Altered States
A Legend Of Zelda Fanfiction
By OJR
Part 8
Two days left. Only 48 short hours from a showdown with
something big, monstrously big, that wanted a piece of two worlds. The only thing that stood between the
unknown evil and the peace and tranquillity of parallel universes were a hero,
a princess and a boy who felt he'd been shit on from a great height. The impending feeling of the proverbial
"shit" hitting the equally proverbial "fan" was even more clear on this, his
second, day of training. He'd sparred
with Link several times, each time increasing the flow of his combat
moves. He'd still not bested him but
he'd been able to put up a solid resistance every time they'd faced off. Zelda had not been complacent either,
meditating and training with the boys to ensure the peak of physical and mental
readiness. All this was conducted in
the relative solitude of the woods by Jamie's house. Jamie had been shown other magical abilities such as Farore's
Wind and Naryu's Love. He'd found that
concentrating on the action he wanted to perform, rather than the performance
itself, allowed him to use these abilities easily. The only worrying thing was that he always felt drained after
using his powers and the nasty green liquid was the only thing that could perk
him up. The final lesson was to prove
the most exhilarating, and frightening.
In the field they stood,
Link slightly away from the others in a combat stance. Link called back, without looking round.
"You can channel your energy
into your weapon and unleash a deadly blow.
However, you must be careful to moderate your attack to lessen the risk
of unwanted damage to yourself and others."
He brought his sword into the ready position and composed himself. Much to Jamie's surprise, Link's sword began
to glow. First it was a deep, soft
blue, changing steadily to a vivid deep orange. With his sword fully charged he let out an impressive grunting
roar and spun round, the shockwave striking out around him and cutting a wicked
gash into the tree he was in proximity to.
Link stepped back and drew a breath slowly before turning to his pupil.
"If executed correctly, the
sword charge should give you extra stopping power without draining you too
much." He motioned for Jamie to try
it. Jamie easily charged his sword with
a little power, giving it a distinct violet glow, and slashed upward. The pulse of energy scorched a long, deep
scar in the trunk of the target tree.
Jamie smirked to himself, thinking "Well, with this power I feel a
little more sure of myself in combat."
He turned to his companions and smiled at their looks of pride, like a
child hunting for praise from its parents.
"Very good, you're really
looking like a warrior now." The dull
edge to Zelda's tone as she said this betrayed how she hated seeing a peaceful
person forced into combat against his will.
He was about as ready as he was going to be, Link mused, but a little
more sparring wouldn't hurt. He turned
and drew his sword and called "Enguarde!", a word he'd heard Jamie use to warn
his partner to be ready. Jamie lifted
his own blade and they were just about to charge when Navi jumped up shouting
"Look out!". This was the signal to
cease training as she'd spotted someone coming into the woods. They quickly stowed their weapons and sat
down on the grass next to Zelda. The
people in question were a large group of teenagers who were talking loudly
amongst themselves. Jamie turned to his
companions.
"Try to look casual, not
just to hide the fact that we've been training but I don't think that they're
up to much good, in fact…". He never
finished his sentence and the cold feeling of having someone stand over you
crept up his spine. Link and Zelda
looked on in apprehension as the tall boy in the baseball cap sneered down at
them. His mocking features showing the
signs of adolescent acne, and a scruffy set of wispy sideburns clung stalwartly
to his cheeks.
"Oi, got the time?" This was the standard greeting of somebody
who really wasn't interested in what the time was and was more interested in
whether what you told the time with was of any value. Jamie lifted his arm slightly and displayed the absence of any
timepieces.
"Sorry, I don't have a
watch." He said as amiably as he could.
"Is there anything we can do
for you?" quipped Zelda sweetly, following the lead of being pleasant rather
than confrontational.
"Oh yeah…you could ditch
these two gay losers and hang out with us babe." He grinned, the kind of grin a shark displays to a baby
seal. His gang numbered six, four boys
and two girls, ranging from sixteen to twenty years of age. The two boys had to hold their temper at the
slight.
