A/N: This chapter took entirely too much time to write. I don't have an excuse for the delay, either. I'm just a lazy bum. I will try to regain my two-chapters-per-month routine from now on, but I'll have to see if nothing gets in my way. Now then...
Come on! Don't pretend you don't love REVIEW ANSWERIN' TIME!
James Birdsong: Thank you. Do continue reading.
Ri2: Thank you again. There was a point where I thought to myself "Can Niko really be so big a deadweight?", so I gave him some use. And the dream sequence was a bit confusing... perhaps on purpose. Remember how, in OoT, Zelda had prophetic dreams? Just another shout-out to the series.
?: (goes over chapter 6 to find the part you had problems with) I thought it was clear enough that Mako was the one that said that. How would Mendoza know Link's name? Perhaps I was lazy with the explosions, but I think it did a good job regardless.
The Legend of Zelda
Overlord of the Land
Chapter 7:
Inside the Dark Tree
"I found the entrance!"
The cry from Mako got the desired result, as the whole group ran up to his general position as soon as they heard the news. Upon gazing at the gaping maw that was the opening to the gigantic, dark tree in front of them, it wouldn't be surprising if some of them got uneasy shivers running down their spines and took a few steps back with full intentions of fleeing the scene.
"Th... this is it?" Niko stuttered, his hand shaking wildly as he tried pointing towards the entrance.
"L... Look, guys." Tetra started, trying to pull up her bravery card for the rest. "I'm not too keen on this, either, but the sooner we go in, the sooner we can get this over with."
"True, Miss Tetra. Very true" Senza said, complete with apparent confidence in his stance. "I say we get this over with already! So... let's say it's over and leave this place already!"
"Hold it, scaredy-cat." Tetra interrupted Senza's sudden cowardly tactic. "We're not leaving this place until we find what we came here for. We're here for the missing pages and whatever treasure we can find as collateral. Anybody who doesn't help in the search will not get a share, got it?"
The pirates did not utter a word in protest. After all, they were being wrangled in the part that hurt them the most... payday. They looked around at each other, only to find a few downtrodden looks in their faces. They ultimately sounded in unison the expected answer.
"Aye aye, captain."
"Good. Now..." Tetra began... but her words faltered as she stared again at the tremendously creepy entrance of the tree. "Well... There's a good reason I decided to do this in the day. At least the light will make things less scary, right?"
And on that awkward note, the group entered their next destination:
Inside the Dark Tree
After walking a bit through some narrow passages, the team of eight wound up in a large room adorned with many shades of brown and green, its floors made entirely of roots swirling below them, and an uncertain ceiling complete with vines hanging from it. Despite the dark lighting, the inside of the tree didn't look as creepy as it looked from the outside.
"Well, this isn't too bad." Gonzo said, looking around the place with no worries. "Once you get past the odd coloring, the whole place is not really creepy at all."
"You know... you're right!" Niko exclaimed in a rare testament of courage from the tiny sailor. "This place is creepier on the outside than from the inside. Maybe it was the whole 'evil forest' look that helped it. But here... it's almost peaceful!"
"True... it is peaceful." Zuko commented. "Perhaps... too peaceful."
"Oh, don't be a spoilsport, Zuko." Niko reprimanded. "For once, we get an easy task with a reward in the end. Why don't we enjoy it for all it's worth. Right, Link?"
Link did not answer. He was not focused in the conversation anyway, as his gaze was fixated at the ceiling and the vines hanging from them. There was something about the vines that seemed eerily... similar to him.
"Link?" Niko repeated, trying to gain his friend's attention, to no avail. Link was locked in a staring contest with the vines, and there was no pulling him away. His look was not of curiosity, either. It was more of a cautious warning watch. "Link! You there?" Niko called again, waving his hands on Link's face to see if he got some sort of reaction. "He's out of it."
"I don't get him." Senza commented. "Is he looking at the ceiling? The only thing over there is a lot of green vines with... eh..." For a moment, it looked like Senza was going on the same trance that Link was on. "Uh... Mako... What do you call those reddish things that are at the end of the vines and stuff?"
Mako fixed his glasses and took a good look at what had both the green-garbed boy and the bearded man perplexed. "Those would be... buds. Like flower buds. But why would vines have flower buds? It's not in their nature."
"Guys? Look down." Zuko plainly said, pointing to the floor where various vines with red buds on their ends lay.
"This is a strange development." Mako said as he and the rest looked closer at the mysterious vines on the floor.
"Guys!" Tetra reprimanded, visibly annoyed by the apparent worthless distraction the pirates have gotten roped on. "They're just vines! They're not important or interesting, they're not moving, they're not dangerous, they're nothing. The only thing that it's doing is wasting our time. Now snap out of it and let's move... what?"
Suddenly, Tetra felt something creeping up her right leg. Looking down, one of the vines was wrapping itself around her leg. Before she could react, the vine pulled her strongly, making her fall on her back and be dragged along forcefully on the ground.
"AGH! Stupid... little..." Tetra grunted as she struggled to keep herself from being dragged off to who-knows-where. Reacting instinctively, Link rushed over to try and stop the attack, and in a burst of strength, jumped and managed to grab Tetra with his right hand, using his left hand to anchor this sword at the ground. Taking this opportunity, Tetra pulled out her sabre and cut the vine that was pulling her out. Amazingly, the vine squirreled out with a shrill squeal to a darkened corner in the room, while Link helped get Tetra to her feet.
