A/N: To everyone who has been waiting for me to return, yes, I am very sorry for my absence. But considering that every chapter takes four hours at minimum to write, I can't just sit down and write them all in one fell swoop during school, and when I'm "on break", I'm either doing homework or receiving pressure to do other tasks. I actually write my own books—but school put me on hiatus from that, so I came here for…some reason. Suddenly I have time and what do I do? Write fanfiction of course, smart.

Twilight Princess Link's perspective.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Seven Years Ago

For a moment, it seemed nothing had actually changed. Link had felt the wind rush past his ears, the light engulfing the dais where the trio stood safely within the boundary. He had closely watched the kneeling Hero of Time, wondering if the spectacular lightshow would be accompanied by an equally remarkable transformation. He couldn't help but feel as if his friend's journey backwards in time had been far more extraordinary than his own, and consequently believed the Hero of Time's change in appearance would also be significantly more dramatic than Link's first transformation into a wolf had been.

Instead, Link temporarily went blind, and missed the transition altogether. When the light died down and his sight returned, the Temple of Time looked just as dim and bland as it had before; Navi was still floating around the vacant room aimlessly; and the Hylian Hero was still just as short. The only difference was that, though the Hero of Time had remained the same height, he was now standing instead of kneeling. Within a split second, Link managed to assess that the other Hero now no longer wore a white shirt, gauntlets, or white tights, yet he bore a bracelet on his wrist and was already equipped with a sword.

The Hero of Time was just a little kid.

Link couldn't prevent his stunned expression. He was staring wide-eyed and open-mouthed at his friend, unable to fathom how nothing but the former Kokiri had an altered appearance. Wasn't the dingy Temple of Time supposed to be lit up and radiating an impressive aura? Shouldn't Navi be smaller? Had seven years really passed or was it just Link's expectant mind playing tricks on him?

The fun-sized Hero of Time spun in circles, examining his miniature form; he had noticed the difference too. He looked up at Link, an expression of disbelief on his own face, before his countenance changed to something like pure elation and he began laughing excitedly.

"Look, look!" the younger Link said, throwing an endless supply of items out of his inventory and prancing around them as if conducting a strange ritual. "I can use my Slingshot again! My Deku Sticks! My Boomerang! I still have Magic Beans, Navi!"

Link was still frozen with incredulity. He's…he's so tiny, he thought. I recognized that he's a child…missing seven years of life… And yet… Why has it only now occurred to me that this little kid has been saving Hyrule and facing an absurd amount of obstacles and challenges alone?! Surely there's more courage in him than in every soldier from my own time, more courage than was in myself at his age. The goddesses never moved him forward in mentality because he was already psychologically capable of saving Hyrule!

"Oh," the Hero of Time said, digging around his inventory before grinning at Link. "Want your items back?" He pulled out the four bottles, two of which retained their original contents, the third remained empty, and the fourth had gained a new substance. He tossed them at the Hero of Twilight—a risky move considering how fragile the glass containers were, and how difficult it was to acquire them.

Link snatched his items out of the air, returning three to his pouch and halting on the fourth. He regarded the sputtering blue flames with immense curiosity, looking back to his miniaturized friend for an explanation.

"Blue Fire," the younger Hero of Time informed. "It's a cool flame."

"Cold…fire?" Link asked, finding something even weirder to focus on. Did anything even make sense in this former Hyrule? Where the Hero of Twilight came from, blue flames were scorching and evil, people didn't change ages when they returned borrowed swords, and fairies were healing items rather than chatterbox companions.

"Hey look, this is bigger than me now!"

Link looked, just in time to watch his tiny friend disappear entirely behind a large, polished, spiked sphere. The chain slipped to the ground as the smaller Link grunted to remain standing with the Ball and Chain in his grasp.

"Don't hurt yourself with that!" the Hero of Twilight almost tripped over himself racing towards the younger Hero, sliding on his knees and lifting the heavy orb from his friend's grasp. He rose to his feet, which took some extra effort considering that he was at least a hundred pounds heavier due to the sphere. "You'll break your back if you carry heavy things like this."

"Nah, it's all in the finger strength," the little Hero replied, but his expression betrayed his relief. "Oh, and the wrists. That's why I have this." He indicated the golden shackle-sized bracelet on his left wrist.

