"Why did I think that going the long way around would be a good idea?" Mina whined quietly as she trudged down the mountain. She had woken up that morning on top of said mountain next to a very cute lake with no one else around her. The last thing she remembered was All Might and the Big Bad starting to fight each other. That was it.

It had taken her a little while to calm down—waking up somewhere foreign with no idea how she got there freaked her out more than she would have admitted to anyone else—but eventually she had reached a point where she felt like she could function. A brief investigation of her surroundings had told her exactly nothing, or basically nothing. She was on top of a mountain next to the ocean, which stretched for miles farther than she could see. Mina hadn't done well with geography in school, but even still, she didn't think any of the landscape was from Japan.

In short, the girl had no idea where she was. She had, however, spotted a small village at the base of the mountain and figured that they might be able to answer that question for her. With that thought in mind, she had set out along what looked like the path down.

That had been hours ago. Now it was close to midday—she didn't know exactly when, since her phone was dead—and she was starving. She whined again as her stomach gurgled. Loudly. "Man, this sucks." The wind gusted as she rounded another corner in the neverending trail. She winced as the air whipped at her face and kept walking, but pulled up short. What was that smell? She sniffed, trying to place it. It smelled a lot like... something burning?

She followed the scent down the path and around another corner, where she stopped. Ahead of her, she spotted a small plume of smoke drifting lazily into the sky. She watched it for a moment before grinning. It wasn't big enough to be anything but a campfire.

Mina started jogging down the rest of the path, which she realized she had just about reached the bottom of. Finally. It didn't take long for her to reach the bottom and start running across the beach towards the campfire. She slowed down pretty quickly when she realized that there wasn't anybody actually at the fire.

You can't just leave a fire unattended! Who started this thing? She looked around, hoping to spot someone. Instead, all she saw was meters of beautiful beach and warm-looking ocean waves. Occasional palm trees waved in the breeze. Cliffs surrounded the cove on almost all sides, ending just short of the waterline. A small canyon opened on the northern side of the cliff face, and Mina assumed that that was where the path she had been following went. She wasn't worried about that at the moment, though. For now, she had found paradise.

Or had almost found it. The beauty of her surroundings was kind of ruined by the ugly towers out in the water. She wasn't quite sure how they hadn't been knocked over yet, as they looked super rickety, especially with the massive skull-looking things on top. She squinted, trying to get a better look at the structures. It looked like someone was moving up there, but she could quite tell at this distance.

Her stomach gurgled loudly, distracting her. Right, I need to find some food. She looked around the campfire, hoping to find something to eat before she put the fire out.

Her efforts were quickly rewarded. Off to one side of the campfire behind several large crates she found a basket full of fruit. Apples, bananas, and even melons—Mina's mouth watered. She didn't waste any time in digging in, making short work of several of the bananas and apples before finally deciding that she'd had enough.

Now that she'd solved the immediate issue of hunger, Mina decided to take another look at those weird towers. She jogged her way further out along the beach before trying to get another look at whatever she'd seen. She blinked, rubbed her eyes, and looked again. There were a bunch of little goblin things walking around up there! She couldn't see them super well, but they didn't look too friendly.

Okay, so maybe don't go over there. Mina turned and jogged back to the fire and took stock of her options. I could just chill here until a boat from that village came by, though with those gross goblins out there, I don't think anything would get by. I've got enough food for now, and I think I might be able to make that village I saw by dark. She glanced out at the water again. Oh, I wish there was time for a swim. That water looks great! Figures the one time I make it to the beach I can't enjoy it. She sighed and refocused on a pole sticking out of the sand near the fire. I wonder what that even is?

The girl thoughtfully tugged at the pole and stumbled backwards when it slid out of the sand. When she regained her balance, she realized that it wasn't a pole at all, but rather the handle of a barbed spear. "Oh wow! This is so cool!" Mina gave it a few test jabs and grinned. Now she had her very own spear, and if it was anything like the staff she'd used for stave dancing, she shouldn't have any issues using it—either for a more exotic dance routine or to defend herself, if needed. It could stand to be a bit more pink, though.

