I'm starting to like typing up this story, so I've decided to post more chapters. The way I'm generally doing this is basically Link and Ezlo's POV in this chapter, then Vaati's POV in the next, in other words what Vaati was on the same day as the last chapter. Then Link and Ezlo again the next day, and so on. However, there may be a few exceptions. So,
in the last chapter,
Princess Zelda took Link to The Picori Festival, and Vaati wandered around town a bit. Link and Vaati met during The Picori Festival Sword Fighting Competition, and Vaati beat everyone else in the competition with a few 'magical boosts', and remembered something strange from a long time ago. Meanwhile, Ezlo got a ride to Minish Woods, believing that the picori could help him stop Vaati, and found out about an incident involving a horse, a delivery and a missing whistle. He also got very, very, lost. Vaati turned Princess Zelda into stone after releasing a bunch of monsters from the Bound Chest and breaking the sacred Picori Blade, but strangely enough, felt both satisfied and horrified by that. Link set off to Minish Woods in order to find the picori and hopefully fix the blade and save Zelda...
Chapter 3: The Monsters, The Picori, and The Talking Hat
Link ran past the carpenters, chopped up some small trees in the way, and went right past Lon Lon Ranch and Eenie and Meenie's house. Soon, he was crossing the bridge to Minish Woods. That's when he slowed down, in order to take a closer look around so he could find the picori. The first thing Link noticed was a red and white ball-like creature with four stubby legs. Link found it confusing because even though it was a living creature, it held no emotion. None at all. Link remembered that one of the monsters that had escaped the Bound Chest looked just like it. Link tried to feel its emotions, but even as Link entered some sort of trance and felt the feelings of the trees and the grasses... just for a moment, he felt something... wonderful. Yet the monster felt nothing. It wasn't like an object or a dead tree, which were invisible in Link's trance, more like a black hole. As if it shouldn't be there.
"O-Ouch!" said Link, snapping out of and forgetting his trance when the monster spat a hard lump of earth at him. He drew his sword and approached it carefully... Then whacked it on the head with the flat side of his sword. It simply went... poof. In a cloud of white smoke. Link didn't get it. He continued deeper into the forest, whacking a few more red things along the way. He checked everywhere carefully, but there was no sign of the tiny picori. Link crossed another bridge, then waded through some tall grass which went up to his waist.
The area past the grass was very watery, and Link quickly found that some parts were so deep his entire body could fit in it and others were very shallow. Link thought that it was far too dangerous to explore here, as (though Link didn't like to admit it) he couldn't swim. He'd never learned how.
Link left the watery area and went deeper into the forest, where it was very, very, foggy. Link had to feel his way around with his hands! Strangely, there were some odd-feeling holes in some of the trees... There were also some large green gooey things who's 'heads' reached to halfway up Link's legs. They tried to attack him, and much like the red things, they felt no emotion. it was unnerving.
Past the foggy area, Link waded through more grass and found a clearing with a large old stump there. Link thought he felt something coming from the stump, something magical, but that was just silly. It was a tree stump! Link ignored it and continued further into the forest, going up a small slope and and crossing a large-ish puddle. While he was crossing another, he suddenly heard an incredibly loud voice screeching, "Helllllp! Help meee!"
Still no luck. Ezlo was absolutely positive that he was right back where he'd started! Then, out of nowhere, two red things with stubby legs showed up and started shooting hard dirt at him! They HURT! As a hat, Ezlo was well and truly helpless. Oh how he hated having to resort to 'Plan B'...
"Helllllp! Help meee!" Screeched Ezlo at the top of his voice. Of all the embarrassing things that HAD to happen to him... "Owch! Won't somebody stop them!? Ow! Help! Somebody! Can't anybody hear me?"
What a terrible day this had been... What were the chances of 'Plan B' actually working?!
Link went rushing back the way he'd come in order to help whoever was in trouble. When he got there, he was momentarily surprised to see... a very loud talking green hat with a bird-head and a wiggling curly thing on its head, yelling at him! This had just gone from the best day of his life to the scariest day of his life to the WEIRDEST day in Link's entire history of weird days of his life.
