Captain Mikado panted heavily as he pressed his body against the outer castle wall. He couldn't see any monsters around, but that didn't mean they weren't there.
And that coward, Tatewaki Kuno... he had decided to betray them. And his insanity now went as far that he called the defenders of the king monsters.
'He's out there, I know it...' the noble captain of the guard thought to himself. 'And if he doesn't get me, his monstrous henchmen will...'
He winced and pressed his hand against the bloody wound under his armor. He had managed to escape the wrath of the betrayer, but at what cost... he wouldn't be able to make it with this wound. And where should he go, anyways? The castle had been the last sanctuary of all Hylians. Kakariko? That village was barely finished and did not even have a standing militia. The Zoras or Gorons? He didn't trust these non-humans more than he trusted the Gerudo.
There was still one alternative... he could do the same his mother did when she escaped her pursuers, all those years ago...
He grimaced and shook his head. "No..." he muttered. "I promised father... I would never make the same stupid mistake as mother." She had talked about how some ancient tree spirit or something like that would save her, but she never came back... she must have fallen victim to the curse of the forest.
"Mikado!" Mikado pulled his head back. That was the voice of the traitor...
Kuno was standing high above him, on top of the gate leading to the castle's moat. Fortunately, he didn't even think of looking down. In his hand, he was holding a bloody sword.
"I just found the body of the king! You traitor! You allied yourself with the evil Zora and my demented father, so he could kill him! Don't you try and run away from me... I know you're out there, scum! I will find you one day, and I will kill you!"
Mikado held his breath. The king... dead? The question was, did Kuno kill the man he had sworn to protect by himself and just didn't realize it in his insanity, or was it one of the monsters he commanded?
Either way... Mikado couldn't stay around. As far as he knew, he was the last living soldier loyal to the house of Hyrule.
"Princess Zelda..." he whispered to himself. "I won't let you down... wherever you escaped to... I will make sure the hero you sent on a mission will know where to bring the Sacred Stones..."
He waited until Kuno went back to the castle, then he slowly made his way down to town.
He never noticed the dark shadow that was creeping after him...
"I asked around town," Ukyo said as she came back to her friends. They were standing in front of Hyrule's potion shop. "They say that the monsters and Gerudos came through town, but never attacked. I think we'll be safe here, as long as we don't go to the castle."
"And Sheik said we have all the time we need," Link pointed out. "So why don't we just take a break, stock up on supplies and prepare for what's lying ahead of us?"
Akane sighed. "I don't like this..." she murmured. "Back in our time, Mom is fighting the shadow demon... and I have the feeling like every minute we waste will be a minute off her life."
"You have to relax," Navi said. "Time travel can be a bit weird, I've heard. Besides, you look pretty rested, but what about us?"
"Yeah, we haven't had a real break from all the monster fighting in a long time," Tatl nodded. "And since we're back in a Hyrule that is not destroyed by Ganondorf, why not make use of the situation?"
"I guess you're right..." Akane sighed. "Maybe that's what I need... something to keep me occupied. Something that helps me to distract my mind from what's happening to Mom..."
She looked around the market place. The Shooting Gallery... that looked like a good place to relax.
"I think I'm gonna try my luck," she said. "Do you think they will let a young kid like me use a bow?"
"Well, they will probably give you a slingshot instead," Link assumed.
Akane sighed. 'Great... having a kid's body means using kid's weapons... oh well, at least I still have my experience from fighting as an adult...'
"Go ahead," Link smiled when he saw how disoriented Akane was. "Go and have fun, we'll meet you here in half an hour."
"I guess that's okay," Akane nodded. "And what will you do?"
"Well, we still need to buy some equipment," Navi said. "Link hasn't used his own slingshot ever since he became an adult, so..."
"That's right, I need to buy some ammunition," the young boy nodded. "All I have are arrows... and maybe I should fill one or two of my bottles with potion."
"Just make sure not to spend all our rupees at once," Ukyo said.
Link grinned. "Well, then we can always go and cut some grass. I'm sure the Minish have hidden some rupees for us..."
"Start with your Minish again and I'm gonna kick you..." Ukyo grumbled. "See ya later, Akane..."
And while the two forest kids and their fairies entered the next shop, Akane approached the Shooting Gallery...
"Main prize: One piece of heart," she murmured. "Huh... I wonder what kind of trinket that's supposed to be..."
When Akane left the Shooting Gallery, she had won her own, personal slingshot, a big bag of ammunition as well as the main prize, a piece of heart.
"I still don't know what's so special about this weird, heart-shaped stone..." she muttered. "Oh well, maybe Link likes silly stuff like this..."
She still had some time left before she was supposed to meet with Link, Ukyo and the fairies, so she just strolled along the streets, enjoying a moment of peace and calm.
When she walked down a back street, she heard a groaning voice. She hesitated. She had to be careful, even though that didn't sound like the voice of a monster. It sounded like somebody was injured...
