Author's Note

Hey everyone, I thought it was time I wrote an author's note before we got into the story to clear up some things and set some expectations. This one will be a little long due to me getting some things out of the way, but I promise they will be shorter after this one.

Yesterday, I posted the three first chapters right after each other because I had already written them and wanted there to be a solid amount of material when the story first went up. In the future, I plan for there to be slightly more than 40 chapters in total, and I have already roughly planned out what happens in each.

My goal is to upload a new chapter every other day, but due to university matters, I might write a bunch of chapters ahead of time before I actually get very busy. In that case, I might not be able to amend my writing with any feedback from you guys until a while after you have posted it, but know that I appreciate and welcome any feedback, regardless of how critical it might be. If I get pretty far ahead, I might also try to upload once a day. I plan my upload times to be at 21:30 CET and 15:30 (3.30 PM) EST from tomorrow and onwards. Although it takes up to half an hour before this site shows new chapters, so expect them at 22:00 and 16:00 (4 PM) instead.

I will notify you of how far ahead I am and if you can expect daily uploads or not every time I upload a new chapter after chapter 3.

In terms of what the story will cover, I plan for Link to tackle all the Divine Beasts, get the Master Sword, and then head to Ganon. I won't write about what happens in Shrines, and I plan for Link's path to be rather direct, non-100% path in order to not draw the story out too much.

The path I have planned is from Plateau to Kakariko, then Zora, Rito, Gerudo, Goron, Korok Forest and finally Hyrule Castle. Although, due to personal taste about how I like to play the game, both me and Link in the story won't be using warping to quick travel. This means I will cover the path's between Zora's Domain and Rito Village, and I will have Link travel from Gerudo Town to the bottom right of the map to include the Jungle area and Eventide before heading to Akala and Goron City. I am also playing through the game again on normal mode as I am writing the story to get a better sense of location, number of enemies and their equipment.

If Zelda seems a bit out of character, that is intentional. I won't sway too far from her kind and proper roots, but when talking to Ganon who she has been reluctantly stuck with for over a century, she does act a bit different. This is also rather important to the story, and her changed behavior is something that will be touched on later.

I have more to touch on, like the English naming convention of the minions, how unnatural game mechanics like eating 10 mushroom skewers in midair are going to be handled in writing, and more… But I'll touch upon those in other author's notes as this one is already too long. Questions are greatly appreciated. Also, I won't be overusing the minion-naming jokes as much after chapter 4. With that, on to the story .

xxxxx

Chapter 1: Respective Champions

Ganondorf, dubbed King of Evil and Supreme Conqueror of Hyrule, took careful regard of Minion B1-228. It was a snot-faced, dim-witted, scrawny, absolutely pathetic Red Bokoblin with a tree branch, yet this feeble creature was also currently the king's greatest hope of nibbing the emerging disaster in the bud. Time was up; the Hero had been revived.

He had wanted a Hinox or a White Moblin to greet the Hero immediately after waking up, preventing Link from finding strong gear and becoming a real threat. But they weren't around, and he had no power to actively direct them in his current state. So... B1-228 was the best resistance he could muster at the moment.

He had no idea how the dull creature and his fellow bokoblins had ever managed to climb up to the plateau to begin with. However, that was not what was most important right now. Because right now, he could only imagine one outcome for B1-228.

He was absolutely going to die a brutal death at the hands of the legendary Hero.

B1-228, or "Baxter" as Ganon had just decided to dub him, had finally taken notice of the hero. Charging straight for him, Baxter raised his tree branch in the air, ready to strike. The hero saw this and immediatly-

...Got hit?

Ganon heard a slight gasp from his left, the usually stubbornly quiet princess apparently being shocked as much as he himself was. Not only had the hero not doged or countered, Baxter had actually managed to smack him across the torso with his tree branch.

Immediately after, Link smacked his own branch across Baxter's face, but Baxter merely shrugged it off and struck back, getting another clean hit in. Then, the hero distanced himself from his opponent, stepping back to seemingly survey the situation.

Ganondorf only had one idea for what was going on. The hero was weakened - his skills had dulled throughout his long sleep. Ganondorf was ecstatic over this revelation.

