Here's the next chapter!
Enjoy! ;)
Chapter 2: Inside the Deku Tree
Down the path leading to the Great Deku Tree, Deku Babas suddenly sprouted from the ground and started snapping in the air, catching the group by surprise.
"What the heck are those?!" Toad asked.
"Deku Babas. Do not approach them or they'll snap at you." Navi warned as Link easily cut through them with his Kokiri Sword and grabbed some Deku Sticks they dropped.
"They sort of reminded me of Piranha Plants… And you know how much I hate Piranha Plants." Luigi grumbled.
They then kept walking until they saw the Great Deku Tree in front of them.
"Is that a tree… with a face?" the Mario cast thought.
"Great Deku Tree…I'm back!" Navi exclaimed.
"Oh… Navi… Thou hast returned…" the Great Deku Tree spoke, catching the Mario cast by such surprise that they nearly stumbled backwards.
"And it TALKS?!" they thought.
"Link… Mario… Luigi… Peach… Yoshi… Toad… Welcome…"
"How did he know our names?!"
"Listen carefully to what I, the Deku Tree, am about to tell thee… Thy slumber these past moons must have been restless and full of nightmares… 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…"
"I guess?" the Mario cast shrugged mentally, still having no idea why these nightmares have also reached them.
"The time has come to test thy courage… I have been cursed… I need thee to break the curse with thy wisdom and courage. Dost thou have courage enough to undertake this task?"
"How can we say no to someone who's been cursed?" the Mario cast thought and they all looked at Link, all having the same answer in mind. They gave each other a nod before Link answered for them:
"Yes."
With the answer, the Great Deku Tree opens up his 'mouth' as he spoke:
"Then enter, brave ones, and thou too, Navi… Navi the fairy… Thou must aid them…"
"Leave it to me, Great Deku Tree!" Navi replied. "Come on, everyone! Be brave! Let's go into the Great Deku Tree!"
Everyone nodded and walked into his mouth.
The inside of the Deku Tree was very wide in comparison to the outside. The interior was crammed with spider webs and parasitic creatures. The group looked around in awe as they walked inside the main chamber.
"So…this is what's inside of a tree?" Yoshi asked.
"That's good to know." Link said, unaware that he was walking towards a Deku Baba.
"Link, look out!" Navi called out as the Deku Baba lunges its head to snap at Link.
"AH!" Link jumped back just in time, but he ended up dropping his sword in the process.
"Blasted plant!" Mario exclaimed as he tosses a fireball from his palm at the Deku Baba to burn it down. Link and Navi were left in shock once they saw that.
"…Did you just shoot fire out of your hand?!" Link questioned.
Mario paused, realizing what he had done in front of Link and Navi and chuckled nervously, "Oh, whoops. I forgot to tell you that we also have powers."
"REALLY?!"
"Yep. I have fire powers, Luigi has fire and thunder powers, Peach can do magic, Yoshi has rainbow powers, and Toad has mushroom powers."
"That's so cool!" Navi squealed.
"We also have items called Power-Ups with us." Luigi added. "They grants us diverse abilities that can help us in any sort of situations."
"Wow… And these are all from your world?"
"Mmhm."
"Now I really wish that I could be able to see this Mushroom Kingdom someday." Link said, sheeting his sword back into the scabbard.
"Hey, guys! Come over here!" Toad called out, directing them to the huge circular spider web in the middle of the room on the floor. "There's something down here!"
"You know, I was wondering why is there a huge spider web here in the first place." Yoshi said as everyone looked down the web.
"It looks like there's a passage underneath it…" Peach inspected.
Mario made his hands burst with fire. "I'll burn it down!"
"Actually, I have a better idea." Link interfered as everyone looked at him climbing some vines. "We jump down!" he leaped off the edge and landed on the web… but it wasn't enough for it to snap.
"I think it would be much faster if I were to burn it down…" Mario sweatdropped.
