"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" The three spiraled over the ocean, hanging on to each other. "MOMMY!" Eddy whimpered as he peeled away from the group and crashed into the water. "EDDY!" Ed shouted letting go to help his friend. Double d flew end over end before landing hard on the water.
The last thing he remembered was the red boat with a lion figurehead pulling up beside him, and being pulled onto the small craft. "M-my friends . . ." He stuttered, coughing up water, "You must find my friends . . ."
"Don't worry, I will do this." A voice answered. Funny, it almost seemed that the figurehead said it. But that's crazy! He thought how could a boat talk? I must be dreaming or hallucinating, I just need some sleep . . .
"Ed, Eddy," a gruff mysterious voice called "Wake up!"
"Five more minutes, mommie!" Ed responded sleepily opening his eyes for a moment to see sunlight and promptly closing them.
"PULL YOURSELVES TOGETHER, BOYS!"
"Huh," Eddy replied as he, Double d and Ed awoke and detangled themselves from each other. They were on the deck of a small boat resting in a cove, the same one Double d remembered from his dream. "Well, have you three come to your senses?" the mysterious voice asked.
"Wha- who said that?" Eddy asked, looking every direction.
"It is the spirit of the cove!" Ed speculated in terror.
"Oh, hush now Ed!" Double d reassured him "hello, is anyone there?"
"You're surprisingly dull-witted," answered . . . the Boat? Sure enough the figurehead turned around and looked at the three stunned boys with patient eyes. "AH!" Eddy responded by falling flat on his back "Have mercy!" he desperately called. The boat laughed at this, "Did I startle you Eddy?" it responded
"How did you know our names?" Double d questioned as he eyed the boat curiously, "And, how precisely are you talking?"
"I have followed you from the forsaken fortress, my name is the king of red lions, do not fear, I am not your enemy."
Eddy got back up and tried to act nonchalant "so yeah, thanks for saving us, and stuff." He mumbled.
"Naturally, I wish to help!"
"Oh, can you help me save my sister?" Ed asked enthusiastically.
"Indeed, yet such a bold attempt was fool-hardy!"
"Sheesh, at least we tried . . ." Eddy grumbled.
"I suppose you saw him" the king of red lions continued "the man with an aura as dark as a shadow commanding that bird?"
"Come to think of it," Double d remembered, "I do remember seeing a man like that before we were tossed."
"His name is . . . Gannon . . ."
"What's so special about this 'GANNON' guy?" Eddy asked doubtfully.
"I'm glad you asked," the king of red lions began to explain, "he was the one who obtained the power of the gods and attempted to cover the land in darkness, but he was ultimately sealed away by the very power he hoped to command. He was the emperor of darkness from the ancient legend."
"But wait, if what you say is true, why has he escaped?" Double d asked.
"This I do not know, but what is apparent is the world is now threatened by his dark presence yet again."
"This is worse than I thought . . ." Double d whispered.
"Tell me Ed, do you still wish to save your sister from him?" the boat asked.
"I must save Sarah! If I don't, Jimmy will tell mom and mom will-"
"Ed, SHUT UP!" Eddy begged covering Ed's still mumbling mouth.
"And will you do anything to save her?"
Ed nodded, still in Eddy's grasp.
"Very well, then. And what of you two?" he addressed Double d and Eddy.
"As a friend I gave my word that I would help save Sarah, and nothing would make me break that promise!" Double d promised. The three turned to Eddy, who shot back a half-guilty look, "Well, what the heck? I've gotta bone to pick with that overgrown seagull anyhow!" he responded
"I love seagulls, guys!" Ed remarked with honesty.
"I see," The king of red lions responded, "in that case I shall guide you three as we go forward, advising you on what you should do and where you must go."
"Like a mentor?" Double d asked, remembering Sturgeon.
"Yes, essentially. Like a mentor. Gannon cannot be defeated by human hands, let alone the hands of three young boys like you."
"Great, just one more person who thinks we're losers!" Eddy ranted.
"I didn't say that, what I mean to say is that you must go through much toil and hardship before you can wield the power to defeat Gannon."
"Well then, the sooner we get going, the sooner we pummel this creep!" Eddy suggested.
"But before the journey of a thousand miles, one must take the first step."
"And the first step is?" Double d asked
"Well . . . this is rather embarrassing, I possess no sail." The boat answered sheepishly staring at the water.
