Chapter One: And I Give Thee This Ring…

I'm back, with Chapter One in hand! I noticed my reviewer had a couple questions, so I'll try to cover them in this chapter. But for others, you'll just have to wait and find out…muahahaha…

Oh yeah…

Disclaimer: Well, my pile of dirty laundry is now clean, my sister stole my sketchbook, and I still don't own Zelda or Lord of the Rings. Darn.

Stick to my motto: Read, Review, and Run Around In Circles Like a Monkey!

-Chapter One-

Link sat on his wooden bed (yes, wooden bed) in his house in the Koriki Forest and sighed. Life was SO boring. It was like, the same thing over and over again. And when was he getting his fairy?

As if on cue, a small ball of blue light darted into the room and hovered over Link's head.

"Who are you and who gave you permission to barge into my house?" Link demanded angrily.

"Hey!" the fairy replied in the most annoying voice Link had ever heard, "For your information, the Great Deku Tree gave me permission to barge into your…house?" she ended uncertainly, looking around the mess that Link called home.

"What?" he asked.

"Nothing at all," Navi replied, "Anyways…my name is Navi! Isn't that cool? I'm going to be your guardian fairy! And before you go out and show off to the other Koriki, like I know you will, you have been summoned by the Great Deku Tree."

Link took a second to take this all in. Sometimes he could be a bit…slow in the head, shall we say.

"Wait…" he trailed, "I've been summoned by the Great Deku Tree?" He had NEVER been summoned by the big cheese of the forest before. Surely this glowing ball had made a mistake.

"Yes!" Navi cried impatiently, "Now come on, let's go!" She zoomed out of the house. Lazily, Link stood up and followed her onto his balcony. It was a pretty nifty balcony, at that. From his lofty position, Link had surveillance of all the activity taking place in Koriki Forest, more or less. For instance, right now Link could see a young girl (well obviously she was young, she's a Koriki!) with bright green hair and big blue eyes running up underneath his house.

"Yahoo! Hi, Link!" the girl called, waving.

"Hi Saria," Link said somewhat wearily to his best friend. The whole "Yahoo" thing was starting to become quite routine. He descended the ladder to stand next to her.

"Hey, what's that?" Saria asked with wide eyes, indicating Navi bobbing impatiently by Link's head, "Is that a FAIRY?"

"Uh…yeah," Link said slowly. Sometimes Saria was a bit slow in the head, too.

"Wow, Link!" Saria cried happily, "You finally got a fairy! You're a real man now!" (A/N: I don't know if any of you guys noticed this, but when I played OoT, people were constantly telling me I was a "real man." ?)

"Uh…yeah," Link repeated for lack of something better to say. Navi made a noise like, "Come on!"

"Um, I'd better be going," Link continued hastily, "I've got to go see the Great Deku Tree."

"Really? Cool!" Saria exclaimed, "I'll come with you!"

"Whatever," Link muttered as he took off with Saria close at his heels. He cursed under his breath when he caught sight of Mido ever-diligently guarding the passage to the Great Deku Tree.

"Listen," he said to Saria, "If I go over there, he's just going to tell me to go get a sword and shield. So, I need you to-"

"—Why don't you just use these?" Saria interrupted, holding out a sword and a shield. Link took them, surprised and suspicious.

"Where did you get those?" he asked.

"Just don't ask," Saria advised him. Link decided he was better off not knowing.

"But you're not going to be able to come with me," he reminded Saria.

"Wanna make a bet?" she asked.

"Sure."

"Okay! 10 Rupees I can weasel Mido into letting me through."

"20," Link said. He had tried many, many times to persuade Mido, and it hadn't exactly worked.

"Okay…" Saria said mischievously. Link began to worry if he was making a smart decision. "You're on. Let's go."

Saria skipped around on the rocks and strode confidently over to Mido, while Link lagged behind, fearing for his Rupees. When Mido caught sight of them, he immediately said, "You can't go through here. You don't have a sword and a shield. Ha-ha! Losers!"

"Oh yeah?" Link asked, holding up his suspicious weapons from Saria. Mido's eyes widened.

"Hey!" he said angrily, "Where'd you get my sword and shield?"

Link threw Saria a dirty look. He should have known it was something that would get him in trouble.

"Uh…Internet?" he lied hastily.

"What's the Internet?" Mido asked curiously. Link shrugged.

"So will you let me through?" he persisted. Mido sighed like it was a huge burden to move out of the way.

"I suppose so," he said exasperatedly, "Even though you did steal my weapons, but it's not like I ever use them, of course." Slowly and deliberately, he moved out of the way and Link walked through. When Saria tried to follow, Mido barked, "Hey! Where do you think you're going?"

Link cheered silently. Saria turned to Mido and gave him puppy-dog eyes.

"Please?" she begged.

"Oh fine," Mido muttered. Saria grinned widely and followed Link down the passageway.

