Chapter 5 – Gohma
Link stared up in awe and fear as the enormous armoured arachnid reared her head, letting a piercing shriek bellow deep from inside it.
"So," the arachnid hissed, "you think you can save this poor dying deity?"
She talks? O-chan thought. I guess it's a new feature to make it seem more realistic.
"Yeah! We're going to save the Great Deku Tree!!" Link shouted, drawing his blade and standing ready.
Gohma cackled and snapped her pincers.
"Is that so? I'd like to see you try."
Link's face contorted in rage and without thinking, he charged forwards.
"I'm going to kill you for what you've done!" he yelled, swinging his sword around.
CLANG! It made contact with the heavy metal armour of the queen. Again, the arachnid laughed and without much effort sent Link reeling back to the ground where he slid to O-chan's feet. But this didn't faze him and he simply leapt up and tried again but he was sent flying once more.
"Urg!" he said, wiping the dirt from his grazed face. "I'm going to kill you if it's the last thing I do. I don't care about me. I won't let the Great Deku Tree die."
He moved to charge again but this time O-chan was able to grab his shirt.
"Stop it Link! Listen to me, this is going nowhere. Your sword won't work against her armour!"
Link rounded on her and wrenched out of her grasp.
"Well, I don't see you doing anything!" he yelled. "Don't you care?!"
"Of course I do! But swords don't work!"
Link scowled. "Well it's all we've got so it's all we can do!" And he went for Gohma once more. Again, he was thrown back, this time hitting his head on the wall.
The arachnid queen laughed.
"Your futile attempts are boring me," she hissed. "If these are the best warriors that the Great Deku Tree can send to his rescue then I feel sorry for the old fool. It's only a matter of time before I kill him. But first, I am going to kill you."
She reared up again, hissing and spitting.
"It's going to attack us!" Iku jingled frantically. "Do something!"
O-chan whirled around to where Link lay. He was slightly dazed but he got to his feet regardless.
"I'm...not going to...let you...kill him," he said hoarsely. "I won't..."
He stumbled away from the wall but he was badly hurt and he couldn't walk straight. O-chan caught him as he fell forwards but he pushed her away.
"Dammit," he said to her, "why don't you do something?"
O-chan didn't respond.
Where is it? She thought irritably. This is the easiest boss on the game but I need the damn slingshot if I want to kill it. I'm taking the next weapon we find. Link is useless with them.
"Will you let me go?!" Link yelled, his eyes darting between her and the approaching Gohma. "She's gonna get us and you're doing nothing but hold me back!"
"AHA!"
O-chan snatched the slingshot out from Link's bag and loaded a Deku seed into the sling. The she moved into Queen Gohma's path.
"Hey! What are you doing?" Link shouted, stumbling after her.
O-chan closed one eye and took aim. This was a lot harder than getting Link to do it but she didn't have much choice. She held it steady and waited and Gohma stopped in front of her.
The giant arachnid laughed again.
"Well, well. Looks like the little girl has decided to fight after all. But with just a puny seed? What good will that do?"
O-chan just frowned and pulled back the sling as the queen stretched up in front of her, her pincers crunching together, glistening in the dim illumination provided by the Deku Tree.
"Please let this work," she whispered as the large eye in front of her turned bright red and began revolving madly.
Her hand let go of the sling and the seed shot forwards. There was a clang somewhere in the distance. She had missed.
"No!" she cried as Gohma lunged forwards, pincers wide. She threw her arms up over her face though she knew it wouldn't be much good. Just as Gohma's pincers were about to clamp around her, she felt something crash into her, sending her flying to her left. Link had pushed her out the way just in time.
"You idiot!" he yelled. "Why did you go and stand in her way like that?!"
"I'm sorry! I was trying to hit her eye!" O-chan yelled, though her voice was somewhat shaky. "Her eye is the weak point!"
"She's right Link," Navi chimed, bobbing up in front of the kokiri. "You've got to hit her eye."
The kokiri was silent and turned slowly to face Gohma who was preparing to attack again.
"Her eye?"
"Yeah."
"Fine, then I'll go for her eye!"
He lunged, his sword aimed at Gohma's eye but the arachnid was ready and moved aside. Link was carried forwards by the force of his swing and crashed to the ground. He rolled over in time to see Gohma towering over him, her eye glowing red again. He reached for his sword but it was too far away. His face went white with terror.
"Farewell, little kokiri. It looks like your weak attempts to save the Deku Tree failed. Now he will die and it'll be all your fault," Gohma hissed maliciously. Her pincers opened, shining with thin threads of saliva and Link couldn't move.
"I'm sorry," he cried, screwing his eyes tightly shut, "I'm sorry Great Deku Tree!"
"LINK!"
This time, the seed was right on target and Gohma shrieked in pain as she fell. Her eye was revolving fast but she was dazed.
"Link, hit her!"
Link scrambled up and grabbed his sword. He swung it around and made contact with the soft fleshy eye. Gohma shrieked again. But she was no longer dazed. She got to her feet, scowled and retreated into the shadows.
O-chan hurried to Link.
"Are you alright?!"
"Yeah. Thanks."
"No time 'for thank you's' now, she's still here."
"But where?"
They both went silent. They could hear the scratching of Gohma as she moved and O-chan knew where she was. She had climbed up to the ceiling. As her eyes darted about, searching for the giant arachnid, she loaded another seed into the slingshot. She had been lucky enough to hit Gohma's eye before she could hurt Link but she wasn't sure about hitting Gohma whilst she was on the ceiling. She gulped and held up the slingshot.
"There she is!" Link shouted, pointing.
O-chan swung around to look at where Link was pointing. Sure enough, Gohma's giant red eye could be seen in the middle of the ceiling.
