The Legend of Zelda: After the Wild

by KingArthur99

10 years after the defeat of Calamity Ganon, Hyrule was met with a time of prosperity and rebuilding, but underneath the shadows an uprising from the Yiga Clan has started to threaten the new lives of the people in Hyrule. A squad of unlikely friends find themselves stuck in the heat of the conflict, as well as a special task that Queen Zelda herself wants them to complete.

35. Chapter 33: Skull Kid's Last Laugh

Chapter 33: Skull Kid's Last Laugh

It was night time. The moon was in the air at Lurelin Village, and Poump and the others had finished restocking themselves on potions and other necessities. Poump walked up to Zelda in her tent. "We're ready to go to Hyrule Castle now." Poump told Zelda.

"Very well then. Be very careful out there at the castle. It's overgrown with excessive plant life, and Roldi told me a few of the soldiers have even been eaten by some of the plants. Take care of yourselves in the castle. Once you've secured the castle, the armies from the different colonies will converge at Hyrule Castle, where we will make our stand against the army of monsters and Yiga soldiers." Zelda showed them a route on the map that could cut across Hyrule Field, and also showed them what to look out for. "Any questions?"

"Where would the vault of rupees be?" Uten asked.

"Hidden in the courtyard somewhere. Bollocks, do you think I would tell you where a vault of rupees are?" Zelda replied with a sense of dullness. "Zhago, keep her in check, before she performs a heist in the middle of a country-wide crisis."

"As you wish, my Queen." Zhago said, bowing down to Zelda.

"Any important questions?" Zelda asked again.

"No, we're good here." Poump said. "We'll be making our way to Hyrule Castle right now and get to the bottom of whatever's been causing that plant life."

"Good." Zelda said. "Then I trust all of you can deal with the task greatly. Once you reach Hyrule Castle Town, call me."

"Got it. Bye." Poump said as he and the others walked out of the tent. Zelda heard them get onto their horses and then gallop away from Lurelin Village. Zelda took a look at the map again, coordinating different attack routes. She noticed a lot of the monsters across Hyrule seemed to be sporadic in nature, which was unusual to her since the monsters would usually contain themselves in one area. Then, she heard a noise outside. A warhorn from Bokoblins sounded in the air across Lurelin Village. Zelda looked at a Royal Broadsword, a Royal Shield, and a Royal Bow in the room and picked them up. She stocked up a quiver full of different types of arrows and marched out of the tent. The villagers around Lurelin Villager were in a panic.

"Bokoblins?! In Lurelin Village?!" One of the villagers screamed. The villagers all ran into their homes and locked themselves in. They had never anticipated something like this, as Lurelin Village even in the time of the Calamity was never struck directly with monster attacks. It was a very secluded village, far away from anywhere else in Hyrule, which made it the most relaxing place to go to. However this time, Zelda knew that the forces of the monsters were even more tenacious than they normally would be. Zelda saw a horde of Bokoblins running into the village. She aimed her bow into the sky and let loose several fire arrows. They shot through the night sky, illuminating it. Then she aimed her bow at the horde of Bokoblins rushing towards her. She knocked an ice arrow to it and shot the ice arrow at the horde of Bokoblins, which froze one of them in place. Zelda knocked a shock arrow and shot it at the iced up Bokoblin, which created a field of electricity surrounding the iced Bokoblin. This electrocuted a lot of the Bokoblins to death, but more of them were coming her way. Zelda stood her ground and brought out her sword and shield. An incoming Black Bokoblin held a Royal Broadsword and whacked it at Zelda, she blocked the attacks and slashed at the Black Bokoblin's stomach. The Bokoblin's guts fell out of its stomach, and then it fell to the ground dead. A swarm of Bokoblins surrounded Zelda. They all had spears, and some of them were colored white, while a few others were colored blue. They all squealed and prepared to attack her. Zelda put her shield above her head. A few fire arrows rained from the sky and hit each Bokoblin surrounding her. If they didn't hit the Bokoblin, the flames from the arrow caused them to catch fire. The Bokoblins screeched wildly as they tried rolling on the sand to douze their flames. Zelda ran up to one of the Blue Bokoblins on the floor and planted her Royal Shield into its neck, spraying blood from the area and killing it in the process. Zelda booked it towards a wooden tower in the area, which had a ladder to climb up on. A few of the Bokoblins caught up to her and they grabbed her by the legs. Zelda was brought to the ground, but she grabbed her sword and turned around and flung her sword at the Bokoblins that grabbed her. She knocked a Black Bokoblin away from her, but the other Bokoblin grabbing her was a Golden Bokoblin. Then a large orange fist slammed into the Golden Bokoblin, sending it flying away from Zelda. Zelda looked up and she saw Midna, who helped her back up.

