Mwahahaha, you thought I'd be posting 1st chapter didn't you? Well I'm only posting the Prologue, I'll post the actual first chapter as soon as We finish the sixth chapter.
please spread word about this forum, as good writing should not be ignored!!!
IMPORTANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­!!!­!!!­!!!­!!!­!
Yeah, I know no penguins yet, but they're coming in the first chapter!!!!!! I promise to post soooooon!!!!!!!!!!!1



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Prologue
Panting, Link caught up with the phantom. It was Phantom Gannondorf alright. He was hovering just about ten meters in front of him tauntingly. He laughed as he sent another blast of energy from his staff towards Link. Link jumped to the side to avoid the lightning ball, but the arcing energy still managed to singe him. He chased after Gannondorf’s Phantom. There was no way he was going to let a mere ghost get the better of him!
Suddenly, the ghost image disappeared! He couldn’t have just vanished into thin air! Link ran ahead. Searching for where the phantom could have gone. He crossed a wooden bridge that lead to his hometown, Ordon Village, and in front of him, was a curtain of Twilight. The Twilight Curtain was blocking the way into deep Faron Woods, near the Sacred forest Meadow. The phantom must have escaped through it! No way was this going to faze Link. It’s true, he could even die if he crossed into this strange curtain Phantom Gannondorf had disappeared behind. But he could win the battle too. And discover where Ilia and the other children were kept.
He cautiously walked over, but as Link drew close, Phantom Gannondorf’s sneering face burst from the curtain of Twilight, and thrust his hand through and grabbed the Hero’s throat, and pulled him into the Realm of Twilight.
On the other side of the curtain, Link struggled desperately in Phantom Gannondorf’s hands. He flailed his feet and struck him, but Phantom Gannondorf seemed disinterested by this fact. He peered at Link’s left hand. A high whine filled the air, and the symbol of the Hyrulean Royal family glowed furiously on the back Link’s left hand. Phantom Gannondorf shrieked as an explosion of Light shattered his grip, and he faded into the darkness of the Twilight Realm. Link, struggled to this feet, but something was wrong. He was feeling disorientated, he was struggling to breathe. The symbol on his hand glowed faintly, before enveloping him in the glow he cried in pain, as his form changed violently, forming a snout, a tail, his knees revered and his bones wrenched themselves into a new shape. Fur sprouted with alarming speed as he landed on all fours, no longer Hylian. Link stumbled into an alcove of rocks, so that any monsters coming after him would be unable to find him. He was aching all over, and collapsed into a comfortable position. Darkness filled his mind, as he drifted into unconsciousness.
Link woke up, but the time seemed to have not changed. It was still Twilight out. But the land he knew so well seemed vastly different. The very land itself seemed to be infected with darkness. The grass was a sickly pale yellow. The flowers had become Deku Babas with oozing dark foam coming from their gaping purple rimed mouths. Bats of a strange draconic shape were flapping about. Birds that looked beheaded flapped about overhead. The trees had withered and become dark with disease. Why was his point of view suddenly much closer to the ground? Link realized. He looked down, and yelped. Where his hands used to be were sleek and furry paws. He turned to look behind his sleek wolf’s pelt and sure enough, a tail whipped about in a panic. He looked down his muzzle to see a wet canine nose at the end. His sword and shield were missing, as well as his other items. He tried to call out, but it came out as a burst of incomprehensible barks. Now he was worried, and was surprised that a low whine came from his throat. Of course, the dogs back at Ordon Village often whined when they were upset. He’d have to become accustomed to this new wolf form soon, because a swarm of angry beheaded looking birds had heard his senseless barking and were coming after him!
Link loped around fairly fast as he now had the speed and endurance of a wolf. He glared at the approaching flock, and this time wasn’t surprised to hear a snarl escape his lips. He barred his wolfs teeth and crouched in a fighting stance. As one of the birds veered to close as it tried to attack him with its talons outstretched, Link leaped! He brought his crushing jaws on the bird’s chest and snapped mercilessly into its feathers. Defeated, the bird exploded in a puff of black smoke, leaving no trace behind that it had ever existed. Dark monsters often did that. The rest of the flock decided they weren’t interested in harassing a dangerous wolf anymore and flapped away.
Satisfied, Link trotted through the Faron woods as a wolf. He used his senses, and followed a scent trail he suspected belonged to Phantom Gannondorf. The trail led into the Sacred Forest Grove. Normally, a person wouldn’t be able to reach it, unless one used a golden cuckoo, but now that Link was a wolf … He leaped onto a tree root hanging from the walls of a ravine, with a forty foot drop below. Satisfied with his new ability, Link jumped onto a swinging log trap meant for intruders, up into the branches of another tree, and onto the ground on the other side of the ravine. Following the scent, Link trotted over to the ruins of the Temple of Time.
Apparently long ago, the Hero of Time had travelled across stream of time into the future by using it. Of course, those were only legends, stories told at the village fires and such. There was no way his ancestor could seriously travel through the Time stream. It was probably just a true story warped through the ages. Link didn’t want to believe them, but sometimes he couldn’t help, but start to believe the legends about his ancestor. But something was wrong. The still-standing Doors of Time were always sealed shut by the passing of years, yet they were now ajar, and sparking with red energy. Phantom Gannondorf stood at the step of the Doors, he must have regenerated! Another tale passed down was a tale about a Blade of Evil’s Bane, the Master Sword! Apparently his ancestor had used the blade to vanquish Gannondorf and his followers, including Phantom Gannondorf. So does that mean there was no way to destry the Phantom without it? No time to find out, the phantom laughed at Link, and stepped into the Door of Time! Growling, Link leaped after the phantom, and jumped right through the Doors of Time.


*****************EDIT********************­*
Links

Link = link

Phantom gannondorf = link

Busted doors of time = link

:D Epic!

Here's Chapter One!!!!!!
The Penguins make their first appearance in this chapter. I'll post links to unfamiliar Zelda things at a later time. Until then, Enjoy the Chapter!!!!

Normally, when conversations use ' ' it's my writing, if it uses " " it's Easels.

THANK YOU SO MUCH WITH YOUR HELP ON THIS CHAPTER EASEL!!!!!!!
DEDICATIONS TO YOU AND CATTOY10 FOR GIVING THIS A READ AND A CHANCE!!!!!




Chapter 1
Passage through Time.
Link felt strange. Like light was bending all around him. He felt as if he were supposed to be falling, but was being pulled forward at the same time. The taunting laughs of Phantom Gannondorf faded away, but he felt as if he were moving at a very fast pace. Blue light blurred his vision, and at last, he stumbled into an open meadow. Link looked behind him, he seemed to have jumped into this meadow from an extremely large tree. The ruins of the Temple of Time were gone. He was in a peaceful meadow. What had happened? Where was the Twilight? If he had returned to the world to Light, why wasn’t he a Hylian?
Above head, a squirrel chattered, and the strange thing was, Link could understand him.
‘You’re new huh? You’re strange huh?’
‘Excuse me?’ Link replied.
‘Flash of blue light came from the big tree huh? You came from blue light huh?’
‘I come from Hyrule, where are we?’ Is this still Hyrule?’
‘Hyrule? What’s a Hyrule huh? We’re in America!’
‘America?’
‘Ho ho! You must be new huh! Everyone knows what’s an America! We’re in America huh!’
‘Is this place another World? Like the Twilight Realm?’
‘Huh? You read Twilight huh? Twilight’s a new American craze huh. It’s disgusting huh! It’s boring huh! Twilight pages make good nesting material huh!’
‘Why do you say “huh” so much?’
‘I don’t know, why aren’t you eating me Mr. Nice Wolf huh?’
‘I’m not really a wolf, I’m a Hyl-‘
‘HUNTER HUH! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES HUH!’
And the squirrel dashed away.
‘What? Where?!’

Link twisted around to see a man dressed in strange clothing was aiming a strange weapon at him.
‘Who are you?’ He barked, snarling in a fighting stance, ready to spring.
Apparently he couldn’t talk to people as a wolf because the man simply cocked his head.
‘Beautiful specimen of wolf, I don’t think we’ve ever seen one like this! We might have discovered a new species Greg!’
Greg was a strange name, but one thing was sure, Link was no longer in Hyrule. The very air smelled different, as if it were not as clean. Another human came from the nearby trees and Link snarled with much more force. Phantom Gannondorf had possessed this man named Greg. His skin had fractures and his eyes were glowing orange with hatred.
‘Shoot it,’ he spat.
If the weapon the hunter was holding had been a bow, Link probably would have been able to leap away. Unfortunately it was a weapon he was unfamiliar with. And almost instantly after a bang, he was hit. He yelped and pulled the projectile out of his fur with his teeth. The dart had penetrated his pelt. Perhaps that weapon wasn’t meant to kill, for it certainly didn’t hurt very much.
The man named Greg laughed Gannondorf’s taunting laugh and Link spotted Gannondorf’s phantom leaving the man thanks to his heightened wolf senses. Greg stopped laughing immediately and collapsed on the ground.
‘Whoa Greg, have you been drinking on the job or something? We got to get this wolf specimen to the Central Park Zoo stat! We’re park rangers and we have a job to do!’
‘Ugh, not again.’ Link thought, as his thoughts swirled into unconsciousness as he realized the weapon was meant to induce sleep, not cause death.

What seemed like an age later, Link woke up with an aching head. Forcefully induced sleep will do that to a person. He felt as if someone had taken a club to his head instead of a dart to the shoulder. He was confined inside a crate, could this be some ploy of Gannondorf’s? No, he would assume Link was poisoned and dead ...Right? Well, Link couldn’t risk it. On the other side of that crate could be some of Gannondorf’s followers. Phantom Gannondorf could be out there right now, plotting to turn this world into a world of Twilight. Link pushed manically at the walls of the crate. Perhaps he could force it open. CRASH! CRASH! CRASH! The crate would just not yield. Panting after attempting to destroy the crate for about seven minutes, Link lay down tired, he should conserve his energy. Then, he started to hear voices from outside.

‘… re you sure it’s safe … walski?’
‘…pper, I have done my …. Earch and I’m positive it’s the peaceful … transfer we’ve been waiting for … ‘
‘Then why all the … for the past … minutes?’
The voices started to some closer, Link forced himself to keep quiet so he could surprise the incoming foe.
‘Fine then, I trust you for once Kowalski, Rico, crowbar!’
The tip of a strange item was plunged into the top of one of the walls of the crate. He twisted to face the wall that was being breached and forgot to force himself from making alarming noises.
‘HarRarrgrarrrh…’
‘Uhh Kowalski? That doesn’t sound like a peaceful giant anteater…’
‘rrrRaugh!’ Link barked a vicious canine bark and pounced on the weakened wall, the force of his leap combined with his weight forced the wall of the crate to open, and the unfortunate penguin using the crowbar was crushed under the weight of the wall and Link.
‘Oof!’
‘Private!’
Link caught sight of another penguin who regurgitated a strange weapon with fire designs decorating it who was spouting gibberish. He twisted around and grabbed the weapon in his jaws. There was no way he was allowing anyone to put him to sleep again.
‘Kowalski! Anayli- Waaargh!’ A flat bowed penguin was smacked by Link’s tail and flung into the crate.
‘Judging by its canine form and feral nature, I would conclude this is a wolf that is going to eat us all!’ The last five words came out in a voice an octave higher from a penguin that was taller than the others.
‘Soldiers! Subdue that canine!’
A small, rather young penguin crawled from under the busted wall of the crate and attempted to jump onto Link’s back, but Link moved out of the way and snapped up the upper half of the tall penguin in his jaws.
‘Aiieee! Skipper! My upper body is in the jaws of a savage canine and am about to be consumed and I cannot breathe!’
‘Just who are you wolf?!’
‘Are YOU Gannondorf’s slaves?’ Link snarled through the penguin in his jaws.
‘We don’t answer to anyone by that name! Now spit out my lieutenant!’
Link eyed the flat browed penguin, who had been trying to hit his nerve cluster by his neck, but his thick wolfs pelt had protected him and absorbed most of the impact of the penguin’s flippers. Coughing out the tall penguin, Link backed down to show he wasn’t going to hurt them.
‘Now answer my beforehand question, just who are you wolf?!’
Link didn’t like being addressed in that manner, but the penguins didn’t work for Gannondorf. Perhaps they could be allies.
"I am Link, Descendant of the Hero of Time." He replied to the flat browed penguin.
"Um, Skipper..." Said the shortest penguin
"Aren't heroes supposed to help people? This wolf nearly ate Kowalski!" Link felt guilty.
"I apologize. I thought you were followers of Gannondorf, I was only acting in self defens-"
"You’re daddy wolf would be ashamed of you! Terrorizing the very people he helped! Kowalski! Analysis!" Interrupted the flat headed penguin.
"Skipper, I've never seen a wolf quite like this before. I'm not sure what species it is." Replied the tallest penguin, who was apparently called Kowalski.
"I'm not a wolf." Began Link, "I'm a Hylian."
"A what?" asked the shortest penguin, who had an adorably phony British accent.
"I'm not familiar with that term." said Kowalski "But the probability that you are not a wolf is..." He took out a curious instrument with red beads running along it "Five in one thousand seven hundred and fifty three. You have all the qualities of a wolf, even if the type of wolf you are is unspecified. Thus the five percent"
"Clearly, he's trying to hide something from us!" exclaimed the flat headed penguin's commanding voice. "Kowalski! Options!"
"He seems nice enough to me." Said the shortest penguin.
"Private! He nearly ate Kowalski! You call that nice? It’s not exactly a warmly handshake" Said the flat headed penguin. Kowalski looked unsure.
"Bleahbagboobeebog!" Said the penguin who had regurgitated the weapon with flames on it. Link didn't understand - why could he understand some animals but not others?
"Listen!" He blurted out. "Your world is in danger!"
"Oh, so you're working for Dr Blowhole, then! What's his plan, this time? I always knew he'd come back!" Said the flat headed penguin, who Link assumed was called Skipper. "Rico!" The regurgitating penguin - who must have been called Rico - vomited something that looked suspiciously like a medieval torture device. Link couldn't understand how the penguin had done it. The device was much bigger than him!
"No, wait!" said Link "I don't know who this Dr Blowhole is! But your world is in danger! If we do nothing it will be consumed by Twilight if we don't stop it!" Skipper seemed to relax. He smiled.
"Way ahead of you on that one. We're already planning Operation: Burn Twilight books!" He said, still smiling.
"You can burn Twilight? I don't know if we're talking about the same thing... what does this book mean?" asked Link, looking towards Kowalski, since he seemed the most knowledgeable.
"Books are something humans read for enjoyment and relaxation. Most human pastimes include reading ridiculously thick novels, also, a form of book," Replied Kowalski. "We can't read however, but we've overheard humans talking about Twilight and it sounds dreadful."
"We definitely aren't talking about the same thing. The Twilight I'm talking about is no mere book, but something terrible that will transform your realm into a wasteland of misery," warned Link. "Have any of you seen a phantom? He is working for Gannondorf and I fear he is plotting something horrific."
"Oh dear..." Said the small one (who was obviously called Private), quietly.
"Well how do we know you're not lying through your pointed teeth?" Asked Skipper, seemingly not at all convinced.
"... You'll just have to trust me." Replied Link, simply. Then Kowalski spoke.
"Phantoms are mere superstitions. They may exist in your imagination, but certainly not in REAL life."
"Uh-oh!" Shouted Private. "Alice alert!" And the four little penguins slid out of sight, on their bellies.
"No, wait!" Link shouted after them, but they were gone.
Link knew there was no point in shouting after them anymore and, after all, he never knew when he might need his strength. He was worried about many things. Did Phantom Ganondorf really think he was dead? How soon would the Twilight consume this realm? Where was the legendary Master Sword? That could vastly help him subdue the Twilight. But where was it? Did it even exist? If the Doors of Time were real enough, it would seem reasonable the Master sword was real too. But where would it be? Could he even find it in this world? And what did Alice alert mean? It couldn't have been good, whatever it was. The penguins had left very quickly, without even saying something like "We'll talk, later." before sliding away. He braced himself. He saw a figure come towards him. It was similar to a Hylian, but it had rounded ears. Its face reminded him of a Goron. And the cloths it wore were so... strange. The tales of the Hero of Time described his ancestor travelling seven years into the future through the Doors of Time. So just how far into the future had he travelled? What strange world was he in? Panic coursed through every one of his veins. Not long now... five steps... six steps... the figure was getting closer to the wall every second. One step... The Hylian/Goron creature threw something over the wall. Link acted fast. Expecting monsters, Link attacked anything he could, before he realized that the things that had been thrown at him were mere dead rabbits. He looked up. The Hylian/Goron creature, whose name, he assumed, was Alice alert, was gone. He snuffled at the rabbits, searching for something, though he didn't know what. He thought there might be hidden bombs inside them, or maybe something good like hearts. After seeing the tiny penguin regurgitate the thing similar to a torture device (it was still there, a few yards away), he wouldn't have been surprised to find a monster in one of them. But there was nothing. Just rabbits. He was still worried about them being poisoned, but they smelt so good to his wolf nose that he ate them without any further hesitation.

I think I get why you're posting this as a forum, (Un-POM related characters, right?) but why not just post this on the Fans of POM site?

because it IS PoM related, with Skipper and his group being minor characters, and has no OCs. So it wouldn't fit in the Fans spot. Their motto is OC'S RULE for a reason, and Link is no OC, he's a character from a video game xD

Warning the following chapter, in case you haven't noticed, is mighty long lol!!!!
ENJOYS!!!! But now because I actually posted this early, you'll have to wait until we finish two new chapters Mwahahaha!.
My thanks again to Easel!!!!!!!!!!!







Chapter 2.

Later that day, a small, furry brown creature was pushed over the wall by an unknown source. He instantly began growling, until he realized that it was certainly no monster. He didn't know what it was, but he could see no threat in its big yellow eyes. Just utter terror.
"I'm sorry." He said, trying to sound as friendly as possible. "I thought you were a monster." Laughter came from over the wall. A lot of laughter. Then a voice said:
"Mort! A monster! You cannot be being serious! Bwahahahahahahahahaaaaa! This is almost as hilariousness as the time the penguins asked me to do a good deed! Heeheeheeheeeee... Oh, yes, I'm still laughing at that. Anyway... Hello, new neighbor!" Two more creatures climbed over the wall. One was thin, grey and taller than Kowalski, the other was fat, black and white and about as tall as Private. But they certainly weren't penguins, this time. Link didn't know what they were. The tiny brown one rushed to the grey one's feet. "Mort! Off the royal feet!" said the grey creature and he kicked the brown one mercilessly over the wall, into the far distance. Link growled, again, assuming the newcomers must have been monsters. Moblins for example, often squabble violently amongst themselves. Suddenly, the creatures looked panicked. "Do not be eating me!" said the tall grey one. "If you must be eating someone, let it be this one!" And it held out the shorter one, who looked bewildered, frightened and confused.
"I won’t attack any of you, if you don't attack me." Said Link, who had stopped growling now.
"But, more importantly, have you seen a phantom? Or a sword with a blue handle?"
“I certainly haven’t. But you know I have seen? A gray doggie creature, that looks very plush, and velvety, I would very much like it if you stayed at our habitat, and pledge yourself, as my pillow." Replied the grey creature. Link noticed he had a leafy item on his head.
‘King Julian, I don’t think that’s the best idea. A wolf could eat you while you were napping.’
"Oh yes, very good point Maurice. Anywho, I just came to tell you, since you are the new neighbor, that I am the king of all animals in this zoo. So that makes you my new royal subject!" and the two creatures left.

Link decided to look for phantom Ganondorf and the Master sword himself. He used his wolf senses and found somewhere to dig under the wall.
"Hey! What're you doing out of your habitat!?" came an unpleasant voice. Link looked up and saw Alice alert running towards him. He or she had one of the sleeping weapons in his or her hands. Before Link could do anything, he felt a dart pierce the flesh in his side. He pulled it out, with his teeth, but he was already feeling heavy waves of sleep flowing through his brain...
The next thing he knew, he was back in the place he had started. He assumed it was called his 'habitat'. There were a number of thin trees, forming comfortable shade. A small stone den, various bushes, and a small pond with a small bowl of clean water nearby. But now was not the time to admire his surroundings, because he saw many creatures in the distance. Hylians with rounded ears...

Chapter 3.
The creatures spread out, in all visible directions. A group of them came to the wall and looked right at him.
"Hey, look!" said a girl who looked about ten years old. She was pointing at Link and looking at her mother. "It looks like wolf Link, from Zelda!" Link's ears pricked at the sound of his name... and at the word 'Zelda'.
"Why, yes, dear, it does." Replied her mother, who was clearly disinterested and nursing a baby in her arms. The family stared at him, admiringly, for a minute or two, and then moved away towards a different habitat. Link didn't dare try escaping from his habitat or the non-Hylians would panic. The whole time the non-Hylians were there, none of the other animals he had just met visited him and he was thoroughly bored and anxious to look for the Master sword and Phantom Ganondorf. He wondered if their world was already slowly becoming consumed by Twilight. When all the round eared Hylians had finally left many hours later, he decided to have another go at escaping, this time being more cautious. When he had dug to the other side of the wall, he moved stealthily, keeping an eye out for monsters, Alice alert, or even Phantom Ganondorf. It was a good job he was being so vigilant, or he might not have spotted the penguin in the tree, watching him.

