Chapter 9
The group made their way to a forest entrance, the trees were the tallest they've ever seen. "Wow these trees are huge, we don't have nothing like this in Hyrule. Not even the Lost Woods have trees this high!" Exclaimed Mina.
"We don't really know much about the history of this forest, the people who lived among the trees died a long time ago." Replied Erika. "This used to be a big tourist attraction, but with all the monsters around no one comes here."
They walked through, they got past a tall gate that displayed the name of the forest, 'Ai Mori', "Erika what does the name mean?" Asked Amane. "Indigo Forest," Answered Erika.
"Why is it called that?" Amane asked.
"A rare flower that only seems to be grown in this forest resides here. The forest was named after the flower's color."
The group slowly continued walking through, the forest was deathly quiet of its wildlife. Amane took pictures of some flowers that bloomed on the trees and bushes, but he fell in a dip in the ground.
"Sweet goddesses, are you alright," Jasper went to help Amane up. Right in front of them was a footprint, of something big. "Wow that's one huge print, I wonder what left it," Said Tindu. "An animal maybe?" Guessed Sydonna.
"No there's no animal that size here, we'll have to be careful." Said Ayano. "Exactly what I was thinking, I wanted to camp here, because this forest takes a little over a day to get through. But," said Erika. "I rather be exhausted, than have to stay here overnight with whatever left that." Said Mina.
"Right, follow me, we're going off the trail," Erika motioned everyone to stay behind her.
There were a lot more flowers and other plant life off the trail. Amane took out his slate to take a picture, but Erika told him not to as not to draw attention to them.
The sun was beginning to set, "I can't believe how much time passed," Said Ayano. "You haven't actually been out the village at all, must sucks. The world has so much to offer and show, I'm in need of a companion so maybe I can talk to your father about having you travel with me." Said Erika.
"Really, that would be amazing Erika," Exclaimed Ayano. "If all this ends before we get too old, but also keep your voice down. We don't…." Erika was cut-off by a loud boom shaking the ground. The sound of trees collapsing was getting closer and closer, what was coming through emerged from the dust in the air.
"What in goddesses," questioned Tindu.
Towering them was a being that looked part mechanical and part fleshy, it was a little under half the height of the trees, red lights illuminated where there was machine, a helmet covered it's head, there was a gaping hole in its chest and lastly wielding a giant clever. "I think I just peed my pants," whimpered Jasper. The creature raised its weapon and swung down on the group. Everyone jumped out the way in time.
"EVERYBODY RUN!" Erika screamed running in the opposite direction with everyone in tow. Once they got out of sight, they hid behind one of the trees to catch their breath.
"What in hell is that thing," Asked Mina.
"Looked like one of the things that was on the ship, I didn't know there were bigger ones." Answered Amane.
"Well we can't continue on with that thing here, it'll eventually find us. We have to take it down," suggested Sydonna.
"We can't fight something that big!" Exclaimed Jasper.
"We fought a Hinox," replied Tindu, "Dude that thing wasn't almost half these trees and carrying clever that can split all of Hyrule in half."
"Either way we have to do something," said Ayano. There was rustling to their right and they all looked to see Amane digging through his pack, "I don't think it's the time for a snack," Said Erika.
"Oh no crap, I'm looking for something that would help. They have to have given us something helpful. Ooh this could work," Amane took out a rope and hook. "See if you all have one as well." Everyone dug through their packs and all pulled out a rope and hook.
"We could use the trees to our advantage, the real question is how to climb high enough to the branches?" Ayano looked up, the branches were way out of reach from their position, "Maybe we can use these. Looks like they're meant for climbing icy mountains, but who says we can't use them for wood?" In Mina's hand were a pair of ice picks for climbing, the village came through and gave them a few useful items.
They started their climb up the trees, the creature was in sight but still a good ways from their spots.
"This is a lot harder than I thought," complained Tindu. "You've dealt with worse," replied Amane.
"Have I?"
Amane snickered and continued climbing behind Tindu. They made it to a desired branch a little under the monster ahead. "The trees are close, but are they close enough for the hooks?" Erika questioned out loud. She threw the hook to one of the other trees, it successfully wrapped around the branch and stayed as she tugged hard on the rope.
"Well let's give it a well-deserved whoopin," Erika jumped from the branch and swung to the next tree, she went high enough to land on a branch above.
Everyone else followed suit, but spread out among the trees to have a better advantage. "Hey Jas don't lose Klerin,?!" Yelled Mina across the way.
"I'm not that careless!" He responded.
"You lost your first violin remember!" Yelled Sydonn.
"I'm starting to worry, please don't!" Screamed Klerin. "Don't worry buddy, I won't lose you. Not with the danger we're in."
"Wait, if it was any situation you would?... Jasper? Jasper?"
Jasper was swinging to a higher branch, when Klerin fell from his pack. "JASPER!" Klerin screamed for dear life.
"What did I tell you?" Said Mina.
Sydonna was closer to Jasper and she went for Klerin. She jumped from her branch until she was a bit lower from Klerin and deployed her hook.
