Note: The Legend of Zelda belongs to Nintendo. Shadow Echo and Emerald Moon belong to me. The one thing about this story that tickles me is that practically none of the rough draft so far has made it into the final product, unlike The Starlight Legacy: Colosseum, which keeps the rough draft intact with some edges smoothed out. As always, enjoy.
Chapter 3: The Chase.
'Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh.... Coming inside not a good idea!' thought Emerald, as an absolutely huge spider crawled closer to her. She recognized it as a Skull-spider from the fairytale books. But not once did she think she would see one, especially in her home.
'So I ran for thirty minutes just so a spider could eat me in my own home? No thank you!' The Skull-spider had cornered her, but that didn't stop her. She jumped on top of it, making sure she stomped on it real hard, then ran out the ripped open door. Emerald looked back at the wrecked house sadly. Though she tried, she couldn't find her parents in there.
Pushing all thoughts of them into the back of her head, she ran to the torn-up shed and opened the huge wooden door, praying the loud creaking noise wouldn't give her away. The bow and arrow-filled quiver her parents gave her -for whatever reason- was still there. She immediately grabbed it and ran out of the shed. Now she had some form of defense.
Running down the street to Shadow's home, Emerald saw said boy on top of a dark brown horse jump over the fence, with his dad's old sword in his right hand and his shield resting on his back. A Black Rider ( or rather its horse) jumped over the fence after him. Shadow saw his friend on the sidewalk and sheathed his sword.
He made his horse Paul run by Emerald, then he grabbed her wrist, and swung her -screaming no less- behind him and on top of Paul. "Shadow, you show-off!" Emerald screeched as Paul started running even faster. "What, all I did was help you!"
"Right...."
"Em, now is a horrible time to play with me. Did you get the map?"
"Yeah, I got it."
"Find Hyrule City, please. I can't read the map and drive Paul at the same time."
"Let's see... It's eight-teen miles from here..."
"Oh great... Paul's not trained for that long of a ride...."
"Do you have any carrots?"
"Like I really would go inside a Skull-spider infested house just to get carrots."
"Okay, that idea's shot.... Um, to get Hyrule City, we get on Victory Road, take a left at the light..."
Emerald stopped telling Shadow the directions when he suddenly screamed, "Paul, WHOA!" Paul immediately stopped as a Black Rider jumped in front of them. Emerald put the map between her legs and pulled out her bow and an arrow. Paul started running from the Black Rider at an incredible speed.
Emerald slightly turned her body around to face the Rider, who slowly but surely was catching up. Pulling the arrow back on the bow's string, Emerald closed her left eye and aimed for the Rider with her right. The Rider pulled out a dagger and prepared to throw it. That's when Emerald released the arrow, striking the Rider in its chest, causing it to fall off its horse and tumble on the hard concrete.
"One Black Rider down, who knows how many more to go..." Emerald muttered as they got onto Victory Road. Emerald got another arrow ready, in case more Riders appeared. Paul ran a red light ( not that anyone was coming) and made a sharp turn to the left. "Good boy!" Shadow complimented, "Okay Emerald, what do we next? I couldn't hear you very clearly."
Emerald stuck the arrow back in her quiver and gripped the bow with her arm, then got the map and looked at it. "Um, exit Kokiri Town through Maple Road and get on the the uh, really big road? I honestly don't think you can miss it. It'll be the only road when you get off Maple. I hate today's maps, the maps Link used in the stories were so much simpler then these."
In about ten minutes they made it onto Maple Road. A Rider was coming at them from in front. Shadow unsheathed his sword and held it to the far right, slicing the Rider's chest before it could counter. After it fell, three more Riders appeared, among all the empty cars. Shadow sheathed his sword and got a better grip on the reins.
Emerald got her bow and arrow ready as Shadow had Paul run out of the town and into Kokiri Forest, near the 'really big road' Emerald mentioned. "Shadow, what are you doing?" Emerald asked. "I think it's better to run in a more concealed place since the Black Riders have weapons they can throw." Emerald didn't say anything else, she just continued watching for Riders.
The three Riders started gaining the upper-hand, as Emerald's arrows kept going into trees. She was pretty mad at Shadow for taking them into the forest. One Rider got right beside them. Emerald whacked it with her bow and stabbed it with an arrow. And to top it off, she pushed it off its horse. The rider-less horse then ran off into the woods.
