I think I might be able to get a chapter posted every once every two weeks, generally on a Saturday or a Sunday. By the way, you might want to check Chapter 6 again, I added a couple of important details at the end of it, in Vaati's Diary and past it. I also MAJORLY edited the flashback of Link's nightmare in chapter 5. That sort of major edit probably won't be happening again, hopefully. 'Va-' is pronounced 'Vah'. So,
in the last chapter...
Vaati went through Haunted Forest first, scaring the gravedigger into giving him the key to Royal Graveyard. There was no light force there. Vaati met two spirits called Spookter and Speckter, and an odd pink ghini called Ghina, who gave Vaati permission to summon her if he needed help. That could be useful. Along the way to Minish Woods, Vaati felt the elemental power of Earth coming from Link's bag- what was that boy up to? What was he hiding? In Minish Woods, Festari revealed that Vaati was part of a race of minish called Twilight Minish, but that Vaati was the last one left. Vaati had never felt so free. Next, he discovered a well-protected cave where the light force could be, and also where a goron called Granite was willing to help- however, those magic-proof walls were tough. While tracking down Granite's wandering friends and relatives, Vaati had a fun, yes fun, battle with Smith, Link's grandpa, and remembered a minish like him. However, Obsidian's cousin, Rhinestone, was right in the middle of Lake Hylia, and if one had seen Vaati asleep that night, one would have seen his tears...
Chapter 7: Climbing Mount Crenel is no Piece of Cake
It was past midnight. Link tried not to sleep, not even changing out of his tunic, but with no success. He fell fast asleep anyway...
Fighting. Fighting. A battle going on, over the few resources the purple minish had. Link, seeing through another's eyes, protected this person's little one-year-old brother. They only had each other. A terrifying sound, a gigantic, booming "MEOW!" echoing across the valley upland. Link, though the older brother's eyes, looked up at the giant beast, a giant, tabby-coated CAT with a swishing tail as long as a river and claws that sliced the very air in half, minish grabbing whatever and fleeing for their lives... A piercing scream from the younger brother echoed through the stars...
Marks. Marks. T-shaped marks under his two-year old brother's blood-red eyes. Fighting. Fleeing. Huge birds, their wings alone sweeping minish away with every beat, its huge beak pecking at the ground. Another place, another time, where the wind whipped through the trees, with nowhere to call home, nowhere to stop being blown away. Older brother looked down at three-year-old younger brother, who's eyes were filled with tears as the wind almost seemed to respect him...
Water. Water. Lots of water, flooding a place that could have been home.
Screaming. Struggling. Pain.
Younger brother being whisked away, crying out for help, emotional pain too much for Link, whoever he was, to bear.
"Don't abandon me... Don't leave me behind! I can't lose you too, Va-"
Drowning.
Cold. Cold. Why this cold, at the end of this daily nightmare?
"WAKE UP BOY!" yelled Ezlo in Link's ear. Ezlo was officially weirded out. Link had been tossing and turning in his sleep- then he'd cried out, in a voice not his own, 'Don't abandon me... Don't leave me behind! I can't lose you too, Va-'. So naturally, Ezlo thought it best to wake the strange boy up. It seemed his grandfather was already awake and out of bed. Link bolted out of bed and subconsciously put Ezlo on before- "BOY!" yelled Ezlo, quieter than usual because Link's grandpa was in the house, but still very loud. "Oh... are you awake?" Link nodded. "GOOD, because you're going up Mount Crenel today!"
Link and Ezlo went downstairs, where Grandpa Smith was making breakfast- fried eggs. Ezlo didn't recognise them. "What are those?" he asked, looking at the eggs on his plate.
"Fried eggs." replied Mr. Smith.
"What's an 'egg'?" asked Ezlo.
"Erm... how do I put it..." muttered Mr. Smith.
"F-food?" suggested Link, who was always looking for ways he could help people out, innocently staring at Ezlo and his confusion.
"Okay..." replied Ezlo, nibbling a bit at his fried 'eggs'. It tasted okay... but there was something odd about the flavour that Ezlo couldn't quite place. He thought he would have preferred dew-moss on toast, but he politely finished the eggs anyway.
Link snaffled his in five minutes before going over to the sink and washing his plate, then heading upstairs in a big hurry. Ezlo wondered what he was going to do up there.
Link was upstairs raiding the cabinet, the boxes he'd never unpacked, the windowsill and everywhere else for anything useful and a few not-useful things, putting it all in the dimensional hole in his bag. Those things were: Food supplies, a sleeping bag, Grandpa Smith's old bike helmet, his giant butterfly net, four giant packets of pansilla (a popular type of fast-growing garden flower which grows everywhere, said to spread beautiful silver pollen at night, and are also said to spread their seeds though the air. This all happens within a couple of weeks) seeds, a spare belt and tunic, his medicines, two spare hammers, his collection of all-those-hair-ties-Zelda-was-always-leaving-at-his-house, a spare pillow, a football, a spare pair of boots, a picnic rug, two old notebooks, three pencils, a pencil-sharpener, a bunch of colourful dried flowers, a tea spoon, a pair of scissors, thirteen bottles of water (each one is rather SMALL, you see), that-green-hairbrush-Zelda-gave-him-and-that-he-hadn't-used-once-in-his-life, a jade-green watering can which was filled with water, three packets of the medium-sized packets of special flower fertiliser, and his single blue rose (nearly in full bloom) in a pot. Really, that bag would definitely hold anything now!
