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“Wild, what is this?”
“This,” Wild began with an enthused slap of the large boulder to his side. “Is Boom Bam Golf.” He looked behind him at the small sea of faces ranging from concerned to confused or mildly intrigued. Sure, the canyon itself didn’t offer much in terms of scenery or reward. But they’d been close enough to Tanagar Canyon in passing that he wouldn’t forgive himself if they’d opted to pass up on this rare opportunity. Besides, this was the kind of game that was equally accessible to all his fellow travelers, which wasn’t something that could be said for most other games in his Hyrule. It was rare that they all could decide on doing one thing together that wasn’t fighting monsters or taking a break from their adventures to eat. Not every hero decided that they wanted to paraglide or shield surf or ride horses for the sake of achieving a high score and a rupee prize.
This was a game that, as far as he was concerned, was something everyone could enjoy. And although the captain, at least, seemed skeptical, Wild was committed to showing them all a good time. He’d seen and heard about countless games and competitions that the other heroes have played in their own lands – this should hardly be any different.
Wild planted the head of the iron hammer he’d borrowed from Modar into the dirt and leaned onto the handle. The friendly goron game-runner had explained this game to him long ago, and now Wild felt a little surge of excitement that he could explain it to his group of companions.
“The rules are simple!” he continued, sweeping a hand out behind him to where the rest of the course lay. “This rock is the ball, and we need to hit it all the way into that hole over there. The less strokes you need to get it there, the better your score will be. Pretty straightforward.”
“Ah, so it’s a test of strength?” Four assumed, taking a noticeable step back so that the larger and more physically strong heroes would be first in line.
“Not necessarily!” Wild promised, pulling out his sheikah slate. “Maybe if this game was only ever played by gorons, but I have a way of getting around the need for pure strength, remember?” With a flash of stasis, the spherical boulder was haloed by yellow light. His slate began to tick, counting down how long the ability would hold until it dispelled. “You don’t have to hit it all at once, just enough to get it in the right direction. Every hit you deal while stasis is active will continue to build until it’s released.” He’d shown them how it works before, even using it in a pinch during fights. “It’s okay if it takes some getting used to – I’ve had a lot of time to practice. But basically, it’s more important to calculate how much precision is needed for it to reach the end of the course.”
“So it’s a puzzle!” Legend decided, interest finally sparking in his eyes.
Wild faltered. It wasn’t the response he’d expected, but at least it seemed to help with the enthusiasm. “I-I guess so? Did you wanna take a whack at it?” he offered, holding out the hammer invitingly. Next to him, the stasis wore off, and he readied his slate for when someone stepped up.
Legend took up the invitation. He had experience in all kinds of things, so when he came to stand before the boulder he was unperturbed by the task set before him. “I’ll have you know, I’ve got a pretty good aim when it comes to games like these.”
Wild expected him to take the iron hammer he was holding up, only for Legend to pass him by and reach into his own bag. With a smug expression, their veteran hero pulled out a large headed hammer reinforced with a dark red metal and adorned by gnarly looking spikes.
“That’s… new,” Wild admitted, giving Legend a quizzical look. “Have you always had that, or…?”
“It’s new-er, I suppose,” Legend admitted. With his hammer in hand, he began inspecting the boulder from multiple angles, trying to find the best trajectory for it. “This is the Nice Hammer – it may look rather brutish, but it’s still the same wooden hammer in the center, so it’s not as heavy as it could be.”
Wild nodded along in understanding. “If that’s the one you’re most comfortable with, then go on ahead,” Wild said, stepping back to give him space. With a tap of the rune, a familiar yellow light surrounded the targeted object.
Legend gave it a good, proper swing. The hammer struck the rock with a sizable clang that sent a tremor through Legend’s arms and caused him to stumble back. The yellow light had darkened to a light orange, and Legend checked on the direction he’d struck it in once more. He gave it a few more taps at slightly different angles, and probably could’ve continued to do so if given more time. He lined up one last swing, likely for that last bit of power that would take it into the red, but the timer ended before he could wind up properly, and the boulder was sent hurtling forward.
Legend wavered, the sudden absence of his target taking him by surprise, and his arms gave out, landing the hammer into the ground with a heavy thud. “…Huh.”
The gathered heroes watched the boulder soar reasonably far, being sent high overhead before finally dropping back down onto the rocky path that led to the goal. He’d managed to cover about a third of the distance in his first attempt. Considering how often many of Wild’s first attempts of this game had taken the ball out of bounds, it was reasonably impressive. Especially for someone unfamiliar with stasis.
