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Authoress Note: This story will be rated M for language, blood, and sexuality. Either than that, enjoy! Oh, and I do not own the Legend of Zelda games, just this story line to this story. Comment if you please!
Chapter 1: Birthday Disaster
Link took a step out onto the deck of the ship, taking in a big breath of the morning sea air. His almost golden blond hair was tasseled and curled at the ends, indicating it has been awhile since he had cut it. His greenish blue eyes were tired, with light bags underneath them. The teenager himself let out a huge yawn before glancing over at all of the crew members on the deck.
"Link, you're not wearin' pants again…" said Gonzo, the tall pirate whose chest hair resembled a sort of curl. It was unusual to see hair grow in such manner…
The adolescent looked absently at the voice who said that, blinking a moment before peering down on himself. Indeed he wasn't, he just had on a pair of boxers and a tank top that had a rip in it.
"Oh shit! I mean-crap! I'll be right back!" the blond haired boy yelled out before quickly making his way back to the cabin and his room. But Gonzo slapped his forehead in shame, saying on how he needs to pay attention more and how bad of a sailor's mouth the poor teen was getting.
Gonzo is a tall, muscular man in his early thirties. Hair tied back underneath his red bandana, a nose often as red as an apple. He may have looked menacing, but underneath that tough exterior was a soft hearted boy who cared deeply for his crew. But especially for Tetra. He had a thing for Tetra, despite the fact that she was a princess and only seventeen years old. No one on board quite understood this attraction, except for one youth in particular; Link.
Link ran into his cabin room and immediately began to dig furiously through his clothes. He found a clean green shirt that exposes part of his chest, a pair of light brown pants (they were once white) and his usual brown leather boots. He got dressed as quickly as possible, knowing that at anytime-
"You forgot to get dressed again, didn't you?"
The oh so familiar voice caught him in mid pant leg pull and he simply ignored her. He wasn't happy with himself, since this was like the third time this week he has done that. But Link himself felt off track… like he was missing something but he didn't know what.
Tetra was seventeen, a young beauty with tanned skin, sky blue eyes and her hair firmly on the top of her head in the shape of a swirl. She wore a denim jacket with a pink tank top underneath and a pair of ripped shorts that ran down to about her lower thighs. Around her neck she wore a red bandana, the same one she has owned for years and rarely washed. On her feet, she wore some old sandals, a pair of her favorites.
"Ahh, no I didn't… I just got a stain on my last pants…" he lied nervously as he began to pull on his leather boots.
"Sure you didn't, Hero Boy." She mocked and stepped out of his room, heading towards the deck of the ship. Link growled in annoyance as she left.
Link was used to this type of treatment, being called Hero Boy for the past four years. Ever since he saved Hyrule from Ganon's reign, Tetra found it necessary to call Link by this nickname. But he would just call her Princess when she did so anyways, but she hated that title. She wanted to forget that incident from under the sea, and go back to just simply being Tetra. But in Link's mind, she was still Princess Zelda, whether she liked it or not.
Finally completely dressed and ready to go, Link dragged himself out onto the deck to be greeted by a devilishly grinning Tetra and Niko. (Niko is a short man only tall enough to be a child's size and he was the ship's swabbie.) Link frowned. Knowing immediately what to do, he turned around and headed back inside, going straight to the ship's cellar.
His usual job consisted of clearing the cellar of any possible rats or making sure known of their food was spoiled. If there were any spoiled food, he was to take it and dump it over deck then scrub the floors where ever it was needed. On occasion, he got the job of carrying crates and barrels to the cellar and organizing them according to whether it was food or rum.
"Link, wait." Tetra's voice said. He turned around immediately to see Tetra holding something in her hand behind her back and she had a sly grin on her face. "What?" he asked.
"Guess what day it is,"
"Uhh… June 1st? Oh wait… No!"
"Yep. Happy Birthday, Hero Boy!"
Link went to move out of the way, but he was too late. Tetra swung her fist directly at him, landing a clean hit to his left shoulder. This was a typical tradition for the pirates to do on someone's birthday; a punch in the shoulder, and some rum to celebrate.
