The next morning, Tails was wandering around his workshop, trying to decide what to do. There were all kinds of repairs that had to be made to just about everything, he had to identify and fix whatever caused the transporter to malfunction, and the building itself ought to be checked to make sure it was safe.

He hadn't slept well, knowing that even though it was still his workshop, his room, and his bed, it was still an unfamiliar place, let alone that Sonic and the others would probably be worried about him.

There was a knock at the door. At the suggestion of Bo and Rusl, he'd left them locked even when he was in, to be safe.

It turned out to be Rusl again.

"I thought I'd check up on you," he explained.

"Thanks. I wasn't really doing anything."

"It shows. Listen, I've got to leave the village in a few days, a delivery to Hyrule Castle. I was wondering if you could keep watch for me here while I'm gone?"

"Really? I mean, are you sure no one would mind?"

"Not at all. Mayor Bo's already approved the idea. Tomorrow, I'll stop by with a sword suitable for you, and teach you how to use it. It'll come in useful."

"I've never used one before."

"That's why I'll teach you. Today though, you might want to go on into the village and familiarize yourself with it, get to know people. I wouldn't go on down to the ranch though, those goats might be a bit much for you."

"Thanks for the warning. Anything I should watch out for while I'm there?"

"Keep an eye on the children... they sometimes get themselves into trouble."

Tails grinned, "Does that apply to me too? I'm still young yet."

"Oh, maybe so, but you act older than you are, I'm sure you'll do fine. I'm going on out of the village toward the woods to check on things up there, so I won't be around." He turned to leave, then turned back, remembering something. "Oh, I thought you might also want this. I'm not sure how long you'll be here." He handed over a small bag. Tails glanced inside, seeing some strange looking gems. Rusl caught his curious look. "Rupees. Our currency." He briefly explained telling which ones were how much. He'd given Tails 20 of them, any more he'd have to collect on his own.

"Thanks. I guess I'll see you later then," he said to Rusl's head retreating down the ladder outside.

He pulled on a shirt and some pants before heading out. It was odd to him wearing them, normally he didn't bother. No one ever objected before, but this was a different place, a different world, almost, so he respected their ways, and wore them anyway. The pants, of course, were modified to accommodate his tails.

A little nervous, he followed the path back into the village, the same one Rusl had lead him down the day before. As he passed Bo's house by the entrance, he spotted three of the children that he'd been told about, Beth, Malo and Talo. They didn't notice him at first, and carried on their talking.

"A slingshot! I want one!"

"You'll have to buy it yourself then."

"Do you see any rupees here?"

"You should have saved your allowance then."

"But our allowances aren't all that much anyway..."

The shortest of them glanced up and spotted Tails. The one in the red dress paid no attention, while the third of them saw the first's look.

"What's up Malo?"

"Look for yourself, Talo," Malo replied.

They both turned.

"You're that fox!" the second exclaimed.

"No need to shout, Beth. He can hear us."

"Yeah, I can. And my name's Tails."

"I can see why," Talo said, spotting the tails.

"Ilia told us about you, you're what came crashing down on that old tree stump."

"It wasn't exactly my choice..."

"Why not?"

"It wasn't meant to happen at all."

"Yeah, but why?"

"I think it might be a bit too technical for you."

"Oh yeah? Try us."

Tails blinked, not expecting this, sighed, then went ahead and tried to explain.

They stood thinking for a few moments, taking it in.

Malo broke the silent contemplation. "I didn't get a word of that," he said finally.

"Nor me. Beth?"

"Nope."

"Told you so," Tails grinned.

"So what'cha gonna do here?"

"I dunno yet. Rusl suggested I get used to the place, meet everyone."

"You're staying?"

"Well, to get back where I came from, there's a lot to be done, so I might be around for a while."

"Hey, Beth? Remember what Sera said?"

"Oh yeah! Sera's cat ran off, and she's been depressed 'cause of it. Maybe if you tried helping her out, you'd get to meet everyone?"

"I'll give it a go. You stay out of trouble?"

Talo pulled back, mock shock and fake innocence on his face, "Us in trouble? Would we ever do anything like that?"

They all laughed, and they went back to talking, about him this time. He left them to it, wondering where to find Sera. It didn't take him long; the house nearby had a sign out: 'Sera's Sundries'

Inside, there was a large woman leaning against a counter, who clearly wasn't happy.

"Um, hi?"

She glanced up slowly.

"Um? Oh, are you the fox I heard the kids talking about?"

"Yeah. I heard something about your cat?"

"He ate the fish we were going to have for dinner last night, and I shouted a bit... now he's run off. I probably shouldn't have been so harsh on him." She slumped back down on the counter, apparently lost in her thoughts again, and paid no attention to him again.
He left again, looking around the village. Someone called to him from atop a rocky tower.

"Hey down there!"

Glancing up, he saw the unfamiliar person crouching over the edge, watching him. He flew on up to meet him.

"Say, that's a mighty fine way to get up here. I'm Jaggle."

