Kokiri Village
While there was a large crowd of Kokiri within the general area of the central part of the village, which said area had a visible stage built and ready for a play, Makari was practicing his instrument to give the festival some more atmosphere.
Standing in front of a flat wooden board with tally marks stricken beside Saria's name, Fado raised her hand to signify she was done counting the hands raised, "It is Unanimous, Saria will be the fairy princess for the upcoming play!" she announced, earning many cheers from the general crowd of Kokiri children.
Saria meanwhile sat not far away on a log while she expressed an amused look, "I think I should have my name stricken from the votes next year, this has been the fifth time in a row I've been voted to play the part." she commented, making Fado look over at her with her own smirk of amusement.
"What can I say?" She asked while tossing her piece of black charcoal up and down, "You've been playing the part quite well, it's only natural everyone wants to see you play it again~!" she chimed back.
Saria giggled a bit, and smirked wryly at Fado, "Whatever, but next year, you're doing it, no voting next time." she teased back, earning a hapless shrug from the other Kokiri girl.
While Fado went back to seeing who else wanted to fill in the various roles for the play, Guts was beside himself atop a stump with a bore look; Navi landed on his shoulder while he watched the others decide what role to play, "You looking forward to seeing if you can star in the play, Guts?" She asked him, earning a sideways look from him.
"No." Guts answered with a dry look, while earning a gasp from her.
"But why not! Surely it will be quite the fun experience!?" she pointed out while flying forward into the air to hover in front of Guts's face, and pose in the air like she was standing with a sword held out, "Each year, the Kokiri always put on a play showing the hero Fairy Prince saving the Fairy Princess! Everyone dresses the part, and by the end of it, an exciting fight plays out with the Fairy Prince winning, and saving the day by the end!"
Sitting up from learning his elbows on his knees, Guts palmed his hands against his knees as he conversed with Navi, expressing an annoyed look all the while, "So long as I'm not playing any part, I don't have any experience with this stuff, beside fighting for real."
A set of footsteps alerted Guts that someone was walking up behind him, making him look over his shoulder with a cautious glance, before relaxing once he saw that it was Mido with a smug look, "Thinking of entering the play, Guts?" he mocked the Hylian boy, while Guts himself offered a simple flat look at Mido once the Kokiri boy reached to stand beside him.
From calling him outsider, to using his name these days, Mido seemed more or less more tolerant of his presence among the Kokiri in the preceding months Guts has been living in the village.
Guts looked at Mido dryly, "Not really." he answered, and lifted his brow a bit while smirking, "But be my guest, put yourself in if that's where you're going with this conversation." he was pretty sure Mido was aiming the conversation towards what he was thinking, knowing the guy enough.
With his chest out with pride, Mido smirked as he thumbed at himself, "That what I thought, and yes! I will be putting myself in the play, and nothing short of getting the prince role will be mine!" he declared.
"Hm.." Guts scoffed to himself as he looked back towards where Fado was still writing down everyone's role, "Whatever, then do it, not like I'm stopping you." he answered back with a cynical tone.
"Tch." Mido crossed his arms and shot a dirty look at Guts, "Sheesh, way to be a downer, Guts, I would have figured you'd want to dry for the prince role at least." he remarked with a snarky tone, earning sideways glare from Guts.
"Not happening." Guts stated flatly, while earning a whine from Navi as she hovered down to stand atop Guts's head.
"Oh come on!" Navi cried out with a mopey look on her face as she bent forward with her hands on her hips while she gazed down at Guts's face, "I think you'd make a fantastic prince!"
Guts however looked back up at her while Mido's eye twitched that he had been reminded again that a Hylian was gifted a fairy by the Great Deku Tree, Guts looked at Navi's upside down face with an annoyed look, "No." He answered.
"Okay!" Fado's voice cut the chatter between the three as her voice picked up in volume, she gestured to the written down role for the Fairy prince role, "Any takers for voting Guts in~?" she asked aloud with a coy grin and mischievous grin.
"What!?" Guts yelled in annoyance while standing up and causing Navi to stumble off from his hand to hover beside him with an amused expression on her face, leave it to Fado to either stir up trouble or play a prank on others.
"What!?" Mido chorused with Guts, as he stepped forward with his fist raised, "Ain't no way he'd be the best for the role!" he cried out in anger, a rare moment for the two to agree on the same thing.
Saria however giggled at the two boys, and was amused, at least Mido wasn't being as hostile as he used to be with Guts; she cupped her mouth to holler over to Guts, "Oh come on, Guts! It's just a few lines, and all you gotta do is swing a wooden sword!"
Mido however was not amused as he grumbled, "It's more than just that Saria!" he reasoned with her with a shake of his fist, "The role of the Fairy Prince is something you can't just learn, the lines need to be meant from the heart, and I highly doubt this oaf-" Mido gestured at Guts in mid sentence, "Knows how to remember everything in the script!"
Saria smirked back over at Mido, "Oh, and you can!?" she challenged back, while Guts grumbled and inwardly hoped the conversation was steering towards making Mido take the role.
