Here's the next chapter!

Enjoy! ;)

Chapter 2: The Forsaken Fortress

"What?! You want to come with us on our ship?"

"Yes." Link nodded firmly. But Tetra didn't take this too seriously:

"Do you understand what you're asking? We're pirates! You know… PIRATES! The terror of the seas! What do we get out of bringing some helpless little kid along with us? I'll tell you what we get…a headache."

"Hey! I'm not helpless!" Link shot back.

"Look, I know how you must feel, with your sister having been kidnapped and all… But that doesn't really have anything to do with us, now does it?"

"And how do you figure that…?" suddenly, a voice said as everyone turned to see the Rito postman at their side.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa there! Just who are you?! Where do you get off butting in on someone else's conversation?!" the man from previously, named Gonzo, questioned.

"Please! All I mean to say is that if you big, bad pirates hadn't come to this quiet little island… That poor girl wouldn't have been snatched away by that bird."

"And just what do you mean by that?" Tetra asked.

"Just be quiet for a moment, and I'll tell you! Now, as my work entails delivering letters, I spend much of my time traveling amongst the many different islands. As a result, I hear many things… Haven't any of you heard that young girls have been getting kidnapped lately from all regions of the Great Sea?"

"Wait, what?!"

"No matter. Whether you've heard it or not, that seems to be the case. Young girls with long ears like yours have been getting kidnapped, never to be seen again. And unless my eyes fail me, the young girl who was just kidnapped from this island also has long ears, does she not? Much like YOU do, Miss Fearsome Pirate. My point is that the bird mistook that poor girl for you, and that's why it grabbed her!"

Upon hearing this, Tetra could tell that he might've been right. The bird was too far away to properly tell the difference between her and Link's sister, further proving this theory. But she, as well as Link, still didn't understand about those kidnappings; why only girls with long ears? Does the bird hate seeing girls with long ears or something?

"And correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe it was young Link here who saved you from the monsters in the forest." the postman continued, and then turned to Link. "Wasn't it true?"

"It was." Link nodded.

"…Is this true?" Tetra asked in astonishment.

"Oh! And while I'm at it…" the postman interfered. "I may as well tell you that the bird that kidnapped both you and Link's sister has made its foul nest to the north, on the heights of the Forsaken Fortress."

"The Forsaken Fortress?!" Gonzo and the small pirate, Niko, exclaimed in unison.

"Isn't that the place where…" Tetra breathed.

"So, what are you going to do?" the postman asked. "Under the circumstances, I don't think it would be unreasonable for you to give Link a little help, now, would it?"

"Hmph… I don't need you to tell me that!" Tetra scoffed, then turned to Link. "But even if I were to consider it… Lately, I've heard nothing but evil rumors about this Forsaken Fortress… You can't possibly mean to go there with nothing but that cheap little sword! That's not brave! It's stupid! I mean, come on! Even a simple little island like this has to have something you could use as a shield. You know, something to protect yourself with? Anything?"

Just by hearing the word 'shield', Link knew exactly the place where to get one.

"Tell you what. If you come back with something like that, we'll let you stow away on our ship." Tetra said. "Oh, and one more thing: once we leave, you won't be coming back here for a while, so you'd better go say good-bye to your family while you have the chance. Because I don't want you getting all weepy eyed and homesick on me!"

After Link was relieved that Tetra was done rambling, he wasted no time in heading to his house to get the shield that was previously hung on the wall at the top floor.

However, once he got there, he found no sight of the shield.

"Huh? Where'd go? I could've sworn it was here…" Link thought puzzled.

"Link…" Grandma's voice from the bottom floor snapped him out of his thoughts as he went back down, seeing her with her back turned and holding something on her hands.

"Grandma…?" Link whispered sadly. How is he going to tell her that Aryll has been kidnapped?

"Is this what you're looking for?" Grandma asked before she slowly turns around, and Link saw that her face was also that of sorrow. Maybe she already have heard of Aryll's kidnapping…

"Grandma, I…" he was cut off when Grandma forced a small smile while offering him the shield.

"…Take it with you."

Still saddened, Link then takes the shield, the Hero's Shield, and straps it to his back, not wanting to look at his grandma. That is, until he heard quiet sobs coming from her as he turned around and saw her crying.

