The temple's inside was dark. Tails hesitated for a moment, then pulled out the torch he'd brought instead.
Several keese flew down to him, each dealt with easily, and he moved on to the next room.
There was a monkey stuck inside another wooden cage on the far side of the room with a bokoblin patrolling nearby. There were some leafy patches he now recognised as hiding spots for Deku Babas.
There didn't seem to be anything else of note in the room, so he pulled out the slingshot he'd bought, loaded it with a pumpkin seed, and aimed it at the bokoblin with a mischievous grin.
It hit squarely on the back of the head, making the bokoblin look around in surprise. Tails drew behind a post, and watched carefully. Seeing nothing, the bokoblin resumed patrol.
Tails moved out from behind the post, shot it again, and ducked behind a nearer post. The monkey in the cage tried without much success to stop from laughing at the bokoblin's confusion. Once again, it saw nothing, so continued.
He repeated twice more, until the next time he simply stabbed from behind, finishing it easily. He cut the monkey free, then shot down the spider-like creatures on the leafy vines that reached upwards.
The monkey jumped up and beckoned to him to follow, so he flew up, opening the door at the top.
On the other side was, of course, another room. In the centre there was a raised platform with four unlit torches, and a giant spider crawling around. Some wooden steps led up to it.
Also leading from the platform were two ropes heading to ledges both east and west, and there was door northwards.
Up above, handing by thick threads that looked like spider web lines hung several clay pots and a chest.
The monkey hid behind him, afraid of the spider. Tails approached, ready. When it noticed him, it too came close.
He slashed at it, but it swiftly blocked his attacks. When it made to attack him, he quickly stepped to one side, and slashed again. It couldn't block in time this time, and sunk down to the floor, stunned. Tails finished it with the newly learned Ending blow.
From his perch atop the platform, he could see that the ledges east and west also lead to doors, and that behind the platform was a lowered area. It looked like it had been raised up once, allowing access.
He decided not to risk opening the hanging chest, and instead pulled out the lantern, lit it, and then lit the four torches.
There was a rumbling, then the lowered area raised up, allowing access to the north. The monkey quickly ran over, beckoning for him to follow.
Through the door was an area outside with strong winds blowing. He wasn't going to try flying in that!
The monkey ran over the bridge, but stopped when it saw a larger monkey on the far side. It held a boomerang which glowed black. It hurled it, cutting the ropes holding the bridge, slapped it's backside, then ran off.
The monkey survived, climbing the remains to get back. Then Midna appeared.
"What is going on here? A monkey fight?" She looked at where the bridge had been. "It looks like we'll have to go back. This monkey seems to know where to go, why not follow her?"
She dropped out of sight again. Tails was beginning to wonder if all this was worth the trouble.
They went back into the main room, and this time the monkey went to the rope headed westwards, climbing over to the far ledge. Tails, of course, just flew over, slightly unsteady because of the sword he carried. He'd have to get used to that. Maybe fighting while flying could be useful.
The door led to a short rock corridor that opened into a larger cavern. There was another large spider hanging over a ledge on the far side of the room, and another Deku Baba patch in front of him.
He dealt with the Deku Baba, as it lunged at the monkey as it passed. The monkey then leaped over to one platform, looked up and saw the spider, then jumped back and hid behind Tails.
Tails pulled out his slingshot again, and shot the webbing hanging the spider from the roof of the cavern. It snapped, dropping the surprised spider into the water, where it floundered for a few moments, then died. Almost too easy.
The monkey led him to a door leading west again, which had chains and a lock on. From here, he could see that along the southern wall was an ornate chest behind a gate. There were four towers around it with what looked like fans on top.
"I can't go through there, I don't have a key," he told it. It didn't seem to change anything. "Wait here then. I'm going to see if I can find a key." It still didn't seem to change.
He left by a door to the north, which led outside again. There were a couple of keese, which he ignored, and a platform with an odd fan like contraption on top. Every so often, the strong winds would activate it, and the platform would rotated a quarter-circle.
He stepped on while it still aligned, seeing it led to the other side. It started moving as he did so, so he shot down the two keese, so they wouldn't trouble him later, then stepped off the other side as the platform spun to the right direction, leading to another door.
On the other side was another cavern, with another platform and another fan like contraption on top. There was no wind here to activate it, leaving it the wrong way for him. He didn't want to try flying over just yet.
There were three other doors, one north, one west and one east, but none reachable.
