Chapter 11
As soon as the flashes stopped Link stared at his palms. They were about 5 times smaller. He seemed a lot lighter. He jumped and it felt so good to be so flexible again. Link smiled and turned towards the exit. He walked slowly back down the ile. He knew his mission was to find Shadow Link too as a child. But where was he to look?
But then something clicked in Link's brain. Shadow Link had changed his surroundings to a waste land and had said that that was where Ganondorf had found him. He decided that would be the first place he would check. But then he remembered he didn't have Epona at this age. He traveled to Lon Lon Ranch and saw Malon. He approached her and asked: "Can I have that small horse over there?" Links asked.
"What you mean Epona?" Malon asked. "Yes," Link replied. "No way!" Malon Exclaimed. "She's my favorite horse and besides, you don't know how to tame her!" Malon screamed like a pouting child. But Epona was mandatory to his mission. So he decided he needed to play the part as the thief this time. He approached Epona. "What do you think you're doing?" shouted Malon.
"Can I at least pet the thing?" Link shouted back. "Thing?" "Ugh fine but be careful!" she said. Link started stroking Epona and then in a flash he was on her and riding off. "HEY!" he could hear Malon screaming like never before behind him as he rode off out of the Ranch.
He thought of where he might find the waste land. "Gerudo Valley!" he thought. He rode across Hyrule all the way to Gerudo valley. Her had earned a certificate allowing him to rome the fortress as he pleased. He stopped to ask a Gerudo guard a silly question. "Is there any waste lands nearby the desert.
The guard stared at him as if he was a weirdo and said: "Infact yes, eh little guy" "You need to go out past the border of the desert far out of Hyrule. It is a hard trip but just keep going northwest and you will arrive" "But say, why your just a kid, what business do you have outside the borders of the desert in a waste land!" the guard asked suspiciously.
But before Link answered he was off already riding in the general direction of northwest. Many, many hours later he arrived at the place he was looking for. He looked around and it seemed to be the exact place Shadow Link had morphed the room into.
He searched far in the trees and found a kid lying in the dirt. He got off his horse and shook the kid. "Hey, hey! HEY!" the kid finally woke up and rolled over facing Link. It indeed was a kid version of Shadow Link. Shadow stayed silent and stared at Link. With a surprisingly high pitched voice Shadow finally said: "What do you want?" he asked. There was a note of mischief and playfulness in his voice.
Link replied: "I have been searching for you." "Searching for me, how did you know I existed?" Shadow replied.
"A long story… but anyway I would like it if you came with me" Link trailed off. "Came with you?" "No way I'm not going anywhere you git!" Shadow shouted. "You don't know how important this is!" Link retorted. Shadow stood up and drew a small sword looking at Link with pure intention. Link that he only had a matter of seconds to react. Shadow lunged at link, but not having enough time to draw his own sword, he grabbed the arm of Shadows and tossed him aside. "I would have thought you would have been more powerful considering your my opposite," Link said as he smiled innocently as if trying to provoke Shadow to do something.
Shadow stood up angry and lunged again forward towards Link. But this time Link was ready. He drew his small kokori sword and slashed at Shadow's face as he delved off to the side. Shadow landed with a thud. The blood written across his face made a soaking noise as it hit the ground with a splash. Yet Shadow got up once more. He stumbled but gained his balance. He tried a more clever tactic this time slowly approaching Link and diving into combat with him. Their swords clashed and clinged but in the end Link made a final jump attack that finished Shadow.
Shadow now lay there limp without consciousness. Link dragged Shadow onto Epona and they rode off. Half way out of the desert there was trouble. Shadow awoke but kept silent. He slipped off of the charging Epona in incognito mode. Link noticed something was wrong. He looked back and saw Shadow standing a hundred feet away, upright looking at him. Link halted Epona and she whinnied. He jumped off the horse and the chase began. He chased Shadow straight back to where they came from and they entered a wooded area that wasn't so lush or green. Although the trees cloaked the surrounding area, all of them were dead and withered.
The chase lasted for what must have been a couple of miles before Shadow suddenly jumped up in a tree. Link stopped at the tree he saw Shadow jump up in and looked around. All he heard was rustling and unpleasant creaks. He chased after the sound for a while but it turned out to be a large rodent he was following. He shouted in disappointment. He had lost him, he had failed. He searched for hours but finding Shadow ever again in this time seemed impossible. He felt sad and depressed all the way back to castle town. He stood upon the towering pedestal with the master sword jammed into it.
He needed to be brave and draw the sword go to his own time period and do what he always needed to do although the duty was delayed for a time. He shut his eyes tight and grasped the hilt of the sword firmly. Slowly but surely he drew the sword with regret mixed in with fear. Suddenly the flashing light appeared once more and he was sucked back into his troubled adult years.