Courage, Mushrooms, and a Shovel

Guy poked his head out of the doorframe of a shack, peering to the left, then to the right. The village was cloaked in a dim orange glow of the setting sun. It was almost pitch black. Island folks like this always got up early to farm, and went to bed far too early for their own good--or at least, that's what Guy had seen. They were also far too trusting that no one would steal anything from them. Molidians seemed no different than their stereotype implied.

Unfortunately for Guy, they hardly had anything even worth stealing. After searching through several houses, he hadn't even found a single jewel, let alone anything interesting. He was hoping the village's community toolshed might have a Clawshot, a Hookshot, or at least something remotely magical. The most valuable thing it contained was probably a hoe. So, he had made off with one of the only pieces of equipment sized for a Deku Scrub--a full-sized shovel with a wooden handle that had broken in half. He had practically stolen it out of spite.

Yes. Guy had sailed all the way out here to this remote island, waited until dusk, searched around for hours, and all he had to show for it was a single Din-damned shovel. "Master Thief," he scoffed under-breath. Who would have expected these country bumpkins to not be hiding something of remote value here?

Guy sighed, deciding to wander around a bit more as it got darker. He was hardly tired, motivated perhaps only by his frustration. If there wasn't anything in the village, maybe there would be something at the north end...? He recalled spying some sort of structure there, when he sailed here earlier this afternoon...

After a very nearly botched robbery, Wiki had decided it was probably best to avoid the mainland for awhile. She had already gone to jail once recently, she didn't need to go there again. ... Plus she had escaped from jail the first time. Yeah, it was definitely best that Wiki avoid the mainland for awhile. So she had taken an extended stay on this awful literal shithole of an island. It was easy for her to hide out in the caves and emerge at night to casually steal some food when she wanted to. Not that she needed to, but she wanted to.

Wiki emerged from her cave on such a night, looking more or less for something to entertain her. She was getting restless, and she hadn't brought any books with her. If she got really desperate, maybe she could try some of the mushrooms in the cave, but Wiki's last psychedelic adventure had not ended well. She was not eager to try again. Then she spied it. Her eyes narrowed and her snout shriveled as much as wood can shrivel. That awful fashion sense, that abysmal desecration of perfectly good leaves. And he was carrying... a shovel?

"Treasure hunting?" Wiki said, walking towards Guy and doing her best to put on a friendly expression. It was probably the most difficult thing she had done since arriving on the island. "Or did you grow tired of using knives?"

"Yes, my knives have been getting dull." Guy sighed heavily, looking at Wiki. Her looking friendly was one of the most horrifying things in the world--second perhaps only to his sister looking friendly. Why did the rare Deku woman he know always seem insane and murderous? Why couldn't he just find a nice girl who wasn't made of flesh or scales or something?

"Anyway, I should be using it to put you in the ground." He didn't feel the need to explain the reasoning behind this. Thanks to an apparent spell she had, she had telepathically made two insinuations that he was the waifu of an insane little otherkin Picori--which was two far too many. If he told her that directly, of course, it would only motivate her to do it more. At this point, he felt like death threats between them were the equivalent of small talk between them, anyway. At least she didn't seem to have the slightest suspicion he just stole it...

His eyes averted from her, looking towards the opposite end of the island--he was going to ask her about that building, but there was something more important he was wondering. A callous smirk was thrown her way, "Isn't this place a bit out of your way? Are you stalking me now, or something?"

"Whoa now, come on," Wiki said, putting up her hands. "Can't take a joke?" She of course was laughing internally, considering she had been putting her new spell to good use. Unfortunately said spell didn't let her see any reactions, which was why she had only sent him two messages thus far. Wasn't as much fun if you couldn't see their faces. Either way, it was good to know that her spell was working.

"I've been here for days," she said, crossing her arms and scowling. Her angry expression faded and her eyes did a nervous dart to the side. "... and yeah, it being out of the way is sort of the point." She uncrossed her arms and scratched at her leaves. It was out of the way, so why the hell was Guy here? Wiki's face suddenly brightened.

