After retrieving Midoriya's weapons from Dorian and Cado and getting directions to the Shrine, Link and Midoriya set off. Impa had been right; the Shrine sat on a ridge overlooking the valley and was easily visible once you knew where to look. Its orange glow stood out against the fading sunlight, an unnatural man-made marvel.

Beside him, Midoriya struggled to get his equipment back into position. The youth had learned a lot over the past couple of weeks, but he wasn't entirely comfortable with weapons and still preferred to use his shield. The sight vaguely reminded Link of a distant memory, something about his training to become a knight. He strained to recall the memory, but it trickled away, leaving him frustrated.

Something poked him. "Hey, are you all right?" Midoriya asked, looking up at him. "You seemed a little off when we left."

Link's brow furrowed. Looked a little off? What was he—oh. "The painting. It was of Blatchery Plain. In front of Fort Hateno."

Understanding shone in Midoriya's eyes. "O-oh. D-did it remind you of anything else?"

"No, nothing that I hadn't already remembered."

Much use that had done. Link was still sorting through the memory, analyzing his performance against that of the Guardians. No matter what angle he examined the scene from, he couldn't see any way he could have performed better. And that was galling.

Ahead of them, several Sheikah had gathered in front of the large shop that sat on the road into town. Most of the others who had been on the road earlier had vanished, more than likely to prepare their own evening meals. Link could feel their eyes on him as he passed.

"…There he goes…"

"…Met…Lady Impa…"

"…Hylian Champion…

"…Champion?… Doesn't have…regalia…"

Link just shook his head. Every town had its gossips. The two turned on to the road leading up the hill and hiked up to the Shrine. A cucco with brilliant red plumage eyed them as they came up the path before clucking and pecking at the grass. Further up the road from the Shrine, Link spotted a man whose hair looked like a wet paintbrush painting the valley landscape. Other than that, there wasn't anyone in the vicinity of the Shrine.

"What do you think this Shrine's challenge will be?" Midoriya asked.

Link shrugged and tapped the Sheikah Slate against the Shrine's control pedestal. "Could be anything. Most of the trials the monks set seemed intent on forcing me to think outside the box. I can only imagine how the trials on the Plateau would have gone without your help."

A flash of blue light accompanied the quiet groaning of internal mechanisms as the interlocking door swung open. Link stowed the Slate and stepped onto the lift with Izuku right behind him. It shuddered as the now-familiar blue light flared across the room before descending.

Unlike some of the other Shrines Link had been in, the lift only descended for a few moments before it exited the shaft, revealing a large, square room with beams of light streaming through skylights in the ceiling. The floor and walls were made of the same too-smooth tan and black stone prevalent in these Shrines. Six pillars topped with cut blue gems surrounded a pit in the middle of the room, each pillar at the point of a hexagon. Other than them, the room was empty. The far wall was interrupted by a barred gate, the kind Link immediately recognized as being unlocked by some kind of trigger.

The whole room set him on edge. The air hung heavy, expectantly, and there was a certain pressure here. It reminded Link of the Temple of Time, but he couldn't see anything to do with the Goddess anywhere in the room.

Beside him, Midoriya whistled. "Wonder what the puzzle for this Shrine will be?"

Before Link could respond, an ethereal voice cut through his thoughts, seemingly coming from everywhere at once. "To you who sets foot in this Shrine, I am Ta'loh Naeg. I share with you my knowledge that it may please Hylia."

Link waited, but the voice ceased speaking. Hesitantly, he asked, "Okay, what knowledge is that?"

No response. Midoriya nudged him. "I bet you anything that we won't get an answer until we find a way through that door."

"Yeah, you're probably right." Link sighed and started walking. "Why can't any of these Shrines just be normal? I understand that they're supposed to test me, but a couple of them have felt a little over the top."

"The pathway to being a hero is fraught with peril," Midoriya said sagely. "Only by overcoming our inhibitions and pushing beyond, Plus Ultra, can we embark on the heroic path paved by our predecessors."

Link snorted. "Let's hope our bodies don't become more stones in that road."

"You're always so cheerful, Link. You and Tokoyami would get along great."

Boom.

