The next morning, Ember got woken up by the feeling of being transported outside of her bottle.
"Good morning, Ember." Link said cheerfully as he fastened her bottle to his belt. "I've got something to tell you."
Ember nodded. "Ok, tell me. What is so important that you woke me up?"
"I don't know what you just said," Link laughed. "but I bet you want to hear what I have to say."
"Exactly." Ember grumbled. "Go on."
"Right. So because I've got you," started Link. "I have signed up to a Zeldamon challenge where you go around Hyrule and battle major gym leaders. The leaders give you a badge if you beat them, and if you have all eight badges, you can get into a tournament in a castle run by the Champion and Princess, Zelda. Once you beat a ton of people trying to beat the tournament, you can fight the elite four. And if you win those battles, you can challenge the champion. And if you win that battle, you become the champion of Hyrule yourself, and you get your own giant robotic Zeldamon called a Divine Beast. I really want to win!"
Ember looked up at Link, confused about the words that he spoke.
"I have no clue what you were talking about, but it sounds fun!" Ember laughed.
"I don't know if you know what I mean," Link called. "But today we are going to find a new friend for the battles in front of us."
Ember understood that. It means that she would have help protecting and fighting for Link. She knew she couldn't fight so many people by herself. She couldn't even beat a Deku Scrub even though she had the type advantage. She needed others to help her strategise.
"Alright," Ember agreed. "Let's go."
Ember and Link walked across the village, heading in the direction of the Great Deku Tree. Ember saw monsters and humans walking around and conversing with each other. She saw people come out of a building with bags full of food, she saw little Zeldamon battles happening, and she saw people who looked like guards standing around, often accompanied by a monster.
About five minutes later, she caught sight of a weird shaped building. It was different then the rest because it was dome shaped, it was made out of metal, and it was bigger than the rest of the houses. It had a giant leaf above what seemed to be the entrance to the dome.
"Humans and their weird lives." grumbled Ember as she hurried to catch up with Link.
Link noticed the way Ember was looking, so he said: "That's the gym that we'll be getting into after we get to Korok forest and catch another Zeldamon. It's the Forest gym, so most of the monsters we will have to face in there will be Forest types."
Ember nodded.
As they got closer to the Deku Tree, Link took a right turn and walked down a path towards an exit from Korkiri village.
A guard stood beside the exit, and nodded when the duo passed him.
"Be careful out there kid," the guard warned. "There's plenty of monsters out there."
"Thanks, but I'll be fine. I've got a Flame type." Link assured him.
"Ok…" the guard answered, not completely reassured that Link would be safe.
They walked through the forest, careful to remain on the path so that they would not get lost. The forest slowly got darker, and they started hearing voices in the forest around them.
"Hello."
"Hssssssss…"
"Come heeeear…"
Link grabbed a piece of wood from his belt and brought it down to Ember. In the minimal light, Ember realized that Link was quivering in fear.
"Please light the torch." Link whispered to her.
She did not know what torch meant, but she got the idea of what she had to do. She let out a small flame and the end of the torch burst in flames.
The forest lit up around them and Ember could make out little details on the trees. They all had big, spiky, mouths and they also looked like they had eyes and a nose of some sort. All of that just added to the creepiness.
As the pair slowly went deeper into the forest, they encountered a very creepy cleering. Little lights danced in the forest, trying to lure them off the path. The ground did not make a sound when they touched it, and a tree stood in the middle of the clearing. It's branches made it look like it had arms, its eyes seemed to be alive.
"What the…" murmured Link. "Uh… let's get out of here."
As they crossed the clearing, Ember felt like she was being watched by something.
When they reached the other side of the clearing, they could see a winding path going even deeper into the forest.
As they neared the exit, Ember heard a weird creaking sound coming from behind her and Link.
Both of them swerved to find that the tree had turned around somehow, and now it was facing them. Ember tried to run, but she was paralized by fear.
Then, hundreds of giant spiders with skull patterns on their back came flowing out of the trees open mouth.
"Face the wrath of the Walltulas!" shrieked the spider who looked like he was the leader. "Charge!"
The Walltulas swarmed at Ember and Link, their pincers clacking together and forest and toxic energy flowing through them.
"Ember, try leaping and spinning your head to catch a whole row of Walltula with one flame spout!" yelled Link.
Ember nodded and blasted herself upwards, Flame energy flowing through her body as she yelled: "Fire Lash!"
Flame whipped across the charging Walltulas, knocking a wave of them out.
"Alright! Continue attacking with explosions and fire whips!" Link yelled.
Ember obeyed, and she threw herself into the battle.
She quickly Fire Lashed the Walltulas, and then created a explosion to stun and defeat some of the spiders. She kept repeating the moveset, but soon she was overwhelmed by the number of Walltulas. They crawled all over her with cries of "Venom!" and "Bug Bite!"
She felt Toxic and Forest energy rake across her body as the Walltulas bit into her scaly skin.
"Ember!" she heard Link cry.
Suddenly, the biting ceased.
"Flee!" a Walltula cried. "A forest guardian has come!"
Ember was relieved that the Walltulas had left her, but she did not want to meet a forest guardian either, because of the way the Walltulas fled from it.
She realized that little flower pedals were sprinkling down from the now bright branches. It was like the sun had come up in this forest.
"Tee-hee-hee," a high pitched voice came from above. "Hello hylian boy!"
Ember rolled herself onto her belly and looked up to see a bipedal form slowly floating down to her and Link.
"Cool!" Ember heard Link exclaim. "A Korok!"
She could now see the monster better. It looked as if it was made of wood, and its face looked like a leaf. It had little legs and arms, but it was holding onto a plant which was spinning in the Koroks hand, keeping the creature aloft.
"I hope you're ok, Hylian." spoke the Korok.
"I-I can understand you!" Link cried.
"Of course you can." the Korok laughed. "My name is Kestu. What is your name, Hylian? And you, Baby Dodongo?
"My name is Link." answered Link.
"My name is Ember," answered Ember. "And how do you know I'm a Baby Dodongo?"
"Because you look like one, silly." Kestu giggled.
"Were you talking to Ember?" asked Link.
"Yes. I was." Kestu answered.
"So why did you save us?" Link asked.
Kestu laughed a little. "Well, I've been considering joining a Zeldamon team lately. A low-leveled one who's got potential. Most trainers who I see have a lot of Zeldamon, but they are all weak. Ember smells of the mountains. She is a higher leveled and more experienced monster then others. If the Walltulas did not catch you by surprise, you would have definitely swept them. Ember has a trait that makes her learn moves very quickly. But still, you need someone who will help you in high numbered battles. I feel like I will be a good addition to your team."
"So… you want to be one of my monsters?" asked Link.
"Exactly." said Kestu. "It gets really lonely out here."
"Ok." Link muttered. "Why were those Walltula afraid of you?"
"Well, evil in this forest believes that us Koroks protect the trees and people who walk through Korok Forest." explained Kestu. "They think that when we appear, it means the end of them."
Link nodded and took out an empty bottle. He uncorked it and energy poured out of it, engulfing Kestu. Then, the energy went back onto the bottle, and Link closed the bottle. Ember saw Kestu appear inside the bottle as the energy took form.
Then, Link released Kestu onto the ground.
"Alright, Link," Kestu smiled. "Let's get out of this forest.
"Definitely." Link agreed.