The Hyrulian Valhalla Saga
By Queenie Z

Capture That Flag! (Part 2)

Wind placed the tip of his finger in his mouth before closing his eyes and holding it up in the air. With the Wind Waker sparkling brightly in his other hand, he grinned and opened his eyes again. "We're good," he said, turning back to Mini.

"Great!" The elder Hero removed his cap and aired it out. "You got your deku leaf ready?"

"Got it!" He whipped out the leaf from his pouch before glancing over the edge of the cliff they were standing on. "Now we just hope that the breeze is strong enough to take us all the way across the lake..."

"You're the one in control of the wind," said Mini, "so it'll be your fault if it doesn't." Wind gulped nervously, causing Mini to laugh out loud. "I'm just kidding!"

The nervous Link sighed and faced the cliff's edge. The view was dizzying; from here, the lake looked barely larger than a small pond. If they were able to cross it this way, by flying over it with the help of the wind, they would be in enemy territory before anyone expected them to be! Regaining his confidence, he readied his magic leaf.

"Okay," he said, "Here goes!" He leapt off of the edge and raised the leaf, catching the gale and riding it towards the east. Mini followed suit, his cap puffing up as he joined his comrade in the air. He laughed once he caught up to Wind.

"Wow," he said between chuckles, "I forgot how much fun this was!" He leaned forward to accelerate.

Wind cried out. "Mini, you're gonna lose altitude if you do that!"

Mini slowed himself down. "I know, I know." He looked down at the water below with a devilish grin. "Now let's show Team Lanayru how to make an entrance...!"

"Blue!" cried Red, brushing away foliage with one hand and catching up to his friend, "Blue! Look! Look what I found!"

Blue rolled his eyes and groaned, turning around. "What, Red?"

"I found a ladybug!" Red unfolded his other hand to show him. "See?"

"Seriously?" Asked Blue with a glare. Stopping in his tracks, he snatched the ladybug from the other's palm and tossed it into the bushes.

"Blue!" screeched Red. He stared at him with his mouth agape and tears forming in his eyes. "Blue, that was so mean!"

"And I'll do it to you too if you don't stop clowning around!"

"Stop it, Blue!" The sniffling Hero wiped his face with his sleeve. "I-I just wanted to show it to you, that's all!"

"What you're doing is wasting our time!" Blue stormed ahead, his face locked in a perpetual scowl. "The longer you goof off, the more time Team Eldin has to win! I swear, you're so useless!"

"Useless!?" Red froze. "But... but..."

The angrier persona kept walking, and a short moment passed before Red spoke up again, his voice soft and tearful.

"...Do you really think that?"

Blue stopped in his tracks at that. Red was crying again - a sound which signaled to Blue that, perhaps, he had gone too far. He blushed at his own mistake, marched back over to Red, and slapped a hand on the top of his head it what could vaguely be considered a gesture of comfort.

"O-Of course I don't mean it," he stammered, "I never mean it."

Red's eyes began to shimmer. "Blue...!"

"You're not useless - but only when you pay attention!" He huffed and started walking again. "Keep up, Red, or I'll leave you behind!"

The other Link nodded energetically. "Okay!" He raced to catch up with Blue. "Thanks, Blue. You're a great friend!"

Blue grunted, his face growing more and more flushed. "You're just way to damn happy," he muttered to himself.

Twilight wheezed, his face dripping with sweat as he lay limply on the grass by the flag. He turned his head to his right, looking at his teacher, who was casually practicing his sword swings. His form was perfect, his strikes precise, and he was all around flawless in every way. And the worst part was that he wasn't even breaking a sweat!

He scoffed, facing the sky again. "Why is it," he said between breaths, "that you always work me harder than you ever work yourself, Time?"

"Because," said Time, accentuating the word with a perfect forward thrust, "you were being disrespectful."

"I don't mean - " the younger Hero pouted and turned his head once more. "I mean, not just right now; you do it every time we train! I'm the one having to do most of the work - the running and the jumping jacks and the pushups - while you just do that!"

Time froze in place, sheathed his blade, and walked over to Twilight. Then, with a smile that could have been interpreted as either warm or condescending, he sat by Twilight and pulled one knee up.

"Twilight," he said, "let me tell you a story about when I joined the Knights."

Twilight rolled his eyes.

"When I first enlisted, I thought I knew it all. I thought my journeys through Hyrule and Termina had taught me all I ever needed to know about swordsmanship." He looked up. "And it did teach me a lot. But then I realized that the first step of our basic training was just grunt work - running laps, doing exercise drills, cleaning the mess hall - things I thought I was above. But you know what?" He tilted his head towards Twilight. "The entire point of those exercises was to show me that I still had a long way to go - that I had years and years of work ahead of me before I could reach my full potential."

Twilight sat up, wiping his brow with his gloved hand. "So what you're saying is," he said more calmly, "you think I still have a long way to go?"

"What I'm saying is that I have high expectations of you." He clasped a hand on Twilight head, messing with his hair a little. "I push you because I know you can get better and better, and I've known that ever since you got here."

The younger Link winced in embarrassment. "So," he said, "when are you going to think I've 'reached my potential'? What point will that be?"

"Oh," said Time with a smirk, "probably never. Even when you become better than me, I'll still keep pushing you." He lowered his hand. "Because you're family, and I want to see you keep growing."

Twilight considered this for a moment, then laughed. "So I have an eternity of laps and pushups to look forward to, huh?"

"Pretty much."

"Gee, thanks," he replied with a dismissive wave of his hand.

"Such grateful descendents I have." Time stood up. "Take a breather real quick - we'll try to work on parrying before the other team gets here."

"Sure thing." With that, Twilight flopped back down on the grass with a deep sigh.

Sky and Brown's rafting expedition started out exactly as planned - the breeze was westward, the water was calm, and together they were sailing smoothly over the lake and towards Team Eldin's territory. That, however, didn't last for very long.

Brown grunted as he helped propel the raft forward, using his shield as a paddle. "Dammit all," he cursed, "at this rate we won't reach the other side until nightfall...!"

"Yeah," said Sky, who was also paddling with his shield, trying to fight the breeze which now blew east, "and my arms are already getting tired! It's like the wind knew were coming and just wanted to mess with us!"

"Just our luck." The younger Link grimaced. Then, suddenly, he stopped paddling and looked up in thought. "Hold on... you know, Sky, we could just use the recorder. I mean, it isn't against the rules or anything..."

Sky turned. "No offense, Brown, but that thing isn't exactly the most reliable transportation method." He resumed paddling. "It just kind of drops you off wherever, right? We could wind up completely lost!"

"But we could also wind up right where we need to be! It's just trial and error!"

"But still - "

Suddenly, a strange movement in the sky caught the two Heroes' attention. They looked up, shielding the sunlight from their eyes, and Brown growled at what he saw.

"That son of a - I knew it!" He put his hands to his mouth and called to the sky. "Wind, you big cheater!"

They thought they could hear the faintest bit of laughter as they watched Wind and Mini glide swiftly towards the east. Sky, with a look of irritation, glanced back at Brown.

"On second thought," he said, "let's try the recorder."

"Right." Brown pulled out the instrument from his pouch, played a small, familiar tune, and in no time a whirlwind came across the water to pick them both up.