It was easily the earliest time that Link had ever (voluntarily) awoken, and also the first time that he was excited to wake up. But then again, who wasn't? He surveyed his small group of friends and, sure enough, they were all just as excited as he was.
"Nice hat," Hilda commented.
"Thanks," Ravio responded, pulling up his purple bunny hood to show his face.
"Are you the Easter bunny?" Gulley asked, eyes wide.
"Nope," Ravio responded. "But I sure do like the guy; he gives us all these neat eggs, not to mention that they're free!"
"You ready?" Zelda bumped Link's shoulder with her own. She grinned. "Because I sure am."
Link nodded, and then placed down his empty Easter basket. "Me too," he signed with his now free hands.
"I just hope that Ravio doesn't try and sell off his eggs." Zelda giggled.
Link nodded. "I'll make sure," he signed, "not to buy any if he does."
"Good." Zelda looked around the grassy field, the sun shining off of her golden blond hair. "Hey, I heard that there are going to be three golden Easter eggs this year. Isn't that great? What's even better is that you apparently get great prizes with them. Do you have any idea what might be inside?"
Link shook his head, blond hair flying in front of his eyes. He wiped it away.
"Me neither, but I bet that they're great."
"Hey!" a familiar voice called.
Link looked into the distance, seeing a familiar blue haired girl and her grandmother. He began to run over to her, waving as he did so.
"Hey, Irene!" Zelda called. "We were wondering where you were!"
"My gran and I were a bit busy, but we made it! I just hope that we aren't late for the egg hunt."
The two groups met, each trying to catch their breath. Link again placed down his Easter basket.
"Don't worry," Zelda responded. "You aren't. We're still waiting."
"Good," Irene's grandmother spoke. "I really needed to finish gathering my ingredients before getting here. Sorry about that, Irene, but it truly was important."
"Don't worry about it, Gram." She smiled. "So, who is ready to find some eggs?"
All of the children raised their hands. Link looked out to the grassy fields. A few eggs were easy to see, the ones that the adults hadn't bothered to hide well. But there were definitely more hidden out there - Link would just have to find them.
"I'm glad that you're all so excited." Irene's grandmother began to rummage around in the faded brown messenger bag strapped to her side. She pulled out six small bottles, each filled with brightly colored juices. "I brought these in case any of you got thirsty while looking for eggs." She passed them out, Link getting a red one. He signed his thanks.
"Thank you," Zelda said, holding the bottle filled with blue juice close.
"Thank you as well," Hilda added. She hit Ravio lightly on the side.
"Yeah, thanks," Ravio said.
"Your potions are the best, Gran." Irene grinned, and then opened her bottle of green juice. "I'll try my best to find that golden egg just for you."
"Oh, it was nothing, children." She smiled down at each of them.
"Link," Gulley said, looking over to him. "Even though my dad complains about you always waking up late, we both know that you're strong. Could you please open this for me?"
Link nodded, and then took the bottle from him. He opened it with ease, and then handed the bottle of purple juice back to him.
"Thank you! You're the best, Link!"
"Hello, everyone," another familiar voice called. Principal Yuga stood tall, a megaphone in his hands. "I'm so glad to see that some students bothered to attend this otherwise bland and useless event. Why the school board insists on having it, I do not know." He cleared his throat. "Anyway, we should all be ready to start looking for eggs. Inside, you will find small toys and candy. Three golden eggs are also hidden throughout the park, but you will need to either show your wisdom, power, or courage to get them. Remember, no fighting over eggs, children."
"He could sound a bit more excited," Irene's grandmother commented.
Irene and Zelda giggled.
"The egg hunt can begin!"
Link burst out running, headed past the more easy to find eggs. He didn't need those, and they would get him nowhere near finding the coveted golden eggs. No, what he needed was to start looking where other people weren't. Whoever saw the other golden eggs certainly weren't going to share them.
A few adults yelled again for the children to stay safe, but let them have their fun.
Link got to a bush and began to look around. He immediately found a dark purple egg, and gladly picked it up and put it inside of his basket. It may not have been golden, but it was slightly heavy when he picked it up. That meant there had to be something good inside.
He looked around the bush really quickly, and then was able to spot another egg. This one was light green, though it was a bit less heavy. Still, an egg was an egg.
Leaving the bush, he continued his journey. Around him, his friends were also hunting for eggs, shouting out in glee whenever they got one. From what he could see, none had yet to find a golden egg.
Link had twelve eggs, all of them brightly colored but not gold, when he heard a shout.
"I found one!" Hilda called. "I found a golden egg!"
He turned in the direction where she had called, his jaw nearly hitting the ground. She wasn't lying; Hilda stood tall, a golden egg held high above her head.
"I found the first golden egg!"
He didn't wait any longer looking; he took off running as fast as his legs would take him. He needed to find another golden egg, and fast. There were only two left.
"Hey, Link!"
Link stopped in his tracks, turning towards the voice.
"Link," Irene said, catching up with him. "Have you had any luck finding the golden egg?"
He shook his head.
"Me neither," she responded. "It seems that nobody has. Hilda's really happy though, and luckily she doesn't seem intent on taking any other golden eggs. That's good." She paused, looking away from him. "The thing is, I want to make a deal with you."
Link raised an eyebrow.
"I don't want to get really competitive over this." She reached out her hand towards him. "So, what do you think? If one of us finds the golden egg, we promise to show the other what's inside. Deal?"
Link nodded, taking her hand. The two gave a firm shake.
