the sacred blade transforming into a darker sword with see-through loops. Cheren performed a spin attack, feeling the incredible power flow through his veins. "HEAAAAUUUH!"

Majora stared nervously as Cheren glared with a fierce, deadly look. The demon shook off his fear and lashed his whip, but Cheren sliced off his upper-right arm as fast as light. "YOOOOOWW!!!" Purple blood spilled out, and Majora tried to ignore the pain and launch his lower-left whip, but Cheren sliced his arm before he knew it. "OOOOOHHH!!!" Majora tried to recover, but Cheren zapped over and grabbed Majora's head, flying around as he scraped his ugly, psychotic face all around the walls, leaving a trail of blood in the process. Cheren flew to the center and slammed Majora powerfully against the floor facefirst, then hopped away to let the demon recover. Blood dripped down his face as Majora tried to catch his breath, and the demon performed a spin maneuver and let his two remaining whips fly all over the place.

Cheren easily dodged the whips, and when Majora launched his right whip at him, Cheren caught the whip around his sword and yanked Majora over, allowing the tip of his blade to slice a line down his body as he flew over. Nerehc merely floated in the background and watched his Positive carry out this ordeal, feeling slight worry at Cheren's sudden madness. Cheren forced Majora against the wall and flew back as he unleashed a series of sword rays at the demon's front. When he finished, Cheren shot below Majora, sliced upward, then brought his sword down the middle of his front. Cheren gripped Majora by the neck and pulled him to the center, dealing a series of punches across his face.

At this time, Panini Drilovsky appeared in the boss room's doorway, watching the bloody display before her eyes. She saw Nerehc and hurried beside the Negative, who was surprised to see her. "Whoa! When'd you get here?"

"Never mind that! Is that…?" she pointed at the Fierce Deity.

"Yeah, that's Cheren." He nodded. "He put on this weird mask and he suddenly went crazy."

Panini stared in absolute horror. The way Cheren pounded Majora's face without a moment's rest, made him seem like he lost his mind. "CHEREN!"

The godlike child paid no mind as he gripped Majora's neck and shot through the ceiling, going high above the warship. Cheren shot to the ground and slammed Majora's head with incredible force, letting tons of blood spew from his mouth. (End song.)

"Nooo!" Panini couldn't bring herself to see him like this. She noticed something sparkle in the blood several feet away, and recognized it as the Spirit Flute. Panini hurried over and performed the song that changed him back before, the Song of Healing.

Doo-doo-dooo, doo-doo-dooo, doo-doo, do-do-dooooooo.

Cheren immediately stopped before impaling the sword through Majora's head. A warm feeling appeared in his mind, and his lifeless eyes turned to stare at his friend. Cheren looked down at Majora, the demon unconscious and nearly dead. "AAAUUU-CWOUGH COUGH COUGH!" Majora suddenly coughed blood, struggling to move. "N-NO! I-I'M DYING!" he spoke, his high-pitched voice filled with despair. "I'm dying……. I'M DYING! Cheren!" he tried to breathe, reaching for the compartment where he previously sat. "My bed… I must… die… in my bed." He huffed.

Cheren couldn't help but feel pity for the demon. Despite his injuries, he was able to reach his arm over and grab the little bed that was in his spot. He weakly pulled it over and laid it beside him, panting as he helped himself over, and laid his massive head onto the little, stone-made bed. "Okay… now…"

Cheren looked at his sword, and felt the need to grant this demon's wish. Without a moment's hesitation, Cheren forced the blade into Majora's chest, and the demon fell silent.

The blade stayed in there for a few seconds before Cheren pulled it out. Panini stared with both anxiety and relief as Cheren stepped over, the purple blood still dropping from his sword, while Nerehc stared with his usual angry-eyed look. Cheren pulled the Fierce Deity Mask off, and stared into his friend's dark green eyes. Panini tearfully ran up and embraced him in a hug, and Cheren smiled and hugged back. "Is it over?..." she asked.

"It's over." He said in relief.

Nerehc only rolled his eyes in disgust as they hugged, but the two broke away after a few seconds. "How did you get here, anyway?" Cheren asked.

"Ay don't know. Ay just woke up in this weird place." They looked at her orange jumpsuit with a bunny-ear design.

"Well, good thing you did. If you hadn't… I don't know what woulda happened."

"Hmhmhmhm!" Panini smiled joyously. "Why is it Ay'm always savin' yer butt like this?"

"Heheheh!" The three of them stared at the bloody, dead body of Majora. The demon looked so peaceful with his head lied on his little bed. "And to think… so many questions left unanswered." Cheren said.

"This guy was giving you a lot of trouble, wasn't he." Nerehc followed.

"Hey, maybe ya'll find out what ya needed to know next time." Panini smiled, patting Cheren's back.

"Yeah..." Cheren smiled at her. "But I'm glad it's over now. What do you say we go home, guys?"

"Yah!" Panini hopped happily.

"Hm, I know I'm lookin' forward to gettin' back." Nerehc smirked.

