A/N: Chapters seven and eight are now here for your enjoyment. At least, I
hope you'll enjoy it. I guess I'll never know unless you leave a review. .
. *hint hint* These two chapters are a tad longer than the others, it looks
like.
Chapter 7
With only two remaining, I had a better feeling about the outcome of this battle.
"Let's do this," I said to Navi.
"You focus on the first one while I distract the second one," Navi whispered.
"Uh-huh,"
Navi started glowing bright red again, flying over the second stalfos' head, annoying, distracting, and temporarily blinding all at once. He started blindly waving his sword around, trying to rid himself of the blinding light bulb with wings.
I focused on the other skeletal warrior. He slashed. I slashed back. I could see that he was pretty beaten up. One well-aimed hit was all it would take. I was about to deliver that final hit, when suddenly:
"Aaaaah!"
The other stalfos had hit Navi with his sword!
"Navi!" I yelled, turning around. Was she all right? No way to be sure. I turned to face my enemy again, but too late! He put up his shield and shoved me down in to the dirt. He raised his sword.
"I'm gonna love doing this," he muttered. The other one walked over. If I tried to roll away, I wouldn't make it two feet. I was tired anyway. Worn out from the past hour of solid fighting. Navi was hurt, and possibly . . . I didn't want to think about that. The stalfos raised his sword and-
"Phhht!"
His blade stopped in the air about an inch from my face.
I didn't wait for a second chance. I rolled out from underneath the frozen sword and past the other puzzled stalfos. I was almost as puzzled as he looked. What had happened? Suddenly, I realized. I looked down to see the deku scrub.
"Serves you right," the deku said smugly, staring at the paralyzed stalfos. Then the blade came all the way down, hitting the dirt.
I gulped. That had almost been my face.
"Phht!" the scrub shot some more deku nuts. "Phht!" Both Stalfos were frozen on the spot! Knowing that this was only a very temporary arrangement, I took advantage of the opportunity to deliver the final blow.
The last stalfos unfroze, still ready to fight. He looked around. He was all alone, and he knew it. It was him and me now. One undead skeleton against one tired, bleeding, and very ticked off Hylian. I was not going to lose this fight.
***
It was all over very quickly. I had slashed him in about five different places in the time it took him to get in one swipe. He evaporated, leaving behind a single magic container. I snatched it up. But . . .
"Navi?" I called. I turned to the deku scrub. "Where's Navi?"
"I'll help you look," it offered. We looked around.
"There!" it pointed over at a small clump of grass, and I ran over.
"Navi?" I asked, picking her up. "You all right?"
"Ugh," she groaned, taking to the air. "I think so. What happened? Did we get 'em?"
"This little deku scrub saved my sorry butt," I admitted.
"Aww, I didn't do that much," it said shyly. "My name's Milo. What's yours?"
"It's Link," I answered, suddenly sitting down. Now that the adrenaline had worn off, all the pain came back in a rush. I had to lie down.
"Link!" Navi cried, rushing over. "Are you ok?"
"I'm . . . fine," I gasped. I needed a red potion. The damage wasn't fatal, but the pain was almost unbearable. If I didn't get one fast, I was afraid I'd pass out.
"Here," Milo offered, holding out a red potion. "Drink this."
I gulped it down as fast as I could. I pain ebbed, and I sat back up.
"Whew," I panted. "Where... Where did you get that?"
He grinned in deku fashion, with his eyes only. It's sort of hard to imagine, but you'd know it if you saw it.
"I'm a business scrub. You'd be surprised what a business scrub carries around."
I looked him over. "You don't look like a business scrub," I said.
"Well," he admitted. "I guess I'm not *technically* a real business scrub, but I do collect lots of useful stuff. I try to sell whenever I can."
"Oh," I said, standing up. "Well, thanks."
I turned to leave, and Navi followed.
"Wait!" I turned around. Milo gazed up at me admiringly. "Thanks for what you did. Saving my life."
"I didn't do what I did because I especially like Deku Scrubs, all right?" This was only partially true. I don't like seeing the innocent get hurt, but I do have a bit of an attachment for deku scrubs, which I gained back in Termina (forgive me if I have the name wrong, k? It's been I while since I've played).
