Chapter 2: The First Quest
A/N: So... I haven't gotten any reviews telling me this style of writing is sub-par in any way, (technically I haven't gotten any reviews yet, but who's counting) So I'm just going to keep going. But please do tell me if any of you still reading this are having difficulty understanding or following along with the story. With that aside, enjoy!
The inside of the tree was illuminated by some unknown light source. While mysterious, this was appreciated- Dipper didn't want to go stumbling around in the dark with monsters.
…And speaking of monsters. The flailing Deku Babas outside must have had more aggressive cousins. The Deku Babas inside the tree sprouted and lunged at Dipper. It was a good thing for the Kokiri sword, or he'd be plant food by now. When these plants were defeated they gave him these weird… nuts? They were too big to be seeds. Whatever. Could be useful. Dipper put the spoils in his rucksack.
There was a huge hole in the middle of the floor, but the hole was covered by a large web. It was bizarre. If Dipper stepped on it, it rebounded like elastic.
Huh. Springy.
Dipper wandered around the web-covered hole until he found a ladder to a higher level. He was able to walk along a path seemingly carved out of the tree itself. It led up and around, in a sort of spiral fashion. There were a few gaps, but they were easily spanned by a good jump.
Up ahead there was a chest. Just… lying there. And up above the chest…
Whoa…
There was a wall covered in vines. Climbable, but something had beat him to it. Large spider-like things had claimed the wall as their own. They seemed docile as long as he stayed away from the wall, but he wouldn't dare climb it with them crouching as sentries.
Dipper moved toward the chest. The Spiders made no attempt on his life, so he opened it. It was a big chest, so once again he had to climb over the side to reach what was in the bottom. Out he pulled… a map! It showed him all of the rooms inside the tree, but there was no legend. He knew where to go, but not what awaited him.
Okay. This will help me get around.
According to the map, there was a room up ahead. Dipper continued along the path, right up to it.
There was no door handle.
"Just walk up to it. It'll open for you." Mabel advised.
Dipper gave her a skeptical look, but obeyed.
Shwick shwick!
Sure enough- the door opened, Dipper walked through, and it closed again with a whumph!
But then there was a shing! And suddenly, there were bars covering the door! He was locked in here with… a scrub?
Rustle rustle. Pop.
The scrub moved! It popped up and, with an angry face, started spitting nuts at him! Dipper crouched and put his hands over his head in protection, but the nuts still hurt when they hit him.
"What are you doing?! Use your shield, Dipstick!"
Oh. Duh…
Dipper raised his shield, and the nuts bounced back at the offending scrub.
Hah! Have a taste of your own medicine!
When the first nut hit it, the scrub squeaked in pain and jumped. It started scuttling away from him. Dipper ran up to it, sword drawn, but before he could deliver a blow, it started talking to him.
"Ow-ow-ow! Forgive me, master! Please, spare me! I'll give you some advice, yes?"
Dipper hesitated. He nodded.
"When jumping from a high cliff, roll forward and you won't get hurt from the fall! It's displacement of energy, or something. But if the cliff is really really high, it may still hurt you. Be brave! Wah ha!" And with that, the scrub stumped off. The doors unlocked, and Dipper went to the next room.
The next room was interesting. There was a pit in the middle of the room, and on the far end, a ledge with a large chest on it. Spanning the gap of the pit was a large, floating slab. It seemed suspicious. The ledge had climbable vines on it, so Dipper dropped into the pit from his side, walked across the bottom (avoiding a big, square shadow) and climbed up to the chest on the other side.
Another large chest, another awkward straddle-like reach for the prize: a slingshot.
"A fairy slingshot!" Mabel corrected.
Whatever. What use will this be?
Included with it was a small pouch of those nuts. No… These were smaller. Seeds? Sure. What difference does it make? At least he could shoot stuff now. A sword is nice, but it has no range. Now he could hit targets far away!
Dipper looked around for something to practice on. There were webs on the ceiling- big surprise- but Dipper could see something poking out of it- it looked like an "H" made of wood. Dipper took aim just above it, and shot. There was a little quiver, and then a whole ladder dropped out of the web! It hit the ground near the entrance to the pit, teetered for a second, then fell back to the side with the door leading out.
This prompted Dipper to examine the wall he dropped from to get into the pit- aside from the ladder, nothing looked climbable.
Huh. Without that ladder, I could have been trapped in here. Well… I guess I could always…
"What are you doing?" Mabel asked.
