Chapter 5:
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Stephanie was the first to wake up, and Link just after her. They yawned
and said good morning to each other. Stephanie looked at the wad of
blankets that was her bed. She got up and stretched, then walked over to
Link's side of the room. They talked for a while, waiting for Jessica to
wake up. When she finally did, she poked Navi trying to wake her up. She
woke up and flew over to Link's hat again.
"I really hope I don't have to go out in public in this! I'd rather have a
dress!" were the first words out of her mouth.
"Hey, why don't you ask Malon to borrow a dress?" Stephanie suggested.
"Who's Malon?" she asked. Link and Stephanie laughed, and Link told her
that Malon was the ranch-owner's daughter.
"Ohhhh, okay!" she responded, and Stephanie choked trying not to laugh.
Jessica went to look for Malon. Stephanie and Link followed close behind,
wanting to see Malon's reaction.
When she found her, she asked, "Um, hey, you don't know me, but can I
borrow a dress? I'll even buy one if it's more conveniant!"
"Wait a minute, you don't have any money!" Stephanie said.
"Yes I do! I have a twenty in my pocket!" she answered. Stephanie slapped
her forehead.
"They use Rupees as their form of currency, not dollars! And you don't
have any!" she sighed.
"Well, I bet Link does!" she said. She walked over to Link and said in her
sweetest, most honey-dipped voice, "Can I please borrow some rubies?" Link
looked at her and laughed.
"Rubies? Don't you mean Rupees?" he corrected.
"Um, yeah!" Stephanie nearly fell backward, she was laughing so hard.
"Well, yes or no?" Jessica cooed. Link looked at Stephanie, then at Malon.
Malon said she would sell a dress for thirty Rupees if he was interested.
Link looked back at the expression on Jessica's face, and couldn't help but
give in. Link handed Malon the money, and she hurried to her room to get
the dress. Stephanie had stopped laughing by this time and said, "Why'd you
do that? She's been so mean to you, you should have made her wear the
clothes you gave her!"
"Well, she doesn't Like the tunic!" he answered.
"She doesn't like anything about you!"
"That's not true! He bought the dress for me, I like that!" Jessica said
truthfully. Stephanie sighed and watch Malon as she brought back a white
dress with little blue flowers embroidered on the edges. "Ooh, pretty!"
Jessica exclaimed as she took the dress from Malon. She ran back into the
room, and in a few minutes, she was downsairs with the others. She had her
hair pulled back in a bun with a few loose strands hanging down on the
sides. Link watched her walk down the stairs in the new dress. He got up
and walked over to her.
"You owe me one," he whispered.
"Sure, what?" she asked, not really paying attention, as usual.
"I don't know yet," he answered shortly.
"Then why did you bring it up?"
"Just to let you know." The two sat down at the table, where Stephanie was
already sitting in the tunic Link had given her. She was studying a bow and
quiver of arrows.
"You know, I know how to use one of those things!" Jessica lied.
"Prove it," Link said, as he walked outside where there was a target that
he was practicing at last night.
"Uh... okay!" she said slowly, grabbing the bow and arrows and walking
outside. She aimed the arrow for the target. She let the arrow fly and it
hit the target straight in the bull's eye.
"...Wow! I thought you were lying!" Link said in awe.
"...I was!" Jessica answered. Link gave her a look of disapproval before
snatching back the bow and arrows and giving them back to Stephanie, who
went back to studying them. Link smiled when she accidently shot one and it
barely missed Jessica, who had just walked back in.
"Uh... sorry!" she said quickly.
"Sure you are..." Jessica snapped. Link and Jessica joined Stephanie at
the table and were served breakfast: a lot of eggs and a lot of milk.
"I don't drink milk," Jessica complained.
"Well, you'll have to live with it. Unless you're not thirsty..." Link
said. Jessica drank the milk.
"So, where are we going next?" Stephanie asked, still studying the bow.
"The Temple of Time," Link answered.
"Why?" Jessica queried.
"To check the inscriptions there. Maybe there's something that'll tell us
what you're supposed to be doing here."
"Are there any pictures?" Jessica asked. Link and Stephanie rolled their
eyes.
"Well, we better get going. It's a pretty long walk to the temple,"
Stephanie said, handing the bow back to Link.
"Why don't we ride instead of walking?" Jessica whined.
"... You wanna... ride?" Stephanie asked nervousely.
"Yeah, I can borrow a horse, and you and Link can ride Epona!" Jessica
said cheerfully. Link and Stephanie looked at Jessica, then at each other,
and both started blushing.
"Good idea, it'll get us there faster," Link agreed.
