Chapter Two – The Great Deku Tree
Link walked through the corridor leading to the Great Deku Tree's Grove and suddenly a dark foreboding feeling settled upon him. He paused and looked around. The path looked no different than the rest of the forest, but something wasn't quite right. He took another step around the corner and gasped. Along the road were four purple bulbs. Link looked at them closely and started to approach when Navi shot out of his hat and yelled.
"Link, wait!"
The young blond stopped and looked at her. "What is it?"
"It's a Deku Baba. Hit it when it lunges at you, and it will stand upright. Cut it quickly to get a Deku Stick! Be careful Link!"
Link nodded and took a few more steps forward. The closest bulb suddenly twitched and grew till it towered over him. He felt a small shiver run down his spine, but he couldn't go back now; the Great Deku Tree was waiting for him. The creature lunged and Link, remembering his training session with Aldon, dodged to the side and quickly chopped at it with his sword. The creature shrieked as the large bulb head was separated from the body and then it lay still. Link stared at the purplish sap that leaked from the creature and he tried his best not to gag.
"Take the stick Link! We can use it later!" Navi called.
Link swallowed and reached forward. The stick was covered in the purplish goo and Link felt those nuts begin to resurface. He wiped it off on the grass and decided to use it as a walking stick. When he came closer to the other three, he was surprised. These ones didn't lunge like the first. They merely sat there and chattered their mouths. When Navi had no advice to give him about these creatures, he simply took out his sword and chopped them down. However, since these ones had not yet risen, there was no stick left behind. Instead, Link found several small nuts embedded inside the bulbs.
"Navi, what are these?" Link asked, picking up the slimy shell.
"Those are Deku Nuts. You can stun you're enemies if you throw them." She explained.
Link smiled. "Wow, these will come in handy!" He exclaimed and filled his pockets with them.
"Hurry Link, the Great Deku Tree is waiting!" Navi urged.
Link nodded and continued on, using his new walking stick to help him around corners. Finally he emerged into the clearing. The Great Deku Tree loomed out of the center and suddenly Link found it difficult to breath. He had never actually come face to face with his caretaker before. It was a little intimidating.
"Oh…" He moaned. His ancient eyes focused on the small boy and fairy and he seemed to smile. "Navi…Thou hast returned…"
"Yes I have, Great Deku Tree, and I brought Link!" The tiny fairy exclaimed proudly.
Link moved forward and bowed respectfully.
"Link…" The great booming voice sounded sad and forced. "Welcome…Listen carefully to what I, the Deku Tree, am about to tell thee…"
Link nodded and sat down on the edge of the path to listen. The tree took a mighty breath and continued on in an urgent whisper.
"Thy slumber these past moons must have been restless, and full of nightmares…"
Link fidgeted a little, slightly embarrassed at his nightmares, but he nodded just the same.
"As the servants of evil gain strength, a vile climate pervades the land and causes nightmares to those sensitive to it. Verily, thou hast felt it…"
Link nodded, understanding dawning on him. He could sense the evil in the world? How could that be?
"Link…" The great voice seemed to pause to regain strength. "The time has come to test thy courage…"
Link stood up and nodded bravely. He still wasn't sure what the Great Deku Tree was talking about, but he was ready to do anything he could to help.
"Link…I have been cursed."
Link's eyes widened and he gasped.
"I need you to break the curse with you're wisdom and courage. Dost thou have courage enough to undertake this task?"
Link felt that same cold shiver run down his spine. He stepped forward and nodded. "Yes, I do Great Deku Tree."
The great tree seemed to smile weakly. "Then enter, brave Link, and thou too, Navi…" A loud rumbling echoed through the grove and Link watched as a small knot in the foot of the tree opened up. "Navi the fairy…Thou must aid Link…and Link…when Navi speaks, listen well to her words of wisdom."
Link nodded and glanced at his fairy companion with concerned eyes. Without another word, Link ran forward and into the Great Deku Tree. The passage closed behind him and he and Navi were left alone in the parapets of the giant tree. The room was large and seemed very bare. Link walked carefully around and frowned.
"This doesn't look good, Navi. Maybe the Great Deku Tree is sicker than he wants to admit." Link whispered.
Navi nodded sadly. Then let's hurry and help him."
Link nodded and looked around. The room was full of several deku baba's, all of which wanted to have a small blond boy for lunch. Link rolled his eyes at them and passed them by, there was no need in dispatching something that couldn't reach him. The center of the room was covered with spider webs so Link moved closer to investigate. He bent over and looked down.
"Look, look, Link! You can see down below this web into another room!" Navi cried.
Link nodded and tried to make out what was below but all he could see was what appeared to be water. He shrugged and stood up again. He walked close to the outer wall when he heard Navi shout.