She swung under and grabbed Klerin, "Don't worry I got you," Sydonna reassured Klerin. "Thank you, princess."
Sydonna reached the branch Jasper was standing on to give him Klerin, "Thanks Sy, it seems the straps weren't tight enough." Jasper rubbed the back of his neck from embarrassment. "Just be careful next time you goof. Let's catch up to the others," Sydonna jumped from the branch and latched onto another. Jasper strapped Klerin on to the pack and followed behind.
The group was on another branch, hiding from the monster. They were starting to get exhausted and the monster showed no signs of being hurt.
"I have no more arrows to spare and I'm not that proficient with melee weapons." Said Mina.
"We can't leave this thing to roam free though. There's got to be some way of taking it down." Replied Enmi.
"Well time for round 2," Amane jumped off and moved to another tree following the monster. The others having a hard time getting up also followed.
Amane got up behind the monster's head and swung at its helmet, he hit a strap on the back. The monster smacked him down and placed its hand on the strap for protection. 'Now why is it holding its helmet on? Maybe.' Amane recovered and landed on a lower branch, the others landed next to him checking to see if he was okay.
"I think I discovered something," Informed Amane.
"How?" Asked Tindu. "I ended up cutting one of the straps in the back and it covered it up like it was hiding something. Maybe its weak spot is on its head, some of us will have to distract it to move its hand and the rest would cut the straps." Amane planned.
"Mina since you don't deal with anything else but long range weapons you can distract it, also Ayano you don't really have anything worth fighting against it so you'll be Mina, the rest of us will attack it." Ordered Erika.
They broke away, Mina and Ayano catching up to get in front of the monster, the rest stood behind a bit to give those two time.
"Hey ugly over here!" Mina yelled at the monster to get its attention. They jumped from branch to branch with the thing following them and right behind Amane, Erika, Jasper, Tindu and Sydonna were making their way to them.
"We have to do this in one go, because if we miss, it'll know what we're doing we won't have a second chance." Said Amane. "Sy assist me and Erika and Tindu you'll get the other strap, Jasper since you're stronger you can pull the straps apart so we won't dull our blades. We have to make sure that the strap is loose enough for him to break."
They all nodded and quickened their pace. They got close and grabbed onto a strap and started cutting on each end. Jasper kept swinging from tree to tree before it was his chance.
Amane gave everyone a thumbs up and they began cutting down, the monster started flailing when it felt one of their blades cut its skin. Mina and Ayano went for its hands to stop it from crushing their friends.
Sydonna waved to Jasper to come down and begin removing the straps, he swung from the high branches landing a bit from them, when the monster got under he jumped landing on the helmet and sliding down.
Jasper grabbed the top strap and started pulling while Sydonna and Amane cut more into it. The first one flew off and they both jumped down to the second one and helped Erika and Tindu with that strap. They jumped away when the last piece fell off, the helmet folded in the front and fell to the ground. On top of its head was a red bulging glob, "Don't that look like the nastiest thing I've seen." Gagged Ayano.
"Let's get to work putting this thing down, attack at the same time." Said Erika. Everyone got their weapons ready and swung through the trees catching up it. Everyone but Mina had their weapons pointed down, Mina jumped from a higher branch readying her bow with three arrows. "Enjoy this splitting headache," She let the string go and the arrows went flying landing on its head and everyone else pressed their weapons down on its head.
The monster flailed and ran through the trees until it convulsed and exploded. They stood on a branch and watched the air clear of dirt and leaves, they used their ice picks to slide down the tree.
"Well that took a while, it's already dark," Said Ayano. Every splayed out on the branch, tired from the ordeal, "Maybe now we can take a break and rest, that thing just took up so much time," Complained Jasper.
"I don't feel like climbing down, but my skin is starting to dry out a bit," Said Sydonna. "Here take this, it's not much but it should help." Mina handed Sydonna her canteen filled with water. "Thanks. Aaaah, that's much better."
"Is there any rest areas in this forest?" Asked Amane. "Yeah, once we get back on the trail there'll be one in the center of the forest.
They made their way to the small huts lined along the road. Each one only housed four people, but they made it fit for all of them, throughout the night two of them would take guard and leaving three because of the odd number of people.
"You can rest first Sydonna, you'll need to replenish yourself," Suggested Erika. "Thank you, don't worry about dinner for me, this is all I need." Sydonna jumped into the small pond that sat behind their hut that was used for a bath. Mina, Tindu and Amane set up the sleeping bags in the hut to fit them all, Jasper and Ayano went to gather small forest fruits and vegetable and hunt some of the animals that showed up after they killed the monster. And Erika got the cooking area set up for their dinner.
Jasper wasn't one to use a bow in battle, but he was a good hunter, his father Link being the teacher. Mina would have learned, but she was skittish when killing other animals herself, as long as they weren't threat she saw no reason to.
Jasper shot at a deer running through the trees and fired the arrow. It made a clear piercing in the animals head, Ayano showed interest and that led to Jasper teaching her.
