Author's Note: Why is Link so silly? Because it's fun. Also it makes sense for a boy raised by a tree in a secluded forest to be sort of carefree.
Chapter 3: The Great Deku Tree
Link marched triumphantly up to Mido.
"What're you so smug about?" Mido asked. "I already said, if you want to see the Great Deku Tree, or your fairy, you gotta bring back a sword and shield! Wait..." Mido had noticed the equipment on Link's back. "What's...? Oh, you have a Deku Shield... And what's THAT! Is that the Kokiri Sword!"
"Yup," Link answered. "I owe it all to you," he added, handing the map to Mido.
"That's breaking and entering!"
"Big deal. I could charge you with thievery, abuse, torture, blackmail, threats, and taxes."
"Hm. Haven't we been busy. I thought you'd just give up and go home, and after I had my fun with your fairy, I'd go see the Great Deku Tree. You sure are a determined little booger aren't ya?"
Link unsheathed his sword, and pointed it at Mido. "You don't mess with my fairy. Give. Me. Navi."
Mido threw up his hands, and Navi was released. "GOOD GRIEF! Man, since when did you start actin' all tough!"
"You've made me mad, Mido. Apologize."
"What!" Link waved his sword a little. "Okay, okay," Mido agreed. "I'm sorry, Link..."
"Why're you apologizing to me? Apologize to Navi."
"I'm sorry, Navi..."
"There, now let us through."
"Fine," Mido said, stepping aside. "Man, the Kokiri Sword! Well, even with all that stuff, a wimp is still a wimp, huh? I, the great Mido, will never accept you as one of us!"
Link began stepping past Mido, and he pointed his sword at him after Mido's last remark. Mido stepped back a little.
"How'd you get to be the favorite of Saria and the Great Deku Tree? Huh!" Mido grumbled. By this time, Link and Navi were heading down the path to the Great Deku Tree's meadow.
"Thanks, Link," Navi said.
"Ah, it was nothing," Link said. "Besides, you said I might need a sword yourself."
"Yeah, but I also said we didn't have the time. What took you so long? You were gone almost two hours!"
"Sorry. That sword was hard to find. Plus, I stuck around and trained for a little bit. Swords are actually pretty hard to use!"
"Well, if the Great Deku Tree isn't mad that I took so long, he'll be glad you got that sword!"
"Yeah, I hope so." Link sheathed his sword again.
Suddenly, a plant jumped out of the ground and snapped at Link. Link dodged, but fell on the ground.
"That's a Deku Baba!" Navi informed. "Though it looks withered, it will hurt you if you touch it!"
"No kidding!" Link said. He pulled himself onto his arms and backed away from the plant. Another one sprouted behind Link. It snapped at him, but he rolled away. Unfortunately, he rolled right to a third one. It bit him in the left arm. "OW!" Link cried. He rolled out of the circle of killer plants and stood up. Reaching back with his right hand, he pulled out the Kokiri Sword. Over his left arm he wore the Deku Shield. Suddenly, he looked like a hero.
A cry of anger left his lips as he jumped in the air and sliced at the closest Baba. It was somewhat weak and misguided, but sliced off the plant's toothed bud on top. Jumping to the side, he sliced the next one in half. He ran toward the third one. As it lunged for him, he dove and rolled under. Getting up and turning around, he took the sword in both hands, and batted the head off the third plant.
"Whoa," Navi said. "You, uh... started out clumsy, but came out alright. By the way, you call that a swing? Your one-handed strike is the weakest thing I've ever seen!"
"This coming from a fairy..." Link returned.
"Hey! Are you saying I'm weak!"
"That's right! I could beat you up with both hands tied behind my back!" Link challenged.
"Oh yeah!" Navi charged at Link. Link charged in return. Just as they got close they stopped and started laughing. "Anyway," Navi said, "you did good just now."
As she finished, behind them, the Deku Babas sprouted again. Both of them screamed and ran further down the path, until they reached the meadow. At the entrance, Link stopped as he saw the Great Deku Tree.
Even though Link saw him once a year, the Great Deku Tree was an incredible sight. The tree was thicker than Link's house doubled. A great, old, wise looking face covered most of the front of the trunk. Bushy eyebrows and a refined moustache were formed from leaves. A large knot was his nose. The entire meadow, about have the size of the Kokiri Village, was overshadowed by the leaves that hung nobly from his thick branches.
"Great Deku Tree..." Navi said. "I'm back!"
As he spoke, in a deep, gentle voice that seemed oppressed by fatigue and illness, his wooden lips quietly creaked when they moved. He said, "Oh... Navi... Thou hast returned..."
