Missing Links: A New Hyrule
This story has a prequel called Secrets in the Breeze! Go check it out!
My Missing Links
Wind took a deep breath, savoring the scent of the breeze as blew by. It had been awhile since he'd smelled salt in the air.
It was good to be back near the ocean.
One by one, the other heroes came through the portal, which shut behind them with a blue flash. Hyrule looked at Wind curiously. "Do...you recognize this place?"
"Nope!" Wind spun around with a bright smile. "But we’re near the sea! That’s always a good sign!”
“I beg to differ,” Legend muttered, taking note of his surroundings.
It wasn’t much. They stood atop a cliff that overlooked the sea-bordering countryside, with a sparse collection of villages tucked into the nooks of the nation. But what caught the pink-haired hero’s attention most was the network of golden roads that stretched across the land, leading towards a grand tower far inland.
In the shadow of the massive building stood a castle; one the young man immediately recognized, which threw the whole tower into proportion.
It was...big.
“So, here’s the plan.”
The redheaded man slapped a map against a tree, stabbing it through with his hairpin to keep it in place. He snapped his fingers, and the circuits of his prosthetic hand lit up in timeshift blue. “We came in here,” he said, drawing a glowing X over a place in the north of the Forest Realm. “The loser that stole my control slate ran off, and we got lost chasing him. So now we’re down here.” He circled Whittleton Village.
Fox watched the hero explain with wide eyes, fixated on his glowing fingertips.
“The guy could be anywhere,” he continued. “HOWEVER, if he knows how to calibrate it right, he probably has a map updated on the slate. And if he knows what the slate does, which he has to in order to pull a stunt like he did twice in a row, then he’d head for Hyrule Castle.” Taps drew an arrow towards the castle and tower in the distance. “We’ve already lost a day just getting out of Lost Woods. He’s probably way ahead of us if we travel on foot. But if we use one of the minecart guardians people drive around here...” He traced his finger along the minecart tracks that stretched across the land. “We can probably beat him there, as long as we catch one within the next couple hours.”
He spun to face his companion, clicking the drawing rune off. “Any questions?
Fox’s hand shot in the air. “Mr. Link? How does your arm work?”
Taps gave him a flat look. “Timeshift-powered output core.” He gave his prosthetic a solid pat. “Sheikah tech. Not what we were talking about. Any relevant questions?”
“...Well...” Fox rubbed the back of his head. “The...guardian things...they take passengers, right?” He looked at the hero with big eyes. “So, don’t they charge rupees?”
Taps paused. He hadn’t considered that. “...We can stow away.”
“Absolutely not.” The Hytopian put his hands on his hips sternly. “These people have lives to live outside of us. It’s wrong to steal labor from them.”
“They’re not GONNA have lives to live if this timeline gets screwed with by my slate!”
“Then we should get money fast, shouldn’t we?”
Taps’ eyes narrowed, and he crossed his arms. “I didn’t exactly bring my wallet with me when I got yanked through time and space. You plan on selling your extra clothes for it?”
Fox gasped in horror, hugging his bulky luggage. “Never!”
“Well then. Not that big a problem, is it?”
Fox bit his lip. “...Give me one hour,” he finally said. “If I can’t earn us enough rupees for a trip by then, then we can talk about stowing away.”
Taps rolled his eyes. “Fine.” He held up a metal finger. “You’ve got one hour.”
Legend walked along the strange track, examining the golden triangles beneath his feet as he followed the rails. The power in them tugged at his attention, no matter how hard he tried to look away.
What were they?
“Hey.” An elbow dug into his shoulder. “Hyrule to Link, are you there?”
Legend side-eyed the offender crossly. “No.”
“Well then,” Warriors replied, smirking. “I guess that means I get your share of lunch.”
“You touch my apple pie and you find out exactly what my medallions do.”
“Ouch. Touchy.” He followed Legend’s line of sight down to the ground. “Must be an interesting road.”
Legend nodded, looking back at the tracks. “They’re...powerful,” he said, gesturing to them. “They radiate magic, and they feel...Hylian. Like they’re alive.”
Twilight shuddered. “I certainly hope they’re not,” he said, giving Epona a pat. “The last thing I want to worry about is living roads.”
WOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
The Chain jumped in unison at the loud sound, attention forcefully torn from the Spirit Tracks at their feet.
Off in the distance, blurred by a shimmer of heat, a steam-powered machine charged down the tracks at breakneck speed. With a frown, Twilight whipped out his Hawkeye mask to get a better look.
It was HUGE; it had to be at least as tall as three horses standing on top of each other. As it rounded the bend and headed towards them, he got a good look at its segments—a house, a tray, and a cannon?
Twilight squinted, adjusting the mask’s scope. “What in Farore’s name...”
“What is it?” Time asked, raising an eyebrow.
“...Some kind of mechanical caravan.” Twilight concluded after a moment of thought, lowering the mask. “And it’s not stopping. We should move.”
WOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
“NOW.”
Quickly, the group got off the tracks, giving them a WIDE distance.
As the steam-powered beast approached, it let out a shrill, screeching noise, causing the heroes to clamp their hands over their ears in pain until it finally rolled to a stop with a pressurized hiss.
Time slowly lowered his hands, shaking off an involuntary shiver at the redead-esque noise. “Everyone alright?”
Hyrule groaned, rubbing his ears sorely. “I think I finally feel bad for DIgdogger...”
“We’re fine,” Four answered. “I’m going to have a headache for the next week and a half, though...”
“Tell me about it...what even WAS that?” Wind asked, scrunching up his eyes as he popped the pressure in his ears.
“‘Hoy!”
The seafarer suddenly snapped to attention at the familiar greeting.
