Chapter 15: The Citadel's Basement
The lift went down into darkness and then it stopped. As if by something activating, Sheikah technology lights lit up the room. It was a corridor. Eerily enough, it looked like the walls were built with skulls on the walls. The wall even displayed some information plaques. The place seemed to be functional, but it didn't feel like somewhere the party wanted to be at.
"I don't like it here." Uten said. She got back onto the lift, however it never allowed her to go back up.
"Hee hee hee hee!" The Skull Kid's laughter reverberated around the room. "You're stuck down here with me! You will become my playthings! And soon enough me and my Princess will have so many new toys!" The Skull Kid's voice disappeared.
"Great, now we're locked down here with ourselves and that psychopathic child." Uten said. She did not like the circumstances they were in.
"Guess what Uten, we have nowhere else to go but forward." Poump said. "We made it this far in trying to find Hilda, so we need to commit ourselves to this challenge."
"You're right." Uten said. "The sooner we press on, the faster we are out of this hell hole." The party walked forward and arrived at a gaping hole in the ground. There was a door to their right, so they walked through the door. They came into a room that had a statue in the center of the room. Poump pulled out the Sheikah Slate in order to see what this statue was since he had seen it before. The screen said 'DARKNUT'. The statue awakened and brought out it's weapon and lumbered towards them. Some tombs came out of the wall behind it and 6 Redeads walked behind the Darknut. "Seriously?!" Uten said.
Tipa brought out her two Katanas and prepared to fight. Despite the fact that she never wielded a sword before, she mostly understood the basics by watching the others use weapons while she was a cucco. She flailed her swords at the Darknut, which swiped at her and with it's large sword hit her on her back. "Uten, you should deal with the Redeads back there. You have a spear, which is useful because it will keep them far away from you." The Sheikah said to Uten.
"Alright then." Uten brought out her spear and dodged out of the way from the Darknut's attack and made it to the Redeads. She stabbed her spear at some of them and managed to knock them down.
"Bomb's away!" The Sheikah said and Uten rolled out of the way. The Sheikah threw some bombs at the downed Redeads and they blew up. Only 2 more Redeads were in the room.
Poump and Tipa looked at the Darknut. Despite the fact that Tipa tanked a hit from the Darknut, she seemed fine. Her skin healed up by itself. Poump and Tipa took turns swinging at the Darknut's armor. Some of the pieces of it's armor fell off, which gave Poump an idea. He pulled out his clawshots and pulled at the different armor pieces. One of them was carried off, however the second clawshot was interfered by the Darknut pulling at it and smacking Poump into the ground. Tipa jumped up to the Darknut's helmet and stabbed through the eye hole and left her sword in it. The Darknut continued walking around the room with the sword in its head. It trampled on the remaining 2 Redeads and then it pulled the sword out of it's head and walked through a door. The Sheikah bombed the remaining Redeads.
"What in the world." The Sheikah said. "It walked away. But it wasn't even limping. It must be planning something." The party walked through the door that the Darknut walked through. They found themselves in a small room with a door to their left, and a treasure chest in front of them. The walls of the room seemed to display some artwork showcasing what looked like a figure in a green tunic holding a bow and pointing it at a pig-like creature. The walls had even more artwork showcasing the figure in the green tunic in battle with the pig-like creature, and each art piece had a different artstyle. The Sheikah opened up the chest in the room and looked through its contents. The chest contained a mask of some sort that looked like a hawk's face. Tatl looked at the item the Sheikah was holding.
"That looks like a Hawkeye. You can look through it to see things from far away. You can even combine it with a bow in order to shoot things from far away." Tatl said.
"This will be very useful." The Sheikah said. The Skull Kid appeared above the party.
"So... it looks like my guests… have survived so far." The Skull Kid said.
"That we have." Poump said to the Skull Kid. "Where is Hilda?"
"Hee hee hee hee hee. You don't... want to rush yourself. That's considered harmful for your mental health. Hee hee hee hee." The Skull Kid disappeared into a gust of leaves.
"I am going to pulverize that child once I get the chance." Poump said.
"That is once we find Hilda." Uten added.
