Me: Hey, people! I know the Digimon Tamers/Zelda crossover has been done before, but this is just a joint project with my sister. I decided to take each of our most favorite things, combine them into a fanfiction, and, voila!

Espeon (my sister): Copy this and DIE!

Me: Yeah, my sister's a little crazy; don't mind her. By the way, the title, "The Tamers of Time," is not meant to overshadow Link or anything; not to offend any of you Zelda fans out there. After all, he is the "Hero of Time." It just seemed like a great title (I can't remember what it's called when most of the words in a group of words begin with the same letter ^_^;). If it did seem like it overshadowed him, my sister would tell me; she hates it when people mess with Zelda's image too much. Anyways, on with the show!

Disclaimer: The original Digimon concept was created by Akiyoshi Hongo, Digimon Tamers was animated by Toei, dubbed by Saban, took over by Disney, and Zelda is by Nintendo. (Boy, Digimon went through a lot.) Parts of the opening were also from actual Zelda game footage. ^_^

                                                                               
                                                                                The Tamers of Time

Chapter 1: The Dark Painting

            Before life began, before the world had form, three golden goddesses descended upon the chaotic land of Hyrule. They were Din, the goddess of Power, Nayru, the goddess of Wisdom, and Farore, the goddess of Courage.

            Din, with her strong flaming arms, cultivated the land to create the earth. Nayru poured her wisdom onto the earth to give the spirit of law to the world. Farore's rich soul created all life forms who would uphold the law.

          These three great goddesses returned to the heavens, leaving behind the golden sacred Triforce. Since then, the Triforce has become the basis for Hyrule's providence. Where the Triforce stood became sacred land.

          As time passed, the Sage of Light (Rauru) sensed that an evil was about to arise in the land of Hyrule. Thus, he thought that it would be better to split each of the three Triforce pieces into two, making six pieces in total. He kept one side of each Triforce piece in the sacred realm, and the others on the top, left, and right sides of a silver frame. The painting inside the frame, came from the Forest Temple. After that, he placed the item into a chest, and sealed it, burying it in the middle of Hyrule field. Using his magic, he made sure that the power sealed withen, would not be discovered by the approaching evil.

***
            In the vast, deep forest of Hyrule, the Great Deku Tree served as the guardian spirit. The children of the forest, the Kokiri lived with the Great Deku Tree. Each Kokiri had his or her own guardian fairy, except one. His name was Link.

            Early one morning, Link was having a nightmare in his treehouse. It was the same nightmare he had every night. During a storm, Link would find himself standing in front of a mysterious castle. A rider on horseback, carrying a girl, would race by. The girl would look at Link as if to say something. Then, another rider would appear. This big man clad in black would look down menacingly at Link. Link would then awaken. At the moment, the boy was being rudely awakened by someone.

            "Wake up, wake up! The Great Deku Tree wants to talk to you!" The lad showed no signs of getting up. "Such a lazy boy! Why is the 'Hero of Time' such a lazy boy!? Wake up, wake up!" As Link opened his eyes, he saw a fairy floating in front of him. This fairy's name was Navi. Navi was sent to summon Link to the Great Deku Tree. Finally, Link, outfitted in green clothing, sat up in bed, stretching and yawning. He looked at the fairy curiously. 'Why does the Great Deku Tree want to see me?' he thought sleepily. Shrugging, he lifted himself up, and made his way over to his door.

            "Hey! Hey, Link! Down here!" a voice called from below. The child named Link looked down. Who he saw, was his close friend, Saria, at the bottom of his ladder. "I see you got your own fairy now!" Link climbed down the ladder to reach her.

            "Morning, Saria," he said, still a bit tired.

            "Good morning, Link! I think the Deku Tree wanted to tell you something. I wonder what it is," she replied cheerfully.

            "I know. This fairy told me," he said, gesturing at the floating ball of light above him.

            "My name's Navi," the light purple fairy informed him.

            "Sorry," he apoligized. "I guess I'll go see what he wants now."


***West Shinjuku, Tokyo***

            "Hey, Jen!" Takato greeted his best male friend. Takato had caught Jen outside, after school had ended for the day.

            "Hi, Takato."

            "Hey, my class has to do a report on a piece of Japanese artwork for next week," Takato said.

            "Yeah, me too."

            "Really?"

            "Yeah. I'm thinking of going to the art museum to look at some pieces. I might decide to do my report on one of those."

            "Wow, that's a great idea! Can I come too? I want to get a first-hand look at some artwork. Maybe I can do my report on one of those as too!"

            Jen nodded his head, "Sure, you can come. Is tomorrow at 10:00am alright with you?"

            "It's great! Though…" Takato paused for a moment to think. "I'll probably have to leave Guilmon at home, right?"

