The Plane of Shadows [Moonshadow] - COMPLETE

Triton bit his tongue, hurrying to step back when his colourless self raised his head to look at him, a cocky and triumphant smile on his face at the sight of Triton's shock and confusion. Thria, next to him, seemed less panicky. "Finally," she said, shivering with poorly contained excitement. "Something to beat up on without it running away."

"She looks like she has your weapons, though," Triton said. It was a good bet she would also have access to the fire spell, the electric aura, and the boomerang fins. "Won't that be dangerous for you?"

"Are you bullshitting me?" Thria said, cracking her knuckles, "I've been dying to meet an opponent who I can go all-out against!" With that, she took the halberd in two hands and jumped towards her copy, which didn't waste any words and instead opened her own offensive.

Triton turned to his copy, who watched the two female Zoras get started before turning back to him. Much like the original, he held a cane in one hand and had a pack around his shoulder. Knowing what was in that pack, Triton assumed that he would be in for quite the battle and gripped his cane a little tighter. Still, now that his opponent had a fixed, corporeal form... "Who are you?" he said, making sure to speak clearly. "And where is this place?"

"We are Panopticon," his copy said, speaking with three voices; and then Triton realised that no, this one copy did not speak with three voices, but all three of their copies had spoken in unison. "We protect the shadow of the moon. You are intruders. You will be dealt with."

"Your 'Shadow of the Moon' is leaking into our land of Hyrule and spawning monsters that threaten it," Triton attempted to negotiate. "Please- we will leave if you shut the portal! If you don't, our world will..." he looked at the void beyond their battle arena.

Panopticon only smiled. "As planned," it said. That was all Triton needed to know. This being was their enemy; an enemy of Hyrule. as he gripped his cane with two hands, Panopticon did the same.

Countering his own spells would make for very interesting practice, the Zora wizard decided. Perhaps Thria was on to something.

Thria and Fion were too occupied with their own copies, so Triton would be dependent on his own abilities to destroy his. He circled his adversary, waiting to see what he would do as well as trying to come up with a strategy. He knew there were two vials of Red Potion left in his pack. It was a fair guess to assume his copy had those, too. He would have to neutralise them, otherwise the battle would take too long. He had to finish it quickly, with the void closing in. Yes, destroying the pack was his top priority.

His copy did nothing, so Triton experimentally cast a Fireball directed at the pack. It was a projectile in the end, so he didn't suppose it would be very useful- and indeed, his opponent simply cast an instance of Nayru's Affection to send the spell hurtling harmlessly away from it. Think, Triton told himself. Panopticon's last form had had a core that served as its weak point. Dodging out of the way of the other wizard's own Fire, Triton hurried to assemble his Familiar once more, and gave it a directive: "Find." The cat-like spectre hurried off, and Triton told himself he would see what it had found periodically.

For now, he would have to survive Panopticon's attacks. After the Fire spell, the doppelganger closed the distance between him and Triton and pulled up an Electric Aura, forcing Triton to do the same before he would get shocked. The two opposed currents pulled each other closer, and Triton was sent reeling when his copy struck him in the neck with its cane. Stronger, faster... and smarter, apparently. "Just you wait," Triton muttered as he got to his feet, using Blizzard to keep his copy at a distance, "Wait until I find your core."

As Triton regained his physical balance, he also regained his mental balance and his composure. One thing was clear: he couldn't fight this enemy as he would fight anyone else. His copy had already proven that it could think a step ahead by predicting Triton would use his aura to shield himself from the other's. Thus, he would have to do the same. He'd already seen once that it knew how to deflect Fire with Nayru's Affection. Maybe he could take advantage of that...

Both wizards waited until the Zora warriors had passed by between them, hacking away at each other, before they turned their attention to each other again. Triton didn't wait; his plan would not work if he allowed his adversary to take the initiative. Instead, he thrust his cane forward, launching a Fireball. "Have you not deduced that that will not work?" They all said, his copy swinging its own cane in front of itself and using Nayru's Affection to deflect it. What was worse, was that the angle at which the fireball struck the shield sent it back in Triton's direction.

