FicWad

Chapter 7
Horse Play

I woke up the next morning feeling a bit weird. I was still upset that the King put his trust in Ganondorf. That just made my mission even more harder. I also needed to figure out who that King Bowser guy was. I began to become suspicious that maybe there was a bit more going on outside of Hyrule, something a bit more evil. As far as I knew, Ganondorf could have over a million people on his side.
I was still in my dress, but it was really comfortable when I slept. Link, Lux, the fairies, and I had to leave. My next destination was Lon Lon Ranch to get a pony or something. I didn’t know what to do about the Gerudos, but I would wait to see what Link and I ran into next. If he was given a job to do, I would go with him. There was no way I would leave that boy alone again.
I stood up and felt my feet touch the rug. They hurt from the dress shoes yesterday so I knew that I would need to find some sort of bandage first. I looked up to see Lux on top of the wardrobe. He jumped on my shoulder and actually landed right on.
“Rai!” he said. He sounded enthusiastic which filled me with motivation. I was just so worried about what Ganondorf had told me.
King Bowser, I thought.
I noticed that my tunic had been folded neatly on the other side of the room. It was on a nice little table and underneath it was my sword, shield, and a bottle of that red liquid I had received from the cute potion shop dude, Matthew. On top of my tunic was a note:

Please meet me before you leave. I need to discuss some things with you and Link first. They are extremely important matters and I feel only you and Link can handle this. Meet me in the lobby of the castle.
Impa

Impa had really scratchy handwriting and it took me awhile to actually read the damn note, but I read it about three times and started to realize what words were on the paper.
I undressed myself and slipped on my tunic. It was extremely soft so I assumed that someone had washed it. I was actually treated really nice at the castle, so I knew I would miss the hospitality on the road. I buckled my sheath to my back and hung my shield there as well. I tied my seed pouch around my waste and put my slingshot in my back pocket of my tunic’s skirt.
The Thunderstone and my hat were still on the table, so I grabbed them both. I fitted my hat on my head and stuck the Thunderstone in my pocket. It was suppose to be a dead stone, but I wasn’t going to take any chances. I didn’t know if someone could use it and get my powers, even though Link had tried to use it when Lux was smaller and it did nothing.
Lux was waiting patiently on my bed. He seemed ready to leave the castle and do something fun. I tightened the belt on my skirt just a little bit and said to him, “Let’s go, Lux!”
“Raichu!” he shouted with excitement. He hopped off the bed and followed me at my feet. Lucky for us, Link and the fairies had already woken up. They were walking down the hall to, I assumed, wake me and Lux up.
“Hey Ash,” Link said and he waved, “ready to go?”
“Yeah,” I said, “but first we need to meet Impa. She left me this note.”
Link smiled and ran down the hall to my, the fairies flying behind him.
“Finally, my own bed!” Max said and he flew right under my hat.
“That’s great,” Navi said and she sighed. “It’s great to be a team again, I suppose.”
Link and I went down to the lobby. Impa was there holding a flute of some kind. She smiled at our arrival, but she still had a look of seriousness on her face.
“Hello, children,” she said, “I hope you had a nice sleep.”
“Yeah, we did,” Link said, “and thanks for the nice, warm beds.”
“You’re welcome, my boy,” Impa said. “Now then, I have something to tell you, so come closer please.”
We walked toward her and suddenly a bright light surrounded us and I went blind for a second. It was scary, but I felt my feet touch the ground which was a soft grass. I looked around and realized we were right outside of the drawbridge. Link was beside me, Lux was on the ground totally confused, and Impa was standing in front of us.
“Now, what I am about to tell you, please do not take lightly,” Impa said. “That green stone that you have is called the Kokiri Emerald, as you probably know. It’s part of a series of three stones called the Spiritual Stones. That emerald is also known as the Spiritual Stone of the Forest. The last two stones are called the Goron’s Ruby and the Zora’s Sapphire. The Goron’s Ruby is called the Spiritual Stone of Fire.”
“What do these stones do exactly?” I asked.