"M... Mako?" Tetra called the smarter member of the clan while she stared at the place the vine came from. "Do you know why would these vines have buds on them?"
"I have no idea. Why?"
"Well... I think I know." Tetra answered, taking a few hesitant steps back. Suddenly, out of the darkness a huge Deku Baba lunged out and tried to bite off whatever it could get, forcing Tetra and Link to jump out of the way. Suddenly, every vine that had a bud on it came to life, turning into hungry, lunging Deku Babas that forced the pirates to move about, making the taller guys hunch down to avoid having their heads bitten off.
"Deku Babas!" Mako shouted out while running to avoid being attacked by the swarm. "Cut them on the vine part, but avoid their mouths! They love to eat meat!"
"But that's not so bad." Niko commented.
"Dude..." Nudge explained. "You're meat."
"Oh..." Niko said, wincing at the thought of becoming a choice cut for the deku babas. "Well, I can avoid their mouths very easy!" He said, pulling out his sabre and throwing it sideways, cutting off about four babas before stopping on the floor.
"Very nice, Niko." Gonzo commented. "Now how are you gonna get your sabre back?"
"Oh, that's easy. I just..." Niko stopped short of providing an answer when he realized he hadn't an answer to that one. "... oops?"
Amongst Niko's thick-headed move, Link devised a better idea to take out the deku babas. He pulled out his boomerang and aimed it at a large concentration of babas. He threw it, and succesfully took out many of the babas in the place, leaving enough room for the rest of the pirates to maneuver around the babas and fight back. Before long, the combination of Link's boomerang and the pirate's swords did short work of the smaller deku babas -even the ones on the ceiling- and only leaving them with the larger one that threatened them to eat them whole if they tried to venture close enough.
"And how are we going to get past him?" Gonzo questioned.
"Kill it with fire!" Niko shouted, much to the annoyed stared of his companions.
"Wait... that's it." Tetra said, turning to Link. "Quick, use your fire arrows, Link." Link wasted no time looking around his bag for the bow and arrows... but as much as he tried, he couldn't find them. "Don't tell me..." Tetra groaned as she witnessed Link shaking his empty bag and chuckling weakly. "Didn't I tell you to pack as many items as possible? How do you expect we kill plantivore over here?"
Link's head was reeling with incomplete ideas to try and take down the ferocious baba in front of them, but for every idea he concocted, a quick rebuttal from the monster was brought. Tired, he flopped down to the floor and took a breather, clutching his hands on the root-sewn ground in frustration. Just then, he noticed he caught something that was not ground. He inspected it to find a simple nut that was slightly cracked, and its innards seemed to shine in a glow of its own. Curious, Link got up and tried opening the nut, but when he was about to grab the boomerang to use as a makeshift nutcracker, he slipped on a vine and fell to the ground, sending the nut flying at the Deku Baba's general direction.
[FLASH!]
When the intense flash subsided, the group witnessed the deku baba turning a sickening purple before finally turning as still as a statue. The group also sit still for a while, wondering what had happened to the monster. After making sure the baba was not moving, they drew close and searched for the stem, quickly cutting it before it was too late. And with one deafening screech, the giant deku baba finally relinquished its life to the victors.
"Yeah!" Senza shouted, feeling great over delivering the final blow. "That's how you cut them up good!" His cheering suddenly stopped when he saw the others looking at him in an uneasy and even scared way. "Eh... too much?"
The gang, finding no real way to continue, decided to look into the hole occupied by the giant baba, only to find a corridor that grew darker as it went on. "This is going to be tough." Mako commented. "We'll need to conserve oil if we want to get in and out in light."
"Well... you know what they say..." Niko began, completely shaking in his boots. "When you can't beat 'em... escape from 'em!"
"Hold it, chickadee." Tetra said as she caught the runaway pirate by the collar. "We can make this. We just need to remain together and light those lamps only when it's important. Got it?" The crew had little choice but to agree with their captain. Thus, lighting only a single lamp and appointing Link as the guide, the pirates ventured deeper into the insides of the tree.
"Why does it have to be so dark?" Niko whined.
"Will you stop whining?" Nudge reprimanded the tiny pirate. " We know it's dark, thank you very much. But that's all there is. There's been no other hurdles, no traps, no nothing."
"Yeah, I know..." Niko said. "But... why does it have to be so dark?"
The group groaned collectively. Ever since they entered the dark hole, Niko has done nothing but complaining and bickering, which was making the rest of the crew insane. And they were in for a grand total of two minutes.
"I wanted to get out of here, but nooo... I had to come along, and now I can't really..."
"Ok, that is it!" Tetra yelled out while she stepped back to Niko's position. "If you can't shut up, then I'll shut you up." She then pulled out a piece of cloth and stuffed Niko's mouth with it. "There, bite that if you're scared."
As Tetra walked back to the front of the pack, the pirates attempted to stifle a laugh due to Niko's current disposition. At least they were pleased they once again had relative calm among their ranks.
"Now, then, that's one problem we don't have to think about any... more..." Tetra stopped just short of finishing her thoughts when she heard a strange sound coming from the ceiling. It was dark, and the lone lamp provided only a dim light, making it hard to make out what was above them. Due to the sound, it was definitely NOT a deku baba, but something else. Something smaller... quieter... flapping their... wings?
