Hmm… on to chappie four! I'm really taking this slow… meh… -needs speed- I suppose I'll quicken things up, but watch out for a LLLLLLOOOOOONNNNNNGGGGG chapter!

Shouteth-outeth time!

Smalltowngurl …The top part kinda looks like a Pac Man that got tipped over. (\/) THIS IS OUR NEW THING, BECCA! NO ONE ELSE CAN HAVE IT! OUR TIPPY PACMAN DUDE! MUAHAHAHAHA!

Final Fiction X Running into walls? Not me! -shiftey eyes-

Chapter 4

Link undershot the ending of the tunnel and lifted his head rapidly, ramming his head on the blunt dirt ceiling. He groaned and tried putting his hand to the back of his skull, but space was too limited; the tunnel's size had shrunk considerable as it progressed. Agitatedly, he began smacking his forehead against the cavern floor with a methodic thud, thud. He had already acquired plenty of bumps and bruises across his body, all thanks to small (and large) fragments of rock jutting out from random directions in the path. He thought that one rather painful scrape was bleeding, but he couldn't be sure.

"Once you're done giving yourself a concussion, you can come the rest of the way, alright?" Navi's voice brought him out of the repetitive beating. His head snapped up to look at the fairy, causing the back of his skull to collide with the ceiling again.

He gritted his teeth in annoyance. "I'm coming." Navi smiled innocently.

Link pulled himself the rest of the way out, until finally he was able to squeeze out of the opening. Dragging himself to his feet, Link winced as a stinging pain ran through his leg. Glancing down, he realized that his leg was bleeding—profusely—from a deep gash. He cursed under his breath and wiped the dirt from his face with the back of his had, which was equally dirty.

Navi spun excitedly about his head. "Took you long enough," she said, abruptly changing directions and darting off into another passageway.

"Link? You alright?" The muffled cry came from the tunnel Link had recently exited.

"Yeah… fine…" he grumbled back to Saria. Nothing wrong in the slightest…

Almost grudgingly, he began following Navi, realizing that this new path—although much larger than the previous—held no head room. Tilting his neck awkwardly, Link crouched and continued. He trailed his hand along the wall for guidance. The small orb of light that was Navi bounced ahead of him. He gritted his teeth against the stinging in his leg as he limped. Thanks for noticing, Navi, dear, he thought irritably.

After what seemed an eternity, Navi finally stopped and Link was able to catch up with her.

"What, another dead end?" Link rolled his eyes at the wall in front of them.

"Yes, but we don't need to go any farther." Navi offered him a grin and fluttered down to his ankles, illuminating the dirt floor. Link's eyes dropped to the ground. He blinked.

"Well, I guess that wasn't a faulty poem, eh?" He knelt down on the ground, biting back the discomfort in his sore limbs.

Link picked up the sheathed sword from the ground and turned it over in his hands. Simple enough, it seemed. 'The sheath was plain brown leather with a strap fastened to either end. Nothing fancy at all. Grasping the bronze hilt, Link drew the sword. An icy hiss emitted from the metal as it scraped past the sheath. It was finely crafted of a very light—almost white—metal. He held it out in front of him, examining it thoroughly. The sword glinted in Navi's light.

"Shiny," the fairy said approvingly. She looked from the blade over towards Link. Her eyes trailed down to his bloodied leg. She gasped. "Link, you're bleeding?"

Link put a mock horror look on his face and glared at Navi. "Really? Am I?" He rolled his eyes and re-sheathed the sword. Standing up as far as he could in the cramped passageway, he turned around and began his way back towards the even smaller tunnel. In time he made it, and lowered himself to the ground. He peered down the long tunnel, seeing Saria's face at the end, her cheek pressed against the dirt, intently watching for him. She smiled when his face appeared in the opening.

"Did you get it?" Her voice echoed into Link's ears.