"I have to agree with that." Navi threw in.
"Well I say we need to go higher." Link stated, climbing back up again.
"Fine, do what you want." Toad shrugged as the rest followed Link.
Up above, they watched Link climbing up more vines on the wall… only for a Skullwalltula to suddenly ram into him.
"AARGH!" he yelled, falling back down. "Where did that come from?!" he asked as the rest came over.
"That was a Skulltula." Navi informed. "Don't get too close or they'll chase after you and drop you down."
"You sure know a lot, Navi." Peach said.
"Well, the Great Deku Tree sent me for that purpose."
"Hey, what's in that treasure chest?" Luigi asked, pointing towards it. Link then stands up, walks towards the chest and opens it, pulling out… a map.
"Cool! A map of this place!" Link exclaimed. The Mario cast, however, looked dumbfounded.
"Who puts a map in a chest?" Yoshi questioned.
"I know, right? That doesn't make any sense!" Toad threw in. "What's next, finding keys?"
"Toad, don't jinx it!" Luigi warned. "You know the Author is watching us, right?"
"Anyways, how are we going to get rid of those things?" Mario pondered, looking at the Skullwalltulas.
"Everyone!" Link called out at the distance, stopping next to a door. "I found a door here! Let's see what's on the other side!" Link instantly went inside, but the Mario cast just stared at the door.
"Why is there a door inside a tree?" Yoshi asked.
"Nonsense, again…" Toad sighed, shaking his head. "Next thing you know, we'll be finding doors in trees like… I dunno, a forest full of tiny wood-like creatures wearing mask leaves or something." everyone stared at Toad with bewildered expressions.
"…Where in the world did you get all that from?!" Luigi blinked.
"You know, I have no idea. It just came into my head all of a sudden."
"Maybe it's best to stop questioning anything that's nonsense to us…" Mario sweatdropped. "We are in a different world, after all."
Everyone had to agree with Mario, and at this moment, they saw a Deku Scrub running by as Link emerged out of the door.
"What took you all so long?" he asked.
The group then went inside the door Link just came out and into another one. The next room had a platform standing in midair for some reason and there was a chest on the other side. Link quickly jumped on to the platform… but it shook wildly before easily crumbling.
"WHOOOA!" Link yelled as he fell, but Toad made a mushroom sprout from underneath Link and when he landed on it, it sprung him up to the other side.
"Let's not get too excited." Toad said.
"What just happened?" Link asked.
"I just conjured a mushroom spring under you to give you a boost."
"Oh! Thanks for that." Link then walks over to the chest and opens it, pulling out the Fairy Slingshot with some Deku Seeds as ammo. "Nice!" he exclaimed and while he was testing out the new item by shooting a seed at a ladder, Yoshi caught glimpse of another chest located up a ledge next to Link.
Curious, Yoshi Flutter Jumps at the chest and opens it, revealing… a Recovery Heart.
"…Who puts a heart in a chest?" he questioned quietly so that the rest wouldn't hear him before he tossed the Heart aside, unaware of it landing right into Link, healing the injury he suffered back with the Skullwalltula.
"Huh? That spider injury… it's healed somehow!" he thought before motioning everyone to climb the ladder and exit the room.
Thanks to the Slingshot, Link was able to defeat the Skullwalltulas by shooting seeds at them. After that, everyone climbed up, reaching a higher portion of the area, so Link was sure that jumping down from here would be enough to snap that large web.
However, before he could follow the Mario cast, who were all heading into another door, he was ambushed by Big Skulltulas dropping down from the ceiling.
"Yikes!" he flinched. "Navi, what are those?!"
"Big Skulltulas!" Navi replied. "Their backs are their weak spot!"
"That's enough good advice!"
With that, he was able to take care of the Big Skulltulas by stabbing their backs. At this moment, the Mario cast returned, with Mario holding a compass.
"Where did you get that?" Link asked.
