Quit Monkeying Around (TP #1) [Eevachu + Willow]

Dungeon: The Forest Temple - Twilight Princess
Members: Rika(Eevachu) and Dante(WillowtheWhisp)
Rewards: Rika: +40r
Dante: Profession (Adventurer) Level 1 (-30 personal Rupees), Magic Power 1 (-35 Dungeon Roop), +12r (5 from new profession, 2 from crafting, 5 from leftover)

Trees. Trees everywhere. That's usually how it was in the Lost Woods, however. Rika was fairly used to navigating through trees and forested areas, being a Kokiri, but he hadn't been through the Lost Woods very often. Wollo, however, had lived in the Lost Woods all his life before meeting Rika, so he was much more accustomed to the swampiness of the area. They weren't by themselves, however. They were with Dante, a Deku who needs no introduction. Except for maybe this one.

What was this group doing in the Lost Woods, though? Well. . . Lost Woods has a special type of apple not found in other places. They're especially plump and juicy, and sweeter than other apples commonly grown by farmers. However, due to the swampy area, they are also fairly difficult to find. As such, the trio were spending their day searching the forest for some of these apples to enjoy. So far, they had not yet seen any signs of these apples.

As they progressed through the forest, Rika heard a rustle in the trees. He instinctively raised his hand in defense, but then realized he probably shouldn't counter with a Fire spell- Forest fires are not your friends. Especially when you're in them. The rustling continued, and Rika kept himself on guard, but nothing seemed to happen. Suddenly, a rock flew through the treetops, aimed at Rika. The Kokiri narrowly avoided it, lucky that he was on guard. ". . . Did I just have a rock get thrown at me? So who's there?" Rika shouted into the treetops, but to no response other than more rustling. "Well, Dante, Wollo, if I were you, I'd watch out for rocks." Rika casually mentioned to them, before keeping his eyes on the treetops. There seemed to be rustling in multiple places, though, strangely.

Though Dante normally subsided on sunlight and the nutrients of the earth, he did rather enjoy eating the foods of other cultures. In the case of fruit, Dante took particular enjoyment from its consumption, especially exotic ones. Though normal apples weren't particularly rare, apples from the Lost Woods were an entirely different story. It wasn't that they did not grow in a decent amount; it was the fact that anyone who attempted to get them usually went missing, either lost in the forest for eternity, or killed by evil forces. But, both Dante and Rika had been to the Lost Woods before, and both knew their way around it. The apples were well worth the trouble, Dante imagining their sweet succulence in his mouth. His fantasy was quickly shattered by the whizzing of a rock through the air.

Eyes searching through the air, Dante was disgruntled when the stone struck his head, Rika having dodged it. He watched as the pebble bounced from his head to the ground with a slight amount of amusement, the place where it hit only slightly stung. “I hope they don't start throwing bigge--” Dante's sentence was quickly cut short by a storm of rocks that fell from the trees, and although they were small, they were numerous. Running behind a tree, ears peeled for any sound, he quickly drew his bow from its case and strung it. Hearing the sound of rustling leaves, as the stones hit the ground where he just was, Dante drew and arrow and fired it into the trees. The wooden shaft flew in response to the rocks and sounded when it struck its intended target—a tree branch. With a screech, a monkey lost its balance and fell from the trees and landed on the ground, now unconscious.

As Dante said something, a downpour of rocks fell from the treetops, Rika running out of that area and behind another tree, raising his hands above his head to help block the rocks. After all, they would probably injure his head more than they would to Dante. Plus, even if they didn't, they could mess up his hat. Although it was calm for a moment, more rocks were flung in Rika's direction after the shuffling of the trees happened. He had no choice but to dive behind another tree. Wollo had been hit by a few rocks, but they didn't seem to be targeting him, and he was for the most part unhurt. Wollo hid behind another tree in the meantime, away from them.

Dante prepared an arrow, firing it into the tree. While it was unsure whether he was aiming for the target, it certainly revealed it. With a loud screech, a small monkey, smaller than Wollo, fell out of the tree. Falling to the ground, he seemed to have become unconscious due to the fall. His skin was a darker pink, but it was difficult to see due to the thick, white fur covering a majority of his body. However, he lacked fur on his hands, feet, his ears and on most of his face. ". . . A monkey?" Rika quizzed, somewhat confused on why monkeys would be throwing rocks at them.

