A/N: Now here's the first chapter of Injustice 1.
10-9-21 Update: I first uploaded this chapter on 8-23, but I decided to change a couple of characters in light of a recent Smash announcement. ^_^ Since Kingdom Hearts is one of my favorite video games series' ever, I just had to include it in my fic somewhere.
At least I don't have to worry about constantly retconning this fic now since there won't be any more Smash announcements for a very long time. :(
Chapter 3: Link
Elsewhere
Five Years Later
Kirby sighed at his current predicament. Sometimes he just didn't get Meta Knight. One day, the masked knight is throwing him Invincibility Candies to help him through his adventure, and then the next day he's challenging him to duels. Meta Knight had always claimed that everything he did was for Dreamland's protection. And, for the most part, this appeared to be true, for whenever their homeworld was threatened, Meta Knight could usually be counted on to help Kirby save the day. However, even to this day, Kirby still hasn't forgotten about the time Meta Knight tried to conquer Dreamland himself in order to end the populace's lazy lifestyle. To Kirby, there was almost no offense greater than taking away the right to being slothful. As far as he was concerned, if he wanted to sleep through his house ascending through the clouds by a beanstalk, Pop Star getting mechanicalized, and pieces of hearts corrupting everyone, that's his right to do so. On top of all of this, Meta Knight more recently teamed up with King Dedede to take him down, and though Kirby defeated them with the help of a partner, this made the puffball all the more wary of Meta Knight.
Earlier in the day, Bowser had once again kidnapped Princess Peach, but this time, the King of the Koopas assembled a rouges gallery of the Smash heroes' greatest foes to assist him. In response, Mario called for the aid of his various allies from many different worlds. When Kirby arrived at the ongoing battle in the Mushroom Kingdom, to his surprise, Meta Knight was waiting for him. While riding a Warp Star and possessing his Sword copy ability, Kirby swung his sword in front of him wildly, launching a barrage of Sword Beams at his airborne opponent. Meta Knight swerved and flew away to avoid the Sword Beams, with Kirby in hot pursuit.
Not too far from them, Mario was busy fighting Mewtwo. The Psychic Pokémon tried slashing Mario several times with Psycho Cut, only for the plumber to dodge each strike. Mario then leapt towards Mewtwo, fist extended, only for Mewtwo to use Teleport right before Mario reached it. Before Mario could react, Mewtwo reappeared behind him and scratched Mario in the back of the head with a darkness-infused hand. Mario retaliated with a barrage of fireballs from his hands, only for Mewtwo to block them with a psychic barrier. However, the last fireball managed to break the barrier, catching Mewtwo by surprise and giving Mario enough time to tackle the Pokémon.
Kirby continued chasing Meta Knight, firing more Sword Beams at him. Meta Knight turned to face Kirby before creating a huge Mach Tornado in front of him. Kirby stopped to avoid getting sucked into the vortex, giving Meta Knight the opportunity to fly past him. Growling in frustration, Kirby again gave chase.
Sora, meanwhile, was on the offensive against Master Xehanort. Sora whacked Xehanort several times with his Keyblade before blasting him away with a Firaga spell. As the Seeker of Darkness descended toward Banjo-Kazooie, Banjo pulled Kazooie from his backpack and bashed Xehanort with her, knocking him back in Sora's direction. The bear and bird duo Talon-Trotted to Sora's side, ready to further assist him.
While that was going on, Mario somehow managed to connect two punches and a Meteor Knuckle on Mewtwo, the latter sending it to the ground. Mewtwo rose up, no worse for wear. "So you do have some fight in you. But I have no time for ga…!" Mewtwo was suddenly hit by a Master Ball and sucked inside it. Leaf, with Marth alongside her, retrieved the Master Ball as its light dimmed.
"I finally caught Mewtwo!" Leaf exclaimed, making a V sign with her hand.
"Pi, Pikachu!" repeated Leaf's Pikachu, who suddenly emerged from his Pokéball imitating her V sign.
The Master Ball disappeared, transporting itself to Leaf's PC, as the trainer already had a full party of Pokémon.
"Let's-a wrap this up," Mario said to his allies. "I have to go rescue Princess Peach."
"Before Bowser throws something..." Leaf started to reply before seeing something gigantic land behind Mario. "...else at us."
Hearing the loud thud behind him, Mario turned around and saw the giant mutant boss of the Piranha Plants himself. "Petey!" Mario snarled before charging at his enemy. However, Petey shot a cannonball out of his mouth, which hit Mario dead-on with enough force to launch him high into the sky. "Not again!" was the last thing Mario uttered before flying out of sight and becoming a twinkle in the sky.
