The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Pkmnacezelda

~ยบ~

He sheathes his sword.

He had just saved someone he didn't know of a group of red creatures. He remembered they were called Bokoblins.

And the one he had saved was... well... A rock. Or maybe the correct term was goron, a race he studied when they were young. He never imagined he'd see one.

"Whew! Thanks for jumping in there to rescue me, bud!" Link smiles and wipes the sweat falling from his forehead with his forearm.

"Your welcome." He chuckles.

"Just who were those red pests? I did not expect to run into a pack of them in this peaceful forest."

"I dunno-"

"Same goes for you!" The goron spats, seemingly angry.

"Huh? Why do you say that?" Link raises an eyesbrow while the creature before him crosses his arms.

"This is the second time I've bumped into one of your kind today. I tell you, all sorts of weird things are going on lately." Link sighs. So the goron had met Zelda. Maybe he could help him. "I owe you big for taking care of those guys, so let me tell you something fascinating."

The goron walks toward a statue that seemed like a Loftwing, which was near the wall in front of Link.

"First of all, bud! I am Gorko the Goron. I am researching the ancient history of these woods here. According to the ancient texts, there is some kind of place up above called the Isle of the Goddess. Far up in the sky!"

"Oh?" Link furrows his brow. "That's Sky-" He shouldn't just say he came from there, even less that he was born up there. He shakes his head and chuckles. "That's really cool! Who could imagine something like that exists?" Link laughs nervously.

Luckily, Gorko seemed like one to get distracted, so he didn't notice the sudden pause. "Incredible, right? And it really does exist, I tell ya! Apparently, these statues" He pats the moss covered statue. "serve as landmarks to those traveling up to the sky or down from this Isle of the Goddess place. If you find one, be sure to examine it to keep tabs on the number of landmarks. They're rumored to be quite useful."

"Mmm..." Link rubs his hair out of his eyes. He should really pay attention to them.

"Supposedly this statue is special, as it is said to have the ability to activate all the other statues. The whole thing sounds a little crazy, I know, but I, for one, believe it to be true!" You have no idea... Link sighs. "Otherwise, why would all these statues be here all over the place? It is a real head-scratcher, bud. Makes you want to know more, does it not?"

On one hand, he really didn't want to hear more, but on the other, he wanted to be polite, so... "Yeah! Sure thing!"

The goron laughs. "Ah, sounds like I have a fellow connoisseur of ancient cultures here!" Link wanted to say that he really wasn't, but Gorko started babbling again. "All right, bud, you better brace yourself, because I am about to blow your mind." Link knew he definitely wasn't going to tell him something he didn't know. "So get this: people actually live on this sky island, and they get around by flying on the backs of huge birds that are way bigger than birds down here!"

"Loftwings..." Link whispers.

"Hmm? You said anything, bud?" The young man shakes his head. "If you say so... Well... Up there everyone reveres the goddess, and the residents of all the islands in the sky live in a perfect society, totally free of conflict or unhappiness! Not only that, but from what I can tell, their civilization is way, way more advanced than ours down here." Just as he seemed to have stopped, Link jumps at the sudden yell the goron emits. "But it does not even stop there, bud! This Isle of the Goddess has even more stuff to marvel at! The place was crafted by the goddess herself, so it figures that it is filled with wonders we do not have here."

The next things the enthusiastic goron says makes Link flinch. How could he believe that all the buildings were made of gold? And moreover, taking a sip from an endless spring of mystical water that fed a river through the isle made you live forever. Heavy trees with plump fruit that can cure any disease and fields crowded with pumpkins that never rot. And even magical wildflowers that bloomed everywhere. And the weather. Not too hot and not too cold, which wasn't true, because winters were kind of cold up there with the strong wind currents and summers were pretty hot, because there were almost no clouds that could cover the rays of the sun. Sometimes, it got so hot that everyone in Skyloft used their Loftwings to dive off into the water from a high point, so they could have fun and forget about the hot weather.

"Amazing, right?"

"Um, yeah-"

"WRONG! IT IS BEYOND AMAZING! YOU WANT TO HEAR MORE ABOUT IT, DON'T YOU, BUD?!"

