fleets: cover on devart!
Chapter 14: Twilit Parasite Diababa
They were getting close to something awful that resided in the temple. The chamber the two time travelers were in now fumed with the trace of the volatile poison, irritating their eyes and nose. Neither Link nor Vaati really knew why they were trying to find whatever it was at the end of the dungeon, but they had a hunch that it would tell them something about the secrets of the Faron Woods.
A squeal caught Vaati's attention, and he saw a group of monkeys huddling on top of one of the giant mushrooms growing along the bark of the hollow tree they were in. They were looking towards the door at the far end of the gaping chasm in the middle of the room.
Vaati braced his boomerang, getting ready to knock them into the chasm. "I'll send them chittering down to their deaths."
"Wait," Link stopped him as one of the monkeys noticed and approached them. It had a flower hooked on its ear, and began to chatter urgently while pointing at the door at the other end of the chasm.
Where Link only heard unintelligible squealing from the monkey, Vaati could understand every word. It took all he had to keep from falling into the pit from laughing uncontrollably.
(My dear prince! You have returned! Please, you have to help us again.)
"What's so funny?" Link took a sideways glance at the sorcerer whose face was contorted from holding in a laugh.
The monkey looked at the sorcerer with distaste. (Yeah, what's funny?)
"Pfft, prince, snkkk," Vaati snickered into his fist, and then straightened himself out. "Nothing," his serious face broke into giggles again, "Mr. Prince."
"Uh… what?"
Vaati waved him away. "Never mind, never mind." He took his boomerang and shoved the monkey back. "Now why should we help you, hmm? We're busy trying to find a sword and unless there's something we'll gain from this there's no reason why we should help you."
(Jerk.) The monkey tugged at Link's tunic instead. (Please, you have to help us. That monster came back again and it's poisoning the forest.)
"We're not going to help a bunch of useless monk-"
(And I can help you with the sword afterwards. I know something about it.)
That shut Vaati up immediately. Link looked from the urgently squealing monkey to the mage who was conversing with it. Vaati regarded the panicked monkey for some time, and then came to a decision. "All right, this monkey wants some help in exchange for information about the sword."
"You can talk to monkeys," Link said slowly. Then, he shook his head. "You are crazy."
Vaati tapped his chin with the edge of his boomerang. The monkey took a step away from the sorcerer and clung to Link. "I believe in exchange only when both parties involved are on equal grounds. Since you need our help more than we need yours, I can simply wring the information out of your furry little neck instead."
The monkey squealed and ran behind Link. Link gave Vaati a warning swat with the flat end of his sword. "That's not how we do things."
Vaati scowled. "That's how I do things."
"I know, but as long as we're working together that is not how we're going to do things."
"Who made you king?" the sorcerer grumbled, but let it slide.
From the monkey's pantomiming from earlier, Link guessed that there was something behind the door across the chasm that was causing problems for the monkeys in the forest. He squatted so he would be eye-level with the grey animal. "We'll help you," he glanced at the chasm that was way too wide to cross easily, and then scratched his head, "well, after we figure out how to cross."
Without waiting another minute, the monkey jumped up and down and signaled to its friends. They all turned their heads in attention, and then filed over to one of the branches that had grown over the chasm. They began to form a monkey chain by dangling down from the branch.
The monkey with the pink flower behind its ear looked at Link gratefully with big, bulging eyes and gave him a quick kiss before joining the chain. (I knew my prince would help!)
Vaati was cracking up.
"Don't… say anything."
"First kiss?"
"If you don't stay quiet I'm going to push you down that pit."
Vaati grinned. "The monkey says you're her prince"
Link sighed tiredly. "I really don't like future me right now." He stood up, deciding he was only going to focus on reaching the other side of the room instead of let Vaati's comments get to him. He watched the monkeys swinging back and forth, and he judged the distance he would need to jump to reach the chain.
As soon as Link leaped and grabbed the bottom monkey's paws, Vaati threw in one more word.
"Careful! Your girlfriend's at the bottom!"
Link nearly lost his grip. He collapsed when he reached the other side from nearly having all of his energy drained out of him instantly. "Are you trying to kill me?"
Vaati's laughter echoed around the chamber. "Idiot, that's what I've always been trying to do."
Link wearily called over to the mage. "Hurry up and come over here. I need to give you a beating or two."
