Mask Madness
Chapter 1: Meeting the Competition"Ha!" Link swung his sword low, causing the moblin to fall backwards. The monster grunted, and tried to get back on its feet, but Link didn't give it a chance. With one quick swipe at the chest, the moblin had lost the match, as everyone before it had, to the master sword. Link wiped the sweat off of his forehead with his arm, breathing heavily. Good match he thought to himself.
Link made his way out of the Lost Woods and back out to Hyrule Field. His beautiful mare Epona neighed when she caught sight of her friend. Link smiled broadly at her, "Hey girl, ready to go back?" Epona nickered, and Link took that as a yes. The Hero of Time galloped back to the castle where his girlfriend Zelda waited for him.
"Hello, Link. How bad were the moblins?" Link shrugged, "The usual. Just a few strays." Zelda smiled, and her eyes lit up. "Haven't been bored lately, just with the moblins and all, have you?" Link raised an eyebrow at this, "I guess..."
Zelda then brought out an envelope, and handed it to Link as she grinned like a Cheshire cat, "It's a tournament! And we've been invited to compete! There's also a huge cash prize, and that's something Hyrule could really use right now... Part of the market is still in rubbles from Ganondorf's attacks."
Link nodded in agreement as he read the letter, but then his eyes widened, "Wait! We? But Zelda-" "Now, hold on! I proved that I could handle myself while you were trapped in the Sacred Realm, remember?" "I guess, but-" Zelda shushed him with a quick kiss, then Link sighed in defeat. "Just be careful, okay?" Zelda smiled broadly, "You too."
"So, eh, where is this warp thing supposed to be again?" Link and Zelda were packed up and ready to go, and now they were trying to find a "warping spot" that would take them to something called an "airplane" that would then take them to the place of the tournament.
"Wait! Is that it?" Zelda pointed to a glowing circle, and Link nodded, "Well, let's go." When they stepped on the spot, everything around them seemed to disappear in a blur of colors. Link felt his head begin to spin, and started to worry, "What in Hyrule?" After what seemed like an eternity, their feet finally landed back onto solid ground. Both he and Zelda looked around wildly, "What exactly was that?"
"That was the warp point. Crazy ride, huh?"
Link looked up, and he saw what looked like some kind of half bird-half man dressed up in really strange clothes. "Uh, yeah, it was. You here for the tournament too?" The bird man smiled, "Yup. Name's Falco, you?" Link shook hands with Falco, "I'm Link, and this Zelda." Falco nodded, then said, "Can you believe we're taking an airplane? Talk about old fashioned! We could get there a lot faster in a space ship, don't you think?" Link just stared blankly at Falco, "Eh, pardon? Sorry, I don't even know what an "airplane" or a "space thingy" is." Now it was Falco who blinked back blankly. "You're kidding, right?" Link shook his head, then Falco continued, "Ummm..." "Right... So, you from the Middle Ages or something?" "Uh, I'm from Hyrule, if that's what you mean..." "No! I was only kidding, but I meant, what time period are you from? I only said Middle Ages because that's when they just had swords and stuff." Link's eyes lit up, "I have a sword! So, uh, yeah, guess I'm from the Middle Ages or whatever." "You've gotta be kidding-" Falco's eyes widened as Link unsheathed his sword. "Uh, wow." was all Falco managed. "Um, could you wait here really quickly, I'm going to go find a friend of mine." Link shrugged, "Sure."
Falco took off toward the restrooms, where he found Fox. "Fox! You have got to come and see this! I found a couple of the competitors!"
Fox looked at his friend as if he were crazy, "What are you going on about?"
"They're from the Midevil times, and one's even got a freakin' sword!"
Fox rolled his eyes, "I'm not stupid, Falco." "No! I'm being serious! Just come and see for yourself!"
Fox followed Falco back to where Link and Zelda were waiting. Falco recomposed himself a bit, and introduced Fox. "Hey, thanks for waiting. This is my buddy, Fox." Link and Zelda introduced themselves as well, then Fox asked, "So, uh, Falco told me you had a sword?" Link nodded, then unsheathed it again, and Fox gaped while Falco smirked. Zelda looked confused, "Um, I was just wondering, how come Link having a sword seems to be so huge to you? Both looked a bit embarrassed, "Oh, sorry, it's just, well, we've never met anyone from Midevil times before." Link now looked even more bewildered, "But, what time period are we in then?" "Well, I had assumed our own, but maybe not." Fox frowned, "Is that why we're taking an airplane?" "I don't know, but maybe we could go find the plane instead of standing here. All of this talk about different time periods is getting too confusing..." said Falco.
"Um, sorry, but what is an "airplane"? asked Link nervously as he stared out a window and at one of the many flying machines outside. "You're looking at them." answered Fox. Link's eyes widened, "What? But, how?" "They fly." "They FLY! How in Hyrule can one of those things fly!" "Well, it's kind of complicated to explain, especially since you don't even know what a car is..." At Link and Zelda's worried expressions, Fox said, "Don't worry, you'll be fine." Link relaxed a little, but was still fairly tense.
Falco, who was starting to get impatient, said, "Okay you guys, let's get a move on." Just then, the warp point glowed, and the group looked at it curiously. Link smiled at the two new arrivals, maybe even with some relief, while Falco looked like he was ready to go find something to hit his head on. The red-haired one spoke first, "Um, hello, are you here for some kind of tournament as well?" Link nodded, then introduced himself, as did everyone else.
"I'm Roy, and this Marth. So do any of you know what this "airplane" thing is we're supposed to be taking to the tournament?" As Falco's head dangerously neared a metal pole, Fox hurriedly said, "Uh, yes, I'll explain it to you on the way there. We should get going." The two new swordsmen shrugged, then followed the rest of the group.