"YOU DON"T HAVE A SAIL?" Eddy gaped, "Now what?"
"However, I was able to bring you east of the Forsaken Fortress's evil gaze. This is a town of merchants who deal in a wide variety of goods-"
"Wait a sec," Eddy interrupted, "Where are we anyhow?"
"You may have heard of this island, it's called Windfall."
"YOU'RE KIDDING!" Eddy leapt from the boat and breathed in heavily, taking in the scent of the island
"Double d is he quite alright?" the boat asked as Eddy quivered in anticipation. "He's fine. He has a nose for money, says it runs in his family." Just then Eddy leapt into the air and grabbed his age-old partners in crime, pulling them onto shore, "C'mon boys, Its RUPEE TIME!"
"But Eddy, remember the sail!" Double d reminded him, while Ed laughed foolishly.
At first Eddy dragged his friends across the lush green island and into the strange new village, but eventually Eddy took the lead in searching for money and within seconds he was gone. The other two Eds searched high and low looking for a sail, but for a while their efforts seemed useless. "L-let's rest a moment, Ed" Double d collapsed in front of a near barren stall, where a short man in a parka stood diligently. "Might I help you two?" The man asked kindly. "Why yes, Mr. . . .uh?" Double d floundered,
"Zunari, they call me Zunari." The man replied
"We need to purchase a sail, would you happen to know where-"
"Oh, that! I have that!" The shopkeeper answered, "I'll gladly sell it to you for, say, 80 rupees?"
Double d fished through his pockets, only to remember Eddy took his wallet. "Ed, do you have any money?" he sheepishly asked. "Gotcha' Double d!" Ed responded, pulling out perhaps the dirtiest rupee in existence. It was dripping with gravy, and pocket lint clung to its usually shining surface. Double d, a known germophobe, turned yellow at the sight of it; regardless Zunari polished the goo and debris off with his sleeve. It turned out to be a purple rupee, only worth fifty rupees, "Hm, thirty more should cover it." Just then Eddy arrived, Double d's wallet full to the brim with rupees. "Look fellas, I was right! This island is LOADED!" He cheered. Before Eddy could object, Double d reached in and took out thirty rupees to pay the full amount. "Thank-you!" Zunari looked truly humble, "Now I can afford to open my own store, you boys are life-savers!"
"T' weren't nothing!" Ed responded as Eddy gathered up the sail and the three left.
"Well, since it sounds like a hard journey is ahead of us, I suppose we should take our time in restocking supplies and such," Double d reasoned as the three stood in the middle of what appeared to be the town square, "We'll meet back here in an hour, agreed?"
"I can do that, Double d!" Ed answered, and raced off in his unique running style.
"And I'm off to get some jawbreakers!" Eddy announced as he left for the café over Zunari's shop. Jawbreakers had been a coveted treat on Outset; very few kids could afford them. But those who were friends with Kevin got them for free. This meant the Eds had almost never gotten a chance to eat one, and Eddy in particular adored them. Gladly would he saw off his own arm or leave his friends in danger for the sake of these sugary orbs. Sweet dreams were made of these . . . but reality has a way of souring dreams. He entered the café and scanned the room for a jar, the kind that would hold jawbreakers, when he saw a sight that almost stopped his heart. Sitting at the nearest possible were a pair of children his age. One was a blonde girl with short hair and good fashion sense. The other was a big-chinned boy with a red baseball cap. "KEVIN?" Eddy Gaped as the other boy recognized him "Eddy?" the other boy looked just as surprised for a moment before their age-old rivalry flared up yet again.
"SHOVEL CHIN!" Eddy accused, Kevin glared at him.
"DORK!"
Double d, unaware of Eddy's discovery, sat near the docks of Windfall with Sturgeon's journal on his lap. Now let's see, where does this begin? He opened the book and flipped past the table of contents to find the legend of the hero, in such detail not many had known. It spoke of Gorons, mysterious men made of rock, and Zoras, mermaids of sorts. It spoke of a land, beyond imagination to many on the great sea, from fiery death mountain, to the vast Gerudo desert, to dense Kokiri forest, and every inch of field and all the knolls in between. At first it was hard for a boy used to endless sea to comprehend such a place. But after the ancient legend had been retold in such grand detail, the book continued on to explain the story of Orca and Sturgeon, how they traveled the sea and how Sturgeon learned all that the first chapter explained from wandering merchants and exploration. Though his chapters were short, they were full of adventure and ended right where the story began, on Outset. For a long while, (Double d lost track of time while writing) he filled the next available pages with his own story, sparing not even the slightest detail. He had just finished describing the Helmroc king tossing the Eds across the ocean when the strangest possible thing happened.
