Wow, July is almost over... So here's one more chapter!
Enjoy! ;)
Chapter 5: The Deku Tree and the forest children
"Hey, guys?" Link called out to the Mario cast as they were sailing to their next destination.
"Yes, Link?" Yoshi asked.
"When the King mentioned Ganondorf, I noticed that you all had horrified looks on your faces. Why is that?"
"Oh, um…" Peach trailed off, trying to come up with the right words in order to hide everything they know about Ganondorf from their previous journey. "We…read about Ganondorf back at the Forsaken Fortress before you came."
"He's quite a dangerous man, indeed." Toad said. "You better be careful if you even meet him in person, since you never know what he can do."
"How dangerous is he?" Link asked.
"More than you can ever imagine." Luigi shuddered. Link gulped at that.
"Well… I'm quite surprised you guys know all that despite being from a different world!" he exclaimed. But then, something came to him, "Hold on… where exactly did you read about Ganondorf in the fortress?" he questioned with a somewhat suspicious look.
Now the Mario cast looked nervous, even though they weren't showing it in front of Link. How are they going to get out of this?
"We, uh… heard all this from his minions!" Yoshi hazarded a lie, in which the rest of the Mario cast quickly nodded.
"Hmm, that answer seemed too far-fetched. I just know they're lying." Link thought with a hardened look on his face. The Mario cast saw his look and tried hard to not show any sights of nervousness towards him.
"Oh boy, I hope we're getting near to our destination…" Luka thought, having heard the entire conversation.
Determined to make the Mario cast spill the beans of truth, Link attempted to ask them another question, only for the King of Red Lions to cut through by declaring:
"Yes! Do you not see what rises up from the horizon?" the Mario cast was thankful for that interruption as well as Luka, while Link was left a bit frustrated. "That is where you must go, everyone… the Forest Haven."
"*sigh* Fine, I'll make them talk out the truth next time. They're hiding something from me, and I WILL get to the bottom of this." Link thought, feeling defeated. For now, he and the others must focus on their next task.
This time, there were two separate islands. The one on the left takes the form of an enormous dead tree trunk, out of which flows a stream. The one on the right appears to be the same thing, except that there are thorny vines growing around it.
"It may appear as though this is but a great tree rising far above the ocean's surface… But it is a sacred place. It is inside this grotto that you will find the spirit of the earth, the Great Deku Tree." the King of Red Lions explained.
Just by hearing the words 'Great Deku Tree' made the Mario cast's eyes perk up in surprise, remembering back at their previous adventure where they first met said tree. The guardian of the Kokiri Forest had unfortunately died after they and the Hero of Time tried to free him from a curse. Therefore, after the seven-year time skip, a sprout of the Great Deku Tree appeared in his place. If this new world they are in is still the same Hyrule they were before, could this new Great Deku Tree the King of Red Lions mentioned be the sprout all grown up?
Link did not notice the Mario cast's surprised looks since he was too focused on the King of Red Lions' words, but Luka did, as she shot them a snarky smile, knowing exactly what they must be thinking about.
"You must speak with the Deku Tree and receive from him the sacred gem known as Farore's Pearl and the Green Star Piece." the King of Red Lions continued as the group climbed up to the island. "I fear that Ganondorf's vile hand may have already reached this most sacred of sanctuaries. Go forth with caution, everyone."
"We will." Mario nodded firmly before they all moved on, climbing up some ledges… and then a Boko Baba suddenly shot up from its bulb, roaring at the heroes.
"AAH!" they yelped.
"A Deku Baba?!" Luigi exclaimed.
"No, that's a Boko Baba!" Luka corrected as Link quickly slashes the Boko Baba repeatedly until it was defeated, leaving behind a wooden stick and a Boko Baba Seed.
"What's the difference?" Toad queried.
"Well, Deku Babas drop Deku Sticks and Deku Nuts. Meanwhile, Boko Babas drop a regular stick and Boko Baba Seeds, and the latter can be used to make potions." Luka explained as Link picked up the Boko Baba Seed in curiosity.
"So this is a Boko Baba Seed?" Link asked, with Luka nodding.
"Be careful guys, since there are more Boko Babas ahead." she warned.
Luka wasn't kidding, as there were more Boko Babas scattered around the island as the heroes made further progression, being careful not to fall into the water stream. They also had to take care of some River Octoroks as well. Finally, they made it to the top and went inside the dark tunnel.