"Keese..." Tetra barely managed to whisper as she took a step back and began hyperventilating, looking at the dark ceiling with glazed-over, darting eyes for any indication of their new threat. Link tried walking over to her to see what was wrong, but she did not react. No sooner had he tried once, though...
[SCREECH!!!]
"EEEEEEEEEEEK!!!" A shrill scream echoed across the corridor as a swarm of keese suddenly swooped down from the ceiling. The never-ending swarm flew right above the crew's heads, hitting the taller guys and making them fall over. The wave of keese was so great that the lamp had somehow abruptly flicked off, enveloping the whole corridor in stark darkness.
Then, silence...
"Uh... everybody okay?" Gonzo asked.
"Yeah... I think so." Niko answered.
"I feel... heavy." Zuko commented, finding himself unable to get up from the floor.
"Whoa! Sorry, buddy." Senza quickly apologized as he stood up from above Zuko.
"Wait a moment, I'll light up my lamp." Nudge said as he stumbled with his lamp and his share of oil. No sooner had he managed to light up the lamp that they were treated with another heaping helping of keese.
"EEEEEEEEK!!! KILL 'EM!"
"Yes, ma... eh?" Mako wondered after hearing the same exact shrill scream from before and finally pinpointing where it was coming from. "M... Miss Tetra?"
When he looked at Tetra's general direction, Mako almost couldn't believe what he was seeing. Tetra was clutching almost desperately at Link, effectively making his right arm useless, and sporting a clearly horror-stricken look in her face. "What are you waiting for? KILL THEM!!" She ordered again, with a clearly strained, raspy yell.
Doing a favor to his hearing, Link had little choice but to pull out his boomerang with his free hand and aim at the keese wherever he could see them. Aided by the pirates' strategy of having the smaller guys wailing at the keese atop the bigger guys, the oversized bats were done for in a short time.
"G... Good work..." Tetra said upon witnessing the relentless carnage her crew delivered to the keese. Once she calmed down enough, she finally figured out the position she was in. Her arms were wrapped around Link in a tight embrace, leaving her legs limping and dragging along the floor, as if completely helpless. Her sudden embarrassing blush was enough to accompany the lamp's lighting, and her weak chuckling as she loosened her embrace only served to drive the point home. "Eh... well, I... Keese and I don't get along too well, you know. Didn't I tell you the story? It's a good one. I... I... I... oy..."
After finally clambering off Link, the green-clad blonde simply brushed off her actions with a simple smile and a tap on her head... which did little to dim Tetra's blushing.
"Eh... ahem..." Tetra cleared her throat to attempt and regain control of the situation. "Well... now that that's done, shall we continue?" Thus, without looking at any member of her crew, she walked onwards, leaving the guys utterly confused.
Eventually, the pirates finally left the dark corridor in favor of a low-ceiling room, which somehow had some sunlight filtering in, with a rather large hole in the middle and a couple of vines running down them. Across the hole they entered, the room also had another entrance which led into a rather long bridge composed of tree branches and vines.
"So... which way now?" Gonzo wondered as he paced himself around the hole, inspecting their options and their possible outcomes.
"Isn't it obvious?" Tetra said. "We'll split up and cover more..."
"NO!" Niko yelled out, rushing over to Tetra's side and beseeching her mercy. "Do you not know? This is exactly what happens in horror tales. The group splits off, and the killer has an easier time picking them off! We'll be shark food, I tells ya! Shark food!"
Tetra looked over at a kneeling, begging Niko with a narrowing, incredulous stare. "You've been reading far too many of those cheap slasher novels, haven't you?"
Niko blinked once, seemingly incredulous of how transparent his true motivations were. "Your point being?"
Tetra sighed and decided to disregard his outburst, lest she allow space for another headache. "Gonzo." She called to her second-in-command. "You, Niko, Zuko and Nudge will explore the bridge area. Senza, Mako, Link and I will go down this hole. Understood?"
"Yes, Ma'am." The pirates sounded off in unison. Thus, the first group commanded by the Captain Tetra grabbed hold of the vines adorning the hole and began making their way down to the unknown, while the second group, led by Gonzo, left the low room in favor of the natural bridges on the other side.
"This is kinda odd..." Nudge commented.
"What is odd?" Zuko wondered what went on his partner's mind.
"It's just, all the other rooms, and even the hole from before... they all looked very cramped. You know... low ceiling, dark, full of enemies and stuff..., but these bridges look very vast." Nudge explained, motioning towards the walls and different structures around the bridges. "I mean, look at that wall. It's so far away. And the floor beneath the bridge is so far from us, too. I wonder... this place looks far too big for its own good."
"I see..." Zuko noticed, taking a moment to let the reality of the vast, impressively large room sink into his mind.
"Personally, I'm glad." Niko butted in. "This place actually looks peaceful and calm, unlike the creepy vibes that filled the previous rooms. I'm actually glad I was sent here."
"Yeah, I say you're overreacting there." Gonzo commented. "It's a big place... so what? Not every overly large place has to be the nesting grounds of something ominous or evil or anything of the like."
[HOWL!!!]
"... But I've been wrong before."
Suddenly, out of a higher plane dropped a pair of immense, frothing, hairy wolfos, growling and gnawing their teeth as they stare down their unsuspecting visitors with hungry eyes. The group tried to back away from the latent ferocious beasts, but before long, they were cornered by the swift and acrobatic moves of one of the wolfos who masterfully rounded the pirates around the tight bridge to stand on the other side. Now, the guys truly had no escape. They would fight... or they would die.
