Legend Of Zelda Fan Fiction ❯ The Overlord of the Land ❯ That's a Big Island ( Chapter 3 )

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The Legend of Zelda:
Overlord of the Land
Chapter 3
That's a Big Island

“BLECK!”

It was almost a symphony of disgusted mouths. The hues of green left of everybody's faces lighted up the dim room so bizarrely, it was almost sickening. Water ran wild, with supplies running dangerously short. Some even resorted to licking the dirty, moldy wood that made their walls and floors in hopes of taking away the horrible taste from their mouths. Heads ached, eyes teared up, bodies shook, fingers twitched... and it was nothing to be surprised about...

After all, Niko made the lunch.

“Guh... What the heck did you do to this food, Niko?” Gonzo demanded.

“What?” Niko questioned, in clear defense of his culinary skills. “I did what was written on the cookbook. I seasoned the fish, I used low flame, I washed the veggies with water...”

Then, something in Senza's head lit up. “W... which water?” he questioned, teeth clenched.

“Eh...” Niko started darting his eyes, especially when the rest of the crew began looking at him with cold, piercing looks. “Well, I know how we need to ration supplies... and I... I just... picked up a bucket and... got some... sea water?”

The groans induced by the “unfortunate” news were loud enough to shake any birds off the ship in fear. The mere thought of eating food washed in seawater with Din-only-knows what else snuck in there was enough to send a few running starboard to puke it out. Tetra tried her best to speak in the matter, but no matter how much she tried, or how much she posed when trying, the words would just not come out. She just simply slapped herself on the forehead... and snapped her fingers.

Niko panicked. He's been here quite a few times already. He could even describe the steps that happened in detail. First, the three toughest members of the crew got up from their chairs and began their slow and menacing walk towards him. Second, Gonzo asked him a question, the same one every time. Niko even mouthed it:

“Do you have anything to say for yourself?”

Third, Niko's 'plea bargain'... though he knew too well how that worked. “If I said anything, would it really matter?”

“Hmm... Most likely not.” Gonzo answered.

Niko sighed. He chose to remain silent, not having anything of worth to change the outcome, he surrendered to part four, which was...

...

“You know this isn't very healthy, right?” Niko protested.

“Oh, come on, swabbie. A little fresh air never hurt anybody.” Gonzo rebutted.

“I'm not talking about the air... not even about tying me up from head to toe... though it is a tad snug.” Niko explained while he moved around his uncomfortable bindings. “I'm talking about being upside... DDDOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!”

Without previous warning, Niko was thrown out to hang upside down from the ship's mast. The poor kid swung wildly for a few good minutes before inertia made full effect and slowing down to the usual swivel of the ship. Niko took this time of punishment to do some honest-to-goodness thinking about his position in life.

“Well... here I am. Niko, the pirate. Just like I always wanted. Or rather... the swabbie. Incredible how I'm still just a swabbie, even after two people joined the crew after me. Maybe I'm just not cut out for this type of business. I mean, I'm not mean enough, people tend to trample me without so much as a second thought, I had to make my hammock out of half of my old clothes, and I'm not usually invited to important meetings. I feel like I'm just here for comic fodder. I can't even cook a decent meal! Why can't I just do something important, for once?” He shook himself violently on his frustration, resulting in a bump on his head to the ship's mast. “Ow! And now I can't even rub my aching head! I'm so sad right now.” Giving up on his futile tantrum, he let the gentle swivel of the ship calm him down. “You know? This isn't so bad after all. At least no one's giving me anything to deal with, no nasty jobs, no pushing around, no noise except for the random seagull... just me and the breeze of the ocean. This is the kind of stuff a man of the sea loves above all. Hmm... Interesting... From my perspective, it looks like the sea is on the sky. This is almost taken out of some fantasy story. Hmm... Nah! What kind of insipid, backward-thinking person would think up of a world where the sea is high above land? Just ridiculous!”

... Meanwhile, on Tetra's Quarters...

“First order of business, gentlemen.” Tetra announced as she sat on the head of the table set up for reunions. “The good news: Here is your share of the treasure found yesterday. I think you'll find it to be quite just.” She then passed on bags which contained roughly the same amount of treasure inside to everybody in the reunion.