“They open the Door of Time, child,” Impa said. “Behind that Door of Time is the blade of evil’s bane. You need all three stones to open it. The Temple of Time is just outside of the castle town. In front of the door will be a pedestal and on that will be three notches, which is where the stones will need to go.”
“Is there only one sword?” I asked hesitantly.
“Unfortunately, that is what legends say,” Impa said, “but this sword just cannot be pulled by anyone. The chosen one has to be able to pull the sword. No one else can pull it.”
“Cool,” I said. I became a bit depressed because I didn’t think I would get a chance to be important in this journey. Really all I was good for was running my mouth and cracking jokes. I mean, I was always the one to challenge Ganondorf, but that wasn’t because I was more courageous than Link, it was because I was more foolish than he was.
“Now, the next place you will both need to go is right behind me,” Impa said. Behind her was an entrance to a village and, if one looked up, there was a huge mountain. “The Goron race lives on that mountain.”
“What’s the mountain called?” Link asked.
“Death Mountain,” Impa said quickly.
“Sounds like a perfect place to have a picnic,” I mumbled.
“Do not be afraid, children,” Impa said. “The Goron race are a very kind sort of people. That mountain is only called Death Mountain because, years ago, there was a big battle on it and people died. I would be careful, however, for Ganon has caused chaos on that mountain and it has upset the Goron race quite a bit.”
“What did he do now?” I asked, rolling my eyes. This dude was starting to become a pain in my ass…
“Well, he locked up the Goron’s main source of food in Dodongo’s Cavern by putting a rock over the entrance,” Impa stated.
“Pssh, that’ll be a cake walk,” I said swiping my hand in the air. “All we have to do is blow up the rock and it’ll all be good.”
“Not exactly,” Impa said. “Ganondorf has placed an evil Dodongo king inside, along with multiple enemies. If you let the Gorons go into the cavern, you will endanger their lives.”
“Alright, alright,” I said. I was not thrilled to go into a new dungeon, but I still had to visit Lon Lon Ranch, which would give Link, Lux, the fairies, and I some more downtime.
“Before I leave you two, I need to teach you a melody,” Impa said.
Great, I thought. I had no idea how to play that ocarina, so I let Link handle it. I played the trumpet back at home, but that was just about all the music I had in me.
“This is the royal melody, Zelda’s Lullaby,” Impa said. “It will be useful to you for only a messenger of the Royal Family knows this song. When you play it, all around you will know that you have ties to the Royal Family.”
Impa raised her flute and Link raised his ocarina. I stood and watched as they both played a melody. Impa, of course, played it first and then Link copied what he heard. The dude had remarkable perfect pitch for some kid that was stuck up in a forest.
“Now children, do not be afraid to come back to the castle to see me, if you have any questions,” Impa said. “I must go now. Good luck and don’t let Hyrule down.”
A huge flash of light appeared and when I regained my sight, Impa was gone.
“Alright, let’s get this adventure started,” Link said.
“Well, first we need to go to Lon Lon Ranch,” I said and I grabbed Link’s wrist so he wouldn’t argue. Navi stayed behind and yelled a bit, but she eventually got fed up and caught up with us.
Lon Lon Ranch wasn’t a long walk or anything because it was right in the middle of Hyrule field. It was rather circular and it seemed to be elevated. Around it was a great wall thing, but there was a nice little up hill path. I assumed that was the entrance, so I had everyone follow me.
“We need to help the Gorons,” Link whined.
“Well, they can wait,” I snapped. “We need to get ourselves horses if we plan on walking all the time.”
We entered the ranch, but instead of all happy and what not, there were a mass of chickens, horses, and cows running around. I heard Malon yelling and I saw Talon running in the center of this ranch. This tall, skinny dude was laughing at them. He had a rather ugly face and was holding a pitch fork for some reason.
I walked up to him and said, “Why don’t you do something useful and help them?”
“Ah, shut your trap, woman,” this guy said, “you have no business being here.”
I suddenly saw the thing causing all the issues. It was a green looking thing with a pointy face. It had wings on its back and it’s arms had these sword looking things on it. Lux got all hot and bothered and sparks started to come from his cheeks.