The kids turned and were about to walk out the exit, leaving their exiting battle behind them. "Hm hm hm hm heh." They immediately stopped and turned at the demon with a start. "You fools… would I be defeated that easily?" The dead body of the demon brimmed with an evil darkness. "Now that I have fallen on my Quest Bed… the time to unleash my true power has arrived." A fire of purple dark brimmed on the demon's body, and blackness began to swallow the room. "At last, I am able to go into my God Tier mode! I will have power like you NEVER imagined!"

The kids backed away slowly as a column of darkness shot straight into the heavens. A ball of darkness formed in the sky, growing larger as scaly wings emerged from the back, and two hands with whips appeared in the front. The dark sphere poofed away, and Majora's new body was revealed. He looked to be in a purple cloak with Majora's scaly designs along its skin, and a spine-like tail went down his back. The cursed mask was still attached to his face, but he had raven-black hair, with the sides of his hair spiky like the mask, and two tall, very thin horns on his head, which also looked like the mask's.

The kids stared up, not feeling too fazed by this new form. However, if this was as powerful as Majora claimed, Cheren knew he was in for an intense battle. Fi emerged from Cheren's sword, and the kids looked at her, expecting advice. "Do not fear the enemy, Master. You hold the will of Link, and the joyous feelings bestowed upon the masks you have collected. Use both powers to their fullest potential, and bring an end to the Masked Demon."

Cheren looked at the Fierce Deity Mask in his right hand, and the Triforce of Courage on the back of his left. The Triforce brimmed with a small, golden light, and Cheren could feel its energy. The masks that Cheren has collected, from his six transformation masks to his regular masks, all floated and formed a sphere around the Fierce Deity Mask. The powerful mask brimmed with a white light as the masks infused their selves into it. Cheren touched the mask gently with his back of his Triforce hand, a serious look in his face as he lightly took and fixed the mask on his face. Panini and Nerehc shielded their eyes from the bright flash, and Cheren had morphed into his Fierce Deity form, but his armor was gold as his body shined with golden light.

Cheren whipped out his Deity's Sword and shot into the heavens, leaving a trail of light as he faced Majora at equal level. The two flew off and clashed with Cheren's light against Majora's darkness, flying into the strange, endless space. (Play "Showtime (Extended)" from Homestuck.)

Final boss: ZANIFR MIMCHI

Cheren flew at high speeds through a swarm of asteroids, evading beams of darkness that were launched at Majora from the distance. He swiftly swerved around and avoided as asteroids were sent at him, but one of the large rocks was able to knock him back. Cheren recovered quickly and shot out from behind the rock, keeping after his enemy. Groups of dark portals appeared around his body and started to launch whip strikes, knocking Cheren around a little and causing him to ram into an asteroid.

Cheren shook his head from the impact and kept flying forward, searching around for where his opponent could have gone. Majora immediately attacked him from the left and knocked him into another asteroid. Cheren glared at his opponent as Majora flew above him, and Cheren shot up to deal sword strikes. The demon swiftly swung his whips and blocked the strikes, then wrapped a whip around Cheren's legs and threw him back. Cheren recovered quickly and flew after as Majora soared away, the demon spinning around and launching quick whip strikes. Cheren blocked the whips and shot above the monster, coming down and dealing a round of blows against him.

Majora shot away and zipped behind, dealing a round of rapid-blows to Cheren's backside. He finished by roping Cheren and hurling him upward, then grabbing an asteroid to launch it up to send him flying and smashing against another asteroid. Cheren weakly recovered from the crush, seeing Majora zip by several feet in front of him. He shook his head and kept after the demon, swinging his sword and launching quick sword-rays to chop several incoming asteroids, which Majora was grabbing with his whips, in half. Majora shot to the left and kicked an asteroid at Cheren, but Cheren dodged up and flew at him to throw a round of sword-strikes. Majora blocked from all the strikes with his Whipkind and flew above to launch a series of dark missile spheres from his sharp wings, and Cheren flew all around the place as they homed in on him tight. Each of the spheres came rather fast, and he narrowly zipped around the asteroids to make them crash, but ended up kicked by Majora and sent down to a lower asteroid.

Cheren looked up as the demon was about to impale him with his sharp wings, but Cheren kicked away quickly and got Majora stuck into the asteroid by his wings. Cheren got to his feet and ran at the demon while he was stuck, throwing a powerful kick upside his chin and making purple blood come out his masked face as he was knocked away. Majora held his mask and made sure it was fixed on tight, and dodged quickly when Cheren stabbed his blade at him. Cheren turned around, and was immediately met with a series of kick attacks by Majora's feet, the demon finishing by kicking the left side of his face and making him fly away, with blood shooting out his mouth.

