Chapter 28: The Monster Island
Poump awoke in a strange land billowed in darkness. Black squares floated into the air, and a dark palace with red energy coursing through itself stood in the distance. He noticed that his friends were there as well. Eventually, a few black squares formed into a dark figure, who Poump recognized as Veerus.
Veerus started speaking with their mask on. Their voice must have been amplified by the suit they were wearing. "Hello, beings of Hyrule." Veerus said. "I am speaking to you through your mind. The place that you are in right now is known as the Twilight Realm. It is my home. I take it you have met Ganondorf before. I saw you on the Great Plateau, assisting that meddlesome princess. I want to kill Ganondorf for many reasons. Many ages ago, he manipulated a mentally ill Twili named Zant. Ganondorf forced Zant to do many terrible things, not only to the people of the Twilight Realm, but also to the people of Hyrule. As a result, the Hero of that time period had to end Zant's life, with the assistance of my ancestor."
Poump opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out.
"You cannot speak until I am finished." Veerus said. "That same Ganondorf, sometimes referred to as Ganon, has ravaged Hyrule throughout the ages. Never tiring at his one goal of bringing chaos to Hyrule. I want to kill Ganondorf for all he's done to Hyrule, as well as put an end to something else. You've met Ghirahim before. We've been working together to find ways to bring me here in order to assist him with his conquest to be reunited with Demise. His logic was to generate chaos so that way Demise would find his way to him. I worked my way into the top, found my way here, and now I pretend like I am an ally of Ghirahim's. I am mostly using him as a means to an end. The being known as Demise put a curse onto the Goddess' Land, which subjects it to an endless cycle of torment. Ganondorf would always be there to carry out whatever the curse wanted him to do. The Goddesses also foolishly gave the Triforce of Power to Ganondorf. I suppose you have heard of the Triforce before. The other two Triforce pieces belong to the Queen that you know as Zelda, and the Hero known as Link. It is said that when all three pieces of the triforce are united, you can touch it to make your wish come true. I know that Demise and Ghirahim will want to kill the three wielders of the Triforce, so when they do, I will take advantage of the opportunity and use the United Triforce in order to wish for a world in which Demise's curse doesn't exist, as well as the Royal Family, for as long as they live, Demise's curse will continue." Veerus paced back and forth and then stopped. "I should properly introduce myself." Veerus pulled off their helmet to reveal a somewhat tall and slender head, colored with a light blue color, and orange hair. They also seemed to be feminine. "My name is Midna the 17th. And I am here to put an end to the endless conflict that Hyrule is tormented with. You may speak now." Midna the 17th put her hand forward and then pulled at the air. The party felt their vocal cords return.
"Why would the Royal Family be involved in this?" Zhago said. "All they ever did was well intentioned."
Midna the 17th looked at Zhago with a surprised expression. "This is surprising coming from a Sheikah Warrior like yourself. Do you know what the Royal Family did to your kind back then?"
Zhago shook his head. "Whatever they did, that was in the past."
"Also, if you want to destroy the Royal Family, wouldn't that mean you would need to kill Hilda as well?" Poump said.
"Yes. That is the means to my end. I wish to create a new world, one where Demise's curse doesn't exist. One where the Royal Family's messy history wouldn't exist. It says a lot when you, Sheikah Warrior, don't even know of their wrongdoings." Midna the 17th looked at her helmet. "This helmet's design is based on what Zant's helmet looked like. It works as a reminder to tell me that the past is full of mistakes. Repeated mistakes. The saying known as 'History repeats itself' must die." Midna looked up at them. "Would you wish to join my conquest?"
"No." Poump said.
Midna the 17th had a disgruntled face. "You never learn." She snapped her fingers, and then the area around them blurred away. It was the next morning, and they were in their cabins on the boat once again.
The party members went about their own duties on the boat at their own pace. Poump decided to look at this sword that was given to him by the Armored Girl. He pulled it out of the sheath and discovered it was a sword glowing in power. He took out his Sheikah Slate and scanned the sword. 'MAGIC SWORD: This sword was made from silver arrows. It possesses half of the energy of the Master Sword, but it can still do great damage. If you are feeling at your best health, you may even fire a laser from this sword." Poump really liked the idea of having a sword that could shoot lasers, so he took it with him outside to the main deck. He pointed in the air and noticed a beam of energy fly into the sky. Link noticed this, because he was on the main deck.
