Chapter 6: Into the Woods
Still in Japan, Link and company had just finished enjoying a meal leaving the heroes's hunger satisfied. Upon exiting the restaurant they had dined at, they all took a breath of fresh air and sighed with relief.
"That was some great cuisine!" exclaimed Alex.
"The food that this world has to offer is quite strange, but yet it is tasty, I must say I enjoyed that soup you call udon," said Link.
"Oh yes, it's superb, I'll agree with you on that," replied Ken.
"Well now that we've eaten, should we get to taking care of finding those Secret Texts?" inquired Chun-Li.
"Yes, we must get back to our adventure as to make sure these documents do land in the wrong hands," answered Zelda.
"Question, how do we know where to look?" asked Ryu.
"I have an idea, Sahasrala!" shouted Link.
Upon shouting his name, Sahasrala's spectral form materialized in front of Link's group, he took a quick glance at the crew before fixing his gaze on Link.
"I see the whole crew is complete, superb!" exclaimed Sahasrala.
"Correct, now we need to know have you found the locations of any of the Secret Texts of the Illuminati?" inquired Link.
"Indeed I have, it is located near a swamp where a race of people ccalled Deku Scrubs live," answered Sahasrala.
"Deku Scrubs, I take it that's a race from your world," stated Alex.
"Yes, they live in areas with lots of forestation, preferrably swamps, maybe they'd have an idea where that text is," responded Link.
"Yes, I shall take you there immediately, may the gods be with you," said Sahasrala as he magically whisked Link and company away to the Deku Swamp. Soon, the group of heroes found themselves materializing before a lush swampy region. Trees hung low over their heads and murky waters surrounded the landscape that lay before all their eyes. The sound of frogs croaking gave the swamp a fitting ambience as Link and company gazed upon their surroundings.
"Here we are everyone, the Deku Swamp, here we should find the clues necessary to finding the first Secret Text, so look sharp everyone," advised Link.
Without hesitance, the sextet began their trek through the swamp, occasionally, a Deku Baba would emerge from the grass, but would quickly meet its end either by Link's sword or a Hadoken from Ryu or Ken. After a while of plowing through the swamp, the little group came across a building on a dock with a rather small boat nearby.
"Ok, now why would anyone offer up a boating service out here in this place?" asked Alex while scratching his head.
"Surprisingly, they do quite well, people like the little tours around the swamp, and if you have a bow, they let you do a little target practice game as well," answered Zelda.
"Hmm, interesting, I suggest we take the tour," stated Ken.
"We have no time for sightseeing Ken," replied Ryu.
"No, I agree as well, it could get us closer to the area where the first Secret Text lies," commented Chun-Li.
"Let's see how much it costs to do so then," said Link.
"Poor Epona, she's gonna have to stay here since she wouldn't fit on the boat with us," cried out Chun-Li.
"It's no big deal, Epona's a tough horse, she can handle being without us for a while," replied Link as he pulled a carrot out from his satchel and fed the mare the juicy orange vegetable. Epona whinnied in delight upon gobbling down the carrot.
"Now be good Epona, we'll be back soon," remarked Link as he stroked Epona's mane before along with the other five heroes entered the building for the boat tour service. As they walked in, all six looked over at a table where a large hairy man in a brown vest, red and white striped pants, and a pilot's helmet gazed deeply at them.
"May I assist you guys?" asked the man at the counter.
"Yes, how much is it to take the boat tour of the swamp?" inquired Ken.
"Normally I'd charge 20 rupees for each person, but since you have such a huge group, I'll make it only 10 rupees a person," answered the man at the counter.
"Rupees, what on earth are rupees?" asked Ryu.
"My world's form of currency," answered Link.
"Oh, so some of you are from that other world, I understand that you probably have foreign currency I cannot accept, so this one time, I'll let you take the tour on the house, however, next time I will have to charge you rupees," replied the man at the counter.
"Thank you!" exclaimed all six in unison.
"Don't mention it. Now meet me down at the dock, " replied the man.
Not wasting any time, the sextet headed down to the dock where the boat was. All six boarded the boat and as they got on, the man who was at the counter took the helm and began to commandeer the boat across the waters of the Deku Swamp. As the boat glided along the murky liquid, all six of them looked around at their surroundings as the owner of the tour service babbled about facts about the Deku Swamp. After a few minutes of sailing in the swamp waters, the heroes soon came across a large wooden building adorned with many flowery decorations, in fact the building looked almost like a palace of sorts. The boat made a stop right in front of the palace.
"And to my left we have the Deku Palace where the Deku Scrubs that live in deep in this swamp call home, if you want I can stop here and let you scour the place a bit, what do you say?" asked the tour service owner.
"Yeah, let us off here, we'd like to take some time to tour the palace," answered Zelda.
"Go right ahead then, take all the time you want," said the tour captain as Link's group stepped off the boat and into the entrance of the Deku Palace. As the group entered the palace, everything was in disarray as the Deku Scrubs ran around the palace grounds letting loose high pitched shrills as they shuffled about aimlessly.
