Enjoy.
Sheik's brawl against Zelda proved very difficult and she almost lost. Twice she was sure she was going to fall to her death and she felt constantly weak. Zelda shot fire from her hands and used magic triangles to knock her back. It was far from annoying. It was painful and she could barely get in a hit. After respawning at the top she took on a new form of attack, baiting Zelda and watching for opportunities to hit her. She began to enjoy flipping over the fire balls, sliding under them, and kicking Zelda. It seemed right that she should be able to inflict pain on this girl she would never have been allowed to do so to before. Zelda had been Miss Goody-goody and her parents were rich and influential. There had been many a time where Sheik had been so angry at her 'righteousness' that she had wanted to slap her. Now she could do so.
In addition to this fun, there were strange foods that could be grabbed and absorbed that brought renewed strength. A mushroom was the most powerful. Most importantly, there were hearts that floated down and provided the greatest strength of all. Sheik used two and wondered if it was possible to eat them during lunch and if they would provide the same energy outside of the portals.
Sheik won, but Zelda's attacks were still painful and as they stood in the misty finishing room, Zelda clapping solemnly behind her, Sheik felt exhausted and wanted to wilt and collapse on the ground. She again thought of the hearts and made a mental note to ask about them later.
They dissolved into the Announcing Room and Sheik stumbled suddenly.
"Hey!" Link had caught her and was holding her up. She pushed away from him and groggily looked about.
"We've got an hour before lunch," said Zelda, cocking her head. "You want to go outside with me?"
"No," answered Sheik. "Because," she added, as she left them and headed for the elevator, "I want to go outside by myself."
She left the building and began running easily, practically skimming over the grass and heading for somewhere away where she could relax. About half a mile later that 'somewhere' appeared in the form of a lovely lake. Trees grew nearby, giving gentle shade, and bulrushes grew along the edges. Large rocks started on the mossy banks and were half submerged in the crystal water as well. Sheik's eyes filled with happy tears and she dashed them away as a giggle of joy escaped. She leapt forward, flipped into a high tree, and tore off her turban, unbraided her hair, and pulled off her shoes. The suit would dry in the sun or she could change, but the water was irresistible.
With a small scream she leapt out of the tree into a flip out over the water. Angling her body she cut through the surface cleanly, barely making a ripple as she glided, down, down, down. The water was colder down below and as soon as she realized there was probably no way she was going to reach the bottom, she turned upwards and surfaced, gasping in the air with delight and shaking her bangs out, spraying water droplets everywhere.
She dove again and found a rock, pushing off of it beneath the water, to leap clear of the lake before curving her back and arms gracefully and cutting back underwater in a backflip.
She swam in circles, somersaulted underwater, pulled herself onto the rocks, and backed up, abruptly dashing forward into a series of handsprings, cartwheels, flips, and jumps until she was in the air. A series of flips and spins brought her hurling into the water with a giant splash and she grinned as she surfaced, jerking her mask, which had fallen, up and over her chin again.
She didn't expect anyone to come here as well, but she'd learned it was never bad to be too careful.
"Oh my goodness, you're amazing!" squealed a voice and Sheik, treading water, turned to see Peach, skirt hoisted up in her hands, standing on the bank with a smile of delight on her face.
Sheik gave a wry smirk and swam over, glad she hadn't messed up. "What are you doing here?"
"I had to get away for a little bit," explained the princess, plopping down on her stomach and putting her chin in her hands, her feet kicked up in the air. She grinned girlishly. "Could I join you?"
"I can't stop you," returned Sheik, cocking her head. She let herself slide beneath the water and then popped up, splashing Peach.
The princess shrieked and leapt to her feet. Her scream changed to a laugh and she kicked off her shoes.
"Is there any place to wade?"
"You won't be able to move if that dress gets wet," returned Sheik, folding her arms as she stood, letting her toes squeeze into the mud.
Peach glanced behind her. "You don't think any guys will come this way, do you?"
"No way of knowing," Sheik returned, diving downwards, scrapping up a handful of mud, and throwing it at a rock.
She turned back to see Peach taking off her dress. Underneath she wore short pink biker shorts and a white tank top. "Well, here goes nothing." The princess dashed forward and did a handspring into the water.
Sheik grinned and turned a somersault, surfacing to see Peach shake water from her hair and gasp. "Oh no! I didn't take off my crown."
"It probably fell off during your handspring," returned Sheik, red eyes scanning the bank.
"It couldn't have," answered Peach, her hands feeling her head. "I secure it quite… securely before brawls so it won't fall off."
"Oh." Sheik smirked. "Only thing to do is look for it. I'm going to climb the cliff so I can dive deeper."
"Okay."
Peach took a deep breath and disappeared from view and Sheik swam quickly onto the rocks, clambered to the highest point, took a deep breath, and dove, pencil straight, into the lake. She opened her eyes into slits and could just barely see fuzzy, dark shapes. It wasn't much to go on. A sparkle caught her eye and she shot forward, grabbing it up, and shooting for the surface.
Peach was doggy paddling and saw her. "You found it?"
Sheik held up the object and found it wasn't the crown at all, but a rock.
"Oh," Peach sighed.