"That should've been a combined assault," said Leaf.
"Mario sometimes forgets that he can't do everything himself," Marth explained.
Leaf pulled out a Pokéball and released the Pokémon inside of it. "Charizard, find Mario and bring him back here. Pikachu, since you're already out, help Marth take down that overgrown flower!" Leaf commanded. With nods, the two Pokémon obey their Trainer, with Charizard taking flight and Pikachu preparing to attack Petey together with Marth.
While Mario and company were preoccupied with the villains in the Mushroom Kingdom, Bowser led another group of baddies to simultaneously attack the Space Colony ARK, the Smash heroes' base of operations.
Sitting in his Koopa Clown Car, Bowser laughed mockingly at Samus, shielding her Charge Shot before retaliating with his Fire Breath. The streak of fire hit Samus dead-on, causing her to stagger back. Bowser fired a barrage of Bullet Bills from the Clown Car's mouth cannon. Samus shifted into Morph Ball mode and rolled out of the way of the Bullet Bills, but as she reverted back to normal, a powerful suction pulled her inside King Dedede's mouth.
With Samus out of their way, the Bullet Bills continued their trajectory, with Sheik now directly in their path. Among the chaos of fighting against Ridley, she wouldn't have noticed the incoming projectiles in time. Just before the Bullet Bills made impact, however, Bayonetta warped in front of Sheik and slowed the Bullet Bills to a crawl with Witch Time. Using her magic, Bayonetta turned the Bullet Bills away from herself before deactivating Witch Time, guiding the Bullet Bills into Dedede's back and freeing Samus from his mouth.
Bowser gave the Umbra Witch an annoyed look. "You're interrupting tonight's entertainment, Bayonetta."
"You call this entertainment, Bowser? Well, I suppose it's not unusual for a man your age to have performance issues," said Bayonetta.
A giant genie grabbed Sheik and tossed her away from Bayonetta. Sheik rolled on the floor and recovered, stopping in front of the genie's master, Captain Syrup. Bowser spat out a quick fireball at Bayonetta, but she avoided the attack with her Bat Within form. Ridley, Captain Syrup, and the genie circled around Sheik, ready to pick her off. Samus and Dedede traded blows until the latter swung his hammer like a golf club and knocked Samus over to Sheik's side.
"I thought you would have repelled our intruders by now," Sheik said half-jokingly to Samus.
"Name's Samus, not miracle worker," Samus complained.
Though they were tempting to lighten the mood, Sheik knew that with how the battle was going it was time to call for backup.
"Link, are you there? Have you finished your task at the Arbiter's Grounds yet?" Sheik asked via Sheikah Slate.
"I'm just about to arrive there now," Link answered. While riding his horse, Link could see the prison just up ahead.
"Please hurry. We need you back at the ARK," Sheik pleaded.
"Just hold out for a few more minutes. I'll be there soon, Zelda," Link reassured her. Earlier, when word got out that Bowser was assembling a team of villains to take on the Heroes of Smash, Zelda ordered Link to check out the Arbiter's Grounds to make sure that Bowser didn't bust him out, an order that Link was currently carrying out.
After Link arrived at the grounds, a guard quickly escorted him to Ganondorf's cell. "We've been keeping a close eye on him, Link, just like the princess said. He hasn't moved in hours," the guard informed him as he pulled out the key to the cell. But Link stopped him before he could unlock the door, pointing toward the tripwire at the base of the door.
"What the heck? What is that?" the guard asked in a confused tone.
Link pulled out his Sheikah Slate and used Cryonis on the tripwire, freezing it solid. After that, a simple tap was all that was needed to shatter the tripwire into a million pieces.
With the threat neutralized, the guard opened the door and the two looked inside. From there, they could see that what looked like Ganondorf simply sitting on a bed next to a Giant Bob-omb.
"Huh? How'd Ganondorf do this? This cell was embedded with the magic of the Seven Sages of old, ensuring that even the King of Evil himself wouldn't be able to break out!" the guard exclaimed.
"He didn't. I'm sure the Ganondorf in that cell is just an illusion created by a Magikoopa. I don't know what Bowser's plotting, but whatever it is, I'm going to stop him," Link said with determination.
"Can't let you do that, Link!"
