Note: Hello all! Thank you so much for the kind reviews! I hope to keep pleasing you all!
I have heard rumors that, due to the success of the Mario movie, there might be a Zelda movie in the works. If so, while I'd love to get a version of OoT, I think that's better to set up as a series of two or three films instead of just one.
I'll admit, in the far future, I'd love to experiment with a comic adaptation of this story, and maybe an audio drama. But first, I need to get drawings done and money to pay for voice actors. Plus, I need to sharpen my video editing skills. Of which, I don't really have.
Secret Observers
"C'mon, it'll just be for a little while!"
"...but…"
Navi attempted to coax her charge into giving Mido one of his items, specifically, his slingshot. While the two were separated and could not reach each other, a small space over the thick hedge would allow for a small enough object to go over. Mido said he would go further once he got a means to defend himself, and that Link was the best source for something like that. Initially, the boy just tried to get on the other side by slicing through, but the branches and leaves just grew back within moments of being cut down. He tried climbing, yet his palms were stuck with thorns that suddenly manifested out of nowhere, forcing him to cease his journey upward.
There was no way to get past the barrier. And, with that realization, Link, begrudgingly, understood he had no choice.
"...fine."
Taking the weapon out of his sack, Link aimed and threw the item over the barrier, hearing it land atop something hard and solid. "OW!"
Well, that was one good thing that had happened ever since their temporary truce.
"Did you get it?" Navi questioned.
"Yeah, yeah, I got it," Mido said, then saw a small bag of seeds being tossed over next. "What are these for?"
"Bullets!" Link answered.
Mido took one of the seeds out and loaded it into the slingshot, then he pulled and tried his hand at it. "You're pointing it the wrong way," Recti told him, observing how her charge was holding the item.
"Uh…I knew that!" Mido said, flipping the slingshot around. "So…I guess we just go on ahead?"
"It seems that's our only option," Navi answered. "Even if we're still a little lost, Saria's counting on us."
Right, Link thought. The song was still being played, allowing both boys to hear where it was coming from, yet neither was aware of just how far they would have to travel to reach the green-haired girl. Still, they would try.
Going forward, their hidden pursuers looked down from the canopy, watching as they traveled together but also apart.
"Ok, you half go follow the one with red hair," one of them said. "And the rest of us will track the blonde one."
"Hey, since when did you start giving orders?" one of the shadowy figures questioned.
"Why? Do you have one you'd like to go after more?"
"...huh. No, I guess there isn't," then, they shrugged. "Fine. What matters is that we take care of them before they reach the girl."
"Ok then, let's go!"
They dashed through the trees, keeping up with Link and Mido, all the while remaining unseen. Yet, from above, one of the figures glanced down at the blonde boy dressed in green, glowing eyes focused on the child down below. They could've been wrong, yet that kid looked familiar.
And then, he realized. The play from last year, the one he had seen. That boy was his favorite character.
That boy was the Monster!
Previous Year
"RAWR!" Link roared, leaping out from behind a tree, "claws" out and teeth bared, ready to terrify and battle against the Hero for the Princess.
Of course, there was no Hero or Princess around, having come out to the woods to practice. Not only that, but he was searching for materials for a costume. So far, the Twins had finished with the basic clothing everyone would wear, yet Link wanted to add a little something "extra" to his attire. Something that would immediately grab everyone's attention and keep their eyes on him as he was on stage, playing his part.
So, he went out to search for some materials to add to his outfit, although he was unsure of just what. True, while the Twins' work wasn't bad, the costume they had made wasn't very intimidating. It looked rather cute, to be honest. Link wasn't too keen on being cute, he wanted to be scary! But how would he pull that off?
Suddenly, he caught a glimpse of a small bit of bark he could tear off. Taking the wooden section, he looked at the piece in his hands, small enough to hold, but large enough to where he could craft it into something else. Maybe his costume would be better suited with a frightening mask? The only question was, what to make it look like.
"There he is,"
Then, the boy thought he heard someone speak, yet upon looking around, he saw no one around.