"Sorry we took so long," Navi apologized.
"No need..." the Deku Tree said. "You did just as I asked... Link... Welcome..."
"H-hi," Link stuttered. "I-I'm Lin... How do you know my name?"
"I know the names off all the children of the forest, Link... though I see thee only once a year at the Festival of Fairies... But especially, above all other children, I know thy name..."
"Wh-why havest thou su-summoned me?" Link asked.
"Oh, Link... No need is there for you to try to talk like me... Just be yourself and listen... Listen carefully to what I, the Deku Tree, am about to tell thee..."
Link took a seat in front of the great, old tree and prepared to hear his words.
"Thy slumber these past moons must have been restless, and full of nightmares..."An image of the dark horseman entered Link's head.
"How did you...?" Link started, but Navi hushed him.
"As the servants of evil gain strength," the Deku Tree continued, "a vile climate pervades the land and causes nightmares to those sensitive to it... Verily thou hast felt it... Link... The time has come to test thy courage..."
"A test...?"
"I have been cursed... I need you to break the curse with your wisdom and courage. Dost thou have courage enough to undertake this task?"
Link's heart began beating hard. He was now thankful to Mido, of all people, for forcing him to equip himself. "I... I do not know about courage and wisdom, Great Deku Tree," Link said slowly. "But if you are truly cursed, what else can I do, as your child, except aid you, and relieve you of your pain."
"Those words... Link, thou hast moved me with your words of courage... Now then, enter, brave Link, and thou too, Navi... Navi the fairy... Thou must aid Link... And Link... When Navi speaks, listen well to her words of wisdom..." The Deku Tree opened his mouth wide enough for Link to enter, and so he did, Navi flying right behind.
Inside, they stood in a large column of a room. In the middle was a spider web hanging over a large hole. Link walked over to it.
"Look, look, Link!" Navi said. "You can see down below this web!" Peering down, they saw a long drop into water. Suddenly, three Deku Babas sprouted in the tree around the web. "Lookout!" Navi warned. "Hit them when they lunge at you, and they'll stand upright!"
Link took out his sword in both hands. As all the plants thrusted their heads at him, snapping, he swung with all his might, spinning himself in a circle. The sword struck all three of them, popping two Babas' heads off and causing the other to retreat into an upright position. Link jumped at the plant and chopped its stalk. "Stupid weeds," Link said.
"Look at this wall!" Navi said, hovering around a side of the trunk. "The vines growing on it give it a rough surface... Maybe you can climb it, Link!"
Link jumped and grabbed a vine just before the plants sprouted up again. Climbing the vine, he reached up to an opening in the trunk that looked as though something large had forced entry. The hole led Link out to a branch.
"Link..." the great tree bellowed. "Is that you up there?"
"Yes, Great Deku Tree," Link responded.
"Link... I had Navi hide a useful tool up in my branches... Do you see it?"
Link looked around him. All he saw were branches. Great, big branches thick enough to walk on broke into branches as thick as Link's body, which separated into arm-thick branches, which branched into fingers, all covered in leaves."
"No. No, I don't see it."
"I know where it is," Navi said. She flew off for a moment, and then returned with a slingshot made from the Deku Tree's branches. "This is the Fairy Slingshot!" she informed Link. "You can use it to shoot things that are far away. Also, here's a bullet bag, made from furs. It's filled up with Deku Seeds that you can shoot. Of course, if you run out you can just use rocks!"
"Cool!" Link said. "Thank you, Great Deku Tree," Link called. "Thank you, too, Navi." He tucked the slingshot in his belt and tied the bullet bag to his belt.
Returning to the inside of the Deku Tree, Navi noticed another vine for Link to climb nearby. As he started to climb, he looked up and saw a spider as big as himself. The spider saw him, too. "Uaaagghhh!" Link cried. He started climbing back down the vine. The spider began climbing down after him.
"That's a Big Skulltula!" Navi said. "Its soft belly is its weak point!"
The spider pounced down at him, dangling from a web. Link swung from the vine and jumped into the opening he had been standing in. The Skulltula started falling past him. Link quickly pulled out his slingshot with his right hand and shot the creature on its underside. The seed penetrated the soft skin and killed the monster. It fell off its web and landed on one of the Deku Babas below, crushing it.
Link stared at the web in front of him and pondered for a moment. "What an adventure!" he said.
"Yeah, that was one lucky shot!" Navi said. "Good job!"
"I bet I could climb this web..." he said, jumping for it.
"Link! No!" Navi cried, but too late. As he grabbed the vine it snapped and he fell. All the way down to the floor, finally he landed, right on the center of the web over the hole. It snapped as he landed, and he fell through the hole. All this time he was screaming. SPLASH! He landed in the water below. Navi flew down after him.