"What's she doing?" the kokiri asked.
O-chan shuddered as she heard the grunts from the Queen.
"She's preparing to lay eggs," she said, raising the slingshot. "Remember those little spider things that we encountered? The ones that fell from the ceiling?"
"Yes..."
"Well, that's what'll be in those eggs if we don't get her down."
"So, they'll be more large spiders for us to deal with, as well as Gohma?"
"Yup."
"Oh great! Fire the slingshot quickly!"
O-chan frowned and took aim. Please, she begged mentally. Please hit. She let the seed fly. It hit Gohma alright but it hit her armour and Gohma was too busy laying her eggs to even notice. The first egg fell and cracked on contact with the floor.
The Gohma larvae crawled out and turned on them. Link drew his sword.
"I'll deal with it. Try again!" he instructed and dived at the larvae.
Fumbling slightly, O-chan loaded a second seed into the slingshot. She took aim again. It missed again, but only just. It hit Gohma's pincers. The second egg fell and cracked.
"Damn," O-chan said angrily.
"You're not much good at this are you?" Iku said in her ear.
"Well, if you helped I might be able to hit her! Get up there so I have something to aim for!"
"What, the big red eye isn't enough?!" Iku huffed.
O-chan glared at her.
"Stop wasting time and go!"
"Alright, alright! Geez, keep you hair on," the golden fairy said and flittered up to where Gohma was preparing to lay her last egg.
O-chan loaded the third seed. Holding the slingshot high, she positioned her eye so it was in line with the seed and then with Iku's flitting golden orb.
"Hold still!" she shouted.
"Hurry up then!"
The golden orb stopped moving and hovered directly before Gohma's eye. O- chan frowned and let the seed fly. Iku darted aside.
BULLSEYE!
Gohma crashed to the floor in front of her. She drew her sword and slashed at the eye repeatedly. The giant arachnid's body jerked and she shrieked as the sword cut through her orb, blinding her.
O-chan raised her sword high and brought it crashing down for one final blow.
Blood splattered and the sword plunged deep into the heart of the eye. Gohma screamed in pain and reared up in a hope of shaking it out but it was no use. The blade had penetrated through to the centre of the curse and killed it. Thrashing blindly, the giant arachnid caught O-chan in the stomach and sent her flying hard into the wall before she fell to the floor.
The entire village above shook with the impact. The queen writhed in agony as the curse she carried burned away, taking her with it. In a matter of minutes she was dead and what remained of her body burnt away to ash.
Link stared at where his enemy had been. It was over. They had saved the Great Deku Tree. His face broke into a wide smile and tears fell heavily. He couldn't believe it! They had done it!
As he watched, a strange blue light opened up into the floor. Navi flew to it and jingled.
"Come on! Let's go!"
Link nodded and looked for O-chan.
"O-chan! O-chan, come on, we can go!"
He got no reply.
"O-chan?"
He spied the soft golden glow of Iku floating by the far wall.
"O-chan?"
He ran over, slipping slightly on the bloodstained floor.
"O-CHAN!"
His eyes widened in shock as he saw O-chan lying at the base of the wall, eyes closed. Kneeling beside her, Link shook her arm in an attempt to wake her up.
"O-chan, come on! Wake up!"
"She's hurt really bad. That last attack really got her."
Link scowled.
"DAMMIT O-CHAN! WAKE UP! YOU CAN'T DO THIS!! YOU DID SO WELL UP UNTIL NOW!! WAKE UP!"
Still no response.
Angrily, he looked around, searching for something, anything, that could wake O-chan up.
Something glittering in a corner caught his eye. Curious, he walked over and picked it up. It was a small pink heart that looked like it was made of crystal but it was so light that it couldn't have been.
"Navi? What is this thing?" he called to his fairy companion.
The blue fairy flittered over, and circled the object. The she jingled excitedly.
"It's a heart crystal! Oh, this is wonderful!"
"A heart crystal?"
"Yes! Oh, you are so lucky to have found a whole one. These are so rare! This can help O-chan regain her health as well as give her some more. It'll make her last longer in a fight!"
Link's face brightened.
"You mean we can wake her up?"
"Exactly!"
Link beamed and rushed back to O-chan. Iku looked with interest at what he was carrying and then her glow intensified as she realised what it was.
"Oh, we're so lucky!" she chimed as Link pressed the heart crystal against O-chan's chest and watched as it melted into her, vanishing from sight.
The three of them waited.
A small groan escaped O-chan's lips as her eyes opened and she sat up.
"Wha-what happened?"
"O-chan!"
Link threw his arms around her in joy. O-chan was caught off guard and fell backwards so that Link landed on top of her.
"O-chan! You're okay!" Iku and Navi sang happily.
"I'm so glad!" Link said, pulling away from her. "We did it O-chan, we saved the Great Deku Tree!"
O-chan stared at his happy face and she felt awful because she knew that they though they had killed Gohma, the Deku Tree had been past saving a long time ago. But she couldn't say that to Link so she smiled.
"Yeah, we did."
Link got up and pulled O-chan up with him.
"Come on," Navi said, flying to the blue light, followed by Iku.
The two kokiri headed after the two fairies, stepping into the centre of the light. As soon as they were inside, they felt their bodies become light as feathers as they were lifted off their feet. They floated in the middle of the light for a few seconds before it turned a blinding white and they vanished.
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Lady-obsessed: Gomen nasai! Gomen nasai!! I left it again. I had a really busy time over the last few months. I was in Canada, then I had a whole lot of coursework dumped on me from school and it's just been so hectic but I'm still sorry.Luckily its now the holidays so I should get some more done soon. I will really try not to keep you waiting again. If I do, slap me. You have my permission.