Overjoyed, the pirates did not wait to open the bags and check their contents. Some, however, were a bit let down with the contents of the bag. “Miss Tetra, I don't think something is right here.” Nudge commented. “Now, don't get me wrong. This is nice... but I was under the impression that we had more treasure than what's here right now.”

“You suppose right, Nudge.” Tetra answered frankly. “However, if you remember what I said yesterday, I intend to use the treasure to fix the ship. If you haven't noticed...” She motioned around her room, showing that even her private quarters were not immune to broken slabs of wood, holes in the ceiling, and overall uncleanliness. “... This ship is long overdue for an overhaul, so we must all overturn half of our overtures to make sure we don't get overblown and go under. If there's any sort of remainder from the repairs, then we'll split what's left.” Her blunt sincerity was noticed by the crew, who nodded in understanding, and plainly took their share with no further objection.

“Now that that's done, I have something else to say to you.” Tetra then got up and brought up something enveloped in a cloth, alongside the book with the Royal Family crest. “We already have our next heading. Combining the information found in this book, and what's on this object I just received a short while ago, I have found something of great value. Therefore, we have to turn southeast.”

“Interesting.” Senza admitted. “Then what?”

“Well, we're supposed to keep moving like that until we reach land.” Tetra further explained.

“Good, good.” Gonzo said. “And then?”

“Then...” Tetra continued, somewhat hesitantly. “We should follow the directions we have... and...”

“And? And?” Nudge pushed on. “Come on, don't leave us hanging.”

“Well...” Tetra really didn't want to say what was going on here, but she needed them to make this work. “That's on a need-to-know basis.” She explained, leaving the other crew members wondering and muttering. “Hey, what's all that mutterin' about? You have a problem, speak it up right now.”

The pirates looked at each other and started pointing fingers to see who would be the vict... eh... the one who would need to tell their concerns to her. Eventually, it fell in the hands of Mako. “Well... I do not mean any disrespect, Miss Tetra...” He began, fixing his glasses to look better at the scene before him. “But ever since this pirate gang was formed, we always had a motto saying 'no secrets between crew members, including the captain'. However, the information provided to us here by you is sketchy at best, beginning with that concealed item you have in front of you.” He said, pointing at the object inside the cloth. “Your sources are unrealistic, as we have no charts of land southeast of our current position, we have no clear indication of what is it we are to find, and most important of all, we need to know now in order to understand the risks and be prepared for any event.”

“Well, I... I have my reasons, ok?” Tetra justified her reasoning behind her sketchy explanations.

“I'm sure you do have your reasons for following this bounty, Miss Tetra...” Gonzo reasoned with the young captain. “But that's never stopped you before from fully explaining the plan to us so we can execute it efficiently.”

“Well, you see... This time it's a bit different. Just a bit.” Tetra kept trying to find justifications.

“Every time it's different...” Zuko interjected. “It it weren't like that... It wouldn't be exciting.”

“But... What if I told you that... that I was sworn to secrecy about this?” Tetra said, stuttering at the words.

“No dice, Ma'am.” Senza explained. “If it really were such a secret, wouldn't you have just left already all alone to complete this mission? You obviously need us in this, and we have a right to know what we're getting into.”

Tetra looked around at the pirates surrounding the table. Not one of them had an angry or annoyed look... they merely looked somewhat worried and curious at what they wanted to know and what she was going to say. She currently had no new ideas to try and convince the crew members to blindly follow her without as much as a question. Bringing the reward first certainly didn't work. Sweetening the deal didn't work. The superiority card definitely didn't work. She figured nothing would work at this point. She looked over at Link, the only other one that knew the whole truth, and the one who she would trust most in keeping secrets, who was huddled in the table right between Gonzo and Senza's massive bodies, but he just shrugged away, perhaps saying that if she ever wanted to keep this a secret, it was not gonna work and she needed to go ahead and tell them. That... or the sweaty odors of Gonzo and Senza were doing quite a number on his consciousness.

Tetra sighed in defeat. She untied the cloth, revealing what was inside: The Compass of the Goddesses (as if you didn't know already what was in there). “Oh, what an interesting compass, that one.” Mako instantly commented. “Hmm... why doesn't it have markings for north, south and whatnot?”

