"What? When? How?" Amaterasu was, in a word, freaking out. Reason 1: she was in a human form! It wasn't exactly something she was used to. Especially with these new jiggly things on her chest. Reason 2: she was completely naked! And in front of a crowd of other humans no less! She now knew why humans wore clothes all the time. Public nudity was just embarrassing!
"Whoa," Issun said intelligently. There was a little bit of blood trickling from his tiny nostrils (as with the other men in the crowd). "Ammy? Is that really you?" Amaterasu nodded, covering her chest and squeezing heer legs close together in a desperate attempt to hide her modesty. "Damn! Why didn't you go into this form before?"
"Because I couldn't you stupid little-!" This was followed by a long string of curse words that Issun had never heard anyone even use before. Ammy had a vocabulary so colorful, it made rainbows seem dull by comparison. "-and I hope you die choking on a man's-!"
"That's enough!" shouted the familiar voice of Mrs. Orange. She pushed her way through the crowd and faced them all. "Stop gawking and leave the poor girl alone!" The men in the crowd seemed to be a little hesitant. "That wasn't a request, you idiots!" With that, the crowd dispersed, leaving Ammy, Issun, and the elderly Mrs. Orange. The old woman went over to Amaterasu, who was now shivering from the cold night air. "Come with me, dear. We'll go to my house and get you some clothes."
"Thank you, ma'am," Amaterasu said with the utmost gratitude. She stood up and followed the old woman, with Issun following behind.
When they arrived at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Orange, Amaterasu was immediately led to the bedroom, where Mrs. Orange went through the closet to find a set of clothes for the young (or young-looking, considering she was a goddess) woman. She soon reemerged from the closet, holding a red and white kimono up for Ammy to see.
"This is something I had when I younger," she explained. "It should fit you, dear." Amaterasu gratefully took the clothing and, with some help and instruction from the old woman, put on the kimono. It really did fit well. "Oh, it matches your hair, too! How cute!"
"What?" Amaterasu asked in some surprise. Mrs. Orange picked up a mirror on her make-up table and handed it to the former she-wolf. Ammy's hair really did match well with the kimono. It was mostly white, with a pair of vertical red lines running parallel through her hair. "Oh. I guess it does."
"Hey, Ammy! Can I come in now?" called Issun's voice. Amaterasu had asked him to wait outside until she was decent, which complied with, albeit rather reluctantly.
"Yes. Just don't jump into my clothes!" With that, Mrs. Orange opened the door for the Poncle, who hopped right on in.
"What happened anyway?" he asked, getting straight to the point like he usually did. "You just passed out, and then you were covered in a white light, and now you're human!"
"Well..." Ammy was about to explain what she had seen and heard in that dream of hers, but first politely asked Mrs. Orange to leave the room (she didn't want to possibly scare the older woman with the details of her dream). The elder replied and left the room, but not before giving Issun a warning look. When she was gone, Amaterasu continued. "I had a weird dream."
"A weird dream? What do you mean by that?"
"Well, it wasn't really a dream, per se. It was more like... a vision." Issun gave her a questioning look with his head cocked to one side. "It's hard to explain, really. I saw Nippon in flames, with strange monsters killing innocent people. Then, I was in Queen Himiko's throne room. And there was this guy..." She shuddered at the memory of the evil man from her dream. "Just thinking about him sends chills down my spine. He said something about a 'gift.' The next thing I knew, I woke up looking like this." She looked down into her new right palm to show what she was talking about.
"Huh," Issun replied. "Maybe if we find this guy and take him down, you can turn back to normal!"
"I'm afraid it's miles more difficult than that, my little bouncing friend," said a shockingly familiar voice. They both turned to see the half-baked prophet himself, Waka, lying on the bed.
"What the heck?" Issun shouted. "What are you doing here?"
"Relax, Poncle," Waka said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "I'm not here to cause trouble. I'm here with some pretty bad news, though."
"Can't be half as bad as your haircut," Issun said snidely. To this, Waka replied...
"Yami is back." There was a stunned silence in the room for several seconds, until...
"WHAT?" Amaterasu shouted at the top of her lungs. "But I destroyed that bastard a year ago! He's long dead!"
"Destroying is not necessarily the same thing as killing, ma cherie," Waka said seriously. "You destroyed his physical body, yes, but you neglected to eradicate his blackened, demonic soul."
"B-but," Ammy couldn't finish her sentence. She couldn'tr believe that her nemesis, the Lord of Everlasting Darkness, Yami, was still alive, even after she had exposed him to immeasurable levels of sunlight. "Dammit!" She slammed her fist into the nearest wall, leaving a hole her fist landed.
