WARNING:

What you are about to read has not been edited throughly. If you are prepared for really dumb grammatical and spelling errors, you may continue.

Author's Note:

Iiiiii'mmmmm baaaaaack. Thank you so much for your patience!

And to Red-The-Drawing-Ninja: Omg you are too sweet! uvu

Also, I realized a made a couple...er...logical failings earlier of which I have fixed. Changes are minor, not much beyond forgetting an extra T in Scarlett's name *nervous laughter*

Hope you guys enjoy, and again, I DID NOT EDIT THROUGHLY. I'm afraid you'll have to bear through until I do so.

Link blinked and let out a small sound of discomfort as the sun, ah, "welcomed" him to the wondrous outdoors. It took half a minute before his eyes finally adjusted, and thank goddess too. Blurriness plus concussion equals MASSIVE headache. Link shook his head and frowned at his drenched, freezing trousers. Yes well, running through a pitch-black tunnel without so much as single crack of light to be found would end rather poorly for anyone, let alone a luckless, klutz of a teen like him (he must've hit the wall three times from all that slipping).

Well, at least he had made it out. That, and he could feel Scarlett's presence just around the corner. Link felt his heart skip in anticipation at that. He was so close...

I'm coming girl.

Link ran out even farther along the ridge of the island before he heard a long, familiar cry.

"Link!"

The boy looked up just in time to see a familiar mound of blue feathers land promptly before him. The great, high and mighty loftwing would not so much as spare a glance at the teen, keeping his bright orange beak high in the air. As usual, Link returned the favor and the two ignored each other completely. Zelda hopped down.

"Oh good, Karane found you," she said in relief, then added with a short squeal, "I found Scarlett! She's right up ahead and I think we'll make it in time, Link!" Without so much as a break after finishing the sentence, the girl grabbed him by the arm and hauled him down along the ridge.

"This was the first place I looked," she said with a smug little smile Link did not have to see to know it was there. "Groose and his gang always hang around here." She snorted. "Probably to make themselves look brave by making it look like they went through the cave, but anybody can get back here with a loftwing." Her voice lowered to a hiss and Zelda tensed her grip around his arm. "...Just wait 'til you see what they did."

Link had already decided on the perfect revenge (involving a certain spider's egg- completely venomless- he'd stumbled upon earlier in the vines, somehow finding themselves under Groose's mattress), so he doubted anything would rub the incentive in further.

"I'm glad you came here too, but how-" Zelda began, only to pause. No, like, freeze. They came to a sudden and abrupt halt that made Link stumble forward. He saw his friend's head whirl around in confusion and look down at the clouds.

"Who's there?" she called.

Link stared. "...Um...Zelda...?"

"Who's calling me?" she mumbled, as if he wasn't even there.

Link continued to stare. "...Zelda?"

To his relief she shook head and looked up at him. "Oh, Link...I just..." She shook her head and looked back down at the clouds from the corner of her eye. "I could've sworn..." The girl met his confused stare and she blushed. "It's nothing. Come on, we don't have much time."

Link had no time to ponder this...er...occurrence before Zelda grabbed his hand and they set off again, full speed, along the ridge. No sooner had Zelda's abrupt halt left his mind when they caught the sight of a familiar set of red feathers behind a row of wooden planks.

"Scarlett!" Link shouted in more relief than he could have ever felt before. He slipped from Zelda's grip and sprinted to the make-shift prison that held his bird. "Scarlett," he said again, shaking his head. He hadn't known what to think all this time, but due to her delighted, if not frantic squawks, his bird was fine.

"Can you get her out, Link?" Zelda asked, hurrying up beside him. "I tried everything I could think of earlier, but it won't budge. We'll need something sharp to cut those ropes down." She pointed to the thick binds holding the barrier up. "I tried cutting them down myself, but they're too thick for my knife unless you're willing to sit here and wait until evening."

Link unsheathed his sword and with a couple of clean swipes, took the barrier down. He looked up, sheathing his sword to embrace his bird, when Scarlett BOLTED. A flash of red soared past them, and both he and Zelda had to dive out of the way, less be trampled by sixty pounds of beak and talon. The great bird raced passed them, taking off to reclaim her sky. They watched in shared amusement (and he, a bit of pride) as Scarlett became nothing short of a red blur, racing amongst the clouds and making at least three laps around a small, outset island before landing back on the waterfall island's ridge and burrowing her large beak into Link's chest.

"Woah girl, I missed you two!" exclaimed Link, laughing. He would've checked her for injury if she hadn't put on that display. The loftwing gave off a happy croak and nudged him again, so hard that he landed on his rump with a surprised "Oof!" at her vigor. "Scarlett, stop!" he cried, half laughing, half wincing as the loftwing tugged playfully at his bangs.

