Up close, the science lab was much more humble than it had appeared from below. Rather than soaring over the cliff, the tower was only a couple stories tall, and the rest of the structure was wide and low. A ramp ran from the roof of the rest of the lab and wound its way around the tower. Next to the door—which was emblazoned with a large, stylized eye—a large light bulb-shaped machine loomed ominously next to the entryway.

Mina couldn't wait to meet whoever lived here.

"This is it: the Hateno Tech Lab," Yaomomo said.

"It's certainly eccentric enough for Purah," Link said before wincing. "Or at least, from what shadows of my memories of Purah tell me of her."

"Oh, have you met Miss Purah?"

Link shook his hand in a so-so motion. "From what little I remember, yes, but that was before I died. My memories from before the Calamity're still murky when they're not outright missing."

"That's rough, buddy," Mina said. "But they're coming back, right? Maybe meeting and talking with Purah will help."

"We will have to see," Yaomomo murmured. "Let me just light the Furnace, and I'll take you all inside."

Yaomomo unclipped the lantern from her belt and stepped over to the light bulb machine. Mina watched over her shoulder, eyes wide, as the blue fire almost seemed to pour out of the tilted lantern into a small hole in the center of the device. After a few moments, the lantern was empty, and Yaomomo clipped it back onto her belt and stepped back.

The machine flared to life with a burst of blue radiance. Mina winced and held up a hand to block some of the sudden light. Just as quickly, the light faded, revealing that lines and odd shapes had lit up with the same blue as the fire. As Mina watched, a plate at the base of the machine flared with light before settling into the same swirling pattern of blues and whites.

A sound from behind her caught her attention, and Mina turned to see Link staring at the glowing disc in surprise. Behind him, Midori was muttering quietly to himself, faster than Mina could follow. "What's wrong, guys?" she asked.

"Nothing's wrong, exactly," Link said slowly before looking up, "I just wasn't expecting to find a warp pad here."

"I-I don't think it's all that weird," Midori said. "Purah's a Sheikah researcher. From what Yaoyorozu was telling us, it sounds like she's got some knowledge of how the Shrines function. Maybe she built this as a way to access them or as a fast way to get back to Kakariko."

Mina held up her hand. "Wait, hold up. What d'you mean, warp pads? Like from a video game or something?"

Midori scratched his head. "S-something like that, yeah. I think the ancient Sheikah were trying to make the land a l-little more accessible for the people. Maybe the Shrines were supposed to be warp hubs or something."

"I could see that," Yaomomo said. "Miss Purah has used this pad in the past to teleport to our sister lab in the north, a journey that, from her description, would take several weeks by foot."

The sound of All Might clearing his throat caught Mina's attention, and when she looked at him, she could see a twinkle in the depths of his eyes. "While this is an interesting discussion, maybe we should save it for later? There will be plenty of time on the road to theorize about the inner workings of this world."

The group quietly chuckled. 'Yeah, he's probably got a point,' Mina thought. 'Though I hope that we don't have to travel quite as much as he thinks we will.'

Once she had regained her composure, Yaomomo gestured for them to follow her as she opened the door to the lab. "Miss Purah! I have returned, and I met an old friend of yours along the way."

An excited shriek echoed out of the building as Link stepped through, and Mina smirked as she followed Midori inside.

The interior of the structure screamed "lab" as much as the exterior did. Books and loose sheets of paper were haphazardly stacked on bookshelves and the one central table when they weren't just strewn across the wooden floor, several points of which were stained black. The papers had been plastered to the walls, and a few were fastened to some kind of hanging whale model. Honestly, it kind of reminded Mina of how her room looked during exam week: organized chaos. Even the glowing stone pillar didn't seem all that out of place. If anything, it was like a giant medieval lava lamp, which was kinda neat.

The inhabitants looked like they were recovering from exams themselves. In the back was an old man—wait, no, he couldn't be older than Mr. Aizawa, even though his hair was pure white—was clutching his chest with one hand while using the other to support himself on a nearby bookshelf. The other person in the room, a little girl with glasses and the same shocking white hair, was currently bouncing around Link and jabbering excitedly. Mina couldn't quite make out what she was saying, but Link didn't seem to have any issues keeping up. Probably a side effect of traveling with Midori and his mumbles.

Eventually, the girl settled down onto a stool next to the table. "So Linky! Do you remember any dreams from your time in the Slumber of Restoration? You don't exactly look like you've changed a bit in the last hundred years, but SOMETHING must have happened in all that time!"

Link rubbed the back of his head. "I'm afraid I don't know. Most of my memories are gone, and those that I do have have either slowly trickled back or are of the past few weeks."

