Shoto cursed and ducked behind a pillar as another arrow whizzed by and crashed into the wall of the arena behind him. He hadn't expected the monster to be so strong. If he kept this up, Shoto was sure that he would be dead before too much longer. He needed to end this now.

Shoto spun out from behind the pillar and planted his right foot firmly into the ground, sending sheets of ice toward the creature. It reacted by breathing more fire at the onrushing ice—much as the boy had expected it would. Shoto smirked. You'll have to do much better than that. He spun around on his right foot and swept his right hand up over his head.

SSSSSSTTTT!

The torrent of ice was nothing like the previous attack and completely overwhelmed the creature. Shoto didn't let up and kept pouring ice from his right side. When he finally stopped a few seconds later, the results of his attack were immediately clear. His opponent—some sort of lion-centaur, he could see now that it wasn't trying to kill him—was trapped in a glacier roughly the same size as the one he'd unleashed at the Sports Festival. He approached cautiously and could see its eyes moving around before focusing on the hero-in-training.

Shoto nodded and turned to leave. He glanced backward as he walked out of the arena and could see a point of heat appear around the monster's head. It won't be too long before that thing escapes. Shoto sped up his pace; he didn't have any desire for a round two.

He was halfway across the bridge connecting the arena and whatever was on the other side when the ground began to shake. He immediately turned to face the arena, fearing that he hadn't been fast enough.

To his partial relief, it looked like the monster hadn't escaped yet. However, that left the rumbling, which was growing more violent. Shoto reached out to steady himself, struggling to stand upright.

Cruuumpt!

Endeavor's heir watched in shock as, with a shower of dust and stone, a spire or tower of some kind rose into the sky from the plateau to the south.

Eijiro waved at the Foothill Stable workers and began his hike up the mountain. He'd arrived there late yesterday after being dumped in the middle of nowhere by the Big Bad's portal thing. The stable staff had explained where he was and had been manly enough to let him stay the night. They'd even offered to let him stay there, so long as he helped out. While he had been tempted by the offer, Eijiro had heard one of the other patrons mention something that had sounded like "Gorons." When he had asked, the patron had told him about the super manly rock people who lived at the foot of the volcano.

The artificial redhead hadn't been able to resist. A whole bunch of macho people who basically had his Quirk? He had to check them out! So he had explained his plan to the stable head, who in turn had presented him with a bag of food. A traveling merchant with a big red nose and a massive backpack in the shape of a beetle who was staying at the stable also gave him something called "fireproof elixirs," stating that they would be needed the farther up the mountain he got. He'd also provided him with a pretty sturdy walking staff. "Just in case," the stable head had said.

Whatever the old man had meant, Eijiro was glad to have the staff. It made the hike a bit easier, and also made him feel like he was on more of an adventure, which he supposed he was. His mission was to rescue Bakugo, though that was turning out to be far more difficult than he had thought. He frowned, worried about where his friend might be. He had to start somewhere, and maybe the dude had been dumped somewhere on Death Mountain. The boy's lips twitched upwards. The name certainly fits "Lord Explosion Murder's" personality.

He followed the trail as it wound down past what looked like several large hot springs before winding farther up the mountain. Eijiro would have loved to just soak in those for a while; they looked like they had healing powers. Maybe once he found Bakugo and the others, they could come check these out.

He also quickly realized why the beetle merchant had given him those elixirs. The farther up the path he went, the hotter it got. By midmorning, the air around him was uncomfortably warm, and from what he had been told, he still had several hundred meters of trail to hike before he reached Goron City.

Might as well give one of these weird potions a shot. He uncorked one of the bottles and sipped it experimentally. To his surprise, it actually tasted quite good. A bit spicy, but still good. He took another big chug, draining half the bottle in one shot. Immediately, the air around him went down in temperature, or so it seemed. He stared at the remaining liquid in surprise before grinning. This is great!

Because he was looking at the bottle, Eijiro noticed the ripples in the elixir before he felt the shaking. It started softly, but quickly escalated until it felt like the whole mountain was going to shake to pieces. The hero-in-training struggled to maintain his balance while he looked for shelter.

CRUUUUMPT!

Eijiro winced at the explosively loud sound behind him, even as he reflexively hardened his skin in response and turned to face the threat. Instead of a villain or monster, a large tower was rising up from the ground farther up the mountain. After what felt like ages but was probably only a few moments, the earth stopped shaking and the tower ceased moving.

The soon-to-be hero Red Riot gaped at the sudden appearance of the structure before quickly gulping down the rest of the elixir and hurrying up the trail. It seemed like things weren't all too peaceful in Hyrule now, either. He needed to find the others before things got too crazy.