Zelda smiled watching the two, but knew she'd have to cut the reunion short.

"Link, you've got to go, now-" She blinked. Shoot. "No, WE have to be there, NOW!" She'd forgotten-

Skychild...

Zelda whirled around. Who...who kept doing that? The girl bit her lip and looked down at the clouds. She felt an abrupt urge to just...jump. Her toes hovered over the ten-thousand foot drop and the swirling white mass of clouds below. It was calling her...down there, below the barrier...

"Zelda, what are you doing?"

The girl jumped and stumbled back away from the edge in a guilty start.

What was she thinking!? Her eyes darted back down to the Great Cloud Barrier. This...this was getting out of hand. That was the third time this week that she'd almost...

Zelda bit her lip and shook her head.

She wasn't crazy, some strange, disembodied voice just kept telling her to jump. That's all. Nothing crazy about that.

Come little girl, the Surface awaits...

Zelda blanched. It'd never said anything about the Surface before. She forced her eyes to remain on Link. There was nothing below the clouds, everyone knew that. Except, Zelda didn't really believe that. Nooo she would rather believe in fairytales and listen to strange, apparently ownerless voices...

But those texts, her father's texts were not fairytales. Those were records, written hundreds of years ago. It spoke of their ancestors living in vast lands and great, endless lakes. Who could make something like that up?

"...Link," she began uncertainly, "Did you hear a voice?"

Her friend looked at her as if she had lightning bugs crawling out of her ears. Yep. She was crazy.

"Um...no...did you?" he asked unhelpfully.

Zelda sighed. "...It's been happening a lot, lately. I don't know what..." She looked back up at him. "Am I going crazy, Link?"

Link furrowed his eyebrows and shook his head. "Yah," he said with a smirk. "The stress is finally getting to you. I figured you'd crack sooner or later."

She punched his shoulder. "Thanks." Zelda muttered with a frown. Audibly, she said, "I'm serious, Link. I don't know what to think. It's talking about the Surface now..." She hadn't meant to say that last part.

Link stopped rubbing his arm and stared at her. "...The Surface, Zel?" he asked uncertainly.

Zelda sighed and put her head in her hand. "Yah...Some say it's an empty, barren place, or that there's nothing at all down below, but I don't know..." She looked up at him. "My father's texts speak of fields of green, mounds of rock far greater and larger than even Skyloft itself, and strange things called forests, where a vast numbers of trees grow and thrive together as one." She grinned. "Could you imagine it, Link? The adventure waiting down there, what sort of wild, crazy things we'd find?"

Link raised an eyebrow. "There's only one way down, and jumping is the last thing on my list of priorities. I don't know about you, Zelda, but I'd rather live to see my graduation."

Zelda frowned and was about to retort when she remembered something.

"SHOOT! Link! We have to go, RIGHT NOW!" She grabbed Link's arm and leapt off the platform without another thought. Their birds caught their partners without instruction, they were so close already. With an urgent push forward by both the riders, they raced towards the plaza.

Link had just made it. He had almost missed it.

Zelda had bent down and tried to catch her breath, and Link imagined he looked about the same.

That. Was. Too. Close.

He looked up to see the noon sun high in the sky and sighed. The instructor had already begun the last preliminary's speech when he and Zelda had crashed into the plaza. The place (unfortunately and not helping his nerves) was full of people. Granted, he'd find a much larger crowed this evening when the finals took place, but a good fifty people had gathered round to watch the preliminary. Link stood in line with the other competitors, between two girl's he barely recognized.

Instructor Owlan's smooth, almost monotone voice droned on as one of the other instructors handed Zelda a thick wad of multicolor cloths. She began handing them out to each competitor, avoiding eye-contact as she passed one to Groose, Cawlin, and Stitch. When she handed him his, the girl smiled and offered a wink. Link looked down at the cloth and almost grinned himself. It was crimson red. The number four glared back at him, letting him know his position on the start off and what to listen for in the finals. If he made it, that is. He tied the bandana around his wrist and swallowed.

This was it.

No turning back.

If he made it, he would have everything he'd ever wanted. If he lost, he'd either have to give up knighthood and pick another course, or not graduate with his peers. He took a deep breath, and let his eyes wonder over to Groose. The older boy had showed up for this tournament every year since he was Link's age. He wanted knight school just as much, if not more than Link. He probably deserved it too. Groose's last two victories had both been snatched from him right at the end. One time by Pipit. Needless to say, they hated each other ever since (if not before).

