The Ocarina of Time Novelization Chapter 1

The Sea of Envy

By Habuki

Copyright: I do not own Zelda, Nintendo does. Story by Habuki productions.

        The place was huge! The breathing corridor was from the looks only about one room, but it expended about two-hundred feet across and stretched up several miles upward. The young boy's eyes glared upward and around, there were structured branches and webs all over the entire place, but from the looks of it no more of those stupid babas or any other dangers of the world. Well, that was good for Link because soon after he sheathed the Kokiiri blade and walked around the room exploring the area for any clues. It was all right to be here now, he felt so secure inside of his creator's body, it gave him a sense of refreshment, as if when he was with Saria.

        "This place is huge, Navi, I didn't think he was so hollow hee!" Remarked Link, tapping on the right end of the tree, it had taken him a few minutes to travel that far, just showing how big this tree was. This place was so extraordinary, sort of like some ancient museum where the artifacts were just placed in the ground, waiting to be explored. Smiling at his new companion, the young boy just looked around the place, eyes brightened for their New World, the new adventure. Yes, he had always wanted to explore ever since he was small, and now with the exception of his master being sick, he was having his dream become a reality. Only now his best dream had come true, he had himself a fairie, something he had never dreamed of coming true, and now here it was.

        "Mmhm, Linky, it is huge. Dangerous, too, you had had your guard up and use it wisely. I don't know how long that shield can hold, it is only Deku."

        "What other materials are there?"

        "Metal, iron, crystal, and other materials."

        "I am not even going to ask." Remarked the young boy as he moved over towards the bushes, wow, maybe there were some supplies such as some more of those sticks, but those only came from. Another one of those horrible screeches, one that sounded a little cut off his thoughts fiercer than the Babas on the outside. This time he was ready, though, his newly trained weapon was out and the shield slammed into the recently uprooted baba that had, so stupidly appeared right infront of him. With three quick strokes, them seeming tougher, the liquid spilled aside and it was dead, throwing out some more of the sticks, which were gathered up and nestled in his pack. Growling at the dead creature, he kicked the carcass aside, not even liking the smell of the dead thing, death had never been a quality of his.

        "Hrm, they are getting easier and easier, Navi, I wonder if that is all there is to this? If it is, I will be out of here in half an hour, or so." He truly believed this, not having an idea at just how hard a dungeon could be, the place was illuminated by the nutrients in the tree.

        "Don't get too cocky, Linky, these things aren't what is poisoning the Deku Tree, because his defenses could of killed them easily." Navi insisted, it would be a hard road ahead for both of them.

        "That is probably true, Navi." Clearing his throat, he slid down onto his knees and rustled through the palate brown bushes, just searching through and out for something. Going through the bushes was what he had seen the older Kokiiri doing a few days of the week, looking not just for rubies, but also food. It was a simple matter every Kokiiri knew that most likely things had been dropped or planted in the ground for other people to find. Staring around the branches, the boy was wondering how the place was so bright and why was hollow, trees weren't supposed to be hollow. It took about less than a minute and pulled out a packet of nuts, he turned around and held them outright towards her. "What are these?"

        "Ooh, those are Deku Nuts, they can paralyze opponents, but they aren't for eating. If you throw them down to the ground, they can paralyze your enemy for a few seconds. More than enough time to attack."

        Nodding, he stuffed the three oversized nuts into a small compartment on the left angle of his side-pack, leaving it open, just in case those little nuts were needed. Before he even had enough time to turn around, he heard three shrieks at his right side and gasped loudly at what was in his view now. The babas, the first one had regenerated, and two more where now with him, sort of his companions for trying to get in an assault attack. Luckily Babas were so loud that he had enough time to dodge away from them for the time being, yet killing them now was out of the question. Not enough time to act, he yanked out the three nuts and threw them at the plants in every direction, not caring which nut hit who.

        With three screeches they all froze into place and just smelt the young boy and his companion with the nostrils, the eyeless creatures crying out in confusion. Holding the sword out, he spun around in two circular turns and decapitated all the animals in one, slumping down the liquid spewed and stick all formed over the corpses. Gathering all of them, he had a set of ten and it just enough room, so he gathered back towards the bushes and picked up three more new nuts before looking around for something to get up. There was obviously no ladder, so he went to the wall and stared up around the area for a way up, but for the time being it seemed hopeless. No physical way he could jump all that way, the wall was solid so no holding marks for him to grab and climb, all he could do was watch.

        It was actually Navi who found the entrances as she tugged at the branches and flew up towards them, exploring around. They were actually looked like they could support his small form, now a normal kokiiri would fall, but he was extremely smaller than the rest of them. Fluttering down to where he sat, she watched him look around, amazed at his clueless nature, and also finding it very adorable. The way he looked all around, peering in every other direction and not even seeing the obvious infront of him, although it wasn't all the bright in here. Perching onto of his hat and staring down at him with the eyes of a little girl who had just gotten some candy, she pointed out the obvious to the young boy. "Linky, check the limbs, they look like they will do the trick."

        "Hrm? Well, let me check, I guess it won't hurt." Staring up at the vines, they extended about forty feet up and led onto a cliff, and so he climbed up it feeling pretty sure of it, until he got about seven feet and one of the ropes snapped. Turning around, he let out a screech, pulling out the Kokiiri blade out and slamming into the uneven soul with it, breaking his fall, also saving him from any broken limbs. Turning towards his fairie, he sneered a little at her, before calling out to her in sort of an obnoxious tone, not that it wasn't appropriate. "Well, thanks Navi." He remarked with a bit of sarcasm and stared back up at her with those eyes carrying a bit of tears from the scrapes on him.

        "Oh, Link, I am so sorry! I, thought it would work, I am so s- sorry!" She literally broke into tears and went over towards his face, pressing her face up against his or her entire body, and rubbing against him in a powdery stance.

        "Hee, it is alright, I am alright. I--let us just try again and I will go on the right side instead of the left side, this time." Well, again, he stood himself up and brushed off, before climbing up the trail until he surpassingly reached the top of the cliff and pulled himself over. The insect-like thing floated around him, and rubbed up against his face, until he had to pull her away and gingerly hold the small body inside of his hands. Finally finding the edge of it, the vines disappeared when he lavished the twenty feet, pulling himself up all the way, taking a look around his surroundings.

        "We did it! We did it! Hee now let us see--" taking a look around this room made him suddenly lose every bit of happiness there was. There was a larger corridors all around with spider-webs floating in areas he didn't want to see, and other stuff that would of made him creep out (given the circumstances.) Shivering, the boy looked off to the other side, staring at the ground for a few seconds, trying to get his own act together before she noticed. As long as he had lived, Link had hated spiders, he hated the webs, everything about them gave him the shivers, and even the name of them did the trick. Now with the webs everywhere, he just knew that spiders were around, waiting to get him at any exact moment he acted up, or let his guard down.

        This, well palace was the only word, was circular all across and had several trudges that looked like they would have to leapt across. Heh, he turned southwards and went the direction that didn't have the jumps until he came upon a large wooden chest. It did quite resemble the chest with the sword, so he bent down on both knees and lifted up with all his might until a creek resembled, and golden light poured out of the old chest along with a piece of paper. The paper was in a language he could read, having several areas on the map, places he couldn't even see, nor could he decipher. Sitting down on the ground, he stared at the map in utter confusion, trying to make it out, before turning to his more knowledgeable fairie and speaking. "Navi?"

        "Oh, that's a dungeon map, Link, it will help you navigate throughout this entire place. Maybe the Deku Tree left this out for you, so you could find your way throughout this place."

        "Hee, I guess he is watching out for me?" Gasping, she began to point out to him how to use it, and within a few minutes, he had the thing down to bat, able to read it now. Delighted, he checked the top corridor and it did show where they were, and there was a door just a few miles south of here! Placing the map deep inside his side-pack, he raced the rest of the way down the dungeon halls, hoping the map gave the location of monsters too. This place just stank of evil; he could feel it as he passed the spider-webbed sides, which blocked his way down there, not that he planned on going there. Finally he saw the door, but as he turned a slithering sound appeared and he was thrown halfway across the wall, slamming into the close wall, only a couple of feet away.

        -Skicchh

        "Link! Link!" Screamed the young farie, literally throwing her down into his chest and slapping his face wildly. "A Skulltulla! Run, it'll eat you!"

        Skull-wha? He looked up at the sight that beheld him, and what it was made his breath stop all at once, his fear of spiders getting in the way once more. There was this creature, a creature that was like a spider, yet it wasn't, certainly something that he had never seen before, nor wanted too again. A skull head attached to what looked like a spider underneath with a scurry of legs pounding right at him, trying to get on him. The skull didn't even look like the monsters, like it took it from a corpse it had killed, latching it on for some sort of armour, or something. Instantly, he sprung up and brought out that blade launching an attack right at his head, well he aimed for the head, trying to break the skull.

        That was just one of the many mistakes that Link made in this dungeon, he wasn't that skilled in tactics yet, so he could do some stupid things. Because as soon as he threw the blow, he was thrown back against the wall and hit with a slumped falls. Feeling weak, he just watched the monster stare at him until it turned around? What was this? A tender spot was on its backside; it seemed to be a weak spot. So he took a chance and leapt forward slicing the blade right into the center of this spider-demon. A screech erupted from the beast when the blade slammed back into its exoskeleton and shattered inward through its' heart. Blood gushed from the sides all over, as the monster slumped down and pulled itself off of the ledge, and falling down towards the ground. With one last thump, it gave a screech of terror and died.

        "W-what? Was that? Navi?"

        "T-that was a Skulltula, Link. It is a skeleton and a spider hybrid, but I have never seen one of those in the longest of years. You had better be on your guard, his babies might be around."

        "Babies! Oh, no. Are they as big as him?"

        "Thankfully no, they are called Skullwalltulas and they usually reside on branches and are about the size of your fist. Not very big, but hard to shoot off with a sword. We need to find something else." She trailed off, and stared up at the door for some reason, trying to find a way out of this creepy place; it just didn't seem like the Deku Tree anymore.

        Nodding with agreement, he headed over and pushed the door open, seeing no danger and walked inside of the area with open arms. Thankfully this room was smaller, and had a deep ledge that looked like it would kill a person if they were to fall off of it, not that he planned on it. Great, nothing in this room except a bush. Turning around, he didn't seem to notice that the bush pushed up and something was looking up at him with the reddest of eyes, making a snorting sound. A nasty sort of sound that those elfish ears would have picked up, and in fact they did hear the sound, the ugly sound from the monster. The sound did get to Link's ears quickly, so when Navi shouted something at him, he was already way ahead of her, readying himself by the time he heard it.

        "LINK! Shield, spin and block!"

        Instinctively, he spun around and the Deku Shield went out as a nut was fired, and reflected back to some sort of wooden bush. It was brown and obviously made of wood, but had a muzzle and could walk and move, some sort of automatic puppet of some sort? The nut went back and hit the thing in the head, and showing cowardliness, it jumped up and ran around the entire small ledge, keeping from falling off. Looking for a place to hide, was it? He didn't know, but leapt forward and caught it in his grasp, holding it down and sitting on top of its' body, stared down at it with fierce determination. It didn't take much to scare it, because the look made it squeal out in pain, even though Link weighed less than the thing, and so he spoke. "Why did you do that?"

