"Hello? Is anyone in here?"

The only reply was a rotten piece of wood falling from above. Mari tried again.

"We are here to help, we were sent by Mayor Briggi."

Since Link had murdered about four hundred peahats, everyone came to a consensus that it was safe to call out now. They had been wandering through the now lifeless stump for an hour and a half, and they still could not find either the mayor's son, or the piece of the great fairy harp. A stench filled the air, likely due to all the dead monsters, but it seemed to grow stronger every second.

"Ugh, I'm not sure my nose can take much more of this. Have we not searched the entire hollow? Where could he be?"

"Is he still alive? Can you feel his spirit?"

"Yes, but this smell isn't making it any easier to focus, I'm not sure where it is emanating from."

"Are you sure it's him? Could it not be something else in here?"

"I am certain it is him, his spirit is young and afraid."

"Well, I can see why he would be, after that whole ruckus we stirred up... along with this stench."

Link tried to pull his hat over his ears. They had been having the same conversation for an entire hour. While he did enjoy some friendly company, he missed the quiet that came from adventuring alone. Quite frankly, he wouldn't have found the dugout had Saria not been there, and he did quite enjoy his friend's presence, but her and the fairy's bickering was getting on his nerves.

"I am going to lose my mind if this smell gets any worse, I wish we could let in some fresh air right about now, that would be great."

"Tell me about it, fairies aren't made for these kind of stenches."

"Well, what kind of stenches are they made for?"

"Wha? We aren't made for stenches! If anything, we are made for pretty smells, like flowers."

"Mmm, and I was made to smell fresh grass, and other woodland scents."

"Where is the mayor's son anyway? You would think we would have found him by now."

"I know! It's got to be this smell, its making us lose our sense of direction!"

"I can hardly fly straight from it, I wish a breeze would blow in here and take the smell away."

"Yeah, then maybe we could find the mayor's son!"

Smells, the mayor's son, stenches, the mayor's son. Link was beginning to lose his mind. He shrieked to the heavens as loud as he could, his scream echoing throughout the whole stump. Saria and Mari looked at Link for a second, and then resumed conversing.

"What's with him?"

"I think the smell is getting to him."

"Perhaps, or maybe he's just agitated that we haven't found the mayor's son yet?"

Link screamed again, this time, the two stared as though he had actually lost his mind.

"Link? What has gotten into you? We'll find him eventually!"

"Yeah, and then we'll be free from this awful stench!"

Link started to yell again, but then, the whole entire stump seemed to rumble.

"What was that?"

If Mari said 'the smell' Link would have had mental episode then and there. The tree rumbled again, more violently than the last time.

"Whatever it is, it can't be good."

The dead tree shook once more, but this time, it didn't stop. Rotten debris began to rain down from the roof. A massive pile of dead wood shifted, then began to topple. From it, a new, incredibly huge bulb shape emerged. It rose from the ground, and beneath it, jagged leaves the size of trees themselves spun at an inconceivable speed. The Peahat Queen did not take being disturbed from her slumber lightly. There is no wake up call like Link's screams.

"Look at thing! It's like a flying forest! It's probably not too happy we killed all its children..."

"How are we supposed to take care of that?! It's so big, it could probably cut straight through stone! No way either of you get close enough to hurt it!"

Link smirked and brandished his bow. Nobody said they had to get close to it.

"Oh, good thinking Link! I'm not sure this one will go down with one hit though. We'll probably need more than just a few arrows to kill it."

Link drew and released an arrow, it flew high, but before it could hit the Queen's body, it was shredded by her blades. There wasn't a good shot from down on the ground.

"You'll never hit her through those, we need a better vantage point!"

"I've got an idea, give me the bow!"

Link hesitated and looked between Saria and the bow for a moment. He couldn't remember her using a bow in all the time he knew her. She had fired a slingshot before, and she was pretty good with it. Well, what did he have to lose? It wasn't his bow anyway. He removed the quiver and handed her it and the bow. They only had five arrows left, she had better make them count.

"Thanks! Be ready to attack on my signal."

Saria ran off and started scaling the inner wall of the tree trunk again. Mari raced off after her to make sure she didn't try something rash.

"Hang on Saria, have you ever fired one of these before?"

"No, but I've fired a slingshot plenty of times, and they're pretty similar, right?"

"Not really..."

Saria continued climbing higher and higher, until she was above the blades of the Peahat Queen. She started to wrap her right arm around a vine to brace herself, but remembering her shoulder wound, she used her left instead, and carefully turned around. Now that she had her back to the wall, she drew the bow with her right hand, and winced a bit from her lesion rubbing against the wall. She reached for an arrow, but dropped it, and it fell into the angry spinning leaves of the beast before her.