Ezlo was just thinking about what a terrible day this had been and the chances of 'Plan B' actually working when a boy with the messiest blonde hair Ezlo had ever seen and a sword came running towards his screeches for help- and paused in momentary surprise the second he saw who was calling for help. Gahh! There wasn't any time for this! "Hey! Kid! You there!" Yelled Ezlo, "Ow! Hey! Don't just stand there! Do something! Ow! What's wrong with you!? Do you like watching me take this abuse!? Help me!"
Link snapped out of his surprise and his cheeks went rose-pink in embarrassment. "S-sorry!" He quickly apologised before whacking the monsters away and making them go 'poof'.
"Phew! Well done! That was close!" chattered the hat, "Not that I couldn't handle them myself." Link thought that this odd hat's attitude was funny. Ezlo was more than a little disgruntled that he couldn't even defend himself at human-hat size anymore, and Link curiously felt the funny hat's annoyance and gratefulness. "But that's beside the point!" continued the hat/Ezlo, "What in the world is a child doing so deep in the woods?"
Link felt a little uncomfortable speaking so much in one day, but he had to explain himself. "M-my name's Link. A sorcerer called Vaati t-turned my friend, the princess, into stone! I-I'm searching for the Picori so they can fix the l-legendary blade and s-save her!" he explained.
"Ho ho! I see." answered the strange, rather noisy hat. In fact, his loudness reminded Link of Zelda, who if anything could be equally loud at times if not louder. At the same time, Ezlo began processing this information. "The... Picori, you say? And Vaati?" Link felt his worry for a moment. "Vaati's cursed someone? What? The sacred blade?! Is that so?" Link nodded. "I see, I see... You know, you and I have a lot in common. You see, I, too, am on a quest to beak a curse of Vaati's. And you say that reforging the sacred blade can break this curse, eh?" Link nodded again. "Well, then you have found yourself a companion, my boy!" Announced the increasingly noisy hat. "My name is Ezlo. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."
Link, after all that, was mildly surprised. However, he'd need all the help he could get. (What does a-quay-tanss m-mean?) wondered Link. Finding out wasn't important right now, so he just walked back to the deeper part of the forest. Then Ezlo yelled, "Wait! Wait I say! You walk so quickly! Too quickly, in fact! Can't you go any slower? Surely you've noticed that I have no legs..."
Link felt Ezlo's continuous annoyance- and kept on walking. Unfortunately, Ezlo kept on complaining. "Boy! Take a good look at me! Do you really think I can walk that fast!?" Finally, Ezlo got so annoyed he came up with an idea. Link felt it and wondered what the idea was. "Augh!" squawked Ezlo. "If it isn't one thing, it's another! You are a troublesome boy!" He proceeded to jump onto Link's head. Link felt uncomfortable and wiggled around and the same time that Ezo was wiggling around. How awkward. Ezlo would never forget that moment. Link would.
A short scuffle later, Ezlo announced, "There! Now, you can't possibly leave be behind!" Actually, Ezlo had thought that Link's messy hair would be uncomfortable, but instead, it was very comfy. Like a nest. "My, it's quite comfortable up here. More comfortable than it looks, surely. And much easier on me!" Link wasn't really used to wearing hats in general, let alone a living, wiggling, noisy one. He still fiddled with Ezlo a bit while Ezlo complained, "Hey! Quit your squirming! Can't you sit still?! See... There... Yes, yes! That's it. Much better."
Link was a bit intrigued by this noisy hat. He knew that hats aren't usually alive, and that alone was interesting. He also wondered wether Ezlo had always been a hat. That didn't seem very likely. He was, as usual, listening and keeping quiet. "Now, I suppose a boy like you still has much to learn about the world. If you ever need my insight, just ASK, won't you? I'll be happy to help! Ahh, such a hopeless child..." Ezlo clearly didn't live in Hyrule if he thought Link was 'hopeless'... Ezlo continued talking as Link headed back through the forest. As they got to the odd stump, Ezlo realised that it was the magic amplifier from earlier! By channeling its power, a skilled sorcerer like Ezlo would be able to shrink both himself and Link despite Ezlo's very much weakened state! Well, he'd have to simplify it... after all, the young boy called 'Link' wouldn't possibly get what a 'magic amplifier' was... Did he even know what 'to amplify' meant...? (Of course not.) Was Ezlo's opinion.
