Malladus’ spirit is in Zelda’s body, leaving Link a limited amount of time to drive him out before he figures out what he’s doing and becomes unstoppable. So, in the grand tradition of heroes that, to be fair, extend far and wide beyond the Zelda series, Link decides to blow off the final stages of the quest to wrap up sidequests. The first stop is back at the Sand Sanctuary, where Rael wants to study the cuccos’ defensive abilities, so he asks Link to bring him some from the castle. After the quest is completed, the cuccos wander around the sanctuary, and Link can grab one to glide over to the stamp station.
Bringing cuccos to Rael also gives another Force Gem, this one unlocking rails in the northeast corner of the Fire Realm. The last mountain rabbit is here, as well as the Ends of the Earth Station. This station has three caves, each with a series of rolling block puzzles. The first set (“Brainteaser”) is about as hard as the ones in the Sand Temple and rewards a rare treasure and 100 rupees for completion. The second set (“Braintwister”) is a bit tougher – there are multiple blocks with limited room to maneuver, so careful planning is required, and sometimes moving a completed block off its square. The reward is the final heart container and another 100 rupees. The final set is called “Brainmasher,” and… yeah. Each puzzle has three blocks and very little room; the last one just has the three starting spaces and three ending spaces. The reward for this one is a Regal Ring that he gets to keep, plus another 100 rupees.
Ferrus has sent Link another letter, asking to be picked up again. This time he’s in the Fire Realm and wants to sea the underwater rails. Fortunately, the evil trains are gone from underwater, leaving Link just the occasional Octorok to deal with. (I wonder if Ferrus would really leave the train underwater if things went badly enough? On the one hand, it doesn’t seem like the smartest idea, but on the other, it doesn’t look like it’s that far to the surface, so if he can swim, he’d probably make it. Also, he’s sharing the passenger car with Anjean and Byrne, which should blow his mind, but he sadly never comments.) Ferrus is delighted to see the Ocean Temple, which earns Link another Force Gem, unlocking rails connecting the eastern Fire Realm with the area around the Sand Temple.
The new tracks lead through a tunnel to a Dark Ore Mine. Linebeck had mentioned wanting Dark Ore, so Link buys some to haul down there. It disappears in the sun, and there’s exactly one path using tunnels and warp gates that’s fast enough to get it there before too much melts. That path leads back through the tunnel Link came through to reach the mine in the first place, and when entering from the direction of the Dark Ore Mine, it’s guarded by a Rocktite. This one has the same eye-closed approach that the big eye in the shadows did, and the Tektites in the tunnel don’t stop coming just cause the big one’s awake now. Link can only take one hit without losing too much ore. The mercy is that, once the Rocktite is killed, it doesn’t come back, so Link can try again and only have to fend off Tektites. The Force Gem reward opens a loop in the southeast corner of the Ocean Realm.
The final Ocean rabbit, and the 50th and final rabbit overall, is found near the new tracks, and there’s another station in the area, the Lost at Sea Station. Here, in a cave indicated by a laser beacon and blown open with a bomb, Link finds a gossip stone saying there’s a special temple. The temple is protected by Phantoms, and inside, Link can’t use his sword or bow (so Zelda can’t take over a Phantom to help out). Each floor of the temple has a special challenge. First, Link needs to evade normal Phantoms and light torches. The second floor has Torch Phantoms, and Link needs to blow out all the torches. This is probably the hardest floor, because there’s no map. (Thankfully, the Phantoms don’t relight torches already blown out.) The third floor has Warp Phantoms, Phantom Eyes, and paired fish heads that Link needs to pull the right cord of or more Phantom Eyes show up. The fourth floor has a bunch of walls to blow up and Wrecker Phantoms to help if Link can’t do it himself. On the last floor, there’s one Phantom of each type, and all Link needs to do is slip by them and grab their treasures. The final reward is a second Regal Ring.
Link now has enough ultra-rare treasure to buy the four Golden Train cars; this is when I farmed all the treasure I needed to unlock all the trains. This was done through a mixture of minigames (useful for the ones that drop fairly often), manipulating the DS’ clock date and checking stores, and mailing in Prize Postcards (a vast improvement from Phantom Hourglass – they can be bought in the Castle Town store, Link can mail up to 20 a day, and winning actually gives a prize, usually the first prize which is a rare or ultra-rare treasure). Also, with all fifty rabbits caught, in addition to the treasure awarded for each complete subset, Link is awarded a Swordsman’s Scroll which teaches him to shoot sword beams at full health.
Next: Waka waka waka waka.