“That was really good!” Wild openly commended, noting how perfectly the ball rolled to a stop in the dead center of the course.
Legend puffed out his chest a little bit and smirked, happy to accept the free compliment. Wild knew that Legend liked when his efforts were recognized, though in the line of heroic action it was sometimes hard to give him credit for things that the seasoned adventurer claimed he could do better.
“See? I still got it! Octoball Derby taught me well, I’ll have you know,” he boasted, swinging his hammer at his side with a bit more carelessness. Then he turned to the others. “Who wants to try it next? I think I got it in a good position – and I know some of you have hammers of your own that you must be dying to swing around.”
“They do?” Wild asked, only slightly surprised. And looking around at the various nodding heads, it would prove true. The game would probably be easier if they used the same hammer so that they could learn how much force would be needed to get the ball into the goal. But, well, it was whatever was the most fun for everyone. “I guess we don’t need this,” Wild sighed, tossing his hammer back down to Modar.
Sky gave him an almost impressed look. “Of all the items you hang onto, you choose not to keep a hammer?”
“Hammers come in handy when doing stuff like this – or mining for ore, I guess. I never really thought much about them, since the ones in my era aren’t as efficient in a fight as my other items,” Wild said with a helpless shrug. He was never all that attached to the item – a good cobble crusher proved much more useful to him in many instances. “What else am I supposed to use hammers for?”
“Activating switches,” Legend answered immediately.
“Conquering your greatest foe,” Time supplied vaguely.
“Squishing miniblins!” Wind exclaimed with a menacing grin.
It was Wild’s turn to be concerned. “I’m sorry – do what now?”
Wind was practically bouncing up and down with the promise of this new game. “I’ll go next – that way I can just show you!”
Once again, mildly concerning, but when Wind hopped off the small ledge and glided down on his deku leaf to where the ball had landed, he was quick to tag along. The others followed at a slower pace, hopping down and walking over to meet them there instead. If Wild didn’t know any better, he’d think that they were intentionally keeping a safe distance.
Wild stepped up next to Wind right as he was reaching into his own bag, his eyes glinting with excitement. “It’s not very often I have a reason to pull out my hammer, you know! I don’t wanna hurt anybody and all that.”
Wild wasn’t entirely sure he knew what to expect. The pirate was so small and light, and he did best in a battle when he could rely on his excellent stealth and agility. What kind of hammer would be best suited for a hero like that?
Certainly not the one he pulled out, that much was sure.
“Dear Hylia, Wind, what is that weapon?” Sky asked, sounding defeated and utterly baffled.
Wind turned around to face them all, holding the biggest, most grisly looking hammer that Wind had ever laid eyes on. Granted, Wild was never one to shy away from monster weapons, but this was unlike anything he’d ever seen before.
Wind’s hammer had a very long, thin handle that seemed to bend with the weight on its end. Wild followed the length of the metal rod firmly gripped in the pirate’s hands, where he tried to make sense of the hammer’s head. It looked like it was mainly constructed from the warped skull of some poor damned monster, with dark, gaping eye sockets that stared right back at him and a cranium that ended in a tapered tip. Its mouth contained a full set of sharp, triangular teeth that formed a circular base. Welded into its mouth was a large, thick plate of solid steel. It looked oddly of a monster with a shield stuck in its mouth.
Wild wasn’t one to criticize a weapon’s design. That wasn’t the issue, despite how strange it was to see this young, bright-eyed hero wield something like that with such glee. No, rather, the real concern stemmed from the fact that this thing was actually the size of Wind. How he could even hold such a thing was beyond him, though he supposed he’d seen stranger things from this group of unique heroes.
“This is my Skull Hammer!”
He sounded so proud. Wild nodded along, utterly fascinated. He didn’t know the first thing about this weapon, but that sounded about right.
“And dare I ask where you found such a thing?” Warriors asked with a lopsided smile, appearing decisively impressed that the little hero could wield a hammer like that in the first place.
“The Forsaken Fortress!” Wind cheerily responded, dragging the hammer along the ground so that he could walk right up to the boulder. It left a trail through the dirt in its wake. “I got it for defeating… f-for, um, for fighting a Phantom Ganon…” The light died down in the kid’s eyes momentarily, and Wild was about to ask if there was something wrong. He’d never heard Wind mention that enemy before, despite normally being so quick to wax poetic about his victories. If it had to do with conquering Ganon, then wouldn’t he be proud? Though the young hero had only told the story of his fight against Ganondorf once before, and he’d been quiet the rest of the night after that. Just based on the name alone, Wild wondered if this “phantom” enemy was anything like the Blight Ganons he’d fought, where they were strong on their own, but also merely troubling indications of what greater foe had awaited them in the end.