"I guess it is true… Aryll really has been kidnapped… Hasn't she?" Grandma wept.

"Yes…" Link replied, embracing her in a hug.

"What kind of monster could take such a sweet, young child?"

"*sniff* I'm so sorry, grandma…" Link sobbed. "But I have to go out and save her… I might not come back here for a long while…"

"Oh, my dear grandson…"

"…I promise I'll come back here with Aryll. Then… everything will be fine again." Link broke from the hug. "Goodbye, grandma…"

"Goodbye, Link… *sniff* Take care…"

Link made his way to the door, and, looking at his grandma one last time, he went out.

"Wow, that's a decrepit old shield… Are you sure you can still use that thing? Are you going to get splinters and cry?" Tetra questioned, only for Link to shoot a serious glare at her.

"I went all this way to get a shield, and you're still doubtful about me?" he retorted.

"Alright, fine, whatever… If you're ready, then let's go!"

We cut to a scene showing just the clear blue skies and the shining sun… and then comes Senza holding a beater, using it to hit a gong at the front of the pirate ship. The sails unfolded, Gonzo spins the helm, and the ship slowly began to sail away from the island. Link stood on the ship's back along with Tetra, as he caught glimpse of all the residents of the island waving him good-bye and wishing him luck:

"Good luck, Link!"

"Good luck finding Aryll!"

"Take care of yourself!"

Link sadly waves back at them as Tetra just watches unamused. Just then, Link saw something at the side that caught his eye as he sprints to the back's end, causing his eyes to grow wide: he saw his grandma standing at the house's wraparound porch. Both stood in their positions for a moment, and then Link waves back at her one last time.

"Ugh… How much longer is this going to go on, do you think? Do you have an estimate?" Tetra huffed impatiently. Link looked back at her with a look of disbelief as he just saw her sitting there with her arms crossed while flashing him a smirk. "Are you sure you shouldn't just quit right now? Seriously, think about it." she then leans back and puts her hands behind her head, closing one eye. "I can tell you're just going to get more sentimental from here on out."

"Sentimental?" Link asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

"There's still time, you know… Are you sure we shouldn't just turn around and take you back to your island?"

Link looked back at his island and watched it slowly disappear into the distance. No. He was not going to turn back now. He has to save his sister!

"No, I've already made my mind. I'm going to save my sister no matter what." he spoke firmly to Tetra, who had a small look of surprise on her face. "After all, I made a promise to my grandma…" he thought.

Meanwhile, back with the group at the Forsaken Fortress…

"And that's the last searchlight!" Luka exclaimed as they just defeated a Bokoblin operating the searchlight as it was now directing upwards.

"You sure do know a lot about this place." Mario remarked. "Especially when you guided us to the chests holding the map and the compass and redirected all of the searchlights!"

"At least these should make things easier for us and Link once he arrives here." Yoshi said.

"Is Link actually going to get here?" Toad asked Luka.

"Trust me, he will soon enough." Luka assured. "If I were to guess, depending on how much time we spent here at the Forsaken Fortress, he should already be on his way here."

"You told us that this whole world is surrounded by ocean, right? Then that means he can only arrive here through a boat or a ship." Peach stated.

"Oh, there will be a ship coming! But it will be one that you might not be expecting…"

"Oh boy… That again…" Luigi sweatdropped.

"So, in order for us to get a good look at it, I brought these!" she pulled out some telescopes and handed each one to them. "Now, just stay close to me, and…" she snaps her fingers… and she and the others were surrounded in a puff of smoke that teleported them to another portion of the outside of the fortress. More specifically, the portion where there was a lonely Moblin on patrol, but the group of course were far away from it.

"…What the heck?!" Luigi broke out the stunned silence he and the Mario cast were in. "Did you just…teleport us to another spot?!"

"Surprise!" Luka giggled. "Thanks to my supernatural powers of fire and magma manipulation, I can also create smoke for teleportation!"

"Wait, you can manipulate fire AND magma?!" Toad flinched. "Then… That means you have pyrokinesis and geo-thermokinesis!"

"Yep!" Luka replied. "My hair is my source of power. When my powers reach their peak, I expel fire from my body and my hair acts like a raging volcano!" the Mario cast gulped at that. "But don't worry; my powers only activate whenever I get angry."

