The Perks of Being a Pro

Thanks to my experience with my Majora's Mask game, I was able to quickly and effectively catch up to myself in my crashed save, and then some.
My adventure began in the forest, riding my trusty steed, looking for a lost friend. Suddenly, my horse gets upset, and takes off, dragging me along the ground, and knocking me out. Link wakes up to an imp rustling through his bag, and stealing his ocarina, with my horse gone. One event leads to another, and the imp turns me into a "harmless" deku scrub, which is essentially a plant based life form. And thus, my adventure begins.
With knowledge of how the game goes, I was able to easily regain my human form, and begin my journey fresh(again). With my human form strong and ready, I head to the swamp, to clean the now poisoned waters. After running myself ragged in a strange, creepy dungeon filled with spiders, evil puffballs, and dark corners, I obtain my bow, and make my way to the boss room, which is the only truly notable part about the first dungeon. Odolwa, the dancing warrior. Based on an Indian warrior, this boss dances around, six times your size, with a large shield and sword, agile and intelligent, this boss is honestly one of the harder ones, because at this point in this game, you almost definitely have no upgrades, or masks to make it easier. You rely on your quick wits and ability with a sword. Sometimes you can stun him with a bubble from the Deku scrub, or a well-placed arrow, but mostly, you frantically run at him, and try to swing your sword at his ankles. The end result of this fight is what I would like to stress, and why this game is one of my favorites. Unlike many games, where no real results are had until the game has been beaten and the credits roll. However, in this game, beating a boss has huge results. In this case, a whole section of the map is "healed" and the swamp, which has been plagued by poison waters and bad tempers, is restored to its previous state, and reparations are made between the "people" of the swamp. I say people, but they are a race of monkeys, and the Deku race. You can now swim in the swamp easily, and the whole atmosphere of this portion of the game changes. It is so rewarding, and it honestly makes me feel like what I do matters.
Next, I move to the mountains, where I heal the soul of a dead Goron. Gorons are rock based lifeforms, with great size and strength. Their biggest ability lies in curling up into a ball and rolling around at high speed. With enough speed, spikes will erupt from your body, and damage enemies. After another convoluted series of events, too boring and walkthrough-ish to describe, I enter snowhead, the temple for the currently frozen mountain that is killing the gorons, who thrive in heat. In the temple, which is compromised of several levels, with a central pillar and a lot of ice, I obtained fire arrows for my bow, and I that much of the temple, and raise the pillar up, to access the boss room. This boss, Goht, is a four legged mechanical bull that I have to chase as my Goron form, and damage him with my spiky body. After thawing the mountain, and beating a very fun race, I obtain gold powder, and have now got a gilded sword, which is twice as long, and three times stronger than my current sword. I am ready to take on the more challenging areas.
I wonder what Link goes through when he transforms through those masks? The souls of he harmed are trapped in them, which Link does to ease their suffering. he has to change his body though, to utilize their power. Does it hurt? Do his bones shift and break, as his body grows and shrinks? Does he gain their memories? Their fears? All of these things make me question what Link goes through to save the world. He fights, gets hurt, dies, comes back, and repeats the process all the time. No one ever appreciates what he does, and no one ever finds out who saves them. He is the true hero, and not many people appreciate him the way he deserves. it must be hell for him, but he never complains, or shirks away. He is my idol.
With that, I leave you with one question: If you could obtain a mask that let you transform into any person, animal, or mythical creature at will, with full powers, but you had to experience intense pain the first time you used it, what thing would you turn into? Only one thing, and no, it can't be a shapeshifter so you can turn into other things. That is cheating. Ace out!