Legend Of Zelda Fan Fiction ❯ The Overlord of the Land ❯ Prologue and Chapter 1: Spelunking ( Chapter 1 )

NKB Labs
Present:

The Legend of Zelda:
Overlord of the Land

A Fanfic by: Ninkobra

DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own “The Legend of Zelda” or any of its related characters, settings, music, mythology, story, etc. Everything mentioned before is property of Nintendo Company Ltd., Nintendo of America and any other respective parties. Any original plot and characters present within this story, though, are mine.

Once upon a time, there existed a magnificent kingdom, varied in races and locations, where peace reigned. Three holy deities watched over this blessed land, bringing form and order to the land and its inhabitants. All was well... until a dark man from the west appeared, his eyes set on the fabled golden artifact, the Triforce, which contained the power of the gods. His wickedness was so, that not even defeat at the hands of the Legendary Hero stopped him. He rose from his imprisonment, empowered, and sought to begin his conquest anew. The deities had no choice but to imprison the wicked man alongside his desired prize, and concealing it all within a thick layer of water. Thus, the thriving kingdom became no more.

Hundreds of years pass. the waters become seas, the high mountains are now islands, and only a handful of people reside in them now. Within this stark ocean, Evil awoke anew. The spell that bind him to the bottom of the seas weakened, and he was freed. His resolve had not diminished, and set to look for the heirs of the royal lineage to finally gain the power he sought. However, the hero's lineage had also survived, and a new hero arose to oppose him. The new hero rode the winds and befriended a band of pirates to traverse the seas and repair what was wrong. Unbeknown to him, the pirate captain that helped him turned out to be the next princess in the ancient royal line. This was uncovered by the Dark Man, who captured her and brought her to his tower. Eventually, the hero came face to face with the Evil Man. This was his plan, though, as he knew the hero possessed one piece of the golden Triforce. He would have gotten his wish, but the ghosts of the past played with him once more, robbing him of his wish. Defeated at last, the Evil Man posed no threat for the future, but the ruins of the old kingdom was finally crushed under the massive waves.

The Hero and the Princess moved on and traveled together from then on. The Princess, forsaking her royal links, reverted to her role of the pirate captain. In their travels, they encountered a Ship from the Underworld, which swallowed the Princess away. The Hero gave chase, but was lost to the sea... until he was found in an unknown island. Again seeking help from a pirate and from mystical creatures, he searched the seas until he discovered the cursed ship. The Princess was found, but she was cursed to a prison of stone, and only the sands of the King of the Ocean could restore her. The Hero searched all over until the sands were found, and the Princess was healed. As they were reunited, however, an evil beast made its last stand, the Princess a hostage. Through his wisdom and courage, the Hero did slay the beast, and the Princess was rescued.

Now, once again, the Hero and the Princess -who still retains her facade of the Pirate captain- travel the vast seas, And once again, destiny will define their lives...

And the “Legend of Zelda” shall begin anew...


<><><><><><><& gt;<><><><><><><><><> <><><><><><><><><>< ;><><><><><>

Chapter 1:

Spelunking

It was dark. The torches provided the only source of light, and even then they did not allowed to see more than a few feet ahead. There were pitfalls and traps everywhere, and the dim lighting conditions had to provide enough information to avoid these...

*TWONK*

*TRIP*

*OW!*

... And Link just fell right into one of those.

"Link!" Tetra admonished the youth clad in green currently flat on the ground. “We have no time to be clumsy! Get your butt back up and bring that light over to the front, now!” Her firm voice and dagger-like eyes did the trick: the boy got up and clumsily but surely got to the front of the pack. Afterwards, they continued their way along to their goal. Meanwhile, some of the other pirates in the back exchanged uneasy glances and quick words.

“Wow, Miss Tetra sure is riled up today.” Senza said.

“Well, it's obvious she's like that. We're looking for treasure!” Niko added.

“Nobody called you, swabbie.” Senza said.

“B.. but... Link is the swa...”

“She's even more fired up than usual.” Gonzo added. “Almost as if she was desperate to do some honest-to-goodness pirating.”

“You know,” Nudge got in the conversation, “I've been seeing Miss Tetra wandering about the boat at night lately, muttering something to herself. I couldn't make out what it was, but her face sure looked worried. And when she found out about the treasure in this cave, she literally jumped of joy and relief.”

Gonzo and Senza were left wondering about this. “What could be troubling Miss Tetra so much?” Gonzo asked, more curious than worried. “It must be something big to be acting so...”

