Happy Holidays! I hope you all like this chapter because #1 it took forever to write and #2 it has Sheik in it! Woo! This is just my idea how the whole alter-ego thing works, so if it's not exactly like the game or whatever just be cool. Aight, reading time!

Zelda broke out into a swift run, the stadium door swinging shut behind her. Why was she running? Why did she care? Even she didn't know. The elf gradually slowed down and without really thinking found the door to the Smasher's Lounge. She pushed open the door and collapsed onto the couch.

The lounge was dark and empty, it almost looked like an entirely different room than the one that she had been in yesterday. It was quiet, a peaceful quiet compared to the loud bustle that seemed to always fill the lounge. It seemed strange that the place was empty, but Zelda's mind was too distraught to think of it much longer.

She had promised herself that she wouldn't get involved in this emotionally. Entering this tournament was just about showing the world what she could do, not meeting new guys. She shouldn't even be thinking about him in that sort of way. But for some reason, seeing Roy get hurt was too much for her to watch. Luckily, she didn't think he noticed her leave.

Zelda felt a yank on her hair and instinctively swatted at it. She missed, but she found what was messing with her hair. With a deep sigh she buried her face in her hand and said in a blunt voice, "What do you want, Navi?"

"Nothing. I just thought of how you can develop your non-princess self."

Zelda's pained expression turned to one of surprise and interest. "Really! Tell me!"

"Well," she said with a smirk, "If you're willing to pay…"

"Alright, here's a deal. You tell me your idea or I pull off your wings."

Navi gulped and backed away. "On second thought, how about I help you free of charge, my treat?" Zelda smiled triumphantly and nodded.

"Here is my idea: we go visit the great Deku tree," Navi said.

"What! That's it? That's your idea? Oh, big whoop. Incase you have forgotten, the Deku tree is practically dead and even if he was alive, he would be all the way in Hyrule."

Navi threw something round and hard that hit Zelda on the side of her head. She rubbed the spot where it hit glaring at Navi as she picked up the item. It was the Ocarina of Wind (TM). Proudly made in China, the Ocarina is one of the most majestic of all instruments, and Zelda gazed upon it as the blue plastic glittered in the light surrounding Navi. She picked it up and blew into it. A dull defeated sound came out of the instrument. Navi rolled her eyes and Zelda tried again blowing harder. This time, a crisp clean note reverberated through the rooms.

But the note was soon drowned out by the beating of wings. Suddenly, a large bird broke through a window causing pieces of glass to shatter everywhere. Covering her head to protect it, Zelda screamed to Navi "What the heck is going on?" The bird, which looked like an oversized owl, picked up Zelda by the shoulders and carried her through the window as though she was prey that the animal found for dinner.

Navi grabbed onto Zelda's hair as the bird carried them outside and up into the sky. Zelda had never been good when it came to being carried about 75ft above the ground by a large, strange bird and she closed her eyes so she wouldn't have to look at the ground. After about a minute, Zelda was too anxious and opened her eyes. She was in Hyrule. It was extremely frightening, but a fast way to travel.

The land looked beautiful from up here. She could see her castle and Kokori Village with all the munchkins running around in their dorky little green outfits. The mountains looked serene, as did the coast with its crystal waters. Everything seemed so beautiful and relaxing-

Zelda screamed. The bird had dropped her and she was falling quite quickly to the ground. The bird waved and called out to her "Bon Voyage!"

Zelda stopped screaming for a minute. "Whoa. You can talk." Her amazed expression changed abruptly as she landed in the branches of a tree. She blinked in pain and surprise.

"Come, my child," a loud voice said.

"I'm not a child, I'm twenty one."

"Er, yes, very well then." The tree shook itself suddenly so hundreds of leaves, as well as the princess, fell to the earth. When Zelda had recovered from the fall to the ground, she looked up in amazed silence as leaves fell from her skirt. The great Deku tree stood before her with a sage expression across his trunk.

"I know why you are here."

"Really? You do? How?"

"Navi told me in advance."

"Oh," Zelda said a little unimpressed.

"But the point is I can help. You want to be known as a fighter and not as a Princess. You simply need to look inside yourself and find the true warrior inside you. I shall from this day on guide you to self-purity."

"You do know I have about a day before my next match."

"Well, then we shouldn't waste any more talking." The Deku Tree replied. "Your training begins now." Several peach-like fruits suddenly shot forward at Zelda. She nimbly dodged the first seven of the fruit, but number eight hit her shoulder leaving a dark red splatter on her dress. "Now," the tree directed, "put this bucket on your head." Navi, who was eagerly waiting for something to do, picked up a bucket full of water and placed it on Zelda's head, sloshing water everywhere as she did so.

Zelda stood trying her best to balance the bucket that was so delicately placed on her head. She raised her arms and stepped gingerly to keep it from falling. The Deku tree shot more of his mystery fruit at Zelda, but with the bucket on her head she was not so agile. She managed to miss one fruit before the bucket toppled over and the water spilled soaking Zelda and her clothes completely. Navi sat on a branch laughing to a point were she was almost crying.

The Deku Tree waited for her to shake off the majority of the water and then said to her "Now, Zelda, have a seat in one of my branches." Zelda did as the tree instructed and climbed up the tree until she reached a thick branch that would support her weight. "Tell me, do you know much of your family's history?"

Zelda thought for a moment. "Yes."

The tree shook its branches so a fruit landed in Zelda's hands which she took gratefully. "So you know of their power?"

