Sorry for the wait; I'm caught up in a big translation project.

One thing to note: Upon starting this, I have yet to actually play Twilight Princess. I'm hoping to get it (and Wind Waker) for Christmas, though. …And no, I will not be adding Wind Waker to this; not because I don't like it, but because I just can't figure out a way to add it in.

THE FOLLOWING THINGS ARE THE PROPERTIES OF THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS; I DO NOT OWN THEM AND MAKE NO MONEY OFF OF THIS STORY

Mahō Shōjo Lyrical Nanoha (Teana, various other characters) – 7Arcs

Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni (Shion and friends/family) – 07th Expansion and Studio Deen

Shuffle! (Kaede Fuyō and associated characters) – Navel and Asread

Erika's New Perfume (Marie, Sarah, Erika, Timmy, Veronica) – DeviantArtist 'Lance the Young'

Mai-chan's Daily Life (Mai, Kizuna) – Waita Uziga

Star Wars (Ahsoka, Cody, Rex, Force Unleashed cast) – George Lucas, Lucasfilm

Halo (Forerunners, UNSC, Sangheili Alliance) – Bungie, 343 Industries

StarCraft (multiple characters, events, and devices) – Blizzard Entertainment

Naruto (characters, techniques, abilities) – Masashi Kishimoto

Mahō Sensei Negima (characters, spells, abilities) – Ken Akamatsu

Kingdom Hearts (characters, weapons, enemies, concepts) – Square-Enix

Neon Genesis Evangelion (characters, concepts, tech) – Studio Gainax

Elfen Lied (Kaede K., others) – Lynn Okamoto, Arms

Red vs. Blue (The Blood-Gulch Crew, the ex-Freelancers) – Rooster Teeth

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic – Hasbro, Lauren Faust

Transformers Film Series – Hasbro, Michael Bay

Transformers: Beast Wars – Hasbro, Mainframe Entertainment

Bishōjo Senshi Sailor Moon – Naoko Takeuchi

Digimon – Google and Wikipedia won't tell me who presently owns this franchise

Yu-Gi-Oh! – Kazuki Takahashi, Viz Media

Sonic the Hedgehog – SEGA

Gears of War – Epic Games

Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles – Columbia Tristar (I think)

Mass Effect – Bioware

Metroid – Nintendo

Puella Magi Madoka Magica – Gen Urobuchi, SHAFT

The Legend of Zelda – Nintendo

PLEASE READ & REVIEW, AND TEND TO THE TROPE PAGES

-BOOK 23 START-

Planet Termina

Just Outside Clock Town

Day 1 – 10:00 AM

A magic rune-circle appeared on the grass, accompanied by the sound of a ticking clock, and two figures appeared in a burst of light & magic; both were girls around 13 or 14 years of age. The first had purplish-black hair down to her backside, with cool purple eyes, wearing a long-sleeved white blouse of sorts with a purple and black collar, purple-trimmed black sleeves at the wrists, a short pale-purple skirt with white frills, and black stockings with grey diamond patterns running up the outside, with a diamond-shaped purple gem set into the back of her left hand and a circular silver device mounted on her left forearm; the other girl had upper-back-length pale-purple hair in two pigtails that hung down her back, and teal eyes, and was wearing long dark-grey pants that went down to just above her ankles, sky-blue shoes with little armor plates over the toes, a tight powder-blue shirt with an open long-sleeved deep-blue jacket, and a teal-colored oval gem set into her upper chest, just below her throat, and she was carrying a metallic light-blue war-hammer almost as tall as she was.

"We have to find out who or what is responsible for the temporal fluctuation the Bureau's sensors detected in this area" Homura said, looking around at the grassy, hilly fields and the walled town nearby. "If it's a threat, we neutralize it; if it's neutral, we observe it; and if it's friendly, we explain things and work from there."

"Um… Homura-san?" Miyako was staring up at the sky, paying little attention to Homura.

"What?" the veteran magical girl asked.

Miyako pointed up. Homura followed her gaze… and gasped in surprise. The moon, though looking only around a tiny fraction of Earth's in size, was worryingly low and close to the ground – well within the atmosphere. More bizarre, however, was the huge grimacing face it had, orange eyes staring down at the town below. Homura detected the tiniest of tremors in the ground at her feet, the kind most people wouldn't even notice, and upon close inspection the moon appeared to be (very slowly) getting closer to the planet.