        "Oh, forgive me, master!" It could talk? So it did, speak in a raspy voice, and did once more. "I will tell you a secret, if you let me go."

        "I'm listening."

        "See? Getting down there is such a hassle, but if you hold your balance and curl into a ball you can jump down. Now, I am not saying this works for all ledges, so don't try it on mountains or anything." And with that, it spit into Link's face and scurried back down the bushel from wince it came, leaving a rude exit as it had done with the entrance.

        Wiping the green saliva from his eyes, he sat upon the bush, and looked up at her. "What did he mean? You think I can?"

        "Well, not all the way, but I see that there is a platform hanging in the air. Why don't you try it that way? I know it is once in a lifetime, but I will catch you, if you fall."

        Nodding, he spun around and put his sword up behind him, while backing up all the way to the entrance, readying his muscles for a jump he would take. He wasn't as crazy as the shrub thought he was, why would he take orders from a monster that was too cowardly to face him in battle. Nah, he might try it later on, but now he was going to go for the ledge, to pick his own spots and fight his own battles when they came to him. A loose bang flung in his face, pushing it aside, readying his cap for the jump and making sure he wasn't going to pull a muscle when jumping. Smirking to himself, he shook his head, feeling the courage of him already beginning to build back up, it seemed the spirit of a warrior was inside of him.

        "Ready?"

        "Yep, Linky, let her rip!"

        With a burst of speed, he took off like a hurricane, and leapt off of the ledge until he came to the middle platform in the air, held up by nothing. Invading how gravity did this, he was simply amazed at what was holding this up, since there was no weird air current below, nor strings holding it up. He shrugged a shoulder, waving over to his fairie, smiling at her, giving a no problem smile, before he spoke in a louder voice than usual. Before he could muster a thought or any words, he was cut off when the platform began to shake and he quickly leapt to the over side of the bridge as fast as he can. The ground he was just on, fell to the ground with a crash, the boy flailing his arms wildly, he gripped the end of the ledge and pulled himself up in a scurry of angst.

        "Great. I don't see a way back, Navi." But he saw another chest; this one had the silver rims, like the one with the sword on it, which meant that the rims meant something greater than a map. Leaping for it, he pressed all his weight up and pulled it out of the rut that it was in, the chest giving off a lot more weight than it seemed capable of. In a matter of minutes, he had the chest open, a spray of golden light filling his eyes, as if the Goddesses themselves had visited him. Shaking the chest on its edge, he reached his hand inside quickly, not afraid of anything inside, sound a sort of solid object, and yanked out a slingshot.

        "Hrm, Link, you need those, but what about.oh, I know!" She spun around the side of the chest, beginning to dig through the thing with her submerged inside of the box for a few minutes. Link just stared at her, hoping she wouldn't suffocate in the box, trying out his new slingshot (with no ammo), before long she appeared with her hands full with a sack. The sack she handed to the young boy, who opened it up and saw inside were a bunch of seeds that went when planting smaller Deku Trees. What these could be used for was beyond Link, so he looked over to Navi, whom was already speaking to him in her informative manner. "There. Use these for your slingshot, these are Deku Seeds."

        "Hee, thanks, Navi." Pulling out the slingshot, he looked around his area for something to shoot and literally fainted, there was an area for him to shoot, being so close! "Navi, a ladder!"

        "Well, shoot it!"

        Mmhm, he pulled one of the nuts out, pulled back the rubber band and let the nut flow as it cracked against the ladder, incased in some thin web, on the other side of the room. With one shot, the webs cracked and a finely tuned ladder went plummeting down at the other side, the ladder landing in the position that they could get out of here. Giving them a way out of here by the tools of a new object, it was like this place was designed together, so without all the materials you couldn't leave. Now, all he did was simply put his slingshot and nuts in the right side of his pack and leapt off of the edge, trying his luck with the advice. Pulling his legs and curling into a ball, he slammed down on the ground with nothing more than just a few scratches nothing more or less. Grinning, the boy ran over towards the ladder and climbed up towards the top and went out the room from which he came.

        After finding the slingshot, Link was feeling pretty sure of himself. He had found a new weapon-- a new, convenient weapon, and a map. The only problem was which direction he was headed, the map may have been what he was tutored on a while back, but he wasn't an expert on it. This map was so old; it looked like if he pulled it hard enough it would turn to ashes, and not taking his luck, he just kept it tucked at his side. No idea knowing how to navigate, he left that up to Navi, whom seemed to know where she was going around here and in this weird place. Hands were down by his sides, wrapped up like a school-boy and staring off in different directions, listening for any sort of scuttles or any sounds that didn't seem natural.

        "Navi, where are we?"

        "I really don't know--" she stopped speaking as they came around the corner. "A room! Link, another room!"

        "Yeah! Hee, now lets see what's in here." Walking infront of the door, he tapped onto it with his sword, and it sprang open, that seemed a very nice convenient way of opening doors, since they didn't have knobs. Hrm, he inspected for those nasty Deku shrubs and headed deep inside, when he found none, no bushels were they could be hiding, anyway. In the room was a platform, where he was standing, a lower region, and another high region across the room, the rooms seemingly to get a bit smaller as the higher up they went. At his left and right were two unlit torches, and to the side was a small-lit torch, each of them seeming to play a part in those old stories Saria read to him. When he entered the area, a pair of bars slammed down across the exit, concealing him from getting out of here, the bars not really bendable. "Hey!"

        Navi fluttered around and began to explore the room, looking for a way out of this trap; it looked so weird that he would have implanted these mechanisms. There was no way this could be real; this dungeon must have been carved out of the remains of the Deku Tree, which just had to be it? Were the Deku Tree's insides always like this or were these the defenses he always talked about in the works, or were they the enemies? As she went across the room she saw that there was a hidden wall, but the hidden room was empty, nothing in particular was going on there. Going across the room, she spotted a large chest, just like what the map and slingshot were inside, the rim not silver this time, but who cared? Who really cared about it, there was a chest there that had some valuable items in them, maybe like a more updated map or something. "Link, come on and try to get this chest! It may have some more weapons inside of it!"

        "Hrm? Oh, coming, Navi!" He yelled back at his full lungs, trying to make her feel it and when she waved back, he nodded towards her, smiling to him bashfully. Well, he was almost there when he spotted a small switch that was squared with the shape of a moon on top of it, he couldn't have gotten across the area anyway, and it was too long. Curiously, he slammed his foot upon the switch, the switch making a small crinkling sound, something he had never heard before, then a ticking sound going off. Link ignored the ticking, thinking it was all in his mind, turning his attention to the platforms with his eyes lighting up, he did something right!

        "Link, what're you--" Three small platforms appeared in the middle, lower region of the two platforms, they weren't that wide apart, but just enough for him to land and not fall off. She saw what he was doing, and congradulated him, as it seemed he was gaining some knowledge of this place, learning the ropes. Yup, he was gaining a little skill in these matters, braving the odds and conquering whatever came infront of him, a nice talent for him. Nodding, he hopped across all three of the platforms easily, I mean, it was quite easy to do it after the slingshot incident, his confidence boosted. Leaping across the last one, he landed infront of her and giggled, nodding to himself at how easy it was, still hearing that stupid ticking. "See, that was quite easy."

        Turning towards the chest, he knelt down upon the ground and examined the chest, it was the same as the other boxes, so it checked it. It was a deep Deku-brown with a bronze lining across the entire chest, making him think that it wasn't as good as a weapon, but the best next thing. Placing his hands upon the top-part of the brown box and pressed upward with all his strength, not wanting to tip this one over. Flowing, golden light pierced out, and what he picked up was a small blue instrument, something used for telling time or something. Before he could sit down and examine it, the platforms began to lower, the timer disappearing from his mind altogether, gasping loudly.

        "Link, run!" Navi screamed aloud, she was already on the other side of the platform, with one of his Deku sticks at her side, keeping it incase she needed it. Concentrating, he slipped the compass inside of his side- pack and leapt across each of the platforms, except the last, the last one just coming down too slow. Gasping, he stood on the last one as the other two went down, him trapped in the place, and when looking down, all he saw was darkness. Crying out in surprise, he should have been quicker and now he would die all because of this stupid thing, leaving Navi alone to fight. Well, it would end this way, which was what he didn't approve of so, he was trying to think, looking at Navi with his eyes dimming some.

        --------------------

It was like a dream-almost, for she saw him doing well, until the last one, where he stumbled and screwed up on the platform, leading him down to his doom. He slammed into the gravel because the platforms were too low, and now he was trapped in the spot, not being able to get back to the exit. Now, what was better than that, it was just like the nightmare had occurred right when there was no place to wake up, only the blackness was the sweet relief. That's when the platforms sunk below into the bitter darkness, and it was so sad that they came this far, yet she was not going to let that spoil the fun, no way she lost him. Now all he had was two hands holding against the brimstone, trying to pull him up with all his might, not able to on his own. "N-N-Navi!"

        "Linky!" She flew up and grabbed the Deku stick, lowering it until she felt him grab a hold. When she felt the enormous weight upon the stick, she pulled up with all of her might. There was no use, at first, he was just too heavy and no matter how hard she beat her wings, she didn't think that he was going to come back up. Well, it was not going to end that way, she would make sure of it, so the wings went even faster than before, almost at a hummingbird's speed. The weight was intense, yes, but she was not letting this boy die, her boy would not die in these circumstances, nor ever would he. No way, no how. This wasn't the end of their journey.

        --------------------

Placing both soft digits, upon the stick, he implanted his hands into the ground (or walls, in this case) pulling up with all he could muster from within. When he was just almost the full way up, he felt a weight relieve from him, like some sort of burden being lifted. It was like something had disappeared from like, yes a burden was a nice way of saying it, well that was what it felt like at first, almost losing himself from the relief. No, instead he saw the compass drop from his side pack, and cried out in surprise, and with a gasp, he tried to reach out for the item. He even grasped the thing in his hands, pulling it back, yet the slipping circle slid from his fingers and down the blackness. "The new item!"

        "Nevermind that, Link! Concentrate!" Then he felt her rise up and let him start pulling, while she pulled herself, trying to maintain this at the maximum speed of her wings. After about ten minutes of pulling, the floor and platforms long gone, he sprang up and stood across the solid ground. Automatically, she pounced upon him and buried her face into his, nuzzling and kissing his cheeks. "I can't believe you! We went through that and you lost it. Oh, you stupid--cute.Oh!" She cried out loud and went under his hat. Sighing, he picked up his Deku stick. Moving over towards the lit torch, he let the end began to burn. There he walked over towards the two torches and lit them easily. A small dinging sound went off and the bars of the exit rose, but instead of keeping the stick, he threw it over the side of the cliff. Heading out of the room, he shook his head and buried his hands across his chest, with a peeved off Navi under his hat.

