CHAPTER FIVE - The Election

Support for Ganondorf's party was strong. Everything was going just as he'd planned. It had been a stroke of luck when he'd found out that not only could he join the Gerudo party, he could stand in for the recently deceased leader and run for President of Hyrule. The President was a powerful man, he'd found out, even more so than the King. Ganondorf chuckled when he thought about the former leader. Although he wanted to make it look like an accident, he couldn't resist bringing in a Stalfos to do the job.
"Sir," Ganondorf's campaign manager Charles came running in. "The final poll has been released. You're all set to win tomorrow!"
"Wonderful!"

Zelda spent the few days before Saturday getting Link accustomed to living in the future. She had told her parents, and after a bit of convincing, they soon knew that he was the real Hero of Time. They were happy let Link stay with them, and he was soon educated with things such as etiquette and how to act, laws, history and other information that may prove useful. One such thing that worried Link was the fact that magic had died out. He knew that Ganondorf was a powerful man, and the only way he'd been able to defeat him last time was by using the magic light arrows of truth and justice.

"Julia, I know you're grounded but I need you to do me a favour," her stern old aunt Constance said. "Take this down the street to the mailbox. It's my postal vote for tomorrow's election."
"I'm not to leave the house 'cept for school," Julia quoted back, sick of her aunt.
"Stop being cheeky and do it," Constance yelled. Julia snatched the envelope out of her aunt's hand.
"You've got ten minutes Julia, not a second more!"
Julia didn't want to give her aunt the satisfaction, but she really didn't mind posting the vote. She was desperate to leave the house, and she didn't think it was fair that just because she was home at seven instead of six thirty the other night she should get grounded for a month. Only three days into it, Julia was already going mad. All her aunt wanted to do was act all authoritative over Julia, and she despised it.

She took her time walking down to the post office. As she walked down the main street, Julia was amazed by the way that this election was having an effect on people. Everywhere she looked, posters were plastered onto every imaginable surface, from buses, billboards and even cars. Not to mention the hundreds who wore badges and carried leaflets. Julia didn't really care about politics that much and didn't pay attention, but one particular poster caught her attention because for every opposing party, this one had three times as much advertising. It was for the Gerudo party, and everywhere she looked Julia could see the candidate's face. She felt almost as though the posters were watching her and this guy gave her an uneasy feeling. There was something about the look in his eyes…
"Don't be stupid," she told herself. "Of course it's not watching you. It's just paper for crying out loud." Julia walked up to the mailbox and posted her aunt's letter, although she was tempted not to and make Constance pay a fine. As she did, a tall skinny man approached her.
"Hi I'm Charles and I was wondering which party you'll be supporting for tomorrow's election?" he asked.
"I'm not really interested in it," Julia answered, turning around. But Charles grabbed her by the shoulder. "Wait!" he said.
"Don't do that!" Julia said, pulling away.
"Look, I just want to let you know that this is very important, even to you. The President is responsible for the whole of Hyrule, and the only person suitable enough for the job is Ganondorf Dragmire. You need to know that. You need to tell people that. "
"Fine, whatever." Julia tuned and began to walk home.
"Wait!" Charles yelled but she ignored him. She felt a bit creeped out by the whole experience.

Link woke up early on Saturday morning with an uneasy feeling in his stomach. It was the voting day, and he knew that he would have to try everything in his power to ensure that Ganondorf was not elected. Otherwise disaster would ensue. He got out of his bed on the couch and got a drink of water. The futuristic tap was not a problem for him now, although it did take a bit of getting used to. When he went back to the couch, he was surprised to see Zelda standing in the doorway.
"I knew you'd be awake," she said. "It's time!"

"Come on Link, I know you'll do it!" Back in the past, Princess Zelda had been following all the action, watching through a magic glass that she had managed to borrow from the Great Fairy of Wisdom. She was nervous and excited at the same time about Election Day, and she sincerely hoped that Ganondorf would be stopped.
"Zelda are you in there?" A knock at the door inturrupted her. Zelda quickly slid the glass under he bed as the door opened and her father the king entered her room.
"Hi Daddy!" Zelda tried to sound happy and hide her anxiety.
"Hi sweetie. You've been pretty quiet these last few days, and Impa tells me you've been shut in your room. Is something wrong? Are you feeling sick?"
"No, I'm fine," Zelda replied. "I was just… studying."
The king laughed. "Since when do you study? Impa also tells me about the trouble she has calling you indoors to do your study!" He was only joking, but Zelda was too nervous to realise.
"That's not fair! I was only trying to do the right thing. If you want, I'll go outside and never do any study again!"
"Calm down, I didn't mean it. Of course you can do your homework, I have no problem with that." Amused, he turned to leave the room, muttering under his breath, "I wonder how long this will last."
As soon as Zelda heard her dad's footsteps disappear down the hall, she pulled the magic glass back out. She didn't want to miss any of the action. She couldn't. She had to be prepared.

