The first in a trilogy!
Welcome to Oracle of Seasons: Retold, everyone!
Yes, I have other Retold stories that I could be working on, but I just feel like giving the old school games some love today! Plus, OoS is one of the closest games I have on-hand, along with Link's Awakening, Oracle of Seasons, Zelda 1, Zelda 2, Link Between Worlds and Ocarina of Time. Because I have them all on my 3DS. Why don't I work on the last two? Well, OoT is getting an overhaul and LBW... haven't really found the time to.
With that all aside, my name is Zehro and I'll be your guide through the mysterious world of Holodrum. Enjoy the show
{Oracle of Seasons: Retold}
[Prologue: The Hero of Legend?]
A young boy approached one of the stands in the village. "Oh, hello there young lad," the man greeted. "What can I do for you today?" The boy took a look at some of the products lined up on the shelf. "I'll take six of your freshest apples, sir."
"Comin' right up!" he said as he grabbed six apples from the row they were in and stuffed them in a bag for the kid. "That'll be twenty rupees." The boy dug around in his pockets for the money to give the man.
"STOP RIGHT THERE!" a guard shouted as he tackled a random passerby. The shopkeeper and the boy turned to look at the sight. The captain marched up and pulled the guard onto his feet. "You idiot! Does that look even remotely close to who we're looking for?!"
The shopkeeper laughed. "Oh, boy. Looks like another failed attempt at catching whoever is responsible for all the crimes being committed. Always a funny spectacle, I tell ya. Anyways, kid, that'll be-" He was cut off midsentence when he saw that the apples he had gotten for the kid had disappeared in thin air. Along with the kid.
"Hey!" he shouted. "Theif! Guards! He went that way!" The captain and the rest of his men turned to see the boy running away with a sackful of apples. They wasted no time in chasing him down. The boy turned into an alley with the guards hot on his tail. He turned to the right. To the left. Right. Left. Right. Left. Straight. Left. Right. Until finally, he hit a dead end. He had nowhere to run to and the guards were approaching quickly.
The captain rounded the corner the boy had gone down and cornered the kid. "I finally gotcha!" he shouted. The boy turned back to see the captain, along with the rest of the guards, blocking the way out. "You thought you could trick me? But you can't!"
"Um, sir?"one of the guards interrupted. "He's just a kid. He can't be responsible for all those robberies." The captain didn't turn around, but he acknowledged the guard's question. "Of course he is! Kids are getting craftier and craftier these days." He turned his attention to the boy. "Alright, kid. You're outnumbered. Just surrender and we'll only throw you in the dungeon for three years, max."
The kid sighed. "I guess this is the end of the line for me. I'm sorry, sir. It's just that I was really hungry and I didn't have enough money and- DEKU NUT FLASH!" He threw a Deku nut on the ground, temporarily blinding everyone there. With nowhere else to run to, he wall-jumped his way out and ran off."
"Does anyone here know which way he went?!" the captain shouted to the rest of his men after he regained his eyesight. They promptly shook their heads. "Dammit!" he exclaimed. "Multiple complaints... multiple requests for us to bring in this ONE kid, a KID for Goddess' sake, and we can't even arrest him?!"
"He's a crafty one, sir..." one of the soldiers managed to spit out. He promptly received a smack to the back of the head. "I don't care if it takes us weeks, months or YEARS to track him down!" he screamed. "I WANT HIM FOUND!
The boy hopped and skipped from one roof to another until he eventually made it back to a secluded part of town. Not too far off from Hyrule Castle, there was a little alcove off to the side where the boy called home. It was further off, so nobody would notice it right away. As he pushed aside the brush and entered his home, he took off his sock hat, placed the apples on his bed and began digging into his lunch.
"Aaah," he sighed. "Another successful day. Sure was a close call with those guards. Now they know what I look like... maybe I'm being a little too carefree... nah. I'm a professional. There's no way they'll ever catch me: the infamous-"
"Link Avalon," a voice came from outside. Link immediately reached for his sword and pointed it towards the entrance. "You can put your sword down, Link. It's just me." the voice said again. Taking another close listen, Link realized who it was and immediately put his sword up. He slowly parted the brush and peeked outside to see a girl, about the same age as him, dressed in royal garments.
"Well, well, if it isn't the princess of Hyrule, come to visit me personally," Link mocked. "What's up, Zelda?" Zelda pushed him aside and entered his humble abode. "You're up, Link. The captain of my royal guard has reported to me that you were the one responsible for all of the recent crimes that have been occurring in Castle Town."
"What?" Link questioned in a falsetto tone. "Your 'captain of the royal guard' is full of it." Zelda grabbed the sack of stolen apples from off of his bed. "Then do you care to explain this?" she asked. Link shrugged. "I got hungry."
"Where did you get these?"
"From a vendor on the street."
"Did you steal them?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because I was hungry."
"Why didn't you just pay for it?"
"I didn't have the money."
"And why don't you have any money?"
"Because people are starting to suspect me of pickpocketing. Can you believe that?"
"Have you been pickpocketing?"
"That's irrelevant."
"Haven't you heard of something called a job?"
