Fi's Return

Chapter Four: Growing Challenges

From the moment his bare toes touched down on the platform, Link could tell that the Middle Trials were going to be completely different than the Beginning trials. Wind rushed upward around him and he was standing on a square platform on the edge of a never-ending dark chasm. He pulled out his glider, and caught the updraft, sailing upward and forward, catching sight of a large platform where three Red Bokoblins waited, armed and ready to attack. As he landed on their level, from his peripheral vision, he saw a smaller floor lower and to the right, no visible enemies in sight. He couldn't focus on this, rolling to the side as a flaming arrow hurled past his shoulder and sailed off the ledge into the void. He reached back for a weapon, then grimaced internally. Just like in the first trials, he had found himself starting completely unarmed again, clad only in his underwear.

On a whim, seeing the Bokoblins all charging toward him at once, he leapt backwards off the floor, pulling out his glider and safely floating down to the lower level he'd spotted moments before. He stashed the fabric, and jogged to the wall, breathing a sigh of relief when he spotted a spear and several large crates, as well as a pair of barrels. The strong updrafts didn't seem to be quite as bad over here, so he tossed a bomb at the crates to make them explode, gaining him ten arrows, and several apples. The barrels held another two arrows and a fourth apple, which he stashed with the spear before he pulled out his glider. Taking the leap of faith off the edge, he caught the updraft again that sent him sailing back to the floor that the Bokoblins were on. As he landed, the one with the fire arrows launched another flaming projectile toward the Champion, one that he just managed to dodge. He pulled out his spear and dashed toward the monster, striking it with a rapid succession of blows to the chest. The Bokoblin screamed in anger then vanished, dropping the Soldier's Bow and a bundle of five fire arrows that the Hylian snatched up.

A whistling by his head had Link ducking the spear that was being shoved at his face. He whirled to face the Bokoblin directly, retaliating with his own spear. The blow the Champion landed sent the pig-faced creature flying off the platform into the bottomless chasm, leaving the spiked Boko spear on the ground. The final monster wielded a shield in one hand, and a spiked Boko club in the other, and was stalking toward the blond. Link circled backwards in a large arc, moving away from the edge of the platform and toward the walls, drawing the Bokoblin toward him until it finally jumped at him, intending to knock him flat. The blond easily sidestepped the strike and struck it with his spear. The Bokoblin grunted in anger and stomped its feet, having dropped its shield from the blow. As it bent to pick up the wooden shield once more, a well-timed arrow struck its forehead, and the monster toppled backwards, vanishing on impact. The travel gate on the center of the platform glowed blue as the completion sound chimed, and Link breathed a sigh of relief. Back into the swing of things again. He located the chest in the room and easily obtained the Soldier's Broadsword, before heading back to the travel gate.

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Two floors full of multiple colors of Bokoblins later, Link found himself staring down the laser sight of a Guardian on the fourth level. He groaned internally, and launched himself out on his glider to the small platform below where the Guardian rested, attempting to target him. He had a feeling this would be a rather tedious endeavor to take out the large, high-health robot. Thankfully, he had the updrafts and plenty of arrows from the last two floors to aid him. Taking a deep breath, he grabbed the glider and caught the updraft, pulling out his bow in one quick motion to release an arrow at the robotic eye, then grabbed the glider once more to drift back onto the lower platform and out of the sight of the laser that would spell his destruction. Even with the arrow striking true, he could see the small health bar on the monster was barely affected.

An hour later, Link crumpled to the ground on the lower platform, his arms and legs giving out from the exertion. The large robot was finally destroyed, and he could see the blue flash of the travel gate registering across the chasm. He couldn't find the strength to move though, drained from the energy it had taken for him to work so much on the glider. His arms ached, and he doubted he would be able to even lift a sword if he needed to. He laid back, using his pack for a makeshift pillow, and allowed himself to doze off with the wind of the updrafts lulling him off to sleep.