Cheren broke through two asteroids and landed on the third, then dodged quickly as Majora shot down and sliced the third asteroid with his wings. Majora faced Cheren and threw a series of dark daggers with his wings, and Cheren flew backward as he swatted the blades away with his own. Cheren shot down afterward and stabbed his sword into an asteroid and hurled it up, successfully hitting Majora upside the chin. Cheren shot back in front of him and proceeded to deal a round of sword blows against the demon, but Majora recovered and grabbed the blade with his hands (while still holding his whips). He was able to keep the sword back and fly away, flying around Cheren in a circle and launching more daggers from his wings. Cheren shot down, but the blades still followed, but he easily knocked them away with a spin attack.

Majora was flying away again, so Cheren kept after him and launched sword beams, but Majora easily avoided and whipped an asteroid to throw at Cheren, but the Uno child sliced through it easily. Majora stopped and flew into a dark portal, coming behind Cheren and kicking him at another asteroid, then jumping back in as he recovered, coming by the side of the asteroid and kicking it away. Cheren hopped off before it crashed and shot at Majora, pushing him into a portal he was about to enter. They both came out as Cheren shoved him against an asteroid, but Majora recovered quickly and zipped into another portal. Cheren closed his eyes and listened intently, and when he heard the portal spawn behind him, he grabbed the demon's neck, slammed him against the asteroid, and dealt him another round of blows.

Majora eventually grabbed the Uno boy's sword and was able to fly and push him quite a distance. Cheren fell backward and let Majora shoot by, and the demon turned to face him as Cheren knocked asteroids at him. Majora easily dodged the asteroids and used his whip to grab and hurl them back, and as Cheren dodged, Majora suddenly flew at him with a round of rapid whip-strikes, which Cheren did his best to block with his blade, but ended up taking a few hits. Majora disappeared in a portal, and when Cheren recovered, the demon appeared behind him and clutched his left hand and feet to his backside, flying around and slamming the boy's face into several asteroids. He flew to a bigger asteroid as Cheren's face was now riddled with bumps and bruises. Before he could slam his face again, Cheren reached back, grabbed his head, and slammed his face first. Cheren flew back, still holding Majora, and slammed his face again, flew back and slammed again, then flew back, and slammed again.

Cheren eventually let go as Majora's face lay planted in the rock. Majora slumped out and sunk a little, but recovered quickly as he glared at Cheren, blood dripping from his mask. Cheren merely flew in place, keeping his serious glare, while the face on Majora's Mask remained unchanged as always, the only movement from either of them being from Majora's flapping wings. The demon calmed down and closed the eyes behind his mask, and everything went bright.

KND Moonbase

The Sector V operatives were watching eagerly as the three kids slept, hoping that Cheren could win his battle quickly. Suddenly, Majora's Mask began to shake on Miyuki's face, and the mask shot off as it was covered in darkness, shooting out the window into the airless space. Before their eyes, the mask flashed, and Majora's God Tier form was known. They looked at Cheren's body as the boy's eyelids shook, and he made little grunts as he tried to wake. The Uno boy flashed as well, and he awakened in his Fierce Deity form, the kids nearly blinded by the golden light. Cheren shot out into the open space and was unfazed by the lack of oxygen. He faced Majora, and the two immediately began zooming around the moon, clashing sword against whips.

The kids peered out the window as Nerehc woke up as well, walking beside them to see the battle. "Is that… Cheren?" Thomas asked.

"You think?" Nerehc remarked.

They flew a little lower as they moved at high speeds, nearly crashing into a jagged moon rock, but they dodged to opposite sides. They flew back at each other and clashed some more before Majora managed to grab Cheren and shove his face to the grey ground. Cheren shook away and flew ahead, launching a series of sword beams at the demon, but Majora dodged and caught up before lashing more whip-strikes his way. Cheren blocked the whips and caught one around his sword, swinging and slamming Majora into the ground. He was about to impale the demon, but Majora got up and jumped away just in time. Cheren shot after, and Majora flew backwards as he glared, grabbing several moon rocks with his whips and launching them at the deity-boy.

Cheren either dodged or swatted them away with his sword, keeping after the demon at high speeds. By this time, they had flown to the very front of the moon, where the colossal, evil face glared hatefully at the planet, a field of flaming red surrounding the front as it loomed closer and closer toward the Earth, with the Giants still trying to hold it off. Compared to them, Cheren and Majora looked so tiny. Regardless, the two deities continued to brawl, ramming back-and-forth into each other and clashing their weapons. They stopped for a minute as Majora tried to catch his breath, his grip on the dual whips firm. The demon looked at the moon and looked down at the Earth, already feeling he's won. "It's hopeless, Boy! In a matter of minutes, the Earth will be destroyed, and BOTH your worlds will be nothing. I can ultimately return home and be with Miyuki there. Together, we shall take revenge on the fools that denied me, and my vision can come into being."

