A/N: Thanks to alwaysingirl, RoseWing and (NEW REVIEWER!) James Birdsong for their reviews!

Yay, someone got the reference! Congratulations, alwaysingirl, you win a cookie :D And RoseWing, if you liked the fight scenes, there's a lot more to come!

On with the chapter!

Chapter 12 - Monsters

Zelda circled the Deku Baba, arm raised, dagger in hand. It circled along with her, keeping an 'eye' on her, so to speak. Zelda knew she had to watch out for that infamous saliva dripping from the monster's jaws. There was so much that it dripped to the ground every seconds, hissing as it dissolved through the soil. They kept at it for what seemed ages, although it was only a few minutes. Zelda could tell from the Deku Baba's movements that it was getting more agitated, itching to begin the fight. Zelda remained calm, however, and carried on circling it.

Suddenly, it lunged at her, patience wearing thin. Mouth agape, it thrust itself forward. However, Zelda dodged and it closed it jaws where she had been standing only a few milliseconds ago. Perhaps bewildered, it stayed in that position for a few seconds. Zelda used this time to jab at its head with the dagger. It screeched, unworldly noise emanating from its mouth. It 'jumped' back, head hovering in its original position once again. There was a long cut where it had hit by Zelda's blade, which oozed purple fluid every few seconds.

Changing its tactics, the Baba lunged at her quickly, and she only dodged at the last second. It didn't give her a chance to retaliate, however, and sprung its head back to neutral position as soon as it missed. Zelda scowled, readying herself for another attack. It lunged again, like she anticipated. She dodged it with ease, but by the time she was ready to strike, it was waiting to make another move from its safe distance. This went on for another ten minutes. The Deku Baba rushing forward to attack, Zelda dodging. Zelda attacking, the Deku Baba dodging. Zelda decided to go from another angle.

After a few seconds, it lunged again. Zelda dodged, and shot her foot out, hitting it square on the head. It shrieked, and stayed in its current position, stunned. Zelda readied her dagger and slashed it, cutting off a huge chunk of the head's tissue. It screamed out in agony and sprung back to its neutral position again. Zelda smiled. She had it figured out.

She used the same tactic several more times, and the Deku Baba started to cotton on that its current strategy wasn't the best in the world. As Zelda kicked at it again, it quickly snapped its head back, catching Zelda completely off guard. She lost her balance and fell, dropping her dagger in the process. Seeing its chance, the Deku Baba shot forward and bit her in the arm, causing her to cry out in pain.

She jumped up again, arm throbbing with pain every heartbeat. Unluckily, it was her dominant arm, but the pain was so intense that she couldn't even lift it. She grabbed a spare dagger from her holster in her right hand, clumsy untrained fingers almost dropping it. She held on to it though, and waited for it to make its move. It lunged forward again, and she prepared to kick it again, but it quickly snapped its head back. She dodged it by millimetres.

'I need a new approach,' she whispered to herself.

She stepped backwards a few times, then sprinted at the Deku Baba as fast as she could. The Deku Baba lowered its head, preparing to bite. As soon as it lunged, however, Zelda somersaulted over it with impressive grace. Before it could turn back, she slashed its stem with all her might. It split in two, and the head fell on the floor. She ran over to it and sliced at its head time and time again, throwing some needles at intervals. After two minutes of hacking away at it, it screeched out loudly. The stem began to burst into flames, which travelled up the rest of the stem at an alarming rate, reaching the head in seconds. It shrieked as it writhed in pain, tissue falling away from its face as it burned. After a minute, there was no trace that a Deku Baba had ever existed in that spot.

Zelda dropped to one knee, exhausted and in agony. She reached into her satchel and pulled out a red potion, drinking half of it down in one gulp. Her arm pulsed with pain one last time before it healed enough for her to raise and lower it without being in pain. There were large pinhole wounds, about four, embedded in her forearm. She grimaced at the sight of them, and got out a roll of bandages, wrapping them around her arm. Thankfully the wounds weren't too deep, and would heal by themselves without any need for aid.

She sighed in satisfaction, and walked cooly toward the where the Lost Woods were, careful to avoid any more Scrubs or Deku Babas along the way. Not out of fear, but just because they were a pain and consumed too much time to defeat. Also, Link she imagined Link would have awakened by now, running for his home. She shook off those thoughts and ran faster toward to the hollow trunk that would lead her to the Lost Woods.

After about another half hour of jogging, she had finally found the Lost Woods. Usually, she would have taken a lot less time to get there, but she had trouble finding the entrance. If the Lost Woods were even more confusing than the forest itself, she would probably have a lot of trouble in it.

To the side was an object known as a Sheikah stone, something that Zelda had only seen outside the Temple of Time, four in a proud row. Apparently, if you hit them with a weapon, they could tell you the exact time, with no need of a sundial. Unfortunately, she had forgot to pick up her dagger when she dropped it in the Deku Baba fight. She cursed and took out a fresh one from her holster, then thrust it against the stone figure.

'BOIING! BOIING!' Zelda flinched at the shrillness of its voice. 'The current time is... 1:39pm!'

Zelda sighed, pulling out some needles. Cheery music began to louden as she walked into the hollow trunk, a happy tune unlike the plight of the forest.

Preparing herself for the worst, she ran in.