Meanwhile, Ezlo and Mr. Smith had a very civilised conversation and Ezlo thanked Smith for his hospitality. Just then, Link came back down the stairs, eyes sparkling and Link feeling excited and curious (the combination is curious in itself) and sitting right back at his place from fifteen minutes earlier. Link took a notebook and a pencil from his bag. Grandpa Smith began a small speech about how to safely climb Mount Crenel.
"When I was eighteen, I went to do sword fighting training on Mount Crenel." began Smith, "SO, from my experience, I'm going to give you a VERY IMPORTANT bit of advice: use the plants. Just pour water on the sprouts near the walls, and they'll grow into huge and thick vines! Use this bottle," Smith passed Link a regular glass bottle. He paused from enthusiastically taking notes to put the bottle away in his bag while Ezlo sheepinshly tried to be useful. "Did you pack my old bike helmet?" Link nodded. "GOOD. Wear it when you reach the part of the mountain that hasn't got any plants, just in case a big rock falls on your head! Also, pack the big cloth from he upstairs cupboard (Smith's old parachute), if you fall it should break your fall." In answer, Link picked up Ezlo and stretched him out, showing Grandpa Smith that Ezlo made a very good emergency parachute. Ezlo felt no pain, just an odd tingling sensation. "... I think you're right."
(He didn't say anything!) thought Ezlo while Link put him back down.
"Now, pass me your map." Link did, and Smith wrote something on it, before showing Link and Ezlo a path he'd drawn on there. " This is the fastest way to and up Mount Crenel. Did you get all that?" Asked Smith. Link nodded. "GOOD. Be safe... Don't get yourself killed, okay?" In response to his grandpa's extreme worry, Link gave him a huge, warm, reassuring hug. Ezlo watched the scene and smiled warmly for the first time in a while. It was touching.
After the hug, Link helped wash the dishes and Smith packed Link a few pack lunches, before Link put Ezlo back on and leaving the house, following Grandpa Smith's path. Link was extremely tired, having barely had any sleep last night, but he would not face the nightmare if he could help it, unless it would save Zelda of course. However, facing a nightmare does not save best-freind-in-the-entire-world-who's-stuck-by-you-during-the-toughest-times-of-your-life-s. Ezlo noticed that Link wasn't as peppy as usual but he didn't address it, after all he barely knew the somewhat overly-innocent boy, and he didn't know if Link was sleep-deprived or not- HE had fallen asleep as soon as he was in bed. Outside, it was very sunny, which gave Link an extra boost of energy for the adventure. Following the map, Link walked into Hyrule Town.
"So we're supposed to meet a minish blacksmith named Melari on Mount Crenel? You know, you're not looking too good." said Ezlo as soon as they were inside Hyrule Town. Before he could say anything else, a Mr. Jello, the man who always wore the funny outfit and held a music box, Jack, Molly and Zill, who was the smallest but also the leader of their group of friends, all came over to where Link was, blocking the way forward.
"Come on all, come on all!" sang Mr. Jello, "See how many kinstone pieces you can collect!" Kinstone pieces? Now? Link had always wanted a kinstone bag of his own. However, Zelda was far more important than some bag. She'd be bored to death standing there all day and night! What if she was already dead?! Link had to find some way of getting them out the way, fast! "You never know what fusing kinstones can do, but its sure to be good! Come on up and get your free kinstone bag for holding your kinstone pieces! Don't miss out on this incredible, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!"
Ezlo was getting very close to shouting at them. Couldn't they see they were on an important mission?! Time was of the essence!
"Yes, yes, you're here for your free kinstone bag aren't you? They're free for all kids right now! Here you go!" Mr. Jello slammed a kinstone piece into Link's hands, and Link attached it to his belt. "Want to fuse kinstones with me?" Fusing kinstones is a way of showing and spreading friendship across Hyrule and a very important custom- besides, Mr Jello, Zill, Jack and Molly were all the sort of people who go 'pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease' for hours if you say 'no'.
"N-Mmmf!" Ezlo tried to say, but Link held his beak shut- and that kid was strong. Link used his other hand to fuse kinstones with the guy with the music box. Ezlo wondered what would happen. The kinstone transformed into an emerald-citrine spark and zoomed into the air.
"A perfect fit! That means we're due for a little happiness! See ya!" said Mr Jello, walking off with Molly, Jack and Zill. Link let go of Ezlo and ran straight towards the west gate of town.
"What was THAT for, Boy?" yelled Ezlo, but Link wasn't listening. At the main square, Pina was selling all fruits except for tomatoes and Brocco was selling all vegetables and tomatoes. Link paused for a second to help clean up some dust which was clogging the stalls up for rent, before running straight to the gate, which was unfortunately being guarded by a soldier known as 'I-Insist,-Call-Me-Tim' (the original misconception by Princess Zelda had led to everyone in Hyrule calling the somewhat carefree soldier that).
