"Man, the weather sucks today," Ness said to himself as he stared out the window. A mixture of rain and snow was falling over the landscape of Onett, making everything the same, disgusting shade of gray. The first day of winter vacation and this had to happen? I have to go somewhere sunny, or I'll lose my mind, he thought to himself. "Mom!" He called out, "I'm going to Paula's for a few hours, okay?" "My land! You shouldn't be going anywhere in this weather! But I know you won't listen to me anyway. Be sure to dress warm! Bye, Honey!" Ness put his red cap on his head, took his Gutsy Bat in his hand and said "Bye Mom!"

    Of course, Ness hadn't bothered to put on anything warm, because he was going to pick up his friends and they would all go down to Carillon Beach in Summers for a day of relaxation in the sun. He was freezing by the time he got to the bus stop. He waited for a few minutes and then the bus came to take him to Twoson. Once he was there, He looked for a building with the sign "Polestar" on it. He knocked on the door. The door opened, and there stood Paula's mother. "Ness! Is that you? You look like a block of ice! Come in and sit down! Paula will be down in a moment." Ness gratefully accepted and Paula's mom left the room. The kids that usually filled the area were absent, because of the snowstorm. Just then, he heard soft footsteps coming down the stairs. "Ness! You came all this way in such disgusting weather?" Paula ran up to Ness and gave him a great big hug. Teeth chattering from the cold, Ness hastily explained:

    "W-well, I w-w-wanted t-to know if you, J-J-Jeff, and P-Poo w-w-wanted to c-come with m-m-me to Summers."
    "Ness! That's a great idea! But… Why are you taking your bat with you?"
    "What-Oh. Um… I don't know. I guess it was some sort of reflex action or whatever."
    "It doesn't matter anyway. Let's go get Jeff! Mom! I'm going out for a few hours, okay?" she called out
    "Okay, Paula!" Her mom replied.

    Outside, Ness and Paula saw that the roads were freshly plowed, so they could be used as runways for teleportation. Ness visualized Winter, where Jeff lived, in his mind. He and Paula began to gain speed. When they were fast enough, the city around them disintegrated. Ness expected to see the image of the Snow Wood boarding house materialize, but he didn't. Something had gone terribly wrong! A blue vortex suddenly appeared in front of Ness and Paula. Paula grabbed Ness's hand and screamed. Before any of them could do anything, the vortex pulled them in.

    They materialized in the center of what seemed to be a town square, except the town was completely destroyed. Burned out buildings were everywhere, and behind them was a gigantic castle made out of obsidian. The obsidian gleamed from the light of a lava pit surrounding the castle. Bodies where everywhere. Ness thought he heard one of them moan, and he approached it Paula called out, "Are you alright? Do you need any help?" The body then rose onto its feet! Ness and Paula then saw that it was horribly decomposed. They then noticed in alarm that the other dead bodies had rose-- and were approaching them. The first one looked directly at Ness and Paula. Before they were able to use their PSI, the stare of the zombie stopped them dead in their tracks. They were paralyzed with fear. They couldn't help but watch its dead, empty eye sockets as it moved agonizingly slowly towards them.

    Just as the first zombie had leaned over to bite Paula, a silver flash had pierced through his back and came out of the front. The zombie turned to face this new threat, but before it could paralyze this new attacker, it was stabbed three more times in quick succession. The zombie collapsed on the ground, twitching. Paula was the first one to recover from the paralysis. She turned towards the other zombies and concentrated on the essence of fire. PSI Fire burst from her fingertips and the zombies began to burn. However, they didn't seem to mind in the least. Meanwhile, Ness had recovered and was SMAAAAASHing away at the zombies with his Gutsy Bat. He managed to knock down a few, but it was proving very ineffective. Blunt objects didn't hurt them much. The new ally, hidden in shadow, threw a bomb into the cluster of zombies. This took out quite a few of them. Another bomb took care of the rest.

    "Hey, thanks man! You saved our life," Said Ness to the figure cloaked in darkness.
    "Yeah, we don't know what would have happened if you hadn't come," said Paula
    No answer.
    "He doesn't talk much, does he?" asked Ness.

    Then, their new ally stepped from the shadows. He was a young boy, about sixteen, and he had blond hair, blue eyes, and pointed ears. He wore a green tunic and a long green hat on his head. A tiny, glowing fairy hovered around him.
    "Wow!" Paula exclaimed, "It's a fairy!
    Ness narrowed his eyes. "I'm sure we could have beaten those guys on our own. Right, Paula?"
    Their rescuer raised his eyebrow in an expression of slight amusement.
    "What are you talking about, Ness? We were frozen, remember? Zombies on all sides? No escape? Then, whoosh, we're saved by him!"
    "Link, how did these kids get here? And they don't look like they're from Hyrule… Look at their clothes!"
    Paula and Ness stopped arguing and looked in amazement at the fairy. It had spoken!
    "Your fairy can talk! That is so cool! Isn't it Ness?" Yelled Paula excitedly.
    "Yeah, Sure, Whatever." Ness said, looking bored. "Look. We need to-"
    "Follow me," said the boy in green named Link, the first he had spoken since Ness and Paula met him.
    "Why should we?" Said Ness, defensively. Link rolled his eyes in frustration.
    "Ok, fine. Don't come. You can just sit here and die."
    "Alright, Alright. I'm coming."

    Outside the ruined town, The day was bright and shiny. They looked at a field that extended beyond their view. What looked like a ranch could just be made out when they looked carefully. Link put away his sword and shield and brought out something that resembled a small flute. He played six notes and then put it away.

    "Wha-" started Ness, but he was interrupted by the clattering of hooves. A large chestnut-brown horse came running towards them out of nowhere. Ness and Paula just stared in amazement as the horse stopped in front of Link. "Good girl, Epona," Link said and mounted the horse. "Well, what are you waiting for? Get on!" Said Link.
    "What? You mean we're going to ride on that? I never rode on a horse before!" Ness replied.
    "What do you mean? You never rode a horse before? You just walk everywhere?"
    "No, I--"
    "Forget it. Just get on."
    Ness and Paula mounted the horse behind Link. Epona started running over the fields.
"Hey, um… Link! Where are we? Are we anywhere in Eagleland?" Paula managed to ask.
"Eagleland? I've never heard of that place. You are in Hyrule."