"Is that the sword that you were given by that armored girl?" Link said.
"Yes! And it can also shoot lasers!" Poump replied.
Link looked up into the sky and saw the energy beam disappear in mid-air. "Impressive."
Poump sheathed the Magic Sword. "Say, Link, I wanted to talk to you about that kid named Pep back on Windfall Island."
"Okay then, let's talk about it." Link went to a table on the main deck and sat down with Poump. "Hit me."
"What was the story behind that woman?" Poump asked.
"Well, when I was sailing across the seas in search of an island where the monsters could live, I ended up stopping by Windfall Island for a rest break. As I was resting on Windfall Island, that woman saw me looking out at the sea and decided she wanted to hang out with me. We spent a week together. She was very nice. Her name is Efiath. She really liked me for my looks, and said I was a lot more handsome than anyone on Windfall Island. She told me that she wanted to raise a child. I told her that I couldn't live on Windfall Island, as I had duties to work on in Hyrule. She then consoled me, saying that she would be happy with raising a child all by herself. After a few hours of thinking about it, we eventually went ham. After that day, I had to say goodbye to her, and she said to never return."
"Why doesn't she want to see you again?" Poump asked.
"Because I told her about how I am the Hero of Hyrule, a Knight to the Queen, and a bunch of other titles that were very important. She said that she didn't want her child to be involved with the busy lifestyle that I had, and that if I ever returned, I would be a bad influence on the kid. All I ever wanted to do was see him again."
Poump chuckled a little bit. "Both you and Zelda kept secrets from each other. She kept Hilda a secret to you, and you kept Pep a secret from her."
"I've been meaning to tell her about it, but I don't know how she would react, so I think it's best I keep it a secret from her." Link said.
"Well, maybe you can-" Poump was interrupted by some commotion. The door to the main deck opened up and a pig ran across the main deck.
"Get back here!" A child ran out of the door and chased after the pig. The kid caught up to the pig and held it down. He looked up at Link and Poump.
"Pep?!" Link said to the child.
"That's me!" Pep replied.
The Rito landed next to Pep and picked him up. "Looks like we have a stowaway." Pep was struggling to get out of the Rito's feathers and then he bit her wing. "AUGH!" She exclaimed at her wing being bit, and she dropped Pep. Pep backed away from the Rito with the pig in his hands. He spit out a few feathers. "We should toss this scamp overboard!" The Rito said.
"No, we shouldn't." Link said. Amidst this commotion, more of the shipmates looked at the child. Uten made a notice of the pig.
"We should cook that pig up for food." Uten said.
"No! Don't kill it!" Pep said as he hugged the pig a lot more.
"Oink." The pig said.
"We don't need to kill this pig Uten." Link said. "We have plenty of food on this boat." Link kneeled down to Pep. "Would you like to take a walk with me?"
Pep hugged the Pig and looked at Link's face. "Momma yelled at you yesterday."
Link had a poker face. "Yeah, I know." Link replied.
"But you look really funny. Hold my pig." Pep gave Link the pig. "Let's go away from these weirdos." Pep said in reference to the other ship mates.
"Oh. Okay then. Just remember though, these guys aren't weirdos, they are our friends." Link said to Pep in reference to the ship mates. Link and Pep walked off of the main deck and onto the Captain's wheel where Alfonzo was. Poump and the gang looked at each other.
"Well that just happened." Uten said.
"Your Rubber Armor looks neat by the way." Poump said.
"Ah thanks." Uten replied.
Hours passed on the boat. Not a single landmass was in sight, with the exception of only 2 lonely rocks on the sea. Other than those rocks, there was not even the silhouette of an island in sight. Poump and the gang played with the Pokemon cards and it made the time pass by a lot more. Eventually Link joined in their game, which he also had Pep join in as well. Link taught Pep about how to play the game. Eventually, Link saw a card that had a squid monster on it and then he remembered something.
"Oh crap." He said. Everyone looked at him.
"What's happening? Got a bad deck?" The Gerudo said to Link.