Link scrutinized the jewelry, wondering how it could ever be convenient or useful. "How does it work if you only have one?"

His tiny friend seemed as though he would respond, but was interrupted by Navi's contemplative, "Hold on a moment…" The fairy flitted between the two adventurers and examined both of them, a routine they were beyond used to by now. She scrutinized her Hero, before zipping over to the Hero of Twilight and hovering directly in front of his face. "Link is now seven years younger, yet you haven't changed at all!"

At her words, Link immediately looked down at himself, astonished not because she was correct, but because he hadn't noticed anything wrong with his lack of alteration. They had just gone seven years backwards in time! He was supposed to be a kid! He did his own little spin, trying to find anything different about his appearance. However, as Navi had recognized, everything was exactly as it had been before the Master Sword was sheathed.

"How?!" the Hero of Time demanded.

"I…I'm not sure how…" Link responded, looking at his hands. His left was seized by the other Hero, who placed his own against it to compare the massive size difference. Clearly the twelve-year-old hadn't hit his growth spurt yet, and therefore visibly seemed no older than Colin. Link couldn't resist curling his fingers over his kid friend's.

You're so small, he thought with a chuckle. A young Hero. Young Link.

"How in Hyrule are you still sixteen? You should be nine years old right now!"

"What if…" Navi began, her words directed at her Hero, voice expressing concern Link couldn't ever recall hearing in it before. "What if sheathing the Master Sword only changed you, Link?"

The Hero of Twilight could see the panic rising in his friend, the miniature Hero's eyes widening and his face paling. His hand slipped free from Link's as he quickly pulled away, whirling around and sprinting for the entrance to the Temple, with Navi zipping after him. He darted through the exit of the first room, rolling past the altar-like area with the three precious stones glittering atop it and springing onto the red carpet at the end.

Link watched as his fellow adventurer vanished into the outside world, and though he spoke no words aloud, he couldn't quiet his thoughts. He wished to become a child again. Is that the only request the goddesses granted? Did we truly go back seven years, or was Navi's assumption correct—only Link has physically moved backwards in time? Was he reverted to childhood again, but left in the remains of Hyrule? A child left to wander the ruins…

With footsteps echoing like thunder through the Temple, Link darted for the exit also. He passed through the main room, his path illuminated by the rays of light streaming in through the five windows high above. Why did that light seem so strange to him…so unfamiliar…?

He came to a halt beside his miniaturized friend at the top of the stairs, stepping out of the shadows of the Temple and instantly raising his arm to shield his eyes from the light of the outside world. Link squinted, staring at the environment that was blindingly bright and realizing that this was the first time he had ever seen it like this. He lowered his arm, quickly looking around to perceive everything about the location.

Fluffy white clouds could be seen blanketing several sections of the pale blue sky, and a refreshing breeze swept through the green grass, rustling the leaves of the healthy green trees and sending the rich soil airborne. A fence spanned the tree line to the right, and pure water glittered in manmade barricades on either side of the stairs. To the adventurers' left, a wrought iron fence stood in perfect condition, protecting several well-constructed houses with red tiled roofs. Four of those stones Link could distinctly recall howling at back in his own time—at the behest of that strange golden wolf—bordered a small wooden fence, preventing further exploration down a promising path lined with more trees.

Even the Temple of Time's exterior looked different. No longer were the stairs crumbling, nor did the building show any signs of decay. The entire structure was well maintained and completely clean.

Link took an awed step forward, disregarding the Hero of Time celebrating beside him. He was amazed by the difference seven years had made, searching for any trace of the destruction he knew would be coming, yet there was nothing. The sky showed no signs of being choked out by ominous storm clouds or darkness, nor did it seem as if any crimson dust would suffocate the world sometime soon. The trees were all thick and healthy, the water clean and pure, giving no indication that they would one day both be dried up and crumbling. The houses were all in excellent condition, their supports strong and secure; surely they would last decades.

"It is seven years previous!" the other Hero cheered, catching Link's attention.

