Hey, guys. Sorry about the lack of chapters. I've discovered the joy of roleplaying on Facebook, so I haven't been writing that much. That's also why this chapter is shorter than most. My apologies.

I'll be honest, I kinda wish Belari had a custom sprite like most of the other important Minish. With that being said, I took the liberties of making my Belari a little different. Something more appropriate to someone who gives Link bombs.

I don't own Legend of Zelda or Minish Cap. Enjoy!

Minish Woods

"Hm… It's been awhile since the boy went in the Shrine," mused Festari. He was sitting outside the Deepwood Shrine with another Minish, waiting for Link to return.

"You think he's been killed in there?" the Minish asked.

Festari looked at him. "I highly doubt it. That boy has too much on the line to die so soon."

Suddenly, the forest lit up with a flash of light, and Link appeared at the entrance of the Shrine. "My word! He's done it!"

Link saw the two Minish and waved. "Hey. I don't suppose I could ask you for some help?" He pointed to his injured leg.

Festari and the other Minish rushed over to the boy and caught him before he fell over. "Let's take him to the Elder's place."

The two Minish helped Link over to Gentari's house and laid him down on a bed. "Well, this is certainly a surprise!" said Gentari. "I take it this means you have the Earth Element, yes?"

Link grinned despite the pain and took the purple jewel out from his bag.

"I knew you would make it! On behalf of all the Minish that live in these woods, I thank you." Gentari bowed, giving Link a weird feeling. He wasn't really used to having people bow to him.

Ezlo hopped off of Link's head and onto his chest. "Not that we aren't grateful for the praise, but we could really use some food and medicine. We have a long way to go, and Link needs to be at a hundred percent."

"Of course." Gentari summoned a couple of Minish and gave them some orders. A few minutes later, they came back with some mushroom stew and a few strange leaves that they placed on Link's leg. "These leaves have special healing properties and can soothe your pain."

Link ate the stew and found it to be pretty good. "Thank you for this," he said sincerely.

Gentari waved a hand dismissively. "This is the least we could do for the one who vanquished the evil in our shrine. Take all the time you need."

As the boy ate the stew, he could feel the leaves easing his pain. "What's in these leaves?" he asked.

"Young Link, those leaves are used in making a substance known as Picolyte. Specifically, the healing kind," said Gentari.

Link felt his eyelids droop. Ezlo noticed this and said, "Go ahead and finish that stew up, then get to sleep. We've got a long road ahead of us."

The boy nodded and finished it, then settled down in the bed. The last thing he heard after he closed his eyes was Gentari's voice asking the strange hat, "Are you really the Ezlo I've heard about?" Sleep overtook him then, and he heard no more.

Link woke up well-rested, and he was even more surprised that the pain in his leg was gone. 'The Minish sure know what they're doing,' he thought.

"Oh good, you're up, boy." Link turned his head and saw Ezlo. "How are you feeling?"

Link slowly got up. "Pretty good, considering I went one-on-one with a huge slime monster."

Ezlo laughed. "Good to hear, m' boy! I'm glad that monster didn't break your spirits!"

The boy put him on his head. "So, where do we need to go now?"

"Take out your map, please."

Link took the map out of his bag. Gentari pointed to the mountains of northwest Hyrule. "If your conviction holds strong, head to Mount Crenel. You'll find a man named Melari. Among all the Minish, there is no one more able to repair your sword."

"Really?" Link was relieved that he wouldn't have to carry around a broken sword much longer.

Gentari nodded. "If you ask him, I am certain he will reforge your broken Picori Blade. I shall send word to him in advance." He gave the Picori Blade back to Link.

The boy put the sword back in his bag. "Thank you, kind elder."

"Travel safely, young one. You are very brave, but there are many evils in the world now." The elderly Minish walked over to a set of curtains and opened them, revealing a passage. "Leave through this door here. It will take you out of the forest quickly."

"Great elder, we are in your debt," said Ezlo. "We shall head for Mount Crenel at once!"

Link bowed and went through the door. He passed under an arch, and saw a tree stump that would transform him back to normal. When he got to it, though, he heard a large boom near a large mushroom that looked like a Minish house.

"Quick, boy! Someone may need our help!" Link obeyed Ezlo and ran over to the house, where a cloud of smoke billowed up off to the side.

