(Y/n) could feel the sun shining through the window that he had decided to sleep next to before groaning a bit. He muttered,"next time I'm sleeping in the basement..." He yawned and rubbed his eyes and grumbled a bit before hauling himself out of bed and onto his feet. He blinked several times to let his eyes adjust before remembering that today was their day off from herding goats and quickly advanced to the ladder before he slid down the ladder. 

     At the bottom, he brushed the dust off of his Ordonian cloths that looked identical to Link's clothes minus the fact that while Link's were revolving around shades of green, his were revolving around shades of (F/c). Also, he had added some lightweight, comfortable padding to the stomach area and legs since the goats always liked to charge at him rather than listening to him. He had to learn the hard way to wear extra protection otherwise he would end up having to work a day that he had off to make up for it and not get another day off in return, but that's just how cruel life is.

     (Y/n) stretched when he saw the chest in the middle of the floor. Curiosity being his only lead, he went and opened it, finding that it was already unlocked. When he popped the lid open and saw the two wooden swords, he remembered that they had asked Rusl to repair them since they had been badly damaged from a raid of bokoblins in the woods. Ever since then, they had always locked the gate to the bridge to keep the monsters out of the village. "Note to self: thank Rusl later," he rambled as he pulled out his sword. He could tell whos sword was whos since his sword had been made out of oak while Link's sword was made out of birch wood.

     He put his sword on his back before grabbing the other one. He heard some yelling outside like there was a commotion going on and (Y/n) went outside to see what exactly was going on and if he was missing anything important. When he got to the door, he listened to see if he could hear who all was outside at the moment in time. He could easily make out Beth's high pitched voice followed by Talo and Malo talking at the same time. He then heard (H/n) neigh and knew that Colin was with her.

      (Y/n) decided to open the door. However, he had poor timing as he was hit the head by a Deku Seed. "Whoa!" Talo yelled from udder surprise. "How did you know that he was coming out, Link?" 

     Link, ignoring the question, yelled up the ladder,"hey, (Y/n)! You alright?" 

     "Yeah!" (Y/n) yelled down in a slightly sarcastic tone of voice. "Getting hit on the head with a Deku Seed is the first thing that normally happens when I just wake up." He rubbed his head before he said,"oh! Rusl dropped this off earlier!" He then went to toss down Link's sword and he heard a thunk as it hit Link's head. 

     "Okay," Link responded. "I deserved that one..."

     "For that one, yeah," (Y/n) chuckled softly.

     "Come on, now that we have our swords back, we can spar and see who's actually better," Link joked, not expecting (y/n) to suddenly leap down and hit his arm with the wooden sword. Link jumped back after the initial blow and got into his fighting stance with his sword in his left hand. (Y/n) inhaled deeply before exhaling and kept his eye on Link's stance. (Y/n) knew he was going to lose this match, but figured he would at least try anyway. 

     Link always has and always will be the more seasoned fighter out of the two of them, but )Y/n) was far better at negotiating than Link ever would be in his entire life. (Y/n)knew, however, that negotiating wouldn't be of any use in the wild, so he had learned how to use the sword to be able to defend himself. This gave Link a huge advantage at fighting than (y/n) would since Link was fighting since he was a little boy while he had merely learned a few years ago. It was his handicap and he just grew used to it and was better at moving his body around than swinging a sword. 

     (Y/n) suddenly leaped backward when Link attempted a stab. He had a slight stumble which Link took as an opening and did a quick leg sweep and got (y/n) onto the ground. (Y/n) quickly went to spring to his feet, but he stopped when he felt Link's wooden sword against his neck. "You win," he sighed. "Again.."

     "Aww, don't be that way (y/n)," Link said. " I'm sure you'll surpass me someday."

     "Yeah," (y/n) agreed in a grumpy tone. "When you're dead."

     Link punched his arm lightly and said,"come on, don't be an Ordan goat that only gives sour milk. Lighten up a bit; you'll see."

     (Y/n) replied in a sarcastic tone,"sure, and we'll be turned into wolves."

     Link then doubled over, almost as he were in pain. "Oh no... (y/n)... it's happening..."

     (Y/n) asked,"wait... what's happening...? Link? Link!"

