When you close your eyes, and put on a mask… you feel nothing but darkness and an empty space being filled by your face. Masks change you, make you different. More powerful in ways you wouldn't know were possible. What if that feeling was real?
There was nothing but darkness in front of the eyes. Then, the pair of eyes slowy opened.
"Ugh…" Hope said slowly getting up and rubbing his head. He adjusted his vision to find himself in a dark forest. "Wha? Hey, where is everybody?!"
"Mmm… don't shout too much...Ross…" someone said besides Hope as a pair of claws grabbed Hope and bring him closer. Hope found himself almost in facial contact with Petra with a shocked look on his face.
"Ack! Petra, what're you doing?!" Hope shouted abruptly.
Petra then opened her eyes to see Hope and let go. "Ah! I-I'm so sorry!" Petra blushed. "Uh… You didn't hear me sleep talk, did you?"
"Yeah. And you basically told me you've got a crush on Ross. Have you two shared a bed?" Hope joked.
'D-Don't be ridiculous!" Petra said blushing. "Crap… I was hoping you wouldn't hear that…"
"It's alright. All manner of jokes aside, what happened? All i can remember was boarding the ships to leave from new world. No sooner did we get a few yards out from there and BAM! A light blinds me, and I'm knocked out cold. And now we're in the middle of a dark forest. I don't know where the others are." Hope said.
"Ahhh!" they heard screaming as they saw something running towards them. They were prepared to fight before they saw it was Chopper. "I don't wanna be here anymore!"
"Chopper?" Hope asked as Chopper skidded in front of them.
"Huff… Huff… Oh good, it's you and Petra, Hope. I thought I was alone here!" Chopper said. "Where are we? I don't remember anything from last night. But...its weird. It feels like...I've been here before."
"Something weird is going on here. For now, let's focus on trying to find the others." Petra said.
The three stayed close as they travelled the woods. It wasn't long before they came across a horse and an unconscious boy as well as some strange boy looking through the unconscious boys thing's.
"That thing is robbing that kid." Hope said.
"Weird...it's like...I've seen this too." Chopper said.
"Wait a second…" Hope said. "That kid with the mask…" he said taking a good look at the kid rummaging through the other boy's backpack. He poked his head up, revealing a mask. "The Skull Kid!"
"The...who?" Chopper said. "Wait...why couldn't I remember that?"
The Skull Kid then pulled out an Ocarina and laughed as he blew into it.
"Oooh, what a pretty Ocarina!" a black fairy to Skull kids right said. "Lemme touch it Skull Kid, i wanna see!"
"You can't, Tael!" a yellow fairy said. "What would we do if you dropped it and broke it? No way! You can't touch it."
"Aw, but sis...why can't I try it out too?" Tael asked.
As Skull Kid continued to mess with the Ocarina, the boy slowly regained consciousness.
"What?" he said before seeing him. "You! Give back my ocarina!"
"What ocarina?" Skull Kid said hiding it behind his back.
"The one you have in your hand, behind your back." the boy said.
"Uh oh…" the Skull kid said. Panicking, he jumped on the boys horse. "Hyah!" he said as the horse was riding off as the boy gave chase to Skull Kid.
"Weird though. That kid in green...he looked a lot like Link right?" Hope asked.
"That kid in green IS Link." Chopper said.
"Oh yeah… i forgot he had a lot of incarnations." Hope said.
"But that one...I could never forget him. He was the one that used to travel with us. He was the one that joined us as a Dimensional Hero for a short time." Chopper said.
"Now that you mention it, that link is really familiar. Wait, I've seen him. In one of the floors of Castle Oblivion's Basement!" Hope said. "Were in the...the….What? Why...Why can't I remember it fully?"
"Wait...you said that basement part had adventures we went on before you started traveling with us right? Well...if we're living the same adventure...what if our memories were wiped to make sure we don't try and spoil anything?" Chopper asked.
"Yeah, that would be obvious." Hope said. "Still, we should follow Link. He shouldn't get into any trouble."
"I think that's the right move." Chopper said going into his reindeer form. "Get on."
"Thanks." Hope said getting on on. "I really gotta send my thanks to the Birdie Kingdom for helping you improve your forms."
"I did it on my own but thanks." Chopper said as he gave chase with Hope and Petra on his back.
"Hey Petra, couldn't you just fly next to us?" Hope asked. "Or do you wanna save your energy?"
"If you guys don't remember what we're going to encounter, then there's no point in wasting my energy." Petra said. "Besides, admit it, you liked when I was holding you like that."
"Uh...awkward." Chopper said before he screeched to a halt when they came across a cave. "I think...we're suppose to fall through there."
"Hold on to me, Petra. Don't want your feathers getting roughed up on the fall." Hope said.