"Correct. Let's keep moving." Poump and the party walked through the door. It was a long corridor that lead only to a door at the end of the hall. The party walked through the place and saw some art on the walls. It depicted what looked like the Royal Family sending the Sheikah clan into exile. The artwork told a story as they walked through the corridor, showing the Royal Family members eventually executing some of the Sheikah warriors. Some more artwork showcased the Sheikah clan finding ancient technology and using it for themselves, and then the Royal Family took their technology and didn't allow them to use it. The artwork showed off some Sheikah members creating their own cult by turning the Sheikah Eye upside down. The Sheikah knew what this was. It was the birth of the Yiga Clan, however he didn't know that this was how they came to be. The Sheikah thought that he was well acquainted with the history of Hyrule, but he didn't even know about what the Royal Family did to the Sheikah clan in the past. The artwork looked very old and ancient, which told him this happened a long time ago. They kept walking through the corridor and then all of a sudden a Guardian turret appeared at the end of the hall. The Guardian turret pointed at each of the party members. Poump got in front and pulled out his Mirror Shield. He remembered what Priscilla did on the bridge. The Guardian's laser blasted and then Poump parried the attack back at the Guardian's eye. It looked back at them again but this time the Sheikah pulled out his bow and shot at its eye 5 times and then it blew up.
"That was a close one." Uten said. The party continued towards the door and found themselves in a large room with a bunch of pitfalls. Poump noticed the chain link ceiling and used the Clawshot on it. He used both of them to find his way across the ceiling. There was a large door with chains on it and to it's left was a smaller door. He noticed a Stalfos patrolling around the smaller door. He dropped onto it in hopes of beating it but the Stalfos beat him down. Poump drew his sword and sliced at the Stalfos while he was on the ground, eventually knocking it down into one of the gaping holes. Poump walked through the door and found himself in the room with walls made of skeletons again. This time he was on the other side of the gaping hole, as he could see the lift on the other side. There was a treasure chest on this side, but in front of it rose another Stalfos, this time wielding a sword and shield. Poump pulled out his sword and shield and fought against the Stalfos. They traded blows but then the Stalfos thrusted his shield towards Poump causing him to lose balance. The Stalfos bashed Poump against the wall with the shield multiple times causing him to become really dizzy. The Stalfos slashed at Poump, but his outfit saved him from getting hurt too badly. Poump quickly shield bashed the Stalfos back and knocked its head right off, causing it to fall over dead. Poump opened up the treasure chest and found a large key with horns. He walked back out of the door and noticed a switch on his side of the room. He pulled at it and all of the holes were closed up, allowing the other party members to walk across the room. The party looked at the large door with chains.
"This key should open it up for us." Poump said. He put the key into the keyhole of the chains and then the chains fell off of the big door. Poump used his power bracelets to push the door to the side and the party walked forward. They found themselves outside in an area with stairs that lead down to a forest-like area, however the area around it seemed to be completely made of rocks. The sky was also cloudy, but it wasn't raining anymore. Beyond the small forest-like area was the large skeleton of what looked like a huge fish. Poump looked down into the forest. The Skull Kid appeared before the party. "Hey Skull Kid, where is Hilda?"
"She's just down there!" The Skull Kid pointed down the stairs towards the small forest-like area. "Join us, and you can play with us forever!" Poump immediately ran down the stairs, but the other party members didn't run after him.
"Wait, it might be a trap!" The Sheikah said to Poump who was already making headway down the stairs to the forest.
"Hee hee hee! It looks like you're just in time for the awakening of an ancient leviathan! You see that skeleton over there?" The Skull Kid snapped his fingers. The bones of the large fish started trembling and then levitated into the sky. "Join us, as we play with you for the rest of your lives!" The Skull Kid disappeared. The large skeletal fish floated slowly through the sky and started directing itself towards the party. All of a sudden, three snake-like beings appeared from the sky and rammed themselves into the floating bones, redirecting it from where the party was.
As for Poump, he made his way through the small forest to a clearing. In the center, he saw Hilda sitting on a log, playing on a harp. "Poump! It's so good to see you again!" Hilda said. "This harp belongs to my mother. The silly Skull Kid allowed me to bring it with me. You want me to play you my favorite song?"
Poump walked up to Hilda. "We need to get out of here, it's dangerous."
"I'm alright, Poump! Listen to this song, my mom likes using this to put me to sleep." Hilda started strumming at the harp and played a very soft and relaxing tune. It was such a soft tune that it started to make Poump feel sleepy.
"H-Hilda." Poump was stumbling, trying to keep himself awake. "W-w-we need to go."