            "I guess so. Museums don't allow pets in there, let alone large, red lizards."
           
            "I hope he'll be okay with it," Takato said in a worried tone.

            "Just leave him lots of bread," Jen laughed. Takato cheered up, and laughed along with him.

***

            Jen was waiting outside the museum for Takato. Takato was usually late when it came to meeting up with others. He still remembered that Takato was the last one to reach for their journey to the Digital World. Oh, well. He didn't really mind that much. He was only fifteen minutes late after all, but he still wanted to get a head start on his art report.

            "Moumentai, Jen!" Terriermon had come along with Jen, disguised as a backpack. "Takato will get here sooner or later."

            "You're right, Terriermon," Jen smiled.

            "Anyways, I don't know what you're in such a rush for; doing work so soon is a ridiculous idea to me. Why not wait until later?"

            "Terriermon, you're logic-"

            "Jen!" a voice called from the distance.

            "Hey, look who's finally here!" Terriermon quipped. "Is that…" He was looking at a large trenchcoat, which had something protruding from the back, and also seemed to be earing a hat.

            "Hi, Terriermon! Hi, Jen!" came a familiar voice from the coat.
           
            "You brought Guilmon?" Jen asked in a surprised voice.

            "Well, I thought about it last night, and I really didn't want Guilmon to be lonely without me," Takato stated, glancing at Guilmon.

            "You would only be gone for a few hours" Jen replied.

            "Well, I also thought it might be nice to show him the artwork too. Isn't that why you're here, Terriermon?"

            "Actually, I just wanted to tag along."

            "And add his two cents to everything," Jen added.

            "That too," Terriermon grinned.
           

            "I don't know if we'll be able to sneak Guilmon in, Takato."

            "I know, but if it worked for our camping trip, it should work here."      

           
            "Maybe…if we create a distraction, we just might be able to pull it off," Jen thought optimistically.

            "What kind of a distraction?" Takato inquired. Jen took a moment to think.

            "I've got it! It's simple, but it might work too," Jen said, as he pulled out a bottle of water from his other backpack.

***

            "Hello, young man," the curator said, as Jen walked to the front of the museum. "It's not too often that we get young people coming to the museum voluntarily."

            "Hello, sir. Actually, I'm here to do a report on Japanese artwork. May I have a guidebook?"

            "Certainly," he answered, reaching under the desk.

            "On second thought, can you make that two? I'm meeting a friend here, and I'd like to get one for him ahead of time."

            "That's thoughtful of you. Of course you can." When the curator was behind the desk, Jen signaled to Terriermon. Promptly, Terriermon dropped the opened bottle of water he had in his paws. The water spilled all over the floor, creating a mess.

            "Ah! I'm sorry!" Jen apologized. "I must not have packed up my stuff properly." Terriermon had started to snicker, causing Jen to jolt his body back, to make him stop.

            "Don't worry. As long as it's just water, and not near any artwork, it's fine," the curator calmly said. "Here, I have some paper towels to clean that up."

            "Let me help you." Jen bent down to help wipe up the mess, making sure to block the curator's view of the entrance. Terriermon meanwhile, waved his paw at Takato and Guilmon. Cautiously, so as not to be noticed, the two of them made their way to the first museum room.

            "Thanks for your help young man." The curator carefully picked up the soggy paper towels, and placed them in the garbage bin."It was no problem. The mess was my fault anyways."

            "Well, just make sure it doesn't happen again, and enjoy your stay at the museum," the curator replied in a friendly tone.

            "I will!" Jen answered, as he walked away.

            "Are you guys alright?" Jen asked Takato and Guilmon.

            "Yeah, we're fine," Takato said.

            "Great. Well, I guess we should start looking for something to do our reports on. By the way, here's a museum guide."

            "Thanks. Let's go!"

***

            "Hmm…how about this one?" The group had been walking around the museum for about forty minutes, and Jen had already decided to do his report on a sculpture of an ancient Japanese warrior. Takato, on the other hand, had yet to decide on what to do. Jen had suggeted choosing a painting, but there weren't any which had yet caught the gogglehead's interest.

            "But I can't even tell what it's a painting of," Takato contrasted. He was beginning to think that it was useless coming here, and probably just should have looked for something at the library.

            "Not all paintings are supposed to look like something; interpret it," Jen commented.

            "I know, but it just…it doesn't move me."

"Move you? What in the world are you talking about? It's art! You just look at it!" Terriermon complained, getting tired of Takato's indecisivness, and being so quiet for so long.

            "Terriermon!" Jen scolded his partner.

            "What? Geez. Artists…"

            "Hey!" Takato exclaimed.

            "Sorry, Takato. He doesn't- ," Jen began, but was interrupted by Takato.

