A/n: Chapter 2 is here! Enjoy and please review!
-Chapter 02: Flower Power and Earthquakes-
As it turned out, it was a good thing they'd allowed Tatl to tag along. Unlike in the game, where Link had followed a rather straightforward path, this cave presented them with many twists and turns, branching off into various chambers that seemed to spread out forever. Leslie almost questioned if Tatl could be intentionally trying to get them lost, but decided the fairy hopefully had no reason to do so and said nothing. Besides, every so often, they passed a torch casting a dim orange glow around the space, leading her to believe this was a commonly traversed pathway.
While they followed Tatl through the cave, the girls finally found an opportunity to discuss everything that had happened. "Ashby, are you ok?" Dylan asked, looking down at Ashby. The transformed girl still hadn't spoken a word, but she was at least walking on her own now.
Ashby looked up at Dylan, her great glowing eyes gleaming with some emotion Dylan couldn't quite recognize. "I'm okay," she said. When she spoke, her voice sounded oddly squeaky and scratchy. She touched a hand to her throat. Even her voice had changed. "So much has happened. I'm struggling to absorb it all."
"You know I'm blaming this on you, Dylan," Leslie said.
"Huh? Me?" Dylan asked with genuine confusion.
"'Maybe we'll get sucked into the game!'" Leslie waved her hands around, using a spooky voice.
"Hey, that was a joke! I didn't think it would actually happen," Dylan defended herself.
"I told you not to say things like that!" Calynn said, only half-joking.
"It's ok, honey," Ashby spoke up. "None of us knew this would happen."
A thought crossed Dylan's mind, making her chest tighten. "Is it...I mean, you don't think...Ashby will go back to normal, right?" Although the now-Deku Scrub could still hear her, she lowered her voice on the last part, scared that speaking it aloud might touch too close to Ashby's own feelings.
"I didn't play very far in the game," Leslie said, folding her arms, "but I do know that Link learns the Song of Healing from the Happy Mask Salesman that allows him to turn back into a human. Hylian. Whatever. I'm assuming it will be the same for Ashby, but we need to find Link and get his help."
"It's not much farther," Tatl said. As she spoke, the cave opened onto a wide room covered with the same pink flowers they had originally landed on.
"Guys, I think this might be a problem," Dylan said, surveying the room. They stood on a ledge on which a single pink flower grew. Several more dotted the ground below, which was down at least seven or eight feet. Atop another ledge across the room stood the only doorway. "How do we get over there?"
"Ohhh, yeah…" Leslie groaned. She crept to the edge of the ledge, peering out over it.
"Link's not here, so he must have gotten across," Dylan said, even as another alternative crossed her mind. She pushed the thought aside. It was too horrible to entertain.
"The Deku girl can use the flowers to fly across, but I don't know about the others," Tatl said.
Ashby moved closer to the flower, bending down to get a closer look at it. "It's so pretty!" she exclaimed. "How do I use it?"
"How should I know?" Tatl retorted snarkily.
Ashby took another step toward the flower. She almost felt drawn to it, as if she wanted to somehow merge with the flower. Taking another step, she touched one of the pink petals with her toe. The flower's stigma, which formed a large hole big enough to at least hold both her feet, seemed to call her to go inside. None of it make sense. Large as the stigma might be, there was no way her whole body could fit in there. Or so she thought.
Relying mostly on instinct, she placed a foot inside the hole. Inside, it felt moist, cool, and strangely, homelike. As if she was meant to be there. She placed the other foot it and, without thinking about it, began to spin. Her body moved like a screw, winding itself inside the flower at a surprising speed, shrinking and sucking in so that she was able to fit. At the very end, she tilted her head up, allowing her spoutlike nose-mouth to stick out. Being inside this flower was the most comfortable she'd felt since entering this new body. She almost felt she could simply forget everything and stay here forever, simply become part of the flower…
The sound of voices speaking overhead drew her out of those thoughts. "Ash? Are you ok in there?" Calynn's voice called. She doubted she would have known it was Calynn had she still been in her human body. Everything sounded different down here. Noises were muffled, yet the vibrations they made seemed exaggerated. As a human, her ears probably would have been unable to distinguish the vibrations well enough to hear, but in this strange, wooden form, Ashby could.