The pirates suddenly felt an empowering presence looming beside them. A massive shadow covered them, giving them the chills. They meekly looked over to where the presence was.

“Acting so... what?” Tetra asked her pirates, with a visibly angered face drawn on her. “You know what I call it when pirates are talking about their captain behind her back? Mutiny. And if you even do as much as entertain the thought of raising up in mutiny, I will personally make sure you walk the plank. Got it?”

“L-l-l-loud and clear.” the pirates said in unison.

“Good.” Tetra finished with them with a bit of a smug face. “Now then, let's keep going. The treasure's just past this corridor. I can smell it.”

... some time later...

“I'm starting to seriously doubt Miss Tetra's sense of smell.” Senza said, dumbstruck at the sight.

“Treasure must really smell like snake droppings.” Gonzo added, looking into the long and thick snake pit right in front of them. “Are... they poisonous?”

“Oh, don't be such yellow-bellied scaredy-cats.” Tetra retorted, looking straight into the room with a sly smile. “Can't you take a little challenge? This little room... these harmless snakes... they're nothing. It's like a small puzzle. We only have to figure out the answer.”

Link looked over the snake pit in curiosity, going over Tetra's words in his mind. A small puzzle, waiting for an answer... Then, out of nowhere, he jumped over to the snake pit, much to the surprise of everybody else. Then... he stood solidly in a small and hardly-visible platform just a few feet above the snakes.

“Whoa.”

“How did he...?”

“Now see?” Tetra said to her underlings. “That is the type of adventurous, fearless spirit you guys lack. See a challenge, tackle a challenge!” Tetra saw another one of those small platforms nearby and, with a small dash forward, made the leap forward and landed on it. “Come on! Follow my lead!”

Thus, walking from tiny platform to tiny platform, the team of pirates finally made it past the snake pit, and into the next room. This next room, however was no less difficult to cross, partly because of the large, dark pit surrounding it.

“Ok... so now what?” Nudge asked, examining the surroundings.

“Wait, wait, I got this!” Gonzo exclaimed in a burst of genius. He took a lantern and directed it over at a platform. “We need to use some rope to get to that platform in the corner first...”

“I'm on it.” Tetra volunteered, grabbing her grappling hook. She tied one part to a stake, then swung the other end to a outcropping on the corner platform, creating a makeshift tightrope. “Don't you dare move the rope or do anything to make me lose my concentration, or I will take your share of the loot.” She began to carefully cross the tightrope, when an updraft crept up from the bottom of the dark pit, making her lose her concentration.

“Miss Tetra!!”

“Watch out!!”

Tetra tried to regain her balance on the tightrope, but the draft had already decided the outcome. The rest of the pirates stood frozen, merely looking dumbstruck watching their captain fall down to her doom.

“KYAAAAAA!!!!!”

...

“I'm dead. I know I'm dead. I'm dead and I'm going on to the Spirit Realm, where they lock pirates like me on a dinky, grimy cell for all eternity. I'm so... not... dead?”

Tetra opened her eyes to see herself dangling above the large pit waiting to claim her. She then looks up to see her savior, clad in green, holding tightly to the rope while he holds Tetra at her arm. Tetra could not help but smile in this situation, partly out of relief, and partly out of... out of...

“Ahem...”

Terta quickly recovered herself from the shock and started climbing back to the tightrope with Link's help, and they both crossed to the other platform. Now, if there were only one person on that platform everything would be fine, but since there were two, it was a tad small for both of them to stand on. Still, Tetra pressed on.

“Ok, now what do you have in mind, Gonzo?” She asked the idea guy of the day.

“Ok, let's see.” Gonzo said, thinking out the next move. “Grab the grappling hook, I'll untie it.” Once he untied it, Tetra rolled it back, ready to use it again. “Now, tie it there, and use it on that stalagmite over there”

“Wouldn't that be a stalactite?” Senza asked.

“No, that's a stalagmite.” Gonzo said. “Stalactites are the ones that come from the ceiling. That one's from the ground up.”

“You're sure?” Nudge said. “I was almost sure it was the other way around.”

“ENOUGH!” Tetra yelled to stop their inane argument. “You can ask Mako about staleckbites and stuff once were outta here. Let's just do what we're here to do, alright?”

“Yes, ma'am” The trio said in unison, down-headed.

Tetra then proceeded to make the tightrope out of the grappling hook once again and, seemingly unshaken by her previous mishap, began crossing it. The other end, however was a stalagmite with no realistic way of standing over it, and no real progression to the other side of the pit. “Well? Any more brilliant ideas, Gonzo?” She asked in a rather scathing tone.