Link covers his ears a little and nods, with a faint "yes" flowing from his lips.

"Good to hear! I'm completely obsessed with this place. Cannot get enough of it! Wish I had more to tell you now, but I will need to research these statues to learn more. Next time I bump into you, I will give you the latest info!"

Link sighs, glad that he had finished. It wasn't that he didn't like the guy, but everything he said just... wasn't new to him, apart of some wrong stuff he'd said.

He approaches the statue, and suddenly, at just a meter from it, it starts to shine with an orange light and the moss dissapears.

"What in the world...?" He hears Gorko at his side. "Did you... use some kind of magic?"

"No... I didn't..." Link says, unsure.

"It reacted the moment you got near it, bud. How crazy is that?"

"I dunno..." His hand stretches and before he could touch the flat stone of the structure, the light begun to pulse even more. Surprised, Link takes his hand back.

"What was THAT?! The statue just reacted to you! What did you do? Come on, do not make a big guy beg! I have got to know!"

"I... I don't know! I just... Look, I have to go. It was a pleasure to meet you!" Leaving the excited goron behind, Link crosses a stone archway at his left.

He pushes a log that he finds near a wall, so he could climb up and reach a higher level. He dashes toward the log and climbs up.

After walking for a minute through a path with some trees that seemed to form archways, he stops at a little clearing.

"Master, you have entered Faron Woods." Link looks around. A massive tree could be seen from his position. "The plentiful water in this region clearly sustains a large diversity of flora, including that massive tree that can be seen from our current location. It is logical that the lush plant life and water resources have attracted animal species to the region." Says Fi.

"It sure feels good around here." Link inhales deeply and stretches his arms high above his head.

"Looking at the probabilities, it is extremely likely that Zelda is somewhere in the area. I recommend you continue dowsing for her as you progress, Master Link."

"Thanks, Fi. I'll be doing that right away."

Fi bows and dissapears into the handle of the sword as Link makes his way further, passing by a 'bird statue', as he preferred to call the statues that Groko was crazy about. He makes his way to the right and jumps toward a rope hanging from a branch to cross to the other side over a space in the floor, which he wouldn't be able to climb alone.

He continues down the path and chops some thin trees that obstructed his way, which weren't much of a problem. But something was indeed a problem. More of those red creatures were growling at a little bush, which... wasn't a bush, because it was shaking. They were attacking an innocent creature.

Without them noticing, Link jumps and brings the sword down onto the one at his left, slicing its back and pouring dark red blood onto the grass. The other one brings its sword onto Link and he is quick to parry it with his shield, which only took a scratch. The monster, confused as it was, stumbled back, and Link took that to his advantage to kill it with a spin attack. The bokoblin that he had attacked previously tackles him, but Link dodges and ends the red creature with a slash. He sheathes his sword and sighs, while looking at the bush, or rather, 'little animal' he had protected.

The poor thing was still trembling like jelly, and only stopped once Link got near.

It looks around, using its little arms to push itself enough. "Huh...? It's gone quiet." With a jump, the bush from its back turns into cacoon, like a flower in winter. It had a pear-like shape and tiny feet. And little tiny eyes and a little black beak.

"Hey, you OK?" The little creature turns to Link and starts shaking.

"Kwee-koo! Now there's a green one! I didn't even know they came in green!"

"What? I'm not-" Link tries to say, but the little creature starts shrieking.

"Don't hurt me, koo-weep!" It takes off, running up the hill after crossing another stone archway.

"Poor thing..." Link scratches his neck.

Fi exits the sword. "Master, I picked up a highly interesting spike in dowsing readings from the creature you just encountered."

"Really? Could it be... Zelda?! She's the only thing we're dowsing right now!" Link smiles.

Fi nods. "Yes, Master. But, based on the creature's characteristics, I must conclude that it is merely a peaceful, forest-dwelling animal known as Kikwi. Kikwis are intelligent beings capable of speech. Based on how it ran away from you-"

"Clearly not Zelda..." Link shakes his head. "Sorry, I interrupted you."

"No need to apologize, Master Link. It is unclear why such a creature would elicit a dowsing response attuned to Zelds. I suggest you follow the creature and investigate this phenomenon."