The Skull Kid appeared in the clearing. "Listen to that. The sound of an angel's." The Skull Kid started sleeping. "So good to know that we still have SO MUCH TO DO!" The Skull Kid waved his hands around and then some roots rose from out of the ground and snatched the harp from Hilda's hands.
"Hey! I was playing with that!" Hilda said to the Skull Kid.
"We have plenty of other things to do before we can listen to your music!" The Skull Kid said. "We have guests here, and that means we have new toys to play with!"
"I want our guests to listen to my music!" Hilda said. "Give me the harp back!" Hilda reached at the Harp which was being carried away by some of Skull Kid's roots.
"No! Now sit and watch as our guests perform for us!" The Skull Kid raised his hands and then the Darknut from earlier rose from the ground in front of Poump.
The other party members paraglided down into the forest clearing. Uten noticed the snake-like creatures wrapped themselves around the leviathan's bones in a way that covered almost the whole skeleton. The party landed into the clearing next to Poump and they were ready to fight the Darknut.
"Let the playtime, BEGIN!" The Skull Kid said as he clapped happily. Hilda reluctantly watched the party. The Darknut leaped at them and the party members dodged the attack. They split up and attacked the Darknut from 4 different sides. Uten stabbed at it with her spear and kept her distance. The Sheikah was being reckless and danced around the Darknut's blade and got a few licks in. Tipa swung her swords at the Darknut and remembered to dodge at the right moment. As if she felt a certain energy emanate from inside her, she leapt straight towards the Darknut and slashed multiple times with both of her swords at it. The Darknut's armor fell off from the portion of its body that was attacked. It leapt back and threw away the rest of the armor on its body to the side. Poump attacked the Darknut but it pushed him to the side. It lunged at Tipa and almost scored a hit on her. It turned around towards Tipa when it noticed something. Tipa's red hair had completely replaced Tipa's white hair. She dropped her swords and fell to the floor. Her body started growing at an abnormal rate. Her muscles started growing large and her face turned into a beastly face. Her hair surrounded her neck and she grew horse-like hooves on not one, but two different sets of legs. A large sword and a large shield materialized on her back, and she roared loudly. She had turned into a Lynel.
"Oh my goodness!" Uten exclaimed.
"No! No no no no no!" The Skull Kid did not like this. "This was not how I wanted play time to happen! Fine then, I will join in this myself!" He turned into a gust of leaves and appeared in front of Poump. "So, let's fight!"
The Lynel wielded her weapons and charged at the Darknut. The Darknut was extremely surprised by this turn of events and was knocked over by the Lynel. The Darknut recovered and tried slashing at the Lynel but the Lynel overpowered it by parrying the attack and then followed it up by slicining at the Darknut's torso.
Poump raised his sword and shield and prepared to fight Skull Kid but all of his attacks kept on missing. Poump threw his weapons to the side and started grabbing at Skull Kid. He managed to grab the Skull Kid and bring him to the ground. He started punching at Skull Kid while he was on the ground but he noticed that in between each punch the Skull Kid would teleport in between each punch of his. The Skull Kid stopped teleporting and then grew in immense size, causing Poump to awkwardly slide off of him. The Skull Kid was now 2 times bigger than Poump. Poump didn't care though, because he landed an uppercut onto the Skull Kid's jaw, causing the Skull Kid to get knocked back. Poump noticed the Skull Kid's roots were becoming weaker and Hilda's harp started coming closer to her. Hilda was thrilled by the sight of the fight, but she was mostly concerned with being able to play with her harp again. She reached up to the harp but couldn't even touch it at all.
The party continued the fight in the forest clearing but suddenly stopped fighting. Even the Darknut and the Lynel stopped tussling with each other and they looked up. The small figure of someone with a glowing sword was falling from the sky. It was Link, and he had the Master Sword pointed straight down. "HYAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Link plunged the Master Sword right through the Lynel and the Darknut, causing the both of them to stagger back from his attack. "Bring me Hilda!" Link started slashing away at the Lynel and interchanged blows between the Lynel and the Darknut, keeping a perfect rhythm between the two of them and blocking and dodging them at the right moments.
"Wait! Link! Don't attack the Lynel!" Uten said to Link.
Link formed a force field around himself which caused neither the Darknut or the Lynel to do damage to him. "Huh? Why not?" Link said to Uten.
"Because the Lynel is actually one of our friends!"
"What? HOW?" Link dodged out of the Darknut's attack and then pulled out his Sheikah Slate. He pointed it at the Lynel and forced it into some sort of statis.
