The barracks had been remodelled into a makeshift dormitory for the Knights in training. Six beds took up the room, and little more to decorate the drab stone walls. Link, for all his pessimism, found this to be a welcome sight.

He, along with four other children, were the only ones that were part of this program. Link quickly figured out that at least two of them were nobility, while the other two seemed closer to just residents of the Castle Town. The nobility unpacked an unnecessary amount of comforts and utilities that they were trying to stuff under their beds. The commoners, however, simply took out their personal belongings and tried to get comfortable on their beds. Links bed already had his sword and shield resting by the end and his travel bag underneath the bed. He enjoyed this, figuring out these kids with this little information. Made him feel clever. He looked to his boots to hide his grin

"Hey, mind if I sit down?"

He looked up to see one of the nobility smirking down at him. He had wild auburn hair, a devilish smile and sharp green eyes. Link shook his head. "It's fine."

The smile widened. "Cheers." He said, jovially falling besides Link. "So, what's your name?"

"Ah, I'm Link."

The boy offered out his hand. "Nice to meet you, Link. Seems we'll have to be putting up with each other for a while."

Link shook his hand. "I apologise in advance."

The boy cackled. "Yeah, you'll get none of those from me."

"So, what your name?"

The boys face became serious. "I am Duncan Ilan Dramis Dawning of Eldin."

A moment passed, and the boy broke out into a grin. "But nobody calls me that. Call me Diddy."

Link smiled. "Ok then, Diddy, nice to meet you."

"We doing introductions?" Called over the other noble child with a sharp tone. It was a girl a bit older than Link, tall, lean with long, tangled sandy hair. "So, you're Diddy, and you are?"

"Link."

"The names Eshie. I'm from Lanayru."

Link nodded. "Nice to meet you Eshie."

Eshie turned to the other two. "You wanna join in? Or are you ok with boy one and boy two?"

A boy with a round face and dark hair frowned. "As long as I'm not two, I'm fine with that." He said gruffly.

The other, lanky and golden haired, shrugged. "Eh, I'm Oulson." His voice making every word sound like a whinge.

The first boy grunted. "Ok, I'm boy one."

Diddy rolled his eyes. "His name is Aram."

The boy who's name was apparently Aram glared. "Hey, how do you know?"

"It's on your bag."

The boy took a moment to check if Diddy had, in fact figured out his name from his bag. "Oh," He muttered meekly. "right then."

Eshie grinned. "I can still call you boy one if you want."

"Really?"

"Nah, it's dumb."

Link took a moment and looked around the room, at all the people he would be training with. It struck him that he was finally doing what he wanted to do. He would be wasting the experiences he had. He was finally taking control of his life.

The door opened and Captain Viscen walked into the room. "Hello children." He nodded to Link. "Good to see you Link." When Link smiled in response, Viscen continued addressing everyone. "I am Captain Viscen. In light of this new program, I will be training you. I'd like to say it's because I'm the best candidate, but that's probably a lie.

"I'll give you the rest of the day to settle in. Bathroom is just behind you and we'll meet at the mess hall for dinner. You'll know when to leave as you'll see the candles being lit. Tomorrow you'll wake before the sun rises. I'll assess your abilities with basic weapons to see how much you know. If you want to use your own weapons, that's fine, as long as you don't hurt each other. Durning training you'll have to wear uniform, but any other time, you can be stark naked and not get in trouble with me. Did you get all that?"

There was a collective "yes" and Viscen marched out into the cool air, satisfied with their first interaction.

Diddy turned to Link. "You got any weapon you favour?"

"Yeah, I'm a swordsman."

He winked. "Ah, a classic. Eshie?" All she did to respond was raise her fists. Diddy shrugged. "Fair enough. What about the rest of you?"

Aram shook his head. "Never got my hands on anything before."

Oulson nodded. "Same. Unless you count a pitchfork as a weapon."

"Well," grinned Diddy, "Now that you mention it."

"Alright, wake up!"

Link had woken up in a variety of ways. Once, a Skultula thought he was a giant frog. Another time Navi panicked when she couldn't get out of his hat. However, he disliked being woken up by an shouting man the least, because it just seemed mean spirited.

"Get in uniform and I'll meet you on the training grounds in ten minutes."

Diddy fell out of his bed. "What about breakfast?"

Viscen shook his head. "Don't worry, you're not as hungry until you eat your first meal. When we've trained for two hours, then you eat. Then we'll get you some horses."

Diddy made a face. "I'm always hungry."

Viscen threw him a small sack. "It's nuts. It'll hold you over until then."

"I need more then that."

"Tough." With that, Viscen left.

Eshie managed to crawl out of her bed and grabbed her uniform.

Link frowned at her. "Where are you going?"

