Dimensional Theory

by RebelX

Julie leaned on the counter, gazing out the kitchen window as she waited. The microwave hummed gently in the background. Thick gray clouds swarmed in from the east, moving unusually fast from the force of a wind too high to stir the trees. She inhaled deeply, loving the tang of iron that laced the incoming breeze. The world looked better on overcast days. The gray of the sky only made the colors on the ground more vibrant, and roads were beautiful when wet enough to reflect the street lights. Even so, she glanced at the microwave impatiently. She had a game waiting, and couldn't spend forever staring outside.

The house was almost eerily quiet. It was strange not to have her parents bustling around. They had gone camping over in Utah for the weekend, and she had the whole place to herself. Her father had warned her not to burn the house down or have any wild parties, his mouth twitching with barely restrained mirth. He knew that the only party she would be interested in involved a console and a multi player FPS. The microwave beeped shrilly, tearing her attention away from the atmosphere. The pungent smell of melted cheesy goodness wafted out of the appliance as she opened the door. Nachos in hand, she hurried back to the living room and fell onto the couch with enough force to bounce.

"Okay Link, let's finish handing Ganon his ass again," she said to the monitor. Talking to the characters in her video games (or more accurately, cursing at them) was a bad habit of hers. The moment the item screen collapsed, Ganon almost sent Link crashing to the floor below with a ground pound. Julie made an incoherent noise that could best be interpreted as verbal key smashing and quickly piloted Link over to one of the four stable corners. Nothing seemed off at first as she played a few rousing games of energy tennis with the King of Evil while munching nachos. Then she noticed, after Link went down screaming as purple electricity snaked around him, that Link was not obeying her commands anymore. "Oh c'mon, what the hell? I so shouldn't have missed that one...wait, since when does he get knocked down with every hit?" She asked rhetorically as she experimentally jiggled the control stick. Link didn't listen to the controller. She mashed buttons randomly, but he wouldn't move. He remained panting on the ground, twitching occasionally. "Oh shit, don't tell me this thing is bugged." A swift smack to the N64 changed nothing.

And then, Link got up. It was not the usual animation. First he shook his head, then he slowly climbed to his feet using the stained glass wall for support. His expression actually looked pained, well as pained as polygons could look. Julie could do nothing but stare.

"Had enough?" Ganondorf asked, and Julie nearly dropped the controller. He had just spoken. Not with a text box, but with a voice over. His voice had a subtle, strange accent and a coarse bass tone.

"No," Link replied, and then Julie did drop the controller. It landed painfully on her bare feet, but she hardly noticed.

Ganondorf rolled his eyes and folded his arms. "Really, kid. This is sad. It's almost painful just watching your pathetic attempts to defeat me. I'll admit you've gained some slight skill, but you really don't have a hope of winning. Why don't you save the both of us a lot of trouble and give up now? I promise I'll kill you quickly."

"This must be some kind of secret hidden cinematic. I wonder how I activated it?" Suddenly she grinned, "Wait until I post on the boards about this. They're going to freak out so bad!"

On screen, Link said nothing, only glared and readied his sword. Ganondorf snorted and raised his arms. Black energy gathered above his palms, and the whole boss room darkened as the growing sphere devoured all light. Link too a step back, his eyes widening.

"Spin attack, idiot! Charge your spin attack!"

Link didn't listen. Consequently, when Ganondorf released his attack of multiple green energy blasts, Link only managed to hit a pair of the attacks back while the rest snaked sideways and collided with him. Julie winced at the sound of his pained scream, so much more real and visceral than the sound bite which usually played. The two energy shots which Link had managed to hit struck the central platform and fizzled out. Ganondorf glided to the ground, his boots clicking softly on the stone tile. He leapt over to join Link on the corner platform and grabbed the boy by the collar, hefting him up off the ground.

"Poor fool. I pity you, really. You're just a child, forced to play the role of hero by a lot of malcontents who believe the lie of some ancient 'prophesy.' I'll bet you don't even realize what a puppet you are."

"It's not a lie," Link gasped, his hands scrabbling over the dark one holding him. "the prophesy is real. I-I will save this land from you..."

Ganon laughed mirthlessly. "You're delusional, kid. All of you are! That prophesy of yours is just a story, something made up to give people hope when there doesn't seem to be any. It was never intended to be real."

"You're wrong, Ganondorf!" A new voice, female, yelled from someone off screen. It could be no one but Zelda. The organ and the princess had both reappeared in the room, and the princess was scowling with determination. "You're the delusional one. You've watched this boy defeat so many of your minions and free the temples form your darkness. Do you really think he could have come so far if he wasn't empowered by destiny?"

Ganondorf frowned over his shoulder at her, and oddly, Link frowned as well.