"No, I just remembered something." Link replied.
"What is it?" Uten asked.
Link looked around the table. "When the Blood Moon rose into the sky a few nights ago, the monsters across Hyrule were revived. When I was out at sea, a large squid monster which my crew named the 'Big Octo' attacked the ship. We were able to kill it, and since then the waters around it's area have been calm. But, with the Blood Moon's occurence, that could mean the Big Octo could theoretically be back in it's waters again."
"How would we be able to defeat it?" Zhago asked.
"When I first faced it, I used a boomerang to defeat it. It has 6 eyes on its surface, and it tries to pull in any boat that passes by it by creating a water current that pulls a boat closer to it. Using the advantage of it's circular water current, I was able to target all of its eyes with the boomerang. Any boomerang, if targeted right, can hit all 6 of its eyes, causing it to be blinded. The current would go away, and then we made the ship fire its cannons at the Big Octo, which killed it after an exhausting amount of time." Link looked around the table. "Any questions?"
"None from me. As long as I know how to defeat it, I'm good." Poump said.
"Good. Let's keep on playing then." Link said and then everyone got back to playing cards.
The day went by and then it was night time. The party members situated themselves in their cabins and slept the night away.
The next day arrived. Niko excitedly was ringing a bell on the boat, and Alfonzo spoke over a loudspeaker. "Good morning crewmembers, this is Captain Alfonzo speaking, we have land ho. Repeat, we have land ho."
The party got out of their sleeping cabins and ran up to the main deck and saw an island coming closer and closer to them. Link walked behind them. "There it is. Our monster quest will finally come to an end."
"We'll be rich." Uten said ecstatically.
"Yup. That we will be." Poump said.
The boat eventually docked itself near the beach of the island. There was not a single sign of Hylian life on the island. The only thing the crew members could see from so high up were the faint red dots on the sand which they knew were crabs. The crewmembers lowered the ramp down onto the island. Pep walked out onto the main deck with his pig, but Link quickly walked up to Pep.
"Son, go back into my cabin. It's too dangerous out here." Link said to Pep.
"It's not dangerous, all of your friends are walking down that ramp." Pep replied.
"Because they know what they're doing. You however can't go onto this island with us, it would be too dangerous for you. Go back into my cabin, and we'll be right back in a jiffy."
"Okay fine. Come with me, pig." Pep said to the pig and he walked back into the cabin doors.
"Niko, watch over him right now." Link said to Niko.
"You got it boss." Niko replied, and he walked into the cabins with Pep.
Link walked down the ramp and onto the island, where all of the other party members were. "Alright guys, you see that tall stoney spire right there?" Link said, while pointing out a tall rock spire.
"Yep." Poump replied.
"We are going to place this Travel Medallion on the very top of it. That way we will be able to return to this island with the press of a button." Link said. He pulled out a circular device and handed it to Zhago. "Poump, follow me." Link walked with Poump up to the other crew members which were at the hull of the boat. "The cages are going to be opened now, right?" Link said to the other crew members.
"Yup." The Rito said.
"Poump, prepare to play the Ocarina." Link said to Poump. Poump brought out the Ocarina of Time and prepared to play it. Alfonzo pressed a button and then a ramp erected from the boat's hull. A door opened up, and then the monsters came out from inside of the boat. Some of them covered their eyes from the sun, but they quickly adjusted to the light. "Play it now." Link said to Poump. Poump blew into the Ocarina and performed Saria's Song. The monsters followed him onto the island. Every single Bokoblin, Moblin, Lizalfos, and the two Lynels were escorted out of the boat. Alfonzo observed the cages and was happy to see that all of the monsters were out of the cages. The cages were completely empty. Alfonzo pressed a button again and the doors closed and the ramp went back into the hull of the ship. Link was guiding Poump and the monsters into a deeper area on the island. They eventually arrived at a lush green area with trees that provided ample shade. There also seemed to be a bunch of resources laid out around the area. Link put on a Bokoblin Mask. "Aaaand stop." Poump stopped playing the Ocarina. Link quickly handed Poump a Bokoblin Mask and he wore it. Link motioned for Poump to follow him back to the boat so they navigated through the greenery of the island jungle back to the boat.
