Author's Note: Well with the delay of SenranBound I'll be starting a new story with this one being about Zelda. SenranBound got delayed because my laptop stopped working so about a few weeks ago I had to restart part of chapter 2 (the beginning) and chapter 3 is almost done so expect a double chapter at some point. I also have to work on the other story I mentioned a while ago so in total I should have four stories that will be in my roster for the time being. Despite school getting in the way I think I'll manage getting all these stories done on my own time. Now before reading this story I think it's very important that you guys check out a picture called "Lost Kingdom" by my friend MrJmZack on deviantart. He drew a map of Hyrule before the Great Flood and it's pretty good. It's best you check out the map so you don't get lost and it's really accurate to the actual Wind Waker map from a land perspective.
I hope you all enjoy this story as my friend and I had an idea about this especially cause we love the Zelda series and theorizing is fun, hell I beat all the games released so far can't wait for the next one but that fact is irrelevant. Anyways this may have retcons to Wind Waker which I'm gonna try my best to avoid, but hey Zelda is full of retcons because it's a legend. Also Link talks in this story so I'm kinda making this like how Zelda mangas are where Link talks and chooses to not be silent in certain situations. Hylian Language is no problem thanks to Hyrule Historia providing the Hylian language of the era before the Great Flood. VortexxyGaming's theory makes me believe that it was actually possible the Hero of the Flood existed and is another reason I wanted to try and make this story happen.
Oh yeah I forgot to mention in the Gerudo area on the map for some reason it says East Faerie Rock instead of West and the same for West Faerie Rock being in the wrong spot. So keep in mind when in the Gerudo area East Faerie Rock on the map is supposed to be West Faerie Rock and vise versa. Don't want you guys to get confused with the actual East and West Faerie Rocks.
Lastly, most likely you'll see some GameCube controls in this chapter as I decided to make this story a little tribute to Wind Waker turning 15 this year. To fit the setting of this story and considering it's timeline placement, it would be best to imagine this story in toon style that Wind Waker, Phantom Hourglass, Spirit Tracks Minish Cap, Four Swords and Four Swords Adventure gave us.
As always I do not own the Zelda series or any of it's characters
" " Speaking Speech
' ' Thought Speech
(( )) Optional Information to Read
Without further adieu let's start.
The Legend of Zelda Sleeping Streams
Chapter 1 Link the Hylian
This is but one of the legends of which the people speak...
Long ago, there existed a kingdom where a golden power lay hidden. It was a prosperous land blessed with green forests, tall mountains, and peace.
But one day, a man of great evil found the golden power and took it for himself. With its strength at his command, he spread darkness across the kingdom. But then, when all hope had died, and the hour of doom seemed at hand...
...a young boy clothed in green appeared as if from nowhere. Wielding the blade of evil's bane, he sealed the dark one away and gave the land light.
This boy, who traveled through time to save the land, was known as the Hero of Time. The boy's tale was passed down through generations until it became legend... But then, a day came when a fell wind began to blow across the kingdom. The great evil that all thought had been forever sealed away by the hero once again crept forth from the depths of the earth, eager to resume its dark designs.
The people believed that the Hero of Time would again come to save them... But the hero did not appear. Faced by an onslaught of evil, the people could do nothing but appeal to the Gods. In their last hour, as doom drew nigh, they left their future in the hands of fate.
What became of that kingdom? None remain who know.
The memory of the kingdom vanished, but its legend survived on the wind's breath. On a certain island, it became customary to garb boys in green when they came of age. Clothed in the green of fields, they aspired to find heroic blades and cast down evil. The elders wished only for the youths to know courage like the hero of legend.
However...
There's a legend that is hidden from history...
a legend that only I and few others know and kept hidden about forever because of a promise...
This is the story of a boy who is hidden from the stories of legend...
Many Generations after the Hero of Time Defeated Ganondorf...
It had been several hundred years since the final battle between the Hero of Time and the Evil Gerudo King Ganondorf. Hyrule was at peace and the many people living in Hyrule in this era enjoyed living their lives to the fullest, with the belief that Ganon was gone for good; life couldn't be better. Even if he returned, the Hero of Time would return to save them.
On a mountain top north of Hyrule Castle there's a village called Kakariko Village, there lived a young hylian boy named Link who was at the age of fourteen and he admired the Hero of Time a great deal. As most kids at his age, they wanted to grow up to someone that they admired and in his case as well as those around his age, he wanted to grow up to be like the Hero of Time one day.
His parents named him after the Hero of Time. When the legend of the Hero of Time was talked about, people often changed up the name but the one named that clicked the most was the name Link.
The boy hearing the story about the Hero of Time, wanted to form his own legend and earn a title whether it was minor or major. He always imagined what kind of title he could with one of them being "Link the Hero of Peace" or something along those lines.
Both of Link's parents were part of the Knights of Hyrule, although his mom was more of a medic for the knights, she still knew her way with a sword and shield. His parents and some of the other knights of Hyrule were ordered by King Daphenes Nohansen Hyrule to go on a special but private journey in the neighboring continent Holodrum. It's been a few years since they left Hyrule and no one was sure how long it would take for them to return. The boy was only ten years old when his parents had to leave. Link with his parents gone lived at a young woman's house who's known as Impa. She was a close friend of Link's parents who knew them long before Link was born.
When his parents were coming home late, he often cooked dinner and each time he got better results to the surprise of his parents and Impa. Now Impa's home was located in the central area of Kakariko where most of the residents were located while Link's home was away from all the other buildings in the village, specifically by the entrance of Kakariko.
Although Link lived in the village there was always something stopping him from going back to his old house. One positive outcome however was that he got to learn about Impa's tribe when he started living there. Like those before her, Impa was part of the Sheikah Tribe and the aid to the current Princess of Hyrule. Another thing is that sometimes Link had a tendency to call Impa "Aunt Impa", despite him and her being no where near related. He always saw her family so he would call her that sometimes. As Link grew older he decided to help his fellow villagers to help get work done around Kakariko. Even with all the positives there was one thing that bothered the young teen. As he tossed and turned in his bed, the sights he saw in his dream began to be too much.
Impa's House
"NOOOOO!" A young teenage boy with blond hair yelled before falling out of bed. The boy picked himself panting in a cold sweat before realizing it was just another nightmare. A slight image of his nightmare carved itself into his brain causing him to rub his eyes. 'That nightmare again... It feels like it gets worse and worse each time I witness it.' Link sighed before getting up to fix himself up.
He walked up to the mirror in his room to check himself out and he couldn't help but give out a small chuckle in the process. 'I look like a tired mess.' he thought to himself making a small smile form on his face. "Well everything else is the same" Link tiredly said out loud as he examined himself.
He had blonde/yellow hair which usually looked messy. He wore a blue shirt that had a silver circle in the center of the shirt with the sheikah symbol at the center of that. The sleeves of the shirt were a dark blue with small red lines. Impa had given it to him awhile back and he always liked sheikah clothing or the ones he's seen in pictures so he gladly accepted it. His pants were navy blue with purple showing up on the inner leg area. Finally the boots he put on wore leaving his room were black. He wore a blue pendant around his neck that he got from his parents when he was younger and he never leaves without it. According to what Impa told him, she was able to piece together after his merged the other two missing shards together making merge into one shard.
Link left his room to see if Impa was home or if she had left already to Hyrule Castle. When he got to the main living room he saw a note on the desk and picked it up.
"Goodmorning Link. I've gone to the potion shop to pick up some medicine for Princess Zelda since she's come down with a cold. If you're awake around the time I suspect you'll be please meet me there. P.S. I left a bottle of your favorite kind of soup on the table." The blonde looked on the table and noticed there was indeed a bottle of soup there causing a warm smile to form on his face. He was slightly surprised he didn't see or smell it beforehand. He always loved the soup Impa made so he didn't waste any time taking it with him.
"Thanks Aunt Impa." Link whispered to himself before putting the bottle away and heading outside to start off his day.
Kakariko Village
As he heard the birds chirp nearby, he took this moment to take a good look around the village and he saw lot of his neighbors were enjoying their day doing what they do best. Link looked behind him to see the village's iconic windmill that has kept it's rotation for several generations.
'Seems everyone in Kakariko Village is as lively and hard-working as always I see.' A warm smile crept on the blonde's face this as he walked to where the potion shop is while greeting people along the way, however before he made it to the potion shop, he heard someone call his name.