"That… cannot be good" she said.

"M-Maybe someone in town knows what's going on" Miyako suggested.

Homura nodded, pulling a crossbow out of her subspace storage and slinging it over her back. "Weapons summoned but not drawn, Miyako-san. We don't want to incite violence by approaching in what may be construed as a threatening manner, but we shouldn't walk around looking helpless, either."

Miyako nodded as she slung her hammer over her back, and then followed Homura up to the town's southern entrance. The spear-wielding guard let them pass, giving them a friendly "Welcome to Clock Town!" as they moved into the town proper. People were moving about, doing their day-to-day activities, but Homura's practiced eye could pick up the underlying tension; these people were spooked and uneasy, but were trying to deal with their fear by ignoring it. The town's namesake, a large and fancy clock tower, dominated the plaza.

"There aren't as many people as I th-thought a town this size would have" Miyako said.

"You're right" Homura replied. "Some must have fled… And no wonder why; if that moon does fall, this town will be Ground Zero."

The duo headed into the passageway to the town's western area.

"L-Let's ask around" Miyako suggested, head turned back to face Homura as she spoke. "Maybe we can find someone who'll-Oof!"

Miyako and another person who hadn't been watching where they were going collided with each other halfway through the passageway, stumbling back from each other a few paces before catching their balance. Miyako and Homura soon took a good look at the other person; it was a cute little boy, around 9-11 years old, wearing a green tunic and a green cap over his blond hair, with elf-like pointed ears, bright blue eyes, and a straight sword held in a sheath strapped to his back, along with a fancy-looking metal shield and a handful of other things on his person.

"S-Sorry" he said. "Are you okay, miss?"

"O-Oh, I'm fine" Miyako replied. "Don't worry. Are you alright?"

The boy nodded. "It'd take a lot more than that to hurt me" he said with a smile.

Suddenly, a little golden spark of light with four insect-like wings extending from it flew out from behind the boy.

"Hey, Link," it said to him with a young girl's voice, "these two girls have a loooot of magic about them. Judging by what they're carrying, I think they're fighters like you."

"…What are you?" Homura asked it.

"I'm a fairy!" the little sprite replied. "What, you never saw one before?"

"Actually no, we have not. Where we come from, they don't exist except in fiction."

"…What kinda messed-up place would… Argh, never mind. My name is Tatl! And this little runt here is Link!"

"H-Hi" Link waved sheepishly.

"My name is Miyako" the ice-wielder smiled as she bowed in greeting.

"I am Homura" the stoic other said. "The organization we work for sent us to investigate a temporal distortion they detected in this area of this world."

"Temporal?" Link asked, tilting his head in confusion.

"Having to do with time" Tatl replied.

"Oh. I think I know what you're talking about then, Miss Homura." He pulled out a blue ocarina. "This ocarina is magic" he said. "Different songs can trigger different effects, like teleporting me to certain locations or healing people. One of them is the 'Song of Time'. Normally, it can only teleport me to a place called the Temple of Time, or move certain types of giant blocks, but in this world… it allows me to rewind time. Y'see… that big moon up there is going to impact at 6AM three days from now. Playing the Song of Time lets me and Tatl warp back to 6AM today; four hours or so ago, we came back from my… third loop, I think. We're trying to find a way to save the Four Giants so they can use their combined power to stop the moon from falling and crushing everything."

"So you're in a three-day time loop trying to save the world?" Homura asked, trying not to let her shock at the familiarity of the boy's situation show.

Link nodded. "I, uh…" he sheepishly rubbed the back of his head "haven't really accomplished very much yet; I've got a few magic masks, I got some bombs and an enchanted bag to carry 'em in, and I was just about to head out to the first temple out in the swamp and rescue the Giant there when I bumped into you girls. …There's something that's been bugging me, though; if I rewind time to escape the moon's impact and keep going and stuff, wouldn't that undo my rescuing the Giants? I'm actually kinda good at this 'hero' thing, 'cause I've done it before, but I don't think I can get to and clear all four Temples in three days, AND deal with any other problems that come up."