Former old-Hyrule was amazing, the Hero of Twilight agreed. He too was getting excited, ready to race into Castle Town and witness for himself the beauty of Hyrule he had heard so much about, but he was smacked in the face by the fairy with no sense of personal boundaries. He brushed her away slightly, giving her a disapproving look as she flew up and down insistently.

"How—" she began, having already redirected her attention from the incredible feat of traveling backwards in time to the oddity that Link seemingly hadn't lost any years during the process.

"It is a matter beyond me," Link supplied. "Please quit attacking my face when you get excited."

"You are so nonchalant about not having aged!" Navi snapped.

Even the Hero of Time allowed himself to be distracted from his celebrations. "She's right to be concerned, Link. You should be younger than me right now!"

Link looked between the duo, suppressing his rising panic; the pair thought he was being phlegmatic, when in actuality he was racking his brain to think of some clever excuse before either realized what he was up to. He had a fairly good assumption as to why he hadn't gotten any younger, but he couldn't exactly just tell them. It wasn't as if he could have foreseen what would happen if he decided to enter the Temple of Time, completely neglecting one crucial detail about himself because it seemed unlikely that such a trait would carry over.

I can't tell them why I didn't age, because I can't tell them I've already traveled back in time! Link thought, studying the two and thinking back to the fancy lightshow; surely there had to be somesort of excuse for him to use concerning the blue glow… Seven years is nothing to me because I've already gone back several centuries… I'm far behind my own time, so I can't go back to when I was nine; that would require moving forward instead!

"Perhaps…" Link began, pulling out as many logical ideas as he could. "…I never lost my age because I was standing with you in the blue light? Perhaps the dais prevented me from losing my years."

"Then why didn't I maintain my seven year age?" Navi inquired. "And Link?"

A misstep. How many am I permitted before I ruin everything?

"Humor my suggestions, for I am just as unknowledgeable in this matter as yourselves," Link persisted, buying himself time. "Could my own Master Sword, having not been sheathed, maintained my age?"

The pair regarded Link, both of them silent with consideration.

Link continued offering them something to adopt as an explanation. "Or perhaps when I was locked within the Temple of Time, it resulted in an inability for me to be affected by moving forwards or backwards in time. My presence relocates, whereas my condition remains fixed."

"Time doesn't work that way," Navi countered. "You can't just retain this or that. Either you went back or you didn't. There shouldn't be a single difference between how you are right now, and how you were the moment Link drew the Master Sword seven years ago."

Link turned to the Hero of Time and dug into his own inventory, pulling out the bottle of Blue Fire. "So you already possessed my weaponry and equipment before our encounter? This is precisely how you were before you moved forward?"

"He has a fair point, Navi," the younger Link agreed. "I have stuff I acquired from the future; according to you, I should be exactly what I had as a child. Nothing more, nothing less. If that's not true, then it seems only reasonable that Link could retain his age, just as I retained my weapons."

Are there any other possibilities I could supply? Link wondered, but fortunately it seemed he didn't need to.

"It may not even be him who caused the oddity, but me," the Hero of Time suggested. "If I brought him with me from the future back into the past, he would probably be considered like an item, and therefore remain unaffected by time regardless."

Navi waited several moments, anxiety rising within Link as she remained directly in front of him. Finally, with a sigh, she responded, "I don't know why I'm questioning you, when you yourself are have no idea why this happened. You can't pretend to comprehend time's influence. I'll keep thinking it over, but until then…" She glided onto her Hero's hat, causing him to look up even though he could no longer see her. "We returned to enjoy Hyrule; it seems truly cruel to come home and spend the entire journey concerned over enigmatic matters."

"So…we can go explore now?" the Hero of Time asked, his eyes seemingly lighting up.

"Yes," Navi permitted.

The younger Link laughed ecstatically, charging into the Hero of Twilight and seizing his left hand once again. "Come on, Link!" he called, pulling back with all his strength and dragging the teenaged adventurer down the staircase.

Though he offered no resistance and was indeed looking forward to exploring former old-Hyrule, the Hero of Twilight had to admit that he wanted to hang back just a moment longer. He risked a glance at his shadow, trying to determine whether his hidden companion felt the same reluctance he did. Based on the flicker he perceived, he guessed she was just as eager as himself to hold a conversation in private.

