Chapter 30: Hyrule in Chaos
The next morning came. The crewmembers woke up in their cabins. Poump and the squad walked out of the main deck, where Link and Pep were looking off into the distance. The silhouette of Windfall Island approached them in the distance. Poump walked up to Link. "Will we stop by Windfall Island once again?" Poump asked Link.
"Yup." Link said. "I'll have to drop Pep off and we will also spend a little more time on the island as well. Once nightfall comes, we'll head straight for Hyrule."
"Sounds great." Poump said.
The boat docked itself onto Windfall Island's pier. Link and the party walked off of the boat and onto the pier. "We'll toss one up for our successful voyage." Link said. "But first, I need to do one more thing." Link had Pep follow him to the residential district of the town.
Poump and the others made it to Armor Paradise. "Hey there Hamei!" Poump said as he entered the armor shop.
Hamei was smelting something, but she paused her progress on it once she saw Poump walk in. "Hey there Poump!" Hamei said with enthusiasm. "Good to see you again! How was the expedition?"
"It was great! A very nice adventure." Poump said.
"Oh, and thank you for the Rubber Armor." Uten said to Hamei. "It's helped me a lot in the past few days. That electric shock that was going through my system is gone now."
Hamei smiled. "I am so glad you're feeling better now! I've read about how nasty an electric injury is to a Zora, and the fact that your pain is gone now is really good news to me!"
"Hey Hamei, where are my parents right now?" Poump asked.
"They're up the hill checking out the windmill. If you want to talk to them, they'll most likely be there." Hamei got back to smelting, but she was still open for conversation. Zhago decided to lean on a wall in the shop and observe the different armor pieces that were around the place. Tipa obsessed over the axe that was on the wall, as she wanted to observe it in all of it's details.
"Thanks for the info Hamei. I'll be back!" Poump walked out of Armor Paradise and walked up the stone road. He followed the road up to the windmill which was at the highest point of the island. The climb was very steep. Only people with a high endurance for climbing stairs would ever bother going to the windmill. Poump took a brief rest break on the stairs to catch his breath. He looked behind himself and saw the town of Windfall Island in its entirety. Their boat was still nice and visible in the harbor. He looked up the stairs and saw that the windmill wasn't too far from where he was now. He walked up the remaining steps and arrived at the windmill. He saw his parents sitting next to the bottom of the windmill.
"Hello son! Nice to see you again! We're glad you came by to see us again!" Poump's father said.
"When we saw the boat dock into the harbor, we knew you'd take a moment to visit us." Poump's mother said. "By the way, we made you some cookies with help from your brother, Bomp!" Poump's mother pulled up a basket and inside of it was a bunch of cookies.
"That's very nice." Poump took a cookie out of the basket and ate it. "Say, where is Bomp right now?"
"He's down in the fields behind the windmill. You can say hi to him!" Poump's mother said.
"I will." Poump wolfed down another cookie and walked behind the windmill to see a whole field of flowers, and a few animal penns. Bomp was walking around the field with his claymore on his shoulder, and walking next to him was a giant pig. Bomp turned around and saw Poump. Bomp started waving.
"Hey bro!" He said. Poump ran up to Bomp and walked next to him. "How was the expedition?"
"It went great." Poump said. "Once I'm back on Hyrule, the Queen will give us 500,000 rupees each."
"Ah dang that's awesome bruv!" Bomp said. He patted the giant pig next to him.
"What's up with the big pig?" Poump asked.
"This pig was eating up crops all over the island. The town sent me to kill it, but then I learned that pigs favor a wide variety of different vegetables, so I gathered a bunch of veggies and trapped it in an area where it would only see me and my big supply of veggies. After about two weeks of feeding it, it no longer wanted to run around the island like a mad animal, so then I tamed it. It chases away any unwanted vermin from this farm, so I take a lot of pride in saying that I tamed 'the Windfall Pig of Doom' as people called it." Bomp patted the pig a little more and then it gave out a hearty oink.
