Chapter 51

Ralis, Link, Brad and Charlie entered the Water Temple. Brad couldn't believe how amazing it felt to flow through the water as an aquatic creature. Ralis glanced over at Brad, who was directly across from him. He grinned as he watched him.

"Being a zora is amazing, isn't it? You look like you're having a lot of fun, Brad."

He responded with a grin as he started to spin in circles as he swam and laughed happily.

"This is amazing, buddy! I've never had this much fun in my life! Being a zora is one of the most amazing things I've experienced so far."

LInk laughed.

"I agree with you, Brad. I think the pain was worth it. I've never been a strong swimmer, but with this form, I don't even need to worry about that!"

He laughed as he followed behind Brad

Ralis looked ahead and saw a platform on top of the water. He pointed as he raised his voice over the joyful laughing.

"Listen, guys. I know you're all having fun, but we need to get out of the water. Directly above us is a platform where we can free the fairies and get our bearings."

They all nodded as they made their way to the platform. Charlie was first to surface. The shadow zora grinned with delight.

"I have to admit, that was a lot of fun. I'm almost jealous of you, Ralis. You get to be a zora and swim through the water with such ease."

Ralis laughed.

"I'm glad everyone is having a blast so far. I wasn't sure how you all would react to being zoras. It honestly had me a little worried."

Link shook his head as he reached into his pockets and brought forth the bottle with the fairies in it and released them.

"We all knew it had to be done. We wouldn't have been able to get in here otherwise."

The three fairies groaned. Navi flew forward and coughed lightly.

I'm so glad to be out of the confining bottle. We may have to think of another way for us to accompany you guys. We had very little air left in that bottle, even in that short time."

Izzy was breathing heavily.

"We..finally get to breathe again?"

She shook her head wildly.

"There's no way I'm going into that bottle again. We almost ran out of air. Can you use one of your spells, Valerie?"

The yellow fairy flexed her wings in thought.

"It..should be possible. I've heard of such a spell. Give me a minute to focus and let's see if I can cast a spell to help."

Valerie floated above the platform and began to glow bright yellow. She closed her eyes and began to focus on her power. She opened her eyes and roared. Her eyes were bright yellow. Everyone gasped as she glanced around for her fairy companions.

"Navi, Izzy! I need you close to pull this off!"

They both complied and carefully flew towards the glowing yellow fairy. She nodded and screamed as she released her spell with a cry. When the glow subsided, the three fairies were glowing bright blue! Valerie weakly flew down and sat on the platform.

"That should do the trick. That took so much strength to cast, so I hope it works."

Navi looked into the water below and smiled.

"Well, I guess there's only one way to test it. I'll be right back!"

Before anyone could react, Navi suddenly dove into the water. Valerie gasped in alarm.

"You silly fairy! That's not a great way to test that spell!"

Minutes later, she popped out of the water, completely unharmed. She smiled apologetically.

"The spell works fine, Valerie. I'm sorry I was so reckless."

Valerie shook her head.

"I don't' know what to do with you sometimes. I think Link is rubbing off on you."

Navi began to glow a dull red.

"What the heck is that supposed to mean? Very funny I'm sure!"

Ralis laughed as he sat on the platform, watching the events unfold. He turned to Link.

"Does this kind of thing happen often?"

Link nodded.

"Yeah. It's never a dull moment. Ralis, do you mind if we have a small chat before we get moving?"

Ralis shrugged as he put his feet in the water and stared into the deep water.

"I suppose. We shouldn't take too long, but what's on you mind, Link?"

Link cleared his throat.

"So, how has things been for you these past seven years? I remember you used to be Captain of the zora guard."

Ralis groaned.

"Not any more. There's no point in being Captain of the guard when there's no zoras to captain over. It's been more in depth than that. I guess it's about time I tell you guys."

Brad cocked his head to one side.

"Tell us what? What are you hiding from us?"

Ralis raised his hands defensively.

"It's nothing bad I promise. I am actually a prince of the Zora Royal Family. I stopped using the title after the domain froze over because I didn't see a point until we found a way to unfreeze our home."

Charlie interrupted his narrative.

"Wait! So, if you're really a zora prince, does that mean Ruto is…"

The zora prince nodded.

"Yes it does, Charlie. Ruto is my sister and our king is my father. One of my main reasons for joining the resistance was to find a way to unfreeze our home. I even ended up fighting to free Kakariko at one point."

Brad nudged him gently.

"I knew there was something off about you. So, should we get going, your highness?"

Ralis glared at him.

"Don't call me that. I'm a prince of nothing. Just Ralis is fine. Now, we should dive down to the bottom floor. I think that would be the best place to start."

They nodded as they dove into the water and swam down to the bottom floor.

Viscen opened his eyes slowly. Did the portal work? He got up slowly and viewed his surroundings. He seemed to be in some sort of hut. He carefully got up on his feet and noticed a way out and walked out of the hut and found himself in a forest full of small children doing random tasks. Just where in Hyrule did that teleporter take him? He noticed he was in a second story treehouse. He scanned his surroundings and found a small ladder and carefully climbed down, his left arm still hurting after the attack with Vaati. When he was on the ground, he spied a blonde girl who seemed to be guiding the other members of the weird community. He walked up to her slowly.

