Moving On

How's it going folks? Here's my newest story, Moving On! Ever since I played Skyward Sword, I've wanted to do a post-game story, but focusing on Groose. Because Groose is one of my favorite supporting characters in the series; the dude has a great character development, going from the cliched bully to a pretty awesome heroic sidekick. Plus he has to be one of the funniest characters ever designed by Nintendo. But anyways, I'll cease my endless rambling. On with the Show!

Groose sighed dramatically as he rode his Loftwing through the sky, a dejected expression on his face.

It had been almost a year since Link and Zelda had settled the Surface. Almost a year since Zelda discovered her identity as the avatar to Hylia. Almost a year since the Goddess Statue sunk through the clouds and returned to its rightful place on the Surface. Almost a year since all of Skyloft and beyond was changed forever by the revelation of world below the clouds.

Since then, a few more people had cautiously ventured down to the Surface, exploring the surroundings and praying at the now grounded Goddess Statue. No one had decided to fully settle on the land along with Link and Zelda just yet, though several small homes had been built around the area near the Sealed Temple in case anyone needed shelter and couldn't return to Skyloft. Several other buildings had also been constructed; among them included a small research hut that Owlan used to study the encyclopedia's worth of data and scientific knowledge that could be found all around them; a warehouse for any items or supplies that were needed when on the surface; a fire-pit and common area to cook food and converse; and a medicinal hut in case of injury or ailment. Though most people were still wary of the surface world, they beginning to grow more accepting of living under the clouds, rather than above.

Who knows, maybe in a few years they may all settle permanently on the Surface and establish a kingdom for themselves.

Of course, that wasn't the only thing that had changed in the past year. Since then, more and more people seemed to flock around Skyloft, due of course to their hesitant curiosity of the Surface. The town had nearly doubled in size, now nearly a thousand strong on the small island. Of course, this meant more crowding on the island, which required expansions to the island to be made. To many people's surprise, it was Groose who proposed the idea of making a man-made island connected to main island to solve the crowding issue. He had even drawn up several blueprints, showing how the supports would be made on several of the smaller satellite islands that surrounded the main island. He'd even proposed constructing a few more buildings into the underside of the island, similar to how Batreaux's house was.

Almost everyone was stunned by Groose's knowledge of architecture, and even moreso by his planning and talent for construction and engineering; most people considered him more of a buffoon whose only talent was his brute strength. Ironically, it was Link and Zelda, the people who had once believed this more than anyone else who supported his ideas and acknowledged his brilliance.

Things had indeed changed, especially between them; after the adventure on the Surface, Groose had finally accepted that Link and Zelda were meant to be together. It stung a little, but even he could see how madly the two of them were in love. Besides, it was hard to compete with a guy who took on a flamboyant demon sword and the master of all evil just to save the girl he loved. Even though it still hurt a bit, however, he didn't let that stop him from being happy for the two of them.

He had grown much closer to the both of them. He had established a genuine friendship with the two of them, he stopped picking on Link... mostly, and he stopped chasing after Zelda... mostly. He had even built a nice little home of his own next to theirs for when he would visit them on the Surface. The three of them grew truly close, as he had helped them convince more people to explore the Surface and establish connections between the Skyloftians and the races that lived on the Surface.

Alas, for all of the good and happy events that had been occurring since Demise's defeat, Groose couldn't help but feel a little depressed. All around him, everyone else seemed to be growing up, while he felt like he was still staying the same.

Pipit and Karane had both been made knights, with Pipit even being made a Lieutenant after only 4 months as a knight. Not only that, but their relationship had gotten even more serious; Karane had moved in with Pipit (who had left his mother's house and bought a small house on an island not too far from the Lumpy Pumpkin), and apparently he was even preparing to propose to her.

Fledge's newfound strength had given him a newfound sense of confidence. He no longer put up with people picking on him, and he had improved both his flying skills and his combat skills, on top of already having a great knowledge of Skyloft's history and culture; Horwell had even taken him on as his apprentice, hoping to eventually have him become an instructor at the academy. His newfound confidence had even gone so far as to give him the courage to ask out Kina, who immediately accepted, starting a surprisingly sweet relationship between the two of them.

Cawlin had had some difficulty getting over Karane, so he had taken to writing poetry. He found he had a profound talent for it, excelling at writing in general. His writings were getting pretty popular even outside of the island, and he had even begun to write a novel. Of course, this didn't completely mend the hole in his heart from Karane's rejection. No, that came from Peatrice - the two of them comforted each other in their respective heartaches and quickly grew closer. It wasn't long before the two of them started dating as well.