Armed and refreshed, Mina stuffed some of the remaining fruit into her pockets and returned to the path she had been following and continued along it, using her new spear as an impromptu staff. Gradually, the ground turned from packed sand to packed dirt and stone as it ran into the canyon leading away from the beach. After traveling for thirty or so minutes in the canyon, the path forked, running off to the east and the west. Mina stood at the crossroads and frowned, looking back and forth between the two. Eventually, she started down the east-bound road, as she vaguely remembered seeing the sun rising over the village from that direction.

"I'm so ready to be done with this," Mina grumbled several hours later. Her spear was now laying across her shoulders, her arms hanging lazily over it as she walked. The sun had gotten much lower over the course of her journey and the canyon she was walking down had been plunged into twilight. She felt like she was pretty close to her destination, but she had no way of knowing for sure, other than using the mountain she had woken up on to mark her progress.

As she trudged along—trudging is sooo not pretty—the breeze shifted and started blowing toward her. With it came a sound. Mina paused and listened, trying to catch whatever that had been. The sound came again, and she frowned. It sounded like... screaming?

With that realization, her training kicked in, and she started running down the canyon, her fatigue forgotten. She spun the spear off her shoulders and into a more ready position. She didn't really know how to use it, but it couldn't be that hard, right? Just stab? Focus, Mina! You don't have time to ask questions.

Mina rounded a corner in the canyon and could suddenly see the source of the screams. Ahead of her and off of the path were the remains of a wagon of some kind. One of the gross blue goblin creatures was chasing someone around it and taking occasional swipes with its sword. Mina didn't hesitate; she ran toward the creature, yelling to get its attention. It stopped and looked toward the charging pink girl, then screeched before charging toward her. Mina waited until it was only a couple of meters away from her before using the spear to vault over it. As she passed, she shot a bit of acid from her free hand at the creature's sword. She landed and pivoted to face the creature to survey the damage, bringing the spear back up just in case.

The goblin's sword was pockmarked and smoking, but that didn't seem to deter it; if anything, it was even more angry. It screeched again—which sounded a bit like a pig's squeal, Mina realized—and swung at her. Instead of trying to block the sword, Mina twisted around the weapon, falling into one of the stave dance routines she'd tried out. As she gracefully slid past the monster, she spun the spear around her neck and across her arm before arcing the butt end of the weapon into its creature winced and staggered backward, but quickly recovered and swung at her again, this time leaping in the air to try and smash her. Mina tried to back up, but tripped over something and fell down, spear raising automatically as she fell. She felt an impact shake the spear before it was pulled from her grasp. She looked around frantically for it and gasped. Apparently, the impact she had felt was the goblin crashing into the point. The creature in question had staggered to its feet once more and, using both hands, managed to pry itself off of the end of the spear before tossing it aside and picking up its sword once more.

Mina's eyes went wide as she stared up at the hole in the chest of the menacing creature bearing down on her. What the hell is this thing? She threw both hands forward and used them to funnel acid at the creature, creating a hose-like jet. The liquid splashed over the monster, and its squeels became much more pained. It dropped the sword and staggered backward before disappearing in a poof of smoke, leaving Mina by herself on the stretch of path.

She just watched the spot where the creature had been for a moment, breathing heavily, before slowly climbing to her feet. Where did it go? Did it—did it die? Where did the smoke come from? The creature's body wasn't where it had been standing; instead, several objects that looked like teeth were laying on the ground next to the corroded sword.

"Hey, you! Pink lady!"

Mina jumped and raised her hands defensively as she turned toward the voice. The man the little demon had been chasing had come out from behind the ruined wagon and was walking up to her. He looked like a stereotype for a surfboard commercial—dark skin, shark tooth necklace, clothes that were fashionably too small, the works. Mina took all this in as the weird swimsuit model wannabe started talking again.

"Whoa, thanks for the save. I was NOT looking forward to the rest of my life in that thing's stomach. Uh, you're not a monster, are you? I've never seen anyone with pink skin before, or horns. I'd heard that Gorons have horns, but I've never met one before, so I wouldn't know."

I thought only Izuku spouted words like that. Instead of saying that, Mina just shook her head. "No, I'm not a monster. My Quirk is that I can shoot acid from my skin; my skin's pink because it had to develop a resistance to that. As for the horns..." she shrugged. "I don't know why I have 'em, but they complete the look."

The guy's eyes widened. "Whoa, that's pretty gnarly. Well, I don't have a fancy reward for you, but I do have this, if you want it." As he spoke, surfer bro reached into a pouch Mina hadn't noticed earlier and extracted a small bundle of something that he then extended toward her. Mina slowly took the bundle and unwrapped it—and immediately started salivating.

