It seems that there's a lot of these on here already, but I thought, after making Zelda Heroes and whatnot, that I should try to show some of the origins of that group of heroes and some of their backstory. This isn't really in the timeline of Zelda Heroes or it's prequel/sequels, but some of the same characters will get involved.
Chapter 1: The Deku Tree's Bidding
In the vast, deep forest of Hyrule…Long have I served as the guardian spirit…I am known as the Deku Tree…
A young boy with blonde hair, blue eyes, and a green tunic, rolled over in his bed, groaning in discomfort and apprehension.
The children of the forest, the Kokiri, live here with me. Each Kokiri has his or her own guardian fairy. However, there is one boy who does not have a fairy…
The boy rolled over again, onto his back, a grimace on his features at the nightmare that was assaulting him.
He was standing in front of a vast structure of stone, separated from him by a moat and the sheer unassailable walls. The only way in would have been the massive door of wood on the other side of the water. A fork of lightning lit up the night sky as the drawbridge began to lower slowly, with much clinking of chains, as the rain began to fall from the darkened sky. He could hear rapid hoof beats clattering on the street within and, within a few seconds, he saw a white horse racing towards him at breakneck speed. Fearing for his life, he cast himself out of the way as the horse raced by, managing to get a glimpse of the riders. Upon the white horse was a young girl and an older woman. The girl looked back fearfully at him, but the woman shouted a reprimand and pushed the girl back in front of her before spurring the horse away into the darkness. Link watched them go, wondering who they were and what or whom they were fleeing, when he heard a second set of hoofs coming. He spun and saw a man with skin so tanned that it looked almost greenish brown and a head of red hair; a jewel adorned his forehead and he rode a black horse that looked as foreboding as him. Struck with fear, Link almost screamed as the man looked at him with a sneer and raised his hand…
"No!" he sat up in his bed, heart racing. After a few minutes, he looked around his tree house and concluded that he was safe and that it had only been a dream. Dropping to the pillow, he fell back into an uneasy sleep.
"Navi…Navi, where art thou? Come hither…" an echoing voice of an old man, wizened with age, echoed from a massive tree; a tree that looked as though it had the face of an old man, as well, with bushy eyebrows that obscured his eyes and a small mustache. Promptly, a small woman with insect-like wings, clad in a skirt and blouse of leaves and flower petals and a white aura, zoomed over and stopped in front of where the tree's nose would have been, had it had one.
"Yes, Great Deku Tree?" she said with some excitement. It wasn't often that she got to run an errand.
"Oh, Navi the Fairy…Listen to my words, the words of the Deku Tree," the tree enunciated. "Dost thou sense it? The climate of evil descending upon this realm…malevolent forces, even now, are mustering to attack our land of Hyrule…" It was as she feared, for she too had noticed the change in the familiar music of the forest. "For so long, the Kokiri Forest, the source of life, has stood as a barrier, deterring outsiders and maintaining the order of the world…but…before this tremendous evil power, even my power is as nothing," Navi gasped. "It seems the time has come for the boy without a fairy to begin his journey…the youth whose destiny it is to lead Hyrule to the path of justice and truth. Navi, go now!" His voice nearly blasted the fairy out of the air, but she quickly righted herself. "Find our young friend and guide him to me…I do not have much time left,"
"Great Deku Tree…" Navi began to address her worry for him, but he interrupted.
"Fly, Navi, fly! The fate of the forest, nay, the world, depends upon thee!"
"Y-Yes, sir!" the fairy rocketed away, zooming out of the grove and along the grassy path that led from it to the nearby village. A pouting, mean-looking Kokiri boy stood at the end of the path, but she zoomed under his legs.
"Watch it, fairy!" he called after her. Navi ignored him and started her search for a boy with no fairy. She headed over to a girl who was sitting on an awning over the door of a wooden building, which was shaped like a tall stump, like all of the buildings in the village.
"Hello!" Navi greeted.
"Hi!" the girl and her fairy called back. Navi continued her trip through the hamlet, flying past a boy who was struggling to lift a rock.
'Nope, he has a fairy,' she thought, continuing past another girl and trying to head through a gap in a fence so that she could get to the tree house she had just spotted. After a minor collision with the fence, Navi shook her head and continued through one of the small gaps, heading into the tree house.