"Tingle, Tingle! Kaloo-LIMPAH!" Cried the weirdest little man imaginable. If Niko merely looked like a rat, then this man WAS a rat, with a goatee. He wore a green one-piece suit that covered him from the top of his head to his small feet with red underwear . . . on the outside, and Around his neck hung a pocket watch, stuck at four o' clock. He ran down the docks with several men chasing him down it, shouting to Double d "STOP THAT MANIAC!" at first all he could do is stare at the odd spectacle, but by the time he decided stopping him would be helpful, it was too late. He had blown up a balloon to about his size, and giving the laws of physics the proverbial middle finger, he flew away on it.
"Dangit! He got away." The apparent leader said. He was dressed in yellow and had the longest beard Double d had ever seen. "Um, excuse me," he squeaked, "But who on earth was that?"
"They call him Tingle." The second man in the group announced, who looked about as poor and downtrodden as they come.
"He's a dirty thief!" the leader noted, "He stole my latest Picto box model."
"One thing I abhor is theft." The third man, who looked very rich, announced, "Plus, he's really, REALLY annoying!"
"That sounds terrible!" Double d agreed, "I thoroughly trust the authorities to catch him."
"They did." The poor man answered, "Some idiot must've freed him!" the word 'idiot' made Double d wince, he spoke up "Let's say I knew said idiot, what would you do to him,"
The pictograph-lover answered, "May the gods have mercy on him . . ."
Oh my, "well, I really should, um, find my friend. Then maybe we can help!" Double d responded.
Ed? What on earth have you gotten yourself into?"
The two enemies stared each other down intensely until the girl broke the death stare, "EDDY?" she stared in disbelief, the two boys stared back, each in their own form of shock, "Nazz?"
"Dude, it's been, like forever!" Nazz pulled Eddy into a simple hug, the kind you give your little brother if you haven't seen him in a while.
"So spill! What's happened on Outset since we left?"
"Well, for starters, Johnny's gone." Eddy started explaining, "Double d and Ed are here with me, and pretty much everyone else but Sarah are safe on Outset."
"What's up with Ed's sis?" Kevin asked, a little angry at the attention Eddy was getting from Nazz.
"Your never gonna believe this, yesterday this huge bird swooped outta the sky and kidnapped her!"
"NO WAY! That's terrible!" Nazz exclaimed
"Pathetic," Kevin grumbled, not believing one word of Eddy's story.
"Way, but we're on a daring quest to save her from the jaws of evil!"
"BALONEY!" Kevin interrupted, this time loud enough for Nazz and Eddy to hear him.
"Kevin!?!" Nazz interjected in disbelief.
"Oh, come on Nazz! He's still the lying twerp I remember from when we left." The word 'we' stung at Eddy. Deep down he knew, even though he'd never admitted it to himself: Nazz was, and always will be, Kevin's girl. And everyone else on the island now knew that too, knew it or denied it. Sure, Nazz had been deceivingly kind to all of them, but they day she left proved it, none of them were worthy of the greatness that was she. Not Eddy, not Double d, nor Johnny, and certainly not Ed! She'd left with Kevin, and that was that. Though it appeared Ed, and to some extent Johnny (he'd never been normal in the first place.) had healed, Eddy and Double d both privately thought about this pain often. Though it hurt to think about being left behind in favor of his mortal enemy, he would never let Kevin accuse him of lying the one time he'd told the truth, "I'M NOT LYING!"
"Give it up, Dorky! Sarah's probably fine, and I bet seventy rupees those other dorks are all back on Outse-" Suddenly the door to the café burst open and Double d raced over to where Eddy was standing "Eddy, come quickly, Ed's in trouble!" Eddy didn't hear this, he read Kevin's face: shock.
"HA! Told Ya I wasn't lying!"
"No time!" Double d interjected, "C'mon!"
"Wait a sec, Kevin owes me money!" Nazz and Kevin were left to their empty table. "Why didn't you believe Eddy?" Nazz questioned him harshly.
"A c'mon, Nazz!" he defended himself, "You remember how those dorks used to scam rupees clean off us, and in my opinion dorks don't change."
