The recently opened Spirit Tracks have two stations. The first, Disorientation Station is way up in the northwest corner of the Fire Realm. From the station, Zelda sees a castle guard and wonder what brought him all the way out here. When Link gets close to the guard, the guard asks him the same question. Link turns the question back around, and the guard explains he came out treasure hunting with a friend. They got separated when the guard ran from a plant monster, and Zelda’s not impressed with him. To be fair, the guard isn’t holding himself in high regard right now, either, and asks Link to poke around in the caves to find out what happened. The caves are a maze of similar-looking rooms, so it’s easy to get lost, which seems to have been the guard’s fate. He left a stone saying he was going to die in the maze and apologizing for his plot to claim the treasure himself. There’s no body, but the treasure is still there, so he didn’t abscond with it. The treasure, an Alchemy Stone, is guarded by a Fire Baba, presumably the plant monster that split the guard and his friend. The guard’s grateful to know about his friend’s fate and final message, and not only lets Link keep the Stone but gives him 100 rupees on top of it.
The second new station is on the east side of the Ocean Realm. This station is a pirate hideout, and there’s a stamp station here, of all places. Inside the actual hideout, Link discovers a man who’s been kidnapped by the pirates. Rescuing him involves an archery minigame in three phases. In the first, Miniblins run in front of the cage and try to capture Link while he shoots them with arrows. Once that’s done, Link and the man jump in a minecart for a ride to safety while Miniblins ride up in their own carts. As they near the exit, the final phase begins, with the goal of taking down the Big Blin guarding the exit before Link gets in range of its club.
The man talks a girlfriend in Papuchia Village and asks Link to take him back to her. The pirates make a last-ditch attempt at retrieving the man, including a tougher-than-usual ship, and delivers the man safely to his waiting gi… eesh, this is awkward. Yeah, she’s the woman who Link set up with the Whittleton chief. (She says “there never was any ‘us,’” so… yeah.) Thankfully, Link got the Force Gem before the train detoured to Awkward Station, so he can now explore a new set of tracks that includes another ocean rabbit and a warp gate between the Ocean and Forest Realms. He can also go back to the Pirate Hideout to play the archery minigame again, for a pair of Goron children who keep getting themselves captured to liberate treasure from the pirates, which they share with Link, in addition to the other quiver upgrade and another heart container.
Anjean’s nowhere to be seen as the Spirit Train pulls into the Tower of Spirits, but Link and Zelda don’t need to her to tell them how to get started. The new area’s Phantoms are Wrecker Phantoms, which turn into a wrecking ball and roll after Link, smashing anything less sturdy than the dungeon walls along the way, and of course Zelda gets that ability after she takes over one of them. The drawback is that she can’t carry hold items or carry Link across lava, so once they’re done with needing the Wrecker’s abilities, they find a group of normal Phantoms after a miniboss fight against Stalfos, Geozards, and rats (to keep Phantom Zelda from just rolling over everything). The normal Phantom’s abilities are needed for the final puzzles, including another Boss Key electrified so only Phantom Zelda can handle it while Link protects her from Key Masters.
Finally, the two come face-to-face with Byrne, who says Malladus’ resurrection is nearly complete, and he “can’t let [Link and Zelda] cause any more harm.” (Zelda: “Hey, that’s what we were going to say! Well… maybe WE won’t let YOU cause any more harm!”) Byrne fights Link and Zelda in an octagonal arena, hopping from the posts around the arena and sending attacks down. The beams bounce harmlessly off the Phantom, but he as a more powerful attack that can stun Zelda. His other attack, with his clawed gauntlet, can pin Link or Zelda down and the other has to free them. If the gauntlet misses, Zelda can grab it to pull Byrne down so Link can get a few hits in. After a few rounds of this, Byrne stays in the arena for Link to fight, except when he charges up an attack that Link lets the Phantom absorb, then Zelda holds Byrne for some more free shots. Eventually, Byrne admits defeat, and Zelda lectures him on the power of teamwork, then turns to Link for a fist bump. While they’re caught up doing this, Byrne slips out the door as the music comes crashing to a halt. Link and Zelda chase after him. (“Wait! We’re not done with you!”) This is seriously what happens. I love this game’s writing so much.
At the top of the spiral staircase on the outside of the tower, Byrne arrives to a disappointed Cole. Still, the time he bought allows Malladus to revive and possess Zelda’s body. Byrne asks for the power he wants, and Malladus zaps him. Cole comes over and taunts him for ever believing that would happen. However, Malladus is still too weak to do more than that, so Cole summons the Demon Train to make an escape.
Next: Upgrading weapons.
