Green
As the group walked down the path, Red asked, "So we're going to that forest temple place again?"
"Yeah, that monkey said something about the children being taken through there, so it's our best bet," Gray confirmed.
Just then, interrupting their conversation, a deku baba popped out of the grass, snarling, it's large blue head drooling disgusting green slime. Everyone unsheathed their swords, before Gray stepped forward and finished the ugly thing off with one slice through its spine. Green stared.
"I thought you didn't know how to fight," he said. Gray frowned, gazing at his sword.
"I don't. I mean, I know the basics- Rusl taught me- but I've never actually fought anything. It seemed to just come naturally… I don't know why."
"Do you think it's the 'Hero's spirit' that light spirit was talking about?" Vio asked.
"Maybe… At any rate, it's a little unsettling. My body just acted for me, without my mind catching up. Did you guys go through any of that? Faron said that you had it too."
"Uh, no, not really," Blue admitted, "But you see, we're trained and are knights in our time. We're the youngest, and known as some of the best swordsmen in Hyrule. I guess fighting things just comes more natural for us than other people."
"…So, in other words, we're all just super killers of monsters who wear weird hats," Gray sighed and slumped his shoulders, resuming walking, "Great…"
"No, that's not all we are. Don't ever think that," Red protested softly but firmly, resting a hand on Gray's arm, since he couldn't reach his shoulder without it looking awkward, "We are heroes, we help and protect people. There is a lot more to that than just killing, Gray. I know that for a fact. Sometimes it means you have to fight, but other times, all you need to be a hero is to make someone smile. It is so much more than just mindless killing."
"Yeah," Green added, smiling, "And no matter what, we'll be there to help you see that."
"Thanks guys, I needed that," Gray managed a faint smile.
"And the hat isn't weird!" Blue protested. That made them all laugh.
~/_\~
Soon after, the group came by a locked gate leading into the dark tunnel from before.
"Coro locked the gate!" Gray exclaimed, "Let's go get the key from him."
"Okay!" Red agreed, "Coro is that way, right?" he pointed to the right path behind them.
"Yeah, I'm warning you though, he's a little strange…"
The group traveled down the right path until they found Coro sitting beside a fire. Then Green saw something that he didn't catch when he first glimpsed him while he killed the bugs in Coro's house.
"Um, mister? You have a bird's nest on your head…" Green pointed out.
"Hunh? They like my hair. I'm a generous guy, so I let them use it," Coro replied. Then he stared at Gray, "Hey! It's the Ordonian! You seemed familiar, but then your clothes seemed kina different, so I got thrown off for a second! Listen… Things have been a little rough around here lately, so you should watch your step, okay guy?" Coro remained oblivious or ignorant when a bird landed on the nest in his hair, and another one on his shoulder, "There are so many monsters here now… I kinda got scared and closed off the path to the temple."
"Yeah, about that… we need to get over there," Vio said.
"Mmm, you wanna get back there, huh? You guys sure do look geared up for it, so here you go!" Coro reached in his pouch, bringing out a small gray key and handing it to them, "Just leave the key in the grass by the gate. I can pick it up later," then he thought for a moment, "Oh yeah… The woods on the other side are covered in this really thick purple fog. So make sure your lantern is full!" he said cheerfully, putting a large smile on his face, "You're definitely going to need your lantern a lot in there, so bring all the oil you can!" His smile grew bigger, "And check this out! I have a special one-time offer of a bottle full of lantern oil for one hundred rupees! How 'bout it, guys? What a bargain! Say, do you four need lanterns too? I have some for sale as well!"
"Yeah, um, no thanks, we already have lanterns, and oil…" Green replied.
I think that together we have enough lantern oil for now, thanks," Gray added.
"Well, alright then. Hey- make sure you keep using that lantern so you'll come back and buy more oil, okay guys?"
"Um yeah, sure… We should really get going now, so bye!" Blue said, already turning to head away from the eccentric, bird-infested guy that was eager to sell stuff. Everyone else quickly followed, Coro shouting behind them;
"Come back soon! Okay guys?"
"Welllll, that was interesting," Vio noted as Gray unlocked the gate, dropping the key in the grass.
"Well, be glad he didn't force you to buy the oil," Midna's voice huffed as they entered the dark tunnel.
~/_\~
Soon after, the group came out the other side. Green stopped in his tracks, dismayed at what he saw. Coro was right. The forest was silent but for the quiet hissing of the voluminous cloud of poisonous purple fog that shrouded the ground like it had in the twilight. It might have been his imagination, but it looked thicker this time.
"How are we going to cross that? We don't exactly have the same balance and jumping abilities that we did as animals…" Blue stated, holding his lantern higher to better shine through the darkness that also covered this section of woods.
"I don't know… hmm," Vio strode closer to the fog, a calculating look on his face. Green wanted to ask what he was thinking, but he knew that Vio would tell them once he had confirmed it for himself.
All of a sudden, the brown form of a monkey swept by the purple hero, snatching the lantern right out of his hands with a stick.
"HEY! What do you think you're doing?!" Blue yelled.
The monkey stopped by the edge of the fog, raising the stick with Vio's lantern into the air and whirling it in circles. To Green's amazement, the purple mass shrank away from it, leaving a spot of clear ground in its place.
"Look what it's doing! The fog doesn't like the light!" Red pointed out. The monkey finished twirling the stick and turned around on the spot, beckoning to them.
"Hey, it's the same monkey from before! That we found in the twilight. See the rose on its head? Green noted, remembering the monkey they had rescued from the twilight bugs.