Groose sighed again from atop his loftwing. That was the worst part of all of this: everyone else seemed to be pairing off, developing relationships and falling in love, whereas he kept being the same single, useless Groose. He hadn't graduated from the Academy yet, and despite the remarkable ideas on the man-made islands he presented, no one was taking him seriously. They still only saw him as Groose the Bully. Heck, the only one who was still the same as before was Stritch, and to be honest, he never seemed that unhappy anyway.

Groose was sudden taken from his thoughts by the shrill sound of his Loftwing screeching in fright. Blinking, he nearly cried out himself as he nearly crashed into another loftwing, lurching his loftwing to the side to avoid a collision. However, it appeared he was quite unlucky today, as no sooner did he avoid hitting the other loftwing did his loftwing slam into the top of a tiny island, colliding with the soil and landing with a heavy crash. Though neither Groose nor his loftwing were injured, they both clearly shaken.

As he sunk to his knees to catch his breath and calm himself, he heard a voice cry out from above him.

"Hey, are you alright?!" the voice shouted, its owner stumbling onto the island clumsily after leaping off of their loftwing. "You know, you should pay more attention to your surroundings, buddy. It's a big sky, you know. I mean, there are a million directions to go, you could've easily avoided me and..."

As the person continued to ramble on endlessly, Groose got a good look at the person he nearly ran into. It was a young girl probably about his age, though she was so short she could pass as a child. Sure, Groose was quite tall, but this girl couldn't be any taller than 4 foot 11. She had straight shoulder length hair the same color as the crimson sunset. Her bright green eyes shined with a boundless curiosity and excitement, and the freckles that peppered her cheeks seemed to dance as she continue to babble ceaselessly. She was wearing a pale blue blouse and a beige skirt that went past her knees. She was wearing a pair of heels, despite them doing little to extend her height.

"...I mean, even Levias himself could've avoided hitting that island, and he's... wait, are you even listening?!" The girl finally stopped her chatter, scowling silently at him instead.

"Uh, sorry?" Groose managed to sputter out. Honestly, he wasn't sure what to say. He wasn't sure how offended she'd be if she knew he had basically tuned out her entire conversation, so he kept his mouth shut.

"Well you should be!" the girl huffed, shoving a tiny finger into his face. "You nearly crashed into me and my loftwing, the least you could do is listen to me when I'm talking to you! It's common courtesy, you know!"

"Look, I'm sorry!" Groose shot back, growing a little irritated by the girl. Sure, he had almost crashed into her, but it wasn't like he did it on purpose. "I just have a lot on my mind, okay?!"

The girl raised a curious brow. "So you tried to crash your loftwing into mine because you're not used to thinking so hard?"

Groose felt a little vein pop in his head as he grew red in the face. "I think plenty hard!" he yelled furiously, hoping to startle the girl with the volume of his voice. However, she didn't seem the least bit intimidated. "Besides, you almost ran into me too, so what your excuse?" he added, this time keeping his voice slightly more level.

Now it was her turn to turn red. Clearly she wasn't expecting him to put any blame on her. "I was paying attention!" she protested, her voice raising by an octave. "I just... had a lot on my mind too..."

Groose wanted to complain about the hypocrisy of her statement, but figured it'd just lead to more yelling between the two of them. And honestly, if they got into an argument, something told him this girl would keep it up forever, so he decided to cut his losses. "Look," he tried to say calmly, though it probably sounded just as aggressive as before, "let's just agree that neither of us was paying attention. We're both to blame, okay?"

The girl huffed, seemingly trying to remain defiant, but quickly broke down. "Fine, I'm sorry for almost running into you," she reluctantly apologized. She stuck out her hand for him to shake.

"I'm sorry too," Groose returned the apology, grabbing her hand with his much larger one. "I'm Groose, by the way," he said, giving her a sheepish smile.

"I'm Nora," she said, returning his smile with a grin of her own. They shook hands before awkwardly settling into silence.

The silence remained between them for almost 3 minutes until Nora finally broke it. "Shouldn't we check to make sure your bird is okay?"

Groose waved his hand dismissively. "My bird's fine. There isn't another loftwing around as amazing as mine."

Nora snorted, obviously disagreeing. "Yeah right!" she exclaimed. "My loftwing Duva could fly circles around your silly bird!"

