The Legend of Zerena - Chapter 3 by Ari WaSPG0LD@aol.com THE LEGEND OF ZERENA Disclaimers: All mandatory disclaimers apply to Naoko Taeuchi for Sai- lor Moon and Nintendo of America's Shigeru Miyamoto for The Legend of Zelda. =====CHAPTER 3: THE MASTER SWORD===== CHERRY HILL TEMPLE MINUTES LATER So there they were. All four of them. More than half of the Sailor Scouts were gone. Now only Moon, Mars, Venus and Tuxedo Mask remained. And who is this Link guy? Some long-eared freak in a green kilt? He seemed to be on their side, after all, he helped them out when they needed it. "Glad to make your acquaintances as well," Link said, with a hint of sarcasm after seeing the looks that the four gave them. "Oh, I'm sorry," Mars said. "It's just that, well..." She be- came flustered and couldn't get anything out. "We heard a story about a Golden Power recently and four of our friends are missing," Sailor Moon clarified. "The Triforce?" he asked. "Yeah...the Triforce." said Mars. The five were assembled on the steps to the temple, trying to figure out what to do next. Link watched as they reverted into their human forms, and then listened in- tently as they filled him on the events before his arrival. "So lemme get this straight," Link said. "All of you are thou- sand-year-old warriors, representing seven planets and one sattelite?" "Yeah," Serena said. "The ones you haven't met are the scouts from Mercury, Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune. Some...monsters abducted them and we haven't seen them since." "But...who here comes from Earth?" he asked. Darien put up his hand slightly and said "That would be me. I am the prince of Earth. And Serena is the moon princess." "They're definitely gonna be a key in breaking the seal and o- pening the Dark World." "No way!" Mina shouted. "They're our friends! They'll never help Agahnim, no matter what!" "Who said anything about their own free will?" They looked at him, puzzled as he adjusted his cap. "Agahnim is a very powerful sor- cerer; he'll find a way to use your friends' powers for his own purpos- es." Link looked back at Serena. "Your friend, uh..." "Darien," came the responce. "Darien, of course. He said that you were the princess, is that right?" She nodded. "Thought so. You look like a princess." "What makes you say that?" He fished through a pouch on his belt and pulled out a photo. "Take a look at this picture." She took the picture from his hand and the other three gathered around it. The photo was of Link, and his arm was around the shoulders of...Serena?! Everyone gasped in shock, but Link was a little confused. "What?" "This girl..." Luna asked. "What about her?" "This girl looks exactly like Serena! Who is she?" Raye asked. "That's Princess Zelda," he said. "You know, now that you said it, she does look a lot like Serena. See what I meant by 'princess ma- terial'?" "Yes. But what're we gonna do about our friends?" "The monsters that captured your friends are some of Ganon's most powreful creations," Link explained. "And the worst is coming. Serena, you are at a higher risk than the others. You are needed by A- gahnim to break the seal completely. So by the time Agahnim is ready for you, the others will be gone. You better hide out here at the tem- ple for now, Serena." "What do you mean by 'gone'?" Luna asked. "Imprisoned in the Dark World, in the captivity of what she was caught by. We'll have to be really careful. But there is a way to win." "How do we do that?" Darien asked. "Somewhere deep in the forest, there lies a legendary sword called the Master Sword. It is the only thing that will work against this evil. If we find it soon, then maybe there will be a chance of stopping him in this world." MEANWHILE, AT THE TSUKINO RESIDENCE "What is all this?" Reenie asked Mrs. Tsukino. They had just finished cleaning up the attic when they came across some seemingly an- cient artifacts. Among some of the items were a map, an old diary with notes all over it, and several other pieces of paper. "Oh, this? Eh, this is all just junk," was Mrs. Tsukino's re- ply. "This must be several centuries old! Apparently, one of our dis- tant uncles, or whatever had a thing for exploring. They all thought he was a nutball." "Can I have it?" For a while, the two just looked at each oth- er. There was no use for it, and after all, she's just a kid. "Sure." The child let out a delighted giggle as she tucked the artifacts under her arm. "Serena should see this!" With her things packed in a small backpack, Reenie made her way through town, looking for Serena. Since she wasn't at the arcade or the cafe, the next logical place to look would be at Raye's. At one corner, though, she met an helpless old woman alone on a corner. She was obviously blind, seeing how she carried a cane and wore dark sun- glasses. "Excuse me, young lady," the woman said, feeling her presence. "Y-yeah?" she said nervously." "Don't be afraid. Could you...help me across the street?" "Okay." Reluctantly, she took the old lady's hand - she was a- bout the same height as her - and walked slowly across. But when she got to the corner, she tripped over the curb and her glasses fell off. "I'm so sorry!" Reenie said quickly. "However, the lady covered her eyes and screamed louldy. "IT'S TOO BRIGHT!!!" she shouted. As Reenie went to put her glasses back on, the lady exploded into a puff of smoke. When the smoke cleared, it was now a large, white shirt, crowned with a giant, demon head. "Who are you?!" "I am Blind, the Thief!" the demon shouted. Instinctively, she swung her bookbag at it. When it connected, the shirt dropped to the ground, and the head floated around aimlessly. As if Reenie wasn't scared enough, another head appeared, bringing that shirt back to life. The free head then opened its mouth wide, and inhaled Reenie. Then, the two forms disappeared. AT THE TEMPLE "Here's