When Link turned behind him, he saw a little girl with red hair crying. "Angie what's wrong?" The little girl known as Angie rubbed her eyes as the tears continued to flow down her face. "Did the cuccos run off again? Where's your mom?"
"S-She's out doing some errands and I was tasked with t-taking care and watching over them, but the latch to the gate broke! The cuccos fled right after and I'm not sure where they all went!" Angie tried her hardest to not cry again before feeling a few gentle pats on the head which caused her look up at Link who gave a caring smile.
"Don't worry, I'll find them for you. I have some time before I have to go so I'll get your cuccos back before your mom gets home." Angie hugged him to show her appreciation before letting go. He gave a thumbs up before heading off.
Link began walking around the village to look for all of the cuccos, this was something normal he did from time to time so he had an idea on where they could be. This time he only had to find three of them. One was hiding on top of a tree which he rolled into it to knock it down and before catching it. "That's one." The blonde smirked bringing it back to it's rightful place. The second one was near the entrance to the graveyard and the last one was on Impa's roof. He looked at the cucco with a raised brow. "I knew I heard clucking when I left the house this morning." Link thought out loud before heading back to fence where the cuccos were placed. "Hey Angie! I brought back all of the cuccos that escaped."
Angie ran up to the blonde with a wide smile on her face as if she never cried beforehand. "Thanks a ton Link! Mom won't be upset now that the cuccos are safe and sound!" The girl giggled before turning around the see her mom, the cucco lady approaching the two of them. "Hey mom! Link helped me take care of the cuccos!" Angie's mom picked her up and gave her a hug.
"Did he now?" The red haired woman walked up to Link and gave him a kiss on the forehead. "Thank you Link! I'm sorry for all the trouble!" She bowed down repeatedly in a very apologetic way.
The blonde got flustered from the red haired lady's words, "N-No need to thank me! At this point it's become just another Kakariko Village routine of mine. So there's no worries at all!" The blonde got flustered from the red haired lady's words. "I hate to cut things short, but I have to meet up with aunt Impa. Ill make sure to bring a new lock for the latch on your fence tomorrow!" Link turned around and gave an apologetic smile before waving goodbye to the cucco lady and Angie who returned the wave. After that he headed towards his main destination, the Potion Shop.
As he approached the potion shop he saw a familiar face exiting the shop itself. This familiar face was none other than Link's current caretaker, Impa. She was a tall woman with white hair and red eyes that could compare to a red rupee. Following tradition like her like her sheikah ancestors, she wore indigo blue pants that matched her top, following her purple gloves and steel boots, she had an armor plate over her top with the mark of the sheikah tribe and the Triforce exclusively marked on her armor.
"Ah there you are Link! I was hoping you would accompany to the castle." The white haired woman chuckled after seeing the shocked look on his face. Surely he was expecting this she thought.
"Hyrule Castle!? I'm not even in the right attire to be going there!" Link felt the wave of panic wash over him before coming to a sudden realization. "Wait a minute... What's the occasion? You've never asked me before." He raised his eyebrow with a bunch of curiosity
Impa walked passed the boy and gave out a small laugh that sounded like a wise old woman laughing at a naive child. "Don't you remember? I promised a long time ago that one day I'd take you on a walk to Hyrule Castle." She turned to look at Link and gave him a proud look. "I guess that you've been working so hard around the village that you've forgotten all about it."
"Now that you mention it, I do remember us talking about that." Link chuckled to himself. "Yeah I remembered being very excited about it since I've never really traveled outside of Kakariko. How are we going to get there?" Link started walking passed Impa who walked with him towards the exit of the village.
"Since it's early we can take the long way to the castle so you can see more of the land of Hyrule. Usually I'd take the short way to the castle, but considering how much time we have, we should just enjoy the long walk. On the other hand you may get to meet Princess Zelda." It took a few seconds for the last part that Impa said to register but when it did Link got a little excited. "Oh and don't worry about your clothes. You're wearing my tribes clothing, it can be used as your daily outfit and something you wear to sleep in."
"If that's the case what are we waiting for Impa? Let's go!" The two picked up the pace the as they passed the entrance to Kakariko to set out on their walk through the vibrant land of Hyrule.
As they walked Impa couldn't help but grin at Link, today marked his first time traveling outside of the Kakariko Village region of Hyrule. For most of his life he never left Kakariko and even when he did it was only within the region the village stood in on the map
'Even at age fourteen, you act like a kid embarking on his first trip away from home. That's good Link. Try to stay that way.' Impa smiled as the both of them walked and had conversations along the way. "Oh yeah by the way Link, Zelda's birthday is going to be approaching soon. She'll be the same age as you soon, so I'm hoping you two could become friends. I figured she could be around someone her age." Impa looked at Link fold his arms and gave her a side glance.
"Eh? I hope you're not using me as an early birthday gift for the princess Impa." Link replied in a joking tone that resulted in a small smirk which led to both of them letting out a small chuckle. "So her birthday is coming up soon huh?" The thought of what a royal birthday was like popped in the boy's head. The thought ended as soon as it appeared. "Well... I hope she and I become good friends."
As Link said this the two of them had went down the trail that led to Kakariko Village and headed towards West Hyrule Field, but since they are going the long way, they headed west from Kakariko Village using the trail to get from the village to the bridge in Gerudo Valley that leads to West Hyrule Field.
Din's Peak and Tingle Mountain Region
Link and Impa discussed several of things along the way. Link caught Impa up on everything he's been up to since she's usually gone doing work at the castle for days on end. In return Impa discussed the origins of named locations in Hyrule.
"So Impa, where do you think the legendary blade the Hero of Time wielded to defeat Ganondorf is currently at?" From the look on her face, the boy couldn't really tell if she knew or not.
"The Hero of Time left it in an ancient temple known as the Temple of Time. So if one were to look for it you would have to find that said temple, of course that's assuming the sword is still where he left it. Really though, it could be somewhere beyond what is shown on the map of Hyrule." Link nodded in agreement, the thought of seeing the sword wherever it was sleeping excited him a little bit. Part of him questioned the moving part though. Part of it made the most sense, after all the boy has learned that Hyrule's geography changes over the years, that or the kingdom loves to move to different areas a lot. The blonde thought by now that the Temple of Time had probably completely decayed or possibly even completely destroyed if it was truly abandoned where it was originally built.
Gerudo Plateau
As they continued to talk about other things, a slight shift in temperature ocurred. Which means that they had finally reached the Gerudo Plateau. The temperature was different, they were no longer walking on grass, and the terrain had a more sandy, rocky like texture to it. The hint of green was still there but the farther east is where the light yellow desert lies. The blonde looked to his right to see the sandy terrain of the Gerudo's land and he felt shivers down his spine. Mainly because aside from East Faerie Rock, both the Haunted Wasteland and Sand Sea looked like very dangerous areas to even to travel blindly through. From where he was standing, the Haunted Wastelands was like a giant cloud of sand formed in the shape of a dome which blocked him from seeing anything north of it even from his view. As for the Sand Sea, although it looked like the normal layout of the desert in the long run, Link had a feeling that crossing that area would lead to him disappearing unless he had the proper equipment.
"Beautiful isn't it? I'm sure you know this but this desert, no this part of land is where the Gerudo Tribe live." Link stopped analyzing the vast desert and looked back at Impa, the curiosity about the Gerudo was plastered on his face.
"I've read a few things about them in the past, but not as much as I would like to. What else do you know?
"The man who many feared for years centuries ago... Ganondorf was actually born in the land of the Gerudo and I'm sure you knew about that part too. However the land of the Gerudo holds one unexplainable mystery. The Gerudo tribe are made entirely of women making Ganondorf the only male in his generation. In fact they say that every century a male Gerudo is born and they become the new king." Link raised an eyebrow after what he just heard. It's hard to believe something like that was even possible, but a bit of this information matched what Link read some time ago.
"That's um... really interesting. I wonder why a male Gerudo is only born every 100 years. Sounds like some very bizarre genetics to me." Link looked back towards the vast desert before frowning. Something didn't feel right at all and it bothered him he more he stared. Standing near the edge where the sandy desert greeted him below. The blonde crouched and slowly reached out as if he was trying to touch a wall, but before he could reach out all the way he got interrupted by Impa.
