"Shh, you guys, try and keep it down. She's trying to sleep," a sighing woman huffs while sitting on the couch. Her head is propped against her hand courtesy of the armrest. Her other hand naturally falls on her friend's head who has just dozed off a few minutes ago.

"Come on, Maria. I've seen her sleep through plenty of things. This is nothing compared to the car crash we were in," someone reminds her. He sits on the floor right in front of the sleeping woman.

"I have to agree with Maria," another woman says from inside the kitchen. "With her nearly third-shift hours, Julia needs all the sleep she can get!"

"What are you cooking in there, Marissa? It smells delish!" someone asks, coming out of the bathroom nearby.

"Just some chicken and rice. And don't you try to change the subject, Andrew!" Marissa threatens, pointing a spatula at the boy. He raises his hands in defense and heads back to the group in the living room. "So, what did I miss?"

"You missed Maria whining about the TV being too loud," yet another person says. He rolls his brown eyes and looks behind him at the person who started the whole confrontation. In a mocking voice he asks, "Woulds't my sister like me to put it on mute?"

"Gavin, I swear-"

"Bro, don't provoke her," the last member of the party says. He lets out a deep breath. He mutters to himself, "Oh, John, why do you always have to be the voice of reason?"

The one who everyone is talking about is Julia, asleep on the couch next to her best friend. It honestly didn't take long for her to fall asleep. She didn't mean to, after all, but once she hit the decorative pillows her eyes closed and decided not to open again. Her breathing is almost non-existent, which means she is in a deep sleep. The only noise that could possibly wake her is a huge clap of thunder at this point. And it would have to be earth-shattering, too. Not one of those calm flashes and rumbling thunders. Her long, brown hair seems to be thrown everywhere as she lies there. It's over her closed, hazel-green eyes, draping off the couch, and swirling around her back. It doesn't seem to matter that her feet are hanging off the edge of the armrest. This woman can sleep anywhere and at any time. To her, that's a super power.

Her younger brother is named Ethan, the one who defended her ability to sleep through any loud noise that could come her way. He is a very muscular, tall man, which is why it's funny to see him curled up on the floor with the other boys. His brown hair is a tad darker, and thick with slight curls. He has darker hazel eyes and tanner skin than his sister. Ethan always loves watching people play video games, and is excited to experience it with his currently present friends. The game they are playing is Zelda: Age of Calamity, which is one of his favorite multiplayer games. He remembers when he first played it with his sister. The game was basically a present sent from Nintendo. Completely unannounced, at least from what he saw, until the first trailer dropped. As a Zelda fan, he was completely surprised they were able to keep the game a secret for so long.

Julia and Ethan's youngest sibling is Andrew, and he's still in high school, yet not for much longer. He looks a lot like his sister, but acts a lot like his brother. The three of them are very close siblings indeed, all of them only being three years apart in age. He has light brown hair with blonde highlights, green eyes, and is probably the most agile out of the three. Andrew strokes his hand through his hair one more time before taking the controller and pressing the START button. His favorite Zelda game (and the only one he's played) is Breath of the Wild. The only reason why he picked it up was because it was the only game they had when they first got the Switch back in 2017. Since then, he was hooked. However, he has not played Age of Calamity despite his siblings urging him to. He just loves the gameplay of Breath of the Wild so much that he doesn't think it could live up to the hype. Yet, everyone has told him it's a spinoff game, so not totally canon, which makes him feel a bit better.

In the kitchen is Marissa, a very close friend of the three. In fact, she's Julia's girlfriend. Once everyone got settled into the living room, she realized how late in the day it was and stopped by the grocery store to pick up a ton of rice, chicken, and sauce. It's the best way to feed this many people. Oh, and she couldn't forget paper plates. She didn't want to deal with dishes afterward, since everyone wants to hang out together for as long as possible. She manages to find her way around the kitchen well, having stayed the night in this apartment complex before. Marissa keeps her thick, red-blonde hair up in a bun. She keeps a dish towel draped over her shoulder as she cooks, as to keep her fingers dry. Her ocean blue eyes watch the chicken darken, and she decides she might as well add in some veggies. Quickly, she opens the fridge and looks for anything she can make. Aha, I wouldn't mind some steamed broccoli.