Dipper jumped onto the floating slab, which trembled and fell out of the air. Dipper's reflexes, such as they were, barely enabled him to jump to the other side carefully. Panting, Dipper thought:
Y-yeah. Should have used the ladder. "Phew!"
"You know how some people mistake bravery and stupidity?" Mabel asked.
Dipper nodded.
"I never understood how people could mix up those two traits until now. You doofus!"
Dipper didn't disagree. He and Mabel left the room.
Back in the main structure, Dipper decided to try tackling that climbable wall. With the fairy slingshot, he could safely pick those spider-like things off the wall. He took aim at the first one, and Mabel told him:
"Ew. Those are skulltulas. Some say they're just regular spiders who grow up living in human skulls. I just think they're creepy." Mabel informed. "KILL THEM ALL!" she added, most triumphantly.
Dipper released. The skulltula made a screeching sound, fell to the ground, and burst into flame. Dipper made a mental note not to stand underneath them when firing. Those other skulltulas were similarly dealt with. The wall now clear, Dipper started climbing. It took a couple minutes, but he finally reached the top. There were more webs up here. A whole column of them, with just a few open spaces. Dipper, curious boy as he is, wondered why the skulltulas would leave an empty space in their webs. He walked up to one…
…And was nearly crushed by a Big skulltula! He reacted just as the huge spider pounced, and was able to roll away a safe distance. He stood up to face the beast, and it turned around, perhaps not willing to chase its prey. Dipper saw that it had a soft underbelly that wasn't covered by a skull. He took this chance, and struck!
The beast screeched bloody murder. It fell out of its hole, and burst into flame. With the Spider gone, Dipper took a closer look at the hole. It went straight down through the center of the tree. Dipper could see the hole in the floor with the web covering it.
He moved on, looking for another likely door. The next (and only) door wasn't far from the hole. He entered, and was locked in again. Oh well.
This new room looked pretty basic. On this side of the room there were two torches- one lit, the other not- and a peg sticking up from the floor. Then there was a large open pit, with three discoloured patches on the floor of it. Across the room was a ledge with another large chest, and what looked like a Deku Baba off to the side. But there seemed to be another ledge on the left side of the room. There seemed to be another skulltula on the wall up there. Dipper could just make out a golden glint on its shuffling body…
Wait. Golden?
Dipper wanted to get a closer look, but how could he get to that ledge? The pit was shallower on this end (or maybe his ledge was just lower?) than by the other ledges. Hm… Dipper stared at the strange peg, contemplatively.
I wonder…
Dipper walked up to the peg and touched it experimentally with his foot. It felt soft, or rather, it moved under his weight. Dipper stepped on it.
Click.
The off-colour patches on the pit floor started rising into platforms from the ground! Dipper watched for a second, before his ears registered a ticking sound…
Ticking? Time… counting down? A timer? Oh.
Sudden realization hit Dipper like a lead brick to the stomach. He scrambled to get a running start, jumped, and landed on the first of the risen platforms. Another jump got him on the second platform. He was mid-jump when the ticking stopped. He flopped on the third platform- no longer where he expected it to be thanks to the sudden sinking. With one last jump he was able to grab the edge of the ledge with the chest. The platforms sank back into patches on the floor as Dipper hauled himself over the lip onto the ledge. Dipper lay spread-eagled, trying to catch his breath.
Across the room, there was a click! as the peg popped up out of the ground. Dipper turned his head and looked at it.
... I could have just tried again… "Uuuugh!" he groaned.
Dipper lay for a couple seconds longer, then got up and checked the big chest. This time, he pulled a compass out of the box. The needle was pointing back the way he came, and… down, a little? Huh.
Dipper turned and dropped down into the pit. There were vines to climb up on the entry ledge, which Dipper took advantage of. Once back where he started, he considered the locked door, and the torches.
Maybe if they're both lit… But, how?
The torches were both taller than he was. The only way he could reach them was with the stick he found earlier…
Hey!
Dipper pulled out the Deku stick, lit the far end, then carried the flame to the unlit torch. It sparked as soon as the lighted end came near it, and the door unlocked. Dipper smiled triumphantly and blew out the fire on the stick (just in case).
Before he could leave though, the extra light from the second torch flame put a double glint on the wall. Dipper turned around and saw where it was coming from: the gold skulltula. In his haste to get to the chest, he'd forgotten all about it. He stepped on the peg again to make the platforms rise, then jumped over to the side ledge.
It was strange. It didn't seem aggressive at all- it just shuffled around on the spot. Dipper looked to Mabel for some sign of what to do.
"Well? It's a skulltula, isn't it? Kill them all!" she shouted again.
