I: Link's Awakening
It was a modest little home, a small wooden hut in a tree. It consisted of one room, including a bed, a window, a small table and a desk, and all made of wood. A blond boy wearing a long green hat, in a green shirt, green shorts and brown boots, slept in the bed. He tossed and turned, suffering from his recent nightmares. He shivered, this night was an unusually cold one for the Kokiri forest. Without covering, he fell victim to the harsh cold. Morning was almost present.
A white ball of light, with four wings similar to a fly's wings, started her journey. She was a fairy, and she had a job. She was to go to the house of the boy without a fairy and bring him to the Great Deku Tree. When morning arrived, she zoomed over all the inhabitants of the vast forest that had come out of their homes, in search of the boy she needed to find.
"Boy without a fairy, boy without a fairy!" she repeated to herself. Where was he? Every Kokiri in sight had a fairy!
She asked almost every fairy she encountered where he was but to her disappointment, none knew. She was ready to give up and go back to the Deku Tree to tell him the bad news when she saw a house in a tree.
"Eureka!" she said, and zoomed herself toward the house. She ran into a fence in all her excitement and flew through a hole in it and into the house. Inside, she found what she had been searching for. A sleeping boy lay on a wooden bed, tossing and turning.
"Now what was his name again...? Oh yes! Link! Hello, Link! Wake up!"
The boy mumbled something and turned his head.
"The Great Deku Tree wants to talk to you! Link, get up! Hey! C'mon!" The fairy tugged on the boy's collar but he was too heavy.
The fairy was getting miffed. "Can Hyrule's destiny really depend on such a lazy boy?"
Link, who had been playing asleep, thought the noise to be Mido or Saria trying to wake him, but when he heard "Hyrule's destiny", he decided to investigate. He sat up slowly, let out a yawn, and rubbed his eyes. When he opened them, he couldn't believe what hovered before his eyes. A fairy! If this was his fairy, he could finally be considered a true Kokiri!
"You finally woke up! I'm Navi the fairy!" Navi said.
"Um..Nice to meet you, Navi," said Link. "Now what was that you said about the destiny of Hyrule?"
"Never mind that for now! It will be explained to you later." Navi said. "The Great Deku Tree has summoned you! So let's get going, right now!"
Link stood up in shock. "The Deku Tree wants to talk to me?" he said excitedly. "Are you sure you don't have me confused with someone else?"
"Nope, It's you alright. He clearly said, 'the boy without a fairy.' And that's you so let's go!"
Link couldn't believe his eyes nor his ears. The Great Deku tree, the provider of life for each and every Kokiri, wanted him!
He hurriedly walked out of his house. The warm weather had returned to the forest. He closed his eyes and took in the warmth. This was the norm for Kokiri forest. Lush grass, beautiful flowers, calm ponds, and a gentle breeze. Link never could wait for the morning to begin. Mornings were among the best things to enjoy in the forest. Kokiri very seldom stayed inside. The weather in the forest was far too pleasant.
Link opened his eyes and peered down to the ground. He saw someone that further brightened his morning. A girl with the same green clothing he wore. She had chin-length light green hair. She was Saria, a girl who had befriended Link while he grew up. She was a popular Kokiri; everyone was her friend. Of all the Kokiri children, she was closest to Link.
Saria ran up to Link's tall house, her fairy following after her. "Yahoo!" she yelled. "Good morning, Link!" This was a regular practice of hers. Because Link had no fairy, he was not considered a Kokiri. Mido, a Kokiri that classified himself as the toughest and leader of the Kokiris, who even wore a sleeveless shirt to distinguish himself, would make fun of him and wouldn't accept him as a true Kokiri. Part of Mido's dislike for Link was the attention he received from Saria.
Link climbed down his ladder and greeted Saria. "Oh my goodness!" Saria said. "A fairy! Finally, a fairy came to you, Link! I'm so happy for you! You are now a true Kokiri!"
"Yeah," Link said proudly. "she tells me the Deku tree wants to see me. Can you believe it?"
"Wow!" Saria said. "That's quite the honor! I'll be waiting for you here. Go! You'd better not be late! Heck, maybe you should go early!"
"I'm on my way there now. I'm so excited-and nervous!"
Link walked through the forest, making his way to the Deku tree's meadow in the back of the forest.
"Make way, true Kokiri comin' through!" he stated. "Why yes, I am a true Kokiri, thanks for noticing! What? Of course I'm feeling fine, I'm a true Kokiri!"