Upon seeing Link walk towards him, the soldier said, "Just because you have a sword and shield doesn't mean you'll be safe! I can't let you go out there alone! Not until you've learned a sword technique!" (you see, Link has learned many sword skills, but hasn't learned any magic sword techniques yet!) Link nodded and was just about to leave, but Ezlo was fuming! Had Link not grabbed his beak again he'd have yelled that guard into next week, Ezlo thought!
"But it might take you months to learn a sword technique! Take it from me, that guard meant 'not until you're older'..." grumbled Ezlo once Link let go of him. He was finding it extremely frustrating that Link wasn't saying anything. "What's wrong with you?!" howled Ezlo, "You're acting funny and not saying a word! ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME, BOY?!"
(He's a-annoying,) thought Link, (and v-very yell-y.)
Link went into Swiftblade's School for Sword Fighting, where Link had learned nearly everything he knew about sword fighting. Link also remembered that Swiftblade had said he would teach Link a 'special technique' next time he showed up for a lesson. Ezlo stopped complaining.
"Hello, Link!" greeted Swiftblade, "I shall teach you a technique today! If you train with me, I guarantee that your skill will improve dramatically! So? Will you train here again, Link? I warn you, techniques take a long time!" Link, somewhat sleepily, nodded, before taking Ezlo off and putting him to the side of the room. "I shall teach you the most basic of techniques! The spin attack! First! Concentrate and let magic run into your sword! Second! build up enough power... Third! Release your destructive might! That's all, young Link! Do you understand?" Link nodded, noticing that Swiftblade was feeling overly proud of himself.
Meanwhile, Ezlo was getting crosser and crosser. What was with that BOY?! Whe didn't he EXPLAIN that he was off to save the princess? Wasn't that soldier IMFORMED?! People were so hopeless these days...
"Haha! Very good! You are a very quick student. But one must FEEL the technique, not just hear about it! That's why I shall now possess your body as so to demonstrate the technique! I call this the Swiftblade Possession Technique of Training!"
"..." Link was feeling sleepy, but he knew he'd get this right. After all, he'd never really had to try to get these things right.
"Possession?!" squawked Ezlo, "DO YOU KNOW HOW DANGEROUS THAT CAN GET?! Possession can have nasty side effects!"
Swiftblade was too busy concentrating and not believing in talking hats to hear him. Link was actually taking a quick nap while nobody was looking becauspe of how tired he was. The nap was so quick that the nightmare had no time to form.
"Watch this! Urrngh! Poe... Zeh... Shun!" announced Swiftblade.
Possession by soul transference?! What was that guy thinking?! Link seemed fine about it, but then, Link was TEN. Link didn't KNOW, did he?
"HEY!" yelled Ezlo, "LISTEN!"
But it was too late. Link felt Swiftblade take over for ten seconds as he did the spin attack. Then Swiftblade left Link's control system. Ezlo noticed that Swiftblade clearly had no idea what he was meddling with. These people just weren't EDUCATED...
"Phew... Now! You must try it yourself!" said Swiftblade, clearly expecting Link to fail. Link surprised both Swiftblade and Ezlo when he promptly performed the technique perfectly. Ezlo remembered Link's magic potential, but really, focus magic alone doesn't help one learn things to that degree of perfection after one try... Maybe three or five, but not one... hmm...
"Yes! Fine work. You're a quick study. I will now give you this tiger scroll!" announced Swiftblade, hiding his surprise really well. He handed Link the scroll, who put it in the separate dimension in his bag.
Putting Ezlo on on the way out, Link went right back to I-Insist,-Call-Me-Tim and showed him the spin attack, accidentally forgetting to take Ezlo off again and making Ezlo dizzy. I-Insist,-Call-Me-Tim let Link go past him and into Trilby Highlands. Link sprinted as fast as he could along the pathway, at last reaching the base of Mount Crenel.
"Right!" nagged Ezlo, "Now don't you forget what Grandpa Smith said! You need to use the plants! GOT THAT?!"
Link wasn't feeling too good. He'd pushed himself much farther than he usually did, and that combined with his severe sleepiness and Ezlo's loudness caused him to simply collapse onto the ground, sending Ezlo tumbling along the rocks.
(N-Not again!) thought Link as he felt the nightmare coming on...
"WAKE UP, BOY!" Yelled one severely grumpy and short-tempered hat called Ezlo in Link's ear. Link jumped in surprise- right into a nearby pool of water which was slightly cut off from Hyrule's river (which Link likes to call River Hurry-Up, because it always seems to be hurrying along for something), splashing a bit before climbing out, he cold water successfully waking him up fully, which made Link feel much better.
"Don't you do that again!" scolded Ezlo.
"Th-Thanks." said Link, sincerely, before filling the bottle with water and emptying it on a nearby plant, sending a small wave of water crashing among the tiny rocks that the ground was made of. The plant grew very, very fast, thick and strong, up the mountain, like a natural net. Link carefuly climbed it, soon reaching a climbable-looking wall. However, upon trying to climb it, Link discovered that the stones were far too loose, so they would never hold Link's weight.
Ezlo yelled, "WHAT are you doing?! You don't have the right equipment to climb THAT, Boy!"