Cheren grinded his teeth, refusing to let Majora take his friend. "EAAAAAAAUUUUUHHHH!" Immediately, Cheren grabbed the demon's neck and slammed him into the surface of the moon's face. He pulled away as Majora shook weakly, but was immediately met with a storm of powerful sword blows, with a force incredible enough to keep Majora pinned against the moon, and even making the face wince with pain itself. Cheren shot far, far away, a mighty blue light sprouting from his form. The Fierce Deity shot forward, sword aimed directly forward, closing closer and closer on Majora's body. His sword penetrated the side of his body with great force, and this force penetrated the moon and seemed to make all consciousness spew from his face, his enormous mouth dropping wide open. Cheren gripped his sword tight, still penetrated through Majora's hip and the moon's surface as he scrapped a line up the face and toward the Moonbase.

At this time, the kids had their faces pressed fully against the bridge's large window, and Merida stood there beside Sector V as well (she couldn't resist coming into the Time Portal). Panini had awakened, and saw everyone in a straight line alongside the window. The Irish-Polish walked over beside Merida, the two exchanging glances before facing out onto the moon's surface. Cheren seemed to be flying back at high speeds, his sword scraping a huge crack across the surface, with a strange figure stuck on it, and leaving a slight trail of purple blood. When Cheren was close enough to Moonbase, he shot back to the air (er, non-air), with Majora still attached, and with a great surge of power, he launched the demon down with a slicing airwave, colliding with the moon and leaving a huge cloud of smoke. (End song.)

Everyone's mouths hung open in anticipation. If what they saw was true… could it be so? (Play "Can't Escape, Fight!" from One Piece!)

The smoke cleared, and everyone had a view of the battered, rugged Deity Cheren hovering with his sword in his hand. Underneath him, in a gaping hole on the moon, Majora's bloody, torn, beaten body lay there, all consciousness having left his face. His sharp wings were bent, the whips had fallen out of his slumped hands, and he didn't move a single inch.

Wide smiles appeared on everyone's faces. Cheren was hovering in space, the aura of light still brimming around his body. Majora was on the moon. Bloody. Beaten. And in a hole. He's lost.

"YYYYYAAAAAHH!" Panini screamed, hopping higher than she's ever hopped. "Cheren WOOOON! YYEEEAAAHH!"

"Ah-halright! Majora just BIT the dust!" Thomas exclaimed.

"No better way to go out than moon dust." Celeste commented.

"He really knows how to put on a show." Harry said, feeling very excited inside.

"Hm." Nerehc smirked. "Not bad, Uno. Not bad."

Melissa smiled at her friend, feeling very glad to have traveled with him. Truman Kirman smiled as well, Cheren's light reflecting off his glasses. Merida, although she barely knew anything about what was happening here, was happy that her new friend completed his task. From another window, Don Gero smiled, a prideful look in his ancient eyes with his bubble pipe clutched in his lips. The many fallen demons that had invaded the base remained unconscious, feeling absolutely no strength left in them, while the kids that they held hostage jumped and cheered in victory. The two Fathers remain unconscious inside the Decommissioning Chamber, feeling absolutely dizzy, and in need of some rocky road.

The remaining demons who were still standing gaped in absolute shock. This was a sure sign that they had lost. "M…Master?" a Moblin said.

"Majora?" a Bokoblin gaped.

Immediately, the Kids Next Door turned to glare at them, and the demons flinched with fear. "You wanna finish this?" Harry asked, glaring as he readied his Slingshot. Celeste tugged her, um, burned rope, Thomas lifted his hammer over his shoulder, Melissa held up her shrink ray, Kellie did a ballet twirl, Merida readied an arrow, and Nerehc charged some lightning while Panini held green flames.

"Nnnn-no-no, that's okay!" the Moblin said as they all grinned innocently. "We'll just be off now." Immediately, the demons screamed and cowered away, hurrying as fast as they could to the hangar where they boarded their ships and shot toward the Earth. Cheren kept his serious look and merely watched them, not desiring to waste energy. He looked at the Moonbase, seeing the vibrant smiles on all the kids' faces. Cheren smiled back, having not felt more victorious in his life. (End song.)

From a safe distance across the moon's field, Vriska had finished watching their climactic fight. An impressed look was on her face. "These people sure surprise me... So, this is what the Will of Sixes is a8out. I h8 to imagine what others might 8e like."

The terrifying face disappeared from the moon, but the red flame still surrounded it. "Raaawwwwrrrr-rrrr-rrrrrrAAARRRrr!" The Giants had nearly exhausted their strength at this point, and were struggling to push the moon back.

"Hey, Cheren, put a brake on the party wagon for a minute!" Thomas yelled. "The moon's still gonna crash!"

Cheren gasped, turning back to face the Giants. He still felt powerful in his deity form, but he didn't have enough strength to shove the moon back to its place. …If only he could use his Giant's Mask.

"Hmhmhmhm." Cheren heard the familiar laugh of the Mask Man and looked up at the Moonbase window. There the Mask Man stood, a green Rumble Ball clutched in his fingers. The boy immediately shot up and inside the Moonbase, staring at the man's grinning face. "Here…" With a tearful look, Sanula touched Cheren's face, and pulled the Giant's Mask from the Deity's. He lightly placed the ball into the mask, and gave it to Cheren.