"I met your sister," she said. "She's nice."

Guy smirked, instantly realizing Wiki must've gotten caught. He knew her well enough to know she probably murdered people--Hylian people, specifically, the sort where they'd said Hyrulean Guards after you. He made a quick mental note to point out her hiding spot if she ever ran into Navina again... that is, assuming she hadn't already found out he himself was a wanted crim--...

His head whipped towards her at the mention of his sister. He glanced away, immediately searching for a new subject to talk about. Hell, why didn't he just walk away at this point? That was, until he suddenly remembered the other question he wanted to ask her.

Using his newly-acquired shovel, he pointed out the fading silhouette of a structure in the distance. "Have you been there, yet? I was looking for something interesting to do," or steal. With a callous shrug, he glanced back towards the village. At least half the island seemed to lack anything of remote interest.

"I didn't feel like sailing on the open sea another night, and Molida Island was on my way... so, yeah." Surprisingly enough, Guy could get away with telling her the truth--or at least part of it.

"Huh?" Wiki turned around towards where he was motioning to. She grimaced. "I've been... near it." She didn't want to mention that she had attempted to traverse it, only to find herself almost sliced in half by a Beamos within the first couple of seconds of entering. So Wiki did the proper thing and left. She knew a bad omen when she saw it. Plus... she.. wasn't exactly the most effective person in combat. It was probably for the best.

She turned back towards Guy, crossing her arms again. His story seemed believable enough. Why else would anyone stop this armpit town in the high seas? An idea started to form in her brain and a smug look appeared on her face.

"I mean, I could take you up there," she began. What else did Wiki have to do on this island except explore the cave she had called home for the past couple of nights? "I bet I'd save you a couple of hours of finding your way through the caves. Plus you'd avoid all the traps I just set back up." Bullshit, there were no traps. Wiki just liked the idea of having something she did over Guy's head. She wasn't lying about the caves being difficult to navigate, though, and .. honestly... Wiki could stand to kill some time.

"... so did I tell you I banged your sister yet?"

"Sure you did," Guy immediately shrugged. He didn't believe Wiki's tale in the slightest. Who would?

She hadn't even mentioned the insane beast by name. He knew Wiki too well to believe most of what she said, anyway, especially when she thought whatever she was saying thought it would get under his skin. The thought of Sienna having her way with Wiki was almost amusing as it was disturbing. For better or worse, he overly accustomed to his sister being disturbing regardless. Still, she could probably help him navigate this place if she had really been sleeping here for days...

With a heavy sigh, he turned towards Wiki. Guy was about to accompany her again, which he feared was against his better judgement. "Let's get going..." Proceeding towards the gave, he swung the newly found shovel over his shoulder. There was no real expectation to use it as a weapon, but he felt the need to look like he had it for a reason. Maybe he could swat a Keese or two with it.

"Sienna's into some kinky shit man," Wiki said. "Met her in jail, had a .. fun time in a temple... took my arm getting broken, literally, haha, to get her into bed. Probably not worth it, seeing as her performance warranted a D grade at best." Wiki was bullshitting. Bullshitting hard. She was just.. she was just completely and hopelessly infatuated with his sister, even if she didn't want to admit it to herself. And she was also a compulsive liar, egomaniac, and .. a whole list of other negative traits that was leading her down this path of trying to create a fantasy narrative of a sexual encounter she never really had. Her arm did get broken though. That .. that was not pleasant.

"Anyways, enough about your sister," she clapped her hands. "Let's get a move on!" Wiki retreated back into the cave. It wasn't horrible to see inside at the moment, but with night closing, in the darkness in the cave was increasing steadily. Wiki looked behind to make sure Guy was still with her. Honestly, she wouldn't have been surprised if he had left after her comments. Unfortunately he seemed like the type of person who couldn't spend a night just sitting idle and bored on some rustic island. At least Wiki was entertaining.