"Is that a challenge?" Groose wondered, getting in close to her face. He practically had to hunch over just to meet her at eye level.

She met his gaze with equal intensity. "Bring it on," she declared confidently. "You're looking at the best flyer in all of Caeloft."

Groose raised a confused eyebrow. "Caeloft? Where is that?" he asked, never having heard of the place.

"It's a little island just beyond the Isle of the Goddess. It's only a little ways away from Skyloft." she explained as if it was the obvious thing in the world.

"Well how many people live at Caeloft?" Groose asked curiously. If she was the best flyer in her entire village, she had to be pretty skilled.

Nora suddenly looked rather sheepish. "Uh... 11." she stammered out.

"That's it?!" Groose exclaimed. "Of course you'd be the best flyer there then! You're probably the only flyer there!"

"That's not true!" Nora protested futily. "My dad flies too... sometimes."

At this, she suddenly gave a downcast look. "When he's not too busy ignoring my existence," she muttered under breath bitterly, though Groose could hear it perfectly.

This was a rather sudden change. The girl who had before seemed so excitable and confident, now suddenly looking rather sad and disappointed. She had the same look to her that Groose had had before; that look that said that she, just like him, felt like she was being left behind by everyone else. Like no one else could anything else besides the aspects that showed the worst of her.

Groose suddenly felt sympathy for her. He didn't know what had happened between her and her dad, or why she looked so sad, or really anything about her, but he still could see that she was feeling downhearted, and he could relate to that.

Deciding to cheer her up and bring back the excited motor mouth from before, Groose spoke up. "Hey, enough with the moping, Noisy!" he clapped her on the back, nearly shoving her to the ground. "We've still gotta settle which of us is the better flyer, don't we?"

"My name's Nora, Goose," she retorted, putting as much emphasis on mispronouncing his name as possible, "And if you're really in that much of a hurry to lose, then let's do this then!" Despite her challenging words, she had a delighted grin on her face, signalling that Groose had indeed managed to cheer her up once more.

Groose confidently strode up to his loftwing, who seemed to have recovered rather quickly and had been watching the exchange the two rather intently. Combing his pompadour haughtily, Groose smirked. "We'll be able to beat you and your loftwing easy."

"Nuh-uh," came her retort.

"Uh-huh."

"Nuh-uh."

"Uh-huh."

"Nuh-uh."

"Uh-huh."

"Just shut up and let's settle this then!" Nora finally cut off their childish stand-off. They were nearly nose to nose, Nora's green eyes peering into Groose's golden ones. A challenging smirk appeared on both of their faces as their stepped away from each other.

They both mounted their loftwings, and Groose instinctively combed his pompadour. He had to look nice for his victory lap.

"Here's the rules," Nora explained, "First one to Skyloft wins. No cheating, no trying to cut the other person off, and NO CRASHING into each other!" She put a lot of emphasis on the last one.

Groose simply rolled his eyes and prepared his loftwing. They were ready to win. Suddenly, he had a thought. "Let's make this race more interesting."

Nora looked confused. "Interesting how?"

Groose smirked. "The loser has to treat the winner to a meal at the Lumpy Pumpkin," he betted smugly.

Nora blinked. "But I'm not hungry," she said in an innocent voice, "So why would I have you pay for a meal I wouldn't want?"

"You're not gonna win, so what does it matter?!" Groose retorted hotly, readying his loftwing.

"Sure I will," Nora replied with a childish grin. "You ready?"

Groose nodded.

"Okay, then... ready... GO!"

Instantly, the two loftwings took off from the island, zooming across the sky furiously.

The two loftwings darted through the sky, maneuvering sharply to gain an edge on the other. However, it seemed to be futile, as the two birds remained neck and neck. Groose quickly directed his loftwing to fly higher, hoping to gain an altitude advantage against his opponent. Unfortunately, it seemed like Nora had had the same thought, as her bird too began to ascend, soaring higher and higher as they tried to outdo each other.

However, Groose wasn't surprised by the fact that she could keep up with him so easily; no, it was the fiery look of determination on her face that startled him. She looked fierce, confident, and downright incredible; he hadn't seen a look like that on anyone besides Link, during the Wing Ceremony.

It was clear that this girl was giving it her all to win.

Of course, Groose wasn't going to make it easy for her.

