Chapter 11 – The Jungle Calling

As Link walked into the next room, chills ran down his spine. It reminded him of the time back in Hyrule when he walked into the circular exhibit inside the Forest Temple just before he fought Phantom Ganon.

As a matter of fact, the atmosphere of the room was almost identical to that of Phantom Ganon's Lair.

The silence was piercing.

"Tatl, does this room make you feel weird at all?"

"Yeah… I can sense something in here. It's way too quiet."

This was by far the creepiest room of the entire Woodfall Temple. It was a circular room full of swamp water, with a cobblestone walkway through the middle. There were no enemies, no fish, and no plants in the room.

Not even a torch.

This room was different. Link looked forward and above the door before him. Something had been carved into the wall.

It was a strange inscription of a face, with featherlike objects stemming out from the forehead and cheeks. It looked somewhat like…

…a mask.

Link wanted to get out of the room as soon as possible, but unfortunately the door ahead of him was locked, with bars.

Looks like you're stuck in here.

Better find some way out.

"How do I get through there, Tatl?"

"I don't know. Look around and see if you can find anything."

Link looked around for a few minutes, and saw nothing of interest.

"Tatl, I can't find anything," said Link, with a more nervous tone.

"Try jumping in the water."

Link was very reluctant to jump in the murky water. He just had the gut feeling that something bad would happen the second he hit the surface.

But he did anyway…

Link leapt into the water, expecting for something to attack him immediately.

But nothing happened.

Silence was the only sound Link could hear as he looked around the room and underwater for something.

"Well, I guess we have to go ba-."

Before Tatl could finish her sentence, a loud rumbling noise echoed throughout the room.

"AAAHHHHH! What happened? I didn't even trigger a switch!"

But he was wrong. The builders of the Woodfall Temple had placed quite a clever mechanism in the room.

The ground underneath the water began to rise and the water began to drain.

"Tatl, what's going on?"

"I know what's going on. The Skull Kid used to use these mechanisms as traps in the Lost Woods whenever someone intruded. The water is heat-sensitive, and whenever the temperature rises, even at the slightest bit, it triggers a switch. In this case, it triggers the platform to rise."

By the time Tatl was finished talking, the platforms stopped moving and the water had completely drained.

At that second something fell from the ceiling.

It was… a cage! The cage was made out of tough Deku wood and vines from the Southern Swamp.

Inside the cage was a whimpering Deku Scrub.

It was Argott!

"Argott!!! You're alive!"

"Link? You made it here? Oh, thank goodness! I thought you were done for!"

"What happened to you?"

"I…I don't remember! I fell through the hole, and then I end up in this stupid cage!"

"Well, how do I get you out?"

"There's a lock. Do you have any keys?"

"Yeah, but this one just leads to the boss room--."

Link stopped when he saw the lock. It was a yellow lock with devilish horns… just like the Boss Key lock he was familiar with.

"Okay, I do have the key."

"Oh, joy! Now I can go home and tell the Deku kingdom that everything's gonna be all right and-."

A millisecond before Link put the key in the lock, a vine fell down from the ceiling and latched onto the cage.

"Hey, what's going on?!" yelled Argott.

The vine snatched the cage and jerked it back up to the pitch black ceiling. Link dropped the key.

Link picked it up and looked up to the ceiling.

"Liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnkkkk!!!!"

Argott's voice faded until Link could hear it no more.

"Oh no!! Tatl, what in Din's name is going on?!?!"

Before Tatl could answer, the room got slightly darker and then Link could hear the sound of a tambourine and bongo drums.

"Bongo Bongo?!"

This instance was extremely reminiscent of the Shadow Temple boss, but different in a way.

"It's him," said Tatl.

"Odolwa?"

Then, Link heard a monstrous battle cry coming from above.

"Link… get out of the way."

"What?"

"Just move to the side!"

Link ran to the door he entered through, but did not exit.

And there he was… the masked jungle warrior from the depths of Woodfall, who had been incarcerated for years, thanks to the first Argott, the famous scrub warrior.

