Chapter 9

The new several weeks went rather quickly. Much to the surprise of everyone, Link & Zelda promptly excelled through the training process, surpassing the best warriors The Resistance has to offer at a fast pace. Once they beat Impa in a spar, it symbolized that they were ready to participate. Today the pair finally get to participate in their first mission. They, along with several others, gather inside Impa's tent.

"You both have exceeded my expectations, but do you both feel ready for this?" The pair nodded to her. "Let's proceed then."

Everyone brings their attention to the map of Hyrule displayed on the table. Impa stood at the head of it. "Every several months, Ganondorf sends his soldiers to the major villages throughout Hyrule to collect food & rupees to bring back to the castle, barely leaving anything for the villagers themselves." Impa pointed to a region on the map. "One of these villages nearby is Hateno village in the Necluda region."

"I'm guessing you want us to take those supplies back?" Link guessed.

"Exactly."

"We plan to intercept them here," Auru pointed to an area that indicates a forest. "We just need to figure out how to stop them without causing bloodshed, if possible."

Everyone studied the map as they silently pondered ideas. Zelda glanced over the map, looking at a distinctive region with a long trail. She had seen enough maps in her lifetime to know how the environment & geographical region drawn on them are reflected in their real-life counterparts. She noticed the trail was in an area surrounded by

"Is that the only trail in the area?"

"Yes," Impa confirmed. "Should they chose not to go that path, they would have to go through the surrounding woods. Easy to go through if they were walking or riding horseback, maybe even with one wagon. But difficult for multiple wagons, which they do have, not to mention time-consuming."

"So, no matter what, they need to take that road. If something were to block their path, they would have no choice but to move it…"

"...Leaving them unfocused on the area around them." Auru finished.

"But that brings up how we get the supplies without casualties," Ashei said.

"Maybe a two-pronged approach," Link suggested. "One group lures the guards away, distracting them, while another group steals the supplies."

"That is a plausible plan, yeah?"

"I agree. Does anyone have objections?" No one spoke up against the sheikah woman. "Good. Everyone go and prepare. We leave within the hour."

Those in the tent made their leave. Link did about the same before Impa called for him.

"Link, a moment, please?

"What is it?"

"You need this." She pulls out a green eye mask. "If Ganondorf is still hunting down survivors from Ordon, we cannot have his forces identifying you."

Link took the green mask. "Thank you."

"Go get ready."

Link left the tent and joined Zelda to get ready.

Almost an hour later, those participating in the mission prepare their horses, weapons, and anything necessary. Their loved ones also took that time to say goodbye if things went wrong and to wish them luck.

"So you guys are doing a simple theft?" Ilia asked Zelda, who was gathering her materials.

"Impa says it would be a good start for me and Link."

"You sure you don't need me to come along? Auru says I've been getting better with a crossbow."

"I'll be fine, Ilia. Link will be with me. You know he's helped me more than I can count."

Meanwhile, Rusl is also giving his best wishes to Link.

"You sure you don't need anything else?" Rusl asked.

"I'll be fine, Rusl. We'll be back in the morning."

"I wish I could go with you to help, but-"

"You have your family to take care of. I understand." The sound of Sheik shouting filled the air. "I gotta go now."

"Be careful."

"I promise." Link smiled once he climbed onto Epona

Necluda Region...

Dusk settled in the deepest woods in the Necluda region. Deep within its wood, soldiers from the Hylian Royal Guard pulling carts filled with various supplies, including a high amount of food and rupees, traveled along a trail by horse-drawn wagons. They had just finished collecting 'tributes' from Hateno village. The sky above them a growing darker.

"Move it, men!" The lead soldier barked at them. "King Ganondorf wants us back in the morning, and I don't wish to endure his wrath because you of lugs slacking off!"

This prompts the troops to pick up their speed. All went as expected for several moments until they all slowly stopped, much to the annoyance of the leader. Wanting to get to eh bottom of it, he rode to the front of the line.

