Ari
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                        THE LEGEND OF ZERENA

Disclaimers:  All mandatory disclaimers apply to Naoko Taeuchi for Sai-
              lor Moon and Nintendo of America's Shigeru Miyamoto for
              The Legend of Zelda.

=====CHAPTER 8: THE VILLAGE OF OUTCASTS=====

        Daylight!
        After wandering around underground in the skull palace, Link
finally made his way out into the forest clearing.  All paths, however,
seem to lead in the same direction - south.
        So Link headed south.  A little ways down the path, a spirit e-
merged from a nearby bush.  The spirit was easily defeated; one cut
with his Master Sword tore it right apart.  It was what happened after
the fight that bothered him.  He didn't know *exactly* where he was af-
ter he won.  And he subsequently tripped over a tree's root.  But then,
the tree spit out a bomb right at him.
        Not expecting a tree to fight back, Link panicked and ducked
for cover.  Then he heard the tree talk.
        "Hey!" the tree shouted.  "Why don't you watch where you're-
whoa!"
        "Who are you?" Link asked.  "Really?"
        "WOW!  I haven't seen a normal human around here in ages!  Let
me tell ya something interesting."
        "Like what?"
        "Just south of here is a town called the Village of Outcasts.
It's a run-down town full of thieves, so watch your back.  They also
say that you can hear a girl's voice calling out from under the statue
in the town square.  Isn't that wierd?"
        "Y-yeah, pretty wierd."  He took one step backwards, and turned
and ran away, totally freaked out.  Sure he had seen some pretty scary
stuff in his journeys, but still, a talking tree was *way* beyon any-
thing he could handle.

