Majora: How It Really Happened
By Galaxy Girl
CHAPTER SIX: TROUBLE IN THE SWAMP
(David's POV)
DAWN OF THE FIRST DAY: 72 HOURS REMAIN
"Ah, the wide open plains of Termina!" Erik said as we surveyed the land around us.
"Lovely view. Too bad we're in too much of a hurry to watch it!" Kelli snapped.
"The guard said that the swamp was straight this way!" I said, pointing to the direct south.
"OK, let's get moving!" Erik replied.
We started running to the south, when suddenly we saw what appeared to be a large blob of green jello with eyes sliming around the ground.
"Ew, what is that?" Kelli shuddered.
"Not sure. It looks like jelly," I commented.
"Y'know, maybe we need a weapon or something," Erik said. "It might be dangerous..."
"Jello? Dangerous? You're joking!" I said.
I walked past the blob, and it jiggled about for a second. Then, it jumped straight up and onto my head.
"AAAAAAAAACK! GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!"
"EW! David, it's eating your head!" Kelli yelped.
"DO SOMETHING!" I cried.
"Me? What can I do?" she yelled.
"Kelli, remember what Link did when he was a scrub? He blew a bubble! Can you do that?" Erik said quickly.
"Well, let's see..."
She made weird spit-like noise, and then a bubble popped out of her snout.
"SWEET!" she said. "This is awesome!"
"Could you aim one up here... BEFORE THE THING EATS MY HEAD?" I screamed.
She did it again, and when the bubble hit the blob, it exploded, (the blob, that is) leaving me soaking wet with green slime.
"EWWWWW!" I yelled.
"What, no thank you?" Kelli whined.
"Fine, thank you. Let's just get going before another one of those things eats my head!"
After what seemed like hours, we finally reached the path that lead to the Southern Swamp.
"Anyone see any signs of Link?" Erik asked.
"Nope. No footprints, I'm close enough to the ground to know that for sure," Kelli reported.
We turned around the corner to find a path lined with large Deku flowers.
"You can tell we're getting close to the swamp. Look at all these flowers!" Erik observed.
"What is that?" I said, pointing to a large red object floating above the path.
"Looks like a balloon," Kelli said.
"Let's pop it. I need to get my anger out," Erik said. He picked up a small pebble from the path and hurled it at the balloon.
It hit the balloon, popping it and revealing a green object on the other side of the balloon. Suddenly, the green thing screamed and fell to the ground.
"It's a man!" I cried.
"Maybe he's seen Link!" Kelli said. "Let's go..."
"FOREST FAIRY GIRL!" yelled the man.
"Oh crap," Kelli sighed.
Within seconds, Tingle had run over to Kelli and given her a great big hug just like before.
"Oh, hi Tingle. So nice to see you," I said.
"Hello Mr. Fairy. Tingle is drawing a map of the area. Do you want to buy a map?"
"Sorry, no money," Erik said.
"Hmm... that's OK! Tingle's father will be angry, but Tingle will give you a map for free!" Tingle beamed.
"WOW! Thanks a lot Tingle!" Kelli said. She was not being sarcastic.
"Now, which one? Do you want the Woodfall Map, or the Snowhead Map?"
"We'll take Woodfall," I said.
"Ah yes! Woodfall! Nice place, that."
Tingle handed Kelli a slip of paper with sketchy lines all over it, and she eyed it.
"Thank you Tingle," Erik said.
"Do you have to go, or do you want to sing with Tingle for a while?"
"Um... we'd better go," Kelli said quickly.
"Oh, OK. Bye-bye Forest Fairy Girl! Tingle, tingle, Koo-loo Limpah!"
Tingle reached into his backpack and inflated another balloon, which sent him back into the air.
Kelli handed me the map as we walked back towards the swamp. "That man has problems..."
"Look at this map! It's terrible!" I whined.
"Well, it'll have to do. It was free after all." Erik pointed out.
We took a right at a fork in the path ahead, and found ourselves in the Southern Swamp. Ahead of us was a huge building on stilts with a boat parked beneath it.
"Where could that kid have gone?" Erik pondered.
"There he is!" Kelli cried, pointing beneath the ladder that led up to the building.
Sure enough, Link stood beneath it, holding a strange looking mask. He put it on, and was surrounded by a blue light.
Then, the blue light faded to reveal a Deku scrub standing in his place!
"So that's why we couldn't find him!" I said.
"Why?" Erik asked.
"He uses that mask to turn from a scrub to a human and back again!" Kelli cut in. "So we need to look for a scrub AND a boy!"
"Crap," Erik said.
The scrub took off down the river, hopping from lily pad to lily pad.
We ran over to where he had started on the pads.
"OK, no problem," Kelli said. She hopped across the water's surface to the first lily pad.
"Huh?" I said. I pointed to a sign next to the shore.
"Warning: Poison Water. Do NOT Enter!" Erik read.
"Uh oh!" Kelli said. "You guys can't fit on a lily pad... Hey, do you think we could use that boat over there?"
"Let's go check in that building!" I suggested.
After a few minutes, (and after Erik crashed down off of the ladder several times) we finally entered the building on stilts.
Inside, behind the counter sat a gruff-look man in a dirty shirt listening to a walkman.
"Where is that boy of mine?" he said to himself. "That guy has no business looking for fairies at his age!"
"Excuse me, but is your son perhaps named... Tingle?" Erik asked.
"Yeah, ya know him?"
"Your son needs psychological help," Kelli said.
"You noticed too?" the man chuckled.
"Sure. Uh, anyway, we wanted to know if we could borrow that boat down there." I told the man.
"Oh, we run a boat cruise business. But the woman who sells tickets is gone right now, off to visit her sister down the river I suppose."
"Well, could we borrow the boat anyway?" Kelli queried.
"I suppose, but be careful!" the man warned. "And see what Koume is doin' over there anyway! She's been gone for almost four hours!"
"All right, thank you very much," I said.
"Oh, and no going to the right at the fork in the road ahead. That's where the cruise goes, and I can't let you go there without paying."
"What? We're steering the boat bucko. We're going wherever we want!" Erik protested.