        --------------------

On further inspection, he saw some branches that were in the way and some of those spiders, which she was talking about earlier. The spiders looked just like their masters, wearing the skull upon its head for protection, and he got the feeling that they may have been born that way. Either that or there were a lot of dead things inside of this tree that the spiders could get a hold of and use for some sort of helmet. Looking at the distance between them, he measured with his fingers, trying to see if maybe he could hit them with something. Yes, the idea of his new weapon appeared in his mind, seeing how he could indeed shoot a new seed at them, knocking them down here. When they were down, he would either smash their exoskeleton in, or just kick them off the edge, taking them out of commission.

        It was Navi that saw the way on it, as she studied them spiders, she fluttered down back at him, and pointed at the slingshot. "Hit them with it, Linky, it'll knock them off balance and you can smash them when they come back down. They are defenseless on the ground."

        "Alright, that won't take long." He only had fifteen nuts, so he used precise aiming when knocking them off, but since Link had never used a weapon like this in his life, the perfect was so perfect. Well, at first he tried a few shots at the nearby webs, nailing it in with some good accuracy, going towards the web and picking them off. Conserving the seeds that way, the young boy spun around back to where the skull spiders and his fairie were, waiting for it to happen. Aiming for the legs, it took three shots to take the first one down, and when it was down he brought the boots down, crushing the skull. The other two took only a shot each, because he aimed for the head instead. When they were down, he smashed them and began to scale the vines upward.

        These vines extended at least two hundred feet upward, and when he finally reached the top, an hour later, he was panting and letting his little poor appendages rest. Shaking his head, have to save the Deku Tree, he stood back up and looked around, peering at all angle for where this place was next. The top room was just a long circle with four planks sticking out of each one, it was like something out of a story, it was weird but there was nothing here. Walking over towards the third one, each on one side of the circle, he peered over at the end, trying to see what was over there. There was nothing? Nothing! What to do! But, he never saw it coming.

        --------------------

One of those Skulltullas was going to take revenge for his brother, so it hid up in the web until he was just on the edge, in stealth. With one silent slither, it went down with all force and slammed onto the little thing's back, the enticing feeling was back in action. It was beautiful how it struck it, seeing the glow that was with the creature was alert, but not able to do anything about it, being so weak. The thing went flying down towards its death, it seemed and the monster was satisfied, yea the revenge was sweet for it. He had avenged his brother and all was good with the world, so the stupid thing went back to sleep, hitting back in slumber, not caring for the thing's beneficial health.

        --------------------

Wha? He went flying through the air, was he a bird or something, or was this dream like he wished, but unfortunately that was not so, he had no idea why he was in the air. Navi had yelled something, but it was too late as he was already about two hundred feet from death, no way to turn back around and grab for help. There was some sort of web on the way down; it was where he first entered, it was weird that he missed it because they would be already down there if not. One chance. He had one chance to do this, so he took out his sword and floated up so it was, the blade having more weight than before, because of the air pressure. He was going to land face first, and kept the sword ahead in place, to cut whatever, aiming more for the web than anything at all.

        Upon impact, the sword sliced into the web and he saw there was actually a secret passage that led down to another area of the place? He heard water, so it must have been an underground stream, maybe there was a river under the Deku Tree, which was why they always received fresh water. Through the familiar room he passed and down a longer room that had to have at least been three hundred feet down, more than he could have imagined. His screams echoed as he kept the sword forward and shut his eyes tightly. After a few seconds, he let the sword, if he was gonna die, he didn't need to land on that. And the sword went forward back into the air. Pushing his shield infront of his body, he curled up and sobbed.

        --------------------

Navi sensed the monster coming, and as she turned around and screamed Link's name, he was gone, and there was nothing she could do. No, he was gone! No, it couldn't end this way, no. She was his! He was hers! Growling and cursing at the monster, it had gone away, she raced down the passage and saw Link as he neared the end of the road. He would smash and would be no more, just Baba food, and just a smash upon the pavement that would be nothing to recover from. She-She wouldn't make it! Racing down, she saw his sword come out and stared as he split the ground open? No, it was a web, why hadn't he noticed earlier? Down through the web he went and she put her flying into turbo. Racing down the corridor, she saw the sword as it floated just past her, catching it and shoving it downward. Racing past all that seemed well, a figure impacted into the water, deep and clog, with a shield protecting his body.

        --------------------

He must have been out for a good while, because when he woke, he could hear the darkness of the night, the night echoing harder. Was he dead? Was he somewhere in his wildest dreams? Looking forward, he saw it again, the man, the man from what he guessed the Desert, could they be one in the same, well could they? It was highly possible, the same evil he saw here, he couldn't imagine coming from anyone else, and no he never imagined anything this bad. He was dressed in black and had the darkest skin ever seen on anything, all the Kokiiris were pale-skinned, so tan was weird, but this man was almost black. Much taller than him, but not the Deku Tree, the man threw out something of yellow that burst past his skin and sent him crying out. The light that was there faded, as he went into eternal darkness and cried out more for help, seeing no one (not even Navi) around to help him face the evil.

        --------------------

Throwing himself up, he felt the cool water of the Kokiiri; it had the sweeter taste of sugar in it, something that she never understood. Eyes weren't open yet, though he heard a voice around and another one, a weirder one that sounded like Navi when she was cussing. Another feminine voice surrounded in the fairish language, the boy still not clear who it was, not that he could ask who it was. It was way out of the question, since he wasn't moving, the pain in his body making him summon up the strength to sit up, or try to sit up. Shivering for a few moments, the power finally came from deep in the soul, the enticing feeling was back, something he had felt when first finding the sword. Wow, it was just a dream, just a--

        "Link! You okay, Linky!" A voice, some beautiful voice, but the dread that this wasn't a dream and that he was in, this was not a dream for all his senses were back. Yes, opening his eyes revealed he was still in the Deku Tree and indeed it was night, because he heard the night faries giving off there beat. Even deep in the tree, he could still head it, the sounds of the fairies as they did their nightly ritual before they went to sleep. Looking up, a huge amount of pain went in his head, and he held it, turning up towards the beautiful angel, yes the angel with wings. She was sitting on his nose and looking at him, muttering something in her language, but no, it wasn't an angel at all, though it did have wings. "Navi?"

        "Oh, thank the Goddess. I thought you had cracked your skull open." The last of the ancient words stopped as he felt the headache lift from him, and caught the gleam of something at his side, a bright pink. Whatever it was, it was hurting his eyes whenever he looked over at it with those slanted eyes, beginning to peek open at her. Hee, it was a farie, but not like Navi, this fairie was covered in an aura, just like her with the pinkish tint instead of the blue one, it was weird. The fairie was something he had never seen, all the ones in the forest were either blue or sometimes green, an occasional yellow ones. This one was wore a hot pink veil, and was nuzzling against his face tenderly, speaking in a feminine ancient language, the fairish.

        "W-what happened?"

        "Well, a Skulltulla fell down and knocked you off the edge, and well you used your instincts and survived by cutting open this secret passage. Using your shield was smart too." Waving her hand over, she showed him the shield that was flat out dented from his body imprint. "There is water, but you landed on a dry piece of rock and lucky you used that shield. Anyway, you hit your head and so I am healing you."

        "Whose this?"

        "Oh, that is a healing farie, I don't know her name, but I had her in a bottle and she is healing your head injury."

        Lifting his fingers upward, he tickled at the little farie and heard a small giggle and something in that farie language.

        "She can't speak the normal tongue, Link, but she said her name is Jivu and to stop that, while she is working." The small pink farie stopped the healing, as the feeling returned through his whole body and it went up on his cheek kissing it, before floating up and out of the Deku Tree.

        Flushing, he looked up at Navi, and giggled a little. "Where did she go, Navi?"

        "After they heal, they return to their mistress, the Great Farie. There aren't any fountains here, but who knows, maybe one day one will come out here. There are five of them, but I am sure they might come out to be closer to our faries, but sometimes the stray fairies hang around the Lost Woods to see other forest fairies."

        "Hee, oh. So, how long have I been out?"

        "Oh, let's see. I think about six hours. These faries are slow healing, so I am guessing all and all we have been in this tree about eight hours. All your pain isn't gone, we just healed you enough so you can get through here, then you will have to go to sleep for a while."

        "Humph, I wanted to finish this in half an hour. Are we almost done?"

"According to the map, no. But, I don't know, this map is so old."

        Pushing himself up, he looked off at the entire scenery and shook his head sadly. "This just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it?"

        "At least this room is clear of enemies, I mean, it would have been hard-.oh!" She raced onward and began to wade through the water until finally she threw out the blade and pushed his shield over at him. "There, thought I lost that, for a minute there."

        Nodding, he stood himself up, from the mess and stared around the room once more, getting a better view of it now, since he was wide awake. It was indeed an underground stream and there seemed to be no way up, so they might as well go explore, find the monster here. Picking his sword up, he turned around as he heard a scuttling sound, the sound of something following him, so that was when he reacted. Spinning around again, he saw nothing and shrugged it off, it was probably just his overactive imagination at work, and he was still half-asleep. One further investigation there was right near some sort of switch and unlit torch. Stomping on the switch, the torch went to life and he warmed his wet clothes on it. Across was a little shallow end and another portion that was covered by a web.

"I am gonna try something--stay here."

        "But, Link!"

        "Navi, hee, I am not gonna do something stupid, again."

        Not waiting for an argument, he put out one of the Deku Sticks and lit it with the torch, the end of it beginning to burn, but it didn't burn up. The stick just caught fire and stayed burning, according to the other Kokiiri this thing could have been burning for quite a while, so he had himself some time. Running forward, he leapt across the water and moved over towards where the web was, slinging the thing forward to catch onto something. Placing it on the web, it went out in a burst of flames, clearing a path. Dipping the stick in the water, he put it back in his back, and waved over for her.

        She raced over with his shield and sword, and after some item alternations he was back to normal, having his things back in place. The Kokiiri blade was placed in his left hand, while the shield went for the right one, giving him some easy access, before he bent the shield back. Inside the front of the side pack were the Farie Slingshot and some Deku Nuts, and the Deku Sticks strapped on his right side and the nuts on the left. Pockets were assigned all in the side pack, so that he would be able to get to them, he left it opens for some easy access to get it. Through that he entered a small door that was hidden behind the web, the door one of those doors that just slid up in the way when you touched it.

        Inside that door, there was an even smaller room with a familiar- looking bush, something he had seen in a previous room. This time he was ready, backing up until another familiar looking Deku fired a nut, and when it fired, instead of standing there, he rushed at the nut pushing it against the thing's skull. The nut wasn't just reflected that time, the thing was up against the skull, yet slammed at a very tremendous speed, stopping the assault. Squealing, the nut hit with a forceful impact, but even before it could escape, he had it pinned and was sitting on top of the heavy burden. Smirking, he reached for the blade, sliding the dull end across its hide, which it cried out in surprise, even false pain for not being hurt.

        "Ah! Master; please spare me, if you do. I will tell you something cool."

        "Hrm.maybe."