"Hehe... great..." Stephanie replied shortly. They all thanked the owner
and his daughter for the breakfast, dress, and letting Jessica borrow a
horse, and left the house. They walked to the corral where all the horses
were grazing. Link helped Jessica find a good horse, while Stephanie stood
nervousely behind them. When Jessica was on her horse and ready to go, Link
hopped onto Epona and helped Stephanie up. They rode away from LonLon Ranch
and headed for the temple. Jessica was singing the "Oscar Meyer Weiner"
song, while Navi jumped in sometimes. Stephanie was clinging to Link with
her eyes closed. She decided she wasn't ever gonna take horseback-riding
lessons.
"You okay?" he asked without looking back.
"I'm fine," she lied.
"Oh, I wish I were an Oscar Meyer Weiner!" could be heard from ahead. Link
laughed a little, and Stephanie had a look of discomfort on her face. They
eventually reached Hyrule Castle Town and stopped. Jessica and Navi were
still singing the "Oscar Meyer Weiner" song at the top of their lungs. Link
got off of his horse easily, then helped a nearly petrified Stephanie down.
They headed into town.
"Ooh, are you gonna buy us stuff?" Jessica asked when they reached the
market.
"... Maybe," Link said mysteriously.
"Ooh, I hope I get something," Jessica hinted.
"Jessica, Link already bought you a dress! Don't be spoiled!" Stephanie
said, now able to stand on her own two legs.
"I'm not spoiled, I just need a lot of stuff!" she responded. Link rolled
his eyes, ready for another argument, and entered the Bazaar, where he had
reserved a sword and sheild. He left Jessica and Stephanie arguing in the
middle of the marketplace. Link returned with two very large parcels.
Jessica looked at the parcels.
"Ooh, are those for me?" she asked.
"No, these are for Stephanie. I got you a necklace and matching bracelet.
Here," he said handing them their presents. Stephanie stared at the fine
work on the sword and the designs on the sheathe. Then, she looked at the
sheild. It had the Triforce symbol on it. A Hylian sheild.
"Do you like them?" he asked.
"They're beautiful," said Stephanie, still examining them.
"That's not fair!" Jessica said.
"What's not fair?" Link asked.
"Well, she gets a weapon to protect herself, and I get jewelry to attract
attention."
"Well then, won't the jewelry be more useful to you?" he said laughing.
"No because it doesn't work on you!" she exclaimed. Link looked startled.
"Um, yeah, but, uh, you're wearing a dress! Yeah, and you can't fight in a
dress!" he said.
"Who says?" Jessica replied simply.
"Me! I wouldn't trust a sword in your hands!"
"So you'd rather save me than watch me make a fool of myself with a
weapon?"
"Good point. But, then again, you don't need a weapon to make a fool of
yourself," he replied.
"Wait, who are we gonna be fighting, anyway?" she asked.
"Well, we don't exactly know what yet..." he said quietly.
"Whatever it is, it has to be more manly than you are!" Jessica said
stubbornly. Link turned red, but went to help Stephanie equip her sword and
sheild.
"Thanks," said Stephanie when he was done.
"Sure," he replied.
"Well, I'm not going anywhere until I get a decent weapon!" Jessica said.
"Oh, come on! Your mouth is enough of a weapon!" Stephanie snapped.
"Well, at least I can use mine!" Jessica taunted. Stephanie turned a
bright shade of red, but drew her sword and held it perfectly, like she
knew what she was doing.
"Well then... Why don't I get a bow and quiver with arrows? After all, we
know I can use them better than you, Link!" Jessica said. Link took out his
bow and shot an arrow directly above Jessica's head, catching the ribbon
that held her hair in a bun.
"My hair!" Jessica screamed. Stephanie rolled her eyes, and Link put his
bow away. "Fine. Point taken. But can't you give me something?" she
pleaded. Link thought for a moment, and then gave her a fairy slingshot.
"Here, this is less dangerous than a bow," he told her. He also got out
some Deku seeds and handed them to her. "These are your ammo. Don't shoot
at anything living just yet." Stephanie giggled. Jessica tried out her
slingshot. Every shot was, strangely, very close to Link's head.
"Hey! What'd you do that for?"he said once she stopped.
"I was just practicing my aim!" she said truthfully.
"For once, I think we're both glad her aim sucks," Stephanie whispered to
Link, who laughed.
"Well, let's head to the temple. We've wasted enough time already," Link
said to the girls.
"Sure," Stephanie said.
"Fine," Jessica said dismissively. They headed for the Temple of Time.
Link and Stephanie were ready to strangle Jessica and Navi, who were
singing the "Oscar Meyer Weiner" song again.