As they ventured further into the cave, Wiki noticed a red paste dripping out of one of the cracks in the wall. She rolled her eyes. ChuChu. Great. Some people thought they looked cute, Wiki just thought they were obnoxious. Moments after she noticed the paste, three Red ChuChus materialized, their yellow eyes looking as dumb as ever.

A shudder ran down Guy's spine. Even if Wiki was still deceiving him--which she probably was, in his mind--hearing her talk about Sienna like that was nonetheless disturbing. Yet, he couldn't show weakness. He had to be resolute, stoic, and undaunted. Otherwise he adamantly believed Wiki would never shut up about it. He liked to think of it as a test of his courage.

Needless to say, relief washed over him as she changed the subject. At least they could both see in the dark--no need to carry a torch or something. Guy thought he might have lied to Wiki in the past, and told him he couldn't. He hardly cared. She was probably too busy keeping up with her own lies to remember his. Speaking of which, he was a bit surprised he arm wasn't still broken... "Still no staff?" She had apparently learned at least one knew spell. Hopefully there weren't others that could be used to screw him over.

After a few minutes of silence, he gave a cautionary glance towards Wiki. Had she really been staying here? Maybe it was just because he on some level doubted every word that came out of her mouth, but it seemed like they were wandering aimlessly. Before he could ask, three blobs of jelly just popped out of the wall. What the hell were they even doing in there? They were slow, stupid, and their only means of attack was pathetically lobbing themselves at you. Even Wiki could--hell even Buzzari could beat these things.

Nonetheless, Guy quickly drew a pair of throwing knives. He lobbed one at the nearest Chu, causing its head to bounce backwards as if it was some kind of punching bag, before the second one finished it off.

"They always had to make those damn squeaking noises," Guy grumbled. Whipping out his sword, he advanced towards the second one--and rather easily hopped backwards as it tried to lunge towards him. The second his feet touched ground again, he soared back towards it with a dramatic leap, cleaving into it with a heavy strike, its gelatinous body town with a huge gash. Making sure it wouldn't just reform, Guy's blade cleaved into it a couple more times. They even cut easily. Keese were supposed to be weak, but at least they tried to dodge your attacks...

Guy expected Wiki to have already finished off the third one by now, and as such began to move deeper in the direction they were heading... towards a river. Guy should have known to walk towards rivers in a cave. A giant, muscular, green fish-thing leaped out with a roar, as if it had just been waiting for them. With a scimitar in one hand and a wooden shield in the other, its gullet tore open before spitting a fireball right at Guy. "Great. Fire. That's my favorite."

His Mirror Shield abruptly ate the projectile, before flinging it right back at the Geozard--only for it to miss entirely as the beast advanced towards Wiki. Huh. He almost forgot his shield could actually do that.

Wiki shot a look at Guy when he asked about her staff. Mostly because she assumed he was mocking her instead of asking a legitimate question. She didn't answer.

As she watched Guy her eyes began to roll. So dramatic. In Wiki's opinion, his moves were way too over the top for the creatures they were fighting. She reached for her bow and hesitated, realizing she actually really did miss her staff. Bashing in these creature's heads would be so much simpler than shooting them with an arrow or lighting them on fire. She blinked, almost forgetting she could do that. Wiki's finger shot towards the ground and moments later, the last of the dumb looking creatures was engulfed in flames.

Her eyes moved towards Guy and before she could tell him to stop whatever he was doing, another creature popped out of the river. Was she going to have to babysit Guy to make sure he didn't trigger the rest of the creatures in this cave Wiki had been avoiding meticulously for the past couple of days? She let out an uncannily obnoxious groan that even the fish man flinched at.