"It gets worse, I'm afraid," Waka continued grimly. "It would seem that he's made a deal with someone called the 'King of Evil,' a dark conquerer who was suppossedly vanquished by a young and powerful warrior. He was most likely the man you saw in your vision."
"King of Evil?" Issun parroted with slightly nervous tone. "That doesn't at all pleasant. You think maybe we can get the guy who beat him originally to help us?"
Waka sighed. "Your going to have to. Only by working together can he and Amaterasu stop this great evil. Do you understand what I'm saying, ma cherie?" He turned to Amaterasu with that last sentence, only to see her on the floor, sound asleep. A large bead of sweat formed on the backs of his and Issun's heads. "Nice to know that some things never change."
"Yeah," Issun agreed. He would likely have to ssummarize everything he had just learned from Waka for Ammy's sake.
-o-
Link was preparing to set out on the new quest given to him by Zelda. He sighed as he packed his things in Epona's saddlebags. The chestnut mare whinnied as he pulled himself up onto her back.
"All right, girl," he said to his horse. "Let's move!" he kicked Epona's sides, making the mare dash off. as he rode off to this strange land called "Nippon," his mind wandered back to what Zelda had told him.
Flashback
"Hyrule's in danger?" Link asked the newly crowned queen. Zelda nodded her confirmation. The green-clad hero sighed. "Well, that's just wonderful. Do you think maybe Ganondorf is somehow making a comeback?"
"I'm not sure," the young queen said with a shake of her head. "The figure I saw in my vision was just a shadowy mass. I couldn't tell who, or even what, it was. All I can really say is that it was pur evil." She put on a thoughtful look, trying to figure out what exactly it was that she saw. She got up from her bed, Link watching to make sure she didn't fall, and headed to the bookshelf that she recently had placed in her room. She scanned through the various titles until she found what she was looking for.
Link watched as Zelda pulled a book title "Ancient Legends from Distant Lands" fromt the shelf and started flipping through the pages. Curious, he asked, "Why do you have a book about foreign legends?" In response, the new Queen of Hyrule raised her hand and let the mark of the Triforce of Wisdom glow. "Oh. Right."
Zelda soon found what she was looking for. That shadowy figure had seemed somewhat familiar, but she hadn't been sure about what it was. Now that she had found the subject, she had wished that she had been wrong. "No."
"What?" Link asked, wondering what had her so spooked. Zelda simply held the book out to him. Though slightly confused by this, he took it and read the entry. He saw that this particular legend was from land to the east, known as Nippon. The entry read:
Eien no Yaminoshihaisha (Lord of Everlasting Darkness):
Better known as the Dark Lord Yami, this being is the progenitor of all evil. It is darkness personified and evil incarnate. It seeks to completely envelope the world in permanent darkness by destroying the sun goddess, Amaterasu. Though other being from Nipponese legends are often portrayed as either human or animal, Yami has never been depicted as such. It is too inorganic. It is often shown in the form of a large, metal sphere, or a mass of living shadows. It is said to be so powerful, it can kill immortal gods.
Links eyes widened at the last sentence. This Yami was actually strong enough to kill gods? Actual gods? How was that even possiible?
"I don't think I need to tell you what you need to do," Zelda said. "But I will. Link, you must go and find this 'Amaterasu,' ask her for her help, and destroy Yami. It shouldn't be too difficult for an expert explorer like you."
Link sighed at that. She just how to get him to do whatever she wanted. "All right, all right. I get the idea. I've got to find some chick named Amataku-"
"Amaterasu," Zelda corrected.
"-get her to help me find some evil overlord of darkness, and then save the world. What a walk in the park."
End Flashback
So now, he was riding off to Nippon, hoping to find this Amaterasu in order to stop Yami. He had already said his goodbyes to his friends, with Ilia making him promise to be careful, and was now ready to save the world. Again.
-o-
Ganondorf waited patiently at their agreed meeting place. Yami was about half an hour late, but that was a minor fault. When the Evil King sensed Yami's presence nearby, he chuckled. "I take it things went well, my friend?"
"Yes," Yami's shadow-body replied. "The girl you described has been given the message. And what of Amaterasu?"
"I gave her the warning," Ganondorf assured his colleague. "I was also kind enough to remember the little... gift that you had me deliver. It will likely take time for her to become accustomed to her new body."
"Good," Yami said emotionlessly. "Soon, the only two being capable of defeating us shall be destroyed."
"And the darkness that we rule over," the King of Evil spoke with an evil grin. "Shall consume the entire world."