However, something else happened. The rocks suddenly stopped being thrown, along with any form of shuffling through the branches. It was almost as if they had just vanished, they were so silent. Wollo, although slightly scared, curiously peeked from behind the tree he was hiding behind. He happened to be somewhat near the fallen monkey, too! Curiously staring at the monkey's unconscious body, he slowly took a couple steps out from behind the tree, still cautious and scared. "Uhhh. . . Monk okay?" Wollo slowly pronounced to the monkey. He wasn't exactly sure how to say monkey, but the point got across well enough.

The monkey did not respond, however. There was a moment of brief silence as Wollo kept staring at the monkey, waiting for it to answer. Instead, a couple other monkeys climbed down the tree Wollo was beside. This very much spooked Wollo, as he jumped out of shock and ran behind the tree out of fear. The other monkeys slowly walked over to the fallen monkey, standing over him. One shook the unconscious monkey, letting out a simple demand. "Get up, ook." There was no response.

The other monkey was a bit more loud, shouting it. "Ook ook, don't joke, get up!" He yelled at the monkey, but to no other response. They started to look a little worried, although it was somewhat difficult to tell facial expressions from Rika and Dante's positions. Rika pushed himself up, walking over to Dante. ". . . Well, let's go help them. He could be hurt kind of badly, and plus, they're monkeys. They must have had a good reason for throwing rocks at us." Rika said to the Deku, before slowly walking over towards the monkeys. While normally Rika would be pretty angry at anyone throwing rocks at him, as a Kokiri he liked animals. Plus, that was rather odd behavior for a monkey.

(Note, I don't know what type of monkeys we're using, but for the easiest method to do this, I'm going with the MM monkeys, and therefore they can talk)

"I don't think there's ever a good reason to throw rocks at random people, but okay." Dante said quietly, so that the rapidly growing herd of monkeys would not overhear him. Grasping his bow, Dante placed it over his chest, so that it hung from his shoulder and bounced against the opposite hip as he walked. One hand fell to the hilt of his kukri, loosening it from its scabbard, just in-case. Though Dante trusted that Rika could handle the situation, what with Kokiri typically getting along well with animals, Dante couldn't be too trusting. He never much liked monkeys; he'd always found them annoying and prone to practical jokes. Dante had been the butt of many said jokes, most of which involved feces and the flinging of it. Dante practically had wartime flashbacks of the deadly projectiles whizzing past him in every direction, as he dove for cover, the bombs of filth exploding haphazardly. He shivered, just thinking about it.

"I hate monkeys." He couldn't help but mutter under his breath as they got closer to the larger group. Upon further inspection, it seemed that none of the monkeys were preparing to defecate, nor were they preparing to throw things at Rika and Dante. The deku was pleased to see this, but knew that the shit would hit the fan if the three companions did anything to anger the tribe of primates. Still, they seemed wholly occupied with tending to their unconscious brother, who did at least appear to still be breathing. Dante leaned in closer to Rika, both to speak to him, as well as use him as a shield in case the need arose. "Think you can handle this?" He whispered loudly, the chattering of the monkeys threatening to overtake his voice.

Rika and Dante slowly approached the group of monkeys, Rika giving Dante a quick, affirmative nod at his question. "It's easy, just sit back." Rika whispered to his plant friend, before arriving at the monkeys. At first, they hadn't noticed the Kokiri standing behind them, but Rika would quickly be sure to change that. "Ahem. Excuse me, but I don't think we've been properly introduced." Rika said, with a hint of seriousness in his tone, not uncommon of the Kokiri. The monkeys slowly turned around, and their faces of worry turned into horror; In the injuring of their ally, they had completely forgotten about the two they had assaulted moments ago.

One of the monkeys seemed to hurry to say something, stuttering as he slowly spit the words out. "D-Don't hurt us! W-We didn't wanna hurt you, h-honest, o-ook!" As he quickly spit that out, another monkey followed up, hoping to back the other monkey's words up. "Y-Yeah! We were f-forced to, really, ook! Don't hurt us!" Rika stood there, staring at the monkeys. Were they serious? Although they could be lying, they seemed pretty terrified. Of course, someone forcing a monkey to throw rocks at people? That sounds ridiculous. Either way, Rika would simply have to inquire more.

"Relax, I'm not planning on hurting you. . . Yet. That can easily change, though. First, I want you to tell the rest of your friends to get out of the trees. I don't want anymore rocks being thrown at my face, see?" If somewhat hesitantly, the monkey let out a cry, as numerous monkeys started climbing from down the trees, also somewhat scared of what was going to happen. Now that this was done, even if the monkeys were sneaky enough to attack them again, they wouldn't have any sort of advantage.