“This is a special compass. It doesn't exactly point north, but rather to our next goal.” Tetra explains, taking out her personal compass out of her pocket and setting them side-by-side for comparison. “Currently, it's pointing southwest. That's our destination.”

“Good, good.” Gonzo nodded in understanding. “So, once we find this land, what do we do?”

“With our luck, we'd probably be walking quite a bit.” Tetra kept explaining. “We need to continue until the compass goes haywire. That's our indication we're on the right spot.”

“And? After we walk to that haywire place...” Nudge drilled further. “What are we supposed to find there?”

“...”

“... Yes?”

“...”

“... Ma'am?”

“... nothing.”

“I beg your pardon, Ma'am?” Mako asked. “I don't thing I got that right. Nothing?”

“We're... not supposed to find anything out there.” Tetra admitted, dejected.

“Wait...” Senza stopped his boss to try to understand the deal. “If we're not supposed to find anything where we're going, how would we know where to look for the treasure we'll be sear...”

“There's no treasure.” Tetra interrupted. “There's no cave, no palace, no treasure, no jewels, no richies, no pillaging or plundering, nothing of the sort at all. We're not supposed to go get anything from there.”

“... Ok, I'm lost.” Gonzo declared. “If we, a band of pirates, are going someplace where there's nothing for us to get by any means, then why should we even bother?”

“That... is what I was afraid of.” Tetra said, almost in a whispering tone. “See, what we... no... what I was sent out to do requires me to find this uncharted stretch of land... and claim it in the name of my... my heritage... whichyouallknowaboutanyway...”

“Hold on for one minute.” Gonzo interjected right at that moment. “Let me get this straight. For some strange reason which involves that book and that compass, which I'm pretty sure you didn't have yesterday and the Rito Mailman hasn't come around lately to deliver anything...”He pointed out just as Tetra opened her mouth to try and justify that, leaving her to close her mouth and keep quiet, “...you are now compelled to leave for a land that's most likely deserted to basically build it, which means you'll most likely return to being that 'Princess Zelda' character.”

“Yeah, that's about it.” Tetra admitted.

“But you hate your Zelda persona.” Mako added.

“I know.”

“And you're not exactly much of a princess.” Nudge commented.

“I know...”

“And doing this bit will probably end your pirate career.” Senza said.

“I know!” Tetra yelled, shutting the lot up. She immediately calmed down and continued explaining. “But I have to do this. If I don't, things will be much worse than just not being a pirate anymore. So you see, we wouldn't be doing something for our own benefit this time. And I was afraid that if I told you the whole truth, you wouldn't like it, and probably leave me stranded on this.”

The Pirates let silence fill the room as they considered the details of this new mission their boss has been charged with. They looked at Tetra, who, despite speaking rather downtrodden, she never stopped looking at them face to face. Also, they looked at the 'evidence', a book which they have in their power by happenstance, and a large compass of dubious precedence that doesn't point north.

“It wouldn't be the first time.” Gonzo blurted out. Tetra looked at him weirdly, but he calmly continued. “This wouldn't be the first time we did something that's not for our personal gain. I thought you knew us better than this, Miss Tetra. We know when to take, and we know when to give... even though we often lean more on the 'take' portion...” he commented that last portion, leading to light laughter across the board. “But anyway, I think I speak for everybody when I say: We are here for you, Miss Tetra, to the end of the world and back.”

Tetra looked at them, at their crew, and their determined faces. No matter how much she would try, there was no separating from such loyal, trusting pains in the back... eh... gentlemen. “Thank you.” She told them.

“Princess...” Zuko began.

“Don't push it.” Tetra interrupted, stopping him cold with an icy glare.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

“So that's the book that's causing such a ruckus.” Mako began as he noticed a group huddled near the mast looking over at that book Tetra showed them earlier. “How did you get Miss Tetra to let you check the book?”

“Actually, Miss Tetra asked us to looked on it for her.” Senza, the one in charge of the book for now, explained his comrade. He then pointed to the brigde, where Tetra and Gonzo were going over coordinates. “She's looking over us every once in a while, too.”

“Oh, in that case, let me see!” Mako suddenly got a surge of interest towards the leather cover book with strange markings all around. Being quite a diminutive character, he easily slithered between two of the guys and managed to get a clear view of the book's contents.