"My, this is a deep tunnel. At least we have good visibility, right?" Mako commented, feeling the elongated rappelling session deep inside his poor muscles and trying to find the positives within it.
"Whoever did this must not want us to either get to the bottom, get out of here alive... or is simply too big." Senza suggested. "Definitely not human. Too perfect to be the tree, too."
"Well, we'll show them, then." Tetra exclaimed. "We did not just walked right into the middle of epileptic tree central just to run away. We'll get to the bottom of this hole, and there's nothing that can stop us."
While this exchange happened, a certain teenage green kid was having perhaps way too much fun swinging himself around the hole using the vines he managed to grab. For Link, it was never about the scary environments, or the prizes at hand. He hardly used his rupees for himself anymore. He was a man of adventure. It was in his blood, and he took every chance he found to make it the best he could possibly muster, sometimes earning the annoyed stares of his comrades, particularly Tetra.
"And would you take this just a bit more seriously, Link?" Tetra reprimanded. "We need to get to the bottom of the hole fast, and your monkeying around isn't helping..."
Suddenly, Tetra's voice faltered and her mouth ran agape upon seeing the rushing green blur falling right past her eyes. She looked up to where Link once swung above them, only to see limping vines moving idly about. She then moved her gaze below her, looking for signs of Link, only to find the dark abyss stare back at her.
"So... fast enough?" Mako said, apparently echoing Link's thoughts on the matter.
"Where did he go, is the question." Tetra uttered, still looking down the hole. "I swear, that kid can get on my nerves when he says he waAUGH!" She suddenly let out a yelp when she turned around to see a slyly-smiling Link hanging far too close for her. She promptly reacted by kicking him in the arm, making him swing away. "G... Give me a heart attack, why don't ya?"
While swinging around due to Tetra's gentle push, Link crashed onto the wall, shaking it somewhat. While not enough to become dangerous, it was noticeable and managed to attract unwanted attention.
"Wait a minute..." Senza spoke quietly, trying to maintain silence. There was something troubling him, but he could not perceive it with a lot of noise going around. "Can you hear that? That strange buzzing sound." His words made the other climbers stop and take notice. There it was... a faint buzzing sound. It was slowly getting closer and closer, but was somehow still muted. Senza wondered why was the sound so muted still... until he came to the shocking realization.
"Link! Get off that wall now!" Senza ordered with a immense sense of urgency. Before Link could react, however, the wall behind him collapsed as if it were blown with a row of bombs, sending debris everywhere, and having a large rock catch Link off-guard in his left arm. Out of the newly-created hole came out a large flying creature, yellow and black in fashion, with wings that appear too short to support its weight and a rather large stinger flashing in its rear area.
"That's a Flambée!" Mako announced, hurrying to find a spot as far away from the oversized bee as possible.
"Heh... perfect timing. Things were getting too boring." Tetra commented. Seeing Link's pained condition, she grimaced as her attention was quickly brought back to the monster in front of them. "So we got one man incapable of fighting, and this thing is powerful enough to break through walls and is fast to boot. Brace yourselves, gentlemen. This just got loads more interesting."
"Brace for impact!"
The pirates, possibly acting out of pure fear, obeyed Gonzo's orders instinctively and raised their sabres, effectively blocking out the wolfos' vicious advance.
"How are we going to stop these beasts?" Nudge wondered.
"We have to go on the offensive..." Zuko suggested as he tried to counterattack the swipes of the hulking Canis towering over him. "We're four... they're two..."
"Hey, you're right!" Niko said. "There's no reason we can't overpower them." With newborn determination, the short pirate grabbed hold of his sabre and bore a menacing look to the wolfos, suggesting the beasts had their days counted. "So now let's..."
"Yes?"
"Let's... let's..." Niko stuttered with his words, almost as if his mind had suddenly gone to sleep in his moment of genius. "So... what shall we do?"
Annoyed, Gonzo grabbed the little guy by his collar and met him face-to-face. "I'll show you what we'll do!" Afterwards, Gonzo threw Niko over to the other side of the bridge, right above the pack of wolfos.
"Hey, wait a minute!" Niko protested. "Now I'm all alone, and the wolfos are turning over and looking at me as if I were a tasty piece of steak, and you guys are now safe on their blind side, and now..." He quickly shut his mouth when he figured out just what was happening in front of his eyes. The perfect opportunity to take advantage of the fast-but-dumb wolfos. "Hey, wolfies! How about a nice Niko steak a la mode! Come on! I'm delicious!"
The Wolfos reacted to the attention seeking meatbag in front of them and began inching their way with menacing, hungry looks plastered over their faces. "That's right, folks! Today I'll show you that you can definitely get the most out of a Niko!" Niko continued, trying to maintain the attention until the others acted upon their roles. Meanwhile, the wolfos pair kept inching closer and closer to Niko. "Why, you can deep-fry the ribs for an amazing 4-wolfos dish. The arms and legs provide unheard-of nutrients to keep your skin all furry and shiny, and the body can be eaten raw, for that fabulous what-in-the-world-is-taking-you-guys-so-long! mysteriously delicious tangy taste."