"…I have actually been working on a new ability that should address that issue" Homura replied. "One of my powers is control over time. Besides stopping it for everything except myself and anyone I touch, or rewinding it like your 'Song of Time' does, I've also discovered a few new tricks recently. I can speed up or slow down time for myself or other objects or people, but the thing we really need is my new ability to 'anchor' events in time. It's an advanced form of my ability to grant people their memories from previous iterations. With this, after you clear a temple and rescue a 'Giant', I can anchor that event and those connected to it in time; when you rewind time again, the 'Giant' would remain free, the temple would remain 'cleared', and any events directly connected to that would also carry over."

Miyako looked at Homura with astonishment "I-I didn't know you could do that" she said.

"Like I said, it's a new ability, only developed recently while Kerrigan was out building her army; this will be my first time using it in the field, though I have tested it, so I know it works."

"Let's find someplace with less people around to explain more to each other" Tatl suggested. "Y'know, just a thought."

-Break-

And so, the quartet found a little out-of-the-way garden area by a stream, and (aided by Link's 'Reversed Song of Time') proceeded to explain things to each other. Link told the two Puellae Magi (and Tatl) of his time in Hyrule, helping save the world from Ganondorf's plot, and then setting out in search of his old companion Navi, finishing with his encounter with the Skull Kid and ending up in Termina, and what had transpired so far. In turn, Homura and Miyako told Link and Tatl what they could about the Dimensional Defense Force and the various adventures and battles its people had been involved in.

"Wow" Link said. "And I thought I had a lot on my plate…"

"S-So, um…" Miyako said. "I guess w-we should head for Woodfall Temple now, right?"

Homura nodded. "Let's get moving."

-SCENE BREAK-

The trio of Homura, Miyako, and Link – currently in Deku form – stood on the small wooden platform that bore a large symbol carved into a pedestal in the center. After a mini-adventure involving the Deku Tribe and a monkey, they'd found their way here. Deku-Link stood atop the pedestal, and conjured the Deku Pipes that his ocarina transformed into when he was in this form.

[Insert actual notes (instead of in-game button pattern) here, but I can't find them via Google]

In response to the Sonata of Awakening, the partially-submerged temple in the center of the tainted lake rose up above the water, as did a walkway leading from the pedestal platform to the entrance. Link returned to his original form and started down the path, Homura and Miyako following while Tatl rode on his hat.

They entered the temple to find a massive chamber with a pit below, multiple giant trees/roots rising up out of the floor and up to the ceiling, and a handful of platforms. On the entrance platform was a Deku Flower, with a few more Flower-bearing platforms forming a chain along the right-hand side of the room. Link sighed and then took out the Deku Mask, assuming his puny living-plant form and hopping into the flower. As he began hover-flowering his way across the room, Homura and Miyako took the easier route, making magic-powered leaps onto the giant roots and using chakra to cling to them, hopping from root to root and quickly reaching the door on the other end of the room. There, two huge spider-like creatures with armored skull patterns on their backs tried to attack the girls; Miyako smashed one aside with her hammer, knocking it into the pit below, while Homura drew a plasma sword from her subspace pocket and sliced the other Skulltula apart. Link soon caught up, landing on the platform, and the trio moved through the door into a large central chamber; the water below was tainted and purplish, and smelled as bad as it looked.

They headed down a 'ramp' on the left to a lower level, and Deku-Link's Spin Attack took care of the carnivorous plant there. Deciding to check out a door on the east side, Link used his Deku form's ability to hop across the water using the giant lilypads; Miyako used her ice powers to create a series of frozen platforms on the toxic substance, and then hopped across while carrying Homura (who lacked Miyako's magical immunity to ice friction and probably would've botched the landing if she tried to hop across the ice platforms on her own). They moved across the next room in the same way, and came into an isolated room with three tortoise-monsters with spikes rimming their shells. All three charged, spinning rapidly to turn their spikes into whirling sawblades, but Miyako simply slammed her palms on the ground, making spikes of ice jut out from the ground beneath the monsters just as they got close, killing one and flipping the other two over for her hammer and Homura's sword to finish off. Once the beasts were dead, a large treasure chest magically appeared in the center of the room, which Link hurried over to.

