Next in line after the oldest rivalry in gaming, presenting Link, the hero of Hyrule.
Also, I added a thing that was partially inspired by Shazam (because of that new movie coming out), and partially taken from Ocarina of Time. You'll see what it is in a bit.
"Princess, could you please get down here?"
"Not yet. I've almost got it!"
Impa gave a sigh.
"She dropped a spellbook from one of the windows, and now she's trying to get it back," she said, pointing to the tree by the castle wall. "She insists that she's almost got it for the past quarter hour. I'd go and get her myself, but she insists I not interfere." Then, the wiry servant turned to the green-clad man standing next to her and added, "She never said anything about you, though."
Link looked at the thick awning of leaves draped over the tree, then back to Impa. Finally, he raised a hand to his mouth, and yelled, "Hey!"
A young girl's head popped out from behind the green leaves. When she saw Link on the grass, her eyes widened.
"Link?" she squeaked. "When did you get here?"
"Come down!" he replied.
"No! I just need a minute, okay?" she said, shaking her head. "Besides, Impa said I need to learn how to climb, so I have to do this by myself."
"Climbing won't help you if you starve to death up there!" Impa called out.
"I can do this!" Zelda said back.
As the princess and her servant continued their back and forth, Link patted down his green tunic for his hookshot, a tool that could pull him up to where the princess had managed to strand herself. He found what he was looking for after a considerable amount of digging. He fired out a long chain, and the pointed end sunk into the wood before it pulled him into the air.
Zelda had a protest halfway out of her mouth before Link grabbed her and the spellbook a few feet away. When he had both secured in his arms, he jumped out of the tree. They managed to safely reach the ground, and Link handed the princess over to her bodyguard, much to the former's embarrassment.
"Again, I apologize for any trouble," Impa said.
Link waved aside, shaking his head. He turned to leave, but as he passed under an arch, the princess called out to him, "Stop by anytime!"
A soft jingling echoed in the cold night sky. Underneath the moonlight, Link walked beside a merchant wagon, keeping a tight grip on his sword, and a careful eye on the surrounding landscape.
"I can't thank you enough for this," the merchant said.
Link nodded, but his gaze remained on the fields around them. In the cool night breeze, a stray blade of grass flickered against the stars. They carried on in silence. The items in the wagon jingled occasionally, providing the only noise between them.
Then the grass parted, and a skeleton crawled out of the ground, rattling its bones as it moved. It held a short sword in its hand, the blade sharp enough to give a glint in the moonlight, but still dulled from the time it had spent buried underneath the earth.
When Link saw the skeleton emerge into the open field, he motioned for the merchant to continue onward. He approached the skeleton slowly, the tip of his sword leveled between the eye sockets and ready to strike. His eyes briefly darted around to make sure there were no other skeletons prowling around (at least, at the moment).
The skeleton lunged forward, eager to taint its blade with blood. Link raised his wooden shield moments before the strike reached him, and the short sword scraped against the bark. As the skeleton tried to lift its sword back into the air, Link attacked in return. His sword tore through the skeleton's chest with ease. The light vanished from the skeleton's eyes, leaving only a blank void in its place before the skeleton disappeared into a cloud of dust.
Bringing the sword close to him again, Link's eyes went back to the merchant wagon farther down the road. Amidst the swaying tall grass, he could make out two skeletons in the dark, approaching the wagon with their own blades drawn. Their focus on the wagon made it easier to remove their skulls from their bodies.
A hero protected their people. As menial as tasks like defending merchant wagons from waves of undead bandits could be, it still gave him a sense of pride to be doing them.
The bleached white walls of Temple of Time had taken on a slightly pink hue when Link pushed through the looming wooden doors. The setting sun tainted the blue sky with streaks of orange and red, and the same colors spilled through the large stained glass windows mounted on the stone walls of the cathedral onto the cold marble that made up the interior.
His boots squelched as he stepped over the floor, quietly making his way to the pedestal at the center. The Master Sword hanging from his belt slipped into the pedestal. A resigned exhale passed through his lips as he felt energy flow from his body back into the sword. A flash of light engulfed him, and when it lifted he had de-aged from an adult into a young boy.
"You've gotten sloppy."
A man in an orange and red robe stepped out of the shadows, giving Link an impatient look. He had chalk white hair, and his face was worn with age. In his gnarled hands, he held a mop.
Link groaned as the old man handed him the mop. "I'm done with that!" he said.
"If you are done, why is the floor still wet?" The old man frowned, before he said, "You rushed your work so you could use the sword."
"You won't let me use the sword if I don't! You promised you'd teach me how to be a hero, but you keep giving me more stuff to do to keep me busy."
The old man scoffed in reply. "It's your own fault for leaving your work unfinished."
Link huffed, but didn't voice any further complaint as he began to mop the floor. For a minute, no one spoke.
Finally, the old man said, "You are the next in line to wield the Master Sword. As such, it is my duty to teach you how to wield it and train you to be a hero. This life, however, has taken many things from me, leaving painful regret in their place. Maybe you should reconsider if this is truly what you want to do."
Without a moment of hesitation, Link replied, "I've heard many tales of this sword, and the people who wielded it. All I've ever wanted was to have my own part in those same tales."
"Then finish your chores. We'll talk about your training after."
"The Hylian hero, back from saving Hyrule (again!) from evil Ganon, has entered the Super Smash Bros. competition and is banking on his sword-handling skills to help him triumph over the other players. Link has a wide variety of moves as well as a reliable throwing weapon that serves him well in combat." ~ Super Smash Bros site on Link