"In that room over there." Mario pointed to the door he and his friends went through. "All we had to do was light a couple of torches."
"Hm, maybe that could be useful. Anyway, we should be high enough to snap that web."
Link then backs up, completely unaware of a remaining Big Skulltula coming down and making Luigi tense up just by its appearance.
"Link! Behind you!" Peach called out as the Big Skulltula was heading straight for Link.
"What-…" before he knew it, the Big Skulltula slammed into him, launching him off the platform. "AAAAAAAAHHH!"
"LINK!" the Mario cast cried out as they watched Link landing down on the web on his back, making it stretch out big time.
"I'm sure it'll hold." Navi speculated.
*SNAP!*
Unfortunately, she was proven to be wrong as the web actually snapped, sending Link at the bottom.
"…Or not." Navi sweatdropped.
*SPLASH!*
Fortunately, there was water below so it sort of softened our hero's fall. Link gets out of the water by crawling to the shore.
"Ooogh…" he groaned. "What is with me and spiders today?"
"INCOMIIIIING!" he suddenly heard Yoshi's voice as he looked up and saw the Mario cast coming down and falling into the water.
"Thank goodness there's water below." Navi remarked as the Mario cast got out of the water. "Let's continue on, shall we?"
They all nodded as they climbed up a ledge where there was a door that was blocked by a spider web, but Mario burnt it down and they went through. On the other side was a Deku Scrub who shot a Deku Nut at them, but Link reflected it back with his shield. Once it was hit, the Deku Scrub tried to run away, but the group caught it.
"Please forgive me! I'll never do it again!" it pleaded. "If you spare me, I'll teach you something cool. You will never beat my brothers up ahead unless you punish them in the proper order. The order is… 2 3 1. Twenty-three is number one!" it then ran off.
"Twenty-three is number one? That should be easier to remember." Luigi remarked as they went into the next door up ahead.
Later…
"Um… Did we just go in a full circle?" Yoshi asked as they soon found themselves back at the main area after going through a cycle of doors.
"Well, we did reach a portion of the area we couldn't reach before." Peach pointed out.
"And we have another spider web here." Toad pointed to the web on the ground.
After pushing a large block down the ledge, Link pulled out a Deku Stick, put it near a torch on the other side to light it, and then climbed back up to burn the spider web. Then they all jumped down, landing into the water below, thankful for the interior of the Deku Tree always having pools of water to soften their fall.
As soon as they got out of the water, the first thing that caught their eyes were three Deku Scrubs in front of them.
"…Twenty-three is number one…" Luigi recalled. "2-3-1… That's it! Link!"
"Got it!" Link nodded and did the exact code, first reflecting back the nut spat at him from the second Deku Scrub, then the third, and finally the first.
"ARGH!" the first Deku Scrub yelled. "How did you know our secret? How irritating! It's so annoying that I'm going to reveal the secret of Queen Gohma to you! In order to administer the coup de grâce to Queen Gohma, strike her while she's stunned. Oh, Queenie… Sorry about that!" all of the Deku Scrubs fled.
"I'll bet they'll be mad at their brother once they find out that he spat out the code for us." Toad grinned.
"I can totally imagine that." Link threw in before glancing at the newly opened door. "So this Queen Gohma is just up ahead, right?"
"One way to find out." Mario said as they went through the door, where they found themselves standing in a very dark room.
"Whoa… This place is dark…" Yoshi breathed.
"Watch where you all step." Navi warned. "We never know what will come out…"
They kept cautiously going forward until they reached a wide and circular chamber filled with more spider webs.
"Gee, don't you think that's enough of spider webs?" Toad questioned.
"You tell me…" Peach agreed.
"Hold up." Navi interfered, feeling tense. "I sense something in this room… Stay on guard, everyone."
The group braced themselves as told… when suddenly the door slammed shut from behind them.
"Hey! The door just closed!" Luigi exclaimed. "We're trapped!"