"Wow, rice balls! Thanks a lot, guy!" Mina exclaimed. She recovered the snack and looked up. "I'm Ashido Mina. What's your name? And how did you get stuck with that thing chasing you?"

Surfer bro rubbed the back of his head. "The name's Regan. I ran away from Lurelin Village just up the road. The whole place stinks of cut-up bait and fish guts, and almost everyone there works with fish somehow. Well, not me! I couldn't take it anymore, so I left. I'm gonna make my living as a scavenger instead, fishing around Hyrule's rubble for neat stuff!" He struck what he must a have thought was a heroic pose before wilting slightly. "I... didn't consider all the monsters, though."

Hyrule? Mina wondered. I wonder if that's an old ruin around here. "Well, I was just heading to... Lurelin... myself, so I guess I'll see you around if you stop by."

"Hey, I might just have to, Ashido." Regan smiled and started walking up the path Mina had come down. "You take care now. Lurelin's just up ahead around the bend. Thanks again for the save!"

Mina waved goodbye to her weird new friend and continued on her way. She popped a rice ball into her mouth as she walked and smiled. Odd though Regan may be, he did have good taste in snacks.

A few minutes later, she rounded the bend in the path that Regan had mentioned and sighed in relief. Below her, Lurelin spread out in front of the beautiful ocean, comprised mainly of roughly two dozen little huts of palm wood and leaves. Little tiki statues—They're called totems, right?—were scattered throughout the village. As she walked through the front gate—a larger pair of totems—she noticed people lighting lanterns and torches. One of them, a woman with gorgeous dark skin, noticed her. She stepped away from the torch she had been working on and approached Mina. "Welcome to Lurelin, traveler."

The woman smiled at Mina, who felt like she had almost melted in relief. "It looks like you've been traveling for a while. Please, join us. We were just about to eat."

Mina liked the woman instantly. "Thank you so much, ma'am!"

"Please, call me Erim. If you'll follow me, we'll get you taken care of."

Mina smiled, but the corners of her mouth slowly drooped as her most pressing question came back to her. "Actually, I do have a question for you, Erim. I'm trying to find some of my friends, but we were separated." She felt tears of frustration at the corners of her eyes as the burdens and emotions of the last couple of days came crashing back down on her. "This area is all unfamiliar to me, so I can't find them. Could you tell me where I am?"

Mina couldn't see Erim through her tears, but the woman's response was clear enough as she embraced Mina. The girl stiffened momentarily at the unexpected touch, but relaxed as Erim started speaking.

"There, there, dear. We'll get some people out looking for your friends. For now, it might be best if we got some food in you and let you rest. I'll try and answer whatever questions I can. Dinner first though, okay?"

Mina sniffled and nodded. She let Erim guide her deeper into the village while she tried to get a hold of her emotions. It had been a long day.

Izuku rolled over and groaned. Why am I so sore? Probably because his bed was so hard. But he wasn't in the hospital anymore; they'd discharged him. With an effort, he managed to pry his eyes open—and shut them again quickly as reality crashed in.

That's right, I'm in Hyrule. The events of the past twenty-four hours flashed through his mind, and he curled up under the blanket the old man had provided and cried quietly. After a few minutes, his tears dried and he wiped his eyes before sitting up and looking around.

Sunlight streamed down across the mountainside. Izuku guessed it was right around seven or eight in the morning. All Might and their enigmatic guide—or host or whatever he was supposed to be—were still staring at the fire, about where he had left them last night. The two had talked for much of the night, long after Izuku had fallen asleep. Whatever, they had talked about, they had made sure that he and Link were not a part of the discussion.

Speaking of Link... Izuku frowned and looked around, but couldn't see the former sleeper anywhere.

"He went out to get some food for us."

Izuku jumped and turned. The old man was smiling in his direction. "Don't worry, he shouldn't be gone for too long."

And he wasn't. Within minutes of Izuku waking up, Link had returned with several fish slung over his shoulder. He waved at Izuku as he approached. "Glad to see you're awake. You wanna help me clean these so we can eat?"

Izuku eyed the fish dubiously. "Um, sure. You'll have to show me how to do it, though; I've never done anything like that."

