Hey all. I've had a look at the results for my CbS poll. I've decided that if I get 7 yeses then I will consider writing the story, if I get 10 I will definitely write it, and if I get more than 13 then I will suspend all other fanfic projects to work on Cursed by Shadow, so please vote. You will not be disappointed if you do.

On another matter, I just found out about the new feature in the upcoming Pokemon X and Y - MegaEvolutions. Usually I am an avid Pokemon fan but this idea makes me a little nervous and could potentially derail me. I hope I was not too hasty to have already pre-ordered X. This has nothing to do with this story, I just wanted to share.

Anyway, let's move on the Chapter 6.

Chapter 6: Basic Training

The sunlight flooded through the window on to the sleeping Hero's face, causing him to stir. Mind still groggy, he felt something warm resting against him. Link blinked the sleep out of his eyes and saw a slender black arm draped over his torso. Following the limb, his gaze fell upon Midna, still fast asleep. A tender smile formed on Link's lips as he recalled the events of the previous day.

He knew he should let her sleep but he could not resist kissing her lightly on the forehead. Midna moaned drowsily at the touch and her eyelids fluttered open. She smiled when she recognized him and cupped his cheek with her hand.

"Morning," Link greeted lovingly.

She pecked him on the lips. "Morning," she replied.

Realizing that he had not washed in days, Link went to take a bath after getting out of bed. As he dried himself off afterwards he walked into the main room to find Midna wearing a new outfit. In exchange of her regal cloak and skirt, she now wore a long-sleeved shirt and leggings of the same black color. Her monochromatic feet were now covered by dark, knee-high boots.

"Where'd you get the new clothes?" he asked.

Midna held up a note and handed it to him. "I found this pushed under the door." As Link read the letter he was unaware of Midna eyeing his perfectly toned body as he only had a towel wrapped around his waist to cover him.

Dear Link and Midna, the note read,

I predicted that the two of you would have spent the night together so I have taken the liberty of placing some new clothes for Midna in the dresser. These will be more suitable for daily work than her old garments. At 800 hours both of you are to meet me at the training center. Bring all of your weapons with you. Do not be late.

Callum

"It's weird," Midna commented, "it's almost like that guy is always two steps ahead of us. Do you think he used that mirror of his to spy on us?"

Link shook his head. "No. It doesn't explain how those clothes got in here. No one's come in since last night so he must have put them in the dresser before we got here. That's even creepier though."

Within half an hour the couple finished preparing for the day's trials and made their way to the training center as instructed. The building's interior looked like a colosseum with white stone pillars, sparring pits in the center of the main floor and a running track circling the perimeter of the arena. Numerous Peacekeepers were all hard at work at the various stations. The intensity of their training gave the facility an elitist quality. The two recruits watched in awe at the display.

With a welcoming shout Callum beckoned them over from the far side of the arena. With the bearded Peacekeeper stood a dark-skinned Gerudo woman and a face that was familiar to Link. "Jarret," Link greeted cheerfully. The old Twili's lined face scrunched up as he smiled and shook the Hero's hand merrily.

"Good to see you two could make it," Callum chimed. "Midna, I'd like you to meet Jarret. He will be your magic instructor for the both of you. I'd also like to introduce you to Sarafi," he gestured to the Gerudo, "who will be mentoring you in swordplay." The Gerudo only gave a curt nod in greeting.

Callum and the instructors led Link and Midna through a side door into a smaller room. The floor was marked by a wide circle, indicating that it was another sparring ring. Various posters inscribed with indecipherable symbols hung along every wall.

"First off we will test you in the skills you already possess," Sarafi spoke flatly for the first time. "We will then be able to gauge how much practice you will require to perfect them. Link, you and I shall spar first."

The Hero and the Gerudo entered the ring and stood at opposite ends. Link drew the Master sword and equipped his shield then took a wide fighting stance. Sarafi unsheathed a lethal looking scimitar and stood sideways, sword arm first.

"Begin," Callum declared, acting as the referee.

The two opponents waited, circling each other, examining the other's stance for weaknesses. The Gerudo nodded approvingly then made the first attack with an overhead cut. Link parried then thrust his shield forward. Sarafi's attack was merely a test so she had not put any of her weight into the swing, thus she maintained her balance after the parry. When the shield came for her, she deftly took a step back to avoid it.