Link flung out his hand as the sound echoed through the room, accompanied by the sounds of gears turning. A platform rose out of the pit and clicked into place, revealing a small Guardian like those Link and Midoriya had dealt with in the Plateau Shrines. Unlike those, however, this one's head extended on a little pylon until it was almost a span taller than him. Little arms unfolded from the central trunk. One of them was holding a small bar that, when the robot shook it, manifested a small sword that glowed with the same blue light as the Guardians' lasers.

Midoriya groaned as he and Link hurriedly drew their weapons. "You're kidding. These things have lightsabers?"

"I don't know what those are," Link said, eyes never leaving the machine as he set down his bag, "but I think I'd rather not find out."

Link leapt forward, whipping his sword down in an arc toward the machine's head. Instead of the satisfying clang he had expected, the sword rebounded off of some kind of field. He staggered backwards and swore as his arm went numb from the impact. The machine, for its part, didn't move. It just eyed him. Before he could try again, Ta'loh Naeg's voice drifted through the Shrine once more.

"Patience, Chosen of the Goddess. Harness Courage's Might, and you will pass."

As the voice faded, Midoriya frowned. "C-courage's might? What's that?"

"I have no idea." Link watched the miniature Guardian, but it didn't move. Its eye swiveled back and forth between the two of them, and it swiveled its arms around occasionally, but it made no move to advance. Hesitantly, Link stepped back and lowered his sword, motioning for Midoriya to stand down and back up as well. The Guardian's eye pulsed, and its sword deactivated, disappearing in a flash.

"Okay, so it's not going to attack us. Yet," Link said, breathing a sigh of relief as he sheathed his sword.

"Oh thank God." Midoriya shakily lowered his shield. "I wasn't looking forward to finding out if my shield could block that sword."

Link nodded while examining the Guardian. "Of course, that just means that we can't progress until we figure out how to get passed its shield."

"Shield?" Midoriya perked up. "What shield?"

"It's got some kind of protective shield or bubble. That's what my sword bounced off of."

"A force field. Hmmm… I wonder if we can overwhelm it? If we hit it hard enough, there's a good possibility that it will overload the shield and let us do some damage to the main robot. But what if the shield has countermeasures? And don't force fields have a fractal refresh rate…"

Link rolled his eyes as Midoriya sunk deeper into his mumblings, but let him be for the time being. If it helped him think, let him go. In the meantime, Link sat down. He looked at the Guardian, but his eyes glazed over as he searched his spotty memories for hints of what to do.

He'd fought Guardians before; how had he overcome their shields? Did the big ones even have shields? That one on the Great Plateau hadn't, but it had been old and breaking down. It might not have been fully functional. From his few memories, he recalled surges of strength and great bursts of clarity, as if time was slowing down around him, but that had been when he was exhausted, when he had died. He shook his head; adrenaline was quite the drug. Actually, his constant state of adrenaline might have played a part in his death.

'Well, we're just going to leave that thought alone for the moment.' Link looked back up at Midoriya and clapped his hands. The boy jumped and looked around wildly before his eyes fell on Link, and Link couldn't help but chuckle. "You've clearly had some thoughts on the subject; why don't you share them. Slowly, at human speed."

Midoriya flushed, but he energetically bobbed his head. "Right! W-well, I think we can overwhelm the shields, either through lots of quick strikes or through one massive blow. If it works like some of the theoretical force fields back home, that'll be the only way to overcome its recharge rate short of ionizing the field, and we can't do that with what we have here."

Link waved a hand. "Okay, so we can't ionize them, whatever that means. I'm pretty quick, and I've seen you bounce around; think we can overwhelm it that way?"

"I don't think so. W-we'd have to be going really fast, and I can't get to that speed with Superpower yet, not safely." Midoriya looked down at the hand not holding his shield and clenched his fist. "I think we're going to have to go the brute force route, and since I can hit a lot harder than you can, I should probably test it."

"You sure?"

"Y-yeah. I think that if I only go a little over my limit that I'll be able to do it. I'll hit it a couple of times at my limit to get an idea first though. Besides," Midoriya said, suddenly grinning, "the monk said 'Courage's Might,' right? I don't know that I'm all that courageous, but I know that my Quirk is mighty."

Link frowned, but couldn't see any way around it. "All right, I guess we'll start with that."

"Don't worry, Link. We've got this."

Green lightning surged around Midoriya, followed by the tell-tale red lines that followed him activating his Quirk. He shifted in his stance before launching himself forward. Link wasn't sure, but it looked like he was moving much more quickly than the last time he had seen Superpower. Midoriya leapt up into the air and pulled his arm back for what looked like a deadly blow.