"Then... Why did you do it?"
I wasn't totally sure how to answer this question in words, so I decided to illustrate. I took out my Deku mask. The mask, showing a deku's face, was covered in a thin coat of dust. The color had faded with age, seven years to be exact. This mask held many memories. Memories of places and people I wasn't sure that I would ever see again. Tatl and Tael, two fairy siblings. The Skull Kid, a misunderstood forest child. The Bombers gang, mayor Dotour, Madame Aroma, the postman, Lulu, Romani and Cremia. So many others, now whom I could only visit in my memories.
"Wow," Milo marveled. "That's a really realistic mask! Where'd you get it? But . . . What does this have to do with you saving me?"
"Well, for one thing," I began. "I don't want to see innocent people... Or deku scrubs, killed. That is, assuming that you are innocent. Why were those thugs after you?"
"I, um, sold them some bombs."
"Why is this a bad thing?"
"They blew up almost as soon as they were lit. I knew they were too cheap to be true when I bought them! Then I gave them some free bombs to make up for the mistake. These ones were worse. They blew up in their ugly faces. I wasn't my fault, really! They were from a faulty dealer."
"Ah," I said. "Now watch." I proceeded to put the mask on. Nothing happened.
"Is something supposed . . . to . . ." Milo started, trailing off suddenly. For at that moment, the mask began to shine. Everything exploded with light as this brightness covered me, preventing anyone from seeing me for the moment.
I couldn't see anything myself, but I could feel. I could feel my body changing, my inside re-arranging itself. My organs changing position, some shrinking, some disappearing all together. I could feel my mouth melting away and my nose elongating, being replaced by a long, hollow nose- slash-mouth designed to spit deku nuts. The pain was intense. I couldn't stop my self from letting out a scream, but the pain stopped as suddenly as it came. All of this in a total of about thirty seconds. The light slowly dimmed, the transformation complete.
It had worked. The mask still contained its magic, even outside of Termina. I looked at my hands.
I was a deku scrub.
Chapter 8
"Whoa!" shouted Milo. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! You're, you're a..."
"A deku scrub," I finished for him. I was still somewhat surprised myself. I wasn't really sure that it would work if I wasn't in Termina. For another thing, I wasn't just a child deku anymore. I was subtly different. A little bigger, more shaped, and yet still the same deku as I used to be whenever I put on the mask, seven years ago. My voice was just a pitch lower, not quite as squeaky. Older, that was it. I had aged, and so had the spirit of the deku, inside the mask.
"Great Farore!" Navi exclaimed. "Link, you never told me you could do that!"
"Just a little uh, souvenir from Termina," I tried to explain. "When I first came to Termina, the Skull Kid trapped me in this form, only younger. I was able to get out of this form with the help of the happy mask salesman, he turned the curse into a mask, so I wouldn't be trapped permanently. Now I can become I deku scrub whenever I need too, and um..." I stopped. Navi and Milo stared at me with blank faces.
"And Termina is . . ." Navi inquired.
"Another land. You didn't think Hyrule was the whole world, did you? I had to save Termina in three days, with Tatl's help, because the moon was going to fall. But I could repeat those days over and over using the song of time. I needed this mask, along with two others like it to help me..." I gave up. What was the use? It was clear that Milo didn't understand, and Navi seemed more than a little skeptical.
"My life seemed so simple before this moment," Milo said. "But whoa. I mean WHOA. You put on this, mask, and poof! You turned into a deku scrub!"
"That about sums it up," I confirmed. "I feel so . . . short."
"Well," Milo looked my deku body over. "Now I don't feel quite so out of place. I figured a deku in the Forest Temple looks somewhat suspicious.
"Good point. I'd better take this off."
"Aww," Milo whined as I took off the mask.
The brightness once again enveloped me as I shifted back to my normal form. It happens more quickly when I take the mask off, maybe about ten seconds. Not to mention, it doesn't hurt when taking the mask back off.