If he expected to see panic on Triton's face, however, he was in for a nasty surprise. Instead of panicking and dodging, Triton swung his cane in a wide arc in front of himself, casting Nayru's Affection, himself, and sending the spell hurtling back to his copy once more. Still recovering from the last time he had cast it, the Panopticon couldn't get another Nayru's Affection out in time and took the Fireball to the chest, where it dissipated, but the clone doubled over and clutched his chest. "Not so smart now, is it?" Triton asked, "Taking the form of a race that is so weak to so many different elements?"

The moment he'd spoken to his copy, Triton knew that he had cracked it. It had not only taken his form, but also his traits. Quite simply put, when assuming the form of a Zora, it had also assumed all the weaknesses of the race. And as a fascinating coincidence, Triton had a number of spells up his sleeve that allowed him to take advantage of those weaknesses. Fire was only an option when he could cast Nayru's Affection, that much was clear, and the Electric Aura put both of them at risk.

He looked up when a dull thud caught his attention, seeing that Thria had managed to violently shove her copy to the ground. As he did so, however, his own copy got a chance to get up, reaching into his pack. "Oh no," Triton said, "You won't!" With his copy's hands occupied, he felt safe throwing a Fireball at it, and as anticipated it struck it in the hand, causing it to reel and drop the vial it had retrieved. It crashed onto the ground, breaking and spilling its contents. "Don't bother," Triton said, his cane still held forward as if to cast another spell. "I won't give you a chance to undo my hard work."

"You will not succeed," Panopticon said. "Even if you best me, you will perish here."

That gave Triton pause. The creature said it without any emotion. It didn't seem capable of emotion, so... there was no telling whether it was telling the truth or trying to unbalance its adversary. Finally, he swallowed. "I care not. I came here to save Hyrule by closing the portal. At any cost."

With that, the two Zoras rushed towards each other, once more summoning their Electric Auras in an attempt to pull one another in for what could be a decisive blow if either was not careful.

The two auras locked together, Triton struggling to keep his going. He had to outlast the other somehow. However, his reflection seemed to have had the same idea, and both auras went down simultaneously. They were equals, Triton realised. Ideally, Thria would help him by bashing his monochrome self upside the head or gutting him, but she was still occupied with her own; although her warcries had silenced not long ago and he assumed she was getting tired. still, she didn't cry out in pain either, so she was not yet at a stage where she absolutely needed his help.

He jolted back to attention when he felt heat sizzling by his ear and he ducked, dodging his opponent's Fire spell. He had to stay focused. If he could get a good hit in on the brain or the core, he should at least be able to put the body out of commission, even if the consciousness wasn't. Looking behind him, he saw the void coming ever closer. He had to act NOW. Take out his reflection, back up Thria, and save Fion. He leapt forward, a flash of silver glinting by in the corner of his eye. Grinning, he conjured up a Fire in the palm of his hand, ready to push it towards his opponent.

"Have you learnt nothing?" Panopticon asked, starting to raise its own hand. However, before it could cast whatever spell it was going to, something leapt up behind it, colliding with its shoulders. The impact caused it to double over, more with surprise than with pain or weight, and Triton pushed the Fire into its face.

"It's you who's learnt nothing," he simply said. "You can copy my conventional spells, but you hadn't counted on my new cantrip. Most likely on account of its lack of immediate use in combat." He smiled as he looked at his Familiar, sitting triumphantly atop the shoulders of the cringing and wailing Panopticon. "Knowledge is half the battle. Inventiveness is the other half." He turned around, his Familiar following. "Remember that, in case you ever fight anyone again."

He turned around to help Thria, only to see her standing straight, her halberd sticking out of her copy's unmoving chest. "And that," his sister finished, "was for Nereid and Finnagan. They say hi, you little shit." She looked up at Triton, and he saw tears glittering on her cheek. Patting her on the shoulder, the twins turned and made a run to Fion's side.