Chapter 26: Link vs. Whitlock! Link's New Power!

Whitlock stared at Link, perplexed. "How in the world can such a young boy be so strong?" Link began to pick up the hammer to swing it, but suddenly, he dropped it. It was like Link was waving it around in zero-gravity, and then someone flipped the switch of gravity back on. The hammer lay in front of Link, but he couldn't pick it up anymore. Whitlock, taking this to his advantage, ran up to Link and began to cock back his fist. "You may have taken my hammer but I still have the strength of fifteen men!"

He threw his first fist, but before he hit Link, Link's strength fluttered once more and he became stronger than before. The hammer flew up from the ground with such speed that he hit Whitlock by accident. The hammer smacked directly into Whitlock's head, and then flew from Link's hands and away from the battlefield. "Navi!" Navi, for the first time in the battle, broke from her intense thought about Link and his new strength. She looked at Link, and finally noticed something. "Holy crap, he's cut! Just look at that gash!" She observed Link's gash, still open and bloody, and was silent for a minute. "Navi!" This time, his voice was sterner.

"Yes, Link?" She yelled back.

"Follow that hammer and make sure it doesn't hit any of the people in this town!" Link commanded. Without another word, she turned into fairy form and flew toward the direction the hammer went. Finally, it was just Link and Whitlock. After a minute, Whitlock got up after the blow from the hammer and shook his head.

"I guess I know what that feels like now!" Whitlock commented. "You'll pay for that." Whitlock threw a punch at Link, who dodged in time. His fist hit the ground, leaving a small crater-like mark. "I got a 14,000,000 rupee bounty, you know? I won't be beaten so easily!" Whitlock shot off his second punch, and this time hit Link in the face. Link was thrown back fifty feet into a wall, and part of the wall collapsed onto Link creating a large dust. Whitlock busted into an evil laugh.

"That should have killed me, shouldn't it?" Link shouted back. Whitlock ceased laughing and then noticed that Link lived from the punch and from the wall. From the dust a giant part of wall flew and hit Whitlock straight in the chest, knocking him over and making him lose his breath. Link wandered out of the dust and walked toward Whitlock's body. As Link approached, he got on top of Whitlock and raised his fist in the air. "14,000,000 isn't much." He then punched Whitlock in the face.

Link's strength once again had changed, and the punch barely hurt him. Whitlock grabbed Link and spun him around some. He finally let go, and Link flew directly into another wall of a building. Link was thrown into the second story of the building into some apartment. Link lay there for a moment, accepting the blow from Whitlock. "14,000,000 is more than you!" Whitlock taunted.

From the apartment, a table flew out and hit Whitlock. He shrugged it off, like it was nothing, but following the table Link jumped from the building and punched Whitlock. He caught him off guard because Whitlock was expecting a small little punch. Link's strength had come back, and Whitlock was punched straight into the ground. His head followed Link's punch, and hit directly on the ground. A crater was made from the force of his head, and Whitlock had passed out. Link then hit the ground, perfectly unharmed…besides the giant gash and being thrown into two different walls and a mega punch from Whitlock.

By about this time, Navi flew back to Link, reassuring Link that she had done her job. Now, it was question time. "Link, what happened?!

"Oh, I beat up whoever this dude was. He kept bragging about some 14,000,000 bounty too. What was his name?" Link asked.

"His name was Captain Whitlock, but that's not the point." Navi looked down and noticed that Link had a gauntlet on. "Oh…God…no…" Navi fell to her knees. "You got a Gauntlet…"

"You seem to act like you know what this is." Link commented.

"I'm a fairy…the Fairy Queen explained to us these gauntlets." Navi said gravely. "Where did you get it?"

"There was this old man I met, and he led me to a tomb that was rumored to hold an ancient Hylian Knight's treasure. I went down there to find out, and a reincarnation of the knight was defending his treasure," Link pointed at his chest, "that's where I got this from. After I killed him, I found the chest. The gauntlet was in there, and I was actually about to die. Before I died, something tugged at my soul, saying 'Don't leave yet, slip on the gauntlet.' So I did. And then I was transported to some sky world, and a man met me there. He explained to me that I was going to gain power from the gods, and where the gauntlets come from. Before I could decline the power, he ran up to me and told me it was a 'gift'. He put his hand on me and his hands lit up, giving me my power. And now here I am." Link explained.

"So, the gauntlet…saved you…" Navi uttered. At about this time, some of Whitlock's crew appeared from the buildings around them. The saw Whitlock, unconscious, and then stared at Link.

"Hey! You kid, you just beat up our captain!" They shouted. They took out their swords and weapons and ran at Link. "Take him down!" Link didn't even bother to take out his sword. He ran toward two of them and grabbed them by their shirts. Still powerful, Link spun around some and let go of them, sending those two flying into a building, defeating both of them. With those two gone, Whitlock's crew was only four more people.

Navi took her staff and shot a light beam at one of them. The beam did more damage on them than it did Whitlock. That one was knocked out and lost his breath, and he didn't get back up. The other three gathered around Navi, and she was outnumbered and outmatched. Link came from behind and punched on in the back of the head, snapping his neck and killing him. In fact, the punch ripped off his head due to the power of Link's punch. "Holy crap!" Link shouted in fear. "I did that!?"

After he had killed that one man and knocked out the two, plus Navi's one knock out, it was only two men left. "Now we're even." Navi said. She shot a light beam and Link withdrew his sword. The beam knocked out the one she shot at and Link easily overpowered the other man. Whitlock and his crew were finally defeated. Link and Navi looked at each other, and then started to walk back to the ships. However, they were stopped by a shout from behind them.