Link knew he was right, and passed by the wall. All along the path marked on the map, there were sticky, spiky webs, leafless yet alive trees, and huge, four-legged monsters (Link could tell because all monsters felt like black holes of emotionlessness), which had one eye and was white with a red markings on it. When the monsters tried to jump on Link, he saw the mouths full of pointy teeth on their undersides. Link crouched onto the ground and pointed his sword straight up when they all leapt into the air, and each one was impaled by the sword and went poof one by one, all in a split second. Ezlo wondered where Link got all those good ideas from. That boy had very good common sense...
After dealing with the monsters, Link put away his sword and took out a packet of pansilla seeds and a packet of flower fertiliser. On impulse, Link planted them wherever there was too much space by digging small holes and putting seeds and fertiliser in them. Ezlo wasn't sure what Link was up to, and neither was Link.
Past the pathway, the marked trail led into a blocked cave. There were natural whirlwinds swirling above their heads. "I say DON'T use those bombs-" began Ezlo, only for Link to blow up the cave entrance anyway. All along, curiously, Link felt Ezlo's worry as well as the usual frustration. Meanwhile, Ezlo was worrying about what Vaati might be up to next. Was he the sort to hurt someone? He'd already turned the princess into stone. What else might he do? Vaati wasn't evil. Right?
Link used a giant red, stretchy mushroom to sail over a pit in the cave. Stragely enough, there were stairs on the other side. Up on the next floor, they came across some ball-like bird-monsters with tough iron masks. "Just pull off their masks and they're no trouble whatsoever!" advised Ezlo. Link followed his advice and beat them all easily, before going though the cave and finding a way out.
Outside, Link found that he was now level with the whirlwinds. Ezlo looked at them and thought, (If I can inflate, and can be used as a parachute, perhaps I can help Link fly across here!) It was quite possible.
Link thought, (M-maybe I should have p-packed the p-pogo stick.) as he planted more flowers around the area.
"Hmn? Hmmmmnnnn... Ah, of course! How silly of me!" Burst out Ezlo, "Hey, my boy! Jump onto that whirlwind over there for me! Heh heh heh... I wonder, is this a great idea or a terrible one?"
Link felt his certainty. They would be perfectly safe. The funny hat was just being dramatic. Link leapt into the whirlwind, grabbing Ezlo's rim and gripping it tightly. The wind inflated Ezlo and its current safely and gently pushed Ezlo and Link to the other side of the higher ground of Mt. Crenel's... base.
"It worked!" announced Ezlo, "Well done, my boy! Now, let's get up Mount Crenel!"
Smiling, Link continued up the mountain, planting pansilla seeds all along the way. Mount Crenel needed more plants. Soon, he reached wider, more level part of the mountain. He was surprised to see some teeny-weeny-flying-bug-monsters, which were a little larger than him at picori-size, now barely needed a poke with the tip of the sword to make them go poof.
"You go plant those seeds, boy!" encouraged Ezlo, meaning the Mountain Vine seeds, "We're barely up yet!" Link spotted a portal covered in those sticky, spiky white webs. He went over to it, passing a tiny passageway, and sucked up all the webs. It looked like a large rock with a spiky hole in the middle, but Link sensed its magical energy.
(How st-strange.) he thought. Ezlo shrunk them down, and Link winced a little when they bounced down some lime-citrine coloured crystal which was very hard. The mushrooms had been softer...
Ezlo recognised it as quetzallite, a crystalline material which repelled magic and could also be used to focus and control magic, even if one could not do magic at all, one of the five magical ores. How interesting! "So, this perfectly normal-looking stone was another magic am-portal to The Minish World! There may be other rock-portals. Keep your eyes peeled, Boy," Observed Ezlo, "and HURRY UP!"
Link was a bit uncomfortable. Ezlo was yelling... AGAIN! He was actually imagining stuffing Ezlo into his magic bag... "I feel b-bad." stated Link. Since when did he feel like stuffing someone into a magic bag? Not even the biggest jerk at school could make him think that!
"How come?" asked Ezlo, relived that Link was actually talking again.
"I feel l-like stuffing y-you into my bag. Y-you're shout-y." Link replied.
Ezlo could find no answer to that. He was shout-y. And yell-y. And nag-y. "I don't blame you for that, Boy..." sighed Ezlo, "WAIT! Did I say that out loud?!"
Link felt better. He looked around the outside of the rock. The regular-sized rocks were as big as hills! The trees were mountains in themselves! It took a surprisingly long time to reach the passageway.
The passageway was like a straight path. At the end of this path was a humongous green bean. "You'll never be able to carry that!" commentated Ezlo, "We'll have to-" Link promptly picked up the bean. Ezlo, under the bean, couldn't exactly SEE or SAY anything. Link carried the bean out of the passageway, past the trees and huge mazes of webs, to a (conveniently placed) hole next to a wall, filling what seemed like a bottomless pit at picori-size, while Ezlo crossly complained about his beak getting squashed. Link realised he was going to have to go all the way back to the bottom of the mountain to refill his bottle. He grew to regular size, then jumped down a couple of ledges, not wanting to think about the way back UP...
Two hours later, Link was back at the plant. However, when Link poured the water on it, it didn't grow. Ezlo observed this closely. Then he got an idea. "Hmm... It seems there are two types of beans on Mt. Crenel- blue and green. If the colour is different, I suppose how you treat each one is different too. Well? Do you have any ideas, Boy?"