     Link then gave a pretend howl before quickly getting up, put him in a headlock, and gave him a noogie. When he let go, he said,"come on, I'm just messing with ya."

     (Y/n) sarcastically laughed,"very funny." He ruffled his own hair to fix it after the noogie, but ended up leaving it be right before Talo yelled,"look! There's that monkey that's been causing trouble! Come on!" before the kids, minus Collin, began to run after it.

     (Y/n) immediately darted after them and before he whistled (h/n)'s tune(makeup what you think it should sound like). As she arrived, he caught up with Malo who hadn't run very far yet didn't seem out of breath. "Where'd you see then run off to?" he inquired, getting onto (h/n) so he could go when ready.

     Malo pointed deeper into the woods before saying," Talo and Bethe ran deeper into the woods."

     "Alright; thanks, Malo. You should get home though. Umm... tell them that Talo had stayed behind to learn a cool trick from Link or something along that lines," (y/n) said, thinking of something off of the top of his head at the moment. He then grabbed (h/n)'s reigns and by the time he knew that he was securely in the saddle, Link had caught up on Epona. "What took you so long?"

      Link answered,"sorry, but I had to calm Epona down a bit and explain to her that this was an emergency."

     He nods and said,"alright, Link. I'll give you a valid excuse for that one." He turned (h/n) to face the right direction before quickly flicking the reigns and tapped her on the side with his foot gently to get her at a sprint. Link had Epona do the same soon after and kept close behind to keep up since (y/n) knew where Talo and Beth probably were. 

      (Y/n) had to pull on the reigns to get (h/n) to stop once he saw Beth. Link did the same and noticed the Faron bridge. "Beth," (y/n) stated. "Are you alright?"

     Beth nods. "Yeah, but Talo just darted over the bridge and kept running afterward like a wild man." She looked down a bit.

     (Y/n) was about to answer when Link took over. "I recommend getting home before dusk hits. You don't want to keep your parents waiting."

     Beth's face seemed to light up slightly before she calmed down a bit,"alright; I will Link!" She then began to rush off.

     (Y/n) looked at Link in shock and asked,"did you just..?"

     "...use her crush to my advantage? Sadly, yes," Link answered with a bit of a sigh.

     (Y/n) changed the subject,"come on, let's go and get Talo." He flicked the reigns and they were off, running across the bridge before it had a chance to make a creaking sound with the weight. It was about a half a minute ride to get across the 69-foot bridge before the sound of solid ground was heard from the horses' hooves beating on the ground as they ran. It wasn't long before Epona and (h/n) stopped when they saw a cave. Link and (y/n) got off of their horses. (Y/n) said sympathetically to the horses,"you two go home and rest; you need it for the help you've done." The horses began to trot home before (y/n) said to Link,"are you ready?"

     "I am," Link said. "So, let's get going before Talo gets too far ahead."  Link began to walk to through the cave and found himself soon followed by (y/n). The cave was dark, so Link9 suggested,"how about we find a torch or something to navigate the cave."

     (Y/n) was about to say to just go through and quit acting like the darkness was a cucco(since Link has this weird fear that cuccos are going to attack him) when he began to consider the fact that there could be numerous different paths and monsters throughout the place. Plus, they could easily miss Talo if he was knocked unconscious. (Y/n), forgetting about the darkness, nodded before saying,"okay. Let's see if the other path has someone who sells torches or lanterns with oil."

     Link said,"alright." He turned around and began to walk back. (Y/n) followed shortly behind and their eyes had to adjust to the newly found light before they continued to the other path. It wasn't long until they could spot a man with his brunette hair in an afro and birds making a nest in it. The man seemed to be stirring something that had a dark yellow-green appearance with some unknown chunks floating around in it. Link and (y/n) could smell it from 15 feet away and it was putrid.

     (Y/n), pinching his nose, muttered,"dear goddesses... even the strongest stomachs in the world would vomit three times in a row before they could even bear the look at it, let alone taste it." He had given a slight shudder before Link had decided to walk over to the man.

     Link said,"excuse me, sir." He had to swallow to resist himself from puking at the closer sight of the unknown liquid. "Do you know where I could get a lantern and oil?"

