Well, Happy Zelda Pride Day!
I wasn't gonna submit this till next week, but... Zelda Pride Day :D
10/17/13
10/21/13 updated

Link felt scared for a moment and slowly looked up to meet the homeless Goron's eyes. The fear melted away when Link saw friendly eyes and a sly grin, just as the Goron spoke "Hi! My name's Link. You homeless, kid?" Link looked around and noticed many derelict Hyruleans approaching the park one by one from all directions and noticed the smell of hotdogs coming from under the bridge behind him. He shook his head to answer the Goron and looked behind him, where he saw a line forming from under the bridge.

The Goron beamed, happy to help anyone down on their luck, even if Link wasn't homeless, and saw an opportunity to explain the situation to someone who wasn't up to date. "Ah, the homeless feed. great people, they come out here every evening and cook up some cheap grub for those of us who have no money. They even accept original rupees as exchange, not just that fake paper stuff they have now, with the pictures of the royal family on them and stuff." Link fetched a 5r bill from his pocket, sporting an elegant Princess Zelda on the front. "Yeah... They don't care about that stuff. no real value for what they do, feeding people. They don't reject it, im sure they buy more food with it, but they don't seem to want any money." The Goron explained. He sat beside Link with a thud. "You've been sitting here a long time, got anywhere to go? You're sure to be hungry! ... Tell ya what, I'll give you the rundown on how Downtown Hyrule works... ... If you bring us back a couple hotdogs each?" Link smiled and got up, getting in Line.

It was a long wait, for so many people had shown up. Link had no idea that so many people in Hyrule were homeless or drifters. Fascinated by the hospitality of the group serving food, Link was eager to see them. Only a few people left in front of him before he could make out their faces, a familiar looking young Hylian girl about his own age and an older woman, who looked Hylian as well, were busy going back and forth between a van with supplies and the tables they had brought along to set up a small propane stove and put out buns and condiments. Link slopped mustard, relish, ketchup, onions, and chopped peppers into four buns while the person ahead was receiving hotdogs from the Hylian woman. When he was next, the Hylian woman exchanged places with the younger girl who was coming back from the van with more hotdogs to put into the boiling pot. She was incredibly pretty, Link felt. He forgot he was in line for food for a moment and did not understand what she meant when she asked, "Four?" He blinked a couple times "You look like you must be really hungry! better make it five!" She was so kind, and put a fifth bun on his plate, filling all 5 of them with hotdogs. She smiled at him, even with her eyes, and Link felt so strong in that moment. He beamed at her, smiling back with his eyes too, before getting bumped ahead by the line behind him.

The Goron Link was waiting patiently and watching The Hylian Link the whole time, as he just noticed while carrying the 'dogs back to the bench. "Ooh! Extras from Zelda, huh? I done saw that! Lucky kid, you are! She must like you!" He teased, Link blushed and grabbed a hotdog. Goron Link left it at that and fulfilled his end of the deal, "Alright, kid. homeless or not, you got a lot to figure out if yer gonna hang out Downtown for long times like this. Lucky i'm here protecting this here park! Else the Purple Brawlers might see fit to make an example of ya and kick you around. They consider the industrial bloc by the river to be their turf, and have moved into the commercial buildings across the street, recently. If nothing else, that church right across from us will be safe for you. No one goes in those places anymore unless they still believe in the Three Golden Goddesses. Doesn't matter what you believe though, the place is still protected from on high. No brawlers, Mafia, Thieves, Racers, or Moblins ever go in there if they are not innocent, themselves." He ate one hotdog, in one bite. "mmf, not bad for being rock-free..." he mumbled to himself. "So, first thing's first, kid: Stay well away from the Purple ones with those fancy B's emblazoned on their colors. They are working with the Mafia, those ones wearing those awful yellow tuxedos. You might want to keep your distance from them too, but they wont even notice you unless they think you are in possession of something of value to them. I heard a rumor that they own Hyrule from the underground, manipulate the Moblins and other monsters and that's how they booted the thieves out of northern Hyruletropolis... But anyone who knows the stories, knows that they would have to belong to Ganon for that to be true! Ha! haha!" he laughed at the notion that Ganon would use anything but his own monsters, and ate his second hotdog in one bite like the first. Link was barely half way done with his first.

