Chapter 53

Link and his friends were getting ready to proceed further into the temple. Charlie was feeling more rested, and they wanted to get moving. Ruto groaned impatiently.

"Are we almost ready to get moving? I want to find a way to save our home in here."

Ralis nodded as he walked up beside her

"We're ready, Ruto. Let's get down to business."

Valerie was feeling better now that they were no longer underwater. She giggled happily.

"At least we won't be underwater for a while by the looks of things. It means we don't need that underwater breathing spell on anymore."

She grunted as she concentrated. Within minutes, the three fairies were no longer glowing a light blue. Navi was feeling cautous.

"Make sure you put that on if we need it again, Val. I sure hope we are done with adventuring underwater."

Ralis shook her head.

"Sorry, Navi. There will be some more underwater areas. This temple is at the bottom of a lake, remember? There are the odd places where you can get out of the water, but there's not many."

The fairies groaned in unison. Valerie shook her head as she sighed.

"It's fine. I can always recast the spell."

Ruto turned and walked into the next room as she urged the party onwards.

"Come on, everyone. I think we are almost halfway through this place."

Everyone followed behind her as they observed the room. Aside from a large hole in the floor, the room was completely empty. Brad cautiously walked up to the hole in the floor and looked down. All he could see was a whirlpool of moving water. He gulped nervously as he looked at his approaching comrades.

"I think we need to go downwards. I have to admit, this looks a little scary."

Everyone gathered around and observed the hole in the floor, their next destination. Valerie sighed heavily. She didn't want to go underwater again. She looked at her two fairy companions.

"I'm sorry, guys. I should've just left the underwater spell active. Hang on!"

She focused and began to glow bright yellow. With a roar, she unleashed her power and the three fairies were now once again ready for underwater exploration. Ruto glanced around at the party.

"By the looks of this hole, I'd say there will likely be a current moving us along. We have to be careful here. Make sure you pay attention to your surroundings so we don't end up getting separated."

Ruto breathed deeply and jumped into the hole. Ralis chased after her, as did the rest of the party as they jumped into the hole.

Impa and the rest of the Hyrule Resistance were glad to be alive, but they were getting anxious. When were they going to be to take back Kakariko? Was such a thing even possible? Impa sighed as she contemplated what to do next. Was Viscen okay after his teleportation? Did he end up somewhere safe? A million thoughts raced in her head as Talon tapped her on the shoulder.

"Excuse me, ma'am?"

Impa absentmindely looked at Talon.

"Oh I'm sorry, Commander. I was lost in thought. I'm trying to think of a way to retake the village. I'm thrilled that the enemy doesn't know of this place, but we are sitting ducks here. We need to plan some sort of an attack and retake this village. I'm not spending my days hiding behind a graveyard!"

Talon nodded understangingly

"I know, ma'am. Perhaps it's time to show you my tunnel?"

Impa looked at him oddly.

"You have a tunnel dug into the village? I don't know if that was such a good idea, Talon. What if the enemy were to find it?"

Talon laughed.

Not to worry. The shielding installed would fry any of the weaker foes if they got too close. I'm not sure what it would do to a stronger foe."

Impa cried with delight. Maybe they weren't as doomed as she first thought. If the tunnel was hidden well enough, they might be able to mount sneak attacks, taking the enemy out one after the other while being completely silent. She winced slightly. It would not be an easy task, hiding from the enemy. She would have to plan carefully. She turned to Talon and flashed him a quick smile.

"Thank you, Commander. I was beginning to lose hope of ever getting free of this mess. Now, can you show me that tunnel?"

He nodded eagerly as he led her away to one of the corners of the large room. Impa smiled admirably. There was a tunnel carefully dug out in the right hand corner of the room. She shook her head in wonder.

"This must've taken so long to dig out. Nice job, Talon."

Talon chuckled.

"You have no idea. It took me almost a month to finish the whole thing. I had to put braces in the tunnel for support. Otherwise, they would've caved in. Follow me. This tunnel takes us behind one of the houses in town, so we need to be very quiet."

Impa nodded as she followed Talon down the long tunnel.

Kakariko Village was still full of undead skeletons. Veran had taken refuge in the resistance headquarters, and she was now using it as a base of operations. She snickered evilly. Taking this village and killing that fool Vaati was too easy! Afterwards, she created strong, undead soldiers to help her maintain control of the village. Of course, her powers were more of a match for anyone that dared enter the village. She wished that fool Ganondorf would come and see her handiwork. She was extremely proud of herself. She laid in one of the beds in the building and drifted off to sleep. Suddenly, there was a bright flash in the village. Without warning, a big green portal appeared in the center, and something came out of it. Upon seeing this, one of the undead soldiers went to report to Veran about what he had seen.

Midna opened her eyes slowly. Where did that shadow get to? She weakly got to her feet and looked around the strange village. Where was she? This didn't look like the Hyrule she knew. She shook her head slowly. That would have to wait. She needed to get her bearings. She looked around slowly and saw at least ten undead soldiers walking towards her. She groaned in annoyance.

"Great, this is just what I needed. First, I get flung out of my home, and now this."

The skeltons parted, and Veran walked out in front of them. She waved at Midna.

"Greetings, imp. My name is Veran. Why are you here? Do you realize this village is now under my control?"

Midna shook her head, her blonde hair moving and flexing, as if it had a mind of its own. She then glared at Veran.