"It's a map of the area" he said. "Should help a little, I guess."

They returned to the previous room, and Homura chakra-leapt across the water to the north, finding a small chest containing a Small Key and bringing it back. They headed back to the central chamber, where Miyako's ice platforms were still in place, and used the Small Key on the locked door at the foot of the wood-ramp. The next room had a series of narrow wooden paths over the water, with an interception in the center with a huge block of light-gray stone in the middle. Fortunately the block was lighter than it looked, allowing a bit of magically-enhanced strength to easily shove it out of the way. They went right, traveling single-file along the narrow raised path over the poisoned water, and as they reached a corner a Skulltula came down at them, only for Miyako's hammer to slam it into the wall. They followed the path, pushing the block out of the way from another angle, and reached a closed door with an unlit torch near it. Link was about to double back for the lit torch on the other side of the room, but Homura stopped him and then used a single Fire-type Sagitta Magica to light the torch, unlocking the door.

The next room was another isolated chamber with two large dragonfly-like creatures. The nearest one came at Link, who switched back to his human form and brought his shield up just in time to block an electrified tail stab. He then swung his blade and severed the giant insect's tail-tip, and then used a jumping strike to decapitate the bug. The other one, meanwhile, flew at Homura, who drew her crossbow and fired a perfectly-placed shot that speared it through the skull. Another treasure chest magically appeared, providing a compass of sorts that made locations of other items appear on the map. Back in the previous room, they headed up a ramp on the left, with Homura using another Sagitta Magica to light the torch on the second floor. They hopped across some platforms, and Miyako froze the giant spider-web blocking the doorway and then shattered it with her hammer. They moved into the next small chamber and up the stairs.

The hallway was dark, and as the trio advanced several fuzzy shadowy blobs leapt at them from the darkness. Link led with his shield in front, his well-attuned eyes picking out the glowing yellow eyes of the little monsters and allowing him to slash his way through them all, the two girls following in his wake. The room at the end was also dark, the lone torch in the center nowhere near enough to light the chamber. More of the little darklings attacked, and Link used Spin Attacks to thin them out. Once they were all dead, Homura used her Fire magic to light the other torches, and the east door unlocked.

The next room was another large chamber with massive roots rising out of a sizable drop, and the floor below had several deep pits in it. A few moving platforms with Deku Flowers were going back & forth and electric dragonflies patrolled the area. Link moved to pull out and put on his Deku Mask, but then squeaked in surprise as Homura scooped him up, carrying the young boy bridal-style, and then made a chakra-powered leap over to the nearest root, her feet 'sticking' to the near-horizontal surface. Miyako followed in her wake, firing an ice spear at the nearest dragonfly and killing it. They leapt across the room like this, landing on the far corner platform with stairs, where Homura set Link down and gave him a little smile.

The trio headed down the stairs, emerging on a higher level of the first floor's central chamber. Link hurried over to and stepped down on a floor switch, and a pair of ladders magically appeared nearby, connecting the lower and upper levels of the room. They headed through the nearby door, and then followed the upper path right to another door. As they entered the room, however, the door locked behind them, and then a magical barrier sprang up between Link and the girls. Then, a large reptilian biped leapt down from the roots/branches bordering the room, wearing plate-mail armor and wielding a curved sword. It let out a breath of fire and then rushed at Link.

Mini-Boss – "Dinofol"

Link raised his shield just in time to block a downward swing of the Dinofol's blade, and the knockback gave him just enough time to lash out with a quick stab, damaging the creature's armor and wounding it in the torso. It reared back and took a breath, and Link jumped back just in time to avoid a stream of fire from its mouth. As soon as it was done breathing flames, the Dinofol leapt at Link, striking down at an angle, and Link grunted as he blocked the strike, thankful that he was able to reinforce his arms with magical power to increase their durability and strength. He counterattacked, swinging his own blade horizontally, but the Dinofol leapt over him and landed behind. Link spun around just in time to block the next strike with his own sword, and then engaged the Dinofol in a quick duel until he landed a diagonal strike to the beast's chest, cutting through the armor and dealing more damage.

