Chapter 13: The Deathmarch
The guards brought Poump to the throne room. Aghanim was sitting in the throne above the room. "Ah yes, the guard in charge of the Princess." Aghanim motioned to the guards to form a circle around the room and he motioned to another set of guards to leave the room. He walked down the steps to greet Poump. "So, Roldi put you in charge of looking over the girl?"
"Yes." Poump replied with impatience. "Zelda herself put her trust in me to take care of her."
"Your name is Poump, is it not? You've been training at the Knight Academy for the past 3 years."
"Cut to the point, Grandpa." Poump said with conviction.
Aghanim didn't like this much. "You want to know why I brought you here. It is because I've had growing suspicions that you are a Yiga. A Yiga assassin, integrating themselves into our society, attempting to uproot it from the inside. And you did quite an impressive job at disguising yourself this far. Even as far as making it to take care of Hilda, the daughter of Zelda."
"I'm not a Yiga!" Poump screamed. "I am NOT affiliated with them!"
"That's what they all say." Aghanim replied. "Since it is my third day in charge, you are the perfect start to establishing a new rule of mine."
"And what's that?" Poump said feeling really uneasy.
Aghanim peered his evil eyes at Poump from under his hood. "Public execution."
The Sheikah and the Zora had seen the guards taking Poump to the throne room coming back in their direction. "What's going on with that guard?" The Zora asked one of the guards.
"They have forsaken the name of the Royal Family under Aghanim's jurisdiction." The guard replied.
"What is Aghanim going to do to that guard?
"Aghanim is going to publicly execute the guard for being a Yiga spy." The guard responded.
"Good riddance." The Zora said. To the Zora, all that mattered was the safety of the party, and as far as she knew, the guard that was being escorted wasn't even Poump.
"Alright, your Mirror Shield is ready to use." Smithy said as he finished banging the metal together. Smithy poured some water over the hot and steaming shield in order to cool it down. Smithy handed it to the two of them. "Good luck to both of you. Make sure you have some back up along with you. Some of the guards around the castle are brave enough to face Aghanim themselves, while most of them can't get themselves to do it, knowing it could result in their death."
"We will make sure we do this with ease, Smithy." The Sheikah replied.
Poump was in the throne room, surrounded by guards. "The execution will begin in one hour." Aghanim proclaimed. "Guards, lock him up temporarily." The guards in the room swarmed Poump and dragged him towards a secret staircase that was underneath the throne. He tried struggling out with his Power Bracelets which managed to knock out one of the guards but another guard used the butt of their sword to knock Poump out.
Poump woke up in a small cell just minutes after he was knocked out. He thought to himself about any possible options he could do to get out of this predicament. He remembered that Hilda slipped something into his pocket. He pulled it out, and it seemed to be the purple Sheikah Eye that Hilda was using earlier. He pointed it around the cell looking through the Eye. He noticed something strange about one of the walls. Whenever he pointed the Eye at the wall, a switch appeared. When the Eye wasn't pointed at the wall, there was no switch. Using the Eye, he pushed at the switch and then the wall parted ways revealing an exit. He walked through the passageway and eventually found himself in the same area where Hilda's room was hidden. He used the Eye on the wall and saw a portion of it completely disappear. He walked in and came face to face with the brick wall to Hilda's room. He tapped each brick accordingly and the wall opened up. Hilda was looking outside of the window and then turned around happy to see Poump.
"You made it!" Hilda said. "They actually listened!"
"What do you mean they listened?" Poump asked.
"You might be surprised how much power I have here. I ordered the guards to put you in that specific cell because it had a secret passageway that lead over here!" Hilda closed the brick wall. "You might want to know what that item your holding is. It's called the Eye of Truth, and it reveals things that are unseen from the human eye, like those false walls that we walked through earlier today!"
"Oh, that's interesting." Poump replied. He handed the Eye of Truth back to Hilda. "I believe you should keep this though."
"No no! You should keep it! You deserve it! You gave me the happiest moment in my whole life!" Hilda walked up to her bed and sat on it. "I know about the evil deeds that Chancellor Aghanim has done. I even know what truly courses through his veins thanks to the Eye of Truth." She got off of her bed and walked up to Poump. "Please be careful, newbie. I don't want you to die because of a misunderstanding."
"I laugh in the face of death, Hilda. Aghanim doesn't scare me." Poump said with confidence.