But there was no way he could sneak off. Instead, Link allowed himself to be led into Castle Town, only to almost completely forget about his intentions the second he stepped into the square.

The first thing he noticed was the bustle of activity. People were clustered in somewhat overwhelming groups around two vendor's stalls, pushing and shoving one another to claim the current bargains. Though both marts had a cloth suspended between their posts to protect their wares from the sun, one of them smartly had positioned itself in the shade of a wooden balcony—probably to draw in more customers since they wouldn't be getting fried by the sun's radiance.

A woman in a long blue dress was watching her white long-haired dog weave around the cobbled square, and a little girl with a white bandanna and a yellow dress darted past it in her attempts to seize a fleeing white Cucco. Another woman stood just outside a building with a large sign painted with a cauldron off to Link's left, and to his right stood another structure with some terrifying mask mounted to the top.

Three red-bricked pedestals grew only grass, which was a benefit solely to heroes and probably served no purpose to passersby who would have enjoyed flowers or something else more aesthetically pleasing; they were perhaps wondering what nitwits grew grass as an attraction. Regardless, these mini-gardens framed the right half of a road of grey bricks that led to a castle in the distance, past rolling hills and healthy trees. Beyond the path, a man in green engaged in conversation with a woman in a blue top and yellow skirt, directly in front of a storefront with an arrow sticking from the sign.

A back alley branched off beyond what Link believed was the original Shooting Gallery, and to the left of the road was another large building. A notably large sign was nailed to the walls, with some strange blue monster-like creature painted onto it. Stairs led up to the wooden balcony: a man in red looking frantically around atop it, and a red-haired young man dressed in green anxiously fidgeting below the staircase. Beside the door near the base of the stairs, a young woman with dark hair and a blue dress conversed with an elderly man also robed in blue.

Two young men talked enthusiastically in the shade of a tree in front of the building, and another figure carrying a large sack darted past them. A couple, donning expensive outfits of blue, could be seen twirling around what was clearly the main attraction in former Hyrule: a large fountain filled with glistening water.

Link wanted to spin in a circle and get a good look at all the buildings, but his dear miniaturized friend had other plans. His tiny green equivalent abandoned him and darted over to the woman with the dog first, striking up a conversation without any hesitation whatsoever as Link hurried to catch up.

"Hello!" the Hero of Time said excitedly.

The woman apparently wasn't too interested in talking to him, and instead began to boast about her dog without ever taking him into consideration. She waffled on about her dog's special fur coat, a conversation that would never be given any meaning since the younger Link simply nodded his agreement and raced over to the woman outside of the potion shop, not even caring as his older friend was forced to chase after him.

"Has anything happened since I was gone?" the smaller Hero asked, clearly trying to prove beyond a doubt that everything in Hyrule had returned to its former state.

The female looked shaken, apparently having only half interpreted his question. "Wasn't that Princess Zelda on that white horse?!" she demanded.

Link thought that sounded pretty intriguing as he caught up to his friend. He had no idea what kind of matters would have necessitated that the Hero of Time draw the Master Sword, yet he was suddenly presented with the opportunity to learn. He was about to join the dialogue and figure out what kind of strains former Hyrule was suffering, but his kid friend had already scurried over to the man outside what Link guessed was the weapons shop.

Stop leaving and hold a normal conversation with the people you're talking to, Link thought somewhat irritably as he slowly ambled over to his friend, calling a casual farewell to the woman. His keen ears managed to perceive something about a black horse ridden by Ganondorf, the Gerudo King of Thieves, a topic brought about but immediately disregarded by the hyperactive Hero of Time as he darted around to everything that moved within the vicinity and abandoned every conversation just as soon as he started them.

The little Hero of Time approached the pair by the tree, quickly pursued by Link who didn't intend to be ignored and deserted again. He gave no indication whether it mattered to him that the teenager was there with him as he terrorized the townsfolk or not. How rude. Link quite enjoyed interrogating people—on his own terms. There was nothing fun about hearing one or two sentences and leaving before the true problem could ever be revealed.