"Link! Look at this wall! The vines growing on it give it a rough surface... Maybe you can climb it, Link!"
Link walked closer to the wall and ran his fingers over it. "Hmm, good idea Navi. I'll try it."
He reached forward and took hold of the vines with his hands. The vines were rough and some even had thorns, Link made a mental note to be very careful. He pulled himself up and hooked his feet into the vines. He remained still for a moment, testing to see if the vines would hold him. Slowly, he made his way up the vines and to the top of the wooden platform. He smiled to himself. Maybe this wouldn't be so hard after all. He walked carefully around the ledge until he came to a door. Opening it slowly he walked into the oval shaped room. Suddenly the door slammed shut behind him and bars closed over it. He was trapped. Turning back around, Link saw a small creature pop up in the center of the room.
"Navi, what's that!" He pointed as the creature glared at him.
"It's a Deku Scrub! It will hide in the grass if you get close to it. Bounce the nuts it spits back at it!"
Link nodded and pulled his shield out. The creature spit a large nut his way. He gasped and covered his head with the shield. He heard a loud thud and looked up. The nut had bounced off of his shield and ricocheted into the wall. The creature watched it and seemed to get even more irritated. It spit three more nuts at Link, but the blond was ready now. He stood up and held his shield even. The first nut hit and went back, breaking the second, but the third hit with out resistance and went flying back at the scrub. It hit the creature square in the face and it squealed. Link ran to it and held his sword at its small throat.
"Ow-ow-ow! Forgive me, master!" It cried. It looked up at Link with small yellow eyes and pleaded with him. "If I give you a clue, will you let me go?"
Link thought about it. He decided that there was no need for violence if he could avoid it, so he nodded. The scrub cleared its throat and spoke clearly. "When you jump off a high cliff, you should try rolling on the ground when you land so you won't get hurt from the fall.
I can't guarantee it will work, though, if the cliff is really, really high, heh heh! Well, try it if you are feeling bold! Wah ha hah!" He laughed and danced away, disappearing back into its hole.
Link glared at it. What kind of advice was that? He rolled his eyes and walked to the opposite door. He stepped through the door and looked around the new room. In the center was a floating platform that would allow him to jump across the gap to where a chest was waiting in the center of the opposite ledge. Link chuckled. This would be easy. He got a running start and jumped onto the center platform, landing on it easily. He grinned and began to walk to the other side when the platform began to shake. He could feel it falling so he ran and quickly jumped to the other side. A large crash behind him told him that the platform had fallen, landing in several small pieces. He shrugged and moved towards the chest. He pushed it open and peered inside.
"Ooo look!" Navi flew out of Link's hat and hovered over the item in the bottom. "Link you found the Fairy Slingshot!" She declared. Link reached down and pulled the device out, looking at it carefully.
"A slingshot? Really?"
Navi nodded excitedly. "Now you can attack enemies from a distance! This should help us out."
Link smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I'll bet." He glanced back into the chest and saw something else. "Hey, what's this?" He reached down and pulled out several small seeds.
"Oh…" Navi looked at them. "They're Deku seeds. You can use them as ammo for you're slingshot."
"Oh." Link smiled and pocketed them. He turned around and looked over the ledge at the remains of the large platform. He sighed and looked back at the door he came in and gasped. There were no vines to get back up to the door. He was trapped.
"Ahh! Navi, what do I do!" He panicked.
"I don't know!" Navi said and then suddenly she gasped and flew over to the door. She began to glow green and Link stared at her.
"Navi, what are you…" He trailed off when he realized what she was hovering over. "A ladder!" He exclaimed.
"But it's stuck!" Navi called.
"Hmm…" Link looked around and then an idea came to him. He could use his new slingshot! He held it up and looked at it carefully. If he could aim it just right, maybe he could shake the ladder enough so it would fall. He gently placed a deku seed in the strap and pulled it back. He took aim let the seed fly. It flew steadily and hit the ladder perfectly. It jiggled and gave way, falling to the floor. Link smiled and jumped down from the ledge to claim his prize.
"Wow Link!" Navi said, flying back down to him. "You're good with that!"
Link chuckled. "Thanks. I used to have one that I made a long time ago but it broke. This one is a lot better though." He shoved the slingshot into his pack and climbed up the ladder and ran back out of the door. With his new weapon in hand, the enemies in the Deku Tree didn't stand a chance. Link was able to take them out before anyone even saw him. As he traveled, Navi taught him the strengths and weaknesses of his enemies and he quickly learned never to anger a skulltula who is crawling on the same vine as you.