Written on the book's yellowed pages were passages of the Ancient Royal Family of Hyrule, with its rich history being the bulk of the written content. These stories narrated how the Kingdom of Hyrule came to be, how there were great wars between the different races across the land, from the swift fish-men to incredibly strong creatures that were hard as stone, to an exotic culture reigned by women, how these great conflicts were resolved only to come across something greater and more dangerous than any of those combined, how the lineage of the Royal Family pans out, how do these important events link to each other in perfect sync, and how did things ended as of the last writing in the book.

“Man, what people would give to know all this stuff right here.” Mako commented.

“What's this...?” Zuko asked, pointing to a certain paragraph within the pages. Immediately, the others gave it some consideration... and discovered a shocking coincidence.

“Hey, Link!” Senza called the young green-clad boy, currently looking out to sea. “This book has something about you.” Listening to those words, Link turned around and looked at them, a bit incredulous to that fact. “I'm serious. Check it out!”

Link walked over to the growing group huddled around a book and looked at the particular piece of evidence the others saw too. “Did you read that?” Nudge began pressing. “It totally describes you. It's talking about a lineage of knights of Hyrule that wore green tunics and matching cap. It says that when times looked grim, these knights came from out of frickin' nowhere and set things right, almost always leaving as they came.” Link read the passage over and over, sometimes looking at himself and his obviously overused tunic. This tunic was presented to him by his grandmother when he turned 12, to honor the great hero of legend. He's never thought of himself as a descendant of the Legendary Hero, although after further thought, he remembers a time where he got what could be the closest thing from a confirmation about his lineage:

“Surely, you are the Hero of Time, reborn...”

These words alone echoed through his mind, leaving doubt enough to consider whether he could be a descendant of this Legendary Hero, and of this Lineage of Knights. And if he really was the Hero's descendant, then he was inextricably connected to Tera, herself being descendant of the Hyrulean Royal Lineage, even more than he initially thought.

“So, is there something more in there?” Mako asked, very interested in the book's contents.

Senza skimmed over the book, looking to find something interesting. “Let's see... There were seven sages who sealed... A giant, evil faced moon was set to... There was a great and terrible rift between the world and a 'twilight' dimension... Well, look at this, there's a name for people with long ears like Link and Miss Tetra... Hee-ly-ans.” He struggled with that last word.

“What?” Nudge looked at Senza like an atrocity just happened. “Give me that!” He promptly grabbed the book to search the word and fix this pronunciation crime. He finally found the word in question: Hylian. “Oh... I see. It's Hee-lian.” He confirmed, giving some correction.

Mako took a peek at the book again to see what all the fuzz was about. “Hmm... actually, I think it's pronounced: High-lee-an.”

“Wait, what?” Senza was feeling confused over all this pronouncing business. “Are you sure of that, Mako? It sure looks like it's said Hee-lian.”

“Think...” Zuko interjected. “Hyrule begins with 'Hy'... said like 'hi, how are you'... or 'look up high'... so Hylian is basically the same...”

“That's exactly what I'm talking about.” Mako said, backing Zuko up. “It's most definitely High-lee-an.”

“I'm not sure...” Senza stroke his beard while going over the writings in the book. “Hee-lian seems to roll off the tongue far easier.”

“You know what I think?” Nudge nudged Senza and spoke to him directly. “I think these two are just trying to find a more convoluted way of looking into things to seem superior.”

“Yeah...” Senza figured as well. “Why else would you want to just go and contradict us like that?”

“I'm not contradicting anything.” Mako was quick to defend himself. “I merely made a logical conclusion based on what we already know. If anything, you are the ones spewing the first thing that comes to your mind because you choose to deny the evidence.”

“Guh... Why you little four eyed...” Nudge's temper started to well up, having considered that an insult. He got up and walked over to Mako, attempting to showcase his large build as a means of intimidation. “Are you insinuating we are ignorant or something?”

“I'm not insinuating anything.” Mako explained, taking off his glasses to clean it from Nudge's spit. “I merely implied you overlooked a point, and instead of recognizing your mistake, you simply vent off against those who correct you.”

“And if you're wrong?” Senza implied. “Can you be certain you are truly right.”

“Then, how do we resolve this problem?” Mako asked.