"So, Zelda, looks like your highest champion is no match for even my lowest one!" he said, voice booming, trying to provoke his compatriot of the last hundred years to speak.

Getting back to the fight, Baxter retook the initiative, leaping up into the air and flinging his body toward the Hero. He zoomed closer, getting a hair's breath away from Link before the creatures's branch would descend and-

Baxter went flying. Link had struck him in mid air, sending his face skidding through the dirt.

"...You should not underestimate the Great Hero of Hyrule," the Princess said with a seemingly neutral tone, although Ganon could sense an infuriating smile covering her lips.

The hero then ran up to the downed Bokoblin, jumped in the air and... completely misgauged the distance, merely thrusting his tree branch into ground next to his target. Baxter got up, but seemed dazed, looking off in the distance for several seconds before turning to his advesary.

"Great Hero, right, I think I see it evidently," Ganon said with a smirk of his own.

Yet after but a few more seconds, his smile turned into a frown. Ganon was convinced: this was officially the most infuriating fight he had ever witnessed in all of his many lives. There was an innate desire within him to do nothing more than to scream at Baxter, but he knew no sound would come.

The only control Ganon actually had over his minions was through the power of the Blood Moon, where he could merely resoummon them. A great power to be sure, at least for his more advanced monsters, unlike Baxter who was about on equal footing with a groggy centenarian wielding a tree branch as his primary weapon. The lout had even foregone the axe behind him in his waking stupor.

The fight resumed. While Ganondorf was not impressed with Baxter, the hero might somehow actually have been worse. Right now, he was just jumping around, doing backflips and gauging the distance between him and his opponent. He would stand still for but a moment, let Baxter come close, then move out the way of his attack.

Ganondorf recognized that Link was trying to analyze Baxter's movements and then counterattack, but he was not very good at it: he kept standing still for too long, letting Baxter hit him and then jumping out of the way aftwerward. However, Ganondorf was content with this. As long as Baxter could actually manage to kill Link, that was enou-

Ganon's thought was interrupted when the hero threw his branch in Baxter's face, causing him to keel over and lose the grip of his weapon. As the Bokoblin got up, Link rushed over and stole Baxter's branch. Baxter, enraged, punched at link, but right at that moment, Link jumped to the side -

The hero had perfect timing. Baxter was wide open, his swing having gone way off to the side, letting his guard down. The hero rushed in: with incredible speed, he swung his tree branch and landed multiple hits. One, two – five! He had decimated Baxter in what seemed like but a single instance.

The branch had broken, but the damage had been done. Baxter's body flew backwards quickly, fading into a haze of purple mist. The hero looked somewhat excited yet confused, as if he hadn't been planning to pull that stunt before being in the moment and letting instinct take over. Regardless, he strolled over to where Baxter's body had vanished, picked up a Bokoblin Fang or two, and collected the branch of his fallen victim. Then, he went back to get the axe he had missed, and then jumped in a small lake after having spotted a sword on an island in the middle of it.

Ganondorf was livid. He wanted nothing more than to use the Blood Moon to revive Baxter, push the Hero down a flight of stairs, and then push Baxter down the same stairs for good measure. But no, he couldn't have that. He couldn't have much these days.

His sight and hearing could wander to any place in Hyrule, and apparently so could Zelda's, but he couldn't touch, smell or taste anything at all, even very near his body. Not that there was anything to eat to begin with: him and Zelda were encased in a cocoon. They had both agreed to fill the bottom half of it up so they could walk around a slightly bigger area, meaning they were living in a dome-like space. Not that the space amounted to much, but with both of them retaining their physical, bipedal bodies, they both preferred being able to stay as physically far away from each other as possible. Her bloodline physically revolted him, and she didn't want to be near him for reasons he didn't have to think very hard to find. She could also use her powers to repel him across their living space if she so desired.

Regardless of the pitiful display of the Hero, Ganon had a feeling. A really bad one. One that he had gotten when he saw Baxter being defeated by a moron with a tree branch. If that continued happening continuously... if even his most powerful and tactical of soldiers would end up defeated like that...

...Then his mind may already have become shattered before the hero ever arrives at Hyrule Castle.