Chapter 35
Charlie awoke in a daze. He looked around and he realized he was in a dimly lit room. He had no idea where he was. The last thing he could remember was helping Link with the giant plant. He remembered pushing him out of the way and taking the attack that was meant for him in the back. What happened after that was unclear to him. He noticed that there was a small window behind him. He got up and he realized that his back wasn't hurting at all. He turned around and looked out the window. The sky was a dull grey. He looked down and gasped. Down below, he could see a massive orange river of liquid. He assumed the liquid was molten lava. He turned away and scratched his head in confusion. Where was Link, Brad, Navi and Izzy? He looked at the walls of the room. There was a huge picture hanging on the far right wall. He could just make it out. It was a picture of Ganondorf and Vaati. Both were smiling evilly. Beside the picture was a huge door. He didn't bother to look at the door. He assumed that it would be locked. Suddenly, he heard a voice behind him.
"You're finally awake. What do you think of my room?"
He turned around and he was face to face with Vaati. He looked at the picture and smiled.
"My father created that picture with his magic. I think my eyes really stand out."
Charlie backed away nervously.
"What do you want from me?"
Vaati grinned at him.
"I want you to join our family of evil. You would make an excellent addition."
Charlie glared at him with hatred.
"I'll never join you, you evil freak!"
He ran over to the door and tried opening it by pushing and pulling on it. Vaati smiled.
"Don't bother. It's tightly locked. Listen to me, Charlie. I'm not giving you a choice. You're going to join us whether you want to or not!"
He backed away nervously towards the window.
"No! Leave me alone you bastard! Max. You know this is wrong. Do something to stop it!"
Vaati laughed evilly.
"I'm afraid Max won't answer back. I know you've felt alone since he was captured and turned into me. But if you join me, we can be friends again! Come on, you'll love it!"
Vaati raised his hands above his head and created a ball of dark energy and cast it at Charlie's body. He screamed in agony.
"Soon enough, you will be evil just like me! Link and his pathetic friends won't be able to do anything to stop us!"
Ganondorf was on his way to Vaati's room. He was going to chanel his energy into Charlie and create another evil being. When he got up to his door, he heard screaming inside. He rapped on the door.
"Vaati! What's going on in there? Open this door now!"
The screaming subsided and the door slowly opened and Ganondorf walked in. He looked over at Charlie on his hands and knees on the floor and then he turned to Vaati.
"What were you doing to him? You weren't trying to chanel your energy inside him were you? Tell me the truth!"
He lowered his head slowly.
"Yes, father. I'm sorry."
Ganondorf glared at him.
"How many times have I told you before not to try that by yourself? If you don't do it right, you will end up draining all of your evil energy and you won't be Vaati anymore. You will be Max again. Now, I want you to leave this room for a while. I am going to chanel my evil power inside him. Just wait outside and I will call you in when I'm finished. I guarantee you won't recognize him when I'm done with him."
Vaati was getting ready to leave when Charlie raised his head and looked at Ganondorf, a glint of rage burning in his eyes.
"I hope Link bashes your head in and kills you when he finds you!"
Ganondorf and Vaati looked at each other and they both burst out laughing. Ganondorf wiped tears of merriment from his eyes.
"That was a good one, kid. He has no chance of getting close enough to me to do anything like that. Wait outside, Vaati. I'll call you in when this is over. I need complete concentration."
Vaati walked out and closed the door and Ganondorf went to work. He cast a ball of dark energy at Charlie and it knocked him unconscious. He then began to use his dark powers to reshape Charlie's body. He made him shorter and made him look like a shadow. He needed something else to make him unique. Yes that's it! He thought of a perfect idea and continued dabbling in his dark magic.
About twenty minutes later, Ganondorf called Vaati in.
"Hey, son! Come in here! I'm finished."
Vaati walked in and gasped when he saw him.
"But he looks just like..."
Ganondorf cut him off.
"I know who he looks like, idiot! I'm the one who created him! I want you to give him a tour of the castle. Get to know each other again. He will be your new brother! After that, take him to Kakariko and wait for Link and show him what I did to his friend! That will really tear him up inside! Hahaha! By the way, I'm going to let you think up a name for him. I'm too busy right now. Let me know if you have chosen one later."
Vaati started laughing as well.
"What a great plan! What are you going to do while I do this?"
Ganondorf smiled.
"I'm glad you asked! I'm off to Death Mountain to teach those stupid gorons not to refuse my terms of surrender ever again. I'm going to capture the gorons and then I am going to resurrect that ancient dragon Volagia and feed it those dumb shortsighted gorons as a warning to any other races that dare to defy me!"
