Generations

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Chapter 3: One Step Closer...

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Saturday morning rolled round. Usually, at weekends, Link was all too keen to pull the sheets over his head until the afternoon and bury his face in the pillows. But not today.
The dream had returned. And there was no chance he was going back to sleep after that. The details had gotten even more vivid this time - slightly different, too. The monster he'd seen seemed at the same time to be human - and familiar. Closing his eyes, he could still see that raging animal face staring red-eyed into his own.
Oh, gods. I'm screwed up here. It's only a dream, idiot... yeah, but... better not tell anyone this time.
Link sighed, got out of bed, pulled on a white T-shirt and khaki trousers and stared dully at his reflection in the mirror. Usually sharp blue eyes, almost lavender-tinted, were clouded with sleep. His blond hair, not quite long enough for any decent length ponytail, was untidily draped around his face. He reluctantly combed it into some semblance of order and grabbed a green Kakariko Falcons baseball cap off the bedside table, trying not to crush his flicked-back fringe as he rammed it backwards onto his head. Looking slightly more respectable, he headed for the door and a proper wash.

Something caught his eye. A light was blinking on his computer. Oh, yeah, he thought, a sinking feeling growing in his stomach. 1000 more words. Monday. Better get it out of the way. ...Email. He flicked it into life and logged on. "Junk... junk... yeah, free money would be nice, but I'm not going to get it online, am I?" He paused. That's more like it.
To: the.missing.link@hyrule-intercom.net. Subject: Re: Homework hell!.
do your *own* homework, L. !! lol. don't get much info on hyrulian history here, but there's a couple of sites you might want to check out, here's the addresses...
...oh, yeah, and what do you mean about monsters? sounds more like one of those ancient Links talking...

Link stopped dead in his tracks. "What ancient... what the hell are you talking about, Garry?" Is this some pile of history I never heard of? Better get in touch. Sounds interesting. He'd only added a last sentence on the monsters in the alley as a joke - there was no way he had expected to get a reply.
To: ganondorf@globecom.cl. Subject: Say what?.
You've lost me, bud... not all of us are experts on whatever ancient legend you're talking about...
Shaking his head, he signed off and walked away. The prospect of breakfast had a strong appeal at the moment. Then, probably going to meet friends in town. The storm yesterday seemed to have lifted. It would be a shame to spend the day in front of a video game. Especially that old thing, Link half-grinned, thinking of his well-played but out of date console. Now, if I could... like I'm ever going to persuade them... and considering I'm just about broke...

It looked like Zelda was still asleep when he arrived downstairs, and his mother was out. The only other person Link could see was his father, quietly drinking a cup of coffee in front of the television news. They barely exchanged glances, neither wanting to show what was on their mind.
"Going out?"
"Yeah. What's it to you?" Link snapped.
"I was just... interested."
"That's a new one! Like you've ever been 'interested' in what I'm up to..."
"I've been... busy, lately..."
"Lately?" Robert's face flushed at his son's accusations. "Surprised you're not already there on some project or other."
The scientist went silent. Link can't know, surely?... he thought. "It's not..." The phone rang. Link left it to his father to answer it as he headed into the kitchen. He could overhear what sounded like a request to come into work. You don't even care about weekends, do you?

Rolling his old mountain bike out from behind the garden shed, Link quietly cursed. Dreams and arguments and monsters... it wasn't a good day. Punctured tyres were just the thing to put the icing on the cake. The Hunters' ginger tabby looked like it was smirking from its cozy position on top of a ruined vacuum cleaner. Link restrained himself from throwing a rock at it as he fiddled with the wheel.