Link and the guard turned around and saw Wolf O' Donnell approaching them from behind. The guard runs off – hopefully to get backup – as Link readied his sword and shield.
"You're Bowser's pet now, Wolf?" Link asked.
"His coins are green. And as a bonus...I get to kill the Hero of the Wild," Wolf answered.
Link held up his shield to block Wolf's incoming Blaster shots. With his Blaster proving insufficient, Wolf upped the ante by pulling out two Machine Guns. Before Wolf could pull the triggers, Link activated Revali's Gale, creating an updraft beneath Link and propelling him upward, away from the Machine Guns' line of fire.
"What the heck?" Wolf exclaimed, too shocked to react to Link soaring above him and dropping a bomb on him. Wolf recovered from the blast as Link landed, pouncing toward the Hylian with his claws outstretched. "You're good, but I'm better!" Wolf boasted. Reminding him a little too much of a line Revali once said to him, Link irately sliced up Wolf before kicking him away and knocking him out with a Sword Beam.
"Sorry, Wolf. No bonus for you. It looks like you can lose," said Link. He contacted the ARK via Sheikah Slate as he walked away. "Link to the ARK, come in." No response. "Sheik?" Radio silence. Link upped his pace as his worry grew.
From the sky, Banjo-Kazooie Beak Bombed toward Petey, but he snatched the speeding duo from the air with his leaf-like arms and opened his mouth widely. "Guh-oh!" Banjo exclaimed as he and Kazooie struggled to escape Petey's grasp. Before Banjo-Kazooie became Petey's next meal, Kirby, with his Fighter ability, uppercut Petey hard enough to send him flying toward Leaf's airborne Charizard. The Pokémon intercepted Petey with a Fire Blast that sent him spiraling down to the ground fast.
While fighting Xehanort in midair, Sora looked up and noticed Petey falling above him, giving him an idea. "Thunder!" Sora cried, raising his Keyblade up high and calling down a bolt of lightning on Xehanort. The electric shock paralyzed Xehanort long enough for Petey to fall on top of him, plummeting them both to the ground. Pit swooped in and caught Xehanort right before he hit the ground. Petey wasn't so lucky and he crashed into the pavement with a loud thud. Pit set aside an unconscious Xehanort when Sonic sped by and stopped next to Pit.
"Pit, what was that?" Sonic asked.
"Thunder of the gods, Sonic. Thunder of the gods," said Pit.
Petey pulled himself out of the small crater he made and let out an angry roar. Mario flew in fast with his cape power-up and tackled Petey, dragging him far away from Sonic and Pit.
"I guess that makes us the poor slobs who clean up the mess," Sonic shrugged before speeding off.
"Hey, I think I was supposed to say that line," Pit complained.
"Careful, Pit," Palutena telepathically warned him. "Petey isn't called the boss of the Piranha Plants for nothing. He has multiple abilities that set him apart from the rest of his kin, including monstrous strength, spitting goop, and the ability to create tornadoes."
"Whoa, Petey sounds really powerful," Pit said worriedly. "I guess that's why he's stuck as a Final Smash and not an actual fighter."
"Well, duh!" Viridi butted in. "Regular Piranha Plants are already perfection, and Petey's basically the King Piranha Plant.
Both Pit and Palutena groaned loudly, remembering vividly the last time Viridi gushed nonstop about the Piranha Plant species. Pit slumped over his head enough to unintentionally avoid the icy blue gas aimed at him. Surprised at the sudden attack, Pit wheeled around and saw King K. Rool with his blunderbuss pointed at him.
"Huh! What're you doing here? You're not suppose to show up until my chapter!" Pit exclaimed.
Palutena shrugged. "I guess the author wanted to include the character playing as Killer Frost since they were the only base roster character in Injustice 1 that wasn't in the Story Mode's first chapter."
"In that case," Pit split his Palutena Bow and readied each blade. "I've always wanted to try on some crocodile leather boots."
"Yeah, right! I think he's about to have some deep fried angel wings," teased Viridi.
Back on the ARK, Samus Melee Countered Dedede's incoming attack, allowing her to lay into the stunned self-proclaimed king. Captain Syrup rode on the genie's shoulder as he swerved through the air, avoiding Bayonetta's Bullet Arts. Sheik slid under a swipe from Ridley and retaliated with a kick to back of Ridley's head. After more strikes to the back, she knocked Ridley off balance with a well-placed stomp to the back of his knee. However, Ridley turned the tables with a tail-swipe that caught Sheik off guard, stunning her long enough for the space pirate to slam her into the ground.
