If I stick with this, the schedule will change to two chapters every four weeks. I'm not sure what would be better to do- the original way or this way. What do you think? So,
in the last chapter...
In the extremely HOT Cave of Fire, Ezlo taught Link all about the five primary magics, and a bit about gifts. Somehow, there was something about Link which made him wonder if some of his theories were REALLY Crazy Theorist Talking. Meanwhile, Link enjoyed learning about magic! During a fight with some metal-spike-slime monsters, he felt an odd presence guiding him from his heart, and Ezlo saw his left eye turn electric-blue. What could that mean? During lunch, Link and Ezlo came up with plans for what they'd do if they ran into Vaati. Ezlo's plan was to tell him off, then apologise, then try to get Vaati to apologise to Link and Zelda, and go home. Link's plan was to figure out how to help Vaati out of 'the problem' -whatever that meant- and help Ezlo feel better in the process. Ezlo also thought about the ghost some more. When they got back, Melari had fixed the Picori Blade- now called the White Sword, and along the way to the elemental sanctuary, Link found a violet-lilac kinstone, and there, he felt the presence once more. Just outside, Link literally ran into Vaati...
Chapter 10: Kindness and Rage
Vaati woke up bright and early in Goron's Cave. The plan was all set- he'd teleport straight to the castle after saying goodbye to the gorons. Just before he could, Rhinestone squealed, "Good morning, Goro-Vaati! Would you like to come with me for us gorons' find-lunch-and-eat-it-goron-reunion-style? After everything you did to help us all out, I think you deserve to come along, goro!"
Vaati opened his mouth to say 'no, I'm busy' but something stopped him. I was very nice of her to ask him to come along... and it felt nice to be wanted to come along! Somehow, Vaati simply couldn't make himself say no. (Besides,) he thought, (the King isn't going anywhere when there's someone like ME running around.) Wait... had he just thought that? "Yes. I'll come along." replied Vaati to Rhinestone, a smile appearing on his face. The pink goron smiled right back.
"You look so different with a smile, goro!" chattered Rhinestone on the way out of the cave.
"Really?" asked a small voice.
"Yeah, goro!" replied Rhinestone, "Let's go, Goro-Vaati!"
Vaati followed her out of the cave, still smiling. This was the first time he'd ever been invited to anything in his life. Outside, all of the other five gorons were standing outside, chatting. Granite looked over at Vaati and Rhinestone.
"Now that everybody's here, goro..." he announced as the others stopped talking, "Let's figure out the route! Does anybody have a map, goro?"
"I've got one." said Vaati, handing it to him. Granite opened it, and picked up a thin piece of chalk. Everyone leaned over to see where the find-lunch-and-eat-it-goron-reunion-style would take them... Granite chalked down the route on Vaati's map. It would take them to a few smaller caves around North Hyrue Field, then they would reach the 'eat lunch' spot in Trilby Highlands, picking up Limestone along the way. After that, they would circle down to South Hyrule Field and check out that cave Basalt found earlier, before going back round to Goron's Cave for 'tasty rock dessert'. Vaati knew there would be plenty of places for him to get food too, and as a bonus he could try and find more clues to the light force as he tailed along.
Everybody agreed on that plan, so they all followed Granite out of the cave and towards North Hyrule Field. Just behind Granite was Basalt chatting about things, just behind him were Andesite and Rhinestone arguing, just behind them was Obsidian coming up with new ways to say 'goro' and just behind her were Tuff and Vaati.
"Did you know, Andesite tried to keep a diary. Then he broke it. Rhinestone fixed it and tried to keep it herself... but then she broke it too, goro! Oh! Right, to keep a diary too, goro?" Tuff asked, "So, why do you keep a diary, goro?"
"It used to be like explaining things to someone who'd listen," explained Vaati, "but now it's more for keeping memories safe, so you'll never forget. And once you're in whatever afterlife, somebody might read it, and understand your pint of view."
"That's cool, goro!" replied Tuff, "But I think I'd break a diary, goro."
