Chapter 8: To a different land

Upon arriving back in the Mountain Smith's house, they were elated to see their swords being completely reforged into Gilded blades, just like Link's. As a bonus, whatever was corroded was removed and replaced with fresh, new material which improved the quality of the swords in general as well. It was there that Ruto also received a Gilded blade of her own, shaped like an adult Zora fin to add in some familiarity to it, making it a personalized blade for Ruto. Zelda was highly amused at seeing Ruto becoming a bit shy at first, before glomping Link in gratitude. The others hugged Link as well, although a bit gentler than Ruto. With their new weapons in hand, the group decided to first move towards Clock Town to restock on supplies to keep themselves fed, running and also protected, after which they went back to the Swamp area to have a change in surroundings. Having spent such a long time in the mountain area made it quite weary for them after all, especially concerning the recent events they just went through, so a nice change in surroundings was more than welcome. This also gave them an opportunity to investigate the Swamp closer as Link remembered he could have seen something suspicious in the area some time ago, so he wanted to be sure the Deku Royal Family was safe. Taking the bottles of Chateau Romani they had stored with them, as well as plenty of arrows, bombs, Deku nuts and some fruit, the group went on their way.

Upon arriving at the Deku Palace deep within the Southern Swamp, the group was greeted by the two Deku Guards standing in front of the Palace's Entrance.
"Hm? Visitors?" One of the guards asked.
"Two of Royal decree." Zelda said as she was dressed in her Royal Attire and Ruto showed the Zora Sapphire to them.
"We request an audience with the King." Link said.
"Hm. One moment please." The guard said, before moving off to the Royal Chamber.
Link and the others patiently waited, the other guard making sure they didn't try anything, just in case. After about a few minutes, the Deku Guard returned.
"Our King can see you now, partially because the one who helped us out before is among you. Consider this a one-time occasion as we normally do not allow any non-Deku people here." The Guard said.
"Understood. We won't be staying long, just a matter of business." Link said, nodding as he and his entourage proceeded to the Royal Chamber.

Entering the Royal Chamber, the group could see the Deku King on his throne, with the Deku Princess on his right and the Deku Butler on his left. The four guards in the chamber appeared, looking at the group, while one of the monkeys was also present.
"Ah, welcome back, Mr. Link!" The Deku Princess said, smiling.
"Nice to see you back, your Highness," Link said, bowing politely for her and the King.
"This is the first time we've had foreigners in our Palace for a while. It pleases me to see other royalty out here as well." The Deku King said, nodding in respect in regards to seeing Zelda and Ruto.
"The pleasure is ours to meet you here as well, Your Highness." Both Zelda and Ruto said, bowing.
"So, what is the nature of your business?" The King asked.
"Well, during our first, temporal stay in the Southern Swamp area, I thought to have detected some suspicious movements further into the swamp region. I could not give an exact identification of what or who it was, but due to the crisis our homeland is in, which in turn threatens these lands here in turn, I felt obliged to see if you were safe." Link said.
The Deku King nodded.
"I like your politeness, young one. I can assure you that the Deku Kingdom is safe and strong and will prosper once more. However I do wish to mention that the outer palace guards did feel unsettled the other day, and our monkey allies did mention something similar about some suspicious activity going on in this area. Some said that there was activity in the cleansed Spider House at the far side of this part of the swamp, others believed their attention was focused on the Woods of Mystery. The last one is more likely, since we've been having reports of increased activity there the other day and a patrol of Deku whom went inside the area to investigate went missing recently. I've already sent out a search patrol, but they haven't reported back so far…" He said.
"We understand. Would you like us to aid in the investigation? Perhaps with other people assisting your troops, more areas will be covered and may get more results in." Zelda said.
The Deku King thought for a moment.
"I approve of this. I think too much suspicion may rise if more Deku will be sent out and I still would like to have a contingent of troops around to keep watch on the palace." He said.
The group nodded.
"We shall lead you to the right way. Be careful though." One of the monkeys said as it went on its way, the group itself bowing politely once more before moving to follow the monkey itself.