"Royalty should never work alone." Midna said. She slapped away at more incoming Bokoblins with her hair. Then joining Midna's side was Pep, with his own Master Sword. Midna and Pep battled away at the incoming horde of Bokoblins.

"Keep doing what you're doing, I have a plan." Zelda said to Midna, and then she kept on running towards the wooden tower. She grabbed onto the rungs of the ladder and climbed right up the wooden tower. She looked down briefly and saw a few Bokoblins circling around the tower, and a few started to climb up the ladder as well. Zelda pulled out a bomb arrow, lit it's fuse, and then dropped it down to the horde of Bokoblins. They all blew up, scattering into different parts that bounced across the now blood streaked sand. Zelda made it to the top of the wooden tower and surveyed the village from above. Bokoblins were running all over the place, but Zelda saw Midna and Pep fighting away at the Bokoblins with ease with each other. Zelda looked at the large boat in the dock and she formulated a plan. She pulled out her Sheikah Slate and called Alfonzo, who was still on the boat. "Alfonzo!" She said.

Alfonzo answered the call. "It's a swarm out there! I've been on this boat for the past night making sure the boat is still in tip top shape. Is there anything you would like me to do Zelda?!"

"Prepare the cannons on the boat, but don't fire them yet, I have a plan." Zelda said to Alfonzo.

"You got it, Zelda." Alfonzo saluted and hung up the call.

Zelda looked down the side of the wooden platform and saw the horde of Bokoblins attempting to climb up again. She fired some more ice arrows down into the Bokoblin horde, which caused a bunch of them to freeze up completely. She used another bunch of shock arrows and electrocuted all of the other surrounding Bokoblins to death. Zelda leaped off of the wooden platform and paraglided herself onto the top of one of the village huts. She used her Sheikah Slate to place a bomb on top of the roof and detonated it, causing the hut's roof underneath her to give way. She was now inside of the hut and saw a few of the Lurelin Villagers inside of the hut.

"Whoa!" One of the villagers exclaimed at her explosive entrance.

Zelda looked around the room and saw several different fishing tools around the room. "All of you, grab whatever you can in here and fight your way outside. Go to the boat." She commanded.

"But we'll die!" The villager replied.

"You can either die in here if you don't fight for yourself, or you can die outside fighting some Bokoblins." Zelda said.

The villagers looked at each other. "We'll do it!" They all exclaimed. They grabbed all of the fishing tools around the place and made makeshift spears. Two of them grabbed a whole fishing net, which looked pretty heavy. Zelda placed two bombs at the doorway of the hut.

