A/N: Alright, since I've had some time, here we go. Admittedly, not much actually happens here, but more will come as and when I get the time to write. For those who don't also read the other story I'm currently adding chapters to, the reason things are rather slow at the moment is because I just haven't had the time to write. So chapters might come for a bit, they might also be delayed. All depends on when I have time.

Speaking of time... well, nah - I'll not spoil Knuckles' little secret. He can tell you about that all by himself. As always - enjoy.

Groose may have been rather reluctant to tag along instead of taking the lead, but the threat to beat him up a little bit kept him from complaining about that. Instead he found other things to complain about.

"Are we really going to just carry on at this slow pace?" he demanded.

"There's no hurry right now, Groose," I told him. "I know where to go and what to do. Impa didn't seem to indicate there was a need to hurry, and Fi suggested I had time. Things will wait. When you're a Hero, they have a habit of doing that. Besides, Gorko's here, and I want to stop by and see what he has to say."

"Gorko? That... what did you call it?"

"Him, and he's a Goron," I reminded him. "Link has a habit of sending Gorko to wherever I'm going to be, and usually Gorko has some amazing discovery. Gorko doesn't know about Skyloft Groose, and I don't think he's caught on to the fact that I'm the Hero spoken of in the legends and such he's studying, so don't let on. Besides I'm not entirely sure he'd believe us anymore than you'd have believed me if I told you about down here. At least before today."

"You can say that again! Actually, no, don't – I don't think I want to hear you just repeat yourself all the time, I don't want to put up with listening to a Knuckle-head all day."

Like I said. I let him get away with it because it made him feel better. That's not to say I liked it. Just that I tolerated it in the interests of keeping the rather tentative peace I had with him.

Gorko was so distracted by his map when we caught up with him that I don't think he'd noticed he was wandering around in a circle. I didn't call attention to that – maybe he had a reason. Instead I caught his attention by rapping on one rocky arm.

"Well, here we are again," I said. "We seem to keep running into each other all the time."

"Indeed! I spoke with Link, and he says it is an astonishing coincidence!" Gorko boomed. Groose winced at the volume. "He spoke also of understanding your concern with the crystals, and told me to pass on a message in return saying that it was not entirely his idea. He also said he would speak with you again soon about a darker matter, whatever that might be."

Probably Dark. And it probably wasn't going to be a nice conversation.

"Can't imagine what he's talking about," I said aloud. "This here is my friend Groose, who's learning about the world with me. I thought I'd bring him here to see all the ruins and such."

"But I-" Groose started to object until I gave him a look. "Right. It's all... so... uh... ruined. And, uh..." he paused, looking around, then finished, "Wild?"

"That is the nature of ruins!" Gorko laughed. "But it is not the nature of my most recent discovery! I have been finding there are statues, and walls, that do not appear to be out of the ordinary – but are said to respond to beautiful songs!"

Oh, joy. Now I was going to have to learn to actually play the damn harp. These fists were made for bashing things, not for delicate things like that, you know. Of course, I kept this to myself – I didn't want either Gorko or Groose to learn that I was profoundly unenthusiastic about this. Or that I knew exactly what this 'discovery' implied for me.

"Beautiful songs? How can a statue tell the difference?" I asked.

"Exactly my thought! But it seems they are like the Goddess Cubes – left here by the Goddess for the Hero of legend! And it is thought that there are butterflies like no others, named Goddess Butterflies, that flock to these places, as if sensing them!"

"Hero of legend?" Groose mused. "Isn't that you, Knuckles?"

I laughed a little awkwardly and quickly corrected him, "I just happen to look like him, Groose. It's a coincidence that the ruins around seem to depict me. I couldn't have been around a few thousand years ago, after all."

Groose was clearly not convinced, not since I'd just told him I really was the Hero, but he at least caught on. Gorko, on the other hand, remarked, "Mighty suspicious coincidence if you ask me though. I've yet to see another creature like you in any part of the world. But perhaps I am just over-thinking things."

"That's probably the case. You were telling us about these walls and statues?"

"Right! It's said that the things the Hero desires spring forth from behind these walls! Of course it seems as if there is nothing behind them of note, but with the intervention of the Goddess, who can tell? But beyond that I know little. I'm sure if you stop by again later I will have new discoveries to share with you my friend!"

"I'm sure I'll have something new for you too, Gorko," I told him, then wished him luck. The stout Goron probably didn't even notice us leave once he was engrossed in the map again.

"Was that really useful?" Groose asked, once I'd helped him up a set of vines.

"What he told us? Oh yes. More than you think. These statues and walls of his have something I'm probably going to need, and I'll probably have to do something. The whole 'springing forth from behind the wall' thing suggests that there's something past them that doesn't share the same place as the actual behind the wall, so there's definitely something I'll have to do there. And then there's the whole songs thing... I'm not a damn musician, and now Link wants me to become one? What's he thinking this time..."

"Uh, why do you have to worry about that though? What do you have that needs playing?"