"Nobody's hiring. Even if I did, they wouldn't hire me."
"And why not?"
"Because of all the crimes I committed."
Zelda went silent for a second.
"...oops," Link muttered after a long pause.
Zelda let out a long exasperated sigh and sat down on Link's bed. "You're really making it hard for me to defend you, Link. You're one of my best friends and we've known each other since we were kids."
"I know that," Link groaned, joining Zelda on the bed. "Look, Zelda. Let me be honest with you. How is a kid with no parents, no relatives, no money, no job and no life supposed to get by? I have to steal these things to live."
"You know, I remember a time when we would just play all day together and not get into trouble. When you were kind and innocent. Now, you're stealing food, outsmarting the guards, cheating the system itself. ...where's that old Link? The Link that I remember?"
Link waved his hand in front of Zelda's face. "Hey, I'm still here. I just, y'know, gotta do what I gotta do." Zelda sighed. "I can't keep covering for you. Eventually, my father is going to hear about your crimes. And once he does, we'll never be able to see each other again. Is our friendship really worth this life of crime?"
"Don't get all dramatic with me, Zelda," Link groaned. "This is the life I live now. I'd like for things to go back to the way they were, but that just can't happen now. I'm a thief. I'm a criminal. That's what I am, and that's what I always will be."
Zelda sighed again. "I was hoping I wouldn't have to resort to this..." she thought to herself. "Link... have you ever gotten the feeling that you were destined for something great? That instead of being a criminal to all, you could be a hero to all?"
"Oh, for the love of... you're not gonna lecture me on that ancient hero crap, are you?"
"It's not crap, Link!" Zelda shouted. "It's true! You and I both know you're a descendant of the ancient Hero of Time. You are capable of so much more. Yet you choose to live a life of crime?! What kind of hero are you?!"
"Just shut up!" Link shouted back. "I'm not a hero! My ancestor might have been but I'm not! And I never will be!"
"But the symbol on the back of your hand-"
"It's just a birthmark..." Link said flatly. "There's nothing special about it. It doesn't glow like the Hero of Time's did. There's no ancient sword that I'm going to draw out of a withered old pedestal. And there's no pig wizard that I'm gonna fight to save you from."
"Link..."
"I will never be a hero. In fact, I think I'm better off as a villain," Link finished.
"If that's how you truly feel," Zelda started as she stood up and faced him. Before Link could react, shackles were placed on his hands. "Link Avalon, you are under arrest!" "Zelda!" Link shouted in surprise. Zelda grabbed the chain of his shackles and tugged him along to the castle.
"Zelda, stop it!" Link ordered as he tried to break himself free.
"You made me do this, Link! I had no choice," Zelda told him as they made their way into the castle. A few guards had surrounded themselves around Link so he wouldn't try to make an escape.
"Why are you doing this to me?! I thought you were my friend!"
"The kingdom comes first, Link. I'm sorry, but I can't have you causing trouble in my kingdom."
"But this isn't fair! You tricked me! You betrayed me! You... you traitor!" Link shouted.
Zelda stopped promptly. "I'm the traitor?! You turned to a life of crime and spat on our friendship and I'M the traitor?!"
"If you were really my friend, you wouldn't have turned me in!"
"If you were really my friend, you would stop this nonsense and just turn yourself in!"
"If you were really my friend, you'd support my lifestyle and just move on!"
"I can't do that! If you were really my friend, then you would know that I can't make any exceptions for anyone!"
"And if you were really my friend, you'd take these chains off of me and forgive me! You wouldn't sit there and lecture me on how my life could be and should be and you would NEVER turn your back on me like you're doing now!"
Zelda turned back around and started walking again. "You're right. I guess we're not friends anymore," she said flatly.
Without warning, Link jerked the chain Zelda was holding out of her hand and headbutted one of the guards in the gut. Not one of his best ideas, but he was still able to get out of Zelda's reach. "I'm out of here!" he shouted. He ran down one of the corridors of the castle, leaving Zelda and her guards behind in the dust.
Zelda turned to her guards. "Well don't just stand there! Seize him!" she ordered as she ran down the corridor after him. The guards followed shortly after.
Link turned down a hallway in one of the corridors and kept running until he stumbled upon a strange looking room. There were no windows, no other exits and only one way out: the way he came in. The room itself looked like an altar. What it was dedicated to, he was unsure. As he approached it, he saw three triangles lined up in a row. Once he got close enough, one of the triangles seemed to start to react. A faint light was shining off of it and it started to spin more and more rapidly as Link got closer. As soon as Link got next to it though, it stopped and just floated there. Link slowly lifted his hand up to touch it.
"He went down this way!" Zelda's voice could be heard behind them, along with rapidly approaching footsteps. Just then, Link got a devious idea. "This oughta teach Zelda that I'm not one to mess with. I'll just steal these glowing triangles from right under her nose!" He quickly grabbed hold of the glowing relic in front of him, but was quickly blinded by a bright flash of light. "There he is!" Zelda shouted as she burst into the room, accompanied by her guards.
Then... everything went black.
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O, ye with the crest on thy left hand...
...shall undertake the trial of the Triforce...
Accept our quest, hero!