The Dinofol let loose another stream of fire breath, which Link blocked with his shield. Link jumped back to dodge another falling chop, and then pulled a walnut-like object out of his tunic. He tossed the Deku Nut, stunning the Dinofol, and then made a magic-enhanced leap forward, letting out a war-cry as he tackled the beast sword-first, gravity and momentum carrying the blade's point right through the monster's upper neck. It thrashed for a moment, then went still. Link panted lightly for breath, pulling his sword free of the monster's body as the magical barrier came down and a large chest appeared in the middle of the room. He wiped off and sheathed his sword, and he & the girls headed over to the chest.

Inside was a bow, black with gold bracing and a pure white drawstring, along with a quiver loaded with 30 arrows. Stowing the gear on his pack behind his shield, Link and the girls exited the room and returned to the previous chamber. They leapt onto the small Deku Flower platform in the center of the pool of poisoned water below, and Link – recognizing from his previous adventures the diamond-shaped gold ornament with an eye in the middle mounted on the side of the upper platform ahead – drew an arrow and fired it into the 'eye'. Instantly the platform they were on began to go up & down. At the apex of its ascent, Miyako grabbed & carried Link, and she & Homura leapt across to the next door.

The next room was another isolated chamber, with shallow non-tainted water and several Deku Flowers. Immediately upon entry they were attacked by a strange frog-like creature, orange with black stripes. Miyako dodged a swing of its claws and smashed it with her hammer, sending it halfway across the room. It rebounded at that and launched itself at Link, who drew his shield and let the frog-beast crash into it, and then smacked it away with the broad side of his blade. In response, it jumped back and let out a strange call, and in response a spike-turtle appeared from underground. The frog-beast leapt onto the turtle's back, and let out a battle cry as the turtle extended its spikes and started spinning/charging toward the trio.

The trio scattered out of the way, letting the spike-turtle and its rider crash into and bounce off of the wall. It came at them again, but this time Homura was ready, dropping a tiny explosive charge in the spinning turtle's path. The perfectly-timed little blast flipped the magically-durable creature over, sending the frog-beast flying; the turtle withdrew into its magically-impregnable shell, while the frog-beast began climbing around on the ceiling. Link quickly drew his bow and fired an arrow at it, wounding it and knocking it off the ceiling. It immediately hopped over to its spike-turtle buddy, and they charged again. Link switched to his Deku form and hid inside one of the flowers; when the spinning turtle passed over him, he launched himself up, flinging the creature away and again sending the frog-beast up onto the ceiling, to then be hit by a high-velocity flash-frozen chunk of ice fired by Miyako.

The frog-beast returned to its mount again, charging at the group once more. Miyako slammed her hammer on the ground, releasing a magically-directed shockwave that destabilized the spike-turtle's charge. She then impaled the creature's underbelly with an ice spear from the ground, killing it, as the frog-beast leapt onto the wall one last time. Link, now back in his human form, fired another arrow, and that was it. The frog-beast screeched and fell to the ground, disappearing in a puff of dark smoke that faded to reveal a small, harmless, normal little frog. A door on the other side of the room unlocked, leading to a small 'closet' area of the chamber. Inside was a fancily-decorated chest, which contained an ornate golden key.

"What's that for?" Miyako asked.

"If it's anything like my last adventure," Link replied, "it's for accessing the 'boss' of this temple. C'mon, let's go find him… or her… or it."

They returned to the previous room, Homura carrying Link as they leapt across the gap to the right-hand door. They emerged in the original central chamber, overlooking the odd flower-like shrine object in the center of the poisonous pool below, with a torch right in front of them. Link drew an arrow, aimed very carefully, and fired it through the lit torch's flames; the arrow carried the fire in its path down, lighting the torch at the center of the flower-object. In response, the object's 'petals' closed & opened, and it then moved upwards, forming a spinning platform in the center for accessing other parts of the upper level. In addition, as it rose the water below was cleansed of toxins, becoming a healthy blue.

They hopped onto the spinning wooden flower and headed right, and Homura used a Fire spell to light the nearby torch and unlock the door. The next room had two large tiki-torches, a few platforms bordering the room, a pool of now-clean water below, and a door with a fancy-looking lock at the far-side platform. Homura used her crossbow to take out the two electric dragonflies buzzing about the room, and then Miyako scooped Link up again, and she & Homura chakra-leapt across the gap to the boss door, unlocking the fancy lock and passing through into the final room. They entered into a large circular battle arena of some sort, and as they took a few steps in tribal drumbeats started playing from nowhere. Suddenly, a huge humanoid figure dropped in from the ceiling; his body and clothes were painted a multitude of colors, his face (if he had one) was covered by an elaborate tiki-style mask with glowing red eyes, and he carried a large sword in one hand and a colorful shield in the other.