At the other end of the couch, Maria holds the bridge of her nose between her thumb and index finger. She should have known inviting everyone over would result in chaos, but that's what happens when everyone gets together. Especially in a group as weird as this. Maria also has two brothers, which we will get to in a second. She is a dark blonde with vibrant blue eyes. She wears her signature, square emerald earrings and a frilly purple top with jeans. However, she is starting to think she should have worn a skirt. It's starting to get a little hot outside, but how was she supposed to predict the weather? It's been crazy by the lake; pouring one day, dropping to 23 degrees fahrenheit, then shooting up to 80 degrees within a matter of hours. Stuff like that makes you look at the weather app every half day. She reaches for her water and takes a sip, trying to cool off that way. It could also be the sheer amount of people in the room, but I digress.

John is the next oldest sibling out of Maria's group. His blonde hair hangs over his blue eyes, but it doesn't seem to bother him. He, in fact, did dress for the weather. He wears a blue hooded tanktop that shows off his muscular arms (what's with the middle child having such toned muscles?) John is a little disappointed that he's not one of the chosen to be playing Age of Calamity, but his brother told him that they will switch out every couple battles or so. Hey, as long as he gets to play the Goron levels, he'll be happy. He rests his back against the kitchen chair he carried into the living room and crosses his legs. Drinking some homemade punch Marissa whipped up (seriously, she hasn't left the kitchen since she got here), he hums in delight, not expecting it to be this good.

And last, but of course not least, we have Gavin. His brown hair falls with a bit of waves in them, contrasting his lighter eyes. He holds the other controller, sitting next to Andrew and ready to take on the role as second player. Being the youngest out of the group, he is surprised yet ecstatic that he was invited to this grand get-together. He hasn't seen Andrew's family in quite some time (same with his brother), but sometimes sees Andrew at school. However, since all three boys are in different grades, they hardly pass by each other. Plus, high school is such daunting work in of itself that they wouldn't have much time to hang out. He also loves to play basketball, loves all of his pets (they have, like, fifteen pets at home), and video games. I'd be lying if I said he would have been disappointed if he couldn't make it to this gaming session with his siblings and friends. Plus, he gets free food made by Marissa? Sign him up! So far, he's chugged at least three glasses of that punch she made.

"You know, you don't have to make us lunch," Ethan points out. "Five Guys is right down the street."

Marissa gives him a stern glance from the side. "We all know Julia would pay for everyone if we did that. Plus, it's the least I could do after all of us decided to come to her apartment."

"We didn't deci- she invited us over!" he argues.

"And we decided to accept the invitation," Marissa retorts. She pours some food onto a plate and plops it on his lap. "Now, eat up."

"Dude, why are you complaining about food?" Gavin asks with a chuckle.

He has no response, but sighs and takes a bite of his steaming rice. Marissa gives a plate to Maria next. "Here you go."

"Oh my gosh, girl. Thank you!"

She continues to serve the rest of the friends and even makes a separate plate for Julia when she wakes up. "Now, I'm going to take out the trash and clean the dishes."

"Do that later! Why don't you sit down and relax?" John asks, a tad worried. The only time she sat down was when she got into her car to go to the grocery store.

"I will in about ten minutes. Be right back!" No one can protest as she swiftly takes the trash, ties a knot at the top, and hurries out the door, making sure to take a key to the building with her.

"So, does she ever, like, stop moving?" John asks in a semi-joking tone.

"No," Maria answers with a sigh. She continues in a gentler tone. "She's probably not used to it, with being the one who stepped up in her family."

"She deserves a day to relax, though. Not take care of us," Andrew argues. "Maybe I can let her play the first few battles? That would get her to sit down at least."

"She can do the next two after this opening. I'd really like you and Gavin to play this one!" Ethan urges. "After all, you two know the least about this game."

"Well, some game it is," Gavin says sarcastically. "Look, the screen has been frozen for five minutes now. We pressed the START button so long ago."

"Huh, that is a bit strange..." Maria adds, now paying attention to the TV. "Maybe it's the television?"

"No, the volume works," Ethan says, playing with the remote. He sighs. "Turn the switch off, Gavin, then turn it back on."

"Or just press the home button to reset the game," John suggests. "At least we didn't get too far in the game before it decided to crash."

"Home button isn't working, we'll have to turn the system off," Andrew sighs in defeat.

Gavin crawls over to press the power button on the switch when a bright, white light flashes from the screen. Everyone gasps, holding up their arms across their eyes. The electricity in the apartment buzzes before completely dying, the only thing lighting up the room is the white glow of the television.