Time, quick to divert the subject, interrupted these thoughts to call out encouragingly. “In that case, show us what that thing’s made of!”
Wind’s grin returned in full force, and he swung his hammer around to where he was balancing on one foot like he was about to topple over. “Right! I’m ready, Wild!”
Wild activated stasis and gave Wind a wide area to work with, in case something went amiss. He trusted Wind just fine – he didn’t trust the hammer. That was different.
Wind summoned all his strength in order to lift the thing off the ground. And then, in one great, sweeping motion, as if he was performing a spin attack, he struck the boulder. The light surrounding it darkened to orange, but the momentum of Wind’s swing continued to carry the small boy around in a full circle. The Skull Hammer struck true once more before Wind’s arms gave out, landing the weapon in the dirt with a cloud of dust, and the stasis turned a bright red color. Only two swings and the rune had taken as much force as it could handle.
The timer reached its end.
“Foooore!!” Wind hollered at the top of his lungs as the stasis dispersed and the ball was sent flying.
Four jumped a full foot into the air, startled by the sudden outburst. “What?!” he demanded.
“Nothing!” the sailor laughed breezily, watching the boulder soar through the air with a hand over his eyes. “That’s just what you say! You know, so that people know to watch out for flying boulders and stuff.”
Four gave him an exasperated look. “No, Wind, I don’t know that. Where do these rudimentary rules even come from?”
“I know plenty! The people back in my Hyrule know lots of great games!”
Legend fretfully watched the boulder land onto the course far ahead. It teetered on the edge, impossibly close to falling off the set path that led up to the goal. Until it finally settled into place in a divot in the earth. Wild remembered making that hole in the course on a previous run, back when he wanted to test out how well bombs did in this game. Not very well, as it’d turned out.
But at least the ball was still on the path, which was the most they could’ve hoped for.
“Careful, Wind!” Legend stressed, already trotting over to the ball with an eager hop in his step. “You coulda lost it with that hit!”
“But I didn’t,” Wind pointed out. “You worry too much – I got a great aim, too! It’s just, uh, usually reserved for enemies, ya know?”
“The fact that you can wield that thing at all is beyond me,” Hyrule murmured, inspecting the hammer closer.
“Oh! It’s not as heavy as it looks. It just takes a bit of getting used to, is all!” the small pirate claimed, leaning the handle in Hyrule’s direction.
The traveler took it gingerly in his hands and tensed his muscles, only to relax a bit as he lifted the hammer’s oversized head off the ground. “Oh, I see! Because the base is a skull, it’s mostly hollow. And you use the leverage from the long handle to wind up for powerful swings!”
Wind planted his hands on his hips and gave a firm nod. “Yup! It was a bit tricky at first, but it wasn’t impossible to use, even when I was younger!” Satisfied at having properly shown off his strange hammer, Wind took it back from Hyrule and stowed it away so that they could catch up to Legend.
“Okay, who’s going next?” Legend asked emphatically, turning to face them when they’d all gathered around the rock once more. “Surely more of you have hammers you’re just begging to use?”
An exchange of glances passed through the conglomerate of heroes. Hands itched towards bags and boots shuffled the dirt. The end of the course was easily visible behind Legend, waving its great red flag; just one more solid hit would sink it into the hole. Wild thought about telling them that they could play the course as many times as they wanted – as long as they made it in twenty strokes or less, he’d win back the rupees he’d paid to play.
But it was fun seeing them all ponder the best way to utilize their resources.
“I never came across a hammer during my own journey,” Twilight admitted, to which Sky nodded his head in agreement. “Though I s’pose if I wanted to deal a hefty blow like Wind with his hammer, I’d use my ball n’ chain.”
Warriors lit up at that. “That weapon is great to work with – consider yourself lucky, Rancher!” he said, nudging him lightly in the arm.
Twilight’s ears perked. “You know what I’m talkin’ about?”
“Of course!” Warriors boasted, always excited to talk about the weapons he’s used before. “It was an incredible asset on the frontlines – could clear a hoard in a few seconds flat!” And then he turned sheepish, tugging at the scarf wrapped snugly around his neck. “Ah, well, that is to say, it’s a bit unwieldy when you’re working on a team. And the gauntlets that go with it can’t wield a sword with the same level of finesse, so unless I’m going into a battle where I know the ball and chain is the best option, I’d rather stick to a weapon that won’t interfere with those around me.”
