Disclaimer: Still applies.

Okay, the last chapter is still in the process of getting replaced. (as I type this) I had to re-space my paragraphs. So we'll see how this one turns out.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Chapter Two

Link's Journey

Link had never run this fast before in his life. He was sprinting as fast as he could towards the Deku Tree's Meadow, with Navi soaring through the air above his head and Mido at his heels. Navi had not told Link what sort of evil creature was threatening the Deku Tree and the boy was hoping against hope that he was not too late.

Finally, Link, Navi and Mido had arrived at the Meadow. Link ran up to the Deku Tree and placed his hand on the bark. Link quickly withdrew it; the Tree was ice cold.

"Great Deku Tree?" Link hollered. "What's wrong? Please answer me!" The mighty Tree remained silent. "He's so cold," Link said softly. "It's as if he's..."

"Mido? Link?"

Saria and the rest of the Kokiri had heard Link's repeated shouts to the Deku Tree and had come to see what was wrong.

Suddenly, as Link kept pleading to the Tree to wake up, the boy heard a wicked laugh from behind him. Link turned around slowly and saw, through the early morning mist, an enormous red eye appear. The eye loomed closer, growing larger, and then, when it was clear enough to see, Link observed that the eye was connected to a monster named Gohma, a parasitic arachnid.

"It's her, Link!" Navi yelled out. "She's the one who cursed the Deku Tree and made him like this!"

A low rustle told Link, Navi, Mido, Saria and all the other Kokiri children that Gohma was speaking.

"Stone..." she uttered. "Give me the Stone. Where is the Stone?"

Neither the Kokiri nor Link knew what the monster was talking about. They had never heard the Deku Tree tell about a Stone. Since they didn't present Gohma with the "Stone" she wanted, she quickly scurried inside the Deku Tree.

Link gripped his slingshot. "I'll get her!" He started running after the giant spider.

"Link?" Saria hollered after her friend.

"Wait," Mido said as Link ran past. "I'll go, too! Ta-dah!" He pulled out the Kokiri Sword, its hilt encrusted with a ruby. "I'll help the forest with this!"

Link didn't have time to argue; he really didn't want Mido to come with him. But to save the Deku Tree and defeat Gohma, Link figured he could use all the help he could get.

Once inside the Tree, Link could see spider webs everywhere. Gohma must have been inside the Great Deku Tree for some time.

"Listen, Mido," Link whispered. "Don't overdo yourself."

"Shut up!" he yelled angrily. "I'm not going to let you be the only one to show off to Saria!"

"What are you talking about?"

"I'll never let you have Saria!" Mido growled angrily at Link as he walked off. Suddenly he stopped and lifted his shoe up and examined it. He had just stepped into one of Gohma's webs. "Eww, what the hell is this stuff?"

Link's keen sense of hearing just heard a low rustle. "I heard something," he whispered to Navi.

The ten-year-old turned around and there was Gohma!

"The Stone..." she repeated. "Give me...the Stone!"

But she was not talking to Link. Link's blue eyes grew wide as he looked in horror at what the spider was doing.

"She's-she's...eating the Great Deku Tree...!" Link managed to say.

Gohma heard Link and reared her ugly head at him. She hissed at Link, "Should I curse you as well?"

A giant claw almost hit Link, had he not moved out of the way. As Link was rolling on the ground, he whipped out his slingshot. When he stopped rolling, he stood up in a fighter's stance, with his slingshot ready to fire.

"Return the Deku Tree to normal!" Link demanded as he fired the seed a Gohma. He was aiming for eye, as it seemed to be the weakest spot on her body; but Link's aim was slightly off and the bullet missed by an inch.

"Give me the Stone..." Gohma said again. "Where is it?"

"Damn! It's no good!" Link yelled as he ran away. "What can I do? And what the hell is this 'Stone' she keeps talking about?"

"Link!" Navi cried. "What about Mido?" Link turned around and saw that Mido was stuck in one of Gohma's webs! Gohma had also seen the redhead and was preparing to strike Mido. Link rushed in and pushed Mido out of harm's way just as the arachnid struck. "It's too dangerous for both of us!" Link hollered at Mido as he held his left arm where it had been cut, for one of Gohma's sharp, razor-like claws had made contact with Link's skin. The pain was great and blood trickled down Link's arm and on his right hand. "Shut up, idiot!" Mido yelled. BAM! A boulder fell right on the top of Link's head, dazing him. He was dizzy for a while and he stumbled backward. Gohma saw that Link was staggering and she loomed closer to him. Link took out his slingshot and fired another bullet. But because of his lightheadedness, he missed her eye by about two feet. Link shook his head and that re-awoke his senses. Link then tried to get a better angle by running around, but the boy couldn't move his legs... Link gasped; when the rock had hit him and he stumbled backward, he had walked into a web!

Link flailed his arms, but that only caused them to get stuck in the sticky mess! Gohma now saw that Link was semi-helpless; he could still move his arms a tiny bit, but it still caused Link a serious, if not fatal, disadvantage. The spider was now very close to Link. He took out another seed and aimed at Gohma's eye and fired. But she moved at the last second and caused him to miss.

"No!" Link pleaded for his life. "Stay away! Take this!" He fired another bullet. It, too, missed. Link reached in his bullet bag and fingered his last bullet. This one had to hit her eye. If it didn't, Link was done for.

Gohma was about to strike.

"Great Deku Tree!" Link cried out with a look of terror on his face.

Then, something else hit Gohma. It was a rock thrown by Mido!

"Hey! Take me!" Mido hollered and waved his arms. "Not that creep, Link!"