Unfortunately, she apparently couldn't speak while inside the flower. She remembered she was supposed to be figuring out how to use this flower to fly. Once again, it seemed illogical, and once again she found herself drawn by some internal instinct. Her hands moved around within the flower, searching for something, until she came across two small, rounded objects which felt like seeds of some sort. She didn't know how she knew, but somehow, she recognized that she could use these seeds to help her fly. Releasing a breath like a deep sigh, she let her muscles tense and relax, sending her popping out of the flower and high into the air. Doing so triggered something in the seeds, causing them to instantly blossom into a pair of flowers which spun and caught the air, causing her light body to hover forward. She made her way to the opposite ledge, her body slowly lowering as the flowers gradually stopped their spinning and the disappeared in a spray of pink petals.
"Whoa, you did it!" Calynn shouted from the other side.
"Ok, now how do we get over?" Leslie asked.
The smile drooped off Calynn's face. "Oh, yeah."
Ashby looked around. The cave was mostly empty beyond the Deku flowers and a few tufts of long grass. Some vines crawled up the cavern wall. Ashby was struck with an idea. "Maybe I could lower these vines down and you could climb up," she suggested.
"That could work," Dylan said. She looked to the others. "Should we give it a try?"
"It seems like a good idea to me," Leslie said, and Calynn nodded her agreement. Leslie eyed the edge. "Now it's just a question of how to get down."
"Maybe we can lower ourselves and jump the rest of the way," Dylan suggested.
"Ok. Cal can go first," Leslie said, grabbing Calynn's shoulders and gently pushing her towards the edge.
"Why is it always me?" Calynn wondered aloud. She sighed and carefully tiptoed toward the ledge, grimacing at the long distance down. "...Ok, I guess it's better me than you two." Kneeling on the ledge, she began to carefully lower herself down. When her hands could no longer hold her weight, she took a deep breath and let go, falling onto her bum on the hard, moss-covered stone. "Oww," she moaned.
With Calynn safely on the ground, Dylan went next. Last was Leslie, and then it was time for the climb up. Ashby pulled the vines from the wall with some difficulty and dropped the ends down for the girls to grab onto. To ensure the vines were secure, she tied them around her middle and anchored herself inside a nearby Deku flower. When she was ready, she made a muffled, grunting sound from within the flower. It was embarrassing, but served the purpose.
"I guess I'll go first again," Calynn said, stepping forward and grabbing the vines.
"Are you sure?" Dylan asked. "I don't mind going first."
"Nope. I'm the strongest, so I should go. That way, I can help pull you guys up," Calynn insisted. Dylan relented, but carefully positioned herself so that she could break Calynn's fall if she slipped.
"Don't worry, Cal. If you fall, we'll catch you!" Leslie called after Calynn. "Probably," she added with an evil grin. Dylan shook her head.
Calynn pulled the vines, checking to make sure they were secure and strong enough to hold her weight. When they didn't give, she took a deep breath, hoping she would be okay and not have a clumsy moment, and tied the vines around her own waist. Then she began to climb. She was very grateful for the time in 6th grade when she'd taken on the notion that she wanted to be a professional rock climber and insisted her parents pay for rock climbing lessons. It hadn't taken long for her to decide rock climbing wasn't her thing after all, but her parents had forced her to stick with it for at least a year to 'build character' as they'd said. At the time, she'd moaned and groaned, but now it was proving to useful. Even though it had been two years, her body still remembered what to do.
Since the ledge wasn't very high, she managed to reach the top in a few minutes, thankfully without any major slips. She was then able to lower the vines down to the others and help pull them up one by one. The girls all celebrated and even Tatl joined in. They continued their pathway, weaving through various dark caverns, until a new sound reached their ears. Ever so faintly, they could hear Link's voice yelling something incoherent, followed by the Skull Kid's twisted giggle.
"Link!" the girls practically shouted in unison.
"Skull Kid!" Tatl chimed. Forgetting the girls, she took off flying towards the voices. Exchanging glances, the girls sprinter after her.
