Chapter 4: Skull Kid

They descended into a dungeon, with mossy stone walls. There were torches on the walls, illuminating the area. Ahead of them was what looked like a gravestone with words carved into it. It read, "Sometimes the answer is to go outside and inside again."

At this, the Zora came to a conclusion. "We should go back outside again!"

Link quickly replied. "Now now, we should look around first. See if we can find any other possible exits."

"You're right." Poump said. "We should explore a little more and risk ourselves getting caught by any unpleasant surprises we might find ourselves in right now."

"I hope you remember that we were surrounded by Octorocks outside, among other dangerous things." Link replied. "Here, grab a torch and let's start exploring this place." He handed all of the party members different torches from off the walls. He started walking and all of a sudden some roots started growing from the wall and overwhelmed him. "AUGHK!" Link exclaimed. "DON'T FORGET TO USE THE SLATE!" and then the roots sunk back into the wall.

"Good riddance." Poump said dryly.

"Why do you say that?" The Sheikah replied.

"He would've just dragged us around the dungeon for no good reason."

"He's an established adventurer, Poump. He's lived through much worse."

"All that matters to me is that he's gone now."

"What about that protection he offered us outside? Without him, we wouldn't even be alive in the first place."

At this, Poump started to see the Sheikah's point. "Fine." Poump said, although he persisted with the idea that Link wasn't a good addition to their team. The party walked to one end of the room and found a large boulder obstructing a passageway.

The Zora pointed down at the cucco, which seemed to be walking somewhere. "Hey look, the cucco is going somewhere." They followed the cucco to what looked like a mossy door. They opened it up and found themselves in a rather off putting room. A small bush with berries was in the center of the room, and the cucco started eating away at the berries. The Zora and the crew looked at the cucco eating the berries off the bush, but were then distracted by the sound of moving stone. Behind the stone walls revealed some coffins. The coffins opened up to reveal tall, stalky, skeletal looking beings, with wooden masks on their faces. They started lumbering towards the center of the room.

"In the name of the Chief, what are those things?!" The Zora exclaimed with horror. Poump attempted to pick up the cucco, but it bit his finger. Poump picked it up again and proceeded for the door, only to realize it had bars covering it. The undead people lumbered slowly towards Poump.

"Looks like we have to deal with these things!" Poump said.

"Never fear." The Sheikah said. "We'll be able to defeat these things in no time." The Sheikah then brought out his sword and started slicing at one of the terrible creatures. It fell down, although the rest of them continued lumbering towards Poump.

One of them then let out a terrible screeching sound. "AAAAAAAHHHHHHH" and the whole squad was petrified, unable to move. One of the creatures started grabbing the petrified Sheikah, and started biting away at his neck.

"GAUGH!" The Sheikah said in great pain. Whatever these things were, they started grabbing the whole party as they were petrified. Eventually everyone was able to struggle out of their holds and they ran to the other side of the room before they could get grabbed again.

"That slate!" The Zora yelled to Poump. "Remember what Link told you about it? And how it could give you information?"

"Oh yeah, that's right!" Poump then grabbed the Sheikah Slate and selected the camera function. As he hovered the slate in front of him, the screen displayed the image of the creatures walking towards them. Poump touched a round button on the screen. Then the image cropped itself to the creature. Some text appeared on the side of it. "REDEAD" the screen read. "Undead creatures capable of petrifying it's victims and then eating them alive. They can be defeated by toppling them to the floor and then bombing their crippled bodies."

"Alright! Now we have our answer!" Poump said. The group got to work on cutting the Redeads down. The Zora stabbed at them from afar with her spear, the Sheikah very carefully slashed at them and hopped away from them, and Poump foolishly threw his sword at one of the Redeads, but was able to successfully knock it down. The cucco pecked at a large blueberry on the floor, but it started glowing red, so the startled cucco kicked it and it rolled towards the downed Redeads and blew them all up.

Poump turned around to look at a gravestone with some more markings on it. They read, "Collect the bracelets, and rocks will be feathers."

"What bracelets?" Poump said, perplexed. He turned around and saw a treasure chest appear out of thin air. Poump walked up to it with the party watching him. He opened it up and found two golden bracelets inside. He took a picture of them and the description read: "POWER BRACELETS. With these, you can lift large rocks out of the way, and toss around other things that are much heavier than you."