"Sure thing." Petra said as she held on to Hope.
"Geez… Get a room, you two." Chopper said before they fell through. As they fell, they looked upon strange pictures of different things. After falling, they landed atop a plant where they saw Link conversing with the Skull Kid.
"Hey, what's with that stupid horse of yours? It doesn't listen to a thing I say. There's no point in riding a thing like that so I did you a favor and got rid of it. Heheh." Skull Kid said as Link began looking depressed. "Aw… why the sad face? I thought i might have a little fun with you… but you really think you can beat me the way I am? Fool!"
On cue of that, The Skull kids mask began to rattle as Link reeled in pain.
"Link!" Hope said rushing over to him.
Within the confines of links mind, he was surrounded by Hundreds of Deku Scrubs.
(Deku Scrub: A race of wood and plant creatures that are normally unorganized. They act cowardly when a stranger faces them. They can fire seeds and run very quickly.)
"Get away! Go away!" Link shouted before a large Deku Scrub consumed him. He then began to regain consciousness. "Huh? Who are these two and...Chopper? Wait...why do you look scared?"
"You might wanna look in the water, buddy." Hope said.
"Huh?" Link asked looking in a puddle of water. He saw his body now that of a small Deku Scrub. "Ahhh!"
"Hahaha! Now that is a good look for you. And you'll look like that forever!" Skull Kid laughed as he floated away.
"Hey wait! Youre down a fairy!" Hope said.
"He's right! Skull kid, wait up!" the yellow fairy said chasing after before the door shut before her. "Grrr. This is your fault you know."
"Our fault? What are you talking about? We didn't even do anything!" Petra said.
"If I wasn't busy dealing with you four, I wouldn't have gotten separated from my brother." the fairy said. "Don't sit there, Deku boy, blue kid, chicken woman and raccoon. Do something!"
"Chicken woman?! I'm a harpy!" Petra said.
"And I'm not a raccoon! I'm a reindeer!" Chopper said.
"Like I care what you two are. Stop staring at me and open the door for me." she said.
"And how exactly do we do that?" Hope said before Link approached it and opened it easily. "Oh."
"There. He gets it." the fairy said. "And sorry about that stuff I said to you. You wanna know more about the Skull Kid who took off right? Well I have an idea where he might be. Take me and I'll help you out. Deal?"
"Deal. Names Hope the Victor. But just call me Hope." Hope said.
"I'm Link." Link said.
"Tony Tony Chopper." Chopper said.
"Call me Petra." Petra said.
"Okay. I'm Tatl. Now let's get going." the fairy said.
They soon got on the move, as Link slid into a flower, before being shot out, propelled by two smaller flowers.
"Whoa, awesome!" Hope said.
"Its one of the many talents he has while in the form of a Deku Scrub. By putting himself inside that flower, he can hover over large gaps by using flowers to propel himself. All Deku Scrubs can do it here in Termina." Tatl said.
"Termina?" Hope asked. "Call me crazy, but… i feel like i've heard that name."
"Me too." Chopper said before they were hearing organ music. "Huh?" he said as they continued down the path before entering a wooden room with moving mechanisms. It didn't take long before a voice was heard.
"You've been met with a terrible fate, haven't you?" a voice asked before they saw a smiling man with a pack covered in masks galore.
"Wow. you need a lot of stands for those masks?" Hope asked. "Wait… do you sell all these?"
"But of course. I am the owner of this fine establishment. Welcome to the Happy Mask Shop. You can call me the Happy Mask Salesman. Or H.M.S for short." he said.
"Nice to meet you. I don't suppose you can help us with our friendsfriends little problem?" Petra asked.
"Of course i can. But you need to do me a favor." H.M.S said. "You see, i travel far and wide for masks. But i am at a loss. Just recently, an Imp stole a very important mask from me. I would very much need it back within three days before I leave this town."
"Sure thing, we got it." Hope said. "And about Link's problem?"
"I can fix him right up. But first, you need to reclaim what you recently had stolen. Only then can I return you." H.M.S said.
"I have to get my ocarina back." Link said.
"Like that was obvious." Chopper said. "Don't go anywhere, we'll be back with Link's ocarina in no time." he said before opening the doors before they found themselves in a small town where standing in its center was a giant clock tower.
"Is this a Clock town or something?" Hope asked.
"This is South Clock town. That guy is demanding. Even if we need sleep, that leaves us with 72 hours. Now then...let's go find the Great Fairy. She's strong enough to find the Skull Kid, but that's between us." Tatl said.
"Hopefully we can find the others along the way." Hope said. "I'm starting to get worried. You feel the same, Petra?"