"So, you gonna try some rum this year? Since you chickened out and all last year…"
"I did not chicken out last year! I just didn't want any…"
"Yeah, well you do know that sixteen is the legal drinking age and all. And now you're seventeen. C'mon, drink with us!"
Link sighed, and took the bottle of rum that Tetra held in her other hand and uncorked the top. He looked at everyone on the ship, who were all staring at him eagerly to drink. The only person that wasn't there was the guy who was steering the ship…
"Drink! Drink! Drink!" the crowd of pirates cheered Link. Link shrugged, thinking 'Not gonna hurt anything, right?' and took a big swallow of the alcohol filled liquid. He cringed at the honey sweet, but strong flavor. "Whoa…" he said and the crowd cheered. And just like that, the crowd began to sing the familiar birthday song of the pirates.
"Scurvy dogs are we, stayin' up for a day or three, drinkin' rum, havin' fun, living our lives on the sea .Years go by, days do fly, but every year we are strong and free. Happy birthday, Link buddy!"
Link laughed at the quite unusual birthday song, even though he has been sung to every year for the past four years he had been stuck on this ship. He still remembers when he first joined them in order to search for the land for New Hyrule… he had just turned thirteen at the time and they welcomed him with the pirate version of the Happy Birthday song. He was weirded out at first, but soon he found it funny.
Gonzo came up to Link after the crowd cleared up and slung a single arm over his shoulder. Link noticed now that Gonzo wasn't much taller than him, maybe by two or three inches at best. After all, shortly after Link turned fourteen (about a month or two later) he began growing like a weed. He went from five feet tall to five nine in just three years. Maybe it was the whole 'puberty' thing his grandma told him about, because he began to notice other obvious changes as well. But the thing that shocked him the most was the obvious voice change and cracking.
The first thing Gonzo said was; "So… Have you had sex yet?"
"W-what?" Link stuttered, giving the more muscular man a shocked look, eyes wide.
"You heard, boy. So?"
"No…"
Gonzo laughed suddenly, and Link frowned and looked away. Link knew this himself; he had bad luck with women, especially when it came to ones like Tetra.
"Why not? A lot of us got laid last week when we stopped at that little island and got drunk. (Although Miss Tetra was terribly mad…) So why can't the macho Hero of Winds get himself a girl?"
Link thought about this for a second and began to wonder. Why couldn't he get himself a girl? Was he too chicken? Was he too shy? Or maybe it's just because he don't know how to get a girl… he just didn't know. But just the thought of getting himself a girl to sleep with gave him a huge grin and a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach.
"Everybody, Land ho!" brought back to reality, Link swung his head around to the front of the ship to see a huge land mass appear out of the morning fog. He threw off Gonzo's arm from around his shoulder and ran to the front of the ship where the mast was. Up ahead, was the most hopeful thing Link had seen in years.
Land jutted up from the waters, trees and mountains, and hills. A lush green landscape was what first caught Link's attention, along with the mountains that were surrounded by thin clouds. He could hear signs of possible animal life, the tweeting of birds. At this moment, he became filled with hope.
"Could this be it? Could this be the land we have been searching for…?" Tetra's sweet but rough voice asked from beside him. Through all of the examination, he had not noticed Tetra come up and stand beside him.
"I don't know. We need to land and check it out," Link said enthusiastically. Everyone agreed of course and began looking around the area for a safe place to successfully land their boat.
The search continued until this happened;
The ship began to rock dangerously from side to side as the waves suddenly began to pick up. The air currents were impossible to control, even with the Wind Waker that Link had. The clouds became dark and eerie, indicating that a storm was moving in, and fast! Everyone on the ship began to panic the sudden weather, and the man steering the ship yelled out; "Brace yourselves everyone! We're gonna crash land!"
And he was right. Within the next instant, the storm became increasingly violent and the ship hit a wave large enough to sink an island, heading nose first into the water. The last thing Link remembered before heading into the water was grabbing tightly onto Tetra's hand…