And now he was back.

He was slightly larger than Ganondorf. He had a colorful shield with a long, sharp sword. His mask matched the carving on the wall. It was hideous.

"It's time to fight."

Link drew his sword, and waited for Odolwa to strike.

Odolwa stood in the center, softly swinging his enormous sword back and forth.

"Shoot something at him," said Tatl.

Link pulled out his Terminian bow and shot an arrow at Odolwa's heart. Unfortunately, he blocked it with his shield.

And while Link wasn't looking, Odolwa took a huge swing at Link and struck him, causing him to fly across the room.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

"Link, get up! Hurry!"

Odolwa walked over to Link and began doing a mysterious jungle dance, causing a ring of fire to surround Link.

"What do I do? It's been so long since a battle like this!"

"Shoot him! His guard is down!"

Link fired an arrow at Odolwa, interrupting his crazy death dance. The arrow stunned the warrior, causing him to be disoriented.

"Quick! Strike him with your sword!"

Link ran over to the beast and hacked at him until he regained his strength.

And then, Odolwa started doing another dance…

He looked like he was just jumping up and down. His dance caused 4 large beetles to fall from the ceiling, who migrated toward Link.

"Aaaah!"

Link struck each one with his sword, killing them instantly.

But after that, Odolwa took another swing at him, barely missing.

"Ha!"

Link shot another arrow at the beast, stunning him. Link struck him with his sword again.

You'd better watch out.
The first part is always the easiest.

"What?"

Odolwa grasped his sword and began spinning in a constant spin attack.

Link shot another arrow at him, but it didn't do anything.

"Run!!! Avoid him while he does that attack!!"

Link ran away trying his hardest to avoid Odolwa's spin attack, but he was not fast enough.

"Aaaaaahhhhh!!!"

Link rolled over 7 times after being hit by the sword.

Just then, Odolwa stopped spinning, and lackadaisically romped around the room as an effect of dizziness.

Link fired another arrow at the beast and then gave him another taste of his sword.

And then, Odolwa raised his arms and let out yet another chant.

This one wasn't going to be good.

Hundreds of rabid moths swarmed down from the ceiling, aimed at Link.

They began to attack him.

"AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!"

"Link!!! Throw a bomb flower!! Hurry!"

There were bomb flowers along the wall. Link sprinted over to the nearest one and lobbed the flower to the center of the room.

Every moth followed the bomb's light and was soon eliminated by the explosion.

Link bent over to catch his breath.

"Gosh, Tatl, this guy is a lot harder than I thou- WHOA!"

Odolwa hurried over to Link and gave him another taste of his jungle blade.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!"

"Link! Don't let him do this to you! Pull yourself together!"

Odolwa lifted his arms again and began to sing the chant to summon the moths another time. Link could hear their crackling wings as they fluttered down from the sky.

"Not this time, you scumbag!"

Link let an arrow fly at Odolwa to stun him once again, and then slashed and hacked at him with his sword.

"This is for terrorizing the Deku Kingdom! This is for kidnapping the Deku Princess! This is for capturing Argott!"

Link continued to hack and slash until he believed the warrior could take no more.

Odolwa stood up straight like a stick, and suddenly collapsed onto the floor. Link dropped his sword and fell onto his knees, breathing deeply. He was amazed at how challenging this was for him, considering he had defeated Ganondorf and Ganon on the same day.

"Well, I guess that's it."

"You think it's over now, you little scrub? Well, you'd better think again, because it's going to be over for you in a few seconds!!!"

Odolwa leapt back up into the air and back onto his feet, startling Link and Tatl both. He had the same sense of anger lingering in his eyes, just like Ganondorf after he revived himself at his castle on the day Hyrule would never forget.

"What in the name of all that is holy is going on?! ODOLWA CAN TALK?!?!?!"

You didn't actually think it would be that easy, did you?
The jungle warrior isn't just any other soldier.

"Din! Nayru! Princess Zelda! Goddess of Time! Somebody! Anybody! Help me!!!!"

