Beat soon caught up to Will who had tied up the criminal they caught. Will kept prodding the outlaw with an arrow to get him to move. Beat walked ahead with his eyes closed and hands behind his back. He didn't notice the person lying on the ground as he tripped over them.
"Watch it!" growled a boy wiping sleep from his eyes. "Woah, it's way too bright to be morning!" he groaned.
"It's noon," replied Will sharply tugging Damien by a rope they fastened around his neck.
"Shit, Alice is gonna kill me!" groaned the boy. "Sorry, I gotta go." he said running off towards the town.
"I guess he didn't realize we were headed that way." laughed Beat.
"I'm scared to meet this Alice person." sighed Will. "Now get moving or I'll prod you too!"
Link raced through the woods searching for any signs of Archer. He recalled the fun he had with his friend when he still thought he was a Kokiri. Archer got his name because of how well he uses a bow and arrow. Link would always practice when he was with Archer, but he never could find one that was his size. But his time practicing with Archer helped him when he found the bow in the Forest Temple. It was time to repay his old friend.
"I'm gonna find you Archer!" Link growled running deep into the forest.
Navi darted through the grass and found nothing. Thinking to herself, Navi realized Link would probably stop at the ranch often. So she turned her sights on the farm and headed there. When she got there she saw Epona, so she thought Link was there. She flew around looking for her friend, but the only people she found was Talon and a boy who had glasses helping him. Malon was grooming Epona, so Navi figured she'd ask the her about Link.
"Malon, hi there." greeted Navi nervously.
"Navi? You came here?" gasped Malon dropping the brush she held.
"Yeah, I saw Epona, so I figured Link was here." sighed Navi.
"He was here. He left this morning." explained Malon.
"I just missed him!" gasped Navi. "Thanks Malon!"
Malon watched the small fairy fly off and smiled. Finally Link would be able to be happy again once they reunite.
In a finely decorated building a girl sat in a chair twirling a staff in her hand impatiently. That idiot Allen was late, again. She couldn't believe how often he slacked off. Kai wouldn't be this late.
"Allen had better walk through that door by the time I count to..."
"I'm here!" shouted the boy running in. The boy was still sore from being stepped on. "Alice I'm here!"
"What a relief, and only three hours late." growled Alice.
"Sorry, I got caught up with some important things." sighed Allen walking up to the girl.
"I am ashamed to know you. Kai would be here on time." spat Alice.
"Yet Kai isn't here." countered Allen. "He is never here."
"Don't talk bad about the person that pays for our meals and gets us work!" hissed Alice.
"Kai is away on business." sighed a boy with sand colored hair. "He pays us all Allen, show some more respect."
"Travie? You're back already?" gasped Allen.
"Yeah, I talked with Rancher. He hasn't found anything yet." shrugged Travie. "But back to the point, Kai is busy. I bumped into him, he said he found someone he's been looking for."
"See?" snapped Alice.
"So, he found somebody. Maybe it's a girl he's been looking for." grinned Allen.
He and Travie laughed as Alice got flustered thinking of Kai with some girl.
"The head of the Candre family is on the hunt." yawned Allen.
"So now we wait for anything to happen." sighed Travie in boredom. "I'm headed for Kakariko. They've got something getting prepared there, so I'm gonna see what's coming up."
"Right, seeya." nodded Allen.
Alice stopped her tirade and looked at Allen.
"We should train you some, you're falling behind in your practice." sighed Alice. "Let's go."
"Right behind you sis." yawned Allen following Alice.
Beat and Will reached Castle Town around evening as the sun was beginning to set. They dragged their prisoner to a guard station where the guards gave them the bounty on the criminals head and escorted him to a cell.
"Ah, the sweet sound of a full wallet." sighed Will shaking his pouch.
Beat smiled as they headed into a worn down inn and requested a room. "I know, maybe tomorrow we should just relax here in town and have fun."
"Yeah, like when we were kids. How's Romero and Emilia been?" laughed Will headed up the stairs.
"Good. I was planning on visiting them, but then I got robbed." growled Beat.
"Gerudo again?" yawned Will.
Beat opened the door and nodded. "They just can't let me be."
"Well they always make the son of any Gerudo king. You just lucked out being born as one." groaned Will plopping on a bed.
"I'm Hylian." muttered Beat.
"Mmhmm." murmured Will.
Beat sighed in defeat as his friend began softly snoring. "Looks peaceful tonight." he sighed.