"Yikes… Remind me to never piss her off…" the Mario cast thought.

"Oh, look! Here it comes!" Luka looked at the distance and saw the pirate ship stopping a few feet away from the fortress. "I was right after all!"

"Is that… a pirate ship?" Yoshi asked. "And Link is on it?"

"Indeed! Now, bring out your telescopes and see it for yourselves!"

After they all exchanged glances and shrugs, the Mario cast followed Luka and took out their telescopes. By looking through them, they all zoomed in on the pirate ship, seeing Link meeting up with Tetra, who was at the crow's nest.

"What were you doing with Niko?" Tetra asked with a deadpan look.

"Well, he told me to do some platforming training." Link replied. "And then he gave me this bag." he was referring to the Spoils Bag.

"Don't tell me you were playing some stupid game for treasure…were you?"

"Hey, you were the one who told me to head down there!" Link retorted.

"…Well, whatever! There's something you need to see! Have a look over there… That's the cursed island known as the Forsaken Fortress."

As Tetra shoots an aside glance, Link follows her eyes, looking at the ominous Forsaken Fortress for the first time. The shape of it was very reminiscent of a dead tree, with some anchors hanged by ropes on its 'branches'. On the far left of the fortress' top, there stood the nest of the giant bird, and there was the half of a ship attached next to it. Around the fortress, even though the Mario cast and Luka were able to redirect the searchlights at the interior, there were still many searchlights on the outside.

We change to the perspective of the Mario cast and Luka, who despite not being able to hear what Link and Tetra were talking about since they're miles away from them, they could still at least see them. But when the Mario cast took a good look at Link, they could see that he looked very different than before.

"Uh, is that really Link?" Yoshi asked. "Because he looks… very different."

"Oh, you're thinking that he's the same one you encountered previously, right?" Luka guessed as they nodded in response. "Well, you're wrong. This Link is a complete different person from the Hero of Time. He does share traits with him, at least."

"What do you mean?" Peach asked.

"You see, this will be a bit complicated for you at first but, not all Links are the same person. In fact, there's multiple Links from different periods of time. Same goes for Princess Zelda. It is said that if any sort of evil rises again in Hyrule, a different incarnation of courage and wisdom shall appear to put a stop to it."

"So you're saying that he really is Link, only that he's a different person?" Toad summed up.

"Exactly. So don't act like you've seen him before, okay? Act like he's a totally new person, you guys."

"Okay." Mario nodded. We then shift back to Link and Tetra's perspective:

"There are all sorts of strange rumors about this place. What I do know is that long ago, it used to be the hideout of a no-good group of pirates we used to compete with…" Tetra said. "But they were just small time. Now, the place looks like it's pretty dangerous." then, she saw something that caught her attention, "Ah! I knew it! Look! Over there! By that window!"

Link looked to where Tetra was pointing, and he could see flocks of seagulls grouped together, flying around a lit window.

"Have you ever seen so many seagulls flock like that before?" Tetra asked. "…I'll bet you anything that's the place where they've got your sister locked up!" then she inspected the security. "…But it looks like the whole place is under really tight guard. Not so much on the inside, strangely enough, but still, this won't work… We'd be spotted before we got anywhere near landing there."

"Then how can we get there?" Link asked.

"Hmmm… Good question…" Tetra went in deep thought. "What do we do now?"

She thought for a second, and then she had an idea as she glances at Link with a… rather suspicious smirk and wink. What was she planning?

For some bizarre reason, Link didn't feel himself being put into a barrel, Tetra placing something into his pocket, and the pirates carrying him and placing him on top of a catapult. How he did not feel or react to any of those actions is beyond me.

After that, Link looks down, first noticing that he was in a barrel:

"Oh. I'm in a barrel. Now what?" he deadpanned… but when he looked down even further and saw that he was on a catapult, that's where he freaked out: "Wait… WHY AM I ON A CATAPULT?! LET ME OUT RIGHT NOW!" he yelled in panic as he starts rocketing the barrel around.

"Look, don't struggle. If you really want to get into a dangerous place like that, this is the only way to do it. Trust me." Tetra stated. "We pirates do this all the time. Don't worry about it! It'll be a piece of cake!" she looks over at Gonzo. "Is everybody ready!?" Gonzo saluted, which technically meant 'yes'. "Never you fear, kid. We're pros. We're going to launch you good!" Tetra exclaimed as the pirates got into position.

