Tails shivered in the cold outside the mansion.
"I say," Ooccoo called. "Thank you for your help back there."
"You didn't find what you were looking for though."
"No, but it leaves me with only one place left, which is a big help. Perhaps we'll meet again sometime, but do excuse me until then."
She flew off on her somewhat stubby wings. He knew that this probably defied the laws of physics, but shrugged it off. There were so many strange things around here he'd just grown used to them.
"I suppose we should go back to Telma's bar first," he said. "See if they've got anything new to direct us."
"Hey, stop thinking of these things before me!"
She warped him outside the castle town all the same.
The residents of the town must have grown at least partially accustomed to seeing him passing through, because they no longer watched him pass with the same wary curiosity they had the first time.
Telma's bar was quiet again when he made his way inside. The postman was sat beside a fire, apparently engrossed in a menu.
Telma's friends at the back were still there, with the exception of Rusl. Ashei had apparently returned too, in surprisingly good time.
"Tails!" Telma greeted him almost immediately. "You're back so soon?"
"Oh, I just had a short trip up to Snowpeak. Nothing to write home about."
"Now, don't be modest! Ashei told us the monster stopped showing up not long after you went up there. Don't try and tell me that wasn't your doing!"
"That's why it was a short trip. It didn't take long to sort it all out."
"Someday you'll have to stop by and tell us tales of what you've been doing. Not today though – Rusl went off some time ago, maybe he found something."
"I'll ask the others, then go see him."
Ashei didn't leave him the chance to say anything.
"You're a mysterious one, you know that? You seem to be mixed up in everything we've been doing lately."
"Coincidence. Besides, aren't I meant to be helping?"
"Yeah, well, I can't find anyone who can tell me what really happened on Snowpeak."
"Maybe I'll tell you someday. Telma said something about Rusl?"
"He's gone off back to Faron province. Something about an ancient temple."
"Any idea where there?"
"No, but Faron's a small place. You probably won't have any trouble finding him."
"Thanks. I'll go look."
"Where you found the sword," Midna murmured, sounding sleepy. "It had an ancient look to it."
Rusl was waiting at a raised ledge just before the winding tree root that led up to the Forest Temple. It seemed like so long ago that he was going into there to cleanse it.
"I knew you'd come," Rusl said by way of greeting. "The world's changed a lot since the last time we met, hasn't it?"
"Oh, just a little. Telma told me you're looking for a temple?"
"Rumour says that across this gorge is a temple of an ancient civilization. If we could obtain the power hidden within it... but I'm not as young a I was, and I can't make the trip."
"Let me go ahead and do it."
"Of course," he smiled. "You should have no trouble, being able to fly by yourself."
"Naturally. I think I know the way there already."
"How so?"
"Oh, call it deja vu, I just have a familiar feeling about it."
"Be careful over there, Tails. I saw a strange creature go over there. It wasn't like anything I've seen,but..."
"But?" he prompted.
"It reminded me a bit of you and your friend Sonic."
"I wonder if it's someone else I know."
"If it is, maybe they'll help you."
"True. I'll fly on over and have a look for you Rusl, leave it to me."
Tails cheated once out of sight of Rusl, returning to his wolf form, and taking the same route he had originally.
When he reached the place he'd had to follow the puppet creature earlier, he simply followed the scent left by them last time. It was faint, but just strong enough to follow all the way to the Sacred Grove where he'd found the Master Sword.
"There's someone hiding here," Midna told him.
"I know. I can feel them looking at me."
"I didn't know you could do that."
"Neither did I until just now."
Tails searched the area from the point he'd retrieved the Master Sword from. Last time he was here, he hadn't paid much attention to the surroundings.
It looked a lot like a ruined temple already. There were the ruins of pillars arranged around the area, and to the south was a more ruined area, with many statues. The stairs leading up to it were damaged and ruined.
At the base of them was something that clearly didn't belong.
It was an Extreme Gear, in a familiar red colour, stuck into the ground.
"Jet," he muttered.
"Come again?"
"I know who's here. I recognise that," he told Midna, pointing at the gear as he approached it, warily looking around for him.
There was no sign though, and no evidence of a trap, so he pulled it out.
"Hold it right there," Jet's squak cut through the air. "That's mine!"
"I know," Tails replied. "You left it there."
"Tails?"
"Who were you expecting?"
"What're you doing looking like that?"
"I've decided to get into the heroing business."
"Hero? You?"
"You'd be surprised. What are you doing here?"
"I've no idea. One minute I'm minding my own business, next thing I know I'm in this crazy world looking at some weird creature telling me if I help him, he'll give me ultimate power."