            "No, not that, Jen." Takato began looking around the museum. "Haven't you noticed that during the time we've been here, we've seen no other people?"

            "Huh?" Jen started thinking back. "Yeah, I guess that's true. Weird. There should be at least some other people here other than us."

            "Takato!" Guilmon spoke up.

            "Huh? What is it Guilmon?" Takato looked down at his Digimon.

            "I can smell a Digimon near here!" he exclaimed excitedly. Excitedly, because he recognized the Digimon.

`           "A Digimon?" Takato and Jen chorused at the same time.

            "He's right! I can sense her too!"

            "Terriermon?" Jen reconfirmed with his friend. "Her?"

            "Guilmon! Wait up!" Takato started running after Guilmon, as he had took off towards the familiar Digimon. "Don't go running off everywhere by yourself!"

            "It's Renamon!" Guilmon called back, turning a corner.

            "Wha? Renamon? What's she doing here? Wait. If Renamon's here, then that must mean- " Before Takato could finish however, he had rounded the corner, and ran right to someone, toppling the both of them over.

            "Hey! Watch where you're going!" the other person shouted at Takato.

            "Ah, sorry! I- " 'Huh? That voice…' Takato thought in his head. He looked up at the person, to confirm his suspicions. Sitting across from him, was a girl his age, with auburn hair, tied into a spiky ponytail. This girl, he was familiar with, ever since he had first saw her in a dream he had. This girl, was Ruki Makino. "R-Ruki," Takato stuttered.

            "Takato?" Ruki blinked. "So you are here; Renamon was right."

            "Renamon?" Takato looked to his right, to sure enough see Renamon standing next to her Tamer, with Guilmon in front of her.

            "See, Takato? I told you she was here!" Guilmon said happily.

            "Y-yeah," Takato said, still a bit surprised to see the pair here. He turned back to look at Ruki, who had already stood up. She held her hand out. Takato just stared at her, spidly."Well, do you want me to help you up or not?"

            "O-oh, yeah! Thanks." He greatfully accepted her offer, and she pulled him. At that moment, Jen and Terriermon arrived at the scene.

            "Takato- Ruki?" Jen said, slightly surprised to see her here as well.

            "Hey, Jen," she said.

            "Hey, I'm here too!" Jen turned around so that Terriermon was now visible.

            "Hi, Terriermon."

            "Hiya, Digimon Queen," Terriermon playfully replied. Ruki smirked at him.

            "Uh, hi, Ruki. What are you doing here?" Jen looked from Ruki to Renamon.

            Ruki held her arms, saying, "I have to do an assignment on Japanese art." Takato's eyes widened at the coincidence.

            "Really? Us, too! We came here to look at the pieces they have on display, hoping to find something to work on."

            Jen placed his hand under his chin, thoughtfully. "Hmm…well, since we are in the same grade, we should expect to be doing the same curriculum, right?" Ruki shrugged her shoulders.

            "I don't know… not all schools choose to do the same project for a certain subject, do they?"

            "Who cares?" Takato exclaimed happily. "Now I have two friends to help me find something to do!"

            "You haven't found something yet? How long have you been here?" Ruki asked.

            "Eh? Well, I suppose about…" Takato glanced at his watch, "fifty minutes."

            "Hm. I guess that's to be expected," Ruki replied.

            "Are you kidding me!?" Terriermon exclaimed all of a sudden. "Fifty minutes! That's almost an hour! We've just been past a whole bunch of- "

            "Terriermon, be quiet!" Jen told his Digimon. "Someone might hear you!"

            "I doubt that," Renamon finally spoke. "I can't sense anyone nearby at all."

            "Yeah," Ruki agreed. "We've already been to some exhibits around the museum, but haven't come across anyone."

            "Same here," Takato said. "It's just too odd for no one else being here besides us."

            "Maybe everyone went to eat somewhere," Guilmon piped up. Everyone laughed at Guilmon's comment.

            "Guilmon, not everyone is constantly hungry like you," Takato said between chuckles.

            "Hey, guys," Terriermon was finally able to say. "Let's get going and find Takato something. It's way to hard being quiet all the time."

            "Here, you can come down now Terriermon," Jen siad, as he lifted his partner off his back. "Since there doesn't seem to be anyone else here," he added. Terriermon, however, climbed back up, resting on his shoulders.

            "I didn't mean that I wanted to walk, but at least now I have a better view of the place," Terriermon smiled contently. Jen sighed.

            "Takato, does that mean that I can come out from here too?" Guilmon was tugging on his garments.

            "Yeah, sure Guilmon," Takato answered. He pulled off the stuff from Guilmon, stuffing them into his backpack afterwards.

            "Come on, let's go this way," Ruki pointed in the opposite direction she had come from. "I haven't been over there yet."

            "Alright, let's go," Jen agreed.