"What was up with the set up back there?" Poump said to Link.
"When we prepared this island for the monsters, we made sure we would give them a good starting area for them to work off of." Link replied. The two of them arrived at the boat area. "Now anyone who feels like climbing that rock spire can come along with me."
"We'll stay on the boat boss." The Goron said. The other crew members nodded in agreement and they walked up the ramp and back onto the boat.
"We'll join you." Uten said. Tipa, Zhago, and Poump nodded as well.
"Alright then, let's climb that rock spire." Link said. They all walked up to where the rock spire was. It was a lot taller up close. Thankfully the jagged edge of the rocks allowed for good climbing for the team. Zhago used his climbing mitts and had Uten cling onto his back. Tipa decided to use her bare hands and climbed up using the rocks on the edge. Poump Clawshotted up as far as he could and then climbed with his bare hands. Link jumped a little bit and then a gust of wind developed underneath him. He pulled out his paraglider and then shot into the air with the wind guiding him. A Rito ghost flew around him, and then he clinged to the side of the rock spire and climbed up with his bare hands. Eventually the 5 of them made it to the top of the spire, which was completely flat. Surprisingly, there was enough room up there to probably hold about 20 Hylians. "Now we just need to place the Travel Medallion down on the center of this flat surface." Link said. Zhago almost placed the Travel Medallion down onto the floor, but then he handed it to Poump.
"You should do the honors, Poump." Zhago said.
Poump humbly rejected the idea of himself doing it. "I shouldn't do it. We should do it." Poump said. He motioned to Uten and Tipa and the 4 of them placed their hands on the Travel Medallion. They placed it on the floor, and then a blue circle formed around the Travel Medallion.
"Now we need to link this Medallion up to both of our Sheikah Slates so that way we can teleport to it whenever we want." Link showed Poump how to link the Travel Medallion with the Sheikah Slate. "Good. Now, we can sit back and take in the view from up here." Link sat at the edge of the spire and looked across the island. The boat was still sitting on the coast of the island.
Poump looked around. The view from above allowed them to see almost the whole island. They could see from one coast to the next. The other side of the mountain had a volcano of some kind. Poump had some concern with it. "Is that volcano active?" Poump asked Link.
"No, we made sure it was dormant when we chose this island. Most islands have volcanoes on them anyways, but thankfully that one won't be spitting out fumes any time soon." Link replied. The party spent a few more minutes on top of the spire.
"I'm a little hungry right now." Uten said.
"I am too." Poump added.
"Same." Zhago said.
"Meat." Tipa stated.
"Well then, looks like we all have one thing in common. Let's glide back down to the boat then." Link and the party pulled out their paragliders and ran up to the edge of the spire. They jumped off and the gliders carried them through the air above the lush jungle of the island. They looked down and saw the monsters gleefully running around the island, having the time of their lives. Link looked down at them with soft eyes. What he saw in them before he didn't see anymore. They really were just misunderstood and put in the wrong place, which was Hyrule. Monsters living on an island alone like this were bound to be a lot better for them, and the results mere minutes after the fact proved that point. Their gliders approached the boat and they landed onto it. Link looked at the other party members. "Thank all of you so much for helping Zelda and I out. We really appreciate your help. I cannot thank you all enough."
"Thank YOU for bringing us on this grand expedition, Link!" Poump said.
Link saluted to Poump. "You betcha." Link looked up to the captain's deck. "Alfonzo, hit it!"
"On it right now boss." Alfonzo started the boat's engines up and it started moving away from the island. Poump looked out to the island's beach, and he couldn't help but shake the feeling that he saw some of the monsters waving goodbye to him. He waved back and the monsters started dancing with each other. Poump felt really happy with seeing this, seeing such creatures mingle with each other like this.
After some time, the island turned into a silhouette and then it vanished into the horizon.
