"Come on now, with your whole body this time."

"I don't want to hurt you."

"Trust me: your tiny little arms aren't going to hurt me." Groose was holding up a punching bag, supporting it with his entire torso. "That's what the bag is for, presuming you ever throw a solid one." Groose was antagonising Link, but now it was out of a mutual bond that they had formed over the course of their adventure. Link owed his life and the life of every good-hearted being on the surface to Groose and his ingenious battle strategies. Link felt their old rivalry boil in the pit of his stomach, and he wound up his whole body into the next punch, which landed square in the centre of the picture of a Bokoblin that Groose had pinned to it. "Better: now again, but this time, throw a few."

"We've been at it for hours: can't we take a break?"

"Not until I'm satisfied you could clobber one of these things with your bare hands: again." Link landed a series of punches to the bag, alternating from one hand to the other, from uppercuts to sideswipes, anything to relieve his boiling hatred for the stupid monsters. After a few solid minutes of Link pummelling the punching bag, Groose grunted, signalling for Link to stop. "Much better, I can see your improvement already. You should feel sore in the morning if we did this right, not painful or anything, but sore."

"Good to know, I would've wondered if someone had clobbered me in my sleep otherwise."

"I'm sure your super hero senses would have alerted you if someone tried. You may not be the most muscular person around, but you've got strength in you, probably in your spirit from what I gather. You can use that to deceive an opponent; they'll see you as small and easy to take, but they'd have another thing coming."

"Thanks, I don't get compliments from you very often."

"Not a compliment, just an observation; I don't have the motivation to go out of my way to compliment people. Could you imagine me complimenting people? It's ridiculous that we've come to a time in our lives where you think I'd do such a thing."

"You play tough, but you're a softy: I've seen it. I won't tell anyone, because goddess knows I need a tough right hand man, but I've seen it, so don't pretend anything different; I can call your charade."

"I'm insulted you'd say such things," Groose tossed the bag at Link, who was taken by surprise and knocked to the ground. Groose leaped at him and quickly had Link pinned to the ground, with Groose straddling his legs and pinning his arms somewhere above his head. "Tell me I'm soft again, I dare you." Groose was looking down at Link with a smug grin, and a "that's right" look in his eyes. Link stared upwards at Groose, whose muscles were bulging from underneath a tight, navy blue shirt. Link felt something stir within him, and he quickly searched for a distraction. He decided that antagonising Groose would be harmless enough:

"You're soft."

"Oh, it's going to be like that?" Groose pulled Link's wrists together, holding them both with one of his big hands. His newly freed hand quickly found its place – much to Link's surprise – tickling Link all over his torso. Link burst into a roar of laughter as he squirmed to be free, but Groose was too strong and too persistent for Link to escape. Groose continued to tickle Link until Link's face was red, and tears of laughter slipped down his face. Breathing was getting more and more difficult, and Link couldn't bare it anymore,

"Alright, alright: I take it back." Groose ceased his efforts, but didn't release him.

"Take what back? Say it."

"You're not soft, and you're bloody heavy too. Shove off, will you?" Groose let a smile of victory spread across his face before dismounting Link. "Geez, I might've pulled a muscle laughing." Groose stood up basically over Link and extended his arm; Link took his hand and was pulled to his feet, and was now standing just a few inches from Groose's muscular chest. Link pretended to rub his sides, and turned away casually.

"We'll train again tomorrow, right Link?" Link felt Groose slap his rear, and it felt friendly, but his hand seemed to rest there for just a fraction of a second too long.

"Yeah, same time tomorrow sounds good."