Cheren nodded and shot back outside, going all the way down to the Earth as the moon loomed closer and closer to Sector V's treehouse. Cheren slipped the mask on, his limbs began to swell with blood, and his deity body grew and grew to several hundred feet tall, crushing several houses under his feet. In his deity form, he stood even taller than the Giants, and the kids were amazed at his true godlike form. He held his mighty arms open, and gripped the moon tight as it came down, and kept a firm stance as he struggled to keep the moon up. Cheren pushed as strong as he could, the preceding battle having nearly consumed all of his strength. However, he refused to let this world, or HIS world, be destroyed, and he would hold it up as long as it took. …Except that his Giant's Mask had a limit.

However, a sense of relief flowed through his arms all of a sudden. The Six Giants had gathered beside him, inspired by his determination, and used the last of their strength to shove the moon back into space. Cheren was touched by their assistance, and this gave him the strength to keep pushing. The moon was slowly inching back toward the heavens, and the kids smiled in excitement and relief. With a forceful shove from all seven Giants, the moon went flying back into space, and began its slow, calming rotation as if nothing ever happened.

"YAAAAAAYYYY!!!"

"AAAAAHHHH!!!" Melissa screamed from the heavens. "MY HOOOOOOUUUUUUSSSEE!!!!"

Cheren looked under his left foot and grinned sheepishly.

On the moon

Cheren returned to the moon after having shrunk back to normal, still in his deity form. Majora lay in his hole, still unconscious, as Cheren stared with slight pity. Cheren pulled out his Spirit Flute and did what he always did: played the Song of Healing. Doo-doo-dooo, doo-doo-dooo, doo-doo, do-do-dooooo.

Dim, purple light began to shine around the demon. He felt every ounce of incredible pain leave his body. He held himself up with one arm, his body still drenched in blood. "Mmmmm…" Majora released a calm, relaxed sigh. "I haven't heard that song…… for soooo many years… It always… calmed me down."

Cheren stood and stared, listening patiently.

"Heh… it seems Link's bloodline HAS reached far. It's even gotten… much stronger. Or… is that the Shadow Family's doing? Heheh." He looked up with a joking look.

Cheren remained silent. He would wait for Majora to finish.

Majora slumped down again and continued. "I cannot say… I'm not proud of the things I've done. My mask… has always been marked for evil. The darkness that lay in me… was always waiting to sprout out. One would look at me… and expect not much. This mask… was a symbol of my spiritual form. It showed what I was on the inside… on the outside…"

"Right…" Cheren spoke in his deeper, deity voice. "The mask doesn't define a character. It's what's inside of them."

"Hn hn hn. …I guess you're right." Majora looked back up. "But look at yourself. Look at me. Are we really that different from our outsides… as to our insides?"

"…I'm not sure. It depends on what else is inside… doesn't it?"

"Hnn…" Majora looked down, a smirk behind his mask. "You're right again." A silence followed. Majora still glowed as no sound was heard in this vastness of space. "Ahhh… what a marvelous life I've had. These past few days… and the days I've had back then. They all seem like so much…"

"It's too bad you couldn't live longer. You could be different." Cheren stated.

"Hnn hnn hnn… no… Even if I was meant to die here… I wouldn't change. Ahh… but how exciting was all of this. After all my years… of suspended life. I'm glad… to have met people like you."

"Hmm…"

"How your friendships… stick together. It's… intriguing.. to me. And Miyuki… aaahh, Miyuki. So unappreciated… so alike. It would've been nice to be able to take her. No one's ever… felt so close."

"Quit reminiscing." Cheren eye-rolled. "We're not finished here yet. Who are you? Where are you from?"

"Hmm…" Majora looked up, keeping his smirk. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

And Majora disappeared, leaving only his mask. Cheren approached the mask quietly, and was filled with slight disappointment.

You've got Majora's Mask! Congratulations! You've just freed the semi-innocent being that was kept imprisoned within the body of evil Majora! Now give this to the Mask Man!

"…I'll see you… again…"

Sector V's neighborhood. Yes, it's still Termina.

A few days passed, and Miyuki finally woke up. Bird chirps sounded through the air, and the cool spring winds breezed across the trees and grass (in case you forgot, this story was started in Spring =P). Tiny trickles of sunlight poured to her eyes through the breezing leaves as Cheren Uno stood smiling over her face. "Hey." He said friendly. "You awake, sleepy?"

"Mmmmm…" Miyuki lightly moaned, rubbing her forehead. Sector V, Merida, Panini, and Nerehc and Pablo were watching them, too, and afterwards directed their attention to the towering Giants looking down on them.

Miyuki frowned still, a look of sadness in her eyes. The Giants' tiny, beady eyes stared down at her, no emotion clear on their blank faces. "…Is this… my judgment?..." Miyuki spoke.

"Oooooom."