"Wait, shh!" Link shushed. "Do you all hear… something strange?"
Indeed: when the group stood quiet, they all started to hear strange scurrying noises echoing around the room.
Looking around to find the source, squinting their eyes to try to see better in the dark, the group looked up ahead and nearly freaked out by what they saw.
"W-What… IS that THING?!" Luigi panicked.
"Is that… supposed to be Gohma?" Yoshi wondered.
"The stone and the star…" Gohma caterwauled as she was munching the ground. "Where are the stone and the star…?"
"What stone and star is she referring to?" Mario thought, tilting his head.
"Is she eating the… Great Deku Tree?!" Link exclaimed, seeing Gohma munching the wood below her.
Unfortunately, Link's exclaiming caught her attention as her glare shifts to the group.
"Who are you, pests, interfering me like that?!" she hissed. "Shall I take a bite out of you all, as well?"
"Everyone, look out!" Navi warned as Gohma raises one of her claws. Thankfully, the heroes dodged the attack and the claw slammed into the floor instead.
"Return the Great Deku Tree to normal!" Link growled, firing some seeds from his slingshot at Gohma, with Yoshi joining in by throwing eggs, Mario and Luigi by tossing fireballs, and Toad by tossing turnips. Unfortunately, all of these attacks were useless as they were not strong enough to pierce through Gohma's shell.
"It's no use, Link!" Yoshi exclaimed. "Her shell is too tough!"
"Yeah! We need a new strategy!" Toad added.
"EEEEEK!" they suddenly heard Peach's shriek as they turned around, and much to their horror, she was surrounded by Gohma Larvae that were slowly creeping towards her.
"Oh no! Peach!" Mario yelled, his heroic instincts kicking in as he rushes to save Peach by stomping on each Gohma Larva, unaware that he was stomping them in their eyes, defeating them.
"Phew… Thank you, Mario." Peach thanked.
"You're welcome."
"Wait a second… Big bro, how did you defeat those things so fast?" Luigi asked.
"I know why!" Navi came in, having noticed what exactly Mario did to defeat the Gohma Larvae. "He stomped them in the eye!"
"The eye… Navi, you're a genius!" Mario beamed. "Perhaps that's Gohma's weakness as well!"
"…Of course! I'll warn Link, Yoshi, and Toad right away!"
"Uh, you better do that fast…" Luigi trailed, pointing at where the addressed trio was.
"Oh no!" Peach gasped.
What was happening to them right now? As they were trying to fend Gohma away from them, they ended up backing up too much that they ended up getting stuck in the web on the wall.
"W-What?!" Toad stuttered, feeling the sticky web all over him. "Agh! We're stuck!"
"Guys…" Yoshi murmured, seeing Gohma getting closer to them.
"Ugh! Darn monster! Don't come any closer!" Link exclaimed, still firing seeds from his slingshot at Gohma.
"Uh oh! Let's hurry!" Navi hollered as Mario, Luigi, and Peach rushed to Link, Yoshi, and Toad. "Guys! Gohma's weakness is her eyeball! Aim for her eye!" she quickly informed the distressed trio.
They were quick to answer, aiming their respective projectile directly at Gohma's eye. Gohma cried in pain as she collapsed to the floor, exposing her bulging eyeball, signifying that she was stunned.
With that, Mario quickly burned the web trapping Link, Yoshi, and Toad before they all went to town, striking Gohma's eye. Gohma cried in agony before she dissolved into blue flames and disappearing from existence.
"That was a close one…" Link sighed in relief.
"You tell us…" Yoshi added.
Then, a blue light showed up next to them.
"Perhaps this will take us out!" Navi exclaimed as they all stepped into the light, taking them back outside right in front of the Great Deku Tree.