“Ah, yes, I... Well, I...” Gonzo was rushing to find something else to help. He certainly didn't want to be in Tetra's bad side. Not on that day of all. Then, he could just barely make something out in the ceiling of the cave. “There! On the ceiling!” He pointed, almost desperately so. “ If you use your grappling hook there, you might just make it to the other side!”

“Perfect.” Tetra said... but not in the best of tones. “Let me just take my only footing from below me to try and grab an unlikely mark to see if I 'might' make it to the other side of this pit that seems to hunger for me.” She sighed when thinking about the... intelligence... of her crew, and sought to herself to look for another option. “And it doesn't look like I'll even be close to reaching that from the platform Link's on, so that's out, too...” She thought long and hard about her options. There were no other ways to cross the pit, and no other passages they could use to avoid having to cross the pit. She was just about to give up... when... “Link!” She shouted, surprised. The young hardened adventurer had climbed aboard the grappling hook, risking the balance of them both, and started walking to to where Tetra was. “What are you doing, you idiot! You're gonna make us fall for real this time!”

Tetra's scolding seemed to have no influence on Link, for he had that look in his eyes: The look of triumph, of knowledge... of having something the others lacked: bravery, an idea... and a piece of rope.

“What is...” Tetra was asking about the extra grappling hook Link had in his hand. “Where did you get that?”

Instead of answering, Link just swung the grappling hook to the mark and it stuck. He swung away... then, something clicked. Suddenly, some platforms were raised from the ground, making the crossing far easier. Before she could lose her balance due to the shaky ground again, Tetra jumped over to the raising platforms, and thus to safety.

“Well, that was unexpected.” Tetra commented.

“That's great, Miss Tetra.” Gonzo said. “But... what about us? That new platform doesn't reach all the way here.”

Tetra walked over to the end of the platform, which only reaches up to the middle point of the pit, and checked it out. “Hmm... you're right.” She quickly signaled to Link to come closer. “Link, give me your bow. And your other grappling hook, too.” Getting both items, she tied the grappling hooks to arrows and shot them over to where the other pirates were stuck. “Use those to get here. We'll meet up ahead.” Then, she and Link moved on to the next chamber, while the trio were left to fend for themselves.

Needless to say, they were horrible shots when it came to securing the hook to the other side...

Tetra and Link were walking along a corridor, which seemed rather harmless, except for the random rat lurking in it. “According to the map I got, the treasure we're looking for must be in the room right across this corridor.” Tetra informed Link while looking at the map. The room in question was practically in front of them, and Link decided to go first to see if things were alright.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary in the room... except for one distinct difference. The floor was made out of sand, and not stone like the rest of the cave was. Also, there were several small dunes of sand scattered through the room. “*sigh* It's gonna take a long time to uncover that treasure.” Tetra said as she inspected the room herself.

As Tetra fully entered the room, however, a door slammed right behind her, locking them inside. The sandy floor started shaking. The sand dunes seemed to disappear, and one large dune began to form right in the middle of the room, where the epicenter of the tremor was. Suddenly, the dune exploded, uncovering...

Overgrown Nearsighted Crawler:
GIANT MOLE

This Giant Mole was about twice the height of Link, with very sharp claws, very good hearing but poor eyesight, a massive body, and a strong territorial instinct. It swung its claws menacingly about, not really aiming where the claws went, but trying to make its point.

“Just great.” Tetra muttered. “If those slowpokes would be here now, the odds wouldn't be so against us right now.”

The Mole, even with its bad eyes, looked straight at Tetra, startling her. It then burrowed into the ground and rushed straight at her. Tetra had no other option but to run away. The Mole looked like it had crashed onto the wall, but didn't come out from underneath the sand. This gave Tetra an idea. She grabbed the shovel she had prepared to dig out the treasure, then shouted at Link's direction. “Link, prepare your sword! I'll drive him out, you nail him!”

When she shouted, the Mole seemed to activate again and burrow right to Tetra's general direction. This time, however, Tetra wasn't going anywhere. She was looking straight at that moving bundle of sand... waiting... biding her time... for the right time... Then, when it was close enough, she slammed her shovel as deep into the ground as she could muster. The solid-iron shovel somehow stopped the Mole cold. This was the opportunity she wanted. She threw her body weight on to the shovel and managed to get the Mole out of the ground. Link with his sword at the ready, moved in and lashed out at the Mole, who was currently unable to move. Suddenly, the Mole rolled over, crushing Link into the sand and regaining movement. It promptly burrowed back into the sand, leaving the pair back on the defensive.