Miyuki stood up and faced her body towards them. Her head slumped downward, and her hands shook furiously. "I…I just want to say…" Her head shot up, eyes flowing with tears, "I'M HAPPY FOR HELPING HIM!" (Play the "Giants' Exit" from Majora's Mask.)

"RAAAWWWWRRR, raawwrr-rooorrr-rooorr-ROOOR-RAAARR." The earth quaked under the stomping of their giant feet as the colossal beings began to walk away. Miyuki fell to her knees and cried, and the kids ducked as one of their feet flew overhead, caught within the Giant's shadow. The six stomped in different directions, walking farther and farther until they vanished into the distance.

"HEEEY." Thomas yelled out. "CAN ONE OF YOU, um, CRUSH MY SCHOOL OR SOMETHING?"

One of the Giants squished a chunk of Gallagher Elementary and continued walking.

"OKAAAY. THAANKS."

The stomping echoed in the distance. They watched until the Giants were no longer visible over the horizon. Soon, they were gone, and everything fell to silence as Miyuki still cried.

Later… (Play "Gold and Oden (the second part)" from One Piece.)

The sky couldn't look more blue over Cleveland of Termina. The demons had cleared away from the land, and any houses that were crushed during the Moonfall were repaired. The Happy Mask Man hugged Majora's Mask warmly to his chest, his joyous eyes filled with hope and love. "Ahhh… the dawn of a new day." He spoke, voice hoarse from the tears that nearly formed. "Such a wonderful feeling." He lightened his grip on the mask, turning to face Cheren. "Well… now I finally have it back. …I knew you would. Ever since… that day…"

The Happy Mask Man was taking a calm stroll through the fields of DunBroch, his huge, heavy pack strapped tight to his back. Just then, the young brown-haired boy dashed by him, stopping in surprise. "Happy Mask Man!"

"Ooh?" the grinning man looked curiously at him. They spoke for a while. And then: "You rescued the Giant, have you? Such a task does not come small… Only one with vast courage would want to even try. It seems this land is safe now… thanks to you."

The Mask Man smiled at the memory. He never expected to see that kid hundreds of years later.

"Nnnck! Nnnck!" Young, seven-year-old Cheren swung and smacked his sword fast and hard as he could against the standing log in his front yard, his mother relaxed on the lawn chair. The Mask Man was just taking a casual stroll through the neighborhood, when the little boy caught his attention. The brown hair on his head. The chestnut eyes behind his thin, red glasses. He looked so familiar. He expressed a fire in his soul, similar to what he's seen before. He immediately knew… he wanted to know more about this kid.

The Mask Man kept his smile, staring off into space. He couldn't be more proud of the decision he made.

Cheren stared oddly at the smiling man. He was wondering what he was thinking about. But decided not to ask.

The Mask Man stashed the mask away and looked at Cheren. "It's like I told you before. Whenever there is a meeting, a parting is sure to follow. But that parting need not last forever. …And… it hasn't."

Cheren looked confused. He doesn't remember him telling him that.

The Mask Man grinned tearfully. "And now we must part again. Whether this parting be forever or merely a short time… that is up to you. …But I know… we'll see each other again." The Mask Man turned and began to walk away. He stopped and turned around, speaking again. "Oh yes. You seem to have made quite a number of people happy. The masks that you have are filled with happiness. This is truly a good happiness." Silence. "…But. While the world is saved from catastrophe… I am sure there are plenty more people out there who still desire happiness. If you are to leave… please come back sometime."

The Mask Man turned and pulled out a mask of a strange bird person, and slipped it on his face. Before their eyes, long, white wings sprouted from his back, and he soared across the heavens, vanishing on the horizon. (End song.)

As he left, Cheren turned back at Miyuki, her head still down, but she stopped crying. "Miyuki…" he spoke calmly, approaching and taking her hands. "I know you really wanted to help him. But I…I had to stop him. And the truth is, I am trying to be like my mom. But that's not the only reason I wanted to save you. I really do like you as a friend, Miyuki. And Sector IC likes you as a friend, too. You just have to give them a chance." She didn't look up. Her eyes glanced away. "…I just… wanted you to know that." Cheren let go, and was about to walk off.

Miyuki suddenly touched his shoulder, and he flinched lightly. "No…" He turned around as she still kept her head down. "I realize now… that no matter what anyone does… will be based on selfish reasons. …But…" Cheren listened intently. Miyuki looked up and faced him. "I guess it depends… if their selfishness… can be good, or not." She walked in front of him, the sadness seeming to have left her frowning face. "My decision to help Majora… his decision to destroy the world. …Your decision to be like your mother. …I will try to see… the good side in them." And to Cheren's surprise, Miyuki sported a light smile. "I would like to spend time with Sector IC now."

Cheren gave a happy smile. "Eh heheh!"

At that moment, a strange Brown Chuchu and a Blue Chuchu wobbled their way over. The Sector V kids readied their weapons, putting on serious looks. "Think these guys need one more lesson?" Melissa asked.