‘Are you watching me?’ Link demanded.
‘Drats! We’ve been compromised men!’ Skipper said.
‘Private! I’ll need you to ... Private?’
The small penguin Private was waddling up to Link, completely unafraid.
‘Hello there again! We didn’t properly introduce ourselves last time! I’m Private!’
‘Hello Private, have you seen any strange curtains of Twilight recently?’
‘No, I haven’t, should I?’
‘Private! Stop fraternizing with the possible enemy! You don’t know what kind of dark and sinister plans this wolf may have to trick you into being horribly eaten! Remember Manfredi and Johnson Private!’ Skipper hopped down from the tree and slapped Private, cutting him off.
‘Whoa, what are you doing?’
Kowalski was measuring Link top to bottom, shoulder to floor and nose to tail.
‘Interesting, your canine physique is different from all other canine races. You sir, are one of a kind.’
‘I told you, I’m Link, and I’m really a Hylian!’Link protested
‘And if you care, you must help me! I must defeat the twilight and find Phantom Gannondorf!’
‘Blearghabloudabarg!’ The strange penguin Rico was babbling.
‘Good point Rico, you see here ‘Link’’ started Skipper, Link was getting tired of air quotations now.
‘How do we know, you aren’t working for this ‘Twilight’ that you’re so eager to defeat? How do we know, you won’t eat us?’
‘I spat out your Kowalski didn’t I?’
‘He is very friendly now Skipper, and we are honor-bound to help a zoo animal in crisis,’ Private pointed out.
Skipper sighed. ‘Fiiiiine, young Private, but if this backfires, I’m holding you for court martial! You see here wolf, we are indeed honor-bound to help a zoo animal in crisis, now we need to know every bit of information we can before tackling this, ‘Twilight’ our resident wolf was so worried about.’ Skipper said.
‘Now let’s start with the basics, what is so dangerous about your ‘Twilight’?’ Skipper put in air quotations when he said Twilight. Of course, Link didn’t know what the notion meant.
‘It’s a realm of everlasting Twilight, where regretful spirits of the Twili reside. They are descendants of the Dark Interlopers who once terrorized Hyrule in attempt to control the Triforce. The Twilight is the Realm the Dark Interlopers were banished to after the Three Goddesses intervened. The Evil Gannondorf is attempting to immerse the Realm of Light with Twilight, turning the living into mere spirits and reducing the land into a horrible wasteland. The only way to reverse the tide is with the legendary Master Sword, the blade of Evil’s bane.’
There was a moment of silence.
‘Wow,’ Rico simply stated.
‘Yeah! That’s just what I was thinking. So this, ‘Twilight’ is basically a place in a mystical quest you’re on?’ Skipper asked.
‘Yes, but in my current form I cannot even lift the Master sword, let alone use it to save the World of Light.’
‘Uhhh… Kowalski?’
‘He’s raving mad.’
‘And I thought Rico needed to see a therapist.’
‘No really! Do any of you know where I might find the Master Sword?’
‘No no, my quadruplet friend, this is all a mere fantasy, there are no phantoms, no Realm of Twilight, you’re simply deluded, possibly caused by an allergic reaction to the anesthetic in the dart guns they use in the zoo. There are no blades of evil’s bane, no-‘
As the penguin called Kowalski carried on, Link noticed a disturbance in the air. He looked up, and a Twilight portal black and red appeared in the sky.
‘No Shadow Beasts?’ Link suggested.
‘Yes, now you’re catching on, no- EDISON’S UNDERWEAR!!’
The Twilight portal overhead deposited five Shadow Beasts, and pillars of Twilight appeared forming invisible walls separating the Penguins and Link. Three Shadow Beasts were to face off the Penguins, while two were confronted by Link.
‘Raaawrrrragh!’ Link yelled as he tackled the two Shadow Beasts, biting furiously into their flesh, causing them to fall down in defeat.
‘JUDO THE SHADOW BEASTS!’ Skipper yelled, clearly in a panic.
‘No! Not separately!’ Link warned, but the penguins were in a panic, they fell two of the beasts easily, ganging up on the beasts one at a time. But as the second one fell, the last one shrieked with a mind-numbing scream that revived the four fallen beasts.
‘Why won’t they stay down?’ Kowalski said, as he slapped a Shadow Beast on its heavy black Iron mask.
‘Just keep up the offense!’ Skipper yelled, felling another beast.
‘No! You can’t kill them separately, if you leave one alive, it’ll revive the others!’ Link yelled, as he fended off the two Shadow Beasts who were attempting to corner him.
‘Then we’ll leave none of them alive!’
‘No! You don’t understand! You have to take down the last two together, or it won’t work!’
‘Then how about we take care of these three and you take down the other two at once?’ Private suggested.
‘ArghbabebaMargaman.’ Rico hacked out a chainsaw and was busy trying to saw off the Iron mask of the third Shadow Beast.
‘Okay!’ Link held off the Shadow Beasts, taking care not to accidentally kill them … Yet.
‘Great idea Private!’ and with that, Skipper “judo-ed” his Shadow Beast again.
‘Whaaaaargh!’ Rico was grabbed by a Shadow Beast but was saved by Kowalski, Private distracted the one with the dented mask (from Rico’s saw) while Skipper Judo-ed it from behind. Once all the beasts were defeated, Skipper yelled ‘Now Link!’
Link charged up his energy, crouched on his haunches, he had both the beasts exactly where he wanted them, in range for his strike, with what could be described as a mix between a bark and a roar, Link dashed and tore through the Shadow Beasts, falling them so rapidly, there was no time for the Shadow Beasts to call each other back to life.
The Shadow Beasts dispersed in Twilight, and their remains sped up to the portal, changing it from red, and black, to green and black.
The pillars disappeared and the invisible walls did too. Peace returned to the zoo, for now.
‘Still think I’m raving mad?’ Link asked smugly.
‘The probability of that scene as a deluded fantasy in about one is seven hundred and twenty three.’ Kowalski said, taking out his instrument with red beads that Link assumed was for calculating.
‘But what will we do with THAT?’ asked Private, pointing to the large Twilight Portal over the Central Park Zoo.
‘Ah don’t worry young Private, mammals hardly ever look up, that’s why they get eaten by birds of prey so often,’
‘They do?’ Link still thought the strange accent was cute.
‘Sure! Why else are birds the superior breed?’
Suddenly, the gray furred animal who claimed to be king hopped over, with his black and white chubby friend and the squirrel thing who was trying to reach his feet.
‘Excuse me a little bit. Over the past few minutes, I could not help but notice, that you have graffiti-fied the king’s royal sky!’ he said pointing at the portal above them.
‘And as your king, I declare that you must clean off that monstrosity!’
‘How are you the King? You look nothing like one compared to the King of Hyrule.’ Link observed.
‘Eh-ka-heda-kekekeke-!’ the squirrel thing seemed to be choking.
‘How DARE this, King of Hyruliness proclaim himself as a king? I AM THE ONE AND ONLY KING!’
‘You proclaimed yourself King of his zoo a few months ago Julian.’ The fatter black furred creature stated.
‘But there can only be ONE king, that has self-proclaimified! I shall find this king! And say unpleasant things to him! And insult his kingly kingdom, and take it as my own!’
‘Ringtail! Get out of the scene.’ Skipper said, clearly having a headache by the way he was rubbing his forehead.
‘Where is this Hyrule of yours?’ “Ringtail” demanded, stomping up to Link’s face, and simply not respecting personal space, and shoving his finger up to his nose.
‘I-I’m not sure, I come from Hyrule, but I don’t quite know how I got here.’
‘Come Maurice! Come Mort! We must find this kingdom of Hyrule, and we must conquer it, and shame this King of Hyrule!’
As ‘Ringtail’ started to stomp off, Link stepped in front of the ‘king’ and blocked his way back to his habitat.
‘You step foot In Hyrule, you threaten Hyrule, and I will personally see to it, that you get thrown into the castle’s sewer system prisons. You will not touch, Hyrule.’ Link growled warningly, with a fierce fire in his eyes.
‘Forget it compadre, Ringtail is a lemur. A mammal, he won’t be able to conquer an anthill.’ Skipper said chuckling.
Link stepped aside, still growling and leering at the lemurs, and a little bit annoyed he took orders from a penguin.
‘Yes Maurice! We shall conquer this kingdom of Hyruliness!’ Ringtail’s voice faded in the distance, as he hopped back into his habitat.
A strange brown creature with a white chest, three black paws and one white one, was approaching them staring at the departing lemurs.
‘Hey guys, so uhhh… what’s with Julian? Ooh new neighbor!’
‘Oh hey Marlene! Julian’s just raving, as per usual. But this here fine specimen of wolf is Link!’ Skipper said.
‘Link, huh? Nice name! Hi, I’m Marlene!’ Marlene said
‘Just out of curiosity, erm, Link, do you know what specimen of wolf you are?’ Kowalski asked.
‘I told you, I’m not really a wolf. I’m a Hylian.’
‘Perhaps your species of wolf is called Hylian? Though I doubt that, I know all 39 species and subspecies of wolf, and none quite describe you, could you be a previously thought extinct wolf species yet to be discovered?’
Link sighed. ‘No, I’m a Hylian, a race of people very much like those people who were here a few hours ago. Only we have pointed long ears, and less mashed up faces, generally. Like that Alice alert. She has quite a strange face that bears some resemblance to Gorons.’
‘Uhh the probability that you are part of a race similar to humans is about … almost to nothing.’
‘Look, when I passed the curtain of Twilight I somehow transformed into a wolf. I’m not really a wolf!’
‘Well I believe you Link, it’s just really unlikely s’all.’ The kind Private said.
‘And it wasn’t unlikely Shadow Beasts exist?’ Link said, raising an eyebrow if he could.
‘Fair point, I suppose,’ Kowalski said.
‘Eh look guys, I have no idea what you’re talking about, so how about we all come over to my place and have some sardines?’ Marlene suggested.
‘Sarneanes? No Way!’ Rico grabbed Marlene and carried her to a habitat by the centre of … wherever they were.
‘Excuse me Private, but, where exactly am I?’
‘Oh! You’re in the Central Park Zoo! Here the people have habitats for animals that are endangered and let other people see them!’
The penguins climbed over the thick wall and Link dug under. Inside was a shallow moat of water, a few bushes and a den, so the overall habitat looked very much like the banks of a river. Except for the large slide that occupied half of the habitat.
Marlene’s dwelling consisted of strings of flowers, plush pillows, stone furniture and what appeared to be a mechanical lamp. The only place Link had seen such a lamp was in a Bomb Workshop back in Hyrule at the Kakariko Village. She brought over several bowls of fish, and Link looked uncertainly at them. Their pungent odor was almost unbearable to his wolf nose.
‘I think I’ll skip lunch.’ He said, trying to be polite.
‘Oh right, you’re a wolf, of course you won’t want fish!’ Marlene exclaimed.
‘Rico, feed the canine.’ Skipper ordered, while he chomped on the sardines.
‘Haheeeearruggh!’ Out came a hunk of … meat … of unknown origin … Link wasn’t so hungry anymore.
‘So Link, where are you from?’ Marlene asked, trying to make small conversation.
‘Ordon Village, from Hyrule.’ He replied.
‘Uh-huh so Ordon Village, do they have other wolves there? What does your pack like, raid their livestock or something?’ Marlene asked
‘What? No!’ Link cried. ‘I herded their livestock! And we have no wolves living near Ordon Village!’
‘Uh-huh… right… So Link, what’s with that earring?’
‘Cheese and Crackers? How’d that earring slip my eye?’ Skipper realized, everyone who didn’t notice before was now staring intently at Link’s ear, which he found disturbing.
‘Um, it’s just something children of Ordon get, when they get old enough I guess …’ Link said, still uncomfortable.
‘What is it? Some sort of spy technology, designed to contact your superior? How can I trust that thing? It’s blue, and wolves don’t wear earrings!’ Skipper immediately demanded.
‘I told you, I’m a Hylian, you’ll just have to trust those are our traditions,’ Link grumbled
‘And what is that mark on your paw Link?’ Private asked curiously. Now everyone was staring at Link’s left paw. Didn’t these people know it was rude to pry? (No they don’t, they’re New Yorkers, as goes the stereotype.) ‘Errr… that’s just the mark of the Hyrulean Royal family, I don’t really have a clue why it’s there. They say my ancestor the Hero of Time had a mark like that. So the Ordaneans think I might have a heroic destiny like him. It’s the shape of the Triforce.’
‘Uh-huh, I didn’t really catch all of that but okay.’ Marlene said, finally putting her questioning to rest.
‘So Link,’ Skipper started. ‘What is it you need in order to do to … how’d he put it again Kowalski?’
‘Save the World of Light. Skipper’ Kowalski replied, munching on a fish.
‘BAAAAAARG!’ Rico burped.
‘Eugh! Not inside Rico! If you have gas, don’t let it out inside my house okay Rico?’ Marlene said, fanning the air in front of her.
‘Sorwehy!’ Rico said.
‘Well,’ Link said, ignoring the interruptions, ‘I need to get back to the Sacred Forest Meadow where the ruins of the Temple of Time are. Chances are the Master Sword is somewhere there. Anyone know of a place called the Sacred Forest Meadow?’
‘Umm no… But even if you get the Blade of Evil’s bane, how will you use it?’ Private asked timidly.
‘I’m not quite sure, but I have to try!’ Link insisted.
‘Wait, if I came to this world using the Doors of Time, they must still exist somewhere in this world!’ Link realized out loud.
‘Even if they existed, and this “Temple of Time” is no mere myth, do you even know where they are?’ Kowalski asked.
‘I’m not sure, but I’m guessing they’re in the meadow the humans first found me in!’ said Link
‘Where, exactly is this meadow?’ Marlene asked.
‘I don’t know …‘Link looked down.
‘Maybe the zoo records say something!’ Private suggested.
SLAP! Skipper just slapped Private!
‘No, the Zoo should have recorded this top secret information!’ Skipper said.
‘Perhaps the Zoo Records yield some valuable information,’ Kowalski suggested.
‘That’s what Private just said!’ Link protested.
‘Fear not my canine friend, we’ll get you to that meadow! A zoo animal in crisis is one thing we cannot ignore! Move out men!’ With that the penguins slid away.
‘Do they always leave so abruptly?’ asked Link.
‘You have no idea. Marlene replied.

Me??? How did i help??? I just said it`s an awesome story ;)
I like it and i hope chapter 2 is as good as the previous chapters :)

****************************UPDATE********­***­***­***­***­***­***­***­***
From now on, I'll stick to the original posting schedule (once a week, unless ... see description) from now on. The only reason I posted so much was to get the penguins into the action quickly, but now I'll be posting slower.

*FACEPALM* Cheese and sprinkles, I forgot dedications, OBVIOUSLY IMANEASEL FOR BEING AN AWESOME PARTNER AND ... MIYAMOTO!!!! xD Lol.

And Cattoy, you were like, the first to give it a chance, thanks!!!!!!!!!! I love it when people read and appreciate our writing which we were working on since like, last week xD

Chapter 4

‘Alright Kowalski, decode this password.’ Skipper ordered.
The penguins were in Alice’s office and logging onto the computer to view zoo records.
‘Inputting code, NOW!’ Kowalski tapped random keys on the keyboard.
‘Find the secret info on the wolf!’
‘Got it Skipper, this may be what we’re looking for, unfortunately, I can’t read it.’
‘Then print it man! We need canine origin intel stat!’
‘Skipper! Alice is coming!’ Private warned
‘Blast! No time to tell if this is the document we’re after. Just take the document and let’s move! Rico! Grapple gun!’
‘Hoooweargh!’
‘Move soldiers!’
The penguins latched onto Rico, as he fired the grapple gun so they could launch to a safe distance.
Unfortunately, the grapple gun malfunctions.
‘Kowalski, why is the grapple gun stopping?’
‘It appears to be an everyday malfunction.’
‘Well we better hurry! If Alice looks out her office window, we’ll be compromised!’ said Private.
‘Kowalski! Ideas!’
‘We’ll need a safe drop point, but unfortunately, all that’s below seems to be concrete. Mammals are attracted to movement. If we attempt to climb the rope chances are Alice will spot us as we pass her window.’
‘Sweet Chocolate Cakes! We’ll never hold on until she leaves!’
‘Skipper! I’m falling, help!!’ Private wailed
‘Hang on soldiers!’
‘Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!‘
‘ Rico’s lost his grip!’ Kowalski announced.
‘Waaaaarrrrgh- huh?’
‘Am I late?’ Link asked. He had leaped and caught Rico on his back in mid-air.
‘Just on time recruit! Men, hop down!’
Soon Link was loping around the zoo grounds with four penguins on his back.
‘We need to see the chimps. They’re the only literate animals in the zoo.’ Skipper said
‘Where are they?’ Link asked.
‘By the lemur habitat, hang a right!’ Skipper ordered.
The penguins held on tightly as Link sped right.
They passed the lemur habitat which had wild and loud music coming from it that hurt Link’s ears. Another unfamiliar habitat came up ahead.
‘Just up ahead soldier.’ Link wasn’t sure what a soldier was, but he leaped over the walls of the habitat, and landed in the chimpanzee exhibit.
‘Pardon me, but just who exactly are you?!’
What must have been a dark haired chimpanzee asked quite alarmed, while a reddish haired chimpanzee cowered in a tree.
‘Simians, meet Link. He’s the new wolf around here!’ Skipper said.
‘Link meet Mason, and Phil, resident chimpanzees of the zoo. Phil can read but speaks sign language. A language that uses hand gestures when one does not possess the power of speech.’ Kowalski offered.
‘Yes, yes, yes, very well, but may I ask why you are here?’ Mason asked.
‘We need you to tell us where they found this wolf.’ Skipper instructed.
Phil peered at the document the penguins were reading. Link looked over his shoulder, but the words printed neatly on the page were strange, and certainly not Hylian.
Phil made some odd gestures with his hands and mason translated
‘Well, Phil says, they found this wolf in … Well well, you're in luck! They found this wolf in Central Park!"
"How lucky!" said Private.
"The percentage of good luck in this piece of news is-" Kowalski began, but he was interrupted by Skipper.
"We don't need unnecessary statistics, Kowalski! We need to plan out escape, ASAP!"
"I beg your pardon?" Asked the dark haired chimpanzee, but the penguins had already left. Link just shrugged his shoulders at the chimps and dug under the wall. He found the penguins on the other side. Skipper was pacing up and down.
"Kowalski, I need options!" he barked.
"Skipper, the zoo will be open any minute, shouldn't we go back to our habitat?" Asked Private.
"Hmm. Private may be on to something." he looked at Link. "We'll meet you in your habitat, when the coast is clear. You'll just have to be patient, 'till then." and the penguins saluted and slid away, leaving Link to find his way back to his habitat. It didn't take him long and soon many round eared Hylians were flooding the zoo with the sounds of their chatter and laughter. Watching these creatures was Link's only source of entertainment. Since his habitat was the newest, it was also the barest. Later that day, the penguins arrived a few seconds after every human, including Alice alert, was out of sight and earshot. They arrived so suddenly, Link almost jumped out of his skin. He'd never seen a creature move so fast. Skipper spoke first.
"So, Link, we need an escape plan, a plan of where in Central Park we need to go, and a plan for what we're going to do, once we get to..."
"Hyrule." Link finished for him.
"Right. So, let's start with the escape plan! Kowalski! Options!" Kowalski took out his pencil and notepad (Link had never seen either of these before) and began scribbling something.
"Skipper, if my calculations are correct, and there's a ninety five percent chance that they are, there are several ways we could escape without Alice catching us out. However, humans would undoubtedly notice our absence, therefore we need something to take our places, so I suggest getting out our old holograms, again."
"Right, so we go techno." said Skipper, who was rubbing his flippers together. "Which method of escape do you suggest, Kowalski?"
"Well, we could try going through the sewer." suggested Kowalski.
"Negative! We'd just risk getting ambushed by the sewer rats! More options, Kowalski!"
"Well, how about the tunnel that's only used by penguins and only on official penguin business?"
"The one everybody tried to go through until Bert got stuck because he thought he saw a mouse?" Asked Private.
"Affirmative." replied Kowalski. "What do you think, Skipper?"
"Now, THAT sounds like an escape plan! Next, we need to plan how we're going to search for the Temple of Time. I suggest we split up. What do you think, Link?" They all looked at Link. Link was surprised that Skipper had suddenly asked him for his opinion.
"Um uh... I was going to just search myself, and thank you for getting me out of the zoo, but I’d need a scent sample to find the Doors of Time first soooo… Ok, sounds good!" he said.
"Great. Now the final stage of planning. We need to prepare for what were about to do! Weapons, worst and best case scenarios etc. Failing to prepare is preparing to fail. You just leave this part to us, Link!" said Skipper and the penguins left as suddenly as they had arrived.