Beedle slowly crept up on the Rugged Rhino Beetle. He had spotted the little guy when he had wandered off the road to a small cliff in order to get a better view of the surroundings. He had heard a loud crashing noise and was curious to know what had happened. At the top of the cliff, he had a clear view of Hyrule Field and the old arena, the latter, he was surprised to discover, had been covered by a miniature glacier. Curiosity satisfied, Beedle had turned to leave, and that was when he had spotted this beauty of a beetle.

And what a beauty it was. The armor-like shell had polished gleam that indicated the shell would be nearly as hard as stone. The horns were large and hardly curved, so this was an adult of great skill. The coloration was good; the head was a nice, vibrant green, and the striped browns of the carapace complimented each other nicely. And the size! It was at least as big as Beedle's fist, or maybe two fists. Either made it one of the largest representatives of the species he had ever had the luck to find, and he had to have it.

He knew that the people at the Outskirts Stable thought he was a little weird, and they were right. Beedle knew he was odd, but that didn't bother him. He just enjoyed traveling the region and peddling his wares. Occasionally, he would find a treasure like this Rugged Rhino Beetle that he would absolutely have to add to his collection.

The beetle twitched, and the trader froze. It wouldn't do to be too hasty; that would scare this marvelous specimen away. After a moment, Beetle started to creep forward again. He was almost within reach when he heard a distant rumbling. He barely had time to wonder if there was a storm coming when the ground began to quake. The Rugged Rhino Beetle, sensing the seismic disturbance, buzzed its wings and took flight. Beedle lunged for his airborne prize, but missed, his fingers closing just short of the fleeing insect. Beedle crashed to the ground and was forced to watch what could have been the jewel of his collection fly away.

The trader's curse was lost amid the rumbling of the earth. As Beedle looked around for the source, he heard another crash to the south, and watched as an odd tower that glowed orange erupted from the earth. Farther out across Hyrule Field, similar structures were rising from the ground as well. He rolled over to look up at the old Sheikah building at the top of the hill where the stable was located. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, as the earth's rumbling finally subsided, orange lights and symbols appeared on the surface of the ancient shrine.

Beedle allowed himself a small smile, his lost prize forgotten. "So, it's finally happening."

Izuku struggled to his feet as the world around him ceased shaking, and he couldn't help but stare. Instead of being surrounded by boulders, he was now dozens of meters in the air looking out across the vast vista below the Plateau. The shadow of the distant mountain—no, that's a volcano, Izuku realized—seemed to reach all the way to the castle at the end of the vast field, though the greenhead was pretty sure that was just his brain settling.

More interesting to him at the moment was that he could see tall towers dotting the landscape; somewhere in the fields, while others had sprouted in the mountains. He could also see a few structures that glowed with the same orange light he associated with the Sheikah Slate—one of which was near the base of the tower he and Link were standing on.

Wait, where is Link? Izuku turned back toward the center of the platform he was on. Link was climbing to his feet next to the terminal, which had been covered in orange lights. As the warrior rose, the robotic voice Izuku had come to associate with these weird buildings spoke up again.

"Distilling local information..."

Link looked at the pedestal and then at Izuku, who shrugged. Their unspoken question was answered as the stone above the terminal began to glow. Lines of blue glyphs crawled down the semi-pillar toward another of the stylized eyes that had appeared at the tip. The two watched warily as the glyphs appeared to coalesce into a drop of glowing liquid that, after hanging on the end of the stone for a moment, dropped and splashed across the Slate's screen, turning the lights of the terminal blue. Link jumped as the lights changed color and bent to investigate.

After a few moments, he leaned back. "Regional map extracted," chirped the machine as the terminal whirled around and released the Slate.

"Is-Is everything okay?" Izuku asked as the blond picked up his tablet.

"Better than okay, I think," Link replied, turning the Slate around. "Here, take a look.

Izuku stepped over to Link and squinted at the screen before grinning. Where before the screen had been blank, save for the blinking dot that had guided them here, now a portion of the screen was lit up, revealing a map of the Plateau. There were also other lines that spidered out from the Plateau. Izuku studied it for a moment before nodding to himself. "These other lines all seem to form sections, which would mean that we only have a small portion of the map." He looked up at Link. "I bet you the other towers out there will give us the missing pieces."

"Figures. It's probably to protect the information." Link hooked the Slate back on his belt. "Let's figure out how to get down from here."

The two started to look for a way down and quickly realized that there was an opening in the floor. When Izuku looked down, he saw that the side of the tower was made out of the same metal shaped into a honeycomb pattern, almost like a makeshift ladder. Several small platforms spiraled down the sides of the tower. Okay, so we need to climb down to each platform, then.

"This shouldn't be too bad; it might take a little while, though," Izuku said, glancing back at his friend. Link nodded and took a step toward the hole, but stopped. His face creased in concentration, as if he were trying to listen to something hard to hear. Which, Izuku realized a moment later, was exactly what he was doing.

