Chapter Three: New Places, New Peoples
As the feeling returned to his body, Scorch began to come to. He slowly opened his eyes and let the blinding light from the sun shine into his eyes. After a few moments of laying and looking upward, he decided that he would go and try to wake the others up. Slowly, he began to sit himself up and survey the scene. Everything seemed just the way it had been earlier that morning. Upon closer inspection, however, he realized that Ghost was nowhere to be found. Scorch quickly stood up and ran down the hallway which led between the stadium and their bedrooms. When he finally arrived at Ghost's room, he knocked on the door. No answer. What could he be doing? Scorch decided to head back to the arena and awaken his sleeping friends. He began to run back down the hallway in the direction of the arena. As he rounded the corner he found a glowing green object floating in midair.
"What in the hell?" he said to himself, "What the hell is that?
He walked over to the object and inspected it closer. Bending over, he picked up a rock, and threw it toward the center of the light.
"It disappeared!" he exclaimed with shock.
"Yes."
The voice from behind him scared him. He turned around and was suddenly face to face with Ghost.
"Where'd you come from?" Scorch asked, startled to have seen him.
"Didn't your parents ever give you the talk?" Ghost replied, the expression on his face remaining emotionless.
"No, I'm serious, I ran to your room to see if you were in there and nobody answered."
"Well, I'm here now am I not?" Ghost said sarcastically.
"Yeah, I guess." Scorch's attention was directed toward Hawk. He was coming to. Scorch ran over to him and asked him if he was alright. After establishing that all his fingers and toes were still intact he quietly nodded and stood up.
"Well, It doesn't look as though they are going to wake up anytime soon. Think we should move them, Hawk?" Scorch seemed worried about the other three.
"Yeah, I guess we better." Hawk said, "It would be bad to leave them for the Tournament Committee to find them lying here upon the Opening Ceremonies."
Just after Hawk finished his sentence, they all heard a strange, high pitched voice come from within the glowing object.
"What is it?" the voice asked.
"I don't know." answered a second voice, this one much deeper in tone, "I should return to the King."
"I must also return to my village." the first voice stated as well, "The Elder will be waiting for me to report this as well."
The three soldiers looked at each other, then back at the object. None of them knew what this was that was floating in front of them. Yet, they all knew that to find out, they must step into it.
"I guess I'll go first." Scorch said whiningly. He slowly stepped toward the object, took a deep breath, and stepped forward.
In a flash, it was over. He had been transported through this portal, it seemed, to a place that looked like the middle ages. He stood up, looked around, and stepped to the left and awaited the next person to go through.
A blinding light emitted from the object and after his eyes adjusted, he saw that Ghost had stepped through the portal.
"WOW!" Ghost said energetically, "What a ride!"
Suddenly, the portal began to disappear. It closed to the size of an american dime before stopping. A voice from above began speaking to them.
"Welcome to the land of Hyrule." the voice spoke strong and deep.
"What the hell?" Scorch exclaimed, "Where is that voice coming from?"
Again the voice spoke, "I'm up here you idiot."
Scorch looked up to see a small squirrel-like creature looking at him. Yet he saw no person. "Where?" he asked again.
The voice began to get angry and spoke in an even harsher tone than before. "I'm right here!" said the squirrel, "Are you blind?"
"Uh... Ghost... That squirrel just spoke." Scorch began to back away from the squirrel, the squirrel yelled angrily at Scorch.
"I'm not a squirrel! I'm a raccoon." it said in disgust.
"You look like a squirrel." Scorch said, beginning to snicker.
The animal began to tell it's sad tale. "Well," it said softly, "It was last spring. I was running through the town just up the road, when I was cornered by these three boys. They caught me, but I managed to bite one of them in the chin. They took me to a house and painted me like a squirrel."
Ghost laughed, and Scorch did the same.
"DON'T LAUGH AT ME! I AM TO BE GIVING YOU A QUEST TO FULFILL! You have been selected to aid the Chosen One in fighting the spirit of darkness. If you fail in this quest, you will never see your friends in your world again. If you are to succeed, you will be granted the right to return to your home. Go brave warriors. Use the weapons that are within the trunk of the tree to your right in your battles. The one you must seek is a young boy named Link. God speed warriors."
The portal finished closing and Scorch and Ghost were all alone.
"Where the hell are we?" Scorch asked, "Is this a dream?"
Ghost reached over and pinched Scorch on the back of the neck. "Does it feel like a dream, doofus?"
Scorch flinched in pain. "No," he responded, "but, somethings aren't always what they seem."
Ghost stood up and reached in the bag that he carried on his back. From his bag, he pulled a compass. The compass read that the direction he was facing was Northwest. He argued in his mind whether or not to head off in search of this Link.
"Where are you going?" Scorch asked, "Are you crazy? You'll starve to death."
"The only way I'll starve is by staying here with you." replied Ghost.
"At least let me come with you."
"Your a big boy. You can come with me if you want."
As they started off toward the North of Hyrule, Scorch wondered whether or not he would ever see his home again.
