A Journey Worth the Soul

Chapter 6

Trial by Mountain…


His silent room felt so good compared to all of the hubbub created by his 'date' with Zelda that night. Apparently Peach had run about the entire mansion when he was in with Lucario, telling everyone that Link was finally taking Zelda out. At first he had grumbled at Peach's request to take Zelda out earlier than planned for a dinner since he knew that it would be uncomfortable for both of them yet decided that he probably should since Peach had already told Zelda he would. He had found her walking in from the garden and asked her if it would be alright if he took her out to dinner as well as the movie. She agreed, although her face flushed red with embarrassment as Bowser leaned around a corner and started congratulating them on becoming a couple.

Link's face was just turning back to its normal color as he flopped onto his medium sized wooden bed. It groaned against the extra weight as if the bed was itself alive…which was almost true. His bed had been carved from a part of the Great Deku Tree, an ancient sentient tree that lived deep in the Faron Woods. It was a present to him after his original tree house had burnt down after a lightning bolt had struck it.

It wasn't much more than a large slab of wood with blankets covering it, but it was more comfortable than any soft bed that he had ever slept on. Only Samus, Snake and DK had agreed with him. The rest thought he was insane to sleep on what Pit affectionately called after he had tried to jump on it, a large basalt slab of pain.

He folded his hands behind his head and let out a huge breath of air as his mind and body began to relax. His thoughts wandered for a bit before they finally started to wind down.

Maybe a short nap might make things better…he thought as he closed his eyes, releasing his mind to wander where it may. He felt as the stress of the day began to melt away, his thoughts going from a sprint, to a jog, then finally, slowing to a slow plod.

A knock on the door jolted him awake. He sat up, rubbing at his eyes while checking the clock on his bed stand.

Only five minutes…he thought irritably as another set of pounding at his door further knocked the sleep from his eyes. Moodily, he sauntered to the door, wondering who it was that was going to ask him about the 'date' tonight. To his surprise, Master Hand stood fidgeting in the hallway as he opened the door.

"Ah, Link," the hand said cheerfully. "I was hoping that you were in, I have a request to make of you if you could come with me please."

With that the hand started floating down the hall, not even waiting for Link to respond to his "request". Link simply shook his head and followed after the large gloved figure, following him downstairs and into the teleporting room. Link was surprised to see that Falco was in the room as well, sitting on one of the chairs in the corner, his feet propped up on a small coffee table and his wings folded behind his head. The bird nearly fell over when he watched Link enter the room.

"Are you serious?" Falco sputtered as he leapt from his chair. "I am not going with that fairy boy."

Link felt his temper rise. Whatever he was here for, he already did not like whatever it was.

"It isn't like that I want to be here with you either you know," Link shot back.

"Now that I have both of you here," Master Hand started, oblivious to the invisible cords of hate that were lashing out between the two men in the room. "I want both of you to complete an assignment for me."

Falco's eyes widened in excitement. "What kind of mission," he asked coolly, all expressions of hate entirely gone. Link rolled his eyes. Falco was kind of a suck-up to Master Hand, which might be the reason why Link really didn't like him all too well. That and the bird had decided to snub Zelda one too many times for Link's liking.

"The competition is in need of a few more battlegrounds to fight on since some of the older ones, to put it simply are becoming stall. We need some new places to enliven the competition again."

Link inwardly groaned. The last time that he had been chosen for this assignment was to go to Delfino Plaza to copy it for the tournament. Little did they tell him that it was going to flood while he was there…or that ink shooting bloopers filled the surrounding waters during that time of year. He winced as he remembered how long it had taken to get all of that ink out of his clothes and hair after it had solidified into a solid mass of oily gunk. His hair had finally grown back after a couple of months but Link was hoping that he wouldn't have to repeat an ordeal like that again.

"Great…" he moaned. "Where is it now?"

