Chapter 2

Zelda: A Link to the Truth

Mario and princess Peach didn't say much as they were flying through the sky in their kart. They had just escaped with their lives, and seeing the castle destroyed in the blink of an eye gave them a reason to be silent. After some time, Mario finally spoke up.

"So, uh, how long is this going to be? I mean, we've been soaring through the sky for at least ten minutes now." He was trying to lighten the mood.

"Can't say for sure, but it shouldn't be too long now."

"And, just where are we going?"

"Well, as you know, the Hylians are our allies. That ramp we just launched off of was built to send us to Hyrule castle in case there was ever an emergency like this. I'm pretty sure they would be willing to help us. It's been years since the Mushroom Kingdom or Hyrule has even requested assistance, though. Besides, Zelda is a very wise woman, and I'm sure she knows something about who this new enemy is."

"Oh wait, I forgot all about Luigi! If I'm going to have fight against this enemy, then Luigi would be helpful, but he was vacationing over at Yoshi's Island."

"And that is some distance from where we're going. I'm afraid we can't pick him up or anything. Too bad."

They had been flying over the clouds for most of the time, and saw nothing but fluffy white. After a while, they started to descend below the clouds, and from there they saw the beauty of Hyrule. It was really quite a magnificent sight seeing the whole land from the sky. As they were falling straight for the castle, Peach pressed another button, and a parachute came out from the back, giving them a landing they can walk away from. They landed in the courtyard, and right when they got there, Zelda was already waiting for them. As they got out from under the parachute that fell on top of them, Zelda greeted them.

"Welcome Princess Peach, and Mario, it has been a while."

"It has, but we are grateful to see you. Um, were you expecting us?" Peach asked.

"Yes, I was."

"But how did you know we were coming?"

"Well, you see, last night I had a dream, and I believe it was a vision. In it, a great evil appeared, and darkness slowly covered the whole planet, and then covered the entire universe. This evil first appeared in Mushroom Kingdom, so I thought that you would come. Now that you are here, it only proves my suspicions."

"I'm afraid you're right. We were just relaxing outside the castle when the sky darkened and a swirling black vortex opened up. Hundreds of flat, round ships flew out, and a very large rectangle ship with claws came out of it. Do you know anything about who or why these people attacked us?"

"I'm afraid I don't know, but from my dream, I sense that this enemy doesn't come from our dimension."

"I thought that looked familiar!" Mario shouted out.

"Pardon?" Zelda asked.

"That portal; it's the same as when Sonic came to our dimension."

"Ah yes, Sonic. It wasn't until he appeared that we learned about alternate dimensions. There was the Final Destination stage that we use for Smash Bros. tournaments, but since it merely slipped through a dimension rather than entering it, we didn't really get to go into other dimensions. When Sonic came to live with us for a while, he told us about it, and we knew then." Zelda said.

"So our enemy comes from another dimension then. I still wonder why they would want to attack us, though." Peach said.

"Well, since Sonic travels between dimensions now and then, I think we should try to find him. If he has gone to the place where this enemy comes from, then he might know about them."

"Find Sonic? Man, that's easier said than done. He moves faster than any of us and he rarely stays in one spot for too long." Mario said.

"And the last I heard he left our dimension to explore a new one. It won't be easy, or perhaps even possible, but I think finding him is our best option."

"Well, I guess we better get started then." Mario said.

"Sorry, I'd like to help you, but I'm afraid we have our own problems right now."

"What is it?"

"Well, as you probably know, the Gerudo are all female. Because they are rather attractive, some people foolishly try to get into their hideout. Three days ago, a Hylian managed to sneak in and was taken prisoner. I don't know exactly what he did, but they've been angered so much that they're threatening to attack us. I've already sent Link and some of my knights up there to see if he can prevent them from doing anything."

"Hey, I can help." Mario said.

"Well, if you really want to, you can."

"It's no problem. We don't have anywhere to go right now, so I might as well do something while I'm here."

"Thank you. If you hurry, I think you can catch up to them at Gerudo Valley." Mario proceeded out of the castle. Once outside, he started to run to catch up. As he went through the market place, many of the people there stared at him. It wasn't every day that people ventured beyond their homeland, and Mario was definitely different from the Hylians. He walked across the gate and went into the large field of Hyrule.

It was a long run, but Mario finally made it to the entrance of Gerudo Valley. As he walked up the log and went towards the bridge, he could see Link on his horse with six soldiers.

"Hey, Link, wait up!" Mario shouted to him. As Link turned around to see Mario he got off Epona and greeted him.

"Mario! Good to see you! What are you doing here?"

"Long story. I heard you were in a bit of a situation, so I thought I'd help."

"You don't have to, but sure, thanks. The Gerudo occasionally get upset with us for some reason or another, so it's not a big deal as long as it gets settled quickly." As they crossed the bridge, ten Gerudo warriors came up to them.

"So, the Hero of Time comes to face us?" The leader Gerudo said in a fierce tone.

"And you would be?" Link asked.

"Shara."

"Tell me, where is the prisoner?"

"We executed him."

"What?" Link was shocked and angered.

"He deserved to die for what he did, and so will you!"