"Death is something you SHOULD be scared of." Hilda said with serious eyes. Poump lost his confidence and thought to himself about the dead Hylian Yiga.
"You're right, little Princess." Poump replied. "Don't you worry, I'll get rid of Aghanim and I'll be fine afterwards."
"I hope so." Hilda replied. Poump walked out of the room and waved goodbye to Hilda. He snuck his way through the corridors and eventually found himself back at the Hall of Heroes. He was sneaking behind one of the statues when all of a sudden he accidentally bumped into a guard patrolling the area. It was Roldi!
"Poump! How did you escape your prison cell?" Roldi asked.
"I escaped the prison cell with my own method that I won't tell you since you're an agent of Aghanim's." Poump said, he began to draw his sword.
"Whoa whoa whoa! Do you actually THINK that I would be on Aghanim's side? I thought the idea of publicly executing you was a terrible idea."
"So you mean to tell me you're not working for the Chancellor?"
"Technically speaking, yes I am working for the Chancellor. However I serve Queen Zelda whether she is in the castle or out of the castle, and Aghanim's idea of what Hyrule should be is a terrible idea. We and the guards have been planning to rebel against the Chancellor since we've gathered enough evidence that he is a purely evil person who does wicked things. With this evidence, we will be able to cover ourselves as guards, and the General of the Knights of Hyrule will take Queen Zelda's place at that point."
"Who is this general?" Poump asked.
"You're looking right at her." Roldi responded. "Zelda trusts me a lot, so the guards and I have made the decision that I would be fit for ruling in Zelda's stead. We even consulted her ourselves with my very own Sheikah Slate."
"Well that's great! Where are the others that we're waiting for right now?" Poump asked.
"They're joining us right now." Roldi said as 7 soldiers started pouring into the room, followed by the Sheikah and the Zora.
"You two!" Poump said excitedly.
"And our cucco friend." The Zora added, as she patted the cucco.
"Well team, let's overthrow the Chancellor!" Roldi said as she raised her sword into the air. The soldiers raised their own swords into the air as well, and the whole squad started marching to the throne room. They passed by some guards who watched them march along. The guards solemnly watched as the rebellious soldiers marched in a rhythm. The ones that stood by started joining in the march and soon enough 10 more guards had joined their ranks, as they made a death march towards the throne room. This boosted their ranks up to 20 people, counting Poump, the Sheikah, and the Zora. The soldiers started chanting. Their chanting was a familiar tune that Poump had heard before in Kass' music class. It sounded like the Song of the Hero, which was composed as a song dedicated to Link, the Hero. Even though Link wasn't around to assist them with their mission, the soldiers chanted his theme as a form of working up their courage. Poump joined in the chanting, and soon enough the Sheikah and the Zora did as well. A lot of these soldiers knew this could very well be their last day alive, so they chanted with great honor, knowing that they were fighting for a great cause.
Once they entered the room and were face to face with Aghanim, Poump pulled out the Eye of Truth and pointed it at him. He seemed to notice a purple energy emanating from inside of him, as if his blood stream was completely visible. The soldiers lined up, preparing their weapons.
Aghanim had his back turned to the soldiers. "So, this so-called rebellion that I've heard about for such a long time was true." Aghanim turned around with his hands behind his back. "It appears your supposed mission will be put to an end however. Why would you even want to live in a Hyrule in which the Yiga Clan still continues to exist?"
"That is genocide, and your ways of going about killing the Yiga is flawed." The Sheikah said. "Your paranoia has harmed many Hylians across Hyrule, and you have falsely executed many people. We are here to put an end to your tyranny."
"This is only the beginning of my New Order." Aghanim said stoically. "The Royal Family's way of dealing with its enemies is a slow process. My Order will begin with your heads, and soon enough, I will have taught the Princess, Hilda, about my ways. Leading to a future of Hyrule where the Yiga don't exist, one where this rebellion doesn't exist. Only a Hyrule ruled with complete power in my hands."
"Don't you fucking TOUCH Hilda!" Poump screamed as he pulled out his sword and rushed at Aghanim. Poump didn't get close enough to Aghanim when Aghanim raised his hand and an electric shock blasted him back. Poump was reeling from the attack while he was on the floor.
"Foolish move." Aghanim said. He waved his hands around and 4 wizard-like enemies appeared around him, carrying special magic rods. "Wizzrobes, attack!"