"Stand back everyone." Zelda said to the villagers. She detonated both of the bombs, and the hut's entire doorway exploded into the horde of Bokoblins, which had enough force to send a whole ton of Bokoblins flying away into the ocean nearby, where they sunk underneath the water and drowned to death. If they didn't land in the water, they violently slid across the floor and slammed into another wooden hut. Zelda shot a few bomb arrows from her bow, which cleared out dozens more Bokoblins from her way. "Charge!" Zelda screamed to the villagers. The villagers charged forwards with their makeshift weapons and attacked the incoming Bokoblins. The two villagers that had the heavy net threw it onto another batch of Bokoblins, which pinned them to the floor underneath the heavy net. The net caught about 6 Bokoblins underneath it, but one of the Bokoblins, a White Bokoblin, was starting to gnaw away at the net's strings. Zelda slashed at all of the incoming Bokoblins, killing a lot of them in the process. Zelda and the villagers made it to another hut where more villagers were in. Zelda climbed up the side of the building and blew up a whole into the roof. She leapt inside and looked at the villagers. "Grab anything you can get!" She screamed at them. She ran up to the entrance of the hut. The villagers outside knew what Zelda was going to do, so they ran out of the way of the entrance. Zelda blew up the entrance and the debris from the explosion propelled itself across the Bokoblin horde. She already saw that their numbers were thinning out, but the Bokoblins were still big in numbers. "Get to the boat!" Zelda screamed to the other villagers who also had their own makeshift weapons now. Zelda and the villagers ran across the beach, fighting away at the horde of Bokoblins. One of the Bokoblins managed to knock out one of the villagers with their club, and then another horde of Bokoblins stabbed their weapons at a few other villagers as well, causing them to die.

"Sebasto!" One of the villagers screamed as they saw the other villager die. They stabbed away at the Bokoblins and ran up to their dead body.

Zelda turned back to them. "There's no time to mourn them now! We need to go to the boat!"

The villager hesitated. "But-" At that moment, a Bokoblin chopped the other villager's head off, causing them to fall to the floor.

"No!" Zelda screamed as she let loose a bunch of bomb arrows towards the Bokoblins that were charging at them. She ran with the other villagers towards the boat. The ramp lowered. Midna and Pep ran up to the boat as well and boarded onto it. The ramp went back onto the boat and a few Bokoblins tried jumping onto the ramp. A few of them fell into the water below and drowned, but one of them, a Gold Bokoblin, managed to get onto the ship.

The Gold Bokoblin screeched and swung it's sword at Zelda, but Zelda blocked the attack with her shield and shield bashed the Gold Bokoblin off balance. She hit the Gold Bokoblin with her sword multiple times, sending it rolling to the side of the boat. The Gold Bokoblin was saved by the railing on the boat and got back up. It screeched at her and swung it's sword around in a circular fashion towards her. The limited space on the walkway made Zelda back away from the Gold Bokoblin's attacks with her shield out front. She noticed the Gold Bokoblin's skin starting to heal from her sword cuts. Zelda charged right at the Gold Bokoblin and shield parried the Gold Bokoblin's attack. The Gold Bokoblin stumbled a little bit but then recovered itself, using the momentum from the parry to its advantage and swung at Zelda again. Zelda backflipped away from the surprise attack and ran up to it, slicing the Gold Bokoblin up in a bunch of nasty ways, her sword penetrating it's golden skin. The Gold Bokoblin fell to the floor and dropped it's sword as it rolled across the floor. Zelda threw her shield to the side and grabbed the Gold Bokoblin's sword. She ran up to the Gold Bokoblin, which stood itself up, but then Zelda plunged both of the swords into the Gold Bokoblin's skin, which made it screech loudly. Zelda pinned one of the swords onto the wall with the Gold Bokoblin still clinging onto it's life. It tried to bite her arm, but she pulled her arm back. She stabbed it multiple times across different parts of its body. "AAHHHHH!" Zelda screamed as she maniacally mutilated the Bokoblin's different body parts. She slashed it in the groin which made the Gold Bokoblin squeal in agony. Then she sliced the Gold Bokoblin's neck clean off, making it's golden head fall to the floor. Zelda's face was full of the Gold Bokoblin's blood, and she breathed heavily. She looked to the side to see one of the villagers look at her with a shocked expression. They climbed up the stairs to the main deck. Zelda walked up to the main deck as well, with her entire body bathed in Bokoblin blood. She looked at Alfonzo and Niko on the main deck.

"Your highness!" Niko said in shock.

