Zelda Skyward Sword Ch 7

Chapter 7: Into the Woods

Faron Woods wasn't too different from the area behind the Sealed Temple, except there were tons and tons more trees. Groups of them were scattered in every place possible. Grassy ledges overlooked the area, with birds perched on them. Large colorful mushrooms sprouted next to the trees, their moist surfaces sparkling in the shady sunlight. And far ahead, a gigantic tree loomed on the horizon.

Fi's ability to sense auras that emitted from objects was proving more useful than Link thought. Somehow, she could transmit the ability to him, so depending on what he was searching for, he would get a tingly feeling when he was close to it.

He didn't have to go very far. In a small clearing fenced in by the rocky walls, his whole body was vibrating. Two of the red goblin goons stood over a huddled object which was shivering with fear.

He ran at the monsters, sword raised, catching them by surprise. He easily took them down with two direct hits.

He turned to the object, which looked like a small raised mound of dirt with a sprout of a green plant on top of it. It was whimpering, which seemed rather odd. Then it looked up.

It was a strange little creature; it had pure black eyes with a matching pointed nose on its cream colored front. A curl of green stuck off the top of its head.

"Huh…? It's gone quiet," it said in a high pitched voice. It pushed itself up with its tiny arms. The plant-like thing on its back retreated into it, now a large brown sphere. Then it caught a glimpse of Link for the first time.

It let out a shriek. "Now there's a green one! I didn't even know they came in green!" It held the sides of its head. "Don't hurt me!" It ran off, still shrieking.

Fi appeared as Link stared off after the creature. Master, I picked up a highly interesting spike in my aura sensing from the creature you just encountered.

Link had as well. The vibrations seemed to have been literally rolling off the creature. But why? It clearly wasn't Zelda in any way, shape or form. Maybe she had been turned into that thing by some evil force… he shuddered just thinking about it.

Based on the creature's characteristics, I must conclude that it is a peaceful, forest-dwelling animal known as a Kikwi, Fi said. They are intelligent beings capable of speech. However, such a creature could obviously not be confused with Zelda. It is unclear why such a creature would elicit an aura attuned to her. You should follow it and investigate this phenomenon.

Link ran after the Kikwi, leading him deeper into the woods. Soon trees blotted out most of the sun, with only narrow strips filtering through the leaves. He found it in another clearing, facing the other way. However it heard his footsteps and turned to him. It screamed, shaking, then ran off again.

This course of events was repeated several times. The Kikwi would hide, Link would find it, it would shriek, then run away. Eventually he cornered it behind a large tree trunk.

"KWEEEEE!" It flopped belly first onto the ground, the green plumage sprouting from its back, attempting to disguise it as a grass plant. But Link knew better. He stood over it a while, careful to be quiet and still.

"Huh? You don't want to… eat me?" The Kikwi looked up at him. "And come to think of it, why did you fight off all those red monsters?"

It jumped up, re-covering its green sprout. "My name is Machi. You seem okay, even though you're scary. Thanks for helping me!"

Machi scratched his head. "That's weird, a little while ago I ran into another funny animal like you, but that one was a girl…"

Link gasped, making Machi jump. Link quickly asked if this person was Zelda.

"What's a Zelda?" Machi asked. "I don't know who this girl was, but she was in a bunch of trouble when I saw her. A pack of those mean red guys were after her, but she escaped with the Kikwi elder."

Link let out his breath, which he hadn't even realized he'd been holding. He doesn't have to scare me so bad like that.

Suddenly Fi appeared, scaring the wits out of Machi. He shrieked once more before hiding under his plume of fake grass.

My analysis suggests that this Kikwi produces a false-positive aura reaction due to pervious contact with Zelda, Fi said. Using this hypothesis, I theorize that the Kikwi elder will also generate an aura reaction for the same reason.

She melted away, and Machi popped back up. "You really spooked me," he said, still quivering. "You keep some very strange company, friend."

Link stifled a chuckle.

"It sounds like you're set on finding this friend and the elder," Machi said. "Since you're heading that way anyway, would you mind telling our elder that I'm safe?"