"You should be happy that Master Hand chose you Link, it means he thinks you can get the job done…maybe you could impress Zelda on your date tonight with this story."

Link was about to respond to Falco's comment when Master Hand interrupted.

"It is actually a new Ice Climbers stage. We need both parts for this so I called both of you here today. In fact, both of you will be needing to use your skills to copy these stages."

Master Hand floated over to a corner and pressed several buttons which opened a drawer hidden in the wall. Link and Falcon walked over to the open cabinet and each grabbed a little round metal ball with a single flashing red light on it.

"What I need from you is to grab the tippy top of the mountain I will be sending you to, as well as the bottom edge near the water. That is why I got both of you."

Link and Falco glanced at each other, initially confused as to why they were specifically chosen. After several moments they glanced over at Master Hand who was quietly floating in the air.

"So…" Link began, why did you specifically ask us to do this?" Link asked slowly.

"Easy!" bellowed Master Hand, his voice filled with pride. "Falco can simply fly up to the top of the mountain while you can swim around the bottom and copy the stage down there."

Both Link and Falco's mouths dropped. Was he really serious? They both thought at the same time.

"Great! I knew that you both could do this for me," Master Hand responded as the two Smashers slowly turned back to face him. The hand floated over to a nearby control panel and pressed several buttons in a row. Two nearby portals hummed to life as beacons of blue light started to form from the top and bottom of the pads, eventually forming together into a giant sphere of aquamarine light.

"Well, off you go then," Master Hand said happily as he swept them towards the platform. The two muttered a few complaints before being swatted into the light and disappearing from view.

The duo dropped to the ground, landing in a large snowdrift. Falco pushed himself up and out of the drift with ease, his light weight making it easy to walk on top of the snow while Link sunk in nearly to his knees.

They both surveyed the land around them. Directly in front of them was a large mountain nearly a thousand feet high while near its bottom laid a large lake, icebergs bobbing up and down across its surface.

"I guess that we should get started then," Link stated as he brushed the snow off his tunic, shivering slightly at the cold.

"Exactly," Falco stated. "I'll grab the bottom while you hike to the top."

"That was not was Master Hand told us to do," Link demanded. "It will take twice as long if I have to trudge up there than if you simply sprinted on the snow."

Falco grinned, as much as a bird could.

"Exactly."

Before Link could protest, Falco sprinted off towards the bottom of the mountain. Link muttered under his breath as he began to trudge up the path that led to the top of the mountain.

-O-

His teeth were chattering like jackhammers as he crawled his way up towards the summit of the mountain. Wind tore through his tunic like it was a nothing. He was at least glad that his gloves protected his hands somewhat from the cold since he was sure that he would have had frostbite by now. He grabbed the next rock above him. Finding it secure, he pushed his way up and over the edge of the cliff face, huffing and puffing as he collapsed onto the tiny ledge.

There has got to be an easier way than this… Link thought, his chest rising and falling rapidly. I won't make it back in time to even see the sun set at this rate.

Link looked up towards where the top of the mountain about 200 feet away however, the only way to get to it was a sheer cliff. He sat with his back against the rock face, watching snowflakes being tossed to and fro from the wind as he caught his breath. A large snowflake caught his attention in particular. He watched it as it would lazily float downward, only to be caught by a sudden updraft of wind and sent flying straight up.

Most people probably wouldn't have noticed a singular snowflake yet his gift of sight was one of which only Zelda could match. The small particle repeated the same pattern several times of falling, then being dragged upward again. As Link watched, an idea started to form in his mind.

"Of course!"

Link bolted upright and searched his left belt pocket and brought out two small tools with handles on one end and several sharp spikes at the other. He laughed at his own foolishness as he strapped the clawshots onto his hands.

Why didn't I think of this before…he wondered as he pressed a trigger inside the left clawshot. A long chain shot from the device and attached itself partway up the cliff face. He felt a sudden tug as the device pulled him up to where the claw was stuck in the cliff. He pushed himself as far away from the cliff as he could with his legs and aimed the second clawshot up the wall. He heard a small ch-chuk as the machine shot out and up the cliff.

