Midna rubbed her eyes and looked around in consternation. "This doesn't look like horrible misfortune to me."

The others examined their surroundings. "It kinda looks like Kamiki Village," Issun mused. "But Konohana's not here, so it can't be."

"Kamiki Village? That tiny place where the legend of Orochi came from?" Oki pondered this. "Well, if such a dark force came from this place once, it may harbor such misfortune again." He ran off despite Issun and Midna's calls for him to come back.

"I didn't say it was Kamiki. I said it looked like Kamiki," Issun grumbled. He bounced up to a tiny sapling planted in a place of reverence at the top of the hill. "This would be our first clue. Look how tiny it is. Still…everything else looks like Kamiki…"

Link shifted to human form, and pointed down the hill. "There's a little girl there, by the gate. Maybe we can ask her where we are." As he got closer, he realized that the girl looked a lot like the wood sprite from Kamiki. "Excuse me, do you know Sakuya?"

"Shakuya? That's my name!" the girl eagerly regarded the group. "Oh, you have a god with you? Will you play with me?"

"We're busy, kid," Issun told her. "C'mon, Ammy, let's go into the village and figure out what's going on." Amaterasu sprinted down the hill.

"Who's your friend?" the little girl asked Link as Midna popped out of his shadow.

"My name's Midna. Can you tell us where we are?" she asked.

"This is Kamiki Village. That's all I know. Two girls brought me here."

"Two girls?" Midna floated around, scanning the hill, then passed through the gate. "Link, come here, look at this!"

Link said goodbye to the girl and followed Midna, who pointed behind them. "Look, it's those two traveler girls. But they're dressed differently."

"Excuse me," Link walked up to them. "Can you tell me where we are?"

They looked a little startled, but the elder one replied, "This is Kamiki Village. Didn't you know that when you came? Are you lost?"

Link grinned sheepishly. "Yeah, maybe. I think I'll go into town and see if I can find my way from there. Thanks." He turned and followed Amaterasu's path down the hill.

"This is strange," Midna mused. "It's almost as if we're in a twilight version of Kamiki, or something like that."

Link looked up. "Wasn't the moon full just recently? Entering the twilight doesn't make the moon change faster, does it?"

"Of course not."

Link's face furrowed in contemplation. "I wonder…"

Midna hid in his shadow as they entered the village, suspecting that they might not meet the same people they knew before. Her suspicions were confirmed when they saw a middle-aged woman tending her vegetables, who regarded them with a little suspicion. "I don't know who you are, young man, but this is not a good place to be tonight. You'd be better off spending it up in the hills. Not to be rude, but it's really for your own safety."

"I won't stay long, thanks." Link scanned the village for Amaterasu, and was surprised to see the wolf being chased by a small boy, who beaned her on the head when she stopped for Issun to speak. "This definitely isn't the same place we were before…but it certainly looks similar…"

Amaterasu ran up to him. "There you guys are!" Issun hopped up and down indignantly. "I don't know what's going on…everybody's acting crazy!"

"Have you talked to everyone?" Link asked.

"There's just Susano left…not that he ever makes sense…but I guess we'll have to try talking to him, too."

The two of them ran to Susano's house. On a hunch, Link shifted to wolf form just before they reached Susano, who seemed to be asleep on the ground.

"Wuff." Link craned his neck to look at Midna after sniffing the sleeping man.

"Smells different, does he?" Midna asked. "He certainly looks similar to Susano…but he's still different…"

"Hey, wake up, pops!" Issun yelled.

"Susano" opened one eye. "Eh, what?" He jumped up when he caught sight of Amaterasu. "Shiranui!" He raised his sword to attack.

"What's gotten into you, pops?!" Issun demanded, as Amaterasu leaped aside. On a hunch, Link hid in the shadows and shifted back to human form.

"Shiranui, I will not allow you to bring Nami to Orochi! Feel the full force of Nagi-style martial arts!" the mystery man yelled as he swung his sword at Amaterasu again and again. Link nodded, as if confirming something to himself.

A thwack from Amaterasu's brushwork knocked him senseless. Issun turned an accusing eye on Link as he emerged. "We could've used your help."

Link glared at Issun and motioned toward the man on the ground. "I didn't want to hurt Nagi. Now who's going to fight Orochi?"

Issun bounced furiously. "Have you gone insane too? What are you people talking about?!"

"The Spirit Gate brought us to Kamiki Village during the time of Nagi," Link explained. "We've traveled back in time."

Both Issun and Midna regarded him skeptically. "Is that even possible?" Issun demanded.

"It is. In Hyrule, they say the ancient hero traveled back and forth in time to gather the strength he needed to defeat Ganondorf. He used this sword, here." Link tapped the Master Sword on his back.

"You nut. How does a sword make you travel back in time?" Issun snapped.

"Uh…" Link stammered. "You know, I never fully understood that part of the legend…"

A commotion behind them cut off Issun's smart aleck reply. They turned round to see the entire village gathered at Nagi's door.