"Tails. You're the pumpkin grower, aren't you?"

"That's me. You tried some yet?"

"I had some of the mayor's pumpkin pie last night."

"Ilia makes it, actually. She does a great job with it. Everyone's talking about you, you know."

"I guess word spread ahead of me."

"Sure did. Rusl says you're gonna take over for him while he's off at Hyrule Castle."

"I'll try my best."

"Well here, let me teach you something that might be useful. See this plant here?" he gestured to a reedy looking plant beside him. "Blow on it, and make the following tune, and you might be able to call a hawk down." He blew the tune, and a hawk landed on his outstretched arm, looking about as it perched there. "You see those beehives above Sera's house? Her husband's been trying to get them down for ages. He keeps getting stung. Watch." He made a gesture toward them with his other arm, and the hawk took off, slamming into one with it's talons, and knocking it down. The bees left afterwards. "Give it a go," he said, handing a piece of reed to Tails.

It took him a few attempts to get it right, but eventually he managed to summon a hawk himself, and repeat Jaggle's example for the remaining one.

"Not bad, for a beginner," he said admiringly.

Later, he leaned back against the walls of his workshop, sat on the tree stump outside. He watched the sun set in the distance, weary.
After he'd seen to the beehives, he'd met Rusl's wife, who'd lost her baby. A monkey upstream had the basket it was in, which he'd called another hawk to retrieve. She'd thanked him by giving him a fishing rod, which made it all the easier to catch a fish for Sera's cat. The fish had pulled harder on the rod than he'd expected, and he'd missed a few, but got the hang of it eventually.

He'd never tried fishing before, though he'd seen Big doing it sometimes. It wasn't all that bad, he decided.
When he'd gone to visit Sera, she'd given him a bottle of goat's milk, and told him he could keep the bottle. He also bought the slingshot, something Malo, Talo and Beth envied him for, so he made it up to them by doing target practice with it while they watched.

Then finally, Rusl had stopped by again and given him some instruction on swordplay. His arm still ached from swinging Rusl's heavy sword so much. It was bigger than he was, and he'd had to wield it two-handed just to lift it.

He'd made no progress on getting back still, but he decided it probably wouldn't hurt if he stuck around for a bit longer. Rusl had promised to stop by again tomorrow with a sword more suited to him, and told the children they could watch, so long as they didn't get close. They seemed to have a fascination with watching them practice with swords.

"Hey Tails! Are you up yet?"

Tails' sleepy face poked out of a window.

"Rusl, it's barely sunrise yet," he called back down.

"Well of course it is. You can't be wasting the whole day now, can you?"

Tails sighed, pulled on some clothes and tried to sort his fur out. It never did look it's best right after getting up.

He grabbed a snack on his way out, then flew on down to him.

"You're not an early riser, are you?" he asked, amused. Tails just yawned. "Well, here. I think you might wake up a bit with this."

He handed Tails a wooden sword. "I'm afraid I can't get decent metals to make you a proper sword, but this works just as well. And it's probably safer to practice with."

"Hey!" a familiar voice called from the path down to the village proper. "Tails got his own sword too!" Beth ran into the clearing, catching up to her voice. Malo and Talo followed.

Colin, one of the other children he'd met, had been stood off to one side. He was more shy and timid than the others. When the others came through, they pushed him aside. His face flashed irritation for a moment, but then he just got up and brushed himself off, watching again.

Beth apparently also had a wooden sword, though it was blunted. Rusl seemed to think of everything.

"C'mon Tails, lemme teach you what Rusl taught us!"

Rusl sighed, but nodded when they all looked at him. He'd keep watch at least.

Tails had some experience from the evening before, but that had been with Rusl's sword, not this one. It was lighter, for one thing, and he could use it one handed.

They banged on each other a few times, Beth showing off slicing attacks, then stabbing, and finally a jump attack that he only just managed to block in time.

Rusl stepped in at that point, and suggested that maybe they ought not to try that.

Then he showed them one move Beth hadn't, the spin attack. Tails tried it and almost fell over from it, dizzy, much to their amusement.

When they finished, Rusl left them to play with the warning, "Be careful with those things."

There was a squeak from nearby, and they turned to see a monkey. Seeing that they'd seen it, it ran off.

They all immediately ran after it. He'd heard that the monkeys had been causing trouble lately.

Tails hesitated, then remembered he'd promised to keep an eye on them, and ran after them.

Colin ran after him, and stopped him.

"Be careful?" he finally asked, in a quiet voice. Tails nodded, and he stood aside.

He'd never been up this way before, so took careful note, so he wouldn't be lost later.

Malo stood by the entrance to a spring, looking past it.

"They went that way. I can't keep up." As always, Malo spoke in short sentences, leaving no doubt about what he meant.

The path led through a rocky corridor, into another clearing, then another. There were two odd purple creatures there with clubs. Beth was hiding behind a tree nearby.