“Ask Link...” Zuko suggested, while pointing over at the boy in green off on the side, out of their circle. The four who were amidships suddenly turned their gaze over at Link, which made him extremely uncomfortable. “Link... here...” Zuko called him, which did nothing to boost Link's confidence. He inched over to them carefully, as one didn't know what exactly could happen.

Senza showed Link the book and its contents, pointing directly at the word HYLIAN and asking: “How do you think this word is pronounced?”

“You see, we have two theories.” Mako explained further. “Zuko and myself think it's High-lee-an, while Senza and Nudge insist it's Hee-lian.”

“So? So?” Nudge got on Link's face, complete with a hopeful look. “It's Hee-lian, right?”

“High-lee-an...” Zuko defended his position... in his own way.

“Give the guy some space! Man!” Niko shouted from above, noticing the crowd closing in on Link.

Link was swamped. He didn't know what to do. Some were telling him something, some were telling him another... he could barely think for himself, let alone fully understand what they were talking about. He couldn't take it anymore, so he decided to do something to finish this very quickly. He closed his eyes and pointed somewhere at random. He didn't care where, he just hoped this would end the incessant shouting in his ear.

“What?” Nudge shouted in shock.

“Ha! I knew I was right.” Mako said, rather smug at that.

“So...” Tetra surprised the lot as she hopped off the bridge to where the guys were. “Did you figure something out yet?”

“Well...” Senza scratched the back of his neck, trying to explain. “We seem to have figured out the pronunciation of a word...”

Tetra facepalmed.

“Why do I even bother? Why did I think it was a good idea to let you check the book and see if there's anything you could figure out, only to find myself with... this? Give me that!” Tetra demanded while taking the book out from Senza's hands. “From now on, I shall handle this book, and We'll discuss it together. Now, if you'll excuse... huh?”

Tetra was stopped when she saw an abnormal amount of white and gray feathers flutter down to the deck. She looked up, only to see a couple of seagull flocks flying near the ship. Even then, this many feathers falling down was abnormal unless a couple of them were molting just on top of her.

“MMMMMPPHHHHHHD HHHPPPPPPPPHHHHH!!!!!” A screechy loud, yet muffled sound came from above the pirates' general position. Looking up, they only say the sky, the seagulls... and Niko, who was still hanging upside-down on the mast, swerving left and right like a madman.

“Hey, Gonzo.” Tetra called him over to where she was. “Did you muffled Niko's mouth by any chance?”

“No, Ma'am. I just gave him the usual.” Gonzo explained.

“And he was shouting just fine just a few minutes ago.” Mako added.

“So...” Tetra wondered, looking at Niko rocking back and forth, trying to yell something out. “Why does he sound like he has a banana down his... WHOA!”

Suddenly, the entire ship shook wildly, making everybody lose their balance. The ship tilted in all directions during the tremor, tossing barrels around, throwing cannons away, and breaking boxes filled with goods. Everybody tilted and tumbled about, trying their hardest to avoid being thrown overboard by the intense quake. Niko got swung around so hard that the cord tat hung him up got tangled on the mast, making his swinging shorter and shorter, until the cord finally gave in and snapped, shooting him upward and outward. His buck-toothed self found himself face to face with the seagulls, who screeched at him and his awkwardly large cheeks, some even tried to peck at him to try and get him out of the way. Sadly, he was tied up and could not flap to save his life when gravity kicked in, and he began to plunge down like a rock.

Down on the ship, the rocking and rolling had finally ceased. Most of the pirates were nauseous, but otherwise survived the ordeal. Mako was out looking for his glasses because, apparently, he couldn't see without his glasses, while Zuko was trying to take off his telescope that got stuck right across his sleeves, making him look like some odd scarecrow, and the three big guys were hanging out on starboard, wondering if they'd lose what little lunch they were able to keep down from before. Meanwhile, Tetra laid flat on the ground, dazed and confused thanks to a bump on her head, but otherwise unharmed, and Link also was laid flat... right on top of Tetra.

Tetra, still in her daze, reached up to Link, and started passing her hand through his golden locks, whispering some incoherent hard to understand things...

“You... You're here at last.”

...

“You've kept me waiting for so long.”

...

“Now, we're finally... we're finally...”

...

