Little Link: Why on EARTH are you writing this?
Ed: Because I've had this idea rolling about in my head ever since we learned that my dog is allergic to grass.
Little Link: Grass? Is that possible?
Ed: Apparently so... Anyway, here's the first chapter. In case ya can't tell, Link's gonna go through his ENTIRE quest with a puppy at his heels. W00t. A puppy with issues.
Little Link: Not w00t. Uber Spoonz, who often refers to herself as Ed, doesn't own The Legend of Zelda."
Ed: However, I DO own Murphy. I don't his laws, though.
Little Link: I thought Murphy was female in this.
Ed: She is.
Little Link: ...?

Chapter 1: Let's Go See the Deku Tree!

"Hey! Link! Wake up!" came an irritatingly cheerful voice. I opened my eyes lazily to the sound of Murphy barking and growling like mad. She was trying to snatch a fairy out of the air. Good old Murphy, my reliable little puppy. I saved her when she wandered into the forest, just a month or two before my nightmares about some evil dude on a horse started. For a long time I gave no thought to her name. Over time, though, it became evident that trouble followed her wherever she went. So I called her Murphy after that old proverb: Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong.

I digress. There was this fairy bobbing over my head, saying something about being summoned by the Deku Tree and its name being Navi. Judging by it's high voice, I assumed it was female, that is, if fairies have gender. Murphy was really giving her the full treatment with the growling and the barking and the raised hair and the gnashing fangs and the clawing… claws. I whistled sharply, calling the enraged pup to my heel. Navi sighed in relief.

"You ought to keep that mongrel on a leash!" she advised harshly. I scowled at the glowing orb. We had only just met and were already on bad terms with one another. Murphy strikes again. The fairy went on to explain why she was waking me up and disturbing my dog like that, and she said that I was supposed to visit the Deku Tree.

Talk about an honor! Me? The Great Deku Tree? I could hardly believe it! I was just a fairyless Kokiri loser, but the guardian spirit of the entire forest wanted to talk to me. I patted my side, indicating for Murphy to follow me. I climbed down the small ladder outside my door carefully. Murphy, however, took a flying leap and crashed head-on into a nearby stone. I sighed.

"Come on, ya mutt," I admonished affectionately, hoisting the bleeding pup into a standing position. She shook herself violently, then barked once and scurried along behind me. I chuckled at the sight of her loping through the weeds and grasses. Regardless of the trouble she gave me, she was a good dog.

Mido was standing in front of the entrance to the Deku Tree's resting place. "Get out o' here, Fairyless!" the redheaded boy taunted, pushing me backwards a step or two. "The Deku Tree desires no audience with the likes of you!"

The yelling was a bad idea, but the shove just snapped it. Murphy barred her fangs and snapped at Mido. He boy screamed an eerily high-pitched scream and ran away. "Hey, Link!" Navi interrupted. "You should go see the Great Deku Tree!"

I rolled my eyes. "Duh, Navi. You already told me," I reminded. Murphy looked like she wanted to pee on the glowing fairy, if it wasn't so high up. Murphy was deathly afraid of heights… and thunder, and lightning, and the dark, and shadows, and reflections, and leaves, and squirrels, and other dogs, and… I could go on and on. Like I said, Murphy had a lot of issues.

Anyway, with Mido out of the way, I proceeded to see the Great Deku Tree. He said a whole lot of nothing. During his long, boring, almost Shakespearean speech, Murphy and I lolled around the meadow-ish place getting mauled by Deku Babas. Well, Murphy was getting mauled. I was just kinda watching. I swear, the dog'll live through anything.

"Enter, Link, and thou too, Navi!" the Deku Tree concluded. I groaned in exasperation. I had to drag that fairy along with me? Between tuning out that annoying light bulb and watching out for Murphy, it seemed I had my little venture cut out for me. Regardless, I put on a brave face an marched into the Deku Tree, only to be tripped by Murphy and fall flat on my face.

I won't lie. That scar was from me. Luckily, it healed.

Ed: So ends the first chapter of "Dog Days".
Little Link: I feel this is going to give my video game self a lot of trouble...
Ed: Well DUH.
Little Link: Ed says that she's in the middle of another contest if you wanna give it a try. It's not art this time, so check it out. Details are in her profile, and it ends December 1st.
Ed: Review if you want more! It should start getting interesting once they leave the forest and learn that Murphy is allergic to grass!
Little Link: Murphy's based offa Ed's own pooch...
Ed: Yeah, well... Also, if you want your review replied to specifically, say so in the review itself and I'll use ffnet's new 'reply' function. Otherwise I'll just spill my heart's gratitude many times over for your reviews. n.n