"Pay up," she ordered, smiling.

"That was too easy for you," Link muttered angrily, handing over the Rupees. Saria just kept grinning like a silly…uh….something silly.

The two finally reached the marvelous Great Deku Tree and stood in front of him politely.

"You called?" Link asked. The giant tree seemed to rouse himself from some sort of tree daydream.

"Yes, I hath called thee, Link," he began, "Thou hast received a fairy. Thou art ready to embark on a great quest for me."

"He said you're ready to go on a quest," Navi translated into Link's ear.

"A quest?" Link asked worriedly, "What kind of quest?"

"An apple quest," the Great Deku Tree said sarcastically. (A/N: Bet you didn't know the Great Deku Tree was capable of sarcasm:P)

"Ooh, me favorite!" Link crooned happily as Saria rolled her eyes.

"A HEROIC QUEST, YOU IDIOT!" the Tree bellowed so loudly that several twittering birds flew out of his branches.

"Oh," Link said in a small voice.

"Thou willst see," the Tree continued in a normal voice, "I hath received a small object from the King of Hyrule. This object hath been found in the stream by Kakariko Village, along with an old man from another world. I have detected this object has great, great power."

"What is it?" Link asked excitedly.

"A ring," the Tree answered simply.

"A ring?" Link asked in disgust.

"Yes," the Tree said, "My senses tell me this ring is very evil. It must be destroyed. And that is what I want you to do. However…"

"Yes?" asked Link.

"Upon closer inspection," the Tree said heavily, "We hath determined that this Ring cannot be destroyed by any fire, as of Death Mountain in the east. It must be destroyed by the fires of the mountain from whence it came."

"And where is that?" Link asked slowly.

"A mountain by the name of Mount Doom, in another world, another time," the Great Deku Tree said, "Thou willst need to bear this Ring and cast it into the fires of Mount Doom, lest it wreak havoc upon Hyrule and all other kingdoms. If thou should fail…" he paused dramatically, "I daren't think what shall happen. You see…several people are trying to get their hands on this Ring of Power. One you have heard of. He is a Gerudo by the name of Ganondorf. Another is from the other world you will be going to. He is a wizard by the name of Saruman. Beware them both."

"How do I get to this other world?" Link asked quizzically.

"That I cannot say," the Tree said somberly, "Thou must pay a visit to the King of Hyrule, and he will tell thee what to do next. All I can do is entrust thee with the Ring."

Suddenly, a small golden Ring appeared in Link's palm. He and Saria stared at it in wonder. Around the edges was a fancy engraving in another language, it appeared.

"And I give thee this Ring," the Great Deku Tree said, "In hopes that thou will succeed upon this quest. The Ring has great power, but I trust in thee. I feel as though thou is up to the challenge. The fate of Hyrule and all that surrounds it rests in your hands. Go, now. May the good wishes of the forest go with thee."

The Great Deku Tree was silent once more. He appeared as if he didn't want to talk again. After all, that had been a pretty elaborate speech.

Link and Saria just stood there, staring at the Ring.

"It's so pretty…" Saria mused, reached out to touch it. Link snatched it away.

"You heard him!" he said, "I'm the bearer of the Ring, not you. Now come on."

He turned around and walked away. Saria pulled a face and followed him. As she was about to leave, the Great Deku Tree spoke again.

"Saria…" he said, "Go with Link. I knowst thou cannot leave the forest, but you can use this."

A bottle of potion appeared in Saria's hands. She was getting pretty freaked out about how the Great Deku Tree always made stuff appear in people's hands.

"Drink one gulp every day, at the sunset," the Tree instructed, "And thou shall stay in thou's current state."

"Thank you," Saria whispered, and ran after Link.

She found him already about to walk out of Koriki Forest. Obviously, he hadn't been thinking much about the journey ahead and was going straight to the King of Hyrule. That Ring was making him act strange.

"Link! Wait! I'm coming with you!" Saria called after him. Link turned around and saw her running up to him.

"Saria?" he asked, "You can't come with me! You'll die!"

"The Great Deku Tree gave me a potion," she explained hastily, "If I drink some of it every sunset, I can stay alive."

"Oh, okay," Link said, "That's cool, I guess. But it's still my ring!" He walked out of the forest. With a final glance behind, Saria walked after him.

-End Chapter One-

Okay! What did ya'll think? I am SO SICK of the word "thou" by now! I swear! Hehe…Link is getting possessed already. And remember? The Ring can only be destroyed by the fires it came from! Kinda sucks, doesn't it? In the next chapter, we'll check up on Bilbo, and the Fellowship will began forming! (Frodo and Sam: Link and Saria… yeah. But don't worry, I'm not gonna totally copy or anything.)

Remember my motto: Read, Review, and Run Around In Circles Like a Monkey!

-Keatonzeldagirl