The two girls now found themselves inside of Gerudo Valley, at the horse archery range. From Hyrule Castle Town, Rynita had suggested the next best place to go was Gerudo Valley. It had taken them a while to get across the field of Hyrule. They actually had to stop at what Rynita had called 'Lon Lon Ranch' on their way. They had only stayed for the night, but Rynita said they would have to come back to visit it, some time or another.
Ever since the Imprisoning War, travelers and merchants (A/N: Well, not scary guys with wide grins and freaky old masks to sell :) Sorry! I couldn't resist!), were welcome in Gerudo Valley. So, the two girls had little trouble finding their way into their current location.
Michelle had been good at archery on Earth, and she liked to consider herself an expert with horses. So, Rynita had challenged her to a game at the horse archery range. The Gerudo looking after the archery gladly lent the girls horses when she saw Rynita. But, it was obvious after the first couple turns that this was definitely not one of Michelle's strongest points.
"I thought you said you were good at this stuff!" Rynita called from across the field.
"I AM! Or, at least, I was," more quietly, starting to get angry. "This dimension it totally screwing with my head!"
Rynita laughed. "Maybe we should just try something else..." she started, but Michelle cut her off.
"NO! I want to finish THIS stupid thing before I find something else I can't do!" she called, and with that, she kicked her horse to start it running. She got her bow ready and took aim at the target. She shot it, but it just barely grazed the edge of the target and stuck into the soft cliffs behind it.
"Damn, I suck!" Michelle muttered, not really meaning for the words to come out.
"Are you still sure you don't want to do something else?" Rynita called to her again.
"Yeah, let's go, before I start cussing out the stupid target," she said, just loud enough for Rynita to hear.
The girls began to leave, dismounting their horses and returning them to the young Gerudo tending to the facility. Rynita started talking, but Michelle only heard the first couple of her words.
At the entrance to the field, a figure was walking into the archery range. As the girls walked closer, they could see it was a young woman, maybe around their age. Michelle, though, recognized the cloaked figure right away.
'For the love of humanity, please don't let that be who I think it is,' Michelle though as the squinted to see the newcomer.
It was. The redheaded girl from the morning Michelle had arrived. The other girl noticed that Michelle was staring at her, and their eyes met and locked. They both eventually stopped walking, and they stood there for a few moments, just staring. Rynita noticed right away, and quickly started looking from one face to the other. Suddenly, her face fell as she noticed, by closer inspection, the face of the other girl.
"Aholya," Rynita said, dryly, with a hint of what seemed like disgust.
The other girl, now identified as Aholya, suddenly seemed to notice Rynita's presence. In response, replied, "Rynita."
"So, I guess you guys know each other?" Michelle said quietly, as she turned her head to face Rynita.
Rynita nodded as she looked away from Aholya and back to Michelle. As she looked at Michelle, her eyes suddenly became wider, and her mouth dropped open slightly.
"What?" Michelle inquired to her sudden change in demeanor.
"I wondered why you looked so familiar before! If I didn't know any better, I would have said that you two were twins!" she whispered, surprised, to Michelle, as she gestured to the two other girls.
"Well, I'm glad you do know, because I've never seen this...this girl before in my life; despite when I first came here and she rammed me over into that stupid bridge." Michelle was going to say something a lot worse than girl, but decided better against it.
"Hmm," Rynita muttered, as she turned her attention back to the other girl.
As she did this, Michelle repeated the action.
"So, what have you been doing during these last five years?" Michelle heard Aholya say, obviously to Rynita.
"Oh, nothing much. Same old stuff. I still haven't heard from my dad since then....." Rynita started, but she never finished her sentence, and her eyes fell to the floor.
"Huh? Wha'? What's this about you dad?"
"Long story," Aholya answered for Rynita.
Rynita quickly snapped out of her trance-like state and turned to face Aholya once again. "You've gotten so much taller," she said, randomly, trying to change the subject.
At this, Michelle saw the perfect opportunity to one, make someone laugh, and two, hopefully undo her and Aholya's rather unpleasant first impression. "Dude, no, really?! A little kid can grow in five years? Wow!"