"I'm getting into my uniform."

"Where?"

"The bathroom."

Link frowned. "Why?"

"Because you're all probably perverts."

Link blinked. "Oh. Yeah, good idea."

"No," Oulson slurred. "Bad idea."

She headed out, calling through the doorway "You guys need to get ready too."

Link managed to drag hisself out of bed and began putting on his uniform. As he put on his shirt, he felt Diddys eyes on him.

"What?"

"Ah, its probably none of my business, but-" he pointed at Links sword arm. "How the hell did you get that scar?"

Shall we play?

Link flinched at his own thoughts. The scar was a large snake had coiled up his arm, burning his skin as it moved.

"Hey, Link, you ok?"

Link took a breath. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Sorry." Diddy muttered. "I didn't mean to- I won't mention it again, promise."

Link smiled. "It's ok. But it's a secret to everybody." He slipped on his shirt and reached for his chain mail vest. "You should probably put on some clothes."

Diddy saluted. "Yes sir."

They all arrived at the training grounds within ten minutes, immediately impressing the Captain.

"I half expected at least one of you to take twice as long." He smiled. "I admit, this is a good start." He indicated to a variety of weapons and targets. "Each of you, take to a station. You will spend an equal amount of time at each. Decide amongst yourselves who goes where." He turned to Link. "You should take to the sword last."

"Why?"

"I've already seen what you can do with a sword son, there's no need to see it again."

Link tried to hide his embarrassment as the others tried to figure out if he was complimented or insulted. "Um, I'll take the spear first then."

Diddy raised his hand. "Bow over here."

"Sword." Called Aram.

Oulson pointed to a weapon laying on a crate. "Whats that one?"

Viscen sighed. "That's a flail."

He turned to Eshie. "You want that?"

She shrugged. "Why not?"

Oulson turned to the Captain. "Whats left?"

"Axes."

Oulson scowled. "Oh, far out."

Viscen raised his arms. "Alright, if you're all settled, then go to you station."

Oulson raised his hand. "Can I change?"

Viscen ignored him. "When I tell you, rotate to your right. Well?" He asked. "Move it."

Link struggled with the spear. He wasn't used to a weapon like it, so when he jabbed at the dummy, the tip would glance off, despite his relatively good aim. After slowly getting the hang of the spear, he took a moment to see how the others were doing. Diddy was a master with the bow, and even in the low light he was an excellent marksmen. Aram didn't seem suited to the sword, his swings too wide and too forceful. He was more of axeman, in Links eyes. Eshie was struggling with the flail, often missing the target and almost hitting herself. Thankfully they weapon was only wooden, but by the curses she was throwing out, it hurt a lot. Oulson was just embarrassing to watch, barely able to lift the axe over his shoulders to attack. Link hoped he wouldn't tire himself to before he moved on to the other weapons.

A while later, Viscen called for rotation. At this point, he noticed the knights practicing with swords, completely ignoring the younger recruits, which baffled Link. In his experience, adults will always demonstrate superiority to younger people. As he moved to the flail, to approached the Captain.

"Is there something going on with the knights?"

Viscen frowned. "Why are asking?"

"Well," Link muttered. "they seem very focused."

Viscen raised an eyebrow. "You've never heard of the Masters Tournament?" Link shook his head. "The tournament is one of Hyrules oldest traditions, the first recorded one being near the end of King Gustafs rule. Swordsmen from all over Hyrule and then some gather in town to see who's best." He grinned. "I tried my hand in it a few years ago."

"I'm assuming you didn't win." Diddy called.

"Why's that?"

"You wouldn't be wasting time with us!"

"Well, I must agree."

Link tapped Viscens shoulder. "What happens if you win?"

"You get a replica of the holy sword forged by the Picori, and those swords are tougher then anything I've ever held."

"When is it?"

Viscen shrugged. "Few weeks from now, you'll all get a day off. When you're older you should take a crack at it."

Link grinned. "I'm not that good Captain."

"Bull."

Link looked over at the knights once again. With how seriously they were taking this, he couldn't wait to see them all in action.

Ah, writing with actual effort in it. Feels good.

I created Eshie for one specific joke/point. I'll tell you when we get to it. But she is also important so don't look at her as a joke character. Don't look at any of them as joke characters.

Huh, I've noticed I usually describe people with their hair first. Weird.

Ok, the next chapter is when things start to get more intense, but mostly at the end of the chapter. The chapter after that is where things get violent. I'm not going to hold back, ok? If you are squeamish or faint of heart or young, please drop this story. As of now, I'm not going to go in sexual explicit content, but I will go into bloody content the further I get into the story. I'd advise being 15 or up.

Please, I don't want to scar you for life. Be responsible. Don't do drugs. Or politics.