There was the gate. In a small, wooded grove just outside of Castle City, two large statues-- one of the ancient hero of legend and another of the Princess Zelda of yore-- stood lifelessly, flanking a symbol of the Golden Power on the ground between them. The statue of the hero, his arm extended with the Master Sword in hand reached to the other statue of Zelda, framing the entrance to the gate. The statue of Zelda stood as if in prayer.

Prime Minister Andrew Balgame sneered at edifice as if it offended his sensibilities. "Peh. The royal family. That runt," he whispered to himself, obviously effusing over his past-- no one but Joxer knowing he was no longer Balgame, but Agahnim, emissary to the Dark Lord.

Behind him, photographers and journalists snapped away their pictoboxes, getting image after image, covering the event. All the major news networks from throughout the realm were there to cover the event that could change the destiny of the nation.

"No more questions," Joxer, representative for Castle City in parliament, said to the journalists, finishing an interview. He turned from them and walked next to the minister. "Journalists. Freedom of the press will be the first thing to go."

Balgame looked at him, then turned his sight back to the gate to the Golden Land. "Has the Royal Science Academy delivered the device yet?" he asked Joxer.

The representative looked around, desperate to get this over with, and noticed a large transport descending from the sky. "They're here now," Joxer said, hiding his eyes from the sun above.

Dust was being thrown as the transport descended, causing the journalists to cover their eyes, turning away from the exhaust.

The door to the transport snapped open, revealing four scientists in white lab coasts carrying a large device on their shoulders. They descended the ramp, walking through the gaggle of reporters to the minister and his disciple, completely unaware of what was about to happen.

As they approached, Balgame began to speak. "Ah, gentlemen. It seems our time of greatness is at hand." He leaned down toward a crate next to him on the ground. Opening the lid, it revealed two effervescing shards of metal-- both gold in color and triangular in shape.

He turned to the crowd and addressed them. "Ladies and gentlemen of the press. Yesterday, the parliament of this great nation of Hyrule voted to restore the Golden Power to our realm. This is a symbolic move. Our nation is facing recession. Famine. An energy crisis."

The journalists seized the moment, knowing the minister hadn't mentioned the constitutional crisis-- each making a note of this in their pads and recorders.

Minister Balgame continued. "It is our intent to open the realm, while using this device, created by the finest minds of the Royal Science Academy, to contain the Evil One while we extract the Triforce piece from his body. Without further ado, please stand back and prepare for greatness, for the time is now at hand."

The scientists began pressing buttons on the device. It began whizzing and buzzing; colored lights flickering in and out of sight, showing the device had been activated.

One scientist nodded at the minister signaling it was time to start.

The minister grabbed a piece of the Triforce and handed it to Joxer, then took another shard for himself. They stuck the two pieces over the emblem of the Royal Family and waited.

The two pieces began to glow stronger, radiating their might. The wind picked up, shaking the leaves from the trees and rustling the grass and shrubs around them. The sky darkened and a small, golden rift began to form from between the two statues.

Suddenly, the two Triforce pieces began radiating brighter than before, throwing sparks. In that instance, the rift grew into a large, golden portal, showing the glory of the Golden Land within. It became obvious to the crowd what was happening-- the two shards were calling for the third. The Triforce was attempting to set itself right-- back in three pieces as a whole.

A large green head forced its way from the portal. Then there was a sinister laugh. The Evil One was emerging from the portal, making an attempt to re-enter Hyryle. The journalists collectively caught their breath, knowing what was coming, but praying to the goddesses that machine could contain him.

In that same instant, one of the scientists flipped a final switch on the device, which shot a large beam of light into the portal and directly into the emerging menace.

The Evil One began wailing in pain, gnashing his teeth and shaking violently. A large hole started growing in his chest, getting bigger and bigger. Then there was a tiny fleck of gold protruding from the hole. The piece of Triforce was being forced from his body. Getting larger, it took on its characteristic triangle shape, finally extracting itself in whole, levitating in front of the other two pieces.

Both Joxer and Balgame removed their hands from the pieces they were holding-- the three parts-- Wisdom, Courage and Power-- were floating in front of the gate.

With the Evil One still writing in misery, the device began to grow hot, taking on a red color. As quickly as he'd appeared, he disappeared, followed by the gate to the Sacred Realm closing in a shudder, sending a shockwave through the grove.

Balgame stood underneath the three radiating piece of Triforce, which had regained their positions in a triad shape, floating there in total synergy.