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I'll put up links to shadow beasts, and whatever later when I've finished procrastinating. ]

Dedicated toooooo... Whoever comments first after this post.

This is an awesome story! I've never played Twilight Princess, but my sister made me watch walkthroughs of it all the time. I'm looking forward to the next chapter! ^^

well done KowalSkip! you just earned my dedications xD lol.

If someone else comments in the next 5 hours I'll post a sneak peek of Chapter 5!!!

Personally, this is one of my fave chapters.
Dedications to ImAnEasel who wrote the first half, and all the readers out there! Even if they are only cattoy10, KowalSkip9 and penguinlover13 XD






Chapter 5.

Link slept fitfully that night. He couldn't get the thought of Twilight consuming the zoo, then the world, overnight, out of his head. And phantom Ganondorf... what was HE doing at this moment in time? Was he watching him right now? Maybe prepared to strike? What if he'd heard the conversation between Link and the penguins and was going to try and stop them? Was Link putting the penguins in danger?
When Link awoke, it was so early that the light of day hadn't started peeking out from over the horizon, yet. He looked towards where he thought (and he thought correctly) the centre of the zoo was. He caught a glimpse of the penguins. It must have been their habitat. He tried to get a better view of them. It looked like they were doing something... possibly training. Bored, Link decided to make a mental map of the zoo, from what he could see from his habitat. He assumed the penguin habitat was in the centre. While he was making this map in his head, he watched the penguins. Their training (he assumed it was training, what else could it be?) reminded him vaguely of the Hylian soldiers, back in Hyrule. He felt a pang of homesickness... He wondered how everybody back in Ordon village was doing. Daylight was starting to creep into his vision. His habitat was on the edge of the zoo, so he turned away from the rest of the zoo, to look at the sunrise. He saw a tiny sliver of sunlight just peek over the horizon, turning nearby clouds pink, orange and peach and turning clouds slightly further away purple and blue. It was a beautiful sight... but it didn't last long. He heard the tell-tale noise of the penguins entering his habitat. He turned to see all four of them, looking ready for anything... not that they didn't usually look like that.
"Link, we've planned exactly what we're going to do in every situation we came up with, once we enter your world, Hyrule." said Skipper. "We've prepared our own decoys and a decoy for you, too. Rico!" Rico regurgitated a life sized stuffed wolf that looked exactly like Link. Link was amazed.
"Where did you...?" He asked.
"In a video game store, funnily enough!" Said Private, earning an immediate slap from Skipper.
"That was classified information, Private!"
"Sorry, Skipper."
"Not to worry, Private. After all, it was classified. If it had been HIGHLY classified, then -"
"Skipper, the zoo will soon be open." Kowalski cut in. "Shouldn't we get going, before Alice discovers us?"
"Hmm... you may be on to something, there, Kowalski. Link, follow us! We're going through a tunnel that's ONLY to be used by penguins - or in this case, wolves - on official penguin business. Role out, men!" And they jumped over the wall. Link dug under the wall.
‘Now, we go out in stealth, we can’t afford to attract Ringtail, he’d just compromise our mission. Execute Stealth Bellyslide!’ Skipper ordered. Of course, Link couldn’t slide, so he crawled on his belly like a wolf stalking its prey.
‘Through those bushes.’ Private whispered.
Behind two shrubs, was a metal circular door set in the ground.
Rico opened the underground tunnel.
‘Move men!’ Skipper ordered. The penguins hopped into the tunnel, Link followed them without hesitation.
Inside, it was completely dark after Skipper closed the entrance.
‘Rico, flashlight.’
‘Huurraaaaahg,’ a portable version of the mechanical lamp came out o Rico. How he held such devices in his belly was a mystery to Link.
Skipper hopped up on top of Link’s head, giving him a higher ground to show he was of higher status. Like captains of the Hyrulean soldiers would often mount a horse to be seen above his troops. Although Link did find it a bit odd looking at his own forehead rather than looking Skipper in the face.
‘We proceed with caution from this point forth. Move out!’
The group proceeded with absolute silence albeit the sounds of penguin feet hitting the concrete. Link’s padded wolf paws muted any sound of his feet touching the ground.
The ‘flashlight’ as Link learned it was called, lit up overhead pipes and brickwork that formed this large tunnel. It vaguely reminded him of the tunnel near Ordon Spring. Only it was manmade, not a product of nature. The air smelled of underground here. Link’s wolf nose caught scents of earth, moisture, and old animal scents.
‘Halt men!’ declared Skipper. ‘There’s our exit point.’
He pointed his flipper to a hatch higher up that could be reached by a ladder.
‘Come on Link!’ Private said as the penguins climbed the ladder.
‘Hang on, I can’t climb ladders but get out of the way, and I might be able to jump through,’
Once the penguins were outside and out of sight, Link crouched down, and leaped through the entrance, and landed in a clearing in what must’ve been called Central Park. The trees and color of grass was similar to the ones he saw when he came into this time and world.
From the hollow of the tree, a tan and brown squirrel popped his head out.
‘Oh hey guys, my uncle just got here, do you want to meet him?’ An unfamiliar squirrel addressed the penguins.
‘No can do Fred. We’re on official penguin-wolf business here,’
‘Ooh, is his name Nigel?’ Private asked, as naïve as ever.
‘No, his name’s Gordy.’
‘Hello all huh? Hey! You’re that friendly wolf from before huh?’
‘Squirrel!’ Link exclaimed.
‘You live at the zoo huh?’
‘No! I just got there, you escaped the hunters?’
‘Yep huh.’
‘Oh so, y-you know my uncle?’ The squirrel who must have been Fred said.
‘Oh yeah Freddie huh, he and I go way back, like a day or two. Huh,’
’I told you Gordy, my name is Fred. I don’t know any Freddie…’
‘We’ll catch up on the jib-jab later Bushy Tails, we got to get this canine to where he came from ASAP! So get out of our way, or I’m running you over.’
‘Run us over with what?’
Skipper face flippered. ‘Just move out of the way.’
‘See you later Mr. Nice Wolf huh!’ Gordy said as they moved away.
The wind started to pick up, and leaves flew about in a panic
‘Now c’mon men, we go in two teams, one team will search the south of Central Park, while the other team search up north. Kowalski, Private and Li… Link? Get your head out of the clouds soldier!’
Link wasn’t listening, he was hearing something, it was faint, but he could definitely hear it with his wolf ears.
‘Can’t you guys hear that?’ Link asked, cocking his ear northwards.
‘Canine senses of hearing are far superior to any races of animal. Chances are we, can’t,’ Kowalski provided.
‘It’s like, a ghostly tune …’ Link drifted off.
‘It’s coming from this way!’ Link yelled as he started to run north-west.
‘But Link! We’re on a time sensitive schedule right now! We have no time to-‘Skipper began.
‘Just follow me!’ Link interrupted
‘Henamarghskafaldagak.’ Rico babbled.
‘We better follow him, or we’re going to lose him!’
‘Right. Toboggan after that quadruped!’ ordered Skipper.
Link followed his ears, the sound was definitely getting louder, it was like music, if the wind could make music, Link was sure that would be the sound. The winds whipped around in a frenzy and the song was much louder in Link’s ears, it was difficult to hear over the roaring winds. He forged deeper into the trees, until the sounds suddenly stopped, and became faint again. The wind had stopped blowing, but instead of hearing the tune more clearly, the tune had almost faded away. Leaves dropped into the clearing Link found himself in. The penguins caught up to him.
‘What has gotten into you soldier?’ Skipper demanded.
‘Can’t you feel it? Something … magical … is hidden here,’ Link replied. He couldn’t explain it, but it was like something was calling to him. Calling him with magic. To him, the very air seemed to thrum with a magical force.
‘Normally I would dismiss your claims of magic and or mystical powers but after the events of yesterday that is no longer possible.’
Link circled the area, and came to a stop at a curiously shaped stone. It was obviously old and covered with greenery. It had a symbol on it that greatly resembled a tribal eye with a large tear dropping from the middle of the eye. Where the pupil should be, was a gaping hole that the wind was blowing through. He came closer to it, and listened intently. The wind whispered through the musical stone, and Link memorized the tune by heart. He sat in front of the stone, and howled.
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----------@------------------------------­@--­---­---­---­---­---­---­---­---­---­---­---­---
_____________@___________________@_______­___­___­___
___________________@___________________@_­___­___­___
_________________________________________­___­___­___­__

The notes Link just howled echoed into the morning and a feeling of serenity entered the clearing. Winds picked up again and Link felt his mind be transported to an otherworldly plane …
Link was on a cliff, with his back facing a mountain glowing red as lava calmly spewed from its fiery depths. The landscape before him was almost completely shrouded by thick clouds. Across the expanse of clouds from him, sat a golden figure far across the hidden land below, The golden figure was sitting on a ledge of stone mounted higher than the ledge Link was sitting on. The sound of each wolf’s panting echoed far across the strangely mute world. Even the volcano behind him didn’t make a sound. Peering closely, Link could see the figure was a golden wolf. It was glowing with light and had one glowing red eye, the other one was missing. Link knew this wolf belonged to this plane, its shimmering ghostly form was watching him and … waiting for him, to do something?
On a hunch, Link lifting his muzzle into the empty air above, and howled the same tune he had heard from the strange stone.

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_____________@___________________@_______­___­___­___
___________________@___________________@_­___­___­___
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Almost immediately after he howled the last note, the other wolf joined in, they howled a harmony to the Golden Goddesses above Link was so familiar with, a beautiful melody, and their howls faded into silence. The wolf looked at him, and addressed him.
‘That melody was one I learned long ago. The Song of Healing, it is a melody that can heal a broken soul and bring peace to those who cannot forget. It eases the souls of those with everlasting regret. Let the teachings of old pass to you … take the legendary sword in hand, and find me.’ His voice seemed telepathic, and ancient, and filled with sorrow, and then the golden wolf leaped from his perch, and disappeared into the clouds below.


link
(more howls coming soon!)

This story is so awesome!!! It`s one of my favourites, keep it up ;) And the howling song was just so magical and thanks to you i am interested in Zelda. It just looks and sounds so cool :D

^ YAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYY!!! XD And thank you very much for all your compliments! I'm so pleased that our story is one of your favourites. X3

please keep going.I love the story so far. I have been a zelda fan since I was like 5,but I didn't understand what it was about so I stop and now a fan again when I was 13.and reading this story about my favorite game and my most favorite t.v. show,it is so much better.please continue!!!!!

I wrote this listening to Ballad of the Goddess. Awesome Chapter ending in this chappie.

ENJOYZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!!!!

Dedicated to all commentors and Mainly ImAnEasel for writing so much with me.