Bowser watched the chaos from a distance, enjoying the show. "Now, if there are no further interruptions…" Bowser trailed off upon hearing Link enter the room.
"Took me almost two minutes to solve that puzzle to unlock the door. Nice work," Link said sarcastically.
"Ridley," Bowser called over.
The Space Pirate commander prowled toward Link. "First the ninja wannabe, and now you? Everyone's getting it my way today! Pff, fine. I'll eviscerate you slowly and painfully for interrupting my fun." He turned his head to face Samus. "And I'm going to make sure you watch every second of it before I kill you too. Don't go PTSD relapsing too much without me."
"The only thing that's about to relapse is me blasting you straight to Hell!" Samus yelled back while still fighting Dedede.
"You just focus on Dedede, Samus. This time, I'll take care of Ridley," Link declared.
The Cunning God of Death opened the fight with rearing back and charging plasma in his mouth. Before Ridley could finish charging his Plasma Breath, Link shot a Fire Arrow into his mouth, igniting the plasma prematurely and dealing hefty damage to his mouth to boot.
Enraged, Ridley swiped furiously at Link, who barely avoided his claws. Ridley tried again, this time successfully grabbing a hold of the Hylian. Link placed his shield between himself and the wall Ridley slammed him into, lessening the impact of getting scraped across the room. After being tossed away, Link equipped a Lightning Rod and shocked Ridley with a bolt of electricity. As Ridley was brought down, Link froze him in time with the Stasis Rune and smashed him repeatedly with a Savage Lynel Crusher. As the Stasis wore off, the kinetic energy from Link's blows toppled the Space Pirate over.
Link sighed in relief, thinking the fight was over. But in a sneak attack, Ridley skewered Link in the gut with his tail. Ridley roared in triumph as Link tumbled to the ground. To Ridley's surprise, however, Mipha's Grace activated, fully restoring Link's health.
Enraged, Ridley charged at Link at full speed. Ready for it, Link threw a Remote Bomb in Ridley's mouth from just outside of his reach. As Ridley choked on the Remote Bomb, Link activated it, blowing up Ridley's insides and taking him down for good this time.
Link looked to his allies, relieved to see them also triumphant in their battles. "Ridley, Syrup, Dedede. You're all alone, Bowser."
"Geniuses often are," Bowser replied.
"Oh, is that why you're stealing ideas from your son?" Link asked while pointing at the Koopa Clown Car.
"Hey, I'll have you know that I've been using this baby ever since the time I fought Mario in Dinosaur Land. Junior was inspired by his old man, so he started using a Clown Car of his own," Bowser explained. "You hero types are all alike, always acting all high and mighty. But you're even less imposing close up."
"You're testing my patience." said Link as he readied his boomerang.
Bowser slowly approached towards Link, who responded by throwing his boomerang into his shoulder.
"Resigned to throwing toys?" Bowser said mockingly.
Bowser continued his advance, and Link boomeranged him several more times.
"Curse you, elf boy!"
Bowser increased his speed, but Link continued his boomerang assault, with one final hit tipping over the Koopa Clown Car.
"It's time to teach you humility," said Link.
Bowser righted the capsized Clown Car, only to get knocked away by a Jump Slash from Link. Bowser teched before hitting the ground again and responded with a fireball to Link's face, which he blocked with his Hylian Shield. Link went on the offensive but halted mid-charge, encasing himself in a bubble of energy before getting pierced by the Koopa Clown Car's drills. The drills whittled down his shield until Link was slapped away by one of the drills, breaking the shield entirely. While Link was stunned, Bowser transformed the Clown Car into a go-kart and ran Link over.
Bowser pulled out a Mechakoopa, but before he could throw it, Link shot it with an arrow, blowing it up in Bowser's hand. After rearing back from the point blank range explosion, Bowser angrily ascended with the Koopa Clown Car. Bowser ducked in his vehicle, flipped it upside down, and dropped down a large iron ball. Before the iron ball could roll over Link, he took hold of it with Magnesis and hurled it into Bowser. Link continuously swung around the iron ball, slapping Bowser around with it before raising it above him and letting it drop. After Bowser crashed into the ground, Link bowled a Remote Bomb at him and detonated it, blowing Bowser out of his Clown Car. Samus hoisted Bowser up and restrained him as Link shot the Koopa Clown Car with an Ancient Arrow, utterly obliterating it.
Link spoke into his Sheikah Slate. "Mario, report."