"Hold on." Cheren stopped them. The Uno boy stepped closer and observed them. There was a particular look about them. "…Zach? Maddy?"

The twin blobs frowned grumpily. Behind them, a simple, skinny Stalfos wobbled its way over, grinning confusedly. Cheren stared in disbelief. This was Bright Idea. "…Ehh… I'll fix them when I get back."

Delightful Mansion From Down The Lane

The kids entered Father's throne room, staring up at the wide, circular portal device. "So THIS is what both Fathers used to travel between dimensions?" Melissa asked.

Truman walked over to the portal's controls and pressed the big, red button, and the portal immediately sparked to life. "It seems that way. And it looks like it's already marked for 'Hyrule.'"

"Then I guess this is good-bye." Cheren figured.

"Awwww." Kellie looked sad. "Do you reeaallyyy have to goooo?"

"Heheheh!" Cheren chuckled. "I'm afraid I do. But hey, I'll come to see you again."

Kellie grinned cheerfully.

"Oh yeah!" Melissa beamed. "We got you a little parting gift!" she reached into her rear pocket and pulled out a bottle with a tiny, dizzy Father inside it. "You kinda dropped your bottle, and I figured, what better way to hold him? We made sure he was yours, so don't worry."

"Mmmmnn, don't take the rocky ROOOAD, Mommy…"

The kids burst into excited, joyous laughter.

Cheren took the bottle and asked, "Oh yeah, what about your Father?"

"Well, since we were in the Decommissioning Room, anyway, we decided to erase his memory of the whole Majora thing." Thomas explained. "By tomorrow, he'll be back to his regular plans."

"We should hide this portal somewhere safe, though." Celeste suggested.

"Heheh, yeah." Cheren agreed.

"So, THIS is a TV?" Merida asked, curiously observing the rectangular device by Father's throne. "It looks like a magic mirror." She glared into the black screen, seeing her dim reflection. "That doesn't reflect very well."

"Man, what year is this girl FROM, anyway?" Thomas remarked.

Cheren shook his head playfully. Miyuki approached the Scottish time-traveler and handed her a bag of light-blue dust. "Here. You might need this to get back."

"Hm-hm! Thanks!" Merida smiled.

Nerehc sighed, "All right, are we done with the farewells? I want my mom to kill me as less as possible. Unless I can blame it on Arorua." The Zach and Maddy blobs jumped, saying that they agree.

"Yeah, I guess we should." Cheren said. (Play "To the Grand Line" from One Piece.)

Cheren, Nerehc, Panini, and Miyuki, as well as the Zach, Mad, and Bright Idea monsters, stood before the spiraling gateway, the brightness reflecting off their gaze as the way back home stood before them. The four kids turned back at the smiling, waving Terminan Kids Next Door. "Take caaaaare!" Truman called.

"Come back sometiiiiime!" Melissa called.

"Come and play RAINBOW MONKEYS with meee!" Kellie grinned cheerfully.

"And let's go to the park!" Celeste called.

"We could train together sometime!" Thomas said.

"Time Gates are always open, sorta!" Merida called.

"Justo así, señor Nerehc! Ven a verme otra vez! (Fair well, Mister Nerehc! Come and see me again!)"

"GOOD luck with that, buddy." Nerehc smirked, not understanding a word.

"And, guys, you know we're only a few inches away?" Cheren mentioned, questioning their yelling.

"Well, just in case you can't hear us through the portal." Celeste stated.

"Heheheheh!" Cheren laughed.

"Dude, I will NEVER forget that laugh." Melissa retorted.

"Heheheh!" Cheren laughed again. "I DO use it a lot."

"Hm hm hm! I don't wanna forget it."

"Heheheh! Thanks." Zach and Maddy impatiently bumped Cheren from the sides, their eyes furrowing. "Okay, okay, we'll go!"

Zach, Maddy, and Bright Idea were the first to enter the portal, shrinking into the pinkness. The four remaining kids faced their Terminan friends one more time. "Hm…" Cheren smirked. "I'll come back."

"I hope you do." Harry said.

"He'll have to talk with me about that." Nerehc stated.

"Ahhh, make it a surprise!" Melissa grinned.

"Hm…" Cheren really didn't want to leave these kids. Despite the little drama that's happened, he really enjoyed his time in this world. The whole adventure was exciting. And traveling with them made it even better. He hoped to see them again. And he could tell, they felt the same way, too.

The four kids stepped into the spiraling vortex, smiling and waving as they slowly shrunk into the pinkness. The seven operatives and Pablo waved and waved and waved, long after the operatives had vanished from sight. They didn't want to say good-bye. But maybe, they didn't have to. They would see each other again. They knew it… After all, they would leave the portal open when they could.

End transmission.

(Play "Ending 15" from One Piece.)

Operation: MASKED: Cast:
Sharon Mann as Cheren Uno, Nerehc Onu, and Harry Uno

Jennifer Hale as Panini Drilovsky

Upon their return to Hyrule Dimension, Cheren was met with hugs from his brother, his sister, and especially his mother. Panini, on the other hand, was facing a storm of angry shouts from Francis, whom hadn't let go of the fact that Panini dumped the job of Supreme Temporary Leader on him.