Try... try to remember...

I can hear her voice again, Izuku realized. It was difficult to hear, much fainter than back in the cave. I wonder what changed? A glimmering light from behind Link caught his attention, distracting him. Izuku squinted his eyes, trying to see what it was. Link turned, and together the two watched as a brilliant light appeared in what had to have been the center of the castle.

You... asleep... hundred years.

One hundred years? What? Before he could say anything, the ground began to shake again, though nowhere nearly as strongly as before. In the distance, a dark, purple-tinted fog rose and swirled around the castle. Izuku wasn't sure, but it seemed to him that the fog was trying to crush the glimmering light.

The beast... When... regains... true power... world... its end.

Izuku watched, eyes wide, as a dark, shadowy thing formed from the fog and flew around the old castle. It opened what looked like a mouth and let out a thunderous roar that Izuku could hear from where he was standing.

As if in response to the beast, the light flared. Izuku winced at the sudden intensity of the light, but the effect on the fog monster was much more drastic. The creature opened its mouth to roar again, but this time, Izuku didn't hear anything. The light surged even brighter, and the creature dissipated.

The woman spoke again as the creature faded. This time, Izuku could hear her clearly, and the urgency in her voice was clear.

Now then, please hurry, Link. There are other dark powers in the castle whose goals I know not. You and your companion must hurry, Link, before it's too late.

The light faded as the woman finished speaking, returning to its former glimmer. Izuku kept watching the tower, trying to process what the voice had said. He hadn't heard everything, but from what he gathered, whatever that purple fog was was bad. Wait, that looked like the same color smoke that comes from deak bokoblins. He gulped as he considered the sheer scale of the monster; if all of the other little monsters were part of it, then who knows how powerful it was. As for the other dark powers she mentioned, Izuku had a sinking feeling that he knew exactly who they were.

"Sounds like we've got some work to do," Link said grimly. The warrior turned and walked over to the ladder. "Come on, we need to figure out how to get off of this plateau."

Izuku nodded, forgetting that Link couldn't see him anymore, before following him. The next thirty minutes or so of precarious climbing from platform to platform made Izuku very glad that he'd done as much training as he had. If he had had to do this before U.A.—or even before he met All Might—he didn't think he would have been able to get down. As it was, the climb, while still tiring, wasn't terribly difficult, and the two of them made it to the bottom safely.

They had no sooner reached the bottom of the tower when they heard a voice calling out to them. Both of them looked up and watched as the Rhoam glided down out of the sky and landed in front of them. As the old man brushed himself off, Izuku couldn't help but wonder where he had come from that he had been able to fly down from such an angle.

"My my," Rhoam said as he pulled his cane-staff from his rope belt, "it would seem we have quite the enigma here. As I'm sure you two just saw, this tower and others just like it have erupted across the land, one after another. It is almost as though... a long-dormant power has awoken quite suddenly." Rhoam adjusted his gaze from the tower to the two companions. "If you do not mind me asking, did anything... odd occur while you were atop the tower? Other than the tower appearing beneath your feet, of course."

"Umm..." Izuku began, not sure what he should say, as the voice had been speaking primarily to Link. The blond, however, removed the problem.

"I—we—heard a voice," he said, gesturing at himself and Izuku and explaining briefly what he had heard.

"Well now!" Rhoam sound surprised. "A voice, you say? And did you happen to recognize this mysterious voice?" Link shook his head, and the old man scratched his beard. "I see. Well, that is unfortunate. Maybe it will come to you in time, as the voice clearly knows you."

His face darkened as a thought occurred to him, and he turned to face the edge of the Plateau and gestured with his staff. "I assume you caught sight of that atrocity enshrouding the castle." Not waiting for a response, the old man continued, his voice laced with bitterness. "That... is Calamity Ganon. One hundred years ago, that vile entity brought the kingdom of Hyrule to ruin. It appeared suddenly and destroyed everything in its path. So many innocent lives were lost in its wake.

"For a century, the very symbol of our kingdom, Hyrule Castle, has managed to contain that evil. But only just barely. There it festers, building its strength for the moment it will unleash its blight upon the land once again. It would appear that moment is fast approaching."

Rhoam turned back to face the two of them, and Izuku noticed that the stone where the old man had planted his staff had been crushed. He must have lost someone to this Calamity. A second thought struck Izuku as he studied the old man's face. He must have been born either during or just after the attack of this Calamity Ganon if he remembers that much. Either would make him super old, though.

Rhoam's voice cut through Izuku's thoughts. "I must ask you, courageous one, do you intend to make your way to the castle?" he asked, looking directly at Link.

Link didn't hesitate. "I do," he said firmly.

The old man chuckled. "I had a feeling you would say that. There is a slight problem, though. Here, on this isolated plateau, we are surrounded on all sides by steep cliffs and high retaining walls, with no way down."

