Chapter 26

It was near dark when Max teleported Link and Charlie to Kakariko. They took advantage of the remaining daylight and looked around the village. There were some new buildings around town. There was a shooting gallery built near the village well. There was also a general store built near the entrance to Death Mountain and a few more houses. The houses were built beside the shooting gallery. Link figured they must have been built to house the people that evacuated Castle Town. Link and Charlie saw a lot of familiar faces around the village. Charlie even saw the man that was running the lottery seven years ago. He had carpenter's clothes on. They kept walking and looking at the changes made to the town when suddenly, Link spotted movement. A figure walked out from the shadows of a nearby building. Link gasped. He recognized the figure immediately. It was Impa, Princess Zelda's caretaker! She motioned him and Charlie to follow. She led them into a nearby building. She smiled at Link.

"Long time no see, Link. It's been awhile. I heard from Shiek that you are the legendary Hero of Time. A pity that you led Ganondorf to the triforce. His evil power has been spreading far too quickly through this land over the past seven years. Him and his son Vaati have been causing all sorts of trouble through Hyrule. The bastard froze Zora's Domain completely. Only Captain Ralis and Princess Ruto were able to escape. Ruto went to the Water Temple in Lake Hylia to pray to the gods. I will tell you about Ralis in a moment."

She turned to Charlie and Navi.

"It's good to see you two alive and well too."

She led the three to a round table. There were many chairs around it. Impa smiled at them.

"Please take a seat. I will be back in a moment."

They sat down and watched Impa walk up a flight of stairs to a room above. They heard a lot of talking and then they heard the parting of chairs and Impa came back down the stairs with a soldier, a zora, a goron and Shiek. They all looked at Link and Charlie and gasped for a minute before sitting around the table. Impa smiled at Link.

"So Link, do you recognize anyone?"

Link smiled.

"I recognize Shiek, but the other three I don't think I do."

The soldier grunted.

"I think you should know me even after seven years, lad."

Link gasped.

"Is that you, Captain Viscen?"

Viscen nodded.

"Aye, lad. It's good to see you again. The zora and the goron claim to know you guys as well."

Charlie jumped from his seat.

"I know who the zora is! It's Captain Ralis!"

Ralis nodded.

"Very well done, human. It's nice to see all of you after so long."

Navi was beginning to figure out who the big goron was. She flew over to Link and whispered into his ear.

"Psst! Link, I may be wrong, but I think the goron is none other than Argus."

Link smiled at the goron.

"It's good to see you again, Argus. How have you been? You've really grown."

Argus got up and gave Link a pat on his shoulder. It knocked Link onto the ground flat on his face.

"It's good to see you again too, brother! Things haven't been going so well. Our leader will tell you more. Let me help you up, brother! I don't know my own strength."

Argus grabbed Link by the hand and pulled him up.

Charlie was curious.

"Who is your leader and what is he a leader of?"

Argus smiled.

"The Hyrule Resistance of course. Our leader is Impa. Do you want to join us in the fight against Ganondorf and Vaati?"

Link nodded.

"I would love to join. I'm sure Charlie and Navi would join as well."

Both Charlie and Navi agreed readily.

"Sure. Sign me up. I'd love to join."

"Sign me up too."

Shiek sat up from his chair.

"That's great, guys. Welcome to the resistance. I'm sure you make us proud."

Link got thinking, and he had a question he wanted to ask Shiek.

"Hey shiek? How did you know my name back in the Temple of Time? I never told you my name."

Shiek looked too nervous to answer so Impa answered for him.

"I taught shiek telepathy. He probably knew your name before you even saw him. Now, enough about that. Now that you and your friends are our newest members, we need you to help us gather more recruits. We don't have a large enough force to take on Ganondorf and Vaati and their army of undead soldiers."

Link started to think of potential recruits. Suddenly, it hit him! The kokiri might be able to help!

"How about the kokiri? I know they are forest people, but they might be able to help. Hopefully my friend Brad is still in charge."

Impa nodded.

"Sounds like a reasonable suggestion. You were raised by them, weren't you? I don't know anything about them, so I'm relying on your expertise on them. You should go and see them right away."

Argus raised his hand.

"My people would love to join. I will go talk to them tonight. After all, I am their chief!"

Link was shocked. Argus got promoted to Chief? What happened to Darunia?

"Argus, what about Darunia? Why isn't he chief anymore?"

Argus smiled.

"I think he got tired of all the responsibilities of being chief of a clan. He handed leadership of the clan over to me a few years ago and since then, everyone listens to me and obeys me without question. Darunia is second in command. He wanted a little authority still, so I gave him one rank below me. I joined the resistance shortly after Ganondorf attacked Hyrule Castle. I went out for a walk and I ran into Impa here in Kakariko and she informed me that she was creating a resistance against Ganondorf's evil forces. After he attacked our people and cut off our food supply, I gladly joined. Darunia told me later that night that it was a good decision, and he was proud of me."