Link nodded and set the fish down on a stone slab the group had appropriated the night before as a makeshift table. When Izuku joined him, he just looked. The fish were much bigger than he had originally thought, and would easily feed the four of them with some to spare. "That's a lot of fish."

"We'll need it," the warrior replied. "Travel food is always good, I think we'll be doing a fair bit over the next while." Link pulled out a knife he had borrowed from the old man. "Are you ready to learn?"

Izuku nodded, and over the course of the next hour learned more than he thought he ever would about cleaning, preparing, and fire-roasting fish. Link showed him how to clean the first fish and then watched as he cleaned the second on his own. Once Link nodded his satisfaction, he showed Izuku how to spit the fish and roast them over the fire, using some herbs he'd found nearby to season the fish some.

As Izuku watched the fish to make sure they didn't burn, he glanced over at Link. "Does this mean that your memories are coming back?"

Link frowned, a far-off look in his eyes. "No. I remember how to do things, like fighting and hunting, but I don't know how I know." His focus sharpened as he looked at Izuku. "What about you? Do you remember why or how you came to be here?"

Izuku shook his head. "Other than what I described last night, nothing."

"We'll figure it out." Link stabbed the fish experimentally with his knife before nodding. "That can be a question for later. Breakfast is ready."

After smelling the fish and herbs roasting for what felt like ages, Izuku was all too ready to eat. The two called the older pair over. Link looked at the old man, who chuckled. "Help yourselves."

Izuku needed no second bidding and bit into his fish. The savory flavor, while simple, was better than anything Izuku could remember in recent memory. Certainly, it was at least as good as some of the food they'd had at camp. He quickly ate the entire thing and was surprised at how full he was afterwards.

I understand that you two are headed out to do some more exploring today?" All Might asked as he nibbled at his fish.

Izuku nodded. "That's right. I saw some more of those bokoblins in the valley yesterday, and we wanted to see if there was anything over that way. What will you be doing, All Might?"

The number one hero shrugged. "Not sure. Old Rhoam and I thought that we might investigate the old temple now that you've cleared it out."

Link's ears—Wait, they're pointed? Is he an elf? Is that a thing here?—perked up, and he turned to face the old man. "Oh, your name's Rhoam?"

"Yes. Did I not mention that?"

Izuku shook his head.

"Oh, my apologies. Yes, I'm Rhoam." Rhoam studied the two. "Does that name mean something to you?"

"No, I've never heard that name before," Link said, while Izuku shook his head.

The old man muttered something to himself before standing. "Well, no matter. I believe you two have a long day ahead of you, as do Toshinori and I." He picked up his cane and gestured with it down the mountain.

Link watched the man for a moment before standing up and brushing himself off. "You're right. We'll meet you back here, then."

Izuku watched as Link picked up the axe he'd been using and the club he'd retrieved from one of the bokoblins before realizing that he needed to go as well. As he scrambled to his feet, Link held out the bow and quiver Izuku had found the day before. "Here. You might need this."

Izuku stared at the weapon for a moment before hesitantly taking it. "S-sure. D-don't you want it?"

Link shook his head. "Not at the moment. Until you're comfortable with monsters, I would prefer if we kept a safe distance between you and them."

"I-I'm okay with that." Izuku slung the quiver and bow over his shoulder and followed Link down the path. Before they had gone too far, he heard All Might calling from behind them. The two paused and waited for the skeletal man to catch up. "What is it, All Might?"

"Before you two leave, I have something I'd like to ask you two to do." All Might's face still held a hint of his familiar smile, though it didn't fully reach his eyes. "I've spoken with Rhoam, and there's far more going on here than we originally thought. I believe that we"—he gestured at Izuku and himself—"may have been brought here for a reason."

Izuku looked at All Might in concern. "Why do you say that?"

"I can't tell you that. Not right now." All Might held up a hand, cutting Izuku's question off, and the hero-in-training could see that Link looked just as confused. "There's a lot at stake, and certain conditions have to be met. For now, carry on with your adventure. If, while you're exploring, you should run into Rhoam—who usually roams all over the plateau, apparently—and he asks you to do something... odd, humor him."

Link stared at the pro, eyes narrowed. "That's not terribly specific. Can't you tell us anymore?"

"If All Might says he can't, then he can't," Izuku said defensively, defending his hero. "It can't be something bad or dangerous, though; otherwise, I think he'd tell us anyway."