But he didn't want to leave his young companion alone in the bustling streets of Hyrule; who knew what kind of rules this place had concerning lost children? As far as Link was aware, they might try to return the child to his home in the forest, regardless of whether he was a fearless Hero or not. To everyone else, the younger Link was simply a little kid who had no business running around by himself, without a parent or guardian. Link couldn't afford to let the child out of sight; he didn't know the rules of former Hyrule, he didn't know if he would ever see the other Hero again.

He was distracted from his thoughts by the male in blue, who responded to some inquiry his friend had asked that Link had been too absorbed in his thoughts to interpret.

"I almost got kicked by that black horse!"

Red-shirt rolled his eyes. "Look at that guy-he's so scared! What a wimp! Ha ha hah!"

Having almost been flattened by Epona, Link felt sympathy for the male in blue, but he was prohibited from further comment by his easily distracted and extremely energetic friend. The other Hero darted to the vendor's stall beside the building with the monster insignia, with Link silently pursuing him with a frustrated expression; when would his friend decide he had heard enough to confirm that he was truly, absolutely, back to his own time? He heard an elderly man muttering to himself as his friend disappeared into the crowd around the shop.

"The one riding on the white horse holding that little girl… Wasn't that a legendary Sheikah?"

Another elder commented beside him, "I have a feeling something terrible is going to happen… Maybe I should leave town soon."

Something clicked in Link's mind. He began to put the pieces together, assembling the information about what had transpired before his arrival in old Hyrule. He could almost decipher what would have forced his friend to draw the Master Sword in the first place.

There was danger in Hyrule, doubtlessly caused by Ganondorf, Link thought, scanning the crowd of people and attempting to locate his friend amidst the chaos but making no motion to enter. So Zelda and a companion much like that Sheik fellow fled on horseback, only to be chased down by the Gerudo King. They were in danger, that's what necessitated Link to draw the sword. But now the real question remains…

Protests of, "Hey, let go! It's mine! I found it first!" and "Hey, who bumped me?!" sounded from the group of people, and Link spied a green cap attempting to weave between the throng and escape. He did his best to finish his mental consideration before his friend returned to him and distracted him from it.

What has become of the Princess?

The Hero of Time became slightly more visible as he accidently crashed into someone, earning a "Huh? What? Shoo, kid! Shoo!" Even so, he apparently spied a new target to speak to within the small crowd, and was about to vanish again. Link couldn't take it anymore.

"Link!" he shouted, using the same tone of aggression that he adopted when he yelled at misbehaving goats.

"What?!" his friend called back, his small head poking out from behind someone before he was blocked from view.

"Quit disturbing the peace! These poor people have enough problems with Ganondorf on their hands, they don't need an even more irritating issue to distract them!"

"I'm no issue!" He defended. Apparently, "irritating" was still up for debate. Even so, the Hero of Time fled the activity, looking very pleased with himself as he emerged from the crowd and dusted himself off. He readjusted his hat, which had almost been knocked off by the throng. "I just wanted to make sure everything was exactly the same. And now I know, it is." He grinned up at Link. "Hyrule is free."

The Hero of Twilight softened his expression before reflecting his companion's smile, playfully ruffling the Hero of Time's hair and knocking off his hat in the process. "And we shall do our best to preserve such freedom, wouldn't you agree?"

The little Hero growled under his breath as he bent down and fetched his hat off the ground, before whapping Link in the ribs. "Quit picking on me just because you're taller."

"I'm only teasing because you're a kid."

"You're younger than me!"

"Truly? Are you certain?" Link snickered as he was swatted again, but the Hero of Time's altered appearance was causing him to perceive his fellow adventurer in a more protective but playful fashion; if his friend was a kid, then he was going to treat him like one, no matter which Hero really was older.

"Yeah okay fine, sure," his friend said, apparently mentally preoccupied. Clearly, his easily distracted mindset had found something new to be excited about, as there was now a mischievous glint in his eyes. He regarded the door with the monster insignia, gesturing to Link that they should head that way. "Since we're back in a time where Hyrule is excellent, I think we should have some fun. Unless you're too old for that, of course."

"You wish," Link snorted. "Perhaps you'd finally stand a chance at claiming superiority in skill."

The Hero of Time shot him a dirty look before conspicuously stalking over to the building and dramatically entering. Link needed no encouragement to follow him; the suspicious look in his friend's eyes was enough to pique the Hero of Twilight's curiosity and cause him to give chase.