The next room they entered was once again filled with Deku flowers, though there were thankfully no apparent ledges they needed to climb. Enormous stalactites stretched down from the ceiling, and equally large stalagmites stretched up from crevices so deep they couldn't see the end and could only feel cold drafts coming up. Dylan shivered with fear. The cavern opened onto a tunnel at the towards the right. In the middle was Link, kneeling down, his sword drawn and sweat shining on his forehead. The Skull Kid was hovering high above his head, laughing tauntingly. Link looked around as if searching for something to climb to give him some leverage, but there was nothing.
"Tael!" Tatl cried when she saw the purple orb bobbing near Skull Kid's head.
"Sis!" Tael also cried in response, catching sight of her. The two fairies flew toward one another and grabbed hands, twirling about together in mid-air.
"This could be bad," Leslie said.
"What could?" Dylan asked.
"This." Leslie gestured toward the scene playing out in front of them. "Link isn't supposed to fight Skull Kid, and Tatl isn't supposed to reunite with him. What if this has some detrimental effect on the story? I don't know how much you guys played, but I at least know that Link's main purpose in this game is stopping the moon from falling and destroying the world. If something happens to change that..."
Dylan and Calynn looked at one another, alarm mirroring in both their eyes. "What should we do?" Dylan asked, her eyes scanning the room as if the answer might lie there somewhere.
Apparently, they didn't need to do anything. Seconds later, the Skull Kid spoke. "I've had enough playing around with you," he said. "You and your little friends can say goodbye." Laughing, he raised his arms in the air. A purple aura similar to the one which had transformed Ashby erupted from his outstretched arms. The ground began to shake, large cracks forming in the stone and rocks falling from the ceiling. The imp laughed again, his mask shaking side to side, and darted away towards the tunnel, the two fairies fast on his heels. As they followed him, a tiny rock fell from the ceiling, hitting Tatl and knocking her unconscious to the ground. Her companions, unaware, left her behind, disappearing into the darkness.
Link was instantly on his feet, staggering along over the quaking earth in pursuit of the Skull Kid. The girls weren't far behind. They stumbled along together, struggling to reach the tunnel Skull Kid had disappeared in. A huge boulder fell, almost crushing Ashby. Fortunately, Dylan snatched her aside at the last second. A crack in the earth widened suddenly. The shaking made Calynn lose her footing. She slipped, almost falling into the newly formed gap. A hand caught her, pulling her. Looking up, she saw it was Link, who was fighting to hold on to her without being pulled down himself. The other three joined in, Dylan and Leslie grabbing Calynn's other arm and Ashby grabbing onto the one Link held. They all heaved and Calynn was dragged to safety.
Together, they all ran to the shelter of the tunnel, Dylan pausing to scoop up the unconscious Tatl in her hands. The fairy's tiny body emitted not only a glow, but a faint warmth which radiated like sunlight up Dylan's arms. From the tunnel's safety, they turned to survey the cavern. The shaking ceased, but the room had been left in complete disarray, destroyed so utterly that only a few spots of mossy, flower dotted stone still remained.
"I can't believe the Skull Kid is this powerful," Dylan breathed. Her voice reflected the horrified awe they all felt.
Tatl twitched, moaning, and sat up, rubbing her head where the stone had struck her. "Huh?" she mumbled, seeing the girls and Link staring down at her. "Where are Tael and Skull Kid?" She flew up, spinning around in search of them. When she saw the room, she froze, her pale yellow eyes widening. "...Did Skull Kid do this?" she asked.
"Yep," Leslie replied.
Tatl bit her lip, unable to say anything. At last, she shook herself and turned to the group. "Well, what are you all standing around for?" she asked, crossing her arms and bobbing up and down in frustration. "Let's hurry up! I need to find my brother!" And so saying, she whirred off down the tunnel.
"Look at this creepy tree," Calynn said, stopping to examine a tiny tree which was growing beside the tunnel's entrance. "It has a face. Scary."
"It sort of looks like a Deku," Leslie added. "Do you think someone carved it?"