“Link! Are you alright?” Tetra asked as she was pulling him out of the sand. Link just looked at Tetra -rather woozily at that- and smiled signaling he was ok. When he was finally out, Tetra gave him his sword back and signaled at him. “Get ready, because he's coming back.”

Having heard Tetra speak, the Mole started charging at her again. Tetra was ready with the shovel to drive him out just like last time. Then, the Mole got close enough, Tetra drove the shovel into the sand again, and... The Mole jumped out of the sand, clearing the shovel and aiming straight for Tetra. Tetra was surprised, but not immobile, as she rolled away from the Mole's landing site just in the last second. Link was worried for a second, but let out a sight of relief when he saw Tetra safe as the dust cleared up.

“He's fast. I'll give him that.” Tetra commented while trying to catch her breath. “There's got to be a way to get him to show his ugly mug.” She put her hand into her pocket, and stumbled with a small bomb. She then remembered what happened when they entered the room in the first place and met their gracious host. She had brought those bombs in case they needed to blow up a wall or something, but it seems the plans had changed. Tetra waved at Link, pointing at the bomb, not wanting to make any unnecessary noise that would attract the Mole just yet.

Suddenly, the Mole heard this strange surge of sound. Figuring it must have come out of the intruders, it burrowed straight to the source of the noise and decided to leap to surprise whoever it was, just like last time. What it saw was surprising: A hole in the sand, and a sharply darkened wall... which was rapidly approaching it. By blowing up the bomb near the wall, Tetra tricked the Mole into slamming itself onto it, rendering it unconscious. Link then rushed right to the Mole and gave it no chance. The Mole felt the cold arm of death tugging at its soul (editorial: wtf???), and made a final mad dash away from its attackers, before crashing right back into a wall and plopping out.

Puzzled, Tetra goes over to the Mole to ascertain that it was dead. She poked it a few times just to make sure, then sighed in relief. “Well, then, this thing won't be able to scare us anym...” Then a low growl came from the mole, making Tetra let out a short shriek. Out of that low growl, the Mole spit out some items before finally becoming stiff. “Heh, heh... that was just reflex. Nothing more.” Tetra commented, with some cold sweat rolling down her forehead.

The pair then explored the items dropped by the Mole. One of them was a Heart Container. Link and Tetra reached for it at the same time, and strangely enough, it broke in half. “Ha! I guess that means I get to keep this part!” Tetra smirked as she grabbed her piece of the Container. The other item was a key. Strange indeed, for neither of them saw a locked door anywhere on the cave. “I'll keep this, just in case.” Tetra said as she stowed the key away. “Now, then... where's that treasure?”

Link looked around the room and noticed that, among the sand dunes that disappeared when the Mole appeared, one that was huddled in a corner remained. He whistled at Tetra and pointed at the dune's direction. “Yeah, that might be a good place to start looking. Well done, Link.”

Right then, the door that was slammed shut when they entered got blown away by the pirates trying to get inside. “Miss Tetra!” Gonzo shouted. “Are you in here!? Are you alright!?”

“Idiots!” Tetra immediately yelled at them. “What if I were right in front of that door when you blew it up? What would you do then?” The pirates looked rather down when they were scolded. Tetra's face changed quickly, however. “Well, what can I really do with you guys anyway. And now that you're here, you could start digging for the treasure now.”

Thus, every able-bodied man in the group grabbed a shovel and dug away at the dune in the corner. It didn't take long before they reached something solid. “Miss Tetra! I think this is it!” Gonzo shouted at their leader overseeing the work.

“Really? Let me see!” Tetra demanded, pushing her underlings aside and taking a good look at the exquisitely designed treasure chest in front of her. “Quickly! Pull it above ground!”

The pirates tugged at the chest's massive handles, trying to move it to a more manageable place. “Whatever this chest has,” Senza started, “It better be good to weight so much.” Finally, the chest was entirely out of the sand. However, they were incapable of opening it, since the chest had a lock and it was a very tough lock to break.

“Locked.” Nudge commented. “Why did it have to be locked? Why couldn't they be like good pirates and just let the sand be the only lock it needs? Man, I hate unlocking these types of locks.”

“What's so bad about these locks?” Senza asked.

“Well,” Nudge started “These are special triple-secure locks. If you don't unlock them just the right way, more locks will activate and a special quick-rusting liquid will break out, making opening the chest near impossible.”

“If that's the case,” Senza said, thinking about what he just heard “Whatever's in here must be really good to be locked like that.”