"Yep. But I'm sure we'll run into them soon." Petra said.
"For now, let's just head to the Fairy Fountain. You know where it is, right Tatl?" Chopper asked.
"Of course. Just follow me." Tatl said leading the way.
They Made it to the towns fairy fountain as they saw lots of Orange Fairies circling around.
"No sign of the Great fairy, but what's with all these orange ones?" Hope asked.
"Young ones! Please hear my plea!" the fairies said. "I have been broken and shattered into pieces by the masked Skull Kid."
"The villain! How dare he do this to a fairy!" Link said.
"Please, find the one stray fairy that is flying through town." the fairies begged.
"Don't worry, little ones. We'll find that stray fairy for you." Petra said.
They then left the Fairy Fountain where they saw a stray orange fairy flying through the town on its own before going into an alley. They chased after it for a bit before they found it in the hands of Crona.
"Crona!" Chopper said.
"Chopper. It looks like I got the fairy...just like the first time we were here?" Crona said.
"First time? What...what do you mean?" Chopper asked.
"You don't remember? This alley...it was where we first met." Crona said.
"His memories are just a bit frazzled for some reason." Petra said.
"Strange… Why hasn't it affected you?" Hope asked.
"It might be because I've never heard about what happened here." Petra said. "What about you, Crona?"
"Well, I think it might be because...this world...it was where me, Maka, Soul, Black Star, Tsubaki, Kid, Patti, Liz...it was where we met the Dimensional Heroes." Crona said.
"Yeah… you did say a long time ago that you guys met here. Could this be some sort of revamped adventure or something?" Hope asked.
"Maybe, but we can't be too sure." Petra said.
"All we can do is take this Fairy back to the great Fairy fountain." Crona said.
"Yeah, we do have it. Let's not waste any time." Hope said.
The group, now with Crona among them, returned the fairy to the fountain, allowing the Great Fairy of Magic to return in her full form.
"Thank you Tatl, heroes and young one of altered shape. I am the Great Fairy of Magic! I thought the masked child was helping me but I grew too careless. All I can do is offer magic power to the Deku." the fairy said before she gave magic to him. Link then shot out a magic bubble from his gun like mouth. "As for the Skull Kid, you can find him using the observatory."
"Of course, the telescope there can locate him." Crona said.
"I guess we'll just have to find a way up into it as we go." Hope said.
The exited the fairy fountain as they made their way back to the Square. There, they saw a kid trying to pop a floating balloon.
"Hey, Link. Ten rupees says you can't pop that balloon in one shot." Chopper said.
Link then fired a bubble at the balloon, knocking the kid to the ground.
"Thanks. If you were a human, I would give you a bomber's notebook but the boys have a problem with non humans." he said before running off. "But if you want the password to the observatory...Its 52431!"
"Awesome, we can get into the observatory now." Hope said as they made their way over and entered the code, heading inside. There, they approached a giant telescope.
"Okay...guess I'll have a look." Chopper said before looking through a telescope where he saw the Skull Kid on the clock tower as he was laughing. "He's mocking...ah!" he said looking above Skull Kid.
"What? What is ….dear lord." Hope said looking through as they saw a large moon with a face slowly descending down to the town.
"Is that...the moon?" Petra said in shock.
"With a giant ugly face." Hope said. "I say we go to the clock tower and give that imp a taste of our minds!"
"Amen!" Chopper said as they burst out of the observatory, sprinting to the clock tower before a dancing scarecrow caught their attention. "Oh...now this feeling...I kinda like it." he said dancing with it.
"Chopper, what are you doing?" Hope said.
"No, don't look at that Scarecrow!" Crona said before the two of them looked as they were dancing as Link and Petra looked into it too. They kept dancing and dancing before a sharp slap snapped them out of it. This was Jexi who was standing before them.
"Get your heads together!" Jexi said.
"Ow!" Hope said shaking the slap off. "Jexi? Oh man, how long were we out? We only got three days."
"It's been three days! Look!" Jexi said pointing up as the moon was very close. "The world is literally gonna end in an hour."
"Quick, to the top of the Clock tower, now!" Crona said as they ascended to the top where Skull Kid and Tael waited.
"Ah, Tael! We've been looking for you. Hey, Skull kid, you think you can give that mask back now?" Tatl asked receiving silence. "Huh? Hey, are you even listening to me?"
"Look! We don't have a lot of time! Swamp! Mountain! Ocean! Canyon! The four who are there….Bring them here." Tael said before Skull Kid swatted him.
"Don't speak out of line! Stupid Fairy!" Skull Kid said.
"Hey, not cool!" Hope said.
"Heh. Even if the four do arrive, they wouldn't be able to handle me. Just look above. If it's something that can be stopped...just try and stop it!" Skull Kid said.