Melissa Fahn as Miyuki Crystal

Scott McGregor as George King

MaKayla Rogers as MaKayla King

Dee Bradley Baker as Terry Stork

Tom Kenny as Zach Murphy

Tara Strong as Maddy Murphy

Sector IC was very happy to see Miyuki returned safely to them, getting hugs from Lola and MaKayla. And for the first time ever, she was glad to be back.

Rachael MacFarlane as Rachel Uno, Aurora Uno, Arorua Onu, and Lehcar EiznekCm

Matt Levin as Thomas Drilovsky and Francis Drilovsky

Arorua's hair and clothing were a mess, near the edge of insanity if she failed to find her brother. Nerehc suddenly walked up behind her downtown and greeted, and Arorua gave a blood-hurdling scream. She embraced her brother in an excited, crazy, relieved hug, as Nerehc questioned what was wrong. Arorua, in a very calm, relieved voice, said nothing, and calmly walked home with her brother.

Tony Goldwyn as Tarzan

Lance Henriksen as Kerchak

Robin Atkin Downes as Captain Slag

Wally Wingert as Rusty Pete

Cheren had given Slag's Mask to Rusty Pete before leaving. The skinny first mate was happily slow-dancing around the deck of the ship, holding Slag's Mask romantically. From his room, Sprocket rolled his eyes in disgust, muttering "Sissy," before returning to water his plants.

Lauren Tom as Kellie Beatles, Lola Stork, Celeste Stork, and Terezi Pyrope

Ted Lewis as Truman Kirman

Kelly Macdonald as Merida DunBroch

Grey DeLisle as Mikaela Dimalanta

A strange, shiny white mask with a fancy design hovered and spun slowly onscreen. This was a side quest that had yet to be completed.

Mark Hamill as Majora

Maurice LaMarche as Father A and Father B

Aaron Spann as Zanifr Mimchi

Ahmed Best as Gekko

Chopper Bernet as Karkat Vantas

Kari Wahlgren as Vriska Serket

KND by Mr. Warburton

Original Majora's Mask by Nintendo

OCs by Gamewizard2008, Numbuh 6.13, CodeLyokoIsTheBest, and others.

Published by FanFiction

Presented by Gamewizard2008

…

…

Cleveland Beach; Hyrule Dimension

The sun was nearly set over the horizon. Waves brushed against the sands and jagged rocks as Majora's Mask lay on its back, the waves washing across its face. Zanifr Mimchi, in his normal, grey-skinned form, felt around his heart-shaped face. He was back in his pale purple pants and black shirt with a purple heart symbol. He was normal again.

Footsteps were heard behind him. Stepping across the sand, another grey-skinned being, with horns that formed a heart, silky, raven hair, and a shirt with a curvy, smiley face, held the mask of the Happy Mask Man in his hands, his grin matching the grin of the salesman's.

Zanifr still couldn't believe it himself. He couldn't find the words. "…I'm back."

"yoU are!" ^U^

"…It still feels… so weird." ovMvo

"yoU have very strange type." C=

"Hm hm. It is not great, but it's MMine."

The two stood in silence for a few moments, staring at the setting sun under the dark blue sky. "…yoU maDe a Deal with Vriska?"

"Yes…"

"I tolD yoU not to talk with her."

"She is MMisunderstood."

^__^

More silence. The waves sounded nice to their ears.

"The air in this world is very strange." ovMvo

"it's lovely, thoUgh."

"…Are there others, do you think?"

"there jUst may be. …if there are… I woUld like to see them." ^D^

"I MMay, too."

A few more moments of quiet.

"…yoU maDe GoD Tier." Sanula smiled happily.

"Hmmmm. Not the way I expected."

"bUt still… yoU shoUld feel mUCh better."

"That all depends…"

The two left the beach after awhile. Their two masks were left in the sand, Majora's creepy stare and Sanula's joyous grin, as the waves washed over their faces.


And so… Operation: MASKED is done. We've had a good run; almost a whole year. Not as long as Firstborn, but this story DEFINITELY falls second place. And now, our final thoughts. …I… loved writing this. I'm really proud of how this story turned out. I was able to write out nearly an entire Zelda game, even if the puzzles weren't the greatest. But, as far as action stages and boss battles go, this story had the best of all of them in my series. Heck, even better than Firstborn's, 'course Firstborn is greater than this. But I'm really proud of how this story turned out. So thanks to Numbuh 227, Depthcharge, CosmicFourze, Epik, One Earth, NuclearPixelemental, Uniparrot20, LegendaryFlame, and anyone else who read through this the whole way (assuming no one got lazy on the levels ), here's to the greatest story in the Nextgen Series thus far. Next time, the end of the Viridi Saga, Viridi's Last Stand. I will see you later.

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…

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…….I miss Captain Slag. :,(