Link moved in to unleash a barrage of slashes, each one being blocked expertly by his opponent. The Gerudo waited for an opportunity before swinging sideways at his torso. Link only barely had time to raise his shield to defend himself. He shoved the offending blade back along with its owner as he attempted to make some breathing room.

Deciding that standard attacks were not going to be effective, Link ducked sideways into a roll to execute a Back Slice, one of the hidden skills taught to him by the Hero's Shade. The manoeuvre felt sluggish and awkward as Link realized just how out of shape he was. Sarafi had plenty of time to turn around where she kicked him hard in the face as he made to stand up.

The blow felt like getting hit by a cudgel, sending the Hero flying back a little. Through the fog of multicolored spots that filled his vision Link saw his opponent coming for him with a downward thrust. He was too slow to roll out of the way as the threatening sword tip hovered inches above his heart. After a moment Sarafi stepped back and sheathed her weapon, looking down at Link without emotion.

"Was that the best you could do?" she criticized. "I fear for our survival if you are our only hope of defeating the Demon Lord. Though your technique and reflexes are more than admirable, you are far too slow with your attacks."

Link picked himself off of the ground panting from the duel, proving further just how much his fighting ability has diminished. Midna approached him and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, trying to mask the shock that her Hero had been beaten so easily.

Link grimaced as he rubbed his aching chin. "Goddesses that hurt. Are you wearing leg armor under your clothes?"

The Gerudo smirked as she pulled up her right trouser leg, revealing a wooden prosthetic that served as the limb that had kicked him. Link and Midna stared at the artificial shin in complete shock.

Jarret drew their attention as he entered the ring and spoke. "You did well Link despite the fact that you lost. Now it's my turn to test Midna."

The warriors moved out of the ring for the next match. With a few claps from Callum, the air hummed with the apparition of a yellow wall of light around the ring's circumference. Link tapped the barrier with the point of his sword to find that it was solid. He doubted that Midna was by any means trapped so was this perhaps normal for a magical duel? The two Twili took their own unique stances just as had the previous combatants.

Callum called again for the match to start but unlike before, Midna and Jarret sent attacks at each other immediately. Midna charged several small orbs of blue shadow magic and threw them at her opponent. Jarret countered by casting his arm in a sweeping motion. The orbs slowed to a standstill before hurtling back at their creator, as if blown back by a powerful wind. Midna quickly defended herself by erecting a spherical barrier lined with electric blue Twili runes. The orbs connected with the shield and exploded loudly into nothing.

Jarret wasted no time as he conjured a jet of flames from his palms. The tongues of fire flowed around Midna's barrier. She held the protective spell but the strain on her face indicated that she was having a hard time of it. Midna then span on the spot and disappeared, then reappeared behind the elderly Twili. Jarret expected this as he raised his own protective shield to intercept the black lighting Midna shot at him.

The duel continued in this fashion, one would attack while the other defended or countered, neither one gaining the advantage. Jarret used a variety of attacks of various elements; icy wind, fireballs, lightning and more, while Midna tried every trick and spell she knew. It was fortunate the ring was sealed off by the wall of light as spells hit it with a significant amount of force. Finally Callum called for them to stop, after which the light barrier vanished. Both magicians were visibly tired and panting heavily.

"Very impressive my dear," Jarret complimented his opponent. "There is much room for improvement but your skills are absolutely remarkable. Perhaps in my younger days I would have won that," he chuckled. Midna smiled proudly and thanked him.

"Now that we have established your limits it's time for us to begin your training," Sarafi said. "For today you will be taught separately. Jarret will teach Link how to utilize magic while Midna will stay here with me as I teach her to use the sword."

"But I don't even have a sword," Midna objected. It was a pathetic excuse and she knew it.

"You can use my old one," Link offered. "Since I've been using the Master Sword, I haven't found another use for it so you might as well take it."

Midna crossed her arms and pretended to be offended. "Oh so now I'm a charity for your old junk, is that it?"

Realizing how his words sounded, Link's face turned red with embarrassment. He scratched the back of his head. "Uh, what I meant was... seeing as you don't have your own sword, how about you take the one we got from Ordon? A gift for the most beautiful woman in the entire world."

