Chapter 30
Brad watched Link, Charlie and Navi as they made their way towards the hill where the entrance to the Lost Woods was located. He was extremely thankful that he had those three as friends. Without them, he would have never become Chief of the Kokiri clan. He didn't like watching them going towards the unknown in the Lost Woods. A plan began to form in his mind. He would help them out and guide them through the lost woods! But then, he thought of a problem. Who would be in charge while he was gone? Mentally, he started to consider candidates. Makar and Dregal were out of the question. They were obedient Kokiri, but they were also too laid back.. Saria would have been a good choice. But unfortunately, she was missing in the Forest Temple. Suddenly, it hit him. He would choose Fado! She always helped him with various tasks and she was very wise. It was her that had suggested to turn the prison into an infirmary for travelers . He smiled with pride. He now had his temporary chief. Luckily, she wasn't too far away. She was standing over near a house across from him. He walked over and greeted her.
"Hey, Fado. I have a huge favor I want to ask you."
Fado smiled at him. He enjoyed Brad's company. He was such a fierce fighter.
"What do you need, boss?"
"Would you take over as chief of the kokiri for awhile?"
Fado was taken aback. She had not expected him to ask such a huge favor. Being chief was a huge responsibility. Fado was curious as to why he had asked such a huge favor.
"I would be honored to, Brad. But why do you want me to?"
Brad knew she would ask this so he explained.
"I want to help out Link and his friends just like they helped me seven years ago. I don't want to see them get themselves lost in that forest. I also want to find Saria as well. I don't want you to be nervous, Fado. Just be yourself and don't do anything I wouldn't do. I will see you later."
Brad ran to catch up to Link and his friends. Izzy followed closely behind him. He waved to Fado as he ran.
Link and Charlie, along with Navi, were almost at the entrance to the Lost Woods. They began to walk through the entrance tunnel when they heard shouting behind them.
"Wait for me, Guys!"
It was Brad! Link laughed at him.
"Do you miss us that much, buddy? What's up?"
Brad smiled.
"Let me come with you. I want to help you guys out. It's the least I can do after you guys helped me out as much as you did in the past."
Charlie scratched his head.
"But what about your duties as Chief? Don't you have things to do?"
Brad patted Charlie on his arm. He couldn't reach his shoulder.
"You're a good egg, Charlie. I've already taken care of that. I put Fado in command. She will do fine. I have faith in her abilities. I also figured that if I travel with you, I will eventually learn how to shoot fireballs."
Link sighed.
"I'm not sure how to teach you, Brad. I can try to focus my power on you, but I may burn you badly. I'm not even sure if I can focus my power like that. It's up to you. Do you want me to try?"
Brad considered it for a moment and then he nodded. Having a power like that would be extremely useful if Kokiri Village ever got attacked again.
"I'm in. What do you need me to do?"
"Just hold my hand and let me know if you feel anything. If you start to feel like you're on fire, let me know right away."
Brad nodded. Charlie, Navi and Izzy sat nearby and watched.
"Are you sure this going to work, Link?", asked Charlie.
Link shook his head.
"No, Charlie. I don't. I'm just experimenting. Please don't bother me now. I'm trying to concentrate."
Link closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He started to imagine the power of fire and he imagined it was being fed into Brad. He opened his eyes and looked down at his hand. It was glowing orange. He looked over at Brad. He looked like he was in pain. Tears were coursing from his eyes. Link gasped.
"Brad! Are you okay? I knew this was a bad idea! What was I thinking?"
Brad shook his head.
"No, man. My whole body feels like it is on fire. Let go of my hand please!"
Link released his hold on Brad's hand. As soon as his hand was free, he fell to the floor. His whole body felt like somebody lit it on fire. He looked up at Link.
"You were right. Maybe that wasn't such a good idea after all!", he grunted.
Charlie ran over to him with Navi and Izzy behind him. Izzy flew into Brad's face.
"Please be alright. I can't imagine life without you. You are an awesome Kokiri.", she cried.
Brad sat up. He was then helped to his feet by Charlie and Link. Link smiled at him.
"I think you're going to be alright. When you are feeling better, I want to see if I gave you the power or not."
Brad lifted his head weakly and faced Link.
"I hope so. That pain was very intense. I don't want to experience that again."
Izzy flew over to Brad. She was in tears.
"Thank God you're alright. I thought you weren't going to make it."
She turned in Link's direction.