"Come on Link, we're almost at the castle!" Link saw Impa motioning him to continue their walk. He ignored the feeling he had before and stood back up to rejoin Impa on her walk towards Hyrule Castle.
Gerudo Valley
Soon the two had reached the northern part of Gerudo Valley and crossed the bridge. Once across Link could see Hyrule Castle in the far distance standing on a rock in the middle of a lake.
"Hyrule Castle... it looks amazing..." Link was a bit speechless to see the castle in its full glory and it looked beautiful from this distance. "Although... When I look at the castle it looks like it may fall into that lake at any minute. I don't mean to be rude but who was the "genius" that decided to build Hyrule Castle on rock that small?"
West Hyrule Field and East Hyrule Field
Impa just laughed and continued to walk finally getting to West Hyrule Field with the blonde following right after her. "It is kind of weird isn't it? A castle in the middle of a lake on a rock that barely fits its size." Impa continued while Link stifled a chuckle. "I'm fairly certain that even our ancestors had a more stable spot for our kingdom to reside on. I've also read that our ancestors had a Castle Town that led towards Hyrule Castle." Impa recalled the interesting facts that their ancestors had compared to the people of this era.
Link nodded in agreement as they continued on their way to the castle. "I guess our kingdom is still working on recovering even after all this time. Maybe the previous king felt it was unnecessary to rebuild Castle Town especially due to where the castle is placed." As Link and Impa walked some more he recalled his home north of Hyrule Castle passed the mountains "In a way... our home... Kakariko Village is the Castle Town of our kingdom dont you think?" The blonde looked towards Impa with a curious expression to see what she thought.
"Yeah, it's the closest to a castle town we'll ever have until we finally decide to rebuild one on our own." Impa replied giving Link a warm smile.
The two of them walked on the south side of East Hyrule Field which made them walk slightly upwards due to the hill in front of them. Link enjoyed seeing all the new sights he was able to see so far. He was really grateful Impa brought him with her today, it was something refreshing instead the daily routine he had back at Kakariko Village. Afterwards they had walked on the north side of Mountain Oasis and the west side of Farore's Peak until they reached a little pathway that led to Hyrule Castle and the other way Link couldn't really tell, but it wherever it led to was irrelevant to him.
Hyrule Castle
The two had arrived at Hyrule Castle, there were two sets of stairs that lead to this open spot with a singular tree between them. One led to a hill on the northern left side of the Hyrule Castle region and the other set of stairs led to the hill on the northern right side of the Hyrule Castle region where both Link and Impa currently stood. Link went on ahead passing some ancient structures that were placed on Hyrule Field. He walked down the hill and soon enough he reached the open space where the single tree sat. Link gently touched the tree once he got close enough to it. The gentle wind made his hair flow and that put him at ease. The longer he touched this tree the more he felt lost and that feeling brought a sad smile to his face. Thankfully Impa couldn't see him due to the fact he was facing away from where she was.
"Come Link, we just have to go this way." Hearing Impa's voice, Link snapped out of his trance and trailed behind Impa. They continued towards Hyrule Castle after walking up another set of stairs and onto a bridge that led to their destination. Up ahead was the entrance to the castle, two guards stood by the open doorway.
Impa held her hand up causing Link to stop in his place. The white haired woman walked ahead approaching both guards who stood by the entrance. Link put a hand on his hip, he wasn't able to make out what they were saying but eventually the guards walked inside the castle. She motioned Link to come join her and complied to see what she was planning.
"I expected Princess Zelda to be here. I have some things to do in the castle, so I'll be a while." Impa walked towards the entrance of the castle to begin her duties before stopping. "If I had to guess, she's most likely spending her time in the back of the castle." The woman smiled and winked at Link who raised an eyebrow with shocked expression before she walked inside the castle leaving him by himself.
Link sighed to himself before shrugging at his current situation. 'She basically wants me to sneak to the back of the castle but... How exactly am I going to do that!?" Link looked at the lake below where he stood thinking to himself. "The castle was built on a single rock and I mean no disrespect but... Seriously, who thought this was a good place to build the Kingdom of Hyrule?" Link pondered some more to himself before noticing something that brought a smirk to his face. "Yeah... That'll work."
Facing the entrance to the castle, Link climbed up on the right side wall of the bridge. The right pillar near the castle entrance had a bunch a wall of climbable vines that Link would use to his advantage. He gripped onto the vines and began climbing up the pillar. Soon enough Link let go of the vines and landed on a wall of parapets. There were parapets set up on both sides of Hyrule Castle and these parapets were what Link needed to get his destination. As he kept his balance to make sure of two things. If he fell one way, it was a straight swan dive into Hyrule Castle Lake, and if he fell the other way, he would've fell within castle walls where the guards occasionally patrolled the area. He was surprised none of the guards had noticed him yet.
Regardless he didn't have much of a choice, the parapets would only get him so far. Link quietly jumped down so that he was within the castle walls without alerting any of the guards patrolling what he believed was Hyrule Castle's West Courtyard. Link saw two stairways, one led up to a open doorway and another set of stairs that seemed to act as a possible third floor that ends abruptly by the ceiling of another part of the castle. It was becoming apparent to the young teen that one of the previous kings had an "interesting" choice in design and placement of the castle.
The only other stairway led downstairs where the rest of the right side courtyard was. The west courtyard itself had a couple of trees placed within it but other than that, it was a bit bland. Mainly white stones with some green mold in some areas. Another open doorway was located at the end of the stairs that went downward. The doorway next to the fake second set of stairs most likely led to the main hall of the castle. With that thought in mind, Link felt it was safe to go through the doorway located at of the end of the stairs that went downward.
Link still noticed a problem despite his next destination being an easy one. There was still a guard standing by the doorway that led to the main hall of Hyrule Castle. To avoid possibility of being caught immediately, Link moved to the right of where he was facing and dropped down instead of walking down the small set of steps. He noticed another guard that was standing further away from the lower doorway he was trying to get to.
Not wanting to risk being caught in this spot too, he quietly made his behind a pillar and peaked to watch the two guards patrolling the west courtyard of the castle. The two guards stopped right in front of the bottom doorway that Link needed to get to.
"I believe it's time to start scrubbing the castle walls. Spots of green isn't exactly a pretty sight." One of the guards referred to the green spots on the wall behind him.
"There's also the pair of vines lined up on the pillar near the front of the castle." The other guard started. "Who knows when someone will try to climb the vines and infiltrate the castle." Link gave off an expression that said "If only they knew...". His heart raced a bit as he waited for an opening, this was something he never thought he'd do.
Eventually the opening Link was waiting for arrived, the two guards walked passed to each other to pretty switch spots. With the both of them out of awareness distance and their backs turned, the boy quickly and quietly made his way towards the open doorway without getting caught.
The next room was a straight hallway with a bit of light shining through in between certain spaces of the wall. The red carpet led Link to his next destination. Ahead of him was a brown door with yellow lines. When he opened the door, he was greeted with several shelves filled with books.
'A library? It's not as big as your average library, but it still holds a lot of information and there's a second floor.' Link quickly examines several books before resuming his original task.
'Based on where I've been walking, my guess is that I'm near the back of Hyrule Castle. Now the question is... How do I get there from here?' Link looked up pondering to himself what his next move should be. He didn't have an accurate layout of the castle so he was forced to use his own estimates to his advantage.
A small smirk appeared on the boy's face while he kept looking up at the ceiling. On the ceiling there were two windows on each side and he could see from her that one of them was open. He didn't need to walk out, but at the very least know where he was located.
"All I need to do is climb the lad-" It was broken, the ladder he was about to use was broken. Somehow this didn't him, there were some things about Hyrule Castle that ruined part of his curiosity when he first left with Impa earlier this morning. The broken ladder in particular just left a deadpanned expression on his face. 'The easiest method was never a choice.'
Thankfully for him though, he was quick thinker. The shelves in the library weren't all the same size and he was planning to use that to his advantage.
He climbed the lowest shelf before climbing onto the second highest one. Next he jumped across the gap to reach one of the highest level shelves. Link would be lying if he wasn't worried about the possibility of knocking one of the shelves down and causing a ruckus.
Seems Hylia was on his side though because he managed to reach the second floor without causing any problems. He grabbed onto the rails connected to the floors of the second floor. Thanks to the highest leveled shelf, he was able to make this happen. Link pulled himself up before walking towards the open window. As he stood in front of the window with the sunlight beaming on him, he took a deep breath before going through the open window.