Moving back through the clean water of the swamp, the group followed the monkey all the way back to where the path in the direction of the Magic Hag's Potion Shop was, following it all the way to the entrance of the Woods of Mystery. Entering it, the group was taken all the way through forward, until they arrived in what appeared to be a tunnel from one of the logs. Upon exiting, they came across another splitting path, a path to the right went upwards in a circle like a stairway, the other one went straight ahead.
"Wait, why do I feel this feeling of dread here, as if the dead are looming around here?" Zelda asked.
"We must be close to Ikana Canyon if that's the case." Link said, narrowing his eyes.
"Yes. Deku patrol has reported the discovery of this unknown land, but didn't come back. Search patrol should be around here somewhere too." The Monkey said as it went ahead, stopping eventually at another log tunnel ahead.
"Patrol went through here." The monkey said, as the group caught up after checking their supplies they had on hand and gathered along the way in regards to ammunition and drinks.
"They went through there? I do feel the stench of death getting stronger, but it seems way more peaceful than back in Ikana Canyon." Link said, scratching his head.
"I wonder what's behind there…" Zelda said.
"Only one way to find out." Nabooru said as she got ready to enter the log, as did the four children at her side, walking inside the log together.

Someone was flying into Termina, which went unnoticed by anyone else so far. It seemed rather confused as it flew around, as if looking for something…
'Where is he? I was told he was here somewhere, but I can't find him!' it thought to itself, looking around, 'I should have stayed with him after we had defeated Ganondorf first time… I… I really do miss him… I should have at least said where I would be going… or that I was even sorry for all the times I've been giving him information he may already have known before, yet he didn't speak out to me about it… he knows I was trying to help him… perhaps if I can see him, I can make it up to him…"
It moved on, in the direction of the Southern Swamp, hoping to find some traces of the one she was looking for…
Two similar beings watched as it moved on into Termina Field, following it from a distance as if not to raise any alarm.

