Chapter Thirty-Three: The Lost Brother Found
"Sheesh! And I thought Joey's room was always a mess!" Tristan sighed. Joey glared at Tristan.
"Watch it," Joey wondered. Saria wasn't listening.
"What in Nayru's name happened in here?" Saria wondered as she studied her family's parlor. It was torn apart. The chairs were smashed and the upholstery ripped into thin strips. Furniture was overturned and the computer was smash and dented. The main windows were broken and cracked in multiple places and there were burn marks on it all. Only the TV survived the whole scene.
"We better call the police," Serenity suggested as she pulled out a cell phone. Saria walked through the mess towards the kitchen. Saria looked around and didn't see Rush in his kennel.
"Rush! Where are you?" Saria shouted. A short yip answered her cry. Saria ran to the cupboard and opened it. Rush leapt into her arms, whining.
"Poor you! I guess the maid never came by and fed you huh?" Saria went and poured water and food for Rush then studied the kitchen. The kitchen was intact save for a few cut up chairs. Saria studied the chair remains and found multiple clean burn marks as the golden lab pup sat next to her
"What'd you find?" Joey asked as he crouched down near them.
"Burns marks, obviously from a laser sword. I'd wager the thieves were searching for something," Saria replied as she stood up. Rush then barked and growled and pointed at something. Saria's eyes lay on an object mounted on the wall: A knife with a note through it. Saria gently pulled the note down.
"Saria. If you value your parents' lives, you'll bring the Triforce Destiny Cards to Shadow Island in three days alone. If you fail to do so, your parents will die. If you mention this note to law enforcement, you will also forfeit their lives," Saria read, her voice trembling as she finished the note. She could hardly breathe, knowing that her family was in danger.
"Saria, are you OK?" Yugi asked as he came in. It was then Saria slumped over in a faint.
Saria! Saria! Wake up! A voice commanded. Saria opened her eyes and shook her head and noticed she was floating in a white void.
Saria! Listen to me! We don't have much time! You mustn't give up the Triforce Destiny Cards to these criminals! The voice stated.
Why? My parents will die if I don't! Saria replied.
No they won't! Not if you have help and raid the place before they can do anything!
But whom can I turn to? I've got no one but my friends and this is far too dangerous for me to involve them!
Listen. In your dad's lab, taped underneath his desk is a DVD. Play it and you'll find help.
A DVD? Underneath his desk? Are you sure?
Yes now have faith. And Saria closed her eyes and felt herself return to her body. She wearily opened her eyes and found herself in her bedroom, everyone waiting anxiously. Rush jumped onto the bed and licked her, softly whimpering.
"Are you OK now?" Yami asked, his purple eyes full of concern. Saria nodded as she sat up and patted the frightened Rush.
"Glad to hear it. The police came and took statements and we cleaned up as best we could," Tristan added.
"Did you mention the note to the cops?" Saria asked. Joey shook his head.
"Nah. Felt it was better to let us figure out what to do first," Joey replied. Saria breathed a sigh of relief as she stood up.
"Hey guys. Is my basement a mess?" Saria queried.
"Didn't check," Tristan replied, "Why?"
"Everybody go into the parlor. I want to check something," Saria said and the group filed out of the room Rush at his mistress' heels.
"I wonder what's up?" Link asked appearing next to Yami.
"We may be spirits, but we're not mind readers. Lets wait and see," Yami replied. Link laughed.
"I've heard that one before," Link laughed as the others sat down. Link eyed the basement door as Saria ran downstairs Rush sitting by the door panting. A few minutes later, everyone heard a cry of triumph from Saria as she climbed up the stairs. The first thing they noticed was that she was clutching a CD case in her hand.
"What's that?" Teran asked as Saria popped it in the DVD player.
"Something I'm supposed to see," Saria said as she sat down and turned it on. Rush took the opportunity to sit in Saria's lap. The screen came on and showed Mr. Floyd sitting in a chair in the parlor with Mrs. Floyd next to him. Both were clearly a lot younger.
"Saria, if you've found this DVD, something's happened to us. We knew that someday we would have to tell you our secret. What we are about to tell you is totally true. I'm about to tell you what I did to get where I have up to this point," Mr. Floyd began. The screen then showed a top down view of a vast land. The fields glowed like an emerald and there was a town in the center and two towns to the north, one having a castle. A large volcano sat near the second town. There was a vast forest in the southeast region and a sapphire lake to the southwest. A ruby desert sat in the west.
