Arc 1: The Aura Complex

Chapter 12: Doomsday


~Zelda~

It was time. Doomsday. The day that will decide if they live in this complex forever, or gain the ability of free travel and free rights. The day that everything falls down around them. The day that she sees for the first time the world that she left behind. The day that they escape.

Zelda could not afford to mess up on this escape. If the plan was thwarted, they would be severely punished. It was unlikely that Vaati would execute them, but there was no doubt that all four of them would end up in solitary, likely for weeks on end. The repercussions... would not be good. This had to be flawless. No matter what.

She had called everyone to the dining hall at 7 AM. They needed to stuff themselves as much as they could, as when they escape, they would most likely be without money or food for days, and they would need to conserve the canned and jarred food for as long as possible. Currently, it was 6:30, and she had thirty minutes to kill. Looking to her left, she saw Malon still asleep on her bed. Wanting to let her sleep and be as comfortable as possible before the escape, she instead headed to the dorm bathrooms to take a shower, brush her teeth, and do her typical morning routine.


Zelda, Link, Malon, and Komali waited in line in the dining hall. They were all obviously nervous and on edge, as they couldn't afford to make any mistakes. Even if Vaati didn't sentence them to a bad punishment, they would still have used up all of their credits and the security would be increased. It would be likely that it would be years before they had an opportunity to escape again.

"What do you want, Malon?" Zelda asked, looking up at the food selections. Over time, the quality of the food options had began to diminish, likely because Vaati and the runners of the facility wanted the Auras to work to get into the buffet and restaurant. The first four days, the food was gourmet-quality. But after that, it slowly began dropping to school-cafeteria quality. Definitely not desirable, but Zelda was not willing to spend that amount of credits on a restaurant.

She looked up at the menu.

Today's Breakfast Menu

Egg and Toast

Granola Cereal

Fresh Fruit with Yoghurt

Drinks: Milk, Orange Juice, Coffee

"I think I want the egg." Malon replied. Zelda settled on the fruit as it would be difficult to mess it up. The crappy food just fueled her desire to leave. All four of them sat down at a vacant table, but no one really said anything. They had all agreed that they would head to their hidden room in the mines right after their meal, but the current atmosphere was way to tense and oppressive to talk about anything other than their escape plan. Everything looked different today, as it was the day that everything would change, for better or for worse. After everyone had cleared their plates, they each stood up and returned to line in order to get a second meal. Nothing really interesting happened, they all just sat... and ate.

All four now stood on the inside of the hidden room. Zelda quickly sealed up the room as she began talking.

"Final sweep. Give me the list of everything that you have gathered." Zelda commanded. Everyone took out a sheet of paper and began reading off it. Komali began.

"I-i have: First aid-kit, iodine tablets, flashlight, parachute cord, matches, candles, compass, umbrella, whistles, canteens, baby wipes, plastic bags, plastic containers, and a multitool."

Malon rubbed her nose. "I have: Four cans of tuna, four cans of salmon, four canned luncheon meat, two jars of pickles, four bags of beef jerky, canned salmon, jarred pears, canned beans, powdered milk, and rice."

Link followed up last. "I just got some outfits for everyone."

He pulled out eight clothing sets, two for each person. Zelda was still wearing her initial outfit, but the other clothes that Link had picked out for her were also casual and easy to move around in. She neglected to pay enough attention to the other outfits for Malon and Komali, but it wasn't really important. Zelda had the very difficult task of collecting as many water bottles as possible. Remembering back to yesterday, she believed that she had around twenty bottles in her backpack back in her room. She had also allowed everyone to get one item that they wanted just for luxury. Although she didn't know what the others picked, Zelda had chosen to bring the novel that she had been reading.

"The Aura Complex Competition starts at eleven today, and it's going to be live streamed to the lounge until two. We should sit down and watch until it reaches noon, just so we know what areas to avoid."

Everyone nodded in understanding.

"Let me reiterate. First, we watch the competition from eleven to noon. Then, we grab our bags and go to the second floor of the department store. Malon will rip off the vent with her fire powers, and then we'll crawl through the vents. Then, we'll travel through the vents to the labs, where we'll search the labs for the doorway. If we have to fight to escape, we should. While I don't condone killing anyone, I'm willing to risk it if they're trying to attack you. Deal?"

"Deal." the three said in unison. Malon reached into her jean pocket and pulled out a few pieces of rubber tubing. The thickness was perfect to slide it under the bracelet, and for it to cover enough skin to prevent getting zapped. She distributed it to the three of them as they slid it underneath their bracelet.