"These are awesome!" Poump said, and he put them on his wrists. The bars at the door receded back into the ground, and the party continued onward. They passed by the first gravestone and made it to the large boulder from earlier. "Stand back." Poump said, and he started lifting the boulder out of the way. The boulder felt very light to him, but he dropped it with a thud and it shook the ground nearby. The other side was a set of staircases that lead upwards.

The party walked up the steps and found themselves in the woods again. This time, the scenery looked a little bit different. And they even saw a large stone wall covered with moss. They turned around and then heard a sound that sounded like a child.

"Hee-hee-hee!" The laughing was coming from behind them. They turned around and only saw a burst of leaves. "Hello!" They turned around and saw a strange, scarecrow-like being, standing on a tree stump.

"Who are you?" Poump asked it.

"Ah-ha!" The scarecrow replied. "The question... really is, 'What am I?'." It started dancing around them wildly. "Why, I am the Skull Kid! I live in this forest!"

Poump started speaking to this Skull Kid. "Well hello there Skull Kid!"

"What brings you to... my forest? I don't see many people of your kind... around here very often." The Skull Kid seemed to be speaking with stutters.

"We are here to meet with the Deku Tree, to learn a new song that will assist us in our quest."

"Oh? You're on a… quest?" The Skull Kid seemed intrigued. "That's a shame." And then the Skull Kid disappeared into a sudden burst of leaves.

The Zora was perplexed. "What just happened there?"

"I have no idea." Poump replied.

"We must stay vigilant." The Sheikah added. The party looked around the area a little bit and found another set of stairs under another bush. They descended down the stairway.

They found themselves in a room with some goop dripping from off the ceiling. The goop started to form into some slimy creatures, which were recognized as Chu-Chus by the Zora. There was another set of stairs at the other side of the room, so the party ignored these Chu-Chus.

The next room they ended up in had almost nothing in it, but then some skeletons and Redeads raised from the ground. The skeletons had swords and shields like from before. The Skull Kid reappeared.

Taking the opportunity, Poump asked the Skull Kid a question. "Hey kid, what did you mean by 'That's a shame' earlier?"

"Oh… I said that? Oh yes, I thought it was... a shame that you were on a... quest. That means... you don't have any time... to play with me. Oh well... I can get to see how you fare against... my old toys. I'll consider this a test run…" And then the Skull Kid disappeared into a burst of leaves.

The skeletons and Redeads started clambering towards the party. The party split their efforts and knocked the skeletons down, which Poump was able to identify as Stalfos with his Sheikah Slate. The Redeads proved to be a lot more tough, but their previous tactics were easy to replicate and they blew them up with the nearby blueberry bombs that the cucco was so attracted to. Once the room was cleared, another gravestone was discovered at the end of the room. It read, "Play this song and the monster will follow." A catchy tune started playing, sounding very relaxing and forest-like. The music continued, even after the party went back to the previous room with the Chu-Chus.

The cucco walked up to a blue Chu-Chu and started sipping at it until it was no more. Poump was interested in this, and decided to try sipping at a yellow Chu-Chu. This caused his insides to start feeling electrocuted, and he fell over, with waves of electricity flowing through him. The Zora quickly waved her spear above Poump, and extracted the yellow Chu-Chu from his insides.

"Don't do that again." The Zora told Poump.

"Don't worry, won't do that again." Poump said to her. The remaining Chu-Chus the Sheikah tried slicing at, but they kept splitting into two with each slice, until there were 8 small Chu-Chus on the floor. The Zora stabbed at the small Chu-Chus and managed to bottle up their slime.

"With time, Chu-Chu slime will become drinkable and will aid us with benefits like healing and magic regeneration." The Zora said, as she bottled up the last slime.

The music was still playing, and was even getting louder when they were going back up the stairs into the woods. They arrived back at the large mossy stone wall, and the music seemed to be even louder now. They noticed the Skull Kid up in the trees with a trumpet-like instrument. It stopped playing music as it noticed the adventurers down below.

"Oh… hi again…" The Skull Kid said disappointed. "All... I want to do is... play with you all."

"Well then come down here and play with us!" Poump said enthusiastically.

"But you would never… submit. You wouldn't enjoy my… play time."

"What would it involve?"

The Skull Kid paused for a moment. "Your deaths." And then the Skull Kid disappeared into a burst of leaves.

The party didn't like this and descended down another set of stairs covered by another set of bushes. They ended up in a corridor with mossy stone walls. The music was coming from the end of the corridor, so they proceeded to where the music was coming from. They eventually reached the end of the corridor, and light started coming back into their visions. It was an open area with many trees surrounding a huge pile of bones.

The Zora was getting a bit angry, "Ugh, more skeletons?"