"The hell?" Ethan mutters with a questioning tone. He holds up the remote and presses the power button. Nothing happens.

Before anyone can say anything, seven symbols flicker in the light, but they are colored in the lightest blue that no one can see what they are. The light blinks one last time and everyone falls unconscious. The front door of the apartment remains creaked open, and it's as if there was no no one living there at all. Their sleeping bodies have all vanished, and the television goes dark.

John is the first one to open his eyes, feeling a tickling sensation on his nose. He lifts his head and wipes his face, trying to keep himself from sneezing. His other hand lies flat in the grass, the very culprit that was tickling him in the first place. Still a bit groggy, he looks around and finds his friends all scattered in the field, asleep. "What in the..." he starts, but then looks at his legs. Funny, he thought he was wearing shorts, not these black pants. He then becomes more awake as he realizes his blue hoodie has turned purple, and has no hood at all. Instead, his shirt is decorated in white markings. On the lower half, right across his stomach, is the symbol of the Triforce with the Loftwing symbol underneath. However, the Triforce is upside down. John stands quickly, then shakes his head from how dizzy he feels, and hurries to his older sister.

"Maria, wake up!" Apparently, that was all she needed to hear in order to squirm awake. She props herself up and takes in the sight around her, then her eyes land on her brother.

"What the heck are you wearing?" she asks, then looks at herself. "And what am I wearing?!" That is, indeed, a great question. Her tunic is orange and she looks to have the same pants as John. However, her boots are a tad different. There is no Triforce on her shirt, either. Instead, there is a symbol of Majora's Mask in the bottom corner.

While those two are registering their shock, Ethan wakes up and holds his head in his hands. "How did I get outside?" he asks. "And why is it so bright out?" That last question has more of an annoyed tone. His tunic is dark blue with wind wakers going down both of his sleeves, sparks coming from the tip. He crawls over to Gavin who is closest to him. "Gavin, are you-"

"Five more minutes," he groans.

Ethan rolls his eyes. "You can sleep later, we have a crisis on our hands!"

"What are you talking..." his voice trails off when he finally opens his eyes, his mouth hanging open. When he looks at Ethan, his gaze quickly turns to what he's wearing. Gavin mutters, "Sick," under his breath as he sees his red tunic. Two pan flutes are located on the front of his shoulders.

A bug flies into Andrew's mouth, which makes him choke and instantly wake up. "Ack! Ugh, this is why I hate camping. Wait a second..." As he takes in the sight, he jumps to his feet and looks around frantically, not noticing the giant silent princess symbol on the back of his yellow tunic. He quickly runs over to Julia, who is the only one still asleep, and shakes her. "Okay, I know Maria said not to wake you, but you kind of have to wake up now, Jules."

"Uuuuuuuuuuuuugh, I was having such a nice dream, too." She rolls onto her back and stares at the blue sky. Julia attempts to sit up but hisses. "It feels like my ribs were rotated," she groans. Her tunic is green with what appears to be a Yoshi egg plastered on her chest. "Am I in Heaven, or is this a trick?"

"I don't feel dead," Ethan says, poking his arm.

"And how would you know what being dead feels like?" she asks with a smirk.

"...Fair point."

"Maybe, we're in a coma," Andrew says mysteriously, stars shining in his eyes.

"Yeah, all of us in the same coma, having the same experience," Gavin responds sarcastically. "Brilliant idea."

"Hey, I'm just putting it out there," he defends. Then, he mutters, "Don't need to be a dickhead."

Sensing the tension, Maria steps in. "We can't rule anything out, but let's take this one step at a time. We're all here... for some reason, and we need to just figure out where here is."

"Shouldn't be too difficult," John says. He shields his eyes with one hand to block the sun as he stares at the horizon. "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Hyrule."

Everyone looks in the direction he is facing and they see it, too. A giant castle resting in the distance. A faint breeze makes the flags on top of the towers blow in different directions. The symbol on those flags is of the Triforce. Gavin takes a deep breath along with a few steps backward. "No way..."

"Guys, I think we were pulled into the game," Ethan says in disbelief. When everyone turns to look at him, he stutters, "H-hear me out-"

"It does make sense. The game was glitching before I blacked out," John recalls.

"Okay, let's run with that theory," Maria says with a nod, trying to stay confident.

