Ari --------------------------------------------------------------------- THE LEGEND OF ZERENA Disclaimers: All mandatory disclaimers apply to Naoko Taeuchi for Sai- lor Moon and Nintendo of America's Shigeru Miyamoto for The Legend of Zelda. =====CHAPTER 5: THE PALACE OF DARKNESS===== "Oh, man...." Tuxedo Mask and Link took a long look around from their vantage point atop the Pyramind of Power. The sky took on a blood red glow, except for the hues of gold and yellow where the sun was setting. The ground was a pale shade of greenish-brown, possibly unsuitable for growing anything. Strange monsters wandered all around. "This is the Golden Land?" Tuxedo Mask asked. "It was," Link answered, "until Ganon entered and found the Triforce. Now, this, THIS is what's left of once a beautiful world." "I can't believe this." Tuxedo Mask looked around again. "So how do we get down from here?" They looked around again, and saw a flight of steps leading down the pyramind, and branching off into sev- eral other flights on its way down. "Let's try the steps," Link said with a hint of sarcasm, as the two headed down the pyramid. When they got to the last several steps, just before the nearly dead soil, several cyclopses, walking, biting bushes, and spear throwing dog-men were wandering around the pyramid's terrace. "Whoa," Tuxedo Mask said. "I dunno about you, but these guys are freaking me out already." Just then, one of the cyclopses caught them out of the corner of its eye, turned, and threw a bomb at the two. "Yow, look out!" Tuxedo Mask and Link dove away from the bomb in opposite directions, as the bomb broke up some of the steps. But Tuxedo Mask found that a dog-man had thrown a spear that landed right between his legs, and dangerously close to his crotch. Within minutes, the field had been cleared of the monsters, leaving Tuxedo Mask and Link alone. They had also picked up a number of rupees, bombs, arrows, and a few bags of magic powder. "So where do we go from here?" Tuxedo Mask asked. "I think I can work out a plan," Link said as he pulled out a map from a map from his pouch. "This is a map of the Golden Land." They kneeled down, placed the map on the ground, and looked it over. "Here's what we'll do. The Golden Land, or the Dark World, is general- divided into nine areas. The center, where we are, is the Pyramid of Power; the former home of the King of the Golden Land. "I understand that your friends are locked away in several pal- aces, one in each other section. The first six are on this plain, and the last, is located high upon Death Mountain. We'll tackle that one last. "In the meantime, we'll divide the other six up between us, so that we'll rescue them faster. I'll handle the ones in the west: The Village of Outcasts, Skull Forest, and Misery Mire." "So what does that leave me with?" Tuxedo Mask asked. "Can you handle the ones in the southwest? They're the Palace of Darkness, the Great Swamp, and Ice Cavern." "I'll do it." "Excellent." He dug into his pouch. "Here, I wanna give you a few items that'll help you on your half of the journey. Gimme your hat." Tuxedo Mask took off his top hat, and Link deposited several i- tems into it, including, as Link explained, a bow, a supply of bombs, a number of bombs, a boomerang, and two bottles, one filled with a blue liquid, and one that was empty. He also placed a gold medalion, with four crescents fixed in a spiral fashion. Like they were in his pouch, the items shrunk down to the size of quarters and nickles, so they'd all fit. After that, they wished each other good luck, and headed off in opposite directions.... As Tuxedo Mask explored the outer perimeters of the palace, de- feating a host of bomb-tossing cyclopses, octorocks, and wolf knights, he came across a circle of stones at the end of a river. For a while, he just stared at it. Then, he piced up a stone, and skipped it across the water. It skipped once, twice, three times and into the circle of stones. A moment later, a fish skeleton shot up and back into the wat- er. Followed by a loud rumbling, and then a giant catfish appearing in the middle of the circle. "What do you want?!" the catfish asked. "Look," Tuxedo Mask said, drawing his cane. "I don't want any trouble from-" "Was it YOU who disturbed my sleep?" It threw a strange, gold medalion at Tuxedo Mask. "I will give you this if you JUST GO AWAY!!!" And with that, the fish disappeared under the water. He touched it with the white end of his cane, and the symbol - a fragment of ground being split apart - appeared on the side. As he headed back to the palace, he noticed an elaborate hedge maze before the castle gates. About halfway through, he was approached by a small, blue monkey. "Who are you?" Tuxedo Mask asked. "Ki ki ki ki!" the monkey replied. "Ooo, I'm Kiki!" "Hello there, Kiki." "I love rupees more than anything! Could you spare ten rupees for me?" Tuxedo Mask thought for a while, and eventually went into his hat and pulled out two blue rupees (one blue rupee = 5 rupees) for the monkey. "Yeah, here you go," he said as Kiki jumped and shouted at the site of the shiny, multifaceted stones. Then, the monkey climbed up onto Tuxedo Mask's shoulder. "Ooo! I'll come with you for a while." Kiki stayed atop his shoulder as he made his way through the rest of the hedge maze. When they got through the final clearing, they beheld the palace. Beside the grand staircase that led to the entrance, giant statues of gorillas were standing guard. He went up the stairs to the front door. To find that it was locked up tight. "Dammit!" He pounded the door with his fist. "It's locked up tight." He pulled on the handle. Nothing happened. He tried bombs. The door didn't budge. He even tried using his newfound Quake magic. But the door stood solid, mocking him. Suddenly, Kiki started jumping up and down on his shoulder, excited. "Ki ki ki ki!" the monkey shouted. "For 100 rupees, I'll open the door for you." Seeing he was out of options, he gladly paid five red rupees (one red rupee = 20 rupees) to the greedy monkey. "Ooo ooo ooo ooo...oooooooo! Okay, I'll keep my promise to you now, ki ki!" Ki ki hopped off of Tuxedo Mask's shoulder, and onto the roof of the palace. He proceeded to the left, and jumped on a switch. The door slowly creaked open, and the monkey left. This was indeed a strange palace! Dangerous traps, freaky ene- mies, seemingly endless holes, all possibly too much for one man to ex- plore. Deep within the palace, he came across a narrow walkway, about two yards wide that stretched all the way across the room. He took five steps forward, and suddenly, the floor began to crumble behind him. As he ran down the corridor, he noticed a small ledge with a big treasure chest on it. "What do you suppose is in that thing?" Tuxedo Mask thought a- loud. He headed into a room that was nearest to the ledge, and found it was completely dark. Feeling his way around the room, he tripped and hit his head on a wall... ...which gave a hollow clonking sound. "What was that?" After tapping the wall again with his cane, and getting the same sound, he decided to try placing a bomb where the funny-sounding wall was. When the bomb exploded, it was discovered that the wall was hollow; that's why it gave off that sound. Turns out also that the new door led to the same ledge where the big chest was. As he pushed it o- pen and looked in, he saw a giant gold sledgehammer in the chest. He picked up the hammer, and developed a wicked grin on his face.... As Tuxedo Mask proceeded down the last corridor before the fin- al room, he ran into some tortoises. He smashed the nearby ground with the hammer, turning them on their backs, and then smacked them with his cane. As they disappeared into a puff of smoke, he picked up some red hearts, which restored his strength. Then, he entered the final room. And beheld a horrible sight. High above the room, a large crystal was stuck in the ceiling. Sailor Uranus' horrified face looking back at him. Directly in front of him, a giant demon with a huge, shiny blue mask was staring back at him. It was the giant Helmasaur King. "SO IT IS YOU WHO IS TRYING TO SAVE THE SEVEN MAIDENS," the Helmasaur King asked. He then whipped his long tail from behind him, and slammed its spiked end into Tuxedo Mask. "I am!" he retorted. He grabbed his hammer and charged at the King, and when the hammer slammed into the mask, it shattered into a million pieces. When the mask fell off, the demon's true face was shown, a large green orb glowing on its forehead. "IS THAT THE BEST YOU CAN DO?!" said Helmasaur King. "No." Tuxedo Mask dipped his hand into his hat, and pulled out the bow and arrow. He drew back the arrow, and one hit right in the center of the orb. This caused a scream of agony, and another huge tail whip. Only this time, the tail missed, and broke off a large chunk of the inner wall. Another arrow found home, this time, provok- ing a fireblast that split into three sections, which then split into four sections of their own. Each one of them missed. With a final arrow, the Helmasaur King let out one last scream. The tail exploded section by section until it was gone, and then the monster exploded violently. When the dust cleared, the giant crystal encasing Sailor Uranus stood before him. ~Tuxedo Mask, because of you, I can escape the clutches of the evil monsters. Thank you,~ she spoke. "Are you alright?" ~I will be alright. The others, on the other hand, are still in grave danger, waiting for you and Link to rescue them. Go southwest of here, to the Watergate Dungeon. Do you understand?~ "I do, Sailor Uranus." ~After you rescue us, we will return to our original forms, back in our own world. We are counting on you two.~ With that, the crystal, and Sailor Uranus disappeared, leaving Tuxedo Mask alone in the center of the room. "I will rescue them. I promise." He could hear her speaking again. ~Good luck, Tuxedo Mask. And may the way of the Hero lead you to the Triforce....~ =====TO BE CONTINUED=====