"Amazing." Poump said.
Meanwhile with Link and Pep, Link carried the pig in one of his hands and held Pep's hand in the other hand. He arrived at Efiath's house and then he put the pig down onto the ground. The pig looked up at Pep. Link gave a heavy sigh and then he knocked on the door. The door opened and Efiath was there. She was rubbing her eyes with a handkerchief. "Oh… it's you." She said, slightly sobbing. She looked down and saw Pep.
"I have your child right here for you." Link said. "He decided to stowaway onto our ship, but I took good care of him."
Pep walked up to Efiath and hugged her. Efiath looked up at Link. "Thank you for taking good care of Pep for me. I missed him dearly." Efiath said. Then she threw her handkerchief to the side and forcefully kissed Link on the lips. Link didn't expect that to happen, as his eyes were wide open. She stopped the kiss. "I still hate you, but since you brought Pep back to me, I'm alright now."
"Wait a moment." Link said. "I want to tell you something."
"What is it?" Efiath said with minor annoyance.
Link paused for a moment to look at Pep walking deeper into the house. "Do you really think you're able to take care of him by yourself? I talked to Pep a lot on the boat, and he told me a lot of things about how you wouldn't be there to pick him up from his school. Or whenever a big party or event happens you never go there with him. He said that he's always being watched over by other people, and that you only really take care of him when he's in the house. I think you would benefit greatly if you had a partner to help you out." Link kept his hand on the doorframe. "When you said you wanted to raise a child by yourself, I don't think you were ready for it. And well, the thing is I can't come here to this island and live my life out here with you, because I have a lot of responsibilities to attend to in Hyrule."
"Don't you remember the time when I told you that no one here on Windfall Island was as handsome as you?" Efiath said. "No one else on this island looks good to me."
"Well that is a very simple way to look at it." Link said. "I believe you aren't looking around enough. From what I understand, Pep says that you don't socialize very often."
"Why would I choose to socialize with so many people?" Efiath said. "I don't like talking to others, because I feel like they wouldn't understand me. You are the only person that understands me."
Link shook his head. "That's not true. You wouldn't know if people could understand you if you didn't go out in the first place. If you go out and talk to people, you could be surprised with what you see. Being alone is something you shouldn't do to yourself, especially if you want to raise a child."
Efiath looked at the ground. "Walk with me then." She said.
"Alright then." Link said.
"And Pep, you can walk alongside us." Efiath said back to Pep. The three of them walked out of the house and walked alongside the beach. The pig followed them. Link looked at the message boards around the town and noticed one of them was advertising a bonfire on the beach nearby. Link walked with Efiath towards where the bonfire was.
The three of them made it to an area that was set up with a few huts and a big fireplace. A bunch of Hylians were crowding around the area. There was food and even some people were dancing to music. Link walked through the place with Efiath and showed her the different activities around the set up. Efiath looked at Link. "This reminds me of what we did 8 years ago." She said.
"Yup." Link replied. They eventually found a place where people were sitting around in a circle, telling stories to each other. Link sat down with Efiath in the circle. An hour passed. The whole circle told many different stories, which allowed everyone a chance to say something interesting. Efiath had her own story to tell, and it made everyone around the circle clap gleefully. She felt a bit happy, and then looked at Link. "See. It's not so bad going outside and socializing with other people."
"It's easy for me to do because you're with me." Efiath replied.
"Well in that case, find someone here you can feel comfortable with." Link said. The two of them got up and walked around the party together. When they were in line to get some food, someone accidentally bumped into Efiath. She turned around and saw a Hylian woman.
"I'm sorry!" The woman said humbly.
"It's okay." Efiath replied.
The woman paused for a moment. "I like your hair and the way you braid it. You should show it off to more people."
Efiath touched her hair. "Ohh I just do this for comfort." She replied.
"Comfort's good." The woman said. "Maybe I can show you different hairstyles that you could also like."
"Will you charge me?" Efiath said.