"I'd rather stick to Andrew's coma idea," Julia responds with a smile.

"With what evidence?" Ethan asks, annoyed.

"No idea. I was asleep the whole time."

"Alright, whatever. But, I think we can all agree on-" Gavin is cut off by John yelling at him to move. But, when he doesn't, John lunges and pushes him out of the way right before he can be blasted with fire.

"Oh, shi-" Ethan starts.

"We gotta run," Maria says, her eyes widening. Over a nearby hill, bokoblins and lizalfoses start running toward them, swinging their preferred weapons. "LIKE, RIGHT NOW!"

"No, we can take'em!" Andrew insists.

"Find a weapon first, dumbass!" Gavin yells. He grabs Andrew's arm and starts pulling him away from the horde. Thankfully, his comment made him realize that he, indeed, carries absolutely nothing to defend himself with or nothing to attack the monsters. The six of them start running toward the castle, often looking over their shoulders to see if they're still outrunning the monsters.

When they reach a nearby town, Julia gasps as she peeks behind her and sees a lizalfos throw a spiked boomerang at the group. She rams into John's side, making them both dodge the weapon by a hair. However, the force also makes them both stumble on a path to the left.

"Thanks," John says breathlessly.

Julia nods and pulls him behind the side of a house to hopefully hide from the rushing monsters. Some of the lizalfoses follow them into the town, but they get lost amongst the maze of buildings. The two of them take this chance to catch their breath.

"We need to find something to fight with," Julia says after a moment.

Both of them look around and John spots a small shed nearby, "There."

Quickly, they sneak over to the shed, being careful not to be spotted by any of the surrounding lizalfoses. "They're so disgusting up close," Julia whispers once they reach the side of the shed. John agrees with her. They have super long, brightly colored tongues that can't seem to stay in their mouths, silver armor along their backs, giant bulging eyes, and a nose with a spike on the tip. Most of them carry bows or boomerangs.

John makes eye contact with Julia and they nod at each other. He quietly turns the corner and inspects the door to the shed. Quickly, he unties the rope keeping the door closed and opens it, letting Julia go inside first and closing the door behind them, making sure to be silent.

There isn't much to see, it's a very small space. There is hay piled on the floor, some buckets lying around, a few shelves filled with gardening tools, unfilled pots, and-

"One rusty sword," Julia mutters, disappointed. John sighs and walks over to the weapon, taking it in hand. It's rusted alright, all of the decayed metal scraping against his exposed hand. Some of it flakes and falls to the ground. The blade is barely sharp anymore, and the way it's chipped in some places makes the weapon unbalanced.

Before John can say anything, the wooden door creaks open and the nose of a lizalfos pokes into the shed. It sniffs around before the monster completely opens the door and spots the two standing there. It raises its bow, but John thinks fast and lets his adrenaline take over. He yells and swings his new weapon upward at the thing's chest to try and make the most out of a rusted blade. The force of the blow knocks the lizalfos back, and the bow flies out of its hand. Julia gasps and runs over to pick it up right as another lizalfos scurries over to attack John. She takes an arrow out of the first one's quiver, notches an arrow, and shoots it... right past the second monster's shoulder. "Uh oh."

The thing that shot fire at Gavin was, in fact, a wizzrobe, and it's still chasing the group. It dances in the air and laughs, letting its magic rod charge up with more fire magic before shooting it at Gavin once again. "Why me?!"

"This way!" Andrew says, grabbing his friend's wrist. He directs them into a small forest, diverting their way from the castle. The fire blast makes the grass around them catch on fire, cutting them off from Ethan and Maria. Gavin turns to try and head back in the direction of his sister, but another fireball comes hurling at his ear, barely giving him a first degree burn. He follows Andrew further into the woods.

"This is just brilliant!" Gavin yells. "Lure the fire magic thing into a place that has a lot of flammable trees!"

Andrew rolls his eyes, saving his energy by not responding. He leads the way, weaving around the trees expertly and jumping over roots to try and lose the wizzrobe. But, just when he thinks they lost it, the persistent monster appears right beside them again. Spotting a rock a few steps in front of him, he jumps, lands on the rock, and uses his extra height to jump once more. He grabs the lowest branch off a tree and turns, hurling it at the monster's head. The wizzrobe gets stunned just long enough for the two of them to turn a sharp corner.

