NOTES: Who doesn't like this side quest? Although it's blood hard on an emulator without an actual controller...

Chapter 11 Hero: A Call for Aid... A Broken Trail When Needed Most!

Link continued to stare at these strange creatures that continued to move towards the barn, albeit slowly but steadily.

*BONK!*

"What are you doing staring at them!" Tatl hissed at him as she flew away from his forehead. "Shoot them! Shoot them!" Tatl ordered in a yelling tone.

"R-Right." Link went. He brought up the bow, placing the arrow, he pulled the string back.

*Twang~~*

"Erk..." Link went, as he missed. He knew he was going to get yelled at. Speaking of which...

"YOU MISSED? WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?" Tatl yelled in the boy's ear, causing him to wince. "YOU SAID YOU KNEW HOW TO USE A BOW-!"

"The last time I used a bow was when I had traveled seven years ahead in time... Technically I haven't actually used one yet... That bow was much different. I was an adult back then... I just need to pull it together." Link thought to himself. Once again, he pulled back another arrow.

*Twang~~*

"Yes!" Link shouted out, as the arrow pierced the ghost-like-alien right through one of it's glowing eyes. A bright flash was given. And then seconds later, another flash was given as another one appeared a distance away.

"WHAT?" Link shouted in a gasp. "How am I supposed to stop them if they keep coming back!"

"Just keep shooting them!" Tatl urged the boy.

Link let out a groan. This seemed to be an impossible task! How can he alone stand up to an army of ghosts that continued to appear over and over again? He didn't even have enough arrows!

Soon, the barn door flew open. Romani stepping outside at the rim of the door, she held the bow upwards, soon firing off an arrow at one of them, hitting the thing square in the chest. Another bright flash was given, this one appeared also.

"Come on Grasshopper, help Romani!" The red haired female ordered the boy.

"...She isn't giving up, I certainly can't either..." Link thought to himself. Refreshed with a bit more confidence, he held the boy up again. Epona let out a determined neigh, as if encouraging him to continue.

"...Alright. Let's go, Epona!" Link said, holding onto her with his left hand, he kicked the horse on the side. She neighed, beginning to trot off with medium speed, since Link's body was still aching. He brought the bow up once again with an arrow, pulling the string back. He let the arrow loose. Hitting another one in the side of the head, it disappeared in a flash.

Link continued to charge through the field with Epona, shooting arrows left and right. Romani continued to provide back up from the barn door as well. Everything seemed to have been going well.

"AAAHH-!"

Link stopped Epona, sharply turning around, as he let out a gasp.

One of them had sneaked in from behind the barn, and Romani seemed to have been out of arrows. She threw the entire bow at the ghost, but it just bounced back.

"Go, Epona, go!" Link urged the brown horse. She let out a neigh, trotting off quickly. Link groaned in pain at his sore body, but there was no time.

"Leave them alone!" Romani yelled. As she charged towards the alien. She soon let out a shriek, as she bounced right off of it. Some type of shield was guarding it, she flew off of it, slamming into the barn walls.

"Romani!" Link yelled. The alien seemed to care little for the girl, making its way to the barn.

"STOOOPPP-!" Link yelled in anger. He held out the bow with an arrow ready to fire. He looked as that glowing ball hovered over the barn door. Link's anger rose, as he shot an arrow, flame trailing behind the arrow as it pelted the ball. It went sailing away. Link didn't even notice, he fired another arrow quickly at the one that was near Romani. The arrow ripping right through the creature. There was a flash of bright red before it disappeared.

Link panted a little, hopping off of Epona as he ran towards Romani, bending down. "Are you okay?" Link asked in a stern and worried voice. But the girl gave no reply.

Tatl floated down. "...She's out cold. But she's okay. You have no time, you have to keep protecting the barn!"

Link let out a heavy sigh. He had only a few more arrows left. Walking over to the front of the barn, he positioned the bow in his hand, firing off a few more stray arrows to the closest ones to the barn. Each arrow landing directly. Link however reached back, and tried to grab another arrow.

"...No more arrows...?" He thought to himself.

"Dammit!" He yelled out angrily. He tried reaching for his sword and shield, only to soon remember that he hadn't even had those items on him. They were probably still in the house!

Link dropped the bow and quiver off of his back, standing in front of the barn door as he held his arms spread out.

"W-What are you doing!" Tatl ringed. "You're not gonna stop them like that!"

Link ignored her. "...Am I going to fail again...?" He thought to himself bitterly. "Despite how hard I'm trying, I'm going to fail again... I can't do this alone!..."

"Someone, anyone! I need help!" He yelled out in desperately as he closed his eyes in desperation and gritted his teeth. He was afraid he was going to fail another promise. He could feel them getting closer, and closer...

"H-Hey..." Tatl quietly muttered out. "Look!"

It took Link a lot of courage to peel one of his eyes open. When he did however, both of his eyes opened as he let out a gasp.

The white orb, which he had singed with the fire arrow, flew around the ranch. The aliens beginning to disappear off of the ranch one by one.

"What?... Why!" Link asked. Before feeling heat on his face, and the side of his body.

"Sunlight... The sun...?"

"Of course! The sun!"

He watched as the orb began to fly away at a high speed, off the ranch. Link let out all of his breath into a sigh of relief. "We... did it...?" He muttered quietly, almost not believing it.

He looked in the direction of the sun. The sun the whole time had been hidden behind heavy clouds. It was going to rain in a few hours. Was he just lucky?