"Look, I don't care if you now control this village. I need to know where I am. My name is Midna. Who are you and where the heck am I?"

Veran smirked. She had such a sharp tongue.

"You're in Hyrule of course, and this village was called Kakariko before I took it over. I honestly haven't thought up a better idea. Why don't you join with me? You look like a shadow being, you'll fit right in here."

Midna was confused. He knew the names Hyrule and Kakariko, but the village was completely different from the Kakariko she got to know so well while she was hunting for shadow creatures with Link. She shook her head.

"I'll pass. I'm not actually into evil. I'm from another realm. Where can I find Link?"

Veran laughed.

"You're here to find that loser? Him and his friends were absent from my latest attack, so I don't know or care where they are! If you're looking for that fool, that makes us mortal enemies!"

She focused and formed a large shadow ball at Midna. She laughed as she caught it and threw it back. Veran cried out in alarm as she dove behind the skeletons. Veran was dumbstruck.

"Wait a minute! How the heck did you throw it back? Just who are you, anyway?"

"Midna laughed coldly.

"My name is Midna, and I am the Princess of the Twilight Realm. I don't know why you thought I would join you. All you have holding this place is you and a handful of skeletons? I'm going to be honest with you. That's very pathetic."

Veran shook, anger raising within her.

"What did you just say? Undead minions, destroy her!"

The remaining four skeletons that didn't fall over from Veran's shadow ball began to advance on her. Midna was having fun with this fool. She smiled craftily.

"Well Veran, it's been fun, but I really need to go. See you later!"

Midna suddenly disappeared in front of the bewildered Veran and her skeletons. The sorcerer cursed angrily.

"Find her! I want that imp killed and burnt to a crisp!"

Midna laughed softly as she hid in the shadows of a nearby building. What a fool Veran was, thinking she could catch her.

Talon stopped in the tunnel as Impa struggled to catch up. She sighed wearily.

"You're good at this tunnel crawling, commander. I was having a hard time keeping up to you."

Talon smiled.

"I've been in these tunnels a lot since digging them, ma'am. I could find my way through blindfolded. Now, we are in front of the entrance. Ready to see outside?"

Impa nodded as Talon carefully moved a boulder and they silently walked out of the tunnel. Impa held up her hand as she whispered to Talon.

"Shh! There's some commotion going on. Let's sneak around and see what's going on."

Midna could hear faint voices getting closer. She could still see the remaining four skeletons looking for her. She saw something else though. There were two humans sneaking around town. She frowned. They were definitely going to get caught by Veran if she didn't intervene.

Impa and Talon were quietly walking behind the houses, trying not to be seen. Suddenly, a quiet voice issued forth.

"Hey, you two! Don't go any further, or you'll get caught!"

Impa and Talon were startled as they looked around for the source of the urgent voice. Talon nodded.

"Thanks, whoever you are. Ma'am, we have to retreat. Veran has got her soldiers on full alert."

She nodded as she and Talon made her way back to the tunnel. She turned around. Where did that odd voice come from? Suddenly, the voice once again called out.

"Hang on. I'm coming with you!"

Impa and Talon quickly got into the tunnel. Suddenly, they saw a small shadow make its way into the tunnel as well. They closed off the tunnel carefully as Midna revealed herself. She stood in front of the two awestruck soldiers.

"My name is Midna, and I've come from the Twilight Realm. Is there somewhere safer we can talk?"

Impa glared at the small imp

"So, you're not with Veran's forces of evil then?"

Midna shook her head.

"Me? Evil? I wouldn't call myself evil exactly. I do like to cause miscief sometimes, but that's not classed as evil nowadays, is it?"

Impa chuckled.

"It really depends on the situation. Well, it's nice to meet you, Midna. We'll take you back to our new headquarters and maybe if we're lucky, we might find a way to free the village."

Midna nodded as they made their way through the long tunnel.

"We might be able to make a deal. I need to know something first. This is Hyrule, correct?"

Impa and Talon both nodded silently.

Midna was confused. She couldn't figure out why this place looked so different. She looked at her companions oddly.

"Say, you two wouldn't happen to know a guy named Link, do you?"

Impa was puzzled.

"Yes I definitely know him. What do you want with Link?"

Midna cried with delight. It was going to be awesome, seeing her old friend once again.

"I want to talk to him again. Me and Link fought evil together and saved Hyrule."

Impa and Talon gave her puzzled looks. Midna shrugged her shoulders

"What's with that look? Do you know Link or not?"

Impa retained her confused glance.

"We know of a Link, yes. I don't think he ever mentioned fighting evil with an imp though."

Midna nodded.

"That's okay. I'll go and see him for myself. Now, which way is the Faron region?"

Impa paused.

"Faron…Region. No such place exists in Hyrule."

Midna was getting confused. Was this not the Hyrule she knew? With every question she asked, her doubts were increasing. Something was wrong here. She threw her arms up in despair.

"So, it sounds like I won't be seeing the Link I know anytime soon. Where exactly did that portal take me?"

Impa called a halt in the tunnel.

"Wait a minute. You said you got here from a portal? That's how Link and his friends claimed to arrive here"

Midna was having trouble taking everything in. For starters, this wasn't the same Hyrule she knew. Link was apparently not the same either. She shrugged. She was slightly upset, not being able to see her old friend. However, she figured talking to this Link might help her figure things out better in this strange version of the place she knew so well.