They headed straight for him, swinging clumsily. Tails blocked, and returned the attacks. A few more slashes later, they lay on the ground, defeated. Strangely, they seemed to explode into a few puffs of black smoke, then vanish.

Tails felt a surge of victory, then remembered the others, and continued on, stopping only to make sure Beth was alright.
A smaller clearing had a locked gate leading to a cave, and a second path leading off to yet another clearing. There was a man sat against a rock there, tending a feeble fire.

"Hey, well, who's this newcomer?" he said, noticing Tails approach. "I'm Coro. I sell lanterns." He held one up as if to explain.

"Did you see anyone come this way?"

"I saw some Bokoblins take one over that gate. You're going after them, aren't you?"

"Bokoblins those purple creatures?"

"That's them. Here, you'll be needing these if you're going after them." Coro handed him a lantern and a key. "The key opens the gate. If you run out of oil, just come back, I'll sell you some more."

"Thanks, I'll remember."

The inside of the cave on the other side of the gate was dark, so Tails lit the lantern. It didn't give out much light, but it was enough to see by.

"I should've brought a torch," he muttered to himself.

Several bat-like creatures flew at him as he passed through, each of them dispatched with a single stab. Cobwebs blocked his way at a junction. He used the lantern's flame to burn both, taking the right hand route.

Two plants seemed to grow up in front of him and blue pods on top that resembled mouths bite at him. They missed, as he was out of the range of their stems, and a few more slashes took care of them. The seeds from the nuts they left would be useful for his slingshot.

This tunnel ended at a chest, which he opened to find a yellow rupee – worth 10, if he remembered Rusl's explanation right.

He headed back and took the other route, being attacked be a few more bats before he finally left into a far larger outside area. Talo's own wooden sword lay on the ground nearby.

He jumped, flying over some of it so he could get a better view, knocking down the odd bat that flew up. There was no sign of Talo, but there was another locked gate up ahead.

Landing, he took care of the Bokoblins that had gathered, waiting for him. They wielded swords instead, and were tougher to defeat, but he managed them.

More came at him as he closed on the gates, but Tails, already having some experience with the sword by now, and gaining more with each of them that appeared, dispatched them easily.

The last two by the gate tried to flank him, one coming from either side, but didn't expect him to fly over one and attack from behind. The last one dropped a key for the gate.

In the next area, some more Bokoblins attacked, but now Tails knew how to deal with them, they didn't last long.

There was a small fenced off area with two pots of liquid on the ground, and a bird on a stump. He glanced at the sign beside it.

"Trill's store – Red potion: 30 rupees. Lantern oil: 20 rupees," he read. The bird watched him. "So what's the red potion do?"

"Red potion," the bird squawked at him. "Feel healed and refreshed for just 30 rupees!"

"I might come back. I don't know if I'll need it." Being short of rupees, and not sure if he'd need them, he didn't want to pay out for something he wasn't going to use. It didn't make sense.

Up ahead, a huge tree root winded down from a gargantuan tree. The root crossed over a great hole in the ground. Someone had probably cut it so as to make it like a path.

Strangely, the area in front of it had a kind of tiled stone ground, partially grown over. It was the only unusual thing there.

Looking up at the far end of the root, he saw two more bokoblins, and a wooden cage. Talo and the monkey were inside.

Tails didn't bother with the path along the root, he took the more direct aerial route, and landed solidly on top of one of the bokoblins, stunning it. A swift jab to the back dealt with it before the remaining one realised what was happening, and then it too was defeated.
Talo and the monkey hadn't noticed they'd gone. Tails used his sword to chop away at the wooden bars, being careful not to cut the two inside. When they were freed, Talo finally realised who'd come to his help.

"You fought off the bokoblins?"

He remembered what Sonic used to say at times like this, and tried it himself. "It was nothing," he replied, dismissing it with the wave of one hand, hoping he sounded sincere. His heart, though he hadn't noticed it before, was pounding. He'd been half afraid, half determined to help, and hadn't even noticed. He was also breathing harder from the exertion.

"Wow. You're amazing."

"What about the monkey?"

"Oh, she was just having a bit of fun, I think. We both got cornered by the bokoblins, then..." he trailed off, glancing over at the remains of the crude cage that had held him.

"I'm glad you're alright. You best run on back before anyone gets worried."

"What about you?"

"Don't worry. I did just fend off those bokoblins, remember?"

Talo nodded, grinned, and ran off. Tails walked after.

He ran into Rusl not far from where he'd met Coro.

"Colin let me know there was a bit of a commotion up here. I was going to deal with it myself, but it looks like you handled it easily."

"I don't know about that. Those bokoblins weren't easy until I got the idea."

"They're troublesome, to be sure. Did you see the keese and the Deku Babas?"

"The what and the what?"

"Keese are the bat like birds, Deku Babas are the plants that attack you."

"Oh, them. Yeah. They weren't too much trouble though."

"And you?"

"I'm fine. Just a little worn out."

Rusl chuckled, "I did warn you those kids were a handful."