It wasn't long before they reached North Hyrule Field and split up to do the food gathering. Vaati wandered around, looking at the flowers and generally searching around. It was peaceful, in a way. Vaati just picked a lot of herbs and berries that he liked to eat, using the bottle to get a good amount of berry juice. When he had gotten enough, he met the gorons at the north entrance of Hyrule Town.
(Going into Hyrule Town may turn out to be a bad idea...) thought Vaati, (but I can blend in with the gorons and fade to invisibility from time to time- that should be easy enough.)
"All right, goro, is everyone here?" asked Granite.
"YES, goro!" hollered Obsidian.
"Yep- I've counted, goro." added Basalt.
"Okay, now let's continue, goro!" announced Rhinestone.
Vaati thought this was getting interesting. Just like before, there was no sign of the light force in North Hyrule Field, but for all he knew the gorons were leading him right to it. Besides... so far he was enjoying himself. Everything felt peaceful, and... warm. Also just like before, it was a very bright and sunny day indeed.
Sure enough, people could not believe their eyes when they saw the six gorons walking through town, all with a large number of rocks in their arms, and nobody saw Vaati amongst the already unusual group. Everybody just stayed away from them and continued their business around town.
In the centre of Hyrule Town, the woman from the grand drawing was was selling fruits while arguing with the man-with-the-fuzzy-deep-green-hair, who was in the stall just below her selling vegetables, over the the health benefits of fruit over vegetables- though the vegetable guy was selling tomatoes and the fat woman wasn't. At the bottom-left stall, a strange, thin guy was selling picolyte in bottles. Vaati couldn't help but be annoyed at that guy's ignorance- picolyte in that pure form could be very dangerous! It was much safer if mixed with the right medicines... In the stall above that man's stall, Limestone was selling kinstone pieces.
"Hi, Goro-Limestone!" greeted Granite, "Thanks to Goro-Vaati, we managed to fix the cave! We've started our find-lunch-and-eat-it-goron-reunion-style, would you like to come too, goro?"
Upon hearing the name 'Vaati', a few people looked at them in shock- but Vaati just became invisible for a moment so nobody would see him.
"That sounds fun, goro!" exclaimed Limestone, "I'll come!"
Limestone packed away his stuff and put a 'reserved' sign on his stall before following the rest of the gorons and Vaati out the west entrance of Hyrule Town, much to the guard's surprise. Andesite hung back a bit to talk to Limestone. Vaati was just in front of them.
"I couldn't get the swamp weed, goro. I got stuck in the swamp," Andesite was explaining, "but luckily, Goro-Vaati saved me, goro!"
"How nice of him, goro!" replied Limestone, "And don't worry- I can do without them, goro. Thanks for helping, Goro-Andesite!"
"No problem, goro! A goron will always help a friend, goro!" said Andesite, smiling (though Vaati didn't see that).
... A friend, huh? What was friendship, really? An alliance of some sort, right? That was what he'd originally thought... and, he'd decided, that was all it would ever be from then on.
The 'eat lunch' spot turned out to be a grassy area near a nice little stream. Everybody helped clear out the monsters before sitting down and sharing out lunch. The gorons were all eating rocks, and Limestone even had something Vaati could eat, as well as some iron to share with the other gorons, in that massive bag of his.
Not many people in Hyrule had ever experienced a lunch like this. All seven gorons were trading rocks and stories, talking over each other, swapping places and sometimes even going around chomping whatever rock was nearby. Vaati had certainly never seen anything of the like of this before.
"What about you, goro?" asked Tuff to Vaati, "Could you tell me about some of your adventures, goro?"
"Well, I had quite the adventure tracking all of you gorons down..." began Vaati, continuing to describe how he'd found them all, describing most of the details, leaving only his most specific intentions out.
"Wow, goro! What an adventure, and all in two days, goro?! How awesome, goro!" chattered Basalt, who happened to be sitting next to Vaati as well.
"I'll tell you a story now, Goro-Vaati!" added Obsidian, who was walking just behind where Vaati was sitting and had also overheard his story. She went on to talk about lands far beyond Mount Crenel and of tasty, exotic rocks and iron.
It was all very merry, and it didn't stop until all the food was either eaten or stored for later.