A loud snoring met the fairy's ears as she entered the one-room abode. She easily spotted a boy in green sleeping on a bed that was made from a tree trunk fragment with a piece carved out of the side. He was clutching his pillow of stitched leaves, filled with forest bird feathers, in the crook of one arm so that the pillow was pressed to his head and his stitched leaf quilt had been kicked into a pile on the floor.
"Hello, Link! Wake up!" Navi called cheerfully from the air above him. "The Great Deku Tree wants to talk to you!"
"Five more minutes…" Link grumbled, turning over and continuing to snore. Navi began to glow red and hovered down to his ear.
"Hey! C'mon!" she screamed, making him jump about a foot and a half in the air. "Can Hyrule's destiny really depend on such a lazy boy?" He landed in a heap, next to his bed, and stood up slowly, rubbing his eyes.
"Ugh…what is it? I haven't been sleeping well lately," he looked at her. "A fairy? Why are you here, and what's this about Hyrule's Destiny?"
"I'm Navi the fairy!" Navi continued with a frown, her aura back to white now, though she was still a little unhappy. "The Great Deku Tree asked me to be your partner from now on! Nice to meet you!"
"Uh, huh…" Link nodded groggily, his eyes still not really focused. "Why wake me up for that, again?"
"Because the Great Deku Tree has summoned you!" Navi sighed with minor annoyance. "Let's get going, right now!" Link yawned.
"Can't I, at least, get some breakfast first?" he grumbled. "I'm sure the Great Deku Tree won't mind," Navi looked like she was about to retort, but relented.
"Okay, but we've really got to hurry, after that," she agreed. Link went over to the pantry before she was even done talking and got out some Deku Flour and spring water. Mixing it together, he cooked it on his small wood stove, after he got it going, and piled a few cakes on a wooden plate and sat down at his sawed off tree stump table. Navi, in spite of herself, watched with interest. She had never seen cooking before, having only lived with other fairies before.
"What are those?" she asked.
"Hotcakes," Link replied nonchalantly, pouring some Moonblossom Nectar on the cakes and cutting into them with a wooden fork. "Want some?"
"No, fairies typically just live off of nectar and Deku seeds and other things like that," Navi declined.
"Well, I have some toasted Deku seeds in the pantry over there," Link gestured to the open cabinet next to the stove. "Help yourself," He watched the fairy buzz over to the small drawstring bag of seeds and pull it open, taking out a couple of seeds. "What's wrong?" he asked as she looked them over.
"They're different," she pointed out. "They a darker color and smell odd,"
"Well, Kokiri like to toast them over a fire," Link explained. "Makes 'em taste better," Navi took a bite of one and quickly finished it.
"You're right! Why didn't someone tell me that fire made things taste good?" she started eating faster and made it through fourteen seeds before she was too full to continue.
"Don't make yourself sick, now," Link warned, now awake and amused.
"Ohh…too much…" Navi groaned, lying in the bottom of the cupboard.
After a brief ten minutes to allow Navi to recuperate enough to fly, she and Link headed out of the front doorway of his house and onto the deck that was out front.
"Yahoo! Hi, Link!" a voice called from below. Link looked down and saw his best friend, Saria, running up the dirt path with a hand in the air, waving at him. She was a girl with light green hair and a green blouse and shorts, complete with green boots.
"Hey, Saria!" Link called back with a wave, going to the nearby ladder and descending to where she was waiting.
"Wow! A fairy!" she exclaimed as she watched Navi fly slowly around his head, still rather full of Deku seeds and looking a bit queasy. "Finally, a fairy came to you, Link, but she doesn't look so good…"
"Overindulged on Deku seeds," Link explained shortly.
"Oh," Saria nodded understandingly. "Well, now you're a true Kokiri. I'm so happy for you!"
"Yeah, and, what's more, the Great Deku Tree has a message for me, according to Navi," Link mentioned.
"Is that right?" Saria said with a smile. "It's quite an honor to talk to the Great Deku Tree!" She went behind him and shoved him forward a little. "I'll wait here. Go see the Great Deku Tree,"
"Okay," Link sighed and struck the dusty trail that ran through the village. Hanging a right at the fork ahead, he walked past the Twins' house and hopped across the brook that ran through the village, using the delta in the middle to keep dry.