"Excuse me, miss? Can you tell me where I am?"

Fado turned around to face a bewildered Viscen. She gasped in shock as she looked up at his huge frame.

"You are very tall, mister. This is Kokiri Forest. Now tell me, who are you and where did you come from?"

Viscen responded quickly as Fado pulled out a curved sword from her waist.

"Wait, lass! I'm not your enemy. My name is Captain Viscen, I'm a member of the Hyrule Resistance and I need your tribe's help."

Fado nodded as she put her sword away.

"Very well, mister Viscen. We will take you to the domitory and we will talk there."

Viscen nodded as he followed Fado. He looked around in amazement as he saw what appeared to be children performing all sorts of tasks all around him. The village was buzzing with activity.

Viscen and Fado walked in the dormitory followed by a few other kokiri. Susan was sleeping in a nearby bed and she woke up quicikly upon hearing the commotion. She glanced over at Fado and the oddly dressed adult in front of her.

"What's going on, Fado? Who is this guy?"

Upon seeing Susan and her long,black hair and toned form, Viscen cleared his throat.

"Ma'am, my name is Captain Viscen and I'm with the Hyrule Resistance. If you don't mind me asking, who are you, milady?"

Susan sighed.

"How can I explain this… I guess you could say I'm Link's mother. I promised him to wait here and not get myself hurt while he's out on his quest."

Viscen laughed.

"That sounds like Link. Ma'am, you should be very proud of your son. He's helped us out tremendously since he's been here. He told me what happened to him and I still can't wrap my head around it. Is he really from another reality?"

Susan nodded.

"Yes he is. I am as well along with his friends Charlie and Max."

Upon hearing Max's name, the guard captain winced.

"That's right, you wouldn't know. I hate to tell you ma'am, but Max is dead. He turned evil and had to be killed."

Susan was speechless. Was that short boy Max really gone?

Susan put a hand to her forehead

"This is just great! What am I going to tell his parents?"

Viscen held out his hand.

"Follow me, ma'am. I'll help you find the lad's parents."

Susan smiled sweetly.

"I'd love that, Viscen, but there's a problem. His parents are from that other reality. I don't even know how to get back right now."

Viscen lowered his hand and scratched his chin.

"Well, if that's the case, I wouldn't worry about it too much, ma'am. Link will figure something out I'm sure. That lad has become so reliable."

Fado cleared her throat as she tapped her foot impatiently.

"Excuse me, mister Viscen? You wanted to discuss needing our help? Brad mentioned something about joining a resistance movement. Is that why you're here?"

Viscen nodded.

"Yes it is. We need your assistance taking back Kakariko from the enemy."

Fado sighed. She blew a whistle around her neck and suddenly, the small dormitory was filled with kokiri. Viscen looked around nervously.

"What's going on? Why am I surrounded by your people?"

Fado held her hands up.

"We're not going to attack you Viscen. I just wanted to show you how many kokiri we have."

She looked around at the small force that numbered twenty altogether. She then turned to Viscen.

"We would love to help you, but im afraid we don't have numbers on our side."

Viscen cursed angrily. Fado was right. How was he going to help retake Kakariko now?

"We're going to need Link's help with this one. Maybe I should stay here for the time being and see if I can think up a strategy."

Fado shook her head.

"I have a better idea. Why don't we send someone to find him? He can't be that far away, can he?"

Viscen brightened up.

"That's' a great idea? Who are we going to send though?"

Raz, Mido's former fairy partner flew forward.

"I'll go. It's about time I prove I'm useful to everyone. Ever since Mido died, I felt like a part of me died too. I didn't think he would try to kill one of you and I don't blame Brad for killing him. It was purely self defence."

Fado sighed heavily.

"It's ok, Raz. Like I keep saying, nobody blames you for what happened. You likely wouldn't have been able to change his mind anyway. He was too obsessed with his leadership. If you want to go and see if you can find Link, I'm willing to send you. Viscen, do you have a rough idea where Link and his friends are?"

Viscen nodded.

"Impa sent him and his friends to Lake Hylia to see if they locate Princess Ruto and find the next sage.. I can accompany you there."

Fado put a hand on his arm.

"Not so fast, mister. I noticed your arm is cut up. Let us take care of that first."

Viscen glanced over a the deep cut in his arm. He had padding on it, but it was starting to bleed slightly. He nodded.

"Fair enough. I guess I should get that taken care of first. I forgot all about it because of the excitement of Project Farore."

Fado cocked her head to one side.

"Project…Farore. What is that?"

Viscen coughed roughly.

"Curses! I should've kept that quiet. It's basically a teleporting project. If we can perfect it, we can get it to take us literally anywhere. We will no longer have people drain their energy level while using a teleport spell."

Viscen winced as one of the kokiri carefully took his bandage off and began to apply a salve. Fado smiled as she viewed the wound.

"This salve is made from ingredients in this forest. It should speed up the healing and take away any pain for a while."

Once they were finished applying it, they applied a compress made from deku leaves. Once she was satisfied with the bandage, she smiled and patted the wound very gently.

"That'll fix you right up. Now, you and Raz better get moving. I hope you find Link and his friends."

Viscen nodded as he and the fairy Raz made their way out of the forest and towards Lake Hylia.