"Great job, Malon. For now, everyone, gather in my room." Zelda said. "Bring your backpacks."


In due time, everyone was inside of Zelda and Malon's room. Once again, everyone was speechless. No one had anything interesting to say. Everyone just looked down at their feet and idled their time for the next hours, until 10:45. From there, Zelda directed everyone to go to the lounge to watch the competition.

The lounge was more crowded than Zelda had ever seen. Almost everyone from the complex was there, and sitting in the comfortable lounge chairs and benches. Every spot was filled, and several more were standing, all looking towards the screen.

"I guess we're going to have to stand." Zelda said. They all stood right in front of the fireplace, which had a television screen above it. To not look suspicious, Zelda began striking up a conversation.

"What do you think the competition will be like?" she asked.

"Well, I think it's just going to be a bunch of random challenges." Komali replied. "Sounds fun."

"If we weren't doing... this... I'd really like to compete." Link said. "I don't want to lose the opportunity, though."

Just then, the TV lit up, and everyone shut up to gaze directly at the screen. Vaati appeared on it.

"Hello everyone, and welcome to the first Aura Complex Competition! Ten brave volunteers have chosen to participate in this game for five thousand credits! First, time for the rules of this game!

We will participate in ten distinctly different challenges with very different rules. The person who loses each challenge will be kicked off the competition, and have to spend the rest of the competition inside of our Loser's Room."

The screen cut to a new room, which was completely run down. It was the size of a normal dorm room, but had eight beds jammed in it instead of the normal two. She could almost smell the musty aroma that fit the room. That would definitely not be fun. But, that wasn't the important part of why they were watching. The important part was the location of the first challenge. After that, they would leave for the department store.

"Time to meet our competitors."

Vaati listed off a bunch of people that Zelda did not recognize. But then, a name popped up that rung a bell.

"Midna Lament"

Zelda leaned off to Komali and Link. "Isn't that the girl that you shared the truck with?"

Link and Komali nodded simultaneously. Zelda had nothing more to say as she turned back to the screen. Two more people were listed off. But, the last competitor..."

"Groose Prescott"

Oh, god. Him. Zelda hoped that he lost first, but she probably wouldn't stay long enough to see. Zelda just stood at the screen, watching as Vaati interviewed each of the competitors. But, then she realized the moment that she had been waiting for was approaching and paid better attention. Everyone was gathered in the auditorium.

"It's time for our first challenge!" he enthusiastically said. A projector screen dropped which rolled through a selection of challenges. Once it stopped, one word was displayed.

"MINES".

"Your first challenge will be the Mining challenge! Each of you will enter the mines and collect ores. Once you've gotten 200 credits worth of ores, give them to me to finish the challenge! However, if you're the last one, you will lose the challenge."

Then, Vaati led the competitors to the mines. Zelda waited until the footage displayed everyone far inside of the mines lobby. She leaned into the other three. "Now's our chance!"

Zelda tried her best to leave unsuspiciously. They returned to Zelda's room, where everyone picked up their backpacks. From there, they silently made their way into the department store, onto the second floor. Everyone gathered around the vent, which was at crawl level.

"Is everyone ready?" She asked. Everyone nodded. "Last chance. If you need anything, go get it now."

No one stirred. She turned to Malon. "Malon? Do the honors."

Malon nodded in determination and ripped off her gloves to reveal her still-glowing hands. She gripped the edges of the vent, which turned hot after a couple of seconds holding it. In time, it was soft enough to take the vent cover off of the vent itself. With that, Malon put her gloves back on. Following Malon, Zelda got on her hands and knees and began crawling through the rather cramped vent. It was shallow enough that she needed to bend her arms and extend her knees a few feet back, and squished enough that she could feel both sides of the vent on her shoulders. She wasn't about to let that stop her, however. With that, she heard two more metallic sounds, which signified Link, and Komali following.

"Remind me, what's the game plan?" Link asked, arms banging against the metal walls. Zelda internally facepalmed.

"We find a way into the labs, and then find our way out through there."

"Remind me again, why can't we just find our way out through the vents itself? It has to leave outside, right?"

"Yeah, but there are several fans. We'll get chopped to bits."

The group was silent for a few minutes while crawling through the vents. But, the silence was broken by a loud alarm sound. Zelda gripped her ears and cringed.

ATTENTION ALL AURA COMPLEX CITIZENS. INITIATING LOCKDOWN. EVERYONE RETURN TO ROOMS IN TEN MINUTES OR LESS OR FACE PUNISHMENT. WE REPEAT, RETURN TO ROOMS IN TEN MINUTES OR LESS OR FACE PUNISHMENT. ROOMS WILL BE LOCKED AND CHECKED. ANYONE WHO IS NOT PRESENT IN THE ROOMS WILL FACE PUNISHMENT.