Although, there was one enemy that Navi couldn't tell Link about. It resembled a skulltula, but was different. It had a gold casing on its back and it didn't seem to want to harm Link, unlike the others. When Link killed the creature, a small skull-like token fell to the ground. Link and Navi exchanged glances before Link pocketed it, hoping it would make more since later. Along the way, Link came across three more of these skulltula's and along with them came three more tokens. He was still very puzzled by this mystery and made a mental note to ask the Great Deku Tree about it once he had completed his mission.
The tasks Link found himself facing were far more difficult than anything he had ever faced in the past. At times, he wasn't sure he would be able to continue, but Navi continued to encourage him to move forward.
"How will we get down?" Link asked, staring into another net of webbing leading deeper into the tree roots. "There's nothing to jump off of and make it break…" He said.
Looking around, Link found himself stuck. With nothing but the remains of Deku baba's around and a lot of water, how was he ever going to get down to the next chamber? He tried cutting the web with his sword but it only seemed to bounce back. His eye caught the flickering light in the corner of the room and he smiled. He was able to continue through other web-covered obstacles by lighting them on fire. He picked up a deku stick and ran across the room. He lit the stick carefully and then ran as quickly as he could back to the webbing. Bending over carefully, he dropped the torch down onto the web. It instantly caught fire and burned in a matter of seconds. Link smiled at his conquest and looked at Navi, who was floating over his shoulder.
"Let's go, Link!" She said.
Link nodded and jumped down into the hole. It was much deeper than he anticipated and he couldn't help but shout as he fell into a pond of water. He resurfaced, coughing and spluttering. He swam to the shore and shook his head.
"Ow…" he said rubbing his head, which happened to hit first. He turned around and looked at the room before him. He could see three deku scrubs just waiting for him to get close enough to fire. He pulled his shield out but then paused.
"Wait…what did that scrub say earlier? Something about his brothers?" Link tried to remember. There was a code he was supposed to administer. But what was it? "2…2…Oh it started with a two." Link tried to think. "Ahh!" He raised a finger into the air. "Twenty-three is number one! I've got it!" He smiled and ran forward, dispatching the deku scrubs in the order of 2, 3, and then 1. When he finished the last one, it screamed at him.
"How did you know our secret!" It shrieked. "How irritating! It's so annoying that I'm going to reveal the secret of Queen Gohma to you!"
Queen Gohma…Link thought.
"In order to administer the coup de grace to Queen Gohma, strike with your sword while she's stunned. Oh, Queenie... Sorry about that!" It ran off, leaving Link even more confused than before.
"While she's stunned…" He repeated carefully.
"Link, the deku nuts!" Navi exclaimed.
"Ahh, of course." Link smiled and pulled out his small bag. He counted the nuts and frowned. "Hmm…I only have four."
"We can do it Link!" Navi encouraged and Link nodded.
"Yeah…okay, here goes." Link walked inside of the lair and again he felt that all too familiar chill. The room was very dark and the ground was covered in some kind of mist. "I can't see anything…" he whispered.
Suddenly, a large creature dropped down from the ceiling. Link screamed and jumped back. Queen Gohma, in all her glory, shrieked and glared at Link. The small blond had never seen anything more hideous in his life. The creature had two large claw-like legs and moved like a skulltula with one large yellow eye staring right at him. The creature charged and Link felt momentarily stunned with fear. He fumbled through his pockets until he found a nut and he threw it as hard as he could at the creature. It smacked her hard in the eye and she fell. Link pushed himself up and unsheathed his sword. He ran forward and slashed at the tender eye. Green blood splashed from her wounds and she shrieked and retreated to the ceiling. Link watched her as she swayed above him. Suddenly her tail opened up and three small eggs fell to the ground. Link gasped when he realized what they were. He ran forward, hoping to crush them before they could hatch, but he was too late. Three Gohma babies broke free of their encasement and ran charging at Link. He fought them back with his sword, not wanting to waste what few deku nuts he had on them. Her majesty seemed to laugh as she fell to the floor again. Link glared and, while fighting off the babies with one hand, he threw another nut with the other. It hit her and she was again stunned. Link forcibly pushed the babies away from him and ran at the queen he slashed again and again and again until, with a final thrust, she fell in a pile of green ooze. The babies, fearful for their lives, fled the tree and Link, leaving the room deathly silent. Link fell to his knees in the mist, panting. He was tired and sore and was vastly in need of a rest. His eyelids felt heavy and before he could stop himself, they closed and he fell to the floor.
Well, there's chapter two! Sorry this took so long, I was having problems getting the dumb computer to actually work kicks computer Oh well. I hope you all enjoy it and I'll get the next chapter out soon. The next chapter is: Goodbye Old Friends; Hellow New World.