The soldiers all got in formation. 3 of them formed a shield wall in front of Poump who was grounded. The Zora lead the charge while holding the Mirror Shield up in front of herself. 1 of the Wizzrobes blasted a magic attack at the Zora's Mirror Shield, which reflected back at it and caused it to fall over. Behind the 3 shield formation, Poump was fading fast. One of the soldiers who had a shield up tossed a bottle towards Poump. "Drink up!" Poump drank the contents in the bottle and got back up feeling good as new. "Let's fight him with strategy!"
"Good plan." Poump responded. Aghanim blasted some electricity at the soldiers with their shields up and they continued pressing on. Aghanim didn't know this, but the soldiers had wooden shields that were painted to look like metal, so therefore the electric current wasn't able to shock any of the soldiers. 4 of the soldiers held their shields forward and stabbed their swords at Aghanim, who got cut a little bit. Aghanim all of a sudden disappeared and appeared behind the soldiers and blasted them with an electric shock up close, killing them instantly. The 3 Wizzrobes in the room were confronting 6 of the soldiers in the room. The soldiers coordinated their attacks and managed to kill 2 of the Wizzrobes, however the last Wizzrobe was crafty and managed to dodge their incoming attacks. It danced around in the air and waved its Magic Rod and summoned a ball of fire that landed onto 2 of the soldiers. The fire roasted them alive, leaving them charred on the floor. Another soldier pulled out a bow and knocked an arrow tipped with ice and shot the remaining Wizzrobe, killing it instantly.
The Sheikah circled around the room waiting for an opening to attack Aghanim personally. He watched as 2 more soldiers died to Aghanim's lightning. He teleported right in front of Aghanim and sliced his sword at him, causing a cut to form in his robes and skin. The Sheikah couldn't help but notice the skin seal itself back together., right before Aghanim gave the Sheikah a shock that almost killed him. Aghanim prepared to blast at the grounded Sheikah, however the Zora jumped in front of him with her Mirror Shield in hand. The lightning reflected back at Aghanim, causing him to be stunned.
"Now! Attack!" The soldiers said as they ran towards Aghanim and attacked him with their swords. Poump joined in but noticed a small electric force field starting to form around Aghanim.
"Quick! Out of the way!" Poump said and he and several other soldiers rolled away from Aghanim, who swiftly formed an electric force field surrounding him. The force field moved really fast and claimed the life of 1 of the soldiers. The Sheikah downed a health potion and got up, ready to fight again.
Aghanim walked towards the group of soldiers. The soldiers backed away, some switched to using bows. They dispersed in order to keep themselves away from the deadly field surrounding Aghanim. He blasted some lightning at one of the fleeing soldiers, but barely missed them. The Zora held up her Mirror Shield towards Aghanim, but Aghanim wasn't deterred by her attempt. He ignored her knowing that the Mirror Shield would reflect his magic back at him, and went after Poump
"Catch!" The Zora said to Poump, and she tossed him her Mirror Shield. Poump grabbed the shield in mid-air and charged right for Aghanim shield first. Poump ended up inside of Aghanim's electric field. Despite the pain, Poump knew this was working, since the Mirror Shield was reflecting most of the magic against Aghanim. The magic overwhelmed Aghanim, and caused his electric force field to recede. Aghanim was on the floor, riddled with his own energy killing him from the inside. Poump swung his sword at Aghanim.
"This is for killing the others!" Poump swung again, "This is for threatening Hilda's life!" Poump swung one more time. "And this is for Hyrule!" Poump's final attack stabbed Aghanim right through the face, killing the tyrant in a final blow.
A purple energy started emanating above Aghanim's body and formed into a purple eye ball. It looked around the room and noticed the cucco. It zoomed directly towards the cucco and went inside of it. "Backaw." The cucco said. "BACKAW!" The cucco screamed in immense pain and all of a sudden the cucco started growing into the shape of a Hylian. The feathers fell off and what replaced them was a large oversized cloak. The party looked at the cucco's new form. It had large horns on its head, and was apparently a Hylian female with white hair. It looked around the room. "M-m-m-meat." The Hylian Girl said.
"What in the world?" The Sheikah said.
"What happened to our cucco?" The Zora exclaimed.