Paul then jumped down a steep hill and stopped at a frozen river, beside the ice-covered bridge. Shadow whispered something into the horse's ear and he began walking across the river, one careful step after another. Movement could be felt under the thick ice. Paul wanted to turn back, but Shadow urged him on.
Ice cracked and flew upwards in a splash, as a strange creature smashed through it, cutting off Paul. "Is that a River Zora?" Emerald asked, remembering the hostile Zoras in the stories. The creature charged a ball of fire in her mouth and Shadow slapped Paul to get him to move out of the way.
The fireball hit and melted the ice, causing Paul to slip and slide backwards as the ice he stepped on sank under his and his riders' weight. "Go Paul! GO!" Shadow cried, as his horse struggled to keep from sinking.
The Zora swam towards Paul, grabbed him, and started to drag him -riders and all- into the freezing water. Emerald grabbed an arrow and started stabbing the Zora with it, but she wouldn't let go of Paul. Shadow unsheathed his sword as they sank deeper and sliced at the Zora's head with it. She let go and sank into the water.
Paul jumped out of the water landing on more ice. He continued running and jumping until he finally made it across. Shadow and Emerald then heard huge splashes behind them and knew it was the Black Riders. Emerald growled. She only had five arrows left and there were at least ten Riders.
Paul whined but continued running. The Riders' horses scared him. He jumped over a log, surprised Shadow and Emerald could hold on. The Riders were getting closer. 'Maybe if I hit one that's close to a couple others I can take more of them out?' Emerald thought.
Emerald shot an arrow at one Rider's horse. The horse stumbled, tripping other Riders as it fell. One Rider, who was carrying an ax, accidentally sliced a tree down as its horse stumbled, and the tree landed on four Riders. Emerald was surprised at the amount of chaos she just caused. The remaining six Riders recovered and continued pursuit.
Emerald fired another arrow, hoping to cause another disaster. The horse stumbled into another and they both fell over a nearby cliff, riders and all. The last four decided to split up. Emerald fired an arrow at one, but missed.
One Rider fired an arrow at Shadow, but thankfully missed as well. Shadow was completely unaware. Since the Rider was close enough, Emerald shot it with an arrow, taking it down. She only had one arrow left, and there were three Riders left. She had to fire the arrow at the right time. She found none.
What happens next is kinda dull, they mostly just ran. They had gone seventeen miles and Paul was about to collapse. "Keep going. We're almost there." Shadow pleaded. Emerald fired the last arrow, hoping and praying she did it at the right time. She didn't and all three Riders were still there.
A Rider fired a purple at Shadow, hitting him in his neck. Shadow jolted and quickly pulled it out. He starting feeling a tad dizzy, but he shrugged it off. The Rider fired another dart, this one hitting Emerald in her shoulder. "Ah!" she cried, pulling it out. Fogginess filled her head, and she struggled to keep her eyes open.
The dark sky started brightening as Paul ran the last the mile. Finally, the dark clouds no longer covered them and stars were shining down on them. The Riders no longer pursued them. Emerald looked behind her and saw they were standing at the edge of the dark clouds' reach. Shadow looked in front of him and saw Hyrule City.
"You made it. Kudos to you."
Shadow and Emerald ignored the voice, but rather had Paul run through the gate and into Hyrule City. People who were still out and about were surprised to see two teens riding a horse through the street.
"Hyrule Castle is this way... Follow the fairy."
Suddenly a ball of purple light appeared and started flying in the direction of Hyrule Castle. Shadow had Paul follow. Some people noticed this. "Are those kids chasing lightning bugs?" they all said.
The fairy led them into the garden maze. "Keep up with me if you can!" she giggled, taking a sharp left turn by the fountain. Then she zipped to right, heading into a path with walls of flowers. She took a left, another left, a right, another left, another right, Shadow and Emerald were having trouble keeping track of where she was going.
She led to a them a pond area, flying in a straight line, finally taking them to the castle. She giggled and disappeared. A castle guard approached Shadow and Emerald. "What are you kids doing here?" he demanded. Shadow and Emerald couldn't answer, a strange force overcame them and they fainted, falling off Paul. Happy that his burdens were off, Paul went to sleep.
Note: There's Chapter 3. This was hard for me to write. Chases aren't easy to incorporate into writing, at least for me anyway. Feel free to review. BTW, Shadow couldn't find his parents either, sadly. I couldn't find a place to say that in the story, though. To da loo... ( falls asleep at computer).... Wake me up tomorrow so I can update........zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.................