"Move your face," he grunted flatly. Saria frowned, but complied, and she disappeared from the exit. Link took the sheathed sword and put it out in front of him, the tip just protruding into the tunnel. He grabbed onto the hilt with both hands and pulled his arms back far enough so the tip of the handle was a hairs width from the boy's nose. In one quick motion, he extended his arms and released the hilt, sending the sword skirting through the tunnel, coming out on the other end.

He heard a yelp from Saria as the weapon came shooting out towards her. There's hardly enough room for me in there, and dragging a sword around with me would be more than a hassle, he thought, entering the cavern himself and beginning the voyage out.

----

After the second infinity in the tunnel, Link found himself being dragged out by his arms. Link grimaced as his cut leg nicked yet another sharp rock.

Saria pulled him up to his feet. She looked him over quickly and frowned, taking note of his many scratches and bruises. "Oh wow," she said softly when noticing the large wound running down his left leg. "You okay?"

"Hardly," Link replied with a sigh. His eyes trailed over to the corner where Saria had placed both the sword and shield. He picked them up, holding one in each hand. His brow furrowed. "What are these for again?"

Saria giggled. "C'mon, Link, we should get you cleaned up before you go see the Deku Tree."

He nodded absently, trying to clear his head. Interesting morning, this one. He drew the sword and held it in his right hand, and then took the shield and clasped it in his left.

"Well?" he said, glancing at Saria. "How do I look?"

"Like a true warrior," Saria said with a flourish.

Link nodded in appreciation, and then bit his lip. "I'm not actually… gonna need any of this, right?" he questioned hesitantly. "It's just because of Mido, right?"

Saria cocked her head and put her hands behind her back, looking at Link peculiarly. "You never know. The Deku Tree's clearing is right in the middle of the Lost Woods. Anything could come out of there, really." She paused for a moment, and then continued, seeing Link's worried look. "You'll be fine, don't worry about it." She smiled comfortingly.

Link returned the grin, grateful he had a friend like her.

----

Link gritted his teeth and dug his foot into the dirt. Scaling a vertical wall of crumbling dirt was not his idea of a good time. The annoyance of the cut on his leg seemed to be nothing now; his muscles were burning from the effort, and the unusual extra weight on his back from the shield and sword was turning out to be quite cumbersome. He began wondering which was worse: crawling through the tunnels or climbing out of the hole they had discovered. The shaft also seemed much taller coming up, and it wasn't easy either. Link had already come dangerously close to falling from a considerable height because the soil he had been grasping crumbled in his palm.

The slow process continued until the ground finally leveled out and Link was able to pull himself out and onto the Kokiri Forest's floor. He rolled over on his back and took a deep breath, wiping the sweat from his eyes. After a moment's hesitation, he flipped over onto his hands and knees and glanced over the lip of the opening. Saria was a few feet away, clinging onto the not-so-solid wall. She looked up at him.

"I can't find a foothold… a little help?"

Link nodded and reached down, grabbing her by the hand. A bit of tugging and pulling and Saria joined him on the firm ground.

Their two fairies were perched in a tree above them. They had been watching the spectacle with interest. "Thank the goddesses for wings," Navi said with a grin. Saria's fairy nodded.

"Thanks for that," Saria said to Link, brushing off her sleeves. "Now, shall we go?"

Link nodded and took a few steps back towards the creek. He was surprised when Saria began walking off in the opposite direction. He frowned, hesitated, and then spun around and followed her.

"That happens to be the wrong way," he said coming up behind her.

The girl looked at him quizzically. "No it's not."

He returned the look, wondering what was going on. "Yes… the Deku Tree is that-a-way." He made an over exaggerated pointing motion in the general direction of the clearing.

"We aren't going to the Deku Tree," Saria insisted and kept walking.

"We aren't? News to me…"

"Hang on a second!" Navi's shrill voice cut into the conversation as the two fairies came buzzing up along side the Kokiri. She flew directly in front of Saria's face, putting her hands on her hips and staring square at her. "The Deku Tree summoned Link, and he said it was urgent. I don't think he has the time to wait for anything."