"Mmm... That was great, goro!" commentated Tuff.
"I know, goro!" announced Obsidian over the others, "Let's all give Goro-Vaati a big thank you from us for helping us all get together again, goro!"
"And for saving me from sinking, goro!" added Andesite,
"And for helping me hone my teaching-swimming skills!" hollered Rhinestone,
"And for helping me catch up with everybody after so long." finished Limestone.
"One... Two... Three...
Thanks, Goro-Vaati!"
All seven gorons thanked at the same time. Vaati smiled warmly, though something inside wondered if he really deserved all this thanks. "You're welcome." he replied.
"...You do look happier with a smile, goro!" said Granite.
"I do?" asked Vaati.
"Definitely, goro!" added Andesite, "Goro-Rhinestone was right for once, goro!"
"HEY, GO-RO! I told you you'd break that diary, didn't I, goro?" pointed out Rhinestone, "...and that in-edible metal? And your TOOTH?!"
...Soon the two were bickering again and while Limestone calmed them down, they all continued through Western Wood, along the path that Granite had drawn on Vaati's map.
All of this... Vaati was beginning to forget to search for the light force. Only a little. He hid among the gorons again as they all passed Smith's house. This time, nothing happened, luckily for Vaati.
The group quickly reached that cave Basalt had found. Vaati could certainly see why it was so interesting now. The place was filled with rocks of all sorts, gems, crystals, and even some of the rarest metals around, along with iron and some stronger variations of it and many minerals. They were embedded in the walls, the floor, the roof and everywhere else. It was somewhat dark, but the beams of light shone everywhere, creating some sort of spectacular illusion which seemed to glow all the colours at once.
"Wow, goro, how awesome!" gasped Obsidian.
"What a buffet, goro!" added Tuff.
"This place... really is pretty..." murmured Vaati, (...but do the gorons seriously have a big enough appetite to STILL eat after that giant lunch?!)
They went deeper in, everyone looking at everything, until the cave widened into a massive chamber of wonderful, rare gems of... of...
("...Glitteryness!") gasped the little voice in Vaati's head in awe.
("...Powerful magic!") gasped the dark voice in Vaati's head in anticipation.
("...Very useful rarities!") gasped the logical voice in Vaati's head in interest.
Vaati shook his head at all of those, smiling slightly. "...Illusion." he finished, looking around at everywhere, where the gorons had already split up and started gathering rocks, gems, etc. A deep instinct of his was telling him that this sort of place was too good to be true. There had to be a trap somewhere or it would all have been gone long before he was born. Sure enough, Vaati quickly found a sign with a warning written on it-
'Take only what you truly require... for greed will be your downfall.'
And then, scribbled at the bottom of the mystic message-
'And it would serve you right, too!' with a face sticking its cartoon tongue out next to it.
Vaati stared at the sign a little longer before noticing a little violet glimmer at the corner of his eye. He turned around and picked it up. His eye widened just that little bit. How... How in the world had this gotten here?!
"Come on, Boy! We're making kinstones today, and you're putting the emotion in! Remember, kinstones change colour depending on what emotions you infuse them with."
"That sounds fun, but who do you think would fuse with me?"
Nobody, that was who. Oh, he'd tried. But not even he would fuse kinstones. Now that present Vaati thought about it, it was like a premonition.
"Well, I'll fuse with you! Now, come on, Boy!"
...right. Nobody but Ezlo...
Ezlo and Vaati mixed the simple recipe in a large bowl, and when the kinstone halves were done, they were violet-lilac.
"Purple? How unique!" Ezlo had commentated.
"Different..." Ten-year-old Vaati had whispered.
That word... heh. Maybe he could have been a little more optimistic.
"Well, let's fuse, my boy!"
They did, but something hadn't felt quite right, as if the halves didn't quite fit, almost like he was fusing with the wrong person.
And now...
...Here was the right half of that very same kinstone now, right there in his palm. He wondered where the other half was, and closed his hand around it, wondering how it had somehow gotten to The Human World three years before him, and what had made it grow like that.