Link carefully walked out from the window and realized he was definitely on one of the castle rooftops. The footing wasn't too steep so he had no problem keeping his ground, well unless he got knocked over that is.
He took in the sight of the new area he was seeing. To his left he saw a square shaped entrance that led to the main hall of the castle and in front of that entrance was a small pathway made out of graysish black stone with small white square shaped pillars reaching from the entrance to end of stone walkway. The end of the stone walkway had mini steps that branched off to the east and west. A pool of water shaped like a "U" surrounded the walkway, fresh water was coming out of a waterfall wall to keep the water fresh and at the same level. Graysish black stones were placed in the pool of water to avoid anyone from having to walk in the water These stones were placed from the end of the stone walkway to another set of white colored steps that lead to last remaining part of the back of the castle. This last part had a green floor that matched the hills green seen around Hyrule Field, small patches of grass with six tall trees, there were amazingly shaped exterior walls on both sides of where the tall trees were placed. Lastly in front of the trees was a wide open space where a conical roof could be seen connected a few feet away as it practically hanged over Hyrule Castle Lake.
It's safe to say that this place certainly was the most beautiful part of Hyrule Castle that the boy has seen so far. 'I could actually sit here forever, the scenery here is really nice.' Link took a moment to enjoy himself a little longer. He was certain that he actually managed to reach the back of the castle. There was no where else for him to go.
At that point he noticed someone, a girl who was standing in the middle of the six trees admiring the huge lake below the castle. She had long blond hair and wore a pink dress. Due to the fact she was facing away, it was hard for the boy to make out the rest of her features.
'Is that her?" It was at this point that Link was trying to figure out how he could even approach her. That's what Impa wanted him to do right?
Before Link could think any further, his vision flipped upward in flash. 'Eh?' Link said before his body tumbled off the roof in one swift motion.
A loud 'THUD!' noise was heard that slightly disrupted the atmosphere of the area. Link rolled over onto his back in a daze, the fall itself wasn't big thankfully but the impact and tumbling made it worse.
Link sat up slowly and grabbed his head 'Nice one Link. You lost your footing thinking too much.' A pair of footsteps approached the blond while he was trying to recollect himself.
"Hey, are you okay?" A female voice asked in a concerned tone while offering their hand to the blond boy.
"Y-Yeah sorry I-" Link stopped as he held the gloved hand of the girl in front of him. He wasn't sure what to say here, the girl in front of him smiled at his somewhat of a star struck expression as they reached eye level.
Now that Link was facing her, he could see all of her features. The girl had blond hair and eyebrows that matched the color of her hair. She also has lightning bolt shaped strands of hair going down both sides of her face. Her eyes had a tealish color to them, while the very bottom part of her eye had a shady black color to them. To follow her eyes, she had thin light blue eye liner. The dress she wore was colored purple with a hint of pink and the very bottom was colored white all the way around. From the waistline to bottom of the dress, she had a wide blue line going down that had a bird, the Triforce and other patterns printed on it. Just above that blue line was her golden belt. Golden shoulder plates were placed on her shoulders and were connected by a small golden chest piece that was lightly below her neck. Lastly she wears a golden tiara with a red jewel in the center, this tiara was worn by the many princesses before her.
The blond girl was slightly surprised by Link's sudden action. His body was tense and he had a tense expression to fit the way his body felt. The girl couldn't see the look on his face but he was nervous. Link was kneeling down to the girl as if he was being dubbed as a knight.
The girl urgently placed her hand on his shoulder and helped him get back up. She let out a light giggle seeing the blonde's confused expression.
"Look there's no need for that." Zelda motioned him to follow her to the trees so they could talk. "There's no need to be so formal with me, especially since we don't know each other." Zelda turned around with a bright smile on her face that made life seem just a bit brighter. "With that said... Let's introduce ourselves to each other. Don't worry I'll go first."
"My name is Zelda or in noble terms I am Princess Zelda I tend help my father with work while living up to my ancestors. It's pleasure to meet you." She put hand on her chest and offered her hand once more.
"My name is Link, I'm a resident in Kakariko Village where I spend most of my time working while also training on my free time. It's a pleasure to meet you too." The way Zelda had introduced herself made it easy for Link to talk to her as if she wasn't royalty, but more like a friend. He shook Zelda's hand and right after that the two of them began talking to each other by one of the trees.
"So you must be the one Impa tells me about sometimes. She always wanted me to be friends with someone around my age." Zelda sat down wit Link who did the same.
"Aunt Im- I mean Impa really talks about me?" Link didn't expect to hear that from anyone. Impa wasn't home most of the time and they rarely had time to catch up. the blond always thought she was too busy with her duties here at the castle. When they were with each other they talked like family but that didn't mean Impa didn't have her strict moments. Out of everything she could talk about, she talks about a boy who isn't even her actual nephew. That made him happy.
"She talks about how hard working you are and how you skilled you are with a sword. She thinks that you could inspire many of the kids in Kakariko too." The both of them got up and stared at the huge lake below the castle.
"I better not let her down then." Link thought about all the times that Impa has been there for him and that gave him strength.
"She also said that you can act like a kid and can be naive sometimes." Link face faulted after hearing the fellow blond say that. That last part sort of ruined everything else she said before.
"Ah... Of course she did..." Zelda giggled at the boy's reaction, she hasn't enjoyed having a conversation like this in a long time.
Before they could continue a older man's voice could be heard from behind them.
"That's my father, I'm fairly certain he wouldn't like knowing that you snuck in here uninvited. If you can find a way to hide, we can continue our talk away from the castle." Zelda whispered in an urgent yet calm tone, Link simply nodded in response before making his move. Using his quick thinking Link used the conical roof to his advantage. Before Zelda knew it, Link was already gone much to her surprise.
Link was officially in one of his first tests of courage so to speak. He was standing on the conical roof facing south so that he was completely out of sight from where Zelda and her father was. One look down showed the depth of how far down the lake was. Link kept himself positioned so that he wouldn't fall, after he felt he was in a good spot he took a quick peak where Zelda and her father was.
In front of Zelda was a tan man with big build. He had white hair with white eyebrows as well as a white beard and a white mustache to follow. Similar to his daughter, he had a golden crown with a red jewel in the middle. He wore a red robe with sleeves that even covered his hands, there were golden patterns at the ver end of the sleeves. The robe and a white mane like design with the Triforce and swirly patterns on it. Under the coat he wore a teal shirt with white patterns, below that was his brown belt with a gold buckle. Lastly he wore white pants with golden cuffs and blue sock with brown shoes to finish off is kingly attire.
'That's King Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule.' Link couldn't hear all the details between Zelda and her father, not that it was any of his business anyway.
The only things he could make out were the parts where the king mentioned the "Coming of age" and the need of "Responsibility." He wasn't really sure what to think of it. When he went to peak out again he lost his footing but managed to not utter a single word as he grabbed on to the edge of conical roof to prevent plunge into the lake below.
'This has and hasn't been my day all at once!' Link lifted is other arm so that he had more than one hand supporting him. This was probably the first time the blond has been so grateful for the fact he has a strong grip. Regardless that didn't mean he could hold on forever, if the roof was flatter then he would have a better time picking himself up, but he's sort of stuck here.
"Hey! Link where are you? My dad is go-" Zelda was interrupted by the sound of yell. Soon after she spotted someone in blue with blond hair falling towards the lake, it was Link!
"WAAAAAAAAH!" Zelda covered her mouth as she heard Link's yell continued and soon after the sound of water could be heard below. The girl carefully looked down to see if her new friend was okay, but he was no where to be found.
She waited a little longer fearing the worst, but thankfully Link emerged out of the water while coughing out some water. He gasped and unbeknownst to him, Zelda did as well. He looked and waved up to Zelda to ease her worries, he didn't know that she was looking to see if he was okay but he had a gut feeling she was checking for him.
"I'll meet you by the tree Link! I want to show you something!" Link gave a thumbs up in response while he kept himself afloat. Zelda smiled and gave him a wave before urgently making her leave to their meetup spot.
Link sighed to himself as he paddled in the lake. 'Well... At least these clothes dry really quick. Sheikah attire is really something else.' Link began to swim towards the tree where he and Zelda planned to meet up.