The first thing he noticed as he entered was the multicolored neon lights glowing vibrantly in a hexagon pattern on the wall ahead, down a slope of white bricks. Though the room he currently stood in had walls of faded red bricks, the sloped addition to the room was made of white stone and framed with wooden beams.

The next thing he noticed was the large trumpet-like pedestal blaring carnival music similar in its eccentricity to the kind he heard in the STAR tent back in his own Castle Town. He disregarded it and turned to his right, spotting a woman with short blue hair napping behind a counter. Behind her gleamed more neon lights arranged into the pattern of that strange monster, and old Hylian decorated the walls.

The Hero of Time trotted over to her, rapping his knuckles on the countertop she rested on. Immediately, her green eyes fluttered open, and she blinked dazedly as she stared at the pair.

"Huh? Wha-!" she exclaimed. "Uh-oh! A customer!"

I presume we startled her by finding her shirking her duties, Link thought as he joined his friend, whose only sign of acknowledgement of his company was a brief, unamused stare; he was probably still vaguely disgruntled about the comment of inferiority. Whatever feelings of hostility he might have possessed were cut off by the woman's greeting.

"Welcome to our cutting-edge amusement center: The Bombchu Bowling Alley! Do you want to know what you can win? Well, it's a secret. I can't tell you until you've paid to play."

Bowling? What's bowling? Link wondered.

"It's thirty Rupees per game. Do you want to play?"

"Yes," the Hero of Time said, placing one red and two blue Rupees on the counter and acquiring one of the many strange things of former Hyrule that Link had never seen previously. It looked like a metal rat, but its bottom half had no legs and instead was completely flat. Its entire body was a dark gold, and its tail looked sharp enough to kill. Its face was covered in an enormous blue helmet that formed diamond-like points on either side, and glowing eyes that matched its body in coloration glared evilly from behind the armor.

"W-what…?" Link wondered audibly.

Though his inquiry was aimed at no one, his friend kindly supplied, "It's a Bombchu." And that was it.

He marched past Link and faced the glowing wall, with the woman commenting behind him, "OKAY! Aim for the hole in the center and let Bombchu go! You get ten tries. Ready… LET'S BOWL!" She seemed to realize something and quickly cut into the other Hero's concentration. "Oh, I almost forgot! Here is what you can win!"

A small explosion engulfed the counter beside her, earning a horrified look from Link and a casual glance of nonchalance from his child companion who was too eager to play the game to be concerned with fire and death. However, much to the Hero of Twilight's surprise, his friend's indifference was warranted; where there should have been nothing but cinders and charred wood, a purple Rupee spun tauntingly as a prize above a perfectly fine countertop.

Link would have spent all day standing there trying to figure out how in Hyrule that could have been possible, but his friend had already begun bowling. The Hero of Time placed the Bombchu on the ground in front of himself, the creature's eyes flashing red rhythmically as it zigzagged across the floor away from him. Link turned away from the counter and watched as the odd being zipped past the moving blade sliding across the ground. Part of him expected the Bombchu to hit the wall and do what the "bomb" part of its name indicated, but what kind of crazy person built walls for them to be destroyed? It wouldn't make sense.

To his astonishment, the Bombchu began to race up the wall and into the black center of the target, where it promptly did exactly what he had feared; it detonated, setting off a ring of explosions over the entirety of the wall and bringing it crashing down ahead. Link began to pale, but the other Hero didn't seem even remotely fazed with destroying the woman's interior support. The Hero of Twilight glanced back at her, expecting her to be bothered, but she was watching with mild disinterest and seemingly trying to catch a few more winks of sleep.

Considering she detonated the countertop, I've no idea why her lack of concern for obliterating the walls surprised me, Link thought. He disregarded the matter himself, turning back to his friend and watching as the Bombchu glided across the floor and up the left wall, sliding perfectly into the hole and scarcely dodging a lone Cucco on its way. He only barely had time to consider why there might be something so innocent placed in the field of danger before the second wall came crashing down and he spotted something even more confounding.