"At that rate….we'll all be wiped out in five minutes." Jexi said.
"We won't have enough time to… Wait… Time. That's it! Crona! Hit Skull Kid and knock Link's ocarina out of his hands!" Hope said.
"Personally, I'd prefer to have Usopp put him to sleep, but since he's not here right now…" Corona said
"Who says we aren't?" a voice said as they saw the Dimensional Heroes standing behind them.
"Talk about timing!" Hope said.
"Sleep Star!" Usopp shouted firing a shot at Skull Kid before the imp fell and dropped the Ocarina.
"Got it!" Petra said catching it with one of her talons.
"Toss it over, Petra!" Hope said as he received it and handed it to Link. "The Song of Time, link! Hurry!"
Link grabbed the Ocarina as it transformed into a pair of horns. Link played the song as the moon was about to hit them. But they soon opened their eyes where they saw the town back to normal as they stood at the gates in South Clock Town.
"It worked. We went back three days." Tails said.
"And we found you guys too. Any sign of David and his team?" Hope asked.
"First of all, we found you. Second of all, no. But this place...this is Termina. Definitely." Lucy said.
"We remember why we came here." Gray said.
"And the problems with it." Jexi said taking out a pad showing five energy signatures. "This was what we used to track down the Kingdoms when they roamed. It shows five of them on this world."
"I guess that means we're gonna have to fight them then." Hope said.
"Looks like it." Jexi said. "Feels like these events have happened before but I don't remember them."
"And now David and his team along with yours are involved in this, too." Robin said.
"Speaking of, where are they? The squad wasn't with you?" Zoro asked.
"No. I woke up in the Lost Woods with Petra almost ready to kiss me in her sleep." Hope said.
"Okay….we really didn't need to know that." Rainbow said.
"Anyway, romantic urges aside, we not only need to bring the four giants here, but we also need to deal with these Kingdoms and track down the rest of our friends." Petra said.
"Knowing those two groups, they should be sticking close." Maka said. "But for now...let's see about getting Link returned to normal."
"I know a place." Hope said.
Back at The Happy Mask Shop…
"You're back! And you brought the thing that was stolen from you, excellent." H.M.S said.
"Now it's your turn to keep your promise. Can you turn our friend back to normal?" Hope asked.
"Yes." the H.M.S said as he began playing a song on his organ. "Have him play this exact song."
Link then began to play the song. In his mind, the scrub that swallowed him spit him out. Link waved it goodbye. In real time, Link was back to normal before finding a deku mask lying on the ground.
"Whoa…" Rainbow said.
"Freaky-deaky!" Pinkie added.
"What was that song you just played?" Petra asked.
"The Song of Healing. It's a melody that heals evil magic and troubled spirits, turning them into masks." H.M.S said.
"So… Yeah. About your mask…? We uh… Ran into a bit of a problem with that imp and couldn't get it back." Hope .
"Hah. Such a funny man." H.M.S said. "You are joking...right?" he said before he looked angry and began strangling Hope. "What have you done?! If you leave my mask out there, something terrible will happen!"
"Whoa, whoa! Easy there buddy!" Starlight said as he stopped. "What's so special about the mask that kid is wearing?"
"That mask is called Majora's Mask. It's an accursed item from legend that was used by an ancient tribe for their hexing rituals. It is said that an evil wicked power is bestowed to anyone who wears it. It's caused trouble in the ancient place which is why it was sealed away. The tribe is gone so no one knows the true terrifying evil that mask contains!" H.M.S said.
"Well, this whole mess wouldn't have happened in your terms. I bet you were the one who unsealed the mask in the first place, am I wrong or right?" Sunset asked.
"I may have unearthed the mask but I'm not the bad guy here. That imp! That Skull Kid is!" H.M.S said.
"If the Skull Kid is wearing Majora's mask, there's no way to stop him. But I bet Tael was trying to tell us something when he mentioned those spots and four who are there… Whatever that means." Hope said.
"Swamp, Mountain, Ocean, Canyon. Wait…" Tails said as he brought up a map. "Those geographical habitats are in different directions of Clock Town. A southern swamp, a northern mountain, a western ocean and eastern canyon."
"And look! There's a kingdom at each point. Well actually there's two at the canyon, but who cares?" Hope said. "The fact of the matter is, we have to go to these four locations, and find whatever it is Tael wants us to bring to town."
"I'm not sure why we've been brought back to relive this adventure...but I'm sure we can get over it." Jexi said.
"Long story short… We're in." Soul said.
"Really? Oh, thank you! I was certain you would help get that mask back." H.M.S said.
"All right. Let's do it. We're gonna get through this again." Jexi said.