Disclaimer: Legend of Zelda doesn't belong to meh! This disclaimer goes for all the other chapters. :)
A/N: I haven't been to this site in the longest time, so I hope nobody has posted a story with the same idea as this recently. Plus I'm too lazy to check. x.X But if there is a story, I'd just like to say that I haven't read it and am NOT copying your idea. It was pure coincidence. Plus I wrote this a long time ago and just decided to post it now. :D
Anyway, this fic's based on the annoying yet fun side quest you do in Ocarina of Time. Yay! R+R? Feedback would be awesome!
+ From Egg to Sword – chap.o1 +
Link was scared.
Very scared.
Extremely, unnecessarily, scared.
"Would you stop shaking?! That poor thing might get brain damage when it hatches!" Navi scolded the "hero." Link jumped at her voice and almost dropped the cucco egg he had received the night before last. The fairy slapped her forehead. "And you're the Hero of Time?"
Link just smiled sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. "Heh, sorry Nav..."
While the Hero of Time wasn't afraid of Moblins, Stalfos or Iron Knuckles (well, maybe a little bit of an Iron Knuckle), he did have a strange, slight phobia of cuccos. Looking at a picture of a cucco made him shudder. Being near a cucco made him have the urge to run and hide. Hey, everyone was scared of something, right?
"Remind me why you agreed doing this?" Navi asked, floating mindlessly around the tree they rested at.
"That cucco lady, Anju, right? She asked if we could take care of this new cucco for her," replied Link, smiling nervously at his partner. "She looked so busy; I couldn't say no..."
Navi ceased her flittering and took a seat on Epona's back. The horse, which had her legs folded under her so she could rest, didn't pay any mind to the blue light on her backside. "You know what, Link. Sometimes you're just too nice."
"Or maybe you're too mean!"
She blinked. "... Didn't we have this conversation before and it blew up in our faces?" (A/N: See OoT manga.)
"... Oh yeah."
"... Sorry."
"... Me too."
Epona nibbled on some grass, used to their squabbling. Link sighed tiredly and unfolded his legs to stretch them out some more. The three were in a large, clear part of Hyrule Field, relaxing contently. Putting the egg on his stomach, Link lay back and stared at the clouds floating by. 'Twas almost the high point of noon, the pale purple of early evening skies slowly brightening into a bright blue. He closed his eyes in relaxation.
Suddenly, something began to tremble atop his stomach. Link opened his eyes and looked down to see the egg shaking like mad, cracks beginning to appear. Then the top popped off, revealing a white head with large, black, beady eyes staring right into Link's midnight blue ones.
He screamed.
"AAAAAAAAHHHHH! GET IT OFFF! NAVIIII!" Scrambling up from the floor and yelling while doing so, he ran behind Epona's resting figure and peeked up from behind her. Epona got up and trotted away. Link sweatdropped. And during that entire process, he had knocked the egg off him and it rolled a few feet away, letting the chicken climb out of its place.
Navi and Link did a double take. The chicken was... well, a chicken! Chickens are NOT supposed to be chicken when they hatch! They're supposed to be chicks! Right?
"It's a chicken!" Link yelled, pointing his index finger at it accusingly.
The fairy shrugged. "Well, Anju did say that it was a "special" cucco, right? So..."
"... Yeah..."
"... Pick it up."
The hero shook his head. "No way Nav, YOU pick it up!"
She gave him an exasperated look. "Do you THINK I can pick it up?!"
"... Aww." Gulping, Link stood and tip-toed to the chicken, and after a little hesitation picked it up slowly.
Navi squealed and flitted over to her companion and the animal in his arms. "Look at it Link, isn't it just adorable?" She flew over in front of the chicken and began stroking it with her small hands. "Aww, aren't you just the cutest thing! You're so cute, yes you are! Who's the little cutey? Who's the little cutey? You are! You—" She squeaked in surprise as the chicken opened its mouth and tried to swallow her whole. "Ack! Not cute anymore! Not cute!"
