Chapter 7: Enemies Reborn?

Link was facing a dilemma. He couldn't get to his sword, and Morpha was seemingly staring at him, menacingly. It was waiting for something, Link didn't know what. He looked up. The mysterious blue light had blown off the dungeon's ceiling. Light was shining against Morpha's form. It lunged at Link. Link was suddenly realizing he didn't have a sword, and Morpha bounced off his shield. Link was knocked on his back, and quickly scrambled to his feet. He saw the Great Fairy Sword in Morpha's grasp. He couldn't dive into it. He might drown. But then, could Morpha somehow use the sword against him? If so, it probably wouldn't be so dim as to chuck it at him; he'd be giving Link his most valuable weapon. Link had defeated Morpha before, but he couldn't without his sword; Hookshotting it out and stomping on it wouldn't do much good, now would it? Morpha swerved side to side in a rhythmic motion, almost like a snake. Link contemplated on what to do. He counted the items in his tunic that could help him. He couldn't use bombs, or his bow; Morpha moved too much to get a good aim.

He thought of his Fierce Deity Mask. That wouldn't help either; his sword transformed with him, so he wouldn't be able to use it either. He at last found a solution. Morpha was preparing for an attack, while Link searched his tunic for the one item that could help him. Morpha struck, and Link dodged to the left, and was missed barely. Morpha returned to its position over the sword. In midfall, Link had found what he was looking for; the Zora Mask. He placed it on his face, and the pain begun. His eyes went bloodshot, he grew fins, and saw so many painful memories he couldn't really piece together. He saw the Zora's very own soul, his heart, his love for one whose children he had died trying to protect. He squirmed on the ground, writhing in pain, holding his head, trying to rip it off and keep it on at the same time. The room seemed to spin, and finally his vision became clear and he was a Zora. Shaking the pain off, he faced Morpha. It seemed puzzled as to why he looked like that, but lunged anyway. Link didn't move, and was grabbed by Morpha. He was trapped in its grip, arms at his sides. He freed one arm with difficulty, and slashed Morpha's eye, and it released him, screeching in pain. When the eye-like body of Morpha stopped spinning, it faced Link, and lunged, keeping its eye central to its body.

Link raised an electric field, and Morpha's eye was being electrocuted. It sunk to the ground, and started twitching violently. Link continued using up his energy on the field, but Morpha regained control, and threw Link into the wall. Link hit the wall hard, and slowly got to his feet. He wanted to finish this fast. He got up, and charged, yelling as he did so, and dove into Morpha. Morpha, not being able to drown him in this form, merely tried to retreat to a farther portion of its body. Link felt dominant in this match, and was confident he would win as he watched it retreat. Link grabbed his sword from the bottom, and charged Morpha. Morpha couldn't move at the speed of a Zora, and Link slashed at it. Morpha bulged with pain, and made screeching noises. When Morpha finally seemed to give up, Link stabbed straight through it. It started to screech louder than anything Link had heard in a long time. It bulged fiercely, and finally was still. It seemed to rapidly decay, turning gray until it eventually dissolved into the water.

The water too stilled itself, and Link was released onto dry land. The liquid previously housing Morpha's body leaked into the cracks of the actually stony floor. Link took off the mask, and put it in his tunic. He shouted to the guards, who were watching the battle the entire time. One of the guards returned with some rope, and lowered it down. It wasn't enough, though. The guard returned with huge folds of rope, and it almost reached Link. They could find no more rope. Link knew what to do. Though the guard was didn't hear all of what he said, he did what Link told him. He tied the rope into a loop, which dangled just within reach of Link's Hookshot. Link aimed the Hookshot, and shot through the small loop in the rope. It was long enough for Link to grab the other end. Using the Hookshot as somewhat of a pulley, he lightly pressed the retract switch, allowing Link to raise himself to the rope, which he grabbed. They pulled, and pulled, and Link seemed to get bored being pulled oh so slowly upwards. Eventually, the guards had to take a break, and tied the rope to a tree outside. The ascent was just that long. Link was being bored, hanging there above a very long decent. He may have to take out the Deku Mask again. The guards returned, and for the next half hour, pulled Link up to the platform. They laughed, and patted Link's back. "That was an excellent fight. Whatever that blue light was, I'm kind of happy it blew the roof off so we could see you. Say, what was that bit where you turned all blue?" Link avoided the question; it may lead Link to putting the mask on again. They didn't pursue further, but from what they saw, it was a good fight to them. They gathered up the rope, and lead Link back to the Lost Woods.

