Cheeb's small feet set down upon the bottom of the rock pillar. He had finally reached the bottom of the pillar, and was now in the barren patch of rock surrounding it. Around him were mountains off to every side. The sun was just beginning to rise once more, and with it, the intense heat of Lanayru's desert. Looking to get a start on his adventure, Cheeb waddled off in the direction of the desert,

Within a few short moments away from the safety of the pillar, a rather large Hrok swooped down from the skies. The bird's beak clamped down on the poor Kikwi's gut, and he was quickly lifted into the air with the bird. A small shriek was let out as he and the Hrok faded into the distance.

"So the masked villain dork has gotten ahold of a piece of the Triforce. Groose and his buddies have four, and my Demon Chiefs have three left…"

Demise scoured over his map, pinpointing the locations of the last three Demon Chiefs. His finger stamped down on each point he touched, leaving a scorch mark. He had his ways of keeping track of things. There was one in Eldin, one in Lanayru, and the last was… well he was… he should've been…

Demise leaned back in his chair and began to count on his fingers. "He was in the lake… Gooey dude in the cistern… Took care of him… He was in the whole Danger Zone thing… that guy with the Billy Joel dude in the bar… those two…" He paused.

"Shit." Demise looked to his map, and realized he had sent out one of his minions to defend a piece of the Triforce without tracking them. He let out a long sigh before deciding to let it pass. He had more important things to deal with, like paperwork. What kind of office doesn't have paperwork?

Ghirahim jolted awake on the table. "He's dead." he stated flatly.

Alakai jumped, spinning around in confusion at the new voice joining the cast of his household. "You just about gave me a heart attack! Geeze!" Link and Groose turned to face Ghirahim.

"He's dead." Ghirahim repeated coldly.

"Ghirahim. We implore you to share more related information regarding this statement, if possible." Fi insisted. She floated up next to him and hovered in front of him, staring into his glazed eyes. Link followed to Ghirahim's side, grabbing his cold hand.

"He's dead." Ghirahim fell back onto the table, his eyes shutting again.

Alakai paused for a brief moment and turned to Fi. "What was that?"

"My intelligence and experience indicates that this may have been a temporary state of induced consciousness, possibly inflicted by magic. However, more troubling is the message it appears he was trying to deliver. Using my dowsing abilities, which are undoubtedly similar to Ghirahim's, it is safe to assume that he is referring to the holder of the fifth piece of the Triforce…" A silence followed. "...it would appear that there is another party in this game."

Link cut in. "Who's to say that Demise isn't out searching for the pieces himself?"

"Negative." Fi replied, "I cannot detect his presence in this realm. In addition to this information, it would appear that Demise is content letting his Demon Chiefs guard the individual pieces of the Triforce of Wisdom. His behavior has no reason to change as of now."

"Yeah, but who else could be involved in this?" Link asked.

"That, I cannot say for certain. What I can deduce is that in the future, we should be careful. It might not be long before we run into this third party." Fi analyzed the situation carefully.

Link walked back over to Groose, picked up another pouch of ice and placed it over his black eye. "Hey Alakai, if you're so good with medicine and alchemy, all that stuff, can't you heal up my eye?"

Alakai grabbed some more ice from the metal bucket under his desk and wrapped it in a burlap pouch. "Some things are better left untouched with magic, perhaps. It'll probably heal better naturally, anyway. You don't want people asking you how you got those scars, do you?"

"And why not?" Link was making a conscious effort to make it apparent that he was urgent.

Alakai mimicked a conversation for him. "Geeze, what happened to you?" "A Kikwi got me."

Link grumbled under his breath. "Point taken."

Cheeb had been hanging upside down for what felt like hours now, and he had vomited a total of seven times. He was counting. The Hrok had realized a while ago that he wouldn't be able to digest Cheeb, so he was moreso carrying him around with hopes that he'd pass out and he could pick him apart on the ground.

Cheeb let out a long sigh. This adventure wasn't off to a very good start. As the Hrok turned around in a circle again, the light reflected off of his power bracelet and into his eyes. He rubbed them with his flippers, then got an idea. He twisted his foot, lining it up with the Hrok's big red underbeak. He readied himself, then swung his foot upward.

There was a loud cracking noise. The Hrok began diving downward, unconscious and with a broken beak. The beak itself fell off and plummeted to the sand below. The Hrok would follow, and Cheeb would, too.

The crash landing was a bit harsh, but not unbearable. Cheeb got up and dusted himself off, thankful that the power bracelet was on him. He looked out to the desert in all directions, only noticing what looked like a far off stone structure. He began walking there, the hot sun still beating down on him.

Demise had finished his paperwork, and he was now moving back to the pressing matter of that last Triforce Piece he hadn't located. Looking for answers, he consulted his book of references, looking up some of his small-time associates that preferred to work from home. He figured Lanayru would be a good place to start, and he quickly found a Hrok in that territory he had employed before to drop rocks on the heroes.