Saria continued walking, unfazed by the glowing orb floating inches in front of her eyes. "He can wait a bit longer. Do you think that those weapons are going to do Link any good if he doesn't know how to use them?"

"He won't need to use them! The Deku Tree is a tree. All due respect to him… but I doubt that he'll jump up suddenly and engage in all-out war with Link!"

"I do too, but that's not what I'm worried about." She swatted at Navi with her hand as if she were a simple bug.

An offended squeak was the only sound Navi was able to make. Saria's fairy had to grab her by the arm to restrain her from—quite literally—assaulting Saria.

Link didn't bother to ask any more questions. Saria had been in a very odd mood lately, and he didn't want to bother her. She had a point, though. If something were to happen, the sword probably wouldn't be of any help if he didn't know anything about it.

The two Kokiri and two wrestling fairies kept walking in almost complete silence (other than protests from the enraged Navi) until they reached a section of the forest in which the grass was much taller and the trees began to thicken. The continued and the trees began to get closer and closer together. Why are we going into the forest? Link thought, but dutifully following Saria.

They didn't go far into the woods. Soon enough they came into a sizable clearing. Saria nodded in approval, and then began searching through the tall grass for something. Link watched her, wondering what exactly she was looking for. Does she even know what she's doing? He crossed his arms and leaned up against a tree, waiting. He didn't need to wait too long; soon enough, Saria had collected the objects she'd been looking for: two long pieces of wood that were reasonably straight. She smiled in satisfaction and then tossed one towards Link.

He caught it, and surveyed the stick. "And this is for… ?"

"Practice," Saria stated. "If you practiced with the real sword, you would probably end up hurting something."

Link smirked. "Isn't that the point?"

"C'mon," she said, grasping the 'sword' by one end. "Do you wanna learn this or not?"

Link was somewhat surprised that Saria knew how to fight, although there were plenty of things he didn't know about her. Shrugging, he took his own piece of wood and held onto it firmly. "Alright, then," he murmured.

Saria nodded and then commenced the duel. She leapt out with surprising speed while swinging the stick of wood around at his ankles. Link yelped and jumped backward, but he felt the hard wood nick his shin. He winced and stepped back a pace, shooting a glare at Saria. "That was nice," he said sarcastically.

Saria shrugged. "Anything weird that jumps out at you isn't gonna be much nicer."

The sparring continued for a little over an hour. In time, Link began to learn how to stop Saria's attacks and strike back. They both stopped abruptly—finally—and dropped their fake swords onto the ground. Link rubbed his forearm, which was throbbing painfully and had already began to bruise. Saria was doing the same with her side.

"Well," she said with a grin. "I guess you're ready." Navi quickly shot down from her perch above them and landed in Link's hair.

"Good," she shouted, tugging on a few locks. "Let's go then, we've taken too long anyways!"

"Knock it… ow!" Link cried, swatting at the fairy. "I'm coming, okay? Chill out…"

Navi grinned triumphantly and spun off.

----

"The Kokiri Sword? Are you kidding me!" Mido was screaming so loud that most of the residents of the forest had gathered to see what reason the bully was tormenting Link for today.

Link shook his head from side to side. "Nope, I definitely am not." He held up the sword and twirled it in his fingers, over exaggerating his attempt to make sure Mido saw it.

"He's got everything he 'needs'," Saria said from behind them. "What's stopping you from letting him in?" She gave him a glare that simply dared him to challenge her.

Mido crossed his arms, muttering wildly. He looked square at Link. "You can hold a sword… you can have a fairy," he spat out, glaring with an unmatchable fury. "You can even get summoned by the damned Deku Tree. But you will never, never be a Kokiri." He shoved Link out of his way, storming off and trudging towards his house.

The words stung. Link wouldn't pretend they didn't. He shot a quick glance at Saria, who nodded comfortingly and shooed him off in the direction of the forest. He turned back to the opening and took a few slow steps, hesitated, and then kept going.

"Finally," Navi mumbled, following closely next to him.

--Well, wanted to put more up this chappie… but I really needed to update, so there ya go!

Turtel