"I think not," the man said, holding up a small TV monitor and a small remote control.
"So?" I said.
"This," he said, indicating the monitor, "Is the thing I use to check and see where the boat has gone and this is the remote control for the bomb I will use to destroy the boat if I see it turn right without you paying!"
"You would blow up your own boat just to make a 15 Rupee profit?" Kelli gasped in disbelief.
"Yes."
"OOOOOK... let's go see where Koume has gone!" I said quickly.
We crashed (literally) back down the ladder and packed into the tiny boat. "This thing is tiny!" Erik whined.
"Looks big enough to me!" Kelli said.
"Well, that's cause you're 2 feet tall!" I told her.
Kelli settled into the front of the boat. "I'll navigate," she said.
Erik slowly got into the boat and patted the back. "You can sit here, David,"
"Gee, thanks," I said sarcastically. I squeezed past Erik and set my hand on the rudder beam to steer.
"OK, start rowing Erik!" I ordered.
"Aye-aye Cap'n!" he said in a weird voice. Then, he started rowing.
As soon as we had started we crashed into one of the stilts, splintering it.
"Um, maybe you shouldn't row that hard," Kelli said.
"Oops. Guess I don't know my own strength."
Erik began to row more slowly. Even then, we were going as fast as a human rowing at their fastest.
"I hate this body..." Erik muttered.
"Don't worry," Kelli said cheerfully. "We can find Link, turn back to normal, and then we can go home."
"Go home? I don't think so," I said.
"What? What do you mean?" Erik asked.
"Well, we came all the way to Termina to find a library book. It would be a shame if we left without getting it," I explained.
Kelli turned around from the front of the boat. "What did you just say? Are you CRAZY?"
"Kelli, we are librarians. It is our only duty to uphold the righteousness of the public library, to watch over the books like they are our children, and to bring down the scum who think that they can get a free extra day of book ownership."
"DAVID! Right now, we are not librarians! We are a Deku, a Goron, and a Zora who are trying to rid ourselves of a curse!" Erik said in disbelief.
"Oh FINE! I won't even bring up library stuff until we're back to normal." I whined. "Just be quiet and row!"
After what seemed like hours of silence, we saw a sign at a fork in the river that pointed to the left.
"Magic Hags Potion Shop Just Ahead," it said.
"I think this is our turn off," Erik said.
I moved the rudder, and we slowly moved to the left.
"Well this place has a lovely smell," I said.
"I can't tell, I have no nose," Kelli laughed.
"Was that supposed to be a joke?" Erik asked.
"No... it was either say something semi-funny or burst out crying," she sobbed.
"Oh Kelli... Do you want us to..." I said.
"No, I'm OK. Just a little worried," she said. "But who wouldn't be worried at a time like this?"
We parked the boat at the beginning of a small island. In the center of the island was a large house on stilts that looked somewhat like a teapot with doors and windows.
"Well, this Termina place certainly has interesting architecture," I said.
"Oh no! Not another ladder!" Erik moaned.
"Tie the rope off," Kelli said as she hopped out of the boat and onto the shore.
I did so, and we walked up to the ladder.
"Hoo boy..." Erik muttered. "I'd better go first,"
He slowly stepped up onto the first rung and climbed slowly up to about the center.
"Here I come up behind you," Kelli called.
She started up the ladder, and Erik suddenly froze.
"What is it?" I asked.
"I... The ladder just made a noise!" he squeaked.
"Whoa, keep going! Hurry!" Kelli said quickly.
"I'm slipping!"
"No, no... it's just in your head Erik!" I called.
"No it's not... I'm falling!" Erik squealed. "AAAAAAAA!"
He kept screaming for quite a while. Finally, he opened his eyes and peeped out, "Am I on the ground yet?"
"Erik... you're still on the ladder!" Kelli yelled.
"Don't... make... any... sudden... noises..." Erik moaned. "I... just... might fall!"
I was getting impatient. "Erik, you aren't going to fall, now..."
SPLAT!
"Ow, Kelli get off of me!" I whined.
"Tell Erik to get off of me!" she retorted.
"Told you..."
I pushed Erik off of Kelli with my one free hand and stood up.
"You two make me NUTS!" I yelled.
"Hello? Is anyone out there? I heard a crash!" a high voice came from inside the house.
An old woman with pasty green skin in an ornate black robe decorated with blue designs leaned her head over the edge of the platform. She had a large blue jewel held onto her forehead by some invisible headband and silvery hair that stuck out from under a small white turban.
"Oh hello! Are you here for potions?" called the woman.
"We actually need some help getting up there!" Kelli yelled back.
"Oh, no problem!" she said. "Stand close together, and step back a few feet!"
We did so.
"OK... hold on!" she yelled.
She waved her hands around, and blue smoke began to form around our feet.
"Wow, sweet!" Erik said.
Suddenly, a huge blue cloud puffed around us, and when it faded, we found ourselves up on the roof of the house.
"Um... whoops," the woman sighed. "I gotta work on that one. Well, come on down and come on in!"
Once inside, the woman swept a tiny bow and spoke. "I am Kotake, keeper of the Magic Hags Potion Shop! Welcome, what can I get for you?"
"We were sent by the guy down the river," Erik explained. "We're looking for someone named Koume."
"Ya know her?" Kelli added.
"Know her? Of course I know her! She's my sister!" Kotake laughed, a shrill annoying sound.
"Oh." I said.
"I can't believe you didn't know that! Koume and I are the famous Twinrova Sisters of Hyrule!" Kotake said, holding up a broom as if that was going to help us.
"You're sorceresses?" I said hopefully.
"Well, I'm the Sorceress of Ice, and Koume is the Sorceress of Fire. Together we can do pretty much anything!"
"Where is Koume anyway?" Erik asked.
"To tell you the truth, I don't know. I sent her to the Woods of Mystery about 2 hours ago to find me some mushrooms to make potions. But she hasn't been back yet!" Kotake said worriedly.
"We can go find her if you want," Kelli suggested.
