"Oy, dis is bad," Chancellor Kuno muttered as he stumbled through the ruined corridors of Hyrule Castle. Lifeless bodies were lying around, debris that has fallen down from the ceiling was blocking his way, and all the time he could hear the ongoing battle in the other halls of the castle.
He would have preferred to stay in the safety of his chamber, but as it turned out, those chambers weren't that safe. After nearly peeing his pants when a Gerudo warrior leapt through his window, the only reason why he was still alive was that by accident, the chandelier hanging from the ceiling had crashed down on the female bandit.
"Gotta go to da king, he'll protect his most loyal follower," Kuno Sr. murmured as he scampered through the castle, on his way to the royal chambers.
When he opened the door, he was glad to see the king sitting on his chair.
He grinned, hiding his state of panic. "Aloha, king! Well, dis is quite de mess we're in, right? Perhaps you can give da big Kahuna a lil' bit of sanctuary, eh?"
But His Majesty didn't respond, so that the chancellor frowned in irritation. "Huh? Why are you all still?"
He walked over to the king's body, tipped on his shoulder... and gasped when he fell over, revealing the mortal wound on his backside.
A sly chuckled made the chancellor turn around. Crouching on the windowsill was one of those bloodthirsty lizard-men, his short sword dripping with blood... the blood of the king.
"The king is dead..." it hissed in its shrill voice. "Long live the king!"
And then it leapt outside, cackling maniacally.
The chancellor was shaking like a leaf by now. The king... dead? What was he supposed to do now?
Suddenly, he heard footsteps coming from the corridor. He turned around... and looked right into the face of his son.
"T-tachi," Kuno Sr. blurted out in shock. "W-what are you doing here?"
Tatewaki didn't respond. His gaze was fixed on the limp body of the man he had sworn to protect.
"My... my king..." the young swordsman whispered as he stumbled into the room. He then looked over to his father, whose hands were red with blood... the blood from the king.
"Y... you..." he grumbled dangerously.
"N-now wait there for a moment, Tachi," Chancellor Kuno said nervously. "This isn't what it looks like..."
Kuno Jr. grabbed his sword in a wild rage. "You... YOU MURDERER!"
And when he saw his son coming at him, the chancellor waved his hands in a panic. "Now, don't do anything hasty, boy... It's me, your father! No, Tachi, don't... no! NOOOOOOO!"
----
A dark cloud was hovering over the town of Hyrule and poured its rain down onto its streets and buildings.
In front of the massive drawbridge, a trio of young children was standing, accompanied by two flying spots of light, one blue, one yellow.
Link stared up at the golden Triforce sign that was adorning the wall over the wooden, withdrawn drawbridge.
"All of this..." he murmured. "Looks familiar, somehow..."
"Don't speak such nonsense now!" Akane grumbled. "We have to get in there, somehow!"
"Look," Ukyo shouted. "It's opening!"
And just as she said, the enormous drawbridge slowly descended, being held by chains that were as thick as tree trunks.
After the bridge hit the ground with a dull sound, Ukyo looked at her friends and shrugged. "Well, I dunno who opened it, but now we can get in, right?"
Link was going to nod, when he heard a strange sound. As he had been raised in the forest, it was expected that he wouldn't know such a sound. But Akane realized it as the sound of clopping hooves on the hard streets, accompanied by a sharp whinny.
"Look out!" she then shouted and pushed her friends to the side, as a black horse suddenly appeared out of nowhere, almost running them over. It was closely followed by a second, white one.
From where she was lying on the ground, Akane could easily recognize the two people that were sitting on the black steed's backside.
"Nabiki... Kasumi...?"
Link, on the other hand, saw only Princess Zelda, as she was sitting in front of Impa, who was holding the white horse's reigns. She looked at him, fearfully, but also with eyes that were filled with trust.
----
"That's Akane over there! Mom, we have to stop!" Nabiki yelled.
"Too late for that, she will have to follow us," Impa shouted ahead. "Go faster!"
The princess, who was cowering in front of her, only had eyes for a certain, green-clothed boy...
And in a resolute motion, she grabbed something within her pockets... and hurled it backwards, towards the three children that were lying on the ground.
"No! PRINCESS! What have you done?" Impa was almost ready to turn around the horse. "That was the Ocarina of Time... our last hope!"
"I know, keep going!" Zelda commanded. "That's why I'm entrusting it to Link... I know he won't fail me. He will keep it safe."
"He won't know what to do with it in the first place," Impa pointed out.
"I know," the princess sighed. "That's why I'm going to send him a telepathic message... now keep riding!"
----
Link saw how the strange object, thrown by the princess, flew over his head in a wide arc, until it fell into the town's moat with a small splash.
He and Ukyo exchanged a confused look. "What do you suppose could that be?"
Akane only looked after the two horses that were slowly disappearing in the distance. "Mom... Kasumi... Nabiki..."
Link shook his head. "You know, I've seen all of this before... it happened in a dream I once had."
"Are you sure?" Navi asked.