The little girl's eyes widened as she placed a hand on her chest. "You do still remember me though, right Linky?" When he shook his head, she slumped against the table. "Really? Well! I'm so shocked I don't know if I'll ever be able to recover from this! Even though, a hundred years ago, I took you to the Shrine of Resurrection after Calamity Ganon fatally wounded you... Even though I was the one who put you safely into the Slumber of Restoration... Despite all that, you still don't remember me?"

Link shook his head again. "No, though I'm willing to bet that you're Purah from what Yaoyorozu said."

The little girl popped back up, this time with a paper and quill in hand, which she used to start scribbling as she spoke. "Hmm... As expected. After a hundred years in the Slumber of Restoration, subject... has... lost... all... memories. Noted!"

Mina giggled at the little girl's—Purah's—antics. She was pretty sure that this is what young Midori would have been like. "So wait, you're Purah? How did you end up like this? Impa said that you were her sister, and Impa's old."

Purah stuck out her tongue. "Don't you know it's rude to ask a lady her age? Or, actually, maybe it isn't rude at all given the circumstances. The truth is, I look this way because of a failed experiment. Well, I say 'failed,' but in some ways, it was a success. I documented the full affair in my diary upstairs. BUT! The whole thing is embarrassing, so I insist you refrain from reading it!"

"Miss Purah was experimenting with a de-aging rune that she had developed to help old soldiers return to their prime," Yaomomo explained. "As you can see, the rune worked, though perhaps a little too well."

"Right, you said that when we were eating lunch!" Mina thumped her hand against her head. "Sorry, forgot."

"Yes, well, I suppose it was actually a rather logical conclusion to jump to," Purah said. "But hang on! I know Linky and Yaoyorozu, but I've never met any of youuuuuu! Who are you people? And why are you pink?"

Mina smiled. "We're Yaomomo's friends. I'm Ashido Mina, and I'm pink because I can secrete acid from my skin, so it had to adapt. This is Midoriya Izuku, and our teacher, All Might." As they were introduced, Midori waved shyly while All Might bowed his head.

"Oooh, secreting acid sounds fun! And a little dangerous." Purah abruptly swung around to face All Might. "And you're All Might? You don't look so mighty to me; more like someone stuck some skin and muscle on a Stal."

In response, All Might bulked up into his normal, muscular form. Mina's eyes widened as his clothes, which had been sagging on his skeletal frame, creaked from the sudden strain of being stretched taut. "Does this fit the bill, young Purah?" he asked, flashing her his signature smile.

Mina's smile widened as the blood rushed to Purah's face. "Y-yes, you look much mightier now. But I'm not young! My body might be a child's, but I bet I'm older than you are!"

All Might's smile took on a sad tint as he shrank back down to his lich form. "Miss Purah, then. Unfortunately, I can't maintain that form for too long anymore. In this form, please call me Yagi."

"Ooo-kay, Yagi!" Purah bounced around to face Midori. "So that just leaves you! What crazy thing do you do, Midoriya Izuku?"

Midori was quiet for a moment. "I analyze, and I hit things hard and fast."

"Just hard and fast? No big, giant muscles?"

"Nope. J-just some green lightning."

Purah hmmphed before turning back to Link. "Well, it has been lovely meeting you all. But enough about that! Back to the topic at hand! Here you are, Linky, after a hundred years! Here to defeat Calamity Ganon, who is growing in strength with every passing moment! And to rescue our beloved Princess Zelda! So while I'm flattered that you came to see little old me, why are you here, mister?"

Link disconnected what looked like a weird tablet from his belt and held it up. "My memories. Impa thinks that the Slate might be a key to helping them return, but it's missing a rune."

"It's whaaaat?"

Purah snatched the device from Link and started tapping away at it. "Oh my, look at these runes," she muttered. "Cryonis… Stasis… the map functionality seems to be working, though you'll need to visit the Hateno tower to unlock it… Wowee, the camera and Hyrule Compendium are missing, and those are the Runes the princess used the most!"

The Sheikah trailed off and continued tapping away. Mina glanced at the others, who were watching in bemusement—Midori actually had summoned his sometimes-present notebook and was scribbling furiously—before clearing her throat. "So… like, can you fix it?"

"Can I fix it!" Purah exclaimed, jerking upright to stare at her. "Of course I can fix it, especially since Yaoyorozu relit the furnace—thanks oh so much for doing that, by the way. That's why my dear sister sent you to me in the first place! It'll be a SNAAP!"

Mina snorted. The finger snapping was a bit much, maybe, but she liked Purah. 'I wonder how much of her personality is a result of her being reduced to a child.'

"Great!" Link said. "What do we need to do?"

Purah hopped down and hurried over to the weird pillar, which, Mina realized, wasn't actually a pillar but was actually a pedestal with a big, glowing rock dangling over it. It still looked like a giant lava lamp, though watching the child researcher hoist her stool up beside it dispelled the image some.