"Oh, would you? If she's hurt or lost I'll just die! But if she's just stalling..." Kotake pondered. "OK, if she's hurt or lost and you find her I promise I'll do something for you! Here, take this potion with you in case she's hurt!"
"What if she isn't hurt?" asked Erik.
"Then you can keep it. There was this one bratty kid earlier, but he said he couldn't find her in the Woods. Stupid fool."
"What did he look like?" I asked quickly.
"Small, with green clothes and a little fairy following him,"
"Great!" Kelli said. "We'll go find Koume for you!"
"Kelli, what are you talking about?" I hissed as we touched the ground in front of the ladder. "We don't have time to find Koume! We gotta go find Link before he gets too far away!"
"David, don't you see?" she cried. "According to Kotake, together with Koume they can 'do pretty much anything'! That includes reversing the curse!"
I gasped. "Of course! We may not even need to find Link!"
"HEEEEEELP!" we heard from the top of the ladder.
We looked up to see Erik clinging to the railing of the balcony.
"Erik, just come down!" Kelli sighed.
Erik stepped back, took a deep breath, and curled up into a ball. Then, he rolled forward and crashed to the ground.
"I'm OOOOOK!" Erik mumbled as he stood up.
"Come on, the entrance to the Woods of Mystery is over there!" Kelli said.
"I can swim, Kelli can hop, and Erik can roll," I said.
Erik curled up and rolled over, leaping across the gap. Kelli hopped across the surface, and I swam quickly across.
"Here goes nothing," I remarked, and we entered the Woods of Mystery.
The Woods were a dense place, and four small paths that led in all the compass directions led through tree tunnels. We had entered through the south. "Which way do we go?" Erik said.
Suddenly, we heard a small squeak. A tiny monkey with white fur appeared out of a bush and walked up to Kelli curiously.
The monkey made a few shrill squeaking noises and Kelli gasped.
She answered back with some more squeaks.
"He speaks Deku!" she said excitedly.
"I didn't know you could!" I answered.
She listened to the monkey for a few minutes, and Erik leaned over to me. "David... she's talking to the monkeys again!"
"He says to follow him!" she said, racing off after the monkey to a tree path to the north.
"Kelli, wait up!" I yelled after her.
We followed Kelli and the monkey for three paths, when we saw a huge ugly turtle standing in front of one of the paths.
"What is that?" Erik yelped.
The turtle saw us, made a strange noise and rolled up in its shell, then charged at us as fast as it could.
"YIKES!" we screamed.
I dodged the flying turtle and pointed to the path to the right. "The monkey's getting away!"
We quickly leaped out of the way of the turtle and raced after him.
Several turtles and paths later, we heard a low moan through the trees coming from a north path.
"Hurry!" Kelli said, and she ducked through the north path.
Lying facedown on the ground in the center of the clearing was an old woman who looked just like Kotake in every way, with the exception of a red jewel on her forehead and red markings on her robe.
"Oh man!" she moaned. "Stupid Skullkid!"
I ran over and rolled her over on her back.
"Who are you?" the woman snapped. "Are you with that Skull Brat?"
"No," Kelli said.
"Oh good. Well, whaddya starin' at? Help an old woman up!"
Erik helped her onto her feet, but she leaned back and fell back over immediately.
"OOF!" she grunted. "Oh... I don't have enough energy to get outta here!"
"Are you Koume?" Kelli asked quickly.
"Yeah. How did you know?"
"We just know. Now, what happened to you?" I asked.
"I was gathering herbs for my sister- she runs a potion shop y'know... and then this bratty kid comes up and rabbit punches me in the neck!" Koume whined.
"How mean!" Erik said.
"OW... Hey, you're young, you have energy. Run back to the potion shop outside the Woods and tell Kotake what happened. And bring back a potion, will ya?"
"We have one!" I said, pulling out the blood-red bottle.
"OOH! Thank you so much, you kind young ones!"
Koume uncorked the bottle and drank the potion down all in one gulp. "YES! Koume is revived!"
Then, she stood up and adjusted her white turban. "Thank you very much, you wonderful children! How did you know I was here?"
"Kotake sent us. That's why we had the potion," Kelli explained.
"Well now. Is there anything I can do for you?"
"Kotake said she'd reward us if we found you." Erik told her.
"OK. I'll give ya a lift back to the potion shop, and I'll see what Kotake and I can fix up for ya."
Koume threw her hands up, and a broom appeared beneath her, just like the one Kotake had shown us. Then, she mounted the broom and snapped her fingers.
As if by magic, her turban disappeared and her silvery hair was transformed into a blazing fire. The broom also ignited, but the flames didn't appear to burn the wood.
"Come on, hop on."
We gasped and took a step backwards.
"Whaddya scared of? I won't bite. I'm not the kind of witch who eats children!"
Kelli shrugged, closed her eyes, and hopped onto the broom behind Koume. "Hey, these flames don't even burn at all!"
"Course not. Did you actually think I'd light my broom on fire on purpose?" Koume chuckled. "These kinda brooms are expensive."
Erik and I joined her on the broom, and Koume shouted, "BROOM HO!"
We didn't move an inch.
"Wowee, you guys are heavy for such small kids!" Koume said. "No problem."
She snapped her fingers, and the broom flew up into the air and over the dense trees.
"WOOOOOHOOOOOO!" I yelled.
"Ouch! Hey Scrub, would ya mind not squeezing me so hard?" Koume snapped. "I can't control the broom,"
"I'm scared out of my mind!" Kelli wailed.
"Calm down, you can't fall off of a broom!"
Koume leaned heavily to the left, and Kelli screamed bloody murder. We turned away from smacking into a tall tree, and when we came out from behind it, Kelli was on Erik's head.
"A little jumpy today, are we Kelli?" Erik chuckled, yanking her off of his head.
To make a very long story short, we landed on the balcony of the Magic Hags Potion Shop several minutes later.
"All aboard!" Koume laughed. Then, she snapped her fingers and the broom vanished.
Koume threw open the door and rushed inside. "Kotake, I'm back!"
"Oh Koume! I'm glad you're OK," Kotake said. "Did you get the mushrooms I asked for?"
