Sorry I'm late. I was sick, plus I had a few long school days. Bleh. Not a fun combo. I'm supposed to be working on this group project now, actually, but I'd rather do this. Heheh. I'm so bad. I always get a lot of writing done when I'm supposed to be doing homework, if you know what I mean.
I know I've complained about this before, but I have too many characters! Haha! I'm trying to remember back to everyone who's made an appearance. I need to give them their role for the upcoming act! I should probably write them down so I don't forget again.
Chapter 25: Final Plans"What on earth happened to you?" Medli exclaimed as Link and the rest of his group arrived aback at the Twilit camp. They were dirty, disheveled, and tired-looking.
Link grinned sheepishly and scratched beneath his hat. "Yeah. We ran into unexpected trouble."
Volvagia spotted them and flew over to greet Link. Link scratched Volvagia's horns and let the dragon fly off to help move some boxes.
"I guess it's no surprise though," Medli said softly.
"What do you mean by that?" Nabeen demanded. "Did you know that slimy monster was going to attack us?"
Medli took a step back at Nabeen's rather menacing tone. "N-no. But when he showed up, we knew that something was wrong."
"When who showed up?" Midna asked.
Medli swallowed. "Vaati."
"Vaati came here?" Sheik asked.
"And left us to deal with that monster," Nabeen hissed.
Medli shook her head. "No, he didn't have a choice! Come on. You can talk to him. He's in the meeting tent," Medli said, leading the group through the encampment.
"I can't wait to hear his excuse," Nabeen grumbled.
"I'm sure it was good if he had to miss us," Navi said from Link's shoulder.
"It better be a good one for me to forgive him. That monster was beyond an unpleasant surprise."
"Someone's in a bad mood," Midna said, her eyebrow raised.
"That tends to happen after dodging tentacles for so long," Nabeen sighed. "I didn't ask for any of this, you know."
"No one did," Sheik replied. "But that doesn't mean that we should not rise to the occasion. I'm going to go and speak with some of the other Sheikah. I'll see you at the meeting."
He went off to the Sheikah training grounds.
"Which reminds me," Midna said, "I need to be somewhere else too. Vaati doesn't need all of us coming in to see him." And she floated away in the direction of the Twilight palace.
"Well, I'm going," Nabeen said. "I want to know why he wasn't there."
"I thought you liked battles," Navi reminded her. "That's why you wanted to come along."
"Yes, but I like to be warned about weird mutated freaks like that beforehand," Nabeen retorted.
Medli pulled back the flap of the tent. There was a large table with some chairs set around it. Maps from previous meetings were spread on the tabletop. There were only a couple people seated there. One of them was a small man in a green robe with a long beard and a bird-headed staff.
The other was Vaati.
He looked up when the four of them entered.
"Did you get it?" He asked. His voice was cracked and hoarse.
Link nodded and pulled the Master Sword from its sheath. "We had to fight for it, but we got it in the end. What happened? Why weren't you there to meet us?"
"You sound horrible," Nabeen noted flatly.
Vaati gave a small snort of laughter, which turned into a cough. "Ganon found out that I helped you. Damn near strangled me too." He touched the back of his head and winced at the lump that was left from when he hit his head. "The only reason I got away is because Ezlo got the Picori to come and help."
Vaati waved a hand vaguely at the person dressed in green. When Link looked closer, he saw that the man wasn't in fact human. His face was different.
Vaati continued taking. "Ezlo used to be my master. He used to be a lot smaller too. Although I have to admit, dropping a chandelier on Ganon was a stroke of genius. I wish I'd done it myself."
Then Ezlo started talking. "Vaati wasn't in much of a state to travel," he explained. "So he turned back into a Picori and we helped him escape. Then the two of us became big again."
"Became big?" Navi repeated.
"What are Picori?" Link asked.
"Picori are these little people that live around Hyrule," Ezlo explained. "Most people can't see them though. They've been going all around camp to help build tools or weapons."
"Little elf creatures that are invisible to most people?" Nabeen repeated skeptically.
"That sounds like something Shadow Link would say," Navi said. She froze and turned apologetically to Link. He sighed and shrugged. Shadow Link was gone and there was nothing they could do about it at the moment. They had to focus on what mattered most.