Links will be posted when I'm bothered. XD




Chapter 6

Link woke up to a fishy smelling flipper slapping his muzzle.
‘Soldier! Wake up man! Get up Link!’ Skipper was slapping him silly.
‘Rrrrauggh!’ Link panicked and without thinking, uttered a canine bark and tried to bite Skipper.
‘Tears and Tundra man! You almost bit off my whole flipper!’ Skipper exclaimed, backing away.
‘Sorry Skipper, but you did startle me.’
‘After your moment of tuneful howling, you dropped unconscious, we’ve been trying to wake you for the past five minutes,’ said Kowalski.
‘What happened?’ Asked Private.
"I don't know why I fell into unconsciousness," said Link "but I had a strange dream. I think it's... important."
"Ooh!" said Private. "What was the dream about?"
"Private! We don't have time for this! We need to find the temple of time, ASAP!" Said Skipper. Then Kowalski spoke:
"Judging by my incredibly elaborate and almost certainly correct calculations, this dream is somehow connected to us finding the Temple of Time, saving our world from the Twilight etc."
"Well why don't you tell us what the dream was about, then, Link?" Suggested Skipper.
"But that's what I just-" Private started.
"Shh!" Skipper interrupted Private. "This is important!" Private rolled his eyes, when Skipper turned to face Link. "Go on."
"Well, um uh, to cut a long story short, I dreamt I was in another world, I think, and the only sound I could hear was the panting of another wolf, only this one was a golden wolf, who was sitting on a platform made of rock, far away from me. I didn't know what else to do, so I sat down and howled the tune I howled when I was awake. The golden wolf joined in and, when we'd finished howling, the golden wolf said that it was the Song of Healing and that it healed souls who cannot forget their regrets, or... something like that, anyway. Then he told me to find him, and he disappeared.“
"Interesting..." Said Skipper, "What do you make of it Kowalski?" Kowalski had been scribbling on his notepad the whole time.
"Not sure, Skipper. It's just so... random. Have you ever had a dream like this before, Link?"
"No, I'm pretty sure this is a first for me."
"Useful." Said Kowalski, sarcastically.
"I'm sorry... I-" Link was cut off by a ghostly moan. It had been quiet, but just loud enough for everyone to have heard it. The penguins instantly sprung into their commando positions.
‘Be on your guard men! Be prepared to blow this stalker all the way to New Jersey!’
‘That probably won’t help very much Skipper’ Link said.
They all stood still for quite a few seconds, then...
"Ooooooooooooooooooooohhh..." It was definitely a spirit of some sort. It sounded female.
"Show yourself!" Skipper shouted into the air. It was getting dark. Link remembered what Rusl had said, what seemed like a million years ago.
*Flashback* “Tell me...Do you ever feel a strange sadness as dusk falls?
They say it's the only time when our world intersects with theirs...
...The only time we can feel the lingering regrets of spirits who have left our
world.
That is why loneliness always pervades the hour of twilight…”
*End of flashback*
"Ooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhh..." It was quieter, this time and Link heard a tremor of fear in its voice.
"There's no need to be afraid." Link said softly. He looked around. Then he decided to watch the place where the noise seemed to be coming from. Slowly, very slowly, the ghost of a rabbit peeked out from behind a tree. The penguins flinched, slightly, remembering the 'macabre ballet of adorability and pain' as Kowalski had called it. The rabbit ghost moved around the tree. They could see all of its body, now. It was floating.
"You're the sacred blue eyed beast? The one the voices told me to find? You see me?” She asked. The penguins nodded at the last question, while Link stared intently at the rabbit.
"Oh please! I’ve met with a terrible fate!" she tried to bury her face in her paws, but they went straight through. "A dark hole appeared in the skies above us, I was looking after my kits, Amelia had just gotten her first tooth" She seemed distant in memory lane, and faintly smiled at her memories. But then her expression turned sorrowful.
“Then I tried to defend my family, and I tried to herd them away, but the monsters that came from the dark hole found us I tried to save my poor kits, but the monsters collapsed the tunnel before I could escape, and now … I cannot help them at all! A wall of strange darkness separated me from my kits, and now they are wandering spirits in a world where everything is wasting away! I cannot reach them, I cannot comfort them, I cannot forget their faces of terror as the walls collapsed, and the fear in Harley’s eyes! I cannot forget my sorrows, how can I rest in peace?” she wailed.
Link knew exactly what it was the rabbit had seen. She had seen some Shadow Beasts raiding her home, and they had succeeded in turning her home into a realm of Twilight, and she had paid a terrible price to save her kits. Who were now wandering as spirits within in the Twilight. Link recalled the words of the Golden Wolf, ‘The Song of Healing, it is a melody that can heal a broken soul and bring peace to those who cannot forget’ Link realized what he had to do, he sat, threw back his head and howled the song of healing as loudly as he could. The penguins just stood and watched, in utter silence, as Link howled and howled and the ghost rabbit seemed to be looking at a completely different scene to the one that was around her. The feeling of peace, and tranquility filled the air with his howls.
When Link had finished, she seemed to come back to her senses. "Oh what a beautiful melody." she said. "I have never heard such a song. My spirit feels so … healed ... You will go in my place to find my kits?”
“Of course!” Skipper said. “We’ll get those babies back to their poppa in no time at all!”
“In return for your kindness, I will take you to the place of strange darkness that used to be my home. It is the very least I can do for healing my soul."
“You’ll take us there?" asked Link, confused that the rabbit would wish to return to the place where she had met her fate.
"Yes... A strange voice came to me... He told me a sacred beast with blue eyes who could see me, accompanied by the black and white birds of command and authority, will heal you, and bring happiness to you and your family."
She beckoned them and they followed her. They followed her all the way to a collapsed rabbit tunnel.
“Here is the tunnel we used to reach Central Park. My kits are taking shelter in a tunnel that leads to a secluded and peaceful spot in Central Park, a place where humans rarely go. We’ve taken to calling it a Secret Grove.”
Link’s ears pricked up at the mention of this area. Could it be the Sacred Grove they were looking for?
‘Thank you miss, we’ll look after your kits,’ Skipper promised.
‘Now Rico, we’ll need shovels, a hacksaw, wooden support beams and a-‘
‘Skipper that won’t be necessary,’ Kowalski interrupted.
‘Link is … apparently … a Hylian turned into a wolf. With my examinations, a wolf would be able to tunnel though this rabbit hole more effectively than flipper-grease alone.’
‘Fiiiine, have it your way Kowalski, Link, we need you to dig that tunnel!’
‘Sure,’ Using his wolf senses, Link could tell which direction to dig for the most effective tunnel, while following the rabbit hole into the world behind the Twilight.
Just when Link was sensing the tunnel was about to end and they were about to surface, something changed. The air got vastly colder, the earth smelled like damp and decay, and … it was too quiet, Link looked behind him, but saw only glowing globes of life.
‘Skipper?’ Link asked. He concentrated his wolf senses, and saw the penguins in spirit form, their ghostly selves looking at each other confused.
‘Kowalski! Where’d the canine go?’
‘I have no idea Skipper, he just suddenly vanished.’
What? Link was right there! Perhaps spirits could not see him, but why? They could see each other just fine. It must be because Kowalski, Rico and Private are spirits too. Link decided
‘Blemanugahn,’ Rico babbled
‘Rico’s right, we must have entered the ‘Twilight’ … So it does exist EGAD!!!’
‘Stay frosty men, we never leave one of our own behind! Let’s get to the end of this tunnel, and look for Link. Move out!’
‘But Skipper, we can’t seem to move the dirt?’
‘Are you telling me your flippers are so weak they can’t lift a grain of dirt Private?’
‘No, it’s like it’s strangely solid.’
‘Of course dirt is solid Private, that’s why we have to move it,’
‘No Skipper, I mean it’s like the dirt is cemented together, we can’t move a thing!’
‘What?!’ Skipper exclaimed. Then he relentlessly pushed against the walls of the tunnel.
‘It’s no use Skipper, it seems we have become the intangible.’
‘I don’t speak gobbledygook Kowalski, in English.’
‘We have become elaborate spirits and can no longer interact with the physical world. Fascinating.’
Skipper raised an eyebrow (if he had them)
Kowalski sighed. ‘We are ghosts, we can’t touch anything solid, just like the ghost rabbit from before.’
‘Lollygagging Lollipops! We’ve been tricked! I told you Link could not be trusted!’
‘How is this Link’s fault?’ Private asked.
‘You don’t see him do you?’
‘Well, no but-‘
‘And he’s not a ghost with us is he?’
‘I suppose not, but how does that-‘
‘And we’re the ones trapped in a tunnel, with no escape route! He deliberately led us into a trap!’
‘Oh dear,’
Link couldn’t bear to listen to this anymore, he had to prove to Skipper his paranoid scenarios were false, but how can he reverse the Twilight? Link broke the wall of the tunnel exposing the surface.
He wriggled out of the rabbit tunnel and shook the dirt out of his fur. It was his second trip into the Twilight. The grass was an unhealthy yellow, and globes of light, signifying the presence of animal spirits floated around aimlessly. Twilight particles floated in the air, and the light was dark as usual within the Twilight Realm. Deku baba sprouts had started growing within this world. And draconic bats flapped overhead. But the Shadow beasts were nowhere in sight.
Suddenly, Link smelt the burning smell of electricity, somewhere up in that large tree!
Growling, Link slammed headfirst into the base of the tree, rocking it violently. Something flew from the branches of the dying tree. It would crackle with electricity, but Link couldn’t quite see what it was with his eyes alone. Concentrating his senses, he caught a glimpse of a large beetle that seemed more solid that the spirits he was seeing. He barked and tried to reach it, but the beetle flew away.
In the distance, a spring seemed to call Link. He fet a presence coming from the clear water, he trotted over, and a faint and weaken voice called ‘Please … return … my Tear of Light … please …’ and with that, the presence disappeared.
Using his senses, Link listened in on some ghostly conversation between the animals.
‘-They completely ravaged my home … The hollows were smashed to pieces, I don’t know where I’ll go …’
‘The streams were dammed by falling trees, my ducklings have nowhere to go…’
‘Ahhhhhh! Someone, help! There’s a shadow attacking the Lopson Bunny hole! Muriel’s kits will be killed!’ a possum ran screaming.
Link sprinted in the direction the possum had come running, sure enough, there were two Shadow beasts cornering a rabbit burrow with seven little spirit globes huddling together cowering.
‘RrrrRAHAUGH!!!!!’ Link roared as he tackled the Shadow beasts. He tore through them just as he had last time, but even when both of them fell, a third somewhere screamed it’s horrible screech and Link whimpered in pain as it paralyzed him as his ears were now really sensitive.
The good news is, Link now knew there were only three Shadow beasts. The bad news is he had no idea where was the last Shadow Beast, and he had to protect the rabbit den!
He quickly memorized the scent coming from the Shadow beasts and followed a separate Shadow Beast scent trail that went up a cliff.
Following the trail, Link almost didn’t see the Deku baba until it lunged at him, trying to take a bite out of him. With the reflexes of a wolf Link dodged and snapped off it’s stem with his powerful jaws. The Deku baba dispersed into Twilight Particles, and Link carried on.
Seeing the shadow beast up ahead, Link launched himself at the Shadow beast, with his paws outstretched, Link felt his claws sink into the Beast as it toppled from the cliff because of Link’s force and weight. It fell twenty feet and made a soft landing for Link.
Luckily the cliff was right over the Rabbit hole, so the jump landed Link right where he wanted to be, in front of the Shadow Beasts ready to confront them.
Charging up his energy, Link attacked and ripped through the Beasts. Their remains became Twilight particles, which turned a portal not far to the east from red and black, to green and black.
Link heightened his senses and looked at the small family of rabbit kits.
‘W-where’d the shadows go?’
‘It’s all right Jane, you can open your eyes! They’re gone now!’
‘B-but what h-happened?’
‘I don’t know, but we’re safe now!’
Link smiled at the rejoicing family, but if this didn’t reverse the Twilight. What would?
Tzzzzzz tzzzapzzz!
The sound of crackling electricity broke the sounds of celebration. The tiny globes retreated into their burrow. Using his senses once again, Link could see the ghostly forms of the penguins trying to hit the crawling beetle that was attempting to electrocute them.
‘Keep trying men! This monster can’t keep it up for much longer!’
‘We can’t seem to touch it Skipper!’
‘Clearly this beetle is of the tangible world and as intangible spirits we can do nothing to stop it!’
‘Negative! Failure is not an option! Now Rico, I need a fly swat!’
‘Hackabuh,, Hearpleugh! KAAAH! KAAAAH! Awwwwrgh!’
‘Skipper, it seems Rico is unable to access his tangible items within his bowels, I’m afraid he’s lost the ability to regurgitate required items on a whim in this state.’
‘HIT THE DECK!’
Following the trail, Link almost didn’t see the Deku baba until it lunged at him, trying to take a bite out of him. With the reflexes of a wolf Link dodged and snapped off it’s stem with his powerful jaws. The Deku baba dispersed into Twilight Particles, and Link carried on.
Seeing the shadow beast up ahead, Link launched himself at the Shadow beast, with his paws outstretched, Link felt his claws sink into the Beast as it toppled from the cliff because of Link’s force and weight. It fell twenty feet and made a soft landing for Link.
Luckily the cliff was right over the Rabbit hole, so the jump landed Link right where he wanted to be, in front of the Shadow Beasts ready to confront them.
Charging up his energy, Link attacked and ripped through the Beasts. Their remains became Twilight particles, which turned a portal not far to the east from red and black, to green and black.
Link heightened his senses and looked at the small family of rabbit kits.
‘W-where’d the shadows go?’
‘It’s all right Jane, you can open your eyes! They’re gone now!’
‘B-but what h-happened?’
‘I don’t know, but we’re safe now!’
Link smiled at the rejoicing family, but if this didn’t reverse the Twilight. What would?
Tzzzzzz tzzzapzzz!
The sound of crackling electricity broke the sounds of celebration. The tiny globes retreated into their burrow. Using his senses once again, Link could see the ghostly forms of the penguins trying to hit the crawling beetle that was attempting to electrocute them.
‘Keep trying men! This monster can’t keep it up for much longer!’
‘We can’t seem to touch it Skipper!’
‘Clearly this beetle is of the tangible world and as intangible spirits we can do nothing to stop it!’
‘Negative! Failure is not an option! Now Rico, I need a fly swat!’
‘Hackabuh,, Hearpleugh! KAAAH! KAAAAH! Awwwwrgh!’
‘Skipper, it seems Rico is unable to access his tangible items within his bowels, I’m afraid he’s lost the ability to regurgitate required items on a whim in this state.’
‘HIT THE DECK!’
‘I am a Light Spirit of Central Park, My name is Yordin, welcome, one of altered shape and questing birds of honor,’ The penguins puffed out their chest at ‘birds of honor’
‘A Light Spirit? But back in Ordon, tales Light Spirits were described as large beasts of great divinity.’ Link said, confused.
‘Alas, as the humans progress the pollution has dimed my Light, and weakened my strength. None who live in this realm possess magic, so none may invoke the mystical things of the land, such as Light Spirits,’
‘You’re a deity of Light?’ Kowalski asked.
‘One of four,’ Yordin replied. ‘The Shadow beings summoned by the specter one from your world’ Yordin pointed at Link, ‘He traps the little light lift in New York in a Shadow Insect, casting it into Twilight.’
‘Poor choice of minion if you ask me. It’s a mere insect. Crushable.’ Skipper scoffed, emphasizing his point by pummeling his fisted flipper onto his other flipper.
‘But Skipper, wouldn’t it be hard to crush if everyone turned into ghosts?’ Private pointed out.
‘Oh, fair point,’
‘Please help my brothers and sister, They are Naynew, Tralore, and Parcen, they will be targeted by the specter, he wishes to obey and spread the Twilight, One of your enemies has already allied himself with Twilight,’ Yordin addressed Skipper, who looked a little shocked. Link looked guilty, if he hadn’t chased Phantom Gannondorf into this world, none of them would be suffering from Twilight.
‘Do not despair, Link, if not for your coming, this city would have not invoked it’s untapped magic, and their mundane world would be awaiting still, for the one to add that little spice, into their lives,’ Link had no idea what Yordin was talking about. What spice? Link was not familiar with modern sayings, and Yorkin was a modern Light Spirit.
‘Farewell and good luck on your road trip through New York! You’ll need it! Oh, and good job penguins for caring for the residents of Central Park’
‘Our pleasure Yordin, we’re just doing our civil duty, right boys?’
As the penguins slapped their flippers, Yordin waved them goodbye and vanished into the spring,
The meadow had now returned to it’s peaceful self, new grass was growing green and was slick from morning dew, birds chirped happily overhead, and sunlight crashed down in long strokes from the treetops to the ground.
‘Oh, with all this excitement, we completely forgot about the ghost rabbit’s kits!’ Private exclaimed.
‘Moldy Mozzarella! We have to make sure those kits are safe! Let’s roll!’ Skipper ordered.
Link loped easily behind the tobogganing penguins and directed them to the Lopson Bunny Hole.
There, the kits playing in front of their burrow. A small gray fluffy one was chasing a butterfly, there was joyful children’s laughter echoing through the meadow.
‘Hello there fluffy bunnies,’ Skipper said with a forced smile, still remembering the Petting zoo rabbit incident.
‘We came to make sure you’re alright, as a special request from a certain someone.’
‘Who Mr. Bird?’
‘Classified young one, but call me Skipper.’
‘And I’m Private!’
‘Hello Mr. Skipper, have you come to play with us?’
‘Yes please!’ The six other bunnies chorused
‘Aww kits, I’m not really the one to ask for this. Private can handle this’
‘Alrighty little bunnies, who likes to play with Lunacorns?’
‘Oooh pretty Lunacorn!’
‘Can I pet its mane?’
‘I wanna go!’
Skipper huddled up the other penguins and Link.
‘Alright men, the situation is critical, these little monsters need a momma, or they won’t survive the Cold War, and we’re no babysitters! We need a perma-mom stat! Kowalski, ideas?’
‘Roger’s good with kids,’
‘I’d say yes, but those bunnies are so puny one could hide down his throat and he’d not notice, besides, these bunnies are mammals, Roger is a reptile, he couldn’t warm ‘em up for the night.’
‘A small mother, preferably mammal, an ideal choice would be Marlene.’
‘Nope, she’s can’t handle covert operations. The word “stealth” is meaningless to her. Besides, she can’t step out of the zoo,’
‘Duckwings!’
‘No Rico, we only revert to cannibalism and consumption of other avian when survival is threatened, and when cannibalism actually benefits.’
‘Nowaga wings, duckings!’
‘Rico, there are not self proclaimed king of ducks. One self proclaimed king is enough for one city,’
‘Aaaaaarh!’ Rico groaned, while Link and the penguins tried miserably to understand him.
‘Wouldyalook?’ Rico grabbed Skipper’s head, and twisted it so at Skipper could see a Mother duck herding her children to sleep. At the same time, she was guiding a baby possum back to its mother in a tree and comforting it pointing.
‘Now hurry along little guy,’ She was saying.
‘Perfect! She’s a perfect mother!’ Skipper exclaimed.
‘Excuse me-‘ Link started, but Skipper held his flipper in front, cutting him off.
‘Soldier, as nice as your tone is, your face will scare the living daylights out of that momma,’
‘Oh, right,’ Link said sheepishly.
‘Momma duck! We have a bad situation, there are seven orphaned bunny kits, we were hoping you could take ‘em in’ Skipper boldly proclaimed.
‘Well sure I can! I can take seven more into the family!’ The duck replied. ‘Just bring them on over and we can begin introductions!’
Over back at the Lopson Bunny Hole, Private was still entertaining the kits.
‘See, she talks when you pet her!’
‘Good children always listen to their parents! Children just like you!’
‘Private, bring those fluffy derrieres over to the duck nest, it’s only a few feet away,’
‘Awwww…’ all the kits complained
‘We wanna play some more Mr. Skipper!’
‘Yeah! We wanna play all day!’
Link, ignoring Skipper’s previous instructions came forward, acting very calm and like a nice calm wolf.
‘Listen kits, your mother wanted us to make sure you’re all okay, and it’s great to see you’re all
Safe and doing well, but someone wants to see you! And your mom would be very happy if you came with us,’ Link said in a nice and trusting tone.
‘Mom talked to you?’ A young rabbit with a smaller tooth hopped up to Link and asked.
‘Yes, she wants you all safe, she’s just, gone away for a little while, but she wants you safe OK? Link replied.
‘Your Amelia aren’t you?’ said Link.
Amelia looked shocked. ‘How’d you know?’ She asked.
‘Your mother told us of how you only just got your tooth a few days ago,’ Link said.
‘C’mon guys!’ Amelia said excitedly, ‘We should do as Lady Good-Lessons says and listen to our mom!’
‘Alright kits, hop on the canine!’ Skipper invited.
‘What?’ Link asked Skipper. ‘I never agreed to giving anyone a ride!’
‘But you’re so good with them and they’re only kits.’ Skipper said.
Link looked down and Amelia was hugging Link’s paw and smuggling into his fur.
‘Oh fine then,’ Link said who could resist such cuteness? When six of the bunnies were playing on Link’s back, the eldest kit, who must’ve been Harley, came up to Link.
‘Mom’s not ever coming back, is she?’ He asked.
‘I’m afraid not Harley,’ Link whispered, so the younger ones wouldn’t hear.
‘Then how’d you speak to her?’ Harley demanded (quietly)
‘Just because you don’t always see her, doesn’t mean she’s not always there,’ Link said.
‘Now, I need you to be the big bunny and look after your family, and help them get through this ok? As a favor, from me.’ Said Link.
‘Ok, you did get rid of the Shadows,’ Link looked shocked that Harley knew of this.
‘The darkness didn’t go away until you guys showed up, kids are smarter than you think you know,’ Harley said, laughing at Link’s stunned face.
Laughing too, Link propped Harley safely on his back, and walked the bunnies to the mother duck’s nest.
They deposited the kits for the new Momma Duck’s Nursery. Harley looked at Link.
‘You’re different from the other animals, I hope we can meet again Mr. Link.’ as Harley hugged Link, Link gasped and they both looked up. Up in the branches of a hollow willow with blossoms fluttering to the ground and the light silhouetting her, was the disappearing ghost of Muriel Lopson smiling down at the scene, and whispered ‘Thank you, thank you Link, thank you, penguins, I can now finally rest in peace, goodbye Harley, I love you!’
Of course, none of the penguins noticed this, and the children were playing with the petals of the blossoms that fell, and Harley looked at Link ‘Who are you?’ He asked.
A simple, I am Link, was not going to do, Link knew that. He looked straight into Harley’s knowing eyes and said confidently, ‘I am Link, the Hero of the Light,’ and as he said those words, Link knew they were true.

good story so far please continue!

Stinking Slug-repellant am I behind schedule!
Sorry for anyone who was waiting (^ not like I got many replies T_T)
But here's the next chapter to those who are even vaguely interested.



Chapter 7

Back at the Lopson Hole, the penguins and Link gathered around the entrance of the tunnel at the end of the burrow.
‘Are you sure you want to come to the Sacred Grove?’ Link asked.
"Absolutely, Rico! Weapons check!" Rico shook himself in an odd way and his belly made several strange noises.
"Yup!" He said.
"Is the food supply there, too?" Asked Skipper. Rico checked again.
"Yup!"
"Great! Then we have nothing to worry about." Said Skipper confidently. They all watched with anticipation, as Link started digging the tunnel they would all use to enter the Sacred Grove. Link was sure it was on the other side of that tunnel. He continued to dig deeper and deeper, between the roots of the trees and until eventually … ‘Ehee hee hee hee!’
They broke the wall of the tunnel and ended up in a peaceful grove, untouched by man and overflowing with greenery and serenity with large trees blotting out the sun, giving the area a ghostly light, but there was music playing, a flute? Link clambered out of the hole to get a clear view of … a wooden puppet? This wooden puppet was playing a lively tune on his flute … somehow …. And he was laughing a mysterious, almost creepy laugh.
‘Ee hee hee hee heh!’

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link <- hear flute as main instrument
link <- Sacred Grove, real version

‘Ee hee hee hee! Let’s play!’ the puppet squealed with glee as it danced on the stump of a tree.
‘Link! What is that?’ Private asked.
‘Kowalski! Analysis!’ Skipper demanded
‘It appears to be an animated collection of organic materials assembled to form a wooden puppet, with no strings attached!’
Skipper face-flippered ‘Kowalski, enough with the bad puns. Rico, get a flamethrower ready.’
‘Hackureaeh! Haheheheheh!’
‘heh hee hee hee, let’s play!’ The puppet said again.
‘What are you?’ Link asked.
‘Ee hehe hee! You’re funny! I know, I know! We’ll play follow the leader! Catch up, or my puppets have fun! Hee hee hee!’
The puppet performed a backflip and vanished in mid-flip, and reappeared on a branch of a large tree, ‘Try and get me hee hee hee!’ This time, when it played the tune a gang of three wooden puppets jumped from the branches of trees, and started attacking Link and the penguins!
‘Hey! Get back here!’ Skipper demanded. ‘We have no time for games, we have to find this Temple so we can easily subdue the Twilight we have recently encountered!’ but the puppet just laughed and summoned another two puppets.
‘There’s no reasoning with him Skipper, and these inanimate puppets have sharp twigs for claws!’ said Kowalski.
‘Right, Rico blow them all away!’
‘Hehahahahahkweargh!’ Rico activated the device in his flippers, and a jet of boiling flame shot from the open end of the weapon, the puppets erupted in flames.
‘After that puppet! We need information, and he has it, I know he does, and he’s trying to keep it away from us. C’mon men!’ Skipper ordered. Link and the penguins now had to try and find their way up to the ledge the wooden puppet.
‘Ragamenaheist!’ Rico exclaimed.
‘Excellent! Rico found a way up!’ Kowalski yelled.
‘A tangle of vines led up to the puppet’s ledge, Link and the penguins quickly clambered up, but as soon as they reached the ledge, the taunting wooden puppet had done another back flip vanishing act.
‘Blast! He got away!’ Skipper pounded the trunk of the tree with his flipper.
‘No wait,’ said Link,
‘Follow the sounds of his flute,’
It was coming from behind them, around the ledge!
‘Get him!’ Skipper shouted.
‘Eee hee hee hee!’
The penguins had tried to corner him, but the puppet disappeared yet again, and when the penguins and Link attempted to jump him, they just ended up colliding with each other.
A group of six puppets sprang from pits fored by the tangle of tree roots underneath them, and Rico torched them.
‘Don’t be distracted men! Find that puppet!’ Skipper commanded.
Following the glow of the puppet’s lantern, and the music of his flute, the penguins and Link were led on a chase that helped them explore the whole of the Sacred Grove, The puppet was dancing in a hollow of a tree, Private attempted todrop down on the puppet, but it simply vanished when he touched it.
‘We can’t keep up Skipper!’
‘There he is! Get him!’ Skipper ignored Private’s complaint.
‘I gotch- No, I don’t got it.’ Kowalski said, as he tried to grab the puppet.
‘Eee hee hee hee!’
‘Argh! This is getting us nowhere!’
‘Can’t catch me penguin? You too slow? Eee hee hee heh!’ The puppet taunted.
‘Can’t catch up with a Skullkid? Hee heheheh!’
Rico tried to blast a jet of flame to the Skullkid, which Link was attempting to sneak up on, so the blast almost hit Link instead!
‘Watch it!’
‘Sorweh!’
At last, when Link started getting very tired of following this ‘Skullkid’ around, the Skullkid danced in a clearing, filled with tree stumps. He gleefully played his flute and summoned no less than fifteen puppets, which sprouted like trees on steroids from the ground around him.
‘Rico?’ said Skipper.
‘Huhahahaha!’ Rico torched the lot of them, just before the flames hit him, Skullkid vanished again, but his voice was still heard in the wind.
‘Hee hee hee! You play good games! Let’s play again sometime!’ and a small projectile shot from nowhere, and landed at the base of a tree the size of a skyscraper, that the penguins and Link just now noticed. The roots were wrapped around something that was once huge, hat was now crushed under the weight of the tree.
‘Whoa, you don’t think …?’
‘No Private, I act, Rico!’
To Link’s dismay, Rico blasted right at where he thought the Doors of Time were. The Sacred Grove was an in-between kind of place. This area was where his world had intersected the penguins’ for the first time. But when the flames curled away, the smooth trunk of the tree was unscathed.
‘How in the world?’ Skipper wondered
‘Judging by the power setting on Rico’s bazooka, this spot on the tree should be fried to a crisp, yet it yields no damage. Fascinating.’ Kowalski analyzed.
‘This is the tree I remember from when I first came here into your world, but from the other side I think.’ Said Link
‘Impossible this is in Central Park, I think we’d notice if a tree the size of the statue of liberty cropped up overnight.’ Skipper exclaimed.
‘link, if this tree represented the Doors of Time you described you came through, don’t you want to go back to your own era?’
Link hadn’t thought about going back. It was tempting, But …
‘No, I want to see this through to the end. I won’t stop until the Twilight is subdued.’ Link replied.
The trees sighed as a slight breeze blew through the peaceful grove.
A slight tune started up. One that Link almost recognized, even though he had never heard it before, it was as if he had once before, but forgotten about it, like a dream …
‘Oh not another one,’ Skipper complained.
Recalling his experience from the Howling Stone, as Link started to call it, Link listened intently to find the source of the music. Another pedestal made of stone, sat in the corner of the grove. You wouldn’t notice it unless you were deliberately looking for it. In fact, Link may have passed it several times chasing the Skullkid. The pedestal had a Triforce symbol upon it. Inscribed on it, were Hylian letters.
‘What letters are those Kowalski?’
‘I’m not sure, but I don’t think it’s English. And furthermore, I can’t make it out.’
‘I-it’s Hylian.’ Link stammered. A piece of his world was left in the intersection of both worlds, and was clearly left here for a long time.

One who travels with the birds of Honor, let the Pedestal of Time hear this tune, and be reverted to your true form

Link read the script out loud, he looked meaningfully at Skipper, who realized what was coming.
‘Go on. Tell me when the sing-along’s over.’
Link listened carefully, as the wind played the tune by passing the stone. As the wind made another pass, Link howled along.

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link

The pedestal rumbled, and crumble d to pieces before the penguin’s eyes. What relic of Link’s world was now rubble and dust.
‘Uh… Kowalski? Was that meant to happen?’
Kowalski took out his calculating set of red beads.
‘Statistics suggest that there is a 74% chance that the purpose of tat pedestal was to pass on the melody Link just howled and then, by unexplainable means self-destructed.’
‘Ooh low tech!’ said Private
‘Come on, let’s find this ‘Time Pedestal’, I’m getting tired of all these mystical names,’ Skipper grumbled.
According to Ordon legends, the pedestal would be behind the Doors of Time, but If that large tree was housing the Doors, where was the pedestal?
‘Eee hee hee, let Skullkid help you!’
The Skullkid dropped in front of Rico, which startled him.
‘Eee hee hee! Try this tree! Heheheheh!’ And Skullkid pulled his classic vanishing back flip.
The Skullkid had gestured to a stumpy tree that was shorter than the rest of the trees in the Sacred Grove, what was so special about this tree? Well, it was worth a shot. Link and the penguins studied the tree closely.
‘Skipper! Look!’ Private suddenly cried. Carved over a pile of thick roots, was the symbol of the Triforce!
Link threw back his head and howled the tune he had learned not moments ago.