"And you don't either!" Nazz retorted as she lead Kevin out to help Ed.
The two boys, followed by Nazz and Kevin, followed Ed's telltale trail of gravy to a door on the far side of town. Inside, the three men from before were standing on the other side of a wooden cell, glaring down at something. And as they got closer, sure enough, it was Ed. . . At least, it was his lower half.
"Goodness, gracious, ED!" Double d kneeled beside his trapped friend.
"Guys?" Ed asked from within the wall, "Can you help me out, I am stuck!"
"Oh, no!" the pictograph lover shouted, "This kid's in a lotto trouble, we're fixin' on leaving him here!"
"YEAH!" the other two men agreed.
"Gentlemen, please!" Double d panted as his feeble arms strained to free his friend. "Let's not behave like savages!"
"Yeah, give 'em a break!" Eddy agreed, but certainly didn't rush to help.
"Either Tingle must pay the punishment, or he will!" the rich man announced.
"Oh, that silly man who was stuck in here gave me a map to his house! We will find him and ask him to help us find this Bad Tingle-man!" Ed's muffled reply came just as Double d's hand's slipped and he crashed onto the stone floor.
"Well, if that's the case," the men grabbed Ed where Double d slipped and pulled the boy free," You better start telling us all you know about Tingle, young man." As the old pictograph lover questioned Ed, no one noticed Eddy slipping in to the same hole.
Eddy crawled along the intricate tunnels Ed had been caught in; thinking as he did so, there's gotta be some treasure in here somewhere! After crawling through several Rupee lined pathways, he came upon a small room, edged with skulls and tablets. The tablets were written by Tingle, explaining his actions and acting as a written confession. But Eddy didn't bother to read them, nor was he scared of the skull collection. All that concerned him was the small chest in the center of the room, on a raised platform. "Jackpot!" Eddy exclaimed as he threw the lid off and searched its dusty contents. He didn't get far though, as the box held only one item: a Picto box. That's it? Eddy thought as he ran his hands along the inside, conjuring up nothing but cobwebs, you'd think a guy in jail would have a larger stash! Regardless, he took the camera-like object and exited the way he came.
Meanwhile Ed told the others about how Tingle had begged Ed to free him and Ed, having the perfect combination of unconditional kindness and blatant stupidity, complied. "And he gave me a little game boy advance, too!" Ed laughed as he pulled out the green, diamond-shaped piece of plastic and started pushing random buttons. "Now calling Tingle!" the little box chimed, and sure enough Tingle's face appeared on the screen. The pictograph lover grabbed the 'Tingle tuner' from Ed's hands and shouted into it, visibly horrifying the thirty five year old lunatic on the other end, "TINGLE, WE'RE GONNA CATCH YOU AND WHEN WE DO, YOU'RE GONNA BE SORRY!"
"Uh, well, um!" Tingle whimpered like a girl before grabbing a pink cloth-like substance and hid behind it "pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!" he announced, pulling more cloth to cover himself, in the process pulling another man just like him into frame. Apparently the cloth was his clothes, and he seemed annoyed that Tingle was using his suit as a disguise, "Tingle? LET GO!" he shouted to the queer counterpart as he struggled to free himself.
"Quit it Ankle!" Tingle hissed behind him. "You're giving away my position!"
Another man dressed in another white suit like Tingle's but without his goatee, stepped into frame and mouthed the phrase "Call the police!" Tingle pushed him out of the way and exclaimed, "You don't get to be in this vid, David Jr!"
"Tingle," Double d softly interjected, "Wouldn't it be easier if you just turned yourself in?"
"No way! You'll have to catch me first! Tingle over and out." And with that the screen turned black.
"That creep!" the three men wailed. Then they turned their attention to Ed, whose eyes had panned out the way they usually do when he's not thinking. "Ed," the Pictograph lover sighed, "I truly am sorry that we wanted to leave you there, it's just the world's been so crazy these days . . . we behaved irrationally."
"Yeah," the other two men agreed, "First our daughters were kidnapped by that giant bird, then Tingle-"
"WAIT A SEC!" Double d interrupted, "Did you say a giant bird kidnapped you daughters!"
"Yes," the rich man sighed sadly, "and ever since then we've been an emotional wreck! I'd give anything to see my precious Mila again."