Ralis frowned.

"At least you have a clan. Ganondorf and Vaati attacked my people and froze my entire home. King Zora ordered me and Ruto to flee. We ran for our lives. Vaati followed us, but we managed give him the slip. After that, I ended up in Kakariko and joined the resistance immediately after running into Impa like Link, Charlie and Navi did. Ruto went to the Water Temple. She thinks that by praying to the gods, she can fix our home. What a foolish child."

Link turned to Viscen.

"How about you, Captain? Why did you join?"

"Well lad, shortly after we evacuated everyone here, this village was attacked by Ganondorf, Vaati and their army of undead soldiers. My soldiers ran ahead to fight them but sadly, they were all slain. Ganondorf just laughed and signaled his army to move in and attack. Shortly after, Impa cast a powerful spell. It was a protection spell and she cast it over the entire village. The undead soldiers started to die and it hurt Ganondorf as well. Vaati managed to escape before he got injured. He vowed that he would return one day and break the spell. He has already tried several times to break the spell, but he has failed each time. The spell only affects evil beings, so you and your friends entered unharmed. I want to pay Ganondorf back in full for killing my soldiers. Vaati must be dealt with as well."

Link nodded.

"Navi actually got my friend back to normal for a few minutes by using a defensive move. He told me that he couldn't control his evil actions and emotions. He asked me to find a way to get him back to normal. I have a feeling the next time I see him, Navi won't be able to snap him out of it anymore. I'm sure Ganondorf was aware of that and he probably made the evil energy inside of Max stronger and harder to break."

Impa shrugged.

"If Navi could learn more about that move, she may be able to get your friend back to normal for good no matter what kind of spells Ganondorf likely cast on him. The Great Fairy in Death Mountain Crater may be able to help. You should go and see her once you help the sage in the Forest Temple."

Link nodded.

"Sounds fine to me. We will go there at once."

Shiek held up his hand.

"Wait a minute, Link. I went to the graveyard and I retrieved the tool you need to enter the temple. Hold out your hands."

Link held out his hands and Shiek placed an odd looking object into them. It was a weird object with a handle and a hook on the end. In between the hook and the handle, there was a long chain wrapped up. There was a trigger on the handle. Shiek explained to Link the significance of the device.

"This is called a hookshot, Link. Simply just take aim at something and squeeze the trigger and the hook will shoot out. Once it sticks into something, squeeze the trigger again and you will be reeled in. Let's go outside and give it a try."

Shiek, Link, Charlie, Navi and the rest of the resistance members walked outside to watch the demonstration. Link pointed the hookshot at a nearby tree and squeezed the trigger. The hook shot out at an alarming speed and stuck into the tree. Link then squeezed the trigger again and the device began to retract. In no time at all, Link found himself up in the tree. He smiled with satisfaction. This device would surly be useful. He grunted and pulled the hook out of the tree. He then jumped out of the tree and landed in front of everyone. He smiled at Shiek.

"Thanks so much, Shiek. We will be on our way now. I will see you guys when we return."

Impa waved as Charlie, Link and Navi left Kakariko and headed for the Forest Temple in Kokiri Forest.

"Good luck, guys. See you all when you are finished," she said as she yelled her farewells to the three friends.

Ganondorf was walking around anxiously around in his castle. His castle now stood where Hyrule Castle used to be. After he invaded Hyrule Castle, He destroyed it and he built his own castle in place of it. He also destroyed the land around it to prevent any intruders from ever gaining access. His castle sat atop of a very large pillar surrounded with lava pits. He was waiting for the return of his son Vaati. He saw what had happened to him near the Temple of Time and he wanted to make sure the evil power inside of him hadn't weakened as a result. Suddenly, Vaati appeared in front of his father. Ganondorf ran over to him in anger.

"You fool! Don't you realize that you almost got cleansed of evil by that stupid fairy?"

Vaati looked at him in confusion. What was he babbling about? They knocked him out, but they never cleansed him of evil.

"What are you talking about? I never got cleansed of evil."

Ganondorf sneered.

"So, you don't remember that fairy screaming at you and flashing bright green? You must have suffered memory loss. I saw the whole thing. For a brief few minutes, you were the one they called Max. You talked to them for a few minutes as Max and then the evil power took over again. I don't want that to happen again. Follow me. I'm going to channel more evil power inside you and then I'm going to put some spells on you to make sure the evil power cannot be cleansed again. I don't want to lose you, my boy. You are a perfect son to me and we have caused a lot of mayhem over the past seven years"

Ganondorf ran ahead of Vaati. He had a hard time keeping up. Suddenly, Vaati grunted and bent down in pain. The black in Vaati's eyes briefly faded. Max was in control again. He concentrated and managed to send a small message to Link telepathically.

"I hope you receive my message, Link. Stay safe.", said Max as his eyes turned black once more.

Vaati looked around. He then saw his father far ahead of him and ran to catch up to him.