(AN: I wanted to explain this now so I don't get a whole bunch of questions about it: there is some magic always in use during battles. There's a spell to protect the fighters, which is how I explain there being no blood. It makes the skin as strong as stone and makes it hard to cut through it, though warriors often walk away with bruises; if the enemies are powered up there's a higher chance of their weapons being able to cut through the spell.
And the other spell is one for communication, which explains how everyone is able to talk across giant battlefields. While the voices of your allies are the strongest, you can pick out voices of your enemies if you focus on it.)
By the time Impa, Ruto, and Darunia had passed through the gate, a battle had already begun. Troops that Impa didn't recognize were in various keeps scattered across the map, and she could already pick up their chatter. She, Ruto, and Darunia split up, and Impa made her way to the Great Deku Tree itself to see if someone there was willing to tell her what was going on. Any enemies she came across were swiftly downed, getting confused but thankful looks from the nameless and faceless soldiers she had helped.
She reached the Great Deku Tree with little trouble and looked around at the soldiers for someone who looked like a high enough rank to help her figure out what was going on. However, one approached her instead, and she took a small step back to give herself some distance in case she needed it. "Why are you all here?" she asked with a scowl, doing her best not to look too intimidating. She still needed this guy to tell her what exactly was going on.
"We followed the suggestion of a small village who said a thief had stolen something from one of their people and came out to help her. But, by the time we got here, there were already monsters and the girl was fighting with something - I haven't been able to find her myself, but you can hear her talking all the time," he explained, waving a hand out to motion to his troops. "She won't tell any of us who she's after or even what they stole from her, but we can't let someone fight so many monsters on their own, so we stayed here to help her fight."
Impa nodded a little bit, somewhat relieved to know that it didn't seem like anything had been let through yet; monsters had gotten to the Great Deku Tree before and they would be dealt with as many times as they needed to be. "I see. I'm glad that you decided to stay and help her, and since I have business here with a few friends of my own, we'll help you fight off these monsters and help the girl get back whatever was stolen from her," she said, getting a thankful nod and a salute from the soldier. "If you need help, feel free to call out for it; someone should come and lend you a hand."
She didn't wait for an answer before she left, pulling her nagitana out again and holding it at the ready. "Ruto, Darunia," she spoke aloud, scanning the tree around her for any enemies that needed to be dealt with. "I found out what's going on. Until we end this fight, we aren't going to be able to look for the Gate. Help the soldiers fight the monsters and keep an eye out for a girl chasing after something - they came out here to help her find something that was stolen from her."
Darunia and Ruto both confirmed their understanding and Impa let herself focus on what was going on now, sprinting into the first keep that didn't belong to her allies. She cut monsters down in hoards, watching their bodies vanish into purple dust before being replaced with another just a few seconds later. She fought on fearlessly, dealing with them one by one until she lured out the leader. A few well timed hits and an explosion later, the keep was theres and soldiers were already starting to take the place of the monsters.
Just then, in another flourish of magic that pushed Impa's hair into her face, something appeared behind her. She spun around and jumped back, holding her nagitana out in front of her defensively. Floating off the ground in front of her, nearly eye level with her, was a little imp like thing - it looked like the pictures of Skull Children that the books in the library had, at least in dress. However, the mask he wore was different: it was heart shaped, decorated in spikes and covered in colors of reds and purples with bulging orange eyes.
Twirling an ocarina in one hand and with a pair of fairies flying circles around its head, the Skull Kid cackled as it circled around the keep Impa was in, seeming to find joy in everyone in the room trying to keep their eye on this mysterious new figure. "So many new people to play with!" it cackled, sounding like a young child.
Impa scowled and shook her head, planting her feet in the ground so she wouldn't keep twisting around to watch the thing run circles around them. "Who are you?" she asked sharply, figuring that if this thing wanted to act like a child, then she could treat it like one. If it wasn't going to give her the answers she needed, then she was just going to ignore it until it started causing trouble.
"You stupid little imp! Get back here and give me my compass!" Another voice joined in the chorus that already echoed around them. A young blond-haired girl in a green cloak and brown boots burst into the keep, going for the Skull Kid and taking aim with her two crossbows.
As soon as the girl appeared, the 'imp' vanished with another flash of magic and high pitched giggles that just didn't sound natural, followed by a typically childish taunt to come and find him if she really wanted it back. The girl huffed and shook her head, and Impa grabbed her by the back of her cloak as she tried to run past. "And just who are you?" she asked, putting a hand firmly on the girl's shoulder to keep her from running off in search of the imp.