"Not at all!" The woman replied. "I find it relaxing just messing with people's hair. Your hair looks so nice. What's your name?"
"Efiath." Efiath said. "What's yours?"
"My name is Ophea." The woman replied. She looked behind Efiath. "Who's that hunk behind you?"
"His name is Link." Efiath said.
"Link? The Link?" Ophea said in disbelief. "I thought that green tunic was just some get up! You must have a lot of cool friends if you're hanging out with Link!"
Efiath looked at Link with concern in her eyes and Link looked back at her with a warm expression in his own eyes. "Link, come with me for a moment." Efiath said to Link. "Pep, hold our spot in line."
"Okay." Pep said, as he held on the pig. He looked up at Ophea who looked down at him. "Hi." He said to Ophea.
Link and Efiath walked away from where the huts were. She looked at Link with a look of concern. "I can't do this!" She said.
"You were doing great out there." Link said. "All you need to do is keep that conversation going. Ophea seems like a nice woman."
"She thinks I have friends." Efiath said. "I don't have any friends."
"You do now." Link said. Efiath looked up at him with a realization in her eyes.
"What do I do now though?" Efiath said.
"Just keep on doing what you were doing. Carry the conversation. Treat it like a game of ball. When the ball's in your court, you toss it back to them, and then they toss it back to you."
"But what if I'm not comfortable enough?" Efiath said.
Link put both of his hands on her shoulders. "You will be. Trust me, I've been in a time in my life when I was like you before. Whenever I saw someone who wanted to talk to me, I wouldn't speak to them a lot. And then, when I eventually surrounded myself with more people, I became a lot more comfortable around other people. Once you get the ball rolling, you won't stop socializing with others. So get on out there and talk to people. Otherwise you'll be missing out on a lot of experiences."
Efiath wiped a tear from her eye. "Thank you Link." She said with sincerity. "I'll talk to Ophea some more."
"Good." Link said, and the two of them walked back to the line for the food. They met up with Ophea again.
"What'd the two of you do? Kiss each other?" Ophea said jokingly to the two of them.
"No. Not now though." Efiath said.
"Ahah!" Ophea laughed. "You're funny! I like you!" Ophea said with a few more chuckles.
Link smiled at the sight of this, but then he felt his Sheikah Slate vibrate a little bit. He viewed the screen and saw that Zelda was calling him. "One moment." He said to the two of them. Ophea looked at Efiath with a surprised look on her face.
"He talks?!" She said.
Link got himself out of the noise and commotion from the huts. He answered the call. The call seemed to have a bit of static. "Link! Hyrule is in shambles right now! And the Divine Beasts... they're moving again! And some of them are terrorizing the main settlements! We haven't gained contact from Yunobo, Teba, or Riju! Sidon is the only Champion that has contact with us right now! And the monsters… they seem to be working with the Yiga Clan! It's impossible, but it's happening! Link! We need you in Hyrule as soon as you can possibly come!" The call fizzled out and ended. Link walked back to the huts and spoke to Efiath one more time.
"I must leave right now." Link said to Efiath.
"Ah man, but we were having fun!" Efiath said.
"I'll be back soon enough, but the people in Hyrule need me right now." Link said. He held her hand. "I promise I will come back to you, as a friend. But for now, I must go."
"I understand. Ophea and I are already having a lot of fun now, so you can go now." Efiath said. "Oh, and by the way, please don't die." She said to Link.
"I won't." Link said.
"Good." Efiath replied.
"Bye!" He said as he waved goodbye to her and Pep.
Ophea looked at Efiath. "Link is so funny."
"He kinda is." Efiath said.
Link ran across the beach towards the boat. He pulled out his Sheikah Slate and called Poump. Poump picked up. "Poump! We're gonna need to cut our time here short, Zelda needs us in Hyrule right now! Say your goodbyes, because we need to be sailing away pronto!" The call hung up.
Poump put his Sheikah Slate on his waist. "I'm sorry Bomp, but I have to cut this meeting short."
"It's alright bro. You're welcome to come back here later." Bomp said.
