"Well, this is just the smartest thing you've ever done!" she said sarcastically, under her breath. Still running full-speed, she ran into the wall and kicked off it, hoping to be able to run past the guards the opposite way. Unfortunately, the guards were too close to her. After turning around, she bounced of one of the guards and fell to the hard cobblestone.
"Gotcha' now, girlie," the man who looked to be the leader stated in an out-of-breath fashion. As the three men advanced on her, she quickly tried to think of a smart thing to do.
'Yeah, perfect. You got an A in Algebra 2 but you can't even think of a way to get past these big, dumb guys! And stop talking to yourself! You're freaking yourself out.' she though.
Suddenly, an idea struck her like a football flying into her face. She roughly pushed her red hair out of her face and away from her ears.
The three men didn't notice at first. But as the got closer, they stopped and looked surprised for a moment. Then the leader turned to one of the men to his side. "You told me this was the girl. You'd know her anywhere, you said. Okay, then, explain that to me!" he said, pointing at Michelle's ears.
"Um, maybe she's a witch or something and she's making us see something different," the man said in a manner that was almost drunk.
"Are you drunk?" said the other man.
"Uh, no. Ow! Okay, maybe a little bit," the man said as the leader hit the back of his head.
"You idiot! This isn't her! I bet that she looks nothing like this! Ugh. What a waste of time!" The leader said as he turned around and walked away rather quickly. The two others followed him.
Michelle was left, shocked, propped up on her knees on the cold floor. She then suddenly fell back to the ground, crawled to a corner, and pulled her knees up to her chest. She wanted to cry, but there was too much adrenaline and not enough air in her.
After having been in that position for several minutes, she decided that the best thing for her to do was to get out of whatever this was that passed for a town. "Come on, Michelle, let's blow this popsicle stand. I don't want to be chased again. P.E. is really not my thing," she thought out loud as she got up. She walked, turned corners, and half ran when she saw a gate that led out into some kind of open area.
It was a strange feeling. The area was like a field, open and with a golden glow in the early morning. She was at first afraid to go out and lose her cover of the small alleyways, but, she realized, there must be many other places to go from here. As she walked out, she saw the true beauty of the place. She was breath taken. Her sprightly green eyes widened with awe as she beheld what was before her. She lost, for a moment, the panic and stress of being in this totally new and strange place. She was rudely snapped back into reality as she was knocked onto her back and the wind rushed out of her lungs. Her head hit the hard wood of the gate and she closed her eyes.
"Ouch! Stupid, idiot, son of a.....," she stated, and looked up to see who had knocked her down. She saw the profile of a young redhead rush past her and mutter "Sorry."
Michelle was now gritting her teeth and thinking 'Stupid, redhead chick! Knocks me flying into a wall and doesn't even help me get up! Jeez, the people here really know how to make you feel welcome.' She got up and dusted herself off. She turned around to glare at the back of the young woman who was now walking into the small town. She couldn't quite see her, as her whole body was wrapped in a cloak and she was turned around. But Michelle had seen that she look quite similar to her. She couldn't see her features very well, but she had seen enough, and, she hoped, the last of the girl.
As she continued to contemplate the redheaded youth, she started out for the field. She was lost, in a place completely foreign to her, with nowhere to go. She began to wander aimlessly. She came upon a small river, and decided to take a break by it.
As she sat down, she tried to make sense of what had happened to her. She didn't really remember very much. So, she tried to start from the beginning. It was the beginning of summer vacation. She'd be a junior in the next school year, and she had just turned sixteen. Lately, people had been making sure to always tell her how pretty she was getting. She and her friends had been having the best summer she could remember. Suddenly, she began to have strange dreams. She'd be in a strange place, where she knew nobody. She'd see a girl who looked strikingly similar to her, except for one fairly obvious difference. The shape of the girl's ears. They were pointed at the end, which made her look almost like she was from another planet. In fact, she looked similar to the rude redhead whom she had just come in contact with.
