Chapter 39: Well-Dwelling Frog Raitoad
Both Sheik and Zelda found themselves at the bottom of a dark hole which turned into a passage that lead into the true Deku Palace Vault which was an underground maze filled with Bubbles, ReDeads, and Gibdos. Using the map, the two made their way through the maze fairly unscathed until they came to a door with a silver lock. Using a key they found earlier, the door was unlocked leading to a set of spiraling stairs with false steps. So Zelda used the Bellow of Frost to create an icy slide for her and Sheik.
Once they slid down, they came to a circular room with a wooden statue consisting of frog's feet and a plaque.
"'To Find the Well of Plenty, Make Me Whole,'" Sheik said, reading the plaque out loud. "What does that mean?"
"Finding the missing pieces of the statue, of course," Zelda said.
"But where can we find them?" Sheik asked. "We can't go back up and there aren't any other places to go."
"Maybe they're buried around here, and I have just the thing to find them."
Using the Copper Ore Shovel, Zelda dug a few holes near the statue and came up with two pieces resembling a left leg and a right arm. Once Sheik took them from her, Zelda kept digging but upon not finding anything else she used the Silver Ore Shovel to dig deeper which produced a torso and a right leg. Next, she used the Gold Ore Shovel to find the last two pieces which were a left arm and a head. After putting all these pieces on the statue, they melded together to form a frog statue with a flower on top of its head that suddenly glowed. A single passageway revealed itself in the flower's glow, causing Zelda and Sheik to enter it.
In a small niche, Zelda found another silver key in a small chest. From there, the passage seemed to go on forever until Sheik discovered a hidden door by playing a song on his harp before a wall with the Triforce symbol on it. Behind the door there was a crypt with several ReDeads walking around the parameters and Keese flying down from the ceiling.
"Sheik," Zelda said, using the Kokiri Fan to set the Keese on fire. "That song you just played. What was it?"
"The song has no name," Sheik replied, throwing needles at the incoming ReDeads. "It's just something I was taught from a young age. The person who sang it to me said the song could open hidden passages with the Triforce symbol."
"I see," Zelda replied, looking inside the open caskets. "For some reason, that tune reminded me of a song my nurse Impa sang to me when I was a little girl."
"You mean the one from your reality?"
"Yes, though that seems like an eon ago considering what I've been through lately."
"I can imagine, though I've never been to alternate realities myself."
With all the ReDeads defeated, a large chest appeared in the room. Zelda opened it and fold a wooden pistol filled with Deku Nuts for ammo.
"That's the Deku Pistol," Sheik said. "It can fire Deku Nuts at any target within a range of twelve feet."
"Fascinating," Zelda said putting the Deku Nut Pistol in her satchel. "I never knew the Deku Scrubs had something this advanced lying in their vault."
They went to a door on the other side of the crypt and opened it. There was no light until a pair of gleaming eyes appeared out of the darkness followed by the sound of blades being sharpened.
"It's Mousoleum!" Sheik exclaimed. "He's a giant rat that dwells around graves and hates light so use the Deku Pistol to create flashes."
"Okay," Zelda replied, and fired a Deku Nut at one of the rat's gleaming eyes.
It was immediately blinded and stopped advancing. Sheik used this opportunity to hit the creature multiple times with his short blade which didn't seem to affect it. So Zelda shot another Deku Nut into its other eye which blinded Mousoleum completely. Then Zelda used the Kokiri Fan to set the creature on fire, revealing it to be nothing more than the skeleton of a rat with a glowing heart. Firing the Deku Pistol again, Zelda was able to cause Mousoleum's heart to explode once the Deku Nut lodged itself inside and so the rat keeled over into a pile of motionless bones.
A golden chest appeared, which held a gold key inside it, and so Zelda and Sheik continued down the dark tunnel until they came to a door with a gold lock on it. Unfortunately, there were rows of retractable spikes in their way. So Sheik and Zelda ran quickly across the holes where the spikes emerged from and unlocked the door with the gold lock. Inside there was a giant stone well with a wooden structure around it and a rope which held a small Deku Scrub wearing a dress made of flowers.
"Deku Princess!" Zelda cried, getting the Deku's attention.
The Deku Scrub looked in Zelda's direction and seemed surprised. "Who are you?"