As the creature moved towards her, Wiki quickly grabbed an arrow out of her quiver and chucked it as hard as she could directly up towards the high cave ceiling. She used this time to take out her bow, keeping her eyes on both the creature's movements and the arrow that and just reached the peak of its altitude and was now cascading down. Just as it was about to hit the floor, Wiki whistled. A shiver ran up her spine at the noise, but the projectile immediately changed direction and shot towards the creature at the same velocity. The arrow landed in the creatures shoulder and it let out a roar before jumping at Wiki with its scimitar. The Deku did her best to roll out the way, but part of her cloak was caught in the fray. She scowled at the new tear. She had just gotten this thing.

Guy grumbled with annoyance. How could Wiki have known a muscular, creepy fish-man was waiting in this precise spot to ambush them? He began to consider the possibility that all fresh water in these caves was just a bad idea.

With a sharp propel, Guy shot across the ground--maintaining momentum on the silent skid of his hover boots. A split-second after the monster's sword cleaved into Wiki's cloak, Guy's blade tore forcefully into the back of the monster's unarmed calf. Apparently this thing wasn't accustomed to fighting two foes at once--either that or it vastly underestimated what Deku Scrubs could do. A howl bellowed out of its mouth as it feel to one knee, struggling to stand on what Guy hoped were severed muscles. Blue blood gushed down its pantleg.

"That fiery spell--use it," Guy barked to Wiki. Hopefully she would be smart enough to use it while the creature was injured and had difficulty moving. Nonetheles, its fishy gullet opened to spit a ball of flame towards the one who injured it. Did it not see him deflect it before? Guy's shield rose quickly, bouncing the ball of fire right back at its origin--only for the beast to abruptly bat it away with his sword. The fiery projectile bounced in a high, awkward arc, falling roughly to where Wiki was standing.

How did Wiki know? Wiki knew everything. Or at least she knew enough to know that if she was walking first there was no way an armed fishman could have ambushed them.

"DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO," Wiki screeched, but begrudgingly opted to listen to Guy's direction. She was going to torch him anyways. She just .. didn't want to do it as much now. She grumbled, pointing her finger towards the injured river monster. Moments later the spot where it stood was engulfed in flames. The delicious smell of seared fish filled the air. Wiki shot a look at Guy. Not only did he completely suck all of the fun out of fighting, now she was hungry. Dick.

She heard a pop and then a sizzle and looked towards the source of the noise. Her eyes widened. The flaming rock's remains stood inches from her body. This was an occasion for the history books, not only did Wiki pull off a feat of luck, she was lucky in combat. Things like this never happened. Wiki's body turned cold. She had so little luck these days. Something in the back of her head told her that she might have just used most of her reserves. Wiki shook her head, her bewildered expression replaced by her usual angry glare. She began stomping over towards Guy, and when she got close enough shoved her index finger up in his face.

"You shithead!" she said, "You're content to jump around like a fucking grasshopper when it comes to killing something, but when it comes to not pissing off territorial river creatures you don't jump over the fucking water?! What's wrong with you!?"

Guy grimaced. He should've known Wiki wouldn't be accustomed to fighting alongside others. There wasn't time to say 'Would you please be a dear and do my the favor of roasting this monster for me?' when it was about to kill you. That's to mention, "So sorry to be of aid, dearest Wiki." He grinned, "I know you dodged that first strike so well." His knife directed attention to the gash in her cloak. He expected the second gash would've been across her face, had he not pounced on the thing.

He wondered how she managed to not get herself killed when he wasn't around, then quickly realized he didn't want to think about what Wiki did in his absence. She probably got off to writing fan fiction of himself and Buzzari, considering how much she loved to bring it up--or Din forbid, herself and Sienna. A shudder ran down his spine. He was still mostly lost in disturbing thoughts when she jabbed a finger into his face--a prompt he mostly ignored. After her little tirade was over, he pushed her hand out of his face, and moved towards the river.

With a shrug, he asked, "Want me to jump over it? ...Seems like too much work." Not even bothering to get a running start, Guy's boots shoved off the ledge--hovering in mid-air for about five feet--which was just enough to get to the other side. He glanced at Wiki from across the river, arms crossed, arrogantly smirking like an asshole. "Whenever you're ready."