Upon exiting the tunnel, the group of five arrived in a rather lush landscape with green grass and stone structures everywhere. Link, Saria, Zelda, Ruto and Nabooru all blink at the surroundings; the air seemed dry and nice, the grass was green and it appeared there was a sun shining over the area. It had a small sense of death around them, but it felt way more peaceful than Ikana was… as if it was a place where the souls did not have any linger or regrets upon passing and wanted to enjoy a more peaceful environment before moving on to the heavenly realms.
"Well, in any case it's nice and calm here." Nabooru said.
"Yeah, for a moment I was scared that this would be one of those spooky landscapes with terrifying enemies… it looks like I was mistaken on that part." Zelda said.
"Don't jinx it, Zelda; we don't know what we may get to face. But I do agree that this place looks far more pleasant than I thought." Link said.
"Look, there's a Deku locked up in a cage near that stone platform!" Saria said.
"That cage seems fragile though. Allow me." Ruto said, grabbing her Boomerang and hurled it at the cage, breaking it and freeing the Deku in the process.
The Deku squeaked as it was freed, landing safely on the ground, watching the group approaching it.
"Did… did you set me free?" It asked.
"Yes, we did." Ruto said, nodding.
"I'll give you a hint for releasing me. There is someone in this place whom can help with some of your items, but if you don't everywhere here, you may miss her." It said, before it left.
The group was puzzled at this, but decided to move on.
"Perhaps it may be someone on our side." Nabooru said as the group moved on.
Link breathed in for a moment.
"Well, at least the air is fresh." He commented.
"It sure is." Saria agreed, as the group proceeded through a stone tunnel, ending up inside another open field.
"Alright, things look good so far. There's water to the far left of this area…" Link said, smiling.
"There's a platform with a screw for a stilt… that looks stupid." Ruto said, looking at the platform to her right.
"I can see two cages so far, but one is hard to reach, perhaps on a higher platform we may get it…" Nabooru said.
Ruto tossed her Boomerang to the screwed stilt, making the platform go lower as if it was screwed into place! Now it was high enough for the group to climb on top of it!
"Okay, that was unexpected…" Ruto then said, as Link and Zelda both got on top of the platform, moving to a higher spot, from where they aimed at the cages using their bow and arrows, striking both cages down with one arrow each, freeing the two Deku in the process.
The two Deku each produced a chest, before leaving, squeaking in a gratitude tone for the group. Link opened the first chest.
"Alright, a Hookshot!" He said, smiling as he took a yellow-colored hookshot out of the chest.
"I found some gloves here." Zelda said upon opening the second chest.
"Gloves you say?" Link asked, while Saria tried a pair on.
"This feels weird; for some reason I can feel strength flowing through them." She said, worried.
"No need to be worried; I believe that these gloves help in lifting some tough objects, like Bomb Flowers or some big chunks of rock. It's what the Goron Bracelet does for me." Link said.
"Oh wow, that does sound good." Zelda said, trying on a pair herself.
"Well, at least it allows us to progress." Ruto said, flexing her fingers inside her new additions for a bit, before she looked around to find something that was needed to continue on.
"The ledge is too high for us to reach." Saria said, looking up at where she believed the path to continue was laid out.
"Perhaps we need to put something in front of this so we can climb on top of it?" Nabooru asked.
"I think I have found something." Link said, having spotted a target to practice his Hookshot on with.
Firing it, he was pulled into a ledge behind the waterfall, where a big block was standing there. Going behind it, Link pushed the block off the ledge and into an empty moat just behind the waterfall, after which he jumped down and got behind the block again to shove it in front of the path. Luckily, Saria and Zelda provided assistance, testing their new power gloves along with it, just as Nabooru and Ruto took out two Stalchildren that could pose a threat.
"Say, Nabooru, have you been able to study those documents we found?" Ruto then asked.
"Not really; I did get from a quick read over that it was like a list of some sort, a list of different roads perhaps around Clock Town." Nabooru said.
"Hmmm, that sounds suspicious, almost something fitting for a group of bandits." Ruto said, scratching her head, just as Link, Saria and Zelda finished pushing the block in its place.
"Whew, either those blocks are getting heavier, or I may need to polish the bracelet a bit." Link said.
"Must be the former." Zelda said with a smile as the group, one by one, climbed up on the block and then onto the path ahead.

Moving on the path down to what appears to be a stone building, they were immediately confronted by a group of Lisalfos and three green Sword Soldiers!
"Intruder alert!" One of the Sword Soldiers said.
Without hesitation, the entire group drew their Gilded Blades, ready to defend themselves as they needed. In the ensuing battle, it allowed Zelda, Saria, Ruto and Nabooru to get familiar with their more powerful blades, while Link faced one Sword Soldier alone, the sounds of blade meeting blade sounding throughout the area, before the enemies were vanquished. The group itself was fine, safe for maybe a minor cut or two, but that was nothing to be concerned about. However, Zelda was disturbed by one thing.
"Why were there Corrupted Soldiers among that group?!" She asked.
"Those must have been from Ganondorf or Majora; Saria and I have seen some of these already as part of their entourage/audience back when we were trying to gain intelligence on their forces before their invasion of Hyrule." Link said.
"But why are they here?" Saria asked, scratching her head.
"I don't know for sure… but I think I'm suspecting that we may have stumbled across one of their outposts here!" Link then said, eyes widening.
"If that is true, this could be our chance to see what they are really up to and find out if we can throw a wrench in the gears of their plans." Nabooru said, displaying a confident smirk.
"I agree with Nabooru on this one." Ruto said.
"Alright then, let's go." Link said as the group proceeded in the stone building.