Vaati stopped laughing and he uneasily scrutinized the chasm. It was relatively high from the bottom. Scratch that – it was really high. It was so high that he couldn't see the bottom of the pit, and the only thing that suggested that it wasn't bottomless was that pungent smell from the purple sludge they had seen earlier. The sorcerer appeared reluctant to jump.
"What's the matter? Afraid of heights?"
"Who do you think I am?" Vaati snarled.
"Then jump already."
The mage hesitated. He never had to deal with heights like this without levitation abilities. If he missed, nothing was going to save him from an embarrassing death. Link watched the mage walk slowly along the edge of where he stood; this was going to take a while.
"If you're not going to do it, I know another way," Link called over. Vaati's head snapped up when Link whistled and signaled the monkeys to move out of the way.
"Link, what are you planning to do?" Vaati began to feel uncomfortable. His eyes widened in horror when he saw Link take out a clawshot. "Nonononono. NO. Put that away. I'll jump, just put that away!"
Link aimed, "Too late."
Shing… latch (Argh!)… (Oof!)
The sorcerer zipped across the gap, hooked by the clawshot. When Vaati arrived, Link casually threw him to the side where the mage skidded towards the door.
Completely losing his usual cool, Vaati looked uncharacteristically shaken. "D-don't… don't do that again." He steadied himself by a large, gnarled vine. He seemed to have lost the energy to snap back with a vengeful retort. The mage had acquired a special hatred for the clawshots after his traumatic experience with them at Telma's bar, and Link using them on him was as worse as it could get. Meanwhile, Link cautiously advanced towards the final door and pressed his palm against the wood. His left hand gripped his sword tightly.
"Are you ready?"
Vaati nodded slowly and Link pushed the door open.
XXXXXXXXXX
As soon as Link and Vaati stepped into the lair they noticed that this chamber was not going to be like the previous ones. The door slammed shut on its own, and there was an ominous rustling noise behind them. Link whirled around and came face-to-face with a melon-sized, savage, toothy plant that reared to bite him.
"Whoa!"
He cut them down quickly, and the plant's head fell off, leaving behind a door covered in vines. Something wanted to keep them in, and until they defeated it they weren't going anywhere.
Vaati trod over to the edge of the large, murky cesspool and picked up a brown feather that had fallen from a bird. Looking around, its owner was nowhere to be found. There was a stinging sensation on his fingertips and he quickly dropped the feather, and upon closer inspection he noticed that its tip was slowly melting away from the purple liquid it had touched. Vaati took a step away from the pit and covered his mouth and nose with his cape when he noticed they were beginning to feel irritated. "Be careful of the fumes. It's poisonous."
"Not just the fumes," Link added. Bubbles popped on the surface of the liquid, and they grew in size until the entire pool was splashing violently. The surface exploded, and two enormous heads of a carnivorous plant shot towards Link and Vaati with their jaws held wide.
"Holy bombchus, that was close!" Link's back slammed against the wall, just barely out of reach of the jaws that clamped down to where he was only just a few moments ago. Vaati had narrowly escaped by sprawling onto the ground, letting the other head fly over him.
Snarling angrily that they had let their prey escape, the monster plants coiled their necks above the putrid pool they grew out of. The plants appeared to be mutated versions of their smaller cousin, the Deku Baba. Their eyeless viper heads were large enough to swallow Link and Vaati whole.
"Vaati, what did your monster book say about these two?" Link found his throat had dried.
Vaati was gripping his boomerang tightly, veins popping out of his hands. "It wasn't in the book."
The head to the right hissed and coiled, preparing to strike. It lashed out in a flash, snapping its open maw at Link. He barely had time to dodge its fangs, venom visibly dripping from the tips and its drool spattering over the dead grass. Link gave it a quick slash across the top of its head and was in the process of regaining his stance when he saw the second head moving in from behind. He was gratefully saved by the gust of wind that knocked the head's path away from him.
The first head, now oozing a clear liquid from where Link had slashed it, turned its attention to Vaati.
"I need you to stab the bastard when he strikes again. I can't take him out with the boomerang alone." Vaati crouched, getting ready to jump out of the way as the injured head swayed from side-to-side while finding an opening for attack. Link made a dash towards the mage when he saw the injured head howl a cry to signal an attack. Before he could reach Vaati, however, a sharp pain jolted through his leg. At the same time, Link felt himself raised several feet into the air as the second head reared back with Link caught between its teeth. He could see the dangerous view of the septic water directly below him.