"Hold it, Mr. No Fairy!" Mido, a pouting boy, held out his hand and looked unkindly at Link. "What's your business with the Great Deku Tree?"
"He's been summoned!" Navi shouted. "Get out of the way!"
"What? You've got a fairy and the Great Deku Tree has summoned you?" Mido crossed his arms and tapped his foot angrily. "This isn't funny…"
"Look, I don't have time for your jealousy today," Link sighed.
"Jealousy?" Mido repeated hotly. "I'm not jealous of somebody like you! You aren't even fully equipped yet! How do you think you're going to help the Great Deku Tree without a sword and shield ready?"
"It's not like you're ready, either, pouty," Navi pointed out scathingly. Mido looked shocked for a second, but rallied at once.
"Well, yeah, but…go get a sword and shield or I won't let you by!"
"Fine…" Link said with a forced calm, turning around and crossing the river again.
"Link!" Saria called as he came moodily back to his house. "Back so soon?"
"No, Mido won't let me by, says I need a sword and shield," Link grumbled.
"That bum!" the green-haired girl replied. "I don't know why he's so mean to everyone!"
"Hear, hear!" Navi agreed.
"But…I think he has a point," Saria continued, looking sad. "The forest…strange things have been happening here lately…you need to be ready for anything,"
"Well, how do you suggest I get a sword and shield?" Link inquired.
"You can buy a shield at the shop, but there is only one sword hidden somewhere in the forest," Saria informed him. "Here," she handed him a yellow rupee. "The shield is forty rupees, if I remember correctly. You might find the money laying around the woods if you look properly, or you could run errands for the others. It always pays to help people,"
"Thanks," Link dropped the rupee in his small wallet with a cheesy grin that he was known for. "Come on, Navi, we're hunting for rupees, I guess," Navi sighed.
"Sorry, Great Deku Tree, this is gonna take a while," she muttered, following Link up the path.
"Hey!" he pointed at the top of a nearby pillar. "There's a rupee," The girl on top of the pillar giggled.
"If you want it, I'll let you have it, but you have to cross the bridges from Saria's roof," she said, pointing to the house next to Link's. Link immediately took off and began to climb the path that wound up the side of Saria's house, when a kid called out to him as he yanked on the tall grass in the yard.
"Hey, Link! That meanie, Mido, made me cut the grass at Saria's house. He told Saria that he would do it so that she would like him, but I'm the one doing all the work! Could you help, since you and Saria are close friends and all?"
"Well, I kinda need a sword to cut stuff, but, yeah, I can help after that," Link replied.
"Thanks, anyway," the dejected kid went back to pulling up grass.
Continuing up to the roof, Link strode over the bridge that linked the roof to a pillar and then across another bridge that led to the pillar with the rupee. The girl giggled.
"You came all the way up here? You're a real man!" she handed him the blue rupee that was next to her. "Isn't this view pretty?" she made a sweeping gesture.
"Yeah, it is, but I need to go see the Great Deku Tree," Link said pensively, coming out of a reverie, after taking in the scenery for a minute.
"Okay, see ya!" she waved as he backtracked to Saria's yard and headed across the shallow part of the brook and to the front of the shop.
"Hi, Link!" the girl on the awning over the shop called out.
"Hey!" he waved back. "Do you know where the sword that's hidden around here is?"
"No, but maybe the Know-It-All Brothers do," the girl suggested.
"Ok, thanks," Link replied.
"Hey, look at this sign, Link," Navi said from a nearby signpost. "It says that you'll be happier if you jump across these stones," So it did.
"What the hey," Link shrugged, hopping across the square stones that were placed in the pool that a nearby waterfall fell into. Suddenly, his wallet felt heavier as he landed on the last stone. "Huh?" he opened his wallet and saw an extra blue rupee inside. "That's nice,"
"Yeah, that's twenty, Link, only twenty more!" Navi said excitedly. "I thought I saw another one, by the way, behind this house," she gestured to the house in front of them.
"If you're looking for money," a nearby girl commented. "You can look in the tall grass around town. People drop rupees all the time without noticing,"
"Good tip," Link noted, spotting a glint of green glass in the nearby patch of grass and picking up a couple of green rupees.
