This has been a good month for fandoms. Sun and Moon starters, LoZ title release... You all have no idea how stoked I am for the coming games.

Oh, and before I forget: I do not own the Legend of Zelda.

The thing about being seven years younger, the Links discovered, was that running was a lot different. For one thing, their legs were far shorter than normal. For another, their stride was just as diminished, and it made their gaits a lot choppier.

That, combined with the fact that they were all carrying toddlers, made the 'Retreat' tactic a lot less viable than it used to be. This was made abundantly clear by the fact that Ganondorf was keeping pace with them quite easily... by trotting.

"...This isn't going to work, is it?" Gen observed.

"Not in the slightest," Ganondorf informed him.

"Alright... new plan. Lore, do your thing!"

"I was hoping you'd say that!" Lore beamed. He then proceeded to, somehow, whip out the Rod of Seasons with only one hand and utterly coat Ganondorf in three feet of ice.

Granted, it immediately began melting because Ganondorf started channeling his magic, but it was still a breather, and darnit the Links were going to make the most of it!

"Okay guys, clearly running isn't going to be an option this time," Gen continued. "Ocarina, any ideas? You know the layout here."

Ocarina frowned, thinking. Normally this would be when he conferred with Mask, but since his younger-but-older self was five... This was going to take some thinking.

They weren't all that far outside the Castle Town, since they hadn't been able to run very far at all. In fact, they'd actually gone in the opposite direction they'd come from and were on the path to the Castle itself.

And this gave Ocarina an idea.

"We can't fight with only one arm each," he decided. "Sorry guys, but anybody under six is gonna have to sit this one out."

The younger Links frowned in annoyance, but nobody argued. It was an infuriating, but truthful statement.

"But we can't just sit you around someplace random," Ocarina continued. "Not everybody is old enough to be able to defend themselves competently. So we're going to pay a visit to somebody who could probably scare Demise himself."

Mask abruptly turned pale and facepalmed himself heavily.

"Exactly," Ocarina agreed. "Brace yourselves everyone, we're going to see the Great Fairy."

"...Exactly why is the Great Fairy a bad thing?" Dusk asked as everyone followed Ocarina. "I met some back in my Hyrule and they weren't bad at all. A little lacking in clothes, maybe, but other than that..."

"You'll see," Ocarina shuddered. "Right about... now, actually. Through the tunnel, everybody. Oh, and... please try to scream internally."

This statement received a lot of confused blinks from everyone but Mask, who nodded morosely, and Shadow, who just didn't care. Ocarina then led the group through the rock and into a large cave, with a wide, but shallow pool in the middle and decorative stonework on the walls. Unfortunately, nobody got to admire it because within seconds of their arrival, an ear-grating laugh sounded and an oversized woman with freakishly bright hair and a very questionable outfit spun up out of the water. Her nose was abnormally pointy and she was wearing far too much eyeshadow, giving her the impression that she was about to go for your throat.

And on top of everything else, she floated in midair as though gravity didn't exist and used it to look down her very pointy nose at the Links with a smile that might possibly be mistaken as flirtatious, of all things.

Dusk blinked once, gave the Great Fairy a thorough once-over, and said, "Alright, I see what you were getting at."

Lore, on the other hand, outright gaped at the woman and gasped, "You are FANTASTIC! You have got to show me how to do that! I mean, I consider myself fairly competent in the art of freaking people out, but YOU! You're a MASTER!" He took two steps forward and threw himself face-first on the ground in a prone position. "TEACH ME!"

Ocarina and Mask were using their tried-and-true method of not-quite-looking at the Fairy, instead staring at a point just past her ear. Shadow gave her a casual glance, raised an eyebrow, and shrugged.

"I don't see what all the fuss is about," he said.

Everyone else... well, they reacted in the usual fashion of people who meet the Great Fairy for the first time. But they did it internally, since Ocarina had warned them a few minutes before.

It went something like this.

'SWEET DIN WHAT IN THE NAME OF NAYRU IS THAT MOSTROSITY?! KILL IT WITH FIRE!'

