Chapter Two:
Captured!
Link looked around the house. He couldn't find an immediate exit, aside from the fireplace, but he wasn't mad enough to go back into a house with a cat. As he looked around the house, he accidentally bumped into something. He looked up into the face of an enormous puppy. He let out a surprised yell, which appeared to have scared the puppy as well, as it jumped back from him.
"What are you, arf? A bug?" Link blinked.
"Ezlo! I can understand him!?" The hat looked down at Link disparagingly.
"Well, of course my dear boy! You ate the Jabbernut did you not?"
"Well, yeah, but I thought it only worked on Minish..."
"Well, it seems it doesn't now go and talk to it Link! Maybe it can help you."
"Oh, right!" Link faced the oversized puppy again. "Err... hi, I'm Link. Do you... err... know a way out of here?"
The puppy nodded. "Arf! Yep! I know a way little bug! Arf! There's a little hole over here you can use! Arf!" It then ran over to the wall. Link followed after it, and near its front paws, there was a mouse hole small enough for a Minish to pass through. "Oh! Thanks!"
Link hurried through the hole without a backwards glance at the puppy.
Once out in the streets, he immediately avoided getting stepped on by a passing Hylian by a mere hairsbreadth. Link was saved only by his fast reflexes, jumping back out of the way. "Alright, so we need to find someone who can help us, right?" His hat gave an affirmative nod. Link bowed his head in thought.
"What about Din? She might be able to help!"
"Link, only children can see Minish!" Link stopped in mid-thought again. "Oh... right..." He paused. "But... you used to be a powerful sorcerer didn't you? Don't you have any magical power left? At least enough to let Din see us?"
"Well, I suppose we don't have any better options... but it might take a bit of time to get it ready. I can't exactly use magic easily like this!"
Link gave a nod in response. "Alright, then let's go." He started heading for the inn. On the way, however, disaster struck. Link heard a rumbling purr from behind him. He turned around to see a cat at least ten times his own size.
"Ezlo!"
"I see it boy! Run!" Link obeyed Ezlo's order making a dash for it. The cat gave chase, and it was immediately certain that Link was slower than the cat. However, he made up for it with his small size, ducking through garbage that was strewn across the ground, or running under large plants that the cat had to go around. Link finally noticed a method of escape. A long creeping vine climbed up the side of the house next to the inn. Link made a jump for it, and grabbed, and began to climb, with the cat close behind. He climbed the vine with astonishing speed, barely dodging the cat's swipes of its paw. Finally, however, he reached the top. He climbed onto a nearby windowsill and looked down at the cat. It was still pacing around below.
"Damn... guess we'll have to wait, huh?" Link asked his hat.
Ezlo paused. "Perhaps not. Maybe there's something in this house that we could use..."
Link's eyes brightened. "Or maybe even a portal that can restore us!"
"I suppose it's not impossi-" Ezlo was cut off, however, as Link ran through the window and jumped down onto a table not that far down below it.
"Alright! Let's go look!"
"Boy... honestly, do you humans have any regard for danger?"
"Guess not." Link started working his way across the table, unaware of the set of eyes watching him...
Out of the corner of his eye, Link caught some sudden movement, and Ezlo yelled out in warning.
"Link! Watch out!" Link's reactions were just a bit slow, however, as a massive hand slammed down on top of him, the palm cupped so that at least he wasn't squashed. Through a gap in the fingers, Link saw an eye looking in at him. He heard the voice of a small girl gasping in surprise. At this moment, Link felt another hand slide under him, without letting him free of the first one, and lifted up.
"Cool! I caught a Picori!"
Link started to struggle to get free. He'd almost wormed his way out between the girls fingers, before she readjusted her grip to trap him once more.
"I'm gonna make a house for you Mr. Picori!"
Link looked up at Ezlo. "Dammit... you've gotta be kidding me..." He felt the girl moving. However, she then tripped and went down. Link hit the floor first, saw her falling towards him... and then everything went black.
"...nk... Ink... Link...! Link! Are you okay!?" The boy in green heard someone calling his name. "Ugh... Ezlo? Is that you?" He felt a movement on top of his head, as if the hat was nodding.
"Oh! Good! You're alright!" The hat gave another nod. "That's a good start!"
Link groaned as he pushed himself up. "A good start?" He started walking. "What do you mean a good st- OW!?" Link felt himself hit something and fell backwards.
"Watch it boy!" Link shook his head. "What was that?" He reached out a hand and it pressed against a cool smooth surface. He followed it all the way around. "Ezlo? Where are we?"
The hat let out an annoyed sigh. "Look up, boy."
Link obeyed the hat's command, looking up. And seeing the lid of the jar that he was now trapped in.
"Oh... well... at least she was nice to put in airholes?" Link commented in a weak voice. He then heard the door of the room open as someone came in.