"Yeah, that's the kid without a fairy," another said.
Link realized he was being observed, yet where were his observers? Where were the ones that were currently watching him?
"What's he doing out here? Doesn't he know it's dangerous to come out here without a fairy?"
"I heard he's a little slow, so he might be too stupid to know that."
Ok, NOW he was mad. Noticing a shifting pair of shapes in the trees, Link grabbed a small stick and threw it in their direction, the figures scattering to other trees. He was about to try and find them to make them take back that comment about his supposed lack of intelligence, but a far more familiar voice got his attention.
"Link!" the aforementioned boy turned to see Saria running toward him. "Link, you've been out here for hours!" she lectured. "The Great Deku Tree told you not to stay in the Lost Woods for that long!"
"But…" Link protested, pointing up at the trees to show her the ones that were watching him, but the shapes were now gone.
"Look, let's just go back, it's getting late," Saria said, taking Link by the hand and guiding him back to the Kokiri Forest. "This place gets a little spooky at night anyways."
Link was led back to the small settlement, the figures in the trees emerging once again. "Well, he's intelligent enough to know when he's been insulted."
"Still, what was he doing out here anyway? Doesn't he know what happens to children who come into these woods?" one of the shapes then leaned in closer. "Do you think he's from the outside?"
"No way!" another shook their head. "He's dressed just like the others, so he MUST be a Kokiri! He just…happens to not have a fairy."
"He kept stomping around, acting like some sort of mad animal. Why?"
"I think I heard someone mention something about a play."
"A play?"
"Yeah, a play."
"What's it about?"
"From what I know, it's about a Hero and a Princess-"
"Lame!"
"But, it's also got a Monster!"
That intrigued the others. "A Monster?"
"Yeah, and he gets to fight the Hero and everything. It sounds cool!"
"I want to be in the play now!"
"Me too!"
"Hold on! We can't just jump on in!" silence fell between the small group. "We need to find a way inside the Kokiri Forest without being noticed."
"But how?"
"We'll…think of something," the de-facto leader of the clutch of concealed shapes said. "For now, let's just keep tabs on our Monster. Maybe he'll be our ticket in."
Present
"Oh, great."
Link didn't even need to add anything, Mido having spoken what was on his mind. Before the two boys were separated by the barrier of thick foliage, a pair of two tree hollows stood, each with an unknown destination on the other end. Yet, mysteriously enough, both children could hear the familiar song of their fellow green-haired Kokiri coming from each.
"So, do these lead in the same direction or something?" Mido questioned Link, who, while unable to see the boy, simply shrugged at his question.
Mido took the silence as a "no." "Well, maybe the two paths meet somewhere in the middle," Recti suggested. "If you can both hear the song, then maybe you can join up eventually, as it seems they lead to the same place."
"Still, it'd be wise for you to stay as close to each other as possible," Navi advised. "If what that Deku Scrub said about the Baga Tree was true, then there were surely other nasty things lurking in the depths of the Lost Woods."
"Well…I'm not scared!" Mido proclaimed.
Link scoffed. Sure, whatever, he thought. That guy wouldn't even have a means of defense if the boy hadn't given him one. And even that was with great reluctance.
"All right, enough talking, let's go!" Navi said, Link wasting no time in running ahead of the red-haired Kokiri into the tree hollow on his side.
"Oh no, you don't! Hold up!"
"Link! Mido! Come back!"
Navi and Recti couldn't see each other but shared the same sentiment.
"Kids."
From where the two boys had once been, the Deku Scrub poked her head out and opened her eyes, once again glowing a vibrant green. She rose from her place, and, with no eyes to see her, began to stretch and change her shape. Soon, she stood tall but kept her true self hidden from view.
"All right," she said. "I can't help you too much, Hero, as my sisters will get mad at me," she continued. "But, there are no laws that say I can't give you a little help."
"Hey, Link, can you hear me?" Mido called out, hoping that he could at least know that someone else was traveling along with him.
"Yeah!" a voice from the other side responded.