        "U-um, please! Ooh, okay! My brothers up ahead are much stronger and there is only one way. The order is 2-3-1. Twenty-three to one! Remember that." And with that, he pushed away and burrowed itself back into the bush.

        "2-3-1? Navi? You get that?"

        "Yea, but I don't understand." The little farie flew over and perched she upon his hat, looking up at something. Hmm? What was that? "There are bars over the door, try hitting that eye with a shot."

        Indeed, over the doors were bars that he obviously couldn't break with any tool at his disposal, the sword would just get bent hitting the thing. Maybe if he had some Kokiirish tools along he could break it, but he didn't feel like climbing back up the long hole and then sliding back down. Above that was a metal incased figure of an eye, looking like something out a Buddhist religion or something like that. Taking his aim with his own fingers, he picked it in a slow-motion type, seeing what would happen if he shot it then, and nailing it imaginatively. Picking his sling with one seed, he shot at the eye, the seed bouncing right in the center of it and a small creaking sound occurring as the bars went up, the door shutting.

"Good thinking, Navi!" Curling about his fingers, he picked her up and gently petted her body with soft digits, them caressing her up for what he called a simple thank-you. Before residing her on his hat, he walked over and checked the door, seeing that if it was stuck were one of the bars had made a bad impression. Simple enough, but still looked a little stuck, so he could have kicked it in, but since they were in the tree there was the possibility of something spring in on him. Taking the hilt of his sword, he swung it, and the door swished open without any hassle at all, pushing the fairie back on his head, the sword going back to its spot. Smiling at his marksmanship, the boy looked at the door, watching the entrance and walked through the entrance with his arms at his sides. "There we go."

        The next room was a sight for sour eyes, the place was a regular maze of traps, it was sad that the monster was so smart to create all this. It was submerged, basically, with the platform he was on, and on the other side was another and one Small Island that floated back and forth. Mmhm, and of course a black log with spikes sticking out it, rotating back and forth, creating a problem since if he went under there was the chance he would hit the spikes on accident. Now there was another chance that the spikes would follow him, so he picked up a stone, throwing it up above the spike, the tool moving on a mechanical device and rising as the stone went over. It didn't move, but swished along the water. Interesting enough, the platform blocked anyway from getting under without cutting your throat on the spikes.

        "Problem."

        "Indeed," responded the little farie. This is indeed a problem, how can we get across? She didn't trust herself to carry him. Maybe there is? "Maybe there is a switch underwater, you go under and check because if there is, I won't be able to push it."

        Without hesitation, he dove into the water, and searched the bottom of the left side with his hands; there was the only way to do. Hoping that there weren't any traps underwater, his hands groped around while those eyes remained shut, holding his breath deeply. No equipment for seeing underwater, so he was as blind as a bat until he hit it, it seemed to be in the shape of a block when he grabbed it. Yes! It was a switch and pushing down on it, a ticking sound came out, and the ticking he could feel under the water, even from that altitude. It reminded him of the room with the blocks, his own mind going for the realization that this wasn't just a reminder, it was the same thing! Ticking? Clock, time? A time limit! Sprinting back into the water, which seemed shorter than before. He found an eager Navi waving frantically at him.

        "The water drained, come on, get on the platform before it sounds. A timer has sounded!"

        Sprinting backward, he scooped her up and jumped, just as the platform was taking off from their location, landing on the black platform just as it was onward. Onto it they want, and he ducked under the black 'log', as the time sounded faster and faster, all the more nervous when it ended. He was away from it less than ten seconds before the water raised back up, and parts of the island being lopped off, gasping in fear. Turning around, half of the island was indeed gone, worried that if he had been on the edge that he wouldn't be around anymore. If he had been there, oh, he just blocked that out of his mind. The end of the road was only a few feet, and before he knew it, the boy was climbing up onto the other ledge and looking forward.

        "That was close, Linky.you'd better being more careful around here. This place is filled with traps, and from the looks of it, they aren't friendly."

        "Mmhm, thank you Navi, there was a switch. Hee, if I had been there a few seconds earlier, I would have been a sandwich. Hrm, what is this?" From looking forward, he saw another web, but it was empty with a large block and a path that was engraved for the block. Upward you could stand on the rock and climb up to a new place, maybe an exit?

        With all the luck, a few seconds before he touched down, another Skulltulla showed up, this one not as friendly as the rest, one of the big ones. This one was much slower and much easier to deal with, and with one quick stab to the back, it was down for the match, just as stupid as the others. Slinging it aside, he walked over to the boulder and began to push on it, pushing harder and harder upon it so that it would move. No such luck, the thing weighed about five hundred pounds, nothing was going to get it to move and now it seemed so much impossible. Gasping loudly, the boy slammed his fist into the thing at the top, nothing happening at all, knowing that if he leapt for the ledge he wouldn't land.

        "No, this can't stop us, Navi." We have come so far, and there is no way back!" Link squealed a little, slamming his fist into the square middle of the rock, but this time something did happen to the rock, this time was different. There was supposed to have been pain an immense pain he would feel for punching the rock, but there was none at all, there seemed to be nothing. Just a stretching mark as if something had been set off, and that it was, because when he hit the middle a portion of the rock slid in, only about a small square. Next, the rock moved up until it was, at last, at the end of the grinding path and held a way out, giving him the room that he needed to climb it. When he would climb it, the boy could get his way and up on the ledge.

        "Wow, Link. I guess you don't know your own strength, Eh? Mm, you must have set off some sort of passage. Looks like your skills got us out of this one." She would have easily carried him up; it wasn't as dangerous as spikes, if he fell. Only about seven feet up.

        "Hee, well, I got us out of this one, Navi!" He pulled her off of his hat, and smothered her with the warm embrace, kissing and letting out a lashing of tenderness.

        "A-ah, Link! S-stop it, the mission, oh!" She couldn't help it, and began to give back into the hug, stroking that strong and beautiful-- .boyish face, with hands.

        Finally, getting a hold of himself, he put her onto the top of his nose and pushed up on the boulder, taking the boulder and rubbing it. Finely shaped it was, and didn't take long to mount before pulling himself up into a dark corridor, where there was no where to go. Sometimes the boy wished he could have a torch or something, Navi's light could brighten a whole room, but for some reason it didn't work here. There was only one lit torch and two more were unlit, with a locked door. This did not take much time, as he took the other side of the already burnt Deku Stick and ran around the room lighting all three of the torches. This opened up the door, throwing the burnt stick down; he walked down into the next room. Unfortunately, the exit looked a million miles from here.

        Another boring room, but this room had two exits. One was a crawl space; the other was webbed and could be burned by the nearby torch, ready for him to light if need be done. Putting up the sword and shield, he took out a Deku Stick and lit it on the torch, and passing through the middle of the room, heard a weird noise. Like a frog, but at the same time had an eerie feeling to it. Hrm, no bother, he got to the end of the room when a thump made him jump. Turning around, he saw the ugliest thing he'd ever seen. It was a spider, or at least a mutated kind, about half his height with razor sharp claws barred at him. At the same time, it wasn't an anarchic. The beast had only two legs and a single orangish-yellow eye, with a green pupil. The thing spelt trouble, so; he ran for the web and lit it on fire. As soon as he ran, three more dropped, and all charged at the same exact moment.

        "N-navi, what are those?"

        "I-I-I don't know, Link. I have never seen them, but-- run!"

        No second repeating for him, because he took off when only a portion of the web was burned, and jumped onward, pushing through the door, and slamming it shut.

        "We are safe Navi. Navi? Navi!" Turning around, he heard a shriek and pounding, opening up the door, saw one of the monsters had her, and leaping forward, at the same moment pulling out two nuts, slammed them against the spider's head. Three of them paralyzed, because they were together, and he snatched Navi, pushing his way out of here and back into the new room.

        "Y-you okay!"

        "Mmhm, Link." She just glared at him for a few seconds, before punching him in the cheek. "You left me! Ooh! Linky, I can't believe you!"

        "I'm sorry! I-I didn't know you were--" but he trailed off and looked at the room, amazed. "Navi, we are back. We are on the new platform, and oh my Goddess!" He ran forward and tried punching the thing in the middle, as the block went forward, and this time, the new block clapped into the water and gave them a new entrance towards the fire.

        "Link, don't change the subject!" She trailed off, giving a small sigh, how could she stay mad at him? He was so cute! Fluttering over on his shoulder, she hugged him and nodded. "You are forgiven, only because of the mission." My Goddess, when did I get all buddy-buddy with him?

        Sticking her on his hat, he jumped over, with the opposite end of the other stick and moved over at the torch, using it now for some preparations. Lighting this one up, he ran over towards the new entrance and threw it down on the webbed entrance, knowing it was too sticky to cut. Falling through it did, and revealed a similar path towards before, except this one had a vine ladder that led down, letting the stick go alone when it fell. Summoning up the strength, he climbed down the hundreds of feet in the pitch black until at last he saw a torched up room. Dropping the last three feet, he saw three bushes and a room that looked like the end of the line. It was engraved in gold with the indication of a spider on it.

        "I see Deku bushes, Navi, what about 2-3-1?"

        "Well, I think, maybe you should fight them from the middle, last, and first. Two is the middle, three is the last, and one is the first. Try it, but be careful, you have never faced three at once."

        Stepping out of the water, and four feet on the surface, he heard the shuffles of the bushes and saw three Deku Scrubs stand up. These were about twice as big as the last one, and a lot bigger than Link, they looked more vicious and not at all cowardly like their siblings. Gasping a little, he saw the nuts fly, wincing at them for a few seconds, before taking the shield out and regaining his courage back. Leaning forward, the boy would take the other two hits, giving the other at the middle guy in the full frontal assault, taking the good with the bad. They were all headed, but he leapt forward and pushed the middle one into the middle's face, letting out a shriek, it froze in some sort of purple mass, but the other two hit Link with full force, taking the boy's breath away.

        "Linky!"

        "I'm oka-!"

        Leaping forward, he pushed the second nut into the last one's face, which again paralyzed it in a purple gooey mass, giving him only one more down. Another shriek, but instead of getting hit again, he slammed the first nut, with the shield, into the first ones' face. It seemed to have worked, except this one didn't freeze and took off, the others seemed to be frozen in the mass, not going anywhere else. Giving a growl of frustration, the young boy took off after the monster, determined to catch him in his own tracks, beat him at the game. Oh, this one was definitely faster than the other was three. After chasing the guy for three minutes, Link plopped onto of the Deku bush as the thing stopped and gasped, falling to his knees.

"Oh, forgive master, but how did you ever know out secret!"

        "Hee, it worked, Navi. Um, one of your brothers told me."

        "What! I-I-I will surely pound those little-- please let me go, master! I will tell you a secret about our mistress."

        "Alright."

        "Well, to give the coup de grade to the Parasitic Armoured Arachnid, Gohma, wait until the eyes are red." Kicking Link away, it scuttled back into the bush, along with the other of its three brothers.

        "Gohma?" Pondered Navi, as she flew over with two small little bottles. They were shaped like hearts and had red juice in them.

