In the land of Hyrule, there echoes a legend. A legend held dearly by the Royal Family that tells of a boy...
A boy who, after battling evil and saving Hyrule, crept away from the land that made him a legend...
Done with the battles he once raged across time, he embarked on a journey. A secret and personal journey...
A journey in search of a beloved and invaluable friend...
A friend with whom he parted ways when he finally fulfilled his heroic destiny and took his place among legends...
"Navi? Navi! Where are you? Navi?"
Link rode on Epona through the Lost Woods. How he got Epona in the Lost Woods in the first place, it remains a mystery. He had the Kokiri Sword and the Hylian Shield on his back. Ever since he had saved Zelda and Hyrule from Ganondorf, he had prepared for anything else that might happen, so now he was able to use the sword better, as well as being able to hold his shield. Link wiped the sweat off of his forehead. He had been searching for Navi for almost a year, now, yet he had found no sign of her.
"For the love of Nayru, it's been a year, now! It can't be that hard to find ONE fairy!"
Epona whinnied, signalling that she saw something. Link misinterpreted it, thinking it was just a friendly neigh. Link petted Epona's mane. "Aw, don't worry, girl. We'll find her. I still can't believe Malon just gave you to me. Going away gift, I guess?" Link sighed, and remembered back to Lon Lon Ranch.
{Flashback}
Link entered Lon Lon Ranch, passing the house and barn, and went straight to the field where the horses galloped. He saw Malon in the middle of the field, singing her song to Epona. Link slowly approached her. "Malon?" Malon turned around. Her face beamed with excitement. "Link! Oh, it's so good to see you!" She ran up and hugged Link. "I thought I wouldn't see you again. You were gone for a while. What happened?" Link scratched the back of his head. "Well, it's kind of a long story, Malon. Long story short, I traveled to the future with the help of the Ocarina of Time and the Master Sword, defeated six temples to awaken six sages, obtained the light arrows, defeated Ganondorf and saved Hyrule, along with Princess Zelda."
Malon's eyes widened. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. "You... you went to the future?" Link nodded. Malon's smile grew wider than ever before. She jumped up and down in excitement. "EEEK! I can't believe you actually went to the future! Did you see me? What did I look like? What did my dad look like? What did Mister Ingo look like?" Link stopped Malon from jumping. "Settle down, Malon. One question at a time." Malon rolled her eyes. "Ingo and your father looked the same as they did before, except with a few minor changes. For a time, Ingo actually owned the ranch and sent your father away." Malon's eyes widened. "What about me? What did he do to me?" "Ingo kept you around," Link said, "But he worked your fingers to the bone." Malon started to seem a little scared at the thought. "He treated you like crap. I should know, I saw him yelling at you for dropping a bucket of milk on accident." Link paused for a bit. "He... he... he even beat you." Malon shook her head. "Please stop, Link!"
Link smiled. "But, one day, a handsome young man who had recently turned eighteen visited the ranch to see his old friend, only to find her very miserable. So that man walked up to Ingo and challenged him to a horse race. If the man won, he would win fifty rupees and the horse he rode. If he lost, he would be kicked off of the ranch forever. The man beat Ingo and won his friend's favorite horse. But Ingo locked him up in the ranch with no way to escape. Eventually, the man found a way out of the ranch, escaping with the horse. Ingo freaked out and went crazy, knowing that Ganondorf would punish him severely if he found out that he had given away the best horse in Hyrule to another person. Eventually, the girl took charge and told Ingo to shape up or ship out. Ingo became a simple man who never complained. Days later, the man came back with the girl's father and her favorite horse intact. And in the end, the man won the heart of the farm girl."
Malon rolled her eyes at Link's story. "Wow, how long did it take you to come up with that story?" Link frowned. "I didn't make it up. It's true." Malon sighed. "Well... what about me?" Link raised an eyebrow. "What about you?" Malon got closer. "Duh, fairy boy. What do I look like in the future?" Link turned slightly red. "Uh...well...uh...you...you had long, fiery red hair...uh...very blue eyes..." Malon rolled her eyes. "Link, I have that already. Come on, tell me what I looked like. Did I look pretty?" Link smiled. "Beautiful." Malon blushed a little bit.
Link sighed. "Malon, there's something I have to tell you." "What is it," Malon asked. Link took a deep breath before he spoke. "Something's come up... and I have to leave Hyrule." Malon's eyes widened in shock. "W-What?" "I have to leave," Link repeated. "I'm sorry." Malon shook her head. "No, no, no, you don't have to leave. You can stay here." Link sighed. "It's a... personal matter, Malon. I have to go. I'm sorry." Link hugged Malon and started making his way towards the gate. Malon stopped him before he could pass the house. "Wait, Link. If you're gonna leave... at least let me give you something before you go." Link sighed again. "Look, Malon, I know you like me and all, but if we do that right now, it's just gonna be harder for us to-" Malon whistled and Epona came rushing over. The horse nuzzled up to Malon. "I want you to take Epona with you." Link's eyes widened. "Oh. Uh. Yeah. Sure, I'll take her." Malon raised an eyebrow. "Well, yeah. What did you think I was gonna..."