"This is Hyrule in the year 1300 AD. That is where my destiny began. I used a time ship to go back in time to stop a demon from destroying Hyrule. At the time, I was only 14, but I was well trained in combat like you. I felt no one could stop me and my alien partner Armon," He continued. The screen showed a teenage Mr. Floyd and a humanoid-like creature with a dragonhead that stood about at waist height jumping out of a smaller flying craft. Then the screen changed to see Link, another female warrior, Patrick and Armon facing down a figure in purple armor holding a large body shield and lethal long sword.
"That man in purple is Damon, the Demon of Darkness. Before I showed up, he sunk the continent of Altaris, destroying all life on the continent and wiping out Hyrule entirely. Anyhow, with my help and knowledge of the Triforce of Courage, Link successfully destroyed Ganondorf and sealed Damon away." The picture showed Link slashing with the Master Sword, drawing a Triforce on Damon. The screen lit up as Damon vanished in a ray of bright white light. Saria pushed the pause button.
"You were there with my dad? And you never told me?" Saria asked Link. Link gave her a sheepish smile.
"Your dad made me promise to keep that a secret from you," Link replied.
"Can we keep going? I want to see what else is on here," Yugi asked. Saria nodded and pushed play.
"Hyrule was saved from Damon, but it would only be a year later that I would return with Becky and Armon to stop a new threat. Criminals from the present stole a set of time ships and escaped to ancient Hyrule. Naturally, Becky, Armon and myself were called back to stop the criminals." The picture flashed the trio fighting in a village with laser swords against twelve armored men. As Saria watched the fight, she saw that she looked exactly like her mother at her age.
"The fighting was fierce but we quickly got reinforcements. My cousin Nate came back in time to help us stop the criminals but at a cost. Shortly after we saw Nate, we found that our ship had been sabotaged. It was destroyed in a catastrophic explosion. We thought we might be trapped in the past forever when Becky revealed something I had never suspected." The picture showed the teenage Mrs. Floyd holding up her left hand. On it flashed the Triforce of Wisdom.
"Becky had the Triforce of Wisdom, a symbol that a new battle for the Triforce was beginning. We found out the name of our enemy at Death Mountain, the large volcano that was the home of a tribe unique to Hyrule, the Gorons or 'rock-eating people'. After we saved them from a dragon, we learned a name I wouldn't soon forget: Lance Dragmire. He was the holder of the Triforce of Power, the last piece of the Triforce." The picture showed a dark-skinned teenager in black armor. His hand had a glowing Triforce mark too but the top triangle was the one that glowed.
"He was the one that let the soldiers take the time ships. I was going to take him on when one of his monsters kidnapped Becky and took her away. By the time I found out, she was well on her way to Lance. We learned the enemy had gathered all their remaining forces in the Gerudo Fortress to the west, on the edge of the desert. Getting there was easy, getting into the fortress stealthily was another problem. Armon had sensed it and had snuck off. He sacrificed himself by weakening the forces inside by fighting. Unfortunately, he wouldn't survive when Lance came around and eliminated him." The picture showed Lance and a flying Armon shooting at each other, Lance using balls of darkness and Armon shooting green beams from his hands. Armon was quickly overwhelmed and he crashed and everyone gasped as Lance blew him up.
"When I found out, I vowed revenge. I wouldn't have much time though because Lance's minions soon captured Nate. Realizing Lance was not at the fortress, I found that he could only be at the Spirit Temple deep in the Haunted Wasteland. Getting through was tough but I eventually made it and faced Lance in the temple's ritual chamber." The picture first showed a twenty-story tower of stone of a woman sitting in a meditation pose. Near her feet was a large door carved in the rock. The picture then showed Lance and Mr. Floyd standing on opposite sides of a large platform, twenty feet off the ground. Above them was a blue crystal with two figures slumped inside.
"The battle was a fierce one. I couldn't win but I couldn't lose either. I hated to admit it but Lance and I were evenly matched until he tapped into his dark magic. Things were looking grim until I made him set free Becky and Nate from their crystal prison. With their help, beating him was not as hard, but he still was too powerful. When we thought all was lost, it was Link again who saved us." It showed the Floyds crouching over in pain as Lance prepared for a final strike. All of a sudden, Lance turned to see Link and the Master Sword rushing towards his heart.