"MUSHROOMS?" Koume yelled. "You asked for herbs!"
"I did NOT!" Kotake howled. "I would know what I asked you for!"
"I swear, you said herbs Kotake," Koume said. "You must be getting senile."
"SENILE?" Kotake screamed. "IS THAT HOW YOU TREAT YOUR BIG SISTER?"
"How can you be older? We're TWINS!" Koume shouted back.
They continued arguing and yelling random cuss words until I decided to interrupt.
"Um... ladies? Could we get started here?"
"Oh yes," Koume said.
"Thank you children. Now, what can I do for you?" Kotake asked.
"AHEM!" Koume hissed. "Me too. Let's give them our ad, Kotake."
"Oh, OK Koume."
Koume nodded. "Hold on for a sec. We need to advertise for you before we reward you!"
I shrugged at Erik and Kelli, and Koume and Kotake both snapped their fingers. They disappeared into two clouds of red and blue smoke. Then, all the lights in the shop went out and slow guitar music began to play.
"We are the visions you see in your nightmares!" Koume said eerily, rising up from below the counter and onto the counter.
"We are the illusion of your wildest dreams!" Kotake added, appearing next to her.
Koume spun around and faced us. "With my flame, I will burn you to the bone!"
Kotake joined her. "With my frost I will freeze you to your soul!"
"TWINROVA SISTERS!" they both cried.
They both let out a hideous laugh and disappeared again, appearing behind us in front of the door.
"How was it?" they both said at once.
"Um, impressive," Kelli groaned.
"Well, what can we do for you?" Koume asked.
"Do you have some enemies we can turn into frogs for you?" Kotake said eagerly.
"Any special ladies or gentlemen you'd like to be in love with you?" Koume added dreamily.
"Any ailments that... um... ail you?" Kotake continued.
"Any power you'd like to have bestowed? We can do that too!" Koume finished.
"Well actually..." Erik started.
"HMMMM?" they both hummed.
"What would you say if we told you that we are not a Deku Scrub, a Goron, and a Zora?" I said.
"I'd say you need us to fix up your brain power!" Kotake giggled.
"He's telling the truth!" Kelli said, leaping up onto the counter.
The Twinrova Sisters looked at each other and raised an eyebrow each.
"Do tell," they chimed.
"It's Skullkid," Erik said. "He turned us from normal, ordinary Hylians to these things!"
"And worse, if we don't turn back by midnight of the eve of the Carnival of Time, we'll stay this way forever!" I wailed.
"Oh, that little brat Skullkid? Hmmph," Koume snarled. "How I hate him!"
"I suppose we could help you with your curse," Kotake pondered. "What's the name of it?"
"Spirit something," Kelli answered.
"Let's look in our book!" Koume said, snapping her fingers.
She walked over to the counter and pushed Kelli off, then started digging in a huge stack of books set behind the counter.
"Here it is!" Kotake said, lifting a thick book off of the bookshelf.
She set it on the counter. "The Big Book of Curses" it said on the side.
Koume opened up the book and gasped, quickly shutting it.
"What?" asked Kotake.
She opened the book and slammed it shut again. "Well THAT was uncalled for!"
"Wrong book!" Koume giggled, tucking it back on the bookshelf.
"Wrong meaning of the word 'curse'!" Kotake added.
Almost a half an hour later, Kotake found a book six inches thick entitled "The Big Book of Magic Curses" at the very bottom of the stack.
Koume laid it out on the counter as before and opened up the book. "Hmmm... Spirit, spirit... spirit... Hmmm..."
Kotake read off the curses as they passed them.
"Skin disease... skin wounds... skin rot... spleen pain..."
"Ya passed it!" Koume shouted.
"Oh, OK... spores... spooks... here we are! Spirit."
"What's the name of the curse?" Koume asked. "We have Spirit, Haunted... Spirit, Condemned... Spirit, Cursed... Spirit, Consummation..."
"THAT'S IT!" we yelled.
"Aha! Spirit Consummation..." Kotake read out of the book.
"'The Spirit Consummation Curse shall change the shape of a forlorn soul and trap them in the body of another... yada, yada, yada... If the soul is not freed within a set span of time, the soul shall remain trapped forever... Spirit of the transformed body shall overcome their own spirit...'"
"Could we skip the gory details?" Kelli whined.
"Hey, who's the witch here?" Koume and Kotake both snapped together.
Koume continued the reading. "'The cure for the Spirit Consummation curse could be one of any of the following...
- To play the Song of Healing and heal the forlorn soul
- To destroy the cursed body *
- To reverse the effects of the spell with a counter spell
- To hold a séance to transfer the tormented soul back to its own world*
- To administer a potion of Keese's Wing'"
"YES!" Erik yelled. "Do you have a Keese Wing Potion?"
"We do," Kotake said.
"But it's a funny thing!" Koume said. "Some of the time, Keese Wing Potion will help you, but the other 99.9% of the time, they cause all of your organs to melt and your brain to explode!"
"Gulp..." I said.
"Hold it!" Kelli said. "This book is describing the cure for a forlorn soul! Like a Poe or a ghost! We aren't forlorn!"
"Oh, but you must be," Kotake said. "The Skullkid cannot use this curse on anyone who is not forlorn!"
"Everyone who he has transformed so far," Koume began, "Has had some emotional stress of some sort in the last 24 hours of their lives!"
"But we..." I began. Then I remembered. We HAD been forlorn...
Hours before we had left Hyrule a day earlier, Erik had had a falling-out with his mother. I had been mourning the death of my grandmother several months earlier, and Kelli was upset about her sister getting a bad fever.
"Well, we don't know the Song of Healing," Kotake said. "So I suppose we could try a counter spell!"
"OOOH! Kotake! There is a counter spell for the curse written right below it!" Koume squealed.
"How about it? You guys wanna let us try the counter spell?" Kotake asked.
I stared at the others. Kelli gave a weak nod. Erik said quietly, "Yes."
"We'll try it," I said.
"Good. Stand back there please," Koume said, pointing to the door.
We stepped a few steps back and took a deep breath.
Could this be the end of our adventure in these bodies?