        "What are those, Navi?"

        "Oh, keep these in your pack, they restore your health. You seem all right, well, no. Take one now."

        "I am fine, Navi. I think I can handle this Gohma." A little too cocky, especially not knowing what he is going into.

        "Alright, but stick it in your pack, nevertheless."

        Nodding, away it went into his side pack, not even feeling the need to keep one now, for his new found courage was in place now. Standing up, and stretching, he went over to the water and sipped it down, trying to get his mouth watered for the upcoming battle. It was clean, a little Lake Water, but clean as it could be inside of a tree, though not as sweet as that of the Kokiirish water. Searching through the bushes, he found about ten more Deku Seeds and some Deku Nuts, letting them feel in his hands for a few seconds. Stuffing them in the slots, he went back and rested onto of the third bush, sitting down gingerly, to keep himself from sitting on something he didn't need to. "I need a little break."

        "No, Link. Come on, we need to-go?" Beyond disbelief, she watched as he fell asleep.

Asleep? He was asleep on the job, and whatever was infecting the Deku Tree was inside there, so they needed to exterminate it. What in the world was she going to do, and she needed to do whatever was going to happen fast so that the tree didn't rot. Slapping his face roughly, he seemed to be more asleep than he is had been in the bed, it was hard to wake him up, hitting away at those cheeks. Now the cheeks were red with small slap marks on them, the little child still not awakening from his slumber to do a thing about it. Scurrying up to his ear, she had an idea, something that just might do the trick, so she got a little closer and whispered inside the ear. "Whatever is in there, might be tired of a Great Tree and will come out for some Kokiiri. Not you, but maybe," dare she say it? Yep, she said it. "The one and only, Saria."

Let us just say, he was awakened two seconds later, the sword put in his left hand and the bent Deku Shield in his right, and he was ready. Grinning over at her, he shrugged a confident shoulder, looking ahead at the door, studying it with those eyes glancing in all directions. The bushes hadn't moved since he had been asleep, that was good, those things afraid that if he failed at this mission than they would be punished. Punished they would be for revealing their masters weakness, the eye, or whatever they said.. It wasn't at all that clear. Moving forward, he nodded, rubbing those tender cerulean hues. "Alright, Navi, let us go. I mean, we need to fight this Arachnid, anyway. Navi, what is an arachnid?"

"A spider, Link. What he meant was parasitic, or diseased, and armoured means, well, you know. Arachnid, or spider, named Gohma."

"S-spider?"

"Mmhm. Linky, come on, don't tell me you are afraid of a little spider?"

"No, no. Of course not, you just surprised me there."

"Hmm, alright, then. Let's go."

"Yes, let's."

        With that, he walked over towards the big door, pushing against it for one second, and whatever happened, he had her at his side. He had Saria waiting, and the Deku Tree was here all around, guiding him, there was no more running away, it was time to face the fears. Giving him weapons, tools, and the guidance of it all. Yes, the boy could do this. Mido was wrong, he wasn't a loser, he could fight, and he had shown it. He has a warrior's presence. The Deku Tree said so, and he wouldn't lie, would he? Shrugging it off, he pushed the door open, and kept it that way, for the sake of Navi. Taking three steps away from the door, just out of door-sight, it slammed shut behind him. Nearly shrieking, he turned around, and ran over, beating on it. He could hear a tugging on his shoulder. "Linky, Linky, Shh. It's, okay, I'm here. We will face this together."

        Calming himself down, he nodded, and smiled. "I am just a little jumpy, those usually don't close on there own, hee." Gulping, a little too loudly, a look around showed that they were in a dark room with only the mist around, yet somehow he could see. Somehow, light was illuminating and glowing around the bottom of the room, but it wasn't normal light, it was moonlight, so moonlight underground. Yes, somehow different from the Kokiiri moonlight, but yet all the same. Shivering from the cold, he stared forward, only pillars were seen, but no Gohma. This skirt didn't help either; it had to be 40 degrees in here, shivering at the cold light with his arms held at his chest, rubbing around there. All right, maybe Gohma went away; maybe he is a wimp, or was so small that he couldn't see it, a little baby was what he wanted.

        "Maybe Gohma ran away?"

        "Don't think so, Linky, I can definitely feel evil in here."

        "Yeah, you encouraged me, Navi."

        "Link, quiet. You need to listen for him. Calm down and concentrate, you can do this."

        Before the boy could even gesture some concentration, a sound erupted from their conversation, blocking the chilling silence out. This sound made him break out in a series of sweats, gasping at the sound and although he didn't mind the sound itself, it was how large it was. Maybe it was a bellow of a beast, but whatever the sound was, it sure wasn't anything that was friendly dwelling in the last room. The sound told him that the thing wasn't small, the thing wasn't scared of him or anything, for that matter, and the thing wasn't a Kokiiri. Not that he thought it was a Kokiiri, he didn't think it was anything, maybe a nightmare that the Deku Tree was having (he did say he had been having them.)

        -Shrikjuu

        It was like a roar, maybe something from an amphibian, yet he couldn't imagine a giant frog doing all of this, and nah he just didn't see it. It reminded him of those things he had seen earlier, except this one was twenty times as loud, and looking around, a light sounded out of the middle of nowhere. This light was an orange, with a bit of yellow, and sort of like the sunsets from the Lost Woods, the eye of Din when it set off the horizon. Hrm, could day be here, he wondered if it

was, but no, it was coming from the top of the pillars, while day would be from the doors. Staring upward, he saw something that made his heart stop and all of the courage in that tender flesh, turn hauling itself. On there was the biggest thing he had ever seen, except the Deku Tree, of course, but this thing wasn't friendly. He didn't even have time to visualize the whole thing, and turned around, dashing out of the room, screaming. "Gohma is a girl! Those were its babies!"

        --------------------

The creature, Gohma, had been studying the two ever since they had entered its lair, spying upon them from since the beginning. Eating the creatures would have been too easy; it wanted to wait for them to go into her territory, so that she had the full-home advantage. The small one was nothing more than a small snack, but this bigger one, this it could actually feed off of. She knew nothing of where she was, born to the world only months ago, but now she saw the most beautiful thing in the world. Living off of Deku Scrubs seemed to be old, and this was flesh, not wood or rock. Thanks to one of its children, the door was shut, blocking off the escape for the two trespassers. Yes, they were in here territory and it was time to pay the piper.

The tender one had noticed him and ran, so with a one huge smash, it jumped from its spot and scurried after it, fangs bared open. Sure, she wasn't one of the faster creatures, but she surely stronger than any of them and compared to this little creature she would win. Actually, it went against the door and began to paw on it, crying in some tongue she didn't understand, but this didn't affect her. Emotions were useless to her, although she did feel a sudden fury for her dead children that he had killed, yet she felt no remorse for this. Nothing did, she just stared the creature down, imaging what it would look like with the clothes off, those nasty materials pulled aside. One armoured claw pushed down, holding the creature down, and ripped the clothing off. It was simply beautiful.

        --------------------

"Linky! Wait!" Navi screamed, when she heard the scream and saw him running off in the opposite direction, for the door that wasn't going to open. What was he talking about, a girl? Then, of course, she looked up and gasped. It looked just like those creatures before, but with more legs and with a mouth-like structure, fangs bared open at the young boy. More evolution, obviously, but Navi followed it as the monster went after Link. Was it because he was bigger than she was? Maybe this was her first time seeing Kokiiri flesh of any kind? There were just scrubs down here and the occasional Baba. Racing after the monster, it scurried in her face, but was pushed aside with a claw, and it hurt a little, not enough to make her back off, though. Eyes widened a little when she saw the beast actually pin the boy down and ripped his clothing off, so he was absolutely nothing at all! Flying across her face, she continued to glow and try to blind the monster.

        --------------------

He should have waited; he should have been calm, he should have kept his cool and faced the monster head on, but no it wasn't so. But no, being the coward he was, he ran. Now pinned against the wall, seeing the monster in its true colours, the fear was displayed inside of his eyes, revealing the true instincts. It was at least thirty feet tall, and wide as a house, with six legs sticking out. Arachnids were supposed to have eight, though, this one probably had two hidden ones? He didn't look, all he did was star into those golden glazed eyes, with the green pupil. It was almost hypnotizing, when his clothes were ripped off, he knew it was over. This thing was going to eat him, the quest had failed, and he had underestimated Gohma and was now going to pay. The clothes were thrown aside, nothing but rags now and it didn't matter. He was dead meat, anyway.

        --------------------

It wouldn't end this way, because the little insect-like creature flew right into Gohma's path and began to illuminate the brightest aura it could. She was going to blind the thing so that the boy could get away, recuperate and then plan for an assault, not even worrying about herself. This upset the monster more than the big one's struggles, so it threw a claw of and slashed the insect away, knocking it aside. Direct hit, the thing slammed into the nearby wall, and she just stared at it, a showing the best move of a smirk that it could, with the spider-face. At the same time, letting her guard down of the creature, not even noticing that anything would happen, besides the boy didn't have any thing to hurt her.

        --------------------

What? Navi? Navi! He watched as his partner was slammed into the ground, blood guzzling from the little body, not much, but he didn't know how much they had. Seeing his chance, he leapt around and grabbed his clothing, putting on the rags, measly, slipping them on so that he could get at her. Even in his own anger, he couldn't help but be embarrassed about running around naked, it was just a little habit of his: modesty. His under area was covered, but the shirt still exposed to the rest of the world, the thing would have to be re-sown if they got out of this. Moving at a running speed, he rolled forward towards the sword and shield, at least thirty feet away, and put them both up for stance. Gohma must have noticed this because she went flying at the little young one, in a fury of rage.

        --------------------

How dare it! How dare it take advantage of her and run away. The monster charged up at the little boy with full force, that anger was enticing its single eye, letting the full fury not be shown by anyone else. It was tired of playing and was going to kill the little thing now, and then it would go after the insect, the big one was the most worrisome now. Pushing forward, the claw slashed across his chest, leaving a mark that would show for odds end, a roar of triumph entered his ears. Blood was gushing from the wound, the spider licking the lips of her own, loving the smell of the blood, just wanting to taste it. It leapt back for the throat, going to take it and slash it out, extracting the revenge for sneaking up on it, the monster never reaching the spot, paralyzed.

        --------------------

        Pain erupted as blood gushed from the small wound, seeing the look in the monster's eyes, Link couldn't help but trudge away from her. It would leave a scar, but as Gohma threw back her claw, he reached into his pocket, not going to let her have the finishing move. The eye is red. Maybe this'll work? My last chance. Throwing a Deku nut directly into her eye area, the orb flashed red when the Gohma stopped in her tracks, his own face breaking out into a grin. It worked? It worked! Pulling back the sword, he slammed forward into the monster's eye, pushing forward until the creature was blinded, feeling the puss pour out. Yanking his sword out of it, he looked at the sticky mess upon the sword, shivering a bit from it, the puss didn't look like it would come off. Watching amazed, as it went the opposite direction and scurried back up a pillar.