"Hurry, Nagi!" Mr. Orange's ancestor exclaimed. "Shiranui stalks the village once again! The moon has waxed to its fullest…soon Orochi will demand his sacrifice!"

As if on cue, an ear-splitting roar shook the village. Link and Midna stared up at in consternation to see a massive arrow appear in the middle of the sky, glowing with a malevolent blue force. They heard the sound of a nonexistent bow twang, and the arrow swept through the air and crashed into the top of Nami's house.

"The arrow has struck the house of the chosen maiden!" Mr. Orange shouted, regardless of whether or not anyone needed the explanation. "Why must we be forced to give up Nami to the horrible beast?"

"I don't like where this is going," Midna muttered.

"Me either." Link frowned at her. "We're never going to get back to Hyrule, are we?"

They heard Nami call across the little brook to Nagi. "I know you will come for me, Nagi! You've trained so long and so hard…I know you will defeat Orochi!" She ran off, presumably to prepare for her fate.

"Well, now what?" Midna demanded of Issun. "You knocked out the famous Nagi…isn't he supposed to disguise himself as a pretty lady and beat up Orochi?"

"Let me think, let me think." Issun plunked himself down on Amaterasu's head and pondered. "Well, maybe we can dress Nagi up and bring him to the Moon Cave. If we're lucky he'll wake up before we get there. If he's not, I guess we can do the same thing we did last time and fight Orochi ourselves. You'll help, right?"

"Of course," Link assured him. "Where are we going to get ladies' clothes?"

Issun pointed. "Look, you can see Nami getting ready, she's got the sacrificial robe on the grass while she's bathing in the lake. Hee hee…she's not wearing anything at all…"

Midna smacked him off Amaterasu. "Focus, Issun."

He picked himself up off the ground. "Yes, well…we can snag the clothes and put them on Nagi, and no one will be the wiser!"

"I'll do it," Midna offered. She disappeared into the shadows nearby, popped up near Nami, snatched the robe, and popped up back again next to her companions. "I found this barrel of sake too…you think it's that 8 purification stuff? I'll keep it safe."

Issun nodded. "Now all that's left is to dress Nagi…um, Link? I know this is weird, but I'm too small and Furball here doesn't have any thumbs…"

"Yeah, I get it." Link pushed Nagi into a sitting position, and Midna threw the robe over him. With a few adjustments they managed to at least make him look like Nami from a long distance. Amaterasu threw him on her back, Link shifted into wolf form, and they took off through the village gates.

-&-

At the top of the field, Link looked down at the dark cave and growled.

"Yeah, it looks even meaner than the last time," Issun commented. "Orochi's at his peak strength now, so this is gonna be rough." They ran down the hill and through the gate, and a sinister inky cloud seemed to coalesce around them as they did.

Midna made a face. "Looks evil, sounds evil, smells evil, feels evil…" she stuck out her tongue and coughed. "Yup…even tastes evil."

They ran up the stairway to the cave entrance. "There's no barrier this time," Issun noted. Link and Midna didn't understand why Orochi would set up a barrier when he expected young lady callers, but they kept silent.

The man on Amaterasu's back stirred, then lifted his head and gave a puzzled look at the white wolf. Amaterasu shook him off.

Nagi glanced around in confusion. "Where am I?" He looked down at himself and jumped three feet in the air. "Why on earth am I wearing this?!"

"Hey, you're awake!" Issun bounced happily, glad that something was finally going right. "Now you can sneak up to Orochi in disguise and slay him! Then Nami will fall for you big time!

"Huh?!" Nagi whirled round to stare at him, then folded his arms and stuck a dramatic pose in an attempt to cover up this unheroic moment. "Yes…of course…for I am the greatest warrior that ever lived…"

Another earth-shattering roar rent the air. "Get ready!" Issun shouted as Amaterasu crouched down and snarled at the black void ahead. "He's coming!"

Link crouched next to Amaterasu, his sharp blue eyes fixed on a growing, angry orange glow. Suddenly the head of a great serpent shot out from the darkness, and Link and Amaterasu leaped in unison as the malevolent creature snatched Nagi in its jaws and disappeared back into the void.

Amaterasu snarled and ran forward; immediately they heard a retching sound and Nagi came flying back over their heads, falling senseless behind them. A magic barrier of violet energy flashed into view and closed them off from the cave's exit. "Well, so much for that idea," Issun muttered. "I guess Orochi can taste the difference between man and maiden! Well, there's nothing else for it, Ammy," he said as Amaterasu pawed at the barrier. "I know it's a risk…when you fought Orochi as Shiranui, you died too! And I don't know why you didn't just knock off the lizard when he first showed up…"

Midna made a dismissive gesture. "Don't worry about it. We'll help you get rid of that creature. But you know, you're going to owe us big time…if we make it through this, I expect you to help us out in Hyrule!"