Chapter 2: New dimension, new friends

Sonic turn from the wooden sign and took a glance at his surroundings. All around him there was bizarre wooden hutches, partly resembling the shape of tree trunks and saplings. The sweet smells of flora and fauna hung in the some what glowing air. It was virtually silent, giving Sonic the creeps. Suddenly, he believed he could hear a voice coming from above him. "Oh dear, gotta go wake up Link. Oh my…" Sonic turned and looked up to see a small blue sphere flying through the air, it seemed to be blurred but it was definitely what was making the sound. It seemed to be flying haphazardly in and out of obstacles, through and over gates until it entered a large tree, seeming to be set up as a house.

"What in the world was that?" Sonic murmured to himself before running over to the tree. "Link's house." He said, reading the small sign outside. The tree was taller than anyone else's and had small carvings at the base, seeming like cartoons or the sort. "Oh well, better go find some answers." He decided before finally climbing up the ladder position against the tree and entering the hollowed out upstairs area.

The inside of the tree wasn't exactly a luxury hotel to Sonic, but it was still rather quaint. There was a simple bed, although it looked more like a couch. There was a large tree stump in the middle with chairs randomly scattered about, a few record posters with numbers printed on them, records obviously set by the person who lived here. A few windows let the clean, summer light in and other various things were positioned in the room, cooking equipment, recreational material and things of everyday use. The only thing that struck out at Sonic about this was how primitive it was compared to the world of technology and electricity that he was used to. "Maybe a tribal village?" Sonic whispered as he walked in further, his sneakers dragging on the smooth wooden floor. As he got closer, he saw the blue creature again, hovering over a young boy, lying of the bed that Sonic has spied when he first entered.

The boy was dressed practically all in green. Both the tunic and his long, elf like hat were green whereas the belt and boots he was wearing were brown, probably made of leather. Under his hat, a coif of blonde hair stuck out nearly over his eyes. He seemed to be having a nightmare, the creature frantically trying to both comfort him and wake him up. "Link! Link! Oh please, wake up Link!" The creature called out, although to no avail, the boy didn't seem to stir from his dream. "Link, come on! That's it, this should wake you up." The small animal began to make a high pitched sound repeatedly, resembling the sound of a school bell, but in louder and quicker bursts. Sonic covered his ears to shut out the noise. The boy seemed to move as he began to wake up and sit on the bed, wiping his eyes and yawning. "Link, finally you're awake." The flying animal gleefully shouted.

"Navi… what are you doing here?" The boy said through sleepy eyes.

"It's the Great Deku Tree, he wants to see you."

"What? Why?"

"I can't go into any further details here as I do not fully understand it myself. Please let's go and master will explain it further for you."

"Okay fine, lets go…" The boy stopped and froze as he glanced at Sonic. "MONSTER!" He shouted, soon followed by him leaping out of bed and grabbing a large pot before throwing it at Sonic.

"Woah, calm down kid." Sonic tried to reassure him as he dodged easily out of the way. "I'm not here to hurt you!" The boy didn't listen and continued throwing pots in an attempt to hit Sonic.

"Link stop!" The blue sphere shouted and the boy paused. "I think he's telling the truth. I've never encountered an enemy like this before and never have I heard of one matching this description. Let's just give it a chance." The boy known as Link nodded in agreement.

"Who are you?" He gestured.

"My name is Sonic the hedgehog, nice to meet you…" He paused, not properly knowing their names.

"I'm Link and this is my friend Navi the fairy." He pointed at the blue ball, now much more still and Sonic could see the delicate figure of a tiny person, emitting blue light, it's thin and dainty wings beating to keep it aloft in the air.

"Cool. Sorry to burst in like this but I have no idea where I am." Sonic explained. "I sort of just woke up here."

"That's strange." Navi said. "There was intense storm last night, wrecked trees in the woods, took down a few bridges and scared the hell out of most of the residents. And then this morning, you appear and clamed to not know where you are. Strange."

Sonic suddenly remembered what had happened at the arena. The robot next to him and Shadow has seemed to be sucking the very life out of the two of them, harvesting the energy for Eggman's own greedy purposes. But then it was destroyed and something happened. As though he was sucked out of existence, but when he was there, falling, he swore he was not the only one there, as though his friends were with him as well. And then he woke up in this strange rural village. He looked back up to the two in front of him. "This Great Deku Tree… might HE know why I'm here?"

"The Great Deku Tree is extremely wise. It is most likely that he will as there is hardly any knowledge of this world that he does not know."

"Yeah. Navi here was just telling me that he wanted to see me. So I believe that's where we are going now." Link added. "Is that right?" He turned to Navi.

"Yes it is. Shall we go then?" Both Sonic and Link agreed and they paced out of the door. Just as they did so, a girl of Link's height, dressed all in green including her colour came running over to the tree and looked up.

"Morning Link how are…" She paused upon seeing Sonic. "Who's that?"

"This is Sonic. He arrived this morning and introduced himself. We're both about to go see the Deku Tree."

"Really? Cool, I wonder why he want's to see you. Wait, is that a fairy?" She said, indicating Navi.

"Yeah, this Navi, she's my fairy for the moment I guess." He confirmed.

"That's awesome Link, I'm so happy for you that you finally have one." She smiled and began walking away. "Well I'll see you later!"

"Yeah, see you around." Link waved back and climbed down the ladder followed by Sonic jumping down. "Okay, the route to the Deku Tree is that way." He pointed down towards the east of the village.

All three of them walked across the village, passing many people dressed in green, all seeming the same height as Link. Sonic leant over to Link. "Hey I don't mean to be rude or nothing, but why is everyone here the same size?" Link continued walking.