Most kinstones were made with friendship or leadership (green), others were made with innocence or knowledge (blue), and very rarely was a kinstone made with anger or regret (red). The reason, Vaati knew now, that his kinstone had been purple was because their emotion was loneliness. It had just poured out, because it was one that Vaati actually understood, in a way. In fact, he'd once read something about them being made with guilt, too... though it had never actually happened, until way back then.
That's when he looked over to the other gorons and saw that they were following his example in picking things up. Too many things, in fact!
"WAIT! STOP! THIS IS A TRAP!" Howled Vaati just as the entire room shook. Thanks to the warning, all the gorons and Vaati made it out safely with their souvenirs as the cave was blocked up behind them. Vaati wondered if everyone was okay. He also wondered why his kinstone made him feel as if the other half was coming for it soon...
"Is everyone here, goro?" asked Limestone.
Everyone quickly checked, and yes, they were all fine.
"Wow... What excitement, goro!" commentated Basalt, "Sorry about the danger, Goro-Everyone..."
"Aw, that's no problem, goro!" laughed Tuff, patting Basalt on the back, "That was the best adventure I've had in years, goro!"
The other gorons agreed with him, and soon the whole gaggle was walking right back towards Goron's Cave. At the south entrance to Hyrule Town, Limestone said goodbye and thanked Basalt for the adventure before leaving.
On the rest of the way back, Vaati took out his pencil and diary so he could write in it.
'To whoever reads this thing,
The gorons -namely, Rhinestone- invited me to their 'find-lunch-and-eat-it-goron-reunion-style'. It felt... nice to be wanted to come along. I couldn't say no, though I tried. Besides, the king isn't going anywhere. As the name suggests, first we found food in North Hyrule Field, then we ate it in Trilby Hilands after picking Limestone up. Never before have I seen anything like it! They traded rocks -gorons eat rocks-, places, and stories, walked all over the place, and they all talked over one another in some sort of randomness! After that, we all travelled into a cave Basalt found. It was beautiful, filled with every type of rock, metal, mineral, crystal, gem, etc you can think of, especially the rarest ones. So naturally, it was a trap. However, I did find the right half of the kinstone I made with Ezlo back when I was ten. I felt as if its other half were coming for it soon... I don't get it, but I'll keep it safe. Just in case...
-Vaati'
Suddenly, an emerald-citrine spark burst over Vaati's head, leaving a bit of emerald-citrine glitter which fell around him. From this, Vaati could tell that it was from a friendship-based kinsrone (leadership tends to be a darker green, usually forest-jade), but now it had actually exploded rather than travelled.
Quite suddenly, a creepy, very short, guy wearing a tight green body-suit and who had a comparatively large nose fell from the sky, grabbing - a very shocked- Vaati's diary, leaving rainbow-coloured confetti everywhere.
"Tingle, Tingle kooloo-limpah!" he shouted, running off.
Vaati yelled, "GIVE THAT BACK!" and ran after him, filling with rage...
"Goro-Vaati needs help!" observed Obsidian.
"Let's all go get that diary back, goro!" added Granite.
The gorons all curled up into boulder-like balls of rock and rolled after the odd green guy, three on either side of Vaati, almost like a V if one watched them from the air, though the gorons were way away from Vaati so far...
"You can't catch Tingle!" shouted the guy- Tingle, Vaati assumed -over his shoulder.
Vaati rushed after Tingle, filled with a cold, emotionless version of that rage. It was as if he could feel nothing and see only through logical eyes. His calculations were going at three-six per second as he kept his one working eye on Tingle, running much faster than usually possible thanks to magic. Behind him, the gorons were catching up, and they were all rolling full-speed at Tingle, with Vaati leading the charge.
Vaati knew not to lose his patience- ("Tingle's being annoying so I'll tire myself out.") stated the calculative voice and Vaati in his mind. Looking back over his shoulder, Tingle panicked as he saw Vaati and the six gorons all heading straight towards him so he threw several bunches of banana skins behind him, directly towards Vaati.
To said sorcerer, everything was going slower than usual. He was seeing from a 'third eye', one watching the chase from just above them... He could almost see himself... ("Right-left-spin-step-right-left-jump-turn and slide.")