Yet for some reason, the Great Fairy seemed oblivious to the reactions she was garnering and, flipping herself over onto her stomach (in midair), said, "Welcome, travelers. What brings you to my Fountain?"

"We need your help," Ocarina said, still staring past her ear. "Can you watch our little brothers while we go take care of some... things?"

"You're leaving us with her?!" Sketch protested.

"Well, can you hold your sword?"

Sketch turned red as he remembered how he'd fallen over when he tried to draw his weapon. "...No..."

Ocarina gave him a sympathetic smile. "Then we can't risk it. Sorry."

"Are we sure they won't alternatively take damage from... other sources?" Gen questioned.

"Look, she may be creepy as all get out, but the Great Fairy is actually one of the strongest sources of light magic around. If there's any place safer than in here... actually, I don't know of any place safer than in here."

Abruptly proving his point, Ganondorf burst through the entrance to the Fountain, accidentally made eye contact with the Great Fairy, and bellowed, "WHAT IN THE NAME OF ALL THAT IS EVIL IS THAT THING!?" He then proceeded to frantically cover his eyes and awkwardly backed out of the room entirely, muttering defensive spells and wards against demons as he did so.

"...That's new," Realm said. "I think I believe you now."

"Please don't leave us alone with her," Sketch pleaded.

"Geez, if it matters that much..." Ocarina frowned as he thought. "Okay, Navi will stay with you."

At the sound of her name, Navi let out an indignant bell noise. "Excuse me? I'm two inches tall and my only appendages are wings. I can barely take care of one Link, much less multiples! Not to mention the fact that you're all toddlers!"

"You'll be fine," Ocarina told her flippantly. "Now everybody who can hold their sword properly... we're going back out."

"This is going to suck significantly more than usual," Realm decided. "And that's saying something, since last time I got stung in the leg."

"And we're shorter, weaker, and slower," Gen added. "And over half our ranks are forced to sit out. And he's clearly planned all this out. And-"

Dusk rolled his eyes and gave Gen a thump upside the head, promptly shutting the boy up.

"Thank you," Ocarina told him. Gen tugged on his bangs awkwardly and did his best to look apologetic.

"So to clarify," Shadow spoke up, "You, Gen, Dusk, Realm, and me are the only people who are capable of fighting Ganondorf right now? That's what we're getting at?"

"Pretty much," Ocarina replied. "Go nuts, man."

"Oh, I plan to."

"Let's just get this over with before we all start to seriously regret it," Dusk sighed, leading the way back out of the Fountain.

For a minute, the only sound was the breathing of the toddler-Links and the quiet splashing of the Fountain water. Then the Great Fairy shifted her midair pose and said, "I do hope you don't mind my saying so, but you all are rather adorable. May I cuddle you?"

The Four let out simultaneous whimpers.

The Fighting Group, which since it only consisted of about six people really couldn't be considered as such, stepped out the entrance to the Fountain and were immediately bombarded by several magic spheres from a highly infuriated Ganondorf.

"So the little Heroes hide with monstrosities, do they?" Ganondorf sneered. "How low you've stooped."

"She's not a monstrosity!" Ocarina snapped. "She's just... umm... she's... uhh... guys, help me out here."

"Freakish," Gen offered.

"Terrifying," Realm said.

"Inspirational!" Lore exclaimed.

"She seemed pretty normal to me," Shadow said.

"...Unique," Dusk decided after a moment of thought.

"Oh, that's good, I'll use that. She's unique!"

"Uniquely an abomination to the eyes," Ganondorf corrected. "And as much as I normally appreciate a good tactical move, this particular move annoys me. Intensely. And unfortunately for you, you boys happen to be the only living things in sight. Allow me to take out my frustrations!"

With that, he blasted more magical spheres at the five Links below him. Shadow didn't bother dodging, instead just warping his body around the projectile and letting it crash into the ground behind him. Ocarina and Realm leapt out of the way, while Dusk took the attack with his shield.