Looking at the girl now, she looked fairly similar to Link. Blond hair held in tight braids hanging over her shoulders, a green cloak with a hood that Impa had pulled down when she grabbed her, and some kind of blue necklace hanging around her neck. She looked surprised at being stopped, but somehow managed to flash Impa a grin. "My name's Linkle!" she said before suddenly remembering why she was there. "You have to help me catch that imp!" she said, pouting up at Impa. "He stole my compass - that was a gift from my grandmother!"
Impa nodded after a short moment of thought. "I'll help you," she agreed, getting a grin and a cheer from Linkle. "But you need to tell me who I'm fighting; I've never seen anything like him," she said, following Linkle as she took the lead. Impa had no idea where Linkle was going, but apparently she had a place in mind as she ran across the winding branches, roots, and bridges without hesitation.
"He calls himself Skull Kid, but I don't know much about him. He just sort of showed up and stole my compass - I was going to the castle after hearing that it was attacked!" Linkle explained, shouting over her shoulder as she ran, not bothering to stop so Impa could hear her clearer. "Then Skull Kid happened and I had to stop! It's really lucky that you showed up when you did, though!" Impa could almost hear the smile in her voice and she had to keep herself from rolling her eyes.
Even though she doubted the girl really knew what she was doing, Impa continued to let her lead the way around the various keeps and rooms formed by twisting roots in the Deku Tree. Every time they found Skull Kid, he vanished again before they could do anything, so it was like a game of cat and mouse, and Impa was starting to get tired of it. Before she could voice her complaints, Linkle came to a screeching halt that almost had Impa plowing into her - almost. "He's at the fairy fountain!" she said suddenly, though Impa had no idea how she would know that.
Once again, Linkle left Impa no time to ask any questions before dashing off to who knows where, leaving Impa little choice but to follow. There were almost no monsters left by the time they crossed the Deku Tree's roots for what felt like the millionth time that day, so they got from one end to the other with little trouble. Linkle took the stairs two at a time, and Impa had to take them three at a time just to keep up with her; even if the girl wasn't mature, Impa would confess that she was fast.
As Linkle had said, Skull Kid was floating just above the fountain inside the large stone room, tossing his ocarina in one hand as he looked around. For a second, Impa thought that they had finally gotten the upper hand and had snuck up on him, but he played a severely out of tune note on his ocarina. The two fairies at his sides - a yellow one and a purple one - launched towards them faster than Impa had seen fairies move before. And when they hit Linkle in the chest, they nearly knocked her off her feet and left her gasping for air.
Skull Kid cackled, kicking his legs out in the air as he twisted around to look at them, the eyes of his mask boring down into them. "You two are a lot of fun to play with!" he laughed once again, folding his arms over his stomach and keeping his ocarina tightly in one of his hands - Impa doubted that she would be getting it from him any time soon. "You aren't very good at playing tag, though - I had to wait for you two up here and you still haven't caught me!" his laughter never seemed to stop and if he had been on the ground, Impa guessed he would have been doubled over with how hard he was laughing at them now. And Impa would be lying if she said being laughed at like this by what was essentially a child wasn't annoying her at least a little bit.
She pushed her annoyance to the side and stepped in front of Linkle, who finally seemed to be getting her breath back after being hit by the fairies, and pulled out her nagitana, pointing it towards Skull Kid with a grunt. "You are going to give back what you stole and tell me where you came from!" she demanded, glaring up at Skull Kid with a deep frown. If she could intimidate this thing into giving her the answers she needed, she could do what she needed to without fighting or searching on her own so much; she had the sneaking suspicion that it wouldn't nearly be that easy, though. If Skull Kid was laughing at them like this in the midst of a battle, then he must have something else under his belt; Impa hadn't heard of a Skull Kid acting like this before.
Skull Kid's laughter died away, but his voice was still light with it, and not being able to hear him just laugh at her got Impa even more annoyed at it. "Make me tell you!" he said, pointing one gloved finger at her. Before Impa could move a muscle at the clear invitation for a fight, Skull Kid raised his ocarina and played another off key note and the fairies lunged forward again. Even though Impa could summon her shield before they hit her, the impact against her shield made her wrist twinge in pain and she scowled; she couldn't afford to get hit by Skull Kid's attacks if they were this strong.
Note after note was played as Skull Kid danced around, his fairy companions swinging too and fro in an attempt to hit Impa, though she ducked and weaved under them - she had a few close calls, but managed to come out without taking a full hit. Then, Skull Kid stopped playing and Impa thought she had found her opening, but when he turned around again, some sort of laser that was similar to the one Queen Ghoma had fired at her on more than one occasion shot out from either eye on his mask.