Sydonna heard laughter a little ways from her sleeping spot, the laughing posed too much noise for her to sleep, so she got out the water and went to see who it was. From behind a tree she watched as Jasper placed a hand Ayano's waist and steadied her hand to hold the arrow properly. Ayano shot the arrow at a rabbit and hit it, she jumped up and down and pulled Jasper into a big hug. Sydonna saw it as a harmless gesture and was going to walk away, but she saw Jasper pull Ayano into a kiss. She watched as the girl returned the gesture, Sydonna felt her chest tighten. 'I shouldn't be feeling like this, I should be over him, he doesn't feel the same. So why does it hurt so much?' She thought to herself.
Jasper and Ayano have been gone too long, so Mina and Tindu went to look for them. They saw Sydonna looking over by some trees and walked up closer to see what it was.
Everything was starting to settle down, but Mina had a newfound rage growing from what she witnessed. "That son of a," She started storming towards Jasper, but Sydonna grabbed her by the arm and just shook her head.
"It's… okay Mina, I'll get over it," Is all Sydonna said before walking back to the hut. Mina glared daggers at Jasper, all Tindu could do was sigh and shake his head.
Sydonna was back in the bath, curled in a ball at the bottom. 'He never kissed me before, not even as a friendly and sisterly gesture on the forehead or cheek. But off the bat she gets one on the lips. I shouldn't be feeling this way, so why?' She took a deep breath to calm herself, but when she closes her eyes that's all she can see, 'Please go away… I don't want to think about this. I don't want to think about this. Go away. Go away. Go away.' Nothing could hold back her sobs, but in order to seem like everything was normal she had to cry right there.
Mina and Tindu sat lazily on the ground picking at their food Erika made. Amane, Erika, Ayano and Jasper were confused by their silence, "You guys okay, is the food not to your liking? I know you're probably used to having extravagant meals every night," Erika said breaking the silence. "Oh it's not that, we ate mostly food we caught while camping. There's a lot on our minds right now," Mina responded.
"I know Sy said she didn't want any dinner, but I'm gonna bring her a plate. She needs to keep her energy up." Jasper was about to reach for a bowl and place some soup in it, but Tindu stopped him. "I don't think she isn't feeling well to see anyone right now."
"All the more reason for her to eat," protested Jasper.
"Are you guys really okay, what happened out there?" Asked Amane in a concerned tone. Amane actually didn't need to ask, he knew the reason why Mina and Tindu went back there. Jasper and Ayano were taking long, to confirm his suspensions he signed to Tindu and Mina, the only two besides Sydonna who knew sign language. "Did Jasper kiss Ayano?" Tindu signed back, "Yeah."
All Amane could do was sigh, he got up and went to throw away scraps in the garbage pits and clean his bowl. By Tindu and Mina's surprise Erika signed back to them, "I've noticed it for some time since we left. Especially when she snuck to my home, the real reason she wanted to come was to be closer to your brother."
They were shocked, there's a language barrier between the countries. They were happy she knew Hylian, but to know Hylian Sign Language was amazing. "I was expecting you to know what we were saying," signed Mina.
"I travelled to Hyrule before and to create maps for this country, so people can use. I believe it's best to learn a language not just verbally but also using signs. I'm curious as to why you all know sign and what made you learn." She signed back.
Amane saw the gestures and wanted to answer himself, "When they found me, I was a really shy kid. I didn't talk to anyone and also my mother was mute so I learned that way as well. It was the first of communication I used before I was comfortable with my friends. Jasper is the only one who doesn't know it, a lot of royal duties as a kid," he signed back. Erika turned to Mina and Tindu and asked how they learned in their free time since they were royal children.
Tindu explained that he was the first to learn out of the four, I didn't learn responsibilities as the only male of my race just yet. So I took that time to be with Amane and make sure he was comfortable. Mina and Sy learned during their training lessons, Jasper was just a stubborn teen and didn't pick up on it.
This intrigued Erika, if they wanted to talk privately they can using sign language. Ayano and Jasper looked at them confused, but continued to eat their food. After Sydonna's long nap she took up the job for first watch, to her dismay Ayano did as well. To get used to being able to have some skills out in the wilderness.
"So Sydonna, how are you feeling? Mina and Tindu said you weren't feeling well enough to see anyone." Ayano was oblivious to everything that was happening and didn't even realize the tone Sydonna used was of hate, "I'm fine, you don't have to concern yourself with my problems."
"Okay, if something is wrong, just let me know." Ayano smile and Sydonna replied with the fakest smile she could muster. 'Why am I getting angry over something like this, I shouldn't be taking my anger out on her. This is going to be frustrating.' She thought.
Throughout the night, Sydonna and Ayano switched with Amane and Tindu and after them were Jasper, Mina and Erika. The night was quiet and made their job easier to bare, when the sun rose they walked the rest of the way out the forest to the other side. What lay in the horizon were many cities and the towers they would have to shut down. Yesterday was only the start, the coming days will determine their fate and how they work together as a team.