Zelda gave a questioning look and held up her finger which was emitting a blue light. She was clearly confused and the Deku Tree took it that she did not know this part about her family. "No, not your magical abilities. Let me tell you a story. Several generations ago, when your great-great-great-great-grandfather was a boy, he aspired to be a sage. However, as the successor to the king, he was not permitted to learn as it would interfere with his lessons of how to rule the land of Hyrule properly. So, being the audacious boy that he was, he came to me for help. He had thought about this carefully and concluded that he needed to somehow change his appearance so he could sneak out of the castle carefully and become an apprentice. And how do you think I did this?"

"Uh, you gave him a temporary sex-change?"

"No, I gave him an alter-ego."

"Right, right, an alter-ego. Yes I see…what's an alter-ego?"

"It is simply your mind and soul in another form." Zelda didn't know what to say. The Deku Tree seemed to be one of those trees that talked in metaphors and always took the long, spiritual way when it came to speaking. Zelda was all too familiar with this type of personality and she found it best to not even bother trying to understand and if it's important someone might explain better. At her silence the tree asked, "Have you ever done something that you never meant to have done? I don't mean something that you regret later, but something that happens and you feel you have no control over it?"

Zelda thought for a moment. This seemed a strange question to ask. Everyday she did things that she didn't think about, like falling asleep in the middle of the day or hitting Link. But it seemed like the Deku tree meant something different, something strange. She dug through her memory, thinking about strange occurrences that had happened to her in her lifetime. She thought of when she was still a child and was captured for the first time by Gannondorf. She thought of her whole life time, or as much as she could remember in such a short amount of time, and finally something did seem to answer the Deku tree's question.

When Zelda was 18 she found herself smitten with Link. She would watch him from her window ride his horse through the large field that spread out across the southern end of Hyrule. He looked elegant, yet rugged at the same time with his hair blowing in the wind and his blue eyes deep in concentration. But, as often happens when being the princess of Hyrule, she was forbidden to visit him. So instead she gazed out her window pining for a chance to meet this man that had caught her heart.

As the days went on, her desire to meet him grew into an obsession. Zelda found herself watching his daily riding practice religiously and leaving the other things in her life abandoned and untouched for several days. When she peered out her window one morning to see not only Link, but a poor-looking country girl as well she could no longer bear it.

That night Zelda returned to her window watching the field as if somehow Link would awake and come out and ride for her. She kept thinking, wishing, and wondering, and soon her thoughts had carried her effortlessly off to sleep. It seemed a short while before she awoke. She reached out to shut the door to block out the cold wind that was filling her room when she noticed Link's house. Smoke curled out of the chimney and she could see a faint flickering light from a window. He was awake. She was awake. Now was time.

After shutting the window, she stood up and stretched. She felt strange, as if she was weightless. The sensation felt dreamlike, she seemed still asleep. It rather bothered her, and she hugged herself for comfort but the feeling remained.

When she turned around Zelda had to put her hand over her mouth to keep her from screaming. She found her odd feeling forgotten completely as she stood gaping at none other than her self sitting where she had been only a few minutes ago. She cautiously stepped closer and touched the body sitting beside the window sill. She shifted slightly, but remained asleep. Her head was resting against the wall and her was arm was sprawled about in a slovenly manner. The body's arm swatted at Zelda.

She seemed harmless, just tired, but that's not what bothered Zelda. What made Zelda worried is that if that was her body sleeping, than what was she? This didn't make any sense to her. It all seemed like a dream. She pinched herself just to make sure. She wasn't dreaming, or at least pain wasn't enough to wake her up. Zelda looked up and remembered Link. He was surprisingly still up and his little cottage still gave off a cozy light from the fire, though it was growing fainter as the logs burned.

Deciding to leave her body alone for now, she ran through the castle hallway to get outside. She was running at quite a fast pace until she whammed into a guard. He gave her a harsh look and said, "How did you get inside the castle? No visitors are allowed in the castle at this hour!"

"What? But I'm-" Zelda started but before she could finish, the guard grabbed her by her collar, dragged her outside and threw her against the cement. Rubbing her head, Zelda wondered if she was going crazy. Somehow the guard didn't recognize her. It was as if she wasn't herself anymore. She got up and noticed the quiet sound of a fountain trickling. With a fear of what she might see, Zelda cautiously approached the fountain and leaned over the side to see what her reflection looked like.

She let out a piercing scream and collapsed on the ground unconscious.

&&&&

"Very interesting," the Deku Tree replied when she had finished.

"I've never told anyone about this before," Zelda admitted quietly. "But was this my alter ego? I mean, when I was grabbed by the guard and he threw me outside, I was in another body right?"

"You were in another body, but not someone else's mind you. Did you see yourself in your alter ego?"

Zelda nodded. "I was so frightened to see someone else looking back at me. I couldn't believe I looked like that. I was so different. My face and body was wrapped in cloth and even my eyes were different color. It was so strange."

The Deku Tree let out a large echoing laugh and his branches shook vigorously. "You never know what your inner spirit looks like!" He continued laughing until he noticed Zelda clinging onto his branch with a panicked look stricken across her face. "Well, are you ready to develop this ninja inside you?"

"Do you think I am?" she asked as she repositioned herself on the branch.

"Yes, Zelda," he said slowly, "I do indeed."

Now that reading time is over, it's now reviewing time (if you want to). Hey, who here wants Animal Crossing: Wild World? I want it really bad, but first I need to get a DS…Hey, what are the holidays for?

Later!