"I'm sorry, but I'm fine
where I am, thanks for the offer though."
She smiled that saccharine smile again.
Link sighed heavily and rolled his eyes, sitting back a little. This was a mistake, a non-intentional bad
move, but a mistake nonetheless. One of
the boys in the gang piped up.
"Eh Gaz, he just gave you a
funny look." They were asking for
trouble.
"What? Did you just cuss me dickhead?" He walked over to where Link was
sitting. Link looked up, with a hint of
annoyance on his face. This disappeared
into a sincere smile almost instantly.
"This is it" Jamie thought,
"This is where it gets messy". Much to
his surprise, Link did not knock the odious person to the floor. Instead he broadened his smile.
"I'm sorry, I was just
stretching, and I didn't mean to cause offence." His voice dripped with honey.
The leader of the gang was a little frustrated by the lack of a fighting
nature was clearly getting to him. He
didn't want to out-and-out assault them.
Whatever was left of his conscience demanded he had a reason. Since one was not readily available he
decided that he couldn't really have his fun with these little hippies. At least he'd pester them so they'd leave,
anything to help bolster his flagging self-esteem. His "friends" were becoming increasingly agitated as well,
looking for their own ego boosts.
"So what are you and your
little bum chum doing out in our field then?"
"Nothing" said Link "just
enjoying the wonderful day." The guy
turned and scowled as a few of his gang snickered. He wheeled on Jamie.
"So you think you're fucking
funny eh?"
"Oh no, I was just leaving
anyway." The leader smiled a 'look at
me I'm a big badass' smile to his cohorts and strode back to them. Jamie grabbed the holdall, which contained
enough weaponry to turn the gang of youths into a quivering mass of sushi, and
stood up.
"C'mon guys, we can find
somewhere else to practice." He said
quietly. The gang decided to snap one
more retort.
"What you practicing? You and your bitch gonna practice sucking
green boy off?" The gang guffawed. Jamie smiled again, the same smile he'd
given the robber before he'd broken his nose.
"Well, yes actually. If you wanna whip it out I'll give you one
hell of a shine, you look the type who likes head." Jamie had to stifle his laugh and kept his sincere smile on. Gaz, as he was known, balked and physically
recoiled.
"What do I look like? A poofter?"
It took all of Jamie's willpower to stop him from answering in the
affirmative. Link stepped in to finish
the conversation.
"You'll have to excuse my
friend, he's a little ill at the moment.
He has Kokiri flu and can get a little delusional." He smiled sincerely again and led Jamie and
Zelda away, leaving the gang speechless.
Thoroughly disarmed and confused the gang moved on. The trio picked up Navi, who had been in the
trees watching. As they walked away
Jamie's face turned to a scowl.
"God damn assholes! I can't believe that people can get their
kicks from picking on people!" Zelda
smiled a little.
"You have to pity them,
they're young and lacking in self esteem.
I sensed much insecurity in them."
Jamie looked toward her.
"You could read their
minds?" she nodded and said "To a certain degree". They walked on and Jamie had to ask Link a question.
"Hey, Link. You could have easily dealt with them, why
did you play along with the distraction bit?"
"Because I know what you
know."
"And what is that, pray
tell."
"The greatest victory is the
battle not fought." Jamie pondered
this. It was correct, not starting a
fight was always better than winning one.
He turned to Zelda.
"Hey, what am I thinking
now?"
"Well, between thinking
about sex, or thinking about food you're thinking about whether I can really
read minds." She smiled and he paled.
"Ummm, well…." She hadn't read him that time, but you
didn't have to be a mind reader to work out people's thoughts sometimes.
Authors Note: So, this was a bit of a filler episode, and
a testament to my hatred of all bullies.
Anyone called Gareth, Gary or Gaz, please do not take offence as it was
the first generic name I could think of and that it sounded better than Bob. Also, I have two endings planned for
this. I could write both, one good, one
bad, but to determine which I post first please reply with how you'd like it to
end.