By Galaxy Girl
CHAPTER SIX: TROUBLE IN THE SWAMP
(David's POV)
DAWN OF THE FIRST DAY: 72 HOURS REMAIN
"Ah, the wide open plains of Termina!" Erik said as we surveyed the land around us.
"Lovely view. Too bad we're in too much of a hurry to watch it!" Kelli snapped.
"The guard said that the swamp was straight this way!" I said, pointing to the direct south.
"OK, let's get moving!" Erik replied.
We started running to the south, when suddenly we saw what appeared to be a large blob of green jello with eyes sliming around the ground.
"Ew, what is that?" Kelli shuddered.
"Not sure. It looks like jelly," I commented.
"Y'know, maybe we need a weapon or something," Erik said. "It might be dangerous..."
"Jello? Dangerous? You're joking!" I said.
I walked past the blob, and it jiggled about for a second. Then, it jumped straight up and onto my head.
"AAAAAAAAACK! GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!"
"EW! David, it's eating your head!" Kelli yelped.
"DO SOMETHING!" I cried.
"Me? What can I do?" she yelled.
"Kelli, remember what Link did when he was a scrub? He blew a bubble! Can you do that?" Erik said quickly.
"Well, let's see..."
She made weird spit-like noise, and then a bubble popped out of her snout.
"SWEET!" she said. "This is awesome!"
"Could you aim one up here... BEFORE THE THING EATS MY HEAD?" I screamed.
She did it again, and when the bubble hit the blob, it exploded, (the blob, that is) leaving me soaking wet with green slime.
"EWWWWW!" I yelled.
"What, no thank you?" Kelli whined.
"Fine, thank you. Let's just get going before another one of those things eats my head!"
After what seemed like hours, we finally reached the path that lead to the Southern Swamp.
"Anyone see any signs of Link?" Erik asked.
"Nope. No footprints, I'm close enough to the ground to know that for sure," Kelli reported.
We turned around the corner to find a path lined with large Deku flowers.
"You can tell we're getting close to the swamp. Look at all these flowers!" Erik observed.
"What is that?" I said, pointing to a large red object floating above the path.
"Looks like a balloon," Kelli said.
"Let's pop it. I need to get my anger out," Erik said. He picked up a small pebble from the path and hurled it at the balloon.
It hit the balloon, popping it and revealing a green object on the other side of the balloon. Suddenly, the green thing screamed and fell to the ground.
"It's a man!" I cried.
"Maybe he's seen Link!" Kelli said. "Let's go..."
"FOREST FAIRY GIRL!" yelled the man.
"Oh crap," Kelli sighed.
Within seconds, Tingle had run over to Kelli and given her a great big hug just like before.
"Oh, hi Tingle. So nice to see you," I said.
"Hello Mr. Fairy. Tingle is drawing a map of the area. Do you want to buy a map?"
"Sorry, no money," Erik said.
"Hmm... that's OK! Tingle's father will be angry, but Tingle will give you a map for free!" Tingle beamed.
"WOW! Thanks a lot Tingle!" Kelli said. She was not being sarcastic.
"Now, which one? Do you want the Woodfall Map, or the Snowhead Map?"
"We'll take Woodfall," I said.
"Ah yes! Woodfall! Nice place, that."
Tingle handed Kelli a slip of paper with sketchy lines all over it, and she eyed it.
"Thank you Tingle," Erik said.
"Do you have to go, or do you want to sing with Tingle for a while?"
"Um... we'd better go," Kelli said quickly.
"Oh, OK. Bye-bye Forest Fairy Girl! Tingle, tingle, Koo-loo Limpah!"
Tingle reached into his backpack and inflated another balloon, which sent him back into the air.
Kelli handed me the map as we walked back towards the swamp. "That man has problems..."
"Look at this map! It's terrible!" I whined.
"Well, it'll have to do. It was free after all." Erik pointed out.
We took a right at a fork in the path ahead, and found ourselves in the Southern Swamp. Ahead of us was a huge building on stilts with a boat parked beneath it.
"Where could that kid have gone?" Erik pondered.
"There he is!" Kelli cried, pointing beneath the ladder that led up to the building.
Sure enough, Link stood beneath it, holding a strange looking mask. He put it on, and was surrounded by a blue light.
Then, the blue light faded to reveal a Deku scrub standing in his place!
"So that's why we couldn't find him!" I said.
"Why?" Erik asked.
"He uses that mask to turn from a scrub to a human and back again!" Kelli cut in. "So we need to look for a scrub AND a boy!"
"Crap," Erik said.
The scrub took off down the river, hopping from lily pad to lily pad.
We ran over to where he had started on the pads.
"OK, no problem," Kelli said. She hopped across the water's surface to the first lily pad.
"Huh?" I said. I pointed to a sign next to the shore.
"Warning: Poison Water. Do NOT Enter!" Erik read.
"Uh oh!" Kelli said. "You guys can't fit on a lily pad... Hey, do you think we could use that boat over there?"
"Let's go check in that building!" I suggested.
After a few minutes, (and after Erik crashed down off of the ladder several times) we finally entered the building on stilts.
Inside, behind the counter sat a gruff-look man in a dirty shirt listening to a walkman.
"Where is that boy of mine?" he said to himself. "That guy has no business looking for fairies at his age!"
"Excuse me, but is your son perhaps named... Tingle?" Erik asked.
"Yeah, ya know him?"
"Your son needs psychological help," Kelli said.
"You noticed too?" the man chuckled.
"Sure. Uh, anyway, we wanted to know if we could borrow that boat down there." I told the man.
"Oh, we run a boat cruise business. But the woman who sells tickets is gone right now, off to visit her sister down the river I suppose."
"Well, could we borrow the boat anyway?" Kelli queried.
"I suppose, but be careful!" the man warned. "And see what Koume is doin' over there anyway! She's been gone for almost four hours!"
"All right, thank you very much," I said.
"Oh, and no going to the right at the fork in the road ahead. That's where the cruise goes, and I can't let you go there without paying."
"What? We're steering the boat bucko. We're going wherever we want!" Erik protested.