Masked Jungle Warrior – ODOLWA

The giant tiki man let out a few chants, and then leapt at the trio, swinging his huge sword in a wide arc in an attempt to slash all three at once. Link rolled back while Miyako and Homura leapt out of the way, and Homura retaliated with a bolt of Fire magic that hit Odolwa in the face… and did nothing more than singe the mask and piss him off. He jumped back and swung his sword in her direction, releasing a cutting wave of flame that she managed to bring her Shield up in time to block.

"Well, now we know why the Fire spell didn't do much" Tatl remarked.

Link fired his bow, and the enchanted arrow lightly wounded Odolwa and stunned him long enough for Link to rush in and land a jumping slash. The giant tiki-man leapt back across the room, leaving a slight afterimage, and started chanting and dancing around. In response, several large spider-like creatures with crab claws dropped from the ceiling and attacked the trio. The creatures mainly went for Homura and Miyako, keeping them busy as Odolwa charged at Link again. Link used his enchanted shield to defend against the masked being's massive blade, slashing at its legs but failing to land more than glancing blows. Then, Miyako managed to get away from the bugs attacking her and lashed out at Odolwa, her enchanted hammer hitting his shield hard enough to knock him back and off-balance, letting Link rush in and deal a few heavy blows with his sword.

Odolwa did another strange little dance and chant, and rocks began to fall from the ceiling, threatening to bash the trio's heads in. Homura froze time, fired magic bolts at each falling stone, then unfroze time and let them all hit, pulverizing the threat. Link stunned him with another enchanted arrow and landed a few more blows, and in response Odolwa chanted and conjured a large circle of magic fire around himself and Link, keeping the girls from interfering and Link from escaping.

The giant charged at Link, swinging his massive blade down, and the little hero rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding being chopped in half. Link countered with a combo of sword strikes, though only one or two got past Odolwa's shield. He then ducked under a swing of Odolwa's shield, and hit the giant with another enchanted arrow, stunning him for another combo. Odolwa let out a war cry and swung his blade too low for Link to duck or roll under… and the boy, aided by a brief magic boost from Tatl, leapt over the blade and, at the apex of his jump, fired an arrow right into Odolwa's masked face. The giant staggered, stunned and wounded by the blow, and Link dug his sword into the giant's side, swinging up and pulling the blade free with his momentum, and then letting out a shout as he swung his sword one last time.

The wall of fire faded away. Odolwa's head hit the floor a second later, and a moment later the rest of his body toppled over backward with a thud. Link landed on his feet, panting lightly, as Odolwa's body burst into pale-blue flames and rapidly burned away, leaving nothing but his mask behind. Link sheathed his sword, and he & the two Puellae Magi walked over to the mask, retrieving it. Suddenly, a glowing blue circle of magical energy sprang up around them. A brilliant flash of light enveloped them.

…

When the light faded, the trio found themselves standing atop a platform in the middle of what looked like a vast empty space, the air thick with a greenish miasma, pale-pink flower petals drifting around and a few massive pillars of water flowing upward from the bottom far below to the not-visible sky. And in the distance, barely visible in the greenish mist, was a titanic being. It had long, disproportionately thin limbs, with a body that seemed to also be its head. It raised its massive arms, and in a deep voice that shook the air it began to 'sing'.

"Could it be trying to tell us something with that melody?" Tatl wondered. "…Link, don't just stand there! Get out your instrument! You've said that ocarina of yours can cast magic via song, right? The Giant must be teaching you a spell-song you could use later!"

Link pulled out his ocarina, and played the melody – low in key, descending slightly and then climbing back up to a note above the first note. The Giant called out the melody again, and Link returned it, feeling magical energy flow through his little body. Behind him, Homura and Miyako trembled from the mysterious power that they now felt flowing through the area, from the titan in the distance and through the body of the little boy they'd allied with. Then, the Giant spoke, slow and deep.