"GET BACK HERE MIDGIT!" Whitlock shouted. "I'M NOT DONE YET!" He ran toward Link and Navi, and Link ran toward him.

"Link no!" Navi shouted. Link ran forward and ducked between Whitlock's legs. As he went under and Whitlock ran over him, he grabbed his legs and tripped up Whitlock. Whitlock slammed into the ground, and Link stood up quickly. Picking up his left leg, Link lifted Whitlock and began to spin around.

"I weigh 600 pounds! How is this possible?" Whitlock shrieked as he spun around in circles. After going much momentum, Link's strength fluttered once more, and he let go of Whitlock. Whitlock flew into the sky, and flew east, directly out of the town …Link won the battle.

Link turned back to Navi, who stood watching. "Link…we should go tell Medli and Makar." Link stood silently for a moment, and then agreed. Link walked ahead of Navi, and she followed. In one of the buildings stood a store owner, laying out three pieces of paper in front of him.

"Captain John Whitlock… Link…Navi the Fairy…" The man grumbled. On the left he had Whitlock's wanted poster, which contained a picture of Whitlock standing in front of a ship, holding his hammer and laughing violently. Under it, it held his name and "Dead or Alive: 14,000,000 rupees." Next to his poster was Link's poster. It held the picture of Link, beaten up and wounded from the Dragon Roost Island battle. It contained Link's name under it and then "Dead or Alive: 2,500,000 rupees." To the right of Link's poster was Navi's. It was her picture from Dragon Roost as well, and under the picture it read "Navi the Fairy. Dead or Alive: 1,000,000."

Under Whitlock's photo and bounty, there was a description. "Caution: Incredible strength capable of lifting a ton and a half. He carries a giant metal hammer with him at all times. It weighs 1,000 pounds and has the ability to crush and kill the normal human man. Original bounty was 5,000,000 after destroying a single navy ship, and rose to 14,000,000 after assaulting a Navy Sergeant and destroying his ship. Highly dangerous, approach with caution or alert any nearby Navy officers."

Under Link's photo and bounty, there was a short description. "Little known about Link; Semi-Dangerous, bounty of 2,500,000 after defeating the 2nd and 3rd divisions of the Boko Boko pirates."

Under Navi's photo and bounty, it read, "Little known about Navi; has fairy state and human state; uses magic." The man looked at all of these, carefully examining each one.

"These descriptions only match two of the three people I just saw." He grumbled. "But that kid…something's off about him. There's no way he could have taken on Captain Whitlock like that." He put his head down, confused. "I'll alert the Navy soon, and let them deal with this."

Link and Navi finally returned to the ships. Medli had awakened from being unconscious, and Makar was looking at his books. As Link and Navi walked back to the ships, Makar looked up and noticed that Link had a giant gash, as well as good beatings. "LINK! Oh my goodness! Are you okay?! How are you alive?" Makar grabbed his medical bag and ran out to Link. Link kept walking as though nothing had happened, and Makar followed. "Link! Stop! You're going to infect the wound!

"Calm down Makar, there's no need to be worried. It's only a flesh wound." Link chuckled as he walked to the boats. He hopped onto the new boat, and then took off his shirt, now torn and ripped from the knight's sword. "Hey Medli, can you sew this back together?" Medli, who was standing near the door on the boat, stared at Link's arm where the gauntlet was resting. He threw the shirt over to her, and she caught it. Link slowly and carefully lay down on the ship, and called to Makar, "Hey buddy, come fix me up. And Medli, before you fix the shirt, how about some dinner? I'm starving." Medli snapped back into reality and realized that the whole day had been wasted here on Dellmeadow.

Makar finally got onto the ship, and opened his doctor bag. Makar took out some disinfectants and some potions. "Here, drink these potions." He said. Link began to gulp them down as Makar put the disinfectants on Link's gash. As he cleaned Link's wound, he noticed the gauntlet on his right arm. "Link, what's that?"

"Just fix me up right now Makar. I'll explain it all at dinner." Link said.

"Well, I can't fix you completely." Makar said. "You'll more than likely have a huge scar across your chest for the rest of your life."

"Hahaha, that'll make an awesome story to tell everyone then," Link laughed loudly. Navi hopped onto the King of Red Lions, and then lay down on the floor. Makar put stitches into Link's chest, and after about ten minutes Medli walked out with some steak and potatoes. The whole crew gathered on the new ship, and they sat in a circle and ate their food. For Makar, he just threw the potato in his mouth and absorbed the nutrients, and then he spit out the skin of the potato.

Link sat around and explained to everyone his whole battle with the Hylian knight, his gauntlet and his new powers. "So that thing will never come off?" Makar asked.

"Seems that way." Link said. "Guys, we gotta leave this island now." Everyone stared at him, confused. "I'm too dangerous to stay around these innocent people. We need to go find an abandoned island, preferably one with food on it, and then we need to camp out there while I learn to control my new strength and powers. Finish your dinners, and then…" Link stood up and felt the direction of the wind. "Let's travel north."

The crew finished dinner, loaded up their belongings, and then they sailed off to the north.

Meanwhile, hours into the night, on the island north of Dellmeadow, Valmount…

He landed on the shore of Valmount in the middle of the knight. He looked around, and then hooked his small boat up to the dock. He had his two swords on his side, away in their sheaths, and he slowly stepped across the dock. Once he was actually on the land, he pulled out a piece of paper from a satchel on his side. The paper was actually Link's bounty poster. He stared at it angrily, and then put it threw it onto the ground. His shadow loomed over it, and he took out his swords and sliced them up quickly.

"Green Hat Link…" His gruff voice busted through the silence of night. "Your blood will be mine."