        --------------------

        What? No, it couldn't see! There was no sight in its life anymore, only the pain from that cold metal steel, even more when he yanked the sword out of it. No matter, its smell was just as accurate; the creature would pay for taking away one of its only joys, the love of its sight was gone. Sight was beautiful, but not anymore, it would never see again, there was no way to be healed from this madness, she wouldn't die, just be blinded. Curse the creature! Moving up towards the top of the pillar, it had an idea, and maybe let her babies take her sight for her? Mmhm, which was the plan, and so its abdomen went down, and it began to prepare to lay a few eggs for this creature, that, would come next.

        --------------------

Turning around, he sprinted over towards where Navi was, and checked up on her, his eyes matting out in concern for the fairie. He knew it was stupid, but he was worried and for good cause and didn't care if the Gohma came in for a sneak attack, it would die soon. She had lost a lot of blood, but was watching the battle, eagerly; her unconsciousness had seemed to disappear while he fought. Tenderly, he held out one of the jars to her, and she took if with good cause, watching her drink a bit of it, it wouldn't heal her, just make the pain disappear for a while. The scene was good and would have remained if Gohma hadn't shot a web out, which picked Navi up and threw her against the other wall. Staring in disbelief, he looked up at the smirking Gohma. Eyes began to dilate, Link's that is, when he saw what had happened to Navi. She was unconscious, possibly dying, those hues filled with tears.

        "No, no, no, no!"

        -Shrikjuu

        Gohma's stupid sound! Lifting up the sword, he charged back to where she was and began to curse the sounds out of his mouth he had never even heard. Some of them are what Mido had said before, what Saria had taught him not to say, but no matter how much he tried he couldn't stop that madness. Maybe it was that presence that the Deku Tree talked about, as a friend was in danger, he would explode into a fury of madness. He didn't even know how to curse, but the sounds came out with full force, them feeling even better when he said it, making the pain disappear. It made no sense; it was like some spirit that was restless possessed him, and then he thought of what the Deku Tree said again.

        "No! Why did you take her away, you piece of shit! She never did anything to you. No! You will pay with your fucking life!"

        Three eggs dropped from the ground, which Link held the sword and spun around in a quick turn, slicing the eggs all from the top corners. The babies were instantly decapitated and put to rest, and of course this angered Gohma because she came down, only a few feet from him. This time, the boy was ready, pulling out another nut, and throwing it towards the spider's face, he leapt forward once more and slammed the sword around two of its' legs. They instantly fell off, and the monster scurried back upwards, trying to get away from the attacker that had killed her children. This time, he had her, however, and leapt upon the body, slicing all but one leg off, not going to let her get away for what she did.

        --------------------

This was disastrous! Her children had been decimated in one quick slash from that pointed metal and two of its legs had come off, the boy on her now. To make matters much worse, that creature had rested himself onto her body and four more off, instantly causing even more pain. Never had she thought that doing this would cause the boy to become so more powerful, a master of that cold steel that hit her. That left here with only one limb and not enough to climb back up. This was going to die, she didn't know what she did to anger it, but she really regretted it. Maybe hurting the insect was a bad idea? It seemed to increase the strength of this usually weak creature, but if it was so weak how did it get past all the traps and mazes? The monsters in here? Maybe she had under given this creature for its true strength. Rearing back, she charged again, throwing him off of her and charging the body.

        --------------------

This is it, the final confrontation, would she win, or would he, it was untold from this point in time, both of their rage held up in ambition. He didn't know as she charged at him, but instead of running. He just grinned a little. It was actually funny, but how was it? How could he be happy when Navi- and the boy jumped through the air once more, this time leaping over the beast and throwing the shield. Deku slashed against her face and stunned her for a few seconds; the nuts had spilled, so he relied on this. Giving a charging run, Link jumped forward and landed onto the creature. Pulling the sword forward and slashing back, he literally cut through the armour. This usually wouldn't work, but there was so much determination in him. So much hidden power, and so much fury that it did. The shell cracked open and the sword plunged inside, cutting the monster in two.

        "Kyaaii!" It gave one long screech before the heart was punctured and it turned into nothing but a carcass would be left for the maggots. The weird thing was that before the boy a blue fire began to encircle the body, the boy realizing that somehow it was set on fire and reacting. Leaping off and running for Navi, the fire burned the body until it was nothing but ashes, and the wind picked up from somewhere, blowing the ashes away. With the ashes gone, it was as if the thing was never there, she course of power had disappeared with it, the mist seeming to disappear also. Scooping up the little farie, Link kissed her forehead and felt for breathing, hoping that she was all right from the previous battle.

Yes, there was some. Checking the slots, he looked disappointed, the juices had disappeared? One was cracked and the one by Navi was already drained. Moving over with her, he placed her in his clasped hands, about to head for the door when he saw the blue light again. This time it formed what looked an entrance, some sort of portal? Moving forward almost mesmerized, he entered the light and felt the wound begin to restore itself, the pain didn't disappear, the blood just clotted and stopped for a while. Still he would feel the pain in a good while. A scar was left, but the wound hurt no more and Navi began to heal also, or so he could tell from the way she was moving around. Funny thing was, he felt stronger, and some new strength was opened inside of him, because the power felt enormous, growing into a warrior, it seemed. Moving more into the light, the dark room disappeared from sight.

        A new place, this was where they were traveling, but he doubted it since the wind began to smell the same, the scents back to normal. It seemed that the aura of blue fire wasn't deadly, well it wasn't bad to him, but it seemed to be hazardous to enemies and a way of transportation for him. No, it was old, and suddenly he fell onto the ground right beside the Deku Tree where he had stood about nine hours ago. Surprised, he stared in disbelief as the Great Deku Tree's entrance shut and it looked upon him with wonder, the tree having a big smile upon the face of the tree. However it was possible, he saw that the curse had been broken, the place was back to normal now, and he would be a true hero.

        "G-Great Deku Tree?! Was it a dream?"

        "No, young warrior, not a dream. Thou has proven thyself, survived the dungeon and came forth. Thou has indeed proven thyself."

        At the time, Navi seemed to be coming too, and fluttered over towards the Deku Tree, amazed, her eyes adjusting to the light like hers had. Being in a cavern that was dim, as night was really breathtaking and from the look of things, the night had passed through, it was stilling night. Morning was pushing through, so maybe they had been in the tree more than nine hours, however it was very possible, and Navi sometimes got time wrong. "Great Deku Tree? Are we done, are you cured?" Then she turned on Link and swept into his arms, nuzzling him with her full affection displayed infront of the Deku Tree, not even caring. She didn't care if he saw she was almost happy that he saw. It meant that he had made a wise choice in a partner for the two, a perfect match. "Linky! You did it!"

        He held her in his palms and collapsed on the ground, nodding eagerly. "Mmhm, I did it, Navi. No, we did it. When she hit you, I-I just couldn't control my-" but the tree interrupted.

        "That was thou's warrior's spirit, young Link. When a loved in danger, the spirit arises and allowed thou to defeat the dreaded Gohma."

        "So, Great Deku Tree are you cured?" The boy answered enthusiastically, but of course he was I mean, they won against the monster, and when good won then the victim was always cured.

        "Unfortunately not."

        "Great Deku Tree, you aren't serious!" The boy and partner both blurted out, astounded, their emotions wondering how could he not be healed, it just seemed impossible. All sort of emotions roared through Link's body: sadness, anger at the fact for Gohma, the empty feeling that the revenge was in vain. If that was so, then maybe he would die, if he wasn't cured then the virus was going to keep eating at him until his health failed. Shuddering at the thoughts, he stared up at his father, his creator, those eyes bright as sapphires, the confusion plastered. They beat Gohma, together, and that monster was burned into ashes, then spread to the world.

        "This was a test, young warrior. I was doomed before thou even started. This was a test to prove if thou could save the world."

        "World! What do you mean, Great Deku Tree?"

        "Link, thou has proven thyself. Yea, your victory was celebrated, but not for I. Hyrule, the world, is in danger by the man from the desert. His name is not known, but I want you to leave the forest."

        Navi chirped in. "Great Deku Tree, he'll die!"

        "No, thou is different, Link. Thou will survive. Thou must go to a place called Hyrule castle and see the Princess of Destiny. There, thou will learn of what is to be. Please, take this jewel, this is what the man in the desert wanted so bad that he put a curse on me."

        From up above, a light appeared and gleaming down was something surrounded by an aura, a feeling of beautiful content displayed. The aura was pure green and inside the thing fell into Link's hands, the aura disappearing and showing the true colours of the thing. It was an emerald, beautiful and green, something of a brooch that went on a specific body part something that a princess might wear. Link studied it with awe, and placed it inside his pack, before looking up at him, not caring about the jewel, only that the tree was dying. It just wasn't fair, he couldn't die, he just couldn't, and his mind followed through on different accusations on what could have happened. "You can't die, Great Deku Tree. No! I saved you!"

        "Good-bye Link, hero of time. Goodbye Navi, guard Link well and take him to Hyrule. Be with him always and never leave his side. Goodbye-" the last words were cut off when a cracking sound occurred, only happening in the area where the Deku Tree was, the thing changing colour. All around him, the bushes and the trims of the Deku Tree began to petrify, which meant to stone they went, the entire tree going in that state. Link just stared forward, mouth agape in horror at the tree, not seeing it rot was a nice thing, but turning to a statue wasn't all that great also. It went one for a few seconds and before Link knew it, the once Great Deku Tree was now a statue, the entire place as hard as a rock. Testing it with his fist, the boy knocked on the Deku Tree, his eyes beginning to water at the realization of the situation.

        "Link, it's- okay. Shh." She came over and fluttered up to his face, seeing the tears matted on his face, also how he shuddered in fear, in desperation. The boy had become deeply saddened, not looking to his faire, but just staring ahead at the lifeless tree, wondering how this would have happened. It was some sort of shock, the tree had said that if they beat Gohma then the curse would be lifted, but he did never say he would be cured. He risked his life and for what? Nothing! Pounding on the ground, where he sat, the boy looked down and sobbed deeply, the sobs coming out of his chest in loud and protruding sounds. Such a sad sight to the fairie, he was about to leave him to cry on his own (not sure what to do in this situation) before he called out in a weak whisper.

        "Don't leave, you aren't supposed too, remember?" Stretched fingers curled her up, and placing himself on the ground, kissed and fiddled with the farie for the next twenty minutes, while letting the rest of his tears out. They were quiet because when she talked he didn't listen, or was too busy sobbing; sometimes he did try to listen, not wanting to be rude. When the boy did try to speak they came out in gibberish, or not gibberish, but it came out in a weird sound, trying to form the words. Finally, half an hour later, he simply picked her put while strapping the shield and sword back on, pulled out the jewel and headed out. She was in the left hand, while the jewel was in the right, fiddling around with it, his left hand also fiddling around with the fairie, rubbing her gently.

        "What do you think this is for?"

        "I don't know, I've never seen it. Linky?"

        "Hrm?"

        "You gonna be okay? I mean, we can stop and-"

        "No, we have to go now. I am fine, remember, I am a hero and they are strong and courageous."

