Link was a little surprised by the diversity that was in the one small squad he was in for the night. "This won't be your permanent position." Malik had said, much to the relief of the squad members. "Once we're done with tonight, you'll be put into a regular spot." Link understood the relief of his squad-mates perfectly. He wouldn't want to have a rookie with him on a patrol either. Understanding where he stood in this situation made Link feel a little bit nervous. The leader of the squad noticed Link's nervousness and pat him on the back.

"Listen here, mate. This is just a simple patrol, no need to be nervous." Link remembered that he had been a construction worker in Kakiriko when the Dark King took over. "There's no danger whatsoever on this thing. I've been patrolling this patch of the Woods for almost two years and I've never seen any sort of action." He smiled and took position at the front of the group with Malik and the other two squad leaders.

The platoon walked for a while until they were well out of the village. Link realized that this was the first time he had ever been in the Lost Woods. He had heard the legends that there were of this place. Of the Skull Children and the Stalfoes that wandered the trees at night. The thickness of the canopy they were under covered any sign of the stars but Link knew it was well into the night. Before they left, Malik had quenched Link's curiosity about the matters of the Lost Woods and the legends surrounding it.

"True, there is a very small possibility that we'll get lost but the majority of people have been through here enough and know how to find home." He said. "Just follow your squad and you'll be fine." Now that they were actually in the trees though, these words did little to comfort him.

When the platoon had been walking for some time, Malik called them to a halt and gave orders to the squad leaders. Malik joined with the third squad and the group split off in separate directions. "Listen up, kids." the leader said quietly as they were jogging through the trees. "We've been commanded to take the western end of our little patch of the Woods. Our mission is to make sure that there's nothing suspicious going on and that our village is in no danger. Anything that seems out of place needs to be reported to me as soon as you see it. This includes, Labrynnians, Stalfoes, Skull Kids, and any other sort of monsters." The squad laughed at the crack that their leader made at Labrynna. "Understood, Link?" Link nodded.

"Yes, sir." He whispered. The squad leader nodded and they continued on to the Western Woods.

The trees began to thin, as well as the canopy above them, as they moved westwards. There had been no sign of anything of interest for the time that they had been out. The majority of the group, while looking for enemies, saw this patrol as a sightseeing trip. The west of the Lost Woods were said to be where the ancient temple was located and there was evidence to prove it. Everywhere you looked there were bits of chiseled stone and sometimes what looked to be ruined walls were in the distance. Link thought these "walls" were just illusions the Woods were famous for.

"Keep it moving, ladies." The leader said. "This isn't a sightseeing patrol. We have to make sure that the civilians are safe." The group continued like this for a little while longer before the squad leader stopped them. He turned to face them and made sure everyone was there. "Is there anything to report that you didn't bring to my attention earlier?" he asked. Nobody spoke. "Nothing then?" he smiled. "Alright then, back to the village." Link released air he didn't know he was holding. His first patrol had gone well. Something that seem to happen more than not, if talk was to be believed. He released the grip he had on the hilt of his sword and looked about him in wonder. Though they were treacherous, the Lost Woods held a sort of ethereal beauty in its trees. Suddenly the leader held up his hand and called them to a stop.

"Look," he said, pointing at footprints on the ground, "this track is from one of ours. If we follow them, they should lead us back to the village." The group started moving again, following the track of another squad. Link felt a cloud come over his mind and his hand settled on the hilt of his sword again. It seemed that others in the group could feel it too and some took out their shields or fingered their swords anxiously. The leader stopped, appalled at what he saw before him.

There were leather armor plates strewn about the ground so the entire squad knew what this was. The leader bent down and picked up a scrap of cloth and cursed. He turned around to his patrol and addressed them. "Something has happened to the Second Squad." A grim mood took hold of the group, and the sound of swords being pulled from sheathes filled the patch of woods they were in. "This is no longer a simple patrol." The leader said, also drawing his sword. "We are now part of a search and rescue mission. You," he pointed to Link, "stay close to me. The rest of you, gather as much information possible from the scene and we'll move on from there." The squad split up and searched the area for any signs of where Second Squad and Link walked over to the leader.

"Look," he whispered, "I didn't want to bring you along at all. If I had it my way, you'd be back at the barracks still filling out paperwork." Link was surprised by the harshness at these words. "But we can't change that now. Look here," he pointed to the ground at a faint track, "what do you think that looks like?" Link crouched and inspected the print.

"It looks like…" Link stopped, not believing what he was seeing. The squad leader nodded.

"It's a Stalfo footprint." He looked around nervously. "For all we know they could be watching us right now."

"They?" Link asked. "How many of them do you think there are?" the leader shook his head.