Climbing out of the water, he brushed limp, wet webbing off of him. "Well, that's my bath for today!" he joked.
"Are you out of your mind!" Navi exclaimed.
"That was pretty fun! Man, why didn't that web hold my weight?"
"Because you're too heavy!"
"Well that gigoonda-spider stayed on pretty well."
"That's different. Spiders are built tough without weighing a whole lot. Plus, they keep from weighing down too much. That's why they're so quiet."
"Oh. I didn't know that."
"What a shame. You know just when you start to seem cool, you go and do something like that. I think the Great Deku Tree only thought he saw courage in you, when actually you're just stupid!"
"That's not nice, Navi. Why would you say that about someone who saved your life?"
"You're right. I'm sorry," she said. "You are very brave for a little boy. That speech you made for the Deku Tree was outstanding."
"Really, you think so? I was afraid it sounded kind of corny."
"Well, yeah. But still..."
"Man, these clothes will take forever to dry out!" Link wrung out the tails of his tunic. They laughed a little, but turned silent when they looked around.
The room they were now in was cold, dark, and damp. The floor was very uneven, higher in the corners, and the northern end of the room was elevated above everything else, with a sharp drop. Link couldn't tell what was up there. Water filled the room, some spots were five feet deep. There were a few torches lit inside, and Link couldn't help but wonder where they came from and who lit them. But the thing that really got them was the vast presence of spiders in the room. Normal-sized spiders mostly, but a couple of Big Skulltulas. Most were still asleep, but one was awake and was creeping toward them.
"What do I do, Navi?" Link whispered, clearly terrified. "I can't reach his belly!"
"I don't know! I don't see any other weaknesses!"
"Great!" The beast charged forward, when Link got a plan. Unsheathing his sword and gripping his shield, he awaited the monster. When it reached Link, it attempted to catch him with its pincers. Link jumped out of the way and swiped its face with his sword, scraping all of its many eyes.
It roared in pain, waking all the other Skulltulas, then began going crazy, blindly charging around. All the other spiders stared at Link with their many eyes, then charged at him. Link had only one opening: a web-covered passage. He only hoped he could outrun the monsters until he could lose them. Running right into the web, he slashed it apart with his sword, and kept going. He entered a room with a small patch of greenery in the middle. If Link hadn't been running for his life, he would've found it inviting and somewhat calming amidst the threat. Suddenly, as Link entered the room, a wooden wall dropped in the passageway, crushing the lead Skulltula and blocking off all the others. Link turned to look, and found the dead spider hideous.
"The Deku Tree can see and feel some of what is happening!" Navi said.
"Ow!" Link said. Some sort of rock had just knocked him in the back of the head. He turned around, and all he saw was the patch of grass growing in the floor.
All of a sudden, a little plant creature popped out and spat a rock at Link. "Go away!" it shouted. Link jumped out of the way.
"That's a Deku Scrub!" Navi said. "It will hide in the grass if you get close to it! Bounce the rocks it spits back at it!"
Link stood up and pulled out his shield. "Isn't he a cutey?" he said sarcastically. The scrub shot another rock, and Link ducked behind his shield. The rock hit the shield and bounced off, landing on the ground. The scrub left the grass and went around picking up rocks with its barrel-like mouth. Link stood, pulled out his sword, and chased the little guy, but it got back to the grass. Link started to hack at the grass. "How 'bout some diced salad!" he said angrily. "Stupid little thing!" He stopped for a moment and the scrub popped out. It spat a rock at Link's face, knocking him back on his bottom.
Link scooted back toward the wall. The Deku Scrub spat another rock, and Link dove forward, catching the rock on his shield. The rock bounced up into the air. The scrub spat another rock in Link's face, just as the last rock fell down and hit it in the head. The scrub fell down, unconscious. Or so Link had hoped.
Link got up and tapped the Deku Scrub's head with his boot. It hopped up and got on its knees. "Please forgive me master! I'll never do it again!" it pleaded in a high-pitched voice. "If I give you a clue will you let me go?"
"A clue? What kind of clue?" Link asked.
"You will never beat my brothers up ahead, unless you punish them in the proper order."
"Your brothers? You mean there's more of you scrubs? Tell me," Link decided.
"The order is... 2, 3, 1... Twenty-three is number one! Do you think I'm a traitor for telling you?"
"Yeah, but you traded to the right team!"
"Uh-oh! My brothers'll kill me! Queenie'll kill me!"
"Queenie?" Link inquired, but the scrub dropped into the grass and disappeared. "Who's Queenie?"