He did spot two bokoblins though, one at the west and east door. With another grin, he shot at the west one with his slingshot. It saw him, and paying no attention to where it was going, it walked right off and down the pit in front of him. He shot the other one, and it did the same.
There didn't seem to be much else to do, so he turned to leave, and spotted a chest on the ground nearby. It wasn't locked, and it contained a key.
"Useful," he murmured, and made his way back to where he'd left the monkey.
The key fitted the lock perfectly, letting them through.
On the other side, the monkey spotted another monkey in yet another cage, and leapt up, trying to shake the cage off the top of the pole it was on, but couldn't.
Tails flew over, kicking it down to the ground, where it smashed.
There was a shrill cry, and they looked up to a ledge where two bokoblins stood. They jumped down, after the two monkeys.
Tails dropped down from the post, and blocked them, swinging his sword threateningly, but they seemed unafraid. He made a few passes at them, and then finally defeated them with a spin attack, this time without making himself dizzy.
The monkeys led him back through the room with the hanging chest, and through the opposite door. They didn't follow him through. That didn't exactly fill him with confidence, but then he remembered the accusing words of the stranger from earlier calling him a disgrace to the hero's clothes, and continued on, unafraid. Well, maybe just a little.
On the grassy floor of the next room, he once again spotted the Deku Baba leaves. The plant creatures that came up from them looked different though, and when severed from the stem, they continued to come after him. Fortunately, a single swipe extra dealt with them just as swiftly.
Up some wooden steps, he saw a strange... thing. It had grown out of the ground, and looked like it was waiting for something to drop in. He stabbed it a few times, but it seemed impervious to his sword, so he left it alone and continued on up.
Ahead was another odd creature. It looked almost like a cross between a spider and a bomb.
He stabbed it, and it collapsed, a fuse lighting. He stepped back and watched as it exploded, and another one dropped from the ceiling.
He stabbed this one too, then picked it up. Flying over the first odd creature, he dropped it in.
It seemed to eat it whole, then it exploded. The strange creature deflated, vanquished.
As he'd flown over, he saw a rock blocking his way. Seeing another bomb-spider had appeared, he repeated for this rock, blasting it out the way to reveal another door.
The room on the other side was darker, but not so dark as to make it difficult to see. A monkey was trapped behind some wooden bars on the far side of the room.
The only way to get to them seemed to be by a tiled bridge over water, to another tiled area, and up some large wooden platforms forming stairs – some of which weren't raised.
He jumped down, certain he'd seen one of the tiles moved, so held his shield ready to defend from any surprise attack. As he stepped on one tile, it shot up, throwing him into the air. He regained his balance, hovering, and spotted that a worm like creature had pushed it up.
Since he was up here, he hovered over them, much to it's annoyance, and the annoyance of some others that had been hiding.
Around the second tiled area were four torches, two lit. Carefully stepping around the tile creatures, he lit them, each one raising the remaining platforms he needed to get to the monkey.
Another of the giant spiders dropped down beside him. He knew how to defeat them now, so it took only a few moments.
The door to the monkey was not so quick, however, as it was locked. The monkey pointed behind him, and he spotted a chest on a post.
He'd missed it before because it was lower down than the ledge he'd come in by.
It had the key in for the door.
He led the monkey out, checking the tiles carefully for the worms again.
Back in the previous room, he turned to the left and saw another door up a raised ledge. There were some more leafy vines, with smaller spiders on. He shot them down so the monkey could climb safely, and carried on up and through the door.
He almost stumbled over when he saw what was on the other side. It was a giant Deku Baba.
The monkey skirted the edge of the room, and joined another one, also behind a locked wooden grate door.
He'd have to deal with this big bully first, he decided.
It shot toward him as he drew close, and he sidestepped, slashing at it. He didn't seem to hurt it much, but it was impossible to get close to the stem with it hitting him.
It drew back up, and shot out again. He hacked away some more. He repeated this, finally defeating it, leaving another of the bomb-eating... things.
Conveniently, there were a couple of bomb-spiders to hand. He used one to blow up the thing, and a somewhat sticky sap-covered key was left. It unlocked the door, at least, and the two monkeys followed him back.
When they rejoined the other monkeys, they all jumped over to the north door, beckoning for him to follow.
He went through it again, and watched as the monkeys used each other to swing across one of the ropes that had held the bridge up, swinging from one to the other until he'd be able to cross the same way. Well, it beat trying to fly in those winds!