"Why do I have a feeling that this is not going to end well…" Link thought.

"Oh ho ho ho! Here comes my favorite part~!" Luka exclaimed excitedly.

Tetra then starts the countdown… while Link makes very hilarious-looking facial expressions during it:

"3"

Link makes an expression that was a mixture of shock and worry.

"2"

Link does an expression that just screams, "Welp, I'm screwed."

"1"

Link shuts his eyes, furrows his eyebrows and grits his teeth, ready for the worst.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!" Link screamed as the catapult lifts up, flinging him towards the fortress. The pirates watched Link flying off, with Gonzo casually waving good-bye at him.

Meanwhile, Luka was bursting out laughing shortly after the countdown was done and Link was launched away.

"*laughing* Dihid you just s-see his fhacihahal expressions ahat the countdhown!? Ahahahahahaha!" she spluttered.

"…How can this be funny to you?" Mario asked, glancing at Luka in unbelief.

"Oh, there he comes…" Yoshi informed, looking through his telescope.

"…aaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAHHH!" Link was still screaming like crazy during the flight as the group saw him flying… straight to the fortress' wall.

"Uh oh…" Luigi trailed as everyone except for Luka began to grimace as Link was nearing the wall.

*SPLAT!*

The hero lands faceplanted into the wall, causing the barrel to break apart in the process… and also for his sword to fly out of its sheet.

"Ooh, that's got to hurt…" Peach winced.

"Aaand there goes his sword…" Toad watched Link's sword fall to the platform that was right above them.

Afterwards, Link slid down from the wall, eventually plunging into the water below.

"Well, at least he landed into the water, right?" Luka smiled.

"Yeah, but he's all the way down now." Mario pointed out as they watched Link surfacing and climbing up at the docks, panting heavily.

"No worries! We can fetch him in a second with my powers of teleportation!" Luka exclaimed before snapping her fingers to take everyone back to the lower level.

Upon shaking and wringing off the water in his clothes, Link took a single step forward, where he jumped in startle when he suddenly heard Tetra's voice echoing from somewhere:

"Your sword landed all the way up there? Shoot! I'm sorry! I apologize! I guess my aim was off by a little bit. Heh heh… The look on your face… Priceless!"

"What in the world…?" Link thought puzzled. "…Is it coming from my pocket?" he reached out into his pocket and pulled out a necklace with a shining blue stone as the pendant. To his surprise, Tetra's voice was coming from the stone!

"Heh heh… I slipped this stone into your pocket just before we fired you over there. It's no ordinary stone, either."

"Yeah, I can see that…" Link sassed.

"I don't appreciate your sass. Anyway, I can see what you're doing through this stone, and obviously you can hear me through it. It's called the Pirate's Charm. But hey, listen carefully! I need this back after you save your sister, so don't go losing it, you understand?! So use it wisely!"

"Alright…" Link puts the stone away. "Now to find my sister… and my sword."

With that, he went up the stairs, still wondering why the searchlights on the inside portion of the island were pointing up at the sky. Then, all of a sudden, a puff of smoke appeared right in front of him, making him jump in startle again:

"Wah! What the-?!"

"Oh, whoops! I didn't mean to startle you!" Luka apologized.

"It's alright… Soo, who are you people? Were you taken to this fortress too?"

"Um, well…" Peach trailed. "We're actually not from here. As for us, I'll introduce myself first. I'm Princess Peach."

"I'm Mario."

"Luigi."

"Yoshi!"

"Toad."

"And Luka!"

"Huh, nice names, I guess. As for me, I'm Link." Link replied. "Hold on! What do you mean that you're not from here?"

"You could say that we come from an entirely different world. A world called the Mushroom Kingdom." Yoshi said. "And Peach is its ruler." he directed to Peach, who nodded in response.

"That's a weird name for a kingdom… But I guess that explains why this little guy is shaped like a mushroom. Not sure on the dinosaur, though." Link thought. "Uh huh… Okay, I gotcha. So how did you get here?"

"A sorceress did it." Toad answered.

"…That's it?"

"Yup."

"Well, alright…" Link shrugged.