Link hopped onto Epona and slowly started to ride out of the ranch. "Wait," Malon called out. Link turned around. "Yeah?" Malon slowly walked over to him. "Link... please promise me you'll come back." Link smiled and nodded. "I will, Malon." And with that, Link rode out of the ranch and made his way towards Kokiri Forest.
{End Flashback}
Epona neighed again and reared up, sending Link flying off and hitting his head on the ground, hard. He laid on his stomach, unconscious. Two fairies peeked out from in front of the horse. One had a yellow glow and the other was purple. They both snickered at the sight of Link laying unconscious. Then, both of their attention turned to the figure behind them, laughing his head off. He was a skull kid, but he wore a strange mask. It was in the shape of a heart and had spikes sticking out of each of the sides; eight on bottom, four on each side, and two on top, one on each side. The mask had two large orange pupils that seemed to stare into your soul. The mask was a mix of colors, with the main color being purple. The skull kid laughed again. He lifted his mask to get a good look at the sight in front of him. He saw Link lying on the ground and Epona neighing. He looked to the two fairies.
"Haha, you two fairies did great! Let's see if he's got anything good on him."
The skull kid slowly approached the horse and it's master. He kicked Link onto his back and patted him down, seeing if he had anything good on him. He found a few things but just threw them off, seeing as he wasn't interested in them. "Hmm... Slingshot? Nah. A hammer? Nope." The skull kid threw the hammer behind him, almost hitting one of the fairies. "Hey, watch it," the yellow fairy called out. Finally, the skull kid found something he liked. He opened a pocket on Link's tunic and pulled out an Ocarina. He lifted it up and took a look at it. The purple fairy piped up.
"Ooh! Ooh! What a pretty ocarina. Hey, Skull Kid, let me touch it! I wanna try!"
The yellow fairy bumped into the purple fairy, showing she was obviously a bit angry. "You can't, Tael! What if we dropped it and broke it? I'm not letting you touch it!" The purple fairy slumped his shoulders. "Aw, come on, Sis. Why can't I try it out too?" A bit of rustling was heard from behind the three, but they payed it no mind. Probably just the horse.
"Ahem..."
The two fairies turned around and let off warning dings when they saw Link staring back at them. Skull Kid slowly turned around. He let out a yelp when he saw Link and tried to hide the ocarina from him. Link gave him a confused look, but backed away slowly. Suddenly, Link lunged forward in an attempt to grab the ocarina, only to have Skull Kid jump high into the air and land on his horse. Epona reared up and started to gallop away out of fright. Link quickly jumped and grabbed onto Epona's leg. He held on with all his might, trying his best not to fall off. Eventually, they came to a turn off where Skull Kid sharply turned right. Link lost his strength and let go of Epona. He was launched into a pile of grass. The Skull Kid laughed again and rode off with his horse.
Link slowly got back up after regaining his strength. He took a step forward and stepped on an overgrown patch of grass. The patch of grass let out a scream. "CODE RED, CODE RED! WE GOT A HUMAN!" All of the grass got up and started to run away. Link couldn't figure out what happened, but he knew he had to get Epona back. He ran forward and into the cave that Skull Kid rode into.
On the other side, he found some overgrown stumps leading to a cave entrance. Link raised an eyebrow. "Wait... this looks like a dead end." Link shook off any thoughts he had and ran forward. He jumped on the first one and then to the next one. He did a cartwheel onto the second one, then a frontflip onto the third one. He did a second cartwheel on the fourth one and finally landed a backflip on the last one. Link wiped off his forehead. "Phew, that training Impa gave me sure payed off." Link charged forward and ran into the cave.
He saw nothing but darkness as he ran through the cave. He didn't know what was on the other side, but he had to find out. He made it out, but-
"Woah!"
Link stopped right as he was about to fall into a giant hole. "Phew, that was a close one. I almost made the biggest mistake of my life."
A blue ball of light appeared out of nowhere behind Link. "Hi, Link!"
"AAAAH!" Link was surprised by what he heard and fell off without even thinking. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH"
The ball of light looked down the hole. "Oops..." A figure approached the ball of light. She had short green hair, green boots, green... Green everything. "Navi, did you find Link?" Navi turned around to face the figure. "Yeah, Saria. But he fell down this hole. And there's no WAY I'm going down there." Saria looked down the hole. "Do you think he'll be okay?" Navi shrugged. "Meh, he'll be fine."