While Gohma's attention was on Mido, Navi fluttered to Link and pulled his bonds apart, freeing Link.

"Are you all right?" she asked.

"Yeah," he breathed. "Thanks, Navi!"

"Link, you have to destroy Gohma!" the fairy urged. "You only have one more bullet! You have to get her this time!"

"Don't worry." Link hollered to her as he ran to face Gohma. "I'll get her!"

Link jumped in front of Mido and took careful aim with his last shot. Just as Gohma was going to strike, Link let the bullet fly: It was a direct hit!

Gohma started shriveling up. After a few seconds, a small purple beetle was all that remained.

"So," Link said as he walked up to the bug. "This is Gohma's true
form?"

"Just a little bug, ain't it?" Mido said.

Once outside again, Link cried to the Deku Tree, "We defeated Gohma!"

"Well done, Link... and Mido," he said. "With your powers combined, you successfully broke the spell. But it seems my life won't go on, after all."

"What?" Link exclaimed. "That can't be! I fought with all my might! No, it can't have been for nothing!"

How could that be so? Link had defeated Gohma, the source of the curse, hadn't he? Why wouldn't the Deku Tree live?

"Link, you must listen well," the Tree said. "As I was being eaten away by Gohma, I understood her intentions. She was under a spell herself. The one using this frighteningly evil power is a black king of the desert. His desire is to conquer Hyrule and make the Triforce his own..."

"Triforce...?" Link questioned. "What is that?"

"The sacred triangles which keep the power descended from the gods of Hyrule from time immemorial..." the Tree explained. "They possess the power to create the world by reflecting the heart of the one who touched it. If a person with a pure heart touches it, it'll be a just world. If a person with an evil heart touches it, though, it'll be a world devoured and conquered by evil.

"A horrible crisis is drawing near for Hyrule. That person must not touch the Triforce! However," the Tree looked at Link as he spoke. "With your courage, you can destroy his ambition!"

Link sighed. The Deku Tree expected him to defeat this man, this "black king of the desert"?

"But...I can't fight such a scary guy!" Link protested. "I just can't fight! Why did you... choose me?"
"Link you can fight this man!" the Great Deku Tree insisted. "I want you to find out about the outside world and grow, Link. Now, got to the kingdom of Hyrule. There, you will meet the Princess who was chosen by the gods... Give this Stone to her. Take this, the Kokiri Emerald; the Stone that that man wanted so much that he would curse me for it!"

A great green light engulfed everything as soon as the Deku Tree finished. Link used his non-injured arm to shield his eyes. When the light subsided, Link looked up and saw a beautiful gem, and emerald. He held out his hands and the jewel gently cascaded down into them.

"I...I believe in you Link," the Tree said weakly. "Navi, assist Link, that is what I ask of you..."

Navi nodded her head. Then, a tear rolled down her tiny, soft cheek.

"Link," the Tree spoke to him once more. "It's best if you make a shield from my remains... It should protect you from evil in your path. Please...be careful, Link." The Deku Tree was fading fast, and Link knew it. "The fate of Hyrule rests on your shoulders..."

Then, the Great Deku, Guardian of the Kokiri Forest, passed away.

After a moment's silence, Link turned to Mido, and pointing at the Kokiri Sword, said, "Can I borrow that sword?"

Without waiting for a response, Link grabbed the sword from Mido's hand and went up to the dead Deku Tree. He used the sword to slice off a shield- size piece of bark; Link would use that as a shield, just as the Deku Tree told him to do.

Link stood proud and tall, the Kokiri Sword in his left hand and his new Deku Shield in his right. Navi fluttered above his head.

"Let's go, Navi!" Link said boldly.

"Go?" Mido interrupted. "Go where?"

"I want to see the outside world, Mido," Link reasoned. No matter how big, or what's out there, I want to see it!"

Link ran out towards the exit and the Kokiri kids followed him.

Link looked back at the Kokiri and said, "After I've passed along the Emerald, I'll return."

Link took one last look at his home. He might not be able to return for a long time; who knows what danger lurks out in the world?

As he started running towards the exit, Link heard Mido shout, "Come back, now? Do you hear me? Come back!"

Link was almost across the bridge between the Kokiri Forest and Hyrule when a voice said softly, "You're going, aren't you?"

The kind voice belonged to Saria. She was standing there, leaning against the ropes that held the bridge.

Link stopped, dead in his tracks, and turned around. "Saria... I've always known that I was different from the other Kokiri," he said to her. "But, this forest is my home! I will come back! I promise!"

"Yep!" Saria smiled. Then she held out an egg-looking instrument. She gestured Link to take it. "I'm giving you this ocarina." Link took the Fairy Ocarina from Saria's hands. "Play it sometimes and think of the forest, okay?"

Link was scared. But he wouldn't back down now; Saria and the Great Deku Tree were counting on him. And so was this Princess he had to meet... Link backed away from Saria, then turned around and broke into a sprint, before he could stop himself.

Once out of the forest and on the grassy plains of Hyrule Field, Link gasped. This place was huge! And to think, he and all the other Kokiri were living right next door to this beautiful place!

Link looked up at the sky and saw turrets printed against the clouds.

That's got to be the Castle where the Princess is! Link thought.

Link took off at a run. Meanwhile, an owl swooped down overhead. Because of the whistling wind in Link's long, pointy ears, he did not hear the bird's beating wings.

So it seems the time has come for that child to depart on his journey has arrived... the owl thought. Hyrule's future depends upon a single boy. How will it end?

In the name of the Deku Tree, I will watch over you...