Rynita started to laugh, almost. Michelle could see that Aholya was struggling not to smile. She wondered if it was her choice of words, or the complete randomness of her statement. She considered that it might be the fact that the girl was obviously thinking, "This girl is bizarre!" Michelle considered using a technique her dad often used on her, and decided it might work in this instance.
"Don't smile!" she said to Aholya, trying not to remain serious and not laugh, herself.
At this, the girl started to laugh quietly. Michelle wondered how far she could get this girl rolling.
"You think that's funny? Just wait 'till I tell you some blonde jokes! Have you heard the one about the three blondes and a brunet stranded on a desert island?"
She didn't even have to continue. Both of the two other redheads were laughing out loud, and Michelle wasn't even sure why. Of course, she considered herself funny, but apparently, she could even use stupid humor here. These Hylians hadn't even heard the oldest one in the book!
Michelle suddenly remembered her fourth grade year. She'd had a really bad first impression with a girl, but the two became best friends after a friendly (well....less than friendly) game of poker. She wasn't sure how, but she figured it was worth a try. Now she was thanking her dumb little brother for giving her that pack of cards to hold in her pocket the afternoon she had disappeared. She had, more than fortunately, put them in the pocket of her new dress.
"So, you guys every played poker?"
* * *
Near the entrance to Gerudo Valley, the early afternoon sun was rising to meet the red cliff faces. The waterfall nearby echoed through the air, but above it could be heard giggling of girls coming from the still-shadowed far side of the bank.
"Okay, you Hylian chicks can have ALL the credit for being strong and good at archery and all that crap, but you guys damn well can't play one hand of poker without TOTALLY falling on you face!" Michelle managed through choked giggles. She really wasn't even sure what was so funny. All she knew was that she was most likely way to high on sugar, or whatever passed for it in this parallel dimension.
When Michelle had asked the girls about playing poker, all she got was blank stares. She tried to clarify herself. "Um, casino, Las Vegas? Does gambling ring a bell?" Aholya's face lit up at this remark. 'Ha, gotcha' there, Miss Evil Redhead!' Michelle had thought as she and her two companions had left the archery range and Gerudo Fortress and set up their 'friendly' game by the high cliffs around the edges of the valley. The river flowed semi-quietly far below, and was surrounded by cliffs, also.
At first, Michelle had just shown the girls how to play. She thought they had the gist of it, even though it was apparent that they sucked. The two other girls had offered to throw in some leverage. They used a couple of strange varieties of snack-ish foods, all with most likely way too much sugar. Michelle had eaten quite a bit already, as had the other girls.
After a while, Rynita had suggested they make it more interesting by using money. Even though Michelle started out with zip rupees, she quickly held a portion of the two girls' savings.
"Hey, Rynita! I might actually be able to pay you back after all!" Michelle said, laughing again.
"Yeah, with my own money!" Rynita said, giggling.
"I say we make this REALLY interesting. Michelle," Aholya said as she turned to the hyper redhead. "...you think you can win this next hand?"
"Of course!" Rynita said, triumphantly.
"Well, by some slim chance you don't," she said slyly. "...I DARE you to jump, over into the river"
"Well, by some slim chance, pigs can FLY," Michelle started, sarcastically. "...I will rise up to your challenge!"
Aholya really hadn't meant what she said. She knew she was going to loose. What no one expected, however, was what happened next.
"Okay, Aholya, show me your hand!" Michelle said. Aholya complied, and she had nothing. "HA! Empty threats!" Michelle then haughtily showed everyone her hand, which was a straight. "Beat THAT, Rynita!"
"Michelle, I forgot what this one is. Does this mean something?" Rynita held out her hand for Michelle to see. Michelle's eyes became large, and her jaw almost dropped to the floor. Rynita had a royal flush!
Aholya noticed this, and she started smirking. "Michelle, no cheating! What is that?"
Without answering, Michelle closed her mouth again and stared at the ground. 'Jeez! Talk about miracles!' she thought. Without making any reply to either of the two girls, in a rush of sugar and adrenaline, Michelle lifted her head, turned around and practically flew to the high cliff that lead down to the river.
With this peculiar turn of events, Rynita called out, "Michelle!? MICHELLE.........!" she didn't finish her sentence as she saw her fly over the edge of the cliff, curl up into a small ball, and shout, "CANNON BALL!"
Both girls heard a loud splash as they ran over to the edge to see if Michelle was okay.