Gen, on the other hand, saw the attack coming and immediately flashed back to the fight with Veran. He pulled out his Bug Net almost on reflex and sent it right back at Ganondorf – who hit it straight back, but aimed at Realm instead. Not expecting that, Realm was sent skidding across the ground with the energy from the attack crackling on his limbs.

"...ow..."

"No, that's good!" Ocarina called. "We need to hit it back but we all need to watch for it!"

"Yeah, that might not last very long," Gen informed him. "My arms kinda hurt after bouncing that back... I'm not sure how many times we can do that."

"Trying will get us farther than not," Dusk said firmly, and unsheathed his sword, holding it out steadily in front of him – mostly. The tip wobbled a little because Dusk was no longer strong enough to support all it's weight. Ganondorf eyed them all and chuckled.

"You boys amuse me," he decided, and shot more energy spheres at them.

"Thith ith infuriating," Mask fumed, pacing back and forth and very carefully avoiding looking up. "We're utheleth! Worthe than utheleth!"

"Can't argue with that," Wind agreed mournfully, bouncing the Four on his knees. This was being done with great skill and balancing proficiency.

"Hate this," Sketch muttered, and readjusted Speck in his arms.

"What, you'd all rather be out there getting your butts kicked?" Navi snapped.

"YES!"

Navi flickered in the fairy approximation of blinking for a brief moment. "Well... too bad! I'm responsible for all you until the rest of you get back, and – Watch Out!"

Mask yelped and quickly snatched Blue away from the Fountain edge, as he'd been about to fall in headfirst. "Don't do that!" He scolded. Blue made an apologetic face.

"You see? You'd all be doomed without me," Navi stressed. "I'm not about to let you go out there and get yourselves killed – are you listening to me?"

"Not really," Sketch mumbled dejectedly.

"At least we'd be helping!" Wind burst out, somewhat uncharacteristically. "I know we wouldn't be much help, but... it'd be better than sitting here and waiting..."

"I'm trying to-" Navi started.

Mask set Blue down next to his three counterparts and kicked at some pebbles on the floor. "I just wish... that there wath thomething we could do..." He frowned for a minute, thinking.

"We could try and be a distraction?" Wind suggested.

"Don't you dare-" Navi tried.

"How would we distract someone like Ganondorf though?" Sketch asked. "He planned all this out extensively, he hardly seems like the type of man to lose focus just because of some kids with a Cucco or whatever."

"I forbid you to-"

"I've got an idea!" Mask blurted suddenly. "I think we all know a guy who can help..." So saying, he held up the Fierce Deity in his left hand and grinned.

"...You think?" Sketch asked, eyeing it. "What if he turns out to be your size? I mean, since he uses your body as a host and all."

"But remember the first time?" Wind said. "Mask grew, like, three feet. Oni uses his own measurements."

"What are you-"

"That's true," Sketch conceded. "You're right, Mask, that might actually work."

"Won't hurt to try," Mask replied, raising the... mask to his face and-

"HEY! LISTEN!" Navi bellowed at the top of her fairy lungs. "WILL SOMEONE EXPLAIN TO ME WHAT'S GOING ON!?"

"I'm going to put thith on my fathe and thee if a friend would be willing to lend uth a hand," Mask explained in a spectacularly unexplanatory manner.

"And then you expect to walk out of this Fountain and into that fight, correct?" Navi asked dangerously.

"Well... yeah. Pretty much."

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" Navi exploded. "LINK PUT ME IN CHARGE AND AS THE RESPONSIBLE ADULT I REFUSE TO ALLOW YOU TO KILL YOURSELVES!"

"We won't be," Mask told her. "Oni'th a bit too protective for that."

With that, he slapped the mask onto his face and dropped to the floor, completely unconscious. Navi stared at him blankly.

"...What."

"Give him a minute," Wind said helpfully. "That's pretty normal."

"...He had better have an excellent reason once he wakes up," Navi seethed.

Mask materialized in the white void of the Fierce Deity mask – only to blink as he realized that things weren't as white as they used to be. This was evidenced by the fact that there was a (actually rather tasteful) set of furniture, as well as some artfully placed walls that were all colored a pale gray, with slightly darker gray accents. Sitting on one of the chairs was Oni, reading a pale gray book with letters on the cover that Mask couldn't read.