All Might smiled. "I appreciate your faith in me, Young Midoriya. And you're right; I don't think you'll be in any more danger than what you faced yesterday." His smile twisted downward. "Although, that was still fairly dangerous. Still, you're both young and strong; you should be fine."

Link stared at All Might through thinned eyes for a moment longer before nodding. "All right, we'll do it that way. You two be careful; we cleared out the temple yesterday, but that doesn't mean nothing's gone back."

"We'll keep an eye out for trouble."

The pro turned and walked back up the hill path, leaving the pair of aspiring heroes to their own devices. Izuku watched him climb the worn steps for a moment before turning back to his companion. "W-well, let's go."

The two went down toward the temple. This time, they didn't cut across the hilltop next to the small pond, instead following the path down around the front of the complex to the fountain plaza. As they walked toward the empty fountain, Link held up his hand. "Wait, did you hear that?"

Izuku listened for a moment, but didn't hear anything. He looked askance at Link, who appeared to be concentrating intensely. After a moment, Link pulled out his Sheikah Slate and looked at it for a moment before his eyes widened in surprise.

"What is it?" Izuku asked, concerned.

"I... I heard that voice again."

"What?"

Link nodded. "It told me to go to the point marked on the map in the Slate." He flipped the tablet, letting Izuku see the screen. While it mostly looked blank, there was a little arrow that seemed to indicate their position in the center of the 'map' and a blinking golden dot off to the right.

Izuku rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "That looks like it's in that area that we wanted to explore." He looked up. "You said that woman's voice told you about this?"

"She did," Link said. He paused for a moment before asking. "Didn't you hear her?"

"No."

Link looked back at the map and scratched his head. "That's... concerning." After a moment, he hooked the tablet back at his waist and started walking. "Well, she hasn't steered us wrong yet. Let's go; I think I see the spot that's being indicated."

Izuku followed him across the plateau to a set of stairs that led down to a small plain. Small grass-covered knolls rose up out of the ground, and a large mound of rocks rose up near what looked like the edge of the plateau. The morning sunlight glinted off of a pond to the left of the rocks, and on the other side of the pond, Izuku could see on odd structure that also reflected the sunlight. He squinted, trying to get a better look at it, but couldn't quite see at this distance.

Link walked a short distance farther down the stairs, but didn't make it far before two little blue somethings burst out of the ground. Izuku stared at the little things as they slowly started rolling towards him and Link. They just looked like little blue blobs with eyeballs. "Link, what are these?"

"Chuchus," the man replied. "The small ones aren't terribly dangerous; it's the big ones you want to watch out for. A child with a broom could fend off one of these."

Izuku watched the little blobs roll toward them. The way the rolled and jiggled reminded him a little bit of a football. Wait, a football... oh, I've got to try this.

"Link, I've got the one on the right." Without waiting for the blond to reply, Izuku ran towards his chosen target. As he did so, he channeled Full Cowling, trying to drive a little more of One For All into his legs, and, as he reached the chuchu, drove his foot into the gelatinous body.

The feeling was unlike anything Izuku had ever experienced; the closest comparison he had was with the sludge villain from earlier that year. The little slime momentarily molded around his foot before being launched through the air. Izuku grinned as he watched it soar out over the plain. The thing didn't go terribly far before it burst in a shower of blue goo, but it was satisfying nonetheless.

Wub.

Izuku turned around, still grinning, to see Link calmly scooping up some of the other chuchu's goop, which had formed into little balls. The blond looked up at him, face expressionless. "That was impressive." Link grinned suddenly and started laughing. "I've always wanted to do that. I never really got a chance to try, though."

Izuku laughed as well. "The chuchu reminded me of a football, and I wanted to see if it would fly as far as one."

Link cocked his head to the side. Oh, he probably doesn't know what a football is. Before Izuku could explain, Link shrugged and continued down the steps. The greenhead shook his head and followed, still grinning. He wasn't likely to forget that anytime soon.

His grin faded somewhat as he considered what he'd done. He had effectively just killed that chuchu, and yet he didn't feel nearly as bad about it as he had about the bokoblin. If he was being honest with himself, he kind of wanted to do it again. Maybe it's because it's not humanoid? Link did say that most of the non-animals were monsters, and I think that applies to chuchus.