"Why have you all stopped?!"

"There seems to be a boulder blocking the path."

The lead soldier looks to see what his fellow soldier is talking about. There was indeed a giant boulder blocking the path. He noted that the boulder was not there when he and his group traveled through here earlier in the day, which he found odd. There was no one else in these woods, and indeed no sign of any monsters who were more than capable of doing something like this. All that was brushed aside once he looked at his pocket watch. They were behind schedule and had to get moving lest he didn't want to anger The King.

"Well, don't just stand there! Move it!"

The other soldiers quickly went over to attempt to move the boulder. Unaware to them, they were not alone.

Link & Sheik watched the soldiers in the tree lines. "How many soldiers do you see?"

"I say at least twenty of them. Let's hope the diversion works."

Sheik placed his hands over his mouth and whistled like a bird so the soldiers would not notice. On the other side of the tree lines lay the diversion team, Ashei & Zelda. Once they heard the birdcall, Ashei responded with one as well.

"That the signal?" Zelda asked.

"Yes. Let's move."

Pulling up their masks, both women carefully sneak to the carts. They then split up to find a coach with enough valuable items for the soldiers to chase them for. Zelda looked into one with several large bags with several rupees in different colors scattered around them.

"What about this one?" Zelda whispered loud enough for the woman to hear.

"Perfect! Get on."

They both climbed onto the cart, Ashei grabbing the reins connected to the horse with Zelda at her side. It is time to start the diversion.

"Hey, boys!" Zelda yelled out. "Hope you don't mind us taking these rupees!"

Ashei slammed the reins on the horse, signaling it to run in the opposite direction before the soldiers could react. The leader barked for his men to chase after them as they mounted their horses and followed them, leaving only three soldiers behind.

"They bought it!" Link said in relief.

"They won't be fooled for long. We gotta move!" Sheik stated with urgency.

Link trailed behind the sheikah to the edge of the tree line, where the three soldiers stood in view. "I'll take the two on the left. You get the one on the right." He heard him say.

They slowly walk to their targets, crouched down. Sheik slammed the two soldiers' heads together, and Link knocked out the other by whacking him with his shield. He should use that move more often.

Sheik signaled others to come out. Everyone quickly gathered whatever they could carry. When all the wagons were emptied, they fled back into the woods. They kept running until they finally stopped at a pass between two small mountains at the edge of the Necluda region, where they planned to meet Ashei & Zelda. While the others were counting the loot, Link kept a lookout for the women. It was a little past the meetup time, and he was getting worried.

"They should've been back by now."

"Ashei is a capable warrior. Zelda will be fine."

"I'm not saying Zelda can't handle herself. Trust me, she's someone you do not want to mess with. Still, I can't help but worry. I don't know what I do if something happened to her."

"You care for her a lot, don't you?"

"We've known each other our entire lives. We've had each other's back no matter what. One time, when I was eleven, we stumbled upon a juvenile Deku Baba. Being the adventurous kid I was, I decided to approach it."

"I can only imagine the outcome."

"It had an impressive bite. Trust me, you DO NOT want to be bitten by those things. I have the scar to prove it."

"Show me."

Link lifted his right arm as he rolled up his sleeve. Several deep round scars scattered across his forearm.

"Ouch," Sheik winced a bit. "How did you get out of that?"

"Zelda shot an arrow at it. That was around the same time she had just gotten into archery. She got me home, and there was no serious damage done. Though my dad gave quite the scolding."

"With good reason. Bothering a Deku Baba is never a good idea."

"Yeah. Anyways, that's just one of many times she's stuck by me. Even when I became somewhat of a mess when my father never returned, she was always right there."

When Link didn't hear Sheik speak up, he looked to see him having a doleful expression.

"Sheik?"

"Sorry! Your story reminded me of something my parents once told me long ago."