Wild agreed that it was a rational decision to make. And he was sure that Twilight was of the same mind, considering his own ball and chain didn’t see much use on the battlefield. Though the rancher’s eyebrows were pinched together in a way that suggested that he was missing something, and he gave a nervous laugh. “Were we supposed to use power gauntlets for that?”
Wars’ easy-going expression turned pale, and his head swiveled sharply to look at Twilight, no doubt wondering if he was being serious or not.
“No worries, Pup, I got a hammer you can try out,” Time said matter-of-factly. It sounded so innocuous, letting his successor borrow his hammer for a game. But Wild could see the poorly concealed grin on the old man’s face and got a bad feeling.
Time reached into the unseen depths of his bag where countless secrets remained hidden from the light of day and grasped onto something. He pulled it out with so little effort, revealing a long steel shaft with a thick leather wrap for the grip. His bag dropped unceremoniously to the ground with a clatter, revealing a large hammer head made entirely of heavy metal. He passed it easily from one hand to the other, familiarizing himself with the item as if he were greeting an old friend.
Recognition flashed briefly on the captain’s face, and judging by the wide step back he took from the weapon, everyone else would be right to follow his example. “That’s…”
“The Megaton Hammer,” Time introduced, his smile widening. “Give it a go, Twilight.” He held the handle out, and Twilight accepted it in earnest. Wild watched with rapidly increasing concern as Twilight’s muscles flexed and his grip tightened, only for the heavy hammer head to hit the packed earth with a dull thud. Dust rose up around them in a great billowing cloud from the weight, and Twilight cocked a raised eyebrow at his predecessor.
Wild’s finger hovered uncertainly over his stasis rune, and a voice at the back of his mind warned him that this was a bad idea. “The, uh, the rune has limits, by the way, to how much kinetic force can be stored in it.” Gods, he sounded like Zelda, trying to explain this to them. “You’ll know when the aura around the ball goes from yellow to red that it won’t be able to hold anymore, so hitting it repeatedly after that won’t accomplish anything.”
Twilight lifted the hammer off the ground, passing it from one hand to another as Time had just done to test its weight. When he seemed comfortable with it, he lined himself up with the ball and let it sway at his side, never touching the ground. “Gotcha. Ready when you are!”
“Okay…” Wild said, preparing himself for whatever was going to come next. With a deep breath, he activated the stasis rune on the boulder and quickly stepped behind Warriors, where several of the other heroes had ended up in anticipation for what would happen. The only one who looked truly comfortable with all this was Time, their unfazed leader figure. He stood close by Twilight’s shoulder, a hair’s breadth away from the hammer’s swing radius.
With the rune’s timer going, Twilight reeled the Megaton Hammer back. His muscles strained with the effort of holding it over his shoulder. But this wasn’t like Wind, who’d used his body’s momentum to swing the thing around. When Twilight lined up the shot, he was using every ounce of his strength in his swing. And sure enough, when it came swinging around in a full arc that buffeted the other heroes with a short burst of wind, it struck the boulder with a powerful clang, as if a bomb had just been detonated.
The yellow aura of the rune turned an immediate, angry red. No, it was darker than that – almost purple, as if the blow had exceeded its expectations and overridden the amount of force it would normally be able to handle. By all rights, that hit should’ve crumbled the bolder into tiny bits. But no, it was destined for other places.
Wild turned to Twilight, mouth hanging slightly open as he struggled between being impressed and disappointed. After all, there was no way they’d needed that much force. But at the same time… he’d never seen stasis get overwhelmed like that, let alone so quickly. A single swing. That’s all he needed.
“Twilight, what did you do?” Wild asked.
Twilight rested the Megaton Hammer across his shoulders and blinked cluelessly. “Was that too much?”
The timer on stasis ended, and the Chain could only watch helplessly as their ball, so close to the goal, was sent flying far out of bounds.
“Nooo!”
“What the fuck!”
Legend and Wind shrieked, watching the boulder fly far over the goal and, by extension, undoing their work to get it this far in the first place. Time, to his credit, tipped his head back and busted out into a fit of laughter. “No, no, that was good, Pup; don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”
Twilight shoved the hammer back into Time’s hands and backed away, embarrassed by his show of strength. “S-sorry, I didn’t think—! I didn’t break it, did I?”