Poump brought out the Eye of Truth and examined the Hylian Girl. The purple energy that was emanating from inside Aghanim was emanating inside of her now. "Looks like something-" Poump's attention shifted to what was behind him. This new happening could be sorted out later, he thought to himself. He walked across the room. Only 8 of the 17 soldiers were alive. General Roldi walked around the room, looking at her fallen comrades. Poump noticed one of the dead bodies on the floor. This person looked familiar. Poump thought for a few moments and learned that this was the soldier that helped him live through the Yiga Siege on Hyrule Castle. He knelt down to his body and closed his eyes. Roldi kept her distance from Poump, knowing that he was emotionally distraught, and also really young. The soldiers mourned their losses, while the Zora and the Sheikah also kneeled in silence. The Sheikah noticed one of the fallen soldiers was Priscilla. He closed her open and glazed eyes with sadness.
A day passed after the battle was finished, the bodies of the soldiers were taken outside of the walls of Hyrule Castle to be buried. They were buried north of the castle, in a special graveyard dedicated to the soldiers of Hyrule. Roldi was at the graveyard, burying their bodies with the assistance of the other soldiers. The families of the dead soldiers were also at the burial. Even Link himself joined in watching the burial. He knew what it was like to lose friends in combat… too many times to count.
As for the party, they were in the courtyard at Hyrule Castle. The Zora was mostly bamboozled by the fact that the cucco had turned into a Hylian Girl. They noticed that her white hair started to turn red coming from her scalp, but ended at a certain point. "We're going to need to come up with a name for her." The Zora said.
"Alright, how about Tipa?" The Sheikah asked.
"Tipa?"
"Yeah, Tipa."
"That sounds good." The Zora replied. "You are now named Tipa." The Zora patted the Hylian Girl on the head.
Poump decided to check on Hilda after all of the madness that happened. He went back to her room and saw that she was nowhere to be found. "Hilda? Princess? It's over, you can come out now."
A gust of leaves appeared. "Hee-hee-hee-hee." It was Skull Kid. "Looking for my friend?"
"What did you do with Hilda you little shit." Poump said to Skull Kid. He'd lost all patience, especially when it involves Hilda.
"Oh yes, Hilda is being kept in the Akkala Region, in a place where we can play together."
Poump pulled out his sword and swiped at Skull Kid, but Skull Kid teleported out of the way from the attack. "Give her BACK!" Poump screamed.
"You'll have to come to the Akkala Region if you want her again. You would be a great guest for our play time. See you!" The Skull Kid disappeared in a gust of leaves. Poump punched a wall and put a dent into it.
Poump walked back to Kilton's shop. "Give me the fairy. Now." Poump said with extreme urgency.
"You killed Aghanim, so here you go." Kilton handed Poump the fairy in the bottle with his hands shaking. Once Kilton gave Poump the fairy, he raised his hands up in fear. "Don't kill me!"
"I'm not here to kill you." Poump replied. "Give me one of those monster masks." Poump handed Kilton 30 mon, and was given a Bokoblin Mask. "Thank you, Kilton."
"You're… welcome." Kilton was still shaking at Poump's authority.
Poump was walking back to the others while he looked at the fairy in the bottle. "Get me out of here!" The fairy said.
"No way, what if you fly away?" Poump replied.
"I won't!"
"I doubt that. There's a saying that goes: 'If you open a bottle with a fairy, it's useless.'"
"Phooey!" The fairy kicked itself around the bottle and then gave up.
Poump made it back to the others. "We're heading to the Akkala Region. Now." Poump said.
"We need to stop by Keeseman in order to get our money first." The Sheikah replied.
"We'll do that first, but it's straight to the Akkala Region we go."
"Alright then, the sooner we get this monster colony done, the faster I can be back at Zora's Domain." The Zora added.
The party walked through Castle Town on their way back to Payne Manor. A lot of people in the Main Plaza looked at the party, but mostly Tipa. Her large horns on her head made her a strange sight for many of the citizens. "We need to get to the Akkala Region as soon as we possibly can." Poump said with urgency. "We need to get a map so we can navigate around there easier."
"Did someone say they're headed to the Akkala Region?" A light and dumpy voice said from the party's right. A rather fat guy wearing green tights and red underwear was manning a booth.
"Yes, we're headed there right now." Poump replied.
"Looks like you're in need of a map! For if it isn't I, Tingle the Mapmaker! Come closer!" The party came closer to the stand. "If you would like to have a map of the region, I can give you a paper version of the map for 500 rupees!"