Moving into the structure, they could see that the building itself was illuminated through torches.
"Looks like this outpost is under construction here…" Link said.
"Yeah. I find it more astonishing to find one in this area; one we've never seen before." Zelda said.
"Obviously Ganondorf knows about the places that we've visited and perhaps have set up outposts like this in order to get us by surprise." Nabooru said.
"Well, it did got us by surprise here, but we also got them by surprise by coming across it by mere coincidence." Ruto said.
"You got that right. Although I sincerely doubt we're in Termina any longer…" Saria said, before the group came across a block puzzle, involving two regular blocks and two sets of two blocks stacked on top of each other, requiring the group to make themselves a makeshift stairway to proceed.
Link, Saria and Zelda proceeded to solve one of the two block puzzles together, while Nabooru and Ruto helped in solving the second one. The power gloves they were wearing, coupled with Link's bracelet, helped a lot with this as both solved the puzzle fairly quickly.
"Let's see what we got up here." Link said as he climbed on the blocks of the puzzle he, Saria and Zelda solved first, allowing him to reach the ledge that led to the exit of the building.
"There's one path going further in the building, Link." Nabooru said, pointing to the open area she found.
"We'll investigate that soon enough, I've spotted several enemies here poised to attack!" Link said, drawing his sword again as he clocked several Dinolfos and Stalfos approaching.
Without hesitation, Zelda, Saria, Ruto and Nabooru climbed up the blocks to where Link was to assist him. Link also spotted a few Spear Soldiers patrolling on a higher ledge. Popping his neck a little, Link adjusted the grip on his Shield before moving in the area as one of the Dinolfos approached him.

This fight proved to be more brutal as the five did face several of the stronger mooks that Ganondorf and Majora had sent out. The Stalfos in particular were quite notorious as, despite being undead skeleton warriors, they were highly capable warriors that could give any seasoned soldier a hard time when encountered in pairs. The Dinolfos on the other hand were easier to beat, although Ruto kept her distance to avoid their Fire Breaths like the plague. Thankfully, Nabooru aided her as the Dinolfos were soon taken down rapidly, allowing the group to focus on the Stalfos, where it was clear that Link had a bone to pick with them as payback for the ambush when they first arrived back in Termina Field while on their way to Clock Town. It took the group several minutes to finally beat the Stalfos, mostly to also avoid incoming spear throws from the Corrupted Spear Soldiers and thus being attacked from two sides. But no sooner had they defeated the Stalfos, before a Big Poe appeared just above the fountain, knocking Nabooru and Ruto aside with its lamp before it was struck with an Arrow, courtesy of Link. As it reappeared behind him, it was nailed by a Deku Seed from Ruto's Slingshot, before Zelda hit it again when it appeared behind Saria.
"These Big Poes are quite sneaky!" Ruto said as she got up, seeing Link striking it with another arrow, before Zelda dealt the finishing blow.
"That they are." Link said.
Ruto used her Boomerang to lower another of the screw-stilted platforms, allowing the group to reach the higher ledge and attack the Spear Soldiers, while avoiding their spears in kind.
"Those could have been such good soldiers if they didn't follow this vile path…" Zelda said, actually feeling sorry for them once they were slain.
"Look at it this way, you have more reasons to tear Ganondorf a new one once we finally go to confront him." Link said, putting a hand on Zelda's shoulder to comfort her.
Zelda smiled as she looked at Link.
"You're right. They'll be avenged soon enough." She said.
"Hey, what gives?!" They heard Saria say.
"What's the matter?" Link asked.
"We've been trying to bomb this cracked wall, but the bombs nor the Bombchus have any effect!" She said, watching Nabooru tossing another Bomb at the broken wall, only for the wall to remain in one piece after the bomb exploded.
"Hmmm, then perhaps we need something stronger to break that wall down." Link said, thinking.
"But where can we find something?" Ruto asked.
"Maybe it's in the pathway that we did lay the puzzle out for, but didn't investigate yet due to Ganondorf and Majora's troops keeping us occupied." Zelda said, remembering the pathway further in the building she saw.
"Then there's only one way to find out." Link said as he went on his way.