"Here, Link," Navi came flying over, panting under the weight of the blue rupee that she had lugged out from behind Mido's house.
"That's twenty-seven," Link said, relieving Navi of her burden and continuing forward.
"Mean old Mido…making me pick up the rocks in front of his house," a boy muttered as he struggled to lift the rocks in Mido's yard and move them out of the way.
"That's it, I'm gonna go see if he has any money," Link headed for the Kokiri boss's doorway.
"Link, stealing is bad!" Navi reprimanded.
"Well, so is being a bully," Link shrugged, striding into the house and promptly finding a yellow rupee and three green ones glittering on his dresser in his bedroom. "And here's the rest of the money I need! On to the shop!"
"Lazy and bad…what has the Great Deku Tree assigned me to?" Navi shook her head and followed him out the door.
Link strode into the shop a couple of minutes later.
"Can I help you?" the shopkeeper asked as he tried to jump up enough to see over the counter. Why it was too tall was a mystery, as everyone in town was the size of children and, accordingly, the counter should've been built with this in mind.
"I'd like a Deku Shield," Link pointed to the shield on the shelf in the back. The shopkeeper turned and knocked it down with a Deku Stick, why and how it was on such a high shelf was another mystery. Catching it, he carried to the counter and put it on top.
"Forty rupees, please," he said, holding up his hand for the money. Link passed him the rupees and the boy dropped it into the till that he kept under the counter. "Thank you, and here's a bandolier to hold it on.
"Thanks," Link strapped the shield onto his back with the piece of leather and buckled it securely across his chest. "Do you know where I can get a sword?"
"No, we don't sell them," the shopkeeper replied. "But someone might know. Try asking the Know-It-All Brothers,"
"Okay," Link turned and headed out of the shop. "Man, this is a lot of work,"
"Yeah, I just hope that the Great Deku Tree won't be mad…" Navi commented.
"The sword that's hidden around here…" the Know-It-All brother put his book down and rubbed his chin. "I think I read somewhere that it's through a hole in the wall of the village…"
"Isn't there one in the back of the fence maze outside?" another brother said, sticking his head in the door. "Check there,"
"Right, thanks," Link nodded and headed outside. Navigating the 'maze' wasn't that difficult, and they soon got to the back.
"I wonder what's through that hole?" a nearby boy pointed to the small gap in the wall. "I'd crawl through myself, but…" He decided not to finish.
"The sword must be in there," Navi concluded. Link sighed.
He emerged, a minute later, in some sort of maze in the stone walls, covered in dust and pulling a cobweb off of his hat.
"Now what?" he quickly ducked back as a boulder came rolling by at a fair pace. Peeking out of the alcove, he saw that the boulder was gone, but he could still hear it, so it was bound to come back.
"This path probably loops, so we should hurry ahead of the boulder," Navi suggested. "The sword's probably in another alcove,"
"Great…" Link muttered, not relishing the thought of being smashed flat by a boulder. Stepping out into the path, he quickly proceeded forward. As he came to a bend in the path, he heard the boulder coming up on him and sped up, managing to jump sideways into another alcove that was ahead. Panting, he looked around and saw that a large chest was in this alcove. "That was lucky," he commented with raised eyebrows.
"Yeah, I thought you were about to get run over," Navi sighed with relief. Walking over to the chest, the green-clad boy flipped the lid open and jumped up to the rim, nearly falling into the chest as he retrieved a sheathed dagger inside.
"This looks like the Kokiri Sword…but it's kinda small for a sword," Link noted with mild disappointment. He drew the blade and hacked at a nearby young tree, severing it in half.
"Hey! Have some respect for the trees!" Navi reprimanded, her aura turning slightly red with indignation.
"Okay, okay! Sorry!" Link held up his hands in a gesture of surrender. With a quiet grumble, the fairy decided to let it drop.
"Anyway, we have everything that pouty kid asked for, so let's get over to the Great Deku Tree!" she declared.
"Okay, assuming I don't get flattened," Link replied, watching the boulder go by again. He promptly hurried out in pursuit of it and ran back to the alcove that held the hole that they had entered from, narrowly avoiding, yet again, potentially fatal injury.