A few hours passed. The team was mostly nonchalant on the boat. People were resting in their cabins, and the only activity on the outside deck was that of Alfonzo steering the ship's wheel. Alfonzo felt a water drop his shoulder. "Huh, neat." He looked up and saw dark gray clouds start to cover up the blue in the sky. In just a minute, rain started pouring on the main deck. "A little rain has never hurt a Hylian before." Alfonzo said as he kept a hold on the steering wheel. Then a violent jolt caused the boat to move a little bit. Alfonzo looked down the side of the boat and then he couldn't help but notice the faint outline of a creature under the water. He walked up to the loudspeaker. "ATTENTION! ATTENTION! THIS IS CAPTAIN ALFONZO SPEAKING! ALL CREW INTO BATTLE POSITIONS RIGHT NOW!" This announcement woke everyone on the boat up. Everyone rushed out to the main deck. Pep tried going out of Link's room.
"No son, you can't go out there." Link said to Pep.
"But I want to fight too!" Pep said.
"Take care of your pig in here, you'll be safe in this cabin." Link told Pep.
"You're not as fun as momma." Pep said.
Link looked down at Pep with a face of minor annoyance. "Then maybe I am. Stay put, child." Link shut the door and locked it with his key. He ran through the corridors of the ship, which rattled once again from another jolt. Link was sent flying into the ceiling and he hit his head. "Oooh. That's gonna hurt soon." Link said as he rubbed his head. He kept on running through the corridor a little more and made it out to the main deck. It was raining tremendously, and the crewmembers ran up to the sides of the main deck. Some cannons erected from the floor and the crewmembers manned them. Poump and the other party members also ran outside to the main deck.
"What's happening?!" Poump shouted to Link.
"We're being attacked." Link said.
"By what?!" Poump shouted.
Link looked out to the ocean and then a large squid monster emerged from under the water, with 3 eyes visible. "The Big Octo. It's here." Link said. A circular water current formed around the Big Octo, and it started slowly pulling the whole boat closer towards it. Link handed a boomerang to Zhago.
"I trust you know how to use this?!" Link shouted to Zhago.
"Yes, I know how to use a boomerang." Zhago said.
"Good! Now remember what I said about targeting its eyes!" Link said. He then ran off into an indoor area.
"Where's he going?" Uten said.
"Whatever it is, it's something important." Zhago said. "Now let's show this squid who's boss!" Zhago ran up to the edge of the main deck. The cannons aimed for the Big Octo. The cannons fired cannonballs that minorly pierced the Big Octo's skin. Zhago aimed with his boomerang at the Big Octo's eyes. The Squid was rotating, which revealed a second set of three eyes on the other side of it. Zhago focused on each eye and threw the boomerang. It hit each eye, causing them to shut themselves out. The boomerang flew back to Zhago and he caught it.
Link ran back outside, wearing some Zora Armor. He ran up to the edge of the boat and dove down into the water beneath them. Tipa saw this so she also ran inside and grabbed her own Zora Armor. She equipped it onto herself and ran back outside. She also dove into the water, just like how Link did. Under the surface of the water, Tipa saw an endless blue void underneath her, but in front of her was the squid and it's 8 tentacles. 3 of the tentacles aimed themselves at Tipa, but she swam around all 3 of the incoming tentacles. She made it under the squid and saw its beak, opening and closing. Inside of it seemed to be, weirdly enough, one more eye. She noticed Link swimming swiftly through the water, wielding the glowing Master Sword. Link sliced 1 of the tentacles right off, and it floated up to the surface of the water. Tipa was inspired by this, so she pulled out one of her katanas and tried slicing at one of the tentacles with her blade. It gave the tentacle a really small cut, and then the end of it swam itself right up to Tipa and grabbed her.
Outside of the water, Zhago threw the boomerang at the other 3 eyes left, but one of the tentacles rose up and protected one of the Squid's eyes from being hurt by the boomerang. Zhago was astonished by this. The boomerang returned to him, nevertheless. Poump pulled out his Magic Sword and decided to shoot its energy beam right at the Big Octo's skin. When the beam hit it's skin, the Octo's skin opened up a lot more. The people manning the cannons looked at Poump's sword, and then got off of their cannons. The cannons went into the floor and they ran downstairs to man different cannons with different ammunition. The ammunition from these cannons were bombs, which exploded on contact with the Big Octo's skin.