"Well," I said to Navi. "We'd better get going." I started walking towards the well at the other side of the courtyard. Navi and Milo followed.
"Oh, no you don't," I stopped him. "Where do you think you are going?"
"With you." He answered.
"Uh, I don't think so." Navi intervened. "Whatever gave you that idea?"
"Link saved my life," he said flatly. "I'm staying with you guys until I can repay you somehow."
"You already did," I pointed out. "With the stalfos."
"Pleeeease?"
"Oh, all right," I sighed. "As long as you're no trouble. Got that?"
"Oh, absolutely!" Milo squeaked happily. "I won't be any trouble at all!"
"You'd better not be," I told him. "Because the real fight may be still yet to come."
***
We trekked on through one of the two courtyards to the next room. Here there was a staircase leading downwards. I remembered this. I went halfway down the stairs, then looked behind me. Sure enough, there was the empty frame. But there was no Poe sister attempting to hide in it. I walked all the way down the stairs, checking the walls. There were three frames, like I remembered. But no poes. The stairway lead to a dead end at the bottom, the doorway barred off. So back up I went, re-checking the empty frames on my way up. Nothing.
I walked back through the courtyard. The same courtyard where I had been fighting for my life only about half an hour earlier. I considered jumping down the well, but it was full and I was not in the mood to get wet. I wasn't in the mood for much anymore now. I was getting tired, and Navi, well. Let's just say she wasn't helping.
"Hey!" she cried suddenly, nearly scaring me out of my skin.
"What?" I yelped shakily.
"Did you notice that? There's something over there!"
"It's just a bush," I said, annoyed.
"Wait a just minute," Milo said, concentrating. Sure enough, it rustled ever so slightly. Stupid of me. I should have noticed that. I was getting too tired to pay attention.
"Hey! Whoever you are, show yourself," I ordered. "Now!"
The bush stopped rustling.
"Milo?" I asked
"You got it, Link." He answered. "Ph-ph-ph-pht!" and three deku nuts went barreling in the direction of the bush. Three blinding flashes followed, forcing me to cover my eyes. I then hurried over to the bush. I checked behind it, finding myself staring at a temporarily frozen creature.
"A wolfos?" Milo asked as it unfroze. "But I thought they were usually brown?"
"This is a white wolfos." Navi said.
"No duh,"
"No, I meant that's what they are called."
The white wolfos made no attempt to hide or run for cover. It merely looked us over as I kept a close eye on it.
"White wolfos usually live in cold climates," Navi explained.
"So what is one doing here?" I asked.
"Um, I think they are actually just wolfos with a camouflage adaptation for the snowy terrain. They're a bit stronger than the average wolfos." She continued. "If they ever move to a warmer place, their fur undergoes a gradual change from white to brown so that they stay camouflaged. So maybe this one just came here recently, and hasn't been here long enough to change colors yet"
The wolfos suddenly made a dash for another bush.
"Wait a minute," I said as I moved to block its path.
It growled and leapt at me. I moved to the side slightly so as not to be barreled over by it. It went sailing past me, so I jumped again, this time towards it. We ended up in a tangled heap as I struggled to gain control. I grabbed at its front paws, making it fall over. Then I grabbed its back paws too, rendering it helpless.
"Well," I muttered. "Now what?"
"Maybe we ought to, you know," Navi suggested. "Get rid of it?"
"But why didn't it attack?" I countered. "It only ran away."
I kept my eyes on the wolfos, never looking away. We stared at each other for a long time. I blinked.
"You lose."
"What?" Navi, Milo and I all jumped at least a foot. Well, at least Milo and I did.
"Did. Did that wolfos just.?" Milo stammered.
"Yeah, I did." It answered as the three of us just stared gaping. "You blinked. You lost the staring contest. Hey, come on, stop staring at me like that. What's wrong with you?"
"Okay," I answered, suddenly defensive. "Who are you, and why can you."
"Speak?"
"That would just about sum it up," Navi answered.
"I would consider it if you would be so kind as to let go of me." I released its legs.