- - -

After much trekking through the Lost Woods, they finally reached the Kokiri Forest. Link stretched, and told the guards to wait there, and take a break. The guards didn't seem to mind much at all being away from Hyrule Castle's work for a while longer, and started to snooze on the grass, or buy something in the shop, which they were amused to find was also run by children. Link went into his old home, now uninhabited, though more than slightly cramped. He laid down on the bed and reminisced of old times he'd had here, legs hanging off the bed. Here was where he had the dream that lead him to discover his destiny. Here was where that journey ended as well. And here he was now, in his new adventure. He sighed, and looked out his old window. The Kokiri were minding their business, playing. Two Kokiri were dressing up his cow, and the cow seemed to glare at Link through its usual emotionless grimace. He searched his drawers and found his old slingshot. He drew it with a small spare seed; now decayed, and shot it at his wall. It shattered, and Link was satisfied. Maybe he'd come back for it someday. He put it back in his drawer again.

He walked outside his old home, and greeted the Kokiri children as they asked Link to play. Link smiled and joined with their play. He laughed, but he knew inside he could never go back to this as always. He recovered from his laughing as the Kokiri tackled him to the ground and started to laugh with him. He got up, brushed himself off, and smiled at his childhood friends. He told them he needed to go, and they all frowned and pleaded for him not to go. Link looked with a sad smile to all of his old friends. He looked in the direction of the Deku Tree. Mido was waiting there, staring at him. Link told the Kokiri to wait there. They resumed their play with each other. Link walked to Mido, who was staring at Link apologetically. "Link. I dunno how to put this... I mean, you were always just thinking of everyone but yourself..." Link looked down at Mido, remembering how he'd bullied him. "What I'm saying is that I'm sorry for being mean to you and I want to be your friend." He held out a hand, which Link shook. "The new Deku Tree's been waiting for you." Link looked into the path.

Link thanked Mido, and Mido kicked at the ground, saying something about Saria wanting him to be more friendly when she was here. Link walked onto the path, and approached the previous Deku Tree's hollow form. Its pained grimace disturbed Link. Link looked around, and didn't see the new Deku Tree that had sprouted in front of the Deku Tree years ago. He jumped when he heard a cheerful voice. "Hullo, Link!" Link tried to identify where the sound was coming from. He frowned when he discerned it was coming from inside the Deku Tree's corpse. Link edged forward. "Don't be afraid! I'm just a tree, after all." Link edged into the open mouth of the Deku Tree. He looked around, then up. The Deku Tree's top section had been cut off, allowing light in. "Hullo, Link!" Link looked down. The Deku Tree's offspring was sitting there, though it had grown oddly. "Hey, Link! It's been awhile since I've seen you! I've grown a bit, too!" He shook a small branch upwards, directing it at his new growth.

His head had grown extremely tall, almost to beyond the Deku Tree's hollow. On the tip of this upward growth was a single, large leaf. "For gathering sunlight, it was necessary. The Kokiri put me in the same place the Deku Tree before me was born and raised. This also protects me from monsters. His decay also gives me nutrients, but that's somewhat like cannibalism, methinks." He pondered the thought with his odd perpetual smile. "Say, since you're here, mind doing me a favor?" Link reluctantly agreed, still eying his surroundings. "There's something odd going over at Gerudo Valley's canyon that's been worrying me as of late." He continued with his odd, small-eyed smile. "It's a weird feeling that's been itching my roots and I need some closure with it." Link almost laughed at the small tree. It looked so oblivious. Link accepted smiling, but took it very seriously. What could be in the Gerudo Canyon? "Gee, thanks, Link. I can put my roots to rest once I find out what's really been bothering me." He continued the smile that made Link wonder if it was really had any other emotions other than obliviously content. "Well, goodbye, Link! Hope to have another chat soon!" Link nodded, and turned, walking out of the shell that was once the guardian of a race.

-Chapter End-