"Destiny has nothing to do with it. He was only able to come this far on account of the triforce. Don't forget, I allowed him to run around in hopes of luring you out of hiding." He paused to smile, "And it worked out perfectly."

Zelda shook her head. "You admitted once that you had underestimated him, and yet still you do it. I fear you will not realize your mistake until you are dead."

As she spoke, Link took advantage of the distraction to pull a light arrow out of his quiver. Unable to use the bow in his position, he stabbed the arrow into Ganondorf's neck with his bare hands. Ganondorf roared in pain, dropping Link and stumbling backwards. He clutched the offending arrow, wincing as its light snaked around him.

"You'll pay for that, brat!" He wrenched the arrow from his neck and threw it aside. The light shook his limbs, winding around his torso like golden snakes. Unable to use his dark magic with the light binding him, he instead drew an enormous broadsword from under his cape and attacked. Link was ready for him. They dueled fiercely, an even match. Ganondorf had greater strength and experience, but he was slow, and Link was just quick enough to even the odds. Ganondorf was also weakened by the light, giving Link just that much more of an edge. But inevitably, the light arrow wore off, and Ganondorf was able to catch Link off guard with a magic attack. Zelda and Julie both gasped as Link fell back into the organ. There was no pause for gloating or a cackling monologue, no insults directed at Link's skill or foolishness. Ganondorf struck immediately, lunging forward with his sword raised for the finishing blow.

Julie couldn't watch. She slapped her hands over her eyes, a strangled chirp of anxiety escaping her throat. A roar of pain came from the TV, but it wasn't Link's. Julie peeked through her fingers. On the screen, Ganondorf stood absolutely still, the master sword embedded in his stomach. His own broadsword had lodged between the organ keys at the spot where Link's head had been moments ago. He choked, blood spurting from his lips. Link remained crouched, panting, staring at his own sword like he could not believe he had done it. His eyes met the Evil King's, both equally shocked that it had come to such an abrupt end.

"I warned you..." Zelda said from above, her voice soft.

Link wrenched his sword from Ganondorf's gut, and the Gerudo fell to his knees as if that sword had been the one thing holding him upright.

"I…the great evil king Ganondorf…beaten by this kid…" he gagged, spitting up more blood. "L-Link?!"

The triforce of power glowed, and he stared at the back of his hand in shock. He cried out in pain and clutched it to his chest as a bluish white glow snaked over his body. With a final scream, he stood stretched out spread eagle, and the screen was enveloped in white light. The scene fizzled out, and the screen went black.

It took several moments for Julie to realize the game wasn't going to come back. "Uh! Oh, come on!" She fell to her knees in front of the entertainment center and gave the system a hardy smack. The N64 weathered her physical abuse stubbornly, refusing still to operate. She gave it a few minutes to redeem itself, glaring at the monitor, and then regretfully hit the reset button. Nothing happened. She more directly turned the power off and on, but the screen remained mockingly black. She tried every trick she knew, from blowing the debris out of the bottom of the game cartridge to checking the power chords, but nothing helped. "Oh goddamn it. Don't tell me my system is all messed up now." She sat back on her heels and bit her lip, thinking.

"Maybe it's just the cartridge?" She snatched up one of the other games which was lying stacked next to the television and slid it into the system.

"Mortal Kombat!" a voice screamed over the fast-paced title music after she flicked the power back on.

"Right. So it's just my cartridge that's messed up. That still sucks." She turned the system back off and climbed to her feet. "Time to go bug my internet cronies about this."

She was not the only person who had witness the strange new cinematic and experienced technical difficulties afterwards, or so she discovered after logging into her the Zelda Gaming forum and seeing the shitload of new threads on just that topic. There were at least fifteen of them, all with subject titles along the lines of "awesome new cinematic!!!!111" She checked out a few, and found they had all seen the same thing she had, with the difference being that it cut out at different points for different people. Far as she could tell, hers had gone on for the longest. Other people mentioned it cutting out right after Link stabbed Ganondorf with the arrow, or even right after Ganondorf grabbed Link. Julie was thankful that at least she had seen almost the entire scene. No one could get their cartridges to work, either. It was like some kind of pandemic. She added her two cents to one of the threads, describing what she had seen. As an afterthought, she asked what time this had happened to everyone. All the replies she got back stated that it had happened five or so minutes ago, at the exact same time it had happened to her.

Maybe this is some kind of time-release prank on Nintendo's part? But I don't know enough about coding to tell if that's possible, read one of the replies.

A pop-up informed her that she had a new private message in her inbox. She clicked "view message". The PM read like this:

Hey, Skullkid2000 here.

I saw your post about the freak cinematic. The same thing happened to me, only mine went a teensy bit farther. After the light faded, it showed the usual thing where Ganon falls to the ground, and then it stopped. But you know what the weird thing is? I wasn't even playing ocarina of time when it happened. I was in the middle of fighting Majora's incarnation! Is that WEIRD or what?