        A while later, he came to the town.  But first, he decided to
stop in a small house, in which a fortune teller resided.  Apparently,
he was expecting Link.
        "Ahhhh, welcome," the fortune teller said.  "Would you like for
me to tell your fortune?"  The teller could barely see over his crystal
ball.
        Link thought about it for a while.  "Gee, I don't know-"
        "I'll make it cheap!"  That was enough for him to accept the
little man's offer.  He started doing a strange enchantment over his
ball...then, he spoke.  "Hocus, pocus!  I see you in the village, and
there is a girl under the gargoyle."
        "Are you sure?"
        "My prophecies always come true!  And now, I will take 15 ru-
pees...I hope you'll be healthy!"  The man let out a manic cackle as he
saw Link out.  True to his words, Link felt more refreshed than when he
stepped into the fortune teller's hut.
        A minutes later, he saw a wooden arch at the start of a path.
Thw words VILLAGE OF OUTCASTS are written in faded red letters on it,
and another piece of wood, bearing the text 'Persons without rupees are
not welcome here.'  Then, the left hook fell off, causing the sign to
swing from the other one.  Which precisely fell off completely a moment
later.
        When Link entered the vilalge, most of the buildings there were
in ruins.  They were all burned down, except for the gambling estab-
lishments.  Other than the random pickpockets, no one was out on the
streets when he came in.
        In the middle of the town square there was indeed a large stat-
re of a gargoyle, holding a trident.  "This must be what that old coot
was talking about," he said to himself.  The only way in seemed to be
blocked by the trident the statue was holding.
        He bombed it.  Nothing happened.
        He shot arrows at it.  Nothing happened.
        He got a running start and charged at it.  Nothing happened.
        Now the frustration was setting in.  In fact, he was so pissed
that he grabbed the prongs of the trident and gave it a real hard yank.
He fell on his back, the prongs in hand.  The door to the dungeon be-
neath had been opened, literally by accident.
        The bright sunlight was the only light that filled the room
when Link entered.  The room was in fact one very large chamber, made
up of an elaborate catwalk system, and a lower basement.  The rooms all
seem interconnected, though.
        That's odd, Link thought.  Seems kinda quiet....  Link walked
down a flight of steps to the basement, when all of a sudden, several
bolts of light swirling around each other flew straight at Link.  The
lights surrounded him, and when they receded, Link noticed he had
changed....
        His human formed had vanished, and instead was replaced with a
large, pink bunny.
        Oh shit, he thought.  All he did for a while was just explore
the dungeon.  That's it.  All of his skill vanished into thin air, and
he couldn't use any of his weapons.  Now what?
        He explored deeper.  Just when he least expected, the spell
wore off, and he reverted to his human form.  Which was good, because
he couldn't open the giant treasure chest he so stumbled upon with his
little rabbit paws.  Link pushed the heavy lid open.  Inside, there was
a glove made out of gold, studded with rubies on the knuckles.
        So he slipped it on...nice fit.  He headed out of the room,
when he heard the sound of crying.  There were two rooms in that corri-
dor:  one with his new glove, the other one he had yet to explore.  So
he went down the second hallway.
        And there in the room, contained inside a small cellblock, was
a little girl with pink hair, crying her frightened heart out.
        "Little girl!" Link shouted.  "Are you alright?"
        More sobs.  "Wh-who are you?" she asked.
        "My name is Link.  Don't worry, I'll get you outta here."  He
looked at the big lock on the cell.  "Somehow."  The lock was huge.
None of his keys would work the lock.  He was getting frustrated.  Then
he hit the lock with his hand - the same one which he was wearing the
new glove.  The lock fell to the ground, in a crumpled heap, and the
cell gate swung open.  "How-"
        "It's the glove!" the girl shouted, as she charged and hugged
Link.
        "What do you mean?" Link asked.
        "The Titan's Mitt.  It gives the wearer super strength."
        "I'll remember that.  What's your name?"
        "I'm Reenie."  She looked up at him.  "Please, take me home."
So Link led Reenie out of the dungeon, but as they got to the main door
with all the sunlight pouring in, "Um, please," Reenie started, ner-
vously, "uh, Link, don't...go...this way..."
        Link could see that Reenie was clearly shaked by the sunlight,
and that this *wasn't* really Reenie.  So he got an idea.
        He took the girl into an empty room where a few beams of light
poured into the room via cracks in the ceiling.  He led her just below
the cracks, and without her knowing, threw a bomb straight up.  The ex-
plosion blew a giant hole in the ceiling, allowing a lot of light to
pour through.  Right on Reenie and Link.
        Link shielded his eyes from the light.  Reenie...didn't take it
so well.
        "GYAAAAAAAA!!!" she shouted.  Her voice warped.  "It's...too...
BRIGHT!!!"  Then, she exploded into a puff of smoke, and when the smoke
cleared, a figure with a giant, red head, wearing a white cloak, huge
red, hands sticking out of the sleeves took her place.
        "You're DOOMED, hero!" it shouted.  "NO ONE messes with Blind,
the Thief!"  His head started spinning around 360 degrees, firing red
balls of energy in all directions.  Irritated, Link lunged at Blind,
and with one shot, slit his neck wide open.
        The cloak dropped to the floor.  The head hovered in place,
then flew around the room, firing all over.  Then, the cloak rose, and
a new head appeared in place of the other one.  This head occasionally
stopped spinning, but only to fire a laser beam straight at Link.
        "Dear god," Link said, "how many heads do you have in reserve?"
        "Oh, I'd say about one more," Blind said sarcasticly.  This
prompted Link to cut the second of Blind's heads off.  Sure enough, one
more head replaced the other one.
        But Link was concentrating on the main body so much, he forgot
about the other two heads floating around.  So he didn't notice it at
first when he took a shot from one of the heads on his shoulder.
        First he cringed in pain.  Then, he chopped off the final of
Blind's three heads.  The first two vanished in a puff of smoke.  His
body exploded violently.  And then, the crystal containg the REAL Ree-
nie dropped to the floor in front of him.
        -Link,- he heard her voice say, -because of you, I can escape
from the clutches of the evil monsters.  Thank you!-
        "Reenie?" he asked.
        -No.  This time, it's not an illusion.  It's really me.  I'm
alright.  Your efforts and Tuxedo Mask's are paying off.  And I, like
all the others, are confident that you two will destroy Ganon without
fail.-  Then, her form started to disappear
        "Thank you, Reenie."
        -Good lunk, Link.  And may the way of the Hero lead you to the
Triforce....-

=====TO BE CONTINUED=====