Poump hugged Bomp one last time. "I'll be back!" Poump said. He rushed towards the windmill where his parents were sitting. He quickly waved goodbye to his parents. "I need to go back to Hyrule right now!" Poump said to his parents.
"Do come back!" Poump's mother said.
"I will!" Poump said as he ran up to the edge of the staircase with his paraglider ready. He jumped and caught the wind and then glided down the mountain towards the town. A few seagulls almost flew into him while he was gliding down. He saw the armor shop's rooftop and landed onto it. He ran down the staircase past the living area and then into the main shop, where he saw the rest of the party and Hamei hanging out. "We need to go to the boat now!" Poump exclaimed.
"Why?" Uten said, feeling a bit flustered.
"Link told me we need to go back to Hyrule as soon as we can!" Poump exclaimed. "He looked like he was in a hurry to move it, and that means this is serious!"
Hamei washed some metal. "Take care of yourself Poump." She said.
"I will!" Poump said to Hamei. The other party members filed themselves out of the shop, and Poump looked back at Hamei just one more time. "I'll be back."
Hamei hugged Poump before he could go. "Do your best out there!"
"You got it!" Poump said. Hamei stopped hugging him and then he rushed out of the shop. The party ran through the stone streets of the town and eventually made it to the pier. Link was there in front of the ramp to the boat. The party members got onto the boat and Link got on as well. As the boat's ramp lifted up, Link looked back at the beach near the pier. Pep had run all the way towards the pier with his pig. Pep waved goodbye to Link, and Link waved goodbye to Pep. He saw Efiath and Ophea run up to Pep. They looked up at him and waved goodbye as well. Link waved goodbye to the people on the island and then the boat moved itself out of the harbor really quickly.
Alfonzo was hitting the boat's engine real good, making sure it could move faster through the water than it normally did. He spoke over the loudspeaker. "Attention. Attention. This is Captain Alfonzo speaking. Get yourself saddled down in your cabin because this boat's going to go really fast." Because they didn't have any more monsters to keep hold of, the boat was able to move a lot faster now. It zoomed across the water at a ludicrous speed. At a few points, the large ship seemed to jump just a little bit above the surface of the water with how fast it was going. Alfonzo hit a switch which made the boat erect a few extra keels to keep itself balanced.
It was mid-day by the time they could see the silhouette of Hyrule in the distance. Alfonzo slowed the boat down a little bit. The silhouette became clearer and clearer and eventually they were able to see Lurelin Village clearly. Alfonzo slowed the boat down a lot more and then eased it into the dock. The ramp lowered onto Lurelin Village's pier and the crewmembers got off and walked into the village.
As the party walked themselves into Lurelin Village, they saw a tent with the Royal Family crest on it. Link and the party walked into it to see Zelda standing at a table with a few people in armor. Among them, Roldi and Nebb stood by Zelda.
Zelda was pointing at different areas on a map of Hyrule, which was on the table. Zelda looked up at Link and the party members with a stern look on her face. "You've finally arrived. Good timing. Hyrule is in extreme disarray right now. We've lost contact with three of the Champions, and the dizzying frequency in monster attacks and Yiga attacks is not helping us much. Before I continue, may I ask how the mission with the monsters went? My Sheikah Slate located the Travel Medallion on the island."
"We managed to deliver all of them flawlessly." Link said. "These guys did a very good job."
"I even took a few pictures." Poump said as he pulled his Sheikah Slate up. He showed them to Zelda.
"Very good." She said hastily. "I will pay you your rupees soon. They are in Hyrule Castle right now, which Roldi told me is overrun with an explosion in plant life."
"Should we deal with going to Hyrule Castle first in that case?" Uten said.
"No, I want the four of you to deal with saving the Gorons on Death Mountain." Zelda said.
"Death Mountain?!" Uten exclaimed. "The atmosphere over there is enough to cook someone up alive! It's even worse than the Gerudo Desert!"