Link tried using a bit of the water in his watering can, the water being slightly edited for plants. Unfortunately, that didn't work either. How exactly were they going to find 'the right treatment'? Link spotted a little hole under some webs. Maybe a picori lived there! Ezlo was grumpily complaining about how it was going to take ages to figure it out and how he didn't have that kind of time and how Vaati was in SO MUCH TROUBLE when he got said sorcerer back home and BLAH BLAH BLAH- wait, what was that about Vaati? Well, as Grandpa Smith was always saying,
"There's no point in hiding and complaining, if you want things done SOMEBODY has to do it so it might as well be yourself!"
...Link thought that was good advice. One could just figure out what to and do it! It was all very simple to him. Link was also getting used to Ezlo's complaining. It was quite the change from Zelda, who was always overly-optimistic and never complained about anything! He got rid of the spiky webs using the gust jar, before getting Ezlo to shrink them down and going into the hole. He landed in a cosy-looking picori house, with a bed, a fire-box (a stove/oven/microwave), a lot of shelves, a lamp, a table and chairs, and a rug. There was a picori just putting a tray above the fire in the fire-box. She turned around and spotted them.
"Hi visitor!" squeaked the minish excitedly, "I'm Mari! Who are you? And the hat? Is it magic? Can you do magic?!"
"I'm NOT an 'it', my name is Ezlo and the boy is called Link. A sorcerer turned my into this!" replied Ezlo, "Can you tell us about Crenel Beans?"
"Well, water is life for Crenel Beans! The blue beans grow when you pour water on them... But the green beans like Mt. Crenel Mineral Water. Mt. Crenel Mineral Water can only be found in a spring here on Mt. Crenel. Well, really, the spring is closer to the base of Mt. Crenel. Would you two like some dew-moss cookies? I've just been baking some- and I always bake extra in case I get visitors!" offered Mari.
"Yes, please." politely replied Ezlo, "Thank you very much."
Mari took out a tall stool for Ezlo, and Link gladly sat down on one of the chairs in front of the small table. He then took his blue rose out of the magic bag and put it on the table, then took out the watering can and watered the rare plant. Link could feel its simple happiness. A plant was a plant, but they still had basic emotions. Meanwhile, Link also felt Ezlo's curiosity.
"Where did you get that plant, Link? Blue roses are very rare, you know." asked Ezlo.
"G-granddad gave it t-to mom who gave i-it to me." Explained Link, finding no other way to explain.
"You mean... Smith?" asked Ezlo. Link shook his head. No, he meant GrandDAD, not GrandPA. Just then, a loud DING-A-LING-A-LING pinged through the small house.
"The cookies are ready!" announced Mari, happily jingling an old, little bell and holding a plate of cookies. Link split them in thirds, three for Ezlo, three for Mari and three for himself. Ezlo gobbled his up with great relief, finally, good old minish cuisine! Mari ate hers at a reasonable pace, pausing to politely giggle at Ezlo's antics from time to time. Link hesitantly took a small bite of one... then he suddenly felt a bit queasy, and his ears turned pastel-sky-blue. Yes, PASTEL-SKY-BLUE of all things.
"I feel si-sick." stated Link, very quietly.
"What?!" cried Ezlo, "He's allergic?!" (Of all the things to be allergic to...) "I didn't know it was possible for ears to go blue."
"Oh no!" cried Mari, panicking, "I'l go make some herbal tea to make him feel better!"
"Well, please do HURRY UP... I think he might throw up." stated Ezlo.
"EeeeeeK! I'm sorry!" wailed Mari, frantically cooking up the herbal tea. Once it was done, Link eagerly gulped it down along with a tea-spoon of medicine from the green bottle. Grandpa Smith always said to have a bit if his face went a funny colour. His ears went normal again.
(Blue ears count as 'face going a funny colour'.) Link thought, putting away the medicine and cleaning the spoon as best as he could.
"What's that?!" asked Ezlo, but Link didn't answer, "Looks like he's feeling better anyway. Okay, so what was IN those cookies?! I need to establish WHAT he's allergic to, if you please."
Mari, still upset, handed Ezlo her cookie recipe. Ezlo went though each of the ingredients, using a complex magic that helped figure out allergies. The process involved linking Link with the temporary spell and getting him to touch each ingredient and see which colour his finger went, at no risk to him unless Ezlo messed up the spell. Since Ezlo had been conserving a lot of energy recently, he was just about able to pull it off. As it turned out, Link was allergic to Pini Mushroom Spores- a key ingredient in all minish pasties and baked goods.
"Well, thank you for your help," said Ezlo, "and I'll be sure to goodness that Link won't be eating any more cookies or any minish baked goods..."
With THAT, Ezlo leapt back onto Link's head and the two of them left Mari's house. Link went back down the mountain again, and on the way down Ezlo noticed a crumbling wall that neither of them had spotted earlier. "HEY! BOY!" yelled Ezlo, "Blast this wall with those bombs, won't you?" Surprised, Link did blow up the wall, revealing a cave behind it.