"It's-a done," Mario's cherry voice rang. "The others are mopping up. I'm-a going to rescue Peach from Bowser's Castle now."
"Just be sure to be quick," said Link.
Sheik was prodding the other villains into a portal created by Bayonetta when an alarm went off, illuminating the ARK with bright red lights. Captain Syrup, the last one remaining, stopped and looked around confused.
"What's that?" she asked.
"It's the 'none-of-your-business' alarm," Samus answered as Sheik forced Captain Syrup into the portal.
With the villains captured, Bayonetta closed the portal as Samus pulled up a map on a nearby computer. "Radiological. Toad Town," Link observed as Samus zoomed in on an object in front of Peach's Castle. Two figures were on-site, which the computer analyzed and identified as Ganondorf and Twinrova, the combined form of Ganondorf's surrogate mothers, Kotake and Koume.
Bowser chuckled. "I can see the headlines: Heroes of Smash Fail; Gerudo Sends Millions To Subspace."
"YOU GAVE HIM A SUBSPACE NUKE?" Link exclaimed in disbelief.
"That's right. My Koopa Troop reversed-engineered our own Subspace Bomb, now powerful enough to engulf an entire city. It doesn't even need any of those stupid R.O.B.s to power it. Peach's beloved capital city gets sucked into Subspace, taking most of the heroes along with it, and I console Peach's aching heart by offering to bring it back, with me as it's ruler, of course," Bowser gloated.
"You idiot!" Samus spat back. "A Subspace explosion of that size will be the equivalent of dozens of Subspace Bombs going off at once, and I shouldn't have to remind you of what happened to the Isle of the Ancients! The Subspace Bomb is going to kill everyone in its blast radius!"
"Wait...kill everyone? No…no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no! I'm all for being evil, but that's overkill! That no-good Gerudo tricked me! This was his idea! When I get my claws on him, I'll…"
Sheik karate chopped Bowser in the neck, knocking him out. "He was done."
"This is Link. Code Red! Everyone to Peach's Castle Grounds, now!" Link relayed to the heroes in the Mushroom Kingdom.
In front of Princess Peach's Castle, Ganondorf tinkered with the Subspace Nuke as Twinrova stood beside him, gleeful at watching their master at work. "That beast said remember to...there we are. This bomb is now armed and mobile," said Ganondorf as he made his final adjustments.
Twinrova bounced in delight at seeing the bomb become active. "It works! Not that we'd expect anything less from The Great Ganondorf." Her enthusiasm deflated as soon as they both noticed Link appearing before them. "Uh oh."
"Leave us. The boy and I need to have a little talk," Ganondorf ordered Twinrova.
"But, master…"
Ganondorf backfisted Twinrova, sending her several feet. "Never question my command! Now go!" Twinrova whimpered sadly as she teleported away just as Link fully materialized. "Well, look who it is. I knew that pup Wolf couldn't kill you."
"Too bad for you," said Link. He stopped dead in his tracks when noticed the bomb was turned on.
"Why so hesitant? I merely took it off standby." Ganondorf took out a remote with a single red button. "It's this button you have to worry about."
Not too far from them, Leaf, riding atop her Charizard, Banjo-Kazooie, and Sora flew toward Link and Ganondorf at top speed. "There they are!" Banjo pointed out.
"Keep him talking, Link," Leaf said softly.
From the other direction, Sonic sped toward their location. Lagging behind him in the air were Kirby and Marth on a Warp Star, with Pit flying beside them with the Power of Flight. "Just go, Sonic! We'll catch up!" Kirby urged the hedgehog. Sonic saluted Kirby before picking up speed and leaving them behind.
"You push that button and eight million Toads die," Link berated.
"Eight million Toads and one Hylian," Ganondorf corrected. "I wanted to enjoy watching this city's demise from afar, but now that you're here, this place shall serve as your tomb for eternity."
The next second seemingly slowed to a crawl, as Ganondorf's thumb inched closer to the detonator and Link desperately reached for the remote. The other heroes were about to arrive on the scene when Banjo noticed strange blue energy radiating from Leaf and Charizard. The same blue energy soon surrounded Kirby, Marth, and Pit. The strange energies converged together between Link and Ganondorf, creating a blinding white light nanoseconds before the detonator was either pushed or snatched away...