"That is why I have someone at the base of Death Mountain that will be able to outfit all of you with the necessary armor to survive the hot climate. Talk to them first. They will give you all an outfit for free." Zelda reached in her pockets. "By the way, this is your pay for dealing with the monster colony in the Gerudo Desert." She handed the party a wallet with 10,000 rupees. "All of you left in such a rush that you forgot to collect them."
"Well cha-ching, consider me well fed." Uten said as she bagged the rupees.
Zelda turned to Roldi and Nebb. "As for you two, I need you to go to Rito Village in the Tabantha Frontier. Find Teba and rally their forces to Fort Hebra so that way we can approach Hyrule Castle with the Rito forces."
"We will get that done, your highness." Roldi said. Nebb nodded in approval.
"What do you want me to do, Zelda?" Link said. "Should I go to the Gerudo Region and rally the Gerudo forces?"
"No, I want you to do that later. I want you to lead the squad up Death Mountain. That place is going to be a lot more dangerous now that the monsters have returned, and you're the only person here who's scaled up that mountain with monsters constantly attacking you. I need you to find Yunobo and the Gorons and bring them to Akkala Citadel." Zelda looked at the map and pointed out a few markers on the map. "As for the Gerudo Region, it is suffering from an explosion of Yiga soldiers and monsters, and as I told you before, they seem to be working together. I have sent several garrisons towards the Gerudo Region. Of course, SOMEONE decided to destroy the main bridge that leads to the Gerudo Valley." Zelda looked at Zhago. Zhago scratched the back of his head with a bit of guilt. "I've outfitted the garrison with grappling hooks that will allow them to climb to the other side of the broken bridge and they are also wearing Guardian Armor, so I trust that they can deal with the problem in the Gerudo Region well enough."
"Guardian Armor? You deployed the Guardian Commandos to the Gerudo Region? That's understandable then." Link said. "I will assist these guys with traversing Death Mountain in that case."
"Very good. Now get to work everyone. We have an apocalypse to cancel." Zelda hurriedly walked outside of the tent. Link followed her outside.
"Zelda, everything is going to be fine." Link said to Zelda.
"You tell that to me all the time!" Zelda snapped back at Link. "Hyrule has gotten so much worse in the time you've been gone! I. I. I-" Zelda forcefully kissed Link on the lips. She dislodged from the kiss. "I missed you." She said, as she licked her lips.
"I missed you too-" Link was interrupted by Zelda kissing him in the lips once again. This time around, they were tongue tied. They were practically eating each other. They stopped kissing.
"Please don't die Link." Zelda said to Link.
"Don't worry Zelda. I'll be safe." Link said.
"Show the monsters on Death Mountain who's boss!" Zelda said to Link.
"I sure will." Link walked away and waved goodbye to Zelda. He felt like telling her about Efiath on Windfall Island, but that would have to wait as he knew that Zelda was way too focused on strategies and wartime right now. He hopped onto his horse and looked at the party members. "Alright guys, let's ride for Death Mountain." Link said to the party.
"Alrighty then." Poump said. He and the party boarded onto their horses and they followed Link down the road through the forested area of the Faron Region. Uten rode up to Link.
"Will we be seeing any monsters through the forest, Link?" Uten asked.
"No, it's only been 5 days since the rise of the Blood Moon. Since Zelda has some battalions stationed in Lurelin Village, that should mean that they killed a lot of the monsters in the forest along the way to the village." As Link said that, the party rode across the bridge that had the large set of waterfalls to their right. The party made it to the other side of the bridge and they kept on trekking through the forest. There were some Hylians riding on horses along the way, wearing armor and fighting away at any monsters they ran into. Link had the party follow him some more and then they eventually made it out of the forest and onto the road next to the Bridge of Hylia.
They followed the road across the Bridge of Hylia, where only a few battalions were stationed. They allowed the party to pass through, and so they did. The party made it to the other side of the bridge. Zhago rode up to Link's horse. "Kakariko Village is just a short ways off from where we're headed. I want to stop by there really quickly."
