The Final Game

By GreatAngemon

"You about ready, Link?" Sheik asked, standing from the bench. He pulled his jersey over his head and bounced up and down on his toes a few times.

"Yeah." Link didn't look up from lacing his sneakers as he answered. "Get the guys lined up. I'll be over in a second." As Sheik walked away, Link looked up and sighed. Only one more year, he thought. One more year, and then I'm out.

He stood, pulled his jersey over his own head, bounced like Sheik had, and walked over to his team. "Alright guys, last game of the year. If we win this, we'll get the All-Hylian Cup." He took a breath, and then continued, "Are you guys ready?"

The team all nodded, apparently too nervous to speak. "Alright, let's get out there." He started off at a gentle walk, closely followed by his team. Before long, he began taking faster steps, soon breaking into an all out run. All at once, Link's eyes were blinded, his ears deafened and his brain overloaded as he ran onto the court from the locker rooms. The lights flew over each member of his team, even the reserve members, who jogged over and took a seat on the bench by the coach.

The crowd was drowning the sound of the commentator's voice, as he announced the names of his team. "And your home team, the Knights! Team captain, Link Time, third year, is point guard for his team! Center position is played by Sheik Impaz, third year!

"Power forward is Shikashi Bongon, second year! Small forward is Mido Kokor, first year, and youngest member of the team! Last, but certainly not least is the shooting guard, Kafei Masque!" the crowd roared its approval as each member of the team took their positions on the court and waved.

The opposing team began falling out of their locker room amid cheers and jeers from the spectators But Link's mind was elsewhere, whishing he wasn't on the court. As the team took their places on the other side of the court and the referee walked to the middle of the court.

He held up the ball, and Link's attention shot to the ball in the ref's hand, and then to his counterpart on the other side of the court. The guy was glaring at him. Link winked. Then the ref tossed the ball into the air. Link shot forward and sprang up; grabbing the ball in his outstretched hand, spun around and, as he landed, began dribbling the ball towards the net on the opposite end of the court.

One of the members of the opposing team threw himself in Link's path, but Link dodged carefully around him. As he approached the basket, he stopped for a moment, bent his knees slightly and jumped, tossing the ball in an arc. It swished cleanly through the net.

He jogged back to his side of the court as the shooting guard for the other team grabbed the ball. "Nice shot!" Sheik shouted above the roar of the crowd. Link grinned at him halfheartedly.

The referee blew his whistle and the game continued. The shooting guard, a burly man with dark skin and a pig snout-like nose passed the ball to the power forward, a large, thin man with almost no visible muscle on his body. He dribbled the ball, ducking around Link, then Mido and finally jumping to arc the ball over everyone's heads, but Sheik jumped, knocking the ball aside with his wrist.

Shikashi hit the ball a few times before passing it to Kafei who, being rather small, managed to duck around most of the players on the opposing team, before being knocked down by the team captain, a large, thickset man with dark red hair.

The referee blew his whistle, and called a foul. Link helped Kafei to his feet. "You good?" he asked.

Kafei nodded. "Alright, you take the shot." All of the players and the crowd were silent as they lined up for Kafei's free throw. The silenced seemed to thicken as he lined up his shot, jumped and tossed the ball neatly into the hoop.

Link looked up at the scoreboard. It showed Hylian Knights 3 – Gerudo Spirits 0.

Smirking, he got ready for play to resume. When the whistle blew, he immediately went straight for the captain, who was holding the ball. Before Link could act, the man had shot the ball towards the hoop. It bounced off of the backboard and into the net.

Link's eyes went wide, and looked at Sheik, who also was gaping at the man. The buzzer rang, signaling the end of the first quarter. Link's team all gathered around him. "Did you see that?" "What are we gonna do?" "Link, what's that guy taking?"

"Just, shut up," Link said. He rubbed his temples. "Okay, we can't leave that guy alone; he's too good. Sheik, I want you on him. Don't give him the chance to take another shot like that."

"You got it."

"Alright, you guys ready? We're all tied up right now, but we can get it back. Let's get this!"

The team went back to their positions, waiting for the referee to blow his whistle. When the shrill shriek blasted through the air, everyone surged forward at once; Link went for the ball, as did the other captain. Sheik went straight to him, ready to deflect any shot he'd try, but before anything could be done with the ball, the ref blew his whistle again, declaring a foul on Sheik for deliberate contact.

"What the hell are you talking about!" Link roared, storming to the referee. "He didn't touch him!"

"Get back onto the court, kid," the referee said calmly.

"Then take it back, idiot!"

The ref blew his whistle again. "Two free throws for the Spirits!" he called. "Get back onto the court."

Link continued to glare at the man, but went back to the court, ready for the opposing team's free throws. One was made clean through without the net moving, but the other bounced off of the rim, knocking Kafei off his feet after it struck him in the nose.

"Foul!" roared the crowd.

"Foul!" roared Link and the rest of the team, and the captain.