Gavin puts his hands on his knees and bends down to catch his breath while Andrew leans on a tree. "This... is so... dumb..." Gavin says between gasps. He looks over at Andrew, but his words get caught in his throat. Instead of saying anything, he points over at something at the base of the tree that Andrew is resting against.

"What?" Andrew asks, also a bit out of breath. He looks down and jumps back, seeing a skeleton there. It's wearing a helmet, a metal stick poking out of its chest. "What the..."

The skeleton seems to have bronze armor and a weird looking helmet. He steps toward it and grasps the metal stick, pulling it out of its ribs. At first, he thought it was a spear, but the weapon has three prongs on the end.

"A trident?" Gavin asks, confused. Their ears perk up when they hear the chilling laughter of the wizzrobe once again.

"It's mine now!" Andrew says. He turns right as the monster appears behind Gavin and raises the fire rod. Since they're in a forest, the wizzrobe had to appear lower to the ground than usual. "Watch out!" Andrew warns. Luckily, Gavin jumps out of the way without needing to see where the monster is and his friend jumps, stabbing it right in the throat.

"Woah," Gavin gasps, picking up the glowing fire rod after the monster vanishes. "So cool."

"Let's find the others," Andrew suggests.

Maria and Ethan don't notice their friends are no longer following them until they get to the entrance of castletown. That's when they're finally able to hide, rest, and discover they're missing four humans.

"They were right behind us!" Maria yells. She starts looking around, frantically trying to spot her brothers. "We should go back."

"Wait! This is the best place to look for weapons," Ethan reminds her.

"Ugh, you're right," Maria sighs in annoyance. "Okay, where should we- MOBLIN!"

Ethan turns just in time to dodge the swing of a massive club aimed for his head. The two of them look around for absolutely anything they can use, but nothing catches their eye. So, Maria decides to improvise. She picks up a few pebbles and chucks them at the side of the monster's head. "Hey, ugly! Over here!"

"Ouch, Maria. I have feelings you know," Ethan says jokingly. He sees the moblin is now distracted, and kicks its wrist. Maria sees what he's trying to do and wraps her hands around the other end of the club, making it fall out of the monster's grip.

The moblin grunts in confusion, knowing it just had a weapon in its hand. "You know," Ethan starts. He slides underneath the moblin's other arm and catches the club as Maria tosses it to him. He turns and swings it up at the monster's face, finishing with, "it's a two handed weapon!"

Maria chuckles and puts her hands on her hips. "That was easy."

"Hah, totally. I slay at least ten of those things daily."

"Somebody, help me!" Both Maria and Ethan's eyes widen when they hear a female voice screaming. They only have to look at each other once to nod in agreement before they rush in the direction of the voice. "Somebody, please! I can't fight this many monsters off with my arms full!"

As the two turn the corner, they find a young Sheikah woman trying to run away from a handful of bokoblins. She lowers her head as the trips, trying to protect the item in her arms. Once she regains her footing, she spots Maria running next to her, shielding her from any projectiles.

"A-ah! Thank you!" the woman says, completely out of breath.

"Don't thank me yet," Maria says. "We gotta get you somewhere safe!"

"We?" At the question, she looks behind her and sees Ethan sprinting toward the monsters, raising his club. It only takes one swing to knock them on their feet, and a second to finish them off.

Once the last monster poofs into smoke, the girls stop running and Ethan puts his club on his shoulder. "Not bad for a-" He gets cut off by the ground rumbling.

Just a few grass patches away, a small, white Guardian's eye lights up and resonates with the tablet in the Sheikah woman's arms. Something emerges from the ground, casting giant rocks all around them. Ethan falls on his side and Maria puts her hands over her head while huddling close to the woman. The Sheikah drops the tablet amidst the chaos, and it shatters.

"NO! The Sheikah Slate!" she yells. Once the ground stops moving, she kneels down and tries to gather all the pieces into her arms. "No, no, no, this can't be happening! After all of the tests Robbie and Purah went through to start it up."

"Uh, is no one going to talk about the tower that just emerged out of nowhere?" Ethan asks, getting back to his feet. He shields his eyes from the sun as he tries to look at how tall the tower is.

"There are more important things at stake here!" the Shiekah yells. She tries fitting the pieces back together.

"Maybe we should worry about that after we get to the castle!" Maria suggests, seeing some monsters in the distance. "We have to go!"