Link sweatdropped. "Err, so what exactly do we do with this thing anyway?"
"I think it'd be a good idea to tell Anju," Navi suggested. "She'll want to know."
"Okey dokey." Link walked over to his faithful steed and lifted a leg up, sticking his foot into one of the stirrups and hoisting himself over Epona's back. With a shout, he grabbed onto some mane and urged Epona to the direction of Kakariko Village.
x – x – x
"Oww, stop eating my hair, would you!"
"Oh Link, just let it! You're so fussy— EEK!" Navi shrieked in fear as the cucco tried to eat her again. She glared daggers at it. "Why you. Imma get you one of these days..."
Rolling his eyes, Link continued through Kakariko and scaled the brief stairs, the cucco all the while nibbling on his hat/hair. Eventually he stopped right behind Anju who was watching her cuccos boredly.
Link cleared his throat. "Ahe—"
The cucco interrupted him. "COCKLE-DOODLE-DOOOOO!"
"MOMMY!" Anju shrieked, jumping up. "CHICKENS? CHICKENS! AAIIIIEEEE!" She then whirled around and ran right into a shocked-looking Link. Both fell to the ground, Link on his bum with Anju beside him on her stomach. The cucco was resting happily above the Hero's head, this time pecking on his skull.
He snatched it from his head, holding it out to Anju. "HERE, IT'S YOURS!"
Anju blinked, then rolled on her side and propped herself up with her right elbow. She stared at the white animal in his hands. After a moment of contemplating, she answered, "It's not happy."
"You aren't exactly a chipper person either."
"Yes I am!" she said confidently. "You bring it back when it's happy!" She smiled, satisfied with her rather unwitty reply. Anju got up, brushing the grass off her dress and walked away, leaving Link sitting on the floor with the cucco still in his arms. It began pecking at his gauntlets.
Sighing, the hero got up also to brush the dirt and grass off his tunic. He turned to his partner. "Nav?"
She blinked. "Yes?"
"How do you make a chicken happy?"
She blinked again. "Try giving it food."
Shrugging, Link dug into his pockets and withdrew a piece of corn from a previous meal. How a piece of corn sneaked into his pocket was beyond him... but either way, he held it out to the cucco, a bit nervous. "Uh, here. Eat it."
The cucco blinked at the morsel of food.
Then it bit him.
"AAHHH! NAVIIII! GET IT OFFFF!" He ran around in circles, screaming while at the same time waving his arms like a crazy person, the cucco refusing to let go. Link bolted out of the area and into a nearby house, the fairy following close by.
"HELP ME SOMEONE!" He yelled as he entered the house.
Noticing a snoring man laying on the bed, the cucco released Link's finger and happily waddled towards it, leaping up on the mattress. Link, Navi, and the two ladies residing in the house watched quietly.
"COCKLE-DOODLE-DOOOO!" The white animal screeched into the man's ear.
"WHAT IN TARNATION!" Link recognized the man as Talon, the lazy father of Malon, whom he had received Epona from. Obviously the yell said everything... Talon sat up abruptly and fell off the bed. The hero rushed towards the man.
"Oh Goddesses Talon, I'm really sorry! I lost control of this cucco and it didn't mean to wake you up like that, I think... um... are you okay?" Groaning, the bearded man got to his feet, mumbling.
"... Who're you?"
Link sweatdropped. "I'm Link, from seven years ago! I used to come into the barn with all those chickens and we'd play that game where I had to get three "special" cuccos from all of them and you'd offer me Malon's hand in marriage but I was too young and refused so instead you gave me a bottle of milk, remember?" He explained in one breath. When he finished, he bent over and sighed heavily.
"... Oh yeah!" He suddenly grabbed Link's shoulders, shaking him roughly. "Link! Do you know what happened to my precious Mal? Is she locked up in a cell with a bunch of schizophrenics? I pray to Din not... they'll feed her shrimp! And knowin' my baby, the poor girl'll break out into hives and be scratchin' at her bottom all week..."