-

Leaving his cycle locked down a side street, Link's stroll habitually brought him past the local arcade. He'd spent too long and too much in there. Mostly locked in fierce competition over the beat-'em-up machines with Ralph. Hang on, he thought, and smiled as he headed towards their favourite - already occupied.
"Just use her kick-flips on his head, then stab while he's getting up - he'll go down in five seconds. Easy. You hadn't worked that one out, yet? No, don't you always play as that nightmare knight?..."
Ralph almost jumped as he looked round. "I didn't need your tips..."
"Yes, you did," Link grinned as he pointed out the sword-maiden lying on the floor onscreen. "Got any more credits?"
"That was your fault!"
"Was it? You were getting flattened when I walked in - just a bit of friendly advice..."
"You wanted to see me get my butt kicked! Nothing worse than a back-seat gamer..." He shrugged as his friend glared. "Your turn now. You're going down."
"Thought you'd never ask. Best of three..."
"You're paying. I haven't even got one cent change left, never mind a two-rupee piece. That was my last continue, and the last level, thanks a lot." His protestations were as much as a game as the machine in front of them. The friends were just as much rivals as allies at times. Link slammed coins into the slot - it had been three hundred years since rupee gems had been Hyrulian currency - and within a few seconds two armed warriors faced each other in combat.
"You know..." Ralph jerked on the joystick, dodging Link's blows - "I wonder how you'd look with a real sword, sometimes... you seem to spend so long with a digital one..."
"Don't think so, somehow," Link remarked, flipping backwards and preparing a special attack. "I don't think I'd know which end to hold."
"It's the one that isn't pointy."
Link only glared and proceeded to hit the buttons harder.

-

"Hi, Mack," Robert remarked down the phone a little uneasily. "What's up? Don't you ever take a day off?"
"You know what's up. Your experiment. I don't know what you've been doing in there, but there's some crazy energy field blocking off your lab. No-one's been able to go in there."
"I didn't give anyone permission to go looking at my stuff anyway!" His heart sank. He could guess whose responsibility that was. And I didn't give you permission to start playing your little tricks either, Ganondork! "I'll be there in five."

Minutes later, he was running down the university's corridors in a manner hardly suiting a distinguished scientist. What's happened now? he asked himself.
"Okay. Care to explain this?" Mack asked, waiting by the side of... The phone call hadn't been wrong. The corridor was blocked by a shimmering violet haze of energy.
"Wish I could..." Dr. Hunter muttered, putting out a cautious hand to touch it. He could feel nothing solid there, however. The only difference between the energy-field and the normal air was heat, as if it were summer in the desert inside the field although the corridor was a normal room temperature.
"How the hell are you doing that, Rob?" his companion responded, shocked. "A student tried that and they're in the hospital with third degree burns."
"Nice of you to tell me that before I risk my arm..." the scientist finished, walking onwards through the wall of dark light. I suspect I know why. ...He needs my help.

His suspicions were confirmed as he entered the laboratory. Things had changed. The equipment was surrounded in the same indigo light as the forcefield. "Where are you?" he asked, sighing. "What have you been doing here, Mr. I'm-too-good-for..."
"Enough!" Ganondorf's voice roared. The dark king's form crystallised in front of his eyes. "I do not see why I should tell you where I was."
"Because you need me," Dr. Hunter stated flatly. "That's the impression I'm getting. So spill it."
The Gerudo's eyes narrowed at the scientist's impudence. "Very well... The forces of the Dark World stand ready to break through, as I was commanding them to. All I require is that you reopen a rift between worlds..."
"How am I supposed to do that? Is that why you've been playing silly devils with my equipment?"
"'Silly devils'? I have adapted your... alchemical apparatus, is it?... to feed off the energy of the void. It will respond to your mind pattern - and mine. Now, Hylian! Do what you are here for!"

He sighed, and looked at the laboratory. What do I do here? Do I just... Sighing, he attempted to activate the computer console he had been using. It worked all too well.
All too fast. The air felt sharp with electricity. The scientist found himself hoping whatever he had done hadn't worked - but from the look on Ganondorf's face, he could only assume it had.
I didn't ask for this, he murmured under his breath.

-

The rest of the day passed happily. With his friends by his side, Link could almost try and forget the dreams that plagued him, or the strange events of yesterday. There was nothing more 'real' than the sights and sounds of the city around him. Perhaps it was all just his imagination, he tried to tell himself. Perhaps the dreams were nothing more than that.
It can't be anything else, surely...
"Hey, Link? What's with the spaceman act again?" Ralph grinned, nudging his friend in the side. "You're acting the same way you were yesterday. Haven't touched your burger. You're not on something?" He laughed. "If so, can I have some?"
"Don't be stupid!" Link snapped. "Sorry, buddy. Just got a lot on my mind, that's all. Kind of personal."
"This isn't about a certain you-know-who, is it?"
He shook his head. "No. It's nothing to do with Lynna."
"When are you going to..."
"I believe the answer to that is, 'none of your business'." One of their group whistled. "You can shut it, too, Ike. We're just friends."