"It's because everyone here is a Kokiri."

"A what?"

"Well, no one here ages you see."

"Right… that makes sense."

"It's hard to explain but everyone here is the same height and will be the same for the rest of our lives, pretty much an eternity." Sonic tried not to stare after hearing Link's explanation. People who couldn't age aren't really those who he would meet on a daily basis. They finally came to a tunnel leading onto a grassy path but there was another person of Link's stature blocking the path. He looked almost identical to Link except for the thickness of his.

"Hey mister no fairy, stay back!" He pushed Sonic.

"Hey what's the deal?"

"Neither of you have a fairy and therefore cannot meet with his Excellency the Great Deku Tree.

"Hey Mido, open your eyes you fool. I have a fairy now." Link indicated Navi.

"WHAT!?! Who would want to be YOUR fairy?" Mido said mockingly. "Well that doesn't matter because you need to be well equipped, a sword and a shield will probably do it." He explained.

"Fine, we'll get those, but when we do, you have to let my friend here pass." Link pointed to Sonic.

"Okay fine, but I doubt you'll find anything." Mido chuckled.

Link and Sonic walked into a nearby stump house as Sonic had decided to call them now. Inside there were several of these 'Kokiri' people conversing with each other and inspecting various items on a wooden desktop. Behind the counter was another man in green, except this one somehow seems shorter than the others. "Excuse me sir." Link said politely.

"Oh hello Link. What are you interested in purchasing today? A nice deku seed, some slingshot 'ammunition' perhaps?" He offered.

"No thank you. Today I was wondering if you had any shields for sale."

"Why as a matter of fact we do." The short man pulled out a large wooden shield with a fancy orange design on the front. "We have one deku shield currently in stock."

"Awesome! How much might it cost?" Link asked pulling out a shabby looking pouch he used for his wallet.

"Forty rupees altogether." Link stopped.

"FORTY RUPEES!?! Honestly?" The man nodded solemnly. "Well that's just perfect. I can't afford that."

"Hey wait a second." Sonic pulled out a gold ring. "Can we pay with these?" The man inspected them closely before showing a wide grin.

"Why my friend of course you can. These rings are worth around ten rupees each."

"Awesome!" Sonic and Link shouted. So Link handed over ten rupees and Sonic passed the man three rings and Link received the shield, strapping it to his back. "Okay, now we need to find a sword. And I think I know just the place." Link smirked as he led everyone up a small hillock.

At the end of a small maze of fences there was a hole in the wall leading into a small tunnel. Link and Sonic just managed to fit through and then started walking. "So where is this sword?" Sonic asked.

"It's just around the corner." Link answered. Suddenly there was a rumbling which seemed to get louder and closer with each second. Both of them turned around sharply to see a large boulder rolling towards them. Sonic ran at his normal unnaturally quick pace away from the boulder with ease but realised that Link wasn't so fast. He quickly zipped back and grabbed Link around the waist before zooming around the nearby corner just in time as the boulder crashed against another wall, shattering into many pieces. "Woah that could have been us." Link sighed. "How did you go so fast Sonic?"

"It's a sort of natural skill to me. Super speed I guess most call it."

"That's really awesome! Thanks for saving me!"

"No problem, just helping out a friend." Sonic gave Link thumbs up.

In front of them both now was a large chest. They approached it and as they did so Navi realised what was happening. "Link you're honestly not going to do this are you?"

"Yes of course. The rest of my friends won't mind if I borrow it."

"Link, your about to steal a rare Kokiri treasure!"

"I know, but it's not stealing. Just borrowing." He sniggered as he approached the chest and opened the lid. A light shone from within as Link lifted up a short sword and sheathed it in the sword case on his back. "Okay that's both things then. Let's move on shall we?" Sonic nodded and the two made their way back to Mido.

Sonic and Link approached Mido once again. "Hey I told you two…" He stopped as he saw the Kokiri sword and Deku shield that Link possessed. "Where'd you get that sword from, it looks familiar."

"Borrowed it from a friend." Link smiled. "So, can we pass now?"

"As much as I hate to say it, yes, you can pass." Mido moved out the way and allowed the two to pass along the path until they reached a giant clearing. The clearing was illuminated by the same heavenly light as the rest of the forest but there was a giant tree in the back of it. Large knotholes in its ancient pale wood created the impression of a face. "Is this the tree?" Sonic asked Navi.

"Yes. Please let me speak to my master." Navi flew over to the tree. "Master, I have brought Link to you to heed your word. And a second, Sonic the hedgehog wishes to consult you're great wisdom.

"I see… Link, I have summoned you here to tell you that a great evil is growing within the world of Hyrule, it is present here and outside of the great wood."

"But Great Deku Tree… why me?" Link inquired.

"Because you have encountered the same evil within your slumber. A normal boy with a pure heart, plagued by dreams of evil and spite."

"The dreams…" Link pondered. "Yes you are right."

"Then Link…"

"Excuse me but can I just ask something?" Sonic butted in. "I just want to know why I'm here."

"Ah yes. You. I am afraid I cannot tell you why you are here but I can tell you that this is not your world. And that not even I possess the power to send you back to your home." Sonic showed a great look of disappointment. "However, aiding young Link my help you uncover what needs to be done. Link. are you ready to test your bravery and defeat the evil that plagues this land?" Link looked at Sonic before they nodded to each other.
"Yes sir. I'm ready and so is Sonic."

"Very well. Then enter and smite the evil that has cursed us." With these words, the place on the tree that seemed like a mouth began to lower and opened up a doorway inside the Deku Tree. Link, Sonic and Navi all cautiously stepped inside and began their search through the tree.