"With Lance's defeat, Becky's ancestor and the bearer of the Triforce of Wisdom, Princess Zelda, was free to send us home. I thought we were finished but we quickly found we were wrong. It was yet another year later we returned to Hyrule, this time in the present. Hyrule had drastically changed from its old days." Mr. Floyd's words were born out as the team gaped over the screen. It was another top down view of Hyrule, this time though things were entirely different. There was a large castle in the center of it all, a desert to the southwest, and a lake to the southeast. The mountains extended over most of the northern region and the forest sat near the western cliffs. There were ancient ruins to the east and a town to the west.
"This is Hyrule when Lance casted his spell of change. With Hyrule's topography changed, we found that not everything was well. We learned that Lance's last followers were working to restore him to power. We realized it was up to us to stop Lance once and for all. So we went on a quest to retrieve the three pendants of virtue so we could claim the Master Sword of Hyrule from its resting place in the Lost Woods. We successfully claimed the pendants but it wasn't until we realized we needed each other that we successfully pulled the Master Sword from its pedestal." The picture changed to see the two teenage heroes standing hand in hand at a church-like building. Saria sighed as she saw her father pull the Master Sword out of the pedestal. Mrs. Floyd then continued.
"With the Master Sword, we felt ready to tackle Lance. Rauru, a Sage of Light, said we needed one more necessary tool. He teleported us to Zora's River and there we found the Magic Shield, a mystical shield that had the evil-repelling powers of the Master Sword. With the two weapons and some help from the local Zora tribe, we found Lance's base." The picture showed the two teenagers holding the blue and silver shield that Mr. Floyd had used at Dragon Roost Island.
"Inside, the battle was fierce. We were outnumbered, but this time, we weren't outgunned. Rauru's advice about the Magic Shield's potential was quickly born out as we crushed what was left of his army and managed to board his personal airship," The group stared wide-eyed as Mr. Floyd's shield shot out of hundreds upon hundreds of elemental beams that beat back walls of soldiers. The picture then showed an 'I' shaped airship ready to take off. Saria gasped as she saw her parents jump aboard as the cave caved in.
"Inside the ship, your father faced Lance while I tried to stop the ship. Reaching the bridge was easy, but facing the former princess of Hyrule, Katia was another story. She had tapped into dark magic but I was still able to seal her away with my Sage of Time powers." The fight showed Saria's dad locking swords with Lance while Mrs. Floyd and a brunette girl with emerald eyes trading blows. Rush began to whimper at the fighting but Saria quieted him.
"I was able to alter the course of the ship, and we narrowly escaped with our lives as Lance and Katia's plans sunk to the bottom of the sea or so we thought. When we got back to the Death Mountain Starport where we started our quest, we found Lance waiting for us. He used his powers to transform into a deadly form that we simply called Charanaga. As the battle began, Charanaga knocked away your father's weapon but I quickly retrieved it and Lance began to feel the effect of the past battle on his worn body. Using that to our advantage, we successfully destroyed Charanaga but Lance had tapped into his inner reserves and injured us badly with his dark powers. But when he tried to finish us off, we rose to the occasion and slayed him for good." Rush yipped and quickly rushed out of the room as Saria watched the battle lay out on the screen and her parents drove the Master Sword into Lance as he disintegrated. Saria again pushed pause.
"I don't believe this. My parents..." She mumbled as Rush came back and sat on his haunches in front of the TV.
"Sounds like they were in tough times," Joey commented as he stood up to stretch. Everyone seemed ready for a break.
"Why don't we stop and..." Tristan began.
"No! I don't want to stop, not now. I have to learn more!" and Saria reached for the remote and pushed play. The picture changed back to Mr. and Mrs. Floyd in the parlor, this time though they resembled the couple that Yugi and company had known from the beginning.
"There is more and if you want to see it, look in the Floyd Industries database. What we want to tell you now is utterly important. It pertains to your birth Saria," Mrs. Floyd began. Saria took in bated breath as she listened.
"Saria, you're not our first born child. You're our second. You have an older brother named Ryan. During the time of my first pregnancy, we had you and one other person that we didn't detect at first. There were a few problems at childbirth and your brother wasn't doing well. After you two were born, your brother had problems with his magical power. He would've died if I hadn't received a message from the goddesses. They told us to send him to the Shadow Realm where his powers can be contained and tamed. He has been there since he was three months old." This information shocked them all.
"The Shadow Realm?!" They all said simultaneously.
"The gods knew though that sending him there then could be a problem so they placed him in a protective crystal where your father and I could keep in contact with him. By now, he is your age and has your mother's intellect. It is time Saria that you set him free," Mr. Floyd added.