Link ignored that last part and smacked the frantic Talon away. "Look, I managed to rid that ranch of that weird curse Ganondorf put. Malon and Ingo are safe now," he reassured the grown man. The mustached-man drew a sigh of relief. "I also managed to earn Epona. Malon said I could have her; she's like a thanks for saving the ranch."
Talon laughed, patting Link on the back roughly. "I knew you had it in you, kid! Thanks so much! I'm gonna return to the ranch RIGHT NOW!"
"Right now? But don't you have some stu—" Before Link could finish his sentence, Talon had already bolted out of the house, screaming a "yee-haw!" and clapping his feet (in the air) while doing so. The green-clothed man watched from the doorway, grinning proudly. He turned to Navi, smiling. "Another good deed done! I feel so good."
"That's what you said when we left the ranch with Epona," Navi said boredly, flying over to the chicken-like animal on the floor. She inspected it. "... Yanno what, I think it's happy."
"Really?" Walking over to his fairy and the animal, he picked it up and stared at its strangely over-happy face. "..."
Flitting over to doorway, Navi urged Link to return the animal back to Anju. Agreeing, the two headed out of the house and towards the cucco pen.
The two ladies that resided in the house blinked, and then looked at each other. "... That sure was strange." The lady in red scratched her head.
Shrugging, the other lady in blue sighed. "That cucco reminded me so much of my dear Richard...!"
The red-clad lady inched away.
x – x – x
Running up the stairs, Link paused in front of the cucco pen and Anju, who, once again, had her back facing towards him. Link put a hand on Anju's shoulder.
"EEK!" She screamed, suddenly grabbing Link's hand. With a bizarre, Chinese-like cry, she flipped the hero right over her head and he landed with a hard THUD! on the ground in front of her. She got into a battle stance, one foot in front of the other, knees bent slightly, with her right palm outwards and the left hand withdrawn and closed into a fist.
"HooooOOOooaaaAAAHHHhhhhHHH!" Her eyes were closed as she rolled her head around in a strange manner.
Link stared up at her, horrified.
Finally opening her eyes, Anju saw whom exactly she flipped. Gasping, the cucco lady got out of her "stance" and put both hands over her mouth. "Oh my! Link!"
"... How's it goin'," he grumbled.
"Oh dear, let me help you up!" The red-haired woman ran over and grabbed Link's left arm, helping him to his feet. "Please forgive me, I didn't mean to!"
"Eh, it's okay, things like that happen."
Anju sweatdropped. "I'm sorry again. Anyway, what brings you back here?"
"Well, I've managed to make your cucco happy!" He said proudly, pointing behind her. Anju turned around and saw her little cucco standing near the pen, that strange, freaky grin still on its small face.
"Aww!" Squealing, Anju took the cucco into her arms, hugging it 'til it turned a strange shade of blue.
"Err, Anju?" Link tapped the girl on the shoulder. "Anju!" She didn't respond, still hugging her cucco to death. Link stared at the poor creature. "... ANJU! YOU'RE KILLING YOUR CHICKEN!"
"OH NOOO!"
Link sweatdropped for the God-knows-how-many time in this story. "So the cucco is happy! Do I get an award? " Though the hero seemed like a greedy (beep) right now, he really wasn't; he just wanted to know if there was any reward.
And, in fact, there was. "Yep! Here you go!" She reached into the cucco pen and withdrew something the color of the sky...
"ANOTHER CUCCO?!"
Anju nodded happily and handed it to Link. He took it silently. "Yes! His name is Cojiro. He used to belong to my long lost brother in which I have no idea what happened to him." She paused, looking down at the floor with a pained expression.
Link lifted a hand. "Um—"
"Please take care of him, okay? I'm counting on you!" She turned around and began to tend to her animals.
He blinked. "... But... I... cuccos..."
Navi began to laugh.
Link just stood there with a crestfallen expression on his face, staring down at the azure animal, which was gazing back at him with those large, black, beady eyes. "Oi..."
+ tBc . . . +
- naGami c.