Static: So now we can progress with this story.

Wang: Whadaya mean progress?

Time Stop: He means that after this chapter we can start adventuring.

Wang: Huh?

Shadow: Remember, all of this is like ten minutes, tops, of the actual game.

Wang: This is a game!?

Static: Oh dear.

Time Stop: We don't own a thing, remember that.

Chapter 3: You've met with a terrible fate haven't you?

"He looks like you." Tatl whispered.

Link turned to look at the stump. If he looked closely enough, he could see a face, warped in pain. "That's not me. I'm not a…" His voice trailed off. Yes he was. He wasn't a Hylian anymore. He was a scrub. A scrub until he got his hands on that Skull Kid.

He entered the next room, to a glowing purple wall.

"What's this?"

Tatl shrugged. "I haven't seen anything like that before. There's normally a hole here leading to the field, so I have no idea why this thing's here."

"It could be a trap." Link brought his wooden hand close to it. It wasn't warm or cold. "I wouldn't put it past him."

"I don't think it's a trap."

"And you thought he wouldn't do this to me, now did you?"

Tatl went silent. Link put his hand on the wall. It gave a little to his touch. He pushed harder against it and the wall bent slightly inward. He brought his hand back and the wall rebounded to its original position. He forced his hand through the wall. It was colder on the other side, but not by much. He brought his hand back to him.

"It's a portal."

"To where?"

"Only one way to find out."

Deliberately, Link walked forward. His face smooshed against the wall until he gathered enough momentum to go forward. He came out into a dark musty room. It was large, with the sound of large wooden things clanging against other large wooden things.

Tatl came through a moment later. "Where are we?"

"A basement?" Link guessed. "An abandoned one?"

"Who's there?" A light flared up, and Link was blinded.

Nadai came to a large gap. On one side lay the next room. Below her lay nothingness. The gap had to be twenty feet across at least. On her side was a large bulbous plant. It was springy to the touch, but it held her weight easily. Nadai sighed. It had certainly been a long time since she had to jump that far, at least, as a child.

She took a good running start, and judged the distance perfectly. She stepped off of the plant and pushed off with her dominant leg. With that added force and her athletic ability, she found herself launching through the air with almost apparent ease. She landed in a roll at the edge of the other side. She came up and breathed hard.

She was losing her touch. She should have cleared that easily. She was closer to nothingness than she would have liked. She kept on moving. As she did she mentally berated herself. She had to stop comparing herself to the adult her. The adult her which could fight and kill and do amazing things. The adult her which loved Link.

Not that she didn't love Link anymore. It was that as a kid again, it felt so weird trying to engage in the same things that she and Link had done before. Add to that Link's lost feeling without Navi and it was almost like Link had become someone different from the man she fell in love with. She shook her head. If he would only tell her what had happened to make him so distant things could be different.

They could be together like they used to. Minus Gannondorf and saving the world stuff.

The next room had for her more nothingness. Here and there were these flowers on different platforms. But these islands were close enough together for her to jump unaided. From one to another she jumped and jumped. She saw signs of passage, of a pair of feet.

She looked to the other side of the sea of nothingness and saw a tunnel. That was the only place Link could have gone.

The light subsided, and Link could see again. "It's just a scrub."

Link blinked a few times, and looked up to the man holding the torch. "It's you."

The man looked down at him. "Me?"

"You're the Mask Salesman from Hyrule."

"Now how would a scrub like you know me?"

The Mask Salesman shuffled away. Link followed him and came to a cleared off patch amid the dust and mildew. The man placed the torch in its holder and sat down on a box. Link stood there watching the man, as the man watched him.

"You've met with a terrible fate haven't you?" The salesman said at last.

Link almost jumped, for the man was so quiet for so long the noise was unexpected. "What do you mean?"

"I mean what I mean." The man peered closed at Link. "Your body is a scrub's, but your clothes are Kokiri in nature. Either you stole a Kokiri's garb or you are actually a Kokiri and cursed to look like a scrub."

"More along the lines of the latter."

"I thought so. I visited your village back in Hyrule on my way here." The man leaned closer. "There is a terrible danger between that country and this one's."