Eventually, the shops began to shut. Link left his friends behind and headed for where he had left his bicycle parked, realising how stupid he had been to leave it in such a quiet spot. There was a voice behind him as he reached to fiddle with the lock.
"Well, look who's here."
He automatically knew who it was. If there was anyone he didn't want to see at the moment... "Shove off, Cal."
"Shove? Okay..." Link found himself almost on the floor and looking up at his attacker. It wasn't that Calvin Anson was bigger than him, but the blow had come as enough of a surprise to throw him off balance. Both boys possessed the same wiry sort of build, and were the same age at sixteen. Others had frequently noticed more similarities than differences between the two - although this was never mentioned to either's face. Same height, similar natural hair colour, even if Cal had tried to disguise that ever since he'd heard of hair dye. However, there was one thing they had never shared, apart from friendship.
Cal's eyes, deep ruby, glittered as Link got back to his feet. With a distinguishing feature like that, it had either been a choice between being bullied or becoming one. He had chosen the latter, and had managed to use words where others would choose fists. "You never really heard of fair play, did you?"
"That's for losers. Like yourself."
"Takes one to know one," Link half-spat. He was beginning to wish he hadn't left his bicycle down such a quiet alley. Bullies were like monsters, he thought - attacking where no-one could see. His words were repeated sarcastically in return. "Get lost, or I'll get the cops."
"Oh, yeah, will you? I'm so scared..."
"What's your big problem, anyway?"
"Oh, let me think... I know. You."
Link made an obscene gesture as he leapt onto his bike and made an escape. He could hear Cal's swearing behind him, and knew that the bully would probably have a word with his 'friends' - the muscle force he lacked - by school on Monday. He couldn't keep running forever.

There was a bright flash behind him as he pedalled away. Link glanced over his shoulder briefly to see a dark shape forming in the air. What the hell is that?

It wasn't just one shape, but a collection of them. A flock of bats and crows were chasing him down the road. These weren't the sorts of creatures that he'd seen before, however. There was a menace in their movements as they pursued him. That's just stupid, Link told himself. They can't be...
At that point, the first bat made a diving run towards him. Link swerved trying to avoid it, and began to stamp on the pedals angrily to get away from the waves that were flying in his direction. What's their problem?
The living cloud fragmented. For a second, he thought he was safe, but there was - something - coming from among the dark flock. Whatever it was, it didn't look happy. Some strange aerial monster, cloaked among the flock of crows and bats, had its eyes fixed on him.

My gods. How am I supposed to outrun that thing? Link thought, trying not to let his mind dwell on the beast's horrific features. Slowly, surely, it gained on him, its leathery wings beating the air. It was only a good job the roads were quiet. The one or two passers-by didn't even seem to have noticed the creature. Just my luck to have been the only person who can see it...

It sped up. Link could almost feel the monster's breath on the back of his neck. He glanced back, then forwards again.
Just in time. He was speeding towards a wall. He cursed and yanked on the brake, the bike flicking its back wheel in the air as the pursuing monster crashed into the brickwork above it. It fell to the floor in front of Link, whose jaw dropped as he watched it fade into non-existence. Its smaller companions decided not to risk the same fate and swerved away.

They left a shaken teenage boy staring at the floor.
This is getting too strange. What's happening to me?

-

"Who is this?" Ganondorf asked, angrily. The photograph that sat on Dr. Hunter's desk looked strangely familiar. It had been taken around four years ago, and showed a smiling boy of twelve and girl of ten. There was something in the youth's expression that he'd seen before, when he had watched through a demon's eyes.
Usually, it had been trying to kill him.
The scientist failed to pick up the resonance in the dark king's voice. "The family," he remarked proudly but sadly. Ever since that happy day they had grown further apart.
"The boy. Who is he?"
"That's my son. Link."
There was a heated pause - the sort that comes before a volcano exploding. "What?" Ganondorf hissed, eyes flaring red with anger. "And don't tell me that is the princess Zelda by his side..."
"Princess? No, my daughter, his sister. But you got the name right, anyway... how?"

