Link and Zelda now each had rooms in Jet’s house, and they had been living with Kari and him for nearly a week now. Jet and Kari had taken this week to learn all they could of Hyrule and Link’s journeys to the other planets. Link and Zelda were incredible as partners in story telling and combat, even though the two had completely different pasts. Zelda was always raised in a castle, and though she was tomboyish in several ways, she still got used to the lifestyle of being constantly pampered. Link on the other hand was raised in a forest, and spent most of his life traveling and sleeping outside, having to catch his own food. Because of this he was very good at cooking, and Jet and Kari had enjoyed several new meals thanks to him this past week.
It was on this day that Link told Jet the exact coordinates to set on his digivice to get to Hyrule field. Jet was eager to see this place, and even more eager to see the castle. Jet had always only imagined such things as this, and now he had a chance to see it firsthand.
“Digi Port Open!,” Jet called out, and the familiar blue vortex of energy appeared in mid-air.
Link went first, followed by Zelda, then Kari, and finally Jet, who closed the warp. They flew through the warp portal, their ultimate destination Hyrule field. They went on for what seemed like an eternity to Link through the blue vortex, and he wondered if they were going to make it by night. The digivice always moved slow when it locked onto new coordinates for the first time. After they went there and back, they would be able to make it to Hyrule in a matter of seconds.
Link finally saw a small light open up a small distance away, and he thought that it had to be the end of the vortex. Jet saw bright yellowish green at the end of the portal, and he knew that the color was probably grass. When at last they came to Hyrule field, Jet was in awe.
Directly in front of him was a large castle with white walls, and a large wooden drawbridge. There was a moat with fresh water flowing steadily to a small stream which led to the river. The sun gleamed down on the river, making a beautiful sight. The light flickered on the water with a certain beauty that Jet had never witnessed.
“Look at this Kari! Its all so…. Amazing…. I love it!” Jet exclaimed with excitement.
“Yeah….. its… really great… honey….,” Kari said in a rather weak tone, her mind somewhere else.
“….. Anything… wrong?” Jet asked, rather worried at Kari’s lack of enthusiasm.
“No… well…. Yes…but…. Just… don’t worry about it, okay?” Kari said quietly.
“Yeah… okay… not another word… sorry I brought it up,” Jet said almost to himself.
He looked around again. To his right was a hill and a small bridge crossing the stream, which led to a staircase going up to Kakariko village, a peaceful area at the foot of Death mountain. Far away to his left he saw a rather large fenced in area with stone walls. Link had described this as Lon Lon ranch. Jet planned on trying the milk there sometime, as according to Zelda, Hylian milk was at least ten times better than Earth milk. Jet had no way to tell.
He suddenly turned his thoughts to Kari. They had been very much in love when they met in the Digital world, but as of late, it seemed that they were having more and more problems. They were getting more distant, and whenever Jet would try to see what was wrong, Kari would hide behind a rather obvious lie and flash her fake smile, which reassured Jet even less. In truth, he had no idea if Kari still loved him, if she was happy at all. Some of the love had left Jet due to a fight they had long ago. Kari left one night and Jet was scared nearly to death. He eventually found her, and after a long talk, they resolved things, but their relationship was never quite the same after that.
“Hey! This way Jet!” Link called out, snapping Jet out of his thought.
“ Come on… we need to cover a lot of ground tonight,” Zelda said, disguised again as Sheik.
“ Right behind you,” Kari said, walking quickly to catch up to Link and Zelda. Jet lagged a bit, still amazed at the entire place. What got to Jet was the fact that, unlike the Digital world, this place was real. He could die here, and his soul would leave his body, not be deleted. He could get cut here, and he would bleed, not have skin data get erased. It was all so new and amazing. Jet wanted to explore every planet Link had spoken of, and he planned to.
They walked until the sky was orange and the sun was setting behind the great looming shadow of the distant cliffs. They sat now in a sandy area, under a well shaded cliff. They were near Gerudo valley, the area where Ganondorf was born and raised. They sat in between a circle of rocks, around a small fire, cooking a guay, the main bird of Hyrule, and preparing to eat it.
“ Guay look really dangerous and you’d think they’d have all sorts of diseases, but they are actually really safe to eat… trust me I know from living out here,” Link said, his mouth almost watering at the scent of the roasting bird.
“Again… I wouldn’t know,” Jet said, looking at the bridge that led to the fortress of the Gerudo.
Zelda stood suddenly, readying her needles.
“What is it?” Link asked nervously, unsheathing his Master sword.
“Can’t you hear it? Stalfos. Six of them. Coming right towards us. They must have been sent by Ganon to kill us. They probably saw the smoke from the fire and decided to head this way,” Zelda said quietly, almost in a whisper.
“Should we put the fire out?” Kari asked nervously.
“Nah, that wouldn’t do any good now. They know we’re here, and putting it out would just reinforce that,” Link said quietly.