The grotto, being much bigger on the inside, was a sight to behold; it was surrounded in a mysterious green mist, wooden walls stretched all the way up, fireflies were flying around, and many trees were scattered around the place. But none of that could compare to the tall tree standing at the heart of this place. Due to this tree standing out the most in this area, the Mario cast guessed that it could be the Great Deku Tree.
However, not too long after the heroes entered this place, Red and Green Chuchus suddenly sprouted from the surface of the Deku Tree' face. Feeling threatened, the Deku Tree moaned in distress, catching the attention of the heroes as they quickly climbed up to the plateau where it stood.
"Am I seeing things… or does this tree has a FACE?!" Link questioned.
"It really does, but that's not what matters right now!" Luka replied. "We need to save him!"
After they all nodded in response, Yoshi does a Yoshi Bomb, which was powerful enough to knock down all of the Chuchus stuck to the Deku Tree. With the Chuchus now on ground level, the heroes were able to easily defeat them.
Once all of these jelly monsters were gone, the heroes decided to check on the Deku Tree, so they walked over to a lone lily pad that was standing in front of the guardian and stood on it, as it was big enough to fit all of them. The Deku Tree looked down at them with a smile and began to speak to them… in the exact same unintelligible language that Valoo spoke last time, so once again here's the translation:
"(That green garb you wear… could you be the legendary hero? And all of you with him… perhaps you could be the new destined ones waiting to be awakened? Has the King of Red Lions at long last found the Hero of Time and the Sages?)"
Wait a second… The Sages?! Was he talking about the Six Sages who lend their power to the Hero of Time? How could he possibly believe that Luka and the Mario cast were Sages, if that was even true, which even I highly doubt? But, all of that doesn't seem to really matter since none of our heroes understood a single word of what he was talking about. Link, in particular, was all slackjawed, the Mario cast was just confused, and Luka just looked at the guardian with a look of disapproval with her hands on her hips, as if she was trying to say, "We don't speak that language, you know?"
"(What is the matter? Do you not understand the ancient Hylian tongue?)" the Deku Tree asked, noticing everyone's looks. "(So… you are not the Hero of Time and the Sages.)"
The lily pad then suddenly rose up from the water, revealing a large root underneath it. The heroes were now at the Deku Tree's mouth level.
"I must apologize. I was in error." the Deku Tree apologized, speaking in the language that they now could understand. "Little boy, I saw your clothing and your large company, and suddenly I felt a longing for an age gone by… That longing caused the ancient tongue to pass my lips."
"I wonder what he was talking about…" Link thought, as the Mario cast all had the same thought as well.
"I am the guardian spirit of this Forest Haven – the Deku Tree. I owe you my thanks for your aid in ridding me of those foul creatures… Tell me… Was it not the King of Red Lions – the boat who speaks – who led you to this place?"
"Y-Yeah…" Link nodded, still having to process the fact that a tree is talking. "How is everyone else not fazed by that at all?!" he thought, glancing at Luka and the Mario cast.
"So it is true… Then you have come here because you have need of the pearl of the goddess and the piece of the forest star?" the heroes nodded. "I see… I knew there was a reason the monsters had begun to congregate in the regions around my wood. Now I understand it. He has returned… Ganon, aka Ganondorf, has returned…"
"Um… Is his name Ganondorf or Ganon? Now I'm stumped…" Link thought, his confused mind coming back. "Also, no pun intended."
"In that case, we must make haste. Koroks! Little children of the woods! These travelers are not your enemies. Let your hearts be at ease, and show yourselves!"
With that, small wood creatures with leaf masks on their faces suddenly appeared from within the Deku Tree's brows. They looked at the heroes for a few seconds, before they jumped into the air, arranging themselves into a circle pattern as they began to glide down towards the large lily pad while holding some sort of leaf propellers that were spinning like helicopter blades.
"What do you call yourselves?" the Deku Tree asked.
"I'm Link, and these are my new friends, Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, Toad, and Luka." Link answered.
"Hmm, interesting names…" the Deku Tree mused. "I suppose I was right to be reminded of the Hero of Time, and the other names except for the last one sounded highly familiar…" he thought before shaking it off and resumed, "Well, then, Link, Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, Toad, Luka… These are the Koroks – the spirits of the forest."
At this very point, the Koroks landed on the lily pad and began to stare at the heroes in curiosity, as they were murmuring some words about them in their own language, so the heroes didn't quite catch about what they were saying.
"Once upon a time, long ago, the Koroks took on human forms, but when they came to live on the sea, they took these shapes." the Deku Tree said.
…Took on human forms? Doesn't this sound familiar…?