"Fetch me a handkerchief, Niko." Zelda commanded.

"As you wish!" Niko said and then he rushed towards the inside of the ship.

"Alfonzo, launch the cannons now. There are no more villagers in the village." Zelda said.

"Okie dokey." Alfonzo said, also mesmerized by Zelda's insane look. "Fire the cannons!" Alfonzo commanded.

The crewmates fired the cannons onto the village. The ammunition rolled onto the sandy beach next to the Bokoblins and then exploded wildly, sending them flying into the air and falling back to the floor dead.

After a few minutes of cannon barrages, the entirety of Lurelin Village was left in a fiery ruin. The villagers looked at their smoked up village, and mourned over the losses of the few villagers that they lost. The few remaining Bokoblins fled away from the village, as if they all had the same idea to escape.

Zelda wiped her face clean of the blood with a handkerchief. She turned to Alfonzo. "Take these villagers off shore for now. Midna, Pep and I will go back onto the land and ride away to join the Zora forces at Zora's Domain." She felt her Sheikah Slate vibrate. She picked it up and saw Poump on the video call. "Poump! Have you made it to Hyrule Castle Town?" She asked.

"Yes, we have arrived at Hyrule Castle Town." Poump replied. "The place is overcome with plants, just like you said."

"Be careful when you're in there, squad." Zelda said.

"We will." Poump replied.

"Good, now I have business to attend to." Zelda said, and then she hung up.

Poump and the others stood outside of Hyrule Castle Town's overgrown gates. Uten spoke up. "She seems really on edge lately." Uten said. "Is it just me, or was there a little bit of blood on her face?"

"I saw that too." Poump said. "Something must have happened back at the village and it must be the cause of her stress."

"Among other things." Zhago added.

"Yup." Poump replied. "Now let's get to business." The Monster Squad looked at the overgrown gate outside of Hyrule Castle Town. They cut their way through a few vines and walked into the Town. The whole ground was covered in roots, which moved all over the ground very eerily. A few bodies were being dragged by the roots, and a few of them even seemed to be encased in them. "Now that's yucky." Poump said. They observed the fountain in the center of the Main Plaza and saw it draped with plant life overcoming it. The Royal Family's crest, which was displayed on the fountain, was torn into pieces by the plant life that grew over it. Poump took a notice of a path of stone that was on the ground, around the roots. He looked up and saw a Hylian holding a torch. "Groose?!" Poump exclaimed. The Hylian holding a torch turned around.

"Poump!" Groose exclaimed at the sight of Poump. He walked up to the group with his lit torch. Poump noticed the roots on the floor parting ways away from Groose as he approached them. "It has been such a long time without you buddy! Hyrule has plunged itself into a wild world!"

"Well, I got to see a lot of that for myself." Poump replied. "How are Cawlin, Stritch, and Netrea doing?"

"They're safe inside of a bunker just on that side of town." Groose pointed to an area with buildings. He then showcased his torch. "It appears that these roots don't like fire, so the bunker that they are in has lit torches. This keeps that place safe. I'm walking around out here searching for anyone else I can find."

"Do you know what caused this overgrowth?" Poump asked.

"I have no idea, but I have a feeling it's coming from the castle." Groose pointed out the castle. "The plant life over there is insane. I could've sworn some of it had teeth!"

"We'll go to the castle then." Poump said.

"Wait! Don't do that!" Groose said. "You could die."

"I've almost died a lot in the past few weeks, Groose." Poump replied. "I'll be fine."

"Wait a moment, remember that Goron that used to bully you in the Knight Academy?"

"Goggodu?"

"Yeah, Goggodu told me he found an interesting weapon inside of Hyrule Castle, so he decided to go back inside to get it. He never came back."

"Good riddance." Poump replied.

"Now now, just because he was mean to you then doesn't mean he'd be mean to you now." Groose said. "If you find him, he might give you the weapon he was looking for."

"I wouldn't count on it but I'll think about it." Poump said.