Just then, Link's pocket began rumbling again as he pulled out the Pirate's Charm.

"Okay, what's taking you so long to move?!" Tetra exclaimed impatiently, until she saw the new group. "Oh, hey… Looks like you've got yourself some company! Where did you find them?"

"I didn't actually find them, they just… poofed out of nowhere." Link answered.

"Riiight… Anyway, you should be glad that you're not all alone here. Now, don't you want to save your sister? So get moving!" Tetra ends the call.

"Sweet Hylia, she's just so impatient…" Link muttered.

"Who was it?" Luigi asked.

"Oh, that was Tetra. She's a pirate captain and gave me this stone called the Pirate's Charm that allows her to communicate with me."

"Okay. Wait a second, did she just told you to save your sister?!"

"Yeah. The main reason why I came here is because my little sister was kidnapped by a huge bird and taken to this fortress."

"Oh, that's horrible!" Peach gasped as the rest of the Mario cast had the same reaction.

"*sigh* Link, I feel your pain…" Mario sighed.

"You… do?" Link awed.

"You see, I happen to be Luigi's older brother. During some of our adventures in our world, Luigi and I were separated several times. So we both know how it feels to have your sibling away from you, especially if you're the older brother like me."

"I see…" Link frowned. "You two must've been through a lot, right?"

"Yep. But we got used to it. I'm sure the same will apply to you as well, Link."

"I hope so."

"Alright!" Luka interjected with a hand clap. "Now that we're acquainted, how about we move on?"

"Sure, but it's a long way up there…" Link stated, looking up.

"We're not going to climb all that again, are we?" Toad asked, not really wanting to go to the top on foot again.

"Hello? I can just teleport us up there! Did you forget?" Luka winked, preparing her finger snap.

"Wait, what did you just sa-?! *POOF!*" Link was cut off when Luka snapped her fingers, causing everyone to disappear in a puff of smoke before they all reappeared at the spot where Luka and the Mario cast were observing the pirate ship.

"Nothing like fast travel!" Luka exclaimed.

"W-What… What just happened?!" Link blinked.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you that I, as well as everyone else here, have distinct powers that can help us in any sort of situations!"

"You guys have powers?! Now THAT'S something I don't see every day!"

"I also have high knowledge about the Zelda franchise, so I know exactly everything that's going to happen during this adventure, all the places we'll be going to, all the people and enemies we'll encounter, and even directions!"

"…Okaaaay. I don't buy that." Link dismissed, causing Luka to roll her eyes. "Whatever. Let's just go."

They group moved on, sidling against some walls, which were not too much of a problem since all the searchlights were redirected. Because of that, Link guessed if that was the new gang's doing before he arrived here.

"So I think they were doing some things in this fortress, after all… I give props to them for that, at least." he thought.

Going up on the path, the group eventually reached a small arena, where the first thing that caught their attention a few feet away was Link's sword on the ground.

"Hey, isn't that…?" Yoshi awed as Link's eyes gleamed with joy.

"YES! My sword!" he cheered, jumping up and down in celebration.

"Don't celebrate just yet…" Luka warned… and immediately after she said that, spikes suddenly rose up from behind them.

"Uh oh." Link stops celebrating, as he looked back at the spikes alarmed.

At the same time, a sword and shield wielding Bokoblin nearby saw them and screeched, charging towards them.

"Move!" Mario called out as everyone moved out of the way to avoid the Bokoblin.

"Link! Get your sword!" Peach ushered.

"Right!" Link nodded.

The Bokoblin tried to prevent Link from retrieving his sword by doing a jump attack at him, but he rolled away, grabbing his sword during the roll.

"Time for payback!" Link declared as he does a jump slash at the Bokoblin, landing the first hit at it. Link swings his sword at it again, but this time, it blocked with its shield.

"Too bad your protection is made out of wood!" Luka teased before she shot a fireball at the shield, burning it to ashes, much to the Bokoblin's shock. "Finish it off, Link!"

After a nod, Link does one final slash at the Bokoblin, killing it. The spikes retracted back into the ground and the door was now unlocked.

"Great job, Link!" Peach praised.

"Oh, it was nothing…" Link replied in embarrassment. "But wow, that was nice use of your powers there!" he addressed Luka.