"Link! Why did you even try that? You could've killed Brad. Don't do anything so foolish to Brad ever again."
Link sighed. She was right of course. That was a stupid move. He turned to Brad to apologize.
"Listen, I'm sorry I put you in danger. That was very foolish of me. You could've been hurt a lot worse or even killed."
Brad smiled and shook his head.
"Don't take all the blame. I encouraged you to try it, remember? It's okay. Don't worry. The main thing is that I'm okay. Right, Isabel?"
Izzy glared at Brad.
"The name is Izzy! I hate the name Isabel! You should know that by now! We've been partners for more than ten years! I just want you two to be more careful. That's all!"
Charlie walked over to Brad. He still looked like he was in pain.
"Let me help you out, Brad. I'll carry you over behind me and we will take a rest."
Charlie picked him up and sat him down a short distance behind himself. Link, Navi and Izzy followed him and sat with him shortly after.
Brad sat down with all his friends for almost half an hour. He tried to stand up. His legs felt much stronger than they did before, and he no longer felt like he was on fire. He looked over at Link.
"I feel much better now. Can you see if I got the power inside me or not?"
Link nodded and stood up.
"Alright. I'm going to try to train you the same way Viscen trained me. I want you to hold out a hand and close your eyes. Now I want you to imagine a fireball appearing in the center of your hand."
Brad nodded.
"Okay. Now what?"
Link continued.
"Now, I want you to imagine the fireball gradually getting bigger. Now, try and make that reality. You must concentrate a lot."
Brad tried to concentrate. He pictured the fireball in his hand, but he was having trouble making it real. Link encouraged him.
"Come on, man. Don't give up yet."
Brad concentrated for a few more minutes and then he sighed and opened his eyes.
"I don't think I got the power. I guess you will have to talk to Viscen."
Link shook his head and grinned.
"No, man. You have the power. Look at your hand."
Brad glanced at his hand and gasped. It was glowing a dull orange! Brad smiled with joy.
"All right! I got the power! How do I make the fireball? My hand is only glowing."
Link nodded wisely.
"That is the start of a fireball. Close your eyes and try to concentrate harder."
Brad closed his eyes and imagined a big fireball forming into his hand. He then tried once more to make it real. He heard gasps around him and over top of the gasps, he heard Link's happy voice.
"You're doing it, Brad! Open your eyes and look!"
Brad opened his eyes and looked at his hand. He managed to form a fireball about the size of a small rock. Link instructed him how to throw it.
"Now, just imagine you are holding a rock and throw it into the air."
Brad nodded and attempted to throw the fireball. It left his hand and went up into the sky. It flew upward a short distance and then exploded. Small streams of fire flew out of it. Link knelt and patted him on the back.
"Congratulations, Brad. You are now able to shoot fireballs like me. With more practice, you will be able to shoot larger fireballs than me."
Charlie walked over beside Link. He gave him a nudge.
"I hope you can teach me how to shoot fireballs sometime as well. That would be cool. At least I would feel more useful on this journey if I could help you in battles better."
Link shook his head.
"Are you insane? You want me to teach you how to shoot fireballs even after what happened to Brad? Out of the question. I'm not going to risk hurting another one of my friends. Tell you what, we will go talk to Viscen and see if he can get you a fire orb. I think that's the safer way to learn my powers. At least you don't get seriously injured that way. Oh, and by the way, you're not useless. You have helped me out more than you realize. If you want, I can lend you the Master Sword. Just don't lose it or let an evil creature take it."
Charlie sighed and nodded.
"Okay. I'll borrow the Master sword. But what are you going to fight with?"
Link held out his hands and they started to glow orange.
"My fire! I will use my fireballs to fight off monsters. If I need the sword, I can always get it from you if you're not using it."
Link pulled out the Master Sword and handed it to Charlie. He smiled. He was a good friend. But sometimes, he wasn't very smart. He just saw Brad get injured by trying to learn the fireball power, but he still asked about it. Link sighed. He hoped that Viscen had another fire orb to give him. Link gasped. He suddenly remembered one of the main reasons he came to this forest again! He wanted to see if the Kokiris would like to join the Hyrule Resistance. He tapped Brad on the shoulder. He turned around and faced Link.
"What is it, Link?"
Link smiled at him.
"Brad, I am a member of the Hyrule Resistance and so are Charlie and Navi. I wanted to know if you and the Kokiri clan would join. We are trying to grow in numbers so we can one day wipe out Ganondorf's army. At least that's what Impa told me."