“Whoa, what’s wrong boy?” Link asked.
“Raichu!” he yelled.
That thing noticed Lux and had a look of anger spread on his face. It took it arms and had the blade looking things hit each other and then got into a fighting stance. Lux whipped his tail around and got on all fours. The fur on the back of his neck was sticking up like they did with dogs when they felt angry.
“Scyther,” this things said rather harshly. It charged after Lux.
I was quick about it, so I took out my shield and jumped in front of Lux. This thing got its blade arms caught in my wooden shield. Lux saw and an opening and he showered this thing in lightning bolts.
The thing was able to release itself from my shield, so Lux got really frisky and started to rush into the thing and bash himself against it. Lux was so fast when he was fighting. I had never really seen Lux take part in a fight before, besides the one he had against Ganondorf.
This thing slashed Lux’s face and he started to bleed. Lux wasn’t able to recover quick enough so the thing started to shower him with these pin like missiles. I had to help Lux, so I unsheathed my sword and started to go after the thing.
It was extremely quick, but I was able to keep up. Our blades made these sharp clinging noises and they sometimes swiped against each other. At the end, we were both tired and it had both it’s arm blades on my tiny sword.
“Scyther,” it said . I could tell it was tired. It had bruises and dirt all over its body, probably just like mine had.
While we were locked, a thought popped in my mind. I released electric energy from my palms which went up through my sword’s hilt, then to the blade, and finally it went through this thing’s blades which went through its body.
The thing collapsed rather quickly after that and its head landed on my feet. I crouched down and discovered that the thing wasn’t dead, it was close to fainting. I tried to pick it up, but it was really heavy, so Link rushed to help.
Malon lead us to a stable and I sat the thing in a pile of hay. It was breathing heavily, so I got a rag and water and wiped it down.
“Scy,” it said hoarsely.
“It’s alright,” I said calmly and Lux walked beside me and laid in the hay, too. I wiped him down as well.
Lux had trouble getting comfortable, so he started kicking. There was something underneath him which rolled away from the hay and onto my foot. It was a sort of ball. On top it was red and on the bottom it was white. The thing got uncomfortable for some reason and started moving violently. I quickly handed Link the ball and tried to calm it down.
Shortly after, a red laser appeared out of no where and engulfed the thing. It disappeared entirely and I fell into the hay. I glanced quickly at Link who was holding the ball. It shook three times and suddenly it made a click sound.
“Whoa,” I said. I got up quickly and took the ball from Link. I sat down in the hay and looked at it. That thing must have been inside it, but I didn’t know how to get it out, or if I could get it out. I didn’t know what to do, but I got angry and when I would get angry, I would usually feel the need to throw something. Throwing that ball probably wouldn’t help the situation, so I sat it back down.
Lux decided to grab it however, and then he flung it across the room. Lux didn’t really seem angry, just tired, so I didn’t get why he threw the damn thing. But, I quickly realized why he threw the ball.
Suddenly, there was a flash of red light and that thing showed up from the ball. The ball bounced back and actually went straight to Link, but he wasn’t paying attention so the ball hit him square in the face.
I cracked up laughing as Link scrambled to compose himself. I could tell he had the hots for Malon, so I knew he didn’t want to make a fool out of himself in front of her. But, this kid’s nose suddenly spouted out blood, so I knew he’d pretty much made himself look dumb.
Link rushed over to get the rag I had dampened and put it right over his nose. The thing got up slowly and then started to follow him. It had the ball in its mouth, which it dropped in Link’s lap.
“Whoa, I don’t want this,” Link said, which he sounded all funky since he was pinching his nose. He threw it at me and I held it in my hand, but the thing frisked it away and put it right back in Link’s lap.
“Why won’t you leave me alone?” Link said.
“Scyther,” the thing said and it cuddled up with Link.
“Hey, hey, hey,” I said, “look who has a new buddy.”
“We need to get that bug some medical care,” said Malon. “It looks so tired and sick.”
“Bug?” I mumbled and I observed the thing. It reminded me of a praying mantis. Back at home, when I was in elementary school I always played by myself in a big field. I found what I thought was a grasshopper and started to play with it, but the mantis spit right in my eye. I sure hoped that thing didn’t spit because it seemed Link and I would be stuck with it.