"Now enough talk, I should take you guys to the Hyrule Castle gates and light a few more torches for you all. Follow me." The party followed Groose up to the Hyrule Castle gates. Groose took a few torches in a bucket and lit them with his own torch. He handed each party member a torch. "Be careful there."

"Don't worry Groose, we will." Poump replied. They walked through the gates towards the looming shadow of Hyrule Castle, which looked deadly silent in the night. Without the faint glow of light coming from it, the castle looked more menacing than it ever did before. Only the two laser sights from the Divine Beasts that aimed for Hyrule Castle were a sign of light, but it barely illuminated the area at all.

The glow from their torches lit the ground beneath them, and they saw the roots clear out of their way as they walked forward. They followed the road and eventually saw the faint glow of something. Poump and the others decided to take a look at it. Once they arrived at the area, they could see a Goron overcome with roots. Poump knew that this was Goggodu.

Goggodu was struggling to get out of the roots. "Poump, is that you?!" Goggodu said as he was trying his best to get out of the tangle of vines.

"Yes Goggodu, it's me." Poump said.

"Get me down from here!" Goggodu said. Poump looked up at Goggodu. As much of a bully he was during their time in the Knight Academy, Poump knew that his expression was genuine. Poump raised his torch up to the roots, and they receded away from Goggodu. The Goron looked at the ground and then back at Poump. "I can't believe it. Puny Poump actually saved me. You know, I always touted you as a weakling, but seeing what you look like now, I believe you're stronger than any Goron I know on Death Mountain."

"You're really saying this?" Poump said.

"Yes. Genuinely." Goggodu said. "Follow me." The party followed him. "This thing, it glows like a fire. A sword of fire. I saw it here and tried to take it for myself, but I believe all 4 of you deserve it more than me."

Poump looked at Goggodu. "Well, brother. I guess you're right." Poump said.

Goggodu smiled and slapped his belly. "That's right, brother!" Poump picked up the fiery sword. He looked at the others. "Who wants this?"

Tipa raised her hand. "Me." She said. Poump handed her the fiery sword. As she held it, more of the roots in the area started to go away. They discovered a cache full of lanterns.

"What a convenience." Uten said. The party walked up to the lanterns and lit the inside of it with a torch, and they each had a lantern on their waist, so that way they could use both of their hands. Poump handed his torch to Goggodu.

"You'll need this." Poump said.

"Yup." Goggodu said as he took the torch. He walked back towards Castle Town, and then his light glowed away into the darkness.

The party walked forward, and their lanterns made all of the roots around the area get out of the way, but then one group of roots were hesitant to move out of the way. All of a sudden 6 plants came out of the floor and they apparently had teeth. Uten stabbed at the plant's stem, which caused it to fall to the ground. It bounced towards her and bit her in the leg. "AUGH!" Uten exclaimed.

Zhago stabbed the disembodied plant through the head, and then it shriveled up. Poump took out the Sheikah Slate and scanned the plants. 'DEKU BABAS: Plant creatures that will attack anything as long as it's meat for it to eat. Recommended strategy is to strike it's head first.'

Poump pulled out the Magic Sword and blasted at 3 of the Deku Babas heads, which killed them instantly. Tipa slashed her fire sword forward and the remaining 2 Deku Babas shriveled up and died instantly. The party continued walking up the stone road. They knew what road this was, it was the road that led to the throne room. The 4 of them walked up the road. They ran into a few more Deku Babas along the way, but they were easy to take care of with their equipment. They ended up at the entrance to the throne room, which was filled with roots. There also seemed to be someone stuck inside of the roots. They weren't moving much, but they appeared to be breathing. Tipa put her fire sword up to the roots and then they went away. The person dropped down. They were wearing Guardian Armor and a black cape. It didn't take them long to realize this was Keeseman.

"I thank you for freeing me from those roots." Keeseman said.

"Do you know what happened here, Keeseman?" Poump asked.