Julie typed her reply with a wry smile.

You mean you were playing MY Majora's Mask when it happened? Hmm…it is weird. I wonder why it stops in different places for different people?

Ten seconds later there came the reply:

I dunno why it cuts off like that. Hey, why don't you come over so we can talk about this together? And you can have YOUR Majora's Mask back. It doesn't work anymore, unfortunately.

Julie glanced out the window. It was going to get dark soon, but Jon (aka Skullkid2000) didn't live too far away. Besides, she could always catch a ride back with his mom.

She hastily replied:

Sure, I'll come over. I'll bring my non working copy of OoT with me. Just give me ten minutes, since I'm walking. The folks are still out.

She was about to get up when he responded:

Be careful. Them llamas get nasty after dark.

She rolled her eyes and laughed. Jon had developed a weird tendency to slip llamas into every conversation after she had shown him the "llama llama duck" song.

After hunting through the house to find her sneakers and stuffing the Ocarina of Time cartridge into the mini-backpack which served as her purse, she pulled on her pine green windbreaker and left. She was five feet away from the door when she remembered to run back and lock it. She had always been a bit absent-minded and forgetful, a trait inherited from her father. Not that locking the door was a terribly high matter of importance, in her neighborhood. Ecklewood was not known for its high crime rate. Her family lived in a nice suburban community, and thankfully one which lacked stuck-up code enforcement to insist on everyone having perfect lawns cut exactly two inches high. A good thing, considering that having a water-guzzling lawn in a desert state was a really idiotic idea. The Winters' own yard had a xeriscape arrangement, with a number of sprawling cacti and succulents which would have looked right at home on Mars. The artfully placed red rock they grew on only served to support the notion. Julie still thought they looked weird, not at all like a real yard, but her parents loved them. "It's low maintenance and makes for a good defensible space," her mother had once said. She was a criminologist, so she couldn't help throwing weird terms like that into conversation. Julie wasn't entirely sure what 'defensible space' meant, but she knew it had something to do with the idea that potential burglars wouldn't find the idea of tiptoeing through a yard of spiny plants very appealing. Some of those cacti were called "horse cripplers" for a reason. She still thought it was kind of mean of her mom to put the plants with the biggest, nastiest spines right under the windows.

Her parents probably wouldn't like that she was outside so late, but they were just paranoid. It was just Ecklewood for god's sake, and Jon was only a short walk away. If there was any trouble, she knew to stick her keys in an attacker's eye (or other exposed fleshy vulnerable area). A friend from Washington had taught her. She also had a cell phone, with the police department on speed dial. "Always have a plan," her world religions teacher had said one tense day when her high school was put under lock down. The whole class had laughed when he'd explained how he would make good use of the sturdy metal podium should a hostile intruder enter his class, but she had also felt safe. She took the advice to heart, even if she didn't have a podium to carry around with her. She would always have a plan.

Her neighborhood looked the quintessential suburban paradise, save for the fact that many of the green lawns had been replaced by yards of rock covered with the misshapen spheres and towers of desert plants. It was a hilly place, with roads and sidewalks that curved and dipped for fun biking. There were a number of walking and hiking trails that bisected the rows of houses, and three small parks lay within easy walking distance of her house. The route she was taking ran parallel to a large ditch which, when as dry as it was now, looked like a miniature forest of tall weeds. She frequently went running along this path when the weather was cooler. A few towering cottonwoods leaned over the broad sidewalk, a long abandoned tire swing hanging from one of the branches.

A young man came jogging from the other direction. She had seen him around the neighborhood once or twice, but had never spoken with him or learned his name. They nodded politely to each other as he passed. He was about her age, with short blond hair and a lean, swimmer's build. She couldn't tell the exact color of his eyes from a distance, but they looked light. He was wearing black sweatpants and a Red Wings jersey. He looked cute, and his smile was kind. Her eyes lingered a little before she continued walking. Probably taken already, she decided.

A loud, horrified scream interrupted her thoughts and stopped the jogger in his tracks. It had come from a short ways ahead and around the bend. The sound made her heart rate pick up instinctively, though the rest of her hesitated. Just some kids playing, right? The scream sounded again, and there was nothing playful or joking in its pitch, its tone. It was a real scream, the kind you usually only heard from buxom blonds in horror movies.

"What the hell?" the jogger's voice startled her. She hadn't noticed him come up to her side. "Is someone really in trouble?"