Dipper shrugged. Then he pulled out his sword and stuck the thing once- twice. It warbled, spun around, incinerated itself, but there was something left behind- a gold coin, hovering where the skulltula had been.
Dipper plucked it from the spot and turned it over in his hand. It was pretty. It was gold. Dipper pocketed it. Then he left the room.
Once in the main structure again, Dipper checked the new compass. It pointed to the center of the cob-web column. Dipper thought that was strange, so he walked all around. There were three gaping holes, but nothing in them except for big skulltulas. Eventually he just got back around to the hole where he cut down the first skulltula.
"Weird… No other doors. I wonder where we go next." Mabel said.
Dipper looked through the hole again. Once again, he spied the web-covered hole at the bottom of the tree. He checked the compass: towards the center, and down- straight to the hole. Dipper was coming to an uncomfortable conclusion…
The scrub had told him about rolling after jumping from great heights to reduce damage. Was this the reason? Did he have to jump? Would the web catch him? Would he break through? What awaited him at the bottom of the hole? Hopefully not a pit of poisoned spikes…
Dipper took a few large steps back, and a deep breath.
"Dipper? What are you thinking?"
He put the sword and shield away and shook out his arms. Another deep breath.
"You'd better not be trying something brave or stupid." Mabel warned.
Dipper shut his eyes and concentrated to psych himself up. One more deep breath.
Well, here goes nothing.
Dipper's eyes snapped open.
"Dipper?"
He sprinted the small distance to the Skulltula hole, and jumped…
…And fell.
"Waaaah!"
"You idiot!"
Dipper flailed his arms as he hit the web dead center, broke through, and kept falling. He shut his eyes in fear of what he might see below him, but curiosity won out. The wind rushing past him stung as he cracked an eye open just a little, to see what gravity was so eager to introduce him to. To his relief, there was a pool of water. How deep it was, however, was anyone's guess.
Dipper hit the water with a splash! He felt his nose brush against the bottom of the pool…
…Before buoyancy accepted him with loving arms.
Oh boy… That was close
Dipper surfaced, gasping for breath and from exhilaration. He shook his head to get water out of his hair and off of his face. When he looked around he saw he was in some sort of sub-chamber. There was a shallow ledge under the water he was able to stand on to get a better view. There were a couple ledges that he could climb or jump to, some more torches (unlit), two more gold skulltulas: one on some sort of bars, and another on a wall covered with vines that seemed to lead all the way up to the entrance.
Mabel flew down as he was tracing the vines all the way up to the hole's opening.
"Are all boys your age this stupid?!"
Dipper turned to her, then looked away to consider this.
He shrugged.
"UGH!"
Dipper climbed up on the closest ledge. There was a switch. He stepped on it. A torch flared into life and incinerated a web he didn't bother to register before. Dipper stepped toward the torch and off of the switch. The torch stayed lit. Dipper looked around, more closely this time, and saw that the lower ledge had a web covering a door at the far end.
Dipper took out his trusty stick, lit it, and then, with a running start, jumped off the high ledge to the low ledge, and hurried to burn the web with his flaming stick. Once the way forward was clear, Dipper looked back at the gold skulltulas.
With a few shots from his fairy slingshot, they were both taken care of. Dipper waded back into the water and climbed the vines to get one of the golden tokens left behind. Then he dropped from the vines and landed on the high ledge. From the high ledge he was able to jump and snatch the token hovering in front of the bars and land back in the water. Then he went to the door on the low ledge, and forward.
This next room had another door (locked) with some strange eye above it, and another scrub in it. When the scrub popped up and shot a nut at him, Dipper raised his shield to send the nut back. The scrub squeaked in pain and started dancing away. Dipper ran up to it.
"Ow-ow-ow! I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Let me go and I'll tell you how to get to our queen!"
Queen? Could she be the one who cursed this tree? Dipper nodded.
"2… 3… 1… That is the order you need to access the queen's chambers. I'm sorry queenie!"
And with that, the scrub scuttled away.
2, 3, 1? What kind of code is that?!
Dipper looked around, but the other door was still locked. Dipper looked closely at the eye.
"Eugh! That eye is creepy! Watching us all the time. Shoot it out!" Mabel ordered.
Well, it was as likely an option as any. Dipper shot the eye with his slingshot. The eye closed and the door unlocked.
"Hey! It worked!"
The next room was odd, even for this dungeon-esque tree. There was a large pool of water with a barge floating back-and-forth across it to the other side. Spanning the width of the room was a rotating pole with spikes jutting out from it*.