There was no sign of the monkey who'd cut down the bridge, so he crossed with their help, and went on through the door.
As he entered, a grate covered it, barring his exit. On the ceiling were some Deku Babas, the ones that came after him even after being separated. They were just hanging there, and weren't any threat.
Then he spotted the bigger monkey on a post. It lobbed the boomerang, cutting several Deku Babas down, and then laughed at him.
If it wanted a fight, then he'd give him one!
He dealt with the Deku Babas, then dodged the boomerang thrown at him, leaping up to swipe at the monkey. That distracted him long enough to get hit by his own boomerang, leaving Tails to attack. It's backside seemed to be the weak spot, so with a faintly embarrassed feeling, he targeted there.
At one point, it cut down more Deku Babas, but they were only a minor distraction, and he continued his assault.
Eventually, he dropped the boomerang, collapsing to the ground. A bug like the ones that had stolen Ordona's light flew off it's head and died.
The monkey got up, facing away from him, and rubbing at it's backside. Then it paused, turned, and saw Tails. It spooked, and jumped out an opening that lead outside. He couldn't follow there, it was a strong wind. Besides, he had no real wish to harm it any longer. It seemed like the bug had been controlling it.
The boomerang's dark glow from earlier had turned to a green, and it floated up in front of him.
"I am the fairy of the winds, whose power resides in this boomerang," a faint voice came. "You have freed me from the darkness, and now my power has returned. Please, take it with you, and it will aid you in unforeseen ways."
Midna popped up again.
"That was probably what the monkeys wanted you to help with. They should be happy now. We should keep looking for the Fused Shadow." She dropped out of sight.
He collected the boomerang, then looked around. There didn't seem to be any exit other than the one the monkey had used.
There was one of the fan like contraptions above the door he'd used though. He remembered the voice had said about being the fairy of winds – well, maybe she'd help? He threw the boomerang at the fan, and a small cyclone formed around it, activating the fan, which in turn raised the grate a bit.
He repeated twice more, and the grate lifted entirely, allowing him to leave.
The monkeys had gone, but the winds still remained. The only way back was over some more of the spinning platforms. There were two in a row, but unaligned. He used the boomerang to make one turn early, lining them up, and crossed to a rocky tower with a bokoblin dozing on. He hit it in the chest with the flat of the sword, and it went flying off.
Above where it had been was another monkey in a cage. He cut it down, freeing it, and it jumped off along some more platforms, heading inside. He followed, and found himself back in the room with those bomb-eating creatures.
There wasn't anything to do here, so he returned to the main room, and used the boomerang's wind to blow down the chest. Inside was a compass.
"Well isn't that a useful thing," Midna commented. "I can use this to tell you if there's anything special in a room."
"You mean you're actually going to help?" he replied sardonically. "I thought you just stuck around for the comic relief."
"Be nice, wolf boy."
"I'm a fox, not a wolf."
"You're a wolf in the twilight, which makes you wolf boy. Fetch, wolfy – find my Fused Shadow."
"Hey!" he swiped at her with a paw, but she'd already dropped out of sight.
He thought about where he'd been so far, then remembered the ornate chest he'd seen, and made his way there.
The towers on the ground were linked in a reversed 'Z' shape.
He pulled out the boomerang.
"Uh, fairy of winds?"
"I hear you, Hero."
"Do you think you could trigger each of those fan things, along this path in the floor?"
"But of course. Just throw the boomerang at the first of them, and I will do the rest."
He did so, watching as the mini cyclone formed again, and followed the pattern on the floor perfectly. The fans all activated, and the gate opened easily.
"Thanks," he told the boomerang, but there was no reply.
The ornate chest contained, rather appropriately, an ornate key.
He then headed to the room where he'd made the two bokoblins walk off, the memory of it bringing a grin to his face. They were stupid, but also kind of fun to watch when they did that.
He almost laughed out loud when he saw two more bokoblins had taken up the positions of the two that walked off, and couldn't help himself when they did exactly the same.
He used the boomerang to align the platform, and headed straight across to the opposite door.
The most recent monkey he saved was waiting for him. He watched as it jumped over to some giant mushrooms where the four previous ones were. There were three mushrooms empty.
Midna came out and watched them for a few moments with him.
"I guess there's probably three more monkeys." She looked over at the far door. It had an ornate lock on it.