"I think not," the man said, holding up a small TV monitor and a small remote control.
"So?" I said.
"This," he said, indicating the monitor, "Is the thing I use to check and see where the boat has gone and this is the remote control for the bomb I will use to destroy the boat if I see it turn right without you paying!"
"You would blow up your own boat just to make a 15 Rupee profit?" Kelli gasped in disbelief.
"Yes."
"OOOOOK... let's go see where Koume has gone!" I said quickly.
We crashed (literally) back down the ladder and packed into the tiny boat. "This thing is tiny!" Erik whined.
"Looks big enough to me!" Kelli said.
"Well, that's cause you're 2 feet tall!" I told her.
Kelli settled into the front of the boat. "I'll navigate," she said.
Erik slowly got into the boat and patted the back. "You can sit here, David,"
"Gee, thanks," I said sarcastically. I squeezed past Erik and set my hand on the rudder beam to steer.
"OK, start rowing Erik!" I ordered.
"Aye-aye Cap'n!" he said in a weird voice. Then, he started rowing.
As soon as we had started we crashed into one of the stilts, splintering it.
"Um, maybe you shouldn't row that hard," Kelli said.
"Oops. Guess I don't know my own strength."
Erik began to row more slowly. Even then, we were going as fast as a human rowing at their fastest.
"I hate this body..." Erik muttered.
"Don't worry," Kelli said cheerfully. "We can find Link, turn back to normal, and then we can go home."
"Go home? I don't think so," I said.
"What? What do you mean?" Erik asked.
"Well, we came all the way to Termina to find a library book. It would be a shame if we left without getting it," I explained.
Kelli turned around from the front of the boat. "What did you just say? Are you CRAZY?"
"Kelli, we are librarians. It is our only duty to uphold the righteousness of the public library, to watch over the books like they are our children, and to bring down the scum who think that they can get a free extra day of book ownership."
"DAVID! Right now, we are not librarians! We are a Deku, a Goron, and a Zora who are trying to rid ourselves of a curse!" Erik said in disbelief.
"Oh FINE! I won't even bring up library stuff until we're back to normal." I whined. "Just be quiet and row!"
After what seemed like hours of silence, we saw a sign at a fork in the river that pointed to the left.
"Magic Hags Potion Shop Just Ahead," it said.
"I think this is our turn off," Erik said.
I moved the rudder, and we slowly moved to the left.
"Well this place has a lovely smell," I said.
"I can't tell, I have no nose," Kelli laughed.
"Was that supposed to be a joke?" Erik asked.
"No... it was either say something semi-funny or burst out crying," she sobbed.
"Oh Kelli... Do you want us to..." I said.
"No, I'm OK. Just a little worried," she said. "But who wouldn't be worried at a time like this?"
We parked the boat at the beginning of a small island. In the center of the island was a large house on stilts that looked somewhat like a teapot with doors and windows.
"Well, this Termina place certainly has interesting architecture," I said.
"Oh no! Not another ladder!" Erik moaned.
"Tie the rope off," Kelli said as she hopped out of the boat and onto the shore.
I did so, and we walked up to the ladder.
"Hoo boy..." Erik muttered. "I'd better go first,"
He slowly stepped up onto the first rung and climbed slowly up to about the center.
"Here I come up behind you," Kelli called.
She started up the ladder, and Erik suddenly froze.
"What is it?" I asked.
"I... The ladder just made a noise!" he squeaked.
"Whoa, keep going! Hurry!" Kelli said quickly.
"I'm slipping!"
"No, no... it's just in your head Erik!" I called.
"No it's not... I'm falling!" Erik squealed. "AAAAAAAA!"
He kept screaming for quite a while. Finally, he opened his eyes and peeped out, "Am I on the ground yet?"
"Erik... you're still on the ladder!" Kelli yelled.
"Don't... make... any... sudden... noises..." Erik moaned. "I... just... might fall!"
I was getting impatient. "Erik, you aren't going to fall, now..."
SPLAT!
"Ow, Kelli get off of me!" I whined.
"Tell Erik to get off of me!" she retorted.
"Told you..."
I pushed Erik off of Kelli with my one free hand and stood up.
"You two make me NUTS!" I yelled.
"Hello? Is anyone out there? I heard a crash!" a high voice came from inside the house.
An old woman with pasty green skin in an ornate black robe decorated with blue designs leaned her head over the edge of the platform. She had a large blue jewel held onto her forehead by some invisible headband and silvery hair that stuck out from under a small white turban.
"Oh hello! Are you here for potions?" called the woman.
"We actually need some help getting up there!" Kelli yelled back.
"Oh, no problem!" she said. "Stand close together, and step back a few feet!"
We did so.
"OK... hold on!" she yelled.
She waved her hands around, and blue smoke began to form around our feet.
"Wow, sweet!" Erik said.
Suddenly, a huge blue cloud puffed around us, and when it faded, we found ourselves up on the roof of the house.
"Um... whoops," the woman sighed. "I gotta work on that one. Well, come on down and come on in!"
Once inside, the woman swept a tiny bow and spoke. "I am Kotake, keeper of the Magic Hags Potion Shop! Welcome, what can I get for you?"
"We were sent by the guy down the river," Erik explained. "We're looking for someone named Koume."
"Ya know her?" Kelli added.
"Know her? Of course I know her! She's my sister!" Kotake laughed, a shrill annoying sound.
"Oh." I said.
"I can't believe you didn't know that! Koume and I are the famous Twinrova Sisters of Hyrule!" Kotake said, holding up a broom as if that was going to help us.
"You're sorceresses?" I said hopefully.
"Well, I'm the Sorceress of Ice, and Koume is the Sorceress of Fire. Together we can do pretty much anything!"
"Where is Koume anyway?" Erik asked.
"To tell you the truth, I don't know. I sent her to the Woods of Mystery about 2 hours ago to find me some mushrooms to make potions. But she hasn't been back yet!" Kotake said worriedly.
"We can go find her if you want," Kelli suggested.