Ganondorf wasn't really listening. He turned aside and looked into the rip in space. "Bring her to me," he whispered into its depths. "Follow the others, my loyal serpents."
Doesn't he mean loyal servants, the shocked scientist thought, before jumping in. "Look! You can't just..."
"Who are you to tell me what I can and cannot do, Hylian? I am only keeping you alive because you are useful to me. Though I am weakened, I have that much power. If your usefulness ends - so does your life. You understand?" He nodded, mutely. Whatever was planned didn't sound good.

-

Later that night, the modem chirped into a sluggish life as Link tried to restart his research. Both the addresses he'd been given seemed to have the information he'd needed. With any luck, he'd survive Monday unscathed.
It wasn't homework he was researching now, however. He knew that simply putting his own name into the search engine was a recipe for disaster, but there seemed to be nothing else for it. Once was an accident, but twice? Something strange was happening, and he had to find out what. The only lead he had was Garry's passing comment. "Okay... search for... legends... yeah, this is never gonna work... some people would want their name on every webpage in the world, but as for me..." He paused before adding the words "ancient Hyrule" on a hunch.
As he'd expected, the first few entries were nothing to write home about. The whole of the first page seemed irrelevant - he had no idea what he was actually looking for, but these weren't it. Maybe this was a bad idea, he thought, clicking onto the second. Junk... junk...
He blinked. What's that?
Myths and Legends of Ancient Hyrule: The Heroes of Time www.worldwidewisdom.res/hyrule/~37729/link.htm

...One of the most enduring myths of our country is that of its young heroes, defenders of Hyrule, Labrynna and Holodrum from demonic onslaughts. Almost semi-divine in status, their exploits have been hidden behind a mask of rumour and legend, until it is no longer possible to determine the truth about these brave young men. Indeed, these mythical protectors are sometimes thought to have been only children on starting their impossible quests. Possibly the best known of them all, Hyrule's first hero but the second known in the line, was believed to be only seventeen. The chronological first, however, was a mere twelve. Estimates for the others' ages reach as little as ten years old.
It is widely believed that there were five of these heroes, although as they are known to share the same unusual name - Link - the exploits of all may have been confused. How else is it possible for all five to have destroyed the same creatures in their quest? While magic indeed existed as a potent force in those days, surely time travel was beyond its reaches...

Link swallowed as he reached for the mouse to scroll down the page. The facts he read were more incredible by the paragraph. "Damn you, stupid thing... is this all real?" Don't believe everything you read on the internet, he told himself. It's just legends, right... it's just a story. Some of the names looked familiar, though. So that was where Garry had taken his email address from. His sister's name, too, seemed to appear just as often as his own. It's not! It's just a coincidence... Link repeated. Probably I was just named after these heroes but it doesn't mean anything. It can't. It wasn't a comfortable idea, though.

"Mum?" he yelled downstairs, anxious to get it sorted out.
"Yes, love?" she responded.
"You're into history, right? Legends and stuff?"
"I'm not... why did you think that?"
"Uh... nothing." He paused. "Actually, yeah. It's just... my name..."
"What about it, dear?"
"Where did you get it from? And Zelda, too, what about hers?"
"I think it was after your great-aunt, your father insisted anyway. The name's been in his side of the family a long time... as for yours? That's the funny thing... I didn't have any idea until you were born. Then... it seemed like it suited you, your father said so too..."
"Fine," Link replied, a little shaken. If it wasn't after the legends, then...

He took one last glance at the page as he prepared to sign off, and swore out loud. In a picture at the bottom of the screen, an artist had reconstructed an image of one of the young heroes fighting, sword and shield at the ready. The design on the shield features the sacred Triforce symbol, he read, one of the most common features in the legend. An union of three forces - power, wisdom and courage.
It was blurred and compressed on screen - but Link had no trouble in recognising the triple triangle emblem as he glanced at the back of his hand.

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A/N: And so the truth unfolds...
I will apologise here in case I start using too many Linkin Park songs as titles :P Bleh. I've spent too long listening to 'Reanimation'...
One thing. The next few chapters may be an ickle bit slow in coming... so if I don't update, I haven't abandoned the story, I'm just hunting plot bunnies. I've got all the pieces of the jigsaw, I'm staring at the lid, but I'm having trouble doing the puzzle... Whatever. Thanks for putting up with my rambling... :)