The stream had cleaned quite a bit of the smell from his clothes, but Beast Boy still winced at their stench. He hoped any guards about would be too busy watching for intruders to notice the awful smell. Beast Boy crouched down and approached the courtyard's only entrance.
The castle yard, as in the game, turned out to mostly be a bunch of isolated gardens, each with only two entrances, leading to more clearings. Beast Boy didn't see any guards, and as he sidled along the bushes he wondered why the world was so different from its counterpart, and if there were even more worlds besides those he had visited so far.
A scent was what caught his attention first, the only scent besides flowers and his own sewer stink. It was a familiar smell, only intensified like a perfume, made up of mostly human pheromones, a little tang of mystic energy, and the underlying base of campfire; Raven.
He heard her voice next, and a strained voice that was also familiar. He followed the sounds to the center of the castle maze, a large circular yard full of brilliant flowers. The castle entrance was in the next clearing, this one merely having a number of large stained windows to break up the white stone.
There, in front of a stained glass window featuring the master sword in its pedestal, sat Raven, in pink. She was on an ornate iron bench, and beside her was a large and heavily muscled woman. As the two talked, Beast Boy watched the vaguely familiar woman. She was definitely Impa, but something was… off.
Impa must have heard something, because she looked up suddenly, and stared into Beast Boy's face. Then, all of a sudden, Beast Boy recognized the eyes, and he began to laugh hysterically, falling through the bushes to roll around in the grass.
"Laugh it up fuz-ball, next time it could be you." Cyborg said, feminine voice clearly not amused. Beast Boy only laughed harder, clutching his gut, tears streaming down his face. Raven just looked on, slight grin on her pale face. She'd had her laugh a good half hour before, much to Cyborg's dismay.
When Beast Boy finally caught his breath he stood up and wrapped them both in a hug; a bit awkward on their part, as he still smelled like a latrine. "I'm so glad you're not Ruto," was his next act, as he admired the rich dress on Raven.
Raven nodded, "I had the misfortune of meeting the Princess Ruto not too long ago. Cyborg explained who she was,"
"So, where have you been?" Cyborg asked, crossing his (her?) thick arms over his ample bosom.
Beast Boy replied, "Just the Deku Tree so far, and I made sure to leave the stone behind."
"Good, the last thing we want is Control Freak to enter the sacred realm," Cyborg remembered a particular argument he'd had with the changeling once on whether it was Link's fault Hyrule was destroyed. It seemed the little guy remembered, and if they could keep the stones apart, Ganondorf/Control Freak would never have the triforce in the first place.
Raven scratched her head, trying to sort out the brief history lesson Cyborg had given her, "So the three spiritual stones are needed to open the temple of time, along with a song and this thing," she gestured to the blue ocarina dangling on a chain around her neck, "To access ultimate power?"
Beast Boy nodded, "Basically. So, if Control Freak is Gandondorf," Cyborg nodded, "Then we need to find him and take his remote." Beast Boy finished.
"It isn't going to be easy; the leaders are all surrounded by bodyguards at all times. We won't get anywhere near them, let alone their chambers." Cyborg explained, and Raven cut in, "But I, my character, is royalty. Wouldn't I be allowed to see him?"
Beast Boy shook his head, "Too dangerous; Ganon is the most powerful sorcerer in the world. Control Freak would see you coming and take you apart."
Raven shook her head, "Not if I have a little magic of my own."
"But I thought we didn't have our powers here?" Raven cut Beast Boy off with a raised hand. She muttered something incoherent and a black flame appeared above her palm. "Meta power's didn't transfer, but this is mental," she snapped her fingers and it vanished.
"I've been working on accessing my magic since we first jumped, and I finally slid through the dimensional barrier." Beast Boy scratched his head, "What?"
Raven sighed, "Magic comes from accessing a different plane, all I had to do was adapt my spirit to use these planes," she motioned around, and was disappointed to see the green boy's face remained at a loss.
"It's like pizza," Cyborg cut in, "we are in the crust right now, and Raven does magic by reaching up into the cheese and pulling it down to the crust. Same pizza slice, different layers." Beast Boy gave them both a sheepish look and shrugged, "Whatever,"
"Impossible," Raven groaned, and Beast Boy perked up, suddenly recalling his former sense of urgency. "So, where is Control Freak?"
Cyborg pointed up, and Beast Boy craned his neck to see row upon row of windows, speckling the castle's face. The white walls stretched up for a long while before ending in battlements.