"Now they fear people…but to me, they will ever be my cherished little children. As it happens, you have come just in time for a ceremony that the Koroks hold but once every year. It is about to begin. I shall grant the pearl and the star piece to you once their ceremony is complete. I must apologize for the brief delay, but if the ceremony is not completed soon, an ill fate could befall us."
"Well, a promise is a promise. We can wait." Peach smiled.
"Many thanks!" the Deku Tree thanked. "Ahem! So, let it begin! Are you ready, my children?"
The Koroks were about to reply with a nod, until…
"W-We are not, O Great Deku Tree! Something terrible has happened! It is Makar! Makar!" suddenly, another Korok came flying by the Deku Tree in a panic.
"What is the matter, Linder? You and Makar are always late…" the Deku Tree reminded.
"N-No! It is not that, O Great Deku Tree! Makar…fell into the Forbidden Woods!"
As soon as Linder said the words 'Forbidden Woods', all of the Koroks on the lily pad gasped in shock and horror, with some of them even screaming.
"WHAT?! THE FORBIDDEN WOODS?" the Deku Tree yelled.
"I told him to be careful! But still Makar flew above the Forbidden Woods, and as he drew close to it…" Linder trailed off.
"Foolish little Makar…" the Deku Tree muttered. "Link, Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, Toad, and Luka, you have heard all this?" they all nodded. "The Forbidden Woods are right beside the hallowed island of our Forest Haven. Those woods… The whole region is a vile place that is home to evil beasts."
"Well, no wonder why is it called the 'Forbidden Woods'…" the heroes thought.
"And now it seems they have taken a child of the forest named Makar… Your presence here is no mistake, I deem. The King of Red Lions likely expects great deeds of you – it is why he brought you here. I am sorry to ask this of you, but can you go rescue young Makar for me?"
"Anything for a forest guardian like you!" Yoshi chirped while nodding, along with everyone else.
"I knew I could also count on you!"
"But, Great Deku Tree!" Linder interfered. "…People cannot fly through the air…"
"Ah, yes… Thank you, child. You are right. It is not possible to enter those woods from the sea, is it… Link, Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, Toad, and Luka, I would guess from your sizes that you are heavier than my Korok children…yet I think we may still be able to solve this dilemma. You must use the items I shall bestow upon you all and fly through the sky!"
With that, the Deku Tree closes his eyes and concentrates, before grunting and roaring, producing seven large magical leaves near his top. Because of that, the heroes couldn't quite see what he just created.
"Hmph! Making seven of these is tougher than it seemed. Forgive me, you all, but could you climb up to my crown and get the leaves from up there?" the Deku Tree requested as the lily pad descends back to ground level.
"Okay… but how?" Link asked.
"We can give you some advice!" one of the Koroks chimed. "Just hop into those Baba Buds! They'll shoot you up high into the air!"
"Make sure to land in another one to keep going higher!" another one added.
"Oh, thanks!" Link thanked.
"You go by yourself, Link." Luka said. "I need to debate something with Mario and his friends. Don't worry; we'll catch up to you soon."
"Well, alright." Link shrugged before hopping into a Baba Bud to start climbing. Luka then walks over to the Mario cast, who was just admiring the scenery until they saw Luka coming to them.
"What is it that you want to talk about to us, Luka?" Peach asked, apparently overhearing the early conversation with her and Link.
"Some very interesting stuff." Luka grinned. "First, you do remember that the Deku Tree said that the Koroks used to be humans, right?"
"We do." Luigi nodded. "Wait, are you telling us that…?!"
"Yep; the Koroks used to be the Kokiri." Luka casually replied.
"WHAT?!" the Mario cast yelled.
"How the heck did they went from humans to… THESE?!" Toad questioned, directing at some Koroks.
"Well, I actually don't really know, but my guess is that the Koroks came from a different family tree. The Kokiri came from the original Deku Tree, the one who you all watched him die, while the Koroks came from this Deku Tree, which is the Deku Tree's sprout. So, in a way, the Koroks aren't just evolved forms of the Kokiri; they're from a different Deku Tree generation." Luka explained.
"Huh, I guess I was right about this Deku Tree being the sprout we met at our previous adventure." Mario recalled.
"You thought that too, bro? I think we all thought that!" Luigi stated.
"Okay, so what else do you want to talk to us about, Luka?" Yoshi asked.
"You know, speaking of weird tribe evolutions, I think I'm just gonna drop this right now." Luka said. "The Rito tribe? They used to be the Zoras."