"Now then, I must inquire, what do you mean you were "forced" to? This sounds rather silly, so I have to ask." He quizzed, a small smirk appearing on his face. He had to admit, he was kind of enjoying this discussion. "I-It's our boss, Ook, ook! He made us sit in the treetops and throw rocks at anybody who passes by to make them run away, ook!" The monkey chanted, looking around after finishing. It almost seemed like he was scared his boss would jump out and punish him for it.

"Wait, run away? Why would he do that?" Rika curiously asked. Although he found it silly, he was starting to get curious about this. "To guard the temple, o-ook! It's his base, o-ok!" Another monkey shouted. ". . . Temple?" This word made Rika's eyes light up. The thought of treasure hunting made him excited. He was definitely interested in this now. ". . . Well, excuse me for a moment, I must consult with my wooden friend over there. Don't move, though." Rika said to them, before turning around to face Dante. "Well, what do you think about all of this, Dante?" Rika asked the Deku, curious about his input.

Meanwhile, the monkeys sat around their unconscious friend, still somewhat scared about what would happen to them.

“.... I still don't like monkeys.” Dante peered around Rika, eying the furry fiends cautiously. Dante scratched the back of his head, though. “Still, I guess I might have overreacted a bit... At the very least, we should probably try and help their friend. As for this temple.... Well, we could always leave, after taking a look. But stopping by couldn't hurt.” He shrugged, started walking towards the fallen monkey. The monkeys stopped their chatter, watching him fearfully as he walked towards them. There wasn't even so much as an “-ook” to be heard.

The scrub arched a brow. “Don't worry, I won't hurt you. For now, anyways. Just don't throw anything at me... Especially anything from your... lower regions.” The monkeys seemed to relax, almost responded to his last statement, but decided the better of it. Clearly, this Deku didn't want to talk about it. Unslinging his back, Dante quickly pulled out some bandages a flask of water, and a small pouch of already dried and crushed herbs. Tossing the herbs into the flask, Dante swished the mixture around and held it under the unconscious monkey's nose. The concoction had a clear effect upon the primate, causing its eyes to bolt open, and its nose to wrinkle.

“What is that smell-ook! It smells awful!” The now revived monkey exclaimed.“ Dante chuckled maliciously. “If you think that smells bad, wait until you taste it.” He cackled, opening the monkey's mouth and dumping the flask's contents into the gaping hole before it could even reply. His “patient” visibly paled, then turned green, and almost began to wretch. This was almost too much for the other monkeys, though they said nothing, still too afraid of the scary Kokiri and Deku. Taking the opportunity to bandage the monkey's head before it could even struggle, Dante was quickly done, and the monkey seemed no worse for wear. Indeed, he seemed rather sprightly, after his initial queasiness had passed.

Dusting his hands, Dante replaced the missing contents of his pack and put it upon his back. “Anyways, about that temple, my friend and I would like to see it. You owe us at least that, after throwing rocks at us.” He said expectantly, hands on his hips.

“O-of course, ook! We'll s-show you th-the way, now!” Still stuttering, what appeared to be the leader of the group shrieked out a few commands, and the monkeys quickly grouped up. Without another word, they began to walk towards some direction, which Dante assumed would lead them to the temple. There was no use standing around, so he started off without them. “Hopefully this will be worth our time.” he said, more to himself than anything.

Wollo peeked behind the tree as Rika and Dante conversed with the monkeys. As this occured, the Octorock slowly motioned himself away from the monkeys, circling around the monkeys and back to the Kokiri and Deku. Rika glanced at the Octorock as he did this, who was apparently trying to be stealthy. He failed at it quite horribly, however. Rika didn't say anything, as Wollo quickly reached the two. Dante had finished assisting the fallen monkey, who seemed to almost spring to life. "Great job, Dante, I didn't know you were a doctor." Of course, although Rika said this, common medical knowledge wasn't unheard of for adventurers. Rika even had medical knowledge himself, although that was largely due to his thirst for knowledge. Of course, he carried no actual medicinal herbs or liquids with him.

As the assistance was completed, the monkeys started leading the group back to the temple. "Great, I'm excited to see what this temple's like." He whispered to himself. Of course, while he was excited, he also had to remember that it was a group of monkeys; Exactly what kind of temple could they have? Rika walked beside the monkeys, Wollo the Octorock following close behind Rika to make sure he didn't get lost. He had to almost dash at some points, as his normal walking speed was much slower than everyone else's.