"Third floor is the guest rooms, we were about to start climbing."
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"Well, that escalated quickly," Beast Boy joked, clinging to Raven's foot.
The climb had not gone quite as planned, and even now Cyborg was shimmying down to grab Beast Boy. Raven had a death grip on the balcony rails, and kept muttering insults about Beast Boy's intelligence.
Impa, Cyborg inside, lifted the green teen up by his collar and tossed him to safety. Raven, relieved of the weight pulled herself up. "Don't talk so much next time," she frowned at Beast Boy, who stuck out his tongue, "Talk a little more and I won't have to."
"Get a room," Cyborg sighed, stepping between them. "Now, let's find the remote and get home. And we'll never talk about this again." Cyborg dusted himself (herself?) off, causing Beast Boy and Raven to snicker.
There was only one guard in the hall, propped against his spear and snoring. The rest of the hall was empty, the still early sun giving only a little light to the stone hall. A thick red carpet filled the middle of the floor, and tri-force insignias adorned the walls. The walls were white brick, and dotted with torches and decorative arrangements.
"Where to now?" Raven asked, looking to Cyborg and Beast Boy. As much as it pained her to admit, this was one area where they were the experts.
"Don't know," Cyborg replied, approaching the nearest door, "I suppose we could check them all,"
Beast Boy in the meantime began wandering, eyes to the ceiling. So it was he ran into a pot, which then tipped into a small table with a wide glass vase, which proceeded to slide off and shatter quite magnificently ob red carpet.
They all froze, staring at the sleeping guard not ten feet away. A wet snore was his only contribution, and a collective sigh was released, "Fool of a Tooke," Cyborg began, only to bite his tongue as the pot began to roll.
The ornate clay waste of space hit the opposite wall and cracked, and with a snort the guard woke. His sleepy eyes widened, and he yelled "Intruders!" before a small, pale fist put him back to sleep.
Raven pointed angrily at the pot remnants and said, "Throw yourself in next time, and rid us of your stupidity." Beast Boy looked at her, confused. "What? I liked those movies," Raven defended, even as all of the doors in the hall opened at once.
Armed guards of each race stepped into the hall, curious and wary, though not overly concerned; Hylian guards weren't known for their trustworthiness.
Cyborg stepped up behind Raven as the other straightened her posture. Beast Boy stood there dumbly as they all watched. "Forgive the boy, I haven't yet house trained him."
The body guards rolled their eyes as one and returned to their rooms. As the doors shut, a little head poked out into the hall, and Beast Boy squeaked. Princess Ruto, the owner of said head, smiled and winked, before popping back into her room.
Cyborg looked down at Raven, "How did you do that?"
"Do what?" Raven adjusted the tiara on her head, wishing again for her hood. Beast Boy shook his head and continued on down the hall.
Cyborg didn't let her off, "That commanding thing. You did it earlier too."
"What, I'm not intimidating now?" Raven followed Beast Boy, who seemed to recognize the area they were in.
"No, you just seemed to know what you were doing is all," Cyborg continued, curiosity not subsiding. Raven frowned at the bigger woman, and the man within, "Starfire is more sister than I'll ever need, thanks."
Cyborg was about to respond, but thought better of it. "Nice one," he muttered, "Hey BB, where ya going?" Beast Boy had stopped before an inconspicuous pair of doors, and was sniffing the air. "I think I found him,"
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Control Freak sat on his throne of bone and chuckled. Power, power, power; all villains cared about was power. Control Freak smiled, knowing that even now his nemesis entered his dungeon, and he would undoubtedly find him, and they would fight, and this time, with the power of Ganondorf, he would succeed.
For Control Freak didn't want power, or success, or even victory per say; he was a singular villain, the best villain, and this was why. All he wanted and all he needed was another player, an adversary, a nemesis. Beast Boy, his opponent and arch foe, though there was no hate on his part.
Beast Boy was the Batman to his Joker, and the closest thing to a friend he'd ever had.
"Everything is proceeding as I have foreseen," Control Freak fiddled with the remote on his throne's armrest, and waited.
Suddenly however he looked straight out over the room to a distant something, and yelled, "Enough exposition already! You're dragging this thing out, jeeze. I'm a fun bad guy, I don't need motive!"
So it was in a house far away, hunched over a laptop with Rush blasting in his ears an author stopped rambling, and decided to take a break. This fourth wall business was getting a little out of hand.