"No-No way down?" Izuku cut in. "But all of these old ruins..."

"There used to be a way up, an old stairwell." Rhoam shook his head. "Alas, it was destroyed during the Calamity. Now, the only way down would be either to jump—and that would lead to a certain and foolish death—or to fly, which isn't possible for Hylians. Of course, if you had a paraglider like mine, that would be quite a different story."

"Paraglider?" Link asked. "You mean that thing that you floated down with?"

Rhoam laughed. "Oho! Piqued your interest, have I? Yes, I didn't come soaring down here on my own feathery wings, you know!" He patted the paraglider at his side. "Worry not—I will happily agree to give you my paraglider—and I might have a spare for you as well, Midoriya. But I can't give them to you for nothing." The old man scratched his beard. "Let me see... what about I trade it for a bit of treasure that slumbers nearby? Come. Let me show you something."

With that, Rhoam walked away from the two and up a small hill just to their north. Link gave Izuku a look before following the old man, and Link quickly followed after. He thought he understood what Link had meant; while he desperately wanted to ask Rhoam why he couldn't just give them the gliders, especially as he apparently understood how urgent things were, he remembered what All Might had said about trusting the man. He sighed and continued up the hill. He just needed to be patient.

Once he reached the top of the rise, Izuku could immediately see what had caught Rhoam's attention. The oddly reflective structure he had noticed earlier had been lit up. Orange lights swirling in the strange patterns Izuku was coming to associate with weird tech stuff covered the base of the building, outlining what appeared to be a doorway.

"So you've noticed the strange lights." Izuku jumped and looked back at Rhoam, who was smiling softly. "It began glowing at the exact moment those towers rose from the ground. I would think that such a place might house some sort of treasure, wouldn't you?" He nodded to himself. "Treasure for the paragliders. A fair exchange."

The old man nodded to himself again and sat down on the bank of the hill. "Go ahead, you two. I'll wait here for your return."

Izuku glanced at Link, who just shrugged. The two of them set out across the field between them and the building. The two were forced to circumnavigate a steep ditch that split the field in two, but other than that, they didn't encounter any obstacles, though Izuku had spotted what looked to be more bokoblins near the edge of the Plateau. Around the base of the building and spread out across the field were small puddles and ponds that the two had to navigate around as well.

A few minutes of walking later brought the two to the foot of the structure. Now that he was closer, Izuku could see that his suspicions had been correct, and that this building was of the same make as the other places they'd been. More importantly, it also had a pedestal located outside what looked like the entrance, which was currently closed by bars of some kind covered in symbols. "I think you need to tap the pedestal with the Slate to make it open," he said to the blond.

"I think you're right." Link placed the tablet on the pedestal, and the two of them watched as the lights on the pedestal changed from orange to blue. A small circle at the end of the entryway also lit up with the blue light, revealing symbols similar to those on the gate. The change in light was accompanied by the same mechanical voice they'd encountered at the other locations.

"Sheikah Slate confirmed. Travel Gate registered to map. Access granted."

As the voice finished speaking, the gate swung open, the bars swinging inwards in a zipper-like fashion, revealing a small chamber with a platform marked with the blue eye in the center.

Izuku wrinkled his nose as a wave of old air washed over him. It had a bit of a stale scent and taste to it, but he didn't think it was poisonous or anything; just old air that hadn't moved around a lot. Since there wasn't any treasure in the chamber, he studied the platform in the center. After a moment, he nodded. "Link, I-I think we need to step on that. I think it's a lift."

"A what?"

"A lift," Izuku explained. "It's a platform that moves up and down in order to transport people or things from different levels of a building."

"Aha." Link also appeared to be studying the platform, and it looked like he'd already reached the same conclusion. "I wasn't sure if there was a word for that, but I had thought that it might be the key to getting inside."

Link stepped into the small chamber and, after a moment's hesitation, stepped onto the platform. After a moment, the lights are the base of the platform flared blue, and the lift shuddered and began to descend. Link looked back at Izuku. "Are you coming?"

"Oh, uh, s-sure!" Izuku scrambled over the edge and dropped down beside Link, wondering just what, exactly, Rhoam had gotten them into.

Hey everyone! As always, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. As always, many thanks to AzureFirehawk and Irmadbro for looking over the draft and providing some feedback. Figured now would be a good time to introduce some of the other characters, though we won't see them again for a little while.

Speaking of next time, I also wanted to give a heads-up that my next semester of college starts up next week. Never fear; I still plan on updating MHH, but updates might take a little longer. I'll have a better idea of what my work load'll look like after next week.

So yeah, new chapter today, a couple revisions to last chapter, and hopefully five will be up before too long. Next time, our pair of heroes gets to explore a shrine or two, so get excited. :D