Link arrived at their planned meeting where he saw Zelda waiting by the tree. She turned around after hearing his footsteps nearby.
"Hey are you feeling okay?" Zelda rubbed her arm slowly, she felt bad that he endangered himself like that.
"Yeah, the fall wasn't that bad actually. I wasn't expecting a swim today though." Link rubbed the back off head, his hair was still rather wet.
"Are you sure? I sti-" Link cut her and placed and hand on her shoulder. He gave her cheeky smile that eased her down a bit.
"Trust me... Now come on I want to see what you wanted to show me." Zelda paused for a brief second before motioning Link to follow her.
The two headed north towards the East Faerie Rock rock. Link noticed there were two target shaped spots on the top of the bridge they were walking on.
"Hmm? What are those targets for?" It was a rather on design for a bridge to have. Zelda simply shrugged as they continued walking to their destination.
"What do you think they're for?" Zelda asked him with a hint of amusement in her voice.
Link thought for a moment before gently slamming his fist on his hand as if he figured something out. "A hookshot!" Zelda raised an eyebrow at her fellow blond friend. "It would be situational really, just hear me out. Imagine if the bridge broke and only certain parts remained, the only way across without waiting for it to be rebuilt is something that would get you across right? After all that is long way down, therefore if those targets are penetrable then a hookshot would be your best option especially if you have no other way to get around!"
Zelda bursted out into a fit of laughter at the mere explanation Link just gave. It wasn't farfetched or anything, but the fact that he came up with that explanation on a whim like that was very funny to the blond princess.
"It's not implausible, but I don't think the bridge will be breaking any time soon." Zelda replied in an amused tone, Link gave her a smirk and shrugged as they approached the cave.
A sudden wave of uneasiness hit Link as if he was hit by a cannon and he had a feeling Zelda felt it too. Zelda despite the discomfort on her face motioned Link to follow her further so that she could share the findings that the residents of Hyrule Castle only know about and it was right beyond that cave.
The Tower
The two teens walked through the cave in silence, although the sounds of rats lurking around made her shudder. Zelda is thirteen years old, she's still a kid so it's normal for her to be a little freaked out even if she's been through this cave before.
Link noticed this and gave her thumbs up that said "Don't worry, you're going to be fine." Safe to say that despite the little hand motion of reassurance, it did help out quite a bit. Lucky for them or Zelda anyway, there weren't any rats popping out from the rat holes in the cave.
When they got out the cave, the entire atmosphere changed. There was a shift in the wind, the temperature rose a bit and the terrain itself change color. The first step sounded completely different and that was because the terrain they were standing on was sand. Unlike the green hills that surrounded Hyrule Castle, this place here was nothing but desert, a small desert at that.
"This place... It's so diff-... erent?" Link's pupils shrunk a little as he slowly gazed up at what was in front of him. It was the one thing that made him feel uneasy and he knew that because just staring at it alone increased that feeling tenfold.
The two of them were staring at a tall blackish/gray tower stood at it's center. The sinister aura it left behind seemed to increase the longer they stared at it.
"How long has this been here for? It's so tall." Everything about this tower and it's location. It was the complete opposite of the green fields Hyrule Castle had, it felt a bit lifeless here.
"To be honest, I'm not entirely sure. Not even my father really knows. What I do know is that my family has been watching over this tower for over century." Zelda replied still analyzing the tower's features. "At the very least it's been here for over a century. This tower continues to grow each day, it's about to grow taller than the walls of the mountain that surround it. We'll be able to see it from the castle and Kakariko eventually."
'I wonder what's making this tower grow the way it is. Surely there's something causing it.' A small part of Link wanted to investigate but his body wouldn't let him move forward. Was the inner most part of him scared? Even he wasn't sure why.
Zelda turned around to face the exit. "Well we should probably get going now. My father, doesn't want me near this tower. I don't really question it but it's best we get out of here sooner rather than later." Link snapped out of his thought process only he hearing the last few words she said.
He turned himself around with ease, which was a lot easier than trying to move towards the tower. The two nodded and began their walk back to the castle.
Hyrule Castle
After passing the tree they saw Impa waiting at the steps with her arms folded. "So that's where you've been. Good morning Zelda, I see you've met Link." Impa said in a somewhat stern voice that made Link sweatdrop.
'I haven't heard Impa sound like that since the last time she trained me on her free time.' Link internally shuddered after recalling the last few times he had training lessons with Impa.
"Good morning to you too Impa. You didn't tell me that Link was good at sneaking around where he shouldn't be." Link rubbed the back of his head debating whether or not that was a compliment or a slight insult.
"Frankly I'm a bit surprised he listened to that, I was going to introduce you two after I finished doing what I needed to do." Link squinted his eyes at Impa for revealing that just now. Even if he did choose to go through with it himself, if he knew that then he could've saved himself from almost getting caught by the guards and basically achieving the highest splash radius of his generation.
"Anyway princess, we are about to finish off the portrait with the others. The artist is waiting for you inside the castle." Seeing the surprised look on her face proved to Link that he wasn't the only forgetful one.
Zelda was about to rush over to the castle but first she turned to Link with her usual smile that expressed how grateful she was to the person in front of her. "It was nice meeting you today Link even though it was short, I enjoyed it a lot. Here I wanted to give you this." She pulled out a light blue telescope with yellow rims which had the Triforce painted on it as well.
"Yeah I really enjoyed it too. Link took the telescope from her and raised in the air as if he got a gold medal, immediately he realized what he did and quickly put the telescope somewhere safe. "Um... Not sure why I did that... A-Anyway I guess I'll be heading back home then." Link gently waved before taing his leave.
"Wait Link take this it's a map of Hyrule with each location and their names of written on them too." Link received a map from Impa, he took a quick look at the map and raised an eyebrow.
"Ah, I see the creator of the map made a mistake with the locations of East and West Faerie Rock." Surely that was mistake right? Then again everyone who has a map most likely has the same version as he does now.
"The creator of the map did that on purpose to trick people. Mainly so that people don't travel to the dangerous desert where the Gerudo reside in. Both are in dangerous areas with one being in the Gerudo Desert and the other being next to that tower." Oddly enough what Zela said sort of made sense to Link.
Link rolled up map and put it away and stepped backwards a bit. Not wanting to waste anymore time he thanked the both of them and waved goodbye. Zelda and Impa watched the young blond walk away.
He took the steps by the the lone tree where he reunited with Zelda awhile ago and headed west using a bridge that let him take a shortcut through Din's Peak speeding up the process back Kakariko.
Meanwhile Zelda walked with Impa back to the main hall of Hyrule Castle, she was thinking about the new friend she made today. "I'm sure this won't be the last time I see him. He's really interesting you know?" Impa quietly smiled to herself, she was happy knowing her and Link had gotten along so well.
"Yeah he really is." The both of them still had things to take care of. They walked back inside to take care of the plans or duties they had in store for the day.
Kakariko Village
After walking through the forest north of Din's Peak Link let out a happy sigh seeing mountain that Kakariko Village lies on, the Windmill in the village couldn't have been more nostalgic.
After going up the mountain Link had walked to the main plaza of Kakariko Village, before he could even do anything, he was approached by four kids who were younger than he was.
'Oh great it's the Killer Wasp.' Link silently groaned to himself, he doesn't dislike the kids or anything but being repeatedly challenged to duel can get annoying after awhile.
The Killer Wasp were a gang with only four boys, they were exceptionally smart when it came to school but they got their name due to the dojo in the village.
The dojo itself is owned by a old man named Orlo or Master Orlo as he's called by the students. He teaches hylians of all ages but they are ever taught at the same time. Kids between ages six and eight are taught in the morning, they use wooden swords due to the fact they're considered too young to use a real sword. Pre-teens are from ages nine to twelve, they are taught just before the afternoon and they utilize in actual swords for swords practice. Finally teens and adults actually train together, just like pre-teen they use actual swords. However one perk about this class is that students spar with each other when not with Master Orlo albeit students have to use wooden swords and padding when against each other. That was the final class of the day and it starts an hour into the afternoon. Link was part of this class, he started two years ago but the difference now is that he can officially graduate.
According to adults, he taught hylians who later became part of the hyrulean knights. It's possible Orlo himself was once a hyrulean knight, at least that's the rumor people are making today.