He continued to examine the clouds, the sunlight was poking through. In fact, there was a hole in the clouds, shaped like a triangle.

"...Zelda..." Link thought quietly to himself. Happiness began to creep over his form.

"Grasshopper! You did it!" He suddenly heard, before he felt arms wrap around him from behind in a hug.

"Huh? I thought you got knocked out?" Link went, as he could tell it was Romani behind him.

"Nope! Romani was faking it. Romani wanted to see how brave Grasshopper was!"

"What!" Tatl rang out. "We could have really used your help you know! He was ready to throw his life away to protect your stupid cows!"

Romani let out a giggle, letting Link free. Link turned around taking a few steps back.

"Thanks to Grasshopper though, all of the cows are safe because he was so brave. The cows are giving their thanks too!" She complimented to the green boy. Link only blushed a little, flattered.

But the truth was, he wasn't brave. He was just desperate, and he was very afraid at what was very close to happening.

"Well, it's almost time for my sister to wake up. So let's get back to bed... Little hero." Romani said with a smile, before reaching over, giving Link a kiss on the cheek. Link blinked out in surprise, that blush of his growing.

Romani let out a wink, before turning around beginning to walk into the house.

"I think she likes you" Tatl commented quietly but slyly.

"Come on, Grasshopper!" Romani called.

"...C-Coming..." Link muttered quietly. He looked back to Epona. She gave a neigh, pushing him forwards with her head. Even the horse was teasing him... Nonetheless, the boy walked forwards, glancing at Romani one more time, before walking into the door to the house.

Dawn of the 2nd Day 48 Hours Remain

Link felt himself awaken rather slowly. From the time he awoke, he was still half asleep for another 15 minutes or so, until the sunlight from the window had poked into his eyes. Which forced him to turn his face away from the window, and bury it into the soft pillow. It had been ages since he had actually been on the bed. But despite all of these events, it had been a very uncomfortable sleep. Waking up and sleeping 3 times in one night, he still felt sleep deprived. But despite his laziness, he soon managed to push himself out of bed. He was comfortable with sleeping knowing that the moon was up in the sky, slowly creeping it's way down...

Link looked to the other bed. The older one he had seen before was up, apparently, as well as Romani Link moved himself towards the window. He had only slept for about an hour or so according to the sun's position and the shadows. A skill he had to learn to pick up on while adventuring, even all the way back in the days of Ganondorf and Hyrule.

Looking to his side leaning against the wall next to him, he spotted his Kokiri sword still in it's sheath, as well as his shield. He moved his limbs around a little. Still sore, but bearable. Perhaps Goht didn't injure him as much as he thought he did.

Link put his equipment on his back, looking back on the dresser beside the bed. Once again Tatl was sleeping on his hat. Link quietly and slowly nudged the fairy off of his cap. Putting it back on in place, Link walked quietly downstairs to not disturb the fairy. He once again saw nobody in the kitchen, so he opened the door, feeling cool air brush into his skin as he did so.

Once more walking over to the left upon closing the door, he looked a little to see a caravan now in front of the barn, the larger barn doors open at the moment. He soon saw that older girl from before. And she saw him. She was carrying a rather large bottle of milk. She set the bottle in the caravan, which after, she began to walk her way over to Link.

"My, you sure are a sleeper." She obviously had no idea... "How are you feeling, boy?"

"...A lot better. Thank you." Link replied back.

"...Is it true that your name is Grasshopper?"

"WHAT?" Link nearly fell flat on his face. Just what did Romani tell her? "N-No. It's Link..." He corrected her semi quietly.

"I figured. My little sister always makes nicknames for strangers. My name is Cremia, by the way." She said She then turned to Epona, who was still in the little outdoors shed. However, the gate was now open. "So I guess that's your horse, then?"

Link looked back to Epona. "Yeah... It's a long story on how I lost her. Thanks for taking care of her for me."

"Was it that little demon?"

"!" Link turned around looking at her. He knew however who she was talking about it.

"That little demon also blocked the road off to the ranch by a giant boulder. They almost finished mining the boulder out of the road... Might be done tonight or tomorrow... So I was preparing the inventory to sell at the Milk Bar in Clock Town."

"...Boulder?" Link had a worried feeling in his stomach.

"Yes. You was able to come in here because an owl flew you in. Your fairy friend told me all of the details."

"...I hope Tatl wasn't too specific." He thought before going back on subject. "...How big is this boulder...?"

"It blocks off the entire road completely. It's been a nuisance being unable to leave the ranch, but thankfully we were stalked up."

"Where is this boulder?" Link asked.

"You seem rather interested in big rocks..." She said in a curious tone. She then pointed down the dirt road. "Just follow that road, it will leave you to it."

"Okay, be right back..." Link said. He soon turned around quickly beginning to walk down the long stretch of road on the ranch.

He felt very worried now. As he walked, he looked towards the moon. It had gotten so much bigger then where it was the previous night. But if the boulder was in the path of the road...

Link looked up, seeing a giant boulder laying right in front of him. His eyes were wide with horror. He looked at around the edges of the boulder. There was absolutely no way to wedge his way out. He didn't have the Goron's mask to smash his way through.

"No!" Link yelled out. Slamming his body into the boulder, trying to push it. He grunted out, using all his strength that he could to try and push it. But deep down inside, he knew it was hopeless. He tried this for several minutes, before he slowly slid down the rock, which was against his back panting from his fruitless efforts.

"Dammit! This cannot be! I am trapped inside the ranch!"