The Sheikah scrambles to collect all of the pieces back up, but drops one as Maria hoists her to her feet. Ethan catches up to stand behind them, raising his club, but he never gets the chance to attack. A knight appears seemingly out of nowhere, brandishing a sword and clearing away all of the enemies. The Sheikah's eyes widen upon seeing how quick and agile the knight is, demolishing the monsters so easily.

She takes a breath and runs up to the knight. "You saved me!"

Ethan almost drops his club and raises his free hand to the sky. "What am I, then? Chopped liver?!"

Maria elbows him in the side. "It's Link," she whispers.

"Yeah, and I still saved her first," he grumbles.

Link catches sight of them and tilts his head in confusion. The Sheikah speaks for him. "Yeah, they're weird. Come on, let's get to the princess before more monsters show up." Ethan grits his teeth and turns to leave, but she yells, "You're coming with us! I don't know who you strangers are, but the princess is going to have a word with you."

"For what? Saving your life?" he asks, a little ticked.

"Well, maybe if you didn't distract me, I wouldn't have dropped the Sheikah Slate!"

Ethan laughs angrily. "Oh ho, so now that's my fault? I was nowhere near you!"

"GUYS !" Maria yells. "WE. CAN. TALK. WHEN. WE. GET. TO. THE. CASTLE!"

The Sheikah sticks up her nose at Ethan then turns to Maria. "Here, I see you have no weapons to use. Take these."

She looks at the silver daggers now in her hand. They're light and really thin. Maria shrugs, thinking they're better than nothing. "Alright, now come on. We'll escort you to safety."

The lizalfos looks over its shoulder at Julia, raising its weapon to attack her. She quickly blocks the strike with the bow, making the monster stagger backward. She scrapes the edge of the bow along the exposed part of its stomach, nicking its skin through the armor. John ducks and cuts it at its ankles, making it fall and turn to smoke.

"That was close," Julia says, her heart racing.

"Yeah, let's get out of this cramped place," John suggests.

They leave the shed and look around the empty town. Julia finds a few purple flowers around the grass patches and picks them up, tying the stems to the chain around her waist. "I'm guessing most people evacuated here and ran to castletown."

"That's what it seems like," he agrees. "This place doesn't seem to have a good defense system. Monsters could barge in at any moment."

"This is probably the first attack they've seen in this generation," she surmises. "Usually monsters stay away from civilization. It's travelers and people who visit stables who need to be careful."

"How do you know that?" he asks as they start walking out of the small town.

She shrugs. "It's what happens in every Zelda game. Even the ones in which the hero was defeated." She pauses to think about it for a moment. "Except if you play A Link Between Worlds."

"That's the one with Yuga in it, right?"

"Mhm."

An object whizzes by their heads, right in between them, and gets stabbed right into the side of a stone house. Stunned, Julia freezes in her place and stares at the weapon as it emanates black smoke. John, on the other hand, whips around and sees... nothing. "What in the heck was... Julia? Are you okay?"

"I know this weapon," she says quietly. She walks up to the golden handle slowly and takes it in hand, easily ripping it out of the wall. "But, it can't be," she continues. "He's not in this game." Gasping, she drops the trident when the smoke starts swirling up her arm. "Something's not right. This isn't Age of Calamity."

"What is it, then?"

"Something new."

"Okay," John says, knowing she's still in shock. "We can talk about it when we meet with the others. Let's get to the castle."

She nods, knowing that's the best course of action they can take at the moment. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she follows John in a jog out of the town and back into the field. Luckily, they don't run into any more problems along the way.

Andrew and Gavin emerge from the forest unscathed, but end up on the wrong side of the field. Andrew puts his hands on his hips and groans at the sun. "This is bull! Now we have to walk all the way back."

"I'm not going in there again. We're going around the forest this time," Gavin says, too out of breath to sound angry.

"Ugh, but there's a big hill. And the forest has shade."

"You tired already, dude? Come on, it's leg day."

Before he can argue any further, Andrew sighs and follows Gavin up the hilly areas. He puts his trident in a makeshift holster and straps it to his back, testing how easily he can take it out and put it back as he walks. Luckily he has thick boots that go up to his knees because he knows the tall grass would be getting to him.

Gavin finds a funny looking blade of grass with some swirls on the top, so he decides to pick it and tie it to his belt.

"Nice find," Andrew compliments. "That's a Hyrule Herb."