And at that point, he noticed that he was no longer five, but was in fact twelve just like the very first time he'd met the Original Link.

At his confused gasp, Oni looked up from his book and gave Mask a reserved but fond smile.

"Welcome back. What brings you here?"

Mask, who was still caught a bit off guard, blurted out the first thing in his head. "You redecorated."

Oni nodded. "I took... Lore? Yes, that was his designation; I took his advice about some color in here. And I must say, it makes finding everything so much easier. I really ought to have implemented something like this sooner... But I doubt that was your only reason for coming?"

Mask finished reacquainting himself with his usual size and gave Oni his full attention. "I know what you said about us needing to fight our own battles, but... we could really use your help."

Oni's face took on a contemplative expression. "Continue."

Mask took a deep breath, opened his mouth, and told his ancestor everything that had happened over the past few days. As he did, Oni's face got less and less contemplative and more and more serious. By the time Mask was done, Oni could have glared a hole straight through solid metal if eye-beams were a thing.

"...And that's why we could use your help," Mask finished. "I normally wouldn't ask, but only five of us can even hold our swords, and Ganondorf... he doesn't mess around. I... I really don't want to lose them... you know?"

"So you ask for their sake," Oni observed.

"Yeah... I guess you could say it that way."

Oni's blank eyes narrowed. "Then by all means, point me in the right direction."

Mask blinked for a moment before a massive grin split his face. "Really!? You mean it?"

"Let me explain further to avoid any unnecessary disappointment," Oni interrupted. "I stand by what I have said before. These are your fights, not mine. You must prove yourselves. But I can see your determination to help, and I know that your counterparts feel the same. So I will compromise with you. I will protect you and your kin, those who cannot currently defend themselves, so that you may help your fighting brothers take down your foe. I will not engage this 'Ganondorf' myself, understand?"

"Understood," Mask agreed. Really, it was a lot more than he thought he would get from Oni, who was an avid believer that one should earn their victories themselves. "Thanks though, seriously."

"It is my pleasure," Oni assured him. "Besides, you say this man intends to kill you."

His eyes turned hard, the kind of white that makes you shiver. "I do not take kindly to those who would end my legacy."

Once again, Mask was distinctly grateful that Oni was on his side. He had the impression that, although the Original Link took most things in stride, the one thing you could do to tick him off was attempt to kill his descendents. If the Majora fight was anything to judge by, he took things like that extremely personally. And then killed them very violently.

"Now I know where Dusk gets it from," Mask muttered.

Navi gaped as the distinctly taller, paler, and altogether far more intimidating man stood up from where Mask had fallen and surveyed the situation.

"...You all make rather cute children," Oni decided.

"Don't you start too," Sketch grumbled. "Did Mask fill you in?"

"He did. And I will explain to you what I did to him: I am not here to fight your battles, merely to protect you while you cannot do it yourselves."

"That's... actually going to help a ton," Wind said. "Thanks."

"Who the heck is this guy!?" Navi sputtered.

"Navi, this is Oni," Sketch supplied. "Oni, this is Navi. Any questions?"

"YES! Who is he, what happened to your friend, how a mask did that, whether he's dangerous, and a thousand other important things!" Navi shouted.

"...Is she always that uptight?"

"I AM NOT UPTIGHT!"

"Dunno, we only met her yesterday," Sketch shrugged. "Mask would know."

Oni inclined his head and listened to something for a moment before nodding. "I see."

"Seriously, who are you, and what is going on?" Navi demanded.

"I am the First," Oni replied calmly. "And I am here to protect my legacy."

"...What!?"

"We're him, he's us, it's a very long story and we'll explain later," Wind told her. "Can we please go now? The Great Fairy is kinda freaking me out."

Oni raised an eyebrow, then slowly tilted his head up and looked at the floating woman for a few seconds.

"...Did you do something with your hair?" He asked at length.

The Great Fairy let out a high-pitched giggle. "Oh, I'm so glad someone noticed! I actually had my edges trimmed last week... I'm sorry, have we met before?"