"Everything's fine, just a minor mishap!" a voice called out. Link stopped when he saw a Minish crawl out from behind the house, coughing. He was normal forest Minish, except that he had cracked goggles on his forehead, and most of the normal Minish outfit was black with soot.

"What the heck was that about?" asked Link.

The Minish stood up and dusted his clothes off. "Oh, that was just the magic called science! A mixture of certain elements can produce very interesting results!" He finally got a good look at them. "Wait… A boy in green… Wearing a mystical hat?! Sir! Would you by chance be Link, the one who found the Earth Element?"

The duo exchanged glances. "News travels fast."

The Minish nodded. "Indeed, it does! You're something of a legend to the Minish now." He held out his hand for shaking. "I'm Belari, researcher of antiquities and, well, a bit of an inventor."

Link shook his hand. "Nice to meet you." He looked at the Minish's house. "How come you live out here, and not in the village?"

Belari laughed. "I often work with highly volatile materials, and Gentari asked me to do my work out here so it doesn't harm everyone else!"

"What kind of materials?" asked Ezlo.

Belari gestured to his house. "Follow me." The two followed the Minish into his house. The interior was a good representation of what mad scientist would have, with beakers bubbling and test tubes in racks.

Link looked around and saw three large bags of powders. "What's in those?"

Belari looked at the bags. "That's my latest project. Those contain charcoal, sulfur, and potassium nitrate. The correct proportions of all three materials make quite the bang!" Belari turned his gaze to Link. "In fact, it may be able to help you on your quest."

"Really?" Ezlo looked at the Minish, intrigued. "How so?"

"Well, there's a lot of debris around, and some of it is blocking the roads." Belari rummaged around near the bags. "I know I left it somewhere… Aha!"

The Minish pulled out a large blue bag. "This here is a batch of some of the more… energetic reactions. I call 'em bombs." He opened the bag and took out a large blue sphere with a fuse at the top. "Just pull this and run. It'll do the rest."

"Okay… what do they do, though?" asked Link, more than a little dubious.

"Bombs can turn large things into smaller things. Put it next to cracked places, and they'll be blown away." He gave the bag to the boy. "Try one outside."

Link nodded and walked out of the house, Belari following. The boy put the bomb on the ground a fair distance away from the house, unsure of what to do next.

"Just pull the small loop, then run."

Link nodded, then he put a finger around the loop at the end of the fuse. He pulled it, igniting the fuse. He then ran about twenty feet away, over where Belari was.

The fuse burned for about 10 seconds, then it went into the bomb itself. It detonated with a mighty "BOOM!", throwing up a lot of dust and smoke.

As the smoke cleared, Link got a good view of the site where he placed the bomb. The innocuous sphere was gone, and in its place was a crater. "I can see why the elder would want you to live out here. One false move and the whole village could be destroyed," commented Ezlo dryly.

Link looked at the bag of bombs with new respect. "You sure it's safe for me to have these?"

Belari chuckled. "Of course it is. I trust you to not hurt yourself too much. Besides, I have a feeling that you'll need these."

"And I'll make sure he doesn't get carried away," said Ezlo, pecking Link's head.

Link ignored the pain and thanked Belari. He then ran to the tree stump, and Ezlo used his abilities to turn him back to normal size. He walked through the forest, then found a wall of rubble blocking the path.

He took out the bomb bag, pleased to note it grew with him. "Well, looks like we'll see if Belari was right about his bombs clearing away the debris." He pulled a bomb out and placed it next to the rubble. Link then pulled the loop and ran behind a tree.

With a mighty "BOOM!", the bomb destroyed the wall of rubble. "Yep, I'd say they're quite effective," commented Ezlo. "Let's leave this forest. We've got a sword to reforge!"

Link nodded and set off towards the forest exit to their next destination.

Mount Crenel.

Again, my apologies for both releasing this chapter late and making it a bit shorter than normal. Hopefully, the next chapter for the RWBY/Sonic story I've worked on will be a released a bit sooner.

By the way, I learned the ingredients for black powder from various Mythbusters episodes. And one episode of the original Transformers. Now THAT was a cheesy show. Charcoal, sulfur, and potassium nitrate, which apparently comes from bird poop. Gotta wonder how the ancient Chinese figured out how that works.

Anyways, thanks for reading, and I'll try not to delay so much between chapters next time! Review if you liked it, and I'll see you again soon!