"CALL… US…"

Then, a flash of light engulfed the group again. When it faded, they were inside a new area of the Woodfall Temple, with an exit right in front of them.

"The four Giants that Tael told us about…" Tatl murmured. "You were pretty good in there, Link; it shows that you've done this before. Now we just gotta keep that pace up and rescue the other three! …And, um… All that stuff I did to you… your horse… I… I apologize. …T-There, I apologized! S-So don't hold it against me, got it?-!"

"That was certainly impressive, Link" Homura said, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Y-Yeah" Miyako agreed as she petted Link's head. "You did pretty well."

Link blushed faintly, not used to actually being praised for his accomplishments, especially by a pair of pretty older girls. "Thanks…" he murmured. "You two helped a lot, though."

The trio suddenly heard a rustling noise from behind them. Link turned and used his sword to slash away a net of vines, revealing a chamber containing a lone Deku Scrub in a red & white dress with her leaves/hair braided and held in place by gold and pale-pink flower-like adornments.

"Wha? …Who are you people?" she asked.

"This is Link" Tatl said, hovering over her young charge. "The girls are Homura and Miyako. And I'm Tatl!"

"I am the Deku princess" the Deku said. "Were you, by any chance, asked by that monkey to come save me?"

"Mm-hm" Link nodded.

"Aha! Just as I suspected! You see, your body smells a little bit like monkey. So… he made it back fine after all. That's good. I was worried that when I didn't come home, my father would think that monkey had kidnapped me!"

"Actually," Homura spoke up, "that's exactly what happened. He's preparing to torture and execute the monkey as we speak."

"…What?-! Oh no, oh no! W-We've got no time to lose! We have to get back to the palace and save him!"

-Break-

Deku Palace

The would-be hero monkey, now tied up and suspended from the ceiling, gulped as he looked down at the pot of boiling water he was being hung over. The rustling of the leaves of the Deku King's dancers filled the room, as the King sat on his throne, clutching his scepter with an angry look on his face. He stood up, raising an arm as if to signal.

"Begin lowering the ro-"

"Daddy, stop!-!"

Everything went quiet as the Princess came running in, followed by Deku-form Link.

"Oh, my princess!" the King exclaimed. "My darling princess! You are all right? I was so worried."

The Princess' response was to tackle her father, knocking him onto his back and jumping up & down on him, pounding him down into his throne.

"Father, you impatient, trigger-happy, narrow-minded idiot!"

She turned to the King's attendants, giving them a death glare that had them all quivering in fear.

"What are you waiting for?-!" she shouted at them. "Let that monkey go this instant!-!"

The attendants, knowing full well how bad their normally-placid Princess could be if genuinely angered, scrambled to free the monkey. The little simian collapsed on the ground, panting lightly and letting out a sigh of relief as Deku-Link and the Princess came up to him.

"Oh, Mr. Monkey…" the Princess said. "I am truly sorry. Father does such rash things when he's worried about me."

"I understand, Princess" the monkey replied. "Has the temple been returned to normal?"

"Yes, thanks to Link here."

"Really? So that's his name? …Thank you for keeping your promise to me, Link."

"When people are in trouble, I help them" Link replied. "That's just who I am."

A few minutes later, Link emerged from the temple, returning to his human form and finding Homura & Miyako waiting. He nodded to Homura, who brought up her Time Buckler and started charging power into it. The magitech device clicked and whirred as magical energy built up in it, and a magic symbol that bore resemblance to a stylized clock formed at Homura's feet. After several seconds, a barely-visible wave of energy pulsed out from her, rapidly encompassing the palace and the now-purified swamp.

"There" she said, panting lightly. "The clearing of the temple, the cleansing of the swamp, and the resolution of the Deku situation have all been 'anchored' in time. When we travel back to the start of Day 1, all of this will remain having happened instead of being undone."

"L-Let's head back to town for now" Miyako suggested. "I'm getting a little hungry."

-CHAPTER END-

And there we go, the start of the next Book. Also, I was originally going to have another section of the story make up a second half of this chapter, but it ended up being so big as to become a separate chapter in its own right; I'll be posting it up probably a couple hours after posting this one.