"Gannondorf?"

The man laughed. "He's the least of my concerns right now. Sure he made me move shop, but business was done in that city after my two helpers helped me." He frowned. "No. I'm talking about that Skull Kid."

"He's the one who did this to me!"

"Figures. It's his handiwork. You see, that mask of his that he wears was once mine."

"He knocked you out and took it too?"

"Yes," the man rubbed the back of his head as if the bump would still be there. "I've been looking for him for months now. You see, that mask is very precious to me, very precious. And powerful. I need to have it back."

"And you haven't found him."

"I caught a glimpse of him in town. But he gave me a good fright. Said something about the end of the world."

Tatl and Link exchanged glances.

"I don't want to believe him but I have no choice."

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is that I have a few days to get that mask back."

"Before the end of the world?"

"Before I leave." The man pointed to his overstuffed pack. "I have many masks there, and a new space to set up. However, if I leave it unattended too long I risk losing the spot altogether. I fear that I have spent too long here looking for the mask as is; my space might have been sold to another."

"So what? Just leave the mask."

"It's too precious. But I have another idea."

"Like what, a deal?"

"Something like that." The man leaned forward. "I can undo that spell placed upon you. A counter spell if you will against that mask."

"What's the price?"

"You get me that mask." The man smiled. "If you are looking for him, for pay back, you might as well deliver the mask to me as payment."

Link narrowed his eyes. "How did you know I wanted payback?"

"I'm a salesman. It's what I do."

A tumble sounded behind them. In the shadows, someone had rushed in from the portal and crashed into some old crates. They had broken apart and dust had scattered into the air. The man jumped up. "We have a deal then. I'll be upstairs in the music room. You have a week. Bye!" He grabbed his bag and ran to the nearest door, and slammed it shut behind him in haste. Link turned to the shadowy figure.

Nadai attacked him, her daggers slashing every which way. Due to Link's size and agility, all thanks to being a scrub, he managed to step back fast enough to avoid the attacks. He dodged a few more times.

"Nadai!"

The attacks kept coming.

"Nadai!"

They kept on coming.

"NADAI!"

She finally stopped. Panting hard, she looked at him. "Deku Scrubs can talk?"

"It's me, Link!"

Nadai threw her head back and groaned. "Impossible. How do you know my name? How do you know Link's? Who are you exactly? How can you talk?"

"I cut your hair to save you from the Re-Dead, remember?" Link said quickly.

Nadai stopped from moving. "I hated that day." She looked at him but her weapons were lowered. "Is that really you?"

"Let me tell you what happened."

Quickly Link recounted what happened to him. "So, Tatl, was it?" The fairy nodded. "You want to go back to Skull Kid."

"That's right."

"So all we have to do is get the mask back from Skull Kid and give it back to the salesman in a week and we're good to go?"

"That's the general idea."

Nadai nodded and stood up. "Then we just have to find the guy."

Link got up as well and looked up to Nadai. "Easier said than done. We are in Termina now, we don't know the area."

"But I do." Tatl hovered before them.

Nadai looked hard at the fairy. "I still don't trust you."

"But he does!"

Link sighed. "Only until I get my body back. Then we can call it quits."

Nadai looked at Link and nodded. "I'll trust you on this one."

Link smiled, an eerie sight at best. "Thanks. Now, you mentioned something about the top of a tower. Let's head there first."

Nadai walked to the first door. "We only have a week. We should hurry."

Link nodded. "Let's get out of this place and see where that portal took us."

Nadai led the way through the door and up the stairs. They passed several landings on their way up. They checked inside each room on their way up. The clanging sound of wood on wood and wood on stone got louder and louder. The sound of a piano wafted underneath one of the doors. Before Link could open in, Nadai pointed to the door opposite it. It held a window, which shown with the first light of the day.

Ignoring the piano player and his music, they opened the first door and went out into Termina.

Wang: Now I see what y'all were talkin' about.

Shadow: It only took like twenty minutes.

Wang: No, it only took like ten.

Static: Wang, we were guesstimating.

Wang: What's guesstimating?

Shadow: sighs

Time Stop: Please Review!