     The bird-man looked over and said,"hello! I'm Coro and I actually happen to have some in stock, but it would be a total of 100 Rupees for a filled lantern and a bottle of oil." 

     Link began to search his bag and pulled out a purple rupee(50) and a blue rupee(5).  (Y/n) searched his bag and found two red rupees(20 each) and 5 green rupees(1 each). "Well... it's 100," Link said hopefully. This was luckily all that they needed as Coro went through his inventory to grab out a fully filled lantern and an extra bottle full of a yellow liquid that was hopefully lantern oil. Link grabbed the lantern and put it into his pouch to save it for later and (y/n) put the oil in his pouch for safe keeping. 

     Link said."thank you, Coro, we shall be on our way now." Before he could offer them some of him terrible smelling soup, the two fled the area like it contained the plague or something similar to the plague. "Thank goddesses that that is over with," Link said with a sigh of pure relief. 

     (Y/n) then asked with his nose all scrunched up,"what in this world could possibly make that soup smell so awful?!"

     Link answered,"I don't know, but I might pass out if I have to taste that." He gave a shudder before saying,"come on, let's go through the caves." Before waiting for an answer, he began to walk to the cave. (Y/n) ran to catch up with Link and slowed to a walking pace as they had arrived at the caves. Link pulled out the newly purchased lantern and lit the lantern before putting it on his waist and walking into the cave with his 1-year younger brother following shortly behind. 

    The cave was barely lit up by the lantern, but they could see a good portion of the area around them and could see the ground, both walls, and the roof. (Y/n) said,"so, it isn't a wide tunnel thankfully."

     Link nods in agreement. "Yeah, we'd be in some serious trouble otherwise." 

     (Y/n) nodded and they continued to walk with an occasional stop due to a Deku Baba or a Keese flying into their path. Rarely, it is to deal with an occasional spider web. It was only a matter of minutes before they had made it out of the series of tunnels.

     It wasn't long until Link and (Y/n) darted across the small patch of woods to get to the Forest Temple gates, taking out enemies along the way that was honestly a breeze since most of them ran into the other, knocking themselves out. They soon got to the doors where Link and (y/n) saw Talo and the monkey imprisoned in a wooden cage with a bokoblin dancing on either side of the two. 

     (Y/n) noticed that there was only two and said,"alright, you get the left and I get the right side?"

     Link nods. He then replied,"just don't get hit by their swords."

     (Y/n) answered with a joke,"I was more worried that they would hit you since you are a snail." They soon charged at the two bokoblins. (Y/n), taking the one on the one on the right, gave a quick stab at its stomach to get it down before going to get the Bokoblin get pushed off the edge while Link was going for the fair fight maneuver. (Y/n) soon went to get Talo and the monkey out. "Hey, I recommend ducking so that I accidentally don't hit you," he said, using the first idea that popped into his head.

     Talo, with curiosity, answered,"Alright then!" Both he and the monkey ducked right before he had used his wooden sword to charge and successfully pull out a spin attack which broke the cage. Talo then sprung out and hugged (y/n) and said,"I'm sorry for chasing the monkey. She honestly is a cool gal the way she had protected me from those monsters."

     (Y/n) then went a bit more lenient than he intended to and said,"as long as you learned your lesson, we don't need to bring this up with your parents."

     Talo exclaimed,"Yeah! Thank you (y/n) and Link!" After that, they went back and only after the caves did Talo sprint home. 

     (Y/n) and Link was about to do the same when Rusl walked over. "Hey, Colin had told me about how you two went into the woods. I had been just about to head in myself, it seems that you two have it completely under control." He then sighed before saying,"but may I ask something?" 

     (Y/n) nodded,"sure, what do you need?" He knew it was important because he normally doesn't ask them too many questions.

     Rusl asked,"when you were in the woods, did anything feel... odd or anything unusual to say the least?"

     Link said,"yeah, last time I was in the woods, I don't recall as many monsters lurking around every corner."

     Rusl nods. "Alright, thank you. I recommend getting home before dark, however," he said. "Good night." Rusl began to walk off.

     (Y/n) asked,"what was all of that about?"

     Link shrugged. "I don't know, but we should probably head home."

     (Y/n) said,"alright."

     With that, they headed home and got rested, unaware of the next day's surprise.

Word count: 2716 words