"Hold on for a moment, my boy! We've stumbled upon something important! The world of the Minish is very small. You're far to big to meet them now. Eh?" Asked Ezlo when he bent over and spotted the confused expression on Link's face, "The minish? Ah, yes! Silly me! Allow me to explain... You humans call them 'picori', but they refer to themselves as the minish! Strange how, in the world of humans, only this forest has kept that name... Anyhow, deep in the forest," Noe Ezlo was actually making an educated guess here, he really had no clue wether he was right. Apparently, Link was too trusting for his own good. "They built a tiny village, where many now live. But if we're to enter the village, we'll have to make you much smaller first. Just look at that. At first glance, it appears to be a mere stump, yes? No, that stump is a-" Ezlo realised he'd have to call them something else, he couldn't go through all the trouble of explaining 'magic amplifiers' and whatnot, though Link's magic potential was incredible for a boy his age (ten, Ezlo presumed) and there wasn't much time before the portal closed... "-portal used by people long ago to adjust their size!"
Link was finding all this very confusing. However, he understood what Ezlo meant, but he was feeling Ezo's uncertainty. He knew Ezlo was guessing and/or simplifying it for him. "With my help, you can use it to shrink down to minish size. Just stand on the stump! Go back inside it and I'll turn you back. Get me up there and we'll give it a try!" Finished Ezlo. Link hopped up onto the stump, and Ezlo began hopping left and right while balancing runes and saying incarnations before Link shrunk, feeling no pain or discomfort. He fell inside the stump, and bounced down safely on a few mushrooms. Once he left, he blinked and looked around. At first, it wasn't so different, but then he realised that the grass was now far taller than he was, and the stump he'd just left was as large as a large house! Link was feeling very disorientated. Like his first day of school. He still remembered the insecurity even now, but he had to save Zelda. Not because the king asked him to, but because she was his friend.
Ezlo chuckled, because for HIM things were back to normal. "Welcome to the world through the eyes of the minish! Now, aren't you glad you saved me? No need to thank me, though! Portals that change your size are all around, in different shapes and sizes. If you want to return to normal, go inside a portal. But there is one thing you must know: Being minish sized is full of dangers! Mere puddles at your size are bottomless swamps to the minish. And as your companion, if anything happens to you, it happens to me too! So proceed with caution, my boy! If not for your sake, then for my own!"
The world really did seem different! Link saw that there was a large archway in front of him that wasn't there before he shrunk (M-maybe I was too big?) and went right through it, Ezlo explaining more about The Minish World on his head. Past the archway (a log in a bigger perspective) Link saw what would usually be a rather small puddle, but was now a deep lake. However, some water currents or something were pushing some huge leaves towards him. Link got on one. He didn't really want Ezlo to figure out that he couldn't swim...
Past the puddle\lake, Link walked through a picori-sized pathway. Past the pathway was the Minish Village. A little deeper in, Ezlo commentated that they may have found the village, then a few picori/minish greeted them curiously- in their own language. Link didn't understand it at all, and Ezlo had trouble understanding them as their dialect was different to his own. ("What Link heard" [what Ezlo heard])
"Rico Picori!" [Human a-ri!]
"Ripi ripico picori!" [Are ripi-human ripi!]
"Picou pico ripico!" [Haven't pi-een ico human!]
At least Ezlo's attempt to understand what they were saying worked to a degree... "I gather it's been quite some time since they last saw a human... What's that look for? Did you not understand what they were saying right now? Ah, yes. That was the language of the minish. It is a little different from the dialect I am most familiar with. I'm afraid I didn't catch most of what they said myself. But perhaps someone here can understand your language we -you- should look around." The mystery as to why the humans called minish 'picori' was definitely solved.
Link had noticed and felt the picori's friendliness and innocence. The village was amazing. tucked away among the clovers, there were mushroom houses, a shoe house, a barrel house, a pot house and even a house made of some material that Link didn't recognise. He went inside that last house as it had no door. Inside this house, a minish wearing glasses and a large, red priest-hat complete with robes stood there.
