Chapter 4: A New Friend in the Castle
Link awoke in a familiarly small cell. He saw his arm was covered in fur, as well as the rest of his body. He knew he was a wolf once more. A large fetter was attached to each of his legs, probably whatever came to put him there wanted to make sure he didn't escape. The cell was much darker than it had been before. There was no light to be seen anywhere, but, being a wolf now, it did not matter to him.
Link soon turned his attention to a small figure above. It seemed to be shivering in fear of something. Link barked at it, announcing his consciousness to the stranger. It seemed to be star shaped and had black skin. It looked somewhat pudgy, though Link couldn't tell since he was unfamiliar with this type of creature. As it came closer, he could tell that it was very curious and excited to see him.
"Oh!" the small figure said. "A new prisoner! Now I won't die of loneliness!" It proceeded to release the shackles on Link's legs. After he gave it a puzzled look, it continued. "Oh, where are my manners? My name is Polari. I'm named after Mama's eldest Luma! I live in an observatory with her and the other Lumas! What's your name?"
Suspicious of the strange creature, Link gave a low growl. The black star seemed unfazed. "Grrrrrrrr? That sounds like a silly name to me!" Realizing this creature meant no harm, Link stopped growling and looked at the strange Polari more intently. "That's better! Want to tell me something about yourself?" Link continued to stare at the creature. "You don't talk much, do you? Oh, well."
Link heard some heavy footsteps approaching the cell. Two towering figures appeared, more ominous than the variety of monsters Link had encountered before. Link assumed they were the guards since they used keys to open the cell door. Without warning, one of them lunged at Link while the other one sprang for the Luma. Link managed to jump out of the way, but Polari was not so lucky. "Urgh…help…" was all the Luma could let out as it was being squeezed by the figure. Link growled as he sped towards the aggressor when the other monster grabbed Link and began tightening its grip. As Link struggled, a light began to shine on Link's right paw. His attacker was momentarily stunned, long enough for Link to bite into its arm and hurl it up and down. He released the first monster and dealt with the second one the same way, freeing Polari in the process.
After Link finished off the two monsters, he looked up and saw Polari staring at the mark on his paw. "That looks like…the Triforce of Courage! That means…you're Link, right?" Link nodded. "Oh! I can't believe I'm meeting you in person! Mama told us many stories about the Hero from the distant kingdom of Hyrule!" Polari paused for a moment. "Hey, do you mind if I tag along with you for a while? I want to find my Mama, and I think I might be able to help you." Link nodded immediately. Though he didn't really think he'd need this stranger's help, he was willing to help the little guy out.
"Great!" Polari exclaimed. "First, we should head for the top of this place. There's someone up there who can help us get out of here, right?" Link nodded again, remembering how Princess Zelda had provided help the first times he had met her. There was probably a secret passageway of some sort to allow them to escape. "The door's open thanks to those two, so we should get going!" Link nodded once more, and the two proceeded to leave the chamber behind. As they left, they didn't notice that the two guards seemed to fade away...
As they ascended the tower, Polari told Link a little more about himself. "I've lived on the Comet Observatory all my life with Mama looking after all of us Lumas. We're all her children, and we live a peaceful existence traveling throughout the universe. In the recent past, however, we'd been attacked twice by an evil guy by the name of Bowser. He called himself the Koopa King, and he tried to use the power of the observatory, the Power Stars, for his own selfish purposes. Both times, however, a plumber from Mama's favorite planet named Mario stopped him from succeeding. Unfortunately, he returned once more with far more power than before, and, this time, Mario failed to stop him. Mama was forced to surrender to him. Many of the Lumas were sent all over the universe, and I don't know what he plans to do to Mama..."
The Luma paused as Link jumped through the roof to the second tower. "You know, you're a legendary hero to those who know your story. Someone once said, 'When the going gets tough, the tough get going.' I have a strong feeling that there's nothing that's gonna stop you from getting things done. Anyways, I think I've talked a bit too much. Don't you have anything to say at all?"
Link looked at him quizzically and barked. Polari sighed. "Alright, then. I guess you don't have much to say when you're a wolf. But I better get at least a word out of you when you return to normal!" Polari looked up. "I guess we're going up now. Race you to the top!" With that, he started floating to the top as Link chased after him.