"Link! Stop this! You're a hero! You can beat him!!"

"But, I-"

"Now's not the time to talk! He's doing his spin attack!"

Link turned around and saw Odolwa doing his infamous spin attack again. The unstoppable twister. The next second, Link found himself fleeing Odolwa. Something he had never done before in such a fashion.

Odolwa gave in after several seconds and stopped spinning. Link whipped out his trusty quiver and pulled the string. Unfortunately, only about twenty arrows came with the quiver.

But… he was out of arrows.

"Tatl! I'm fresh out of arrows!! What am I supposed to do??"

"Uh… uh…"

"Tatl!"

"LINK! WATCH OUT!"

Odolwa had come closer and summoned the ring of fire again. He began to do that dance again that Link hated so very, very much.

"I'm defenseless."

Don't just stand around.
He'll knock you flat like a flyswatter if you do.

"That's right, young child! RUN! RUN! Just like everyone else! No one can beat the fierce Odolwa! I am the ruler of Woodfall and will never be brought down to the pathetic status of a Terminian like you!!!"

Odolwa took another sinister slash at Link.

"Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"Link… bomb flowers. Get a bomb flower."

"Ha! I know your arrows would fail you! The arrows of Argott are weaker than a bee sting! So, now you have two choices: Get out of my temple, or suffer the wrath of my blade!"

Odolwa took another horizontal slash at Link. Luckily, Link's reflexes acted to his benefit and he ducked so that the blade could not touch him. Link was stuck where he was in the ring of fire, though. He did not know what to do now.

"I missed!"

Immediately after the fire died down Link ran over to a bomb flower a hurled it at Odolwa. Luckily, it got stuck between his body and his shield, and exploded.

Odolwa let out a resounding shriek. While thrashing about the room, banging his jungle sword on the walls hysterically.

"Take a piece of this!" Link said as he slashed his sword once again.

Link could tell that Odolwa was getting more and more exhausted. Fortunately, this gave Link more confidence to beating him. Then, as Odolwa lifted up his arm in a final attempt to slash Link with his blade, Link thrust the sword into his thigh, causing him to collapse onto the ground.

Odolwa fell to the floor.

"Make sure he can't get back up this time."

Link got a bomb flower and placed it on top of the warrior. The plant ignited and engulfed the entire body in flames.

"The masked jungle warrior... beaten by... a child?"

"Finally. He's done for."

Impressive, young child.
I look forward to watching your next epic battle.

After the fire died down, Odolwa's entire body had become ash and disintegrated.

Except for the mask.

"Get his mask. I think we'll need it."

Link picked up Odolwa's mask and felt the power of the mask run through his veins and send chills down his spine. He knew this was no ordinary mask.

Suddenly, a brilliant flash of light beamed from the mask and spread throughout the whole room. Link was forced to shut his eyes to prevent from being blinded.

Link then began to feel… weightless. The feeling he was getting was similar to his "out of this world" feeling he got in the Chamber of the Sages sect of the Sacred Realm. It was a good feeling. It was relaxing, and congratulatory.

"Wha- what's going on??"

"Link… you can open your eyes now."

Link was standing on a platform in the middle of an abstract abyss. He looked around and could not decipher the elements surrounding him. The air he breathed in felt as pure and as clean as a fairy fountain.

"That… voice. Can you hear it?" asked Tatl.

"No. I can't hear anything."

"You can't?"

"No."

Link tried to walk off the platform, curious about what would happen to him. After all, this was a time for exploration.

"Link. Stay here. You have no idea where you could end up."

Instantly after Tatl shut her mouth, a resounding cry came from afar.

"What was that?!"

Link felt Odolwa's mask in his hand shaking. He knew something was going on. Was the spirit of Odolwa reviving itself, just like Ganondorf did?

No. Odolwa has no superior power like the Triforce. Odolwa's power no longer exists.