Before she had run and jumped, Michelle had thought, "What am I doing!? Am I crazy!? No, worse. I'm going to kill myself!!" She had seen herself fly off the cliff face, and although falling was fun, she still had many thoughts going on in her head. "Note to self: Hylian sugar makes you suicidal. DON'T EVER EAT THAT STUFF AGAIN!!" she thought as she plummeted and soon fell into the icy water.
"COLD! Cold, cold, cold, cold, cold, cold, C O L D!!!" she manages to stutter as the surpassingly swift current dragged her downstream and eventually off another very small waterfall. The actual fall hadn't been bad, but the sudden impact of the cold water was what made it worse. Soon, the gently twisting river gave way to a large and majestic lake. The sun could now reach Michelle, although it didn't warm her up in the least after he shockingly cold encounter with the river water.
As Michelle was carried to shallow water, she stood up and noticed that on the banks of the river, there was a small town. It was fairly similar to Kakariko, but the demeanor and the size were two obvious differences. This town was definitely smaller, and most likely had just been established not too long ago. Although this didn't take her mind off the cold completely, she felt a little better knowing that here was a place where she could dry off soon.
She noticed that now she could stand up in the water, so she did so. She stared walking toward the village. Now that she though about it, she didn't know if she would be able to find the other girls any time soon, but hopefully they would know where she had ended up. She was trying to think about anything else but her wet clothes, so she looked at the buildings.
She almost jumped in surprise when she heard a childish, slightly old-English voice speak behind her. "Why are you all wet?" the sprightly voice said quietly but demandingly. Michelle whirled around and stood just two yards or so away from a short girl. Her voice matched her childish appearance. She was probably a foot or less shorter than Michelle. She had long, blue-black hair that she could most likely sit on. Her eyes looked strangely Egyptian and she had a small face. She stood in a short, dark blue dress in a stance with her head cocked to the side, hands behind her back which seemed to say, 'Answer my question.'
Michelle was silent for a moment before responding, in an exasperated tone, "An unlucky hand of poker."
"Where'd you come from? the girl asked her.
Michelle gestured up to the canyon where she had just been and said, "Up there, unless you count planet Earth." She said the last sentence quietly, but the girl heard her none the less.
"Oh, Earth. Now, that's something I know plenty about," she said in a interested fashion.
Michelle's eyes popped open at this and she took a step toward the girl. "You DO!? What, what? Anything is helpful in this instance! The fact that you've heard of it is making my day!"
The girl paused for a moment before answering, "Let's see. Well, I have dreams about it all the time. Plus, there are several Hylian legends that tell of a dimension with a planet called Earth. I forget them now, as I haven't heard them since I was quite a child."
'Child? You seem to be just that now,' Michelle thought before looking away for a moment.
"You say you've actually SEEN it?" the small girl asked Michelle excitedly.
"Of course! I was born there," Michelle replied.
Now it was the other girls turn to widen her eyes. "Are you SERIOUS!?" she exclaimed. Michelle simply nodded in compliance. "This is unbelievable!" she said. "It's just like in my dream!"
'Oh, I see now. This girl has heard of Earth. So tell me, why hadn't my supposed friend Rynita heard of it? Unless, she had and she just wanted to make me sound stupid by saying she hadn't,' Michelle though. She suddenly realized what the girl was saying. "Dream?" she said to her.
"Yes, that's what I said. Oh! Wait a minute, I don't even know you name! I'm sorry. Let me introduce myself: I am Crystaline, but some people call me Chrystie. And, what is your name?" she said, again with that childlike innocence.
"Um, yeah. My name's Michelle, and some people call me Michelle. A certain little brat calls me Mickey, but that's a different story," she said, thinking of an annoyance back at home who some like to call siblings. "I'm sixteen. How old are you?"
"Sixteen," she replied.
"You're kidding me," Michelle said, trying not to laugh.
"No," the girl replied, obviously starting to get defensive.
"Sixteen, huh? Okaaay," Michelle said, rolling her eyes. "But, anyway. That dream, what happened? In your dream, I mean."