"We'll use this—my Guidance Stone! Heh, my sweet little Guidance Stone; you sure know how to make this old researcher's heart flutter!"

Behind the group, a man cleared his throat, and Mina glanced back to see the older gentleman smiling gently at Purah. "Now director, try to stay on track. The Slate?"

"Right! Yes, thank you Symin." Purah shook herself and slipped the Slate into a groove on the front of the pedestal. As the tablet sunk into place, the lights flickered, and a distinctly feminine, robotic voice began to speak.

"Sheikah Slate detected. Commencing scan… Scan completed. Cryonis, Stasis, Bomb, Magnesis, and Sensor runes operating at optimal efficiency. Camera, Hyrule Compendium, and Album detected. Restore functionality?"

"That's my Guidance Stone," Purah said affectionately. "Well then, let's go ahead and restore those runes for you! Give me a nice SNAP! Go on, no time to be shy about it!"

Mina snapped her fingers as loudly as she could, and Purah flashed a grin in her direction. "Ooh, good one! Hookay then, Sheikah Slate repair... underway! Guidance Stone lock removed! Now... let's do this thing!"

The researcher tapped something on the console, and it began to hum.

"Camera, Hyrule Compendium, and album missing files confirmed," the machine hummed. "Starting repair."

Above it, strange characters began trickling down the stone to the tip, where they seemingly coalesced into—Mina squinted, sure she was being tricked by the lights, but no, the characters seemed to be gathering into a drop of liquid at the tip of the stone. After a few moments, the swollen bubble dropped down onto the tablet, where it splashed with a swirl of blue light.

"Aaaand it's done!" Purah exclaimed, whipping the tablet from the pedestal and swiping through it. "So? Is it all fixed up now? Hmmm, lessee here... Which one is it... Camera, Hyrule Compendium, album... Yep, looks good!"

Link sagged in relief, and Mina couldn't blame him. Knowing that the pictures on that tablet could be the key to helping him remember his past… Well, she was glad that it had worked.

Purah flounced over to Link and presented him with the tablet. "So I know this is sudden, but hear me out: Take a picture of me with the Camera! Oh, and don't forget to lemme see it!"

"You just want more pictures of yourself," Link said, taking the tablet.

"You know it!" Purah spun in place before bouncing back up to her stool. "Actually, I want a memento of the experiment. There's a weird guy who painted my portrait, but… it's not as good, y'know?"

"I'll take your word for it." Link thumbed the tablet and stared at it in surprise before pointing it at Purah. "So, I just… tap here?"

Midori peered over Link's shoulder. "Yeah, you tap there. Though if it works like our tablets back home, you might be able to make it zoom in by using two fingers… yeah, like that. Wow, this is really sophisticated."

Link fiddled with the screen for a few more moments before tapping it to take the picture. He stared at it for a few moments before nodding to himself and flipping it around.

"My, who IS this beautiful young creature?" Purah preened. Mina snorted, and Purah jumped. "Huh? Oh, I guess that's my cue! Sorry, I kind of lost it there. It wasn't on purpose. May I have the Slate, Link?"

Mina sidled over as Link handed it over, and the two of them leaned over Purah's shoulder as she started swiping through the tablet's settings. From what Mina could tell, it functioned very similarly to a smartphone. "Well, it's not just a pretty girl in these images," Purah said as she swiped into the album. "Yes, there're also some old landscape photos stored in the album. I know Princess Zelda made frequent use of the Camera feature, but this…"

She trailed off as she stared at the photos. Mina could practically feel Midori vibrating behind her as he started muttering to himself again. Something tickled her memory, and she grabbed at it. "Hey Link," she started, slowly feeling her way through the thought. "You were, like, Zelda's knight, right? Maybe you went with her to some of these places?"

"Most likely, but…" Link sighed, "I don't remember any of them. They feel familiar, but not enough to identify."

"Still," Purah murmured, "these pictures could be the missing piece to help restore your lost memories. If my hunch is correct—I suggest you check in with Impa. She knows more about Princess Zelda than even I do! The two of them were basically best friends, after all."

"That makes sense," Link said, taking the tablet and hooking it back on his belt. "Once we're done here, I can use the Slate to teleport all of us back to Kakariko."

Purah's head snapped up. "No! Linky, you can't do that. Teleporting multiple people is too dangerous."

"Dangerous?" Midori asked. "What do you mean? We've used the Slate to teleport three of us—me, Link, and All Might—before, and there weren't any problems."

Judging by the way Purah's eyes widened, it was a big deal. "You're lucky you're alive. From the manuscripts of our ancestor's work we found, they were still testing group teleportation when their king ordered them to abandon their projects. There were several accounts of successes, but more of catastrophic failure."

Link extracted himself from the group and began pacing around, stopping every now and then to stare at the Guidance Stone. "But there were successes, right?" he eventually asked.

