Stepping into the morning, Josh closed the door behind him and immediately had to hold his hand up over his eyes as a visor. He still wasn't fully awake, and the sun beams hurt his eyes and forced him to continually blink and squint. He turned left and began walking toward the racetrack. Finally getting used to the brightness, he stepped into the open area just on the edge of the dirt track. There was no one in sight.

"Talon?" he said loudly. "Scott? Randy?" No reply. He stood still and quieted his breathing, listening for anything to give him a hint as to where they all were. This is strange… He thought. They should all be out here with the horses. And that was another thing: Why weren't the horses out? Warily, Josh turned around and headed for the stables.

Upon entering the stables, Josh saw that all of the horses were there. And still no Talon, Scott, or Randy. He climbed the ladder in the middle which led up to where Scott and Randy's beds were kept, and… nobody there. All of the blankets lay in heaping piles around their small beds. Now Josh began to worry. What if some evil creature took them all straight out of their beds…? A Re-Dead, for instance. Or maybe even a Stalfos…. Maybe they were taken by a Stalfos! Josh's mind continued to race, no matter how childish he knew he was being. Then, one relieving thought came to him: Milk! They probably just took milk to the castle, like Talon does every day! They saw that I was still asleep, and they didn't want to wake me. That's all. And Talon doesn't always take a horse when we go with him. Talon, Scott, and Randy are perfectly capable of carrying milk to the castle without a horse. Yeah, that's it. Just on a milk delivery.

As Josh continued to calm himself with this thought, he closed the door on his way out of the stables and took a left, walking down the natural grass and dirt "ramp" that pointed the way out of Lon Lon Ranch.

As Josh emerged into the field, he felt a warm summer breeze envelop him. It was a nice day for a walk. He strode purposefully toward the castle, and upon reaching the drawbridge, Josh noticed something in the moat: It glinted in the sun, along with the sun's reflection on the clear blue water. Josh lowered himself to his stomach and slowly dipped his hand in. He felt the object and knew immediately what it was. He stood up and nodded in approval, pocketing the shiny red rupee. He hadn't needed much money before, and over the years he had found plenty of rupees in the grass. This red one made a total of 420, which made Josh happy, as he had almost filled his wallet.

Focusing now on the matter at hand, Josh ran toward the market, his heavy boots clunking on the drawbridge and his wallet jingling.

A surprising sight presented itself to Josh as he entered the noisy market: More than 50 people were crowding around somebody that was standing in the middle of the market square. Looking around, Josh saw Scott, Randy, and Talon on the left side of the circle of people. He approached them and kicked Randy's shoe to get his attention.

"Hey, watch-…! Oh, Josh. Nice to see that you finally woke up!"

Josh brushed off Randy's sarcasm and greeted Talon.

"Talon, what's going on?" he asked, trying to make himself taller to see over the crowd. He spotted the milk containers behind Talon.

"Well," Talon replied, "it seems that Castle Town has been invaded by some… outlandish creatures." Talon looked uneasily from Randy to Josh.

"And the townspeople are a little more than terrified," Scott added, pushing his hair out of his face.

"Well, who are they crowding around?" Josh asked loudly, more to himself than anyone else as he jumped in an attempt to see over the heads of the many frantic Market-goers.

"Not just who they're crowding around. But to answer that, it's The Hero of Time and Queen Zelda. What they're crowding around is some gaping hole right in the middle of town," Randy replied coolly.

"How long have you been here?" Josh asked Talon, on the verge of shouting as the townsfolk became louder.

"Only came in about 10 minutes before you," Talon shouted back, the noise level becoming unbearable. Just when Josh thought he could handle no more, there was a bright flash, and the people began to quiet down. The silence came so quickly and abruptly that it was almost haunting. As if in fear, they all began to fan out, to spread out and make room for everybody in the market to see the middle, forming a large circle around the market square. Taking his place next to Randy, Josh gazed in awe at The Hero of Time. The Legendary Hero, Link, had his hand up backwards in front of his chin, his fingers spread apart, the back of his hand burning with the power of the Goddesses… The Triforce of Courage. Queen Zelda had her hand up as well, the Triforce of Wisdom brightly shining out at the crowd. There was a massive hole behind them, taking up nearly the entire center square. It was clear that the ground had been broken from below, with pieces of white brick jutting upward at an angle. The Hero of Time, s hand fall casually to his side, spoke.

"I know that you are all afraid. I know that you fear that they will come back. They have destroyed our market and have frightened all of us. These creatures, these… Evil beings, are not from this land. It is unknown where they came from, but all we know for sure is that they came from outside of Hyrule. However, it is the duty of myself and the Soldiers of Hyrule to protect the people," There was a loud, synchronized clank behind us and to the right as a large group of

soldiers thrust their hands to their foreheads in a majestic salute. "Now please, all of you. The market can wait. Go on home, get some rest. I will take care of things here."

"But what if they come back down here?" An elderly woman with a large bag over her shoulder shouted.

"Back down here?" Link asked, scratching his head.

"Yeah!" The big burly man from the bazaar shouted gruffly, "The flew away, ya know!"

"Look, everybody just go home. I will get to the bottom of this, and things will be back to normal in no time," Link said hesitantly.

"Please, all of you, listen to him. We will take care of this," Zelda added reassuringly.

Grumbling, the townspeople shuffled away, either to an alley or to their shops. Josh, Scott, Randy, and Talon stood still, watching everybody leave the area. When they were all gone, Talon took a step forward.

"Sir and Ma'am, should I take the milk to the castle?" he asked quickly.

"That will be fine, Talon. Thank you," Zelda replied kindly. Talon grabbed two of the containers, which looked a little heavy for him, and left the remaining two there while he began to make his way to the castle.

"We'll help you, Talon," Josh said proudly, jogging over to the other milk containers.

"Wait!" Talon whispered sharply. "Let me get these. This is your chance, boy. Take the twins with you, and go talk to Link and Zelda. There is no way that they will be able to leave Hyrule to stop these creatures. Neither will the soldiers. I know you haven't been trained much in the art of combat, but… maybe they'll train you or somethin'. Present yourself well; this may be your one and only chance to find the way out, and find your parents, just like you've always wanted…" Talon looked at Josh squarely, a tear in his eye, "Now go." Josh, Scott, and Randy walked back toward the Market square as Talon made his way over the hill and toward the castle.