Pulling his loftwing into a nosedive as they began to approach Skyloft, Groose felt himself whiz ahead of Nora. However, the euphoria he felt at passing her up was only momentary, as she too pulled into a nosedive, quickly catching up to him. The two birds continued to fly like lightning towards the large island, one again at a deadlock; at their current rate of speed, they would surely crash into the island if they didn't pull up quickly.

However, both Groose and Nora were too stubborn to give up just yet; this was a test of wills. Whoever cracked first would lose.

The island continued to rapidly approach, and Groose could sense that if he didn't pull up immediately, he'd surely crash his loftwing into the island and seriously injure both himself and his bird. Glancing over at Nora, he was stunned to see that, though she still bore a determined expression on her face, she now also held a look of pure exhilaration, a broad grin decorating her features as she beamed. She didn't seem to have an ounce of fear in her.

Groose knew he couldn't keep it up. He pulled his Loftwing out of the nosedive, barely avoiding the solid ground of the island. Nora let a triumphant laugh, pulling her loftwing out of its dive as well and landing on the island next to the great lighthouse an instant before crashing. Groose's loftwing landed beside hers only a moment later, but Groose dismounted with a defeated look.

Nora gave him a smug look, positively glowing. "Told you I'd win," she sang, a wide smile gracing her cheeks.

Groose simply grumbled under his breath, pouting a little in childish frustration.

Nora giggled, patting him on the back. "Hey, don't be such a sore loser," she chided him, keeping her bright and happy smile, "Besides, that was awesome!"

Groose gave her a perplexed look. "What do you mean?"

Nora rolled her eyes, but her ever constant grin remained. "Come on, don't tell me you didn't think that was an incredible race. I honestly wasn't sure if you were gonna beat me or not until the end there."

"Well, I didn't think you'd be crazy enough to risk crashing and hurting yourself over a silly bet," Groose stated simply, earning a frown from the tiny redheaded girl.

"Hey, I'm not crazy, I just really don't like losing!" She protested, playfully kicking Groose in the shin. Of course, even if she intended for it to only be playful, it still hurt.

Groose gave her a glare for kicking him, but otherwise dropped it. "Well then, a deal's a deal," he sighed before gesturing towards the Lumpy Pumpkin in the distance. "I guess I should treat you to that meal then?"

Nora chuckled again. "I told before we started, I'm not hungry. I guess you'll just have to treat me later." Groose could've sworn he saw a devious glint in her eyes; he didn't know what she was planning, but even after only just meeting her, he could tell it probably wouldn't end well for him.

"Are you sure?" He asked, an insistent plea in his voice. He actually didn't have a lot of money on him, but he didn't want the hassle of having to wait for her to decide to cash in her "prize".

She nodded, giving him a genuinely nice smile. "How about we meet up tomorrow for lunch at the Lumpy Pumpkin?" she offered. "I'll be plenty hungry then. Besides, what with you almost crashing into me and then nearly forcing our birds into another crash, I think our birds have had enough of a scare for today."

Groose returned her smile, unconsciously combing his pompadour in the process. "I don't think either of those events were entirely my fault, but whatever. If you really want to see me again that badly, I guess I'll humor you." His grin broadened as her face instantly heated up.

"Th-that wasn't it at all!" She exclaimed, looking quite flustered. "Like I said, I just want to make sure I get my money's worth when you buy me lunch!"

Groose laughed loudly as he rolled his eyes. "Sure, whatever you say. You'll rid yourself of that denial eventually; they always do." He once again ran his hand through his hair, giving the petite girl a playful smirk.

Now it was her turn to roll her eyes. "Someone's got a crush on his mirror, it seems," she commented dryly. She turned back towards her loftwing, stroking the massive bird's back before hopping upon it. "I'm gonna head back home, so you can continue admiring your... charm," she stifled a laugh at that, "or whatever it is you usually do. And remember; you're treating me to lunch tomorrow! Don't forget, or I'll find you. And you don't want me to find you!"

Groose snorted and simply waved his hand. "Yeah, yeah, I got it. Whatever."

As her loftwing took off, he could hear Nora cheerfully call out, "It was meeting you, Goose!"

Groose snorted to himself, but didn't bother to correct her. It would probably be futile anyways. He waved goodbye to her, smiling faintly.

What an odd girl. And he had just agreed to go on a date with her.

He really hoped he didn't regret this.

And that concludes chapter 1! So, what did you think? Good? Bad? Ugly? Let me know what you liked, didn't like, whatever! I'll post the next chapter soonly.

Until Next Time,

~The Supreme~