Link happily hopped across the little "islands" that sat in the pond. When on the other side, he landed face to face with Mido.
"Well if it isn't Mr. No Fairy!" Mido said, putting his hand out. "What business do you have with the Great Deku Tree?"
"Mr. No Fairy?" Link said. "Who's that? He must've died, 'cause I've got a fairy, bub!"
"Don't try to fool me," Mido said. "Without a fairy, you're not even a real man, so stop trying to talk to the Deku tree! No one, gets that honor, not even me, the Great Mido!"
"'Great Mido', eh? Well you should start callin' me the Great Link because the Deku Tree has summoned me!" Link said, pointing to himself with his thumb.
"Yeah, right."
"It's true! Isn't that right, Navi?"
"Navi? Is that your imaginary fri- Say what?"
Navi had somehow hid herself inside Link and had now came out.
"What?! You've got a fairy?! The Great Deku Tree actually summoned you? Not me?"
"Did I not just explain all that to you?"
"Well...I don't believe you!"
"Are you completely stupid? Observe the evidence! See the fairy?" Link pointed to Navi.
"You may have a fairy, but if the Deku Tree really has called you, you aren't even fully equipped!"
"What else do I need?"
Mido closed his eyes and put his hand on his face. "How do you think you're going to help the Great Deku Tree without a sword and shield?"
Link let out an irritated sigh. "Let's go, Navi..."
"Now, where do I find a sword and shield?" Link said with his hand on his chin. "Oh yeah, I can just buy a Deku shield from the Kokiri Shop, but where a sword? You know, I've never even seen a real sword in the forest."
"Uh, Link," Navi said. "where are you going to get the money to buy a shield?"
"Oh, we don't need to worry about that," Link said, smiling. He walked toward his house and climbed up the ladder. Navi followed.
Inside, Link pulled open a drawer of his desk, and pulled out a bottle. Inside were tons of rupees. Rupees were the currency of Hyrule. Every race used them.
"Twenty-five, thirty, thirty-five, forty," Link said. "Forty rupees! Just enough for a Deku Shield!" he tucked the money into a pocket in his shirt.
"Link, where did you get all that money?" asked Navi.
"I've saved over the years. I've never had any use for anything in the Kokiri Shop before, so I just saved."
"But I've seen other Kokiris playing with Deku shields, and wooden swords."
"Yeah, but they never let me play."
"Why not? Oh yeah! I'm sorry. I remember."
"It's okay. Now let's go get that shield."
Link and Navi entered the Kokiri shop, located by the small pond. Link purchased the shield. It was a wooden shield with a red swirl on it. Upon exiting, Link said, "Now, what about a sword?"
"There's got to be a sword around here somewhere," said Navi.
"But I've been everywhere in the forest and I've never seen one. And I don't dare leave the forest. Kokiri die after leaving." Link got an idea. There was a place he had never been. "Wait a sec.." he said. He looked toward a small hill. Located there was what was called the Forest Training Center. Not that Kokiris needed training for anything. There was a small cave on the hill.
"It's worth a try," he said. "Come on."
The two walked up to the cave. A sign that stood there read, CAVE OF Z.
"Well, here goes nothing," said Link, and he got on all fours and crawled through the hole leading inside. It was a normal looking cave, except for the patches of grass. Link stepped forward and almost lost a leg- a gigantic rock had rolled past, almost taking his leg with it!
"Now I know why no one ever comes in here!" Link said. "Okay, just wait for the boulder to pass, and run like heck."
Soon, the huge, round boulder rolled by again, and Link ran along behind it. The cave was maze-like, but very small. Link found a small quarry where he could hid from the boulder. He, growing tired, leaned against a brown box atop a tree stump. Link moved his hand all over it, and felt a round shape at the top of it.
"This feels like a...treasure chest!" Link said and stood up. He turned around an, sure enough, he was right. He opened the creaky chest to find a sharp, metal object. A sword! Link picked it up and examined it. It had a smooth wooden hilt, and a purple jewel on the hilt. It even came with a free sheath that strapped across the user's torso.
"Yay!" Navi said. "Now that you're fully equipped, you can go to the Deku Tree!"
Link gulped. In all his boasting, he never stopped to wonder what the Deku Tree needed him for. If it involved a sword and shield, it must be hard. What if he would fail? Link's stomach ached in a nervous pang. He made his way back outside, happy to be out of danger. But what dangers awaited him at the Great Deku Tree's meadow?