        "Even if no one thinks you are one, your mine, okay?"

        "Hee, not if your mine, too." He looked down and kissed her face before, slipping the jewel into his hair, a grin coming upon his face, he did have to do what was right.

        "L-Linky? What are you, hee, what are you doing!" He had sat her on he shoulder and stared to walk like a lady, the grin remained on his face, as he shrugged a shoulder lightly.

        "Well, we are going to see a princess, aren't we? I have to be more lady-like, y'know, like in the story?"

        Sighing, it seemed this was going to be a long and hard journey, she didn't know how long it was going to take now, but it wasn't bad. If they traveled together, that gave them more time to be together and learn about each other, with no other people to be involved. Moving forward, she scooped the jewel up, and put it down in his pocket, fastening it shut so that it wouldn't slip out when he ran. In the place where the jewel was, nothing had been there before, nothing at all had been in that spot, and it made so not to fall out. The jewel was in a spot in the back of side pack, away from all the weapons, so far that he'd have to reach back to get it on his own. "Come on, Linky, let's get past Mido and go to Saria. You do want to see her-"

        "Oh, yes. She can't go. Humph. Yea, let's go see her."

        The Deku Babas were gone for now, when he passed through, but he dashed through pretty quickly, so if they were there he missed them. Those Babas were no match for a person who took care of the evil Gohma; they were just in the way for him and a nuisance. Moving back into the old smelling Kokiiri feel, he was almost home free when he saw Mido by the entrance, waiting for him. How could this boy still be on guard, or was he just doing what he wanted and seeing what the Deku Tree wanted him for? This was very weird, he knew it, but he had to face the older boy, not being afraid of him.he had defeated a giant spider on his own. Was there no end to this torture? Moving over by him, he tapped his shoulder, and grinned a little.

        "You're in my way, Mido."

        "Well if it isn't-- what the hell happened to you?"

        "You don't want to know, listen Mido, move."

        "So what happened?"

        "Well, the I had to defeat a curse for the Great Deku Tree."

        "You liar! I don't believe that." Mido looked down at Link, and sighed.

        "If you don't believe me, go look for you-- wait don't go!" He watched as Mido helplessly dashed down the path with one of the Deku Shields for protection, his eyes diverting down in the other direction. Link should have never told the Kokiiri what had happened, he should have just said that he was congratulating him on his new fairie. If he did that then Mido wouldn't have caused the entire ruckus through the entire forest, the ruckus that they had to remember for years to come. About three minutes later he heard a horrified scream and his name being called, it was obviously Mido who called his name out, the sound making his blood curdle. Tying the tunic around his wounded chest so that the thing would fall off when he fell, he turned back to his fairie, grinning uneasily.

        "Linky, run."

        "G-good idea."

        He took off in a dash from the entrance to the passage, and leapt past the stepping stones, moving throughout the entire region. His earshot wasn't out of sight so he heard the Kokiiri when he dashed out of the ledge to the Deku Tree, his eyes beaming and voice still strong. Link felt something slide past him, the boy ducking as a Deku Shield slid past where his head was, obviously trying to knock him out. He didn't blame Mido, he probably thought that he had killed the Deku Tree and the ruse about the curse was just a cover-up story. Still listening, every now and then he heard Mido yelling out a curse and calling his name out, the curses that he wasn't supposed to say.

        "You stupid bastard! You killed him! I'll kill you!"

        Shivering from the words, he wound past his house and saw nothing seeing that the ladder was empty now, so looking for Saria was useless. When he had passed her house, he made a quick detour inside, seeing no one was there and dashing out for his own house. Gathering up some food and clothes, and stuffing them in a large packsack, he put his weapons in there and the sides pack in there, too. He headed out of the tree house when he saw Mido running up the ladder, with a mob behind him, the mob only consisting of the boys. He saw the girls, but they were staring at him tears in their eyes, a far way from where the mob was, not carrying pitchforks like the boys. "There is the shit. Let's get him!" Cheering was sounded when Mido reached the top of the house, finally.

        "It wa-wasn't my fault! A man poisoned him!"

        "No man has ever been in the forest, you liar. I am going to do what I have always wanted to do." Letting out a cry of triumph, the boy pulled out came a small knife, manufactured for cutting wood for the Kokiiri. The blade wasn't as sharp as his own sword, but it sure could do the job in gutting the young boy, so he spun around and looked for a way out. Link wouldn't draw his sword to Mido, he had killed monsters, but killing another of his kind was strictly something against his ethics. Taking one look at it, Link jumped from the house and landed onto Saria's house, the jump quite expanding his own ethics, he guessed he'd break his leg. Only problem was, the house was about twenty feet away, and that showed that his power really had grown, so with excitement he continued on.

        "Navi, let's go. My power did increase when I stepped into the blue fire."

        "It seems so, let's test your speed. Go!"

        Jumping from the top of the house, he peered in the window one last time, hoping she was there, but she wasn't there, he took off running for the exit for the forest. Hopping from house to house, until the houses were gone, he hopped upon the lowest house and leapt down, taking off in full speed. No one could out-run Link now, before they may have been able to outrun him, but now with this new power on his heels, he was thought invincible. The mob was made up of just about every male in the forest, so no one was guarding the entrance when he dashed past it and into the unknown. It was shaped like a giant tree-trunk and the entire mob stopped right infront of it, their leader was the only one heard.

        "And never come back, you traitor!"

        They weren't outside yet because there was a small connecting bridge that led to another tree-shaped exit, and that was where the outside was. For some reason the Kokiiri never went past this, even though they could, the bridge was right in the middle of the Lost Woods. It would seem the only ones that would ever come out here were Saria and he, since they were the ones always in the Lost Woods. No one else liked to go in there, scared of the Deku Scrubs that were sometimes by the garden, yet you could dodge him or her easily with a shield. To read his mind, the boy kept running, not even noticing anyone was there, not even knowing until his indication was given away. He didn't even see her, but when her voice sounded, he stopped dead in his tracks, and there was no one else he would have stopped for.

        "So, you are finally leaving?" It was Saria; of course, he would have kept running if anyone else spoke.

        "I-I, yes, I am leaving." Turning around, gingerly, he searched the sadness in her face and frowned, he giving the same indication, looking embarrassed for not finding her. It was weird, but for some reason he didn't think she was out here, even though both of them had been out here on several occasions. Staring down at her, the boy finally glanced up at the older girl; she seemed older than the rest of the Kokiiri, for she looked as if she was budding. She looked so pretty, yet was sad, he was glad to have seen her now, because he didn't know if he would ever have come back here. Navi, meanwhile, was still a little winded, so she went under his hat when he jumped off of Saria's house, so that they could have their private moment together. "Hee, I guess you, um, heard the people?"

        "What did you do, Link?"

        "I, went inside the Deku Tree, and fought something called Gohma."

        "Spider, that is the Kokiiri term for it."

        "Oh, hee."

        "You should know that, I taught you better."

        "Hee-hee, sorry." Oh, he was so nervous, his brain almost frying at the sight of her, but usually it did that when he was around this certain Kokiiri. True, Gohma was Kokiirish, but he hadn't thought of that at the time, if he had then he could have saved some time and planned a strategy. It was only natural that she would get mad at him for forgetting the old language, it was something no one used anymore, yet it was important to her. Saria was always like that, she loved the ancients of the past, and admiring them for their power and wanting him to know the language they spoke. Having always been his teacher; she had been with him ever since he was a child, and she was like a mother and a sister, she was the only one.

        "But that isn't the reason Mido called you a traitor, now is it?" She saw right through him; he couldn't lie to her.

        "Um, no. After I got out, the Great Deku Tree. He--died." The sadness and anger he saw in her face, made him think she would turn on him, it was only a small emotion for a few seconds, dying as soon as it came.

        "Oh, I see. A Mido thinks you did it?"

        He nodded sadly, looking off to the side and speaking. "It's just so weird, he knows I wouldn't do that."

        "You really think that?"

        "T-think what!"

        "That I would turn on you."

        He was speechless, but he shook his head. "No, I know you."

        "I know you too. Oh, I knew this day would come. You just aren't like you, you are so different, I raised you from a small Kokiiri, but I know you are different. I've always, well, kind of known you would leave. I don't want you too, but I can see the world of Hyrule has big plans for you. Oh, what happened to you?" She reached forward and placed a palm upon the scar on his ripped chest, running her fingers over the small wound, causing the boy to shudder.

        "Gohma got at me, it'll leave a scar."

        "Oh, does it hurt?"

        "No, actually, it doesn't. I mean, it did, but when we beat Gohma we stepped into some blue light and I got stronger, faster, and healthy, but I think the wound will hurt later, maybe some sort of numbing effect was placed on it. Anyway, I jumped from my house to yours!"

        "You did! Wow, that's incredible. Now, back to it. I want to give you something."

        "What?"

        "You know, you've been in the Lost Woods."

        "Your flute?"

        Her brow furrowed, and she bopped him upon the head, giving him time and speaking to him with her normally sweet tone, she was patient for him. "It isn't a flute, you big dummy. It is called an Ocarina. I have an extra, and want you to have it."

        "Oh, but I can't p-"

        "I know that, that's why you need to come back!" She smiled and took the smaller boy in a hug, her tears letting through, wrapping her arms around the boy tightly, in a hug they never did. "You come back and I'll teach you. Don't worry, if you sneak in at night, they won't see and just come to the Lost Woods."

        "O-Okies, I don't know how far this Princess of Destiny is, but I will come back." He turned around, ready to go, but Saria tapped him on the shoulder, the boy about to turn around and see what she wanted, when he sighed at her voice, the beautiful melody making him shiver with pleasure.

        "Link?"

        "Yea?"

        "Don't forget me." As he turned around she handed him the Farie Ocarina, which he placed, not in the bag, but at his side, holding it firmly with one hand there. Just staring down at the ocarina, the boy shrugged an innocent shoulder, knowing that he would be back for lessons, to see her. No matter how much time it took to get to this Hyrule, the young boy was going to conquer whatever was going on and see to it that the man paid. Studying the ocarina, he saw that it was brown, with a green leaf on the stem, the stem was probably something she had played on. It was bowl shaped with a stem and holes all around it, and on the other side were the words 'never forget' imprinted by her.

        "Never in my life." Turning back around, he was this time spun around, and pulled into something that was quite unexpected, never forgetting it. A mouth was pressed against his along with gentle kissing sound, the sounds he had seen some of the other Kokiiri do with one another. When they did that, the boy was jealous that they had someone to love someone to be with, his cheeks always flushing jealously. Now blue hues widened as he found the shape of Saria hovering above him, stroking those blonde tresses through his fingers. He was frozen in abyss were held in as his feelings felt so weird, and lovely at the same time, seeing that she was a beautiful kisser, as hands were run through his hair and over his entire body.