Vaati cursed. He flung the boomerang towards the head with Link's leg and swerved away just as the injured head snapped past him with a growl. As the vortex disoriented the second head, it let go of Link who found himself falling towards the toxic water. Vaati managed to maneuver the spinning vortex towards Link just in time to have him drop onto safe land with a loud thud.
Vaati scowled at Link who groaned on the ground. "Why weren't you as easy to fight when I had to face you?" he berated. "Don't go easy on them."
Link pushed himself up and limped over to the sorcerer. "I'm trying, but it doesn't help that we're separated from them by a toxic pool."
The injured head moved in for another strike, this time towards Link who it saw was the easier target since he was hurt. Ignoring the pain from his leg, Link brought up his shield. The monster plant closed its jaws onto the shield, allowing Link to have a good look on its pointy teeth. Before the giant Baba plant could snap his shield in half, Link brought up his sword and plunged it through its head.
"Gggroaaaaaar!"
The head writhed and jerked as it slipped back into the pool.
Link breathed a sigh of relief. "Only one more to go."
Vaati tensed as he eyed the remaining head. It appeared to have lost interest in the two of them, which struck him as odd. Just a few minutes ago it had attacked them with savage determination. Vaati noticed bubbles appearing on the surface of the still waters and figured the answer to the monster's queer behavior was going to come pretty soon. Link noticed them as well with a look of dread.
"Let me guess: the head that we supposedly killed is going to come back again."
On cue, the first head came roaring back out of the water as healthy as ever.
"See? I knew it."
Vaati was more uncertain. "I don't think it's that simple," he kept his red gaze between the two heads. There had to be a source of the poisonous liquid, and it made the most sense to conclude that the source could be found at the deepest part of the pool. The feather that he had dropped earlier by the edge of the pool had completely disappeared, swallowed by the water. This suggested that the pool was growing, and he wouldn't be surprised if something else lurked within the toxin.
Sure enough, the pool bulged upwards before it suddenly exploded, revealing a colossal monster with a three-jawed head dribbling with saliva, a bloodshot yellow eye protruding from its mouth's center. It was larger, bulkier, and more menacing than its other two heads.
Link grimaced. "… I guess it didn't like what I did to its friend."
"GGggrRRrrRRaaaAAARRR!"
Link and Vaati backed up against the wall as far as they could be from the Diababa.
"So we're up against two monster plants that can regenerate when we try to kill them, and one bigger monster plant that makes the other two look like daisies." Vaati watched the enormous center plant snap frustratingly at them, unable to reach them where they were. "At least we know we're safe where we are. We have plenty of time to brainstorm."
Link began to frown when the Diababa raised its head like it was getting ready for an attack. "I'm not too sure about that!" He yelled when it began to spout a rancid purple gas. Link and Vaati ran to the other side of the room to stay as far away from it as they could, but just as they began to make a run for it one of the smaller heads found an opportunity to cut them off. It aimed for the limping Link who had inadvertently wandered into its range of reach.
Vaati looked over his shoulder and saw that Link was in trouble. "Damn it!" Whirling around, he shot out his arm and managed to grab Link's arm in time. Link stumbled forward as Vaati pulled him away, and he felt the air rush behind him. "I hope you know how much it pains me every time I save you, Link," the sorcerer said sourly. He then sneezed. The gas from the Diababa made his nose burn and hands tingle: the gas was poison.
"We have to finish this fast or we're dead," Link nodded over to the Diababa that continued to exhale its toxic gas. One of the smaller heads, meanwhile, was partly submerged, spitting out more of the liquid ooze that surrounded the monsters. It was attempting to decrease the area of safe land.
"What is it doing?" Vaati pointed at the other smaller head that had gone after Link. It was looking straight up at the ceiling and swaying from side to side. Vaati looked up as well and he felt a chill run down his back. "Oh hell no."
The plant smashed against the wall, causing several red and black baba plants to drop to the ground. A few that fell into the toxic pool writhed and disintegrated, showing Link and Vaati what would happen if they took a swim. The others flopped around for a few seconds before they reoriented themselves and slithered towards the two Hylians like serpents.
Vaati reflexively threw his boomerang towards the incoming group of Baba Serpents, also managing to hit the giant head that had decided to take another shot at chomping down on its prey.