Link agreed. It was a small thing to repay Machi with for all the information he gave him.

"Cheer up!" Machi said, noticing Link's downcast expression. "I bet your friend is safe with our elder."

With a halfhearted wave, Link set off to search for the elder. He should have been in high spirits, but for some reason he was troubled. Something didn't seem right. What with the red monsters attacking throughout the apparently peaceful forest, something had to be going on that he was missing.

As he went along, he came across many different creatures. There were vicious plants, with teeth as sharp as his sword. Strange mahogany colored creatures disguised themselves as bushes, and when you weren't looking, they spit a rock from their snout at you. Crows circled and pecked unsuspecting people in the back of the head. And of course there were more reds, patrolling what felt like every five feet to Link.

But aside from the monsters, the forest was beautiful. Birds chirped happily in the branches of every tree. Sparkling springs gurgled softly in the sunlight. If he hadn't been searching for Zelda, he would have considered sitting down again. But his current mission was far more important than napping.

After wandering around for a bit, he felt the familiar tingling sensation stir inside him. A little farther on and he could barely breath it was so strong. For right in front of him was a large brown mass, easily four times as long as he was.

It was clearly a Kikwi; small stubby arms and legs stuck out from its sides and a large curl of green was on top of its head. But Link never would have thought that it would be this big.

It heard his footsteps, and with some difficulty, stood up on its tiny feet. Its face was quite similar to that of Machi, with the black eyes and pointed nose. However a long brown mustache drooped to three fourths of the way down his cream colored front.

"I am Bucha, the Kikwi elder," he said in a low gruff voice, towering over Link. "I see you spotted me through my ingenious camouflage. You are clearly a master woodsman."

Link quickly inquired about Zelda.

"Zelda…?" Bucha stoked his mustache. "Ah, the girl creature with the blonde hair. She looked like one of your kind. Yes, she was with me. But then she said she had to travel to the temple deep within these woods…"

Temple? Deep in the woods? It sounded more than suspicious. Why would Zelda head there?

"I tried to warn her about how dangerous it is there, but the clever thing ran off on her own just the same," Bucha said. He looked past Link to an old stone walkway in the distance. "I think she headed down that way toward the temple… but be sure to take great care if you follow her. That area is crawling with monsters."

With a quick thanks and a wave of good-bye to Bucha, Link headed off.

He soon reached the walkway leading deeper into the woods. It was quite old, with vines and shrubbery growing on it at odd angles. He ascended the stone steps and entered a narrow tunnel.

In his excitement, he failed to notice the tall gray figure on the ledge above, watching him. It let out a low laugh before disappearing in a flash of white diamonds.


The Deep Woods weren't very different from Faron Woods, however there were no Kikwis, just monsters. And far ahead was a white building, undoubtedly the temple where Zelda was.

The area was rather small, but it was not short of crevasses. The land seemed to be carved out in the middle, with strips of land leading onward. The pits weren't bottomless, but if one were to fall into one, there would be no way to get out.

Link was very careful as he made his way around, taking out several reds as well as other monsters. Eventually he reached the white building, and Fi appeared in front of him.

Master Link, I have detected Zelda's aura emanating from within this structure, she said. Link had felt it too, but his stomach was so full of butterflies that he didn't notice.

However I have also detected the presence of numerous monsters. Are you sure you with to proceed? Fi asked.

Link nodded sternly. There was no way he could leave Zelda in there by herself. He had to find her and figure out what was going on.

Understood, Master. Fi melted back into his hilt, and he turned to the temple. There was a large door covering the entrance. A golden symbol was carved into its surface, with gems encrusted around it. He pushed against the metal surface, and the heavy door creaked open, splitting the strange symbol down the middle.

Link looked inside and swallowed hard. It was very dark, so dark he could only see a few of the steps on the stairway leading straight down inside. Tree branches sprouted on the sides of the narrow passageway, creating eerie shadows in the low light.

He narrowed his eyes. He had to go in there to save Zelda. He had to. It was his destiny.

He slowly made his descent into the darkness, footsteps echoing off the walls.