First his hair, then his back, is rubbing in all kinds of crazy patterns, something he had never seen the other Kokiiri do to each other. The kiss, though, that was extraordinary, a lot better than those he had seen the others do to each other, this one was a never forget kind of kiss. Her, well, her tongue was inside the boy's mouth, and having no idea why, he had only kissed her cheek occasionally, and that was embarrassing, sometimes. Just staring at her, his eye shut, and the boy just sat there in a paralyzed suit for a few minutes before she let him go of his form, smiling beautifully. Eyes finally opened up, but he couldn't speak, his voice seeming to have disappearing, those cheeks also turning a complete red, as apples.

        "You will never forget me, now."

        Taking two, now three steps away, he turned around and ran through the bridge, away from her, his nervousness so apparent that it was cute. He had no idea what had just happened, but whatever it was, he liked it, it was wonderful feeling that he had experienced with her. Yes, the kiss was quite beautiful, it was a feeling that he would love to feel, and a feeling he wanted to feel over and over at this moment and time. Liking when she kissed him, because she was in control and was showing him feelings that had never before shown, probably a first time in Kokiiri history. Moving out of the tree hold, he held his hand over his face as the place disappeared, Saria disappearing and into the new room. It was so bright!

        "Navi!"

        Automatically, she came out, and hovered over his face, not resisting the fact to let out a giggle out, the boy thought he was on fire or something. Oh, he had never been out of the forest, for it was normal for him to feel this way, a new feeling on the change of scenery. Yet he did look so adorable, trying to cover up his face, knowing that the rays of Din's fire were just going to get through anyway. Also the sky was bluer, he also noticed, the entire place was like someone had lit a giant candle right in his face, the funny part that was. Tapping him on the shoulder, the young girl just blew a sigh out, her veil disappearing as she landed on his shoulder, sure he could handle it now as she spoke.

        "Linky, it is just the sun."

        "When did it get that bright!"

        "Link, no forest. No forest covering to hide the light. Look ahead."

        "Oh, my Goddess."

        There were fields and fields of green as far as the eye could see, and not the fields like in the Kokiiri Forest, these places were much brighter. A bright green was on them, not matching his tunic at all, he wondered how everyone else would react to this place, or if they would die. That legend he thought was foolish, he was out of the forest and wasn't dead, and he was a Kokiiri (a young one, but still a Kokiiri). There were a few trees by the entrance, but besides that, there was nothing but green and the sun fields and the sun, the trees seeming to be sucked up here. With one little dirt path that led both ways. The place was extraordinary, that's for sure. Moving forward a few paces, he let out a scream when he heard a voice from above.

        "Hoo-hoo-hoo! Well, look here, a Kokiiri! Out of the forest, little Kokiiri? Don't you know, you'll die!"

        "What is that!" Link screamed, pulling out his sword and trying to reach him, with no avail.

        "Whoa, Linky. That is an owl, he is friendly, I know him. What's your name, again?"

        The owl smiled a friendly grin, and flew down a few feet more, only when Link put up his sword, and spoke to them in a gently manner. His voice was friendly enough; he seemed to be one of the nicer creatures around here, not having ever seen an owl at this size. Owls were usually smaller than this, didn't talk and certainly didn't have the knowledge that the Kokiiris died if they left the forest. Listening to what the owl said, he watched him, as Navi seemed to sneer a bit at the creature, not really knowing why she did it. It was weird, but maybe this owl would be a guide to them like Navi was, but maybe a sort of distant guide that didn't always follow you. "He told me about you two, the Great Deku Tree, told me I would be seeing you two. Me, my name is Kaepora Gaebora, at your service."

        "Kayo Gaypor?"

        "No, Kaepora Gaebora, son. I am asked to be your guide sometimes on this journey, not as close as Navi, though." He chuckled, that made Navi a little uncomfortable and another little sneer came out near his way, the owl ignoring it and just continuing on. "There are many dangers in this field and you'd better be careful. There are the Peahats, in the day. They look like flowers, so avoid them; they are deadly and poisonous. At night, avoid confrontation at all cost, they're are-"

        "Stalchildren, I already know this, Mr. Gaebora." Navi blurted out, in pure sarcasm.

        "Well, I will be off, then, now be careful." And just like that, he took off, flying over the mountainside and heading into the sun, and after a few moments he was gone out of sight Link was trying to stifle a giggle.

        "And what is so funny?"

        "You didn't like him very much, because he thought he knew more than you, hee!"

        "Well, we don't need some stupid owl to tell us anything. You have me for that."

        "Hee, Navi, you are so mean!"

        "When the time comes to it, yes, I am. Now, let's go. I want to reach Lon-Lon Ranch by nightfall."

        "What's that?" He didn't really have much geography of Hyrule field, and even if he did, Lon-Lon Ranch is fairly new, so he wasn't too typical on the place they were headed.

        "A ranch where they have cows and horses."

        "Wow, I want to see that, I've never seen a real one."

        "Oh, they are nice, you will like the- what are you staring at?" Navi asked, a little surprised.

        "You've been out of the forest before, haven't you!"

        "Well, occasionally, but on business."

        "Yeah, whatever." He pushed the Ocarina in his pack, and began to walk along the fields; just now he had been carrying the wooden thing with him these past few minutes. It was funny how sad the thing felt in his hand, as sad as he had felt when he left Saria, so pushing it back in was a way to forget it. Wow, the place was hot, he was used to subtropical climate, and this was pretty temperate, the areas really hot enough to make him sweat, given time. Within a few hours that had all changed, the sun going higher in the sky, it was about morning when they left so sweat wasn't an option. Wiping the sweat from his brow, a few hours later, he looked up and saw something of a mountainside, or at least it looked like a mountain -side. They had been walking for about nine hours, with a lunch break and a break to drink some water. Night had turned to morning, well, it was morning when they left, and morning was now three o'clock, so they had been at this for almost ten hours.

        "What's that?"

        "End of Lon-Lon Ranch, we go around it and the mountainside is on the top."

        Well, that was a little said because it turned out to be the next day before they got to Lon-Lon Ranch, for Link thought he was the expert now. See they did loop around, but Link got them lost, trying to find a shortcut, saying that he remembered something from a map about this place. That 'map' turned out to be nothing at all, the boy having lost it a long time ago and not even bothering to take a map here, even though they didn't know the entire place. They ended up spending the night under a crevice in the shield so that no monsters could get at them, although Link saw none. It was now about seven o'clock in the morning, and the ranch was only a few miles away, the time having erupted into twenty-five hours.

        "Are we there, yet?"

        "We'd be there, if it wasn't for you, Link."

        "Hee, I'm sorry, Navi! I just, I wanted to explore."

        "Hrm, it's fine. Let's go on ahead."

        The next three miles were a breeze, because the boy to be gaining some muscle, not much now, but he had a little on his body from the exercise of the past day or so. It was easier to walk then when they first start out, although the muscle he had was not apparent, he still looked like the same cute lad from before. Well, he continued up the path, until seven miles since that morning, they fell at the entrance of the building, the hours passing on a little more. The place was not as big as the forest, but one of the biggest buildings he had ever seen, and the most weird-looking, in his own opinion. Whatever this place was, he hoped they had some drink, the boy had run out of water that night, having drank it all because they were both thirsty.

        "Wow, I am thirsty, any water left?"

        "Nope, but they have milk here."

        "Milk?"

        "Comes out of a cow, it is usually for calves, but Hylians drink it sometimes. It is very good to taste, a sweet taste to it, and can replenish you greatly."

        "Alright!" Taking off for the entrance, he climbed the hill up to the top, and went inside the already open gates, his nostrils beginning to burn as he entered. When the smell hit him, he fell over and gagged, because he was right next to the horses' stalls, something he had never smelt before. Looking up, Navi was back a few yards, a clucking noise startled him, the sound making him glance over in the other direction. It was coming from the other side of the building, so he took off and what he saw were these white things cluttered together, some white birds. They all had feathers, beaks, and red things on them, and he had heard the name before from somewhere, never knowing what it was. Cuccos? That was the name! Jumping forward, he tackled one, and it began to make a bawking sound, before running off. Well, a chase, eh? So he took out after it.

        "L-Link! Hey, wait up!" She flew after him, and stopped as she watched him inspect the Cuccos, her eyes watching him closely, he wasn't to act up here. The people here might kick them out of this place if they were to act up; Link really didn't know that because he had never been out of the place. Link was never invited to other people's houses, except Saria's and when there he could act anyway he wanted without being thrown out. He had never seen one of those creatures before, so she wondered what his little reaction to this place would be and especially the animals. Oh, Goddess! He tackled the thing! Oh my Goddess! "Link, leave it alone!" Now he was chasing it, but it looked so cute that she couldn't help but smile; yet she shook here head. No, those people would be out here any second, not a sound.

        The clucking was knocked away when he heard a sound, losing interest in them as soon as they came, so he let it run aside. Turning away, he saw some sort of fence and traced it back to where the entrance was, the fence wasn't the one that he was near when they first entered the place, though, this one was white. The other one was black, and made of iron, while this one seemed to be made of some sort of white wood, something he had never seen before. There someone out there, she definitely wasn't a Kokiiri, but maybe it was those Hylians that Navi was talking about, this girl wasn't a forest girl. Tracing out there, he saw these huge things hurling at him, dodging them, he rolled over away, until he ran into the girl. She nimbly stepped aside, and giggled.

        "Well, what do we have here? Those are odd clothes!" The little girl spoke; she had deep auburn hair, and eyes darker than his, the strange thing was on her body was a sheet.

        "Me? You are wearing a sheet!"

        "This is a dress, boy! You, you are wearing green. Ah! What's that!" She was pointing at his shoulder.

        Turning, he saw Navi, and shrugged before turning towards her. "My farie, where is yours?"

        "Oh, you must be a forest boy, hee, we don't have faries around her. All right, Farie boy, what's your name? My name is Malon, Malon LonLon."

        "Link will do." He spoke out loud, not understanding the thought of her name because she had two names.

        "Don't you have a surname?"

        "Nope, whatever that is." He scratched his head, shrugging a shoulder.

        "Alright, Farie boy." She giggled, keeping her hand at her sides.

        "I said Link."

        "Farie Boy."

        "Link."

        "Farie boy."

        Turning away, he growled and looked up at Navi sternly. "Aren't you glad we got lost?"

"Kinda, um." The farie flew over towards Malon, and looked up at her. "Where is Talon?"

        "Oh, Daddy? He went to Hyrule Castle to deliver milk, but isn't back. Oh, will you go get him, please? I'll give you two prizes if you agree."

        "Hmm? Prizes?" It was Link that spoke up. "What kind?"

        "A song and a egg."

        "Alright, I am heading there anyway, give me the prizes. Oh, can I have some milk too?"

        "Hee, sure, I was gonna give you some anyway."

        She reached into a slit in her dress, or a pocket, and pulled out a jar with the label saying 'Lon-Lon Milk' inside was some white liquidity stuff, it sure didn't look tasty, so he put it in his packsack. It didn't look as tasty as Navi said it did, it really looked sort of nasty, but he wasn't about to put something that came out of a cow into his mouth. Strapping it shut so the jar wouldn't fall out, the young boy had all his supplies in there, having taken out his sword, shield and side pack out duri