Back to the Killer Wasp, they earned their name because their swordsmanship was phenomenal for their age. Although the name was originally given to them by the other kids, their egos got the best of them and made their names clear. They're smart kids but that doesn't mean their cockiness goes right out the window.
The Killer Wasps consisted of Evan their leader, Jinse who was his second command, Jano who acted as their wildcard, and lastly Juno-Robert who acted as their last man.
Evan rocked his blue cap, light blue under shirt, maroon vest unbuttoned, his brown belt, brown pants, and white socks with black shoes.
Jinse wore a yellow colored shirt, purple overalls with red straps on them, and lastly white socks with brown shoes.
Jano was slightly taller than the others, he had blue hair, a violet under shirt with a orange vest over it, dark green shorts, and white socks with a lighter violet colored shoes. No matter what he wear though, he seems to be mistaken for a girl at times.
Lastly there was Juno-Robert, he had a ovalish pig like nose, his red hair had two white strands that went upwards, similar to Jinse he wore overalls but his were blue colored as well as the straps and even some pink on the top of the overalls, he wore a red shirt under with the end of the arm sleeves having a whitish color to math his hair, and lastly he wore white bandage wrappings as socks while wearing purple shoes.
Both Jinse and Juno-Robert have their eyes closed all the time which makes them seem snooty at times. On the other hand Jano wears purple glasses to go with his purple colored style, although some think that's more an aesthetic of his.
'Despite their name they are actually well behaved kids who don't skip school and do bad things.' Link put a hand on hip and raised his eyebrow to show Evan, who approched him first. "Look if this is another challege I'm going to have to dec-"
"We want to pass on our group's legend or at least pass it on to a later generation." Evan showed Link a piece of paper that looked like it was it made over a century ago. "We plan to bury somewhere in Kakariko so it can be found later."
"So we need a name that maybe one day our descendants or just a random group of kids will find it." Jano approached Link next with a hopeful expression which ws a rare sight to see.
"Yeah. We're descendants of the Killer Hornets you know and they made a legend too about our group. Even if we originally got the name from other kids, the fact that a legend about it exist has to mean something." Jinse came up next holding up a bottle which is most likely where the paper Evan was holding will be placed.
Juno-Robert came up to him next and practically attempted a pitiful bear hug against Link "Please help us!" The weakest boy of their group looked like he was going to faint.
"Okay I'll help you." Link gently pried Juno-Robert off of him while the other three practically did a cheer meant for a chant. 'Okay I have some ideas. Four options.' The blonde thought about this really quickly and wasn't hard either. He decided to make it easy by adding the word killer to it since it seemed to be an important part of the group's name.
'Killer Ants? Nah it doesn't really fit.'
'Killer Beetles? Nah, that sounds like someting Beedle the shopkeeper would name his wagon.'
'Killer Bees? This one. This one has a bit of potential.'
'Killer Spiders? Nah Evan hates spiders.'
The blond continued to think for a second with the all the clues he was given before coming to a conclusion. "Okay I think the answer is simple. How about the Killer Bees? The ones before you were the Killer Hornets, and you're the Killer Wasp right? So the Killer Bees would be the next best name since they're the most similar to the previous two insects." The four boys huddled up to talk and ended up coming to one final conclusion.
"Okay! The Legend of the Killer Wasp will be passed down as a legend and hopefully one day the Killer Bees will be formed to start a new one!" Hearing that from their leader Evan the other three boys raised their fist in the air in unison, Link couldn't help but smirk a little.
"It might not have been much but thanks for your help Link." Evan raised his hand up to Link
"Hey it's no problem. I'll always be here to help the people of my village." The blond replied with a smirk, kneeling down and moving his hand he gave Evan a high five. "Later.' Link stood up and began walking away before Evan shouted out his name causing him to look back towards his direction.
"Oi Link! Good luck on your last day of sword practice! I know you're going to graduate! We'll be there to watch!" Evan gave Link a thumbs up with a side of a cheeky smile.
Meanwhile Link time seemed to halt for a minute, he couldn't even hear any background noise at all. 'Aw shoot! I completely forgot that was today! Damn it, don't tell me that much time has passed already!? It didn't feel that way back at the castle!' Link started sprinting but before he was out of sight he waved back at Evan for a brief second. "Thanks Evan!"
Kakariko Market
Link arrived at what's known as Kakariko's Shopping District, this is where most of the villagers shop for items and many other things although some people do live in this area too.
Link looked at the building where he practice swordsmanship. The building was a neat little building that wasn't too fancy looking and not to old fashioned either. It happened to be right next to Kakariko Village's famous windmill.
Before he entered, he noticed a poster on his left that read, "Petition: Let's Change the name of Kakariko Village to Windfall Village! Sign here today!" Link sighed in disbelief, what would be the point in changing the village now?
Link brushed the thought off and put his hand on the door knob, he could feel the pressure behind this door but he pushed on. He pushed on because whatever happens in here could change his entire life and he was ready.
The Dojo
The moment the blond entered the room, he was greeted by his fellow students. Well except for three boys in particular that is.
"Hey Stink, you almost didn't make it on time, I hope the ranch didn't keep you too busy." Link looked over towards the three man group, the smug looks on their faces makes him smirk.
The first one was Niles, the leader of the trio and the main one who would bully Link when they were younger. He had long green hair, a blue neckerchief to compliment his purple shirt, white pants and black boots. Niles also has a green piercing on his right ear to match his green hair, it's rather surprising his entire attire isn't all green. He was bit taller and bigger than Link too and he always tried to use that as some advantage on him.
Next up there was Edon, he was the same height as Link and one of Niles's lackey. He carried his gray haired buzzcut with pride due to the fact no one really had the hairstyle in Kakariko Village. He wore an dark orange vest with and light orange undershirt too, his black belt helped hold up his blue pants, lastly he had long brown boots that covered the lower parts of his pants close to his knees.
Lastly there was Cozi, the short stack, cunning, weasel and second lackey of Niles's crew. He wears a yellow flat cap that covers a bit of his shaggy black hair, he wears a spikey blue overshirt with a green jewel in it's center that only goes passed his shoulder. Beneath that overshirt is salmon colored shirt, lastly he wears tan colored baggy tights and brown boots like his fellow lackey.
"Hey Niles, I see you still have mossy mess you call hair." Link held back a laugh as he saw Niles stroke his hair. This was normal for Link, a couple years prior he got tired of Niles picking on him, so he started throwing petty insults back. Was it mature? Definitely not, but hey they are in their early teenagers years, this is normal. It's rather surprising they haven't started fighting each other yet.
"That hair you're making fun of happens to attract most of the girls, I can't really say the same about yours." Niles and his crew start laughing at the blond who kept smiling himself. Even between their laughter, Link could've sworn he heard girls screaming from outside after hearing the first part of his statement.
"Ah right... And yet Aerina doesn't seem to care about that at all. She still prefers hanging out with me over you." Link kept his smile and without turnig to face Niles, he just gave him a side glance without giving him his full attention.
Edon and Cozi had shocked expressions on their face, they slowly turned to Niles who was now fuming and tried to calm him down. Niles grabbed Link by the shirt, but it didn't phase him. "Why you li-" Before the blond's long time bully could finish his sentence, an old man arrived fro his sleeping quarters.
It was the man most adults made rumors about in the village, the one who taught Link and many others the way of true swordsmanship. Master Orlo has arrived to to decide who graduates from his class.
In unison every student bowed to Master Orlo as soon as he approached the center of the room. His presence alone caused the entire atmosphere to change. He has white hair that reaches to his shoulders and almost passes his eyes, he was a little bit taller than Link and somewhat skinny too. He wore a black vest with blue pants and he didn't wear shoes too.
"Today marks your final. Everything you do today decides whether or not you graduate." The stern tone in Master Orlo's voice caused different feelings in the students. Some were scared or nervous, some were tense and even excited.
"Are you all ready?" The students yelled as loud as they could in response, it actually helped a couple of the students gain some confidence. However with the students ready, the final test began.
One by one the students were called up to take their final test. The task of the test was simple. Over the years aster Orlo taught his students the basics of wielding a sword. There was the horizontal slice, the vertical slice, the thrust attack, the deadliest move the spin attack and lastly a parry. The final part of this test was one last final spar with Master Orlo himself. Fifty hits was the passing grade as long as you didn't get hit three times beforehand. It was a pretty standard test.
