The Day the Universes Collided
Chapter One
Hyrule Castle Town
Hyrule Kingdom
Time: 1400 hours
Link studied the menu of the restaurant carefully. His funds had grown low recently due to taxes and he hadn't found any Poes to sell. His job as assistant salesman at the Happy Mask Shop wasn't paying as much as it used to and the economy was suffering from a recent drought.
"When did plain bread and milk cost 100 rupees?" Link muttered to himself as a waitress glided his way for his order. "Are you sure there's nothing that's less than 100 rupees in this whole place?" he asked in frustration.
"Sorry, but we're barely making ends meet as it is." the girl replied, "Need more time?" Link sighed and drummed his fingers on the table, resting his cheek on his fist as he gazed out the window at the Temple of Time.
"I'll take the bread and milk." he finally answered and passed the menu back to the girl. He leaned back as she left and sighed. "Hero of Time forced to eat bread and milk at outrageous prices while tax collectors attack his house to get their share of money...Goddesses, is nothing sacred anymore?" he wondered aloud and closed his eyes. At the age of twenty, Link's money problems could easily be solved by simply marrying the wealthiest girl he could find. But that was never his style. Besides, he could find rupees much more easily by just shooting Bubbles and LikeLikes with Light Arrows.
Unfortunately, those monsters were lying low, recognizing that an economic depression would bring a desperate Link that much more quickly to their haunts. Darunia's son, Prince Link, tried his best to help by sending him various small gems he found in the mountains, but more often than not they would sell for less than their true value.
"I might even have to get another job." Link groaned as he thought of the two he already had. Part-time salesman, part-time ranch hand at Lon Lon Ranch, not to mention full-time hero, his life was chaotic enough as it is. He had tried his hand at various small jobs, but the state of the kingdom soon had him out the door. The only thing that was fairly steady at bringing him an income was his collection of Deku dolls. Link handcrafted small toys and dolls out of Deku wood and sticks, then sold them at the market. People looking for unusual trinkets and gifts were his better customers.
"Here you are!" the waitress exclaimed cheerfully as she set a plate of bread and a mug of fresh milk down in front of him. Link set down a pair of violet jewels, two fifty-rupee pieces, and thanked her. The girl scooped them up and delivered them to the manager of the restaurant. Ignoring the fact that those were his last purple rupees, Link set to eating and thought about what he should do next. Finishing his meal in a few minutes, he sighed and nodded. No doubt about it, he was just going to have to get himself another job.
"Time to wander the streets again." he muttered as he downed the last of the milk, picked up his pack and headed out of the pub, whistling as cheerfully as he could while strolling down the cobblestone streets, eyes wandering about in search of signs of work.
****
In a whole different world, a young man studied his screens and readings and cocked his head. There was something obviously very wrong going on, but he couldn't quite pinpoint it. He adjusted dials, pressed strange keys and tapped on a few of the screens to try to straighten out the unusual readings, but it was still there. The man leaned back and glared at the thousands of monitors that lined the walls.
"Great. I leave for just one millennia and this happens." he grumbled and got to his feet, leaving the comfort of his chair to pace in front of the millions of screens, each displaying images of various other worlds, the focal point of each one being of a figure dressed in green. "I go on a single break and somebody decides to screw things up. Now, which ones are this guy messing with?" he muttered and stopped at one screen. "Hello! Hyrule in an economic depression? That's not right. King Harkinian maintains fair taxes and these readings show he just increased them by...20 percent?! Oh yeah, somebody's been messing with my charges' worlds all right."
The man ran to his desk and began typing away at a strange computer. A printer came to life and began pouring out sheets of readings, names, codes and calculations. Every few moments, he would glance up at the screens, look around, then resume typing.
"I think I know who's doing this. I'd better find out what other heroes' worlds he's been tampering with so I can put together the appropriate team to stop him. Geez, I hate my job sometimes!" he raved angrily as his fingers flew over the keyboard.