Dipper wanted to get to the other side, but how? Upon close inspection, Dipper saw one of those odd pegs below the surface of the water.
"Dive in there and press that switch." Mabel suggested. "The water level should dip just enough to fit under that thorny rotisserie spit."
Dipper wasn't looking forward to another soaking, but if he wanted to progress, there wasn't much of an option. He took a breath, and dove in.
It wasn't a deep pool- only 5 or 6 feet. But it was something, trying to orientate himself under the water so he could feel around for the peg. Once his hand grazed it, he pressed down with a click! And he heard the rush of water emptying a large area.
He surfaced with a gasp and hauled himself up on the barge as it came his way. The barge floated slowly- but surely- under the horizontal spike-thing. Once the barge reached the other side, Dipper jumped off and walked up to a ledge that had a big Skulltula guarding it. When the thing turned around, Dipper struck a killing blow to its belly, and it disintegrated.
Where it was guarding was a groove in the floor, and at the left end of the groove was a huge block. The door to the next room was on the high ledge above him; he couldn't reach it.
"You have to use the block as a boost up," Mabel said.
Dipper went around to the other side of the block and started pushing. He went purple in the face from the effort, but he finally maneuvered it into a boosting position. He climbed up, and through the next door he went.
The next room seemed almost bland in comparison to the least. Just the locked door, and three torches. One lit, two unlit. Dipper took out his stick and lit the two dark torches from the fiery one, and the door unlocked.
In the next room there were telltale webs on the walls, some obscuring doors or tunnels, other just, there. The middle of the room only had a lit torch. As Dipper walked up to the torch, he heard a sick crackling from above. He looked up and jumped back in alarm!
Just in time too, for three strange spheres fell to the ground where he was standing. The orbs were… wriggling. Then, all of a sudden, they hatched! These revolting creatures came out and started scurrying around on two awkward legs. Once they judged themselves a good distance, they took aim with their single large centric eyes and pounced, aiming a gruesome head-spike at Dipper. It was all he could do to dodge and parry the creatures' lunges!
They continued to back up and lunge at him for a few minutes before Dipper saw their weakness; balance. As a result of having only two legs, they had sloppy landings after their lunges. Dipper exploited these imperfect landings, and struck. The beasts fell to a couple blows each, and disintegrated into fiery oblivion.
With the creatures destroyed, Dipper pulled out his Deku stick again to light the webs on fire. One revealed only a strange wall while the other revealed a small crawlspace, which he went through.
The crawlspace brought him to a ledge in… The first room he fell into? Huh. Well, that was a roundabout way of getting just a little higher than he was previously… Oh well. There was a large block to the left that he pushed down to the floor below. If he needed to get back up here, he could just climb using the fallen block.
In the center of the ledge's floor was another hole, also covered by a springy web. A burning torch down below made it obvious what he had to do. Stick lit, web burned. He looked through the hole and could see a shallow pool of water below.
"Well, at least we know there's water at the bottom of this hole. Get jumping, Dip-dop."
Dipper grunted in reply.
Here we go again…
He jumped.
The fall wasn't quite so long this time. Dipper guessed that even the Great Deku Trembley's roots could only go so deep.
Splash!
The pool of water lapped up on a mini shore in what seemed to be an antechamber with a large, locked door opposite the pool. Dipper waded to solid ground, but as soon as he set foot out of the water, three scrubs popped up in between him and the door and started shooting seeds at him!
Dipper took cover behind his shield and started batting the seeds back at the scrubs. The left one was closest.
Squeak!
One down.
Now the middle, squeak!
Two down.
And the one on the right.
Squeak!
But something was off. These scrubs didn't scurry away from their grassy patches after they were hit. They just turned a different colour and seemed to freeze. Dipper waited, but the door seemed impassable. Then, the scrubs unfroze and started shooting again!
"Aah!"
Back up with the shield. Why didn't that work? Dipper looked to Mabel for advice.
"Don't look at me, I thought those seeds paralyzed the evil plants."
Very helpful. He thought back to the other scrubs he'd fought. Hadn't one of them told him something strange?
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Let me go and I'll tell you how to get to our queen! 2… 3… 1… That is the order you need to access the queen's chambers. I'm sorry queenie!"
2… 3… 1… 2 3 1! That's the order I hit these guys in! Wait, is that reading left-to-right? Or right-to-left? Oh well. Let's try the first order.
Dipper aimed at the middle scrub and… Squeak! Two…
Then the scrub on the right… Squeak! Three…
And finally, the left scrub. Squeak! One.