"That's reasonable." Link replied. "We'll stop by there briefly. Get some time to recuperate." Link followed the road and then eventually 8 Bokoblins riding on horses rode up over a hill. 2 Yiga soldiers were also on horses, making it a total of 10 enemies.
Poump pulled out his Magic Sword and shot the sword's energy beam at one of the Yiga soldiers, causing them to fall off of their horse. The Yiga soldier tried getting up, but Poump rode right by the Yiga soldier and sliced his head off. Zhago teleported onto the other horse with the last Yiga on it, and then stabbed them through the stomach, causing them to fall down. 3 Bokoblins surrounded Zhago. Tipa pulled out both of her katanas and hit 2 Bokoblins off of their horses, killing both of them. Uten stabbed her spear at a riding Bokoblin and killed it. Link jumped off of his horse into the air and as if it went by in a second, Link let out 5 arrows which killed the remaining Bokoblins. Link got back onto his horse and Zhago did as well. They kept on riding down the road. Hyrule was an actual hellscape. Guardians were running across the fields, monsters had already established camps along the sides of the roads, and the Yiga Clan had whole garrisons riding across the fields. Hylian soldiers were also active, as they were fighting away at the Yiga soldiers and the monsters. A lot of the Guardians on the field were hostile, however some of them were allied with the Hylian soldiers, which gave Link some extra hope, knowing that they had Guardians on their side. The sky was filled with clouds, but it wasn't raining, despite the way the clouds looked.
After a long and stressful ride, the party eventually made it to Kakariko Village, which didn't have any problems going on inside of it. The only thing different about the village was the presence of more Sheikah Warriors. Zhago got off of his horse and greeted one of the Sheikah Warriors. "It is so good to see you all here right now. What's the occasion?" Zhago said as he looked around the village.
One of the Sheikah Warriors spoke up. "We are positioned around Kakariko Village in order to protect the villagers." The Sheikah Warrior took a second look at Zhago. "Zhago? Is that you?"
"Yep, it's me." Zhago said.
"We feel really bad about what happened with Impa a few weeks ago. We knew that you were the one Sheikah Warrior that freed this village from the curse. We didn't even know it happened, so we weren't even able to say goodbye to Impa." The Sheikah Warrior said with a minor somber voice.
"It's alright. That happened in the past, right now all we need to do is hold this place secure from any Yiga attacks." Zhago said.
"That is precisely why we are here. We were inspired by your status as Hero of Kakariko Village, so we came here in order to keep a crisis from not happening again, especially in this chaotic time we're in right now."
"Very good. Where is Paya right now? I need to return something." Zhago said.
"She's in the Chief's House." The Sheikah Warrior pointed to the building where Impa used to be in.
"Thanks." Zhago said as he proceeded towards Paya's Place. He walked up the steps and through the double doors. He saw Paya sitting in the spot where Impa once sat. She was petting Amo the Cat. She looked up and saw Zhago walk in.
"Zhago! How good to see you again!" She said ecstatically.
Zhago walked up to Paya. "My friends and I have finished Zelda's mission." Zhago pulled out the Ocarina of Time "We no longer have any use for this Ocarina. It belongs here now." Paya took the Ocarina of Time in her hands.
"Thank you for bringing it to me. This is a very important heirloom to the Sheikah Tribe. I am glad you got to use it to it's best potential." Paya got a washcloth and started cleaning the Ocarina.
"I am happy you're happy. By the way, where is Pokh?" Zhago asked.
"Pokh is currently on the cliffs surrounding the village, ready to shoot at any incoming Yiga assassins with a bow." Paya said. "Almost every Sheikah Warrior is here in Kakariko Village right now. The only warrior who isn't here is Sheik."
"Where would she be?" Zhago asked.
"She headed towards Death Mountain last time I saw her." Paya replied.
"I'm headed there right now actually." Zhago said.
"Say hi to her for me." Paya said as she continued cleaning the Ocarina.
