Chapter 2: Shadows in the Forest

Link awoke to the sounds of people rushing. He sat up in the bed in a daze. He looked around, trying to remember where he was. He remembered he was in the Castle with the Princess. He saw at the foot of his bed his tunic and boots. They were freshly washed and still warm from drying. He heard the bustling of people from outside the door. He then wondered where the Princess was.
"She was in that bed, wasn't she?" Link asked himself. "Ahh, you're up! Hurry up and get dressed! There's a lot we have to do today!" Zelda said as she came rushing into the room. "What's happening outside?" Link asked as he threw on his tunic. "The servants are preparing for the feast in four days. We're trying our best to give good first impressions to our guests." Zelda explained as she pulled Link through the halls of the Castle.
"Where are we going?" Link asked as he attempted to remain upright. "We're going to show you Hyrule. You've missed a lot these past seven years. You have to get reacquainted with the kingdom if you're going to be my date for the feast." Zelda said as they continued to rush through the halls. "Date?" Link asked thinking about the title. "Yes." Zelda said as she started blush. "Now, come on. We're starting with Kakariko. We have four days to show you the whole kingdom." Zelda explained.

Link looked upon the village of Kakariko in awe. The small town he knew had grown into an impressive marvel of a city. There were several apartments and shops now established. The Anju's chicken fence had grown into a large farm, and the well was now a beautiful fountain with stones set into the ground in a circular pattern. Impa's house was now a grand museum of Hyrule's history. When the Princess and Link walked into the main square of town, several people called out. "Hey, look it's the Princess and the Hero!". Link wasn't used to the attention. Wherever he went, he was just some kid. But in Hyrule, he was a celebrity, the equivalent of the Royal Family. "Come on, let's go to Impa's house!" Zelda said as she dragged Link up the steps to the house. Inside, Link noticed many artifacts from Hyrule's history. There were several weapons held within glass, and many instruments from each race. Zelda took Link over to the section dedicated to Link's quest. Link was astonished to find all these facts about his life in Kokiri Forest. There were even pictographs showing him going into Castle Town, running in Hyrule Field, walking alongside Zora's River, and others.
"All of this is about me?" Link asked. "Yes, quite an impressive collection isn't it?" Zelda asked Link, smiling. "Yeah, how did they get these things?" Link asked, looking at all of his old belongings. "The Kokiri donated them." Zelda said. "Oh, okay." Link said. "Now we go up to Death Mountain. Someone has been waiting for you." Zelda told Link as she pulled him out of Impa's House.
Link and Zelda walked up Death Mountain and entered Goron City quite easily due to the Magic Plant Link planted seven years earlier. "You know, the Magic Bean salesman has set up several shops across Hyrule now. He said your purchases seven years ago was what allowed him to open up shop. Who knew those plants were that much fun though." Zelda asked Link. "Yeah, they're quite helpful." Link said remembering riding the Magic Plants. As they walked up to the Goron City entrance, three Red Tektites jumped from over the rock overhang. Link quickly drew his sword and attacked. Once the three were gone, a Goron jumped from the same overhang.
"Thanks, seven years since the end of the evil reign and we're still trying to get rid of them. Oh hello Princess, who's this you're with?" the Goron asked. "This is Link." Zelda told the Goron.
"Ohhhhh, Brother! You're back!" the Goron said as he went up to Link. He gave him a big hug, nearly breaking several of Link's bones. "Hi, ow, is Darunia here?" Link said hunched over.
"Sorry, Brother. He went out with Link a little bit ago. He should be back soon. You should go wait outside his room though. Go say hi to the other Gorons, goro." the Goron said. "Thank you. Come on, Link, you're back shouldn't hurt that much." Zelda joked with Link.
Gorons were cheering when the two entered the city. Link was astonished, again, by how much the City had changed. The Gorons had expanded digging deeper into the Earth. They had gone more than twelve floors below the floor seven years ago. They had also expanded outward, adding to the rooms that had already existed. Link and Zelda walked down to Darunia's floor, after walking past the underground stadium the Goron's built. Just as the two reached the door, Darunia walked in.
"BROTHERRRR!!!!" Darunia yelled as he jumped down to their floor.
"Brotherrrr!!!!" Darunia's son, Link, yelled out as he jumped down to the floor as well. The two of them both gave Link another back-breaking hug as they reached him.
"It's good to see ya, Brother." Darunia said to Link. Link was still trying to recover from the hug and tried standing up.
"Yeah, good to see you, too." Link replied. "Well, now that you're here, you have to play Bomb-Ball." Darunia told Link. "Bomb-Ball?" Link asked. "Yes, you saw our stadium, didn't you?" Goron Link asked. "Come, you'll see." Darunia said, smiling a large smile.