"Thank you!" Luka thanked.

"So I assume that you have fire powers, right?"

"Yes. That, and the ability to manipulate magma and lava." she replied as she opens up the doors and goes inside.

"…I'm sorry, WHAT?!" Link yelled in shock upon hearing Luka's last sentence.

"Just don't piss her off and you'll be fine." Yoshi told him before he and the others followed Luka inside.

"Dear Hylia, what other highly dangerous supernatural powers I'm going to witness from these guys?!" Link thought before heading in as well.

The room they were now in was round and tall, with a spiral ramp leading up through the roof, part of it made out of stone and the other part made out of wood. There were two box-shaped prison cells made out of wood, one on the left, one on the right. The left cell was completely empty, while the right cell held Aryll plus two other girls: one looked rich, the other looked poor.

The heroes looked around the room in awe, and then Link squints his eyes at the cell on the right, noticing Aryll inside playing with the seagulls. It seems that they never left Aryll's side no matter what happens to her.

"Sis!" Link called out happily, catching Aryll's attention as she looked outside the cell.

"Big Brother! You came!" Aryll beamed.

"I'll get you out of there!" Link said as he made his way towards the cell, with the Mario cast and Luka, who were smiling, following behind. But then, Link stops midway, with an uneasy look on his face as he and the others started to hear flapping sounds. "Wait a second… What's this noise…?"

"Sounds like the flapping of a bird's wings." Luigi stated.

"A… bird? No… don't tell me…" Link thought traumatized, knowing exactly the perfect candidate for that as he looked up and saw… "OH NO!" he yelled as none other than the good ol' giant bird landed hard in front of them.

*SQUAAAWK!*

The bird screeched loudly before glancing down at the group, with Link bracing himself while Luka and the Mario cast looked horrified.

"Helmaroc King!" Luka exclaimed.

"You know his name?!" Link asked.

"What did I just told you before? Now do you believe me?"

"Guys, stop rambling!" Toad exclaimed. "H-He's going to-!"

Toad was cut off when the Helmaroc King suddenly lunged his head towards the group, yanking all of them into his beak and flying away with them.

"BIG BROTHER! NOOO!" Aryll screamed as she watched the bird flying away.

Flying all the way up to the open roof leading outside, the Helmaroc King did a turn, heading straight to the shipwreck at the other side. Standing there was a certain man with dark skin, red facial hair, and wearing a long black robe. All of you could easily remember that he is Ganondorf, but all of our heroes still didn't know that right now… or do they?

Link actually seems to be the only one who doesn't know Ganondorf yet, but he knew that this man didn't show any signs of good intentions, given that the Helmaroc King was apparently loyal to him. Luka obviously knew Ganondorf, of course. And as for the Mario cast, while still not 100% knowing Ganondorf in this new era they were in, they could see some of their previously met Ganondorf's traits just by looking at his face; the green skin… the way his red facial hair was arranged… black clothes… We could say that in the Mario cast's perspective, they were on the subject of, "This man looks somehow familiar to us… Could he be…?"

The heroes didn't speak a single word, instead showing shocked expressions as they kept staring at Ganondorf, wondering what he was going to do with them. After just a few seconds, Ganondorf made a small head tilt, signaling the Helmaroc King to dispose of them.

In response to his master, the Helmaroc King tosses the heroes far away into the distance as they screamed until they were nowhere to be seen.

Far away from the fortress, at the open sea, we can see Link, Luka and the Mario cast floating unconscious on the water's surface. Everything seemed lost and hopeless for them…

…that is, until a certain red boat came cruising in towards them.

To be continued…

When Luka was first introduced in my stories, she was still a work in progress since I really wanted to give more emphasis on her fire powers. Then, this idea of lava and magma manipulation came to my mind, and I went for it! I did this in order to not make her just a simple and ordinary fire user. Same applies to her ability to teleport with the use of volcanic smoke, as I made her motif being based on volcanos in general. Plus, this ability is reminiscent of the famous ninja smoke.

That scene where Link gets catapulted to the Forsaken Fortress still makes me laugh to this day, and I even reflected that on Luka, since she's supposed to be representing me when I'm on the subject of Zelda games.

A red boat saves them... This should lead them to the start of a new adventure! See you on the next chapter! Please review!