Vaati nodded.
"Good luck, father. I hope all goes well with your task."
Ganondorf smiled and patted him on the back.
"Good luck to you too, my son. Make link feel very angry and frustrated.
Link and Brad finally made their way back to Kakariko Village. Link was feeling sad. Now that Charlie was captured, he was starting to get stressed out. He didn't want Charlie to share the same fate Max did. Ralph turned to him.
"I know you must feel angry at the resistance for not defending your friend.
you mustn't lash out at them too much. They tried their hardest, but they were no match for the power of Vaati and Ganondorf. Luckily, nobody got killed, but most of the resistance got injured in one way or another. I'll take you to the infirmary."
Ralph led Brad and Link to the infirmary. He then walked back outside to patrol the village. Impa was lying on a bed with a bandaged head. Beside her was Ralis. He had a makeshift bandage on his left foot. Viscen was sitting on a chair in between the two. He had a sling on his right arm and a big bandage just below his shoulder. Impa noticed Link walk in and she sat up on her bed and looked at him.
"It's good to see you again. How goes the mission? Did you save Saria?"
Link nodded and sat down beside her.
"Yeah I did. Turns out, she was the Sage of the Forest. She told us she had to stay in the Sacred Realm. I also now have the support of the Kokiri. I heard what happened here. How did Charlie get taken so easily?"
Impa groaned and put a hand to her head.
"Ugh! It feels like a goron punched me in the head! We tried to fend off Vaati and Ganondorf's attacks, but they shot dark energy at us and knocked us out of the way. I tried casting a few spells of my own at Ganondorf, but he just laughed at me and cast a fireball at my head. Ralis tried to defend me, but he was stabbed in the foot by Vaati. Afterwards, Viscen and Ganondorf engaged in a sword fight. Ganondorf won the fight and sliced Viscen's arm quite deep near the shoulder joint. He's very lucky to have his arm left. Anju told him earlier today that he's not going to lose it. When I get feeling better, I'm going to go get that magical barrier back up that was surrounding this village."
Link shook his head, hardly able to contain his anger towards the resistance. He glared at Impa.
"So you're telling me that nobody could stop Vaati and Ganondorf? I thought the resistance was supposed to be tough! What's gonna happen if we get attacked by a large army?"
Viscen rose from his bed and pointed at Link with his good arm.
"Now what kind of talk is that? We tried to defend your friend. What gives you the right to lash out at us like that, lad?"
Impa rose from her bed and walked up behind Link and spun him around so they were both face to face.
"Listen to me, Link! Don't you DARE talk like that about the resistance! If I hear you talk like that again, you're out of the resistance. We don't want or need that kind of attitude! Besides, you haven't exactly been able to take down Vaati either have you? I was talking to Charlie earlier and he told me you spared his life twice! Why didn't you kill him?"
Link rolled his eyes.
"I'm pretty sure you know why. He used to be my friend Max remember?"
Impa sighed and put a hand on her bandaged head.
"You have to face the facts, Link. There may be a chance you will never see him normal again"
Link sighed heavily. Navi turned to him.
"That's what I was trying to tell you earlier, Link. The next time you weaken him, maybe you should kill him."
Brad stood up and looked at Navi.
"I don't think that's a good idea at all. He's still our pal Max somewhere in there. If we can somehow help him, I'd rather try that first before we consider killing him. That just doesn't seem right. It's not his fault he's evil after all. Ganondorf is to blame."
Impa smiled at Brad.
"That was very well said, Brad. I'm not sure what to do at this point. Our first priority should be rescuing Charlie from their grasp. Any ideas?"
Shortly after Impa spoke, Ralph walked in. He was gasping for breath. He looked at Link.
"Vaati has returned and he is asking for you. He also has a shadow being that looks very similar to you."
Link groaned.
"What does he want now? Who is this shadow being?"
Ralph shrugged.
"I have no idea, but you better follow me quickly! Don't worry. If they try to attack, I may be able to teleport us out of here."
Impa stood up.
"You're not going out there without me. Lead on, Ralph."
Viscen groaned.
"Good luck, guys. I won't be much help with my arm like this."
Ralis groaned.
"My foot is hurting badly. Don't turn your back on them, guys. They might stab you in the back if given the chance."
Link and Impa followed Ralph to the area where Vaati was standing with an unknown shadow being. Link gasped in shock. It had bright red glowing eyes and with closer inspection, it looked just like him! Vaati grinned at Link.
"Hello, Link. I'm surprised you survived the encounter with phantom Ganon. My brother here really wants to meet you. I see you noticed how he looks very similar to you. That's because my father created him with you in mind. He is a evil more darker version of you."