Another small group of people entered the Woods of Mystery, following a trail that one of their people had left. They too entered the land that the group of five had entered in, but they were apparently in more of a hurry than the group itself. One of the Monkeys, whom was watching the group enter the area from a tree, spotted them and decided to go in as well, taking a different route in its hopes to reach the group before those people did, as from what it could see, those people were dressed as if they were road bandits or even pirates, although the former seemed much more likely…

Moving back in the stone building, but this time choosing the other path, the group came across a single room which was a dead-end and was void of enemies. However, it did contain quite the supplies.
"Good grief! Was this intended to use as a storage facility?!" Zelda asked, blinking.
"I guess so. At least we can get some of these items for our own use." Link said, discovering some Red Potions to hand out between himself and his friends, while Zelda found some additional bombs and arrows.
"Looks like these bombs and arrows were meant for other Corrupt Soldiers who were capable of using them…" She said as she restocked.
"Do Ganondorf and Majora want to be more diverse in their troops to give us a tougher time?" Nabooru asked.
"I wouldn't blame him if he did. After all, he knows what we are capable of and therefore he tried to take drastic measures in finding ways to stop us." Link said.
Using the Red Potions to get healed up a bit, the group eventually came across a Big Chest. Opening it, Nabooru's eyes went wide.
"By the Goddesses! Are they trying to bring in the artillery or something?!" She said, discovering a bomb that was bigger than the usual bombs.
"Looks like we got ourselves a Super Bomb," Link said, looking it over, "this could be useful."
"Are you crazy, Link? If something happens to this thing, all of us will be reduced to wall decorations!" Zelda said.
"I'm not crazy. I do see your point, but as long as we're careful with carrying it and do not light its fuse until we've reached our destination, we should be able to get it to that rocky wall." Link said, looking it over, before noticing its rather long fuse.
"The fuse is long as well…" Saria said, nodding as she saw it too.
"This reminds me of the Powder Keg that the Gorons in Snowhead utilize." Link said, putting his sword and Shield away by strapping them on his back.
"What are you going to do?" Zelda asked.
"I'm going to try to carry this to that rocky wall. If anything, this fuse should be long enough for us to reach it in time, including the time we need to get on and off ledges and platforms." He said.
"Can I help?" Saria asked.
"Sure thing, Saria." Link said with a smile.
"We'll help too, even if it is to watch your back." Nabooru said, nodding as she saw that both Zelda and Ruto were ready as well.
"Alright, here goes nothing." Link said, picking the bomb up, before Zelda lit the fuse once the group was underway.
"At least it will save us the time of waiting." She said as the group went underway.
Tossing the bomb to each other to disturb it as little as possible, the group carried the bomb all the way into the area where the cracked, rocky wall was. Once arrived at the desired spot, Link put the bomb down in front of the wall, before running away from it to get some distance in, as did the others. About 10 seconds later, the Super Bomb detonated in a brilliant explosion, the sound of falling rubble indicating the destruction of the rocky wall. As the group went to look, they could see that a new path was revealed, which went deeper into what they believed to be a stronghold under construction.
"Well, at least we're able to continue and see if we can rescue more Deku along the way." Link said as he got ready to progress.

"Hmmm, this is unexpected." Ganondorf said as he sat on his throne, Majora floating next to him.
"They managed to discover one of our strongholds, but how?! Were they actively looking for it?" Majora asked.
"I doubt that, considering the way they are looking around and exploring the new area they're in, I'd say they'd stumble across it by pure coincidence or accident." Ganondorf replied.
"That's just great. As if we need those five to snoop around…" Majora said, annoyed.
"Relax. This is just a minor setback. Anyone can have those every once in a while and those five are no different. In fact, this could be useful to us…"
"How?"
"While they are playing around and see how many of their Deku buddies they can rescue, we can focus on strengthening our other outposts and finish an additional detour I've planned for them. Let's see how far they are willing to go to reach their friends and eventually get to confront us…" Ganondorf said, a devious smirk plastered on his face.
"Yes, this could actually be quite beneficial for us…" He said with a low cackle.
Majora blinked at this for a bit, but decided to wait and see what Majora had planned for them exactly…