Sheik rolled her eyes and dove down to search again.
She surfaced, disappointed that nothing had shown up and wondered how long it would take to find.
"I found it," said Peach, beaming and holding up her golden crown. "It was wedged between two rocks."
"Great."
Peach hurled it carelessly onto the bank and dove out of sight, coming up right in front of Sheik and spitting a mouthful of water at her.
Sheik spluttered in amazement and splashed Peach before swimming away, spraying her with more water as she kicked her feet.
"Nice try," called Peach just as Sheik dove. The elusive woman circled back, under the water, and reached the bank, surfacing for deep gasps of air as she looked over at the princess, who was at the far side.
"You sneak!" called Peach, laughing. "Can you teach me to dive?"
Sheik shrugged and pulled herself up. "I'll try. Just jump off and do a flip in the air." She did one herself and surfaced to watch Peach, who stood nervously over the water. "I'm scared. In the brawling stages it never hurts to fall, but here…"
"Peach, the water isn't the same as cement and you've swam underneath it. You know there're no rocks. Jump."
Peach grabbed her nose, held it, and leapt off, spinning slightly forward. Sheik's eyes widened and she blanched, closing her eyes just as Peach did a tremendous belly smack, sending water spraying out in all directions.
Sheik sped forward, her hands cutting the water, and hesitated as Peach surface, spluttering and coughing. "That hurt!" she said, spitting water out of her mouth and wiping her eyes.
Sheik controlled herself and shook her head, grabbing Peach's hand and pulling her towards shore. "That's because you did it wrong. I should have warned you about landing on your belly. Or your back for that matter."
"Great advice a little late," returned Peach drily, as she pulled herself onto the grass, scooted back, and lay back to stare at the sky. "Ugh."
Sheik grinned and climbed up to lay down beside her, pulling her arms back so her head could rest on her hands.
"You look nice with your hair down," Peach said, breaking the silence.
Sheik rolled her eyes. "Thanks." She debated briefly and finally said, "You know the hands?"
"Crazy and Master? Yeah. I looked them up on my phone, but I didn't have enough guts to visit their offices." She giggled sheepishly.
"Well I visited them with Zero Suit Samus," explained Sheik. "Crazy Hand told us that they both had been part of a male Wii Fit Trainer that had been enlarged and his hands cut off." She glanced sideways at Peach, hoping the princess wouldn't think her crazy.
The blue eyes returned the gaze, the eyebrows raised incredulously. "That's… crazy." She giggled. "How do they float around and stuff?"
"And see and hear and… talk?" finished Sheik. "I don't know. Real question is, who would do that? That's the craziest thing I ever heard!"
"Maybe he was lying."
"I thought of that. But why would he lie?"
"Maybe he's self-conscious about what really happened."
"Yeah…"
"Does Wii Fit Trainer, the girl, know about it?"
"I don't know. I didn't talk to her about it. I mean, if she does… I don't exactly trust her yet."
"Well thanks for trusting me," answered Peach, but her voice sounded worried. "Is this a secret?"
"I certainly wouldn't expect a mature princess like you to go blabbing the story," snapped Sheik; edgy.
Peach frowned at her. "I wouldn't expect myself to do that either, Sheik! But who else have you told? We should get to the bottom of this. I smell something fishy going on, and being a smasher, it would mean I'm caught in the middle of it. I don't want that."
"Calm down, princess," said Sheik, sitting up to begin braiding her hair. "I haven't told anyone except for you, but Zero Suit knows, because she was there. I don't know who she's told, but…"
"Can we tell Mario?" asked Peach.
"I don't know," Sheik responded doubtfully. "You see, anyone sensible might decide to 'talk it over with the hands and get things straight', but that might make them cover up and we'd have gotten nowhere."
"Oh." Peach looked pitiful. She stood and shook out her hair, glancing at Sheik braiding hers. "You know, I could put it up for you and make you look great."
"Thanks, but no thanks."
"I didn't mean you don't look great all the time," Peach hastily added, as she traipsed over to her dress and began pulling it on. "But you know you could look more girlish if you wanted to." As she pulled on her outfit she glanced at Sheik.
Sheik ignored her, leapt up into the tree, and wrapped her turban around her head again. Then she hopped down and motioned with her head. Both started back for the mansion together.
"You should tell a guy, at least," urged Peach, pulling out her parasol. "It doesn't have to be a sensible one, but he should be strong enough to protect us."
"Peach, settle yourself. I highly doubt either hands or, if the Wii Fit Trainer is involved, suspect me. I haven't done anything suspicious."
"What if they have… oh, I don't know… cameras and bugs everywhere."
"By the lake?" snorted Sheik. "I doubt it. Hey, it's okay. It may just be nothing."
"Okay. Yeah. I'm sure it's nothing." Peach's voice said she knew better and Sheik put a hand on her shoulder.
"If it'll make you feel better, we'll tell someone else. How about… Marth? He's smart and level headed."
"Sure," agreed Peach. "We can tell him tomorrow."
"Okay. At the lake. Or I can just tell him myself."
"Yeah."
More bonding time with another smasher. Sheik's making friends for someone who claimed she wasn't friendly.