"At least you have something TO give." The poor man answered, "Me and Maggie have been poor since day one! And I'll probably never see her again, as I cannot afford rescuers. Alas to be impoverished and homeless, the misery, the suffering, the-"
"WE GET IT, YOU'RE POOR!" Eddy announced freeing himself from the wall, his prize bulging in his pockets. "Eddy, what's that?" Double d asked, as he got closer, Meanwhile Ed addressed the two fathers "Do not worry, I too have a sibling trapped on the accursed island of evil, and I: Ed, monster hunter, shall rescue her and your children, no charge!"
"Y-You'd really do that, after we wanted to keep you here?" Maggie's father asked, amazed at Ed's unending kindness.
"Quack!" Ed announced, using it for a yes.
"We truly have misjudged you, I hope one day you may forgive us." Mila's father answered.
Meanwhile, Eddy pulled the camera-like device out of his pocket, " I swiped it Offa Tingle's stash." He answered, showing Double d the Picto box. The Pictograph lover's eyes widened as he took it and examined it. "Why, this is the Picto box Tingle stole! Thank-you Eddy!" Eddy just shrugged his shoulders at this; to him it didn't really matter. The Pictograph lover overheard Ed's valiant offer of a free rescue mission and thought for a second before making his decision. "I'll tell you what," the man said, "My name is Lenzo, and I am a world renowned Pictographer, and as for payment for saving the young girls of this island and capturing Tingle, I'll let you keep that Picto box!"
"Sweet!" Eddy announced taking back the device.
"Thank-you Lenzo." Double d said on behalf of his greedy friend. And thusly the three Eds left the jail cell, leaving the grown men to conspire on the fate of Tingle when he's caught.
As the three left the jail they were met with a compassionate Nazz and indifferent Kevin. "Hey dudes! Is it true that Sarah's been kidnapped and you guy's are gonna rescue her?" she asked, already knowing what the answer would be. "It would seem that's the case." Double d answered. Funny, the usual blushing and stuttering that plagued his speech whenever Nazz was around seemed to be cured . . . But what could that mean, he wondered as Eddy fiendishly grinned at Kevin, "SO PAY UP, SUCKER!" He laughed as Kevin angrily tossed several rupees at Eddy and stormed off. Nazz let him be, a reunion like this doesn't happen every day. "So is there anything I can do to help?" She asked, hoping to at least play some role in helping to rescue Sarah. "Well, not at the moment," Double d responded, "We've just purchased a sail for our boat and . . . Good lord, WHAT TIME IS IT? HOW LONG HAVE WE BEEN HERE!?!" as his friend panicked, Ed removed his shoe and swirled the liquid inside it, probably a mixture of foot sweat and gravy; taking a big whiff of the mix, and almost making Double d puke from his particular method of telling time, he announced "one hour and twenty-five minutes!"
"Oh dear oh dear oh dear!" Double d chanted as he scuttled off with Eddy and Ed following to where the king of red lions waited, "Sorry Nazz, we must be going, people to save, places to go!"
"Don't worry, dude! I totally understand!" She replied
"See ya!" Eddy called as they disappeared behind a rock
"Don't forget to write!" Ed begged as they met back up with their boat.
The king of red lions let out another yawn, the twenty-seventh to be precise. Where are those three? He thought as the waves rocked him a bit Send them off to find a sail and it takes them over an hour to do it! Finally the three came into the cove and Double d produced the sail. "S-sorry, your majesty! Ed got stuck and. . . It's a long story."
"No matter," the boat answered, "Come. I shall teach you the art of sailing!" Ed suddenly got excited and started chanting, "YAY! We're going on a boat, we're going on a boat!" endlessly until Eddy shut him up with a roundhouse kick. The three then got into the boat in their own fashion; Eddy took a place of leadership on the top of the figurehead between it's golden horns, Ed rigged up the sails to the mast and leaned against it while Double d sat in the back, near the rudder. "Now it's all pretty simple," The boat began, trying to ignore Eddy's place on his head, "Obviously the wind will fill the sails and carry us on our way and you can change direction and speed by turning the rudder."
"That all sounds simple enough to remember." Double d agreed as he grabbed hold of the rudder.
"One more thing," The king of red lions mentioned before Ed lowered the sails for the first time, "Take this sea chart, it will help guide you while out here. I've already marked the first destination." he said handing it to Double d, which he stashed in Sturgeon's book.
"Onward seafarers!" Eddy shouted as the western wind pulled them towards their first real test . . . Dragon Roost Island.