Mido puffed his chest out with pride, and thumbed at himself, "Of course! I spent all of this month memorising the lines! I'm the perfect choice!" he answered.
Before anyone else could say anything else on the matter, dozens of fairies flew out from the Great Deku Tree's area, alerting everyone of danger, "Danger! Danger! Bokoblins and Moblins are on their way to attack the roots! Danger!" They all chorused as they repeated their words while zooming overhead of everyone.
It wasn't but shortly after that the Kokiri ceased what they were doing, before splitting off to grab their weapons of choice; after the incident that was the Beast King, many had determined that it was best to be prepare for anything, thus many had brought their Kokiri swords and shields out from storage in case of emergency such as this.
For too long they had experienced peace, but with the declining health of the Great Deku Tree having been made public, the Kokiri and by extension the Koroks had resolved to be prepared.
Saria watched on with worry as she witnessed not just Mido and Fado leave to grab their weapons, but when she turned to see what Guts was doing, she hollered over to him, "Guts!" She ran over to catch up with the boy, whom was already heading towards his treehouse at a brisk pace.
"Hm?" Guts grunted out, as he reached his treehouse to grab his sword that was previously leaning up against the tree, and lifted it up to heft it against his shoulder; the months of exercising with his blade and the constant availability of food allowed the boy's frame to fill out quite well with muscles underneath his shirt.
Saria offered him a small stone with a string going through it as a necklace, "I was going to give this to you later, but I suppose now is better than later." she answered him with a bit of a put off expression.
While in the distance, the Kokiri that were planning on fighting the intruders were already heading on their way out into the woods while the two spoke to each other. Guts furrowed his brow as he accepted the gift, "...what is it?" he asked her.
Saria looked up at the boy with a soft expression, "This should at least help guide you through the woods, and it will also help us communicate between each other from distances afar!" she smiled thinly.
Looking up from the stone necklace, Guts looked back at her with an indescribable face as she continued to talk, "It's a mini gossip stone…I made it myself after learning how to make it from the Deku Tree…" She smiled at the boy.
Guts nodded to Saria, and pocketed it, "Thanks…" He told her, before he ran off with Navi chasing after him.
Saria frowned as she watched the boy's back as he disappeared up through the lost woods along with the other Kokiri, in truth, it was one of the things she wanted to part with Guts, once he left; Saria was under no illusion that the child would want to leave soon one day, Guts just had that sort of character trait that demanded him to not stay in one place for too long.
He just came off that way, the more Saria got to know the boy; thus Saria had given the boy her gossip stone early, it would help him not get lost in the Lost Woods whether he was familiar with the woods or not, it would lead him through the safest routes of the Lost Woods.
Lost Woods
Within the more open areas of the Lost Woods, of which there were less trees to make it difficult to get lost through them, many thick roots of the Great Deku Tree arched out from the earth, many of which surrounded the boundary of the Kokiri Village. From out of the dense trees, a small army of Bokoblins led by various Moblins charged out in a lumbering gait, their bodies showing visible tree-like bark corruption of what the Baga Tree did to bring them to life and does his bidding.
The monsters' eyes glowed green as they all charged towards the roots, dragging clubs and dull rusted spears with them as they lumbered forward. "Grgrgghhhh." A chorus of growls exited each mouth of the Moblins and bokoblins as their eyes settled on the roots, their targets to attack.
From out of a large hollow tree log, Guts jogged out along with a few notable Kokiri children that were able to wield their swords and shields well. Mido and the Know-it-all brother being chief among them. Mido held his sword out to order his fellow Kokiri, "Attack!" he yelled, before everyone charged forward.
From the trees above, the girls were using their slingshots to stall the big Moblins from advancing too far for the boys to take care of the small enemies that were the green bokoblins first.
Guts himself was already moving forward besides the other boys, the entire bunch of them letting out their war cries as they charged forward to protect the Deku Tree's roots. It wasn't his home from the start to defend, but he's grown fond of the place to not let the place be razed down to the ground by some beasts.
With his sword held by his side, Guts swing it over and down at the first bokoblin, his sword cleaving its way through the entire torso down from the shoulder, green monster blood flew into his face from the attack; Guts quickly followed up his sword swing by lifting it up to thrust it into an incoming bokoblin that ran towards him in an awkward way.
While the noise of the other Kokiri boys fighting around him against the bokoblins persisted, Guts's' thrust of his sword found its way into the running bokoblin that was running at him like it barely had any control of its motor functions. His sword pierced through the stomach of the monster, before he lifted the monster up with his sword and swung it forwards at two more approaching bokoblins.
The bokoblin that was once impaled on his sword had flown off and crashed into a bokoblin, while his swing itself struck deep into the approaching monster; his sword managed to cleave its way through the bokoblins, practically cutting them in half at the stomachs, their torsos fell to the ground below while their lower half fell over lifelessly.