Brad nodded. It would likely be beneficial to the Kokiri clan if they joined.
"I'd love to. I'm sure the rest of the Kokiri would like to as well. Do you know what kind of army Ganondorf has? How many soldiers does he have at his command?"
Link scratched his head in deep thought.
"Hmm. I do know that his army mostly consists of undead creatures, ghosts, and Gerudo, but I don't know how many altogether."
Brad nodded. He could tell it wasn't going to be easy to take down his army.
"That's going to take a big army of our own to take out his army. There is one thing I want to ask you guys. Can I please travel with you on your journeys?"
Charlie was taken aback.
"But what about being leader of the Kokiri? Don't you have all that to worry about after we save Saria?"
Brad shrugged.
"To be honest, I'm getting tired of being the leader. Don't get me wrong, being the boss is great. I've been enjoying it for seven years now. But lately, I've been feeling restless. I want to help kill some of the rising evil in this land, but I can't do it while I'm stuck here being leader. I think I'm going to hand over leadership of the clan to Fado and resign."
He turned to Izzy.
"If you want to stay here in the forest Izzy, I'll understand."
Izzy smirked.
"No way, Brad. Wherever you go, I'm going to come with you. Count me in."
Brad smiled.
"That's awesome, Izzy. I'll be glad to have you along with me."
Link patted Brad on the back.
"Welcome to our journey, bud. I'm glad to have you with us."
Brad started to walk into the forest. He looked back at everyone.
"Follow me. I'll lead you guys through this forest."
They followed Brad into the forest. There were four paths in all directions. Brad chose the right path. They walked down the path and came up to a ledge. There was a big target hanging from a tree in the distance. Brad explained.
"This is where Kokiri practice their skills with the slingshot. Four years ago, I made a slingshot for everyone. Shortly after, I climbed that tree and hung that target up there. Now, follow me to that path to the left."
Everyone followed Brad down the path. Straight ahead of them was a strange tunnel. Brad shrugged.
"I'm not sure where that leads. It is blocked off by some large boulders. Let's continue on the path to the right."
They followed Brad down the path and came up to a huge pond with two paths. One to the left and one to the right. Brad pointed to the left path.
"Take that path. There is a tunnel at the very bottom of that pool but is far too deep to get to. Let's move on. Now, we go through here and go straight again. Then we turn left and then we turn right and then we will be in the Sacred Forest Meadow."
They followed Brad's directions and before they knew it, they were in the Sacred Forest Meadow. Link tapped Brad's shoulder.
"I've been meaning to ask. How did you know the way like that?"
Brad smiled.
"Me and Saria became close friends over the past seven years. She would always take me here. I guess I memorized the path over the years. It should be easy to get to the Forest Temple. I hope you have a way to get up to it. The entrance to the temple is very high. The only thing nearby is a tree. There is a branch above the entrance. The tree only has the one top branch, so it's hard to climb."
Link grinned.
"That's no problem at all. That's why I have this beauty."
He pulled out his hookshot. Brad gasped in amazement.
"Wow! What a neat looking device. What is it?"
Link explained what the device was.
"This is called a hookshot. It sticks a hook into a tree and then it has a trigger on it and when you squeeze it, it reels you in."
Brad nodded.
"Very impressive. That will do the job no question. Now, let's get moving. There won't be any monsters. I walked through here about a month ago and slain them all."
Brad was right. It was an easy walk through the meadow. There were a couple paths that twisted and turned, but there weren't any monsters in sight. Before long, they were in front of the Forest Temple. Suddenly, they heard an evil laugh and Vaati appeared in front of everyone. Link groaned.
"Not you again! What do you want? Give me my friend back already!"
Vaati sneered.
"Making demands already, Link? You know I can't do that. I'm here to finish you off, not give your friend back. You won't see him ever again, so just get used to it."
Link went to draw the Master Sword, but he forgot he gave it to Charlie. He cursed silently. Vaati laughed.
"You have no weapon? Perfect! That makes it even easier to kill you!"
He held out his hand and threw a ball of dark energy at Link. He dodged it and Brad, Charlie and the two fairies got out of the line of fire. Link gritted his teeth.
"You seem to forget. I can throw fireballs at you. I'm going to make sure I torch your ass this time!"
Vaati started to laugh even harder.