Just then, a loud, ear-piercing howl echoed through the room, as Gonzo and Nudge thrusted their sabres right into the wolfos' backsides. Before the beasts could react to that backstabbing move, the piratespulled out their sabres from the wolfos' body and sliced them off once more, making them wince and stagger in pure pain, falling over the bridge's edge and down a great distance to the floor below.
"And that's that." Gonzo declared triumphantly.
"I'm not... so sure..." Zuko said, pointing down to where the wolfos fell. When the other three looked down, the already-dead wolfos were being approached by a growing pack of their kin, sniffing them out and nudging them to try and get them to move. When it dawned upon the pack that the two wolfos would not come back to life, they began howling loudly, in mourning of these fallen comrades.
"Well, great." Nudge began to speak in a heavily complaining mood. "First they want to maul us, then they want to make us feel bad about surviving? Well GOOD LUCK WITH THAT, YOU STUPID ANIMALS!"
Upon that sudden outburst, the wolfos pack looked up to the bridge to spot the source of the annoying noise and the three who were with him. Suddenly, their eyes locked on a scowl, and they began to growl, and some of them even began to move on the prowl.
"I... I think you made them mad, Nudge." Niko stated.
"And I suspect they know this place and will be on us pretty quickly." Gonzo added. He thought about the possibilities, then turned over to Niko. "Haven't you said that you always have an emergency plan? Because that's what we need right now."
"Really?" Niko said, his eyes lighting up when he heard that. He promptly lifted off his shirt, revealing an impressive, if somewhat scary, sight: a great amount of bombs, strapped tightly around his chest, ready to be set off at a moment's notice. "Come on, wolfos! I'm ready for ya!"
"That's crazy... and scary." Nudge said. "I don't wanna be anywhere close when you blow yourself up."
"What? You think I'm gonna explode myself along with them?" Niko said, indignant of the mere suggestion. "No, no, no. They're for... this!" With those words, he pulled one bomb out and threw it right at the mouth of a wolfos that was getting a bit too close. The wolfos swallowed the bomb and before long, the muted explosion was heard, followed by the limp fall of the wolfos' carcass. "They activate as soon as you rip them off, so be sure to throw them away as soon as you can." Niko explained.
Thus, with the added power of Niko's bomb suit, the four pirates managed to ward off the wolfos for long enough to run out of the chain of bridges. Eventually, the remaining wolfos decided to retreat with their tails between their legs, leaving the pirates to finally catch their breath while claiming victory at the same time.
"Whoa, what's this?" Niko asked when seeing the large door on the wall next to them.
"I don't know..." Gonzo acknowledged. "But if it leads to treasure, I say let's go in!"
Afterwards, the team pushed the door open, leading them to a large circular room with a large lever right in the middle of it. Before they could explore the room fully, though, the door slammed itself shut right behind them, locking them in.
Up... down. Up... down. The exercise seemed so tiring and tedious there was no way any normal man under normal circumstances would keep it up for a prolonged amount of time. But when survival is at stake, the limits of human strength can be stretched to impressive lengths. Tetra, Mako and Senza with Link in tow were all dealing with such limits as they tried to outsmart the Flambée, who seemed to enjoy playing with its newfound toys as it flew up and down the hole trying to give them a good sting.
"We have to find its weakness. Fast." Mako stated, attempting to analyze the bee's patterns.
"I say we clip its wings right off." Senza suggested.
"Fine. Good idea." Tetra said. "Now, how do you suggest we get close enough to it without being speared to do so?"
"Well I..." Senza quickly shut up when he noticed the folly in his plan. "Well, I don't see anybody else coming up with suggestions."
"Watch it!" Mako suddenly shouted, as the Flambée rushed headfirst towards Senza. The bearded man barely had any time to react and climbed up fast enough to just barely dodge the attack. In that move, however, Senza lost grip of his stowaway, making him fall... right above Flambée's head.
Being in such a precarious situation, Link had no other real option but hang on for dear life. He grabbed on to one of Flambée's antennae with his good arm and rode the overgrown bee like a cowboy. Flambée was trying all it could to drive Link out of its head, but the green-garbed boy latched on to that antenna with deadly determination, pulling and tugging it just to try to make Flambée's actions less violent. And less violent did they become, and more malleable did Flambée's movements become as well. As Link tugged and pulled around, he discovered that Flambée could not keep its concentration and its head kept swerving about, as if trying to shake something off... something that wasn't exactly Link.
"Did you just see that?" Tetra said to Senza and Mako, who quickly nodded. "I think we got 'im now. Senza, get ready to grab it. Mako, jump on top of it on my command and be ready to do some clipping. Link, try to steer the bee over to Senza and get ready to jump."
Senza began to prepare himself by tying up his forearms with vines to stay put in one place and have his hands free for the grabbing. Mako made his way above Senza and unsheathed his sabre to be ready for his role in the play. Meanwhile, Link struggled to maintain control of his makeshift steed, pulling the antenna while Flambée moved up and down involuntarily, trying to regain control of its own body. Just when it looked like the plan was a bust, Link pulled Flambée up right at Senza's level and was about to make it fly to his general direction.
But of course, you all know about best-laid plans and all that jazz...