The beam connected with her shoulder and she let out a sharp cry of pain, quickly dropping to the ground to let the beams go over her before they caused much more damage. The sleeve of her shirt had a singed hole, and it was still smoking; the skin was already bright red and it certainly felt like a normal burn. It could have ended up a lot worse, so Impa was glad that it had only ended up feeling like a normal burn and not something worse. Skull Kid threw his head back and laughed again, kicking his legs out and pointing down at Impa as she picked herself up again, grabbing her nagitana from where she had thrown it.
Skull Kid's laughter was cut off by a pair of arrows hitting him dead on, though they bounced to the side - clearly he was covered by the same magic that was protecting Impa and Linkle. Speaking of Linkle, it seemed that she had finally recovered from the fairies attack on her and had her crossbows trained on Skull Kid, her own face pulled into a frown as she watched him twist in the air to glare at her. "Give me back my bow and stop hurting people!"
Skull Kid shook his head and crossed his arms firmly over his chest. "No! You didn't beat my game, so you don't get it back!" he said stubbornly, making a raspberry noise at them, though Impa couldn't see his tongue - did Skull Children even have tongues?
She didn't think of it much as she lunged forward with a shout, swinging her nagitana. Part of the staff caught Skull Kid in the side of the head and finally knocked him out of the air. He hit the ground with a grunt and before he could get up again, Impa put her foot firmly on his back to hold him down. Linkle knocked the ocarina he had dropped out of the way before bending down and pulling her compass off his belt and pulling it over her head again.
Impa nodded and turned her attention back to Skull Kid, pressing her heel into his back and making him squirm on the ground. "Now, where did you come from?" She asked, her voice little more than a growl.
Skull Kid continued to squirm on the ground under her foot, whining for a moment before finally giving in. "Fine, fine, I'll show you! Just let me up!" he said, continuing to try and get himself out from under Impa's foot, though his struggling wasn't really working much. He hadn't moved an inch since Impa pinned him.
Linkle bent down and scooped up the ocarina before pulling out a bottle and easily snatching the distracted fairies up. "Fine. But I'm keeping these with me until we get some answers!" she said, flashing Skull Kid a grin before tucking both away and nodding a little.
Impa nodded back and moved her foot, letting Skull Kid stand up and eventually float up again so he was eye level with them. "Lead the way - and remember that I've got my eye on you. I'm not above fighting someone like you," she said in a low voice, nudging Skull Kid in the back with the handle of her nagitana.
Skull Kid grumbled under his breath and crossed his arms over his chest before starting to float along. Impa let him take the lead before following him with Linkle close behind her. He lead her across the roots once again before stopping in front of a shut off room, which he opened with a wave of his hand. On the other side of the wall of vines and branches was another gate, still pulsing with left over magic. "Here. I came through here. Can I have my things back now?"
Linkle didn't respond for a moment, holding her hands out in front of her and flexing them a few times, her eyes wide. "Woah...there's so much magic here I can feel it. What is this thing?" she breathed, watching her hands as she continued clenching her fingers.
"It's a Gate of Time." Ruto and Darunia had appeared not long after Impa and Linkle arrived, making Linkle jump and making Skull Kid huff. "We've had problems with them before, but we thought that it was done until earlier this morning," Ruto explained, looking up at the Gate with a frown and putting her hands on her hips, her bracelets clanking together softly.
Linkle looked back at her as she spoke but turned to look at the Gate again, still looking confused and shocked. "Gate of Time? Where does it lead to?" she asked softly, her question clearly not directed at anyone specifically.
"It leads back to Termina," Skull Kid answered them, sounding oddly serious given what Impa had seen him doing earlier. "And something is wrong. I can feel it." He shot through the gate before the others could answer him, vanishing into the gate with a flash of light.
Impa frowned and looked back at Ruto and Darunia, both of whom nodded at her. "Linkle, you can stay out here and head to the castle. I don't want you getting hurt fighting whatever is on the other side," she explained, looking over at Linkle.
But, not surprisingly, Linkle shook her head. "I want to help you fight! Besides, I still have his things," she pointed out, taking the bottled fairies and the ocarina out of her pockets. "And if I'm going to be a soldier, then I need to be able to fight!" she answered, her voice as firm as her face.
Impa watched her for a moment before sighing and nodding. "Fine. But I want you to be careful." she left it at that before she stepped up to the Gate, waiting to make sure the others were following her before following Skull Kid through the Gate.