"Oh, would you? If she's hurt or lost I'll just die! But if she's just stalling..." Kotake pondered. "OK, if she's hurt or lost and you find her I promise I'll do something for you! Here, take this potion with you in case she's hurt!"
"What if she isn't hurt?" asked Erik.
"Then you can keep it. There was this one bratty kid earlier, but he said he couldn't find her in the Woods. Stupid fool."
"What did he look like?" I asked quickly.
"Small, with green clothes and a little fairy following him,"
"Great!" Kelli said. "We'll go find Koume for you!"
"Kelli, what are you talking about?" I hissed as we touched the ground in front of the ladder. "We don't have time to find Koume! We gotta go find Link before he gets too far away!"
"David, don't you see?" she cried. "According to Kotake, together with Koume they can 'do pretty much anything'! That includes reversing the curse!"
I gasped. "Of course! We may not even need to find Link!"
"HEEEEEELP!" we heard from the top of the ladder.
We looked up to see Erik clinging to the railing of the balcony.
"Erik, just come down!" Kelli sighed.
Erik stepped back, took a deep breath, and curled up into a ball. Then, he rolled forward and crashed to the ground.
"I'm OOOOOK!" Erik mumbled as he stood up.
"Come on, the entrance to the Woods of Mystery is over there!" Kelli said.
"I can swim, Kelli can hop, and Erik can roll," I said.
Erik curled up and rolled over, leaping across the gap. Kelli hopped across the surface, and I swam quickly across.
"Here goes nothing," I remarked, and we entered the Woods of Mystery.
The Woods were a dense place, and four small paths that led in all the compass directions led through tree tunnels. We had entered through the south. "Which way do we go?" Erik said.
Suddenly, we heard a small squeak. A tiny monkey with white fur appeared out of a bush and walked up to Kelli curiously.
The monkey made a few shrill squeaking noises and Kelli gasped.
She answered back with some more squeaks.
"He speaks Deku!" she said excitedly.
"I didn't know you could!" I answered.
She listened to the monkey for a few minutes, and Erik leaned over to me. "David... she's talking to the monkeys again!"
"He says to follow him!" she said, racing off after the monkey to a tree path to the north.
"Kelli, wait up!" I yelled after her.
We followed Kelli and the monkey for three paths, when we saw a huge ugly turtle standing in front of one of the paths.
"What is that?" Erik yelped.
The turtle saw us, made a strange noise and rolled up in its shell, then charged at us as fast as it could.
"YIKES!" we screamed.
I dodged the flying turtle and pointed to the path to the right. "The monkey's getting away!"
We quickly leaped out of the way of the turtle and raced after him.
Several turtles and paths later, we heard a low moan through the trees coming from a north path.
"Hurry!" Kelli said, and she ducked through the north path.
Lying facedown on the ground in the center of the clearing was an old woman who looked just like Kotake in every way, with the exception of a red jewel on her forehead and red markings on her robe.
"Oh man!" she moaned. "Stupid Skullkid!"
I ran over and rolled her over on her back.
"Who are you?" the woman snapped. "Are you with that Skull Brat?"
"No," Kelli said.
"Oh good. Well, whaddya starin' at? Help an old woman up!"
Erik helped her onto her feet, but she leaned back and fell back over immediately.
"OOF!" she grunted. "Oh... I don't have enough energy to get outta here!"
"Are you Koume?" Kelli asked quickly.
"Yeah. How did you know?"
"We just know. Now, what happened to you?" I asked.
"I was gathering herbs for my sister- she runs a potion shop y'know... and then this bratty kid comes up and rabbit punches me in the neck!" Koume whined.
"How mean!" Erik said.
"OW... Hey, you're young, you have energy. Run back to the potion shop outside the Woods and tell Kotake what happened. And bring back a potion, will ya?"
"We have one!" I said, pulling out the blood-red bottle.
"OOH! Thank you so much, you kind young ones!"
Koume uncorked the bottle and drank the potion down all in one gulp. "YES! Koume is revived!"
Then, she stood up and adjusted her white turban. "Thank you very much, you wonderful children! How did you know I was here?"
"Kotake sent us. That's why we had the potion," Kelli explained.
"Well now. Is there anything I can do for you?"
"Kotake said she'd reward us if we found you." Erik told her.
"OK. I'll give ya a lift back to the potion shop, and I'll see what Kotake and I can fix up for ya."
Koume threw her hands up, and a broom appeared beneath her, just like the one Kotake had shown us. Then, she mounted the broom and snapped her fingers.
As if by magic, her turban disappeared and her silvery hair was transformed into a blazing fire. The broom also ignited, but the flames didn't appear to burn the wood.
"Come on, hop on."
We gasped and took a step backwards.
"Whaddya scared of? I won't bite. I'm not the kind of witch who eats children!"
Kelli shrugged, closed her eyes, and hopped onto the broom behind Koume. "Hey, these flames don't even burn at all!"
"Course not. Did you actually think I'd light my broom on fire on purpose?" Koume chuckled. "These kinda brooms are expensive."
Erik and I joined her on the broom, and Koume shouted, "BROOM HO!"
We didn't move an inch.
"Wowee, you guys are heavy for such small kids!" Koume said. "No problem."
She snapped her fingers, and the broom flew up into the air and over the dense trees.
"WOOOOOHOOOOOO!" I yelled.
"Ouch! Hey Scrub, would ya mind not squeezing me so hard?" Koume snapped. "I can't control the broom,"
"I'm scared out of my mind!" Kelli wailed.
"Calm down, you can't fall off of a broom!"
Koume leaned heavily to the left, and Kelli screamed bloody murder. We turned away from smacking into a tall tree, and when we came out from behind it, Kelli was on Erik's head.
"A little jumpy today, are we Kelli?" Erik chuckled, yanking her off of his head.
To make a very long story short, we landed on the balcony of the Magic Hags Potion Shop several minutes later.
"All aboard!" Koume laughed. Then, she snapped her fingers and the broom vanished.
Koume threw open the door and rushed inside. "Kotake, I'm back!"
"Oh Koume! I'm glad you're OK," Kotake said. "Did you get the mushrooms I asked for?"