"I'm not sure. But if one Stalfo could take out an entire squad of trained men, we either aren't training well enough, or the enemy is stronger than we thought." A call came from one of the squad members. He rushed over to Link and the leader.

"Sir, we found a set of tracks on the edge of the scene. They look to be Stalfo tracks." The leader nodded and clapped him on the back.

"Well done, soldier. Link and I have come to that same conclusion." He would have continued but there was a high pitched giggle behind them. They turned around, swords at the ready and saw a Skull Kid peeking out from behind a tree. What was once soft skin was now a harsh, dark, canvas like substance. It had a small beak-like mouth with two nostrils on top of it. It wore clothing that resembled a scarecrow. The soldier yelled, trying to scare it off. But instead of running, it came out from behind its cover and laughed again. An arrow flew towards it but the Skull Kid jumped and disappeared. A growl came from the right of them and the squad saw the same Skull Kid. There was silence as the two parties looked at each other. One member rushed at it but was greeted with a barrage of pumpkin seeds from the Skull Kid. He reeled back and came back to the group.

"Don't try something like that again." The leader reprimanded the soldier. "That could have been a trap and you would have put this entire group in danger." The soldier apologized and the stare down continued. "What do you want?" the leader asked after a time. The sun was well behind the tree line now, and there was only a dim light from strange glowing orbs floating around them. The Skull Kid cocked his head to the side at the question and looked the leader down. Then he vanished.

"Ha, ha!" came a childish voice from all around them. "That was fun! Too bad I have to go now…I hope you can come back soon!" then the voice was gone and the squad was left in the deafening silence of the Lost Woods. A breath of relief came from everyone in the squad.

"What was that voice?" someone asked. Everyone shook their heads.

"I think it was the Skull Kid…" Link thought aloud. A quiet chuckle passed through those who heard what he had said. The leader took command of his squad.

"Alright everybody, our new objective is to get out of the Woods before we become Stalfoes ourselves." Everyone nodded in agreement. "First thing we'll need to do is continue to follow-"he didn't finish and he fell to the ground with a dull thud. Behind where he was previously standing was a Stalfo flanked by two more. The squad looked at the monsters and the monsters looked back at them.

The Stalfoes stood over the Guards a good distance of height. Their bodies were only skeletons and their faces bore a chilling smile. The armor they wore was rusted and their swords were notched, as if they had been in an ancient battle that had been long forgotten.

Then, with a cry, the crash of steel on steel filled the Lost Woods as Hylians and monsters collided.

It was madness that Link had never experienced or even dreamed of. The group of ten Guardsmen had charged the Stalfoes and Link was not as hesitant as he should have been. As he wielded his sword, he felt a strange connection with the weapon. He could feel his blood burning with each strike as they landed on his enemy's shield, sword, or body. The battle cries of the Guardsmen were mixed with the calls of the Stalfoes. The fallen made no sound.

It took three people to bring down the one of them. Once one had been dealt with, another could be mobbed and so on. The last one to fall was the one that had killed the squad leader. When it had finally dissolved into the ground, Link looked around. Although it was a relatively cool night, beads of sweat ran down his face and he felt uncontrollably hot. He saw only two of his squad-mates left in the battlefield. The rest either lay on the ground unmoving or wandering around in the forest. He looked on the ground for any sort of trail he could follow back to the village but he saw that he had lost the path in the fight. He walked in the direction he the thought it was, but seeing nothing, he turned around to find that he was alone in the darkness of the trees. Link cursed and started walking in a continuous direction hoping that he would eventually find a path.

Link didn't know how long he had been wandering the Lost Woods. Sunlight was beginning to filter through the tops of the trees but he did not feel any sort of fatigue. He continued walking and he eventually came in contact with another Skull Kid. He stopped and looked at it and it stared back. Link put his hand on the hilt of his sword and the Skull Kid began to crouch lower to the ground. Link took his hand off of the weapon, not wanting to provoke the creature. When he did so, he noticed that the Skull Kid got back to his original stance. Out of curiosity, Link put his hand back on the hilt and the Skull Kid did the same thing as before. They both returned to their original positions, Link with his hand of the hilt and the Skull Kid a little hunched over. Link started walking forward, slowly as not to startle the creature. It took a step back cautiously but started inching closer as well. Link extended his hand and the Skull Kid sniffed the extended limb. Then he smacked it away and jumped back laughing. Link fell back in surprise which elicited another giggle from the Skull Kid.

"Ha, ha!" it said. It sounded a little like a young child speaking. "You're fun! I know, I'll show you my secret place!" the Skull Kid skipped off in a direction left of where Link had been walking. Warily, Link followed it deeper into the Lost Woods.