"You make one move, and I'll sick this here deku scrub on you,"
"Oh, well then." It rolled its eyes, something I had never seen a wolfos do. "Guess I better watch myself."
Milo glared at him.
Chapter 7
With only two remaining, I had a better feeling about the outcome of this battle.
"Let's do this," I said to Navi.
"You focus on the first one while I distract the second one," Navi whispered.
"Uh-huh,"
Navi started glowing bright red again, flying over the second stalfos' head, annoying, distracting, and temporarily blinding all at once. He started blindly waving his sword around, trying to rid himself of the blinding light bulb with wings.
I focused on the other skeletal warrior. He slashed. I slashed back. I could see that he was pretty beaten up. One well-aimed hit was all it would take. I was about to deliver that final hit, when suddenly:
"Aaaaah!"
The other stalfos had hit Navi with his sword!
"Navi!" I yelled, turning around. Was she all right? No way to be sure. I turned to face my enemy again, but too late! He put up his shield and shoved me down in to the dirt. He raised his sword.
"I'm gonna love doing this," he muttered. The other one walked over. If I tried to roll away, I wouldn't make it two feet. I was tired anyway. Worn out from the past hour of solid fighting. Navi was hurt, and possibly . . . I didn't want to think about that. The stalfos raised his sword and-
"Phhht!"
His blade stopped in the air about an inch from my face.
I didn't wait for a second chance. I rolled out from underneath the frozen sword and past the other puzzled stalfos. I was almost as puzzled as he looked. What had happened? Suddenly, I realized. I looked down to see the deku scrub.
"Serves you right," the deku said smugly, staring at the paralyzed stalfos. Then the blade came all the way down, hitting the dirt.
I gulped. That had almost been my face.
"Phht!" the scrub shot some more deku nuts. "Phht!" Both Stalfos were frozen on the spot! Knowing that this was only a very temporary arrangement, I took advantage of the opportunity to deliver the final blow.
The last stalfos unfroze, still ready to fight. He looked around. He was all alone, and he knew it. It was him and me now. One undead skeleton against one tired, bleeding, and very ticked off Hylian. I was not going to lose this fight.
***
It was all over very quickly. I had slashed him in about five different places in the time it took him to get in one swipe. He evaporated, leaving behind a single magic container. I snatched it up. But . . .
"Navi?" I called. I turned to the deku scrub. "Where's Navi?"
"I'll help you look," it offered. We looked around.
"There!" it pointed over at a small clump of grass, and I ran over.
"Navi?" I asked, picking her up. "You all right?"
"Ugh," she groaned, taking to the air. "I think so. What happened? Did we get 'em?"
"This little deku scrub saved my sorry butt," I admitted.
"Aww, I didn't do that much," it said shyly. "My name's Milo. What's yours?"
"It's Link," I answered, suddenly sitting down. Now that the adrenaline had worn off, all the pain came back in a rush. I had to lie down.
"Link!" Navi cried, rushing over. "Are you ok?"
"I'm . . . fine," I gasped. I needed a red potion. The damage wasn't fatal, but the pain was almost unbearable. If I didn't get one fast, I was afraid I'd pass out.
"Here," Milo offered, holding out a red potion. "Drink this."
I gulped it down as fast as I could. I pain ebbed, and I sat back up.
"Whew," I panted. "Where... Where did you get that?"
He grinned in deku fashion, with his eyes only. It's sort of hard to imagine, but you'd know it if you saw it.
"I'm a business scrub. You'd be surprised what a business scrub carries around."
I looked him over. "You don't look like a business scrub," I said.
"Well," he admitted. "I guess I'm not *technically* a real business scrub, but I do collect lots of useful stuff. I try to sell whenever I can."
"Oh," I said, standing up. "Well, thanks."
I turned to leave, and Navi followed.
"Wait!" I turned around. Milo gazed up at me admiringly. "Thanks for what you did. Saving my life."
"I didn't do what I did because I especially like Deku Scrubs, all right?" This was only partially true. I don't like seeing the innocent get hurt, but I do have a bit of an attachment for deku scrubs, which I gained back in Termina (forgive me if I have the name wrong, k? It's been I while since I've played).