The Mario cast went silent. How does that make sense?! At least the Koroks with the Kokiri were a bit understandable, but the Zoras were a race of aquatic people, while the Rito are a race of bird-like people. How is it possible for them to shift from fish to bird?
"…I'm not going to even question that this time." Toad deadpanned, breaking the stunned silence.
"You want an explanation for this? Fine. You remember that Ritos gain the ability to fly by receiving a scale from Valoo, right? Well, scales were pretty common upon Zoras too, so I guess they changed forms through a scale change." Luka explained. "Not to mention that swimming and flying are very similar processes, so this change isn't that dramatic if you think about it."
"Well… I guess that makes sense. Sort of…" Mario shrugged. "Let's just roll with it."
"But still, why did the Zoras and the Kokiri receive these tribe changes, anyway?" Peach pondered.
"There's a main reason for this, but I'll only tell you once we finally find the lost kingdom of Hyrule." Luka answered.
"Man, I just hope that once we collect all the things we need, we can finally find that kingdom…" Toad muttered.
"Oh, we will! Soon enough."
"You're not helping…"
"Hey, guys!" Link came up to them, holding the seven Deku Leaves with him. "I just got the leaves!" he hands each of them to the group. "So, what are these called?"
"They're Deku Leaves!" a nearby Korok answered. "They give you the ability to glide through the air! Just jump, and hold the leaf like a parachute. They can also be used while you're on the ground to blast gusts of wind in front of you! Who knows? Maybe these wind gusts could come in handy at some point!" he explained. "But be careful though; these leaves run on magic power, so if you run out of it you won't be able to glide. You can tell that it is almost running out of magic power if the leaf is emitting out lesser mist than before, and if it doesn't emit any mist at all, that means it ran out completely. Magic Jars are the only thing that can refill your magic power, so try cutting grass to find some. Oh, and Boko Buds can also refill magic power if you hop in."
"Wow, that's some good advice! Thanks."
"No problem! Be careful out there! Please find Makar for us!"
"We will. We promise." Peach assured as the Korok waved good-bye to them and walked off.
"So, where do we need to go now?" Luigi asked.
"We need to jump from the Deku Tree's crown, the place where Link was before, and use the leaves to glide to that opening on the wall." Luka pointed. "I'll use my teleportation powers to take us there." she snaps her fingers, and they disappeared in a puff of smoke. They reappeared back at the Deku Tree's crown. "Alright, you ready to jump?"
"Ready!" the rest replied.
They all jumped off and immediately brought out their Deku Leaves, holding them like a parachute, to glide toward the opening Luka pointed earlier. Once they landed, they wasted no time in heading for the opening.
When they came out, they were surprised to see that it was now nighttime. Apparently, they spent quite a long time inside the Forest Haven.
Even so, Link cut some grass in order for him and the others to refill their magic power before gliding towards the small tall trunk-shaped island on the left. There, they refilled their magic power again, and then Link conducted the Wind's Requiem to change the wind's direction, making it blow northwest so that it was now directing to the Forbidden Woods.
Using the wind's direction to guide them, the heroes glided to the Forbidden Woods' entrance, making sure to hitch a ride on the spinning wind vortex to gain altitude since the ledge of the dungeon's entrance was slightly higher than the island they were on, and then a pesky Peahat came over to greet them.
"What is that?!" Link asked.
"A Peahat." Luka replied. "Just stun it with a gust of wind and then strike."
Remembering the Korok's advice, Link brought out his Deku Leaf and waved it in front of him like a giant fan to blow a gust of wind in front of him and it hit the Peahat, causing it to land on the ground before falling victim to Link's sword slash.
"And that's just the beginning of the many dangers we'll face in this dungeon." Luka stated. "But if we were successful in clearing the first one, then I'm sure we can do this one too!"
"Yeah!" the rest exclaimed before they all went into the next dungeon.
To be continued…
I was going to include a little bit of the Forbidden Woods, but the chapter was getting quite long so I scrapped that.
I did my best to come up with a possible theory about how did the Kokiri and the Zoras evolved into the Koroks and the Rito, so I looked up through every single canon Zelda information on the books I have (especially the Hyrule Encyclopedia) and combined all this information into an explanation. Then, I added that into a line for Luka, since she's a Zelda expert.
Hmm... why exactly did the Deku Tree mention about the Sages and why did he refer them to the Mario cast and Luka? This is a question that will only be answered during the Triforce of Courage's quest.
So for now, the Forbidden Woods is next! I have something quite funny planned for this dungeon's boss battle! (If you're a "hardcore" Wind Waker player, you might know what it is!)
Please review!