"Ok." Fi returns to the sword and Link dashes up the hill, gasping lightly for air once he reaches the top, while wondering what could have triggered the readings.

He continues on. He actually felt quite relaxed despite the questions that buzzed in his head. All related to Zelda. Her well-being was one of the most important things to him. Ever since they were kids, he protected her from Groose and his unhealthy love for her. He always got punched and Zelda ended patching him up everytime. But he wouldn't change those fights from anything. He always had that protective feeling toward her, like that of a big brother to his little sister, but deeper. They even switched roles various times. She was the one to protect him, too. He smiles unconsciously.

He doesn't even notice the Kikwi in a clearing filled with mushrooms and trees a meter below where he was standing. He shakes his head and flinches when he hears the Kikwi shrieking and running away.

Link jumps down and runs toward the first red mushroom on his way, which was the mushroom the Kikwi had chosen to hide itself from Link.

For the next ten minutes, Link keeps running around the mushroom, trying to convince the little creature that he was not evil and that he wasn't going to hurt anyone. The creature didn't even listen, and Link had to take his sword and slash at the mushrooms to give the Kikwi a scare. Surprisingly enough, the mushrooms regenerated themselves in less than five seconds.

After slicing various mushrooms and killing a Deku Baba, the Kikwi runs toward a tree with yellow fruits hanging from the branches.

Link walks toward the creature slowly, so as to not scare it again.

"It spotted me again!" The Kikwi shakes even more and lays down into its stomach, opening the cocoon of its back while releasing a little 'kwee!'.

Link looks at it for some time and after some seconds, the creature uses its little arms to push itself up and look around. It looks at Link, who smiles in return.

"Hey. You alright now?" Link kneels at its side.

"Huh? You don't want to... eat me?" Link shakes his head. "Kwee... You are right. And come to think of it, you did fight off all those red monsters..." The little creature gets up with a jump, hiding the plant again. "Kee-paleep! I'm Machi. I'm a Kikwi. You really seem OK, even though you're scary." Link's eyes twitchs at the remark. "Thanks for helping me!"

"It was the right thing to do..." Link smiles and gets up, stretching his legs a little.

"That's weird, kee-koo."

"What?"

Machi sighs. "A little while ago, I ran into another funny animal like you, but that one was a girl."

Machi was talking about Zelda for sure! Link's heart jumps. "Who?" He says, because Machi wouldn't understand it if he just asked where Zelda was. Maybe making sure the Kikwi was talking about Zelda wasn't that weird.

"I don't know who she was, but she was blond and seemed to be in big trouble when I saw her. She a friend of yours, kwee?"

"Yes, she is..." Link gulps. What kind trouble was the little one talking about, he wondered.

Oblivious to his distress, the Kikwi decides to continue. "A pack of those mean red guys were after her, kwee, but she escaped with the Kikwi elder."

Link sighs in relief. At least she had been able to escape with someone that seemed to be of trust.

Machi shrieks in fear when Fi exits the sword.

"Fi..." Link sighs, tired of scaring the poor creature.

"My apologies, Master, but we have obtained new information on Zelda's current status that we need to keep in mind. May I summarize for you, Master?"

"Go ahead."

"This information indicates that she was assailed by monsters but somehow evaded capture. However, I infer that she is still in significant danger. Furthermore, my analysis suggests that this Kikwi most likely produces a false-positive dowsing reaction due to previous direct contact with Zelda. Using this hypothesis, I theorize there is an 85% chance that the Kikwi elder will also generate a dowsing reaction for the same reason. I propose you continue dowsing for Zelda."

A minute after Fi returned to the sword, Machi got up.

"You really spooked me, kwee... You keep some strange company, friend."

"Ah, you mean Fi? She's just a good friend, that's all..." Link just didn't know what else to say. The boy considered Fi a friend and a companion, but obviously, she just considered him her master. A strange relationship for sure.

"Kee-paleep... It sounds like you're set on finding thus other friend of yours and the elder." Link nods. "If you're heading that way, kwee, would you mind telling our elder that I'm safe?"