"I'm having a lot of fun." Irene placed her basket down and then took her bottle of juice. She opened it, taking a long swig. "What about you?"
Link placed his own basket down. "It was definitely worth getting up early for," he signed back.
"You know, I was actually worried about you being late and missing out on the fun, sleepy head."
Link rolled his eyes.
"But hey, I was nearly late myself, so guess that I can't say anything." She looked down to his basket. "Hey, you're doing great.
Link beamed.
"I think that I'm doing good too. I can't wait to see what are in these!" She picked her basket up again. "So, you want to start looking again?"
Link nodded, picking his own basket back up.
"Then let's go!" Irene took off running in the opposite direction of him, but when he looked back to her, she shot him a thumbs up. Quickly, he gave her one as well.
His next few eggs weren't golden, but they were pretty heavy. Link smiled as he got each on. Some of them had a bit of dirt on them, but he didn't mind. What mattered was what was on the inside, and all he could do was guess on its contents.
Right as he was wrapping his hands around a bright red egg, he heard another shout.
"A golden egg, I found it!"
Link turned.
Zelda held the egg up to her face, observing it. "I did it!"
No wonder Zelda found it, Link thought. She's the smartest girl in class. She probably knew right where to look.
He started running again. There was only one egg left, and far too many other people were after it. With another burst of speed, he took off running to where he hoped that he would find it.
How much time had passed? Maybe minutes, or perhaps whole hours. Either way, Link had a basket that was getting a bit heavy with eggs, none of them golden. No one else had cried out that they had the last golden egg, so at least he still had a chance.
The sun was getting hotter by the second though, and he wasn't sure how much more his legs could take. Stopping, he pulled his inhaler from his pocket and placed his basket down. He pulled his juice out of his other pocket.
Taking two puffs of his medication, he put his inhaler away and swallowed his juice. A week ago, some of his friends had bragged about how easy that they thought finding the golden eggs would be. They must have been mulling over their words now; surely they were as tired as he was.
He began running again, though not nearly as fast as before. Principal Yuga himself probably hid the golden eggs just to make the kids suffer. He was probably the meanest principal in the world, only rivaled by how mean the gym teacher, Mr. Ganon, was.
"The golden egg! I found the last golden egg!"
Link stopped. He would recognize that voice anywhere.
Oh great, Link thought. Now if I want the golden egg, I'll have to pay Ravio a million dollars for it.
He would probably end up charging higher; would Link even be able to afford it? He wasn't sure if his piggy bank could fit a million dollars, and he wasn't sure that there was quite that much in it either.
Link followed Ravio's voice, leading him to a tree by the swings. Ravio jumped up and down, pointing to a branch. "The egg is mine!"
On a branch sat a golden egg, gleaming in the sunlight. Link looked in awe, wondering how it had taken everyone so long to find it. It was even more beautiful up close.
"Hey," Ravio said, looking over to him. "I see the way that you're looking, Link. I saw the last golden egg first, so it's mine! Finders keepers and all that junk!"
He began to climb the tree, placing his basket down by its trunk. "And hey, don't go stealing any eggs from my basket either!"
Link never would. Instead, he stood still as a statue, watching Ravio climb the tree. He was going to get the golden egg. Link could only imagine his smug face under his bunny hood.
"Huh!" Ravio called. One of his hands slipped. "Ugh, I can't hold on!"
Link dropped his back in an instant, and then ran towards the tree, his arms out stretched.
This is awful, he thought. Awful, terrible, horrible, bad, the worst-
With a thud, he landed on the ground, Ravio in his arms. Pain shot through him, but nothing that made him think that anything was broken. He would just need a few Band-Aids, definitely ones with cool superheroes on them.
"Link," Ravio said, pulling up his hood. His dark purple hair was messy, but other than that he seemed fine. "You saved me!"
Link stood up, wiping dust off of his clothes. He shrugged.
"Don't give me that look, Link! You were awesome!" Ravio threw his hands in the air. "Link, you're a real live hero! You can't act like that wasn't incredible." He pointed up towards the egg. "You can have it, Mister Hero. You've earned it."
Link looked back up. There it was, the golden egg, the very last of them.
"Really?" he signed.
"Truly," Ravio responded. "It's all yours, buddy."
Rather than climbing and risking himself falling, he pulled the green hat from his head, and with one quick throw, knocked the egg from the tree. Racing towards it, he caught it in his palms before it could reach the ground.
"Wow!" Ravio said, running towards him, both baskets in his hands. "You really are amazing, Link." He picked up his hat, and then gave both Link's hat and his basket back to him. "You're super courageous, you know that? Hey, everybody, Link got the last golden egg!"
All eyes were on him as he opened the last golden egg. Zelda and Hilda had both gotten cool toys and candy. But what was inside Link's?
"Don't waste any more time," Ravio said.
"Yeah," Hilda added. "I wanna see what's in it." The sides of her lips were stained with chocolate.
Link opened the egg, the plastic making a slight popping sound as he did so.
"Lucky!" Gulley said. "I want a toy Easter bunny!"
Link pulled the purple plush toy from the egg that it was crammed inside. It was soft, with a light purple bow wrapped around its neck.
"That's so cute," Zelda commented.
Link grinned, and then held it closer to him.
"Hey, that's pretty cool!" Ravio grinned, pulling his own plush toy from his pocket. It was a blue stuffed bird that he had named Sheerow, which he took everywhere. "Your little bunny and Sheerow can be friends. So, if Sheerow ever needs help he can count on your bunny rescuing him, right?"
Link nodded, a smile spreading across his whole face.