"Then... Why did you do it?"
I wasn't totally sure how to answer this question in words, so I decided to illustrate. I took out my Deku mask. The mask, showing a deku's face, was covered in a thin coat of dust. The color had faded with age, seven years to be exact. This mask held many memories. Memories of places and people I wasn't sure that I would ever see again. Tatl and Tael, two fairy siblings. The Skull Kid, a misunderstood forest child. The Bombers gang, mayor Dotour, Madame Aroma, the postman, Lulu, Romani and Cremia. So many others, now whom I could only visit in my memories.
"Wow," Milo marveled. "That's a really realistic mask! Where'd you get it? But . . . What does this have to do with you saving me?"
"Well, for one thing," I began. "I don't want to see innocent people... Or deku scrubs, killed. That is, assuming that you are innocent. Why were those thugs after you?"
"I, um, sold them some bombs."
"Why is this a bad thing?"
"They blew up almost as soon as they were lit. I knew they were too cheap to be true when I bought them! Then I gave them some free bombs to make up for the mistake. These ones were worse. They blew up in their ugly faces. I wasn't my fault, really! They were from a faulty dealer."
"Ah," I said. "Now watch." I proceeded to put the mask on. Nothing happened.
"Is something supposed . . . to . . ." Milo started, trailing off suddenly. For at that moment, the mask began to shine. Everything exploded with light as this brightness covered me, preventing anyone from seeing me for the moment.
I couldn't see anything myself, but I could feel. I could feel my body changing, my inside re-arranging itself. My organs changing position, some shrinking, some disappearing all together. I could feel my mouth melting away and my nose elongating, being replaced by a long, hollow nose- slash-mouth designed to spit deku nuts. The pain was intense. I couldn't stop my self from letting out a scream, but the pain stopped as suddenly as it came. All of this in a total of about thirty seconds. The light slowly dimmed, the transformation complete.
It had worked. The mask still contained its magic, even outside of Termina. I looked at my hands.
I was a deku scrub.
Chapter 8
"Whoa!" shouted Milo. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! You're, you're a..."
"A deku scrub," I finished for him. I was still somewhat surprised myself. I wasn't really sure that it would work if I wasn't in Termina. For another thing, I wasn't just a child deku anymore. I was subtly different. A little bigger, more shaped, and yet still the same deku as I used to be whenever I put on the mask, seven years ago. My voice was just a pitch lower, not quite as squeaky. Older, that was it. I had aged, and so had the spirit of the deku, inside the mask.
"Great Farore!" Navi exclaimed. "Link, you never told me you could do that!"
"Just a little uh, souvenir from Termina," I tried to explain. "When I first came to Termina, the Skull Kid trapped me in this form, only younger. I was able to get out of this form with the help of the happy mask salesman, he turned the curse into a mask, so I wouldn't be trapped permanently. Now I can become I deku scrub whenever I need too, and um..." I stopped. Navi and Milo stared at me with blank faces.
"And Termina is . . ." Navi inquired.
"Another land. You didn't think Hyrule was the whole world, did you? I had to save Termina in three days, with Tatl's help, because the moon was going to fall. But I could repeat those days over and over using the song of time. I needed this mask, along with two others like it to help me..." I gave up. What was the use? It was clear that Milo didn't understand, and Navi seemed more than a little skeptical.
"My life seemed so simple before this moment," Milo said. "But whoa. I mean WHOA. You put on this, mask, and poof! You turned into a deku scrub!"
"That about sums it up," I confirmed. "I feel so . . . short."
"Well," Milo looked my deku body over. "Now I don't feel quite so out of place. I figured a deku in the Forest Temple looks somewhat suspicious.
"Good point. I'd better take this off."
"Aww," Milo whined as I took off the mask.
The brightness once again enveloped me as I shifted back to my normal form. It happens more quickly when I take the mask off, maybe about ten seconds. Not to mention, it doesn't hurt when taking the mask back off.
"Well," I said to Navi. "We'd better get going." I started walking towards the well at the other side of the courtyard. Navi and Milo followed.