After a few days, she had resolved to try to figure out the dream's meaning. The Internet was no help, and none of her friends could offer any suggestions. The last thing she remembered that made sense was being in her backyard on a gloomy afternoon. She was laying out on her grass and thinking about many things, including the dream. Then, her memory went into a blur. Obviously, she had missed some big details. She did remember a bright light and a strange pulling feeling from all sides, and then suddenly, she was sitting under a tree on the side of a dirt road. The early morning light that she had seen made it clear that something had happened since that afternoon.
After a while, she'd noticed some men in the distance talking. They had kept looking at her oddly. She had returned the gesture. After a while, they started to approach her. As they got closer, they moved faster. It was obvious, now, that they were chasing her. She had they gotten up and started to walk away quickly. The men, who looked like guards of some kind, started to run, and she imitated the action. The next thing she new, she was running through what seemed to be a market with small alleyways. Now, she had ended up here, next to the small river, in a land that seemed to be a trip back to the thirteenth century.
It was plain to Michelle that she hadn't been the girl that the guards were looking for. Most likely, she thought, they were looking for that stupid redhead.
She suddenly became frustrated and depressed. Her head began to ache as she thought of the consequences of her inability to get back home. She fell back onto her back.
"This is stupid! How can I be here! Why am I stuck in the middle of this 'trip to medieval times' land!" she yelled out to nobody. Only now, she found enough reason to cry.
* * *
Michelle didn't realize she had fallen asleep until she started to dream. It was a dream similar to the one she had been having for the last couple of days. It looked like the land that she had just been rudely thrown into. She was walking with no destination in a field-like surrounding. She felt like a stranger in a foreign country, and the fact that the few native people with pointed ears she came across kept looking at her in an odd way didn't help. She changed direction suddenly and came face-to-face with an almost mirror image of herself, only with the strangely shaped ears of these native people. Usually, at this point, the girl would walk toward her, and then she would wake up. Only, this time, the girl walked up to her, leaving Michelle staring confusingly at her double, and said quietly, "Join me, sister." Michelle let out a gasp, which was followed by the loud calling of a bird.
Michelle was afraid to open her eyes. But, she knew she couldn't just lay here, where ever that was, awake with her eyes closed. She half-hoped, half-prayed that she would open her eyes to her glowing stars on her ceiling, instead of the tree and river which she had fallen asleep by. She cracked her eyes open the tiniest bit, and saw a strange frog right in her face. She shrieked and leapt backward right into the tree. She let out a moan as she saw the field, the river, and the distant gate of the market she had been in earlier that morning. 'Why me? Why?! Why does this crap always happen to me?! Okay, it's not like I've ever been sent to another dimension or whatever this is, but come on!' she thought.
She could now see her surroundings clearly. It must have been early afternoon, which meant she hadn't slept for very long. The river which she had rested by ran up to a little cove, and disappeared around a bend. It ran off in the other direction toward the enclosed marketplace. Michelle suddenly remembered her European History class and information about medieval Europe. The 'marketplace' strongly resembled a thirteenth century gated castle town, where most likely all the happenings of the region took place.
Out in front of her lay the open field she had seen earlier. It was so wild and beautiful, and it made her want to run and skip like a little girl. She could see a forest in the western distance, and another enclosed structure in the middle of the field. It was so unlike anything she had ever seen.
She decided that she couldn't sit there forever, so she got up and started to venture out toward a path she saw leading up towards what seemed to be a mountain. She figured if she was going to be stuck here for a while, she might as well make some native allies, just in case those idiot guards decided to chase her again. She started to walk up the path, which strangely had stone stairs carved into it.
As she reached the top of the stairs, she saw a wooden gate and a sign in strange letters which she had never seen. Oddly enough, though, she understood perfectly what they said; 'Kakariko Village'. "Okay, that's weird. But, then again, everything I see seems to be weird here,' Michelle muttered out loud.
