Blue

When the bright light faded away, Blue realized he was lying spread-eagled and face down on the ground, sword and shield in his hands. He quickly stood up, hoping that nobody saw that. Glancing around, he discovered that the others had fallen over too. That made him feel a bit better.

"Everyone all right?" Green asked.

"Yes," Vio replied.

"All good here!" Red piped up.

"Yeah," Gray and Blue agreed.

"Where are we?" Vio asked, gazing around him. Blue looked too, and discovered they were standing in a white, misty place. Everything looked like clouds, even the ground.

The sound of a wolf howling made them spin around just in time to see the golden beast from before change into a sinister-looking skeleton wearing very dilapidated armor. However, its eyes stayed the same as the wolf's- one glowing red and the other dim and dark. In its left hand, it held a black-hilted sword, and in the other was gripped a round shield with old vines growing on it. Blue vaguely wondered how the shade- he assumed it was a shade, it just had that sort of aura- had lost its eye. The thing stared at them, breathing heavily as if it was struggling for air. Why spirits and shades breathed when they were dead, Blue had no idea. Maybe it was just habit.

It studied Gray closely, like he was evaluating how good of a fighter he was. Then his eyes moved on to Blue and the other three, and stiffened in surprise. Blue was sure that the singular eye would have widened if it had an eyelid.

"You four again? How…" The shade faded off, quickly hiding its shock as best it could.

"Us four again? Have we met?" Vio asked suspiciously. Blue wanted to know the same thing.

"Ah, forgive me, it is nothing. You just look like some people I used to know long ago when I was still alive…" the shade recovered quickly, though his eye still lingered on the four, "That is not what I brought you here for."

Vio looked unconvinced, but he didn't say anything.

"What did you bring us here for?" Green asked.

"You are here so I can show you the ways of the sword. Only here can I be in this form. In the world of the living, I am forced to become a beast, so it is only here, an in-between world where I live, that I can teach you. Come, show me what you can do." Without giving anyone a chance to react, the shade split himself into five, each one targeting one Link. Each shade moved in perfect synchronization, swinging their swords and hitting each Link with the flat of their blades. Surprised, Blue was flung backwards, landing on his back several feet away. Judging from the yelps, the others had received the same treatment.

"That was unfair!" Blue cried indignantly as he picked himself up. Gray's shade spoke.

"Life is not fair. Your enemies aren't going to wait till you are ready before they attack," it reprimanded him, then turned to huff in distaste at Gray, "A sword wields no strength unless the hand that holds it has courage. Always remember that. Hah, you may be destined to become a hero of legend… but your current power would disgrace the proud green of the hero's tunic you wear," the skeletal knight scoffed. Blue realized that it was trying to get Gray angry, and by the look on his friend's face, he was succeeding magnificently. Actually, he was making Blue mad too. He hated his friends being treated like that.

Gray must've still had some leftover wolfish instincts in him, because he tilted his head, narrowed his eyes, and growled lightly. Unaffected, the deceased knight continued.

"You must use your courage to seek power… and find it if you must. Only then will you become the hero worthy of saving this land. If you do find true courage, and you wish to help your friends to save Hyrule from the horrors it now faces… Then you will be worthy to receive the secrets I hold!"

Without hesitation, Gray responded, still a little mad, "I do!"

The shade nodded, "Then I will teach you. And what of you four? Do you also wish to learn my secrets?"

All four of them nodded, Blue scowling as he did so. He didn't like this guy very much, but new sword tricks were worth it.

"Well then, we shall begin," the five shades dropped into battle stances, Gray's still talking, explaining the move they were about to learn.

"Enemies that are filled with energy will quickly recover and attack again even when stunned by a powerful strike. The ending blow is a secret technique you can use on stunned enemies to end their breath before they spring back into action. When an enemy lies on the ground, stunned, focus on where you want to strike. Make sure you are well-balanced and slightly crouching. This is important when you leap. The shade started to demonstrate as he spoke. "You don't want to drop your sword in the middle of the action, so make sure you have a good grip on it. When you leap, you need to move some of your weight into your hands, even though you'll land feet first. This will give you a better strike. That way you can be certain to kill your foes."