Wiki stomped her feet multiple times while letting out noises that could only be equated breaks screeching. She was fuming. She cracked her knuckles and clenched and unclenched them repeatedly. It was taking her all of her willpower to not set Guy on fire right this instant. Or shoot an arrow in his eye. Or whistle an arrow into his eye. Or stab a pen in his throat. Or--

Her loud and erratic breathing echoed throughout the cave. Wiki didn't even give a shit if Guy knew his comments pissed her off. In fact, she hoped that he knew that she was about ready to blow a gasket. She was like a cat, claws out and hair standing on end, a clear warning not to mess with it. Seriously, don't poke a cat when they're like this. Wiki would know. (The cat won the fight)

She stomped over towards the large islands of rock she had been using to traverse the river. The fishmen she had been killing for the last few days knew not to fuck with her rocks. These were HER rocks. Hers.

Hopping across, she finally caught up to Guy, her angry expression unchanged. In fact, it probably just increased with intensity, considering she had time to stew over how much she hated this asshole while she was jumping over the rocks. Her fists clenched and a moment later her finger shot up into the air. Wiki released an audible noise, but held her tongue. It was clear she had something to say, but was doing her best not to start a fist fight with another Deku scrub in the middle of a cave.

"... the ... ledge..." she said as if she was saying the words through clenched teeth. She pointed towards a small, dark corner of the cave that had a small hole near the ceiling. "Climb... climb up it, turn left, crouch, down the tunnel ... You're... obviously faster than I am, so I'll follow you." She was pretty sure that if she had nails her palms would be bleeding right now

Guy crossed his arms patiently, watching Wiki hop from one rock to another. He was legitimately expecting a glowing circle of fire to appear beneath him any second, and that was the main reason he kept his eyes on hers. Maybe Wiki was smarter than that, though, even when ridiculously enraged. She probably knew he could dodge the now-familiar timing of her attack, and probably find some way to push her into the river...

His eyes widened slightly as she spoke. This was definitely a trap. As soon as his back was turned, poof, he'd be on fire. At least he could constantly look at his feet to see if a glowing ring was forming... That would be pretty hard to miss, especially in the dark. He was fairly certain it would be difficult for her to kill him right-out with any other attack. So, with a bit of a shrug, he abruptly slid over towards the indicated corner...

...climbing... turning left... crouching... proceeding through the tunnel... It was cramped. Even if he was strangely tall for a Deku Scrub, Guy still forced himself to be thankful he wasn't a Hylian or something. Navina or Julius probably would get stuck as this became narrower...

After weaving through tunnels and the remainder of the cave for what must've been at least ten minutes of uneasy silence, Guy felt the open sea breeze whisk across his wooden face. His head popped out of a cavernous opening in the side of a cliff face, shortly followed by his feet, dropping a mere meter onto grassy ground. "Huh. That was actually a pretty effective shortcut," he offered to Wiki as she herself came crawling out. He was slightly surprised she hadn't bothered to at least try to set him on fire, yet.

He could spy the massive structure--an old temple, it resembled--in the distance, glistening under the moonlight. "Huh. Maybe this place isn't as boring as I thought." There was still a bit more trekking to do before getting there, though.

Wiki wasn't dumb, but you didn't need to be a rocket scientist to pick up on the fact that Guy kept looking back at her. He would only be greeted with the same, angry expression that was so commonly plastered on Wiki's face. She surprisingly took his help out of the tunnel without much resistance, not even an extra sneer.

".. You know Guy, I'm not your sister," Wiki began, brushing some dirt off of her cloak. "... you don't have to keep assuming I'm going to try to kill you every twelve seconds." She cracked her back to get some of the kinks out it. Sheesh, that crevice was a bitch. She began walking towards a set of bushes. Another shortcut? "... besides, as you can plainly see, I'm a much better friend than enemy." There was much more malice in her voice than she originally had intended, but it served her purpose well. Wiki was an obnoxious little punk, but the higher you moved up on her list the more and more she was going to try to find you while you slept. Keyword being try.