"I'll tell him, don't worry." Before he could turn around and continue with his search, the Kikwi touched his leg.

"Cheer up, koo-weep! I bet your friend is safe with our elder."

Link smiles, thanks the little creature and takes his sword to dowse for Zelda, walking back toward the center of the clearing.

For the next ten minutes, he kept on dowsing and following the signal the sword shined brighter to. He had to kill a couple more of bokoblins and avoid the maws of a Deku Baba on a hill.

He reached the elder in no time. He used another rope hanging of a tree and reached the clearing of the elder.

What he found was a giant pear-like mass lying over its stomach.

He looked up as the mass got up. "Kweeeee-heeee... I am Bucha, the Kikwi elder. "He greeted with a deep voice.

"Oh, hello there... sir. I came here to look for a girl named Zelda, and Machi told me she was with you."

"Oh, so you have met Machi, yes? Zelda...?"

"A blond girl, sir." Link clarifies.

"Ah, yes. She was with me. But now is not the time for such talk... The woods are full of monsters. I am worried about my missing tribe. Kweee... The shock and worry has made my memories of the girl quite hazy... At least I know Machi is safe, isn't he?" Link nods. "Ah, but the monsters! They are still lurking in the forest. I don't dare leave this spot, and there are three Kikwis that are still unaccounted for. Could I ask you to make sure they are safe, kweeee?"

"Yes, I can."

"I am worried sick for my fellow Kikwis. If you could calm my fears, I might be able to remember more about where the girl you seek went off to, kwee."

Fi exits the sword, and both Link and Bucha look at her. "Learning that Zelda is no longer with the Kikwi elder is an unfortunate setback. But he may still have useful information. But he may still have useful information. Taking this into account, I calculate an 85% probability that your quest will be aided if you find the lost Kikwis for the elder. To expedite your search for them, I have added the Kikwis as a dowsing option into my data. I will disable the dowsing option once you find one for each of them. That way, you will not dowse the same Kikwi twice."

She fades into the sword. What's with all the percentage stuff?, Link sighs.

For the next hour, he dowses and explores every nook and cranny to find the Kikwis. The first one, Lopsa, was on top of a tree, and Link had to defeat some bokoblins that weren't much of a problem. He rolled into the tree so the Kikwi could get down, for its little legs were shaking. The next one, Erla, was hiding among some grass, which Link had to cut so it would stop hiding, and he had to climb some vines to reach them. The last one, Oolo, was hidden among a hole with Link had to jump into, so he could cross a little corridor and find the creature.

It was tough search, but the sandy blond boy didn't care about that. He only wanted to help them and find Zelda.

He returns to the elder, who felt relieved after Link told him that all of his fellow Kikwis were safe and sound, and that they wanted the elder to stop worrying. They were fine, after all.

"I don't know who you are or where you come from, but you have-"

"I'm Link, sir."

"Oh, Link. You have my thanks. You know, I feel so relieved that I just remembered where the young lady went. Zelda, was it? Yes... It's all coming back to me. She said she had to travel to the temple deep within these woods, kwee... I tried to warn her about how dangerous it was there, but the clever little thing ran off on her own..." The Kikwi pointed toward a direction, left of the tree at their side. "I think she headed down that way toward the temple. There's a white structure there that may be a reference for you."

"Yes, thank you. I found it on my way to search for your fellow Kikwis. I know where that is."

"Mmm... Good, good. Just take care out there. The area is crawling with monsters." Before Link heads out, the elder stops him. "Oho! I almost forgot, kwee!"

Link has just the time to step out of the way before being smashed by the elder. From the cacoon on the back of the Bucha, a Slingshot and a little back full of seeds falls toward Link, and he catches it in a flash.

"If you run out of ammunition, Deku Babas may provide some more of those Deku Seeds after vanquished. Now go find that girl! I'll be rooting for you, kweee...!"

And with that, he stores the weapon in his pouch and goes back to where the white structure is located. He faces the dark passageway into a deeper part of the woods.

"Be careful, Master." He hears Fi at his side. "This part of the forest is dangerous. I suggest you are cautious."

"I will, Fi. Thank you."

With that, Link walks deeper into the woods.

Another step closer to Zelda.