"OK, good!" Mido answered. "Just…try and stay close, ok?"
"Scared?"
"No!"
"Whatever."
As they continued on, Navi remembered something she had wanted to tell Link for some while. "You know, using that sword on Mido was wrong," she told her charge. "That weapon isn't made to threaten with. Not like that."
It wasn't as if Link was going to use it on him! He was just going to scare him a little! Still, thinking it over, pulling his blade out on someone who wasn't armed seemed a little…un-Hero-ish.
"Hey…yeah, that's right!" Mido added, realizing that Link's own fairy was speaking on his behalf. "What kind of Hero pulls a sword on some innocent kid?!"
"Well, truth be told, you're not entirely innocent either," Navi added. "You know well that the Great Deku Tree's death was the fault of Ganondorf, no one else."
"...still, someone brought the egg into the village."
"Ok, enough." Mido's own fairy said.
"Hey, whose side are you on?!" the redhead exclaimed.
"Look, I'll admit," Recti confessed. "Navi isn't really my favorite fairy," she told her charge. "And…yeah, I feel kind of sorry she's stuck with that kid," she whispered the second part. "But," she continued with her volume rising. "The point is, you two are going to have to be able to rely on each other. And, to do that, you have to at least be civil."
"Surely you're mature enough to do that, right?" Navi added. "Children or not, you should at least have some common sense."
Both boys wished to protest but could find no defense. "Fine," Mido begrudgingly said. "You ok with that, Link?"
"...fine."
"Anyway, I see the end of my path, so I'll meet you on the other side!"
"Mido, wait!" Recti called out, flying after her charge, leaving Link and Navi behind.
"Recit! Mido!" Navi called out. "Come back!"
Link ran forward with Navi following after, the two emerging on the other side. On Mido's end, he too exited the opposing tree hollow, but both children found that there was no sight of the other.
There was no sign of anywhere familiar, or any trace of where they had come from.
"Link?" Mido questioned, blue eyes looking around for any sign of the other Kokiri. "Link?!"
A distance away, whether short or far, no one knew, but Link was also searching for his temporary companion. "M-Mido?!" the blonde boy called out, somewhat stammering. "Mido!"
Both shouted for the other, hoping that they could at least catch the hint of a voice. Alas, there was no hope of reunion, as the other boy was nowhere to be seen.
"Ok…" Navi said, surveying the area. "So…there's no sign of anyone else but us," she said.
On Mido's end, Recti came to the same conclusion. "And, if that's the case, then we're on our own for now."
On Link's end, the boy readied himself to grab his sword at any time necessary and surveyed the darkened passageways that led deeper into the woods. Mido did so too in his section of the forest, holding Link's loaned slingshot close.
"So…what now?" Mido questioned his fairy nervously.
"We still have to find Saria," Recti said. She looked over to the unconscious Compa still in Mido's pocket. "And, I don't know how, but somehow, we can still hear her playing, somehow."
Mido looked ahead, still trembling slightly. Yet a brief thought of the green-haired girl served to give him a burst of confidence and duty.
"Do you think that Link can hear her playing too?" Recti questioned Mido, curious of what her charge thought.
"Not sure," Mido confessed. "But, if he can, then I can't let him get ahead of me!" he then dashed toward the direction he heard the familiar song of the Kokiri girl.
"Hey! It's not a competition!" Recti called out, flying after him.
"Don't worry, Saria," Mido declared. "Your Hero is on the way!"
The Year Prior
The play was just in a few days, so perhaps that was why his nerves were on edge. Still, that didn't mean he was getting stage fright or anything. No way, Link mentally declared. He was going to be the Monster, yes, but he was going to be the best Monster that had ever been! Besides, even if the Monster lost, at least he got to get a few decent hits on the Hero.
Link grinned at the thought of laying a blow or two on Mido, even if it wasn't serious. Still, Saria as the Princess made him somewhat anxious. True, it wasn't as if he was the one the Monster fell in love with, but she was still a girl. And, well, he hadn't ever been so close to a girl before.