That is the biggest Cucco I have perceived in the entirety of my life! Link thought, his jaw dropping as he stared at the bird. It appeared to be the size of the littler Hero, but the distance made it hard to determine. The bird was trotting around in a small dip in the floor, clucking and minding its own business as the Hero of Time waited patiently. The pair watched the bird leap out of the hole and begin ambling off to the left side, lining up with the other Cucco that the Hero had dodged before. The bladed thing slid out of the way, and he grinned.

The Hylian Hero dropped another Bombchu, allowing it to race away at lightning speed toward the wall. Link watched as the smaller Cucco innocently wandered over, scarcely stopping before it could collide with the bomb. The larger Cucco was still too distracted to care about the odd creature making its way up the wall.

Part of the Hero of Twilight wondered what kind of horrors would lie beyond this third wall. Would a Cucco the size of Epona be waiting? Would there be monsters?

The wall exploded. Instead of crashing to the ground in a heap, the very center fired a purple Rupee at the little Hero, who claimed it for himself and regarded Link smugly.

"Do you want to play again?" the woman asked.

"No, but my friend does," the Hero of Time said.

"Oh, I almost forgot! Here is what you can win!" she said, displaying a small stack of those strange Bombchu.

The younger Hero caught Link's eyes. "Alright, show me your superior skills then," he said in a taunting voice. "Come on and best me, if you really are better."

Link straightened. He said nothing, accepting the challenge with a simple look of confidence alone. He walked over to the woman, paying the thirty Rupees and accepting ten Bombchus to fire at the walls. His shadow flickered, a reminder from Midna that she still wanted to talk to him. He was forced to disregard her, ready to school his younger companion in the art of being naturally good at destroying things. Besides, as Navi had concluded, they were in former Hyrule to enjoy it, not talk about questing. Midna would just have to wait until later.

He placed the Bombchu at his feet, watching it speedily zigzag over the floor and collide spectacularly with the metal blades of the object that was casually traveling in a straight line back and forth, existing for no other reason than to make things difficult. Link frowned as the obstacle emerged from the cloud of smoke, completely unaffected and in perfect condition. His friend snickered from beside him.

"Intercepted by the Blade Trap."

"Very supportive, aren't you?" Link remarked sarcastically, placing a second Bombchu and watching it maneuver past what was apparently a Blade Trap. The bomb zipped past the hole in the wall and began to glide along the ceiling, before detonating halfway and leaving both Links staring upward. The Hero of Twilight growled in frustration, pulling out a third Bombchu and taking considerably more controlled aim. He released the sentient explosive and watched it quickly make its way into the black center of the wall, setting off a chain reaction of explosions and granting him access to the additional section of the room.

"Friendly reminder that the amount of bombs it took you to clear the first wall is the exact amount it took me to win," the Hylian Hero said.

"Friendly reminder that this is my first time doing this and to be quiet," Link growled, watching the Cucco in the distance trot across the floor. He released the Bombchu while the bird was distracted, only to watch with obvious disgust as the confused Cucco danced around the floor and straight into the path of the explosive. The bird was obviously too stupid to move, and he watched the Bombchu detonate before it ever reached the wall. The Cucco was too stunned to move, and remained there for several moments before shrugging off the attempted homicide and continuing to prance around.

I wish we didn't take these play-fights so seriously, Link thought as he released another Bombchu. It will demand a fair amount of practice for me to gain the skills of Link regarding this game.

At least he they had all day. As Navi had said, the pair had returned to the past to play around, there was no reason to feel guilty about it. Hyrule had time to spare. Midna could wait. Link had to prove himself worthy of bowling with bombs, or he could never consider himself adept enough to save Hyrule.

So that was exactly what he was going to do.

A/N: To the sweetie pie that identifies as Random Person, thank you for your kind words and for recognizing that this story has a lot of work put into it. I literally wrote this very chapter four different ways, hated them all, and rewrote it a fifth time, consulted three friends on a particular scene's inclusion, divided it in half and pieced it back together twice, before I presented it as it is. See, what happened is that I decided that the chapter had no business being almost literally twice as long as my other chapters (it's three times as long as my average shorter chapters) so I split it in half. I will be uploading that second half soon, so maybe I'll hit my usual three-chapters-then-I'm-out-for-a-year-see-ya-later habit again. XD