“’Hoy!”
Link leaned out of the engine cab and waved to the band of...soldiers.
They had to be soldiers, right? They had swords and armor. Maybe there was a ceremony or something coming up.
One of the group, a young-looking boy in blue, waved back to him. “‘Hoy, stranger!”
“Everything alright?” Link called. “You look kind of...lost.”
The group looked between each other. “We kind of are,” another one said, a heavily-scarred one with a long ponytail. “Can you tell us where we are?”
“Just west of Whittleton. Where are you trying to go?”
“Hyrule Castle town,” the most heavily armored one replied. “Is it far from here?”
Link looked the group over critically. “...Not really. It’s a 20 minute ride by train. Can I ask who you guys are?”
“An orchestra!” The kid that had initially greeted him exclaimed.
“...An orchestra.”
“Yep!” He pulled out his baton. “See, I’m a conductor, and he’s got a harp, and he’s got an ocarina...”
“What are you playing, then?” Link said, raising an eyebrow.
“Uh-”
“Song of the Hero,” the friendly-looking one in the white cape supplied. “It’s a classic.”
“...Right.” Link held back a sigh, feeling like this was going to be trouble. He could just leave them...
...But this was Bulblin territory. He’d feel bad.
He could just tell the guard captain to be on the lookout once he got to Hyrule Castle. That’d keep them in line, right?
“...Do you guys want a lift?”
The train ride was such a change from walking everywhere. Granted, it had been difficult to convince Epona to climb into the passenger car with them, and Legend was sharing a VERY uncomfortable stare with a fluffle of rabbits gathered at his feet. But, for the vast majority of the heroes, it was a chance to rest their legs and watch the scenery fly by.
And it was incredible.
The only comparable thing Wind had seen in his travels was speeding around on Linebeck’s steamboat, and even that required him to be focused on not running into barrels and sandbars.
This, though? It was smooth. The train ran in a straight line, zooming by acres and acres of land without so much as a bump in the wrong direction, with endless ocean through one side of the car and towering mountains through the other. Thinking fast, he pulled out his pictobox and snapped a few shots as he went along.
When the train made its first stop, the screeching sound was notably more bearable through the barriers of the cabin walls. It still made Hyrule wince, but it was a far cry from the veritable scream they’d had to endure before.
As it finally came to a full stop, the engineer that’d picked them up peered into the cabin. “Nobody get up yet, we’re not here. I’m just picking up some more passengers.”
Time raised an eyebrow. “You do this kind of thing often?”
The stranger gave him a deadpan look. “Nope. Never in my life.” Without another word of explanation, he shut the door.
Time stared after him, taken aback.
Had he just....been sassed?
A moment later, the back door of the cabin opened, and two new passengers entered.
“I told you I could pay fare!”
“Yeah, yeah. Still think we could have saved money.”
They sat in the back seat, bickering quietly and, to Legend’s relief, attracting the fluffle away from him. As the train resumed its travel down the road, he found himself listening in to their conversation.
“-plan once we get there?”
“We start looking. Duh.”
“That’s it? That’s all you’ve got?”
“Look, if someone uses it, we’ll know. It’s not exactly an easy thing to- ...hide.”
Curious at what had made the newcomer trail off, Legend looked back at them over his shoulder.
The redhead—the one who had ended the conversation—was staring at Wild in shock.
The pink-haired one, on the other hand, Legend recognized instantly. His head spun; the Chain had only just gotten the means to time travel themselves, how had the Hytopian guy with the friendship tokens-?!
Feeling Legend’s gaze on him, Fox looked up, unnerved, then froze in shock as he came to the same conclusion Legend did.
I know you. You shouldn’t BE here.
Suddenly, the train heaved, throwing everyone out of their seats. The once-smooth ride came to an abrupt halt as the train derailed, skidding across the raw ground with a terrifying SCREECH before grinding to a halt and tilting precariously. Twilight and Wild both scrambled to grab Epona and brace her as the car finally tipped, landing on its side with a crash.
Silence hung in the air for one brief, panic-laced second.
Then, in an instant, the redheaded stranger shoved his companion out the back door and vaulted over the cabin seats, barreling into Wild and leaping for the front door. As Wild was abruptly yanked out of his daze, he spotted the Sheikah Slate in the thief’s hand before the redhead made his escape.
Fox stared at Taps as he ran outside. “What are you doing?!”
“Shut up, I’m focusing!” Taps said, frantically clicking through the slate. “Where is it, this layout is atrocious-”
“Did you just steal the-”
“He had my control slate!”
“They had SWORDS!”
“So do we!” Taps stopped on a screen, and sighed in relief. “Finally!” With a blue flash, he summoned his Divine Beast, wasting no time in clambering on board. “Come on, get on!”
“But my clothes-”
“HEY!”
The two time travelers looked over as Wild emerged from the train car to shame mankind, eyes blazing with fury as he raced towards them.
Fox squeaked in alarm, quickly leaping onto the Divine Beast and clinging to Taps. “Drive, DRIVE!”
Wild did his best to give chase as the duo sped off, but his mortal Hylian legs couldn’t keep up with the ingenuity of Sheikah technology. Before his very eyes, two complete strangers fled into the distance with his Divine Beast.
Link picked himself up off the ground, clutching his ribs in pain as he raced back towards his toppled train.
He had so many people on board, he had a horse back there. If any of them were hurt—
Without a moment’s thought for himself, he threw the cabin door open. “Is everyone okay?!”
Everyone jolted, reaching for their weapons in panic, when suddenly, there was a yelp of pain from the back seat.
Sky clutched his stung hand as he dropped the Master Sword, staring at the engineer in shock.
“You’re...one of us.”