"They must've realized it." Komali said. "Stealth isn't going to work today. We have to fight."

Zelda nodded and continued crawling through the vents. "Chances are, they know exactly where we left, and they'll be following us. We'll be at a disadvantage if we stay in the vents. We need to exit as fast as we can."

After a half minute of crawling through the cramped tunnels like a spider through a hole in the wall, Zelda saw some light on her left side through a vent cover. Peeking through, she couldn't tell where it was. She stood there for a bit, then moved out of the way so Malon could handle it. She gripped and heated up the vent cover and pushed it into the new room. Leaping out, Zelda heard the sound of her feet hitting the floor. She followed suit, with both Komali and Link following.

Where was she? It wasn't any kind of room that she'd visited before. Looking around, she realized that this was the gym.

"Link!" Zelda urged.

"What?"

"Destroy the cameras!"

Link jumped up and pulled the lone surveillance camera off the corner of the room. Grabbing a dumbbell, he placed it on a utility bench and smashed it to pieces. Malon and Komali worked together to shove dumbbells into the vent to slow down anyone who was following them.

"Malon! Seal the vent cover back up!"

Malon used her gloved hand to pick up the vent cover, and then used her ungloved right hand to trace around the sides of it and fuse the metal back to the wall.

"What do we do now?" Komali asked.

"I guess... we just have to fight our way to the labs." Zelda replied, fingers to her chin. "We need to make our way to the factory. I'm sure we could remove our bracelets there and use our powers."

"Can't I just take it off?" Malon asked. "I mean, I took it off of my own wrist."

Zelda looked down and saw sparks coming out of her bracelet, hitting the rubber tubing and bouncing back outwards.

They're trying to zap us. Zelda thought.

"Zelda?" Malon asked again. "Did you hear my question?"

"Oh, yeah. It's just kind of dangerous for us, y'know?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you're immune to your own heat, I guess. But, if you were to try to take off our bracelets, we'd be at risk of being seriously burnt."

"Eh. Good point."

Link grabbed a dumbbell before the group of four left the gym for the pool.

"HEY!" a voice sounded. Everyone turned as a group of four redshirts arrived at the pool area.

"Fight!" Link commanded. Everyone got into stances and split up to deal with them. Zelda was on the side of the poolside, positioned to fight this man. She swung at his face, but he ducked. The man pulled out what looked like a stun gun and aimed right for Zelda's chest. Realizing what was happening, Zelda sidestepped him as the shot hit the meta lifeguard's chair. Observing the electricity climbing up and down the chair, an idea popped into her head. She swiftly ran around the redshirt and grabbed the end of the stun gun, pointing it away from her face. Kicking the redshirt in the leg, she wrestled the stun gun away from his grip and shoved him into the pool. She aimed for the pool and fired the gun, shocking everything in the water. The redshirt went limp.

"Guys!" she shouted. "Get them in the water!"

Observing everyone else's actions, Malon didn't seem to be needing it. She had her hand outstretched, creating a constant stream of fire that was scorching her enemy. Link and Komali, meanwhile, were struggling. Link seemed to be overpowered, and was backed into the corner, and Komali was already shocked by the stun gun while the redshirt's foot was stomping on his back, preventing him from moving.

Meanwhile, Malon finally let up. The redshirt dove into the water, desperate to put out the fire from his clothes and hair. Zelda used this opportunity to shock the water again, taking out their second enemy.

"Malon! Help Komali! I'll take care of Link!"

Malon and Zelda went in opposite directions. Zelda ran up to Link's attacker and jumped on his back. She covered his eyes and put him in a choke hold. Meanwhile, Link recovered enough to swing the dumbbell at the redshirt's face. He got knocked out cold, which prompted Link and Zelda to roll him into the pool. They shocked the water again. Meanwhile, Malon and Komali had somehow worked together to knock out the last redshirt.

Malon walked over to Zelda and collapsed on her shoulder.

"I'm so tired..." she trailed. Link grabbed Malon's other shoulder and began walking her out of the door. Together, they limped to the factory. Link grabbed an iron rod and wedged it in the handles of the factory door, effectively locking it.

"Alright, Zelda." Link said. "How are we going to get these things off?"

Link put his left hand and shook it in front of Zelda's face. Zelda turned around and thought for a few minutes, pacing back and forth across the factory.

"What if we-"

She stopped talking after noticing Link's hand in the hydraulic press.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?"