Inside the cave were some red gooey-blobby monsters. Link whacked them with his sword, before climbing up a nearby ladder. (Who put it there?) thought Link. He next blew up some rubble blocking the path on the outside ledge, before finding another rock portal, Ezlo shrinking them down again. At picori/minish size, Link followed a path to Mount Crenel's one and only spring, which was filled with piping hot citrine-lime-green water.
"Well done, Boy!" congratulated Ezlo, "Now collect that Mount Crenel Spring Water! And BE CAREFUL! It's piping hot!"
Link was careful, and bottled the water before climbing back UP the mountain (this time it takes an hour, not two) and heading back to the plant AGAIN. This time, the plant actually grew, much to Ezlo and Link's relief. Link climbed up it, now officially... a THIRD up Mt. Crenel. That's also when Link decided to stop for lunch.
Ezlo jumped off Link's head and watched as Link pulled out a PICNIC RUG, two small bottles of water, as well as some sandwiches. Just WHAT ELSE did Link pack in that bag...? Well, that didn't matter right now. At least they would have somewhere slightly more comfortable to sit... While Ezlo chomped away at his cheese sandwich, he thought about the possibility of teaching Link some magic, also about Vaati and what went wrong between them to cause Vaati to take the hat- maybe everybody had been right and it was... just in Vaati's nature? Not Ezlo's fault? Who was he kidding, of COURSE it was his fault! But what had he done wrong...? ... Mmmm... That sandwich was tasty. "Mmmm... Delicious!" commentated Ezlo, "Your grandpa makes excellent sandwiches!" After that, Ezlo gulped down the water.
Meanwhile, Link was eating his sandwich quite a bit slower. He felt Ezlo's consideration, ideas, guilt... and sandwich opinion. Link thought about Zelda. Was she okay? Hungry? Bored? Asleep? Thinking about Zelda got him thinking about Vaati. Vaati... Nightshade. How did Ezlo know Vaati? How did Vaati know Ezlo? How confusing... Link checked the map and nodded to Ezlo's comment about Grandpa Smith's sandwiches- they were delicious!
Ten minutes later, they'd finished lunch and it didn't take very long for Link to put away the picnic rug. They continued up Mount Crenel, Link occasionally planting seeds, but ended up at another wall Link couldn't climb. They backtracked and went the other way this time, crossing a bridge and blasting a loose wall at the end of it.
Inside the newly-revealed cave, there were a bunch of pots, two red blob-monsters, and a chest. Link made the monsters go 'poof' before opening the chest. Inside was a blue kinstone, a strong, innocent feeling coming from it. Link packed it away in his kistone bag. On the next floor, there were some metal-blob monsters which could harden themselves to protect from Link's sword.
"How are you going to beat those? Using a football?" asked Ezlo, trying to be funny, inwardly chuckling for a second at the thought of beating a monster with a football.
Link smiled- and promptly took a football out of his bag. He then kicked it at the monsters. Believe it or not, the monsters got spun around and were too dizzy to put their spiky shields back up again when Link whacked them with his sword. Ezlo was completely speechless. "Good i-idea." Link said, giggling at his friend the noisy hat's crazy but logical ideas as he put the football away again. Ezlo was even more speechless after that comment.
(That boy seems more connected with dreams than reality... Could it be that- WAIT, that's Crazy Theorist talking.) thought Ezlo.
A bit of blowing up stuff and pushing things around later, Link left the cave's exit. A bit further along here were more whirlwinds and air currents. Link and Ezlo leaned this way and that, subconsciously working as a team to cross over to the next area along Smith's path. Climbing up a bit higher, Link and Ezlo were now two-thirds of the way up to Mount Crenel, with no sign of the picori/minish so far. Link continued clearing the monsters out and planting flowers along the way up, soon reaching another cave.
Inside this cave was a business scrub. Link used his shield to defend himself from it, and it was hit by it's own nut, right in the face.
"Okay, ya got me! Let me make it up to ya!" insisted the small scrub, "This grip ring is just perfect for a mountaineer like yourself! it is magic a item which stops loose rocks from falling, and greatly improves your own grip on the rocks! Climb in style for only forty rupees! What a bargain!"
The scrub showed them the grip ring, and Ezlo jumped of Link's head and carefully inspected them. "Wow..." commentated Ezlo, "Not only is this real, but it has excellent quality! Where in The Human World did you find this?"
"A great business scrub never reveals its secrets." It replied, smirking secretively.
Link paid the scrub the rupees and put the grip ring on his left wrist. It shrank slightly to fit him perfectly, and Link could just feel the magical energy tingling in and out of the magical band.
Outside, it worked just as well as the scrub said it would. Link climbed down a rocky wall, which he would not have been able to do before without badly injuring himself, before sailing across another gap in the path using a stretchy red mushroom, but not before scattering a couple of pansilla seeds along the way. Past that, there was an even bigger gap along with some whirlwinds that Link and Ezlo used to cross the gap. Now in a large, rocky wall-section of Mount Crenel, Link climbed carefully up it, avoiding the humongous boulders which came crashing down the mountain. Looking up, Link spotted a bunch of rampaging monsters at the top of Mount Crenel, which were causing all those boulders to fall down Mt. Crenel.