Link was on Darunia's team as they prepared to play Bomb-Ball. "Everyone, prepare for our first game celebration since the end of the dark reign, and with our Brother! Everyone welcome, Link!" Darunia announced to the stadium.
The crowd cheered with a great intensity. "Same as always." Link thouht to himself. "Now, we begin!" Darunia yelled to the crowd. The crowd roared again. Zelda watching from the stone stands cheered with them. A bomb flower nearby was plucked from the ground and tossed into the air. The two Gorons closest to the bomb flower fought with each other until one tackled the other and took the bomb flower. He rolled across the stadium floor with the bomb flower balanced on top toward one end of the stadium. At either end of the stadium were Dodongo skeletons with mouths held open. Just as the Goron with the bomb flower started to near the skeleton, another Goron hit a jump on the side of the stadium and landed on top of the Goron. He took the bomb flower and started rolling to the other side of the stadium. Link was nearly flattened as all the Gorons rolled chasing after the one with the with the bomb flower. Link pulled the Goron Mask from his adventures in Termina and put it on. He instantly transformed into a Goron. Zelda was amazed by his transformation. She heard about it from his stories the night previous, but she never realized how astonishing it was.
Link was rolling right next to the one with the bomb flower now. He then turned and knocked the other Goron out of the way, knocking the bomb flower into the air at the same time. He instantly pulled a one-eighty and the bomb flower landed on him as he rolled toward the skeleton on the other side of the stadium. He pulled ahead of the others and hit a jump in the stadium he flew up into the air and uncurled himself, catching the bomb flower in the air. He then tossed the bomb into the Dodongo skeleton's mouth and the bomb flower exploded in the skeleton. The crowd erupted in more applause. "Good job, Brother!" Darunia exclaimed. "Now let's go, next round."
The Gorons played for several hours until sunset, and Link had the bomb flower blow up in his face on several occasions. Each time, the crowd "Ooohed". At the end, both Dodongo skeletons were in pieces, and the Goron players were exhaughsted. Link took of his mask and reverted back to his Hylian self. Link's team won by three explosions. "Good job, Link. I think it's time we went back to the Castle." Zelda said as she helped Link up to his feet. He was bruised and soot-covered now, and aching all over his back. "Good to see you're back, Brother! Hope to see you soon!" Darunia called out as he hoisted three other Gorons onto his back as they were too exhaughsted to move. "I'll remember to bring red potions next time." Link joked as he hobbled out of the city with Zelda.
"You played well." Zelda told Link.
"I also blew up the most." Link said. "Your transformation was very unexpected. Termina is amazing, isn't it?" Zelda asked.
"Yeah, it's very similar to Hyrule." Link explained. "Any more transformations?" Zelda asked. "Only a few." Link said as he pulled out all of his transformation masks. "There's the Deku Scrub, the Goron, the Zora, and the... well, I don't really know what form this is." Link said as he pulled out the Fierce Deity's Mask. "Looks very, intense." Zelda said as she looked at the mask.
"That's saying the least, it was able to defeat Majora's Mask's incarnations with a swing of its sword,...it's not Hylian, I can say that.
"It's getting late, now. We have to hurry before the gate closes." Zelda said as they entered Kakariko. "Watch out for pickpockets." a voice said as the two hurried past the figure. The person was shrouded and had a short appearance. "Thanks." Zelda called back to the shrouded figure. Link turned around, and saw that there was no-one there. He didn't have time to focus on it though as Zelda was dragging him at an ever-increasing pace.
The shadow jumped from rooftop to rooftop as it watched the pair run out of Kakariko and toward Castle Town. The shadow itself, however, started heading for the Graveyard. It jumped over the tombstones and the entrance to the Shadow Temple to the tress beyond. It landed silently and continued pressing onward into the thick dense of trees. It suddenly stopped in a clearing and bowed its head.
"Its true, the hero has returned." the voice said to the trees surrounding it. "Its just as we feared. Those two are the only ones that can interrupt our plans." a disembodied voice replied.
"We need more time, though." another voice called out. "We should call upon those thieves." the first diesmbodied voice suggested.
"Yes, those thieves will do nicely. Get them to enter the forest in two days and plant this poison in the Sacred Wood." a third voice said as a vial of purple liquid was tossed down in front of the hooded figure. "That should be nice enough to stall them while we finish our plans." the voice said again.
"And remember Syv, this mission relies solely upon your performance." the voices said in unison. "Yes elders." the figure said as he retreated back through the trees back into town.

Link and Zelda reached the Castle at nine seventeen. They got to Zelda's chambers several minutes afterwards.
"You'd tell me if you'd hit me with another bucket shower, right?" Link asked as Zelda went into the bathroom again. He edged himself towards the door to the hallway, ready to jump out at the slighest movement from Zelda's direction.
"No, this time you're taking a real shower." Zelda said from inside the bathroom. Link relaxed and walked cautiously into the room. He sat upon his bed and waited for the Princess to re-enter the room. When she got out, she was in her light blue nightgown.
"Your turn." she said as she showed him the door. He walked inside and looked at the quaint size of Zelda's bathroom. It had a sink with a mirror, a bathtub with several soaps and lotions lined upon the side of the tub, and a shower curtain running around the tub.
"Take as long as you need, get that blood of your chin." Zelda joked from the other room. Link turned on the water and went in. He soaked for about ten minutes, then washed. It was about ten minutes afterwards that he got out, and went to the bed.
"Night, Zelda." Link said as he got in the bed. "Night bomb-baller." Zelda said laughing in her bed as she turned out the light. Neither of them noticed the shadow watching them from the Castle roof in the moonlight or the fact that it jumped off and started heading for Gerudo Valley.

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Throughout history there have been heroes who appeared in times of despair. Are you one?