As students went to take their test, Link sat there in peace. As time went on the longer he prepared himself and eventually it was his turn.
"Amazing Niles, you managed one hundred hits. You passed. Go sit down. Link you're the last one." Niles who had his hair in a ponytail bowed as form of respect before heading back to where he was sitting, at least not before taunting Link first.
"Good luck Stink, at the rate you're going, you'll never be a hyrulean knight." Link ignored the whispers coming from the green haired narcissist next to him and pressed forward until he was facing Master Orlo.
The old man tossed Link a sword and in response he caught it with left hand as if on instinct and that was enough to show Master Orlo he was ready.
"Well then, let's get started." Two of them bowed towards each other and as soon as Link stood straight up, he immediately back flips away while Master Orlo simply jumps back. As usual from Link's perspective, Master Orlo used a red pole as his weapon. There weren't any kind of sharp objects on it or anything on it all, just a wooden pole, but it packed a punch. Sort off odd for a master of swordsman ship to use a pole instead though.
'He's gonna be testing me by the order of how he taught us each lesson, so I'll use the Horizontal Slice first. All I have to do is repeatedly click the B button to do the horizontal slice.' Link approached his master with a serious gaze as Master Orlo did the same. The blonde slashed his sword at the pole Master Orlo held in accordance to where Link would strike next two times before spinning to the left as if he was doing a spin attack, but instead it was another horizontal attack and to follow up with the last attack he spinned to the right bringing the sword with him from the previous slash and slashed upwards in a northeast direction.
Every time the blonde did the horizontal slice combo it sounded like a chime played with each hit he landed and with every swing he would shout. Each swing pushed Master Orlo back but he held his stance like any mentor would.
"Excellent. Next move." Master Orlo changed his stance for the incoming attack coming from his pupil.
'Next up is the Vertical Slice. The best way for me to this is to click the L button so I can L-target Master Orlo and then click B to swing a vertical slice.' Link focused on his master, but doing so changed his stance. "HYAAAH!" The blond swung his sword down vertically two times and just like the horizontal slice, he spinned to the left swinging the sword with him and to follow up again he spun to right bringing the sword with him again and swung upwards in the same northwest direction as last time. He kept up this rythm a few more times, moving faster with the impact being stronger than before.
"I'm glad to see you aren't holding back! Let's move on to the next one." the blonde just nodded in response and got ready for the next attack.
'Okay. This third attack is the Thrust. I just need to L-target Master Orlo, then move the analog stick upwards and press B.' Keeping his focus and not hesitating for a minute, he thrusted his sword forward twice giving a battle cry with every swing. Afterwards Link did a spiral swing attack where he had to spin in a clockwise motion and jump up at the same while swinging his sword in a upwards northeast motion. Right as he landed on the ground he used his speed and power to do a quick spin attack. The blond did this combo one more time as his fellow classmates were in awe at how he was doing. They noticed his calm nature and how confident he was about what he learned over the years of training. This annoyed Niles who wanted nothing more than to see the boy fail.
For bonus points he even performed a jump attack. 'I must always remember that L-Target and A will allow me to perform a jump attack.' Link jumped in the air vertically slashing his sword downard. The contact managed to push back his mentor harder than his previous attacks.
"We're almost nearing the end. Next technique!" Once again Master Orlo repositioned his stance for the next attack.
'Alright the spin attack. All I need to do now his click and hold the B button to store up my strength and then release it to release all the strength I stored into one fierce spin attack.' Link slashed forward not hitting Master Orlo, but he did that on purpose so he could aim his sword behind himself. Once he thought the time was right, he released one giant spin attack by spinning to the right in one quick and powerful motion. His spin attack looked like a blue blur trail with spikes. Link's spin attack pushed Master Orlo back quite a bit eve more than his jump attack.
"One more time Link!" Link's mentor held and even stronger position after his last spin attack, waiting for the boy's spin attack.
'There is another way to the spin attack and it's quicker and more effecient at times. All I need to is rotate the analog stick in a spinning motion and press B to perform an instant attack.' Link concentrated on Master Orlo and without do much, he suddenly performed a spin attack that was just as quick and fierce as the one before.
"Excellent. Now its my turn." Master Orlo prepared his weapon rotating and swinging as a nice warm up.
'Okay the final one, the rolling parry. I just need to L-Target Master Orlo and wait to click A. It's the only way I can perform a parry attack. "Link walked up to his master concentrating, watching all of his movements. He saw the swing he was about to make with his staff. As he moved for a swing Link reacted by rolling sideways to reach Master Orlo's back, he then jumps and slashes with his sword. After the first hit, they didn't waste any time repeating the action.
When Link finished his final parry. He positioned himself, showing that he was ready for the true finale of the test. He knew this was it. Master Orlo didn't have to say anything to initiate the final stretch. The atmosphere of the room changed again.
Link started utilizing every single skill he learned from Master Orlo, each hit was as impactful as the previous. He counted each hit in that he landed in his head, it felt like an agonizing count to fifty. Some could tell Link was getting anxious though, every fifteen hits he got hit by Master Orlo. He was currently sitting at thirty hits and he couldn't make any mistakes now or he'd fail.
'Forget the count of each hit, just focus on you target and their movements while you strike.' Link picked himself up and walked to the center of the room. Before he continued he bowed toward Master Orlo one more time before shifting his stance slightly.
Link begun his attack and like before he used the techniques he was already aware but this time it was different. He was in the mindset he needed to be in. Master Orlo prepared his next attack, but Link had already begun his counter attack. Link backflipped managing to dodge his mentor's swing and as soon as his feet touched the solid wooden floor, his body began spin unleashing a power spin attack that amounted to five hits.
Master Orlo and the others noticed it except Link but his movements had changes. The way he dodged, and countered Mater Orlo's was extremely swift as if he was being guided by the ocean waves and the winds that followed. Even his mentor was getting a bit excited despite the stern look on his face.
The spar began to get more heated, Link and Master Orlo began trading swings. Link got in the hits he needed while countering his mentors every move even predicting when the next attack was. The spar turned into a game of chess between two pro players, each move one made the other had an answer to counter it with except Orlo could never hit the young teen.
Link rolled to the side performing another rolling parry. Soon after he performed another jump attack that pushed his mentor back so far he almost hit the wall. Then something happen that no one in the room expected. Link and Master Orlo began clashing their weapons, both were trying to get the upperhand on the other but they couldn't.
People could be heard outside watching from the window, but Link didn't care. He was way too focused on the sparring match with his mentor. Link held his groud ad eventually they both pushed away from each other.
He ducked the next few swings as inched his way closer this was a tad difficult unless one were completely foucsed like Lik is now. Master Orlo's weapon when fully utilized his used for long and close range.
When Link got closed time seemed to shift. He swung his sword as soon as Master Orlo moved his but stoppped, his mentor did the exact same thing. Link knew he was going to have to stop and he had a feeling his mentor would too.
It was stalemate, both of their weapons were caught as point where they wouldn't be able to make the next move. The both of them eased up and turned their backs to each other before walking back to their starting positions. They turned to face each other, for what felt like minutes but in actuality was mere seconds, they bowed to each other resulting in the end of the spar.
"H-He... He landed two hundred extra hits without ever getting hit a third time..." One of the students pointed out in a slightly terrified but mostly shocked tone. The rest of the students were just as shocked. "That means he got-"
"T-Two hundred thirty hits total..." Niles interrupted with absolute disgust in his voice. He had an expression that would make Link smirk had he given him any attention.
"BWAHAHAHAHA!" Everyone jumped at the sudden laugh that erupted in the room. The source of that laugh was none other than Master Orlo himself. This was a side only a few have seen from the old man.
"Excellent swordsmanship my student! I have to say you really have improved since your first day all those years ago." The old man put a hand on Link's shoulder, handing him a scabbard. "I'm proud to say you are no longer a just a regular student. All of those who pass earn a sword from me, so keep the one you sparred against me with. The potential your father saw in you shined bright today."
Link's mentor turned around facing away from all of his students. I think you'll make an amazing knight of Hyrule and that goes for all of you. Whatever you choose to do from here on out is your choice. "
'Two hundred and thirty hits? It didn't feel like I hit off nearly as that many!' Link looked at the scabbard he received, a grin slowly formed on his face. Despite how he felt about the spar he enjoyed himself, he wishes his parents were here to see this too.