The girl immediately retrieved her smile and began to tell her story. "Well, there was this, you know, a cloud or something, and....Wait! How silly! I'm standing here interrogating this new girl and she's standing here all soaking wet! Hello!" she said, putting a hand up to her forehead. It looked like a light bulb went on over her head as she said, "Do you wanna come over to my house? Maybe we could get you something dry to wear," she said, giggling slightly.
"Uh, huh. Anything for something dry, at this moment. Could I, like, possibly take a bath?" *Come on, Michelle! It's not like she's running a hotel or something!* she mentally scolded herself right after she said it.
"Sure, my mom's always anxious for visitors. When you're freshened up, can we talk some more? There aren't many kids my age around here." she said as she began to turn around and lead Michelle down the center of the town.
As they walked, the girl, now identified as Chrystie, allowed her 'interrogation' to continue. "I didn't notice before. Your ears? What are you, a Gerudo or something?"
"No, and you know: that's the second time someone here's called me that! I'm a human being from planet Earth. And, if you like a certain stubborn teenager I know, you won't believe that, either, but I don't care anymore. I want to just blend now. Why do you think I got some new clothes? Because some idiot at that dumb castle town said Rynita couldn't hang out with 'normal people', regarding myself, of course. But, I'm babbling now, so I should shut up," which she did.
"Oh, no. I don't mind at all. Usually, I'm the one doing all the babbling. And let me see if I heard you right. Did you say Rynita?" Chrystie asked.
"Yeah. She's this one redhead chick I met in Kakariko, and I guess she's kind of stuck with me. Long story."
"I know perfectly well who she is, for one. And, two, I love long stories!" she said, eagerly. "We're here!"
"Oh, thank you!" Michelle said, looking ahead to the structure ahead of them. It was a fairly large, three story house-ish (A/N: ish....that's my favorite word!!) looking building. Ironically, it had a sign posted above the door which read, 'Hyliana Tavern and Inn'.
"Hmm," Michelle smirked at this.
"What?" Chrystie asked.
"Oh, nothing. Just my incredibly sharp intuition."
* * *
"Ahhh," Michelle sighed as she slipped into the bathtub. "Warmth......feels good......" Michelle trailed off and sunk lower into the water. "Sleep...mmm...No, stay awake. This is an INN, if some sick guy comes in...Okay, maybe I should hurry up." She heard, after a while, a knock at the door.
"Miss Michelle? Are you finished yet?" The voice came from one of Chrystie's many little sisters.
"Yeah, 'm almost done," Michelle said, in a quiet voice. *'Miss Michelle.....hehe,* she though. She quickly finished and dried off, putting on a light blue, robe-like thingy (A/N: Yes, I meant to spell it like that...) that one of the girls had left for her. 'What the.....? This shows off a little more cleavage than I'd like to.........OH WELL!'
Michelle decided to go try to find Chrystie. She noted that, despite the Inn looking pretty small on the outside, it was pretty good sized on the inside. She was looking down the many halls lined with dully glowing candles, that also weren't really needed, 'Since it's, like, lunch time,' Michelle thought. 'Thinking of which, I'm HUNGRY!' She came across a door that was halfway open. It looked dark inside. "Oh, do I dare? Hehehe...." Michelle thought out loud.
She opened the door, and was surprised to see rows and rows off bookshelves. Michelle, with an almost irresistible urge to pick up old books every time she saw them, took this as a perfect opportunity. She looked for a second at the many titles, but stopped abruptly as one book in particular caught her eye. The title read, "Hylian Myths and Legends" In smaller type, it read, "The Legends of the Triforce and Earth Myths" 'Oh, God,' Michelle thought. She picked it up and flipped through the pages. As she looked at the many illustrations, she began to walk around and absentmindedly look for a place to sit. She saw one page with three female-looking figures on it. "Now, where have I seen THAT before...." she said quietly. She still didn't remember what happened at the Temple of Time. As she got lost in the pages of the ancient writings, a shadow fell over the redheaded youth. She didn't notice until a hand reached out and tapped her on the shoulder........
***Okay......aren't I evil!? Why did I end it here? Dunno, because I'm lazy and crazy. Hey! That rhymed! HEHEHEHEHE he he he.........hehe? Okay, that was lame......Sorry! PLEASE review my story!! PLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASE!!!!!!!! Make me happy. I might not finish the story if you don't........(hint, hint, HINT!) Anyways......adios, amigos! :)