what we'll do," Link started. "Darien and I will set out to find the sword." He paused when a moth flew right by his face and he brushed it away with his hand. "The rest-" Before he could fi- nish, the moth gave off a bright, orange glow, and turned into a giant insect. "What the-?!" they all shouted, surprised. Just then, the moth swooped in and expelled a thick dust, which covered the group. Serena, Darien, and Link were able to shrug most of it off. Mina, however, did not get out of the way in time and fainted from inhaling the dust. Link was the first to check up on her. "She's fainted," he said. He then looked up and saw the moth fly away. "It's getting a- way! We better go after them!" "What about Mina?" Serena asked. Link pondered over the situation for a moment, but Raye cut in, saying "We don't have a choice; she'll be okay here by herself." "Right! MOON CRYSTAL POWER!" "MARS POWER!" Sailor Moon, Sailor Mars, Tuxedo Mask, and Link pursued the moth - which called itself Mothula - across the temple grounds and to the far ends of the property. "May I help you, Sailor Fools?" Mothula asked, sedisticly. "You're the fool if you think you and your cohorts are gonna get away with kidnapping our friends! I am Sai-" Mothula fired a bright orange ring laser at Sailor Moon, knock- ing her down and interrupting her speech. "Save it!" the moth said. "I know who you are!" "So are you gonna give us back our friends, or do we kick your freaky-looking ass all over?" Mars asked. She then helped Sailor Moon to her feet. "What's your answer?" "Oh, please, Sailor Trash." "Have it your way! Mars fire...IGNITE!!!" The fireball spi- raled from her fingertips, and, although it barely grazed him, the moth was compeletely engufed in fire. Mothula screamed and started to fran- ticly flap his wings, trying to put them out. With each flap, embers flew out in every direction. "Good job," Link said, taking his sword in both hands. "Now to finish him off!" He leaped at the giant moth and brought his sword from behind his head right down its middle. Only, instead of splitting it in half, it flew clear across the temple grounds and right to where they left Mina. By the time they realized what happened, and by the time they got over there, Mothula, and Mina were gone. "She's gone!" Darien said. "That moth got Mina!" "I guess that means I'm next, huh?" Serena said quietly. "With five down, no doubt you two will be their next targets," Link said. "Well, we better get going if we will ever get the Master Sword." "I'll stay here and watch Serena," Raye said as Link and Darien got up to leave. "Right. To the forest." A FOREST JUST OUTSIDE OF TOWN "Whoa!" "Careful, Darien!" The forest didn't *look* too dangerous to Darien before, but then again, the times he saw it before now, it was- n't covered in a thick fog which shot visibility to shit. "Does it bother you that only this area is foggy while the rest of the city is nice & clear?" "Well, a lot of strange things have happened in the past couple of weeks, so I'm not *particularly* disturbed." "As long as I find it, no matter what, I will own that sword." "How do you know?" "Look at these." Link reached into his shirt, and pulled out three pendants, each with a red, blue, or green gem the size of a base- ball. "These are the pendants of Power, Wisdom and Courage. They are proof that I am the Hero." "Aren't those the same qualities of the Triforces?" "That is correct." The two wandered around aimlessly, so it seemed, going around in circles. But then, they came to a tunnel which looked like a giant hollowed log. "What's in here?" Darien asked. "We'd better go check it out," Link said as they entered. When they came to an even foggier clearing, Darien and Link nearly tripped on a small series of steps. Darien was the first to gain his bearings. "This pedestal..." He looked up. "It's the Master Sword! But, what the hell does this say?" Darien drew his attention to four lines of strange...letters (?) carved into the sword's pedestal. It wasn't Japanese, it wasn't Eng- lish, it wasn't Latin, it was strange, though. Link kneeled next to him. "This?" He reached into a pouch on his belt and pulled out an old, green book. "This is the ancient lang- uage Mudora. The old Hylians spoke this. This book is a translator, really." Link flipped through the book until he found the same text on the pedestal in the book. "What does it say?" Darien asked. "It says...hmm...." He glanced again to double-check. "The Hero's Triumph On Cataclysm's Eve Wins Three Symbols Of Virture The Master Sword He Will Then Retrieve Keeping The Knight's Line True." "I guess that's your cue," Darien said as he stood up. "I guess so," Link said. He stood up, walked around to the back of the pedestal, and placed his hands on the sapphire-adorned han- dle. As he did that, the pedestal and his pendants glowed. Link let out a grunt, pulled up, and the next thing he knew, he was holding the legendary Master Sword high above his head. Darien looked on in awe at Link. "Incredible," he said as Link hopped off the pedestal. "Hey look! The fog cleared!" "Must have been triggered by the sword," Link said. "C'mon, let's head back to the temple." The two started to leave, but they on- ly got about ten feet when they both heard Serena's voice ringing in their ears. =Darien!= her voice called out. =Some really tough soldiers have come to the temple! Raye's hurt pretty bad- AIEEEEEEE!= Link and Darien both called out at the same time. "SERENA!!!" =====TO BE CONTINUED===== To all those out there who waited im/patiently for the next chapter of this story, I apologize. See, I have a tough personal sche- duele which includes wrestling and several midterms. Again, I'm sorry. Don't despair, though. I will get more chapters of this, as well as my flagship fanfic, if you will, Dark on the Outside. So stay tuned and thanks for waiting.