Keeseman collected himself and stood up. "The Majora's Mask. When I stored the mask in my cave, I intended for it to not be found. Then 3 days ago, a strange child of some sort found his way into my cave. They found the Majora's Mask, and put it on. The power ravaged the entire cave, and I escaped from the blast. I've been trying to find where the Majora's Mask was, and I pinpointed it's location here. I made several different gadgets through the past 3 days that could've possibly assisted me in dealing with the Majora's Masks effects." Keeseman pulled out 3 spherical bombs from his belt. "These bombs that I have made have the capability to counteract against these roots to great effect, even greater than the fire you're holding. If you combine these bombs with that Flame Sword in your possession, you should be able to defeat the wearer of the Majora's Mask. I have scanned the mask for weaknesses, and these bombs will be your best bet."

"Will you fight alongside us?" Poump asked.

"I will not fight alongside you, because I know the bombs I created have the ability to kill whoever is wearing that mask. And while destroying the mask is the best option, it would also kill the wearer of the mask. Therefore, I don't want to be the one to do it. Even in the face of such an evil, I wouldn't want to kill them."

"Is there any other way we could defeat them?" Poump asked.

"No. Killing will be the only option." Keeseman replied. "I know you can do that, as that is what the 4 of you have done before on many occasions. Now, I must leave." Keeseman pointed his arm up to a ledge and propelled himself up into the air. He let his cape fold out and then he glided down towards Hyrule Castle Town.

Poump looked at the other 3. "So guys, are we ready?" Poump asked them.

"It is why we're here. If we die doing this, then we die in glory." Zhago said.

"As much as I value my own life, I also value the life of the people who have to live here in Hyrule, and this castle is pretty much the thing we were assigned into saving. So let's get this thing done with. Together." Uten put her hand forward. Tipa put her hand onto Uten's hand. Zhago and Poump joined and then they all had their hands together.

"Let's do this." Poump said. The party walked up to the door to the throne room and opened it. The room was dark at first, but then it illuminated with red lights. The room was decorated with roots around the place, the bodies of fallen soldiers were clung to the walls and the ceiling. And at the center of the room, there was a small creature floating in place. They turned around to look at the party. This creature wore the Majora's Mask on their face.

"AhAHAHAHA!" The creature exclaimed with laughter. Poump recognized this laughter.

"Skull Kid?" Poump said.

The creature floated down to the floor, but didn't approach them. They made their voice louder. "You are quite the observant Hylian, Poump!" Skull Kid replied. Their voice had a menace behind the mask. Their typically lighter voice was only faintly heard. "Yes, it is I, the Skull Kid! Earlier I set out to find a way to bring myself to greater power, in order to toy with the lives of the people of Hyrule! I wanted to play with so many new toys, and this mask gave me the best ability to play with them! And now the 4 of you have come into my sights! I will use your bodies to create the best toy I can possibly play with!" The Skull Kid raised his hand into the air and then a ball of energy came from his hands. The ball of energy smashed through the throne room's floor, and all of the party members started to fall down. They all pulled out their paragliders and gilded safely onto the floor below. The room around them illuminated red. Some roots on the walls sucked the debris on the floor into the walls. The Skull Kid floated down to the party, with the Majora's Mask energy glowing viciously around him. "I don't want to hurt you too much now! Just enough to kill you all, in order to keep my playthings in good condition!" The Skull Kid said as they landed to the floor on the party's level.