The group traversed through trees for about six minutes before they reached their destination. The monkeys obviously weren't guarding the temple very far away from it. Although, unbeknownst to Rika and Dante, they could see the temple from their original spot. They first saw a large, stone building, the stone appearing rather old due to age, but still in capable condition. There were pillars aligned in front, making a path to a wooden door to enter the stone building, the door having the insignia of the Kokiri on it. Of course, that wasn't all that was there. There was a massive tree erupting from inside of the stone structure, appearing almost combined with the temple.

". . . So I wasn't expecting this. Is this your boss' temple?" Rika asked the monkey, who slowly nodded at different times. "Well, where is your boss? I'd like to discuss a couple. . . matters with him." Rika asked the monkeys. Of course, by matters, he meant about delving into the temple and exploring it, possibly taking any treasures found inside. "W-Well, o-ook, he's deeper in the temple, o-ook! P-Plus, that'd be a bad idea, ook. . ." The apparent leader of the monkeys spoke to Rika. "Would you mind getting him for me? Why would it be a bad idea?" Rika curiously asked. He was a monkey, just like them, right?

"W-Well, if we told him we brought people here, h-he'd hurt us all, o-ook! Maybe even worse!" The monkey said with more of a scared tone than before, as if terrified to even imagine it. "Really? He sounds like an asshole. Why would you follow a guy like that?" The monkeys seemed to glance at each other, murmuring with each other about to say. Soon, another monkey spoke up. "W-Well, Chief wasn't always like that, he was a nice guy who always cared for our group! B-But one day he found this weird piece of mirror, a-and he just changed o-ook! He started ordering us to do bad things!" The monkey cried out. A few monkeys glared at him, as if saying 'why would you tell them that', but most of the monkeys just hung their head in shame.

Rika, of course, was very intrigued. A weird piece of mirror that changed him? He didn't know of anything like that. The only thing he could think of that was similar was the Dark Mirror, but of course, that didn't change the user, but simply brought out their inner evil. He definitely wanted to learn more. So much more. Almost getting lost in his own world, he quickly snapped out of it once he remembered he was still in a conversation. He would want to learn more, as much as the monkeys knew. "Changed? What do you mean, changed? And a weird piece of mirror?"

"Well, one day, Ook had a competition for all use little monkeys, ook." One of the monkeys nodded sagely. "He said that the monkey to bring him the shiniest thing in the forest would receive bananas to their hearts content." He paused for a moment for dramatic effect. "When we all returned one of our brothers, Eek, had brought him a piece of this mirror that was very pretty." The other monkeys nodded in agreement, and were seemingly transfixed by the story. Dante, too, was paying particular attention; anything magical had always piqued his interest. "At first the Eek didn't want to give up the mirror piece-ook. Eventually, though, Ook took the mirror piece, and since then, he's been sleeping with it every day-ook." At this, though, the monkey seemed slightly worried.

"It all started when he began calling the mirror his precious, never letting us touch it-ook. Normally he would always share his things with us, but if we tried to touch it, we'd be punished. We all started to notice that he looked different-ook, until we finally realized that he was almost five monkeys tall, ook!" They screeched at this. "Now he barely talks, and always addresses his mirror, if he does." Dante was impressed with this monkey. Usually they weren't so... eloquent. Nonetheless, there was business to be done. Particularly with this mirror piece. Whatever it was, it sounded powerful, if it could so dramatically change someone. Dante looked to Rika. "It could be worth it to go in, you know." He said to the Kokiri. Still, it sounded as if things could get dangerous; especially if this Ook was as large as the monkeys claimed.

The mention of their leader growing in size hit Rika's curiosity dead on the mark. He grew? That large, too? Looking over the monkeys, Rika gave a quick nod to Dante before speaking. "Yeah. You guys just sit here, we'll go in and check. Maybe we'll even be able to get the shard from him." Rika said, before the trio consisting of a Kokiri, Deku, and Octorock started heading towards the entrance. Rika was quickly cut off by the cries of one of the monkeys. "M-Make sure not to grab the shard, o-ook! It could make you grow too!" The monkey shouted. As Rika approached the door, he actually considered this as an option. He wouldn't be short anymore, he'd be taller than everyone. Rika jokingly laughed it off as they reached the wooden door.