Suddenly, a particularly large boulder crashed down, nearly squashing Link- luckily, he scuttled out of the way just in time, but so jerkily that Ezlo, who was barely hanging on to Link's head, fell right off. "HEEEEELLLLLP MEEEEEEEEEE!" Screamed Ezlo on the way down- for half a millisecond. The rest was screamed back on Link's head. "Wha... What just happened?" asked Ezlo, carefully bending down to see Link's face- and Ezlo saw that said ten-year-old-boy was smiling somewhat secretively, and acting as if nothing had just happened. Link just kept on climbing, as Ezlo noticed that Link's entire being was simply buzzing with magical energy, sourced from something far greater than magic potential, ability or even power...
It suddenly occurred to Link that if Zelda was a stone statue now, how would she eat? Or drink?! She must be STARVING as well as bored to death! Panicking, Link pushed himself far beyond his normal standards and rushed up the mountain, leapt over the side of the wall to the top of Mount Crenel, swinging his sword in a tight, tough sphere around him, sending all the monsters at the top of the mountain flying away and 'poof'ing into white smoke and yellow sparks. This also had the side effect of making Ezlo's beak hang open in shock for the next five minutes while Link stopped and sat down, breathing heavily. Once Ezlo recovered from the shock, Link sneezed loudly and took a blue bottle and the spoon out of his bag, giving himself a teaspoon of his medicine. Grandpa Smith always gave him a little bit whenever he sneezed like that. Two seconds later, Link felt much better, wondering what that thing he'd just done was.
Maybe he should ask Guardian Spirit when Ezlo wasn't looking. People always panicked whenever he spoke through his heart and talked with Guardian Spirit, who liked to meet him in that odd, pearly, rainbow-white place. The first time he'd done it his Mom and Dad had both passed out with worry, so he'd had to talk far too much to calm them down... Link missed them. He looked at the view of Hyrule from the sunny side of Mount Crenel's Peak, his legs hanging over the edge and loosely swinging around. Zelda had said that if Link looked past the sun, he would see them helping him from a world far from this one. He had to save her... since he couldn't ever have saved them. He would save Vaati and Ezlo, too. They all needed help, and Link was glad to do the helping.
Once Ezlo recovered from the shock, he just fell of Link's head as Link had a teaspoon of whatever was in that blue bottle. Ezlo looked over at Link sitting on the edge, legs handing over the side, looking just past the sun. What did he see there..? What was that awesome thing with the sword he'd just done? Either way, it seemed that he'd have to recover. Thinking about Link got him thinking about allergies which got him thinking about jabber nuts which got him thinking about Vaati.
"...Vaaaaaaah... ...teeeeee..."
"Is that your NAME, Boy?"
"...Name... That's what it is. It's... my name. I think I forgot a lot. But I know... I never knew you..."
... That was that day when Vaati didn't remember anything. That day when they'd first met way back when when Vaati was three (minish learn things like walking and talking a lot faster than humans). He never had managed to track down his (possibly long gone) family, but in the end he hadn't needed to. When Ezlo looked over at Link again, he thought he saw little ten-year-old Vaati sitting there next to him, legs swinging over the side of the mountain, staring past the sun... then he was gone, fading with the wind, as if he'd never been there at all.
Link got up and turned around to face Ezlo, more determined than ever to save his best-friend-that-stuck-by-him-during-the-toughest-times-of-his-life. So before Ezlo figured out what was happening, Link jammed him right on his head again and set off towards a larger-than-average red mushroom with small pansilla seeds falling out of a teensy hole in his bag, looking towards the rainy side of Mount Crenel's Peak. Between the two sides of the peak, there was a gigantic, humongous, chasm- and the only way across was by using the red mushroom. Ezlo noticed.
"You're not planning on trying to cross that GIANT CHASM are you?! It's a long way down... NO WAY!" he yelled.
Link just grabbed the mushroom and pulled it back as far as it would go, holding on tightly to Ezlo with one hand and gripping the mushroom with the other- and then he was sailing right across the top of Mount Crenel. The experience was one Link would never, ever forget in all of the rest of his life, that feeling of flying through the air, sailing higher than was thought to be possible, something truly thrilling, something that took Link's breath away. He would never forget the landing either.
SMASH!
Ezlo opened his eyes a little. HE had been terrified and had kept his eyes closed the whole time. He checked himself over. What a relief, he was okay. Not dead, Not squashed, and most definitely NOT stuck hanging on a jagged rock at the top of Mount Crenel. Ezlo looked down- and saw that Link was dizzily trying to get up, and also that they were in their own little crater, with cracks and bits of rock everywhere. (What?! Did we cause that much of a big impact? If we did, HOW in my entire storage of great jumping jellyfish is that boy STILL ALIVE?!) thought Ezlo in complete and utter shock.
As it turned out, the mountain peak was pretty badly damaged but Link himself was perfectly fine, albeit extremely dizzy and a bit wiped out.
"What were you THINKING?!" scolded Ezlo at the top of his voice.
BOOM! Went the sky as what felt like a giant's bucket of water came crashing down directly onto Ezlo and slightly-less-directly on Link. This had the effect of making them throughly soaked in a matter of seconds. It also had the added effect of making Ezlo stop shouting. Link recovered and stood up. Thanks to all the rubble caused by the monsters being freed and a little by Link's landing, the only way forward was to shrink into minish size. Luckily, there was a rock-portal/magic amplifier on their side of the rubble. Link climbed onto it.