She entered the village to see a courtyard-like open area right in front of her. On all three sides that weren't facing the gate, there were old fashioned little houses and buildings. Compared to her city at home, this was tiny, but it was a good sized little village. There must have been at least five hundred people living there. As soon as she
walked in the entrance, she saw several people going about their daily business. There were some people just walking, and others which seemed to have some point of destination to get to in a hurry. She walked further into the village and saw two pathways, one leading north of the entrance, and one leading west, up a trail to the mountain. She thought this village to be a nice little place, a lot friendlier than the castle town which she had been in that morning. Some people have her odd looks, and she just looked ahead, but most people just kept going about their business. One old man even waved to her. This was very different from her dream.
As she walked, she saw a blur rush past her and shoulder her, hard, in the side. She narrowed her eyes and turned around to see a girl walking away quickly. "Another stupid redhead. What is it with the typical redhead around here?" she stated quietly under her breath.
The girl, now several yards away and still turned around, stopped and said, "I may be a redhead, but I wouldn't call myself typical." She paused and turned around. "Or stupid." She added quietly and sharply.
Michelle's jaw dropped slightly. "You heard me? Uh, sorry," she said meekly.
"People around here learn early to keep comments like that to themselves. Especially around me. My sense of hearing is even sharper than your average Hylian's. Which yours doesn't seem to be, stranger," she said as she raised her eyebrows quizzically, gesturing to Michelle's ears.
"Oh, that. Yeah, well, I guess you could say I'm not from around here. Sorry about the redhead thing. It seems after I came here I've had nothing but bad luck with redheads. Um, so, what's your name?" Michelle inquired.
"I am Rynita. And you, stranger?" said Rynita.
"Name's Michelle. I'm from California. Nice to meet you, uh...."
"Rynita," she restated.
"Yeah, whatever. Can I call you Nita?"
"No"
"Okay then," she smiled. "Nita."
"Ugh."
* * *
"I meant to ask you earlier, what's a 'Hylian'? It that like a country or something?" asked Michelle, as the two girls walked down one of the back alleys of the small village.
"You must really not be from around here. Well, the region that were in now is what they call Hyrule. The people who live here are called Hylians. But, there are also other kinds of people who live here, like the Zoras, the Gorons, the Gerudo....." she trailed off as she saw Michelle stop suddenly and look up. "What's wrong?" she asked.
"That mountain. There's something weird about it. Does it always have that smoky stuff around it?"
"It's been that way ever since I can remember. They call it Death Mountain"
"Oh."
The two continued on in silence for a moment. The two, though both redheads, were two very different characters. Michelle was considered a very modern girl where she was from. When she had come here, she was wearing a pair of jean Capri pants and a short 'Angel' T-shirt that just barely showed off her stomach. Her red hair fell just past her shoulders and tended to wind up in her face. She was funny and sarcastic, as well as a good student when she needed to be. Rynita seemed to be a pretty serious and cocky creature. She was pretty, with sky blue eyes and red-brown hair that fell past her waist. She wore a blue skirt that fell just past her knees and a simple off-white blouse, and a blue bandanna. She didn't wear any shoes. Both girl were sixteen and pretty.
"Where did you say you come from?" asked Rynita.
"California. In the good ol' USA."
"U..S..huh?"
"Jeez! You've never heard of America?! Come to think of it, I've never heard of Hyrule. Let me guess, you've never heard of Earth either, have you?" Rynita shook her head. "Well, this is perfect. I've either wound up on another planet, or in another dimension. Not to mention the added 'back to the past' effect. No offense, but this is primitive where I come from."
"You're trying to tell me you came from another planet? Your either crazy, or a really good liar."
"I really don't care if you believe me or not. All I care about is to try to find a way out of here."
"Well, as long as your here, where are you going to stay?"
"Um, the last time I slept was by that river over by the entrance to this place. I guess I didn't really think about staying anywhere."
"You came to a new place and didn't even make arrangements for where to stay?! How could you be so unprepared?"
"Well, yesterday, I didn't really plan on being thrown into another dimension," Michelle said sarcastically.
