Down to Size

Getting to the Minish Woods was easy enough for the heroes. Finding the Picori was going to be the hard part. As everyone knows, Picori are half the size of a coin and therefore difficult to even notice. And given the fact that all of Link's new friends are young adults, it caused the team to think that maybe the king was right about them not being able to see the Picori because of that matter.

As they continued walking through the Minish Woods, everyone heard a sound. It was faint, but it sounded like someone was crying out in pain. The sound was coming from what looked like a green bird-like creature shaped like a hat. It was being attacked by two round red monsters with large cannon-like snouts.

Kaiba blinked at the sight. "What on Earth?"

The green creature saw the group and begged for them to help. "Well, don't just stand there, you lot! Get over here and help me!" he desperately cried.

"Oh, uh, right," Joey said, getting it together. He took an arrow from his quiver and drew his bow. He took aim and shot one of the monsters. Yugi and Link then used their swords to cut the monsters down and destroy them.

Emily knelt down at the green creature. "Are you okay?" In response, he groaned in pain. "You're hurt," she observed, and began using her magic to heal him.

Of course, Emily's friends were used to seeing her perform magic, but this was the first time for Link. He watched in amazement as he saw Emily's hands glowing with a blue light. He saw that her eyes were glowing with the same light too. Even the creature was just as amazed as he felt his energy being restored and his pain going away.

When Emily finished healing him, she stood up. "There. Is that better?"

"Much better, thank you," he answered.

Link came by to get a closer look. "So what are you, exactly? You look like a bird and a hat, but you talk like a person."

The green creature introduced himself as Ezlo, but wouldn't exactly answer as to what he was.

Kaiba decided to break it up. "Enough with the chitchat. Let's get going."

Just as they were about to walk off, Ezlo asked, "Wait, are you just going to leave me? What if more monsters come and attack me again?"

"That's not our concern," the brunette replied bitterly.

"Wait, Kaiba, he does have a point," Yugi argued. "We shouldn't just leave him here."

The brunette reminded his friends of their objective. "We came here looking for the Picori."

Upon hearing that, an idea clicked in Ezlo's mind. "The Picori, you say? Perhaps I ca help you there."

That got Link's attention. "Really?"

"Be careful, Link," Max warned him.

Ezlo told Link to come a little closer. Link did, and suddenly, Ezlo jumped on his head and positioned himself like a hat.

"Get off!" Link shouted, trying to pull Ezlo off. "You tricked me!"

But the creature kept a tight grip. "Settle down, boy. I said I would help you and your friends find the Picori and I will." He showed the heroes a tree stump and told them to surround it. Ezlo then commanded everyone to join hands, which they did. Ezlo then began chanting a sort of spell, causing Link and the others to shrink and enter the tree stump.

Link was the first to step outside from the tree stump. When he did, he was bewildered at how big his surroundings became. "The trees and weeds became huge!" he said in amazement.

Kaiba and the others stepped out after him. "Calm down, Link," the brunette was saying. "Everything is still the same. We just shrunk in size."

"The Picori are small," Emily reminded her friends. "It makes sense that we'd have to be small too in order to see them.

Link was surprised at how his friends were all taking this naturally. Max was actually a little half surprised. Of course, she had the experience of being this size back when she used the Changing Chopsticks in the Xiaolin world and she remembered that Emily did too. What surprised Max was that Yugi, Joey, and Kaiba weren't as amazed about this as Link was. "If I didn't know better, Yugi, I'd say you and the others have had the experience of being this size before just as Emily and I have."

It was true. Yugi, Joey, and Kaiba had been small like this before and were used to it. That was because they had been in a situation similar to this. That was when Yugi and the others went to a different world and ended up being turned into mice. Of course, Max had no idea about any of that and right now, it was too long of a story. So rather than explain everything, Emily instead asked Max, "Do you think after everything we've been through, something like this would surprise us?"

Max figured that she shad a point. "Well, yes and no, I guess." So she decided to shrug it off.

The downside of being small is that all the danger around you increases a hundredfold. For instance, the heroes could be stepped on or crushed or they could be eaten by birds, lizards, rats, snakes, spiders, etc. Even a small drop of water can be as painful as a tidal wave or an avalanche. Everyone was going to have to be extra careful.