The Skull Kid reappeared on a branch from one of the trees. "I see you've… made it here."

"Yeah, of course we have. And now we're leaving." Poump proclaimed and turned around, only to find that a bunch of roots had blocked the passageway to the corridor.

"You are NOT LEAVING!" The Skull Kid yelled. "YOU WILL BE MY NEW PLAY THINGS. I WILL END YOU AND YOU WILL SERVE ME AND MY ARMY!" The Skull Kid then blew on it's trumpet and the large pile of bones started moving. They assembled themselves into a large creature with one eye. "NOW DIE!" The Skull Kid said, and then he disappeared.

The large skeleton started looking around, grabbed one of the trees, and threw the tree at the adventurers. They all rolled out of the way, but the cucco charged towards the creature. The cucco started to climb up the moving skeleton.

Poump took out the Sheikah Slate and took a picture of the beast. "STALNOX: The undead variation of a Hinox. It's weakness is its eye." Poump realized that the Sheikah was the only party member with a bow.

Poump commanded the Sheikah, "Hey Sheikah! Fire at it's eye!" The Sheikah nodded and brought out his bow. The Stalnox grabbed a tree and started swinging it around. The Sheikah was able to dodge its first swipe by leaping over the tree and shooting an arrow at it's eye. The Stalnox was shocked by the arrow in it's eye, so it tossed the tree away into the Zora's direction and the tree hit her down. The Stalnox held it's eye and reopened it and started making steps towards the Sheikah.

Meanwhile, the cucco was holding onto the Stalnox for dear life. It continued climbing until it reached its skull. The cucco quickly pecked at the open eyeball and then the eyeball fell out of its socket, onto the floor. The bones of the Stalnox collapsed, but the eyeball seemed to keep on moving. With quick urgency, Poump and the Sheikah wailed their swords at the eyeball, but it drifted towards the pile of bones. It eventually reattached itself into its socket and then the Stalnox arose once again.

"Quick! Fire at it's eye again!" Poump said to the Sheikah.

The Sheikah was nocking an arrow when the Stalnox suddenly threw a part of its own arm at him, rendering him unconscious. The Zora got out from under the tree and noticed the Sheikah was knocked out. She quickly ran right up to him and dragged him behind a nearby rock for cover. Poump looked at the bow and attempted to use it. He aimed but the arrow hit just below the eye. "How does he do it so easily?!" Poump exclaimed. The Stalnox then grabbed Poump, and started bringing him up to his mouth. Poump quickly pulled out his sword and sunk it into the Stalnox's eyeball.

The Stalnox fell over and it's eyeball fell to the floor again. Poump picked himself up and stabbed at the eye one more time, and then the eyeball fell limp. The bones degraded rapidly into small chunks. Poump and the cucco went to check on the Zora and the Sheikah. "Are you alright?" Poump asked the Sheikah.

"He's alright." The Zora answered. "The Chu-Chu jelly from earlier healed him right up."

The Sheikah started moving. "What hit me?"

"Let's just say, the enemy disarmed itself to defeat you." Poump then looked at the others, and then the cucco. All of them looked back at him, and then started laughing.

The laughing stopped when they heard the Skull Kid's voice. "NO NO NO NO! This wasn't supposed to happen!"

"Guess what kid, it did." Poump replied.

Angered at his behavior, Skull Kid raised his arms and then some roots appeared from the floor and grabbed Poump. They pulled him under the ground. "Hyrule will be mine…" the Skull Kid then waved his hand and some of the trees moved to reveal a pathway. Skull Kid then disappeared.

Poump awoke, but saw nothing. Just pure darkness. He heard the small squeaking noise of something in the darkness, and then a few eyes peered out at him. He felt for his Sheikah Slate and took a picture of the eyes. A flash from the Slate sparked. The screen displayed, "KEESE. Small flying creatures that usually travel in large herdes." The Keese hanging from the ceiling were startled by the light, so they all flew right past him, scratching him up in a bunch of areas. All he had was the rather dim light of the Sheikah Slate to guide him through the cave. Eventually, he noticed a bright light coming from around the corner. He readied himself for a fight. He turned the corner, sword in hand, only to realize that it was Link! He was holding the Master Sword to generate light.

"Hey there Poump, you look terrible." Link said at the sight of him.

Poump put his weapon away. He didn't know what to say.

"Can you still speak, or are you turning into a Stalfos?"

Poump walked right up to Link and hugged him. "I'm so glad you're alive." And then he passed out.