'This girl's so strange. She almost seems to be telling the truth about this dimension. Well, the first time I heard the 'Hero of Time' story, I didn't believe it, but now it's kind of hard to deny, since I'm related to Link. And, why is this girl dressed so oddly? I've never seen a girl wear pants before. And, what kind of a name is 'Michelle'? But, she's actually kind of interesting. I've never met a girl like this before.' thought Rynita.
"Well, anyway, I guess you could stay here, with me, if you want."
"Don't you think our arguing would annoy whoever you live with?" inquired Michelle.
"My mother's used to it. Me and my brother fight all the time. And not always with words," she added slyly.
"Let's just stop right there. You, you're probably all experienced in fighting and stuff, but me? Me; power equals zip, zero. I'm failing P.E." said Michelle quickly.
"P.E.?" asked Rynita.
"We've got to do a serious culture exchange here," said Michelle.
* * *
Rynita's mother, Dyanyna, watched interestingly as the two young girls sat on the floor and excitedly exchanged information about each other and their cultures. At the moment, Rynita was telling Michelle the renowned 'Hero of Time' story. Michelle, like Rynita, was stubborn, and insisted on interrupting her ever five minutes to ask about something or another.
"Whoa, wait a sec'. How can you be asleep for, like, seven years and not eat anything or...anything?!" Michelle inquired.
"I don't know, you just can! You didn't think you could end up here did you? Stop questioning everything!" Rynita exclaimed, exasperated. "And another thing, why do you insist on adding 'like' in every single one of you sentences?!"
" I dunno, it's just, like, a habit or something."
"There you go again!" exclaimed Rynita.
The woman laughed quietly to herself. She could tell, these two were going to be great friends. At least, she thought, when they did argue, they didn't end up on the floor, punching the living daylights out of each other, like her daughter and son sometimes did. Of course, Rynita, her eldest, always won.
Her daughter had, an hour or so ago, brought in this strange young lady and asked if she could stay for a time. The girl was young, pretty, and a redhead, like her daughter. But, this girl was different, strange in a way. The shape of her ears, almost Gerudo, gave the fact away that she was not a Hylian.
The woman and her family were in a line of blood directly descending from Link, the Hero of Time. Her daughter had just told this to Michelle.
"Hey, so that would make you a relation to a famous person or something!!"
"Yes, I guess you could say that," Rynita said boastfully, pushing her hair back over her shoulders. "But, that happened over two hundred years ago. He's long gone by now."
"Well, I say that sucks! Your related to a super star, and you can't even show it off!"
"I wouldn't say that . People respect me because of my relation to him. Also, talent was passed through the generations," she said, again in a boastful fashion.
'There she goes again, bragging,' the woman thought. "Rynita, why don't you show your new friend around? She's visiting here for the first time right?"
"But, this town's so boring. There isn't any thing to do," Rynita half-whined.
"Then, why don't you take her around? Outside of town?" the woman asked.
"What?! You never even let ME go outside, you're going to let me take a stranger?"
"I think this is a special occasion. Besides, I think you girls need to get rid of some of that extra energy," Dyanyna said, with one eyebrow raised.
"Okay!" Michelle said. And without another word, dragged Rynita by her arm outside of her mother's little house. The two girls ran outside and to the center of the little courtyard by the gate. "Well, where to first, my tour guide?" Rynita looked at her oddly, but decided not to question it. There were so many complicated things in Michelle's culture. Like, high school for example. It sounded like it would be a large jungle, if one were to walk into it. And cars? What was this concept?
"I guess I could take you up to the mountain first, since we're so close to it. That is," she said slyly, "unless you're afraid."
"Hey! I only said I thought there was something weird about it! I never said I was scared. I'm not scared of anything! Even you," she said, sharply, as she accented the 'you'.
"Okay, then, follow me," Rynita said, cheerfully, as she walked off toward Death Mountain Trail.
"Okay, then," she smiled. "Nita."
Rynita turned her head around to look at Michelle over her shoulder, but then turned back around quickly and continued on.
* * *