Ashby stared up at the tree. Reaching out a hand, she touched it. A strange quiver ran through her body. She closed her eyes. "It makes me feel sad," she murmured. She stayed there a moment longer before removing her hand and they all followed Tatl and Link.
As they traveled farther into the tunnel, they seemed to have exited the cave without realizing it. Instead of stone, the ground changed into soft dirt from which rows of trees grew, their thick canopies maintaining the tunnel. A wall made of stone bricks stood at the far end, a square opening leading inside. As they walked closer to the opening, they all began to feel a strange, spinning sensation as they walked, like the vertigo one feels when looking down from a great height. The moment they set foot through the doorway, the sensation ceased.
Damp air touched their faces. Algae covered the walls and floor beneath their feet and a water wheel spun ahead. The creak of turning gears echoed overhead. "This is the Clocktower of Clocktown. It's this place's main attraction," Tatl explained. She bounced above their heads with unspoken enthusiasm. "The town is just up this way. Come on!"
Only Tatl picked up the pace, flying eagerly ahead while the rest continued at a slow pace, taking in their surroundings with wonder. Link glanced at his four companions, his eyes lingering slightly longer on Ashby's changed form. A guilty expression crossed over his face. It had just occurred to him that this girl had unintentionally taken a curse that had been meant for him. He was grateful not to have been transformed, but in a way, it was his fault that she had been. He cleared his throat. "So, who are you all exactly?" he asked. "Where is this place? And how the heck do you know my name?" Once he'd started, the questions he'd been holding onto in the back of his mind all poured out.
"I'm Calynn," Calynn quickly piped up while the others were busy exchanging glances and trying to figure out how to answer. "These weirdos are Leslie, Dylan, and Ashby." She gestured to the others in turn. "And you're not gonna believe this, but we're inside a videoga-"
"We're lost!" Leslie shouted, drowning out Calynn's voice. "Completely lost. No clue where we are."
Calynn looked at Leslie, a question in her eyes. "But we were-"
"Cal!" Leslie hissed. She grabbed the other girl's arm and pulled her to the side out of Link's earshot, gesturing for Ashby and Dylan to follow. "Are you crazy?" she whispered. "We can't just go blurting out that we're in a game. At least until we've figured things out, I think it's best if we pretend to be as clueless as Link. Agreed?" Everyone nodded.
Link watched the four girls group together, whispering about something in voices too low for him to hear, although he was pretty sure he heard his name mentioned. Were they hiding something? When they'd finished conversing, the girl with long, dark red hair spoke again, reiterating her earlier explanation that they were lost. Well, he didn't have any reason not to believe them, except that they were acting really odd.
"But how do you know my name?" he asked again.
Leslie could have smacked Calynn. Why had she blurted out his name earlier?
Dylan watched Leslie wither, her plan failing against that question. Dylan had an idea, although she wasn't sure how good of one. Seeing the silence was stretching on too long, she decided to take the risk. "There's a legend where we come from," she said, fiddling with one of her braids. "It's about a boy named Link who saved his world from a terrible evil. You look like the boy from the legend. We had no idea you would actually be him."
Link was taken aback. He'd had no idea he was so famous, especially since he hadn't really done much more than warn Princess Zelda about Ganondorf. At least, as far as everyone else knew. He wondered where they were from, but it seemed more questions would have to wait as the fairy called Tatl chose that moment to fly back and start chiding them.
"What are you all standing around for? Do you want to find the Skull Kid or not?" the fairy cried, her yellow light flickering.
She did have a point. The longer they waited, the more time the Skull Kid had to make his getaway. Link, his heart clenching in his chest, refused to give up hope that Epona was safe somewhere. Once he got his hands on the Skull Kid, he would make sure the imp told him the truth. And if it turned out she wasn't alright… The thought made his eyes sting, and he pushed it away.
Up they followed Tatl to a great wooden door. Link had just placed his hand upon the door to push it open when goosebumps erupted on his flesh and he was filled with the disturbing sensation that some unknown person stood right behind him. A chuckle confirmed that feeling, followed by a voice that sounded vaguely familiar.
"You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?"