Disoriented, Link and Ganondorf fell down in a thud. Link got up, perplexed at the unfamiliar surroundings. The once clear blue sky was now overcast. They stood on the worn pavement of a street, surrounded by futuristic skyscrapers with large holographic screens built into their sides, all displaying a single unrecognizable symbol. Where Peach's Castle should've been stood a large Peach statue with many different flowers and candles left in front of it.
Ganondorf, however, was only concerned with one thing as he grabbed and quickly pressed the detonator. "What the devil's wrong with this thing?" he complained after nothing happened. He mashed the button several more times, to no avail. In frustration, Ganondorf crushed the remote in his palm and tossed it aside. "Curse you, Link! I know this is somehow your doing!"
But Link was so distracted he didn't respond to Ganondorf. "Toad Town. And yet…"
With Link's back turned toward him, Ganondorf channeled dark energy into his fist, in preparation for a Warlock Punch. When Ganondorf threw the punch, Link, without even looking, spot dodged and avoided the attack. Link retaliated by ramming the Master Sword into Ganondorf's chest, again without turning around. When Link finally faced Ganondorf, he was grasping for air as he clutched his injured chest. "Perhaps I acted rashly before. I would much prefer to end your life the old-fashioned way," Ganondorf threatened as he brandished his sword.
Link swung the Master Sword, but Ganondorf dodged, countering with his own swing that Link also avoided. Ganondorf attacked again, but this time Link blocked it, leaving him open to get kicked down. As Link rolled back and got on his feet, Ganondorf thrusted his sword at him. Link parried with a Spin Attack that Ganondorf jumped back to avoid. Link went on the offensive and clashed swords with Ganondorf until they both backed up. They both circled around each other as they stared each other down. Finally, Ganondorf taunted Link by beckoning him, provoking the hero into throwing away his shield and swinging the Master Sword with both hands to match Ganondorf's incoming strike.
Both blades locked together, but after a brief struggle, Link somehow slipped through Ganondorf's defense, slashing the Gerudo with the Master Sword. Link continued with a barrage of sword strikes until Ganondorf punched the ground, creating a shockwave that sent Link backward.
Ganondorf levitated into the air and cast a yellow energy orb at Link, who lobbed it back with his sword. The two volleyed the orb back and forth until it became too fast for Ganondorf to reflect. As Ganondorf was stunned from his own attack, Link fired a Light Arrow from the Bow of Light, bringing the King of Evil back to the ground. With the Master Sword glowing brightly in the presence of evil, Link Flurry Rushed Ganondorf, dealing enough damage to leave him heaving and spewing out blood.
Before the fight could conclude, loud sirens headed their way caught the attention of both combatants. In an instant, they were surrounded by armored jeeps and trucks, all branded with the same symbol on the holographic screens. From the vehicles poured out a squadron of Mii Gunners, each dressed in the same military uniforms and respiratory masks that fully concealed their faces. "Drop your weapons and put your hands behind your head!" the lead Gunner demanded as they all aggressively pointed their arm cannons at Link and Ganondorf. Link stood wide-eyed, shocked beyond belief at the situation as an attack helicopter arrived. "I said hands up! Do it or you're dead, Link!" the Mii Gunner repeated.
Ganondorf wiped the blood from the side of his mouth and smirked. Normally, he'd be outraged, but Link getting apprehended along with him was worth it in his eyes.
Link laid down his sword and slowly raised his hands, leading the Mii Gunners into believing that he was complying. In reality, Link was in the middle of executing a hesitantly conceived escape plan. Link snapped his fingers, activating Urbosa's Fury and electrocuting everyone else in the vicinity. While everyone was still getting shocked, Link pulled out a Savage Lynel Bow and shot five Bomb Arrows into the ground in front him, just far away enough to not blow himself up. He used the explosions and subsequent smoke as cover to grab his dropped gear and slip past them undetected, with Ganondorf also seizing the opportunity to get away.
Link spent the next few hours hiding out wherever he could while trying to gather any info he could get on where he was. After nightfall, Link watched from atop a building the same Mii Gunners from before rounding up a group of Toads.
"You know the law, Toads!" one of the Mii Gunners scolded. "Maybe 20 to life will teach you all not to illegally download music!"
"Wait, they're not Insurgents?" another Mii Gunner asked.
"Nah," the first one replied. "They're just some punks. Like that Yiga Clan idiot we almost had. Still can't believe we freakin' lost Link, though."
"Yeah. Let's hope the boss doesn't find out."
Link looked horrified. Though he still didn't understand exactly what was going on or how he got there, one thing was now certain.
"I'm in a nightmare," Link said to himself.