Jet looked ahead. Stalfos were indeed much as Link described them. Five foot tall warriors who hunched slightly, made completely out of bone, but somehow alive. They wore black and red armor, carried round buckler shields, and wielded large red blades. There were six of them, and Jet relied solely on Link and Zelda, as he knew Kari and him were unarmed, and not that good at hand to hand combat. Jet used street smarts whenever he got in a fight as a child, and even at that he usually lost.
Link suddenly charged, yelling out loudly and hitting one of the Stalfos in the head with his shield, all while slicing off the arm of another. The Stalfos bled all over the dirt, its green blood stained on the Master sword. One of the Stalfos came up behind Link, and Sheik very quickly released five needles into the back of it’s head, and it fell to the ground, then burst into green fire. This surprised Jet, who was still trying to get over the green blood.
Jet ran forward quite suddenly, and kicked one of the Stalfos hard in the head. It knocked the Stalfos down, but did no serious damage, as Jet was wearing Nike’s. The Stalfos almost cleaved his head straight down the middle, but Sheik suddenly shot a blast of golden light out of her hand, accompanied with the phrase “Triforce of Wisdom!”
Jet owed Zelda his life. He would thank her later. He was now fascinated with the Triforce, as it possessed some kind of offensive magic quite obviously. He would have to ask about that later to. Link killed two with a spin attack. Jet, now wanting more than ever to redeem himself, picked up a jagged rock from the circle of stones they were sitting in, and threw it at a Stalfo’s head, causing a large bleeding wound to appear on its skull. It fell to the ground, lifeless, then burst into flames.
The last Stalfos started running away quickly to report to Ganon likely, but Link could not take that chance. Taking out his fairy bow, he strung an arrow very quickly, and pierced its neck. As the sun lowered below the hills, and the skies turned black, the desert was illuminated by a green fire, the death of an entire squad of Ganon’s minions. He would be angered, but it hardly made a dent in his forces. The four rested again.
“So… those things were Stalfos?” Jet asked, out of breath.
“ Yeah…. Six at once is a little difficult,” Link answered.
“How many more are there?” Kari asked.
“Hundreds at least,” Link answered.
Jet and Kari both fell silent. They were truly alone. They didn’t have their digimon partners, and Jet didn’t have his poke’mon. This was the first time in a long while that the two had to rely solely on themselves in the face of danger. When Jet had fought that Stalfos he finally realized just how weak he really was. If it wasn’t for Zelda, his blood would be stained upon the desert right now.
A wolfos howled far in the distance. This was the sign that night had officially came to Hyrule. The wild packs of wolfos also howled at night in Termina. Hyrule and Termina were similar in many ways, but at first glance they seemed completely different.
“Hey, Zelda…. that whole thing back there…. you saved my life… thanks,” Jet said, staring at the ground and kicking a stone.
“We are all partners now…. I wasn’t about to let you die,” Zelda said.
“ Yeah… well, thanks… a lot,” Jet said, looking up at Zelda.
“You’re welcome,” she said, her gaze meeting his.
“Jet… we need to talk….. right now,” Kari said in an urgent tone.
“Um.. okay, talk away,” Jet said, trying his best not to sound nervous.
“Alone,” Kari said, her voice weak.
“Okay….” Jet said.
The two slowly walked off to a grassy area.
They sat down next to a cliff wall, looking out on the amazing field. Jet loved this place, indeed he loved it thousands of times more than anything he had ever seen in the Digital world, and he wanted to see more of it. He had always hated the way Earth felt. It was all so organized. Pay taxes, live in a house, everyone knows where you live, you have to pay for things like water just to keep the world spinning, you need money for everything. He didn’t like it at all. This place was so much freer. Jet loved it. He was happier than he could ever remember being.
“Kari…. Whats wrong? And don’t bother saying nothing… I can tell something’s a matter,” Jet said, turning serious suddenly, his smile disappearing.
“Jet, we are different. I’ve felt it for awhile now, and I know you have to. We aren’t going to work as a couple anymore. We want different things. You want to be free… to be out here and go on incredible adventures and to be a hero. I … don’t. I want to live a quiet life with the luxuries of modern Earth. I like technology Jet…no, I love it. And you’re just… different. I know it’s leading to problems…. I can tell…. So.. goodbye,” Kari said quite suddenly.
“But.. wait.. please,” Jet pleaded.
“Please… don’t say anything else…. It won’t work… this is what…I want…so.. bye,” Kari said in a low tone, choking back tears.
“Digi port open!” Kari called out, crying.
She went through the vortex, and it closed quickly. Jet remembered her face, the warm tears streaming down it and hitting the grass. That was the last time he ever looked upon her face again. He was depressed, yes. But he didn’t feel like crying, as he believed it would only make the situation worse. He got up slowly, then determined to stay hardened, walked back to Zelda and Link. His heart was broken, and he needed love more than ever now, but he wasn’t about to show it.