Poump held onto the 3 bombs and waited for an opportunity when he could use them. Zhago and Uten ran up to the Skull Kid with their weapon ready. Skull Kid raised his arm forward, sending a tangle of roots towards the two of them. Zhago grabbed Uten and teleported behind Skull Kid with her. They both attacked Skull Kid from behind, but he blocked their attacks with a force field of some kind. He summoned some energy from his hands and blasted it at the two of them. Uten pulled the Mirror Shield in front of herself and repelled the attack back at Skull Kid. Skull Kid hit the energy back again, and Uten held the Mirror Shield up again, repelling it one more time. The energy attack hit Skull Kid, causing him to spaz out in the air. He wildly flung around the room and then the room started shaking. As if the gravity underneath the party members started to shift, they fell onto the wall around them. It was a circular wall, which sort of caved upwards. The Skull Kid summoned some roots from the wall that started to snag at Uten and Zhago. Tipa ran up to them with her flame sword and brought the sword's flames right next to the roots, which caused them to rot immediately. Poump fired a beam of energy towards the Skull Kid. The Skull Kid attempted to block the beam, but the energy cut through his defense and hit him. He shook around a little bit, and then brought his hands into the air. A bunch of tiny spiders started coming out of the floor and crawled hastily towards the party. Poump didn't want to waste this opportunity, as he noticed the Skull Kid was still preoccupied with waving his hands in the air. Poump pulled out 1 of the 3 bombs and threw it right at Skull Kid. The bomb exploded next to Skull Kid, which sent him slamming violently to the ground. A magical energy of some kind surrounded the Skull Kid. Poump ran up to the Skull Kid and swung his Magic Sword at him violently. "OUCH! OOF! STOP THAT!" The Skull Kid screamed.

As Poump kept on slashing the Magic Sword at the Skull Kid, he noticed the Majora's Mask start to crack from the impacts. Then the Skull Kid emitted a wave that sent Poump and the others flying backwards. Skull Kid reached his hands into the air and then the gravity in the room reverted back to the floor. The party landed on the floor and prepared their weapons again. Poump pointed out the Majora's Mask to the others. "Keep on fighting guys, we'll make it through this!" Poump said to the others.

The Skull Kid shook himself a bit and then went onto the floor. They grew larger, around the size of a Lynel, and charged at the group. Everyone dodged out of the way of the Skull Kid's charge. Uten looked at the roots in the room and then thought of something. She waved her spear, and with intense pain in her head, managed to succle some water out of the roots with her water magic, causing the roots to shrivel. Uten looked at Zhago and then Zhago pulled out an ice arrow. Uten pushed the water towards the Skull Kid and Zhago shot an ice arrow at the body of water, turning the entirety of it into a ball of ice. The ball of ice smashed into Skull Kid and then Tipa and Poump ran right up to the Skull Kid and plunged their swords forwards into the Skull Kid's larger body. The Skull Kid squealed in pain and shrunk down to his former size. Poump prepared to swing at the Skull Kid but a root grabbed him and started to squeeze him. Tipa sliced the root into pieces, and Poump collected his breath again. Zhago teleported on top of the Skull Kid and bashed him with his shield. The Skull Kid was a bit dazed, but then the Majora's Mask glowed red. Chunks of the floor came out of the ground with a red energy around them and then they flew through the air towards Zhago. Zhago jumped away from one of the chunks and teleported away from the other chunk. He landed his blade onto the Skull Kid and pierced his body. "AHH!" The Skull Kid exclaimed.

"Poump! Now!" Zhago screamed to Poump.

Poump pulled out the second bomb and threw it at the Skull Kid, which exploded around him and grounded him to the floor. Poump and Tipa teamed up on the grounded Skull Kid and slashed their blades at him multiple times. The Majora's Mask grew a few more cracks, and then Skull Kid let out another wave of air. Poump tried anticipating this wave, but it caught him and sent him and the others rolling away. Uten picked herself up. "I didn't come all this way to die. I came here to get my rupees." Uten said. The Skull Kid summoned some more roots that grabbed Uten. Tipa slashed her out of the roots, but then the roots came to Tipa. Her fiery sword kept the roots from hitting her, so she slashed at more of them over and over again.

The Skull Kid's mask started speaking. "NOOO! THIS CAN'T BE!" The Mask said. "YOU ARE TOO WEAK, CHILD!"

"But Master Majora! You promised me unlimited power!" The Skull Kid replied.