The referee took the hint and blew his whistle. Again everyone lined up after Kafei went to sit down. Link took the shot, scored and called a time-out. He jogged over to the bench. "Hey, you alright?"

Kafei looked up. His nose was streaming with crimson blood. "I on't sink so," he said, pinching his nose to stem the flow. Link ushered him to move his hand momentarily away from his face. When he did, Link saw that his nose was crooked at the end.

"Shit," he muttered. "Alright, take a break. Try and stop the bleeding."

"Ogay."

Link motioned to a pale, baggy eyed person sitting near Kafei. "Grog, you're in."

"Whatever, man," Grog said, slumping his shoulders and walking to Kafei's position on the court. Link's hand flew to his forehead. One year… just one more year.

The game commenced until there was only thirty seconds left on the clock in the last quarter, and everything was all tied up. Calling a time-out, Link pulled his team in close together. "Alright, we only have thirty seconds left. Twenty, twenty. All we gotta do is get one more shot in."

"We can do it," Sheik said. He looked fiercely determined. Link nodded his approval.

"Let's go. Just stall. I'll take the final shot," Link said. The team broke apart, heading for their positions on the court.

Without understanding it, Link could feel something as the referee blew his whistle. Something telling his that this was his last game he'd ever play. He dashed forward, grasped the ball. Twenty seconds.

He dodged around one player, then another. Fifteen. He passed the ball to Sheik, who passed it to Grog, who arced it over the heads of all the players back to Link. Five.

Link bent his knees, jumped and shot the ball towards the hoop. He kept watching the ball, not noticing the opposing captain rushing at him. Just as the ball swished through the hoop, the red-haired young man collided with Link, knocking him over out of the air.

As he fell, he felt something in his ankle snap. Crying out, he heard the buzzer go off. His team rushed over to him, not realizing something was wrong.

Link reached for his ankle, still screaming, but no one realized anything was wrong. And then his team saw him, lying on the floor, still screaming. And one by one they all dropped to their knees, doing their utmost to help.

"Call an ambulance!" "Get a doctor!" "Someone, help me get him off the floor!"

A few hours later, in a hospital bed, Link was reading a comic that his parents had brought him from home. There was a knock on the door. He looked up and found Sheik, along with the coach, standing there.

"Mind if we bother you?" the coach asked. Link waved them in.

"Hey," he said. The coach, a rotund man in a long redcoat, sat down beside his bed, as did Sheik.

"How ya feelin' kid?" he asked.

"Like crap, to be honest," Link said. He fingered the IV tube sticking out of his arm. "This helps though."

"I talked to your doctor," Sheik said. "He told me that all it's just a dislocated ankle. You'll be back to practice in a couple of weeks."

Link looked back down at his comic, not wanting to say anything, but he felt both sets of eyes on him. Before long, he began talking again, in a low whisper. "No, I won't, Sheik."

"What?"

"What do you mean you won't?"

"I'm resigning from the team."

"The hell you are!" the coach bellowed. "What, you think that you get a little injury and you can just up and leave the team?"

"No, I don't think that. I think that I hate this stupid game, and I've wanted out for the last six months."

"What?" Sheik asked again.

"I haven't been feeling it, lately. I just… I don't know. I don't like this game anymore. I was gonna wait till I graduated and then stop, but… this is just as good a chance as any for me to leave."

"You love basketball, Link," Sheik said.

"No, I loved basketball. I got sick of it after the way people treated me. They all started loving me, just cause I could throw a ball. None of them cared at all before, and I don't want them to care again."

"You don't want people to like you?"

"I don't want people to like me because I can throw a ball. If they're going to like me, I want it to be for me, not for a stupid game.

"Look, I know you're disappointed, but it's up to me."

Without another word, the coach stood and left, kicking the doorframe on his way out. "I'm not mad at you, Link," Sheik said, looking down at his lap. "I get it. I really do. I'm sorry that you're leaving though. You're the best captain this team's ever had. Led us to more victories than we've ever had."

"I was alright. You'll be better though." Sheik looked up, and Link winked. "That's right, boyo, I'm making you captain. Just… make sure that we win next year, too."

Link grinned, leaned back and closed his eyes. "It's nice to finally get a break. I love finally not having to worry about plays, practice or disappointing anyone."

Sheik smiled and stood. "I'll see you around, Link." As he walked out of the room, a girl with violet eyes and long blonde hair bumped into him.

"Oh, sorry," she said quietly. "Is this Link Time's room?"

"Yeah, but he isn't feeling so hot right now. If I were you-"

"Can you just tell him that Zelda wants to see him?"

Sheik turned back and said, "Hey Link, you've got a visitor."

"Who is it?"

"She said her name's Zelda." Link's eyes flew open.

"Yeah, let her come in."

Sheik looked surprised. "Alright," he said, turning back to Zelda. "Go ahead. But try not to stay too long."

"Yes sir," Zelda said, mocking a salute.

Sheik walked away grinning as he heard Link and Zelda begin talking.

To be continued?