"An ornate door, which is unlocked by an ornate key, kept in an ornate chest." She turned to Tails. "Do you suppose whoever built this place was rather unimaginative?"
"Maybe they just wanted to point out that there's probably a really nasty creature behind that door, so made everything to do with it special?"
"I prefer my explanation. I guess the only way over there is with the monkey's help. No offence, but I don't trust your flying enough to see you over that huge chasm."
"Neither do I, actually."
"You struck me as the confident sort."
"I'm confident, but I'm carrying a sword I'm still not entirely used to, wearing these Hero's clothes rather than my own, and the chain mail that comes with it weighs a bit too. That throws me off a bit."
"Poor wolf boy. Go find the monkeys."
"They're over there."
"Very funny. The other monkeys."
He returned the the room before, slightly disappointed that yet another pair of bokoblins hadn't appeared, but stood on the platform and made it spin round to align with the two doors they'd been guarding. He headed east first.
There were several more bokoblins in this room, all of which easily defeated. There was a door to the south, which was locked, so he then flew up to the top of a tall ledge. With the extra weight of the heavy sword and the chain mail he wasn't used to, he paused for a few moments to rest. He decided that if this was the way he'd have to get the Fused Shadows for Midna, he'd come out of it with more endurance, if nothing else.
There was nothing up here except a door, which he went through. Inside, there were three more of the Deku Babas that kept attacking.
He named them Baba Serpents, as the severed stem still on them seemed a lot like a snake.
They were all dealt with, giving him the chance to look around the room.
There was a bomb-spider on a rocky island by itself, and one of the bomb-eaters on another to the right.
He used the boomerang's cyclone to bring the bomb-spider to him, making it light up as it was picked up, then threw it in, blowing up the bomb-eater.
The chest on the island behind it held another key.
He then looked ahead, and saw a boulder blocking off the top of some vines. The boomerang again.
"I've got another question for you," he told it.
"Just say the word, Hero."
"I need to use that bomb-spider-"
"It's a bombling," the fairy interrupted. Tails stopped and glared at it. "Sorry."
"Use that bombling to blow up that rock."
"I can do that for you."
"Thanks again."
"It is no trouble. If you would throw me?"
He threw the boomerang, watching it pick up the bombling again, and let it explode right beside the rock, then return to him.
"Done," she told him.
"So I see. Thanks."
Not wanting to run out of energy, he sheathed the sword and climbed up this time, instead of flying. Then he decided it would probably have used less energy to just fly up.
There were two Baba serpents hanging from the ceiling. He used the boomerang again to cut them down, then slashed them to beat them.
Beyond them was a rock. He could hear a monkey behind it.
The bombling served to blow it up like the one before, and a monkey ran out, bobbed it's head at him in thanks, then left.
There didn't seem to be anything else here, so he headed back a room, and unlocked the door to the south.
The room inside was another slightly dark on. He could make out two giant spiders hanging from the ceiling.
He made sure he only attracted the attention of one of them, defeated it, then dealt with the other.
The floor of this room had several holes in, all but one having a spider web over it. The one that didn't had ivy leading down.
A monkey's frantic cries could be heard from below.
He peered through the nearest cobweb, and immediately saw it in a cage.
Using the lantern, he burnt the web, and dropped down, chopping the cage up and freeing the monkey, who left the dead tree stump they were on and jumped up the ivy.
There was a chittering sound. He glanced down to the grassy area below the stump. There was another giant spider.
He shot a seed into it's face, making it back away and crouch, covering it's eyes, then he finished it with the Ending blow easily.
There wasn't much else down here, so he flew back up and went through to the room that used to have the suicidal bokoblins in, and went west instead.
Here, there were more tiles. And he didn't need long to see there were the tile worms underneath.
"I can help," the fairy of wind told him.
"I'll throw you, you show me."
"But of course."
He did so, and the boomerang's cyclone pulled up the tiles, and landed the tile worms in a dazed heap not far away. He slashed at each until they were all gone.
He almost turned to leave, when he spotted a tunnel almost hidden, in the north west of the room. He followed it, and was surprised briefly when it cut away before him, dropping him into a pit with yet another giant spider. It didn't last long.
He flew out of the pit again. He could see down to the newly de-tiled floor he'd been on just before.
Opposite there was a gate with the last monkey behind. Two towers with fans on top were on either side.
He threw the boomerang, the fairy inside seeming to already know what he wanted, and triggered both, setting the monkey free.
