Chapter five: Dr. Mario

Roy and Link stood over Marth, who sat silently on the ground. Link had been right; the swords master was most defiantly getting younger. Aside from the most noticeable change in his height, Marth's hair had begun to get shorter, and his eye's grew wide (You know how when you're younger, your eyes are bigger? Like, litle kids have huge eyes…yea, like that).

"I'd say he's about…thirteen." Link said, rubbing his chin. "Do you think this is why he was acting so weird?"

"Probably." Roy nodded. "So, now that we know what's wrong with him, do we really have to go see Dr. Mario?"

"Yea." Link said dully, "We have to get a cure."

"Darn," Roy shoved his hands in his pockets, "I was hoping I could save some gold…Link, you can pay."

"Me!"

"Yes you. Do you see any other Link's around here?"

"Actually…" Link said, pointing down the road, "Yes."

Roy turned around, looking down the road where the Hylian was pointing. And sure enough, Link's younger counterpart was skipping down the road, Navi darting after him.

"Okay…so there is another Link around here," Roy said after a moment, "But that doesn't change anything. You're still paying."

"I can't." Link said crossing his arms and tapping his foot, "Dr. Mario doesn't except Rupee's."

"Dang." Roy snapped his fingers, "Oh well, Marth let's get…Hey! Where'd he go?" Roy glanced around wildly before his gaze fell on Younger Link. The now thirteen year-old Marth had run down the path and up to him.

"Hi," the blue haired swords master greeted him, "Wanna play?"

Young Link hesitated a moment, then shrugged,

"Sure!" he exclaimed. "There aren't many people around who can play with me." The Kokori said, "Pichu and Kirby…well I can't understand a word they say. And the Ice climbers and Ness…all they want to do is train."

"Oh…that's sad." Marth said, frowning. "Well, I'll play with you."

"Okay," Young Link said happily. He produced two portable game systems from his pack, "Look, I just got these." He said holding one of them—a bright green one—out to Marth, "They're called GameBoys, and the play video games on them." Next Young Link removed a long cord from his pack and plugged one end into his silver colored GameBoy, and the other end into the green one. "Right, so first you flip this switch and turn it on," so speaking Young Link flipped the on switch, Marth mimicked his actions. Following a chiming noise and the words 'GameBoy: Nintendo' on the screen, it went dark for a moment. Then a screen popped up. It read, 'You have connected. Free Battle or Tournament?'

"Click Free Battle." Young Link instructed, "Use the arrow buttons and press 'A' when the Free Battle button is lit up."

"Okay." Marth did as such, watching in awe as the screen flashed in red and orange, then cleared revealing a selection screen. On the screen were many little boxes, each with the face of one of the useable characters in it. Around one of the boxes was an orange glow. Marth clicked one of the arrow buttons and the glow moved.

"This is the character selection screen," Young Link explained, "Use your arrow buttons and choose the one you like best. Then press 'A' when you're over that one."

Marth inspected the array of different characters closely. Finally he chose a red headed human with a blue headband and a cape. He pressed 'A'.

The GameBoy beeped, and the screen faded. Next came up a different screen; the person Marth had chosen stood on the left side of the screen, holding tightly to a sword, his cape flowing out behind him. Who he presumed to be Young Link's character stood opposite his own. The Kokori had chosen a swordsman as well, though he looked almost identical to the young boy aside from the difference in their height.

Next, words appeared on the screen, and the GameBoy made more beeping noises.

"Ready?" the GameBoy asked. "3…2…1…Start!"

Young Link's character jumped at Marth's hacking with his sword. Math pressed buttons furiously, biting his tongue as he did so. His own character jumped backwards, avoiding Young Link's blow. Marth hit a series of buttons and his own character flung itself at Young Link's and brought his sword down in a bright explosion of flame.

"Kyaa!" Young Link's character yelled as he was flung backwards, off the screen. A brilliant blue light exploded from where he had flown off screen. Marth's character struck a victory pose.

"Great job, Marth!" Young Link exclaimed, "You won!"

"I won?" he asked expectantly, "Really!"

"Yea." Young Link nodded. Marth smiled, striking his own victory pose.

"Okay, that's enough!" came a voice from behind the two of them. Marth and Young Link turned around; staring into Roy's angered, dust covered face. Behind him, Link lay in a heap on the grass, little stars dancing around his head.

"Woah…" Marth breathed, "What happened to him?"

Roy blinked, clenching his hands into fists,

"Suddenly…" he explained, his voice forced to be calm, "Something took the both of us over, and we attacked each other…" Roy glared at Young Link, who grinned sheepishly; "Anyway," Roy took Math by the wrist and dragged him away from the Kokori. "It's time to go now."

Young Link watched them go, a blank though sad look on his face. It was gone almost instantly though, replaced by anger. He put away his GameBoys, then reached inside his pack, pulling out a jar of blue powder.

Young Link grinned, popping the cork off of with his thumb. He glanced over at Navi.

"Looks like we've got some customers, Navi, hm?" he said. The blue fairy bobbed up and down. Young Link nodded, and slunk into the woods after the other three.

Roy dragged Marth down the path by his wrist and Link by the back of his tunic. The unfortunate Hylian had been knocked out cold from the impact of Roy's spontaneous attack. Marth whined, pulling back making it increasingly difficult for Roy to walk.

"Lemme go you big red-headed looser!" Marth yelled, kicking at Roy. The swordsman yelled out in pain, letting go of Marth to clutch his leg. The miniature swords master took this opportunity to dash down the path and away from him,

"Sucker!" he called over his shoulder before disappearing around a bend in the path. Unfortunately for Marth, though, around the bend was none other than the famous Dr. Mario. Marth skidded to a halt just in front of the short pudgy doctor and tried to make a mad dash the other way.

"Hey-a-hold up there-a-mister." The doctor said, grabbing the edge of Marth's, now way to big for him, cape.

"Let me go, old-timer!" mini-Marth shouted, kicking and squirming, trying to wrench his cape from Dr. Mario's grip. He had no such luck.

It was at that time that Roy and Link skidded around the bend in the path, running up to Dr. Mario and Marth.

"Does this-a-belong to you, by-a-any chance?" Dr. Mario asked.

A/n: and…cut! I would like to thank the only reviewer who lent me their ideas and suggestions, . Thanks for the GameBoy idea! Also…no...um…there is no also, sorry. Well, then…reviews! (and maybe more suggestions…cough cough…ahem)