"I don't know. It sounds like it." The scream came from farther down the path, in the same direction she needed to go to get to Jon's place. What could make someone scream like that? A car accident? A fire? A masked maniac with a chainsaw? She hesitated, knowing she wouldn't be much help if someone really was being attacked, and hoping the scream would attract someone else more capable of lending aid. The situation reminded her of something her mother once said about group psychology. Whenever someone was in trouble, and only one other person was around, help would be given no problem. But if a whole group of people were present, they would stand around and wait for someone else to do the helping. It was the memory of that conversation which drove her to her decision. So what if she wouldn't be much help? What if everyone stayed safe in their homes, confident that someone else would take care of the problem? What if she was the only one who would bother to help? She fished her cell phone out of her purse and started running.

"No signal? God damn it." Julie's brow furrowed. She had never had trouble getting service in this area before.

"Is your phone working?" The jogger, surprisingly, was following her.

"No, it can't get a signal."

"Mine either."

Always have a plan. Her phone wasn't working, so she couldn't call the police. But she had her keys, and as she ran she threaded them between her fingers in makeshift brass knuckles. Her mind raced faster than her legs as they ran along. If it's a person attacking, go for the eyes, the stomach, the neck, or the crotch for males. If its a fire, we'll make sure a neighbor has called the fire department. If it's an accident, we'll pull people out of the wreckage and try to stop any bleeding. And make sure the concussed don't move too much. They curved along the trail, going around bends and over small hills. The screams kept sounding, high and feminine and scared. Then something bellowed, a low and inhuman noise which raised the hairs on the back of Julie's neck.

"What was that?!" Jack asked.

"A-an animal?" If someone was getting mauled by an animal, what would she do? Loud noises scare bears. I have no idea about mountain lions. If it's really a llama, I owe Jon five bucks. If it's a spider or a mouse, I may have to beat someone.

"Link! I'm using my powers to hold the evil king! You use your sword and deliver the final blow!" The voice was the same that had been screaming earlier. Julie slowed to a stop, blinking.

"Wait, that's a line from a Zelda game," the jogger said.

"It...is. What, does someone have their game on so loud that we can hear it clearly from three blocks away?"

Something didn't feel right. It was particularly strange that this should happen right after the weirdness of the new cinematic busting her game cartridge. More than that, something was nagging at the back of her mind, a tiny sliver of doubt irritating her gray matter.

"Wait, Zelda doesn't have voice-overs. It has text boxes," the jogger said.

That was right. Zelda didn't have voice-overs. Or at least, it hadn't until that evening. The new cinematic had had voice-overs. There must have been some connection.

"I'll bet this is all some publicity stunt by Nintendo," she grumbled as she set off again.

"Mayb-- oh holy hell!"

They had just reached the top of a sharp hill, where the path curled in on itself briefly before plunging steeply downward. The deepest part of the empty ditch lay directly adjacent to the path, a lone cottonwood towering over it. An old knotted rope hung from one of the branches, presumably kids had once used it to swing into the ditch when it was full of water. But it wasn't the tree that caught their attention.

Her first thought was "Chrono Trigger." Her second was "Terminator." Suspended in the air above the ditch hung a swirling vortex of blue, white, and black. Electricity crackled all around it, occasionally lancing into the ground.

"Wh…what is that thing?"

"I…I have no idea. I have no frickin' idea."

They stood in silence, watching the light ripple across the surface of the vortex.

"…I don't like it." Startled, Julie turned to her companion. His eyes were narrowed in a mixture of confusion and suspicion. "This stinks. Something bad is happening here."

Julie returned her gaze to the vortex. "…I think so too."

Whether the noises were coming from the thing or not, Julie no longer cared. She just wanted to get away. The whole place felt...thin. Stretched. She had the irrational fear that she would fall through the ground any moment, like it were made of paper.

Thunder boomed, so close that it rattled Julie's eardrums with the volume.

"Let's get out of here!" the jogger said. "That was way too close for-"

He got cut off as lightning struck the cottonwood, and Julie screamed, stumbling backwards as she was showered with debris. Her foot slipped, and she tumbled down the incline of the ditch. The jogger leaped forward, trying to stop her fall, but he was too late. She rolled down the incline and fell right into the vortex.

A/N: Some notes on setting: Ecklewood is not a real town, I made it up for the purpose of this fanfiction. Don't bother trying to look it up on mapquest. (Some people do this. I have no idea why, but whatever floats your boat). This story is set in 2000, so the Gamecube isn't around yet and Twilight Princess will not feature at all.

I would like to note that while this began many years ago as a self insertion fic, Julie is no longer me. We've developed in different ways since I first started writing her.

You know what's really depressing? Looking at a horribly written old story, going back to rewrite it, and then realizing you haven't improved nearly as much as you thought you had. Oh, well. At least it doesn't make my eyes bleed anymore.

I may or may not rewrite the rest, boredom and time depending. I don't even know why I redid this chapter, I have other better things to work on. Hnm.