She made her way to a small patch of bushes, pushing the brush out of the way. She shot a look towards Guy, just daring him to ask why Wiki knew about this path in the first place. If he wanted to keep his head on, he'd shut it. In the dense brush was a small hole, just large enough for a Hylian child to slip through. Of course, a Deku scrub would have no problem slipping through.

Falling only a few feet, the pair would soon be greeted with the entrance to yet another underground cavern. Wiki looked around, trying her best to remember the path she had taken to the temple a couple of days ago. She scratched her head and looked around, trying to gather her surroundings. She froze, obviously distressed, but probably not for the reason an observer could discern.

She realized now that to get to the temple in the fastest manner, she'd eventually have to take Guy through the small cave she had carved out for herself while living here. She looked back at him. That... that might be a little weird. Not for any particular reason of course! (of COURSE... ) but just because... well that was her space, and she really didn't want this mojo in it.

"Uh, watch out for Keese," she said, walking deeper into the cave. "... I think there are a few Deku Babas, I don't really care. They don't bug me so just don't mess with them." There might have been some more enemies lurking around, of course, but Wiki was going to 'forget' to mention them.

Guy sighed, and he pressed a hand to his temple. "You tried to kill me at least once--or at least it definitely looked like you tried." He shrugged slightly, looking away from her and towards the structure in the distance. His voice was calm. "Not to be a jerk or anything, but you are kind of... volatile. I like being alive. I've stayed alive a long time in... this line of work... That's partially because I'm paranoid. I've been betrayed before, by people who seemed more trustworthy than anyone I currently know."

He offered her a cautionary glance, "It's... nothing personal, Wiki. Consider it one of my flaws." Expecting some kind of quip in return, he continued on with her towards the bushes, before dropping into the cavern. Naturally, Guy assumed Wiki knew about this bush shortcut because she had been here for days, and had been thorough in exploring it. Why else would she explore bushes?

Guy followed her patiently, before she shot him an eerie glance over her shoulder. His hand moved a half-inch towards the hilt of his blade--was there a monster? Was she going to attack him?--before she abruptly looked away, uncomfortably. Guy didn't pretend to understand it. He had long since given up trying to understand Wiki. "...Thanks. I'll keep an eye out."

After a minute or two of advancing deeper into the cavern, there came a sudden and ominous sound of dirt shifting. In the darkness, the Deku Scrubs could both see a familiar yet ugly shape rising out of the earth--then a second. "Leevers," Guy groaned, whipping his sword out in a flash. The monsters had cleverly popped up behind and in front of the two, surrounding them. The two Scrubs and two Leevers were all in a line, stuffed in a cramped corridor that prevented them from passing each other. Guy couldn't even do any of his normal fancy jumps.

He turned around, his back to Wiki. Somehow, it felt odd fighting seriously next to her. He assumed--hoped--she could handle one of these on her own, as he raised his shield. As if they had been waiting for the opportune moment to strike, the pair of Leevers abruptly charged towards them from both sides.

For once, Wiki kept quiet. For one, she was absolutely disgusted that Guy had picked her of all people to start spilling his trust issues onto. Wiki .... Well for one she didn't really care about people, and two the only way she could ever attempt to empathize with people was by relating it to her own experiences... Augh. Fuck that.

Thankfully Wiki was pulled out of her past by the familiar whirring of dirt. Assholes. Didn't these jerks realize Wiki was still trying to devise a way to hide anything incriminating in her makeshift home?! She didn't have time to focus on combat! Wiki mumbled something offensive and grabbed an arrow from her quiver. She didn't have time to take out her bow, and for once she was actually glad she learned how to make such an obnoxious noise. She chucked the arrow at one of the Leevers and whistled, causing it to let out a shrill noise of pain as it hit. It quickly burrowed, and Wiki used the opportunity to side step away from Guy. Honestly she was uncomfortable lighting this thing on fire soe to her and she needed to backup. Unfortunately, the Leveer continued to plow onwards toward her companion. Wiki tsked before grabbing another arrow and chucking It at the thing. It wasn't as strong as if she used her bow, but Wiki used to chuck apples at business scrubs on their way to work while she was growing up. What a shithead.