"Well! That's that, I guess. Unless..." Goron Link licked his lips and grabbed his tiny belly - so small for a Goron! "You gonna eat that?" he asked about the fifth hotdog. Link held up the plate and offered both hotdogs to the Goron, who took it as payment for more advice.
"Then you need all the information you can get, huh? Guess the next thing you want to watch out for is the Racers. They race against the mafia, who have a few guys in yellow jumpsuits. It's kind of a big deal at the stadium to see them compete, but that's only the side you're 'supposed to' see. What goes down on the streets is much more dangerous and full of violence. Street races is how the mafia picks the winners and losers. All betting at the track is fixed from the start. The mafia doesn't care about the racers' turf, just the drivers; the ones skilled and stupid enough to get involved at the track in the stadium. The Cyan Racers, on the other hand, are as mean and tough as the Brawlers. Both sides fight for territory. Like i said, the Brawlers recently took some commercial turf near here. Was Cyan territory last week. Might be Cyan again next week." He ate both hotdogs in one bite. The food didn't seem to be worth his time, like gulping down air. He looked miserable, disappointed by the food instead of fulfilled by it. Link remembered the rupees he'd put in his satchel with the bottle and pulled out the large purple one. The Goron's eyes widened as if he'd just witnessed a miracle. "REAL FOOD!" he shouted. "It's no Rock Sirloin, just candy, but I'll tell you anything you want to know if you can keep 'em comin'!" Goron Link hopped up and stomped a happy dance, shaking the ground beneath him, then held out his hands expectantly. Link handed over the rupee, and watched, incredulous, as the Goron ate it. As if grinding it into a thousand pieces. Smaller rupee shards sprinkled off. a blue rupee and several small green rupee shards. "YA-HOO!" He shouted triumphantly, "First real food in a week! No one has brought in any rupees for a long time! Used to be, once in a while, folk would give Zelda and Impa some rupees for their service, and they would turn around and feed 'em to me! A Goron cant survive off of the same food everyone else can! Which is also why you'll never see a Zora down here at the feed. I stick around 'cuz i keep the violence out. I might be starving, but no one but a Goron can beat me! So as long as I'm here, the homeless feed goes on as scheduled, the Brawlers and Racers leave everyone alone, and since no money is exchanged, the Mafia never cared to begin with. ... And cuz you fed me a wallop of rock candy today, I'll start you off with a great tip. The Thieves in black, and sometimes leather jackets, are homeless just like the rest of us. I told you about the mafia kicking them out of their old turf, right? Guess they had something valuable? Beats me, but they are not as bad as they look. Rumor has it they are working with the Gerudo clan, out in the desert. One of 'em, looks like a ninja, comes around here once in a while, but never talks; stays as out of sight as possible, and leaves as invisibly as they come. Seen 'em see me seein' 'em once, and they disappeared into the traffic. Guess they don't like bein' seen! Ninjas... But i seen this one doin' trade with other thieves, so they must be the same team, huh?"

Goron Link rubbed his belly some more and smacked his lips. "I don't suppose you know where you can get more of those? I don't care for the green ones, you can keep the crumbs if you want." He said, picking up the blue "crumb" that fell off his purple meal. "The Moblin police make sure to remove any and all shrubs and stray rocks from the city, leaving me with nothing to scavenge for..." and he chomped the blue rupee. "It'f wheirfd." he said, with his mouth full. "I don't understand why they'd started doing that, because now I might have to leave and go live in the desert! Getting rid of me can't be the sole purpose of their intent!"
Link pulled out the rest of the rupees and handed them over, smiling. Goron Link stomped about and praised, then gobbled them right up, leaving no "crumbs". Link picked up the three green rupee crumbs left on the ground, nodded in departure, and slowly walked home, taking in the environment; keeping watch on the activities around him, eyes open for the first time.

Chapter VI: Mixed Memories

Things are getting interesting, but I'm not convinced it's all that.
And whats up with these weird chapter segments?
Is there some sort of pattern?

