Champions of Earth

Chapter 4 - Traitors

A small military squad and some DIBC agents pulled up to the Oakwood Hotel in their tanks, military trucks, and vans. They demanded an evacuation of the building, with their probable cause being that known criminals were on the property.

Link saw what was going on through the window, having been awoken by the noise.

"Stay in the hotel." Link instructed Zelda, who had just woken. "We need to stay hidden."

When the DIBC noticed that the enemy had not left the premises, they sent six agents inside, armed with machine guns.

Revali was awoken from his fantastic dream by the sound of gunfire.

"The hell?" Revali jumped up in surprise.

Link had already opened the window for them to climb down, but he saw that there were now agents on all sides of the hotel, surrounding the premises.

"Come out, all of you, with your hands in the air!" Director Patterson shouted.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a giant yellow turtle creature appeared from the sky, sending an explosion to the ground. The smoke distracted the agents and impaired their vision temporarily, leaving the group time to escape.

The turtle spoke to a small man in a red shirt and blue overalls, who then walked over to the Hotel.

"Hurry!" he said. "Get out of here while you still can!"

"Who are you!" Urbosa demanded. "Are you with those- those agents!"

No!" he said. "It's a me, Mario! From the video games! These impolite fellows went after me for years, but they eventually gave up. I'm a hardened criminal and fugitive now! My allies and I have dedicated ourselves to helping newcomers who end up in this wretched world stay safe from the DIBC"

With help from Mario and his crew, the Champions made a swift escape.

"Where the hell are those damn bastards?" Johann Patterson shouted.

"We aren't sure sir," a soldier began. "But I think I see a dead Pikachu over there! Might that be of use?"

"Take it back to the lab." Johann replied. "We'll look for those damned Zelda characters later..."

Meanwhile, Link and the champions were taken to a refugee center for fictional characters on the run. Mipha and Daruk still hadn't fully processed the fact that they were from a fictional world.

The refugee center was a large hidden cave with several vast halls and rooms, hidden in a mountain behind Oakwood.

"Here is your room!" Mario exclaimed.

The group all shared one large room, which fortunately wasn't too cramped, even for Daruk, and had six large beds, saving them from the arguments and problems they had gone through back at the hotel.

That night, Link was up and about, searching for a kitchen and a meal, when he suddenly heard Mario's voice, talking with some others.

He followed the voice to a secret room, and watched through a crack. He overheard talk between Mario, the turtle Bowser, a pink ball apparently named Kirby, and a yellow ball apparently named Pac-Man. They had tied up a strange blue hedgehog named Sonic, and were gathered around him.

Pac-Man licked his lips, and began to eat Sonic. As he ate sonic, sonic turned into bits of data which Pac-Man and the others absorbed.

"Ah, nothing better than some fresh data." Mario exclaimed with delight.

Link wondered what Sonic could have possibly done to deserve such a fate.

"Bowser!" said Mario. "Get the hunting squad, and round up those six we found today! We need to eat their data if we want to keep fighting off the DIBC! And be careful, it will take a lot to take down six people at once. And we have no clube what powers they may have! Actually, scratch that, bring Link to me. I want him alive. He's important, like us. He'll understand everything."

Bowser nodded his head, and left the room, gathering the hunting squad to head towards Link's room.

Link stared in horror. These so-called refugees were cannibals feeding off others' data to survive.

And they were going to eat him, Zelda, Mipha, Revali, Urbosa, and Daruk.

He had to warn them before they became dinner.

Then he remembered, he could message them on the Sheikah Slate!

Link warned them, and luckily the notification sound woke up Mipha, who promptly alerted everyone.

"Link" Mario said, having appeared as if from nowhere. "I always knew you'd be trouble. You're one of us, but you aren't like us, are you? You have character, something we all lack. We never received that gift, unfortunately. But there's no envy there, don't worry. We just need more data. The more we absorb, the stronger we get, and the better our chances against those agents are. Don't you understand? I'm giving you one more chance."

"Hell no." Link replied.

"So be it." Mario growled with a glare. "Your friends may escape from my friends, but I'm afraid this is the end of the line for you."

Link tapped his Sheikah Slate, summoning a Remote Bomb. Before Mario could react, Link detonated it right below his feet, sending both him and Mario blasting off.

As soon as he was able to get up, Link ran, and he ran far. He ran until he felt the glowing warmth of the sunlight once again, and he ran until he saw Zelda's beautiful smile in the distance.