Link waited for a moment before he released the trigger of the first clawshot sending him into a freefall for only a moment before the second device caught the rocks above and pulled him up. He repeated this sequence several more times before he pulled himself up and over the top of the cliff wall. He smiled when he saw that the top was only a few dozen yards away and began to walk forward, bringing the small orb he had picked up in the portal room out of his pocket. The Hylian pressed the small blinking red light and placed the item in the snow facing the peak.

The device shuddered for a moment before an opening appeared at its top and a small round, black orb pushed itself out of the ball on the end of an antennae. A bright red beam shot out of orb towards the mountain peak, radiating off of the snow in an eerie glow. The beam traversed the entire summit, scanning every bit of detail before the light disappeared and the antennae pulled itself back inside the ball. Link bent down and picked up the ball, making sure that it was tucked deep inside his pocket. He wanted to make sure that nobody had to make the climb back up here again.

I wonder why Master Hand didn't choose Nana and Popo or Pit for this job. It would have been much easier for them.

He walked back towards the cliff wondering, peering over the edge wondering how he would get back down when he heard a soft whistling noise behind him. The Hylian turned around, surveying the area, wondering where the sound had come from when he heard the strange whistle again, this time coming from over the cliff's edge.

Cautiously, he edged towards the precipice, leaning over to peer down, only to find empty air below.

Curious…Link wondered as he glanced below him one last time. Hope it was just the wind….

Link knew that the wind could make strange noises since he had experienced just that at Snowpeak. There the wind had moaned and whistled many times, the first few making him jump until he realized what the noise was.

"Probably just the wind then…" he mumbled as he straightened, ready to find another way down the mountain when he heard the crunch of snow behind him. He turned just in time to see the figure of a man outlined in the snow…or was it snow that had become outlined like a man. The outline of swirling snow took a single step forward and Link thought he could see the outline of a face in the churning snow.

"Pull out your shield. It's time to go sledding."

Link was frozen still, wondering what on earth the creature was in front of him and how it was able to talk when a strong gust of wind hit him, blowing him backwards and off the edge of the cliff.

Link was falling at a breakneck speed towards the ground below. He knew that by the time he had pulled out his clawshots that it would only kill him if he tried to try such a sudden stop. He watched the ground coming closer when the words he heard the snow creature saw echoed in his mind.

Pull out your shield. It's time to go sledding.

For whatever reason he followed the advice of the thing and pulled his shield from off his back. Again an idea popped into his head that he initially thought was so crazy that it would just kill him. Then again, he thought, I probably will die anyways…

He positioned the shield at a slight downward angle underneath his body and gripped both sides with his hands as tight as he could as the ground grew steadily closer. Closing his eyes, he waited for the impact but was surprised when he was greeted with only a light thud. Link felt the wind whipping against his face and took a moment to open his eyes. What he saw astounded him.

Whatever that thing was…it was right…

Where he had hit was at a downwards slope, steep enough so that when his shield had hit, instead of killing him, it had started sliding down the hill like a mini sled. A small smile began to grow and spread across his face until he was laughing like a little child on their first snow tubing trip. He repositioned himself so that he would be better able to steer his new sled as it careened down the mountain at a blistering pace.

-O-

Falco was muttering angrily to himself as he neared the glowing portal.

"I just had to take the bottom route because I thought it was easy…"he groaned as he wrung out some more of his feathers.

"There just had to be that gigantic fish down, but no…Master Hand didn't tell us about that did he."

Falco stepped closer to the portal when he heard yelling behind him. He turned, grumbling to himself still angry that he had been sucked into the lake by that stupid fish when his jaw dropped.

It was Link, but what he was doing was what surprised the soldier.

Was he sledding? On his shield?