It seemed to work. Two of the scrubs scurried away into nothing. Dipper ran up to the remaining scrub.
"How did you know our secret? I'm annoyed! I'll tell you how to beat the queen. In order to administer the coup de grace to Queen Darlene, strike with your sword while she's stunned. Oh Queenie… Sorry about that!" And the scrub stumped away into the darkness. The door unlocked.
"Hey, Dipper," Mabel warned, "brace yourself. I think this is it."
Dipper nodded. He took a few deep breaths, rolled his shoulders (because that's what tough guys did before fights, right?), and stepped up to the door. It opened, and he walked through. The door slammed down behind him and didn't look like it was going to open again anytime soon.
This last room was impressive. There were webs everywhere, as thick as fog. Large pillars held up the high ceiling, which was shadowy and hard to see. Dipper could hear an odd scratching sound. He looked up and…
Thump!
"Well helloooo there!~"
Dipper staggered back as a giant half-spider, half-woman crashed down in front of him and started speaking in an annoying accent.
"Oh, look at you, so darling!"
Dipper looked down at himself in confusion.
"Yeah! Look at you, with your little sword and your little shield. Ain't you just a tough little guy. I could just eat you right up! So I think I will!"
Then the half-woman part pulled back her skin to reveal… A full spider!
"rrRAAA-
CURSED BEAST: PARASITIC ARACHNID, DARLENE
-AUGH!"
Dipper ran as Darlene finished screaming and gave chase. He hid behind a pillar and took stock (really should have done that first!).
1. Deku stick (Not big enough for a giant spider. pass)
2. Slingshot ("FAIRY Slingshot!") and Deku seeds (Probably just make her mad. pass)
3. Deku… nuts?
Hm… haven't used these yet. No time like the present. Dipper steeled himself, then rolled out from behind the pillar, pulled his arm back and-
She wasn't there.
Uh-oh…
Dipper swiveled his head this way and that looking for the monster parasite. She wasn't on the ground. That meant…
Darlene was crawling around on the ceiling.
I can't throw that high.
She stopped in the center and appeared to squat while she…
Splut! Splut! Splut!
Three eggs fell to the ground and hatched into those nasty two-legged creatures from before. But thankfully, Dipper knew how to handle those. He ran up and sliced them before they could get far enough away to lunge.
"rrRAAUGH! My babies! You killed my babies!"
Enraged, Darlene dropped from the ceiling and landed in front of Dipper. Now she was close enough to hit with the nuts! Quick as a flash, Dipper took out a nut and threw it at Darlene.
CRACK! Bzzt!
Darlene was paralyzed! Now was his chance! Dipper sliced. He diced. He slashed. He knew he was hurting her, but was it enough?
"Urk- Urrah!" Darlene recovered! Dipper raised his shield at the last second before she lashed out!
When the blows stopped hitting the shield, Dipper looked around. Darlene was halfway up the nearest pillar and still climbing. Dipper thought back to the skulltulas on the ivy wall. The slingshot seeds hit them easily enough…
It was worth a shot. Literally. Dipper took out the fairy slingshot, loaded a seed, took aim, and fired.
"Ack!" Bzzt! It worked! Darlene fell to the floor, paralyzed, again. Dipper ran. When he was about eight feet away, he jumped. In the next second he positioned his sword downward, raised it over his head, and with a heroic yell, drove the blade into her abdomen for the finishing blow.
Darlene screeched as green blood spurted from her wound. Dipper pulled the blade out and jumped off her as she started glowing. He had to shield his eyes as she got brighter. Then, with a brilliant flash, she burst into flame and dissolved with a last ear-splitting shriek.
"RRRReeeEEAAaaaaarrRRRGGHHH!"
Then silence.
Dipper attention was drawn to a glowing in the middle of the chamber. A blue circle of light had formed amongst the webs on the ground. Dipper looked to Mabel for what to do next.
"You did it! You won! That blue light is a warp pad. Step on it and let's get out of this creepy web."
Dipper walked over to the light pad. He put one foot in tentatively, then stepped in with his other foot. Some ethereal force started pulling him up, he was floating off the ground! Up… up… up… into the light…
*It looked like that cylinder you see in the workings of old music boxes, you know, the ones that prick the tines of itty-bitty steel piano keys to make a tinkly little tune? Some of those music boxes can have a very eerie tune.
...And here's part two. It probably seems really detail-oriented. If you've played the game, I'm hoping you can sympathize a bit better. If not, try to hang on for the Gravity Falls personalities, I guess. Anyways, leave a review, follow, favourite, do whatever makes you happy. Thanks for continuing on!