Link ran through forest, even after the sun set. He was determined to find his friend. What he hadn't realized was that he had circled around and was now headed back for his village. He broke through the tree cover and rolled down a hill to slam his face into the back of Mido's house. Link blacked out as blood began to trickle out of his nose.
When he woke up he was lying in his old bed. Sitting at the foot of the bed was Saria. She smiled when she noticed he was awake.
"Hey there." she smiled weakly.
"Saria, what happened?" groaned Link sitting up.
"You ran into Mido's house, and broke your nose." she explained.
"Is that why it's swollen?" grumbled Link poking at the bandages on it.
"Yeah, I sent Mido to get some healing fairies. He should be back soon." nodded Saria. "Where have you been for so long?"
"It's a long story." muttered Link.
"Well go ahead and tell it. You've got nothing to hurry about." laughed a boy stepping into Link's room.
Saria and Link gasped when they looked at the boy. Archer stood in the doorway with his messy black hair sticking out at odd angles like it always did.
"So what happened?" smiled Archer.
"You tell us!" gasped Link. "Mido said you got kidnapped!"
"Oh that?" yawned Archer. "It was nothing. The guy just wanted a person to test something out for him."
Link was uneasy for some reason. It was the same Archer he was friends with, but he seemed darker. The boy laughed more, and talked with more assertiveness.
"You're not Archer!" growled Saria, surprising Link.
"Hmph. Saria, you're being mean." whined Archer.
"Now I know you're not Archer!" muttered Link getting up. "Archer would never whine like that. He'd cry after something like that. Who are you?"
"Damn kids." muttered the boy.
Link grabbed his Gilded sword and blocked a strange claw whipping out at Saria.
"What are you?!?" growled Link.
The child stepped back into the light of the torches. Standing in that spot where the Archer impersonator once stood was a Stalfos with strange armor. It whipped it's arms at Link who barely blocked it.
"Saria, toss me my other sword!" shouted Link. But he got no response. He turned to see another strange looking Stalfos holding Saria. It grinned cruelly and burst into blue flames vanishing from the tree house. Link then felt sharp claws rake his back as the other monster attacked his exposed back.
Link fell to the ground and looked to see the monster raise it's claws to deliver a finishing blow. Link braced himself for death, he knew he wouldn't make it out of there by himself. He closed his eyes tightly and prepared to feel Death's cold embrace.
"Jacob, we've got the child we wanted. You can send that worthless one back." growled the cruel voice.
Jacob turned to face his superior and nodded. "Yes sir." he then snapped his fingers and the previous captive they had was released.
"And bring the soldiers you sent back. I don't want anyone dying just yet." ordered the voice.
"Yes sir." nodded Jacob.
Just as the claws were about to deliver the end of Link's life the creature vanished in a yellow spiral. Link opened his eyes to see the monster fading away. He sighed in relief, but then recalled what had happened. With Saria missing there was no telling what would happen! Link jumped from his tree house to find an unconscious Mido lying on the ground. Two healing fairies were in bottles so Link uncorked one and let it heal his wounds. Link looked at Mido and decided to drag him back to his home. Link had to get word out to the sages that Saria had gone missing. The first one that came to mind was Zelda. He still needed to return the Ocarina of Time anyway. He laid Mido in his bed and started to run to the exit of the woods, tearing his bandages off. But as he crossed the woods he saw something staggering down the path under the bridge. He leaped off the bridge and found Archer limping back to the village, tears coursing down his face.
"Archer, what happened?" asked Link helping his friend up.
"It was horrible! I had went to save Mido and Hara, and after I got rid of the wolfos this guy appeared and grabbed me. He kept trying to get me to say something about the "forest sage" but I didn't know what he meant. I was being tortured, and then all of a sudden I was here." explained Archer as he calmed down.
"So they were after Saria." muttered Link. "Archer, I've gotta get you to Mido's house. He's got a healing fairy that can fix you up. We just need to go faster. Once we get you fixed up I gotta go." explained Link.
"Okay." nodded Archer trying to quicken his pace.
Beat woke up with a strange feeling telling him something bad was happening. He looked at his left hand that glowed slightly. "What the hell?" he muttered. He looked at his hand and found a black Triforce glowing on his hand. "What's going on here?" he gasped.
Princess Zelda felt something bad was happening. She felt the land lose life in the forests. She knew something had happened to Saria. She prayed to the goddesses nothing was wrong, even though she knew it wouldn't help.
Deep in the forest in an untouched grove, the ground began to shake. An earsplitting roar echoed through the forest startling every creature that heard it. Something was stirring in the forest.