-----------------------------------------­---­---­---­---­---­---­---­---­-
---------<-------^--------------------­---­---­-&l­t;-­---­--^­---­---­---­--
-------------------------->-----------­---­---­---­---­---­---­---­--&­gt;­---­-
-----------------------------------------­---­---­---­---­---­---­---­---­--

Then, the tree the Skullkid had gestured to started to move!
Its roots started to creep apart, exposing a granite pedestal preserved through time, protected by this tree, a silvery steel blade that was wicked sharp, and a blue handle … Yes! it was the Master Sword! But before Link or the penguins could take a step closer, who should jump from a nearby tree and intercept them, but Hans!

Skipper groaned and face-flippered.
"Back AGAIN, Hans? Why do you always have to ruin everything!?" He asked. Hans smiled evily.
"Ahh, Skipper... I would say my old frenemy, but I said that last time, didn't I? Yes, I think I did. But this time, I am not working alone." his smile widened.
"Explain!" Demanded Skipper.
"As you wish, Skipper." Hans planned to take as much time as possible in his explanation, delaying the team's progress as the Twilight drew ever nearer. "I've never really been a leader, I'm more of a follower at heart and-"
"Get to the point, Hans!" Skipper cut in, "Who're you working for!?"
"Oh all right!" said Hans, clearly annoyed about being interrupted in mid flow sap-story.
"I was going to tell you how I tried, but failed, to follow Dr Blowhole and ended up working in an old decrepit lab and a man who called himself Phantom Ganondorf appeared and gave me some amazing Twilight powers - no, not that book, Bleeack! I've never liked that book - and..." Hans gave quite a long explanation, before saying "But, since you told me to get to the point, I am working for Phantom Ganondorf now, and I'm going to stop you from getting the Master Fish!" They all looked at him, blankly.
"Do you mean the Master Sword?" Asked Private.
"What's a sword? I've always fought with fish! C’mon Skipper, we alvays fish fight." said Hans pulling a face. Then Skipper, clearly sick and tired of the sound of Hans's voice, lunged at Hans, who screamed. "AHHHHHH!" Then there was a fight. A long fight. It was four elite penguin commandos and a wolf against a puffin with the powers of Twilight, so it was quite evenly matched. Rico regurgitated a fish on Skippers command, and he and Hans began an epic fish fight, with Hans trying to zap the other penguins and Link.
This epic battle was in full flow, when they heard Skullkid's laugh and saw him do his vanishing back flip, a few yards away. But this was not all - he had led the lemurs here, too.
"Come back!" Shouted King Julien. "I need to be showing you that you are just a pretendy king and I am the one and only king around here!" Obviously, he thought Skullkid was the king of Hyrule.
"Idiots!" Shouted Hans. "How dare you interrupt the flow of this epic battle! I will now cast a spell at you that is designed to make the victim feel PAIN!!!"
"AHH!" Screamed King Julien. "Mort! Protect me!" And he held Mort up in front of him. Mort was hit by the Twilight-colored spell.
"Eee-hee-hee!" Mort giggled. "It makes me feel tingly!"
"W-what? What is this!?" Hans asked himself, horrified, staring at his flippers. He was distracted. Now was the team's chance.
"Now boys!" Commanded Skipper. The penguins (and Link) acted fast. Within mere seconds, Hans was entirely tied up, from head to toe, in rope that must have come from Rico's belly. He looked like a mummy gone wrong, trying desperately to talk, but only succeeding in making a strange humming noise.
"Good work, men!" Said Skipper. The penguins exchanged their usual high fives, but, this time, they included Link. The lemurs tried exchanging high fives of their own, but failed.
"Yes! I did it! Me!" Shouted King Julien, gleefully.
"Well, Ringtail," said Skipper, "you ironically saved us all again. I don't know how or why that keeps happening, but... well done." Then he turned to his team. "We've got to stop this from happening! I've lost count of all the times Ringtail's saved the day! We can't just keep relying on a mammal, especially that lemur!" The team looked sheepish, minus Link, who looked confused.
"We're sorry, Skipper." said Private.
"Ahh, but, judging by my calculations, we would probably have beaten Hans, even if the lemurs hadn't come to our rescue." Kowalski pointed out.
"I am not caring about this pointless conversation!" King Julien's confident voice rang out over the silent meadow they were standing in. "Where did that pretendy king of Hyruley go!?"
"He wasn't the king, Ringtail." Said Skipper.
"Well, of course he wasn't the king! I am the king! Silly penguin... but, more importantly, where did he go!?" replied King Julien. Skipper face-flippered again.
"Uh..." said Maurice, "I think they meant that the puppet-like thing we were chasin' after wasn't a king of any sort, pretend or real."
‘What? But how could that be Maurice? He was shaking his taunting booty at me!’
‘Lemurs! You are unauthorized personnel, take my advice and leave, immediately.’ Skipper ordered.
‘But as your king, I demand to be taken to this King of Hyrulity!’ demanded Ringtail.
‘Demand denied. Now take your thoroughly groomed booty of yours back to that home you call a habitat, or we’ll kick it there,’ Skipper and the penguins took battle stances to show they were serious.
"You're looking for the timed temple thingy, aren't you? In that Hyrulinity place, with the mocking pretendy king?" said King Julian, between pants after chasing after Skulkid. He was quite out of breath.
Suddenly, black pillars struck the ground and walls formed around them. Link and the penguins knew exactly what that meant. Shadow beings...
One by one, they dropped down from the sky. There were only three of them, this time, though and the walls didn't separate the penguins from Link. Having the last few experiences, theywere familiar on how to combat them. Link disposed of them easily, once he got them where he wanted them, which took him quite a bit longer than last time. The penguins had rounded the beings into Link’s striking range, and they were easily beaten. Just like the first time they had been defeated in Central Park, they broke into tiny black squares of Twilight which flew back up into the portal, changing the colors. The walls disappeared and the portal turned from black and red to black and green.
"Ohhhhhhhhh so NOW I know who's really been graphitifying the royal sky! Wait until I am telling THOSE creatures to keep their hands off the property of me and the Sky Spirits!" declared King Julien. Skipper face-flippered.
Link wasn’t listening, he approached the revealed Master Sword, the blade glowed faintly at his approach, while the zoo animals tussled behind him, oblivious.
The blue hilt glowed with light, and a rush of air emanated from the blade, pushing the lemurs and the penguins back. Link would have been thrown off his feet if he didn’t have four of them.
He struggled to push himself up, and roared at the blade. Was it dangerous? Was there another test?
The sword continued to glow, and Link suddenly felt as if something lifted from his shoulders, a burden he never knew he was carrying was gone.
He looked down, he had returned to normal!
He flexed Hylian hands, not quite believing the Master Sword had done this for him.
He gripped the sword handle with both hands, as he drew the legendary blade, light shot from the pedestal it was embedded in, the tip of the blade emerged, and as Link held the blade skyward, the light shining into the meadow seemed brighter, and the Sacred grove looked like a much less lonely place.
‘The Master Sword, it really is real, this will be the blade that will drive out the Twilight.’ Said Link.
Absorbed by this fact, Link didn’t see Skipper until he ‘judo-ed him’
‘Hiyaaaah!’

Heh... epic ending to that chapter. X3

I'm really loving this! It's the best crossover/mash up I've ever read. =3 I'm really looking forward to the next chapter!

This will probs be put on HIATUS, because even though we have about 3 more chapters actually done, me + Easel aren't actually writing as much as we did a while ago nao. Well mostly I'M not writing. PLEASE DON'T HIT ME EVEN THO I DESERVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'll write more in a week or two ... Maaaaaybeeeee ... But I'll still try post on schedule until we run out of chapters.
I think I'm starting to get short attention spans so I'm not writing as much.
Cyu few readers... THEN!

Oh and dedicated to ImAnEasel and Kowalskip, and ricoskpr_fan01 for actually reading this and Easel for obviously writing almost half the chapter.

Awww. No replies this week. Me = T_T.
Oh well, not like I expected many reviewers in the first place.
Wrote a bit last week, planning something classified that needs to be written soon, but I gotta dance performance taking up the entire saturday night sooooo yeah... Busybusy busy or just plain LAZY.

Enjoyz!



Chapter 8

Link woke up, in what appeared to be a gray, brickwork closet, tied to a wooden chair, and his sword was nowhere to be found!
A flashlight painfully bright was shined into his eyes, and a familiar fishy smelling flipper smacked him across the face.

‘Where is Link, what have you medieval, green skirt garbed strangely pointed eared elf done with Link?’

Squinting, Link could make out two penguins, the smaller one holding the flashlight, and the other one holding a strange device that spoke in a mechanical monotone.
In the dark corner Link saw a taller penguin working on something.


‘What? I’m Link, what are you talking about?’ Link asked, he guessed the little penguins were Skipper and Private, but why were they using that machine to communicate.
Private tried to tell Skipper something, but he cut him off, and typed furiously on his machine. Link realized he couldn’t understand them in his Hylian form.
‘And it’s a tunic,’
‘I don’t care if it’s a tunic, don’t toy with me, I know you did something horrible to that wolf, you obviously booby trapped that sword.’
‘Skipper, it really is me! I told you before I was really a Hylian. And what’s an elf?’ Answered Link.
Skipper looked shocked momentarily, and Private tried to suggest something again, but Skipper slapped him in mid-speech.

‘So what if you know our names, you are clearly holding Link captive somewhere unspecified, agree to our terms now and you will be spared,’

‘Skipper, really your paranoia is going to far. I’m Link, we can’t waste time not trusting each other while phantom Gannondorf is out there plotting with that weird puffin,’

The tall penguin came over and now Link could see it was Kowalski.
But this was not all - Kowalski was holding something, the Master sword.
He turned towards Skipper. Link could see his beak moving, but no sound came out. He wished he could lip read...or rather, beak read. When Kowalski had finished speaking, Skipper rubbed the bottom of his beak with his flipper, obviously deep in thought.
'Perhaps you didn't booby trap the sword, but we still don't trust you and we certainly don't believe you are Link.' came the mechanical voice. 'We will wring the answers out of you, one way or another if it's the last thing we do.'
'What if it's not the last thing you do?' said Link, who didn't understand the modern terms. Without warning, he felt the back of his left hand burn. He cried out in pain, but suddenly, his fingers curled around a familiar surface - the master sword! He saw Skipper's beak moving, he seemed quite agitated. Since Kowalski no longer had the sword in his flippers, the penguins panicked. Now was Link's chance. He used the sword to cut the ropes binding his hands together. It was tricky. He accidentally cut one of his hands in the process. But he bit down on his bottom lip and kept quiet, while the penguins were still distracted. Once he had freed both of his hands, he began cutting through the ropes tying him to the chair. These ropes were thicker. Skipper said something to Private who waddled round to the back of the chair. Link had been dreading this. When (or IF, he told himself firmly) Private saw the Master sword through the darkness, he would tell the others and they would take the sword away and tie Link to the chair again, with new ropes. If that happened, the game would be over. But, when Private saw the Master sword, he didn't tell the others. Had he seen the Triforce on the back of Link's hand and understood that he was actually Link? He re-emerged in front of Link, shaking his head as he waddled over to Skipper and the others. He cut through the last rope - he was free! He put the sword back in its sheath on his back which the penguins hadn’t confiscated. He got the feeling the penguins would spring upon him the moment he stood up and he didn't want to hurt them by accident. He took a deep breath and quickly stood up. He ran to the only door he could see, carefully avoiding the penguins with his feet as he did so. He came into a room with grey walls and a table with many strange devices on it. He locked the door behind him and winced as a loud thud informed him that quite possibly a penguin had just slammed against the door in pursuit. He knew the penguins would find some way of opening it, but he also knew that it would buy him a few seconds of precious time. He bolted towards the other door and flung himself through it. This door had no lock on it, so he just left it open. The room he came into also had grey walls, but, in one of the walls, there were four rectangular shapes carved deep into the walls surface. Each one had a pillow and a folded up blanket inside it. In the topmost bunk snored Rico, cuddling with what seemed like a doll. He assumed that these must have been the penguins' beds. He ran towards a ladder and climbed up it more quickly than he'd ever climbed up anything before, hoping he hadn’t woken up Rico in the process. At the top of the ladder, there was a sealed off hole in the ceiling. There was a small bolt at the side of this hole. He heard the sound of the penguins sliding on their bellies in the other room. He knew he had very little time. He unbolted the hole and slid the seal to one side. He poked his head through the hole, into open air. Then he squeezed his shoulders through. With great difficulty, he got his arms through, too. He was just about to haul the rest of his body up and out of the hole, when he felt a strong tug at his leg. So this was going to be a game of tug of war...
He pulled and pulled and pulled with all his might, but he was against four highly trained penguins with gravity on their side. He saw Marlene in her habitat, looking on curiously. He shook his leg. Fortunately for him, the penguins' flippers were slightly slippery and he managed to break his leg free of their grip. He got the rest of his body out, ran across a platform, jumped across water, clung onto some bars on the other side, climbed up and over the bars and ran, not knowing or caring where he was going. It felt strange to be running away from creatures who were, in a way, his friends. He'd have to figure out a way to tell them. He'd have to find proof that he was the wolf they had been through so much with. Maybe Private would tell them about the Triforce on the back of his hand. He hoped so.

Meanwhile...
The penguins had lost sight of Link.
'Looks like we're going to have to split up, men.' said Skipper. 'Private! I want you to explore North East! Rico! North! Kowalski! North West! I'll be exploring East, from here. If anything happens, fire one of Kowalski's new inventions straight up in the air. Rico!' Rico regurgitated four guns that shot fireworks instead of bullets. All four penguins went in their separate compass directions. Private went further away from the others. He wanted to put as much distance, between himself and any form of noise, as possible, so he could think clearly. He was sure the human had been Link, even if the others weren't. He just had no idea what to do.
Then an unexpected figure appeared...

AHHHHHH! The horrid plague has struck meeeeee! (No not rlly)

But LEGIT cannot post this week. SO very sorry, I actually have the chapter, but have made NO FREAKING PROGRESS ON THE STORY DUE TO MY BEING SICK.
STUPID, HORRIBLE, CLUCKING SICK. I have been SICK for the whole Blimmin' week, AND had assessments WHEN I AM SICK. Life must HATE me.

Sorry about not posting this week. I'll post next week hopefully
Bye. >_<' Achoo!

^ Bless you.

We haven't been having many comments, from readers, lately... :/

The last comment from a reader was... 17 days ago. Thank you, KowalSkip9! It means a lot to us. :3

Chapter 9

Private gave a little scream, as none other than Skullkid back-flipped into the scene, out of nowhere!
'Eee hee hee! Hello again!’ Skullkid waved cheerily, he was no longer playing his flute, which was hanging from his side.
‘Take this!' he said, tossing a strange black and orange stone to Private. It was about half the size of your average fish and had unfamiliar carvings on it.
'Give it to the Hylian Link! Skullkid is always happy to help! Skullkid hopes we can play again, someday! Eee hee hee!' and he disappeared in mid back-flip. Private knew what he had to do now. He had to find the human. Private was certain, now, that he was Link. Private continued his search.

Link paced up and down the Sacred Grove, the evening sun poured down a light rain, and the golden light lit up the Grove with a buttery color. He was in the area where they had met Hans and found the Doors of Time and the Master sword. Hans was still lying there, wrapped up in ropes, occasionally trying out a Twilight zap that did no harm. Link wondered what he should do with him... but he wondered about other things, too. How could he prove to the penguins that he was Link? Did they already know? How close was the Twilight? Had it contaminated another area? Where was Phantom Ganondorf now? What was he doing at this moment in time? He had been thinking about these things for a long time, but now that he had nothing to do but think, they floated up to the front of his mind.
When he had returned to a Hylian, Link got back his Ordon shield, crafted by the mayor of his village. He was meant to only borrow it, but at this rate, the mayor may never get it back. He dropped it in the Sacred grove, so now Link recovered it. Link thought he heard Skullkid’s tune a few times, but he never showed himself. He had no idea where the lemurs went, or what the penguins were doing. But this was an obvious hiding spot, the penguins would be sre to check here. It was easy to get lost in the Sacred Grove, all Link could hope for while he thought was that the penguins would get lost and he could slip away when they got here.

While Link was pacing the Sacred Grove, careful to keep his bearings or get lost without the aid of Skullkid, he spotted something, it was golden, and moving swiftly through the trees in the distance, Link jogged silently, catching up to it, trying not to scare it away. The creature stopped, and turned around. Link recognized the golden and white fur, the insubstantial canine body, the glowing left red eye, it was the Golden Wolf, and he had found him. Link was ready to confront him now, with the Master Sword in hand.
The wolf studied him with wary eyes, growling in warning at being challenged with the Master Sword. Link was confused, the wolf did tell him to seek him out with the Master sword … didn’t he?
While he was pondering this the Wolf leaped, Link brought up his right arm in defense, only to remember he left his shield in the ruins of the Temple of Time. Taking a leaf from Skipper’s book, Link said ‘Drat.’
The wolf barked fiercely and caught his jaws on Link’s outstretched right arm, but felt no impact of its sharp teeth … and felt his mind being transported once again …

Private was desperately lost. The scary Skullkid had told him to give the stone to Link, and the only reasonable place Link would go, would be the Sacred Grove, where he would be most at home without leaving New York. Yet even though he had only been here yesterday, Private was hopelessly lost. Maybe he should have brought Kowalski, maybe he would have believed him.
Private climbed up a tall tree hoping to find his bearings, the largest tree, where the ruins were, was so large, it didn’t look as though it were any closer. Private sat down in despair, how could he possibly find his way back there alone? He should have brought the others, even if their reunion with Link ended up with a fight. And it didn’t help that it was getting dark. He was lost enough with light in the Grove, he tried not to think about how many trees he’d walk into when it got dark, not to mention he’d probably get even more lost and hae no way back to the Grove or the opened bunny tunnel.
Then, Private heard the tune the Skullkid played, he was dancing on the branches of a large tree, and dancing his strange dance.
Private climbed down and came closer to talk to him.
‘Eee hee hee! You found me! Do you want to play again?’ Skullkid asked, momentarily pausing his song and dance.
‘Could you lead me to Link?’ Private asked timidly
‘Sure! Follow me!’ And Skullkid disappeared mid-flip, only to reappear up an unfamiliar trail to the west.
Whether or not this path led to Link, Private had to follow Skullkid, or risk being lost forever. Grappling his fear of Skullkid in check, Private followed him and his eerie tune.

Skipper was mad. First, they had let their prisoner escape, second, Link was missing, just when Skipper was starting to like him too, third, Marlene was asking questions about ‘the strange guy in the green skirt,’ questions were never good, soon rumors would be spiraling out of control, forth, Ringtail had just kicked Mort onto his flat head.
And fifth, in his eagerness to try his invention, Kowalski had already let out four false alarms. One was an empty winky wrapper he swore had wolf marks on it, then he had spotted an 8th grader who had drawn a picture of the symbol on Link’s left paw in his notebook for no distinguishable purpose, he had sworn a lacrosse stick was the Master sword, and he had found a green baseball cap at ‘Lost and Found’ whereas the imposter who called himself ‘Link’ was clearly wearing a long green cap of no fashion taste whatsoever.
The only upside was that the Link decoy was working perfectly. Alice hadn’t suspected a thing, and Kowalski labeled the animal as a gray wolf to avoid scientists coming in to look at the possible new subspecies of wolf and discover their ploy.
After thirteen hours of solid searching, Skipper let off a flare from his copy of Kowalski’s invention, calling the penguins together.
‘Alright men, give me a status report.’ Skipper demanded.
‘Igotnuttin,’ Rico babbled, polishing his dynamite.
‘We have combed the entire zoo, because the zoo was not in lock down chances are 5 in 34 that the imposter can still be found in this zoo. We have found traces of his escape, yet we have no clear idea of where he would go to contact his employer.’ Kowalski reported
There was an expectant silence.
‘Kowalski why do I feel like we’re missing a report? Give me a head count.’
‘We have three heads present and accounted for Skipper,’ Kowalski calculated.
‘Then who’s report is missing? Manfredi’s? Johnson’s? Or … Oh no … Not sweet naïve Private! The imposter must’ve gotten him, there’s no way he could have missed the flare!’
‘Unless he was searching outside of the zoo …’ Kowalski speculated.
’Negative, I instructed him to search North west. IF this Dane wants a dance with lady danger, we’ll make sure it’s one he won’t be forgetting soon.’ Skipper ordered.
He led the penguins to the northwestern sections of the zoo, this included the Flamingo Habitat, the Main entrance, polar bear habitat, and …
‘Link’s habitat! Of course!’ Kowalski exclaimed.
The penguins slid up to the habitat, and checked inside. There was a note from Private stuck to the den, it was written in Morse code, which Skipper could read, having years of experience in his military laced history.