"Hnm... I've never seen an outfit like that before. are you... a human?" he asked. Link nodded. "Oh my! It's been quite some time since any humans came here. My name is Festari. I watch the abbey, as well as the shrine to the north. You... seem to be having some trouble with our language, don't you? You could use a jabber nut. It will allow you to understand and speak our tongue. You should be able to find one in the barrel house just south of here."
"Thank you very much." Replied Ezlo. Naturally, Festari felt a bit surprised. Link left before they wasted anymore time. Inside the barrel house, there were large plants with glowing, round flowers growing, and Ezlo began talking again as Link effortlessly moved some heavy-looking crates out of the way. "You know Link..." grumbled Ezlo, "I don't like all these new-fangled plant mechanisms. As far as I'm concerned I prefer good old-fasioned LEARNING to things like jabber nuts. Did you know, I know someone who's ALLERGIC to jabber nuts..." and before Ezlo could stop himself, he muttered, "...though he's a very unusual minish to begin with..." Link heard that last part as he picked up the jabber nut and cut it in half with his sword. He ate one half (it tasted yummy) and listened to Ezlo's complaining. "Oh, Link. I do think that this new-fangled stuff is ridiculous. How are minish kids supposed to get the conviction to LEARN if- oof."
Link wasn't gonna deal with this. He was less inclined to waste time at the moment. So he just shoved the fruit (?) in Ezlo's beak. Ezlo was very surprised. After Ezlo swallowed, he asked, "Hey! What did you go and do that for?! I still think learning is better, but we just don't have the time. You know, I've got at least TEN reasons why this new-fangled fruit stuff is a VERY BAD thing..." While he was talking, Link went straight back to Festari's house.
"So now you've eaten the jabber nut, and now you can understand us..?" Asked Festari.
"Yes, now can you help us fix the broken Picori Blade?" Asked Ezlo, while Link showed Festari the snapped blade.
"Sorry, but I know little about swords. I'm sure the elder can help you." suggested Festari.
Link left to find the elder. It didn't take very long for him to find the elder's house. Link was having trouble believing this was all real! That Zelda was turned to stone, his guide was a talking hat, and he'd just eaten a FRUIT to help him speak picori. However, Link would do whatever it took to save Zelda.
"Oh! You speak our language!" said the minish elder delightfully when Ezlo explained that they could understand him. "We have little to offer in the woods, but please, enjoy your stay."
"Thank you for your offer, but we have no time to relax. My name is Ezlo. This child is Link. We have to break a curse that has been cast on the princess of Hyrule. To do so, we need to reforge the broken Picori Blade." Explained Ezlo.
"Ah, yes. And you've come to have the blade reforged? Hmm... Well, if that's what you're after, you'll need four mystic elements. These elements are the crystalline forms of the energies of this world. Only by infusing these energies can a new blade be forged. Here, give me your map." Link, a bit confused as to what he meant by 'crystalline energies' but getting the point, handed it over. If this got any more complicated, he was going to get a headache... "I can mark where the elements can be found." He did so, and Ezlo nodded along as if all this made perfect sense. In Ezlo's point of view, it did, though the elder was missing a few key details... Ezlo reminded himself that this was not an advanced magical weaponry lesson.
"The Earth Element can be found in the shrine to the north of Festari's abbey. Speak with Festari. He will show you to the shrine's entrance. Go with caution. Evil creatures have made their home in our shrine. Return to me at once after you have found the Earth Element." Explained the Elder.
Link left the elder's house, still a bit confused. He wondered how crystals would fuse with a sword, how energy could be solid, and what would happen if they smashed. He decided to ask Ezlo later.
"You wish to go to the shrine?" Asked Festari after Ezlo explained the matter to him. "Very well... this way..." He moved out of the way of the doorway behind him. "Vile beasts have settled in recently. Be careful; it's quite dangerous."
Link went through the passage and into the shrine. He wondered what Vaati was up to now, and if he'd met Ezlo before or had been the one to turn him into a hat. Link wasn't angry. He thought about the mixture of feelings he'd felt from Vaati, and wondered wether Vaati was really as evil as everybody thought...