"She wants us to follow her, come on!" Vio said, stepping closer to the monkey. The monkey waited until everyone had crowded around her before she hopped forward a few paces and spun the light again. They did this for a while, heading in the general direction of the other side of the woods, but it was taking a long time
"Are we almost through?" Blue asked. He sounded very bored.
"Hey, I have an idea that might make this go faster!" Red piped up, taking something out of his pouch, "Watch out monkey, I don't want you to get hurt."
Red moved to the front of the group, holding the item in front of him. There was a tell-tale click, and flames burst from the end of the fire rod with a loud fwoosh! Red was careful in controlling it, making sure he set nothing on fire. The fog rolled out of its way faster than a river, leaving a clear path all the way to the end of the forest clearing. Unfortunately, the monkey panicked and charged through the now-clear path, Vio's lantern in tow.
"Hey, wait monkey!" Green shouted.
"I'm sorry!" Red cried, "I didn't mean to scare you, really!"
"Follow her!" Gray exclaimed, hurrying to race through the path before the fog rolled back. Green and the others followed close behind, Red looking very upset.
The monkey raced onto safe ground, dropping the lantern in her haste. Then she climbed a tree and was gone. The five stopped, panting hard as they reached the spot devoid of poisonous fog.
"I didn't mean to scare her, really," Red wiped a tear from his eye.
"We know you didn't, Red," Green patted his shoulder, "I'm sure she'll be fine."
Red gave him a watery smile.
"Okay," he agreed. Meanwhile, Vio picked up his lantern and examined it, sighing.
"It's out of oil," he explained, "I'll have to refill it. Give me a second," Green watched as he fished a bottle of lamp oil out of his pouch and filled the lantern again, "There, alright, let's go," Vio said when he was done. The group continued down the path until they reached the clearing that they had fought those shadow beings for the third time.
"Hey, that bridge is still there!" Red pointed out.
"Yeah, I wonder how it got here," Vio pondered, running a hand over it, "There's nothing growing on or through it, so I know it hasn't been here for long. I wonder how it got here, there's no drag marks on the ground to be seen, and if it was built here, then stuff should've been growing on it by now."
"What I'm wondering, is who would even want a bridge to be put here? It's useless where it is." Blue added.
"Well, we aren't going to exactly find out why by standing here, we should hurry up," Green interrupted, even though he was wondering about the bridge too. However, he knew that their current quest was more important.
"Green's right. We aren't going to get anywhere standing here. Maybe on the way we can find someone who knows what to do with the bridge," Gray agreed.
"You hylians are so-o-o slow. First you have to stop and examine a bridge, and then you have to stand there and talk about continuing for about a minute! Just go already! It's not that hard," Midna crossed her arms and rolled her eyes from where she had popped out unnoticed in her shadowy form, floating next to Green. Everyone jumped at the unexpected voice.
"Sorry Midna," Gray apologized, "Let's go, guys…"
~/_\~
After a bit of walking, talking, arguing, and the death of two bokoblins, the group reached a small unmanned shop. Actually, the only living thing in it besides plants was a small blue bird. They must have passed this shop earlier without noticing, because Green didn't really recognize it.
"Hey, who leaves their shops unattended?" he asked.
"Hey, I'm right here, hey!" Green looked around in surprise until he noticed it was the bird that was talking.
"Oh… sorry, you own the shop?" Green was unused to talking to animals. In his time, none could really talk.
"Sure do! Welcome! Hey, buy something! Anything!"
"Thanks, but we don't need anything right now," Blue told the enthusiastic bird, examining the only two wares the bird had for sale. There sat two large cauldrons, one full of something that Green assumed was red potion- a drink that could heal almost any injury in a couple of minutes, and… Lantern oil.
Green already had two bottles of red potion, one with a fairy, and one with oil.
"Thanks for the offer, but we should get going," he agreed, turning to leave the shop.
"Hey! Seeya later! Hey!" the bird called after them as they left.
"Is every shopkeeper so enthusiastic in your time?" Blue asked Gray as they walked.
"Um, I don't know. I haven't really gone anywhere much beyond Ordon Village, so I've only met three," Gray explained, "Coro and that bird count as two, so if you're talking about the Faron Province, then I'd say yes, for the most part."
"That's… nice…" Blue said lamely. Gray tried to hide his smile, but failed drastically.
"What's that?" Vio pointed to a golden silhouette sitting right before the long, winding wooden bridge to the Forest Temple where they had rescued the monkey.
"I don't know… it looks like a wolf,ed" Green said, peering at the thing.
"Wolves don't glow…" Gray mentioned.
"There's a first for everything, right?" Red asked cheerfully, "Maybe it's friendly!"
"Or maybe it wants to eat us," blue added, scowling.
"We won't know until we get there," Vio pointed out.
"Let's go!" Red agreed enthusiastically.
Gray and red ended up taking the lead, approaching the glowing thing that sat in the path. As they got closer, Green saw that it was indeed a wolf with radiant gold and white fur. One eye was scarred shut, and the other, the right one, was completely red, no pupil or white of eye. The whole emanated a serene sort of aura, yet it felt kind of sad, too. It sat straight and tall, unmoving but for its chest rising and falling in steady breathing, and its tail waving patiently back and forth… like it was waiting for something… or someone.
Gray approached it first. When he was about three feet away, the beast stood up and quickly dropped into a battle stance, growling low in its throat. Gray readied his weapons just as the others leapt forward, as well as the wolf. The wolf reached him first, but instead of clawing Gray as Green had expected, the beast fell partway through him and disappeared, enveloping everyone in a blinding cloud of white.