Falco only had a few moments to pause and watch the scene before him when he realized that the Hylian was heading right towards him at a breakneck speed. Falco barely had time to mumble a couple of select words before he leaped out of the way an instant before Link zoomed past him, disappearing straight into the portal. Falco sat in the snow, stunned by the sudden turn of events before realizing that he was still freezing cold. He quickly picked himself up off the ground and ran into the portal several seconds behind Link.

Falco reappeared in the portal room, stunned by what he saw. Master Hand was curled up in the corner, moaning softly with a disheveled looking Link knocked out on top of him. Falco muttered to himself as he walked over and grabbed Link by the collar and smacked him across the face.

Link woke with a start, his hand automatically reaching for his sword when he was dropped unceremoniously to the ground. Realizing where he was, Link began to turn a bright head and sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.

"I guess I should learn how to put some brakes on my shield or something..." he said slowly, a tiny grin on his face. Master Hand shook himself awake and regained his floating posture as he turned to face the two Smashers.

"I guess you both got the stage pieces that I asked for?" he asked quickly. Both men nodded somberly as the reached into their pockets and handed the floating hand the newly mapped stages.

"Perfect!" the hand cried as he grabbed both containers and quickly raced out the door. "We will have to test these out immediately…" his voice disappearing down the hallway. Link glanced over at Falco when he noticed that the soldier seemed to be drenched.

"What happened to yo…"

"NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!" Falco roared as he shook a soaking wing at him, flinging several droplets of icy water onto Link. Falco marched towards the door, yanking it open and slamming it shut as he walked out of the room, shaking several of the pictures on the wall. Link glanced over at the clock hanging above the door. His heart suddenly dropped…

"Oh great…I'm late…"

The young man raced towards the door, yanking it open and sprinting towards the front of the building hoping to find that he wasn't too late for his scheduled night with Zelda. He hurried towards the front of the mansion, screeching to a stop near the doors. He saw Zelda sitting in one of the lounge chairs, a hand against a cheek, her eyes half closed as if she was falling asleep.

"Hey, Zelda, sorry I'm late…" Link managed to gasp out as he leaned over to catch his breath.

Zelda jumped up, awakened by his sudden arrival.

"Oh, hey, yeah…no problem," she said blushing slightly in embarrassment. Link noticed that she was no longer wearing her usual dress. Instead, the princess was wearing a pink shirt with blue jeans. He smacked himself for forgetting.

"I'll go up and change…" he said as he ran back towards his room. Since the popularity of these tournaments had skyrocketed in recent months, Master Hand had told everyone that they needed to not wear their normal clothes around town, unless they wanted to be mobbed by fans.

Zelda tapped her foot anxiously as she waited. She heard noise coming from the stairwell and smiled as a she heard Link skip the bottom four steps as usual. He came bolting around the corner. Instead of his custom tunic, he now wore a simple green shirt and tan pants.

"I guess it would be dumb to ask if you are ready huh…" he said smiling.

"I believe that to be correct," Zelda laughed back. "Although you could still ask if you would like."

"The lovebirds are ready, so I guess we should get going as well."

Both Zelda and Link turned as they saw two figures walk down the corridor towards them. Link let out a small groan as he saw Samus in a bright orange top and black jeans coming towards them with Snake walking right behind her in a grey button up shirt and slacks, his usual bandanna missing.

"What do you mean?" Link asked, fearing he already knew the answer.

Samus offered a sly grin, "Haven't you heard?" she asked rhetorically. "We are going on a double date tonight with both of you."

Both Link and Zelda looked at each other, him frowning and Zelda grinning back.

This is going to be a long night…


What will happen with Link and Zelda's date, er outing? How did Samus and Snake make up already? What is up with the 'snowman' and why does Link and Falco dislike each other so much? Questions, questions and all will be answered in time…or at least you hope so.

Hope you all enjoyed that and look forward to the next chapter coming out within the next week!