"HHHAAAH!" Guts yelled out as he charged forward more towards the incoming Bokoblins that kept pouring in through the dense woods. Without any more monster around him, Guts ran forward with his sword beside him in his hands, the first bokoblin he was able to reach had him swinging his sword over into its shoulder and hitting rotted bone.
Guts grunted in frustration as the monster was a bit stuck on his blade, making him shove the bokoblin down with his blade and pried his blade out by stomping his foot into the torso of the beast; as more monsters were closing in on him, he quickly stabbed his sword down into the head of the bokoblin he had pinned down to kill it, causing green ichor to flying into the air.
Pulled his sword up while at the same time inadvertently pulled the head of the bokoblin off from its rotted body, Guts raised his sword up by his shoulders with the previous monster's head still impaled on the tip of his blade; leaning for a bit to spin his body with his sword, Guts swung his sword forward at the incoming monster while getting extra momentum in his swing from spinning his body into his swing.
While the head of the previous bokoblin he killed flew off from his blade, the monsters he swung it were cleaved in half through the arms and chest, before both bodies and upper halves fell to the ground below. Seeing that a Moblins was headed his way finally after making his way into the horde of monsters enough, he narrowed his eyes as the Moblin stumble charged with its rotted and rusted spear. The moblin let out a loud roar while doing so as he charged at Guts.
Guts however cursed a bit as he had to rolled to the side a bit, and avoid the impalement of the charging moblin, the monster itself fell forward after it tried to stop; sprinting up to the fallen body of the moblin while it was still down, Guts jumped and stabbed his sword into the chest of the monster, making it squeal out in pain, before its body fall slack as Guts stood up atop its corpse.
From atop the corpse of the Moblin, Guts saw there were still more bokoblins, this was going to be a bit of a long skirmish, were his thoughts, before he hopped down to attack the next group of bokoblins before he dealt with the next moblin.
Meanwhile from further back, Mido scoffed as he saw Guts fell the number of monsters in such a short time, "Keep pushing!" He yelled as he blocked a club from a bokoblin and parried it aside with said shield, allowing Mido to stab his Kokiri forward into the monster, and kill it on its feet. As much as he wanted to try and keep up with the Hylian, there was a definitive difference between him and Guts, so there wasn't any instance he could show up the kid.
Mido would just have to deal with making sure none of the monsters reached the roots, and so far he and his fellow Kokiri were doing quite well in that. "More Moblins!" Fado yelled from the tree tops, earning everyone's attention. From out of the thickness of the trees, said Moblins lumbered out with rusted axes in hand.
Mido cursed to himself, and blocked another blow from a bokoblin with his shield, before pushing it forward to knock the monster back and stab his sword down into its face, "Deploy the deku stick runners!" He yelled, before promptly after, from out of the hollow logs came more Kokiri boys wielding sharpened deku sticks.
The charging stick runners ran past the present company of Mido, and pierced their weaponized sticks into the bokoblins ahead, granting Mido and the other boys to move on ahead to catch up with Guts. While the Deku Stick runners dispatched the bokoblins and focused on the rest, Mido and his company ran on ahead to catch up with Guts.
For Guts, it was a different story, as he charged on ahead after felling three more bokoblins with an overreaching swing of his sword, a great swathe of green monster blood painted the ground in doing so as the monsters fell backover dead; one of the axe wielding Moblins roared a deep bellow from its mouth as it charged at the incoming form of Guts.
With its axe raised, the moblin slammed its rusted weapon down at Guts; Guts on the other hand deftly dodged to the side and rolled, before coming out from it to swing his sword up at the stomach of the moblin, leaving a deep gouge in. green ichor began to pour out from the moblin's stomach, all the while the monster stumbled back to hold its stomach while letting out a pig like squeal of pain.
Guts had to dodge backwards as another Moblin came lumbering over to swung its axe sideways at the boy, Guts snarled back at his blocked with his sword, making a loud clang in the process between the two weapons; the moblin's rusted axe cracked against Guts's sword, while behind it, the moblin that had its stomach sliced open fell backwards as it bleed out the lifeforce that sustained it.
Guts pushed with all his might against the axe he blocked against, and made the moblin he was in combat with to stumble to the side from the force of the shove; Guts ran up at the monster to jump and pierce his sword down into the chest of the monster with a loud battle cry, "HAH!" He yelled as his sword went through the monster's chest, making the moblin squeal in pain as he fell back with Guts still standing on its chest.
As the moblin fell dead to the ground, Guts grunted as he pulled his sword from the chest; looking around to see the other Moblins on fast approach to him, he was about to curse his luck, before Mido and the others were able to leap onto the monster in groups to stab each one to death with their Kokiri sword.
Once everything settled with the Kokiri felling each moblin in groups for each one, among them was Mido as he hopped off the one he leapt onto with the Know-all-brothers to give Guts a confident smirk, "don't count us Kokiri out just yet!" he boasted, while earning nods from the Kokiri in the same bravado.
Guts however smirked back, "Nah, was just wondering when you guys would pick up the pace." he snarked back, making everyone chuckle at Guts's attitude.