"What's going on here, some type of bizarre ritual?" questioned Alex.
"No, the Deku Scrubs look terrified, something bad must have happened to them," answered Link.
"You mean something bad IS happening to them, look!" called out Ken pointing across the bridge to the palace gates. A large swarm of red and blue colored monsters with dog like ears and glowing yellow eyes stormed forward. All of the monsters were carrying pitchforks and were making a rather peculiar chattering sound.
"Miniblins! Always a thorn in the side," groaned Zelda.
"Your world has a lot of monsters inhabiting it," commented Chun-Li.
"Still, Miniblins in the Deku Swamp is unnatural, I think ganondorf and Urien had a hand in having these beast wreak havoc in this region," pondered Link.
"No time for pondering, time for action!" exclaimed Ken.
"Indeed, time to quell this nuisance," responded Ryu nodding in agreement with what Ken said.
The Miniblins soon eyeballed the heroes and began chattering in an even more shrill tone as they charged at the sextet pitchforks pointed outward. The six chosen ones to save Tokeau also charged at the Miniblins ready to attack. As a swarm of Miniblins swarmed Zelda and made an attempt to jab her with their pitchforks, the princess of Hyrule spun around creating a blue diamond shaped barrier called Nayru's Love appeared around her knocking the Miniblins that surrounded her back, Alex then plowed through a bunch of them with his Slash Elbow maneuver causing many of the Miniblins to disappear in the manner most Hylian monsters vanished in, with a puff of smoke.
"Di-dink! Di-dink!" chattered the Miniblins incessantly as they continued to smother Link and all his companions.
"Hyakuretsu Kyaku!" screamed Chun-Li.
With her mighty legs, Chun-Li nailed a myriad of the Miniblins with rapid fire kicks bringing about an end to more of the beasts. In the meantime, another crew of Miniblins darted towards Ken continiously spouting their "Di-dink!" sound as they rushed towards the blonde martial artist who swiftly retaliated by using his Tatsumakisenpukyaku to clear through the horde of Miniblins. The ones that weren't vanquished by that attack charged again only to be met with more punishment.
"Shoryuken!" hollered Ken!
With his fist lighting ablaze, Ken rose up into the air burning all the Miniblins confronting him and sending them to their doom. As Ken destroyed one horde, another unit tangled with Ryu who also used a Tasumakisenpukyaku to clear out a good portion of them. As more Miniblins skulked towards the Japanese fighter, Ryu places his pams together in familiar fashion.
"Hadoken!" screamed Ryu.
A blue ball of energy shot forth at high speed from Ryu's palms and knocked the rest of the Miniblins out. Link also found himself encircled by a swarm of the little beasts they thrust their pitchforks at Link who blocked the strikes with his shield. Thinking instinctively, Link quickly answered his predicament with a Spin Attack cleaving through all the Miniblins and making them disappear in a puff of smoke. Within a matter of minutes, the entire flood of Miniblins was quelled by all six heroes. As all traces of the hairy beasts disappeared from the palace, all the Deku Scrubs calmed down and walked over to Link, Zelda, Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, and Alex.
"Thank you kind folk for ridding our palace of those hooligans," chirped a Deku Scrub.
"No problem, what were those Miniblins doing here though?" asked Zelda.
"Two bullies tried to extort information from our king about this item called a Secret Text, when the king said he didn't know anything, they summoned those monsters to attack us," answered another Deku Scrub.
"So Ganondorf and Urien have been here, where is your king right now?" asked Link.
"He should be in the palace, if you want to see him, go right ahead," replied the first Deku Scrub pointing to the entrance that led to the king's chambers.
"Thank you!" replied all six warriors in unison before heading off. Upon entering the king's chambers, they saw many Deku Scrubs dancing about across the room and a large bonfire emanating from the center of the room. At the far end of the chambers was what appeared to be a throne and on that throne was a Deku Scrub larger than the rest of his kind wearing a red onion shaped crown and clad in a leafy skirt much like the rest of his bretheren, he also carried a scepter in his right hand and as the heroes gazed at him, they deduced that it was indeed the Deku King they were gazing upon.
"Ah, are you thre people that rid my palace of those no good monsters?" inquired the Deku King as Link's group walked up to the throne.
"Indeed we are, we were more than glad to dispose of those that would cause havoc to well meaning species," answered Link.
"You have my thanks for your noble deed, but I must ask what brings you here?" inquired the Deku King.
"We came to ask you if you've stumbled across an important document," responded Zelda.
"You know, the two that came earlier asked me the same thing. When I told them that I haven't seen anything of the nature they were describing, they sent those little beasts after my people, but I can trust that you will not do the same," said the Deku King.
"Of course not, but are you serious that you haven't found that Secret Text?" asked Alex.