"I'm Zelda, and this is Sheik," Zelda said. "We've come to rescue you."
The Deku Princess cringed. "Where's Deku Butler? He said he'd get my father."
"We found him near the entrance to the Deku Palace Vault. He's badly injured and could die if we don't take a sample of the water from this well to him."
"Then you shouldn't have come," The Deku Princess said. "Now Raito's going to come out and eat you both."
Before Zelda could reply, a rumbling noise erupted from the well. Then a large frog-like head emerged and the creature's enormous eyes blinked before it opened its mouth and released a long blue tongue. Zelda and Sheik avoided it as best they could until Zelda managed to freeze the tongue with the Bellow of Frost. Confused, the creature known as Raitoad crawled further out of the well revealing two slimy arms with webbed feet that had claws on the end of each finger. It tried to grab Sheik and Zelda, but they managed to avoid the arms. While Sheik distracted Raitoad by wrapping a chain around its neck, Zelda used the Deku Pistol to fire several Deku Nuts at six blue stones along its ribcage.
Once they were all destroyed, Raitoad coughed and spat something out before sinking back into the well. A splash of water followed, which in turn produced a small piccolo made of dark wood with light wood keys. Zelda caught it midair while Sheik jumped over the well, cut the rope that bound the Deku Princess, and caught her mid-leap.
"This is the last Wind Instrument?" Zelda remarked, examining the piccolo. "It's quite small."
"Of course it is!" The Deku Princess snapped, releasing herself from Sheik's grasp. "That's the Piccolo of the North, my family's most sacred treasure! It was crafted by my great-grandfather who made it from the tree that later became the Deku Palace. But then he accidentally dropped the piccolo in the well which absorbed the magic within the well's waters and has warded off evil from the Deku Palace until recently."
"I can see that," Zelda said, picking up the Shadow Crystal that Raitoad coughed out nearby. "Are the Dekus affiliated with the Twilight Wolves?"
"Certainly not!" The Deku Princess said folding her flowery sleeves. "Are you a spy for Ganon or something? Because if you are, I won't talk!"
"Then you are affiliated with the Twilight Wolves," Sheik said as his visible eyebrow was raised. "And given how proud your race notoriously is, I'm a little surprised."
"You don't understand what it is like for us!" The Deku Princess huffed. "My family came here thinking it would allow us to expand our territory, but then when we learned that we only had a small area to call our own while having to do stupid tours for visitors from other districts my father became very angry. But he never showed this anger until now and planned to go to war with Ganon himself until he was approached by someone from the Twilight Wolves."
"Did you know this person?" Zelda asked.
"No, he never said his name," replied the Deku Princess. "Wore this strange-looking mask, though, and asked if he could go down into the Deku Palace Vault. When my father asked about this, the stranger said it would benefit my people and nothing else. So then after the storms started happening, I got suspicious and went down here to find out what the stranger did."
"But when you did learn you got captured in the process," Sheik said.
"Don't interrupt me!" The Deku Princess yelled. "But yes, that was what happened."
"Now all we have to do is play the song to summon the Light Spirit," Zelda said placing her hands on the keys. "Do you know what it is, Sheik?"
"It's called the Tarantella of the Marsh," Sheik said and took his harp out.
After playing a very lively tune, Zelda followed Sheik on the piccolo. The two played for a moment, until a flash of light appeared over the well and a glowing monkey appeared with a fiery tail curled around its tiny body holding a glowing orb in its paws.
"Who has summoned Faron, the Spirit of Light and protector of the Deku District?" asked the glowing monkey.
"I have," Zelda answered.
The monkey who called himself Faron looked down at Zelda and said, "Faron senses there is great darkness in this land, and Faron knows its source is the Twili District. Is it that you wish Faron to banish the darkness away?"
"If you can," Zelda said.
"But Faron must know this: have you awakened Faron's brothers Eldin, Lanaryu, and Ordona?"
"Yes, they've all been awakened and are gathering their strength."
"Very good," Faron lowered his head. "Now go to the Goddess Statue and summon us all with the Ballad of the Goddess."
"Wait, what?" Zelda attempted to approach Faron, but he disappeared in a flash before a circle of light appeared at the foot of the well. "The Ballad of the Goddess? Do you know what Faron's talking about, Sheik?"
"I think so," Sheik said. "But let's get out of here first."
To be continued…