"Well, that's all of them," Midna said, watching it leave. "I guess all that's left is to find out what's behind that ornately locked door."
"Which needs an ornate key."
"From an ornate chest. You know, I think you might have been on to something."
"Oh? I was right?"
"There's probably something big and nasty behind there." She grinned slyly at him. "Sure you're up to it, wolf boy?"
"Wolves aren't afraid of anything, and neither am I," he declared.
"Oh, I'm sure there's something. Like Zant."
"I don't know. I've never met him."
"Lucky you. C'mon, we've got a door to unlock."
They returned the room with all the monkeys in. When they got there, they found them hanging in a chain, one from another, reaching down enough for him to grab hold. They swung him over to the door.
On the other side, the door closed behind him. He didn't expect to get it open again.
This room had only a small part of land, before it was covered in purple fog. There were a pair of bomblings on rocks in the middle of it, and two giant Deku Babas coming out of the fog behind them.
They had no eyes, but he was certain they were watching him.
He had a sudden idea. He pulled out the boomerang, lined up for a bombling and one of the Babas, and threw it. The bombling blew up in it's mouth, and sunk into the fog.
He repeated for the other one.
"That was easy."
The room shook, and they came back again, the two bomblings and their rocks collapsing. Then a third Baba came up in-between the other two. It looked different, and had an eye on the end of it's tongue. It leaned down and gave a roar at him, breathing it's foul breath at Tails.
Half from courage and half from being afraid, he shouted back, "Take a breath mint, stinky," and then looked stunned at what he'd just said.
There didn't seem to be any way he could hurt them without the bomblings.
One of the giant Babas made a lunge for him, and he hacked at it, but his blows just bounced off.
There was a familiar sound of the larger monkey from early. He looked up and saw it at a few planks of wood, holding a bombling and waving it at him.
It then picked a vine from the arrangement of bits of wood up where he was, held the bombling in his hands, and held onto the vine with his feet, swinging across.
Tails readied the boomerang. He waited until the right time, and let it fly.
It picked up the bombling, and dropped it in the centre Baba's mouth easily, causing it to scream, then collapse to a bit of the land in front of him, exposing the eye.
He didn't doubt that it was the weak spot, and immediately started hacking away at it.
The Baba recovered, and spat purple fog at him, which he jumped and hovered over until it cleared, by which time the monkey had another bombling ready.
He repeated the same tactic twice more, and when slashing the second time at the eye, it drew up sharply, the fog seeming to dissipate around it.
He sheathed the sword, knowing he'd won, and was proud of himself.
The Baba turned dark and thin, then exploded, shadow fragments hanging in the air.
They drew together, forming into something that resembled Midna's helmet, but different in shape.
She popped up and held it with a hand that seemed to extend from her flaming orange hair.
"Yes, yes, this is it. One of the Fused Shadows. Well done, wolf boy."
"Thanks... that wasn't as hard as I thought."
"Oh good. The other two light spirits should know where to find the other two Fused Shadows. If you want to know exactly what they are... well, you'll have to hurry and collect them, maybe then I'll tell you. So no wasting time around here, lets get on, shall we?"
She floated over to a bit of floor, and created a green portal.
"I'll get you out of here with this."
"Why didn't you tell me you could do that?"
"I can't do it that often, that's why. So I'm saving it for important times, like getting out of places like this easy."
As when she's warped him from Hyrule Castle to Ordona spring, the world seemed to turn black square by square, then clear the same way, this time leaving him at Faron spring. Faron was waiting for him.
"Heroic Tails... While this area is now freed from evil, do not think all of Hyrule has benefited from your actions just yet. You must leave these woods, and go west to the lands of the light spirit Eldin. You will find those whom you seek there, but beware... those lands are covered by the twilight. Should you step in there, you will return to the form you bore when you first entered the twilight. Go now, and beware of your enemies. The darkness will seek you before long."
Faron sunk back into his pool, and Midna returned.
"Well, we won't need to worry about that much, will we? When you turn into a wolf again, I'll take good care of you. Then I'll help you."
"Sure? You didn't exactly help much last time."
"Oh no? And who showed you to sure footing, and got you to dash up and out onto the rooftops of the castle?"
"I guess you have some usefulness then. I just think you want me to be your own ride around."
"What's wrong with that? As a wolf, you run far faster than I could."
"Oh, alright then. You can help."
"That's a good wolfy."