As Midoriya approached the Guardian, the machine turned its attention to this new threat. Like when Link had attacked it, it activated its sword. Unlike when Link had attacked it, the creature swiveled its sword around to face the falling teen. Midoriya yelped as the robot raised its sword, and Link knew immediately that there wasn't any way for Midoriya to defend against the blow. The glowing blade pulled back, spun around, and then whipped toward the falling boy.

'No!'

Time seemed to slow down as Link threw himself back toward the machine. He raised his rusty shield as he slipped between Midoriya and the falling blade, a surge of strength rushing through him as he did so. He gritted his teeth and, as soon as he felt the blade bite into his shield, swung the shield to parry the blow.

Ka-Ping!

The air distorted and rippled away from the point of impact, and the Guardian slowly staggered backwards, its joints sparking. Link stared in surprise before glancing at his shield, which seemed completely unharmed. As he looked back up, time sped back up again.

"Look out, Link!"

Before he could react, Midoriya crashed into him, sending the two of them tumbling across the room past the recovering robot. Link groaned and sat up, rubbing his shoulder. "I think we need to have a talk about smashing into allies feet first, Midoriya."

Midoriya didn't respond. Link turned toward his friend to find the boy staring at him with wide eyes. "Midoriya? You okay?"

"H-how did you do that?" Midoriya asked.

"Do what?"

"That. One moment, you were five meters away; the next, you were right in front of me. And what was that shock wave when you parried? How did you do that?"

Link glanced from where he had left the bag to where the robot was and frowned. Midoriya was right; he'd covered far more ground than he should have been able to. "I… don't know. I just knew that you wouldn't be able to defend yourself against that attack in time since you had already committed yourself."

A light went off in Midoriya's eyes, and he excitedly began scribbling in one of his notebooks. Link hadn't seen where he had pulled it from, and at this point, he was pretty sure that part of Midoriya's Quirk was summoning and storing notebooks. Once again, he just waited as Midoriya sketched out his thoughts, only half-listening while he turned the rest of his attention to the Guardian, which had recovered and was watching them once again. Like before, it made no move to attack and seemed content to sit and wait.

"O-okay, I think I've got an idea."

Link glanced back at Midoriya. "I'll take anything you have."

Midoriya nibbled on the end of his makeshift pen as he stared at his notes. He scratched something out, scribbled something in its place, and nodded to himself. "Right. I think you do have a Quirk of some kind, for want of a better term. And I think I know how it works, too."

Well, that was interesting. "What do you mean?"

"I want to test something first. C-can you go back up to the Guardian and get it to attack you again? Try and parry it if you can."

Link frowned, but pulled himself to his feet and retrieved his equipment, once again examining it for any sort of damage. Aside from the rust coating the shield and the chips in the blade that he had started to notice, everything looked fine. He nodded to himself before turning to face the Guardian. He stared it down for a moment before crouching and raising his shield.

The response was instantaneous. The Guardian's eye pulsed and it skittered toward him, pivoting its sword around to face him as it did so. Link ignored Midoriya's yelp of surprise, keeping all of his attention on the Guardian in front of him. It scuttled around a little, seemingly searching for an opening, before it raised its sword and jerked it in a horizontal slash at Link. He focused on the incoming blade and, as it got close, swung the shield.

WHSSSST!

Clang!

The blade sheared through the bottom corner of the shield, sending the shard of metal clattering across the floor. Link cursed and leaned back as the blade neared him, letting the glowing sword whisk past his face by a finger's breadth. As he ducked past, he kicked out at one of the Guardian's tripod feet and was surprised when his foot connected with metal. The machine stumbled briefly, given Link time to get his shield back up.

The Guardian regained its balance and rotated to face him, its eye glowing balefully as it brought its sword to bear again. Link watched it descend toward him, and he tried to recapture the feeling that he'd had last time. He took a deep breath, letting everything fade besides himself and the sword. The sword flashed blue and whipped toward him once more.

Except this time it seemed to be moving more slowly. Link watched it approach him. Last time, he had swung too early. He needed to wait until it actually hit. He squared up, letting the sizzling laser sweep toward him, and as soon as it touched his shield, he parried.

Ka-ping!