Oni carefully looked her up and down. "I can safely say I have never seen you before in my life, my lady."

"Oh, that's alright," the Fairy replied cheerfully. "We can get to know each other now, if you'd like."

"...Descendants?" Oni said quietly.

"Yeah?"

"I believe we should all turn around and exit. This woman is quite clearly a amnesiac demon in disguise. Avoiding eye contact is highly advised, especially if combined with acting as though nothing is wrong and taking our leave. Please follow me."

Aside from Navi, who was immune to the Great Fairy's side effects due to being of the same species, everyone obeyed the Original Link without question and calmly filed out the door. Navi, for her part, sputtered in confusion, and after giving the Great Fairy a helpless shrug, followed her charges out the door while yelling safety warnings in a shrill tone.

"Shame," the Great Fairy mused to herself, sinking back into the Fountain. "They were all so adorable too."

Upon seeing that the Links had developed a counter to his energy spheres, Ganondorf promptly developed a counter to the counter. This was mainly accomplished by rapid-firing more spheres than the Links could keep track of, and resulted in a lot of hits.

Lore went sliding across the dirt for the eighth time and thumped to a stop against a large rock.

"That one hurt," he said, wincing and rubbing his shoulder. A few feet away, Gen took an attack to the stomach and doubled over wheezing, while Realm swung frantically to knock back all the orbs heading for him. He managed to keep it up for about six attacks before the seventh, eighth, and ninth ones all ganged up on him at once and sent him tumbling. Dusk was grimly taking shot after shot with his Bow from a considerable distance away, although it regrettably wasn't doing much. And Ocarina... was panicking.

Basically, what it all boiled down to was that Mask was the one who had fought this fight before. Ocarina hadn't been there yet. And as a result, he had absolutely no idea what he was doing. Weaknesses, strengths, nothing. It didn't help either that Vio, the resident strategist, was currently four.

And it definitely didn't help that Ganondorf was kicking their butts. Effortlessly.

And where the heck was Shadow?

This question was abruptly answered as Shadow blurred out of the insignificant shade under a rock and materialized with his sword held against Ganondorf's neck. Ganondorf turned his head every so slightly and stared down his nose at his creation. Shadow matched this with the strongest Death Glare he had, doing his absolute best to inflict mortal bodily harm with his eyes. Unfortunately, ocular laser beams were not one of the abilities Shadow possessed, so nothing actually happened, but it still made the dark Link feel better.

"Explain to me what you're doing outside the Temple," Ganondorf said shortly. "I set you there to stop the Hero – not that you succeeded in that – and it was designed as a permanent trap."

Shadow did his level best to glare daggers. "I know," he hissed. "I spent centuries stuck in that hole. And you know what? None of it did anything to improve my opinion of the self-serving stuck-up arrogant lying manipulative filthy-excuse-for-a-man swine WHO LEFT ME THERE!"

"Temper," Ganondorf chided. "You'll lose your focus with that kind of fury."

"The only thing getting lost around here is your head," Shadow snarled, and made to jerk his weapon – only to get blindsided by the magic sphere Ganondorf had been charging while the conversation had been going on. The impact knocked Shadow back a considerable distance, sliding to a halt next to Ocarina.

"...I hate him," Shadow growled – literally. "I am going to take great pleasure in hacking off his limbs and watching his life blood drain from his stomach."

"Dude," Lore said, grimacing. "I did not need that much detail."

The look Shadow gave him very clearly said, 'Do I look like I care!?' Lore held up his hands in the universal 'Don't shoot me' pose.

"I'm going back in," Shadow said shortly. "Don't get in my way, and I won't accidentally slice you in half. You've been warned."

With that, he flashed into motion and began a complicated battle-dance consisting of swordplay and lots of projectiles from his opponent.

"We're aware he's the only one capable of doing any real damage, right?" Dusk clarified, stowing his Bow and joining the other four Links.

"Unfortunately," Gen groaned. "It's official. I hate being ten."

"I'm sure you liked it when you actually were ten," Realm pointed out.