She would wait for Guy to finish off the other one before speaking, her words calculated and precise. "I wasn't trying to kill you. Singe your hair, sure, But kill you? Shit man, come on." she smirked "Besides, I like Buzzari. I don't want to get on his bad side by killing his boyfriend." She waved her hand and chuckled. "No, no... but seriously....." she sighed and began walking further into the cave. She stayed silent for awhile before they came to a fork in the cave.

"... That thing you said. About me being volatile?" She said, not facing him as she Tried to remember which direction to go. "You're right. It's in our nature. Pretty sure that our race is cursed." Wiki refused to be labeled a pessimist. She was just realistic. "Or at least we're predisposed to anger problems and mental disorders." she glanced back at him. "I mean, look at your sister. Or your neighbors. Fifty fifty shot of being fucking batshit."

She realized that she had assumed Guy grew up around other scrubs. Maybe he didn't know his hair was a cultural abomination? Wiki sighed and began walking down the right path before abruptly stopping, finding a large rock and moving it out of the way. Well, it was large to a deku scrub. .... Well it was large to her!

".. face it Guy, at the end of the day, crazy genes or not I don't want to kill you. Pus s you off, sure, but really, you're sort of a jerk," she smirked, her tone playful. "... So prove me wrong for once and wait here a second. I uh
.. Just give me a second."

Recklessly charging in was what a Leever loved to do for some reason, but trying to blindly tackle someone with a sword was a pretty terrible idea. A split-second before it landed on him, Guy's entire body lunged forward with a powerful stab. The beast's own momentum dug it down the very hilt of Guy's blade. It seemed to have all but stopped, leaving Guy the opportunity to kick it off his sword. A waterfall of green blood gushed from the wound as its body rolled back. As he glanced over his shoulder, it seemed Wiki was already finishing off the other one. Once she did so, he began to polish the blood off his blade with a handkerchief... Last thing he needed was for it to rust.

As Wiki spoke, Guy stood quietly, crossing his arms with an indifferent look on his face. This is what he got for telling her why he didn't trust her, he supposed. He thought it was just explaining the facts in a logical manner, but she seemed to think this was an emotional breakthrough for him or something. He had to take her words with a grain of salt. After all, she definitely hated Buzzari even more than he did.

"Yeah..." His eyes trailed off, as he finally sheathed the sword. He remembered rebelling against his heritage--against Deku culture, or what little there was of it--for that same reason. Of the hundred people who were so closely related to him, at least ninety were utterly mad, in his eyes. They were insane. The saddest part was that Wiki was probably average for a Deku Scrub, if he excluded the fact she could for some reason whistle and new some fiery spell. They were all like that, it seemed. So filled with rage. So paranoid. He hated it. He remembered, thinking that, as he so meticulously butchered his 'hair' over 40 years ago. His fingers ran through it, thoughtfully. It had been so long since he went back to the woods, that he forgot what most Deku Scrubs were really like...

But despite that rage and that paranoia and that weakness, Deku Scrubs were always passionate. Guy barely cared about anything anymore. Staying alive was nice, but he delved into all this dungeons, sought all these pointless treasures, killed and stole, for what purpose? It just felt like a momentum he coudn't stop. He sighed, heavily. It seemed even when Wiki wasn't insanely pissed off, she still managed to put him in an unpleasant mood. His eyes shifted towards her, idly, as she struggled to move the rock. Wiki, Sienna, Gustav, and even Dante always seemed so driven towards something, even if that something was pointless. Maybe Guy was just getting old, but he rarely felt that sort of passion anymore.