“What is this thing?” Link asked.
“Well, I still don’t know what Lux is, so who knows?” I said.
“Well kids, I know,” Talon said suddenly. He had been out gathering the horses and must have just popped into the barn. “That thing, son, is a Scyther. Girl, what you have is a Raichu.”
“What are they?” I asked. I understood why the creatures said bizarre things now. Lux had said Pikachu before he changed, so I guessed his last form was that of a Pikachu.
“That Raichu must’ve been a Pikachu at one point,” Talon said. “That Scyther there doesn’t evolve at all, basically.”
“Evolve?” Link asked.
“When these things change their form, they evolve,” Talon said. “They’re all different species, but they’re called Pokemon and that ball there is a Pokeball. That Scyther must like you boy, because you caught it in that there Pokeball.”
Link held up the Pokeball and stared at it intensely. He didn’t know what to do with it.
“You can call your Pokemon back and return it to the Pokeball for storage,” Talon said. “Now, if you two get into any tournaments that involve Pokemon battles, you can only have six Pokeballs on you, or less than six if you choose. There aren’t any tournaments in Hyrule, so you’re okay here.”
Pokemon tournaments sounded pretty intense, but I probably wouldn’t bother with them. Lux was more of a partner to me than anything and I didn’t want him to get hurt. However, if he wanted to compete, I’d let him. I just thought it was weird that we became partners despite the fact that I didn’t catch him with a Pokeball.
“Oh yes also, to give you and that Scyther a bit more of a better friendship, you should give him a nickname,” Talon said,
“Wait, how do you know it’s a boy?” I asked.
Talon got closer to us and crouched down to where the Scyther was. He touched its abdomen and then said, “Well, judging on the size of its abdomen, I would say it’s a boy. Congrats, son.”
“Thanks,” Link said.
“Well, I’ll leave you two alone,” Talon said. “Make sure you let that Scyther get plenty of rest, otherwise he might get tuckered out.”
“Alright, thank you,” I said.
“C’mon Malon, help me with the other animals,” Talon said. Malon smiled at the both of us and chased after her father.
“Alright, let’s nickname this thang,” I said.
“I have no creativity whatsoever,” Link said. He still sounded weird.
“Here,” I said and I grabbed his head, “tilt your head back.” I gently tilted it back. “It’ll stop the blood flow.”
“What name suggestions do you have?” Link asked with his head still tilted upwards.
“Hmm,” I said and I thought a bit. “How about Broccoli?”
“What’s Broccoli?” Link asked, but he didn’t keep his head tilted, so I grabbed it again, not so gently this time, and tilted it back.
“Um, well, how about,” I said, but I trailed off.
“Zucchini,” Max blurted out from inside my hat.
“Hey, I like that,” I said. “Hey, Scyther, do you like the name Zucchini?”
The Scyther lifted his head and nodded. It seemed he had a little smile on his face, but he was still extremely tired so I didn’t expect him to be energetic.
“Zucchini sounds dumb though,” Link said, untilting his damn head again, so I pushed it back.
“Well, you think the name Link isn’t dumb?” I asked. “Who is named Link? It’s the most dumbest name I have ever heard of.” That was truly what I thought too, reader. I had never met someone in my life actually named Link.
“Oh, be quiet,” Link said. He took the rag off his nose which had a spot of blood on it. He tilted his head forward and touched his nose. It had stopped bleeding, which was unfortunate for me because I wanted to tilt his head backwards again, but I’d be a bit rough.

We cleaned up Lux and Zucchini in the barn and walked outside. The ranch looked fairly decent now that there weren’t animals running around. The horses were all in a circular fence that was right in the middle of the ranch. I could hear Malon singing as we entered the fenced area. She had a really good voice for a girl that was about my age.
Link and I walked into the horse ring. The horses were just running around all free and occasionally one would get out of the ring. Malon paid no mind however, and looked rather cheerful when one horse celebrated when it exited the ring and ran around the ranch.