"Ah, here we are!" Falco showed his ticket to the man standing at the doorway, Bob according to his nametag, then walked down a ramp. Link and Zelda followed hesitantly, followed curiously by Marth and Roy.
Link thought about the man's appearance, Why did it seem as if he had been a bit burnt? Oh no, that wasn't from the air-thingy, was it?" Link stopped all of a sudden, and Zelda bumped into him. "Uh, Link, why did you stop?" Link blinked, then his face started to turn red, "Oh, sorry..." Zelda let it go, thinking he was just nervous about riding in this airplane thing, for she sure was.
After walking down the ramp, they finally came into a room where there were a bunch of seats. As Falco and Fox sat down, the others followed and did the same. "Um, I thought we were riding in an airplane?" asked Link. "We are. This is it." answered Fox. The three swordsmen and the princess gaped. "I'm so confused." groaned Link. "Just don't worry about it." said Falco off handedly.
"Pika! Pika Pi!" "Eh, pardon?" asked Link. "That wasn't one of us, look over there."
Fox pointed toward some of the strangest creatures Link had seen yet. Fox and Falco were animal people as it is, but really, those things couldn't possibly be competitors, could they?
All of a sudden, the larger yellow version of a mouse let off a bolt of electricity, and they all jumped back in surprise. "What the-?" The largest and strangest of the group noticed their reaction, and glided over to them. Not only that, but his lips didn't move when he talked, and yet they could hear him.
Well, thought Link, Atleast it sounds like a him. Sorry about that said the strange catlike wonder, "Pikachu had some difficulties getting here.
"Um, okay." Fox elbowed Falco, and Zelda asked politely, "Um, what difficulties?" The cat creature smirked, The man at the entrance told Pikachu that no pets were allowed, then sent for some men with cages. Pikachu's response was a bolt of electricity, and the man got pretty badly fried. I managed to explain things after that, and with a few threats, he finally let all of us on.
The group nodded mutely, still staring at the creature with wide eyes. Sorry, you haven't met any pokemon before, have you? I thought you two, he pointed at Fox and Falco, may have been two new ones I hadn't seen before, what with all the new ones coming along.
"Pika!" Oh, sorry Pikachu. By the way, my name is Mewtwo, this is Pikachu, Pichu, he pointed at the smaller form of Pikachu, and Jigglypuff, the big, pink round one puffed up. Link and the others then introduced themselves, and the pokemon all sat down.
As the minutes ticked by, Link observed all of the strange-looking competitors entering the airplane, first trying to guess at how he might win the tournament by looking for weaknesses and such, but then gave up as he didn't recognize hardly anything and started noting the strangeness of them instead.
Wow, that orange, strange armor looks pretty impressive. But what is that on their head? How can they even see? Wait, is that a little kid with a baseball bat? And a yo-yo? This is ridiculous... How can he be competing? Unless he can somehow let off energy like that "pikachu" guy. Now, who are those people? Atleast they are people, and adults, though that short, plump red one seems to be talking with some kind of weird accent to the pretty blonde in the pink dress. If I didn't know better, I'd say she was dressed like a princess. Maybe she is one, from our time period, but if so, then why is the short guy wearing clothes I haven't seen before? Oh, whatever. Here comes someone else. They sure are loud, whoever they are. I can feel the floor vibrating- What in Hyrule is that? That can't be allowed! He's some kind of dragon, but with a turtle shell thingy with spikes! And look at his claws! That has to be a monster, and I bet he even blows fire from his mouth too.
"Damn." Falco's blunt comment caught everyone's attention, though they all knew who he was talking about. "What kind of tournament is this anyway?" asked Roy.
Everyone continued to stare at the huge reptile as he took up a whole row himself, while Link shifted his attention back to the doorway as someone else entered, having seen that the "dragon" did not seem to wish to fight. Let's see, now who's, or what's, coming- Link scoffed at the sight of the new arrival.
This is wrong, plain wrong. No one should be able to wear such tight clothing as that, especially not in public! Who does he think he is, anyways? Might as well not be wearing a top at all! Looking back at the doorway, Link calmed down a bit as he observed two more competitors, "More kids? I guess there's no age requirement for this thing. Wait, are they twins? Interesting. Hey, is that another pokemon? Looks like a male version of Jigglypuff, well, except pink isn't exactly a very manly color, now is it? Well, now what's this? It's like a cuter version of some lizard/dinosaur thing. Hmmm. At least they've got a good sense of color. Uh oh, now what are those heavy footsteps from? Huh? A large monkey? With some kind of cloth around his neck? Okay...
A few more minutes passed by, and as no one else boarded the plane, Link and Zelda started to talk about the different competitors.
"I don't like the look of that dragon guy." said Link.
"Neither do I. What's with the spikes?" agreed Zelda.
Link shrugged, "I don't know, but let's just make sure we stay out of his way."
Zelda nodded, and everyone shifted their attention back to the entrance as some entered and closed the door. "Hello, and welcome to the master's private airlines. Before we take-off, I will explain what procedure to follow in case of an emergency."
The uniformed woman, apparently Jean, continued to explain things as Link and other competitors from his time period stared blankly at the "oxygen masks" and other supposed to be commonly known items found on an airplane. Finally, after the explanation, there was only five minutes left until the airplane left the ground. Link, Zelda, Marth, and Roy all held onto their arm chairs tightly, while Fox and Falco looked entirely relaxed. The nervous group jumped when the plane started to move, and they all held on for their dear lives as they continued down the runway.
Oh goddesses, please let us survive this... thought Link as the airplane tilted.
AN: Well, there's a short preview to the story. I know the beginning is a little dull, but it'll get better. Please review.