Suddenly, Flambée used a great inner strength and recovered just long enough to set his own flight pattern... right towards Tetra. The young captain was shocked and vulnerable beyond a timely reaction, and Flambée was not stopping no matter what. Link decided to sacrifice his position and jumped clean ahead of the bee and clung on a vine with his bruised left arm with all the strength he could muster, and with his good right arm he pulled out his shield, then swung right in front of Tetra just in time to block the incoming stinger. The pressure the flying monster brought upon Link's shield was enough to create a rather hefty dent on it. Despite that, and the fact that the pressure had the indirect side effect of squashing Tetra to the wall and that his left arm could give out any moment, Link held fast on his spot, his determination unwavering. He knew he had stuff worth protecting, and a little discomfort was not going to make him dissolve his resolve.
But, man, was that overgrown bee stubbornly persistent.
"GROAR!" A screechy brave cry rang out from above. Suddenly, the yellow flying menace gave into the pressure of its new handler... Mako. The nervous wreck of a pirate was desperately clinging onto the bee's antenna with his left hand while trying to swipe off its wings with his sabre on his right hand. Flambée's wings, however, moved way too fast for him to accomplish much of anything with them. Thankfully, his intervention gave Link just enough breathing room to go back on the offensive. Link quickly climbed up the vines just enough to be above Flambée, and jumped right on it. At this moment, Flambée was just struggling to stay in flight, while Link and Mako instinctively swapped positions to try and continue the proposed plan. Link grabbed the antenna and handled the bee with his previous expertise, while Mako made good use of having two good hands to manage to grab a wing (after getting a few nasty slaps on the hand) and with one fast slash, he cut it off.
The pain was so severe, that Flambée rushed back in pain, slamming back-first into a wall, right before falling unconsciously to the floor below, leaving Mako stamped right on the wall.
"I'm... I'm ok." Mako stuttered.
And Link... found himself smack dab in the middle of the air, floating as if he had been wearing some sort of hover tunic. For the briefest of times, the young lad had the otherworldly experience of being truly weightless, of being like a leaf, being idly floated up on the air, subjected by the current below, cradled by the gentle winds, lifted by the will of the Goddesses themselves.
Of course, it was all just an illusion.
In a fraction of a second, Link found himself falling down the same abyss that claimed his previous opponent. He flailed around, attempting to reach some sort of vine, but despite his best efforts, he was too far from any wall to reach at anything. Suddenly, he felt something latch on to his right arm. With the same impressive strength that he was grabbed on, he was also pulled right into a wall, where he wasted no time to find a stepping stone to stay on. When he looked up, he received the pleasant surprise of finding out his savior was none other than Tetra herself. Strangely enough, instead of showing signs of a struggle or annoyance, Tetra was finding herself chuckling over the odd role reversal.
"Well... this, uh... this takes me back." Tetra commented, attempting to remain serious despite her unusual giddiness. "Remember when we first met? And I had to reach out just so you wouldn't stupidly fall of a cliff?"
Link responded to Tetra's reaction in kind, producing a cheeky smile towards his rescuer. Soon after, the team completed its descent without much trouble, landing softly on Flambée's carcass. Upon inspecting the new environment, they found a large, unnatural architecture that seemed like it was once part of an ancient civilization before it was forgotten by time and swallowed whole by this incredibly large forest.
"Where did this one come from?" Senza asked.
"I don't know for sure..." Tetra wondered, looking around to see if there was any way around it. "But I'm willing to guess that is our next destination. If only we could find the door..."
Link took a moment to contemplate the structure in front of him. The gray and green wall housed very specific and ornate squared designs of various shapes and forms, all very meticulously symmetrically aligned. Every single line carved into the stone was perfectly horizontal or vertical, giving a sense of order and care taken when this design was brought upon. So much care, in fact, that the odd circular carving stood out like a sore thumb, however small it could be. Link approached the wall and touched the circular carving, triggering it to sink inside the structure. Suddenly, a great tremor shook the insides of the tree, making rubble, dirt, and vines fall all around. Then, a large part of the wall started moving away, revealing a brand new entrance for the crew.
"My, my... what would we do without you, Link." Tetra said as she took a good look at what just happened, succeeding in making Link blush, much to his embarrassment. "Let's go, guys. Destiny awaits."
"What manner of architecture is this?" Mako wondered as he became bewildered by the whole spectrum of the place they were currently inhabiting. Save for a small flat part dead center, the whole room was shaped like the inside of a perfect sphere, with strange markings across it, countering the organized detailing of the wall outside. On the very top, a single humongous chandelier hung precariously, with a sharp tip pointing straight down and dangerous-looking spikes all around the sides.
"You think that'll fall?" Senza asked.
"You want it to fall?" Tetra asked back, beginning to search into her bag of items.
"NO!" Senza promptly yelled. "Please! I don't think if I could survive THAT again."
"Yeah... We don't wanna repeat that disaster." Tetra concurred, tying up her bag.
Suddenly, the flat ground below them began shaking ferociously, making the pirates hang on to each other. Before anybody could say anything, though, the floor shot up like a lid giving in to too much pressure, shooting the pirates right to the chandelier, and forcing them to hang on to it for dear life. They managed to climb up to the relative safety of the chandelier just in time to look down and see what exactly made such a tremendous force as to launch the four of them so high.
"It's... huge!" Tetra exclaimed.
"It's... long!" Senza interjected.
"It's..." Mako tried to find the words for it. "It's..."
Speedy Belly Crawler
Moldorm
An incredibly large worm wriggled his way out of the hole in the middle of the floor and began to accelerate all around the spheric room. His round, yellow body looked like it was looking to mark its territory, leaving a gooey trail wherever it went through.