"500 rupees? That's too much. Is there any other map option we can buy?" Poump replied.
"I see you have a Sheikah Slate on you! I can download the map data of an area directly onto your Sheikah Slate for 1,000 rupees!"
"That's still too much for a basic map." Poump replied.
"I can give you a-" Tingle paused for a moment and looked at a bottle on Poump's waist. "OH MY GOODNESS IS THAT A FAIRY?!"
Poump looked down at his bottle. "Yeah, it is."
"If you give me that fairy, I will give a map to ALL of Hyrule for FREE!" Tingle said. He was ecstatic at the idea of keeping a fairy for himself.
The fairy, however, didn't like this idea at all. "No way! Nuh-uh! Do NOT give me to this freak! I already spent a whole week with another freak!"
Poump thought about the offer for a solid 15 seconds. "No, I won't give you the fairy. Here's 1,000 rupees for the downloadable map." Poump handed Tingle 1,000 rupees.
Tingle was a bit heartbroken that he couldn't get this fairy for himself, but he accepted the 1,000 rupees anyway. Tingle brought the Sheikah Slate up to a weird crystal which put a small drop onto the screen. "Here you go customer." Tingle handed the Slate back to Poump.
"Thank you. Now let's go." Poump and the others started walking out of Castle Town and boarded their horses. They made it to Payne Manor and were allowed inside.
"Here are your 30,000 rupees." Bruce said to the party. "By the way, what's up with this girl and why does she have horns on her head?"
"That's a long story. Basically our cucco turned into her after we defeated Aghanim." The Zora replied.
"Interesting." Bruce said. "I recognize these horns. They appear to be Lynel Horns." Bruce walked them towards a hall in which he had several monster parts on the walls. "If you look at this horn, you'll notice that it matches up with how these horns look. There has never been a recorded moment in history that involved Hylians taking on the features of a monster before. It looks like all of you witnessed history yesterday, both with the discovery of this new creature, and the defeat of Aghanim. Thanks to all of you, the people of Hyrule won't have to suffer for whatever his plans could've been. You are welcome to this house whenever you feel like coming by."
"Thank you so much Bruce." The Sheikah replied. "We will stop by once our adventures allow us to come by."
"By the way, I will outfit her with something a little more practical than an oversized cloak." Bruce brought Tipa into a room and brought her back out. She was now wearing what looked like a Sheikah outfit. It wasn't the outfit of a Sheikah Warrior, but it was an outfit that was fit for doing battle. Tipa also had two katanas on her back. While although Bruce never wanted himself to kill others directly, he knew that in the current times the people of Hyrule were way too on edge. It's a frustration of his, knowing that many human lives have ended across Hyrule, however he knew that the best he could do was to help the community at Castle Town.
The party ate some food in the house and then got out of the house and headed straight towards the East, where the Akkala Region is. They rode their horses forward for quite a while, but then Poump felt his Sheikah Slate vibrate. The party stopped, it was Zelda. She seemed to look distressed. "Hello there team, I heard about what happened at Hyrule Castle. Roldi told me everything. It's such a shame that Aghanim wasn't who I thought he was. It seems you can't really trust everyone these days. Anyways, what's been happening with the lot of you?"
"We're headed to the Akkala Region in order to get the next monster colony." Poump replied.
"And our cucco friend also seems to have transformed into a monster/Hylian hybrid of some kind." The Zora added. Poump angled the Slate to show Zelda the new party member.
"Wow, that's quite interesting." Zelda said feeling a bit unfocused. "Something's wrong. I can tell. I can see it in your eyes, Poump."
"What do you mean?" Poump replied.
"What happened to Hilda?" Zelda said, with a lot of distress.
"Hilda…" Poump paused for a moment. "Hilda has been taken to the Akkala Region by someone called Skull Kid."
"HILDA HAS BEEN TAKEN? AWAY FROM HYRULE CASTLE?" Zelda was furious.
"Yes." Poump replied, feeling really scared. Zelda hung up the call and as if from out of nowhere, a loud screeching voice echoed through all of Hyrule.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" The scream sounded like Zelda's, and it was petrifying. After a few short seconds, the party regained their ability to move, and then clouds started covering the sky. Rain started pouring. The Zora felt refreshed, however the other party members felt miserable. But for Poump, he didn't feel miserable from the rain. He felt miserable from what had happened.