"Big words, Link. That's not going to help you this time. Me and my father made sure of that!"
Link roared and concentrated and threw a fireball at him. He smiled and held out his hand. A purple shield surrounded his body. The fireball hit the shield and vaati dropped the shield and he was unharmed. He laughed at Link's attempts to hurt him.
"Now what are you going to do, Link? Your puny fireballs can no longer hurt me! Just give up! I will make your death nice and quick. As for your friends, they can either join me or they will share the same fate as you!"
Link groaned. What was he going to do now? Vaati could now absorb his fireballs. He began to form an attack plan in his head. Hopefully it will work. He called Navi.
"Navi! Can you try that move you used before while I try and fight him?"
Navi nodded.
"You can count on me, Link!"
Navi flew off out of the way as Vaati charged at Link. He decided to try another fireball only this time, he aimed for his head. Vaati grinned and blocked it like the last one. While he was distracted, Navi flew up to Vaati and screamed and glowed green in front of him. Vaati blocked it with his shield as well! He stopped charging towards Link and laughed at their plan.
"Nice try, guys! I saw through your plan! That won't even work on me anymore! Time to finish this!"
Link yelled at the top of his lungs.
"Charlie! I need my sword back now!"
Charlie grabbed it and quickly tossed it. It landed point down in front of Link. He quickly grabbed it and tried to stab Vaati. He deflected it and threw a shadow ball at Link's chest. Brad was watching his friend almost getting killed by Vaati and he couldn't stand to watch it anymore. He quickly closed his eyes and began to concentrate. With a roar, he opened his eyes and held up both his hands and they both had very large fireballs in them! He tossed one at the shadow ball and the other at Vaati. The first fireball intercepted the shadow ball and blew it up. The second one headed straight for Vaati's chest. He attempted to block it, but he wasn't quick enough. It exploded on his chest and with an agonizing roar, he flew backwards. He weakly got back up. He was breathing heavily. He looked at Link
"Kill me! For the love of God, please end this! It's Max! I don't want to hurt anybody else!"
Link gasped.
"Max! You know I can't do that! My friends don't want to see you die either. We are going to get you back to normal no matter what it takes!"
Max gritted his teeth angrily.
"You idiot! Don't you remember what I told you in that vision? Are you so stupid that you can't figure out that it's impossible to get me completely back to normal? You fools are going to get killed by me! The longer you leave me alive, the greater the risk! You were just lucky that you managed to get me back to normal. Now, I'm going to ask you again, Link. Kill me before I change back."
Link concentrated and formed a fireball in his hand he went to throw it at Max, but he stopped and threw it on the ground. Max was outraged.
"Why the hell did you do that for? You should have shot it at me. I see you still won't kill me. So be it. I hope Vaati kills you next time!"
Max teleported away. Link stared at the ground sadly. Brad came over and patted his shoulder.
"It's okay, man. I don't think I could've killed him either. We are going to find a way to return him to normal on our journey. Just you wait and see!"
Link sighed heavily.
"Thanks, Brad. By the way, how did you get fireballs in both hands like you did?"
He shrugged his shoulders.
"I don't know. I got angry when I saw him about to hit you. I concentrated and I somehow created two huge fireballs."
Izzy flew over into Brad's face.
"That was amazing, Brad! You can use your anger to your advantage with those fireballs. I guess getting hurt before was worth it."
"Thanks, Izzy."
Charlie and Navi walked over.
"Izzy was right, Brad. You are an awesome Kokiri."
He turned to Navi.
"It's too bad that defensive move didn't work, Navi."
Navi merely shrugged.
"Oh well. No big deal. If something worked against him. That's all that matters. He may have had a point, Link. The longer we leave him alive, the greater the risk of him killing us. I know he is your friend, but maybe we should have ended his misery."
Link shook his head.
"No! I won't accept that. He is merely frustrated that he can't fight back when Vaati is in control. We are going to save him. No need to worry. Anyway, let's get up to the Forest Temple."
They all looked up and they saw the tree branch. Link pulled out his hookshot and turned to brad.
"Climb onto my shoulders and hold on tight."
Brad climbed onto Link's shoulders. Link shot the hookshot at the tree branch. It stuck in tight. He then squeezed the trigger and reeled both him and Brad in. Link pulled out the hook and then tossed it down to Charlie. He shot the hook at the tree and reeled himself up as well. They then proceeded to enter the Forest Temple to find Saria.