"It's a long story, just don't kill the Lynel!" Uten said.
"I'll take your word for it!" Link said. He positioned himself behind the Darknut and then the Lynel attacked at the Darknut, causing it to fall to the floor. Link took the opportunity and flew into the sky and plunged the Master Sword into the Darknut's chest, killing it.
"No fair!" The Skull Kid raised his hand and some roots started to cover Link up.
Poump noticed Hilda reaching for the harp, and the roots started to become weaker and weaker. He reached for it with his Clawshot and handed it to Hilda. "Play the music!"
"What would you like me to play?" Hilda responded.
"That song you played earlier!" Poump responded.
"Okay!" Hilda started strumming at the harps and played the peaceful melody that she was playing earlier. Poump started falling asleep from the music. The Lynel looked around the area and then fell asleep. The Sheikah and Uten also fell asleep. The Skull Kid started to feel drowsy, and then he also fell asleep, although he made sure he fell asleep amidst the leaves of the trees. A small tremor happened but that didn't bother Hilda. The roots surrounding Link went back into the ground. Link slowly walked up to Hilda who was sitting on the log peacefully playing the harp. Link approached her quietly. He didn't know if he should say anything. He then sat next to her on the log, listening to her play the music. Hilda looked up at Link and a smile came onto her face. She continued playing the harp and eventually let go because she herself fell asleep. Link picked the harp up himself and continued playing the harp. For the first time in a long time, Link felt at peace with the world. He continued playing the harp for the rest of the night.
The next morning came and Tipa reverted back into her Hylian form. Her horns were still on her head, but her hair turned completely white. The party woke up and saw Link still playing on the harp. He stopped playing and then Hilda started opening her eyes. The Skull Kid was still sleeping in the branches above the party. Poump picked up a rock and threw it at Skull Kid. "AH!" The Skull Kid dropped from the branches and landed in front of the party. He looked at the party and then at Link with Hilda. "Oh boy…" Skull Kid said to himself. "I'm not fit to be beside her. She belongs with him, and you guys."
Poump knelt down to the Skull Kid. "So you promise you won't mess with Hilda again?"
"Hilda is past me. She belongs with her people, which is all of you." Skull Kid said.
"You won't attack us anymore in that case?"
"Yeah, I have my sights on other things. I have plenty of other toys that I like playing with anyways, so all of you are alright."
"Nice!" Poump said to the Skull Kid. "You can do what you like best without messing with us anymore."
"That's right. Oh, and one more thing." The Skull Kid snapped his fingers and the forest behind Link and Hilda opened up revealing the bones of the leviathan on the ground. The Sheikah looked through the Hawkeye and saw a bunch of monsters inside of the bones of the leviathan. "I hope you do well on your quest, I guess. See you later." The Skull Kid disappeared into a gust of leaves.
Poump looked at Link. "So, what now?"
Link looked back at Poump. "I guess I'll take Hilda with me back to Zelda. Seeing as the monster colony is right here, I can trust that you guys can deal with it."
"To Tarrey Town, right?"
"Yup, next to Tarrey Town. Hopefully Hudson has prepared Tarrey Town to hold a small colony of monsters. I can trust that you guys can make the walk there. The Akkala fields aren't that bad of a walk, all that you need is enough stamina to reach Tarrey Town." Link got up from the log. "So, you guys will deal with the monster colony?"
"Yes." Poump replied.
"Great. Now I'll take Hilda with me to Zora's Domain so that way Zelda can know she's safe." Link said to Hilda. She looked up at Link.
"Hey, Link! Can you bring me to my mom by riding on a horse?" Hilda said. She knew Link's adventures always involved horseback riding.
"You'd like to ride on horseback?" Link said. "I'll do exactly that for my little Princess." Link whistled with his fingers and then a brown horse with a white mane ran into the forest. Link propped Hilda up onto the horse and then mounted the horse. "I wish you luck, Squad. See you guys later!" Link guided his horse out of the forest and he rode off.
The party walked up towards the leviathan bones when all of a sudden the Sheikah fell over with a sharp pain in his chest. He heard some voices in his head. "Help us! Help us! Come to Kakariko Village! There is a curse!" The Sheikah recovered himself. Uten helped him back up.
"What happened?" Uten asked.
The Sheikah solemnly looked at Uten. "I need to go to Kakariko Village."