The older Peacekeepers snickered at the show, causing Link to grow even redder. Midna smiled wickedly as she summoned the Ordon sword from wherever she deposited all of Link's equipment.

"That's better. Thank you for the lovely present, it was very sweet of you," she said as she tapped him with the flat side of the sheathed blade.

Jarret escorted Link to another room that looked similar to the previous. As they entered the ring, Link felt very nervous for what he was about to learn. He had never used magic before save for the ancient rod that housed the power to animate statues. After witnessing the harsh duel between Midna and his instructor, Link was anxious about how he could possibly reach their level. Jarret stood before Link on the opposite side of the sparring ring and faced him.

"I understand that you have never attempted this sort of thing before so I will explain this as simply as I can. Magic is the art of thinking and thus casting spells is a mental activity just as swinging a sword is a physical effort. In order to successfully cast a spell you must concentrate and never let yourself be distracted until the spell is complete."

The aged Twili spent a good hour teaching Link about how the universe was filled with flowing energy that was just waiting to be harnessed. He taught the Hero how to hone his mind to sense this energy and how to wield it. Next they performed mental exercises where Link had to recite a relatively complex phrase as his mentor attempted to break his focus, a feat that proved exceptionally difficult. The point of the exercise was to build up the Hero's concentration. When the Twili was satisfied with Link's capability, they moved on to actually casting a spell where Jarret pointed towards a wooden target on a post by the wall.

"I want you to imagine a great amount of energy gathering in the palm of your hand," he instructed. "Let the power build and grow then speak the incantation and send it forward once you are ready."

Link nodded and took the magician's stance he had been taught; legs together and hands raised slightly in front of him. He focused on feeling the energy around him and willed it to assemble into his open palm. His skin tingled from the charge of the energy as it intensified. Once he felt it was enough he pulled his left arm back and shouted.

"Thunder Strike!" Link thrust his hand forward with all his might and released the pent up power. His heart flew as he saw bright arcs of electricity burst out of his hand, until disaster struck.

Instead of shooting forward, energy mass suddenly exploded in Link's face, sending the Hero flying backwards from the force of it with a scream. Link lay on the floor dazed and did not register Jarret bending over him, asking if he was okay. His hand stung terribly and he swore he could smell smoke. Within a minute the Hero's senses returned and he sat up, rubbing his burnt palm. The old Twili took his uninjured hand so he could help his student get back to his feet.

"Haha! Not a bad start if you ask me. Half of people never make it that far on their first attempt. They often just stand there looking like fools without achieving any visible results." Jarret gave Link a hearty pat on the shoulder then looked at him seriously. "You let your concentration slip at the last second. That is why the spell backfired like that. You need to maintain control at all times otherwise you are going to hurt yourself."

He gave Link a few minutes to recover before trying again. The second time Link made sure to keep his focus as he released the spell. This time the energy rocketed forward in a crackling stream of light. It hit the target head on, causing the wood to shatter into smoldering fragments. The Twili slapped Link on the back enthusiastically as he praised him.

Suddenly a thought crossed Link's mind. "Jarret?" The Twili looked at him. "You say I have to say some words to cast a spell right?" Jarret nodded. "But if that's true then how come I've never heard you or Midna say anything when you were fighting earlier?"

The old Twili smiled at him. "You my boy have just realized a very important aspect of sorcery. You see, the incantation is not actually essential for one to use magic. As I said before, it is the art of thinking and so everything that matters is purely mental."

Link's brow furrowed. "Then why do I need to say 'Thunder Strike' when I want to blast something with a bolt of lightning?"

"It is because novices like you don't have the necessary experience to do without the incantation. The mind is a chaotic thing and can easily shift from one thought to another without the proper focus. As you have learned from your first attempt, the slightest loss of control can be ruinous.

"The incantation allows your mind to snap into the correct state needed for you to cast the specific spell you wish to use. Experienced masters such as Midna and I have spent years training our minds so that we can utilize our abilities without the need of vocal aid."

"Why would you want to cast spells without using words if it takes so long to be able to do it?" Link asked.

"Another good question," Jarred smiled. "If there was a duel between magicians just as you witnessed earlier, imagine if both duelists shouted out their every attack. The opponent would always know what was coming and they would be able to appropriately counter it. If there is no incantation used then it gives you the element of surprise, which as you know may mean the difference between life and death."