That caught Link's attention. Sheik spoke very little about his family in the weeks since their meeting. Auru once explained that Sheik likes talking about his past less. Even with little information and Ganondorf's purging of the Sheikah, Link could guess what happened.

"A true friendship, a feeling in the heart that becomes stronger over time. The passion of friendship will blossom into a righteous power. Through it, bonds are created and can make potent friendships." He brought his head down. "Caring for someone even under the worst conditions..."

Neither said anything else after that. All they did was wait for the women.

Zelda & Ashei both traveled through the dark woods with only a lantern to guide them.

After stealing the wagon, they rode it far enough away so that Sheik's group could get the supplies without any struggle. When they got far sufficient, they ditched the wagon, still being pulled by the horse, leading the soldiers on a wild goose chase. They did manage to get several bags of rupees from the cart before they hurriedly moved far away from their location until they were sure it was safe to walk.

"How much farther to the others?"

"Not too long."

"Alright." Zelda kept on walking alongside Ashei, unsatisfied with the silence between them. "What do you plan to do when we return to base camp?"

"Practice my swordplay and a bit of relaxing. Why do you ask?"

"Just starting a conversation. With Impa's training during the past few weeks, I've never got the chance to talk to you."

"Ah, I see." A pause lingers before Ashei speaks again. "You wish to get to know each other now, yeah?"

Zelda's shoulders shrugged. "I don't see why not."

"Very well. What would you like to know about me?"

"Do you do anything besides swordplay?"

"If you want to know, I like to draw sometimes and read."

"I never took you for a reader." Zelda quickly lifted her hands. "Please don't take any offense to that!"

"No worries. I leave that impression a lot. I'm not as bad as Shad, though."

Zelda arched an eyebrow. "How so?"

"He's like Malon if you replace horses with books."

A giggle escaped from her mouth. "That bad?

Ashei took that moment to respond. "Actually, she's much worse now that I think about it."

More giggling came out from Zelda.

"Even so, Shad loves to read books whenever we're not fighting. I wouldn't be interested in reading if it wasn't for him." A small, happy smile grew across Ashei's lips. "There's a lot of things I wouldn't know if it weren't for him."

"How so?"

"He helped me through a dark time in my life. I rather not bore you with a somber tale."

"I like to hear it."

Ashei took a breath. "Before I joined The Resistance, I lived with my father. My mother died shortly after bringing me into the world, so it was just me and him. He was a knight under the old royal family and deserted sometime after Ganondorf took over. We fled to the Snowpeak mountains south of the Hebra region. We lived peacefully for years until Ganondorf's forces found us somehow. I managed to hide while they took my father away. I went to Castle Town, hoping that he escaped somehow. But.."

She stopped walking, and her face appeared to be successfully holding back tears before she resumed speaking.

"...I walked straight to my father's execution. I was only thirteen. I will never forget the sound of the sword taking my father's head."

Zelda let out a small gasp as she covered her mouth while the other covered her heart. "Oh, Nayru…That must've been horrible for you to see."

"It was...Fortunately, as fate would have it, Auru was there. He offered me a place in The Resistance once he realized my situation, but it didn't ease my pain. My father taught me everything I know. I was so lost without him. Even with the entire Resistance, there was still a hole in my heart that I thought would never heal." Her eyes lit up as she paused. "Then Shad came into my life. He brought me joy that I thought was long gone."

"Sounds like he helped you out a lot. He sounds like a great person."

"Yeah." A light blush came across her cheeks before regaining her composure. "We should probably hurry back to the others."

"Oh, right!"

They quickly resumed their trek back. Soon they made it to the pass where the others were waiting. The first one to notice was Link.

"There you are! I was getting worried."

"Sorry, Link. We got a little sidetracked." Zelda explained to him. "Everyone else made it safe?"

"Yes. And we got all the supplies as well."

"That should make Impa happy, at least," Ashei said.

"It will, but we need to do something first," Sheik said.

Hateno Village...