True, Karya, Phoebe, and Fado were girls, yet they were mostly neutral to Link, knowing him in passing, but not really paying him any attention. Saria, however, was the only one that he could call an actual "friend." And he had to make sure to treat her gently, even if he was supposed to be "kidnapping" her.
Still, being so close to a girl, and a girl that actually liked him…a wave of heat came to Link's cheeks. But, when it came to Saria herself, Link himself was unsure how to feel about her. True, she was a good person and was the only one that treated him as her equal, but did he think of her in…that way? Did he even know what "that" felt like?
"There he is again!"
He was drawn from his target practice by the sound of voices and turned, but once again saw no one. "Who…" he stammered. "Who's…out…there?" he then displayed his slingshot and loaded a seed, showing that he wasn't afraid to use it.
"Huh, you see his costume?" one voice questioned another, Link still looking around for the source of the chattering strangers. "It looks like us!"
"Kind of," another said. "But not as well kept as ours."
"Huh? You actually care about stuff like that?"
Link listened in, trying to pinpoint where the voices were coming from, his long ears primed to detect any sort of noise from any direction. All the while, he kept his slingshot ready.
"Hey, keeping what's basically clothes made out of grass look nice takes a lot of work!" the voice paused. "Speaking of, you need to patch up that tear, or it'll get worse."
"Listen to you, you sound like someone's mother!"
Then the voices stopped, the forest falling into silence once again. Link stood still, waiting, yet when one of the unseen figures spoke again, "Mother?" they questioned. "What's a mother?"
Link remained silent, still searching for some sign or clue of where his observers hid, yet their conversation began to intrigue him.
"Huh, you know, I don't really think I know,"
"I've heard that word before. But I don't remember what it means,"
"Is it a person?"
"A place?"
"A feeling?"
Link found, despite having never heard the term "mother" before either, found himself feeling somewhat…lonely. Not in the sense of isolation from the others, he knew what that was like. Rather, it was almost as if he were missing something. Something that he should've had, but never got the chance to. He didn't understand why, but he felt his chest ache the longer he thought about it.
"Hey, I think he's watching us!"
"Let's get out of here!"
The sudden sounds of rustling leaves drew Link's attention to one of the nearby trees, but when he took aim to shoot at those observing him, he found no trace of any living thing. That was the second time he was being watched by something in these woods. But what, let alone who was it? They spoke, so they seemed to be intelligent, but they weren't Kokiri.
Just what were they?
Link looked up and saw the sky was growing bright and orange, signifying that evening was soon to arrive. Even if he snuck off to relieve stress in the Lost Woods, he knew that Saria, let alone the Great Deku Tree, wouldn't be too pleased with him staying out so late. Thus, with one last look behind him, he made his way back to the Kokiri settlement.
"That was too close," the figures said, having retreated to another tree. "Still, I'm kinda interested in that play."
"Yeah, the forest children get to participate in it, but aren't we children of the forest too?"
"Yeah! We should have a part in the play too!"
"YEAH!"
They all unanimously agreed. Then another thought came to them. "But what would our parts be?"
"...good question."
All of them began to ponder and try to come up with solutions, for no one wanted to play a piece of scenery, but they then finally found and concocted the perfect plan.
"You know, that kid's the Monster, right?"
"Yeah? What about it?"
"Well, he's a villain, isn't he?"
"Yeah. But what does that have to do with anything?"
"Think about it," one of the figures said. "He's a villain, an antagonist, but isn't he missing something?"
None of the others understood what their fellow comrade meant.
"He's missing subordinates to help him out," a small smile crept to the figure's lips. "He's missing some minions."
Note: We're nearing the end of this small arc, but there will be the conclusion of the play soon, as well as some hidden truths revealed that'll come into play much later in the narrative.
Thank you all for reading, sorry for the shorter chapter length (9-10 pages is where I'm finding my limits, as I burn out if it goes on too longer), but I hope I'm not boring you, and I hope to see you again in the future!