"Well, this is bad." Mako commented. "It was bad enough to try and climb that room as it was. How are we supposed to fight this monster properly?"
the group wondered about their probable plan of attack, when all of a sudden, an all-too-familiar voice rang out from above them.
"Oy! Miss Tetra! Senza! Mako!" Gonzo yelled, sticking his arm out from an opening where the chandelier's chain protouded from.
"Hi, Link!" Niko yelled, sticking out his arm as well. "How are you?"
"Miss Tetra! There's some sort of mechanism here tied to a chain." Gonzo explained. "I can't see well enough down there to see what exactly is attached to the chain, but it looks you're on it. Should I try engaging it?"
The guys at the chandelier pondered the possibilities of Gonzo activating the "mechanism". Suddenly, an inspiration burst into Link's mind, one that felt like it had been ingrained on him many, many generations ago. He looked over to Tetra, who seemed to have a sly look upon her face and was just looking around as well.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Tetra asked Link, to which the green lad nodded. The two of them grabbed on to the corners of the chandelier, bracing themselves for the incoming action, while Mako and Senza hurried to the chain in the middle and grasped it like their life depended on it.
"Activate it, Gonzo." Tetra ordered.
"You heard her, guys!" Gonzo, in turn, ordered the guys under his command. "engage it!" Nudge and Zuko immediately pulled the lever, making the mechanism move and making the chandelier move and spin slowly but surely, until...
... until it was pulled right up to the ceiling, crashing violently and shaking off-balance everybody on the chandelier.
"OW!" Tetra yelled out in pain. Annoyed, she lashed out at the ones above the ceiling. "The other way, idiots."
"Whoops." Nudge said apologetically. They quickly crank the lever the other way, activating the mechanism the other way, making the chandelier spin and lower softly.
"Ok, swing now!" Tetra ordered Link, who began pushing and pulling at the corner of the chandelier, making it swivel around the room. "More! We have to reach the wall!" With unwavering determination, Link and Tetra made their best efforts to swing the chandelier until it could reach a wall. For the longest of times, it looked like they were not going to make it and the chandelier would just idly fall down to the ground. Then, Senza and Mako decided to let go of the chain and give the chandelier one good push by rushing from the center and crashing right on the corner. This effort gave the chandelier just enough push to reach a marking on the wall, which served as a rail system for the chandelier, which began moving as if it were a train on a set of tracks.
The tracks were working in tandem with the chain mechanism to spin the chandelier and make it a veritable weapon against Moldorm. All that was missing was the proper timing. And of course, proper timing was something that these people lacked while going around at high speeds.
"When it's within our range, we... WHOA!" Tetra yelled without finishing her instructions, surprised by the sudden move by Mako to try and attack the massive worm. The chandelier bounced right off the tracks, making its large spike at the bottom shoot sparks at it scratched the surface of the bottom, before using its remaining momentum to latch on to a track again. "What was that just now!?"
"I thought I had a shot." Mako justified himself.
"Okay, then. New rule: everybody waits until I say attack. Got it?" Tetra enforced upon the rest. Mako meekly nodded, while Senza and Link stood by their triggers in the chandelier. Tetra kept a good watch at Moldorm, who squirmed around rather quickly and erratically, waiting for a good chance to bring about the massive ceiling decoration upon its face. Just then, she noticed how every so often, Moldorm would go in circles on the same spot, giving them a wide open chance to strike.
"Okay, on my mark." Tetra announced. The three accompanying her grabbed hold of the triggers, ready to pull them on a moment's notice. Tetra looked around, shifting her sights between her target and the tracks the chandelier was following and pinpointed their attack range. "Ready..." She raised her arm, providing a visual clue to the others. As soon as Moldorm was close enough to them, she lowered her arm. "Now!"
[CLANK!]
[BOING!]
"WHOA!" Mako yelled out after feeling the tremendous knockback force of the worm's head upon the chandelier, making them bounce with reckless abandon right back to the tracks. "What was that just now?"
"I thought we had a shot." Tetra justified herself.
"Huh?" Mako stopped for a second to understand what just happened. "No, not that. We did make contact, but we just bounced off. Why?"
"Well, it's obvious that its head isn't the weak point." Senza pointed out. "There should be another point... perhaps its tail end?"
Tetra looked over at Moldorm one more time, seeking out a probable weak spot. Upon hearing this, her gaze shifted to the worm's tail. There, she noticed how the rear side was a bright red, while the rest of its body was a smooth yellow. "Wait, that's it!" Tetra exclaimed. "The tail! We oughta aim for it's tail." Sensing the newly discovered opportunity, Tetra grabbed hold of her trigger and waited for the perfect chance to strike. "Hold still so I can hit you."
After some waiting, the oversized worm gave his back to the pirates, giving them the chance they sought. "Now!" Tetra yelled, pulling her trigger to shoot the chandelier off the tracks. What followed was an inhumanly loud wail of pain coming out of Moldorm's mouth, followed by a frantically fast attempt at a getaway, foiled by the fact that the place was sealed from the half-point down. "Yes!" Tetra celebrated her upper hand quite loudly, something that wasn't exactly the best thing Moldorm would want to hear right now.
"Eh... Miss Tetra?" Mako tried getting his captain's attention.
"What? Can't you see I want to enjoy this?" Tetra retorted.