"Well done, brave ones…" the Great Deku Tree spoke. "Thou has verily demonstrated thy courage…" the group had proud looks on their faces. "I knew that thou wouldst be able to carry out my wishes… Now I have yet more to tell thee, wouldst thou listen…?" everyone nodded. "Good. Now…listen carefully… A wicked man of the desert cast this dreadful curse upon me…"
"What?!" the heroes thought.
"This evil man ceaselessly uses his vile, sorcerous powers in his search for the Sacred Realm that is connected to Hyrule… For it is in that Sacred Realm that one will find the divine relic, the Triforce, which contains the essence of the gods…"
"The Triforce…?"
"Before time began, before spirits and life existed… Three golden goddesses descended upon the chaos that was Hyrule… Din, the goddess of power… With her strong flaming arms, she cultivated the land and created the red earth. Nayru, the goddess of wisdom… Poured her wisdom onto the earth and gave the spirit of law to the world. Farore, the goddess of courage… With her rich soul, produced all life-forms who would uphold the law."
"Wow…" the Mario cast thought in amazement.
"The three great goddesses, their labors completed, departed for the heavens. And golden sacred triangles remained at the point where the goddesses left the world. Since then, the sacred triangles have become the basis of our world's providence. And the resting place of the triangles has become the Sacred Realm."
Everyone was just amazed at this story, especially the Mario cast, as they never heard such a deep story as that one, and they were right now thinking about those three triangles, which they could assume it was the aforementioned Triforce.
"Thou must never allow the desert man in black armor to lay his hands on the sacred Triforce… Thou must never suffer that man, with his evil heart, to enter the Sacred Realm of legend… That evil man who cast the death curse upon me and sapped my power… Because of that curse, my end is nigh… Though your valiant efforts to break the curse were successful, I was doomed before you started…"
"W-What?!" Link cried, tears forming into his eyes. "That can't be! Don't die, Great Deku Tree!" the Mario cast glanced at the young boy with pity looks. "I and my new friends fought so hard! This can't be happening!"
"I'm terribly sorry, Link… I will pass away soon, but do not grieve for me… I have been able to tell you of these important matters… This is Hyrule's final hope… Link, Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, Toad… Go now to Hyrule Castle… There thou wilt surely meet the Princess of Destiny… The future depends upon thee… Thou art courageous… Navi the fairy… Help them to carry out my will…" he felt his end approaching. "I entreat thee… Navi… Good…bye…"
At this moment, the Great Deku Tree's trunk became dull grey while its leaves dried. The Great Deku Tree was no more… now just a dead tree. A cold, dead breeze was now blowing around the group as they just stood there, shocked and devastated for the wise forest guardian's passing.
"Great Deku Tree!" Navi cried, flying over to the Great Deku Tree. "I never got to thank you for all that you've done for me…"
"Brave ones…" suddenly, the Great Deku Tree's words echoed around them. "Take this stone and this star with thee, the two relics that man wanted so much that he cast the curse upon me… They're known as the Kokiri's Emerald and a Platinum Star… Now, I must part… Take care, youths…"
Then, a green glow appeared in front of Link, along with a white glow appearing in front of the Mario cast. The green glow revealed its true form as a green and shiny stone shaped like the Kokiri symbol, while the white glow revealed as a Power Star, but colored platinum. The heroes looked at the two objects in awe before glancing back at the deceased tree with saddened looks. A single dry leaf fell off from one of the branches, signaling the forest guardian's last breath.
Link was absolutely devastated; besides Saria, the Great Deku Tree was the only one who was very dear and caring to him, even treating him as if he was his child. After all, this wise tree was the one who raised him in this forest ever since he was a baby. Now that he was long gone, not only was this forest left without a guardian, but that also meant the loss of one of Link's dearest companions, who was like a father to him…
Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, and Toad watched their newest friend crying and felt sorry for him. Despite not yet knowing how close Link and the Great Deku Tree were, they at least knew that the young boy really trusted the wise tree guardian. They were also worried about what would become of Kokiri Forest without a guardian, since the only residents they all saw in this place consisted of children.
