The key twisted easily in the lock. The chains and lock clattered onto the floor. This time, Link didn't need to give himself a pep talk. He was so delighted to find that the treasure the mini-boss guarded was the boomerang. He remembered that it was one of his favorite weapons. It was not only versatile, but deadly as well. Now it was much easier to pass through the dungeon when he could throw the projectile to stun or kill enemies, collect items from a distance, and cut down grass and vines. He'd even left it sticking out of his pocket so that he could gain access to it quickly for the boss fight if need be.
Link had hardly entered when the door behind him closed shut. Though to be honest, he wasn't fazed by that anymore. In fact, he'd expected that.
The room he was in was much like the other boss room. It was small, circular, had thick earthy walls, and clusters of grass ringing around the chamber. In the center of the room was an innocent-looking massive five star blossom that seemed to glow blue. Basically, it was like Dragon Roost Cavern's boss room except Forbidden Woods themed.
Something in the middle of the flower was jumping. Link pulled out his sword, ready for the boss, but grinned when he saw it was Makar. He walked up to the Korok. When Makar saw the swordsman, he stopped hopping and calmed down, obviously delighted to see a rescuer.
Unbeknownst to Makar, a small purple plant head (that was mostly mouth) atop a green stem appeared from the center of the blossom and loomed behind Makar. On its head were a few long antenna-looking things that stuck up straight into the air. Link immediately nicknamed it Bulb. It looked like a Boko Baba plant, except its head was way smaller and it had a different color theme.
Aww...it's so cute! It's even wiggling on its stem! Those were Link's thoughts until he saw Bulb viciously swallow Makar whole. Then, Bulb's mouth made an unsettling chattering noise, like an evil plant laugh combined with a rabid squirrel. Link hastily jumped off the plant after that. Well, at least it's not an annoying screech.
Just as he got off, all the petals of the monstrous flower began writhing on the ground until they all finally folded up in the middle into a big indigo bulb. Whoa whoa whoa not cute not cute not cute!
At the top of the bulb, many tentacle-like vines sprouted from it and reached up for the ceiling. (They weren't tangled in one thick rope, they were spread intonation made a circle shape on the ceiling.) They firmly latched onto the ceiling and lifted the plant off the ground. From the bottom of the plant, its vicious snake-like roots shot out in all directions. They had sharp barbs on the ends of them.
So the monster reveals its true colors. Dang, Link thought as he reached for his sword.
Link was considering taking a picto of it, since it was stationary, but the roots burrowed into the ground and lashed out where Link stood. This greatly surprised the boy, and he soon had scratches everywhere. Everywhere he stood, he found that if he didn't quickly move, the roots would go after him. Link had to be on his toes. All he focused on at the moment was moving right, always avoiding the attacks. But it got him nowhere in terms of defeating Bulb.
So how do I defeat this thing? Link had a feeling his Deku Leaf wouldn't do much here. But his hand itched for the boomerang. Link already figured that attacking the bulb would be futile. Same with the attacking roots. So, the only vulnerable part would be...
Link looked up and smiled. The things that keep it on the ceiling.
He aimed for the vines. It managed to sever five vines, but the rest were still suspending the monster in the air. Then, a root slammed onto him. Owwww.
But seeing the boomerang destroy the vines gave Link a sense of satisfaction. He figured he was going in the right direction. Link tried killing off more vines while moving out of the way from attacks. Again, he cut off five vines.
Link figured he'd have to hurry. Urgently, he threw his boomerang at the ten remaining vines, watching eagerly to see how many vines would be left with each throw.
Finally, they were all cut down. As it fell, the bud fell open, revealing the head. Link rushed in, his hands on the pictobox. Yes, the pictobox. He tried to take a picto of the actual monster, not its bulb. So Link took it out...
To see that it was just too big to fit in the frame of the pictobox. Link figured he was too close to it. He didn't even bother taking the picto. Suddenly, the plant's petals closed up, with Link trapped in them.
Link wondered if this was what it was like to be eaten. It was very dark and slimy in the monster's clutches. The flower convulsed, like he was being chewed up. Twisting around like this in the dark made Link dizzy and disoriented. It was not fun.
Then, he got spat out. He landed, dazed on the ground. Being chewed up took a lot out of him. Link hefted himself off the ground to repeat the process of bringing the monster down-literally.
But first, he needed to heal himself. Cutting down some shoots of grass, Link took some hearts. Then, he resumed with the fight and the arduous task of slicing off each and every vine.
After a lot of effort and patience, Link toppled the plant. It slumped to the ground, cracking open the flower. Link rushed up to it with the pictobox to see that he was too close again! Link tried backing up, but by then, the monster closed its jaws-er, petals.