"A harp. The one Zelda was playing at the ceremony. She gave it to me last time I saw her."

"Aha! So that's what she gave you! That's what you said you wouldn't tell me about!"

He's sharp, isn't he?

"Alright, fine, so it is. You're still not having it. You're not the Hero, and you don't have a sword. Next time I stop by Skyloft, if I haven't dragged you back there, I'll pick you up one. You'll need it down here."

"What for?"

"Monster life, remember? This is just a quiet part of the world where the Sealed Temple is, which you can see we're at the doors of. See how close we were? I told you there was no need to hurry. Now if you were my friend Sonic on the other hand, I could understand."

Sonic sighed and said, "Alright, don't beat me over the head with that. Bad enough that... that boat did it. So I'm impatient, I'll even admit it. What do you want me to do, not run around like everyone expects me to?"

"Chance would be a fine thing," Scourge muttered.

"I didn't mean it in a bad way, Sonic," Knuckles told him mildly. "I was just describing you, that's all."

"You know," Silver said, a faint smile playing over his face, "It sounds almost like Heroing didn't agree with you, Sonic."

"You would too if you had to put up with everything I did," Sonic retorted, then looked slightly foolish. "Didn't you all say the same thing about your adventures too?"

"Pretty much," Tails admitted. "In Silver's case he just had even more reason though."

"It's the time-travel, isn't it?" Silver said. "It gives you a headache."

"Don't I know it," Knuckles grumbled. "Now if we're done sidetracking..."

Inside the Sealed Temple, Impa sat just as she had the last time. Sat on the steps nearby, I wasn't surprised to find the scatterbrained God, once again painting something small in his hands while he apparently waited for me.

"This might get a little bit loud," I murmured to Groose. "Link might have a reason to yell at me."

"Might?" Link said with an edge in his voice.

"You have unwholesomely good hearing, Link," I sighed. "I suppose this is about getting a little unexpected help over in Lanayru."

"Help?" Link demanded, whatever he was working on vanishing. "Do you have any idea – any idea in the slightest – how much I had to go back and change because of him?"

"Me?" Groose said mildly.

"No, not you, that copy of him he made and then went and let go completely out of his control!"

"Copy?"

"He means... well, I guess I never named him," I admitted. "He sorta turned out to be a bit like me, but not like me. I needed an extra pair of hands to deal with all the time-travel someone put me through."

"You could have done the entire place with out him! I even designed it to take that into account! And it's not easy thinking in multiple times at once, you know!"

"I know, that's why I made him, Link!" I yelled back. "You're a God and you have trouble thinking about it, so think about how it made me feel for a change will you? I had to stop to try to figure out if what I was doing was happening now, then, or both at the same time!"

"It sounds like you overcomplicated it, Link," Impa observed calmly. "Didn't Time tell you there were better ways to handle it?"

"Time isn't the one running things here Impa," Link insisted. "It made perfect sense!"

"To you. You must remember the limitations of the mortal Heroes you ask to help you. Perhaps in future, you should seek the wisdom of those who have already been Heroes to find what you could improve?"

Silver gave Knuckles a flat look and said, "I'm not trying to interrupt on purpose here, but tell me you didn't Knuckles. Tell me I don't have you to blame for the Temple of Time."

Knuckles managed to look guilty, squirming a little before answering, "I... might have made some suggestions. Sort of along the lines of trying to do all the time-travelling at once, instead of doing it patches and spots. Which is sorta how he did the Temple of Time for you."

"And me," Tails added. "It wasn't the same, but I still had that little bit of time-travel too."

Manic looked to Sonic, who frowned and said, "I'm not entirely sure. I think there mighta been, but I didn't really pay too much attention at the time."

"You two can probably blame me anyway," Knuckles conceded. "I... did sort of... end up talking to Link often. Whenever he had a new idea. To be fair though, I probably helped stop him over-complicate things too much for you, so I probably helped you more than I inconvenienced you. It's also sorta why I was around for Tails' adventure. I mighta poked Link into letting me go there and lend a hand in person. It was sorta partly because I wanted to see the results of my helping him, but mostly because I missed when I was the one running around saving Hyrule."

"I hope Link stops you from doing that again," Scourge said. "What if you all got the idea to gate-crash the next Hero's adventure?"

Manic smiled at Scourge and said, "There's a way around that you know. I'm pretty sure Sonic isn't as interested any more-"

"As long as there isn't so much water," Sonic muttered.

"-and Knuckles is advising Link, we know. Silver will help get the next Hero there and back if Link can't, or doesn't want to for some reason. Which just leaves me to go talk to him, which'll mean we'll all have chipped in to your adventure."

"Me?" Scourge spluttered. "Oh no – you're not dragging me into this little club of yours! I am not a Hero!"

"You are if Link says you are," Aura murmured, his eyes twinkling. "Whether you want to be or not."

"Don't tempt me," Link's voice told them. "I might yet find a time where I need another Hero. And maybe someone like Scourge will be suited for it," he added. Scourge's expression took on a rather hunted look.