Link bit his tongue as his headache came roaring back and his hand flew to the back of his throbbing head. As his eyes caught Zelda's narrowed ones, he hastily stuffed his hand back into his pocket.

He forgot. Not only that, but the medicine was gone. If Pipit had left any after the Chu Ju, it wouldn't matter because the senior had never given the jar back to Link.

Great. He was less than ship-shape then.

Link frowned and searched the sky for that familiar red streak. Scarlett wouldn't be in top condition either, thanks to a certain jack-ass. Well, Groose certainly took care of him, didn't he? Took him clear out the picture.

Link took in another deep breath and tried to forget how utterly screwed he was right now.

"Due to the delay, the rules will be slightly altered." Everyone's attention shot up to the instructor at that. The silver haired man droned on, unfaltering, "Rather than the top two ranking competitors moving on to the finals, four will be chosen to compete." The crowd started low murmurs at this, but the instructor explained, "This is because the number of competitors have doubled, therefore, it would be the most obvious solution. We will still need twenty competitors for the finals to take place this evening, as is the tradition..." The instructor fell back into his drawl, leaving his audience to mull this over.

Link could feel his heart pounding against his chest. This changed everything.

If he just won, even fourth place...he'd have a full ride to knight school! He looked around and saw the expressions of his fellow competitors had changed. Some looked disgruntled, but Groose had the same, bright spark of hope in his eyes that Link must have. The red-haired teen shared a grin with Cawlin and Stitch and Link grimaced. Under the chance that Link would even place, if they all made it too... Ugh. He'd hoped that part of the deal to knight school was that he'd ditch Groose's buddies, at least.

You know, if he made it.

Link took yet another deep breath.

Keep it together. You've got this.

Link looked up at the instructor, still droning on, and fiddled with his fingers behind his back. He couldn't believe he'd actually showed up half-way through the announcements it was taking so long. He locked eyes with Zelda, who gave him a mischievous grin and pretended to snore. The corner of his lip tugged upwards at that, even more so when the headmaster laid a sharp gaze on his daughter and she straightened to attention. After what could have been anything from ten minutes to an hour for Link, the instructor concluded his speech and left the raised platform. Only to be replaced by Gaepora.

You've got to be kidding me.

The crowd looked as disgruntled and restless as Link felt, and one woman actually groaned aloud. Link raised his eyebrows in surprise and recognition as he saw a familiar head of fiery red curls. Fledge, a giant all his own, stood head and shoulders over most of the crowd with his awkward height, and the small, middle-aged woman stood, ranting, right beside him. Link smirked at the taller's embarrassed expression as he tried to appease the woman's fiery temper and loud complaints. There was an odd pair if Link had ever seen one. He caught Groose battling through a horrified, confused, and delighted series of expressions that settled with the taller boy hiding his face with one hand. Link raised an eyebrow at this, remembering "Goosey" and wondered just who that woman was to Groose.

His thoughts were interrupted when Gaepora, mercifully, concluded his speech in less than five minutes.

"All right then," the headmaster boomed in a deep, excited voice, "Now remember the rules: there are four green bandanas attached to the Carrier Loftwing; you will need to take one as proof of your success, and no more; and lastly, you will maintain proper flying conduct throughout the duration of this race." The headmaster's dark eyes narrowed on Groose, his gang, and the dark-haired girl next to Link at this.

Well, the competition seemed rather fierce. Literally.

"Competitors," Gaepora thundered, "Please line up at your designated spots!"

Link inhaled and locked eyes with Zelda one last time before taking his place along the platform. She grinned and gave him a thumbs up. Link saw her tug at her bangs and knew, by that simple gesture, Zelda felt just as nervous as he.

"Ladies and gentlemen, at my command the race will begin!" Everyone held their breath as the large man raised a pale hand high in the air. "GO!" With that he sliced down and the competitors were off.

First thing's first: I'm so sorry for keeping you guys waiting for that long. I know what it's like and I'm really, really sorry. :( It's even crudier that the quality is so-so, but I felt bad for making you guys wait even longer so I just posted it.

About the changes: Ok, so I had a lot of issues as to how the Wing Ceremony was set up during the game, at least where realism is concerned (obviously it's a game so realism isn't first priority, but you guys expect better in a novel-like-thing, right?) Sooo I changed some stuff. Basically the race is set up via tournament style. Five competitors each preliminary race, two winners that move on to the finals to compete for the honor of being the "Goddess' Chosen". All placing competitors are automatically enrolled in knight school. The pieces of cloth around the Carrier's ankle symbolize the uniform and its color. I like to keep it simple. :)

Well, if you have any questions\comments\ideas or criticism, feel free to lay it on me. :D I promise I'll update sooner next time, and please hold me accountable to that.