The Guardian recoiled as the same shock wave as last time rippled outward from the point of impact. Link didn't wait for it to recover this time, instead sweeping forward and lashing out in a series of slashes. He felt some slight resistance, but his sword didn't rebound this time, and he managed to get five or six blows in before the robot recovered and jumped backwards.

"Yes! You did it, Link!"

Link blinked as everything snapped back into focus around him. Midoriya ran up to him, grinning. "That was amazing! I don't think I've ever seen anyone move that fast except for All Might, and even then I think you might have him beat."

He grinned. "So, do you know what's going on?"

Midoriya nodded. "I th-think so. Both times when you managed that, you were defending, reacting to your opponent, right? Well, I think that that's how your Quirk or power or whatever triggers. It works to create openings and lets you get a lot of damage in with those openings."

"You think so?" It seemed a little out there to Link, but he had survived stranger things.

"I'm pretty sure. And it doesn't have to be just parries. Remember when you were training me on the Great Plateau? I used my Quirk and I know that makes me faster than you normally, so I was sure I would smash you. You moved in a similar way then as you did now, just kind of speeding out of the way."

Link took a moment to digest this. "So you're saying that that thing I experience where time seems to slow down is actually my… Quirk… activating?"

Midoriya's eyes widened. "I didn't know that everything seemed to slow down for you. Yeah, that would make sense. It might be what the monk was talking about when he said to 'harness Courage's Might.' I think the speed which you attack at in that state overcomes the shield's recharge rate."

Link frowned, but the more he thought about it, the more it made sense. 'Well, guess there's one way to find out.'

He hefted his equipment and jogged up to the Guardian, which perked up and scuttled toward him. Link raised his shield, waiting for the strike that he knew was about to come. The machine's sword whipped out toward him. This time, instead of trying to parry it, he waited until the last moment and rolled under the blade.

It worked. As he came up on the other side of the machine, Link noticed that it had slowed again and took the opportunity to hammer his own sword into the machine's back. He hacked and slashed at the casing, cutting a chunk off and revealing the inner mechanisms. He smirked in satisfaction before plunging his sword into the opening and yanking it from side to side.

Clunk!

Sparks cascaded out of the opening, followed by an explosive rush of energy that picked Link up and blasted him away from the machine, tearing his sword away in the process. He rolled with the blast and tumbled into a crouch facing the Guardian. It creaked around to face him, took a step, and then crashed to the ground. Link waited for a moment, but the robot didn't move, and the glowing lights across its body faded save for its sword, which tumbled to the ground nearby.

Link breathed sigh of relief before grinning. That was going to turn out to be very useful indeed. He pulled himself up and strode over to the machine, where Midoriya was already poking at the 'corpse,' mumbling and sketching in another one of his notebooks. Link shook his head and left him to it before stepping over to the energy sword.

Now that he could examine it without it trying to kill him, it was a bizarre weapon. The sword was single-edged and very short, more of a long dagger than a short sword, really. The hilt seemed to be made of the same material as the Sheikah Slate, and was covered in orange lines that all stemmed from a large, glowing orange circle set near the top of the blade, away from where one might hold it. Even more curiously, the blade wasn't solid. It was divided into segments and, despite the manner in which it had cut through his shield, was cool to the touch. Link picked it up and flipped it around a few times. It was light, easy to it was meant for duels originally? As he was handling it, he accidentally pressed his thumb against the glowing orange circle, and the blade disappeared.

'Oh, that changes things.' Link could think of a few different uses for a blade that could be triggered on and off at will. He hooked it onto his belt before walking back over to Midoriya. The boy had pulled a few things out of the chassis and was examining them, including, to Link's dismay, the broken remnants of his sword. "What happened?"

"Hmm? Oh, your sword had gotten wedged between a couple of gears. The pressure of them trying to turn while the sword was levered against the chassis snapped the blade… I think."

Link sighed, but there wasn't much to be done about it now. He'd have to ask the villagers if they had another sword he could use. While he had this ancient sword now, he didn't really want to rely on it as a main weapon until he had had a chance to practice with it some more. "Well, we should go bother the monk now."

Midoriya nodded absently, still sketching something in his book. "W-would you be okay if I stored some of these in the bag? I have a friend back home who builds things and I want to show her some of these if I can."