The gust sent the giant head flying backwards, and Link and Vaati were both surprised when it blew up with a bang. The Diababa stopped spewing poison and growled when the smaller head wilted and slumped into the pool.
"What did you do?" Link exclaimed as he fended off the Baba Serpents with his sword. A light bulb appeared to go off in Vaati's head.
"Bomblings!"
"You mean one of your so-called 'Rupee Beetles?'" Link shot.
Vaati aimed his boomerang towards another small, green beetle that was scuttling along the wall. "Let's try something…"
The Gale Boomerang whooshed towards its target, and it swirled the bombling into its vortex. Then, it curved towards the remaining smaller head that snarled up to meet it.
Kaboom!
"It works!" Vaati snatched the boomerang that returned to him without a scratch. Now the Diababa was the only one remaining. Vaati stuck out a demanding hand to Link. "Quick, I need bombs."
"What?" Link looked at him like he was crazy. "Don't you remember what I thought about giving you bombs?"
"If I wanted you to die now I would've already fed you to that thing," Vaati snapped. "Now hand them over before I decide to turn you into explosive bait. The other two won't stay dead for long."
Link watched uneasily as Vaati placed a bomb on the boomerang and lit its fuse. "This looks reckless."
Vaati took aim at the Diababa. "I prefer 'self-assured.'"
He hurled the boomerang towards the monster as the Diababa prepared to attack. It struck the monster at the base of its neck, sending it reeling from the explosion. Howling in pain, it toppled onto the land with a loud "Whump."
"Go! Finish it off!" Vaati pushed Link over to the monster. Link raised his sword above his head and brought it down onto the beast's eye. The Diababa gave an earsplitting wail, writhing to free itself from the blade that had its eye pinned. It finally crumbled off, and the eyeless monster raised its head with a screech. Link and Vaati backed away as the Diababa began to shrivel up.
Once they were sure it was dead, they made a mad dash back to the door. Wheezing, Link fell to the ground, shaking as he gripped his leg that had been bitten: he'd been ignoring the pain but now it was too much. Vaati hacked away at the vines that had grown over the door and tried to pull it open.
"Come on, you stupid door…" he coughed. The door opened, letting in a welcoming fresh air. They desperately needed clean air to escape the poison gas that the monster had belched out. Now that adrenaline was leaving his system, Vaati was becoming acutely aware of the throbbing pain in his head and the numbness of his legs – he hoped they hadn't breathed in too much of the miasma. He stumbled out the door, and then remembered that he had one more person he needed to account for. Frowning momentarily, he growled and went back inside the chamber for Link. Link was curled over, nearly squeezing the life out of his injured leg. Vaati unceremoniously dragged him across the ground and heaved him outside, and the two collapsed in exhaustion.
"Note to self: enlist poisonous creatures for hero extermination," Vaati muttered, gasping for breath.
"Note to self: bring face mask and lots of antidotes when up against Vaati."
Link groaned when the burning sensation along his leg increased. "I think I'm poisoned."
"If you can still talk you're fine," Vaati snapped, trying not to sound concerned. His face betrayed him with a hint of worry, however. "You better not die on me – I need you to get rid of Ganondorf. Otherwise I'd kill you myself."
Link squeezed his eyes shut. "It's hot. I can't… I can't think straight. I need to get ba-Bark bark! Whine!"
Vaati's head swung around. The last few phrases out of Link's mouth were definitely not in Hylian. He found out why when he saw the large, furry mug of a wolf instead of the familiar hated face of Link he had become tired of seeing. Just like Link's tunic, the large, heavyset wolf was forest green in color and had bright blue eyes. Link's shield and sword were strapped to its back.
The wolf stood up, confused, when the pain it had been suffering earlier had gone. It became even more confused when it noticed it couldn't stand up on two legs. The wolf gave a little yelp when it saw paws where there should've been hands.
"Ggggrrrufff!" (I'm a wolf!) It turned to Vaati as though it were asking him for an explanation.
Not knowing how else to react to this unexpected and strange event, Vaati decided on his default, sneering grin. "Well, this is certainly unexpected. I hope you make a good pet, boy."
"Snarl." (Watch it, mage.) The fur along the wolf's back stood up as it angrily growled at the mage. Teeth bared, it would have made any normal person run away fearfully. Vaati, however, was used to dealing with things with big, pointy teeth. He glared back with his voice firm.
"Bad boy! Stand down! SIT!"