            They walked down the hallway, passing by some paintings hanging on the wall. Jen suggested one of those, but Takato shook his head. When they entered the adjoined room, they found an amazing sight before them. This room was unlike any of the others, and was easily the most elaborate. The floor was made out of what appeared to be marble, as was the pillers supporting the astounding curved ceiling. There was a large window at the other end, with red, velvety curtains hanging about it. The walls were of a white, creamish colour, and there were fancy panels, framing the entire room.

            Terriermon's, "Whoa! Check out this place!" basically summed up everyone's thoughts at that moment.

            "Look, there's something over there!" Ruki pointed at something near the wall opposite them. The others followed her gaze.

            There seemed to be another pair of curtains hanging around whatever was over there, at the opposite end. As they walked closer, the objects came into view, barricaded by a velvet rope.. On the wall, was a painting. The painting consisted of dark colours, depicting a dreary castle in the background, with dead-looking trees next to it. A wavy path came from the castle, entrance. At a closer look, they could faintly see the outline of a dark figure, riding down the path. The art was contained in a silver frame, with peculiar gold markings on the top and sides. It didn't really look like anything. More like pieces, of a whole. Their attention was then drawn to what was placed under the picture; a treasure chest. The chest was mahogany brown, bounded by leather straps with gold buckles. The chest looked quite ordinary, as if meant to not have attention drawn to it. The most unique thing about it though, was a triangular outline on the top.

            "Hey," Takato finally broke the silence. "Doesn't that shape look like the triangle on Culumon's forehead?"

            "Now that you mention it, it sort of does," Jen responded.

            "Weird," was Ruki's comment.

            "This is so cool! That's it; I'm going to do my report on that painting!" Takato cried with excitement.

            "I've never seen artwork like this before," commented Jen. "Is there even any information on it in the library?"

            "Hey, guys! Take a look at this!" Ruki was calling them over to a plaque which she had read over.
           
            "What is it, Ruki?" Takato asked her.

            "It's this plaque. It talks a little about the artifacts' background; it's pretty vague though," she answered. The others looked over her shoulder. "It says here that the treasure chest was found during an excavation. The chest was discovered in a vast field, in front of an old castle gate. The triangular symbol is thought to be the crest of the royal family which once ruled that area. Once open, the painting was revealed to be what was being kept safe inside. They think the painting once hung in the great castle, and the image displayed is the scene before it. As for the gold markings on the frame, since there's three, it's assumed that they are each a part of what the triangular symbol is."

            "Everything about this stuff seem to be assumptions," Jen concluded. "There doesn't seem to be a lot of solid information, Takato.

            "Oh, but I so want to do assignment on this! It's so perfect; it's terrific!" Takato countered. He gazed longingly at the items before him. He had to do his assingment on these. They were the only pieces which made him feel so riled up, and lit his artistic wick. Takato started to walk back to the front of the pieces, to take in all its magnificence.

            "Takato," Ruki began, but Renamon intervened, after she came back from her own observation of the artifacts.

            "Ruki, I sense a strange force eminating from these items," spoke Renamon, in a tense voice.

            "Renamon?"

            Terriermon was the next to speak. "I don't sense anything."

            Guilmon said, "Guilmon doesn't feel anything either." He sniffed at it, then sneezed.

            "Careful, Guilmon," Takato laughed. "There must be some remnants of dirt and dust on those things."

            "Okay, Takato," Guilmon replied, wagging his tail. His tail, however, swung into one of the poles holding the velvet rope, knocking it over.

            "Guilmon!" Takato cried. He tried to catch the rope before it fell, but as he did so, he tripped over the brown treasure chest. Trying to regain his balance, he placed his hand up on the wall, only to touch the painting. Suddenly, the painting started to shine a white light. Takato, shocked by this, tried to remove his hand, finding that he couldn't. "Help!" he called towards the others. "I can't move my hand!" Guilmon, Ruki, Renamon, Jen, and Terriermon leaping off him to help, ran up to Takato, trying to pry him off the painting. The light just grew, with greater intensity, covering the entire room in blinding radiance. The group began feeling a sensation, as if their bodies had unexpectedly become lighter. It was like falling into a deep sleep. The light intensified itself for a second, then dissipated as quicky as it had come. When the room was clear of the luminosity, there was no sign of anyone having been there.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~


Espeon: To be continued!

Me: Yeah, if we can find time to do it. The Ocarina of Time is so long. It'll take forever to go through the entire thing, especially when school starts back up.

Espeon: Yeppers! Majora's Mask would be harder to do, though.

Me: I wasn't talking about Majora's Mask.

Espeon: Well, I was.

Me: *sigh* Anyways, how was it? Good? Horrible? Needs some fine tuning? R&R to your heart's content, but no flames, thanks.