"All right. You do that while I go deal with the monk." Link turned toward the door at the far end of the room, which had opened at some point. Probably after the robot had been defeated. Link stepped through the open doorway and pulled up short. At the back of the room was the monk's stasis chamber, as Link had expected. In front of the stairs leading up to it was a small chest, which was also getting to be standard fare for Shrines. No, that wasn't what was interesting. It was the corpse in front of the chest that caught his attention.

It had been here long enough that all that was left was the skeleton and its equipment. Leaning on the chest was a sheathed, single-edged sword and a tear-shaped shield emblazoned with the Sheikah eye. Link looked at his current shield and back at the extra before shrugging and swapping the two and taking the new sword and scabbard with him as well.

As he tied on the new scabbard in place of his old one, he looked down at the skeleton and bowed his head. "I do not know how you got here, but I thank you for your sacrifice. May you find rest in the embrace of the Goddess."

That just left the chest. Link placed his hand on the locking mechanism and twisted it. The chest clicked, and the lid popped open. Link pushed it up all the way and peered in, quirking an eyebrow when he saw the contents. An opal the size of his fist rested at the bottom of the chest, and next to it was white, pointed rock wrapped in a strip of beige cloth. Link picked both of them up curiously. Why on earth did the old monk want him to have these? Unless the corpse had placed them? Shaking his head, Link stacked them by the entrance to the room before approaching the stasis field and tapping it.

The field rippled, glowed, and shattered around him. The shards suspended as the monk lifted its masked head, the single Sheikah Eye glaring at him. "You have done well to overcome this trial. Your triumph over the test of strength subverts a prophecy of ruin. From the ashes of Hyrule, a hero rises."

Link nodded, but his brow furrowed as he recalled the monk's earlier words. "Didn't you have information for me?"

The monk's face creased around the edges of the mask. "I did, but your young companion was able to decipher the mysteries of your gift. You must learn to utilize this remnant of Courage. It will prove crucial in your battles to come."

Ta'loh Naeg leaned back, and Link caught a glimpse of a smile from beneath the mask. "Now, in the name of the Goddess Hylia, I bestow upon you this Spirit Orb. Take it, and may the Goddess smile upon you."

Light coalesced around the monk's chest, forming the now-familiar shape of a Spirit Orb. Link relaxed as it drifted into him, feeling the now-familiar warmth rush through his body. As the warmth faded, so did Ta'loh Naeg, turning into green-blue dust that quickly vanished with the remaining stasis shards. Link watched the spot where the monk had been for a moment before turning and exiting the room, stopping briefly to collect the contents of the chest.

Midoriya, it seemed, had been busy. The Guardian had been stripped and was now a hollow shell. A pile of parts surrounded Midoriya and the pack, who had stopped to sketch an orb with glowing golden panels. Link quirked an eyebrow. "What's that?"

Midoriya jumped. "Oh, Link! Um, I think it's what was powering the Guardian. It had a whole bunch of pipes and wires hooked up to it, at least, so I pulled it out."

"Huh."

Link crouched by the bag and slid the opal into it, but paused before inserting the other stone. "Midoriya, what do you make of this?" he asked, extending the object.

The boy looked up at Link, and his brow furrowed as he took it and ran his hand along it. "I'm not sure. Some kind of stone? It feels a little chalky. Maybe pumice or soapstone of some kind? You do have a massive volcano to the north."

'But why would it be in the chest?' Link took it back and slid it into his belt pouch to remind himself to ask about it later. "Well, let's get this stuff packed up. I'm willing to bet that Impa and All Might have gotten dinner ready for us by now."

Midoriya nodded and hurriedly finished his sketch before helping Link to store the parts. When Link picked up the bag, he was surprised to find that it barely felt any heavier, and it seemed to still have plenty of room. 'That korok really knew what he was doing. This might be the greatest invention ever.'

One short elevator ride later, and the two were topside again. The valley had been plunged into twilight, and most of the people who had been out earlier had vanished. To Link's relief, that included the gossips around the shop. In fact, other than the cuccos that roamed the streets, the village was mostly silent. Midoriya whistled beside him. "So this is what night time is like in a valley of ninjas."

Link added ninjas to his mental tally of things their two worlds had in common as they approached the gate to Impa's house. Cado was the only one on guard duty at the moment, and he nodded to the two as they approached. "Hail, Champion. I saw the ancient Shrine pulse with energy a short time ago. Did all go well?"