"Whoops! Well, I can work with four..."

She grabbed another arrow and put it in the string of the bow. She pulled it back with her left arm around the vine, but when she released, the arrow bobbled through the air before meeting the same fate as the previous arrow.

"This is nothing like a slingshot..."

"Told ya."

Saria ignored the fairy's retort and reloaded the bow. This time, she drew the sting back as far as she could, but when the arrow launched, it overshot her target and flew all the way across the room. The projectile lodged in the opposite wall.

"Woah! This thing has got some power! Okay, I think I got it now..."

Saria closed one eye and aimed at the top of the Peahat Queen's head, where all of its decorative leaves converged. On release, the massive creature let out a horrific cry , and crashed to the ground. Her arrow landed its mark.

"That must be her weak spot! Go now, Link! Attack with all your might!"

Link climbed on one of the Queen's now stationary leaves, and ran down it towards the center. He began to take wild hacks at its now vulnerable body. With each slash and stab, the beast shook and writhed.

"Yahoo! Way to go, Link!"

Suddenly, Link's footing lurched. He stumbled and fought to keep his balance. The leaf he was on had begun to move again! The massive peahat's blades accelerated, and its opponent began to slide off. Before he fell, Link caught the edge of the tree-sized protrusion, and now span around faster than he had ever moved before, as the mighty boss took flight. Saria watched in disbelief and a bit of humor as her friend flew in circles, hearing his scream bounce around the room as he rapidly completed laps around the Peahat Queen.

"Hang on Link, I'll put her on the ground again!"

Saria almost burst into laughter at her choice of words, but she realized now was not the time for laughter. She grabbed her last arrow and drew the string on the bow once more.

"By the power of the goddesses, please hit your target!"

She released, and the arrow spiraled around until it hit her adversary's weak spot once again. Its spinning leaves seized to a halt, and Link went flying across the hollow stump with a scream somehow louder than his previous, and smacked straight into the wall. He rolled down until he reached the flat floor, remaining motionless. Saria began to panic, and called out to him.

"Link! Are you okay?!"

He stirred, and slowly climbed to his feet. 'Oh thank the Great Deku Tree, he's alive!' Saria exclaimed in her thoughts. Link swayed left and right, he was unharmed, but dizzy.

"Gee, that guy can take a lot, can't he?"

"Yeah, I'm glad we've got him on our side! Quick! Get it while it's down! I'm out of arrows!"

Saria put her weight on her left arm and the vine, and spun back around again.
She began her descent as Link climbed back on the monster's appendages. Link whacked at it again, but Saria feared that wouldn't be enough.

"Link! Aim for the top of its head, that's her weak spot!"

Link did not respond, he only acted. He jumped and grabbed onto one of the decorative leaves adorning the Peahat Queen's topside, and scaled it. By the time he reached the top, the creature's incredible blades had begun spinning again, but that did not bother him. He walked to the middle, and stabbed an open fleshy spot with all his strength. A shriek filled the entire dugout. The Queen trembled and lashed, but soon gave in, and died. She rapidly disintegrated, and left Link in a heap on the ground. Amidst her remains, a young boy sat, a boy wearing a Deku Scrub mask.

"Oh thank you! That thing was scary, can you take me back to my daddy?"

Saria finally reached the ground, Mari alongside her.

"Wait just a minute, you are Mayor Briggi's son? I thought you'd be... well..."

"A Deku Scrub?"

"Yeah..."

"I get that a lot, I'm adopted, but my dad loves me with all his heart. He's probably worried sick about me, can we get back to Dekudeku Village?"

"Wait! Where did you get that mask? Someone we know says you might have stolen it from him."

"Well, I kind of did... heheh. I thought my dad would probably like it, so I was going to show him, but then I got whisked off by those things. Who are you?"

Saria stepped up like she loved to, and proclaimed the group's supposed status.

"We are warriors! Hired by your father to find you!"

"Really?"

"Yeah! Although, we're going to have to ask you for that mask, the man who owns it kind of wants it back."

"Aww... alright, here ya go."

The short boy handed Saria the mask, and she handed it to Link for safekeeping.

"Oh yeah, since you guys were warriors and all, I kind of figured you would find this thing interesting. I don't know what it is, but it looks shiny and warrior-y."

The mayor's son removed a green fragmented object from his pocket. At first glance, it looked like junk, but on grabbing it, everyone was blinded by a flash.