“Hardly,” Wild said, waving their goron game-runner over for another ball. “Uh, normally we’d get the same ball back but… I get the feeling it’s not worth it. Modar has back-ups, though, in case something like this happens.” He motioned for everyone to step back before giving the goron clearance to toss the new ball up. “Going off-course counts as a stroke, though. If you want to get the best reward, you have to make it in four strokes or less. We’re at three.”
Hyrule stepped up with an exasperated breath. “The goal is right there!” He indicated the end of the course to a still embarrassed Twilight and positively beaming Time. “No more big hammers, alright? I’ve broken my fair share of boulders, but that is not what we need here.” He pulled out his own hammer, a lighter one of wood that was scarred with use and could be used in one or two hands as needed. He nodded to Wild to activate stasis on their new ball and lined up just as he’d seen Legend do it.
When the rune activated, Hyrule gave it a small, experimental tap – not enough to change the color of the aura – and checked it over before giving it another, slightly harder whack.
Four stepped up just then, his own wooden hammer in hand. It didn’t look much different than Hyrule’s, but in his hands it looked enormous. “Hang on, I’m not sure if it’ll go the right direction at this angle.”
“What makes you say that?” Hyrule huffed before stepping back to give the small hero space.
Four indicated the last stretch of the course. All the while, the timer continued to tick. “There’s a slight curve in the course, see? So we need to angle it a little more to the right.”
“But that’s so close to the edge of the course!” Hyrule argued.
“You guys are on a timer,” Wild reminded.
The two young heroes panicked. Four gave the boulder a decent whack in the direction he wanted while Hyrule hovered over his shoulder, way too close for how frantically they were swinging those things around. Hyrule looked like he wanted to give the boulder one last adjustment, showing a level of meticulousness that mirrored Legend’s own, only for the timer to run out.
Hyrule’s ears drooped as he feared the worse from their combined efforts. Four, meanwhile, stood on the toes of his boots and watched with wide, excited eyes as their ball cleared the final stretch.
It bounced along, curving through the uneven terrain and just barely avoided going off-track where the ground sloped oddly. The boulder curved back towards the hole that marked the end, and everyone watched with bated breath as it steadily began to slow down.
Finally, the ball came to an agonizing halt, where it hovered on the very edge of the hole. The red flag suspended on the pole above it flapping tauntingly, but it looked like their ball would roll no further. If they had just the tiniest bit of extra force, it would’ve made it in.
Without warning, Time slammed the head of his hammer into the ground, causing everyone to jump at the shudder of earth that erupted beneath their feet. Loose gravel rained down from the sides of the canyon, and the tremors reached the boulder at the end of the goal. Their ball rocked with the aid of the shockwave passing through it, teetering on the rim of the hole. And then, with excruciating slowness, it finally dropped down into the goal.
Victorious hammers were raised into the air, and triumphant outbursts bounced off the canyon walls as the heroes celebrated their joint success. Sky clapped from the sidelines, thoroughly amused by how worked up the younger heroes had made themselves, and Time finally stowed his hammer away with a satisfied grin.
Wild had the briefest of thoughts: how hard could Time swing that hammer?
These thoughts were swiftly interrupted by the gamer runner. “Good one, Link!” Modar congratulated, causing nine sets of eyes to swivel towards him. “I ain’t never seen a game quite like that, goro! Here’s your prize for making it in four strokes!”
Wild crouched down by the edge of the course and was handed a silver rupee. His ears flicked in surprise – normally the highest prize was fifty rupees. But at least this way it could be easily split amongst everyone.
He turned back around to the others, dishing out ten rupees to everyone regardless of whether or not they’d participated. “Did we want to go for another round? You all can take turns trying to get the better score, and we can circulate through everyone.”
Twilight kindly passed down the offer with a weary smile. “I think I’m a’right, Cub…”
But the others were raring to go again, hoisting hammers over their shoulders once more and reaching for the rupees they’d need to enter for themselves.
“You make it look so effortless,” Sky chuckled, fishing through his wallet for the right currency. “I don’t suppose I can keep that hammer you tossed aside earlier, can I?”
“Only if you don’t mind trading off with me when it’s my turn!” Wars declared, appearing far more eager to step up to the plate in the next go-around.
Wild grinned as he guided everyone back to the beginning of the course. Taking the time for moments like these felt right. Even after being with this group for so many months, he was still learning new things about them and witnessing those little parts of them that he normally didn’t get to see. He hoped they didn’t tire too quickly of this game – it’d be nice to spend the day idly before setting off for the next monster abnormality that’d been popping up in the area.