"Please..." Now she could see a squatting figure in a dark corner of the alley. "Help me..."
"Captain Mikado?" Akane gasped. She had never imagined she would meet someone she knew. She hadn't seen him since... well, since the day the castle was under attack. Her mother and everyone else had assumed he was dead.
Maybe now she had the chance to save him...
The wounded soldier groaned. Blood was trickling out of his armor. When he looked up at her, his eyes widened. "You... you're one of Impa's daughters, aren't you? Why... haven't you fled with your mother? Where... where is Princess Zelda...?"
"Now just relax," Akane said as she crouched down next to him. "You're badly wounded... what happened?"
"K-kuno..." Mikado coughed. "He betrayed us... the king... dead..."
'Of course...' Akane sighed. 'All of this has happened before, but it's still sad to see it replayed...'
"The princess is safe," Akane told him. "My mother is making sure of that... we got separated..."
She hesitated. How was she gonna explain to him why she wasn't going after them, why she was loitering around in a back alley of Hyrule Town?
"The... the messenger of the princess..." Mikado stuttered. "Where is he? Zelda... before we were attacked, she told me of a young boy she appointed to bring her the Sacred Stones..."
'I guess he's talking of Link and Ukyo,' Akane thought. 'I have to remember that in his eyes, it was barely two days ago when we left the castle for our mission to retrieve the stones...'
"I know him," she said. "Everything is all right, he has retrieved the stones."
Mikado sighed in relief. "At least that's being taken care of..." he murmured. "Ganondorf can't enter the Sacred Realm without the stones... if you see the boy, tell him to bring them... to the Temple of Time..." He winced. "Aaahh... my wound must be deeper than I thought..."
"Just relax," Akane told him. "Stay here... I'm going to get some help..."
Mikado held her back. "Stay..." he said. "Nobody can save me now... just make sure the boy gets my message. And please... could you do me a favor?"
"Of course!" Akane said. "What is it?"
He coughed. "Could you... stay with me during my final moments? I don't want to die all alone... the only loyal soldier to the throne..."
"I understand," Akane nodded. She sat down next to him. "But shouldn't I at least buy you some Red Potion? The market is not far from here..."
"The wound is too deep..." Mikado grimaced. "A potion... would not be enough. Kuno... I think his sword was cursed..." He gasped when some more blood trickled down his side.
Akane ripped a piece of cloth from the sleeve of her shrunken Sheikah outfit. "Here, use this to stop the flow of blood," she said.
Gratefully, Mikado accepted the cloth and pressed it on his wound. While he was moving, something fell out of his pocket.
Akane picked it up. It was a small, drawn picture. It was very lifelike and showed the face of a beautiful woman...
"Who is she?" she wondered as she gave the picture back to its rightful owner.
"My... my mother..." Mikado explained. "My father drew this picture of her when she was young... it's the last memory I have from her." He sighed. "She died when I was a kid... during the Hyrulean Civil War..."
Akane was surprised. "My mother never told me much about this war... what happened?"
"My father was a soldier in the army, just like me," Mikado said. "He and the rest of the king's men fought against a group of dark interlopers who wanted to seize the power resting in the Sacred Realm..."
'I never knew humans had tried to acquire the Triforce for themselves before,' Akane thought.
"During the battle... my mother had to escape," Mikado murmured. His eyes teared up when he recalled the story his father had told him numerous times. "My father wanted her to be safe, but he couldn't come up with a place where she could hide... so she told him a story about an ancient tree spirit who is supposed to reside in the forest. She... she said that she would be safe there, and so she left for the woods..."
Mikado closed his eyes. "She never came back..." he whispered and clutched the picture of his mother to his chest.
'I wonder if she was talking about the Deku Tree,' Akane thought. 'I know nothing about him, but Ukyo and Link told me quite a few things about the Kokiri's guardian tree...'
Mikado put the picture back into his pocket. His face was becoming even paler, and sweat was running down his face.
"Are you sure you don't want me to get you some potion?" Akane asked in a worried tone of voice. She still was hoping that there was a way to change the past...
"Don't... worry about me," the captain grunted. "I did my duty to the very end... I have no regrets. I thank you for listening to my story... but now, you should leave, before they find you..."
Akane stood up, but she still was reluctant to go. "I.. I can't just leave you here..." she murmured.
She didn't see the dark shape that had crept along the walls. It wasn't much more than a shadow, but now it was taking form.
The dark double of Ganondorf smirked. 'My master was wise to send me after that fool... while he's still the last remaining soldier who's loyal to the fallen king, he will soon become my master's most devoted follower...'
With a small wave of his hand, Phantom Ganon changed his shape... until he didn't look like his master anymore.
Instead, he looked like a young boy, wearing a green tunic.
He grinned. "Time to turn the hero of Hyrule... into a killer!"
Read the comments on this episode
See other episodes by Shritistrang
(Posted Fri, 04 Jul 2008 22:33)
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.