The blond put his sword in a brown and silver designed scabbard that he clipped on his waist. Afterwards Link sat down as next to his fellow classmates, he received some pats on the back from some of the other students. Link smiled knowing what was coming next. It was the graduation and celebration ceremony.
Several Hours Later
Kakariko Market
The sun had already set and Link had finally left the dojo. Throughout those hours, Link had attended his graduation ceremony along the others who had passed as well. After was what would be considered a celebration party and that's what took up most of the day. Link closed his eyes and began to stretch, it was well deserved. He's had one hell of a day. Once he finished he realized a familiar face of his standing in front of him.
A girl with blond hair that reached to her shoulders stood before him, she also had bangs and her ears stook out between her hair. She wore a red dress that would reach down to where her knees were and the dress itself was designed with pink blossoms. The blonde also wore brown sandals that went well with her red dress.
"Aerina? What are you doing here?" Link stared at his female blonde friend now known as Aerina with a confused look on his face.
"First off I wanted to say congratulations for passing your graduation test! I wanted to stop by after the ceremony but I had some things to do at the ranch" Aerina hugged the blond which he hugged back with no hesitation. "Secondly. Did you forget? You promised we would see the stars and look at Chu-Chu Rock with my telescope." Link's expression was all she needed to know that he did forget, but that wasn't going to stop him from going with her to see the sights.
'I'm really sorry! I'd still love to go with you though." Aerina grabbed Link's hand and dragged him along.
'It's fine Link, I just dont want to be late. Let's go." Link stayed quiet and followed her lead before remembering something.
"Oh yeah, Impa took me to Hyrule Castle this morning. I actually got to meet Princess Zelda and she gave me this telescope. Now we won't have to share the same one." Link pulled out the telescope he received from Zelda earlier today, Kumi was very surprised to ay the least.
"That's great! Wait you met with Princess Zelda!? You're gonna have to tell me about that!" Link was trying to quiet her down in case other people heard.
"I'll tell you about it some other time, let's get to where we have to go." Aerina frowned for a brief second before dragging Link to the spot they were going to.
They went towards the back of Kakariko Village which was passed the market walls revealing a lot of green grass in the area. It was a nice spot for an expansion of Kakariko, but until that happened, this was spot where the two could enjoy the sights. They stopped to where they can see Chu-Chu Rock and took out their telescopes to take a look at the view.
It was astonishing outside, without the cloud coverage, you can really take in all the stars. Plus the moon was shining as bright as ever so that was plus.
"Pretty." Aerina said this as she looked up at the stars that appeared at night. "Oh Link look!" Aerina pointed towards Chu-Chu Rock, Link's gazed followed the direction she was pointing. Thanks to the moonlight and their telescopes, they were able to see a wooden creature with a purple leaf as a mask on it's face as it flew over Chu-Chu Rock with a propelling leaf. "What an adorable creature." Aerina looked in awe as the creature continued flying to wherever it's destination was.
Link's smile changed once he noticed something wasn't right as foul wind started blow causing the wooden creature to become disorientated. The wind got worse and it forced the little thing fall at the peak of Chu-Chu Rock.
The wooden creature looked around and as soon as it thought it was safe, red star shaped like creatures began to appear before revealing their real form. They had yellow eyes that made them look stressed while looking like maniacs at the same time. They move with their head wobbling from side to side which made them seem even weirder. This frightened the wooden creature which had no idea what to do.
"Aren't those Chu-Chus?" the female blonde asked while looking at Link who had a serious look on his face.
"Seems so but that creature needs help! Aerina I got to go, I'll see you later!" Link got up and ran towards the exit of Kakariko he heard but stopped when he heard Aerina's voice.
"Link you need something to protect yourself!" Link stopped for moment after hearing Aerina's words until it hit him.
'A shield!' Link ran towards Impa's recalling the fact she had a shield somewhere in the house.
Once he was inside he went upstairs to see a shield hung up on the wall. "There it is!" the blonde grabbed the shield and equipped it, the shield itself was shaped in a 'U' formation and was colored purple with the ends being a white color. The design itself had the triforce on top while having the sheikah symbol in red color under it. Next to the eyes were light blue wings. After equipping the shield, Link set outside Kakariko and headed east towards Chu-Chu Rock.
Once the blonde had reached the Chu-Chu rock area he followed the path that actually led to the rock itself. The trail led up to a hill connecting to the rock, so Link pressed on until he got to the top of a hill that led to the beginning of Chu-Chu Rock, the sight of Death Mountain on the east side, a view of Fire Mountain south east from where he was standing, the black tower that he saw earlier with Zelda west from here, and up north he saw the walls of the mountain that Crescent Rock was sitting on top of.
Link continued up on the path that Chu-Chu Rock started on. Immediately he was greeted with red and green Chu-Chus and boy were they weirder looking up close, he instantly pulled out his sword so he could take them out.
'So there are different variations of you huh? Even green ones. I may need to keep that in mind, I'd hate to run into one that could electrocute me." Link decided to attack the red ones first. A red Chu-Chu on Link's right attempted to jump into him, but Link back flipped before doing a thrust attack killing it instantly.
Next Link was confronted with a green Chu-Chu. He used his shield to push back the Chu-Chu from jumping on him. He slashed horizontally, but his swings missed because the green Chu-Chu decided to hide. It was now in it's star shaped blob form as it inched towards Link. Link analyzed and realized that he would need to time his attacks on green Chu-Chus or any kind of Chu-Chu for that matter when they are in their blob form.
He noticed that the other Chu-Chus around him were about to jump, so to react to that he did a quick and fierce spin attack and thanks to good timing, he managed to defeat all of the Chu-Chus that were within his range. All of the defeated Chu-Chus disappeared after their bodies blew up into black and purple smoke.
Link continued and climbed up many ledges before finally reaching the top of Chu-Chu Rock. The blond was hoping he wasn't too late to save the wooden creature he saw earlier.
When he reached the top, he saw the purple leafed creature was covered in Chu-Chu jelly, it seemed to be shivering and that set the boy off.
"Hey!" all the red Chu-Chus looked at Link and started moving towards him. He slashed horizontally, but didn't continue the combo like he had done at training. He jumped and slashed one of them in one quick motion, but with no time to stand around the blonde jumped and did a upward spiral strike which resulted in another one being defeated. Once he landed he performed another spin attack to finish a group of them. The last one jumped towards the blonde which made him roll to the side and jump striking the last one.
It seemed everything was clear so Link put his sword and shield away and check on the wooden creature he saw moments go. When he walked up to it and kneeled down he realized that these creatures were way smaller in person. It had a purple heart shaped leaf over it's face, the leaf itself had eyes that were shaped like circles, it also had a mouth shaped like a 'w' and lastly it held a leaf which it used to fly earlier but now it looked ripped. Link could also hear little sounds that sounded like little bells coming from the creature too.
Link picked it up as the little one began to speak. "P-Please someone take me back to K-Kokiri F-Forest." It seemed the wooden creature didn't notice Link as it was hurt and barely awake.
'Kokiri Forest?' Link immediately checked the map he had received earlier in the day to find Kokiri Forest, "Alright it seems Kokiri Forest is in the southeast area of Hyrule. I don't have time to lose!" Closing his map, Link picked up the wooden creature, securing it in a safe place and ran down Chu-Chu Rock to head on to Kokiri Forest.
Annnnnnnd that's the end of chapter 1. It was pretty long but I thought long and hard on how this story is gonna go all the way until the end. I also wanted to add that backstory part from Wind Waker. I wouldn't want to take credit for that little part at all. The only part that isn't from Wind Waker is when it said "However" and everything said after it.
I don't have much to say but I hope you all enjoyed this chapter as much as I had fun finishing it up.
Edit 10/4/2021: Well I decided to do some major editing to this chapter before going back to working on Chapter 5. Such as getting rid of really big segments and spreading them out. Including more changes to parts of the story. Looking back the way I had Link meet Zelda felt way more casual than it should've, so I changed it up a bit and now it's sort of like how some Links meet up with Zelda on his first or second time meeting her. I even added in a couple more characters as well as taking out some parts. Hopefully this is a bit better than before. Chapters 2-4 will also be getting some adjustments later on but on a way later scale. This chapter originally only had 7,621 words but now it's in the 15,000's, very close to passing Chapter 2's length. Anyway though, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter a bit more than before now.