"It did." Link shifted his new sword and shield around so Cado could see them. "The monk gave us his blessing and the resources of his Shrine."

Cado smiled. "The Goddess has smiled upon you, then."

"She has. But these weren't part of the Shrine's original treasures. Someone else had managed to get into the Shrine and defeat the Guardian inside."

"There was?" Midoriya asked.

Link nodded. "In the chamber with the monk. Whoever it was, they had been there a while. All that was left was a skeleton, the sword and shield, and that stone I showed you. You were involved with your sketches, so I didn't want to distract you."

Cado's smile twisted as he stared at the sword and shield. "Those are both Sheikah weapons, though they're older designs. It may have been someone from the clan, though if it was a skeleton you found, I doubt it. I can ask around, but the elder probably knows more. The goddesses only know how long she's been around."

"Thank you. We can ask the elder over dinner, and if you find anything else, I'd appreciate it if you could tell me."

"Certainly, Champion. Now, you had best continue. Judging from the smell, I believe that your dinner is done."

Link nodded and hurried up the stairs. Cado was right; whatever Impa, All Might, and Paya had made smelled amazing. His stomach rumbled, reminding him that they hadn't eaten since their break for lunch earlier. As if to emphasize that realization, Midoriya's stomach rumbled behind him. Link chuckled to himself as he reached the top of the stairs and pulled the door open.

If the smell had been strong outside, it was even stronger inside the house. Skeletal All Might was helping Paya set up a low, square table in the main room that was easily big enough for all five of them. All Might looked up and grinned. "Young Link! Young Midoriya! You're just in time. Impa's finishing in the kitchen, so we just need to get the table ready. And not to embarrass the young lady, but Young Paya here is quite the cook!"

Link had never heard any squeak so loudly or turn as red as Paya did at that moment. "M-mister Yagi is being t-too kind. I'm all… all right at cooking."

"Only all right? She practically made the meal!" All Might's grin widened, and Link caught a mischievous gleam twinkling in his sunken eyes. "I know many young men who would be thrilled to have a wife with such skills."

Paya "eeped" before burying her face in her hands and scurrying out of the room. Based on the laughter coming from the kitchen, Link didn't think she would find any sympathy from her grandmother.

"All M-Might! D-did you need to do that?"

Link glanced over at his friend and had to struggle to hold back his laughter as he saw how red Midoriya was. 'Looks like Midoriya's one of those young men.' He was about to tease his friend when he remembered what Paya had said. "Yagi?"

All Might's chuckles quieted down as he nodded. "Yes. All Might is the name I go by when I'm doing hero work. My real name is Yagi Toshinori. Most people in my world don't know that, though, nor that my muscle form is only temporary at this point."

Link frowned. "Why didn't you say anything sooner?"

"Honestly? Habit at this point. Much of my battle against my nemesis has been in the shadows, and I've had to adopt a few mannerisms to help keep people safe." All Might—Yagi—bowed. "I apologize for the misdirection, Young Link."

He waved away the hero's apology. "It's okay. I think I understand the reason."

A throat cleared from the direction of the door that Paya had run through; Impa was standing in the doorway with her arms folded. "Why don't we continue this conversation over the meal? Link, Midoriya, would you two please help bring food in? Paya will help once she has finished composing herself."

Link nodded and hurried into the kitchen a long, thin room filled with food prep counters and a pair of ovens. The diminutive woman pointed at a steaming pot and several wooden platters. "Please bring those. Take the pot holder as well; I'd prefer that my table not be burned. Midoriya, those platters have something from your world that Yagi called 'sushi.' I suspect that you will know the best way to divide those among the five of us."

The pot contained a thick, golden soup that smelled both rich and spicy. Link's mouth watered the entire way from the kitchen to the table, where he placed the pot holder and pot in the center of the table. Midoriya appeared moments later with platters of little rice rolls, followed closely by a still-red Paya, who was carrying a giant bowl of rice, and Impa, carrying several empty bowls and utensils. Within moments, the table was set, and Impa gestured at everyone to pull up a cushion. Once everyone was in place, Impa gestured for the group to serve themselves.