Hello fellas! I’ve gone to Central Park, I think I may have a lead on Link. Don’t worry, I’m just off to the Sacred Grove, I think Link may still be there. I just didn’t want you to worry. I’ll be back at 8 O’Clock the latest.

‘Kowalski! Give me the time!’ Skipper demanded.
‘8:15 PM Skipper, that’s 2015 twenty-four hour time.’
‘Blast! He’s already 15 minutes late! And the penguin credo is to never swim alone!’
‘Weren’t we breaking the credo searching for the imposter?’ Kowalski inquired.
‘No, because we were all working on the same missions, within shouting range, we’d give each other back up in a moment’s notice, also because I say so.’ Skipper replied.
‘Alright men, let’s get to that meadow! Move out!’ Skipper ordered.

Link’s mind blanked out. He dreamt he was back in the misty realm where he had howled with the wolf, only the cloud banks were solid, unless the thick mist obscured some sort of ground underneath him? The Golden wolf panted infront of him, inviting him to take in his surroundings. Through the mist was a high and mighty castle with blue spires and rooftops and white stone walls. The rest of the realm was clouded with the mist, Link couldn’t see any of the stone ledges or the volcano from his last time here, only now he was in Hylian form. While Link was turned around, the Golden wolf let loose a howl and the panting stopped, Link turned around to see a golden armored warrior in its place, the warrior’s armor seemed solid enough, it was grand and well worn with vines tangled in the kinks, it was clear the warrior was a seasoned fighter. He held a heavy sword that had a striking resemblance to the Master sword. But his torso wasn’t connected, his limbs seemed to be of a ghostly substance, and his face was mangled and decaying, with one good red eye, the other one was a lifeless lid, like the Golden Wolf …
The warrior lifted his sword high and raised his shield, and took a battle stance, he was challenging Link. Recklessly, Link charged into his first battle with the Master sword. The blade rebounded from the warrior’s thick shield and while he was recovering from the shock the warrior stepped forward and struck his sword at Link. Surprisingly enough, the sword only knocked him flat on his back, rather than slicing him in half. The gold armor and sword were real enough alright.
‘A sword wields no strength unless the hand that holds it has courage,’
The voice of the Golden wolf came from the ghost of a warrior.
When Link got back on his feet, confused why the warrior did not press on in his attack, and the warrior’s statement. He sounded like he was, teaching Link?
‘You may be destined to become the Hero of Hylian legend, and of this World ... but with your current power, you would disgrace the proud green of the Hero’s tunic. You wear.’
Hero’s tunic? Was he talking about the Hero of Time?
His heavy breathing could be heard from his helm, as he spoke these words.
Link eyed him with a glance that radiated, I accept your challenge.
The ghost warrior nodded and spoke again.
‘You must use courage to seek power … and find it you must. Only then will you become the hero for whom this world despairs.’
‘What do you mean?’ Link asked
‘if you do find the courage, and you wish to save this city and in time, Hyrule, from the horrors they now face, then you will be worthy to receive the secrets I hold! Now draw your sword, and receive the training of the Hero’s Shade!’
The Shade straightened and instructed Link.
‘Enemies that are filled with energy will quickly recover and attack again even when stunned by a powerful strike. The Ending Blow is a secret technique that can end the enemies breath before he recover. When your foe is weak and upon the ground, you leap high into the air to bring a devastating downwards final strike.’
The two raised their blades and clashed them together with a CLANG! That initiated the challenge.
Remebering what the Hero’s Shade had said, Link dealt three powerful strikes to the Shade, stunning and weakening him. It was obvious he was holding back, wanting to teach Link rather than defeat him. But Link felt that not be when he would be facing Phantom Gannondorf
The Shade fell to the ground. Seeing his chance Link leapt high in the air, lifting his sword and brought it crashing down into the middle of the Shade. If the Shade were not dead, he certainly would be now, perhaps there was a reason his middle was disconnected. Though Link felt the impact and the Shade had reacted to the blow as though it were real, no damage was done, as the Shade, was merely that, a Shade. And Link back flipped off of the figure.
The hero’s Shade picked himself off the ground as though nothing had happened. He assessed Link’s ability with the Ending Blow.
‘Hmmm. That was a pinpoint strike. Never overlook an opportunity to apply the finishing strike, the first Hidden Skill, the Ending Blow, has been passed on!’
Link demonstrated the Ending blow once again for good measure, bringing his sword onto the ground, as the Shade would probably retaliate if Link demonstrated it one him without warning, and sheathed his sword.
‘The Seven Hidden Skills are only for one who carries the blood of the Hero … The one whose spirit is that of the sublime beast.’
Wait, if these skills are only learnt by those who carry the blood of the Hero of Time like Link thought the Shade was speaking of … and for one who has the spirit of a beast that link assumed was a wolf, then was the Shade …?
‘Grow powerful. Test your courage. And when you find that you are in need of to overcome the threats that face you … Search for the stones that howl with sounds of the wind. Seek out the sound that calls to the spirit of the beast to awaken me again,’
Link nodded, still curious about the past of the Shade.
‘A sword wields no strength unless the hand that wields it has courage. Remember those words … Farewell!’
The Shade and the realm he was found in blanked out in a cloud of white and someone was shaking Link.

“Link? Link!” Private was panicking, now. What if...? Best not to think about that. Link was slowly opening his eyes. “Phew!” said Private. “I thought you'd gone! Oh wait, I forgot, you can't understand me... Here, take this, Skullkid gave it to me, I think it'll come in handy!” Link was still lying down, so Private gently dropped the crystal on him. Link sat up, looking puzzled, and touched it. As soon as the skin on his finger made contact with it, he transformed into a wolf! All his clothes disappeared, but the master sword still lay beside him. “Wow!” said Private. “That was easy!”
“Private!?” said Link, “What happened!? What have you done? Where's the master sword?”
'Oh, don't worry, Link, the master sword's right here' Private pointer a flipper towards the Master sword.
“Oh...” said Link, relaxing a little. “But what if I can't turn back!? What will happen then!?” Private could see Link was panicking. He was panicking, too.
“Oh... um...” Then, more quietly, “I hadn't thought of that, actually...” He bowed his head, embarrassed. He saw Link's expression soften.
“Don't worry, Private. I'm sure we'll find a way to sort this out.” He padded over to the Master sword. He touched his muzzle gently to the hilt. Instantly, he turned back into a Hylian! Private felt relief flood through his body, mind and soul. When Link touched the crystal, he turned into a wolf. When he touched the Master sword, he turned into a Hylian. Private and Link repeated this several times, they were both so happy with how handy the system was. Then they sat down, penguin and wolf, side by side.
‘'So... do you have any ideas about how we're going to get out of here, without getting lost? “Asked Private.

Skipper was worried about Private. When he found that imposter, he would-
‘'Skipper,'’ Kowalski interrupted his thoughts. '’I've been wondering... When we reach the Sacred grove, how will we know which way to go?'’
'’Oh, don't worry about that, Kowalski!'’ Said Skipper ‘'I'm sure Skullkid will be more than happy to ‘play with us’, again.'’ In truth, his voice sounded more confident than he felt, but he couldn't reveal that to the rest of his team. After a short while, they reached the sacred grove. It seemed that not a leaf had moved out of place, since they were last there. The air still had that same eerie, tranquil, lonely feel to it. It sent a small shiver down Skippers spine, though he showed no outward signs of anything below his usual confidence. Kowalski had his radar out.
‘'Any sign of movement?'’
‘'None, Skipper.’'
‘'Ok, men! We stick together, this time! Enemies could be lurking around any darkened corner! Never swim alone!'’ Skipper's voice seemed to die straight away, it seemed there were no echoes in these woods.
‘'Creepy...'’ muttered Rico.
‘'Let's not lose our guts, men. This is a fellow soldier we're talking about! Who knows what sick and twisted things that human is doing to Private...'’ He shuddered.
There was, then, some debate amongst the team about what to do. They eventually decided to wait for about ten minutes, in the hope that Skullkid would back flip into view.

Skullkid didn't know what to do. Here were two groups of people, who were willing to play with him. They both needed help. They both needed to find each other. If only he could split himself into two, he could play with two groups of people at a time and lead them into the middle of the forest. Then a thought struck him - his puppets! But it wouldn't be the same as playing with them. He needed to play. Otherwise......................
Then again, he'd be able to play with them, once they'd met in the middle of the forest. He could lead them out of the forest - that would count. SURELY he'd be able to bend the rules a little... He blew his flute. He sent the puppets in two separate directions.

Private and Link almost jumped out of their skin, when the puppets appeared in front of them. So did Skipper, Kowalski and Rico. They were sinister looking puppets, alright. Always happy, smiling maniacally, shaking their heads. Even Skipper found them disturbing. Both halves of the team snapped into a fighting stance, as soon as they appeared. But they soon realized the puppets meant no harm. In fact, they were there to help.

Skipper, Kowalski and Rico clambered through familiar paths of dense greenery chasing after Skullkid’s puppets. But where was the Skullkid himself?
‘Skipper, I report that it will officially become nightfall in approximately less time than it will take for me to say flibbertigibbet. ‘
‘Flibberkyjerbit!’ said Rico
‘Blast, now it will become easier to get lost, and harder to follow those puppets!’
‘About those puppets Skipper, don’t you find it odd that Skullkid himself is not leading us?’
‘I took that into account Kowalski, obviously the imposter did something to him and he needs our aid!’ replied Skipper
After about seven minutes of desperate climbing and game of ‘follow the leader,’ the familiar tune of the Skullkid could be heard faintly, and the orange glow of a lantern flitted about the trees in the distance.

‘That’s the Skullkid’s lantern!’ Private exclaimed, pointing his flipper at the source of the glow. Poor Private after stumbling about the bush for so long had collapsed exhausted halfway through the chase with the wooden puppets. Link had snapped him up in his jaws and placed him on his back (Gee, Private’s new friends like putting him in their mouths a lot *hint hint Hunter hint hint*)
Link had excellent wolf senses that guided him through the dark forest grove, and kept up with the puppets easily, and had to call out directions to Private several times during the chase.
They heard the Skullkid’s flute a while ago, and Link had heard it since it had started playing.
The wooden puppets took routes which Link had not yet explored, furthering his knowledge and mental map of the Sacred Grove. At a small clearing with five tree stumps, Link, Private, Skipper, Kowalski and Rico arrived at the exact same time right behind the wooden puppets, who collapsed around the Skullkid with no further purpose
‘Eee hee hee! You all found me!’
Skullkid’s shadow danced in the lantern light, and back flipped along a path that led back to Central park. Without the sun, Link could now see that the Skullkid’s eyes had an orange glow that only unsettled him more.
‘Private! You’re safe! And you found Link too!’ Skipper yelled, and embraced Private in a tight, fatherly hug.
‘Alrigh!’ Rico flipper-slapped Link as the group was reunited and the penguins could understand him once more.
‘Hey!’ Link yelled as Kowalski licked his left paw with his tongue, (No reference to Ghirahim intended. *shudders* Debbie is cool, but creepy)
‘Skipper, this wolf’s DNA sample is exactly the same as the print samples back at Link’s habitat. I am able to confirm that this wolf is indeed Link and no imposter, furthermore this beast bears the Triforce on his left paw. More proof supporting that this is the one and only Link.’
‘And Link got back the Master sword!’ Skipper beamed.
‘We were devastated when it disappeared and the imposter took off with it. How did you escape Link? Did you pick up some of my awesome bad-guy punching judo?’ Skipper asked pompously.
‘About that guys, I was never gone, I told you I really am a Hylian,,’ And to prove it, Link touched the blade that repelled the Twilight curse and returned to his Hylian form in front of their very eyes.
Kowalski took out his calculating instrument and Skipper slapped him. Link saw Rico covering Private’s ears while he himself was smiling maniacal smile. Perhaps it was best that Link couldn’t hear a word Skipper was shouting at Kowalski.
When Skipper was done, Link touched the stone Private offered him and turned back into a wolf.
‘-And incompetent calculations almost cost us a dear comrade that I was just starting to appreciate, but you’re - Oh Link! You’re a wolf! You er- weren’t meant to hear that last bit.’ Skipper said slightly blushing.
So Skipper really did have a heart underneath all that harsh soldier spirit.
Skipper shouted a few more choice words that Link won’t repeat and got the meaning of by the way Skipper used them at Kowalski, careful not to let out any compliments to strange wolves who had been tied to a chair not a day ago.
‘Guys, Skullkid’s waiting!’ Private suddenly bursted, and Skipper mentioned something about carrying this on at a more appropriate time.
They followed Skullkid’s lantern back to the Central park Zoo, just in time to see a spreading Curtain of Twilight shroud mid-town.
‘Aw, crud,’ said Skipper.
Mounting on Link’s back due to Skipper’s orders that Link was faster anyway, the sprinted to the Twilight Realm, not really knowing what they could do to aid Link once they became spirits.

Link bounded across unfamiliar streets with strange mechanical beasts and non-Hylians who were practically screaming bloody murder. The unfamiliar tarmac ground somewhat hindered his progress as his paws started to ache and long for the soft fresh grass of Hyrule. Ahead, a strange gray haired man who was talking into a stick and facing a device that somewhat resembled a pictobox.
‘This is Chuck Charles reporting Live in midtown a mysterious black wall of something has come out of seemingly nowhere after that fiend who named himself Phantom Gannondorf blew his horn and seemingly summoned this monstrosity, sources indicate that Phantom Gannondorf is a fictional character found in the-‘
And the Twilight had enveloped the reporter and his crew, spreading to other buildings and streets slowly. Link didn’t understand why everyone thought Gannondorf was fiction. He had summoned the Twilight himself in front of witnesses, yet the strange speaking man had called him fictional.
Link desperately wanted to track Gannondorf down, but these citizens of New York were in danger, as the faint Light of their Light Spirit for midtown was taken. Then, the expansion of Twilight seemingly stopped, and only Midtown was engulfed in the Realm of Twilight.
It seemed the Light Spirits in New York had smaller domains than Hyrule, seeing as their magic was ignored and polluted for so long. Thus, easier to break.
Suddenly, a voice perked up from behind Link and the penguins.
‘Haha! There! Yes! That must be the Door of Time thingy that leads to this kingdom of Hyrulity! Come my loyal not-so-royal subjects!’
‘Julian, no!’
‘Stop Ringtail!’
‘Naaaaoooooo!’
‘That’s extremely dangerous!’
‘Look out King Julian!’
The penguins and Link shouted at once, but the lemurs ran straight into the Curtain of Twilight (I don’t care that you can only enter if something FROM the Twilight pulls you in, this is fiction, shuddup)
‘Arrrgh! Well boys, looks like it’s our turn to return the favor. We have to rescue that half-wit Ringtail,’ said Skipper
‘And restore Light to Midtown,’ Kowalski added
‘Hmm? Oh yeah, that too. Full steam ahead Link!’
Not quite knowing what terminology Skipper was using, Link still didn’t need to be told twice. Knowing very well if he failed this was the last time his new friends would ever see him, and were part of the living in the World of Light, Link plunged into the darkness, and entered the Twilight Realm.

Chapter 10
As soon as Link penetrated the Curtain of Twilight, he felt four weights on his back lift. Spirits weighed nothing. He'd run a few steps before realizing he couldn't even hear them on his back. He could usually hear spirits, even though he couldn't see them. Then he realized - spirits couldn't connect with the solid world. He turned around. Sure enough, there they were. They must have fallen through him, when they entered the Twilight, one by one. He turned back around. He had to find the Light Spirit. He could see a dark, electric insect some distance away, but he couldn’t go after it yet. He had to locate the Light Spirit. Vexing. He sighed inwardly. After a short amount of time ambling around, searching, listening with his wolf senses, he heard it. A soft whisper. He couldn't quite make out what it was saying, but he could roughly guess at the direction it was coming from. He ran towards it, his tongue hanging out at the side, like Rico's. The whispering became louder, clearer, he could hear what it was saying, now.
‘'Please... come closer... blue eyed... beast...’’ It sounded female. It was definitely a light spirit, though, and he was getting closer. He ran through a building full of spirits - he could see no other way to get to the Light Spirit - and out the other side. He was surprised at what he saw. It wasn't like the Light Spirit springs in Hyrule. It was perfectly rectangular and it looked man-made. As he had expected, there was a patch of light above the centre of the spring. ‘'Blue eyed beast...'’ it said, ‘'Please... save my light... the tears of light... can be found... in the 3 dark insects... please... help save... the light... take... this vessel...to hold more than one …'’ And she (he presumed it was a she, judging by her voice) gave him a Light vessel. ‘'Also...'’ she continued, ‘'What are these lemur spirits doing here?'’ Link looked around. Sure enough, there they were.
‘'Oho, Maurice! I never knew how much fun swimming could be!'’ said King Julien.
‘'Do they... have a part... to play... in rescuing... my light...?’’
‘'Maybe...'’ said Link. '’They often help situations by accident.’'
‘'I see...’' came the tired voice of the Light Spirit. Link left. He ambled around for quite some time before he finally found the first insect, even with his heightened wolf senses. He felt exited and relieved when he DID find it. Midtown was reasonably larger than central Park, so it woud take more than a single Tear of Light to restore it from the Twilight. He pounced on the insect and collected the Tear of Light it was holding ... but then he remembered that it was only the first one and most of the excitement and relief left him. He sighed inwardly again. This was going to be harder than last time. He could tell that, already. And it was. The Twilight spread over a larger area than last time, though still much smaller than it would have been in Hyrule, and the insects seemed to be able to hide themselves better than they could in Hyrule. Link had to climb ventilation shafts in unfamiliar buildings, and dig up one which was burrowing under the roots of a nearby tree. He was confused. Where was the last shadow insect? Then he spotted it. King Julian was herding a Light insect towards the Light Spirit in the strange shop. The penguins were chasing after him
‘Link needs that bug! We need to return the Light!’ Said Skipper
‘But if this is such an important job for the Sky Spirits as you say, than this job is so important, it must only be taken to the Spirit by the king!’ retorted Ringtail.
‘Youre going to let it get away!’ Warned Kowalski.
Too late, Mort abandoned his herding duties and hugged Julian’s feet. Outraged, King Julian stopped, distracted and flung Mort cruelly from his feet. Maurice lost his balance and fell over, and the bug scuttled Link’s way.
‘No! My kingly gift to the Sky Spirit!’ cried Julian.
Link pounced on the insect, releasing the light trapped within. The Light vessel became full, and the Twilight started to disperse. But with a flash of orange, a half Twilit falcon snatched the Vessel of Light before it could fully disperse the Twilight.
‘Stop!’ A female voice shrieked. A monstrous flash of blue feathers after, Link was snatched in the clutches of a huge hawk creature with a bird-skull styled steel helmet on its head. The creatures that had ambushed them had decaying plumage. One was a brilliant orange and the other was a dark navy blue. Each had three trailing tail feathers that marked them as Helmarocs. The Helmaroc who held him in its claws was the size of a bus, and in the half Twilight, his feathers were mottled with black and blue and his helmet was half steel and half dark iron. The other falcon had her face decorated with Twilit patterns and seemed larger than normal. The penguins and lemurs materialized, as did most animals, as their spirits were less complex than that of a human and could fully come back from the Twilight.
Link struggled but could not break the grip of the Helmaroc, who simply tightened his talons and Link gasped as he could feel the pressure crushing his lungs, making it difficult to breathe. His body went limp, as he concentrated his strength on breathing and not waste energy on pointless struggling.
‘Kitka?!’ Skipper cried, flabbergasted that his crush had changed to drastically to an almost unrecognizable state..
‘Yes Skipper dear, after you left me I found this charming falcon and his fabulous strength and power granted me my own power in the Twilight Realm that Phantom Gannondorf entrusted us with. So it would be a shame for us to lose our realm so quickly, we can’t let you restore that pathetic Light of yours. Try not to get in my way or I’ll have to cut up that cute little flat browed face of yours!’
‘But Kitka, you belong in the Light Realm, why would you want to consume it?’ asked Private.
‘Bleargaflebbablaravale,’ added Rico.
‘Because tasty Private, in the Twilight Realm I am special. Your new friend Link here should know who this fine feathered bird who is my mate is.’
Grunting through his crushed lungs from the Helmaroc’s claws, Link grunted ‘T-The Helm-a, arok King.’
‘Yes, dearest wolf, so through his mighty power, he convinced Phantom Gannondorf to give to me a taste, of the Power of Twilight, I, am Kitka, the Helmaroc Queen!’
Kowalski calculated with his device with the red beads. ‘Skipper, with Kitka’s new title, and position, as a natural predator infused with Twilight there is a very, and I mean this now more than ever, VERY MINISCULE chance of defeating her and her mate. However, as she has admitted she still has a soft spot for you Skipper, we may have a small chance of survival.’ Supplied Kowalski.
Skipper paled as he realized what Kowalski was telling him to do. He had to sweet talk Kitka back into her right state of mind without getting eaten.
‘er… huh? Um… right… Kowalski! I need you to take Rico and free that canine, Private and I will handle the … uh… other bit ….’ Skipper finished, flustered and blushing furiously.