Link suffered being chewed up again until he was once again he erupted from the plant with a spray of purple goop. He sat up, trying to find his sense of direction.You know what? Screw it, I'm going to need to weaken it first before I take any pictos.
Bulb was feeling quite satisfied, knowing that it was slowly defeating the intruder of the Forbidden Woods. But Link wasn't going to mess around this time.
Link started dispatching the vines. There was no rhyme or reason to the way he took them out. He just targeted any vines he saw and threw, while orbiting right to evade the roots' attacks. This proved to be a very bad plan. Since he moved around all the time, sometimes the boomerang would hit empty air in an attempt to return to its owner. So Link wasted a lot of time and energy. Soon, whenever Link destroyed the vines on the right side, the vines from the left would grow back, and vice versa. For each one he killed, another on the other side would grow back.
Link was beyond frustrated at this point. He could hardly think rationally anymore. But he was really exhausted, having to think and run around at the same time. So he took a break, leaning against the wall, only occasionally having to duck out of the way.
Link tried to think fast, knowing that his break would give Bulb time to recover as well. Okay, maybe I should just start over and let them all grow back. I can't continue on this wild goose chase. And I've noticed that when I move, it changes where the boomerang travels sometimes. I could try to manipulate it to go where I want it to, which is where more vines are. Hmm...
Link waited for the vines to all grow back. Then he tried this strategy. This time he actually focused on where the boomerang would hit. He aimed for five vines on the left and released. Keeping his eye on the boomerang, Link dashed right as fast he could without tripping. When it came back, it sliced through another one that had been in front of Link.
Hmm... I don't really like this plan. It's not exactly reliable. Plus, this plan depends on where I stand and stuff. So then what can I do?
Link was stuck, so he just continued with the original plan: killing each and every vine, five at a time. He found it was much easier when he circled around to where the vines were rather than staying in one place and trying to get them. Sometimes he couldn't reach the farther ones. Link hated having to move to a different spot just to get one or two measly vines and consequently waste time, but until he figured out a faster way, he had to do that.
Once again, Bulb plopped down. Link wasted no time striking the monster. It bobbed back and forth with each swing of his sword. In retaliation, the flower swallowed him before retching him back up. Link knew that he could always get healed by taking some hearts that were hiding in the grass, and for emergencies he had a fairy in a bottle, so he didn't mind being eaten as much as he normally would. But still, it was a sacrifice.
Link started destroying vines again. He killed off the five vines in front of him, each severed one oozing purple goo. Now there was an opening in the circle of vines. Link aimed for four on his, but before he let go, he suddenly swung around and aimed for the one vine closest to his right by accident.
But Link already let go. His eyes were glued to his boomerang. In the corner of his eye Link could see a barbed root about to smash him into the ground. Link crouched and ducked underneath his shield, and at the same time, witnessed something amazing.
The boomerang traveled left, getting each one, and rather than heading straight for that last stray vine he'd targeted, the projectile took a circular route to get there, effectively killing all the vines before slaying the last one on his right. In less than ten seconds, he had managed to topple the plant. Uh, dang. How'd I do that?
Link darted in and attacked it over and over again, trying to get as many swings as he could before Bulb closed up again. The plant didn't seem to give up, even after a volley of attacks from Link's blade. As expected, the plant chewed him up before spitting the boy out. As Link was being tossed and turned, he randomly wondered where Makar was during all this.
Link really wanted to figure out the trick to it. So he tried doing the exact same thing he did last time. He killed off five tentacle vines in front of him before targeting four on his left and one on the very right. It worked.
Bulb slumped to the ground in a heap, its petals opening. The head bobbed back and forth, releasing small chatters. Link threw the boomerang at it. Shut up.
With Bulb silenced, Link whacked at it. Right as he delivered the last blow, something felt wrong.
WAIT NO I FORGOT TO GET ITS PICTO!
But it was too late. Bulb's head went flying up, spiraling as it went. It cried out in its weird high-pitched chatter. Then it flopped to the ground, hopping about helplessly before letting out a weird sound, like a hiccup.
Then it exploded into nothingness, leaving behind the heart container and Makar, sprawled out on the ground. Normally, Link would be overjoyed. But he had carelessly forgotten that one picto needed in his quest to figure out the stupid trick. The monster room would be complete-except for one stand, Link thought bitterly.
He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he only vaguely remembered the plant leaves writhing and stretching up before slowly wilting. A portal was made in the center of the dead flower. He hardly even remembered getting the heart container and shooting up the portal, with Makar right behind him. He only knew that he had missed his opportunity of a complete monster room. But some odd reason told Link to continue anyway. So he did with a heavy heart.