The echoing cry came wallowing at Link again. It sounded like a cry for help, but Link could not understand anything that the "being" was saying. However, the voice stopped what seemed to be a cry for help, and began to speak. Link still could not understand anything.

"Link!! Look!"

Link gazed ahead of him and saw a silhouette of some abnormal creature in the distance. He knew not to move closer to him.

"Is… is this the one?"

SWAMP… MOUNTAINS… OCEAN… CANYON…

The four who are there… bring them here.

"Yes!! It is! This is one of the four!" said Link, "Tatl, can you understand anything he is saying?"

"Shh! I'm listening to him right now!"

This was indeed the one of the swamp. The one of the south. The sage. Just like Saria, and Darunia, and Ruto…

"You've… released… me…"

There was a pause.

"Save… the… other………… three."

"Save the other three?"

"C…Ca…Call us."

"Tatl, what does he mean?"

"I know what he means. This is exactly what Tael was telling me about."

"…and?"

"Once we have awakened the four, we must call them atop the clock tower, just as the Carnival of Time starts. At the end of the third day, just before the brink of apocalypse…"

Then, the figure in the distance began to sing.

"He's… singing," said Tatl.

"Is he?"

"You know, it actually sounds beautiful. The melody is almost hypnotizing."

"Well, that's nice. How do we get out of here?"

"Not yet. Get out your ocarina, Link."

"My ocarina?"

"Yes. You need to know this song. It is the key to calling the four on the night of destiny. Get it out."

Link pulled out the Ocarina of Time and looked at it. It's beautiful color and form reminded Link of Hyrule, and the amazing melodies he played on the instrument back then. The ocarina began to twinkle, as if enchanted by the three goddesses.

Link put the ocarina to his mouth.

He began to play.

The amazing melody began to emit from the ocarina's sound holes. This was one of the most compelling melodies Link had ever heard. It sounded as enchanting as Zelda's Lullaby and as replenishing as the Song of Healing.

"The giant… the giant is saying… play the Oath to Order atop the clock tower once the four have been rescued."

Link opened his mouth to say something, but before he could, there was another blinding flash of light. Link was forced to shut his eyes, but the second he opened them, he was back in the Woodfall Temple.

"Well, here we are again."

"This isn't a part we've been before."

There were several chains of vines before Link. He could barely see through the holes to the inside of the cave it was blocking off, but he could sense something moving in there.

"Well, cut it open!"

Link gave a horizontal slash to the vines.

And he could not believe his eyes. Inside was the cage Argott was trapped in… as well as… the Deku Princess!

Link knew it was the Deku Princess after putting all of the puzzle pieces together.

"Link! Get me out of here!"

Link ran over to the cage and unlocked it with the Boss Key. Argott was free, at last.

"Who is this, Argott?" said the princess.

"Princess, this is Link. Link defeated Odolwa and saved Woodfall from any more turmoil!"

"Oh, joy! If only my father could know…"

"Your father is very upset," said Link.

"What?"

"Yes. He and the rest of the Deku Palace believe some monkey named Knabb did it. They also disowned Argott for leaving the palace at one point."

"Yeah! What gives?" said Argott.

"Oh, my! Well, we have got to get back there at once! They cannot execute an innocent little monkey for that scarecrow kid's actions! Nor can they disown any family members!"

"Well, let's go!"

Link, Argott, and the princess ran out into Woodfall.

The water was much cleaner now, and the sun had come out from the acidic clouds from the swamp. The swamp was more like a river now.

The three ran as fast as they could to the Deku Palace. They all had to jump down from the ledge leading into Woodfall, which seemed traumatizing for Argott, but they still managed. The swamp was acutally beautiful now. The air felt clean, the water looked as pure as water from a fairy fountain, and all of the octoroks had fled.

The three ran as fast as they could into Deku Palace and up to the scrub guards.

"No one can pass through here without a special grant from the king," said one of the scrubs.

"Shut up! I'm the princess!" yelled the princess as the shoved the two guards out of the way, giving way for Link and Argott to pass through.

"Let's get to the main chamber!"