Under the water, the Big Octo's grip on Tipa let go. Tipa looked up and saw Uten swimming through the water, stabbing at the Octo's tentacle. Tipa smiled, and no water went into her mouth because of the Zora Armor's mask. Link cut off another tentacle which floated up to the surface. The remaining 6 tentacles grabbed Link, and Tipa looked up at the chopped tentacles which were horrendously reforming again. She sunk her katana blade into the reforming tentacle, which started to form around her sword and then it formed around her arm. Uten swam up to Tipa and grabbed her second katana. Uten sliced at the tentacles multiple times and then it cut right off, freeing Tipa's arm from the forming tentacle.
Above the water, Zhago and Poump aimed their boomerang and their Magic Sword respectively at the two remaining eyes that were open. The Magic Sword's beam hit the eye, and the boomerang hit the other eye. The Octo flung itself around wildly and the circular current disappeared. The Big Octo submerged itself under the water. "Did we beat it?" Poump said.
"I think we did." Zhago said.
Under the water, the Octo sank deeper into the depths of the ocean, but it grabbed Link, Uten and Tipa with its tentacles. Link sliced a tentacle off and was immediately grabbed by another tentacle. He prepared to slice at it again, but the pressure from the tentacle grabbing him made him lose his grip on the Master Sword. It floated up past Uten and towards Tipa. Tipa reached out to the Master Sword's hilt and grabbed it. As if by instinct, Tipa swung the Master Sword into the tentacle that was gripping her and it sliced cleanly. She swam downwards towards the Big Octo's beak. On the way there, 2 more tentacles tried grabbing her, and she sliced at the both of them, causing them to float up. She freed Uten from the tentacle that was grasping her by slicing it off. Tipa pointed to the surface for Uten to swim up, and Uten listened. Tipa kept on swimming down towards the Big Octo some more. She sunk the Master Sword into one of the Octo's tentacles, using it to slide herself down even faster. She arrived at the tentacle that was holding Link, and she cut him free. Link suspended himself in the water for a bit, he was recovering from the grip of the Big Octo's tentacle. He looked down and saw the glow of the Master Sword go deeper and deeper into the darkness of the water. He swam down after it.
Tipa made it to the beak of the Octo and she attached one of her katanas to her waist, and then stabbed it into the Octo's skin around the mouth. She stabbed the Master Sword into the Big Octo's mouth, causing it's last eye to bleed profusely. The Octo let out a sound that radiated around the area of the water, and then it fell limp. The water pressure became too much for Tipa, she felt like her head was going to explode. Link swam down to her and took her off of the Big Octo's limp corpse, which floated up to the surface of the water. The surface only looked like a faint light in the distance now. Link sheathed the Master Sword on his back and carried Tipa gradually towards the surface. Link made sure he didn't move too fast, so that way the water pressure wouldn't crack both of their skulls open. He took periodic stops for extra safety.
Poump looked into the water and saw Uten emerge. Uten used her spear magic to make the water carry herself back onto the boat. "Where's Tipa and Link?" Poump asked Uten.
"They're down there." Uten said as she pointed into the water. After a minute of anticipation, the nasty carcass of the Big Octo floated up to the surface, with its chopped tentacles also suspended on the surface as well. 7 more minutes passed, and then eventually Link and Tipa emerged from under the water. Uten waved her spear and caused the water to carry the two of them onto the main deck. "Are you two alright?" Uten said.
"We're both doing swell!" Link replied. Tipa nodded her head in approval.
"Was it just me, or did Tipa use the Master Sword down there?" Uten said to Link.
"You saw right, she did in fact use the Master Sword!" Link patted Tipa on the back. "This means she has a pure heart. And also, when the malice was removed from inside of her at the Hateno Ancient Tech Lab, they used my blood which I donated." Link chuckled a little bit. "From a certain point of view, this means she's my daughter, and an heir to the blade."
"Your daughter is a cucco." Poump said.
"Yup." Link replied. "If it weren't for Tipa, I don't think I would've made it down there. The Big Octo seemed to have a different fighting strategy this time around, like as if it got smarter."
"That's interesting, but I think we should settle back down in the cabins again." Zhago said. "This was exhausting."
"I agree." Uten said. "Let's all recuperate now."
The shipmates all got back into their cabins, and Alfonzo made the boat go back on course towards Hyrule.