"MUSHROOMS?" Koume yelled. "You asked for herbs!"
"I did NOT!" Kotake howled. "I would know what I asked you for!"
"I swear, you said herbs Kotake," Koume said. "You must be getting senile."
"SENILE?" Kotake screamed. "IS THAT HOW YOU TREAT YOUR BIG SISTER?"
"How can you be older? We're TWINS!" Koume shouted back.
They continued arguing and yelling random cuss words until I decided to interrupt.
"Um... ladies? Could we get started here?"
"Oh yes," Koume said.
"Thank you children. Now, what can I do for you?" Kotake asked.
"AHEM!" Koume hissed. "Me too. Let's give them our ad, Kotake."
"Oh, OK Koume."
Koume nodded. "Hold on for a sec. We need to advertise for you before we reward you!"
I shrugged at Erik and Kelli, and Koume and Kotake both snapped their fingers. They disappeared into two clouds of red and blue smoke. Then, all the lights in the shop went out and slow guitar music began to play.
"We are the visions you see in your nightmares!" Koume said eerily, rising up from below the counter and onto the counter.
"We are the illusion of your wildest dreams!" Kotake added, appearing next to her.
Koume spun around and faced us. "With my flame, I will burn you to the bone!"
Kotake joined her. "With my frost I will freeze you to your soul!"
"TWINROVA SISTERS!" they both cried.
They both let out a hideous laugh and disappeared again, appearing behind us in front of the door.
"How was it?" they both said at once.
"Um, impressive," Kelli groaned.
"Well, what can we do for you?" Koume asked.
"Do you have some enemies we can turn into frogs for you?" Kotake said eagerly.
"Any special ladies or gentlemen you'd like to be in love with you?" Koume added dreamily.
"Any ailments that... um... ail you?" Kotake continued.
"Any power you'd like to have bestowed? We can do that too!" Koume finished.
"Well actually..." Erik started.
"HMMMM?" they both hummed.
"What would you say if we told you that we are not a Deku Scrub, a Goron, and a Zora?" I said.
"I'd say you need us to fix up your brain power!" Kotake giggled.
"He's telling the truth!" Kelli said, leaping up onto the counter.
The Twinrova Sisters looked at each other and raised an eyebrow each.
"Do tell," they chimed.
"It's Skullkid," Erik said. "He turned us from normal, ordinary Hylians to these things!"
"And worse, if we don't turn back by midnight of the eve of the Carnival of Time, we'll stay this way forever!" I wailed.
"Oh, that little brat Skullkid? Hmmph," Koume snarled. "How I hate him!"
"I suppose we could help you with your curse," Kotake pondered. "What's the name of it?"
"Spirit something," Kelli answered.
"Let's look in our book!" Koume said, snapping her fingers.
She walked over to the counter and pushed Kelli off, then started digging in a huge stack of books set behind the counter.
"Here it is!" Kotake said, lifting a thick book off of the bookshelf.
She set it on the counter. "The Big Book of Curses" it said on the side.
Koume opened up the book and gasped, quickly shutting it.
"What?" asked Kotake.
She opened the book and slammed it shut again. "Well THAT was uncalled for!"
"Wrong book!" Koume giggled, tucking it back on the bookshelf.
"Wrong meaning of the word 'curse'!" Kotake added.
Almost a half an hour later, Kotake found a book six inches thick entitled "The Big Book of Magic Curses" at the very bottom of the stack.
Koume laid it out on the counter as before and opened up the book. "Hmmm... Spirit, spirit... spirit... Hmmm..."
Kotake read off the curses as they passed them.
"Skin disease... skin wounds... skin rot... spleen pain..."
"Ya passed it!" Koume shouted.
"Oh, OK... spores... spooks... here we are! Spirit."
"What's the name of the curse?" Koume asked. "We have Spirit, Haunted... Spirit, Condemned... Spirit, Cursed... Spirit, Consummation..."
"THAT'S IT!" we yelled.
"Aha! Spirit Consummation..." Kotake read out of the book.
"'The Spirit Consummation Curse shall change the shape of a forlorn soul and trap them in the body of another... yada, yada, yada... If the soul is not freed within a set span of time, the soul shall remain trapped forever... Spirit of the transformed body shall overcome their own spirit...'"
"Could we skip the gory details?" Kelli whined.
"Hey, who's the witch here?" Koume and Kotake both snapped together.
Koume continued the reading. "'The cure for the Spirit Consummation curse could be one of any of the following...
- To play the Song of Healing and heal the forlorn soul
- To destroy the cursed body *
- To reverse the effects of the spell with a counter spell
- To hold a séance to transfer the tormented soul back to its own world*
- To administer a potion of Keese's Wing'"
"YES!" Erik yelled. "Do you have a Keese Wing Potion?"
"We do," Kotake said.
"But it's a funny thing!" Koume said. "Some of the time, Keese Wing Potion will help you, but the other 99.9% of the time, they cause all of your organs to melt and your brain to explode!"
"Gulp..." I said.
"Hold it!" Kelli said. "This book is describing the cure for a forlorn soul! Like a Poe or a ghost! We aren't forlorn!"
"Oh, but you must be," Kotake said. "The Skullkid cannot use this curse on anyone who is not forlorn!"
"Everyone who he has transformed so far," Koume began, "Has had some emotional stress of some sort in the last 24 hours of their lives!"
"But we..." I began. Then I remembered. We HAD been forlorn...
Hours before we had left Hyrule a day earlier, Erik had had a falling-out with his mother. I had been mourning the death of my grandmother several months earlier, and Kelli was upset about her sister getting a bad fever.
"Well, we don't know the Song of Healing," Kotake said. "So I suppose we could try a counter spell!"
"OOOH! Kotake! There is a counter spell for the curse written right below it!" Koume squealed.
"How about it? You guys wanna let us try the counter spell?" Kotake asked.
I stared at the others. Kelli gave a weak nod. Erik said quietly, "Yes."
"We'll try it," I said.
"Good. Stand back there please," Koume said, pointing to the door.
We stepped a few steps back and took a deep breath.
Could this be the end of our adventure in these bodies?