The three entered the king's chamber. Knabb was hanging on a stick above the fire, and the scrub guards were about to lower him into the heat.

"Stop! Father! Release the monkey at once!"

"Is that you, princess?" said the Deku butler.

"Link, is that you?" said Knabb.

"YOU HEARD ME! RELEASE HIM!"

"As you wish, your highness," said a scrub soldier.

The scrub soldiers dissembled the rotisserie and let Knabb go.

"Princess! What happened?"

"Father! It was that scarecrow kid with the creepy mask! He captured me five days ago and put me in a cell inside the Woodfall Temple! I kicked and screamed but he just would not let me go! Knabb was the one who heard my screaming and came to rescue me, but that's when you convicted him!"

"But… how did you escape?"

"This kid! A Terminian! He saved me!"

The princess pointed at Link.

"Actually, I'm a Hyli-"

"And he defeated Odolwa! Now the temple is at peace!"

"You don't say, princess! This kid is a hero! He's the new Argott!"

"It was nothing, really. Don't worry about it."

"I wish I had something to give you, chap, but I can't really think of anything that would appeal to one such as yourself. All I can give you is my gratitude."

"Well, thank you. I must be going now. I must be home by sunset."

Link so desperately wanted to get out of the swamp. He was tired of it all, even though it was cleaner now.

Link began to walk out with Tatl.

"Link!" called Argott.

Link turned around.

"Link! Thank you! You are truly a hero! The real Argott would be so proud of you!"

"Don't sweat it. You have a good life here in the palace."

"Father, you must let Argott back into the family!" exclaimed the princess.

"Well, this is a rather difficult issue…"

"No, father! He was captured by Odolwa and has gone through way too much trouble to deserve this! Let him back in!"

"Well…"

"Do it"

"Sheesh… you sure are cranky for just being released from a cell in the Woodfall Temple. Okay, he's back in."

"YAAAYYY!!!" yelled Argott, "I promise I'll never leave the palace again! I can live here forever!"

"Don't worry about that. You can come and go as you wish, just like the princess… but be careful!"

Link interrupted the speech.

"Sorry, but I must go. Thank you for your gratitude."

Link exited the palace and walked back out into the swamp.

"Link, that was great and all, but why are you so anxious to leave? We had only just arrived!"

"We are running out of time. It's 5:30 p.m. on the third day. Just look up."

Tatl looked up and saw the moon freakishly close to the earth. Chills ran through the fairy.

"You're right… You do realize that once you play the Song of Time, everything will be reset… except of course, the permanent things not bound by time."

"What are those?"

"Odolwa's remains are symbolic of legendary defeat and will always remain in your hands. Also, the sage we released today cannot be put back into his realm."

"Is that so?"

"Indeed it is… Oh, and you can also keep anything you hold onto during the melody, such as your quiver."

"That's a relief."

Knabb ran outside to Link and Tatl.

"Thank you so much, fairy boy! I am so relieved that I won't be meat fed to the mad scrubs of Woodfall! I just can't believe that you completed such a bold task."

"No sweat. You'd better go home now. It will be a stormy night."

"Really? Doesn't look like it. Oh well. Thanks again!"

The cheerful monkey scurried off into the wilderness.

"Well, might as well play it now. Nothing else to do, really."

"You're right. Let's go."

One down. Three to go, buddy.

Link ignored the voice and played the Song of Time.

He felt everything he had just done go back to the way it was before, but he still had Odolwa's mask in his hands, and he knew that once he defeated Majora, none of this would matter because Termina would be just as peaceful as Hyrule.

That is what matters most.

And when he opened his eyes, there he was. Right outside the gates of the clock tower in South Clock Town.

The beasts go off, one by one.
As the journey ends, another has just begun.
The hero walks along the sacred path,
Breaking the barriers standing before him,
Waiting for any foes to embrace his wrath.

"Well. The next place we need to go is Snowhead, which is to the North. The quickest way to the mountains is through the gate in North Clock Town. Let's go."

"Let's go, Tatl."