Vaati gasped and turned to the shadow.
"I just thought of a perfect name for you, brother. You will be known as Dark Link! Can you guess who this used to be, Link? Hah! Hah! Hah!"
Link gasped in shock.
"No way! That's not...Charlie...Is it?"
Vaati nodded.
"You got it right the first time! He is my new brother and me and him are going to wreak havoc across this land!"
Link was enraged. Now both of his friends were evil! He glared at Vaati.
"You bastard! You took Charlie away on me and turned him into THAT? Ganondorf 's days are numbered!"
Dark Link smiled.
"Correction. YOUR days are numbered!"
He roared and ran towards Link with his Evil Master Sword drawn. The whole blade was shrouded in shadow. Link quickly drew his own sword and parried his attack. He met Dark Link's gaze and shouted at him.
"Charlie! It's me, Link! Snap out of it! You've been brainwashed!"
Dark Link smiled at held his sword above his head and attempted to bring it Crashing down on Link's head. Suddenly, Link heard a cry.
"Link! Get out of the way!"
Brad came charging out of nowhere towards Dark Link. He smiled and easily blocked Brad's attack and swung his sword at him. With some quick and skillful moves, Brad parried the attack and ended up disarming him. He held his blade close to Dark Link's throat.
"I know you're Charlie on the inside, but I will kill you if you give me no choice. I want you and Vaati to clear out of here!"
Dark Link looked over at Vaati. Vaati nodded.
"I'm coming to save you, brother!"
He held out his hand to form a bal of dark energy. Brad yelled at him.
"Go ahead! Attack me! The second you do, I'll slit his throat! It's your choice!"
Vaati smirked.
"You wouldn't do such a thing knowing it's still Charlie on the inside. Don't make empty threats!"
It was a standoff. They both stood there. Vaati with a ball of energy ready to cast and Brad with a sword near Dark Link's throat. Link called over to Brad.
"Brad! Don't do it! There's gotta be another way!"
Brad shouted over to Link.
"I'm not sure what to do here. The second I release Dark Link, Vaati is going to blast me."
Vaati smiled.
"I'm not going to blast you, Brad, but I'm going to blast Link if you don't release him now!"
Dark Link started to growl in anger. Suddenly, he started to glow a dark black. Brad gasped and let him go. It didn't make sense to him, but Dark Link was hot to the touch! He floated into the air and he glared at Brad.
"So, you threatened to kill me, eh? Well I got something for you. Say goodbye, Brad!"
Suddenly he held out his hands and a huge beam of Dark energy shot out and was heading in Brad's direction. He screamed in panic and dove out of the way in just the nick of time. The beam left a very large hole in the ground. Vaati smiled in admiration.
"Very impressive, brother! We have to tell Father about your power. You may even be stronger than me."
He looked at Link.
"You're getting off lucky today. We aren't going to attack you, but this isn't over! Once we tell our father about the destructive power Dark Link possesses, we will return."
Suddenly, they both disappeared in a cloud of purple smoke. Link, Impa and Ralph ran over to Brad. Link put a hand on his shoulder.
Are you okay, Brad?"
He looked at Link and nodded.
"Yeah I'm okay. Maybe I shouldn't have hesitated with Dark Link. I should have killed him."
Link gasped in shock. How could he say such a thing after defending Vaati earlier?
"He's still Charlie remember? I can't believe you almost killed him!"
Brad sighed.
"Maybe I was wrong before. Maybe we should kill them if we have a chance. I know it doesn't seem right, but if we don't kill them, they are going to kill us. Do you think they will hesitate if they get a chance to kill us?"
Link thought for a minute and shook his head.
"I know they wouldn't. I hate to say it, but maybe you're right."
Brad nodded sadly.
"You don't have to decide right away, but think about it the next time you spare Vaati's life. In his current state, he wouldn't hesitate to kill you at all."
Impa nodded.
"He's got a point, Link. He's evil and while you may have reawakened Max temporarily, there's no telling if he will ever be Max again completely. I'm going back to the infirmary. When you're ready, I have another assignment for you. You may have noticed Argus's absence when this all happened. Something bad has happened at Death Mountain and he returned home. Before you arrived, a messenger told me that all of the gorons except Darunia and Argus were captured by Ganondorf. I want you to go to Death Mountain and see if you can help rescue them. And watch out for Vaati and Dark Link. Something tells me they weren't lying when they told us that they would be back!"
Link nodded.
"Understood. We will set out for Death mountain immediately."
Impa smiled. He was such a reliable guy.
"Thank you, Link. Good luck on your mission."