"That was seven years ago. I'm over it."

"QUIT DODGING!" Shadow screeched suddenly.

"I like my head where it is, thank you," Ganondorf said.

"I DON'T CARE!"

"Does he seem angrier to anybody else?" Lore asked redundantly. Gen gave him a dry look.

"Gee," he said, deadpan. "I wonder what could have possibly given you that idea."

At that moment, Shadow went skidding backwards as Ganondorf blasted him with projectiles and gave the remaining Links one of his patented Annoyed Stares.

"Are you guys going to help or am I going to have to rip out his organs myself?" Shadow asked crankily.

"You can have the organs, but other than that, I'm in," Realm said, shuddering. Shadow snorted amusedly, and all six Links sprinted forwards in a disorganized huddle. Unfortunately for them, Ganondorf chose that moment for target practice and nailed half of them with his magic, leaving Lore, Ocarina, and Shadow (who was too stubborn to notice something like getting hit) in range. But before they could get any closer, Ganondorf jumped up into the air-

And stayed there.

"How is that fair!?" Lore complained, gesturing wildly at the now-floating villain.

"I hate him," Shadow snarled.

Ocarina just stared blankly and dearly wished Mask had been around to warn him about this.

"My apologies, but I felt that events were becoming... stale," Ganondorf said, smiling insincerely. "Higher ground makes things so much more interesting."

"...This is going to get exponentially more painful, isn't it," Gen observed.

Ganondorf gave everyone a disturbing grin and shot rapid-fire projectiles at anything that moved.

Since Ganondorf was now solidly out of reach, the Links – mainly Shadow – developed a new strategy. And by this, they meant that Shadow was forced to stop attacking directly and settled for angrily swatting back projectile spheres instead along with everybody else. It actually proved to be much more effective, as Shadow's rage made him an excellent combatant and his inconsistent body made getting hit a lot less of a problem than it was for the normal Hylians around him.

The fight now went as follows: Shadow grew lots of extra arms and used them to hit the magic spheres back with the added gift of very unprintable insults, and the rest of the Links covered anything Shadow missed while trying their best to stay out of range. Much to their annoyance, this proved to be quite a good development. The fact that nobody Hylian was over ten years old was taking a heavy toll on their stamina. Normally by this point in a fight, they might be breathing a little heavier but they would still be perfectly capable of holding their own. Now though, when Lore hefted his sword to hit back a sphere, he fell over backwards with the momentum and his lack of ability to properly brace himself.

Put simply, they were – albeit slowly – losing. And nobody, aside from Ganondorf, took particularly well to that realization. So when their Gerudo opponent launched off another round of spheres, the Links decided to try a different tactic.

"The one on the middle-left," Gen instructed. "Ready... now!"

In synchronization that would make the Four proud, all six Links smacked one specific sphere with all the strength they had, sending it back to Ganondorf at a speed far too fast to be countered. The projectile hit its maker right in the chest and exploded into a fizzing yellow static that paralyzed the man for a few precious seconds.

"Sweet, it worked!" Lore enthused. "...Now what?"

"Now I shoot him with this," Ocarina replied, quickly nocking a Light Arrow and firing away. This was one of the few things he remembered Mask mentioning about his fight with Ganondorf and Ocarina was going to abuse his future knowledge to the fullest. The arrow dug deep and released it's Light magic on impact, which paralyzed Ganondorf again but in a completely different way. Unable to move, he slowly descended to the ground and knelt there, shaking in both fury and attempted motion.

"Now we can hit him," Dusk said, grinning wolfishly. And they proceeded to do just that.

However, it only seemed to make the Gerudo angrier, as Ganondorf lunged back into the air and began tossing energy balls with much more frequency than before, which in itself was quite an accomplishment. Everyone but Shadow was sent sprawling, and Shadow himself ended up with three good-sized holes in his upper thigh, shoulder, and abdomen. Ganondorf gave them all an infuriating smirk-

And got hit in the face with a random Deku Nut.