"How'd you get big then?" Nabeen asked, unaware of the small distraction.
"My magic," Vaati said. Speaking seemed to hurt his throat, which was why he let Ezlo do a lot of the talking. "I turned him into a hat once, so making him human-sized wasn't too difficult. Even though I don't have the same source of magic now as I did then."
"Turned into a hat?" Navi repeated blankly.
"That's too long of a story to worry about now," Ezlo said dismissively.
"Who did they send to replace me?" Vaati croaked.
"Some gross slimy blob with lots of tentacles," Nabeen cut in. "Not pleasant, but not too difficult to kill as monsters go." She seemed to have accepted Vaati's excuse.
"They're planning a meeting tonight in the great hall of the Twilight palace," Ezlo said. "Everyone's going to meet in there, and we'll discuss our final plans before we attack."
…
That evening, the entire population of the camp filed into the palace of Twilight. A host of Twili were there as well. Those who were too big to fit in the hall (such as Volvagia and the larger of the two Yetis) were listening at the doors.
Link was standing near the front of the hall where there was a raised platform for speeches. Around him were Sheik, Nabeen, Medli, Din, Vaati, and the fairies. But Link didn't see Midna anywhere. She was probably trying to straighten out some last minute problems. She'd had a lot of work to do, preparing the Twilight Realm to hold such an army and organizing her own people to help in the oncoming war.
The hall looked mostly full. Midna would go up to the podium any moment to begin the announcement. She'd agreed to explain the plan to everyone since this was her land and her palace. So, where was she?
Link scanned the crowd, wondering if there was any chance of catching a glimpse of the little imp among this sea of bodies. He craned his next to see around a very tall person who had just appeared. Then he stopped and looked at her. She was obviously Twili with black and white skin, bright orange hair and a black and turquoise robe. She stopped in front of Link and his companions, looking at them. Link wondered who she was. Maybe she was here to deliver a message from Midna.
"Are you ready?" The Twili woman asked.
"What?" Link said blankly.
"Are you ready for the speech to begin?" She repeated.
"We're just waiting for…" Link trailed off and stared at the Twili woman in front of him. It couldn't be… could it?
"Midna?" He asked.
"What?"
Link closed his eyes for a moment. How on earth could a tiny little imp turn into such a tall woman?
Midna smiled. "You're not the first to be startled by my appearance." Her voice was deeper as well, but her manner of speaking and her accent were the same. The patterns of her skin were the same too. And now that Link was over his initial shock, he realized that she was quite pretty.
"We're ready," he finished lamely.
"Good." She stepped up onto the stage and raised her hands. The buzz of the audience died down and everyone listened with rapt attention.
"Thank you all for being here," Midna started. "Your presence means everything to this endeavor. As you know, in just about one day, we move to attack Ganon's fortress. Thanks to Vaati, we have a general idea of how this will best work. Ganon has used some unknown power to invade many different eras, and he has forts in many of those eras. And there are prisoners in each of those forts. Thanks to our friends, we've managed to rescue some of them. But many of out allies remain imprisoned. Vaati tells us that a certain underground fortress acts as a sort of hub to all the others. There are portals to his other bases, and so that hub is the best place to attack if we want Ganon's full attention.
"But that's not all of it. As we have Ganon and his armies distracted by our forces, a small group has volunteered to travel through Ganon's portals to rescue our imprisoned comrades."
Din, Medli Tatl, Tael, and Vaati were the ones who made up this small group (though one boy dressed in blue and wearing a cape had demanded to join so that he could save Nayru).
"Although this group will certainly face many dangers, the rest of you will not have it easy either," Midna continued. "We can't be sure the extent of Ganon's forces, but they will no doubt be formidable. Be courageous, and we will surely defeat Ganon and rid ourselves of him for good!"
A great cheer erupted in the hall.
"Now, here's what we do."
…
(I have a request of the readers. I'd like to include characters like the King of Red Lions, or Jabu Jabu, or such ocean-dwelling people. Except there really isn't any water where the final battle's going to take place. Any ideas?
Any other characters you'd like to see during the upcoming finale?)