"No." said Ezlo, very, very, seriously. "Link, at minish size one DROP of this heavy rain can kill you instantly! I WON'T shrink us down in this weather!"
Link understood. He could feel just how serious Ezlo was at this point. Link also knew that the rain would never stop up here for the next three years. That was just how the rainy side of Mount Crenel's Peak was, according to all those books Link has read, Mira's exciting tales, and the day Grandpa Smith went on and on about it. So, Link reached out to the magic of the portal, and made all the glyphs appear.
"WHAT are you DOING?! You don't know HOW TO WORK that MAGIC AMPLIFIER!" yelled Ezlo over the rain and the sky. Ahh! So that's what they really were! Now these things made sense! Ezlo could only watch as Link moved the glyphs in exactly the same way he'd seen Ezlo do it, moving everything in a particular pattern. Ezlo, realising that while Link could imitate most of it, he wouldn't be able to make the grip ring or whatever else was in that dimensional hole to shrink because he'd never seen Ezlo account for these things, gave up trying to get Link to stop and instead helped him sort out the glyphs in the rune-work involved with working the magic amplifier. Soon, they were both minish-sized, and Link was running at top speed through the heavy rain.
The drops were each as big as that giant boulder that nearly squashed him earlier... Like the nightmare... (NO! Zelda might d-die if I get scared now!) Link, heart pumping, reminded himself over and over, wading through the minish-sized path through the rocks and rubble.
"Those raindrops are like boulders of water to us, kid! Watch out! If they hit us, it'll sting something fierce!" warned Ezlo.
It did. Each huge splash was like a giant slap to the face! He couldn't get to the magic amplifier on the other side fast enough. It was a true relief to be regular-sized again... Link had to push some loose bits of rubble out of the way in order to reach a ladder leading down into the inside of the mountain.
Luckily, the cave wasn't very affected by the rain. Now very wet, very cold, and very, very, sloshy, Ezlo was having a hard time holding himself up! Link was soaked to the bone, and both were shivering a lot. Even though it too had a bit of rubble, Link was able to push those rocks out of the way. Thankfully, the cave led directly back to the sunny side of Mount Crenel.
"What a relief!" announced Ezlo, "The rain's all gone!" The sun was setting, and it was getting late. Link went inside yet another cave entrance, wondering where Melari could be and if they'd passed him already...
Inside the cave, Link saw a mushroom in front of a chasm. However, he could also see that if he used it, he'd smash into some rocks on the other side. Luckily, next to said rocks, there was a stretchy mushroom which Link could pull using the gust jar. He did so, flying across to the other side of the cave in the process. He wasn't feeling too good... something inside felt all... rumbly and grumbly. shiver-y and vibrate-ily. Not to mention icky. Ezlo, getting worn out, just curled around Link's head and fell fast asleep, still shivering a bit. Link went down some stairs.
On the next floor down, Link spotted a switch on the other side of another chasm in the cave. He threw a bomb at it, which exploded, switching the switch on and making a bridge slide out from just under the ground, still not feeling very well. Link continued through the cave, pushing all those rocks out of the way as fast as he could. He then left through the cave's exit, past all those rocks.
At long last, they finally reached what looked like a minish mine, which had a rock magic amplifier nearby. Link used it to shrink, which woke Ezlo up, and went along a minish pathway, which led into the minish mine. It was now very late, and cold outside, making Link feel worse. He didn't tell Ezlo. Ezlo didn't notice. Link was starting to get a headache. Right at the bottom of the minish mine, there was a large minish holding a hammer, wearing a blue and red outfit, complete with a hat. There was a long table and two smaller minish behind him, also holding hammers and wearing blue and red outfits.
"Green clothes? And an odd hat?! Sir! Might you be young Link?" he asked, "I am Melari, master smith. I hear you want me to reforge the sacred sword and help break a curse. I'll be needing the old sword, which held the power of the elements, first. Show me that Broken Picori Blade! I love all this adventure, what with the rescuing of princesses and such. I'd be happy to restore this thing into a brand-new sacred blade for you!"
Link took out the two broken parts of the blade- which strangely enough, turned too big for a minish but too small for a human as he took them out.
"It'll take me a while to rework your sword. Why don't you change into something dry and stay for supper? It's getting late, after all. Alright! Let's get started!"
"Thank you very much." said Ezlo, "By the way, Link's allergic to pini mushroom spores... unfortunately. My name is Ezlo, and by the way, I was turned into a hat by a sorcerer!"
Link wearily nodded as Melari began work on the sword. They were shown to a guest room, which had a lit fireplace, some hooks above the fireplace, and a comfy-looking bed. Link left Ezlo outside and changed into his spare tunic, leaving the wet one at the fireplace. After that, the two of them had supper, which was some kind of warm stew. It made Link feel slightly better. He wanted to go get the element at once, but Ezlo was having none of that this time.
"NO. I won't allow that! You NEED sleep!" he yelled, making Link's headache worse. Melari agreed, and Link went to bed, falling asleep instantly after leaving Ezlo in front of the fireplace. Too sleepy to argue, he fell asleep too, blissfully ignorant.