"What happened then?"
"I know better than to take an offer like that. I left him and tried to find a way back. I overheard someone talking about an ancient temple here, and reckoned it could be a way back."
"I've got some things to see to here for a bit myself."
"You're going to suggest working together, aren't you?"
"Trust me, it'll be a lot easier."
"Oh, alright then. I can't be bothered to argue with you."
"Now I just have to figure out how to get in..."
"Into where?"
"The temple, of course."
"Isn't this the temple?"
"It could be. I'm not sure."
"Try putting the Master Sword back where you found it," Midna told him.
"I think I have an idea of how to go about it," Tails continued for Jet's benefit, returning to where he'd pulled it from. He took the handle in both hands, pointing it downwards, and stabbing it back into the pedestal it had been in before.
Something gave off a gong sound behind them.
On their way over to investigate, the familier posts jabbed into the ground around them.
"I think you'll want your gear," Tails said, handing it to him. "Try not to get hit."
"By what?" But Tails didn't reply. He watched the sky above, as a portal formed, dropping in five Shadow Beasts, then vanishing.
Tails drew the Master Sword again.
"You're going to fight them with that?" Jet asked disbelivingly.
"Get clear of them," Tails half-snapped back at them. "Unless you plan to help!"
He didn't need telling twice, taking to the air, and not a moment too soon – one of the beasts made a grab for him, only narrowly missing.
Not wanting to alarm Jet, he didn't change to his wolf form, despite it being harder to defeat them. He fought off all but two of them, then drew them in close. He tried a different tactic this time, one he'd learned from Link, and moved quickly to one side, then behind both, and gave a spinning slash to their unguarded rear, defeating both.
"And that's how you fight them," he said as the portal re-formed in green.
"When did you get that skilled with a sword? When did you get a sword, for that matter?"
"Oh, I picked them up along the way," he replied diffidently. "Why don't we find out what's changed?"
"Leave that to me," he said from his perch in the air. "I looked around a bit earlier."
"Your friends seem to have a knack for being useful, Tails," Midna said, popping out to watch the hawk flit about.
"I'm starting to think it's more than just coincidence they're here – and at times when they're going to be useful."
"Maybe the goddesses are just helping you out some more."
"Maybe."
"I found it," Jet called. "There's a statue up here that's vanished, and a door behind it."
"Wait for to come on up, and we'll see what's on the other side."
The door was strange. When it opened, it showed the same ruined temple – but it wasn't ruined. The view looked like that of an old photograph, but shifting just slightly.
The statues were still was the triforce marking on the ground. There was also a small alter just ahead of it, and behind that, a door.
The two of them went on through, and as they did so, the view became clearer. On the alter, they could now see three shining stones, one green, one red and one blue.
"Don't try to take them," Tails warned Jet. "Something strange is going on here."
"Nothing strange," Link's voice came from behind him. "Welcome to the Temple of Time, Tails."
Link was indeed stood there, looking exactly as he had done every time he'd taught Tails a new skill.
"What are you doing here?"
"The door you just came through has taken you to a different time. A time when I'm still around, obviously. To you, you've probably met me before, to me, I only know I'm going to meet you again to teach you."
"So you can help?"
"No. I used this temple to fight off evil once before. Unlike the other temples I'd been to, I fought no enemies, solved no puzzles. It was more of a useful tool at the time. I was never allowed to, and still cannot, enter the temple proper. It is hidden from me, and even if you discover it, I can't follow."
"You're here just to meet me then."
"Of course. I have to meet you so I know you when I next meet you – which is the time you first meet me. I also have to tell you that the way ahead will open when you repeat the steps that gained you entry to this past Temple of Time."
"I think I know what I have to do then."
"There's something I have to attend to there as well," Link told him. "Let me take care of that first."
"Of course."
They made their way through to the back, where the pedestal for the Master Sword lay, still empty.
Link strode up to it, drawing the same Master Sword that Tails still held, and stabbing it into the pedestal. A bright blue light surrounded him, making him appear only as a sillhouette. It seemed to shrink, until it looked more like a young boy, then the light, the sillhouette and Link's Master Sword vanished.
"That's creepy," Jet said, finding his voice again. "It's like magic or something."
"You get used to that a lot around me," Tails replied, repeating what Link had just done.
The blue light that appeared this time, formed stairs up to one of the immense stained glass windows.
Ooccoo suddenly ran past them, up the stairs, and seemingly through the glass.
"I guess that's the way to go," he said, following Ooccoo up the steps to the glass window. As they approached, it faded out, showing the entrance to the real Temple of Time.