"Just what did he do?"

"It doesn't matter! You Hylians have angered us for the last time!"

"Surely the actions of one man can not be the same thoughts of an entire race. Please, let us settle this peacefully. Perhaps we could...." As the female warriors started to charge towards them their weapons, Link saw that the time to talk was over. Link yelled something out to Epona, and she fled the battle area.

The leader of the group charged towards Link holding two, large blades. She seemed to be the most skilled of the group, as everyone else fought the soldiers instead of him. Shara swung her blades at Link several times as he used both his sword and shield to block the blows, and for the most part, he was on the defensive.

One of the warriors equipped with a spear came to attack Mario. As she struck out at him with the spear Mario turned around and then jumped and did a backwards summersault over her. The Gerudo was surprised for how high he was able to jump, and Mario used that surprise to deliver a three-hit blow once he landed behind her. The blow knocked her down, and right as she stood up, Mario leapt for her head first, using his hands to jump off of her, knocking her down into the ground again.

She was beginning to feel sore from the hits, but she wasn't about to give up to some weird, short person. She faced her opponent and faked him by thrusting her spear at him, making him move to the right, but she then swung the tip at him. The metal point just missed his skin, but it had made a large slice in his hat.

"That was my favorite hat." Mario said softly, and then stuck his arms out and spun around like a tornado. The Gerudo tried to stab the swirling man, but as he tried to hit him, the spear was knocked out of her hands, and she was hit by an onslaught of fists.

Link swung his sword down at Shara, but she placed both her blades in front of her to block the blow. She was good, but Link wasn't fighting to his fullest. He felt that this whole situation was just a big misunderstanding, and that they shouldn't even be fighting.

Shara backed off a bit and then leapt towards him with both blades out. Link saw his chance, so he rolled under her and swung his blade at her back before she landed back on the ground. Because he didn't want to be fighting them, Link did not seriously injure her, but it was enough to make her fall down in pain. Link looked at the battle for a brief moment, and could see that the soldiers were not doing too well. They had made some minor injuries on the Gerudo, but the soldiers had more, though Mario seemed to be doing all right.

The battle could have gone on longer, but out of the blue, an explosion could be heard coming from the desert. Everyone looked to see what happened, and as they did, something big was speeding towards them, with several more, but smaller, explosions following it. It was only seconds before a giant ring-shaped object was flying above them, and as it went by, a small ball of light came down at them.

Link saw that the ball was coming right down on Shara, so he ran and grabbed her, carrying her out of the way. The ball exploded as it collided with the ground, but everyone managed to avoid it. Everyone looked back at the flying object and could see that it stopped directly over Hyrule castle. Shara then stood up, though bending down from the pain, and signaled to the other Gerudo.

"Everyone, retreat! We must see what happened to our land!" As the Gerudo warriors left, Mario shouted at Link.

"Link, we need to go back, hurry!" Mario said.

"What was that thing?"

"It's a long story, so I'll tell you on the way, now come on!"

As Link, Mario, and the soldiers made it to the castle, they could see all of the people from the castle town running out.

"Soldiers, stay here and watch out for the people."

"Yes, sir!" With the crowd of people making it impossible to enter through the gate, both Link and Mario ran up the two chains that raised and lowered the drawbridge, then jumped over the wall, and then jumping from roof to roof in the town to get to the castle.

"So you're saying that ship is going to destroy the castle?" Link said as they ran up to the door of the castle.

"Not just the castle. The explosion it creates covers a large area, and will probably wipe at least half of Hyrule!"

"Oh, man! What are we going to do?" Once they got to Zelda and Peach, Link tried to inform her what was happening.

"Zelda! They're going to...."

"I know, Peach told me."

"What should we do?" As Link looked up from the courtyard, he could see that the ship was close to firing.

"I'm not sure if it would work, but I could try to put a barrier around the castle to protect it."

"Then let's do it!"

"But if it doesn't work, then we'll all die! We could escape, but then Hyrule would be destroyed! The barrier would have to be very strong, and I don't think I have that kind of power."

"Then ask the sages!"

"The sages? That might be enough. All right, I'll do it." Zelda then reached out telepathically to the other sages. "Sages, can you hear me? Hyrule is about to be attacked, and we must act now. Please, lend me your power!" Zelda then raised her arms to the sky and a magical barrier surrounded the castle. The barrier was thin and transparent, but then it started to glow with the other colors of the sages.

Zelda looked like she was struggling as she put all her energy into sustaining their protection, and the ship was just about to fire. As the large, bright laser beam shot down towards them, they all held their breath in hopes that they would live. Just as the beam hit the barrier, the beam stopped there. The ship continued to shoot the beam, but it wouldn't pass through.

The glowing sphere that covered the castle then started to fold upwards from the ground, and started to encase the laser beam. Once the people piloting the ship realized that the laser wouldn't go through, they stopped firing, but as they did, part of the laser had become trapped inside the barrier. The ship started to ascend, but the trapped laser then shot upwards at the ship, and hit it.

The laser exploded and turned the ringed ship into a crescent ship. It was loosing power and started falling towards the ground behind the castle. The ship crashed so hard that no one on board would have survived.