When Ezlo asked the heroes why they were looking for the Picori, everyone told him about what happened at the Picori Festival. They told him about how Vaati broke the Picori Blade and used his magic to turn Princess Zelda into stone. At that instant, Ezlo immediately agreed to help. He knew about Vaati and how he was using his powers for evil. Max looked at Ezlo, thinking he knew more than he was letting on.

Finally, the group made it to the Picori Village. And there they were – the Picori! They looked like people with leaf-like clothes and feather tails and simple hats on their heads.

Emily smiled and giggled. "They're so cute!" The others were just as amazed to see them in person.

The Picori looked at the newcomers curiously. They had seen humans before, but they had never seen humans their own size before. They began talking, but none of the heroes could understand what they were saying.

"What are they saying?" Joey asked.

"They're speaking Picorese," Ezlo answered. "But it's a little different from the dialect I know."

Kaiba looked at Emily. "Briar?"

She looked at him and said, "I can talk to animals and monsters, but I can't understand foreign languages." It was the same for Max. Not even she was fluent in different languages, despite always traveling to different places when on tour.

"So what do we do?" Yugi asked.

That was when another Picori came by. He was dressed in red robes and he wore a hat with the image of the sun over a triangle and he wore glasses over his eyes. "Excuse me, but did you come from the big world?"

"Uh, yeah," Joey answered. "Wait a minute, you know our language?"

He only understood a little bit, but he knew how to remedy the situation. He turned around and asked everyone to follow him. He also introduced himself as Festari, the priest of the village. "It's been a long time since humans visited our village," said Festari. "As you can see, the villagers are 'berry interesty' in you."

Emily stifled a laugh. "I think you mean 'very interested,'" she corrected. But it was true, given the villagers continued to look with curious eyes.

Festari led the group to a keg. It was like an indoor garden with all of the different plants inside. The priest spoke to one of the gardeners, asking for something. The gardener handed over what looked like some nuts. Festari gave one to each of the heroes and instructed them to eat them. Link and the others put the nuts in their mouths, chewed, and swallowed.

"Do you understand what I'm saying?" Festari asked, speaking Picorese.

Much to everyone's surprise, they did. The nuts Festari gave to them were Jabber Nuts. By eating the Jabber nuts, not only would they understand the Picori, but they would speak Picorese too.

Everyone in the village began surrounding the heroes, admiring them and asking them questions. The commotion attracted the attention of Gentari, the village elder. "Welcome to our village," he greeted the heroes.

Link wondered if the elder could help with the Picori Blade, so he showed him the broken sword. "The Picori Blade has been shattered. We need your help to repair it."

Gentari inspected the sword. "In order to repair the sword, you'll need the power of the four elements."

"Elements?" Link asked.

"Which ones?" Joey asked, wondering if he was referring to certain elements.

"The natural elements: earth, fire, wind, and water," the elder answered. "They are the crystalline forms of the energies that fill our world. The Earth Element is the distillation of the Earth's power. The Fire Element shines on darkness and delivers warmth. The Water Element contains healing power and quenches thirst. The Wind Element spreads the power of life, bringing fruitfulness.

"Where are they?" Yugi asked.

"Scattered across Hyrule," Gentari answered. "Finding them will not be easy."

"No need to worry, Elder," Emily assured him. "My friends and I have faced tougher challenges than this before."

Kaiba narrowed his eyes at her. "This isn't a game, you know."

"It doesn't matter," Link interrupted. "We need the Elements to break the curse and return Princess Zelda to normal."

"He's right," Max said in agreement. "We can do this."

The elder could see that the heroes were determined to find the Elements. He asked Festari to step forward. The priest adjusted his glasses and informed the group, "The Earth Element can be found in the Deepwood Shrine north from here."

The villagers gasped of fright. The Deepwood Shrine was full of evil spirits and monsters. They begged the heroes not to go.

Link inhaled sharply. He wasn't going to let his diminutive size make any difference in the face of danger. "My grandfather always said that there are times when a man has to do when a man has to do. This is one of those times."

"But you're not a man; you're a kid," Kaiba pointed out.

"So are we, but we never let that stop us," said Emily.

Max saw that all of her friends had a point. It's times like this when you can't let certain flaws or facts prevent you from doing what's right. Why should this be any different?