Kitka tore past the penguins, aiming for one of the lemurs she had been deprived of as a sank\ck on their last encounter.
‘I think I’ll settle for mouse lemur!’ She shrieked.
Mort cowered as Kitka thrust out her talons, only to grab … The Private?
‘Run Mort!’ Private yelled, struggling in Kitka’s nasty claws.

Link felt his paws going numb. The stupid Helmaroc king was cutting off the blood flow to his limbs . Link’s vision started fogging up as his eyelids started to close. Suddenly, he felt something impact the Helmaroc, something powerful. Kowalski was yelling at Rico for more dynamite. Whatever that meant. Another huge BOOM and a huge tremor wracked the Helmaroc’s body, his talons loosened and Link clambered out of its grip and flopped onto the roof of one of the buildings. His vision was fuzzy. He gasped for air as each breath pained his lungs and gasped like a fish out of water, panting heavily. He closed his eyes, and drifted into his dreams with the sounds of Rico’s chainsaw and exploding dynamite around him.

Link dreamt he was back in the Realm with the Hero’s Shade. He dreamt of his first encounter, their first wolf’s howl. The Song of Healing echoed through his mind. Its eerie wolf howls replaced with the soft tune of an ocarina. The Shade sat on a stump in the sacred Grove, but he seemed different younger, and he had not yet lost his missing eye. In this dream, the Shade was alive and playing a strange, blue ocarina with the symbol of the Triforce upon it in the Sacred Grove. He was playing the Song of Healing. His golden armor glistened with morning dew as the rays of first light caught on it. Then, a young girl with green hair entered the Meadow, and the Shade stopped playing.
‘You don’t need the Song of Healing to heal the rift in our friendship created by the passing of Time.’ She said in a friendly voice
‘Even though you left, vowing to never come back, yet here you are, and we are still friends. No amount of Healing can change what happened.’ She carried on
‘But it can Heal people now. The song may be unable to Heal the past, but it can heal the present’
‘Saria will always be … your friend,’ and with that, the scene dissolved into darkness.
Link awoke a mere few seconds after he fell. He looked around, he seemed to have recovered and saw that Rico and Kowalski seemed to need his help pronto. Link leaped onto the Helmaroc’s face, and snapped off the hard helmet. Now vulnerable, it was reasonably simple for Rico to get a well aimed dynamite into the Helmaroc’s gullet to dissipate it into Twilight particles.
Their victory was short lived however when Private yelled ‘Skipper! Watch out!’ followed by a yell that indicated he was in trouble.
Link, Rico and Kowalski turned around to see a seething Twilit Kitka holding Skipper up to her face in steely talons as Skipper tried to escape.

Link ran faster than he had ever ran before, everything going past him in a blur, his legs moving like parts of a machine. He was focused only on what was ahead of him: Skipper about to be eaten by the Helmaroc queen. A low, menacing growl had settled itself in his throat, though he couldn't even hear it over the roaring of the wind in his ears. When he was close enough - which happened only in a matter of milliseconds, because of how fast he was running - he leapt, jaws wide open, claws outstretched, straight for the orange falcon's sneering, feathered face. His wolf fangs bit into her feather,until she left go squawking, taking his chance, Link tried to howl the Song of Healing, but the Helmaroc Queen screeched in agony at the notes and attacked him relentlessly before he could finish. Untangling him from her, Link leapt onto her back and held her skull firmly in his jaws. Placing his paw on her neck to stop her from pecking his legs bloody, Link finally howled the Song of Hearing, beautiful and clearly into the half Twilight, soothing the Helmaroc queen. Kitka’s Twilit form shrank back into her ordinary falcon form. Exhausted after relinquishing her Twilight powers, Kitka fell unconscious. Link would feel bad if he killed Skipper’s ex-girlfriend. He got up and looked at Skipper, who seemed perfectly fine, considering he had just nearly been eaten by a falcon who had once been in love with him.
‘'Uh... thanks, soldier.’' He said, sounding a little embarrassed. '’I uh... I could've handled that myself you know. C'mon, team! Let's get this light vessel back to the Light spirit, so we can FULLY return to the realm of light!'’
‘Skipper, once this is all over and this all turns out to be an extended fantasy, might I suggest a therapist and shell shock and trauma programme?’
‘Indeed soldier’
‘'Um... about the Light Vessel, Skipper...'’ began Private ‘'We can't seem to find the vessel anywhere. We must have lost it when we were fighting the falcon.'’ Private had said the word 'we' several times, but Link still knew he meant 'Link', even if he had been too polite to say it. It was him who had been carrying the vessel, after all. He could see Kowalski and Rico searching for it, not too far away. He looked over the edge of the building (he had never been afraid of heights). Was that it, down there, glistening in the strange light that you could only get when you were half way between light and twilight...? He bent his head lower. He felt feathered wings push one of his back legs. Although the wings were small, it was enough to send him toppling over the edge.

Chapter 11.

He was falling. He could hear Phantom Ganondorf's menacing laugh. He turned his body in the air, just in time to see a pigeon that had obviously been possessed by Phantom Ganondorf, looking down at him, before it was attacked by four vengeful penguins. But Link didn't have the time to think about that. He was plummeting... and fast. When he turned to face the ground, again, he could see that the glistening thing he had seen really WAS the light vessel. But he didn't have time to think about that, either All he really had time to think was AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Luckily for him, the penguins didn't say they were an elite force just because it sounded good. Half way through his fall, Rico had regurgitated a grappling hook, whilst Skipper asked Kowalski for hurt options to use on the pigeon. Link caught this grappling hook in his jaws and Rico and Private pulled him back up. Link could see Skipper and Kowalski doing something gruesome to the pigeon, which unfortunately had been released from possession and was suffering from punishments for a deed it didn’t mean to do. When he was back on top of the building, he thanked the penguins and explained to them about the pigeon. He also told them about the fact that he had seen the light vessel.
During this explanation, the half featherless, burnt looking pigeon flew away.
'’Oh dear...'’ said Private. '’I hope that pigeon can forgive us.'’
‘'Ahh, don't worry about that, Private!'’ said Skipper, ‘'If he has trouble forgiving us, he'll tell us. And then we'll explain our side of the story. But right now, we have other things to worry about! We have to get that light vessel, pronto! Rico! Climbing gear!'’
‘'Hruureeagh!'’

Meanwhile...
King Julian, Mort and Maurice, under King Julian’s instructions, were searching for treasure. Something caught Maurice's eye.
'Hey, your majesty, come 'n' look at this!' The lemurs gathered round a strange, glowing object.
'HEY!' came Skipper's commanding voice, from halfway up a large building he was climbing down. 'Don't go anywhere near that light vessel! You hear me?'
'We need it to restore light to the land!' added Link.
'HAHA! Do you honestly think that I, King Julian, am going to be listening to you!?'
'I don't know, your majesty, it does sound kind of important, with the 'restoring light' and all that.' reasoned Maurice.
‘'Exactly! Which is why I must be the one to deliver this to the light thingy! Come, my common subjects! Let us finish what the silly penguins have started and steal all the credit!’' and he picked up the light vessel and marched towards the building with the 'spring' on the other side. When he got there, there was a blinding flash that made all three lemurs cover their eyes with their hands. When the light had gone away, King Julian no longer had the light vessel in his hands. He looked up to see a huge alley cat that looked like it was made out of light. He made a strange wheezy gasping noise and his jaw dropped. 'SKY SPIRIT!!!' he shouted and he got down on his knees and bowed (Get the camera/picto box out now, this is the only time you'll ever see King Julian bowing! XD).
‘'Sky spirit?'’ came the light spirit's gentle, female voice that echoed round the room. She gave a wide, friendly smile and kindly said ‘'No, not quite. I am not an ooccoo. I am what is known as a light spirit. But I get the feeling that it is not you who restored my light to the land. Tell me, where is the blue eyed beast? For I wish to speak with him.'’

‘'What? Oh! The wolf?'’ replied King Julien, vexed that he wasn't getting the credit, after all. ‘'Last time I saw him, he was half way down a building. He'll probably be here with the silly penguins any minute.'’
‘'The birds of honor?'’ asked the light spirit.
‘'WHAT!?!?!? HOW DARING OF YOU!!! I AM THE ONLY ONE IN THE ZOO WHO IS WORTHY OF A TITLE WITH THE WORD HONOUR IN IT!!!!!! YOU ARE MOST CERTAINLY NOT A SKY SPIRIT!!!!!!!'’ Shouted King Julian. He then stormed out of the 'spring', through the building and back to his habitat in the zoo, followed by his loyal subjects. The light spirit chuckled. In fact, she was still chuckling when the penguins and Link arrived.
'’Ahh... the blue eyed beast approaches... and the birds of honor, too. Welcome.’' she said. 'Blue eyed beast. I am Naynew. Thank you for returning light to my land. As you already know, you must save my fellow light spirits, Tralore and Parcen. Once you have succeeded in doing this, you must return to Hyrule.’’ Her voice became sad.
‘Although you have many duties in this land that has need of you, the enemy you chase here is indeed merely a phantom. The true enemy and obstacles you face remain in the land you left. Once your duties are done, you must depart to Hyrule and finish your quest there. Cherish all your memories of this place, for it is unlikely that you will ever return again. You must also prepare your mind for the journey ahead, for it will be a perilous one.'
‘'Why can I never return!?'’ asked Link, looking worried.
‘'This is some kind of elaborate trap, isn't it!?’' accused Skipper.
‘'No, no. This is no trap. Two worlds should not mix. It is against nature. Where Link must go next, none of you may follow. The absence of magic imbalanced the world you and I are a part of Bird of Honor, by introducing a magical being, a legacy of the Hero of Time himself, he is invoking the magic of this land and restoring that balance. This is the will of the Fates. If they had not brought our worlds together, the balance of magic and nature would be corrupted in this world. The Fates broke the laws of nature the day they intercepted the Hero’s journey.'’
‘'So are hot snowzles! They break all rules of nature, and we eat them regularly!' said Skipper, looking huffed and glaring suspiciously at the light spirit.
‘'That is not the same. Two worlds should not merge. Their fabrics are not meant to overlap. They should stay separate, unless absolutely necessary to correct imbalance.’' replied Naynew, solemnly.
'Oh really? And why is that?' Skipper raised an eyebrow.
‘'I don't know.'’ Naynew confessed. ‘'The Fates have neglected to tell me of this. As have the other light spirits. I am the youngest New York light spirit. I know not why this rule is so, only why it was broken.’'
Nawnew once again addressed Link.
‘Beast, I bestow upon the legendary blade a new power, the ability to keep your Hylian form within the realm of Twilight, you are no longer confined to the shape of a beast in the Twilight realm.
With that, Nawnew started to fade away, and the pool filled itself with bubbling warm water filled with salts that is good for the skin, which really irritated Link’s nose with the steamy air and salty smell. The spirit completely faded away, leaving the penguins and Link alone in a deserted pool area. A couple decided to walk in on them that very minute.
Link wanted to lose himself in thought about not spending much more time with his new zoo friends but was interrupted when the back door was opened.
A man wearing only wave patterned shorts guiding a young female wearing an odd one piece stepped into the area, and could have easily missed the penguins because they were reasonably small. But only someone with his shorts of fire could possibly miss the three foot tall and five foot long wolf sitting at the edge of the Spa Resort.
‘AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH­HHH­HHH­HHH­HHH­HHH­HHH­HHH­HHH­!!!­!!’ The woman shrieked in a very high pitched ear-splitting voice that hurt Link’s ears so he whined and placed his paws on his ears.
‘They’ve seen too much!’ Skipper yelled, and Link helped the penguins judo the innocent witnesses, and withdrew before more witnesses came into the scene.

Halfway back to Central Park, Link gasped ‘The Master Sword?! Where is it? I completely forgot about it after that girl screamed painfully!’
‘Oh relax rookie. I had Rico take it for safekeeping until we needed it again. Unless you’re planning to return to your exhibit for the opening hours back at the zoo, you might want to pass yourself off as a customer and return to elf form.’
‘You mean Hylian, and you still haven’t told me what an elf is!’
‘Relax canine, it’s not important,’
‘elves are a common fictional race often depicted in literature, it is believed they originate from Greek and Roman mythology involving nymphs naiads and such and are often depicted as beautiful men and women with long and pointed ears, not much unlike yourself Link, and are no more than mere fantasies.’
‘Thank you, for that long, lame, and exceedingly BORING lecture Kowalski!’
‘OH YEAHP! YAAAAWN!’ said Rico.
‘It was a little fascinating, but elves are fantasy? But the Lunacorn is real! Right Kowalski?’
‘Well Private, I would answer your question truthfully but Skipper has commanded me from giving you the truthful explanation telling me to preserve your young and innocent spirit before he ruthlessly crushes them so I am afraid I cannot answer that.’
‘Oh.’

They returned to the Central Park Zoo, and Link decided he would pass himself off as a human, as he had been in wolf form for so long, he doubted he could remember how to walk if he spent another half an hour on all fours. The penguins had raided a zoo storage space labeled ‘Lost and Found’ and given him what Kowalski called ‘More casual wear’ and Skipper had called ‘Camouflage’. Link felt really awkward parading about in a strange black garment with a hood, uncomfortable jean shorts, and sneakers that he felt would be impossible to run in compared to his comfortable brown boots. He retrieved his sword and shield from Rico, and stored his tunic, cap and boots in a ‘schoolbag’. The penguins returned to their normal habitat for the zoo open hours, and Link left to explore more around the zoo in disguise.

Not long after he began his exploration, his feet began to rub, uncomfortably. The discomfort soon escalated to pain. He grimaced. Kowalski HAD warned him, but Link had still refused to wear socks. He felt like a naughty three-year-old. He looked around him. He had never been around so many people, not even in the towns back in Hyrule. He felt a bit claustrophobic. Occasionally, people (mainly children) would stare at him. It was rare for someone around Link's age to go to the zoo on their own. Although the crowd was thick and fairly noisy, Link suddenly heard a shout from somewhere in the crowd.
'Hey! That guy's stolen my schoolbag! He must have found it in the lost and found!' Link's ears tuned in to the noise coming from that area after hearing the shout, so, even through the constant babble of the crowd he could hear another person say
'Easy, man. Maybe he's just got the same schoolbag as you.' Link breathed a sigh of relief. He walked over to the penguin habitat, where he was surprised to see them performing for the crowd. He stared in wonder - after all, he had never seen synchronized swimming before. When most of the people who had been around the penguin habitat wondered off to gaze at other animals, Link told the penguins about the shoes. When he saw Kowalski's smug smile, however, he immediately wished he hadn't. He walked away from the penguin habitat. Then he walked out of the zoo, into Central Park. He went to the quietest part of Central Park he could find. He needed to think. Where was the next twilight zone? After the pigeon experience, he had been worrying a great deal more about Phantom Ganondorf, too. He had known he was still alive. Did he know he was still alive, now? How many times was he going to attempt to kill Link? Link shuddered. He didn't want to be plagued by Phantom Ganondorf trying to kill him. What if he succeeded?
He decided it was best not to think about that. What good would dwelling on his worries be? He had to think about where the next twilight zone was, or how he could search for it systematically. Maybe he should wait until the zoo had closed. He could ask the penguins about searching strategies. But how would he get back into the zoo when it closed? He decided he would sneak into his habitat as a wolf and hide the wolf toy. But how would he spend his time waiting for the zoo to close? He wondered about turning into a wolf and talking to the squirrels, but... when he thought about it realistically, he doubted they'd have anything to say that could be of use to him. He sighed inwardly. He had been doing that quite a bit, since he had left Hyrule and entered this realm. He noticed that less and less people were going into the zoo and more and more people were coming out. Perhaps the zoo would close, soon. Then the bell rang, which startled Link. After a short while, he saw all the people being pushed out by Alice alert, and then he saw the gates being closed. This confirmed his theory about the zoo closing. When all was quiet and not a single person was within sight, he transformed into a wolf again. He slung the backpack over his back after a little difficulty and dug underneath a wall that he guessed lead straight to his habitat.
He guessed wrong.
When he emerged from underneath the wall, he saw a big, angry looking kangaroo. It was looking straight at him.
'’What're you doin' in my 'abitat, mate?’' he said in an Australian accent.
‘'Oh, s-sorry.'’ said Link ‘'I didn't mean to dig into your habitat.'’
‘'No worries, mate.'’ Link thought that, at this point, the kangaroo would let him dig back out, but instead, he hopped forward and suddenly looked very intimidating. Link bared his teeth in response, and the the animal attemted to picked Link up by his tail, Link leapt aside, having dealt with monsters far worse than this innocent animal.
‘Hey! Come back take yer thrashing like a wallaby!’
Link didn’t know what a ‘wallaby’ was, but he didn’t intend to take a thrashing. Crouching down, and concentrating on the high branches of a tree, he leapt high into its branches and leapt over the habitat wall.
‘I’ve been had!’ The animal who Link concluded was called Joey started kicking the walls of the habitat trying to shake him off its high walls. Link didn’t have any intention to be trapped down there again so he climbed off the wall and trotted to his own habitat as he hasn’t been there for quite a while.
Link observed the duplicate of him very closely. It was unsettling how much the toy looked like him. He heard the sharp CRACK of a twig and hastily grabbed the decoy and placed it in the corner of his habitat out of sight. In his haste however, Link accidentally tore the fabric with his teeth. And the underbelly of his decoy now had a small hole exposing the stuffing. He’d get the penguins to fix that up later, right now he turned around to find … Marlene?
‘Hey there! What’s up Link?’
‘Ummm… in the words of Kowalski, I’m not familiar with that term…’ Link responded.
‘Okay, let me try again. What’s happening?’
‘Uhhh nothing … no new Twilight Zones have been reported…’
‘You guys are REALLY serious about those books huh?’
‘Not the books! Fainting Farore no!’
‘Okay, if it’s penguin business, it’s probably classified hence the code words and what not, but Okay! So, what’s on your mind?’
‘How could you tell?’
‘Link my friend, when you’ve known the penguins for about as long as I have, you get to know the ‘brooding’ expression really well!’
‘Well, I’m worried about what the Light Spirit Naynew said. After what she called my ‘duty’ to New York, I’ll have to leave and never return back into the land of Hyrule and never come back.’
‘Oookay, so you’re being released back into the wild?’
‘Something like that.’ Link clearly understanding she wasn’t going to understand one bit if he told her the whole truth.
‘Well, Link, if that were true, you should cherish the time you have here and now. Friends might not be able to stay together, but they will be friends forever if you cherish you’re memories, and never forget them.’
‘That sounds too much like what Naynew said. But I guess you’re right, thanks Marlene’
‘You’re welcome. So, what has Skipper said about me?’
Link blinked, confused.
‘Excuse me?’
‘Has Skipper told you about me yet?’ Marlene was batting her eyelashes quite nervously.
‘No he hasn’t, was he supposed to?’
‘Oh, never mind then,’
‘Hang on,’ said Link catching on, ‘You have feelings for him don’t you?’
‘What? No! How could you possibly-‘
‘Marlene,’
‘I mean sure we’ve known each other for some time and-‘
‘Marlene,’
‘But Skipper would never-‘
‘Marlene!’
‘What?’
Link cocked an eyebrow.
‘Yeah, I guess I do. But don’t. Mention. A. Word. Skipper probably doesn’t like me back. So don’t ruin our friendship by telling him. Got it?’
‘Marlene, you’re jumping to conclusions. Skipper might like you more than just a friend. He just doesn’t know how to express it openly being a military officer, or he is just that dense to not realize how much you’ve been trying to get his attention and has no clue what to do about it.’
‘Maybe I guess,’
‘C’mon, you’re a great friend, Skipper is lucky to have a friend like you. And if he’s smart, he’ll figure this out and tell you,’ Link winced as he remembered Illia, what if she were facing this problem right now? Would she think he had abandoned her?
‘Thanks Link,’ Marlene cracked a smile. Never mind. He decided. He’ll explain it to her when this whole New York Light Spirit business was over.
‘Speaking of the penguins, I have to go and meet them just now, do you want to come?’
‘Would I?’ Marlene responded, and hopped on Link’s back. He sighed inwardly. Recently everyone has been thinking he was a new mode of transport free of charge. But he didn’t complain. Link loped to the penguin habitat and found it empty. Taking a hunch, he jumped onto the observatory railing and jumped on top of the platform. Marlene opened the hatch and they dropped in to the Penguin HQ.
Inside they found Kowalski and Rico playing chess, Private watching a moving screen, and Skipper at the table enjoying a cup of dark brown liquid with a fish in it. Link supposed that could be some sort of soup or potion.
‘Hey guys!’ Marlene said cheerily.
‘Marlene, Link! How many times do I have to tell you civilians not to come here unannounced? Not you link, the civilian.’
‘What? I go through all the trouble to come here, and your greeting is ‘you’re not supposed to be here?’’
‘Affirmative.’ Said Skipper oblivious to Marlene’s emotions. This wasn’t going to end well unless Skipper showed some sort of caring and forgiving gesture right now.
‘But, I think we can let it pass just this once.’
Link breathed out his breath he didn’t know he was holding.
‘'What's up, Link?’' asked Skipper. ‘'You look like a huge weight has been lifted off your shoulders.'’ Marlene still looked annoyed. '’I was speaking metaphorically, Marlene.'’
'’Oh.'’ replied Marlene. Then she looked at Link and Link could tell by the look in her eyes that she was thinking
'Don't. Breathe. A word. Leave. It. To me.'
‘'Uh...’' said Link. He decided to change the subject. ‘'Hey, Skipper! My... what did you call it?’' he paused. ‘'Ahh, yes, decoy. I accidently made a rip in my decoy.'’
‘'Not a problem, soldier. Kowalski!'’
‘'Yes, Skipper?'’
‘'Wolf habitat, ASAP! Link's made a rip in the stuffed toy! See if you can patch it up!’'
‘'I'm on it.'’ replied Kowalski, saluting.
'’Awww...'’
‘'We can finish chess when I get back, Rico.’' and, with that, he exited the HQ.
‘'Also...’' said Link. Marlene looked at him, again, with the same look she had given him before, but he was not planning to say what she thought he might be planning to say. ‘'How should we search for the next Twilight zone? Do you have any idea where it might be?'’ he asked, not able to keep a trace of worry from showing in his voice. Skipper face-flippered, which, Link noticed, he tended to do a lot.
'’That was classified information! Civilians are not allowed to partake in this classified subject!’' he barked. ‘'Marlene! You didn't see anything.'’ he waved his flippers in circular movements in front of his face, as he said this. Link had no idea why, but he didn't question it. Everything is this world seemed abnormal. But, more importantly, Link was now in a predicament. He couldn't talk about the Twilight realm, when Marlene was here, but he couldn't just ask Marlene to leave. She might be planning to tell Skipper about her feelings for him. What if he were to ask for a private word with the penguins? No, Marlene would think he was talking about her. But, at that moment, Marlene beat him to it.
‘'Um... Skipper...’' she began, ‘'Mind if I have a private word? With... with you?'’ If otters could blush, Link had a feeling Marlene would be blushing furiously, right now.
‘'Ok...'’ agreed Skipper, looking rather confused. The two walked - or, in Skipper's case, waddled - into the other room, which happened to be Kowalski's lab.
Link heard whispers coming from the lab, but he tried not to listen to what Skipper and Marlene were saying, which was difficult when he had a wolf’s sense of hearing. He didn't want to eavesdrop. He decided to distract himself from listening to the whispers by talking to Rico.
'’So, what's this thing you call chess, Rico?'’ He asked, curiously.
‘'Bragaboogabooga!’' replied Rico. Link had forgotten Rico's strange form of speech that he couldn't even understand when he was a wolf.
‘'I see.'’ he said politely. Rico carried on talking in the same way for quite some time, during which, neither Skipper, nor Marlene emerged. He went over to Private. '’What're you watching, Private?’'
'’The Lunacorns!’' he replied, joyfully. Link looked at the moving pictures of blue, purple and pink. He had never seen anything like it in Hyrule.... was it a type of magic they had never discovered, back where he came from? He heard the hatch open. He turned around to see Kowalski with the stuffed toy duplicate.
'’YAAAAAAAAAY!’' shouted Rico. He seemed to like chess very much. Link wished he could have understood his previous explanation.
'’I have to fix this in the lab, Rico.’'
'’Don't go in there!’' Link blurted out, louder than he had intended. Kowalski looked puzzled. '’Skipper and Marlene are... uh... conversing. Privately!’'
'’O...k...'’ said Kowalski, ‘'looks like I'll be playing chess with you, after all, Rico.'’
'’YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!’'
'’I'd ask if you'd like to join in, Link, but... well, it's a two player game.'’ said Kowalski. Link was not familiar with the term 'two player game', so he just said
‘'That's ok.’’
He watched the two penguins play chess, seeing if he could learn how to do so, himself. After a while, he accepted the fact that he was failing miserably at learning anything about chess, especially as he didn’t seem to have the proper equipment. Kowalski seemed to be doing fine with only moving his pieces, but Rico took out an arsenal of a strange roaring saw, a black sledge hammer, and a flamethrower, which Link suspected was cheating but Kowalski seemed to be winning anyway. He turned around to watch what Private was watching. ‘‘So...'’ he said, '’What are the Lunacorns?'’
'’You... don't have Lunacorns, where you come from?'’ asked Private, looking genuinely surprised.
‘'Well, I've never seen or heard of one, before now.'’ Said Link.
‘They’re a race of fictional characters that are presently depicted on the television screen that boost self confidence, morals and mannerisms, they feature on this childish show.’
Replied Kowalski from his chess game.
‘Checkmate.’
‘Arrnamnganeegabrag!’ Rico shouted in frustration.
‘The closest thing to the Lunacorn I see right now would be our Ordon goats. They had horns too. But I think Epona resembles them a bit more than a goat would.’ Link answered Private.
‘What’s an Epona?’
‘She’s my horse from Hyrule, reddish brown mare Clydesdale with a white mane and tail,’
Link replied.
Skipper and Marlene left the lab, with Marlene blushing furiously, and Skipper looking annoyed.
‘I don’t have time for riddles Marlene, we’re on a very tight schedule, if you can’t spit out what you want to say then it’s going to have to wait till tomorrow.’ Link thought he heard ‘Tch, mammals,’ under Skipper’s breath.
‘Fine, I’ll wait until you’re ready to not denounce my statement as a lie!’
‘You mean that part was true? Come ON Marlene, an officer like me has no time for settling down, I’m in my prime here! Crushes would only hinder my efforts into this operation, tell me again in fifty or so years and I’ll give you an honest answer.’ Skipper replied.
‘Wait, so your answer NOW isn’t actually honest?’
Marlene looked about ready to throw an Ordon goat, and just then, Private shouted from the periscope ‘Alice Alert!’
The penguins herded Marlene and Link to secret underground tunnel behind a prize fish.
‘Quick! Back to your habitat or Alice will suspect something! You go too Link! Topside men!’
Kowalski stuffed the toy into the lab and pushed a button that probably turned off the penguin’s decoy, and the tunnel door slammed shut in his face.