"…Thank you, Great Deku Tree." Navi whispered. "We shall fulfill your will…" she flew back to the group. "Let's go to Hyrule Castle, everyone!" before leaving, she took one final glance at the Great Deku Tree. "Good-bye…Great Deku Tree…"
The Mario cast immediately followed Navi, but made sure to wait for Link. Link, who has stopped crying but still had his eyes shut, gave one last bow to the deceased forest guardian… before turning back and leaving, catching up with his new friends.
"We're so sorry this happened, Link…" Peach lamented. "I guess you and the Great Deku Tree were really close, right?"
"*sniff* he was the one who raised me here…" Link whimpered. "And I never got the chance to see my parents… I'm starting to even question myself if I am truly a Kokiri. Perhaps Mido might be right about me…"
Speaking of Mido, of course that little brat was still there to ruin the mood:
"Hey, Link! What did you do?! The Great Deku Tree… Did he…die?" if Link wasn't so somber right now, he would've yelled back at him. "How could you let a thing like that happen?! It's all your fault!" he then walked out of the way, and Link quickly rushed ahead, much to Navi and the Mario cast's surprise.
"Link, wait up!" Yoshi called out as they all went after him.
When Link reached the bridge connecting the woods to Hyrule Field, the rest of his friends finally managed to catch up with him.
"Link, what's gotten into you?" Luigi asked. Then it hit him, "…You're still sad that the Great Deku Tree died, right?"
"Yeah…" Link nodded.
"Listen, Link. We also don't have any parents." Mario spoke softly, placing his hand on Link's shoulder. "But unlike you, we all got over it very quickly, since we knew that mourning all the time isn't going to help. Life always changes for anyone, and people have no choice but to move forward. Otherwise, the past will consume and destroy you and you'll never grow up like this."
"He's absolutely right…" just then, they heard a voice from behind as they turned around. It was Saria! "So you're all going?"
"S… Saria…" Link whispered.
"Somehow, I knew…that you would leave the forest…someday, Link…"
"You know… I've always thought I was different from everyone. Like I'm from somewhere…"
"Oh, you knew that already? But that's OK, because we'll be friends forever…won't we?" she then takes out an ocarina. "I want you to have this ocarina… And to always remember me, I can teach you my favorite song."
Link took the ocarina Saria gave him, the Fairy Ocarina, as Saria took out her ocarina and played her song, Saria's Song, and Link followed suit, learning his first ocarina song.
"Thanks, Saria." Link smiled a bit. "By playing your song, I'll always remember you."
"You're welcome, Link." Saria replied. "I also hope you and your new friends come back to the forest to visit. Take good care of that ocarina for me…"
"I will… Goodbye…" Link solemnly said and took off running to the other side and Navi and the Mario cast went after him.
"Goodbye…" Saria replied sadly as a tear slid down her cheek.
(P.O.V. change)
Oh-ho… It looks like the boy and his companions' great adventure has finally begun. The fate of the land of Hyrule rests in the hands of one young boy and five people from a different world. I wonder if they're up to the task?
In honor of the Great Deku Tree, I will guide and protect you, Link, Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, and Toad.
To be continued…
I couldn't help but make the Mario cast question the Zelda logic, since it works very differently than the Mario logic, right?
Look at that! The Mario cast is also going to have their own plot coupons like Link (and it's something that will happen in almost all stories from this Saga)! Just like with the three Spiritual Stones, there are three Platinum Stars for them to collect, and luckily, they are obtained along with the stones. Why platinum, you may ask? We already had gold, silver, and bronze stars in the Mario series, so platinum is the only rare metal remaining!
Finally, I decided to make Link learn Saria's Song early since I do not want to write the part where you have to return to the forest before heading to Death Mountain.
Now our heroes are about to see Hyrule Field for the first time! Until the next chapter! Please review!