...Vaati slid on a banana peel and spun into the air, the element catching him and propelling him towards Tingle faster than the annoying guy could run, so he pulled a string attached to his suit, making a huge red balloon which was larger than Tingle lift him into the air- where Vaati's winds pushed him away. ("Momentum, no coordination and density can be used to the advantage.")
However, Vaati's eye was everywhere. He could see the uncoordinated gorons slip on the banana peels all around him, sending them all into the air, where Andesite and Granite slipped on the bananas and crashed into each other directly in front of Tingle- forcing him to stop and ultimately allowing Vaati to get closer to him as the two slammed into each other and fell to the ground, rubbing their heads but totally unharmed, out of the chase.
Meanwhile, the other gorons were flying across the sky by their momentum and partly by Vaati's winds, and during that split second where Granite crashed into Andesite, Vaati ducked as Tuff was sent spinning over his head- and straight through Tingle's ballon, bursting it instantly, and continued through the air just as Tingle cried, "Tingle won't be caught! Tingle-Tingle-kooloo-limpah!" and threw rainbow confetti at Vaati's face, but he'd seen it coming and lightly dropped to the ground a millisecond after Tingle, the three remaining gorons dramatically crashing to the ground in a slightly curved line just behind him a millisecond after that.
Just as they were all in their formation of Tingle being chased by Vaati with the remaining three gorons right behind him- ("What goes up must come down.") Tuff crashed downwards and rammed into Tingle, who was sent flying, and Vaati leaped into the air after him. Back on the ground, Tuff uncurled, a little dizzy but perfectly okay, out of the chase too as the last three gorons swivelled around him, trying to keep up with Vaati.
Up in the air, ("The arc of flying shall end with a thump, so I can catch Tingle if I go directly under the landing arc."), but that plan was ruined when Tingle pulled anther string- releasing another large red ballon, this time with a propellor on the back. Tingle and Vaati shot forward, now passing directly over South Hyrule Field, heading east. Tingle yelled,
"This book shall be the key to Tingle becoming a great fairy!"
Vaati shouted after him, "THAT'S MY DIARY! GIVE IT BACK!", before attempting to barrel into him- unfortunately, Tingle dodged, forcing Vaati to double back, ("Use a double-back to the advantage and he'll be off-course.") but he sent tiny, counter-clockwise spinning, tornadoes after Tingle to try and force him towards himself. Unfortunately, Tingle was spun like a top, and the ballon burst, so Tingle was sent crashing directly downwards into Hyrule's one and only river. He held Vaati's diary far over his head, so luckily it wasn't ruined.
("Now I will go for the final swoop!")
Vaati dropped out of the sky and the winds caught him as he grabbed his diary back, the momentum sending him up and east again- with Tingle hanging onto Vaati's cloak. Vaati felt it- the full, cold, unnatural rage that flowed through him...
It was then, and only then, that Tingle realised he'd messed with the wrong sorcerer.
"To stone with you." Hissed Vaati.
Vaati put his book away, using the winds to hold Tingle, who was now a stone statue. Vaati looked at him and smirked. ("He's much nicer as a statue.") said both Vaati and the malevolent voice. An idea popped into Vaati's head and his smirk grew wider. Using the winds, he took Tingle to above the middle of Lake Hylia- and dropped him in. It felt all too satisfying to hear that splash. Vaati quietly laughed to himself and teleported right back to Goron's Cave, where the six gorons had all met up again.
"Did you get it back, goro?" asked Obsidian.
"Yes." replied Vaati, "Now I'll have to go. See you all later."
With that, he teleported away to North Hyrule Field. He planned to camp there for the night so he could actually rest properly and so nothing would get in the way this time, still edgy thanks to Tingle.
The gorons stared at where Vaati had just been.
"Is it just me, goro, or was his pupil aqua-green for a moment?" asked Rhinestone.
"Yes, goro, it was obvious, goro." replied Andesite.
Once he was there, some kid ran straight into him!
"YOWCH! Watch where you're going, kid!" grumbled Vaati- then he looked at just who was standing there, one hand reaching backwards. Of all the people to literally run into him...
Standing right there...
was Link.