He opened his eyes.

Ocean waves smoothly lapped upon the balmy beach shore. Seagulls flew in the nice cool breeze. He felt the warm yellow beach sand against his body. It felt nice. A little too nice.

What? He tried to remember how he had gotten here. Wait a second. This was wrong.

This was all wrong. The last thing he remembered was passing out in a bog bleeding out. Dying. But...

He examined himself. Perfect condition. He realized. I feel great. His clothes were clean and his wounds were gone. His sword and shield were strapped to his back. He even still had possession of the Triforce.

This must have been what death is like. "Where am I?" He looked around. "Is this Heaven?" Wait. He recognized this beach. He had been here before, on his first adventure.

"Nah man." He heard a voice say. "I saw you were having a bad day, so I decided to help you out."

Link turned. A young man wearing strange clothes was sitting on a wooden log. There was a symbol on the left side of his clothes. He was casually eating an apple.

"Who, who are you?" Link asked.

"My name?" He took another bite of his apple. "Captain N. I'm The Game Master."

"Captain Ehn? The Game Master?"

"Yeah, I look over the multiverses and dimensions to make sure nothing too out of wack happens. Can't let the servers crash."

"Dimension? Servers? What are those?" Link asked. "Nevermind. Listen, I think you can help me." Link started. "I have made a big mistake and-"

"I know all about Ganon, Link."

"You do?"

"Yes. I went through your memories while you were knocked out." Captain N paused. "I'm sorry about Zelda."

"But, but you can help me now right?" Link started. "If you're as powerful as you say you are-"

"Listen, I'm only The Moderator, Not The Admin. I can't go around giving gifts out to people willy nilly. It's not how it works."

"Then, then why did you save me?"

"I was hoping we could make a deal." Captain N pulled something out of his pocket, a small gray rectangular block the size of a battery. "This is called a Bit. It's as old as creation itself. Even older than that Triforce your packing."

"What is it for?" Link asked.

"They keep reality in balance."

"'They?'"

"There are 8 Bits. Together they spell out N-I-N-T-E-N-D-O."

"What's Nintendo?"

"It's the world of The Admin. Imagine if there were a Heaven for Gods and that Heaven had a V.I.P section. Well, that V.I.P. section would be a bathroom stall compared to the Nintendo Realm."

"Okay..." Link said uneasily. The thought that his Goddesses were weak compared this Nintendo thing was extremely suspicious. And unsettling.

"Well, the Bits have been scattered across creation. I have one, and I have to gather the other 7. I need you to find them before reality is torn apart."

"How I am supposed to find them?"

"Take this bit. It will open a portal through creation. The Bits have these signals on them so they're easier to track. One of them recently went off."

"What are you going to do?"

"I have to make sure reality is held together while you scavenge the Bits."

"Just one last thing: Why are you giving this job to me? Out of all the people in creation, why me? Surely there must be someone smarter, or stronger or-"

"Because I'm trusting you to not get greedy and backstab me." Captain N answered. "You're someone with nothing to lose and everything to gain. Listen, if you do this thing for us; The Admin and I will be more than happy to give you everything you want and more."

This was his chance at redemption. To fix everything. To save everyone. And bring Zelda back...

"Captain Enh, you have a deal." Link accepted.

"Radical." Captain N gave him the Bit. Looking at it, Link saw a strange symbol on the back. The same one that was on Captain N.

"Harness the power of the Bit." Captain N said. "Use it to turn the letters into something you'll understand. Use your desire and will, and the Bit will do the rest."

Squeezing the bit Link felt this incredible surge of energy course through him. Like the Triforce, but compared to the holy feeling of the Triforce, the Bit felt... electric. Infinite. Incredible.

Opening his hand back up, Link realized the symbol was a letter. "Oh. N. Now I get it." Link said. "Hey, just wondering, has anything like this ever happened before?"

"Well, there was this time where a race of these worm-like monsters tried to take over creation with Psionics, and we decided to give these birds superpowers to wipe 'em all out. Wonder how they're doing nowadays. Anyway, good. Now that you know how to use the bit, open a portal."

Link outstretched his hand. A giant hole appeared out of thin air.

"So this is going to take me to the first Bit?" Link tried to not be absolutely stunned at what he was doing. The bright white light of the portal held him in a trance. He had never seen anything like it. Focus. He thought. The sooner I do this. The sooner Zelda comes back.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! Captain N looked down. "Sorry, that's just my Power Pad going off." Captain N grabbed a small device out of his pocket and looked at it.

He's still far off my tail. Good. Captain N thought. Still, might be a good thing to warn Link."Good work. Listen, I have to go. By the way, there are some really bad people looking for those Bits. They are going to claim to be The Moderator. I'm the only Mod, got it? If you see them, run. Do not try to fight them. Good luck."

"Once I have all the Bits, how will I contact you?"

"I'll come, don't worry 'bout it brah." Captain N pulled out some kind of equipment from his waist. "Take me away Zapper." Captain N pulled the trigger. The Zapper shot out energy and created a portal itself. Giving Link one last wave, Captain N walked through the portal and it closed in on itself behind him, no proof it was ever even there.

Link looked at his own portal. He would be stepping into something he knew absolutely nothing about. A complete alien. What chance did he have? As long as he had the Bit with him, he should be okay, but... something told him this wasn't going to be easy.

This is because of your selfishness to live. He reminded himself. This is your fault. Own up to it and fix it. If you want Zelda back, this is what you are going to have to do.

Taking a deep breath, Link walked into the portal.


Protected. Detective. Electric eye.