Joxer turned to the crowd of frightened journalists and cried, "Success!"

Everyone began clapping, thankful that the Evil One had been contained and their worst fears had passed. Balgame and the scientists quickly joined in, clapping themselves.

"Lord Balgame!" a reporter cried. "Would you please give a statement?"

Balgame laughed. "I told you so!"

The crowd burst into laughter as pictures were being snapped at a rate so the flash bulbs looked like one solid light.

"In all seriousness," he started. "This is a success for the people of Hyrule. The Golden Power has been restored. Prosperity is at hand."

---

"Huh," Fred scoffed, watching the live newscast from the electronics section at the Super Item Mart with every employee in the store and a crowd of patrons. "They really did it."

The crowd behind him was murmuring.

"Can you believe it?"

"It really was the Evil One!"

"What a happy day for our country."

"I thought he was just a legend!"

"The Golden Power is restored!"

Fred turned around and looked at the employees and scowled. "Ok, we've had just about enough enjoyment for one day. Back to work!"

The employees skulked back to their normal areas within the store, leaving on the patrons to discuss.

Still frustrated, Fred looked to the shoppers and said, "Buy something, will ya! Otherwise, get out. You're loitering."

Women began scoffing at him, flustered with his rudeness. The men in the crowd cursed at Fred under their breaths. The children were still clinging to their mothers asking for toys they certainly didn't need-- oblivious to the massive political event that just took place.

---

The teacher turned off the picto-tube in the classroom of Castle City Integrated High School and said, "This is a great day for our people. We should be happy the Golden Power has been restored. Our troubles are over!"

The classroom was also murmuring, much like the crowd at the Super Item Mart. Link, Zelda, Lola and Mako were carrying on their own conversation on the event. Tetra was sulking in the back corner of the room, still fuming over the events from the night before.

"Mother really should have been there," Zelda commented, befuddled by the obvious absence. "She was totally against the idea-- like when the piece was taken from me (and that sucker hurt coming out, too)-- but would have shown up regardless."

Link shrugged his shoulders in an obvious attempt to respond to Zelda.

"Maybe she got caught up with something?" Mako asked, trying to soothe Zelda's uneasiness about the situation. "She is the queen, and has a million things to do. Maybe she thought the prime minister was capable of handling the crowd... or something?"

Lola didn't even know what to say. She was stunned at not only the queen's absence, but at the event that had just taken place. She didn't believe it was possible.

Making a scene, Tetra stood up from her desk, the force of slamming it so hard with the motion knocked the desk to its side. The classroom instantly got silent and turned to stare at her as she stormed out of the classroom.

---

The news conference was winding down and the scientists were loading the three shards back into the box. Two of them checked the device which forced the Evil One back into the Sacred Realm, turning it off, when Balgame interrupted their actions and said, "Gentlemen, uh, please deliver the device and the crate to the parliament building. I want this stored in the royal vault where it can be protected. The queen should be notified."

Thinking nothing of it, the scientists did as they were asked and radioed to the pilot of the transport there would be a change in destination-- to the parliament building instead of back to the science academy.

---

Later, back at parliament, representative Joxer and Prime Minister Balgame were walking down the stone corridor to a room being guarded by two members of the Royal Guard.

As they reached the door, one of the guards said, "Sirs, all visitors must sign in and out when entering and exiting the treasure vault."

Balgame passed his hand lifelessly in a circular motion and whispered, "Alestas."

With the uttering of that word, the flesh peeled from the bones of the guards, exposing their skeletal system, then erupted into piles of dust, wafting down to the floor.

"Nice," Joxer noted in a casual way, as if seeing two men die didn't phase him at all, and walked into the vault which housed the Royal Family's priceless treasures.

Inside, they saw the device and the box containing the Triforce had been delivered as planned. And next to those two objects was Queen Regina, bound to a chair and gagged, unconscious.

"What are we going to do with her?" Joxer asked.

"We'll let him decide," Balgame said. "It's his kingdom now."

Balgame pressed a switch on the device, which whirred to life, sputtering loudly. The beam from earlier reappeared, materializing a humanoid form inside the vault.

As the beam was recompiling the body, it became obvious it was the Evil King-- Ganondorf-- being put back together.

"Master," Balgame said as the machine finished its job.

Ganondorf laughed in a foreboding voice. "Ahh, Agahnim. How long has it been?"