Link replied by sliding his hand out of the press, bracelet broken. He tore off the crushed remains and flexed his wrist.

"That was so risky, Link. I'm not proud of you."

"It worked, didn't it?"

"Yes, but you could've crushed and lost your left hand!"

"What do you expect me to do?"

"The water pressure cutter could've been so much safer!"

In response, Zelda turned on the pressure cutter and slowly moved her wrist into the extremely fast stream of water. The laser-thin stream of water cut her bracelet with enough precision to leave no scratch on her own skin. She got Komali to come over, and cut off his bracelet as well.

"What do we do now?" Link asked.

"Why don't we assess everyone's abilities? It'd be great if we all understood what everyone could do." Malon suggested.

"No, we don't have time for that." Zelda replied. "We just have to get our way to the labs, and then find the exit. If we dilly dattle, we'll get captured for sure. Then, we can assess everyone's abilities for our journey out of Hyrule."

No one complained, but Zelda could easily tell that Link was feeling somewhat uncomfortable. Whatever. She'll find out later.

Her thoughts were interrupted when the door to the factory began banging against the iron bar that Link had placed there. As sturdy as the bar was, there was no doubt that it would break or fall out eventually.

"We need to destroy the cameras. The cameras of every room we're in."

Komali nodded as he flew up to the corner of the two-story high room, and smacked the camera down, which smashed against the concrete floor into shards.

"It's been so long since I've been able to fly," he said in relief, flexing his wings. Zelda looked around the room for an escape route. Her eyes settled on the vent, close to the ceiling of the factory.

"Komali, do you think you can get us up there?" Zelda asked, pointing to the vent.

"I think I can..." he replied. Malon grabbed Komali's foot with her gloved hand, and then he hoisted her up to the vent cover. She ripped it off, and Komali then flung her inside. Komali came back down for Link, and then Zelda. After everyone was securely inside of the vents and a few crawls inside, Zelda heard the factory door burst open.

"Crawl faster, crawl faster!" Zelda urged. Everyone scrambled until Malon broke the next vent cover into the kitchen. Everyone stepped down, except for Komali.

"Komali, what're you doing?" Zelda asked.

"They're following us!"

Zelda peeked inside of the vent and looked at the small spaces through Komali. Sure enough, there were people crawling through it, chasing them.

"In that case, we gotta go fast!" Link urged.

"What are you doing?" Malon scolded, still staring at the unmoving Komali. Komali stuck his hand in the air, and then smashed his palm against the metal vent cover. Several sparks of electricity flew out of his hand, flowing into the vent. Zelda heard a few screams and jolts of electricity, and then a few slams against the floor of the vent.

"Great idea." Zelda said. Looking behind her, Malon had already destroyed the camera for the kitchen, and Link had replaced his dumbbell with a knife.

"The labs are right behind us." Link said. "At this point, since everyone's already alerted, it'll probably be easier for us to just barge into the doors to the labs, than try to go through the vents."

"Link, that is the smartest thing I have ever heard you say." Zelda replied. Link smirked.

The group ran outside of the kitchen and raced towards the lab doors. Simply trying the doors, Zelda saw that it was locked.

"Malon!" she commanded. Malon took off her gloves and placed her hands on the doors. However, these doors did not budge. Nothing happened. Komali then destroyed the camera closest to the labs, and then waved his hands in the direction of the rest of the hallway. A separate segment of wall appeared that looked to box them in, that looked eerily similar to the wall with the lab door..

"What did you just do?" Link asked.

"I created an illusion to make a fake wall, so they won't be able to see us when they just glance down the hall."

Zelda banged on the door, which still wouldn't budge. "Link, hand me the knife."

Link gave Zelda the knife. She wedged it between the gap in the door, and then pushed it upwards. She felt something unlatch. Now, she turned the knob and pulled outwards, which allowed the door to open. Everyone rushed inside, and then rushed inside of the elevator as everyone had been inside every room on this floor. Zelda pressed the ground floor button. Going downwards, everyone shuddered in anticipation. The doors opened, revealing an office lobby-like room that seemed much more cozy than the complex above.

"This is insane." Link sputtered. Zelda couldn't help but agree. Looking around, Zelda spotted one thing, the only thing that she needed. An exit sign, right above a doorway. Everyone turned and darted for the doorway. But, one thing happened that she did not expect. The doorway swung open, revealing a man in purple attire, standing directly in their way.

"Where do you think you're going?"


A/N: Okay, sorry for missing last week. Next chapter will be the last chapter in the Aura Complex Arc. Please, follow, favorite, or review.