Link involuntarily sat down at the command.
Vaati blinked. Wow, that actually worked. He grinned as a thousand possibilities occurred to him. "Growling at your master. I'll need to teach you a lesson if you do that again."
Wolf Link tilted his head, puzzled, and then recommenced snarling when he realized what he had been made to do.
"GRRRR."
Vaati stooped to pick up a branch and waved it in front of Link. "Here, idiot, fetch!"
"Arf arf!" Link bounded towards the stick, wagging his tail. He stopped abruptly and flattened his ears when he heard the mage roaring with laughter. Link never felt so humiliated.
"Good boy! I'll give you a biscuit when we get back," Vaati snickered. He brushed himself off. "That monkey better tell us where that sword is." He glanced over his shoulder at the wolf who was staring at its paws glumly, its tail between its legs. Link occasionally rubbed his wolfy snout, still in disbelief at what had happened. He looked so pitiful. "You know, I think I prefer you this way," Vaati chuckled nastily.
The wolf bared its teeth angrily. "Ggrrrruff ruff! Snarl."
"Oh knock it off or I'll make you go fetch again. AHAHAHAHA!"
XXXXXXXXXXX
Argorok sniffed. Then, it suddenly swung around towards Faron Woods with a determined roar. Just moments before he had sensed the great collection of Force of Diababa disappear from existence. There was only one person the great dragon could think of who could do such a thing to the monstrous plant of the Forest Temple.
Argorok flapped his wings more forcefully, gaining speed as he hurtled towards the Faron district where Diababa's presence had disappeared. The dragon breathed fire to let the rising hot air bring him upwards, allowing him dive back down and have gravity increase his speed. Before long, Argorok was in Ordona Province: it would only be a few minutes for him to enter Faron Province.
"Pesssst, you won't esssscape me."
fleets: Here comes Argy. The next couple of chapters will be different from the original ;)
Oh, and I gave Diababa some new abilities it didn't have in the game to make it a less feasy boss - hope you didn't mind.
i-wish-799: That also reflected my laziness haha - I didn't want to go through the entire dungeon XD
Sapphiet: Anything to make Link's life miserable, Vaati will do. Boss fight! And uh oh, another big one is headed their way now :3
darkdigidestined: No prob :)
SubZeroChimera: That's a really good idea, actually. (glances at Vaati)
Vaati: ...you wouldn't dare.
Lord Siravant: Yeah, this is a long one. Well, BC was REALLY long too - it might not have felt that way since it was split into two parts though. Well we already have enough good characters, don't we? XD
P.K. fire03: Hi there, and welcome to ! When I have free time (might be a while though since I'm pretty filled up with projects and life and things...)
RevTheMoronOfTime: Thanks Rev! I'm glad you like what I write :D
Answer to your guess - We shall see ;)
i have no name: Haha, well he wasn't really a good person in the games XD
msfcatlover: Oh gosh... I never considered it could be taken that way... (shakes head violently too)
The arachnophobia thing was something I needed to include in there because it's mentioned in a significant way for the Temple of Time segment. :)
Temyx Mew Mew Haerts: Oh the drunks. Seems like several people are waiting for that chapter (me too, that was fun). XD
Hmhm, they were in that big open area with tons of spinning bridges in the Forest Temple. I think on the map you can get there by going straight, then left, then straight again (though it might be reversed depending on if it's the wii version or the cube version).
LilyMoonstone: No-one is fearless, and that includes the wielder of the Triforce of Courage. lol. XD
Hmm, maybe just a tiny bit. A teeny tiny bit.
Vaati the wind mage1: Serves Vaati right for being a jerk though hehehe. He sometimes need a little reality check :)
henslight: Haha - the case of Vaati torture is spreading XD
Astral S. Kepeire: The last chapter had almost no changes regarding the plot and chapter flow - I couldn't think of anything new to add. Rah, I read that again and you're right: the skulltula part is like the exact same as the original (i.e. little-to no editing). Whoopsies, I definitely rushed that D:
Link -could-, but he would rather not because it would mean he had let a potentially dangerous man on the loose. Vaati's still a criminal, and if Link lets him go and he goes back to his own time, then there's nothing to stop Vaati if he (maybe miraculously) manages to break free from his curse and start causing havoc in the future.
Finally the next chapter is the new chapter! Argorok, I order thee to go kick some butt! :D