"Yes, but only partial. The groups made it, but their Slates were forced into a low-power state that could only be resolved with a Guidance Stone! Nowadays, there are only a handful of those: my gorgeous Guidance Stone, obviously, Robbie's Cherry, and those found in the Towers."

"Th-there's a couple on the Plateau as well," Midori added. "In those Shrines where we got the other runes."

Mina hummed quietly to herself. "So basically, we could use it as a one-way trip. That could be useful."

"Even if it did, it doesn't matter," Link said firmly. He came to a stop and surveyed the group. "The princess has waited long enough; I'll use whatever means necessary to speed things up. We know that this Slate—" Link patted the tablet "—is capable of teleporting three people at a time. We'll use that for now and teleport in groups. Um, assuming that you all still plan on continuing with me."

"Of course we're gonna keep helping you!" Mina cried. "We're heroes, and your people need help. And this Ganon sounds super icky and should be dealt with."

"Agreed," Yaomomo said. "We will see this task through, though the limitations to our ability to travel quickly will prove bothersome, especially when we've met up with the others."

Link groaned. "I forgot about the others. There's you four; how many more are there?"

"Assuming everyone made it, there should be four others; Bakugo, Kirishima, Iida, and Todoroki," Yaomomo said, ticking her fingers as she listed each name.

"But we don't know where they are yet," Mina added. "All we know is that Beedle was super awesome and told them to meet you at the… um… Dueling Peaks? Something like that."

"Actually, I had a couple of ideas about that," Midori chimed in. "Now that we've gathered more of us, we might be able to extrapolate from the data of where we woke up to narrow the field a little."

"Sounds like an excellent idea," Yaomomo said. "I would be happy to collaborate with you. But first—Miss Purah? Shall we administer the Aging rune?"

Purah shook herself. "Yes, let's do that right now! Wowee, I can't wait to be myself again!"

"But you're already yourself," Mina observed as Yaomomo stepped over to the Guidance Stone and extracted a smaller tablet.

"You have a point, but I'm not the version of myself that I want to be," Purah huffed. "But Yaoyorozu, I'm ready. Remember, a brief flash should do it. SNAP!"

"Understood. You all may want to take a few steps back."

Mina scrambled back toward the door as Yaomomo pointed the tablet at the child. A ray shot from the tablet and coated Purah in green light. Yaomomo waited a second before switching the tablet off and placing it back in its slot.

"Is-is that it?" Midori asked.

"That's it!" Purah said. "It won't work immediately, but if it functions like the de-aging rune, I should hit a growth spurt when I go to bed tonight. I think I'll be my old self again in the morning! Or maybe in a couple of days. I'll keep detailed notes either way."

"I-I have one more question, Miss Purah," Midori said. Mina turned and saw him nervously twisting his tunic. "Y-you see, All Might was injured a while ago, and that's limited his ability to help people. You m-mentioned that the de-aging rune turned you back into your child self. Could it heal organ damage?"

Mina's mouth dropped open, and she wasn't the only one. All Might stiffened and swung around to stare at him, and even Yaomomo's eyes widened. 'Of course! If his injuries could be healed, then cleaning up Hyrule and those icky villains back home would be easy!'

Purah's expression darkened, and Mina shivered at the weight behind them. Those were not the eyes of your average six-year-old. "So that's why you can't be a big buff guy all the time," she murmured. "I'm sorry, but no. I don't know if the de-aging rune would work. It would definitely restore your remaining organs, but it can't do squat for something that's not there."

All Might sighed. "It's quite all right, Miss Purah. I have long since accepted that my time as a hero is drawing to a close. That's why I fou—why I became a teacher. If I cannot save people anymore, then I should make sure that the next generation's ready for the challenge."

"Yes!" Purah crowed, causing Mina to jump. "That's it exactly! While I may have found a way to avoid death, I don't know how long it'll work. Death's natural, y'know? That's why Symin's here; it'll be up to him if anything happens to little old me."

Mina glanced over at the other man. Symin didn't seem to be paying attention anymore, but she noticed that the tips of his ears were pink and slowly turning pinker. She grinned before directing her attention back to the group. "Okay, so lemme see if I've got everything," she said, ticking her fingers. "Purah's old but young, we can't heal All Might right now, we can't teleport more than three of us at a time, we have the pictures but need to find where they're from, and we need to go meet with your sister to figure out the next step. That's it, right?"

Purah nodded and snapped her fingers. "SNAP! Looks like you got it, Pinky!"

"Then let's get started," Link said. "Given what you said, I would like to activate the tower before we teleport back. Having a map of the region has been immensely helpful, and it'll take us the rest of the day to get there."

Mina groaned, but nodded along with Midori. Hopefully there wouldn't be more mountains to climb along the way.