Chapter 12

Link and Marlene travelled quickly through the tunnels before ‘Alice Alert’ discovered they were missing, but not without making small conversation.
‘He didn’t take it well?’
‘He thought I was joking’
‘Don’t give up Marlene, he’ll come through,’ I just hope Illia knows I will too, thought Link.
‘That’s Skipper, missions first, feelings last,’ Link finally said
‘Well he certainly didn’t act that way when he had a crush on Kitka,’
‘Really?’
‘Yeah, he just bent the rescue mission around her, and did both at the same time, by the way, how to you know about Kitka, Does Skipper still go on about her?’
‘What? No! Nothing like that. We just met her in midtown.’
‘Oh, so he IS seeing her, I see now’
‘NO! Your seeing this the wrong way Marlene! We just ran into her, I swear, Skipper would never cheat on you.’
‘Of course not, seeing as he thinks we’re not together anyway,’
‘Marlene, don’t stress about it. Skipper probably is just too shy to admit his feelings to you.’
‘I hope so,’
They exited the tunnel in that ended in Marlene’s habitat and Link ran back to his own habitat.
Thinking about couples with Marlene was about as headache inducing as trying to cheer up Illia when she’s mad with him! Link wondered if Skipper ever felt this way. Actually, all mammals must make Skipper feel this way, as Link has witnessed time and time again with Skipper’s face-flippering.
Alice Alert chucked over a few more dead rabbits and talked into a handheld device that talked back, calling her a ‘Yo, Alice,’
She finished making her rounds and went back into the room the penguins called her ‘office’.
‘Comrade!’
‘Ahhhhh!’ Link twisted around to find the penguins had popped out of a grate Link had not noticed before that was covered over by a shrub.
‘Ever heard of knocking?!’
‘Skipper gets that a lot’ Private admitted.
‘You might want to take a look at this.’ Skipper held up a strange rectangular object Kowalski called a ‘tape’.
He was led through the secret tunnels again after Kowalski placed the recently fixed decoy back in Link’s habitat into the penguin HQ to watch some ‘T.V’ which was apparently what the magic box was called.

‘This is Chuck Charles reporting Live in midtown, a mysterious and sinister black wall of something has come out of seemingly nowhere after that fiend who named himself Phantom Gannondorf blew his horn and seemingly summoned this monstrosity, sources indicate that Phantom Gannondorf is a fictional character found in the-‘
The tape blaked out for a few seconds, as the Twilight had interrupted the ‘tape’.
‘Zelda, Ocarina of Time , a videogame developed by a company called Nintendo. Nintendo is willing to sue anyone who has taken their precious villain ideas and used it as their own to terrorize the town, and cause such havoc.’
Rico stopped the tape.
Link’s ears were still ringing from ‘Ocarina of Time’ and ‘Zelda’
‘The interview goes on for another few minutes something about a Legend, mystical powers and some temple in the forest of a mythical Lost Woods and some other guy named Link but that’s not important.’ Skipper said
‘The point is, now our mission could easily become compromised now that classified intel has leaked out. This ‘Nintendo’ sounds like it means business and may even know about the world of Hyrule. We’ll have to be more careful not to expose the Twilight realm or let our adversary do it for us. We would normally want to wait until this all blows over to cover the scent and the humans believe it to be a simple hoax. But due to the expanding Twilight waiting it out is NOT an option. So Kowalski! Options!’
Kowalski had been scribbling in what the penguins called his 'notepad' all the way through Skipper's explanation. After a second or two, he finally stopped.
“Hmm.” he said. This was unusual for Kowalski - he almost always came up with options straight away. '’Maybe we should ask around about this 'Nintendo'. If we can find this company, we might be able to capture on of the humans who work there and see if they know anything about Hyrule, Twilight, or Phantom Ganondorf.'’
‘'Kowalski, we don't have time for those books! Let's just ask whoever we capture about Hyrule and Phantom Ganondorf!'’ said Skipper.
‘'No no, I was talking about the other twilight.'’
‘'Oh.'’
‘'Wait, so... you want to capture a human and do what you did to me in my Hylian form?' Link cut in, 'Using the talking device? Isn't there a way other than brute force?'’
‘'Probably... but we are NOT hippies! Therefore, we do not use weak, diplomatic methods! You mammals would do well to remember that!'’
‘'I think Link might have a point, actually.'’ said Private. They all turned to look at him.
‘'Do you have a better idea, then?'’ Asked Skipper, raising an eyebrow.
‘'Well no... but-'’
‘'Then we go with the original plan.’' said Skipper, simply.
‘'What's a hippie?’' asked Link.
‘CLASSIFIED!’ Skipper snapped.
‘That’s need-to know-intel. You need to worry about your own enemies, who are now OUR enemies because you dragged us into it!’
‘They would be your enemy even if I didn’t drag you into it, and you’d be wandering spirits,’ Link pointed out.
‘Well Link, I think we’re all very good friends and such, Skipper’s idea of a hippie is a-‘
‘Peace loving nature-turned drug addict who has been thrown into the gutter! That’s what happens when you go soft! Do we look soft to you?!’
After the argument afterwards regarding the definition of a hippie Link still only had a rough idea of what a hippie was. He wondered how he was going to 'cherish' this particular memory. When the conversation about hippies finally ended, Skipper went back to talking about the more important matters.
‘'Ok,'’ he said, 'here's the plan. Link goes into the twilight to find the light tears, like he did last time, while we ask around about Nintendo, find Nintendo and question Nintendo.' they all agreed to this plan and, without further ado, exited the HQ. Once they were out of the fish bowl, Kowalski pressed a button and the penguins' hologram activated. Link noticed it was coming from a small device inside the mouth of a fish that was inside the fish bowl. How fascinating this world was... How he would miss it.
Kowalski seemed to realize something.
"Skipper!" he said.
"Yes?"
"My analysis shows that, judging by the chaotic scene behind Chuck Charles, Link should begin his search for the twilight somewhere in New Jersey, perhaps near the Hoboken zoo that's located in... Hoboken. In fact, I'm sure it must be there! We only need to ask Nintendo about Hyrule and Phantom Ganondorf!"
"Oh, ok." said Skipper. "Rico! Map!"
"Herragh!" suddenly, Rico was holding a rather soggy map, which he gave to Link.
"This map shows the way to New Jersey from here!" said Skipper. "Once you're there, carry on following the map to the Hoboken Zoo. Don't ask any animals you meet for directions - you could easily end up in a sticky situation in that area."
"I see." said Link. "Okay, then. Thanks!" he picked the map up in his teeth and started to trot off.
‘Now hold up soldier!’ Skipper yelled.
Link looked back, Skipper was tobogganing with Rico on over.
‘Did you forget the penguin credo? NEVER swim alone? Did you even read the manual?’
‘What manual?’
‘Forget it canine, here’s the gist, Rico is coming with you as your temporary superior. He knows the Hoboken residents, and how to deal with them,’
‘KABOOM!’
‘Alright then,’
Then, he and Rico parted ways with the other penguins. The penguins interrogated everyone they could find about Nintendo, while Link trotted out of the zoo into Central Park, where he put the map down in front of him and looked at it. He didn't know where on the map he was and he couldn't read the labels. Rico babbled very helpfully. Note the sarcasm. He started to panic. He decided to ask someone for directions. After all, Skipper only warned him against asking for directions in, or near, New Jersey. Not here. He decided to start with a squirrel he saw in a nearby tree.
"Excuse me..." he said, "do you know how I could get to New Jersey?"
"No, sorry. I don't often leave Central Park."
"Oh... Well thanks anyway!"
"You're welcome. If you need help with anything else, I'll be... um... in my tree." Link wondered why the squirrel was saying this, since he hadn't been much 'help' at all. Rico started going psycho on some poor animal up in the branches. He headed over to the tree whose branches were shaking violently.
A grey furry lump fell in front of him, landing with an ‘Umphf!’
"Excuse me..." he said, addressing the furry lump that looked suspiciously like RIngtail, "do you happen to know the way to New Jersey?"
The furry lump picked itself off the ground revealing it to be a raccoon. The raccoon gave a sly smile. "Of course! Archie, formally known as the archer, at your service! Of course ... You'll have to give me something in return." He smiled again.
Rico dropped out of the tree fully commando and brought out what Link learned to call ‘Rico’s Bazooka’
‘Whafragglagatemanuuuhgra!’ And he trained the weapon on Archie.
‘Tell your friend with the creepy smile to lay off will ya!’ Archie panicked, hiding behind Link.
Link twisted around and picked up the raccoon by the scruff of his neck using his powerful jaws.
‘How about I take him off, and you tell us how to get to New Jersey, as you can see, we have no boat or other transportation, or I can pretend I saw nothing and let Rico at it.’ Link detested these men who took advantage of others to make a living. It reminded him of Purlo, a man who ran a travelling Game shop called the STAR game. A game virtually impossible to beat, and charges people 50 Rupees a game, then mocks them for not finishing the game. In short, ripping people off.
‘Oh my, fair price! But I would need a tad bit more convincing I swear it can be small, the smallest thing you have!’
"Uh..." said Link, hesitating. He never was one who would normally e terrorizing people, no matter how much they deserved it. He was trying to be more assertive like Skipper, as Link had seen firsthand how effective that had been. But he felt a little bad, so he decided to indeed give Archie something.
"How about this map?" he dropped Archie in front of Rico, much to the raccoon’s dismay, and ran over to where he had left the map, picked it up and ran back over to the now cowering raccoon.
"Now what would I want with a map?" asked the raccoon called Archie asked as he looked over what Link had brought him. Link felt foolish. What WOULD a raccoon want with a map?
‘Rico, do you have any ideas?’ Link wondered.
‘Lafrulga!’
Rico spread the map before him, and mimed taking a nap, complete with snores.
‘I’m not homeless you know!’
Rico got up, scratching his Mohawk and making ‘Hmmm…’ noises.
He regurgitated a newspaper, a flame design bazooka, and eradicated the newspaper.
‘Tinda!’ Rico proudly proclaimed
‘Well, the winter season IS getting rather near … Okay! I’ll take it!’ Archie offered his paw for Link to shake, and in reply to the despicable Archie, Link snapped his jaws at his outstretched hand and growled menacingly.
‘N-Not a hand-shaker okay! That’s fine t-too! As long as we have a deal!’ Archie stammered nervously.

They followed Archie until they arrived at the wide banks of a river that was disgusting and murky.
‘This is the charming Hudson! Now, what you want to do, is follow the Hudson until you reach Long Island, then you can cross the shores to New Jersey!’
‘Archie, unless you haven’t noticed, we have no boat.’
‘And that’s why you have me! Archie, Tour-Guide Extraordinaire!’Suddenly, Link pricked up his ears.
‘Ummm Rico, you and Archie locate a boat, I umm… think I have found another You-Know-hat.’
‘Eh?’ Rico intelligently replied.
‘Ooh, do you speak of TREASURE?’ Archie asked excitedly.
‘Nothing of that sort. Umm a stone Rico. A stone that means I gotta go You-Know-Where …?’
‘Oooh.’ Rico understood. Link hoped.
‘OH!, You mean you ‘gotta go’ and found the perfect spot!’
‘Excuse me?’
‘No worries! Me and bird-buddy over here will look away, and you can do whatever business you need to take care of ok?’
‘What! NO!’ Link practically yelled.
‘Okay so you’re embarrassed about it! Say nothing, I can see you blushing under that thick coat of yours hahaha!’
Rico dragged a hysterical Archie along the banks finding a dock of some sort to find a sea-worthy, or rather, a river-worthy boat. Still huffing about Archie, Link took the opportunity to go where his hearing leaded him. The whistling wind took him to an outcrop of rock that overlooked the Hudson. There, in plain sight, was a Howling stone, whispering a strange tune more complicated than any Link had heard thus far.

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The sun had set, and the mist from the Hudson gave the Howling stone an eerie silver glow.
Knowing exactly what to do, Link howled the new tune that brought a sense of sorrow to his soul.

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The silvery mist shrouded Link and clouded his vision, a moment later, Link was looking through his eyes at the vast otherworldly plane below, on a grassy cliff facing the distant castle. The mountain spewing fire was to his far left, a strange crumbling temple he had not noticed before was diagonally left, a large grassy hill was to his diagonal right, and directly behind him was a mountain made of ice. All this was shrouded in the same silver mist, obscuring any clear vision of them. Parallel to him, sat the Golden wolf on a higher pillar of stone. The echo of wolf’s panting could be heard rhythmically repeating across the silent world.
Knowing what the wolf expected of him, Link struggled to remember this slightly longer tune, but howled it beautifully. The Golden wolf joined in the howling duet and the sorrowful sog’s last note faded into the mist.

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link

’ Past, present, future, the vessel between worlds … The Master sword enables the wielder to cross such boundaries, the melody which the notes echo of is named the Requiem of Spirit. A Requiem is a prayer for the salvation of souls and gives one timeless peace. It soothes those dead, and accompanies the burial of blood splattered historical death. Use it to discover the blood-stained truth of the Hoboken Zoo. Use it to infiltrate the tomb of Igos Du Ikana. Let the teachings of old be passed down to you. Take the sword in hand and find me.’

A small part of Rico’s chaotic mind that was actually functioning properly thought Link was gone for an awfully long time … he was actually starting to worry!
‘All right! I found us a bucket that floats!’
‘Huh? Buckeh?’
‘ fft. You are hopeless at various lingo. A boat for crying out loud!’
‘Whabradamdasjafraggabah.’ Rico expressed with his flippers that he wanted to go find Link.
‘Well pick him up quick, I set sail at sundown sharp, and the sea waits for no sailor!’
‘Alrigh’!’
Rico flopped into the sludgy water, savoring the oily feel on his feathers. It might have been disgusting sewer water from New Jersey for all he knew, but for Rico, you simply can’t keep him away from water. You can’t keep this penguin down! He felt like a Bro-roach in a dumpster. Bliss.
Rico jumped out of the Hudson, and wiped the grimy smell off him by rolling in the grass. Not that he minded the smell, but it seemed to put off the ladies. (A/N Hmm… I wonder why XD)
‘Liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiink!’ Rico keened at the top of his lungs.
‘Liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiink?!’
This was an excellent time to put old operations back in order. From the depths of his endless bowels, Rico ‘up-chucked’ a fishing pole with the Master Sword dangling where the fish hook should be. Do not question how his intestines managed to knot the sword to the rod in his gut, nor how any of these objects could possibly fit inside of this magnificent specimen of bird. Some things are best left a mystery.
Link was at an outcropping of rock that had an old shoebox sticking out of the mud in front of him.
Upchucking Kowalski’s mysteriously recently disappeared super-megaphone. Grinning wickedly, he brought it down to Link’s slumbering ear, and clicked the ‘on’ button.

Wow, we've got to carry on with this fanfiction; it's EPIC!!!