A momentary smirk spread across his face, imagining Sienna swatting away the boulder with the side of her hand. Even if he was part of an insane race that defied evolution and was prone to failure and insanity, at least they were... entertaining.

"Alright," he said, shrugging. "I'm ready when you are."

Wiki inhaled deeply, hesitating. She crouched down to the hole in the wall... and then suddenly rose to her feet, stretching her body and limbering up. She checked to make sure she had all of her equipment, took an arrow out of her quiver, and inhaled deeply. Finally, she crouched down and began crawling through the hole. To an outside observer, they would hear silence for a moment. One, this was Wiki, the most athletic Deku on the planet, an two, it was a significant distance to crawl.

After the silence, there was the clattering of various objects, and then a distinctive, melodious voice echoing throughout the cavern: "Guess who's back, you one-eyed bitch!" -- A hiss, a growl, a scream, a shriek, groaning, the crashing of a plate ... and then something that wasn't Wiki started to hiss and growl. What... was that a cat? It was definitely a cat, it was screeching now, yowling, and obviously winning the fight. There was another crash, muffles, and then ... silence. A long, long silence.

And then suddenly, Wiki. She would emerge from the hole after this ordeal, a large gash down her cheek that was now bleeding sap. She looked.. frazzled, and not even the usual sort of after combat stress that was often seen on Wiki. She didn't speak, but got out of the hole in the wall and made a motion for Guy to go inside. She'd follow, he was faster, and honestly she didn't want him behind her as she crawled.

Oddly, as the pair approached the small, weird circular hollow Wiki had somehow managed to find -- she really had been here for days .. a lot of days -- they would begin to notice a faint glow. As they finally crawled their way into the room, Wiki brushed off her cloak and the source of the glow became apparent. In the small barely 5x5 cave room Wiki had managed to write on absolutely every single surface in glowing ink. She looked nervously at Guy, knowing that writing on the walls is obviously a trait that people associate with crazy people, but Wiki didn't... well Wiki didn't really want to waste paper for making what was an incredibly meticulous, precise, and downright creepily detailed schedule of the villager's typical schedules. Honestly, Wiki hoped that Guy didn't look too much into the writings and wrote it off as mad ramblings. She'd rather him think of her as insane than a stalker. Especially considering that if she had detailed charts like this for people she didn't give two shits about and just wanted to know when they would be out so she could steal more blankets, imagine the charts she could make for person people she was basically obsessed about.

"Uh, so. . . yeah," Wiki said, sitting on a covered pot in the room that was obviously shaking with something very much alive. A small yowl echoed from inside it. "... ... I uh, I have to keep... keep it fresh." Wiki's eyes darted, obviously nervous that Guy was inside the area where she slept. And also because she just sort of admitted to Guy she was definitely planning on eating this thing later.

"Now... that uh, I guess the ... cat's out of the bag" --- awful --- "heh... I mean, any leftovers are gonna spoil so if you want some later after we're done messin' around in that temple you're welcome to .. uh, have some. I guess. I'm a good cook," she said, scratching at her leaves. Wiki was not used to having guests, and she suddenly realized why she hated it so much. Her old cultural roots started to kick in (or at the very least, the fact she had very two nice, naive, surprisingly nonxenophobic, sane parents), and everyone knew that you don't have a stranger in your home without having it stay for dinner, especially fellow scrubs. Wiki hated herself right now. Her one, true, personality flaw - indoctrinated hospitality.

"Ok, enough fucking around," she said, jumping off the covered pot and moving towards another hole in the wall. She didn't care if Guy scoped her ass the entire time, she was done getting caught in a catch 22 by her upbringing. As they crawled through another long tunnel, they would eventually come upon another large amount of brush. Crawling through it, the pair would find themselves

"-- Right at the temple," Wiki said, huffing from the sudden exertion of crawling through such rough underbrush. "See? What did I tell you?" She was not going to mention the Beamos.