I own no characters mentioned here. (Not even Arryl any more, since Nintendo released Wind Waker here in Australia)
Chapter 3: Escape From
Kokiri
Forest
Part 7: A burning wood
A green pipe rose up from the ground in Kokiri forest. Mario jumped down and took his bearings.
Link had told him about the forests of Hyrule, and
how dangerous they were to outsiders that had lost their way. This place seemed
safe enough, there were even buildings around him, and small children ran back
and forth between them. He strode forward, and grabbed one, a green-haired
girl, asking;
"Pardon
me, but where am I?" The child was about to answer when all of a sudden
one of the houses caught on fire. A black portal appeared near the burning
ruins, and several figures strode out. The girl screamed. Mario recognized none
of the creatures. There was a floating bird-like thing in a yellow mask that
kept opening up more portals, from which ran several pig-
like things. An armored figure strode out, wearing gray armor, and carrying
a sword that dwarfed Mario.
"Capture
them all! And then, find the largest tree in this forest, the one with a face,
and chop it down! Do you understand, pitiful moblins?"
"Yes
sir!"
"And one last thing. Any girls with green hair are to
be sent back to the base. Can you manage that? If not, then tell me now, and
I'll handle it myself"
"Sir,
we can handle it!"
"Good"
The armored figure and the bird disappeared. The girl started to cry. Mario was
at a loss, so he just picked her up and ran. As they fled, a small glowing
light fell out of her pocket, and floated up in front of him.
"Hey!
We can't leave this way! Quickly! Run down that passage. We have to warn the
great Deku Tree!"
Part 8:Explanations
Mario had dealt with fairies
before, so he decided that listening to it was the best course of action. He
turned down the passage and ran into a glade. In this glade was the largest
tree Mario had ever seen. The girl softly said; "Put me down now,
please"
When she
was back on the ground, she brushed herself off and said, "Great Deku Tree, we are in danger! What can we do?"
A loud
voice answered her, coming from the branches "Do not worry. I am safe. No
weapon in the world can pierce me. But you, my child, are in terrible danger. A
great evil has come to this world, and your power is needed to combat it.
Therefore, I grant to you this ring, which will allow you to leave this
forest", and a green glowing stone appeared on her finger, "And
charge you, Saria, and you, Mario, to go and find the
one who can save this universe. For I can see that all the
evils, everywhere, are uniting."
Mario
asked, "To find Link, you mean? But he disappeared 5 years ago. Where
would we look? And how do you know my name?"
"Ah, Mario, would that I could tell you otherwise, but Link is
dead. Dead at the hands of Lord Keller, prince of evil, and now king of Hyrule, subservient only to Ganondorf
himself. As for the second question, it's written on your shirt." Saria started to cry again, but Mario was too smart to fall
for that. The tree was skirting around something, and Mario knew that Link was
not dead. Somehow, Link never died.
"You're
lying, I can tell. You really mean that Link and Keller are the same person,
don't you? Link got twisted to evil when Zelda married Marth,
and now he's probably leading an army through Hyrule Castle
town, burning down all that he used to protect, right? Nah, that's silly. What
you really mean is.Ow!" A root had risen up from
the ground and smacked into him with an incredible amount of force. Saria started crying even louder, and then she bit him.
"How
dare you say that about Link! He was a hero, and now
here you are, mocking his sacrifice! He died with dignity, and I'm sure that
the princess marrying someone besides him would not destroy his heroic spirit. Right, great Deku Tree?"
There was a questioning tremor in her voice. The Deku
tree started shifting about, as if it was trying to work through something.
Finally it sighed and said,
"Thank
you, Mario. I was trying to spare her the pain, but you just had to put in your
two cents. Saria, you are wrong on both counts. Maybe
when he first set out he was a hero, but eventually even the greatest heroic
spirit can be dampened with cynicism. Soon after he returned from Termina, he started acting less for the greater glory of Hyrule, and more out of enlightened self-interest. He
became more mercenary in his actions, and started plotting to find a way to
marry the princess. Before he left Hyrule, he was
self-effacing, when he returned, he was a glory hound. Accepting knighthoods
left and right, getting himself appointed chief of security at the palace, all
in the name of getting the princess to marry him. However, court protocol said
that any marriage request had to come from the higher-ranking person. Then
there was that tournament. You saw both his forms there, did you not?"
Mario nodded. That had been a fairly bizarre occurrence, "Well, you must
have noticed how they avoided each other, and how Link could never stand his
younger self's gaze, and incessant questions about future adventures, and
romance. That was not done out of regard for quantum mechanics, or laws of
physics, or some wish not to upset time, but because Link, both of them, could
not bear to look at or consider what they had been, or what they would become. And finally, that wedding. Link had a choice between
pretending to be happy and hiding his discontent, or leaving. So he left, just
like Luigi. But unlike Luigi, he is not currently acting out of misplaced anger
and jealousy, but instead, out of hatred, and an urge to destroy all that is
light and good, for it has become anathema to him. Saria,
cease you're crying. The time has come for me to send you on your way. Step
into this portal, both of you.,.."
A portal
appeared that showed an image of a valley. Mario and Saria
stepped in, and disappeared. The great Deku tree
listened as the sounds of Moblins drew closer. He
knew that he should not have lied to Saria in regards
to his invincibility, but what could he have said? He made his peace with the
goddesses, and then prepared to die..
Whew, that
was a long chapter. Next time, more of the smashers
will start to appear, starting with Roy, who has a very cunning plan to free Marth from Keller's (Alright, yes, he is Link, but I'm
going to keep calling him Keller because that's who he is now, Link was a hero,
Keller is a villain) grasp. Actually, I don't think Link is actually Link's
name. In almost all of the games, he was orphaned at birth. Maybe his original
parents had a different name for him. Why don't we ever see them?
"Hey! Stop ranting! We
have a story to do!
That was Roy.
Roy, go away, or your cunning plan
will involve you wearing woman's underwear. For the last time, I'm not a girl,
so I can't be fangirl. Now shoo.
"Just checking. Sheesh, SlyWolf. You can't know what its
like, constantly being humiliated."
My editor
is a girl. Go pester her about the silly things fangirls
do.
"Can
do" Right. Now that that's sorted out, I can cut this loose.
Please Review. Fames, Fantastics, don't care. And Destiny Smasher,
I do agree with you on Luigi. I know that Mario loves Luigi, and Mario knows
that he loves Luigi, and I'm sure if Peach took the time, she would realize
that she loved Luigi (I'm not using present tense for that because Luigi
currently has her locked up in a smelly dungeon full of rats, and in those
circumstances, love is hard to come by), I just don't think that Luigi knows
they love him.
Pathways of Fate is a SlyWolf Industries Production