Midoriya clapped his hands together. "Thank you for the meal!" he said before scooping up a large bowl of rice and the soup. Link followed his example, opting to keep the soup separate and place the rice on his platter with the sushi. He took a bite of the soup—and immediately started sweating from the spice. Impa laughed at his expression, but otherwise made no comment. Link noticed that she also had done what he had, except she took much smaller bites of the soup and immediately chased them down with some of the rice. He tried that and was pleasantly surprised to find that the rice absorbed most of the heat.

For a few minutes, the room was silent save the clinking of spoons against bowls and the occasional gasping as someone took too large a bit of the hot soup. Finally, Impa looked up at Link from her mountain of pillows. "So, brave one. What of the Shrine?"

Link hastily swallowed and winced as the too-hot soup seared his throat on the way down. "It was fairly straight forward. The monk was intent on helping me to master 'Courage's Might,' which is apparently an ability I have to… slow time?"

"I don't think you slow time," Midoriya said. He set his spoon down and fished out his notebook. "Or not entirely. I've been thinking about it, and it's more that you slow down how time affects you, which in turn allows you to react more quickly to threats."

"That sounds like quite the gift, Young Link," All Might—Yagi said. "Make sure you use it wisely."

Link nodded and took another bite of the soup and rice. "Also someone else made it through the Shrine before we did as well."

"Someone else?"

Link nodded again at the sudden sharp tone in Impa's voice. "Yes, though from what I found, it was a long time ago. I found a skeleton inside the inner room. Whoever it was had an old sword and shield in perfect condition, as well as a strange stone. Cado said that the sword and shield were Sheikah in design."

Impa frowned. "There was a foreigner many years ago, before my or my mother or my mother's mother's time, who said that he was searching for the ancient Shrines. My great-grandmother told me that he was from a distant land, somewhere far to the north of Hyrule. It may be that this foreigner managed to enter the Shrine after all."

"D-does that matter?" Midoriya asked. "If he died inside, then he obviously couldn't make it back out."

"Still, we had better be careful going forward," Yagi said. Link noticed that other than the soup, he hadn't really touched his other food. "If one person managed to make his way inside, then it's possible that other entities might have managed to force entry as well."

Impa nodded. "Unfortunately, that is the case. Especially with the Yiga Clan seeking your blood."

"Cado mentioned the Yiga earlier today. Who are they?" Link asked.

His question seemed to cause Impa to wilt in her seat. Beside her, Paya eeped again and busied herself with finishing her soup. "A dark legacy," Impa murmured. "Ten thousand years ago, when the king of Hyrule ordered our ancestors to seal their technology away, our people divided. The majority did as the king had demanded, and we have Sheikah have lived a peaceful life ever since. However, a small group took offense at this order. They believed that it was only because of our technology that the Calamity had been sealed away, and that the king was spurning them.

"This group of Sheikah traitors, the Yiga, abandoned their oaths and swore loyalty to the Calamity. They have sought to restore their dark master to this world at every opportunity, and have wreaked great destruction upon the royal family over the centuries since."

As Impa spoke, Link was suddenly, forcefully reminded of a pair of figures in red wielding wickedly sharp sickles. They, too, had worn the Sheikah, but had turned it upside down so that the tear was above the eye instead of dripping from it. "I think I've run into them before. Before the Calamity."

Impa nodded. "That you did. I remember hearing from Urbosa of an instance when she had come upon you defending the princess from their schemes. Be warned, brave one; they seek the return of the Calamity and will destroy all those who oppose that goal. You will be their primary target in the coming days."

Silence fell over the table again as the group digested Impa's statement. Link couldn't help but feel a little bitter. 'Just another thing that I'll have to watch for.'

After a minute or so of clinking spoons, Impa looked up again. "Let's not end the night on a sour note. Tell us about your adventures up to this point. I'm sure you've seen some interesting things since you've awoken."

Link nodded and Midoriya. "Why don't you start with the first time we encountered the chuchus?"

Midoriya grinned and launched into the story, and soon the whole table was laughing as he described the chuchu's surprised expression when he had punted it across the plateau. Link laughed along with them, but he couldn't shake the feeling that Impa's warning was going to be put to the test sooner than he would like.

Phew, been a moment, hasn't it? Finally got a chapter done, and with it a scene I've been waiting months to write, haha. Thank you all for your patience; most of my writing time has been spent on the short stories I do for school (which, if you're interested in some original content, I've started posting on AO3). Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy the chapter!