When Link got home some time past 10:00 that night, his mother was waiting at the kitchen table, worried sick. He'd opened the door and tossed his satchel beside it and his mother was in a joyous panic, "Oh, Link! You're home! I was so worried about you! Where have you been all day? I got a call from Cremia saying you'd been a big help at the ranch, but that was all I've heard from you since! That was twelve hours ago!" She ran up and squeezed a worried motherly embrace around Link, then sighed with both relief and regret. "You're growing up fast... Too fast for mom to keep up with you anymore... I guess it's time you got some more freedom, huh?" She said with a heavy heart. "Your allowance isn't going to be enough for you anymore, and I thought of you when I saw this Olde Hyrulean style wallet. I was so worried about you, but I thought it through. I think the wallet helped me come to the conclusion that you're going to be a man some day." She continued, speaking more for herself than for Link. "I think you'll be better able to learn about growing up with a bigger wallet..." She said handing it over to him. "It's not much, but I'd feel better knowing you had something to stay in touch with your 'mommie'..." Inside it was a GameBoy. Link stared at it for a while. "You can only call home right now, but if you bring it to me later, I'll add your friends' numbers, but you need to only use it in emergencies. Okay?" Link stared at it a moment longer before nodding in affirmation.

At the dinner table, a cold plate of pasta sat where Link would have sat that evening. "You can still warm it up, it will still be good, I had it covered when you didn't show up for dinner." His mother said, ascending the stairs. "I'm going to bed, and so are you, as soon as you finish eating, washing up and changing into your jammies." Link smiled and rolled his eyes- both sarcastically amused, and genuinely happy. Plus, the pasta was great, and just exactly what he needed.

The next morning, Link was abruptly awoken by a familiar tune coming from an unfamiliar location. He fumbled around his desk and found the new phone. It was ringing at 6:00 AM. He opened it up and put it to his ear, but nothing happened. It made another sound, not a tune this time, right in his ear. he studied it a moment and saw, on the tiny GameBoy screen, "1 new text". so he fiddled with it and found the text. it read:

"I forgot to explain it better: You cant actually make any calls except emergency calls - you can text me, and when i add your friends' numbers, you can text them too. but phone calls are limited to emergency services only. - going to the store, we're out of eggs and batter. be back soon!

~mom"

Link groaned and rolled over back into bed. Lay still for a moment, groaned some more, and lazily swept his feet over the edge of the bed and slouched. He rubbed his forehead and groaned again as he began stretching his arms out behind him and leaning from one side to the other and groaning, protesting his hope-dashed awakening; having hoped he could have slept in. Hopping out of bed, he reached for his toes and then arced his back and fell against the bed. He lay awkwardly leaning against the side of his bed a moment before shoving the new phone into his pocket and heading down the stairs.
There was still cereal and milk in the cupboards, so Link made himself a breakfast, taking his time to enjoy it, finishing his food shortly before his mom had returned with groceries. While mom put away some fruit and bread, Link helped put the eggs and batter away, and his mom noted the cereal was still out, "Since you've already eaten, no eggs and waffles for you! Put the cereal away, hon." As Link grabbed the cereal, a Moblin siren could be heard approaching, and a squad car coming from downtown sped past the neighborhood, lights flashing. Link stared out the window, his mother wrenched her hands together, worried. "I might know I have to let you go, but a mother never stops worrying for her children, Link." She approached from behind, "Promise me that even though I'm going to let you make your own decisions... Promise you'll stay safe. Promise you'll let me know you're alright every night. Send a text with your new GameBoy at least once a night." They hugged a long time before Link left the house.

Link was walking north, headed for downtown, several blocks from home, maybe a quarter of a mile. An elderly woman sat, hunched over with a torn blanket acting as a shawl over her back, on the curb at a busy intersection. As Link got close, he could see she was holding torn cardboard with bold black letters "Need Food, Anything Helps" Link placed a hand in his pocket and grabbed some money, but hesitated. He recalled what the Goron had said about it not having "real value". He hesitantly pulled out roughly 13r in paper money and held it out to the old woman. She snorted and coughed, but said nothing, taking the money. He could see she was much older than he had thought, as if as old as time itself. Link awkwardly opened his new wallet and looked inside. The old woman abruptly belted "So what! ...Don't care about ME at all; do ya!" She was glaring. Link withdrew the 3 green rupees with a certain tint of melancholy, and the woman's expression changed, softened. She watched the rupees intently, her eyes widening as Link handed them to her; as if she'd been given mana from heaven. She smiled a toothless grin and put the rupees away in the folds of her clothes, happily cocking her head side to side, as if retracting her previous venom and forgiving herself. "I spoke to soon!" she giggled in her raspy voice. "Today you will have Okay Luck. Watch out for your friends!" She spoke cryptically. Link tried to ignore it, but felt good for helping the old woman out.
Downtown, the skate park was empty this early in the morning, but beginning to attract attention. The patrolling Goron was asleep under the bridge, traffic was only beginning to pick up in the streets, and Link could see his friend, Krystal, walking high above him, across the main bridge and on her way down to the main street. Link bolted. He hurried up to the intersection to meet her. She saw him and her eyes widened with her smile, "Link!" she called out as she dashed toward him.
They met up at the intersection and Krystal excitedly spoke while link caught his breath, "What are you doing way out here so early? I don't think I've ever seen you downtown like this before!" Link grabbed his GameBoy and opened it up to show her the text he'd gotten for a wake up call. "Oh wow! You finally have a phone too! You have to text me! Here's my number-" she showed Link how to save her number and abruptly noted the message about input lock, "Oh, looks like you cant just text me, gotta confirm it first... and its passworded, so I cant do that for you... I'll write mine down." She smiled. Abruptly after she exchanged her note she blurted out, "Hey! Come to the shop with me! Someone dropped off the coolest thing I've ever seen! Just last week! You'll want to check it out before someone buys it any day now!"