Link and the girls spun around. Behind them stood a man whose appearance Link instantly recognized. The creepy grin plastered on his face, the purple clothing, and the enormous sack of masks on his back all pointed to one person: the Happy Mask Salesman. The salesman's attention was not, however, directed at Link, but at Ashby.
Calynn nudged Leslie. "Who's the creepy guy?" she whispered somewhat too loudly.
"Shh!" Leslie hissed. "I'm trying to listen." Calynn puffed her cheek out in a pout, crossing her arms, but obeyed.
"That's-!" Tatl began before quickly covering her mouth with her hands. She ducked down behind Link's hat, carefully out of sight of this new character.
The man proceeded to introduce himself as the owner of the Happy Mask Shop, explaining that an important mask had been stolen from him by an imp who could be none other than the very Skull Kid they were chasing. "Now don't think me rude, but I have been following you…" the salesman continued.
"And he's a stalker!" Calynn practically shouted.
"Cal!" all three of her friends hissed, and Link eyed her with an odd expression.
"What?" Calynn asked, shrugging. "It's true…"
Leslie rolled her eyes, shaking her head. Fortunately, if the Happy Mask Salesman heard her words, he gave no indication that they had bothered him in anyway and merely continued with his story. The moment he said he knew how to return Ashby to her former self, even Calynn's attention was fully focused on him. The salesman now looked at Link.
"If you can get back the precious item that was stolen from this boy…" he said, and looked back to Ashby, "I can show you how to return to your true form. All that I ask is that you recover the mask that was stolen from me. Surely for the five of you, it will not be a difficult task."
"Are you kidding? Have you seen what the Skull Kid can do?" Calynn cried, unable to hold back anymore.
"The mask does possess strange powers," the salesman admitted, "but I think you will find that this new form of yours also grants you powers which can be used in your favor. I'm sure you'll be fine. So, do we have a deal?"
"N-mmn." Calynn started to speak, ready to completely deny any agreement with the creepy stalker man, but Leslie quickly placed a hand on her mouth, pulling her aside.
"Please excuse us for a moment," Ashby said, glancing sidelong at her friends. "I think we need to discuss everything before we make a decision."
"Of course. I understand," the salesman said. "But do try to hurry."
"Although I hate the creep… he's the way to help Ashby, so what do we have to lose?" Leslie said.
Dylan glanced to Ashby and nodded in agreement. She couldn't help feeling a little guilty about bringing them all here. Although her Jumanji reference had been a joke, it had crossed her mind once or twice that she might have somehow jinxed them. "Let's do what we can. We need to help Ashby," she urged Calynn, who still seemed too creeped out at the thought of working with the salesman. "Besides, doing this might be how we find out how to get back home."
"Guys, he's got a Mario mask…" Calynn said, eyeing the mustachioed man who stared at them from beneath a red cap on the back of the salesman's bag. "I can't…can't in good conscience say this is a good idea. DO we REALLY not have a better option?"
"You got a point….Crap," Leslie muttered under her breath. "How did he even get a Mario mask? Let's ask him." She turned towards the salesman, intent on her new goal.
"Woah, woah!" Now it was Calynn's turn to hold Leslie back. "Ok, ok, ok. Let's just make the deal. You can't just start asking mask salesmen where they get their other game items. OMG, are you trying to kill us all Leslie?" Calynn jerked the other girl back, her face turning red with fear and embarrassment.
Ashby shifted slightly, casting a glance at the salesman. "I think he's trustworthy. Let's just do what we can for now." With everyone in agreement, they all turned to the salesman. "We'll do our best to recover the items," she said.
"Excellent," the mask salesman said, clapping his hands together. "And what about this young man, here?" He looked to Link. "I'm sure you'll be interested in helping as well."
Link gave a sharp nod, his eyes narrow. "I have a bone to pick with that Skull Kid," he said. "And," he glanced at Ashby, his face reddening, "it's partly my fault you got stuck like that."
"Very good." The salesman added that they would need to recover the items in three days, then
lifted his hand to Ashby to shake on their deal. Calynn cringed and quickly pulled the Scrub away after the deal was done. "Keep your word please," Ashby added, before allowing Calynn to drag her back to the group, and they all headed out of the clocktower.