"How do I that?" Saria wondered aloud.
"To set him free, you and Yugi must use the Triforce Destiny Cards you possess combined with Yugi's Millennium Puzzle and your Triforce Amulet. That should give you enough power to enter the Shadow Realm and get him out," Mrs. Floyd explained.
"The area of the Shadow Realm were Ryan resides is on the border of the Sacred and Shadow Realms. You must be careful but I'm sure you'll find the courage to set him free. When you do find him, give him the second Triforce Amulet," Mr. Floyd said and everyone watched as a compartment in the TV opened to reveal another triangular amulet, this time set with purple, orange and yellow gems. Saria pulled it out as the DVD ended. Everyone stared at Saria as she clutched the new amulet close to her. Saria turned to face the group. She pulled on the new amulet and activated her duel disk watch.
"Lets save my brother!" Saria replied as Yugi stood up and activated his watch. Both began to glow as the Saria searched through her deck cards for the necessary cards they needed. Yami and Link took the opportunity to return to their vessels as the Triforce Amulets and the Millennium Puzzle glowed gold.
"Triforce Destiny Cards! We call upon your power to open the portal between realms! Let us enter the realm of shadow as we seek the one who you have protected!" Yugi and Saria chanted as they placed the four cards on the duel disks. Rush ran underneath the couch as Saria and Yugi glowed and a golden portal appeared between them.
"We have little time to act! We must hurry!" Yami warned as Saria joined him at his side.
"Hold on! I'm goin' too!" Joey declared as he joined them. Serenity went to stop him but could only watch as the three vanished in a flash of dark light.
"Joey!" Serenity cried as she grasped open air.
"They'll be OK. Joey's got Yugi and Saria to back him up," Tristan reassured as Serenity softly cried in his arms.
Come on Joey. Don't make me a liar. Come back in one piece. Tristan thought as the three arrived on a beach. Though the area was nice looking, Yugi and Yami knew better than to trust the illusions.
"We have to be close. I can sense divine magic," Saria mumbled as she studied the landscape and sky. Using a summoned Red Eyes, the group flew around and scanned the area when a glimmer caught Saria's eye in a dense jungle below.
"Down there!" Saria commanded and the dragon soon landed in the dense jungle. Everyone gasped as Saria ran over to a blue crystal containing a teenager in a navy T-shirt, jean shorts, socks and black boots. He had shiny blond hair and sapphire loop earrings.
"Ryan! Is that you Ryan? It's me Saria!" Saria shouted as she pounded on the crystal. The boy's eyes wearily opened and Saria gasped at the intense sapphire eyes that matched her own.
"Saria?" Ryan asked. Saria eagerly nodded as she pressed her face to the crystal.
"I didn't think you'd come," Ryan replied. She could hear her father's kind voice behind his own deep baritone.
"If I had known you were here, I would've come far sooner believe me," Saria said as she stood back and drew the Master Sword.
"Saria wait! You can't break the crystal with that weapon!" Ryan shouted. Saria stopped and stared at him.
"He's right. I can sense divine magic coming from the crystal itself. It's going to take powerful magic to shatter the crystal," Yami replied. Link then came into view in his semi-transparent form.
"Hey! Your parents said to use the Triforce Amulets to set Ryan free remember?" Joey recalled. Saria nodded and pulled out the new acquisition. She pressed it against the crystal and watched as it glowed. Saria's hand then went through the crystal.
"Ryan! Push! I'll pull!" Saria commanded. Ryan nodded and grabbed her hand. Saria pulled while Ryan pushed. The two began to glow as they did, Saria glowing blue and Ryan glowing green.
Then, in a flash of white light, the crystal shattered and the two siblings landed on the ground, Ryan on top of Saria and the new amulet was now around his neck. Ryan quickly rolled off Saria and helped her up. However, as soon as she was up on her feet, she hugged him, tears in her eyes. Saria stood back at arms length and saw Ryan looked a lot like her mother and he wore a green T-shirt, jean shorts, tennis shoes and a green duel disk watch. Ryan responded with his own embrace. The two amulets they wore teleported all of them back to Saria's home. Everyone gasped at the new arrivals.
"Saria? Joey? Is that?" Mai began.
"Ryan?" Teran and Tristan finished. The group nodded. Saria stared at her brother, who she now realized stood half a head taller than her.
"Welcome home big brother," Saria said gently. Ryan smiled, again showing his resemblance to their mother.
"Good to be home little sister," Ryan replied, "Good to be home."