"Yeah, it was right before I met you for the first time," Link nodded.
Suddenly, a loud snort startled all of them and made them turn around.
Standing in front of them was another horse, a stallion as black as the night, with flaming red eyes... and it was mounted by that man they all knew to be their greatest adversary... Ganondorf!
They were all very confused how he managed to sneak up on them like that... they didn't even hear the hoofbeats of his steed.
The black stallion was rearing up, as Ganondorf was staring into the distance. "Curses..." he muttered. "They got away!"
He then sharply turned his head around to look at the assembled children. "You there! Little kids! You must have seen the two horses gallopping by just now... Which way did they go? Answer me!"
"Dream on!" Ukyo snarled. "We won't tell you anything!"
Akane didn't say anything, but her friends could see that she was not willing to betray her family, so she resolutely raised her fists. Link smirked at her as he drew his sword.
"So, you think you can protect her from me?" Ganondorf smirked. "You've got guts, you brats!" He chuckled ominously. "Heh heh heh... You want a piece of me? Very funny..."
The Gerudo king simply raised his right hand, and the three children could see how the magic energy got concentrated in the middle of his palm, forming a bright ball.
"Look out!" Akane screamed, performing a backwards sault. But Ukyo and Link weren't able to dodge the attack in time, and when the magic ball flew at them, the force of the blast threw them both to the ground.
"Link!" Navi gasped.
"Ukyo!" Tatl screamed.
Ganondorf pulled back his hand and chuckled. "Pathetic little fools! Do you realize who you are dealing with?"
He glared at them. "I am Ganondorf! And soon, I will rule the world!"
He then spurred his black steed, riding past the three stunned children and their fairies like a dark comet.
Link looked after him. Somehow, he knew that this wasn't his last encounter with the master of evil...
"He... he's going after the princess! And my family!" Akane's fists were trembling. "We have to go after him."
"Now wait just a minute," Ukyo called up. "Don't you think we should look at whatever the princess threw into the moat? I think it has to be important if she throws it away while fleeing for her life."
"I don't care!" Akane snapped. "I have to save my family!"
"Look, whatever it was, she most definitely wants us to have it, or else she wouldn't have thrown it," Ukyo said impatiently. "Don't you think we should respect that?"
"I got it," Link suddenly shouted behind them, as he climbed back out of the moat. In his hands, he was holding a blue item.
Akane gasped. "Is that..."
"I suppose so," the blonde boy nodded and opened his hand.
And they all stared down at the small, blue instrument that was resting in his palm.
"The Ocarina of Time..." Navi whispered.
Suddenly, Link clutched his head. "Oh... what's that?"
"Link, what's wrong?" Ukyo shouted in alarm. That was the last thing he heard before a soft voice reached his mind...
----
Link saw Princess Zelda, as she was standing in a white void, clutching something to her chest.
"Link... can you hear me? It's me, Zelda.
When you hold this ocarina in your hand... I won't be around anymore. I wanted to wait for you, but I couldn't delay any longer. At least I could leave you the ocarina... and this melody."
Zelda's mental image raised the ocarina to her lips. "This song... it opens the Door of Time."
And then, soothingly, the princess began to play the notes of the song... a song that Link would never forget.
The Song of Time...
"Play this song in front of the altar in the Temple of Time!" Zelda's voice reached him one last time. "You must protect the Triforce!"
----
Link shook his head, as the faces of his friends became visible to him again.
"What happened?" Tatl asked. "You just zoned out on us there!"
"I... I got a message from the princess," Link groaned. "She... wants us to protect the Triforce."
He looked down at the ocarina in his hands, then he pulled out the Zora Sapphire.
Ukyo took out the Kokiri Emerald and the Goron Ruby and looked at them as well.
Both of them understood: They couldn't allow Ganondorf to lay his hands on these artifacts OR the Triforce.
"We're going!" Link said in a determined voice. "We will protect the Triforce!"
"I'm with you!" Ukyo said firmly. The two fairies nodded.
"I'm not coming," Akane suddenly said. The two forest children turned around in surprise.
"Akane?"
Akane looked at them. "Don't you see... I have to go back to my family! I have to make sure that creep won't hurt them. And besides..." She suddenly smirked. "Someone has to protect the princess as well, right?"
Link and Ukyo looked at the young Sheikah girl in surprise, then Link smiled and nodded. "All right... we'll leave it to you, then. Go and protect the princess and your family... we will take care of the Triforce!"
Akane gave him the thumbs up. "You can count on me!"
She nudged Link's shoulder playfully and gave the surprised Ukyo a quick hug. After waving at the two fairies, she turned around and started running, towards the open fields of Hyrule.
She turned back around one last time and waved at her friends, then she kept on running, until she was gone.
"We'll see her again," Link said. "I'm sure of it."
Together, the two friends then turned to face the entrance to Hyrule Town.
"Let's go... to the Temple of Time!"
See other episodes by Shritistrang
(Posted Mon, 12 Feb 2007 12:30)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.