"Yeah, that's nice and all..." Mako explained, "but you might want to quiet down for a moment."
"Now why would I want to do that?" Tetra questioned.
"For... that, perhaps?" Mako sheepishly pointed behind Tetra. When the young captain turned around, she met face-to-face with the giant, seething Moldorm, who screeched fiercely right at her face.
"... Miss Tetra?" Mako wondered.
Tetra looked straight at Moldorm, gaze unwavering despite the mucus makeup the worm gave her. She cleaned her face up a bit before directing herself to her opponent. "Of course you realize, this means war."
As quickly as they could muster, the chandelier group was already back on the tracks, dashing around the level and rounding up a raging Moldorm. The worm did not stay put for long, and began giving chase. Moldorm's speed easily matched the chandelier's, and if it weren't for its constant need to zigzag to get some vertical distance, the chandelier would have already been demolished. "How are we gonna get the upper hand on it if it keeps chasing us?" Senza pointed out. Upon noticing this, Link began looking around for alternatives... and saw how the tracks went all the way up to the ceiling area. Now he just needed to know how to get up there. He saw how the tracks branched off in certain parts, and there was an odd switch close to them, so he did the logical thing. He pulled out his boomerang and aimed at the switch and hoped things worked out just right.
"Well, we're going to have to stun 'im, and... Whoa!" Tetra yelped in surprise as the chandelier took a sharp 90 degree incline, climbing right to the ceiling area. "What the... why are we going up? Grab on, We're going up. We're... we're right above the worm." Upon realizing their advantageous position, her eyes narrowed in astute determination. "Hold on, boys. Time to rain pain from above."
"I don't like how she said that." Mako informed his worries to an equally worried Senza.
"I think she meant we're going... [gulp] down. Fast." Senza said, feeling no need to sugarcoat the situation.
Tetra looked in wait how the giant yellow worm thrashed about underneath them, trying in vain to follow them up to the higher half of the dome. In one incredibly inspired move, Moldorm used all of its strength to rush about as high as it could, and actually managed to get scarily close to the chandelier... before losing its momentum and falling flat on its back, unable to move for a few precious moments.
"Here we go! Hold on tight!" Tetra said before pulling on her trigger.
"Well... we had a good run, buddy." Senza said plainly to Mako, right before the chandelier lost connection to the tracks and plummeted down to where Moldorm was.
[CRASH!]
The Chandelier was a mess. About half of it was broken in shards strewn around Moldorm's tail end. Laying around the debris, four figures groaned weakly and struggled to get on their feet.
"It's times like these..." Tetra wheezed as she pulled her hair out of her face. "... when I really feel alive."
Suddenly, Moldorm shook wildly, making everybody down there to scurry away from the beast as much as possible. Fortunately, the worm only gave a few tugs as it spat out a Heart Container and stopped moving altogether.
"Finally, the quiet part." Senza blurted out.
"Well, that heart is all fine and all... but where is the treasure we were supposed to get?" Mako asked.
"Whoo!" Niko's voice rang out from the ceiling, overjoyed at some sort of discovery. "Look at all the rupees we found! I call dibs!"
"No way, swabbie!" Nudge stopped the shrimpy pirate, pulling rank on him. "I get dibs on this treasure."
"Mine..." Zuko said, sliding right between Nudge's legs and straight to the treasure.
"Would you guys behave?" Gonzo called out to order. "Don't you guys forget how we do things here?" He then pulled right between them, pulling Zuko out of the treasure pile. "Besides, I'm second in command, and I get dibs."
"Hey!" Tetra yelled from the bottom of the spheric room. "I hope you're not thinking of keeping it all to yourselves!"
"Eh... No, Miss Tetra." Gonzo quickly yelled out of fear. "I... I was just trying to secure the pages you seek, Ma'am."
"Well, good. We're going up." Tetra said while trying to help the others up on their feet. "Come on, that's only a flesh wound, Mako." she said as the smart one stumbled his way to his feet.
"Hey, ma. I grew wings!" Mako said, seemingly delirious.
"... What?" Tetra wondered before shrugging it off. "Just climb up the chain, will ya?" She then went over to Link, who was about to grab the Heart Container. "Don't get any ideas, Link. That has to go through me first, you know." She then grabbed it at exactly the same time as Link... yet the Container did not break like the others. "Weird. Now what?" Link thought over the options, and finally decided to relinquish the Heart Container entirely to Tetra. "What? No tug fight? No complaining? No... no... no nothing?" Tetra wondered, feeling confused towards Link's actions, who just answered her bewilderment with a smile.
"If you stay down there any longer, there'll be nothing left when you get up there!" Senza taunted as he started climbing the chandelier's chain.
"What? No way, not as long as I'm in charge!" Tetra snapped off to answer her subordinate. "Race you there, Link." She said as she ran over to the chain to climb up. Chuckling, Link moved over to their very, very high exit.
"Would you look at this, sister?"
"Interesting, indeed, sister."
"The girl doesn't seem to know what she is heading towards."
"All those pages she's gathered should be clue enough."
"Ignorant, this princess turned out to be, sister."
"Better for us, isn't it, sister?"
"Yes. Yes, it is. We will be able to revive the Great Evil..."
"... And she will gladly help us achieve our goals!"
"Gwee-hee-hee-hee-hee-hee!"
"Gwee-hee-hee-hee-hee-hee!"