Link accompanied his friend to The Trading Post, a store her mother owned in the mall, and Krystal ran and managed when her mother wasn't there. Which typically accounted for morning opening time and generally helping with everything after school got out - and during the summer, there were days when Krystal did the job alone, from opening till closing. They had first met there as small children, before Krystal was old enough to help out around the shop, when Link's mother had brought him in to pick his own birthday gift. He'd chosen a small tan ocarina, but had to fight with Krystal for it because she felt it rightfully belonged to her. In the end, she agreed he could have it and "gave it" to him, as a token of their establishing a new friendship, and they had shared it ever since...
When they arrived, Krystal held up a finger, asking for a moment, and ran through all the opening duties. She unlocked and turned open the mall gate barring the store, flipped on the light switches, checked the register and safe, did a quick bank inventory, and, finally, sat behind the register, smiling at Link. "This is going to blow your mind. I want you to buy it... if you can. I've been holding on to it all week, no one's checked it twice but I cant just give it to you, ya know. But... This one is pretty amazing." She said, pulling out a large glass heart. "Some old lady brought it in here, asking for a silver rupee! Can you believe that? I thought she meant cash, but she looked at me funny, trying to explain what a rupee was! I tried not to laugh at her, and then I had to explain that we don't deal in rupees and the best I could do was money. She seemed real angry, but was happy to take the 100r I offered..." she trailed off intentionally, "Which... is why I can't just give it to you, It's hard to keep the shop open these days, and as much as I want you to have it, I cant keep it on hold for free. Not that you knew till now... but... If you want it, you'll have to either buy it, or pay the holding fee, 10r per day. The lady said it was called a 'Heart Container', and was worth more than she was asking, which seems funny since she was so happy to take the money, regardless." Link frowned and thought hard. He still had almost enough to buy it from his allowance, but was short by about 20r. He pulled out his cash and counted it. Krystal smiled huge "I'll let you pay it off! that is plenty!" She said, grabbing it out of his hands, mid count, on the spot, without shame. He recoiled offensively, but did nothing. "I'll just pull up a tab for you. I know you're trustworthy, so i wont push you for it either." She winked, as she filled out some papers and handed over the Heart Container. Link held it up and looked inside the glass. The red heart inside glowed gently, and in the center, he could make out the symbol of the Triforce etched into the red material behind the glass.

Link was focused on studying the pattern of the Triforce and noticed one triangle begin to glow softly, turning gold. Krystal saw the dim light and started to ask what it was when it flashed bright and caught her question in her throat. The Triforce inside had grown to the full size of the red inner heart, and in the empty center displayed visions of one of Link's past adventures; a young girl with cropped green hair sat on a tree stump, playing a wooden ocarina, looked up and met Link's eyes. She smiled and waved, and the Heart Container disappeared. Krystal didn't see anything except a flash, a strong glow, and- then nothing! The whole thing disappeared entirely! "Wh-hhaht?!" She was staring wide eyed. She couldn't move or speak, that was all she had left. Link was not far from her state of shock. Had he not woven words with Gerudian witches in the woods, nor awakened to dirtier dealings downtown and discussed the details with a derelict Goron, he'd have been completely freaked out by this too. So Link found some stability with one hand, oblivious yet calm, and leaned against the counter Krystal sat at with the cash register. He just stared out into space, as if some fixed point light years away had his undivided attention.