The Legend of Zelda: The Hero Reborn (Modern Adventure AU)

Days Gone By

One-two!

Uppercut!

Dodge!

One-two-three!

Almost done.

One-two, jab!

 One-two-three, uppercut!"

"Good work, Link." 

After connecting with the last punch, Link took a step back from his trainer and took off his white and green boxing gloves. He breathed heavily as sweat poured down his forehead. 

"Thanks, Coach." He replied, wiping his face with the towel on the edge of the ring. Trying to regain his breath, Link sat down on the edge of the ring, staring into the empty gym bleachers. 

"Hydrate, rest up for tomorrow." 

"Yes, sir. I will." 

Now standing up, Link grabbed his shirt from the edge of the ring and slung it over his sweat-drenched back. He was exhausted, and most definitely ready to head back home. Before climbing over the edge of the ring, Link took a swig of water to re-hydrate. The last thing he would want is to feel sick the night before his last fight of the year. After putting his gloves and towel in his gym bag, Link waited for his coach to finish packing up. Once he did so, they both exited the Hemingridge High School gym.

"See you tomorrow, Dante." Link said. 

"Alright. Good work today. Try Get a good night's sleep tonight." 

"Yes, sir. I will." 

"See you tomorrow." Dante replied.

With a final wave, Link brought out his car keys and headed towards his dad's old truck. As he opened the backseat door, he threw his gym bag in the seat next to his school bag. He knew he was most definitely not in the mood to drive home, especially after a workout like that. Link then hopped in his car and started it, readying himself for the drive back home. 

As he put his hand on the steering wheel, Link's left hand began to feel a burning pain. He flinched as the feeling came to him, but he ultimately knew exactly what it was. He looked down to notice that the mark on his hand began to glow again, and it shocked him and scared him at the same time. Although it had been eight years since the mark appeared on his hand, the strange recurrences of the glow hadn't been that often. In fact, the last time he remembered it had began to do so was in the first few days of his junior year of high school, which was only around a year and a half ago. 

He flinched and groaned in pain, but continued to drive. To him, it felt like he had placed his hand on a burning stove. The thing that always confused him was why part of the triangle glowed more vibrantly than the other. The bottom right triangle on the three-part triangle was the one that caused all of the pain for him, and glowed much brighter than the other parts. As he watched his hand glow, he waited. There were times where he swore he heard a faint, feminine voice when he did so. Sometimes, he thought he was crazy, but other times, he knew he heard someone... or something... talking to him. He never told his mother or anyone else about that, however. To this day, neither him or his mother could figure out what this thing was. For the most part, it scared him, and he was sure that it was some kind of skin disease that had never been found before. The last thing he wanted to hear was that it was some kind of new cancer. Ever since Dragmire had taken over, the whole nation's work force, including doctors, now worked under Dragmire whether they liked it or not. 

Thankfully for him, Hemingridge resided in the middle-most part of the DMZ, or the Demilitarized Zone. This area of the former nation of Hyrule is a boundary in which the Gerudians do not even bother to cross. The DMZ is a part of the country with small towns surrounded by large mountains, and those who survived Judgement Day mostly fled there, causing the population for each town in these states to skyrocket. However, there were still those who remained in the old nation of Hyrule, but the life for those Hylians was most likely terrible. There had been stories from those who escaped, such as how civilians were commonly executed, accused of crimes they didn't commit, beaten recklessly with no explanation, and how Dragmire installed a communist-like government takes nearly all of their paycheck. From what Link saw, Dragmire clearly had no desire to take the DMZ, as the main thing he truly wanted was the capital... and that he got. In the Demilitarized Zone, few groups of Hylian Resistance remain. As years after the invasion went on, multiple attacks to attempt to take back Hylian land took place, but each time the resistance was ultimately crushed by Dragmire's forces. However, it had been at least three years since the last attack, and most assumed that meant the resistance was most likely planning something big. That, or they were totally eliminated.