Izuku was still thinking when something touched his shoulder. He jumped and whirled, or tried to; Link was holding on to his shoulder, preventing him from spinning.

"Are you all right? You were muttering something about the chuchus."

"I'm fine for now," Izuku replied. "Where are we supposed to go from here?"

Link pulled out the tablet and studied it for a moment before pointing at the mound of rocks—and the three bokoblins in front of it. "We'll probably want to sneak up on these, as we're outnumbered.

The hero-in-training gulped and nodded. "Lead the way." The two of them crept around the rearmost of the three, who was standing guard in front of the pile of boulders and, Izuku noticed, was much better equipped, armed with a small sword and a wooden shield. Izuku could also see was hollow, and the inside appeared to be made from the same material as the cave where he had found Link. What's that doing here?

Finally, the two had positioned themselves between the odd half-cave and the monster. Link placed a finger to his lips and unhooked his club with his other hand. Izuku held his breath as the blond crept up on the bokoblin. When he was directly behind the creature, Link raised his club and brought it crashing down.

Thunk!

The bokoblin went limp and fell to the ground. To Izuku's surprise, he could see the creature's body start to turn black before vanishing in a puff of purple smoke, leaving a couple of teeth—and the weapons. Link quickly dropped his club and picked up the sword and shield. He bounced it in his grip and gave it a few experimental swings before nodding and sliding it into the sheath that had dropped next to the teeth. The blond looked back at him. "Two to go. You might want to get your bow out."

Not really... He'd never fired a bow before, but had seen it done on cartoons and games. It couldn't be that hard, right? Izuku reluctantly got the bow out and nocked an arrow before following Link. The last two bokoblins were sitting at the top of a small rise that overlooked the rest of the valley. They were facing away from the two approaching heroes and looked to be talking quietly with each other.

Link gestured toward the one on the left and started creeping toward it. Okay, so he wants me to deal with the one on the right? Izuku suppressed a sigh and pulled the arrow back—or tried to. I didn't realize these things required so much strength to pull. After a couple of attempts, he managed to draw the arrow back as far as he could without breaking the bow. He looked down the shaft and took a breath before trying to steady his shaking hands. After a moment, he thought he had it, and released the arrow.

Wsssssst.

Thunk!

The bokoblin pitched forward and rolled down the small incline out of sight. Its companion screeched and snatched up the bow at its feet, looking around frantically for the source of the attack.

It didn't search long; Link lunged forward and buried the sword in the creature's chest before ripping it out and slicing into its stomach. As Izuku watched, he realized that where he would have expected to see blood, instead the bokoblin appeared to be 'bleeding' more of that dark smoke. Link's sword was likewise free of blood, instead trailing wisps of smoke behind it.

The second bokoblin fell to the ground and disappeared. Link rummaged around in the pile of loot before coming up with the creature's bow and a small bundle of arrows. When he rejoined Izuku, he held out a couple of arrows. "That was a fantastic shot. Thanks for taking care of the other one."

Izuku nodded and took the arrows, but didn't say anything. Now that they were finished, he felt a little sick. He knew he'd have to get used to the idea of killing these things at some point, but he didn't think it would come over night.

Link, perhaps sensing his unease, gestured toward the pile of rocks. "Come on, let's go see what's so special about those boulders."

The two of them returned to the half-cave, and once inside, they immediately saw what was so special. In the center of the small outcrop was a terminal like the one where Link had retrieved the Slate. Above the terminal hung a large rock , the upper half of which was covered in more of the odd yellow stonework.

As they approached it, the pedestal lit up orange. "Place the Sheikah Slate on the pedestal," a quiet voice said. Link looked at Izuku before pulling the Slate out doing as instructed. Once placed in the slot, the pedestal shifted and spun the Slate around until it was horizontal and facing screen-up. "Sheikah Tower activated. Please watch for falling rocks."

Falling rocks? Izuku barely had time to register this information before a blue light flashed above him, forming the same stylized eye they had seen elsewhere. Before he could do or say anything, the ground began to shake. It quivered softly at first, but the tremors became more and more violent. Izuku fought to keep his balance, but failed and ended up flat on his back. And then the rocks around him exploded.

Wow, I was not expecting such a positive response to this. I'm glad that you guys have been enjoying it, and I hope this chapter is up to par. Sorry this one took a little longer to get out; I made the great mistake of rereading part of a favorites series. Hope you all enjoyed!