"I will." Zhago said. He headed for the double doors and exited the building. The other party members were eating some food, and Link was preparing his horse for the ride to Death Mountain. Zhago looked around the village and saw all of the other Sheikah Warriors patrolling around the village. He looked up one of the cliffs that surrounded Kakariko Village and teleported onto the top of it. He saw Pokh with a few other Sheikah Warriors with bows, ready to shoot at any intruders. "Hello son." Zhago said.
Pokh turned around. "Hello father. I heard that you're going to Death Mountain." Pokh looked out to Hyrule Field, which was dotted with smoke and flames. "Look at the times we're living in."
"Don't worry son, we will pull through this together." Zhago said.
"I will stay strong." Pokh said.
"We will." Zhago said, before teleporting away. Zhago teleported next to where the party's horses were. "We will head to Death Mountain now." Zhago said.
"Very well then. Let's go team!" Link got onto his horse and the other party members got onto their own horses as well. They rode out of Kakariko Village. The party made the trek towards Death Mountain.
Death Mountain loomed in the distance, with the pouring lava coming from its highest peak making highlights down its sides. Along the way, a red-eyed Guardian noticed the party and chased after them. The laser pointed at Link. Link slowed his horse down to allow the party members to get ahead of him, and then he pulled out his bow. He knocked an ancient arrow onto his bow and aimed right for the Guardian's eye. He let go of the arrow and it shot directly into the Guardian's eye, causing it to blow up instantly. He caught up with the other party members and had his bow out at the ready. On the ride to the mountain, some more horsebound Bokoblins and Yiga soldiers rode up to the party in large numbers. Link and Zhago shot at some of them with their arrows, but there were still too many of them to shoot. Then a garrison of Hylians rode up into view and pulled out their bows, aiming their arrows at the Bokoblins and the Yiga. Link took a closer look at their arrows and noticed that they were tipped with a glowing blue energy. "Ancient arrows?!" Link exclaimed. The Hylian soldiers shot the ancient arrows at the Yiga and the Bokoblins, which caused all of them to disappear completely without a trace. Some of the horses they were on also disappeared. The soldiers rode off over the hill and out of sight. Link looked at the party members. "Keep going to Death Mountain, I'll be there with you!" Link redirected his horse towards the battalion of Hylian soldiers. And caught up with them.
The soldiers noticed Link riding up to them. "Ahh Link!" One of the soldiers exclaimed as they were riding forth with Link next to them. Link had a disgruntled expression on his face.
"Did I just see all of you use your ancient arrows on those Yiga soldiers and monsters?" Link said.
"Yes, we did. They're very effective, aren't they?" The soldier replied.
"Ancient arrows should only ever be used as a last resort if you're pinned down or if you're facing a Guardian. NEVER waste them like you just did!"
The soldier looked at the other soldiers with a confused face, and then back at Link. "But Lord Aghanim trained us to use them on any Yiga soldiers that we ever see!"
"Lord Aghanim is dead!" Link exclaimed. "It is not right to use ancient arrows on anything that isn't a Guardian!"
The soldier explained why they were doing what they were doing. "We've just come from the Gerudo Region, we were trapped on the other side for a week, but then we eventually found a way through the Gerudo Highlands and back into Hyrule Field, where we eventually saw the explosion in the monster population as well as the bigger numbers of Yiga assassins. Aghanim sent us to the Gerudo Region in order to deal with the Yiga and to use any weapon we could use, ancient arrows included. We never heard of the news that he was dead until just now, we've mostly been fighting for the past few days."
"Well soldiers, new orders. Don't use your ancient arrows at all unless you're facing a Guardian in combat. You hear me?"
"I hear you Link." The soldier said. They turned to the others. "Everyone, don't use ancient arrows on enemies like the Yiga or the monsters anymore. Only use them on Guardians!"
"Agreed!" The soldiers said in unison.
"Thank you, now keep on fighting!" Link rode his horse back onto the pathway to Death Mountain. He eventually caught up to the others. A few more battles ensued along the way, with the party members victorious after each battle.