After a while, when they had been practicing for about twenty minutes, the Links sat down for a break.

"Sir?" Red asked, "Who taught you these secret moves?"

The knight's eye glinted cheerily, as if it was funny he'd asked.

"Oh, I learned from four very good teachers," he replied, "They were a little bit older than yourself I believe."

"A bit older than us?" Vio asked suspiciously.

"Yes. I was around the same age too, at the time…" his voice faded as if lost in memory, "I remember my friends would tease me at first because I wasn't very good at them at first," he finished, "Now let's get back to practicing."

It took a bit for everyone to get the move down, but eventually they all could do it nearly flawlessly.

"Enough," the shade declared after he molded himself back into one being, "the first skill, the ending blow, has been passed on!"

"Thank you," Red said.

"You are welcome. It is my duty to show you these moves. There are six more for you to learn. Remember, these skills are only for those with the blood of the hero."

He looked at the four youngest Links, and Blue saw something in his eye. Was that sadness? Regret? Blue didn't know, but the shade nodded at them, before turning to Gray specifically.

"You have a long journey ahead of you. Grow powerful. Test your courage, but most of all, do not forget that you are not in this fight alone. I pity you. A hero's life is never easy. You will face many hardships before your time is done. Without friends and support, you will almost certainly fail. Remember that."

"What about the other skills?" Blue asked.

"To find me again, search for the statues that howl with the sound of the wind. Seek the sound that calls to the spirit of the beast to call me again. I will come to you. Now I will send you back, you have been here long enough…" He took on a more somber mood than before, "A sword wields no strength unless the hand that holds it has courage. Remember those words… Farewell!"

With those last words, Blue's vision went white and he found himself standing on the path to the Forest Temple, along with the rest of the group.

Midna popped out of his shadow, making Blue jump in surprise.

"Well that was interesting," she said, "Now dead spirits are teaching you? Eee-hee! I wonder what next… Anyway! Shouldn't we get going now? You're all standing there gawking! Do you want to eat all the bugs in the woods?"

Blue snapped his mouth shut, blushing in embarrassment and glaring daggers at the imp.

Midna disappeared into Green's shadow before Blue could do anything.

"Come on, let's go," Gray sighed, striding over the long bridge. The others followed, Blue munching on some cheese from his pouch. That was another nice thing about them; as long as the food was wrapped, it stayed fresh and good, lasting twice as long as it would normally. It was around lunchtime, but since they had mostly brought on-the-run foods like soup, dried meat, and bread, they could eat while walking instead of stopping and making a picnic.

Eventually, after beating up two more bokoblins along the way, the colorful group reached the entrance, gazing into the spiderwebbed tunnel. They took out their lanterns.

"Ready?" Green asked.

"Yeah, let's go," Vio answered for everyone.

Together, they entered the dark temple.

~/_\~

Zelda

"Uh, how about you have one more go before me," Zelda suggested.

"Alright, I guess. Here goes!" Young Zelda plucked the harp, waiting for the windy noise to go away before she examined what the outcome was.

It was… "AIEEEEE!" Young Zelda shrieked, "It's a rat! How horrible! Get it away from meeee!" She dropped the harp and backed swiftly away from the brown-gray lump of chattering fur, trembling.

Zelda stared at her. She had never seen her freak out this much.

"It's only a rodent," she pointed out, "We can just send it back," She reached down to pick up the harp, when the rat leaped onto her arm, yellowed teeth flashing as it prepared to bite.

"AAAH!" Zelda screamed, trying to fling the rat away. Its teeth were firmly gripped on her glove, "Get it off! Get it off!" she panicked, shaking her arm faster. The smelly rodent flew off her arm and landed by the harp. It scurried under, hiding in shock from the screaming girls who were crowding to the furthest corner of the chamber, away from the instrument.

After a while, they calmed down a bit. The rat had not moved from its hiding spot. The only sounds heard in the quiet room were the panicked pants of two frightened princesses.