When Tetra's vision cleared, he noticed Link was right on top of her, causing her to panic. “Aaah! Get off me!” She yelled as she kicked the poor boy to the side. No sooner that she took Link off her, a giant cocoon-like object was hurdling straight at her. With a scream, she rolled to avoid the debris.

The Niko-cocoon fell right on the ship, leaving a dent on the top deck. Suddenly, his abnormally large cheeks gave in, releasing a couple of halfway-featherless seagulls inside his mouth. Niko coughed feathers a few good times until he was capable enough to speak. “I was trying to say 'land ho'!” He looked over to the side, only to find himself with a rather curious scene. “M... Miss Tetra?”

Unbeknownst to Tetra, when she moved out of Niko's way, she actually rolled right to where she had thrown Link, and her survival instincts were far greater than anything else at the moment so she didn't notice she was actually hugging Link. “Ah... Eh... W... Would you give me some space, already!?” She stuttered to say, pushing him off further while she tried to sit up. No matter how much she tried to cover her face with her hand and look all tough now, though, her well-tanned face started turning as red as her own scarf. She was basically so close to Link, she could feel his breath blowing right on her ear. But... she's found herself really close to Link before at times where it was necessary and it's been as if nothing... so why is she blushing so much now? And why must her own breathing be so...

“Wait a minute...” Suddenly, her thought process gave way to a piece of information she almost ignored not long ago. “What did you just said?” She inquired Niko.

“Well... I... Just so you know, I don't mind whatever happens with you and Link, but I was just...”

“NO! Not that!!!” Tetra yelled out loud, trying to block out a faint trace of red from her cheeks with it. “I meant before that!”

“Oh, that. Yeah... Land ho.” Niko explained casually. “I tried to say it, but these seagulls just flew right to my face, and before I knew it, I was having dinner for two, and the menu was raw bird. Funny, because this reminds me of something that happened to me shortly before I joined...”

Tetra stood up and started walking portside, followed by everybody else who could walk. What they saw was, admittedly, a scene they have seen a thousand times, but every time they see it, it fills them with glee: land... solid land they could set their feet on without fear of sinking down. The beach was absolutely inviting, golden yellow sand flowed freely thanks to the breeze, with the occasional palm tree to adorn it; the small waves of the sea crashing down on the beach's border provided a calming and refreshing sound to the tired ears of the crew, looking ever so pristine with its vibrant shades of blue, green and white. A bit after the seas, the beach-side trees thickened and turned the scenery a deeper green with darker lighting. The gang looked to both sides of the ship, in hopes to find where would the beach curve in, like every small island does... yet finding only how the beach touched the sky at the horizon in both ends, almost never swerving inward or outward either way. “That's a big island.” Gonzo expressed in amazement.

“Senza. Mako.” Tetra started calling out her henchmen.

“Yes, Ma'am.” both guys said in unison.

“Inspect the hull for any damages. Anything of particular notice should be reported to me. Now go.” Sending them off, he called out other guys. “Nudge, Zuko, Gonzo.”

“Yes, Ma'am.” The three rushed over to receive her orders.

“Go to the hold, and bring out supplies we may need, and don't forget the food this time, ok?”

We won't, Ma'am.” The pirates said with a bit less energy, possibly hurt by the reminder of that last time they went on a 3-day treasure hunt without any food, which shan't be spoken of ever again.

“Link.” Tetra blurted out. Link jumped basically out of nowhere and startled the young captain, who took a few steps back in shock. “Just... untie him.” She said, kinda downtrodden, and pointing over at Niko. Link quickly nodded, and with his usually smiling demeanor, set out to untie the poor chastised pirate.

Tetra suddenly remembered the Compass. She took it out, and set it as steady as she could. The Compass then pointed out to a determined spot within the thick trees in the beach. She inspected the suspicious-looking area with her telescope, and found a large enough entrance between a set of trees. This will most likely be their door to the mainland. She went to her private cabin and retrieved a set of charts, maps, and other stuff, as well as any weaponry she thought would help her to inspect the island. After noticing that Link had finished untying Niko, she prompted him to equip himself as well.

“Ok, gentlemen. Bring me the news.” Tetra said.

“No substantial damages to the hull, Miss Tetra.” Mako explained the results of his group's inspection. “the few minor damages were already fixed.”

“All supplies have been retrieved and are ready to roll, Miss Tetra.” Gonzo informed her of his group's duty.