While this was happening, Tetra took her stance, back against the wall. She took that useless key that was inside the Mole, cleaned it a bit, looked at it for a while... and started filing her nails with it. They got the treasure, she thought to herself, but now what? What was the treasure they got? Money? Gold? Title deeds? Some weird other thing? It seems they won't be knowing anytime soon. Not without the key. Not without... the...

“Hey, wait!” Tetra shouted, interrupting the pirates' conversation. “Maybe this is the key.”

Nudge took the key and examined it. “Where did you find this, Miss Tetra?” he asked.

“Oh, that friendly mole over there was kind enough to give it to us.” Tetra said, pointing at the Mole's corpse.

The pirates finally noticed the Mole's corpse, and looked at its cut and bruised body, and felt a little squeamish. “Oh...” Nudge said, hesitantly. “Well, this looks like it could be the same make as the chest. Should I try it?”

“Go on!” Tetra said, beaming up a large smile. “What could we lose from it?”

“... Only the treasure” Nudge muttered. “... and my head” he whispered.

Nudge inserted the key into the treasure chest's keyhole and turned it very carefully. A few clangs and clicks occurred, but nothing else happened. He looked over at Tetra, who was looking at his actions more curiously than angered, and chuckled weakly. “Ok, then... Now let's see what we got.” He tried to open the lid, but couldn't. Cold sweat was already covering his face, worried he couldn't do this now. “A little help, please?” He asked. Senza and Gonzo helped along, while Link tried using his sword to pry it open. After some teamwork, the lid finally gave in, and the contents of the treasure chest were revealed for the first time in who knows how long.

“So, Senza?” Gonzo asked. “Is the prize good enough to warrant the weight?”

“Oh, yeah!!” Senza added, with a large smile and shining eyes that could rival the treasure's shine.

Rupees, gold, gems, rings, diamonds... the works! The chest was filled to the brim with enough treasure for one person to live the easy life for a good while. “Perfect.” Tetra said. “This is more than enough to get the ship fixed.” She took a handful of treasure and looked at it closer to appreciate its beauty. “Oh, ho, ho! It's times like these when I really feel alive!”

“Hey, what's this?” Nudge looked at something rather interesting stowed in the side of the chest, and pulled it out. “Hmm... It's a book.”

Tetra promptly kicked Nudge in the leg, making him drop the book. “It's nothing, that's what it is.” She turned over to the other pirates, ignoring Nudge's cries of pain. “Seriously, guys, I'm done with this place. Let's go back to the ship. Now, since Link and I took out that nuisance...” she said pointing at the Mole's corpse again, ensuing much nausea, “... Then it's only fair that you guys take the chest back to the ship. So get going.”

Upon quiet begrudging due to the chest's sheer weight, Gonzo, Senza and Nudge started carrying the chest out of the sandy room. “I am not looking forward to how we're gonna move through the snake pit lugging this around.” Senza commented.

Tetra overlooked at them, and decided to just forget their comments on how heavy it was and how they'd expect to get a good share out of this. Overall, they've earned it, after all. Before she left the room herself, though, she stumbled upon the book that Nudge was looking at. Tetra picked up the book, dusting it off, and looked at the cover.

What the cover showed shocked and terrified her.

On the cover, there was an image of a bird with wings outstretched, looking like it was protecting three triangles stacked one atop the other two. This was, without a doubt, the crest of the Ancient Royal Family of Hyrule. But why would she find something like this, especially down in this forgotten cave? Many questions riddled her mind, and the answers escaped her.

<><><><><><><><& gt;<><><><><><><><><> <><><><><><><><><>< ;><><><><><><><>

Back on the ship, Tetra retired to her chambers and gave strict orders to not touch the treasure until she divides the shares, and to not interrupt her for the remainder of the day. Having finished everything in that isolated island, the pirate crew released the sails and cast off to the seas.

“Well, today was quite strange.” Senza began.

“Did all... go well...?” Zuko asked the guys that went in.

“Well, Miss Tetra really worked us good down there.” Nudge said. “But in the end, we got the treasure, and that's what matters.”

“Hey.” Gonzo entered the conversation. “You know, guys, I can't shake the feeling we forgot something. Something... inportant...”

--back at the cave--

“... And you only give me the scraps of the shares... and... and your underwear gets really nasty sometimes, and I'm not supposed to complain about it...” Niko kept whining, all alone inside the cave, unaware that he had been long left alone...

“... And... and Mako's food tastes really bad... and Gonzo once took my pillow to use it for a punching bag, and I only got a few feathers back... and I always have to stand watch while you guys go party... and... and... and...”

“... Guys?”

**To Be Continued**