Soon enough, Link was out of the fence maze and heading back by his house.
"Hey, Link!" Saria called, coming over to him. "It looks like you found the sword. Congratulations!"
"Yeah, it was tough, but I managed to outwit a boulder to get it," Link said proudly. Saria giggled at this. "Hey! That boulder was trying to get me!" Navi and Saria's fairy joined in with Saria at the expression on Link's face. Link was pouting by the time they quieted down, a couple of minutes later.
"Well, Link, good luck with the Great Deku Tree," the green-haired girl said cheerfully.
"Yeah," he grumbled, walking away with a pout that rivaled Mido's.
"Come on," Navi said as they passed by the twin's house. "You're starting to look like the guy we're headed for," Link promptly readjusted his face and hopped to the delta, crossing the brook, and jumped to the other side.
"Hey, Mido, I'm back!" he announced loudly. "And I've got the Kokiri Sword and a Deku Shield!" Mido looked quite unhappy at this and crossed his arms, tapping his foot, as his pout got even bigger.
"Good grief!" he groused. "Well, even with all that stuff, a wimp is still a wimp, huh?"
"Hey, I resent that!" Link objected.
"I, the great Mido, will never accept you as one of us!" he retorted, hands on his hips. "Shoot! How did you get to be the favorite of Saria and the Deku Tree, huh?" He set off for his house at a fair pace.
"Glad that's over!" Navi commented. "Now, onwards and forwards!"
"Yeah, yeah…" Link waved his hand around flippantly, heading down the narrow passage.
Not far in, he encountered three plants with sharp, beaklike heads. They shot up from the ground, standing upright, and clattered their mouths noisily, waving their bodies around in circles.
"What the heck are those?" the boy exclaimed jumping back a bit and grabbing his dagger and shield from his back.
"Those are Deku Babas," Navi explained. "Luckily, these aren't as energetic as most and can't even attack actively. You can cut their stalks or avoid them, but be careful. Those beaks hurt!"
"Okay…" Link approached the nearest foe and cut its stalk asunder with a horizontal swing, easily putting it away. He quickly did the same to the other two. "That wasn't so tough," He bent down and picked up the sticks that they had dropped. "Deku Sticks?"
"Yes, they can be used as a breakable sword substitute or as a torch," his fairy informed helpfully.
"That's good and all, but I can't carry these and still fight off stuff," Link pointed out.
"Oh, right," Navi threw a tiny satchel at him. It got bigger when he caught it. "That should help,"
"And it is…?" he looked dubiously at the small bag.
"A Fairy Satchel, of course," she replied, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "That should help you carry things without being weighted down," Link didn't understand the logic behind it, but shoved the sticks in, easily enough, and tied the bag to his belt. "It knows what you want when you reach back in, so no worries about getting things out again,"
Continuing on, they encountered no further opposition and, finally, came out of the path and into a large clearing. Ahead was the massive Deku Tree in all its glory.
"Great Deku Tree, I'm back!" Navi announced, flying over to greet the tree.
"Oh, Navi. Thou hast returned…" the guardian deity replied. "Link, welcome," He addressed the boy now. Navi was a bit put off by the casual dismissal, but let it go. "Listen carefully to what I, the Deku Tree, am about to tell thee…Thy slumber these past moons have been restless, and full of nightmares,"
"Yeah, they have…why?" Link asked with a frown.
"As the servants of evil gain strength, a vile climate pervades the land and causes nightmares to those sensitive to it…Verily, thou hast felt it…" He paused. "Link, the time has come to test thy courage. I have been cursed. I need you to break the curse with your wisdom and courage. Dost thou have courage enough to undertake this task?" Link was a little taken aback by this sudden request.
"Yeah, I guess," he replied. A large portion of the tree's face moved, opening like a mouth.
"Then, enter, brave Link, and thou too, Navi…aid Link," the Deku Tree intoned. "And, Link, when Navi speaks listen well to her words of wisdom,"
"Right," Link nodded.
"Yes, sir!" Navi added before flying back to Link. Steeling himself, the boy walked the long distance forward and stepped into the dank insides of the guardian tree.
Here's to hoping that the story will get past the first part of the game before I lose interest or something! Please remember to review.