A man dressed in farmer's clothes and holding a pitchfork leaned against the supporting beams of the archway entrance as he gazed upon his village. He and the villagers had to deal with soldiers harassing them for their food rupees most of the day. They finally left not too long ago, much to their relief. Though they were left with very little, he hoped they could scrap by with what they had.

The sound of a plop causes his body to turn a one-eighty, pointing his weapon. The only thing in his sights were several large bags. The man moved in to investigate. A note was attached to one of the bags.

Here's what's yours back.

P.S We've also borrowed some of your food & rupees, but we left you a good chunk of everything

-TR

The man opened one of the bags to look inside. A smile grew on his face as he dashed into the village.

The Next Day. Hyrule Castle...

Ganondorf sat still on his throne, a stone expression on his face. Alongside him were Aveil, Ghirahim, and Cole. Standing at the base throne was the soldier in charge of collecting the tribute from Hateno. The King saw the fear painted on his face. Good. Just how he wanted.

"Now, Sergeant," Ganondorf's calm yet boisterous voice echoed in the room. "Tell me, what was the job I assigned you?"

"I-I was tasked with collecting tribute from Hateno."

"And is that a hard job?"

"No, sire."

"Yet you return with very little." Ganondorf's tone shifts to a dark one. "Care to tell me why?"

"W-we were making our way through the woods when we noticed a boulder blocking our path. We were trying to move it when two women hijacked one of our wagons. We reclaimed it, but the women escaped. When we returned, the rest of our supplies were gone."

"Did you leave anyone to guard them while pursuing the women?"

"Yes, we did indeed."

"And how many were guarding the supplies?"

"Three, sire…"

Ganondorf leaned forward, keeping eye contact with the sergeant. "So, let me get this straight. You and you're troops were being robbed, yet you left only three of them to guard the supplies as you pursued the women. Did it ever occur that they were a diversion to lead you away so their allies could steal the rest?"

"Only when I got back to the wagons. I am at the uttermost sorry for my carelessness."

"I do appreciate your apologies, Sergeant." The man almost breathed in relief until Ganondorf continued speaking. "However, apologies do not take away what your carelessness cost us much-needed resources to support those keeping order in Hyrule. I entrusted you with this task, yet you failed! I do not tolerate failure!"

"Please, sire, I truly am sorry! It won't happen again!"

"Silence!" Ganondorf snarled loud enough that his voice echoed throughout the room. "Get out of my sight! I'll determine your punishment later."

The man quickly scrambled out of the throne room. Ganondorf pinched the bridge of his nose as he let out a tired & annoyed breath.

"Incompetent fool..."

"Well, now that's been settled, I suppose we should discuss the topic of the thieves," Chancellor Cole casually suggested.

"Right," Ganondorf agreed. "Aveil, what did the three soldiers have to say?"

"Not much, I'm afraid. All three did not get a good enough look for a proper description before they were knocked out. The best we've got is that one was dressed in green."

"All it's left to figure is who they were," Ghirahim said. "I do not doubt that it's the works of The Resistance."

"Oh please," Cole protested. "The Rebels wouldn't lower themselves to petty theft-"

"Ghirahim's right," Ganondorf affirmed. "Bandit's tactics are more brutal. The Resistance prefers a non-bloody approach if possible. Their compassion is what sets them apart from those low lives. Quite an admirable but foolish philosophy. It was them."

"What do we do, sire?"

"We must stay vigilant as always, but they won't be a problem any longer. I've received word that Vaati's mass production of his weapon is finally in operation. Soon we will have enough for my army. The Resistance won't stand a chance against us."

That was enough to bring satisfaction to a disappointing morning for Ganondorf and his supporters.

If you spotted that reference to MajorLink, I applaud you. Seriously go watch his videos. They kinda help motivate me with this fic.

In other news FINALLY got around and finished "The Champions Ballad" DLC in Breath of the Wild.

Favs, Follows, and Reviews are appreciated.