"Wow, I've never seen so many people in all my life," Link commented. Zelda Cartwright was scared. "Come on, focus!" she said, telling herself more than Link.
"Okay," Link said. "Isn't Ganondorf coming down here later?"
"Yes, he is as a last minute ditch for more votes," Zelda replied.
"Well why don't we kill him then," Link suggested. He also didn't understand a lot of the slang that people used now.
"No way! It's far too risky. You can't just kill someone and get away with it, remember, Evil King or not. And besides, he'll have all of his bodyguards with him for protection." Zelda was surprised that in only a few days Ganondorf had already gained so many supporters. What she didn't know was that he had been performing a technique of mind control over many of them.
"No, I know what might work," Zelda said. "When you go up to vote, you are given a slip of paper. You then get to put it in the ballot box that you want to vote for, i.e. Gerudo, Zora, Goron, whatever. If we could get to the Gerudo box and steal most of the votes, maybe we could put them in the other boxes. Then when they're tallied, the Evil King wouldn't stand a chance."
"That sounds okay," Link said, although he couldn't see what it had to do with destroying Ganondorf and getting him into the evil realm.
"It's better than nothing," Zelda said. "Now look, you're not 21 yet, are you?"
"No," said Link, after adding seven years to his real age.
"That's okay, you might still be able to get in; you look a bit older. I wouldn't because I'm only 16. But we can try. Once you're in, act like you're taking your time deciding who to vote for. Examine the box and see if you can open it. If you can't you might have to stick your hand in and grab the votes like that. But just don't make it look obvious!"
"Okay." Link was still too naïve to realise how far-fetched the plan sounded.
"I'm going to find a window and see if I can watch." Zelda walked around the corner, and Link felt a bit overwhelmed. There were so many people around, and he had never done anything like this before. There was a long row of tables, and behind each was a long queue. He joined the back of one of them, and after about fifteen minutes of boring waiting, he was at the front. Facing him was a middle-aged woman with huge round glasses, who looked at him expectantly.
"Um, I want to vote," said Link nervously.
"May I see some photo identification please to confirm your age?"
Link didn't know what to do, so he quickly walked away from the table. He had always been very persistent, and he knew he had to try again. He walked out of sight of the first table, and joined the back of another queue. Another twenty minutes later, he was at the front again. This time, the young woman there barely even glanced at him; she just gave him a slip and ushered him inside, as if she just wanted to get it all over with.
Link smiled to himself as he entered the ballot room. Several people were already inside casting their votes, and to his dismay Link saw most of them vote for Ganondorf. He felt frustrated because they didn't know what they were doing. Link walked around, pretending to be deciding who to vote for, when really he was looking at the boxes. They were made of hard plastic, and the only door was locked with a huge padlock. Link wondered where the key was hidden, but he didn't see any treasure chests around. Nobody around paid any attention to him, they just cast their votes and left. He hoped that this hand would be big enough to fit, and went up to the box, pretending to vote for Gerudo. Instead, he reached inside and quickly grabbed a huge handful of paper slips and quickly shoved them in his pocket. He then quickly went over, dumped them in the Zora box, and left the room before the security guards on the other end of the cameras even saw what happened.
Zelda was waiting outside for him. "Took you long enough," she said.
"It's done," Link said. "Let's just get out of here."
"The results will be announced on the news tonight. We'll just have to wait until then." Zelda and Link left the premises, completely ignoring the limousine pulling into the carpark.

Inside the limousine was Ganondorf, but he didn't ignore the two people who walked past them.
"That boy looks so familiar," he said to himself.
His manager Charles heard. "What was that master?"
"Oh shut up!" Ganondorf couldn't wait to kill this man, if only he wasn't so important to him. He turned around and looked out of the back window. There was something so familiar, the hair that fell into his face, the blue eyes, and the green clothes.
"Link!" Ganondorf exclaimed with realization. What on earth was Link doing here, he wondered. Then he realised that at least Link would be completely powerless in this world, especially without magic. Still, it wouldn't hurt for Ganondorf to get rid of him for several reasons. The first was that Link was obviously here for a reason, that would probably have something to do with the fact that Ganondorf was here too. Secondly, Link was really annoying. And finally, Ganondorf felt that he owed it to himself. Link had beaten him once, and it was time to even the score permanently.
"Stop the car," he ordered his chauffeur. The car halted almost immediately.
"Ricardo," Ganondorf addressed one of his bodyguards. "Do you see that kid walking down there?"
"Which one?" Ric could see a few.
"The boy, wearing the green jumper, walking with that girl."
"Yeah?"
"He has been getting in way of my plans. I want him out of the way."
"Sure thing master." Ganondorf had complete mind power over him, and Ric knew exactly what his master wanted without being told. He got out of the car and began following Link and Zelda as they walked back to Zelda's house.

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