He took a moment to admire his strategic genius of dropping rocks on the heroes' heads. After that, he summoned the Hrok to his office.

What he received was a battered and bloody pile of feathers. The Hrok coughed out a bit of blood on floor. Demise took note that that would have to be cleaned. The Hrok propped itself up, enough so that Demise could see that it was missing a large chunk of its lower beak.

He asked, "Geeze, what happened to you?"

The Hrok wheezed out, "A Kikwi got me."

Cheeb stood at a broken wall. He was sure that this could be a lead into wherever that Jelly Blob of Courage was. He hopped over some toppled minecarts and a broken cactus, noting that whoever was here last left quite the mess. He crawled into the crevice of the wall, wiggling his way through. Cheeb popped out of the other side covered with sand and dust, plopping onto the ground with a small wheeze.

"You finally got here."

Cheeb looked up at the large statue, one he recognized to be that of the Hylian crest. It was a symbol he was told about at a young age, but this was the first he'd ever truly seen of it. In the Triforce's empty hole, in between the three pieces, a large blue blob was filling the gap.

"Hey, you get down from there. I need to get the Jelly Blob of something for my friend."

"This is the fifth Triforce Piece's location. But it's mine now. Take it from me if you dare."

Cheeb smiled. "Okay, if you want me to!" He cocked his fist and slammed it to the ground. A large rumbling could be heard, echoing from the deep chasm in front of him. The blue blob revealed a large yellow eye, and it began to slowly seep down from its place in the crest. It slid down the statue until it was level ground with Cheeb. Then, without warning, it lunged across the gap, its front end reaching Cheeb while the back end remained on the other side. Cheeb grabbed it by the eye and swung, the monster creating a long line of goo across the wall as it howled in pain.

He spun it around more and more, watching as the goo slowly began to shed itself from the monster's body. Soon enough, Cheeb was left with a gooey yellow eye in his hands. He threw it up in the air, struck a cool pose, and leapt into the air with an uppercut. The eye exploded upon impact with Cheeb's fist. As he fell back to the ground, Cheeb cocked his fist again, and made it rain up in this bitch. He thought he looked pretty cool. The area surrounding the small Kikwi was coated with a thin blue layer of slime. Even Cheeb was covered with the gunk from head to toe.

Before he could hoist himself to the crack in the wall, he notice a bright golden light bathing the area. He turned around to see a golden triangle floating on the ground. He walked up to it and touched it. As soon as he did, it disappeared into thin air. Satisfied, Cheeb hurried back to the wall. As he weaseled his way through the crack, the only thing he could think about was how excited he was to show tell his friends about the triangle and the goo.

"So, do you think the Kikwi is doing fine?"

"With the Power Bracelet you 'gave' him, I calculate his probability of survival has gone up by a significant percentage. In fact, I sense his presence right now. He's fine."

Alakai felt a little better about himself. With Cheeb back, that means he'd at least be safe. Maybe, somehow, he'd even gotten the Jelly Blob, too. But, Alakai tried not to get his hopes up.

Cheeb burst through the door, a look of confidence and pride on his face. He strutted over to an amazed Alakai. Without taking his eyes off of him, Cheeb ran his flipper down his belly, scooping up a large blob of blue jelly, and he placed it in Alakai's outstretched hand.

"Done."

As Alakai grabbed the Jelly Blob, he began mixing the ingredients together again. Fi went over to help, and Groose silently offered to take Cheeb outside to wash the little guy off.

The two adventurers stood outside. Groose had grabbed a cloth, and was wiping down Cheeb's fur. The goo was falling off, reminding Groose of a shedding Remlit.

"So how did it go?" he asked.

"Well first, I got picked up by a Hrok, but I took care of him pretty quickly."

"What do you mean you 'took care of him'?"

"He didn't fly so good." Cheeb replied. He added, "Who wants to try next?" Groose laughed.

He went on to relay the rest of his story, about the desert, the wall, the goo monster, the statue, and the triangle, too. Groose paused for a brief moment at that last part. He rung out the cloth before throwing it over his shoulder. "You saw a golden triangle floating in the air?"

"Yeah. It disappeared when I touched it. After I beat up the goo monster."

"Give me a moment." Groose excitedly ran inside, throwing the cloth at Fi. It sailed through her, hitting the ground with a plop. "Guys, I think Cheeb has a Triforce Piece!"

"What, really?" Link asked, setting down his pouch of ice.

"Yeah. He said it disappeared when he touched it though. How do we get it out?" Groose asked.

There was a host of ideas presented, but the real answer came after Cheeb walked in, vomited blue goo all over the floor, and passed out. Link picked him and brought him downstairs to tuck him into his bed. Groose grabbed the golden piece of Triforce in the middle of his blue vomit mess, making it five for them.

Sitting on the edge of his seat, Demise watched the scene play out from his office. Closing the vision in his mind, he settled back in his swivel chair.

"Well, I suppose that takes care of that problem. At least I know where the last two are, Lanayru and Eldin. I've got that going for me."