"AND YOU ARE PROVING YOURSELF TO BE TOO WEAK! I MUST REJECT YOUR INNER THOUGHTS IN ORDER TO MAKE YOU GAIN ULTIMATE POWER!" The Majora's Mask exclaimed to the Skull Kid.

"No! Wait! OOUUGGHHH!" The Majora's Mask bonded itself onto the Skull Kid's face. "There is no more SKULL KID. There is now MAJORA!"

Poump breathed heavily from all of his past exertion. "Goddess, I have seen this same thing somewhere else before." Poump brandished his Magic Sword out and charged for Majora. "And I am TIRED of seeing it happen again!" Poump threw the last bomb at Majora, which exploded and caused the Skull Kid to pause in place. Poump jumped forward and plunged the Magic Sword through the Majora's Mask, causing the mask to fracture significantly.

"No. NOOOO!" Majora screamed.

Poump dug the Magic Sword deeper into the mask, and then pulled it out. The mask fell clean off of Skull Kid's face and onto the floor.

The mask glowed a little bit. "...it could have been… so much more…" The Majora's Mask said. The glow disappeared, and the mask sat on the floor, empty.

Poump looked on the floor and saw the Skull Kid, laying down, barely moving. He walked up to the Skull Kid and knelt down to him. He picked up the Skull Kid, and the Skull Kid looked back up at Poump. "...You… Poump… the Hylian..." The ground underneath the party started vibrating and the floor ascended back up to the Throne Room. "All I ever wanted… was to play… with my toys…but… in the end… what I really needed… were friends… I'm glad it was you… Poump… I'm glad you were the one who ended me… I wouldn't have wanted it any other way…" The Skull Kid fell limp in Poump's arms. Poump held the Skull Kid in his arms as the other party members watched him. The floor reached the Throne Room's level.

The roots and plant growth around the castle's walls shriveled up and landed onto the floor. Any dead bodies that were stuck on the walls also fell down with a crack upon landing. Then, they heard the sound of something rattling. Several Koroks flew on little shamrock leaves into the Throne Room, alongside a few other Skull Kids as well. They walked up to Poump, who was holding the dead body of the Skull Kid in his arms. Poump handed them the body, and the other Skull Kids looked up at Poump. "Thank you." They all said in unison with the other Koroks. The Skull Kids and the Koroks disappeared into a gust of leaves. Poump, Zhago, Uten, and Tipa were left alone in the Throne Room, with only the Majora's Mask empty and seized of any sign of life. Poump picked himself up, and looked at the others.

They walked out of the Throne Room and down the stone road. As they walked down, the roots on the walls and the ground shriveled up. Any remaining Deku Babas fell to the floor and shriveled up as well. They made it to the courtyard and rested on the stone benches around the courtyard. They took a breather after what had happened. Uten walked around the party members and gave each of them a red potion to heal themselves, and she also gave herself a dose of a red potion. After a few minutes of sitting in the courtyard alone, Keeseman vaulted above the castle wall and landed onto a walkway. He descended the stairs and approached the party. He saw how exhausted they were. Instead of speaking to them, he decided to go up to the Throne Room to collect the Majora's Mask.

A few more minutes passed and Keeseman made it back to the courtyard. A salesman with a large backpack was walking beside Keeseman. "I don't mean to interrupt your peace, but you should walk onto the walkway and see where those laser sights are coming from."

Poump looked at Keeseman and got off of his seat. He walked up the stairway to look above the castle walls. His eyes followed the two laser sights from Hyrule Castle through the air and to the Great Plateau to the 2 Divine Beasts perched atop it. He already saw Vah Rudania and Vah Medoh sitting on top of the Plateau, but then he saw Vah Naboris approaching the Great Plateau as well. It terrifyingly brought it's legs onto the Plateau and positioned itself. Then, a laser sight came from it's head and pointed itself to Hyrule Castle. The sun started to rise and Hyrule Field became clearer, the green field being revealed by the yellow glow of the rising sun.

Even though the sun was rising, Poump had a sense of dread. This sun rise might be the last sun rise he'd ever see in his life.