"Glad I have a walking compendium with me," he says wittily, smirking.

"Fine, I won't tell you what different plants are. Just don't come crying to me when you eat a poisonous mushroom," he retorts. Now it's Andrew's turn to smirk as he passes his friend who now has his mouth slightly agape.

Gavin rushes up to Andrew and goes to say something back, but Andrew holds out his trident to stop him in his tracks. They have reached the top of the mountain, and there are three moblins and a ton of bokoblins running around.

Andrew leans toward his friend without taking his eyes off the enemies. "Wanna take your emotions out on something other than me?"

"I like the way you think," Gavin responds, slamming his fire rod into the palm of his hand.

Not even thinking to be stealthy, the two scream a battle cry and rush at the monsters. Gavin raises his rod and swings it, shooting fireballs at nearby bokoblins to take many out at once. Andrew bursts through the flames and raises his trident, stabbing a moblin in the chest. He rolls forward and swipes the weapon at some bokoblins' legs, making about three of them trip and fall on each other. Gavin takes this opportunity to rain fire on the piled up monsters.

Andrew throws his spear at a third moblin before it has the chance to notch an arrow. It gets stabbed in the neck and falls to the ground. He runs at the disintegrating body and snatches his weapon back before swiping it upward at more monsters barreling his way. Something scrapes his back, so he turns his head and sees a bokoblin with a knife. Andrew takes the end of his trident and thrusts it backward, knocking the wind out of the monster. He spins and catches it in the blades to make sure it's defeated.

Gavin turns his rod into a sword once the bokoblins get too close. Luckily, this weapon is very durable. It spews flames as he blocks a strike from a wooden club, making it catch fire. As the bokoblin starts freaking out, he finishes it off by shooting magic at it. He smirks, knowing he's getting the hang of this thing, and turns to set more monsters ablaze. The third moblin rushes at him with a metal weapon in hand. As it swings down at his head, Gavin knocks it back up and shoots a wall of fire, accidentally frying the grass under the monster. It yells in pain before vanishing. Gavin tries to put it out by stomping on the grass, but the fire starts spreading too fast.

Andrew quickly looks around for anything he can use, starting to panic. Come on, there's gotta be... there! He finds a bush with a fruit growing on it and throws it at the floor near Gavin. The fruit explodes, spraying water and putting out the fire. Gavin looks over at him, confused, so he explains, "Splash Fruit. Oh, sorry, forgot I wasn't supposed to become a walking compendium."

Gavin rolls his eyes, so Andrew throws a fruit at the side of his head, drenching him. "Agh! Really?!"

"Seemed like you had to cool off," Andrew jokes, taking a bite out of one of the wild fruits. "Come on, it's castle time."

Luckily, the way back to castletown is void of monsters. The boys both guess that taking down the three moblins made the rest of them retreat. Once they reach the front fountain, they find Maria and Ethan with two other people.

"Took you long enough," Ethan says, hiding his relief. "I see you took down that wizzrobe."

"Yeah, after it chased us for twenty minutes through a forest," Gavin says, twirling the rod in his hand.

"Thank goodness! I was worried. Those things are a pain," Maria says, sighing. "Did you see John and Julia anywhere?"

"Is that them?" the Sheikah woman asks, pointing at the horizon. Sure enough, two more humans can be seen jogging up to the gates.

"You guys won't believe what we saw," Julia starts, but then catches sight of what Andrew's holding. "Wait, where did you get that?"

"There was a skeleton in the woods. I took it out of its ribs," he answers, but she still looks concerned. "What? The guy wasn't using it anymore!"

"That's Ganondorf's trident," she explains.

The name makes the six humans freeze, but the Sheikah and Link are left confused. Link looks at each of them. He knows the name Ganondorf, but never knew he had a trident. The Sheikah softly clears her throat. "Well, whatever that means, it sounds serious. I don't know who you are, but all of you helped us. I think it would be wise if you spoke to the princess directly about what you know."

"We'd be happy to. Perhaps, we'll be able to help even more," Maria says gently. "I suspect this won't be the only attack."

The Sheikah and Link both nod, leading the way. Together, they walk across the drawbridge and into the castle. The six friends follow suit, not knowing how they're going to explain their situation to Hyrule's royalty. Unbeknownst to them, the white Guardian who made the tower appear sneaks into the castle behind them.