"Gotcha!" Sketch crowed, holding a borrowed slingshot in one hand and more ammunition in the other. The six Links gaped at him, noticed everyone standing behind him, and gaped at them too. The fact that Oni was somehow inexplicably present didn't help things either.

"What the heck are you guys doing here?" Gen said dumbly. "We left you with the Great Fairy!"

"We chose to tactfully ignore that fact and came to help anyways," Wind replied.

"Navi, you were supposed to stop them!" Ocarina accused.

"I have no arms," Navi said dryly. "How exactly was I supposed to do that? Plus, once this pale guy showed up they all pretty much ignored me."

"Speaking of that," Dusk interrupted, "Oni, why are you out? I thought we were supposed to be fighting our own battles?"

"Make no mistake, I stand by what I have said," Oni replied. "However, numerous members of this group are under the age of five and have trouble walking, much less fighting. I am simply here to be the shield they cannot hold."

Dusk let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding in relief. "Thanks."

"You are most welcome."

"EXCUSE me," Ganondorf cut in. "But I believe we were in the middle of me killing you. Care to explain why I am suddenly being bombarded with local plant material?"

"That would be us smaller people helping out in the only way we can," Sketch explained helpfully. "We are going to be your Distraction."

"I do not require a Distraction," Ganondorf growled.

"That's okay, our service is complimentary," Sketch replied, smiling evilly.

And he hit Ganondorf in the face with another Deku Nut.

Unfortunately, this only really served to further ignite the Gerudo man's wrath, and he lunged for the smaller Links – only to get blindsided by both an impassive Oni and a suddenly growling Dusk. Both Links exchanged a surprised glance for a moment before giving each other a nod and turning their glares to their opponent instead.

"You will not touch them," Oni stated calmly.

"What he said," Dusk agreed. Ganondorf eyed them both in interest.

"...Well then," he said. "Let's see if you can stop me."

Wind tugged on Sketch's sleeve and said quietly, "We probably ought to start that diversionary plan we came up with. Just 'cause, you know, I think we all want to keep living and things."

"Good idea," Sketch agreed. "Everyone, Flora Maneuver. Go!"

And with that, Ganondorf suddenly found himself the target of every projectile imaginable.

The Flora Maneuver was creatively named as such because it involved throwing plant-based things. These consisted of the previously used Deku Nuts, some random sticks they'd picked up on the way over, and... actually, it was just those two.

There were also the random Seeds of various types that Lore had started throwing, but since he wasn't really part of the Distraction this time that didn't really count.

As such, the Flora Maneuver only lasted about three minutes.

"...Okay, so that could have gone better," Sketch admitted ruefully. "But let's forget about that and move onto the Fauna Maneuver!"

...It was named bacause it involved everything that wasn't plant-based, okay? Red was in charge of naming thing anyways and he was out of commission, so someone had to step up.

In any case, this involved throwing... actually, not much. It turned out that the definition of 'Fauna' applied to approximately one thing in the Links' arsenal, and that was a completely unexpected and random Chain Chomp (whatever that was) that the Four apparently carried around with them. The round metal creature launched itself at Ganondorf with loud and resounding barks, of all things, and its very shiny and pointy teeth latched firmly onto the cloak that the villain was wearing. It proceeded to dangle there for the next ten or so minutes, content to interfere with Ganondorf's airway and generally make it very hard for him to both breathe and float at the same time.

Of course, since the actual throwing of the Chain Chomp only took about twenty seconds or so, the toddler Links were forced to move on to Plan Three.

"...Yeah, we probably could have planned this better, but we don't really care! Activate the Whatever-The-Word-For-Not-Plants-Or-Animals-Is Maneuver!"

Everyone took a moment to blink at that. And then Ganondorf got hit by, in no particular order, bombs, arrows, hookshots/clawshots/whatever-the-individual-variant-was, boomerangs, two lanterns, multiple pairs of underwater gear (read: flippers), a random ocarina that Speck apparently carried but wasn't actually important like the one Ocarina himself carried, several capes which landed on Ganondorf's head and obscured his vision nicely, three hammers (two regular and one Skull), a shovel, a grappling hook, a bait bag, an exceedingly large leaf, a telescope, multiple bottles (empty or otherwise), all three of Sketch's various wands plus one that Steam had, and the full force of the Spirit Train as Steam managed to squeak his summoning phrase through his underaged mouth at the very end.