“Untied and ready for action, Miss Tetra.” Niko announced.

“Then we're ready to go.” Tetra announced and was about to jump off the ship... when she remembered something important. “Wait... we're all going on this trip, so no one will stay to keep watch of our ship... Guys, bring out our “special friends”. They'll watch over the ship for us.” She ordered, with a bit of a smug face on her.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

After crossing the thick path of trees, the gang reached a clearing with a couple of trees, bushes and assorted flowers around, with a few large hills off in the distance. They walked for hours without rest, trusting on the needle of the Compass to guide them to their location. Day turned to night, and they pitched up camp, where they rested, told each others scary stories, fed themselves (thankfully Niko didn't have a part in cooking), and rested until the day.

The following day, as they walked, something in the scenery looked slightly different. “Hey, don't you think something in this scenery looks kinda different?” Niko said to Link. Link looked around, but there was not much changing from yesterday's scene: trees, flowers, bushes, clear sky, dirt road, hills... all checked out quite nic...

Link stopped. There was definitely something odd here. He looked over the immediate surroundings again, and then figured it out: a dirt road had slowly crept its way under the soles of their feet. A dirt road is not common to uncharted lands, so this must only mean that there must be, or there must have existed at some point, some sort of civilization nearby. When the pirates noticed that Link and Niko lagged behind, they turned around to check out what happened, to which Link pointed out the dirt road.

“Hmm... You may be right.” Mako said after much thought. “If this road exists, then there must be a town or city of some sort at the other end.”

“Well, what a convenience, then...” Tetra stated. “Because the Compass is actually pointing to this road's general route. Perhaps the place we need to go is already laid out to us.” She then got back to the front of the pack and started walking down the road. “Onward, gentlemen!”

The pirate group kept walking on the road, and eventually, a large wall materialized from the horizon... after they took a right curve at a hill. The pirates took a moment to collectively look in awe the incredibly well-protected edifice.

“Wow. Would you look at that.” Mako exclaimed, fixing his glasses to focus better on the fortification.

“Why, it almost looks like a castle!” Niko commented upon the majestic for in front.

“Actually... if you look there...” Zuko pointed out to a set of towers that were halfway covered by the wall. Those towers were undeniably the kind erected for a castle.

“Well, you guys, I guess you got lucky this time.” Tetra commented. “Were we to find nothing at our location, you would have been the ones to start building everything from scratch.” Needless to say, the pirates were not amused with such a revelation.

“What are you looking at, Link?” Gonzo asked when he noticed Link was looking intensely out his telescope. When he was called out, Link gave Gonzo the telescope and pointed where he was looking. It didn't take Gonzo long to notice what Link had seen. People... real, living people, entering and exiting the walls, which confirmed the presence of a civilization within the walls, and with it, some sort of government. “Well, call me a cuckoo and serve me up with potatoes, we got some live ones over there.”

“This just keeps getting better, doesn't it?” Tetra groaned out. Just looking at the increasingly jittery needle of the Compass confirmed her thoughts: this was their promised land... and it was already claimed. So, she must find a way to play conqueror and earn the right to the land. “Well... might as well begin this adventure already. Now, I'm sure they'll check us at entrance, so we have to be as inconspicuous as possible, got it?”

Tetra then took a good look at her team, a team of ragtag, filthy pirates who seem to have thrown on themselves almost every pirate cliché you could find out there: patches, tattoos, swords, guns, buck teeth, unkempt beards, nasty eyes, brown nails, clothes that basically screamed “Hey, I'm a pirate!”, all of that multiplied by six (at least Link still didn't look the part for a pirate), and you got yourself a group that would be kicked out of a French Renaissance convention for being too stinky and cliché.

“Hmm...” Tetra wondered for a second... then, “We're good. Let's go.” The pirates then followed her towards the wall gates, not knowing that their presence was already known.

-_-_-_-

“Sir! Sir!”

“Do you have news for me?”

“Yes, sire! A group of outsiders is approaching the city as we speak.”

“And?”

“They are of the shady type. Trouble, they seem. Not to be trusted.”

“Interesting... allow them into the city.”

“Sire?”

“We shall have a proper welcome prepared for them. We shall show them just what this city can have in store for them...”

**To Be Continued**