“Oh, hello you two,” Malon said. “Ash, who’s this fairy boy here?”
“His name is Link,” I said. “We’re both on a huge adventure and have come here to see if you would have any ponies available?
“Oh, yes,” Malon said cheerfully, “but we’ll donate you two ponies, since you saved our ranch and all.”
I felt extremely grateful for the ranch’s kindness. I didn’t expect for them to give Link and I our own horses. Before I could get a horse however, I needed to learn how to ride one. Back at home, I had always wanted to ride a horse but never got around to it. I was thrilled but at the same time I knew that Link and I didn’t really have enough time for me to learn how to ride a horse.
“We only have two ponies available for you two,” Malon said and she started to walk around the horse ring. Link and I followed as full grown horses began to run passed us.
We saw these two ponies, one was brown and the other was solid black. I knew then and there that I wanted the black horse. I just liked it better, even though most evil people rode those types of horses.
“Now, these ponies are really shy,” Malon said, “so just going up to them will startled them.”
“How do you get them to not be startled by someone?” Link asked.
“Well, you have to learn a song,” Malon said.
Great, another fricken song, I thought. I didn’t want songs to be the biggest part of this mission. If it was, I would have to learn how to play that damn ocarina that I had. Ocarinas, in my opinion, sounded really stupid. They just didn’t produce a sound that made me happy. The sound was annoying, like a screaming baby.
“I can sing this song for you and these two should gallop right over here,” Malon said. “Do you have any instruments to learn this song with?”
Link smiled and pulled out his ocarina and then he looked at me. I just stood there and gave him an annoyed stare, but the kid didn’t take the hint.
“How about you just learn this song by yourself,” I said. “I still can’t play that potato with holes in it.”
Link shrugged his shoulders and got ready for Malon to start singing. Her voice filled the atmosphere with this really nice song. It was actually the song she was singing earlier. She sang it twice and then Link got his perfect pitch on and repeated the melody. All of a sudden, the two ponies trotted towards us. The brown one went to Link and the black one went to me.
“Wow fairy boy,” Malon said amazed, “these ponies must really like you and Ash.”
I smiled as the black pony got all cuddly with me. What I found bizarre was that it had a white spot on its head that looked like a lightning bolt.
“The brown horse is named Epona and the black horse is named Lightning,” Malon said. “Epona is a girl and Lightning is a boy.”
I petted Lightning and Lux decided to jump on him. Surprisingly, Lightning didn’t care so Lux had some fun. He probably felt like he was a cowboy or something, because he was whipping his tail around like it was a lasso. He looked rather cute and I wished I had a camera, but I didn’t think those existed here in Hyrule, at least to my knowledge.
“Since you both have a lot of adventures to take part in,” Malon said, “you can walk outta here, or rather ride outta here, with both those horses. Since they’re ponies, you won’t really need to worry about a saddle.
“That’s awesome,” I said. “Is there anyway we can repay you?”
Malon smiled and said, “Nope. I’m sure you’ll come to our rescue every now and then, little heroes.”
Link and I smiled.
“Well, we have to be on our way now,” Link said all heroic like. “We might see you again in the near future.” Link then winked at Malon, who smiled. I just felt like I had to puke.
Link got on Epona and took off without me, off into the sunset. I stood there and watched him, becoming annoyed with the fact that he totally forgot me. Before we met all these town people, Link had been really nice, but now he just flirted with every girl he met.
“Uh, thanks again for the help,” I said. I got on Lightning rather awkwardly and then let Lux got on with me. “Zucchini, can you just follow, because I don’t think Lightning can carry all of us,” I said awkwardly.
“Scyther,” he said and he nodded.
I kicked the sides of Lightning with my boots and, to my surprise, he took off. I grabbed onto his fur and tried to steer him like a car, which sort of worked, but not too well. Lux and Max, who woke up in my hat that was flying backwards, started to scream. I wanted to scream myself, but I knew that I was controlling the whole situation, so I needed to remain calm.
Fortunately, I was able to steer Lightning to the exit of the ranch and I made my way through the sunset…even though it wasn’t as romantic looking as Link had done it.