"Dead serious, however, the item you are looking for I feel may be close if you and those other two idiots are looking for the same thing," answered the Deku King.
"Would you have any ideas as to where we should begin our search?" asked Chun-Li.
"Yes, I think I may have a suggestion, you six should go to the Woodfall Temple deep in the swamp. Your so called Secret Text might lie in the depths of that shrine," suggested the Deku King.
"Then that is where we will head off to sir," remarked Ken.
"Just one more thing, how do we get to this Woodfall Temple?" questioned Ryu.
"I shall have my butler show you the way to get there," answered the Deku King. At that moment, another Deku Scrub appeared, he had an odd leafy hairstyle and a mustache made out of leaves as well, he looked at the six heroes and bowed respectively to them.
"I am the Deku Butler, I shall follow my liege's orders and show you six the way to the Woodfall Temple, do not lollygag behind," said the butler.
"Before you go, let me give you these. They might be of some use to you in your mission," commented the Deku King handing the sextet a bag full of what appeared to be nuts.
"Deku Nuts, thanks, these should come in handy," replied Link.
"What are Deku Nuts?" inquired Chun-Li.
"When thrown on the ground, they cause a blinding flash that stuns all foes momentarily, just be sure to cover your eyes before they hit or you'll be stunned as well," informed Link.
"That should help us out a lot, although I prefer beating the monsters down, I could see times where that could work to our advantage," stated Ken.
"Like when we have a large mob trying to attack us" chimed in Alex.
"Ahem, do you want to go to the Woodfall Temple or not?" asked the Deku Butler.
"We shouldn't keep these guy waiting for too long, let's get going," suggested Ryu.
"Agreed, and the fact that we need to get that Secret Text fast, so let's make haste!" ordered Link. The others nodded in agreement and followed the Deku Butler outside. Twirling around an umbrella made out of flower petals, the butler flew up to a cliff overlooking the palace and pointed to an opening in the wall above him.
"This is the path to the Woodfall Temple, hurry up and get up here," said the Deku Butler. Zelda used her magic to float herself and her companions up to the cliff where the butler was standing. Upon landing, the Deku Butler flew off again as the six warriors followed suit through the cave, they soon came across a large swampy area riddled with numerous monsters. Large dragonflies with electrically charged stingers, and strage looking beetle like monsters with round red faces and yellow eyes.
"Dragonflies and Hiploops, I knew getting to this temple wouldn't be an easy task," commented Link.
"Makes sense, let's just exterminate any pests that cross our path and be on our way to the temple," said Alex.
The others nodded in agreement and ran up a hill leading to an alcove where the the Deku Butler stood waiting for them. The hiploops let out loud yells as the heroes approached them.
"Shield your eyes!" called out Link as he threw a Deku Nut down on the ground stunning all the Hiploops. While they were stunned, the six heroes easily disposed of the oversized yellow beetles. A swarm of Dragonflies then started to fly at the sextet, they all dove out of the way of their electrical stingers and then Ryu, Ken, and Chun-Li got up and thrust their palms forward at the Dragonflies.
"Kikoken!" shouted Chun-Li.
"Hadoken!" yelled Ryu and Ken in unison.
The trio's projectiles sent all the Dragonflies up in a puff of smoke. As the sextet continued trekking towards the Deku butler, more Hiploops and Dragonflies would attack but would easily be decimated by the strength of Link's posse. After a while of running, the crew finally reached the area where the Deku Butler was standing.
"Congratulations, you finally made it up the hill," remarked the Deku Butler.
"Ok, so where's this Woodfall Temple you speak of?" asked Chun-Li.
"Ah yes, I must open the way for you, for only a Deku can make the temple rise out of the swamp's waters," answered the Butler.
"Then get to it!" yelled Ken.
"Ok, keep your cool," groaned the butler as he pulled out a pair of musical pipes and played a brief melody. Suddenly, a loud rumbling noise emerged from out of nowhere and a vast building began to rise from the depths of the swamp waters, it was the Woodfall Temple where the first Secret Text was possibly hidden.
"I've opened the way for you, before I leave take this with you, you're free to keep the bottle even after you use the contents," said the butler handing Link a bottle with a red liquid inside of it.
"Thank you, we'll be safe inside the temple and have the Secret Text in our hands soon," stated Link.
"Good luck in accomplishing that," said the Deku Butler before twirling his umbrella around again and flying off back towards the palace. Link, Zelda, Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, and Alex all gazed at the Woodfall Temple for a brief moment.
"Well we're not get the document just by looking at the temple, let's get to searching," suggested Ryu.
"Agreed," replied the other five in unison as they all entered the Woodfall Temple prepared to conquer the challenges that stodd between them and the first Secret Text of the Illuminati.
Author's Note: Yeah it's been a while, writer's block sucks big time. But anyways, I did say I'd be using characters from all Zelda games and I'll also be using locales as well. So next chapter, our heroes explore the depths of the Woodfall Temple. Until then however, please read and review.