"Oh, no you don't," I stopped him. "Where do you think you are going?"
"With you." He answered.
"Uh, I don't think so." Navi intervened. "Whatever gave you that idea?"
"Link saved my life," he said flatly. "I'm staying with you guys until I can repay you somehow."
"You already did," I pointed out. "With the stalfos."
"Pleeeease?"
"Oh, all right," I sighed. "As long as you're no trouble. Got that?"
"Oh, absolutely!" Milo squeaked happily. "I won't be any trouble at all!"
"You'd better not be," I told him. "Because the real fight may be still yet to come."
***
We trekked on through one of the two courtyards to the next room. Here there was a staircase leading downwards. I remembered this. I went halfway down the stairs, then looked behind me. Sure enough, there was the empty frame. But there was no Poe sister attempting to hide in it. I walked all the way down the stairs, checking the walls. There were three frames, like I remembered. But no poes. The stairway lead to a dead end at the bottom, the doorway barred off. So back up I went, re-checking the empty frames on my way up. Nothing.
I walked back through the courtyard. The same courtyard where I had been fighting for my life only about half an hour earlier. I considered jumping down the well, but it was full and I was not in the mood to get wet. I wasn't in the mood for much anymore now. I was getting tired, and Navi, well. Let's just say she wasn't helping.
"Hey!" she cried suddenly, nearly scaring me out of my skin.
"What?" I yelped shakily.
"Did you notice that? There's something over there!"
"It's just a bush," I said, annoyed.
"Wait a just minute," Milo said, concentrating. Sure enough, it rustled ever so slightly. Stupid of me. I should have noticed that. I was getting too tired to pay attention.
"Hey! Whoever you are, show yourself," I ordered. "Now!"
The bush stopped rustling.
"Milo?" I asked
"You got it, Link." He answered. "Ph-ph-ph-pht!" and three deku nuts went barreling in the direction of the bush. Three blinding flashes followed, forcing me to cover my eyes. I then hurried over to the bush. I checked behind it, finding myself staring at a temporarily frozen creature.
"A wolfos?" Milo asked as it unfroze. "But I thought they were usually brown?"
"This is a white wolfos." Navi said.
"No duh,"
"No, I meant that's what they are called."
The white wolfos made no attempt to hide or run for cover. It merely looked us over as I kept a close eye on it.
"White wolfos usually live in cold climates," Navi explained.
"So what is one doing here?" I asked.
"Um, I think they are actually just wolfos with a camouflage adaptation for the snowy terrain. They're a bit stronger than the average wolfos." She continued. "If they ever move to a warmer place, their fur undergoes a gradual change from white to brown so that they stay camouflaged. So maybe this one just came here recently, and hasn't been here long enough to change colors yet"
The wolfos suddenly made a dash for another bush.
"Wait a minute," I said as I moved to block its path.
It growled and leapt at me. I moved to the side slightly so as not to be barreled over by it. It went sailing past me, so I jumped again, this time towards it. We ended up in a tangled heap as I struggled to gain control. I grabbed at its front paws, making it fall over. Then I grabbed its back paws too, rendering it helpless.
"Well," I muttered. "Now what?"
"Maybe we ought to, you know," Navi suggested. "Get rid of it?"
"But why didn't it attack?" I countered. "It only ran away."
I kept my eyes on the wolfos, never looking away. We stared at each other for a long time. I blinked.
"You lose."
"What?" Navi, Milo and I all jumped at least a foot. Well, at least Milo and I did.
"Did. Did that wolfos just.?" Milo stammered.
"Yeah, I did." It answered as the three of us just stared gaping. "You blinked. You lost the staring contest. Hey, come on, stop staring at me like that. What's wrong with you?"
"Okay," I answered, suddenly defensive. "Who are you, and why can you."
"Speak?"
"That would just about sum it up," Navi answered.
"I would consider it if you would be so kind as to let go of me." I released its legs.
"You make one move, and I'll sick this here deku scrub on you,"
"Oh, well then." It rolled its eyes, something I had never seen a wolfos do. "Guess I better watch myself."
Milo glared at him.