"It all sounds like a lot of hard work if you ask me." Link said discouraged.

Jarret gripped the young man's shoulder reassuringly. "It's not as difficult as you believe. The more times you use a particular spell, the more familiar you become with it so it becomes easier to use that spell without its incantation. But enough about that, let's see you have another go at Thunder Strike."

After Link pulled off more successful casts they moved on to other spells. Jarret taught him how to conjure fire that served as an offensive and defensive technique. He taught the Hero of Light how to raise a magical barrier similar to how Midna had earlier. He also taught Link how to warp around the room on his own and how to incorporate other attacks as he did so. Each one took Link several attempts to get the hang of and his teacher was clearly pleased with his progress.

Meanwhile Midna was receiving quite the lesson herself. She was dripping with sweat from the endless practice bouts she and her trainer fought. The former princess had expected that the work was going to be hard but she never imagined just how demanding it would truly be. The Ordon sword soon felt heavy even with two hands and it took great effort to keep up with the Gerudo's attacks, though it was obvious her opponent was holding back... a lot. How Link was able to lift the goddesses-damned weapon with one hand and fight for hours without tiring was beyond her.

Sparring was not the only way she learned though. Midna had to learn the right way to place her hands, how to rotate her wrist as the blade slid out of the sheath, as well as the motions of her arms that were needed to get her sword into a ready position quickly. Who knew that drawing a sword correctly was so complex? The first hour of training was nothing but drawing drills, some followed up by various blocks and cuts from different positions. It looked simple on paper yet Midna made frequent mistakes and her muscles were growing sore from the hard work.

Every now and then Sarafi would show Midna the correct way to grip the sword's handle, instruct her how to execute a certain move correctly or teach her some footwork that would allow her to evade incoming attacks and get to an advantageous position. Midna never thought there was more to swordplay than just whacking something with the sharp side of the blade. Next time she saw Link she would be sure to give him more credit for all the hordes of monsters he wiped out all by himself.

Soon they were in for another match. Midna swung one attack after another from all directions, never putting her full weight behind them as instructed. Each one was blocked and parried expertly by her teacher. Then Sarafi finally switched to offence, forcing Midna to perform the defensive techniques she had recently learned. She attempted a counter strike at the Gerudo's exposed side after stepping in to evade a thrust, but the tanned desert woman was quick enough to turn and defend herself.

After a flicker of frustration, Midna was struck with inspiration. She stepped forward to launch an attack. Before the opposing swords made impact the Twili disappeared in a scattering swarm of black twilight particles. She reappeared half a second later behind Sarafi, but when she swung her sword the blade struck a hexagonal blue barrier.

The vibrations of the shock traveled down the steel to Midna's arms, causing her whole body to quake from the impact. Before she could recover, Midna had the edge of Sarafi's scimitar resting against her throat. Midna expected anger in her teacher's eyes for using such a dirty trick but to her surprise there was pride instead.

"Excellent," Sarafi praised. "Combining magical abilities and sword techniques is a very useful strategy. It's impressive that you taught yourself this at such an early stage of your training." The blade retreated back from Midna's neck. "But I am still far better," the Gerudo added.

Midna bent over, out of breath. "You and Link make this look so easy," she panted.

Sarafi rested on the pommel of her sword and smiled kindly. "That is only because we have been practicing for years. True mastery of the sword takes time and requires diligent daily exercise. Of course, that sword you're holding is clearly too heavy for you. I would suggest switching to something lighter like a rapier."

Midna nodded tiredly and smiled at her mentor's encouragement. "Sounds like an idea. You know, the only thing that makes me feel better is that Link is probably blowing himself up right now."

Midna giggled inwardly at the thought of her boyfriend lying on the floor blackened with ash. She knew him to have a natural talent for anything he tried but she doubted that the idiot could concentrate long enough to cast a proper spell. She was proven wrong though when Link showed off everything he had learned after training which far exceeded her expectations.

So this was the first chapter that included a fight scene. What did you think? Midna's training actually was relatively easy for me to write, I actually have learned a tiny bit of sword fighting and know first-hand how tricky it is from the start. I've spent ages going through drills and still I make mistakes, there is just so much to learn and I don't get enough time to do so.

Later,

EquinoxWolf