Ganondorf came out of it looking sufficiently bedraggled. All the other Links stared. The Gerudo King blinked, once. Slowly.

"...You are going to pay for that," he said calmly, pulling the exceedingly large leaf off of his shoulder and making a futile attempt to dislodge the Chain Chomp hanging from his cape. It didn't work.

"Oh, come on!" Lore complained, for no apparent reason. "We were in line first!"

"If he wants it, he can have it," Sketch declared quickly. "No need to switch up the order of 'paying for it' just because of little old us."

"He is not the one who hit me with a hammer," Ganondorf said, still in that calm voice.

And then everything got very loud.

Ganondorf now had new targets: the smaller Links who had so infuriatingly pegged him with random objects. Overall, it was a good decision on his part because, being younger, they were less able to hit his magic projectiles back.

The only problem was that Oni, true to his word, absolutely refused to let his charges get hit by anything they couldn't block themselves. He didn't hit them back or anything, he just blocked with his sword and absorbed the energy into the metal like a sponge. But only the ones which were absolutely going to hit if he didn't intervene.

The rest of the spheres he left completely untouched, leaving the not-toddler Links to scramble around in their attempts to hit them back. Only Gen even managed to properly return one.

"Maybe you could, I dunno, give a little warning before you do that next time?" Shadow asked irately.

"Did you not read my body language?"

Any reply Shadow would have made to that was cut off as Ganondorf fired another round of orbs and Oni went on guard again. Shadow settled for rolling his eyes and using his pent-up annoyance on the incoming projectile instead. And while normally, Ganondorf would have been more than capable of hitting it right back, the Gerudo King currently had a Chain Chomp hanging from his cape, bait in his hair, and a Deku Nut exploding in his face as Sketch let a well-timed seed fly right as Shadow made contact with the magic sphere. Said magic sphere continued uninterrupted straight into Ganondorf's left shoulder and detonated in a fizzle of yellow sparks.

"Pretty!" Red chirped from his position on the ground. Oni spared him a small smile before refocusing on the villain who was currently glaring lethal daggers at the Links while slowly descending to the ground under the influence of his own magic. The general idea of his Look seemed to be 'That was a cheap shot.'

"Well yeah, but that was the point," Sketch said, having taken a few basic lessons from Mask in Facial Expressions. Then he looked at the older Links and asked, "Are you going to hit him or not?"

"I'm still registering the fact that you threw a Bait Bag at Ganondorf," Realm said slowly.

"I'm not," Ocarina said. "I'll get it."

With that, he knocked and shot another Light Arrow into his opponent, then quickly covered the distance between the two of them (followed by the other five fight-worthy Links) and went to work with his sword. This lasted about six seconds.

And then Ganondorf got angry.

With a violent burst of energy, he sent all the Links flying before standing up slowly and giving everyone a Death Glare that actually rivaled Shadow's.

"I just want to let you know," he said, deathly calm, "that you brought this upon yourselves."

His eyes turned yellow – not the warm yellow that makes one think of sunshine, but the cold yellow that, despite being what should be a warm color, makes you shiver instead. The back of his hand lit up with the same cold glow – and then his body exploded.

Unlike the yellow glow of a few moments previously, this was an icy white-blue that obscured his whole form - and made the emerging one all the more intimidating.

Ganondorf now loomed over the Links by a good fifteen feet, even more because they were all seven years younger than they should have been. He'd been formidible before; but now, holding two absolutely massive swords and with a body that was best described as a half-pig abomination, he was downright terrifying.

Someone let out a very appropriate "Meep" noise.

In the brief moment of absolute calm before everything went to the Dark Realm, Oni spoke up.

"Mask wishes to note that your opponent is now called Ganon."

"Oh, that was helpful!" Gen snapped.

And then Ganon charged.

Due to uploading issues, the battle is concluded in the next chapter.