They made it to a Stable that sat at the base of Death Mountain. The climate around the area was just a little bit hotter, but it wasn't too close to the mountain, so everyone was fine. Link got off of his horse, and the party got off of their own horses as well. "So, who is this contact we need to speak to down here in order to get our free lava-proof outfits?" Poump said.
Link looked at the stable and examined the people around it. "He doesn't seem to be here." Link said. All of a sudden Link heard something.
"Oh noo!" A loud high pitched voice yelled not too far from the Stable.
"Come with me!" Link said to the others. He pulled his sword out and looked through some bushes. 2 Bokoblins, one of them blue, the other one black, were beating up someone with their clubs. "Oh Goddess." He said. Link rushed into the area with his Master Sword ready. The 2 Bokoblins looked up at him and screeched as a battle cry. They readied their clubs for fighting, but Link quickly slashed his blade at the air, which caused an energy beam to form out of it and it hit the Black Bokoblin down. Link used his Hylian Shield to parry the Blue Bokoblin's attack, which knocked it's club out of it's hand. Link slashed at the Blue Bokoblin two times, which killed it quickly. The Black Bokoblin got back up but Link bashed his shield into its face and then jumped into the air, slicing it's head down the middle. The Black Bokoblin fell down, dead. Link landed and looked at the downed person. "Take my hand."
The Hylian got up, they had a large backpack on. "OOOHHHHH! Thank youuuu so much!" The Hylian said. Poump and the others walked into the area.
"Beedle?!" They all said in unison. Even Tipa said it too.
"Oh my goodness!" Beedle exclaimed. "You're working with Link!"
"Yeah, they're the people you're going to need to outfit with the Flamebreaker Armor, including the specially fit Zora variation." Link said to Beedle as he helped him up.
"You came to the right man at the right time!" Beedle shuffled through his huge backpack and then pulled out a few red sets of armor. "Put them on nice and tight!" Beedle said to the party as he gave them the armor. The party wore the armor over their clothes. The armor was metallic with a red tint to it. The helmet was also metal and had a spiky plume on the back of it. Uten's armor fit her shape perfectly, and it even had an extra water pumping system attached to it that the others didn't have. Link put on his own set of Flamebreaker armor as well.
"Alright gang, we'll need to scale up Death Mountain. Our horses won't take us very far up there without starting to burn up, so we'll have to walk up there ourselves." Link and the others walked towards the base of Death Mountain. The terrain started to become rockier. The ground had many small lizards running across it. Eventually, the heat of the mountain started to become noticeable, but the armor made the party feel fine while they were cooped up inside of it's cool interior. Link raised his fist into the air, which commanded the team to stop for a moment. "Hold on." He pulled out his bow and aimed it at some rocks. He let an arrow go and when it hit a rock, the rock turned into a Lizalfos and then fell to the floor, dead.
"Lizalfos can do that?!" Poump exclaimed.
"Yes." Link said. "They can disguise themselves with any terrain. Since they're back here in Death Mountain, we need to be careful on the walk up."
"Hmm." Zhago pulled out the Eye of Truth and examined the rocks around the place. It revealed 5 more Lizalfos sitting in the area. "There's 5 more around here." Zhago said.
"Orient me." Link said as he prepared his bow. Zhago pointed to the different camouflage Lizalfos and Link shot 3 of them dead. The remaining 2 Lizalfos hopped out of their hiding spots and rushed straight for the party really fast. Poump took out the Magic Sword and shot an energy beam at one of the incoming Lizalfos, which caused it to fall over briefly. The other Lizalfos ran up to the team with a spear and stabbed at Tipa, but she dodged the attack and sliced the Lizalfos with her two katanas, killing it. The last Lizalfos got up and then Link shot the Lizalfos one more time with another arrow. "That settles that, let's keep moving."
The party kept on trekking up Death Mountain. The walk was long and strenuous, but Link knew they still had about an hour and half of more walking ahead of them.