"Let's see. . ." He mumbled to himself, placing both of his hands on the door. Pushing it towards the left and applying a little bit of force, the door slowly slid open, dirt falling from the newly created openings made from this. Entering the temple, the group walked down a short pathway before reaching their destination. An incredibly large room, the walls were so wide a large, large number of people could fit in. The roof was high enough that it looked like four or five Gorons could be stacked on top of each other until they reached the ceiling. The wall itself was tainted due to age, an odd discolored color. Mildew sat on some select places, but for the most part it was simply vines covering the walls. To their left closer to the center there was a single door, and in the back was a very large opening in the wall, reaching to the ceiling top.

Of course, further towards this opening was a very, very large beast. Although the group was far away, they could tell he was at least the size of a Yeti, if not more. Upon closer inspection, they would in-fact notice that he was actually the size of a Yeti and a half. However, it was not a Yeti, and seemed to resemble a type of gorilla. Covering it's extremely large body and arms was pitch black fur, which seemed to stand up in an almost crazy fashion. Stretching from it's huge wrists up it's arms was something odd. It was. . . something, pitch black in color, mysteriously stretching up. It seemed to cover his arm, almost providing a type of armguard. Of course, it covered the rest of it's body, but in much less of a quantity. There were many openings from which his fur stuck out, but it still provided a type of armor. His legs appeared to be mostly unguarded, but they were larger than both Rika and Dante.

As the two started to get closer of him, Now about 30 feet from him, Rika held his hand out at Wollo. "Stay here Wollo, it might get dangerous." Although Rika wasn't intimidated, he had to admit, one hit by that would kill him. Looking at Dante then back at the beast, he seemed to not have noticed them, staring at his massive hands, his head kept firmly down. ". . . Hey there!" Rika somewhat sarcastically said, waving to him. He didn't even move his head. ". . . So you're Ook?" Yet again, he didn't even respond, continuing to stare at his palms.

"Kind of a jerk, isn't he?" Rika whispered to Dante, before looking back at him. ". . . So, we heard you have some type of mirror." He loudly spoke to the creature. Unlike before, his head instantly jolted up at the mention of the word "mirror". His face was now seen. His mouth was at a major slouch, drooping down rather low. His eyes were bloodshot, as if he hadn't slept in a long time. However, piercing yellow eyes were easily visible, almost glowing. Although his head had moved, he made no other movements. ". . . Well, that got his attention. What now?" The option of fighting him for it was pretty much gone. No way they could take that thing in a 2v1, at least not without putting a huge risk on their lives.

"I'm no expert on monkeys, but there's no way in hell that isn't caused by some powerful magic." Dante muttered to himself, awed by the size of the massive primate that stood before them, apparently not paying any attention to them. And it was true; Dante could feel the power emanate from Ook, his bark tingling with the sensation of the magic. But it was magic of a dark kind, one long forgotten, of a caliber that neither Dante nor Rika had experienced before. Such earth shaking, primal magics had fled Hyrule long ago, no longer recorded in the dusty, rotting tomes. Whatever lay within the shard of the mirror was beyond the two adventurers, though they had seen many things, had once held ancient artifacts. Though Dante's head told him he wanted to possess the shard, that it would bring him unimaginable power, Dante's heart recognized the truth. It knew fear, shaking in the presence of something incomprehensible to it, something that would only bring its master to ruin.

"Rika...", Dante whispered out, for fear of drawing the monkey's attention. "Stay here Wollo, it might get dangerous." Rika said to their companion. That's an understatement, if I've ever heard one... Dante thought to himself. Dante was about to finish his sentence, asking the Kokiri if he was really sure about this, but didn't have the chance, as his sorcery companion addressed the monkey directly. Dante cringed, the rest of his body physically flinching. Yet, he hadn't budged. At least, not until Rika mentioned the mirror. At once the monkey, now more akin to an ape, snapped his head to attention, angry yellow eyes beating down upon them. Dante looked in the eyes and felt his heart shrink. What restraint, what compassion had once existed behind them was long consumed in the fires of greed. There would only be one end to this story, a final confrontation between the three of them. What chance they'd had for reason had long since fled. Now, as the great beast loomed ahead of them, Dante quaked for what he saw before him, and what he knew was to come.

"...What now?" Was all Dante heard from his companion. Head turning, seeming to move at a trickle, as the horror before them loosed an ear shattering roar, Dante screamed a single word at the Kokiri. "Run!" he gasped out, turning his back to their adversary and beginning his mad dash for the door. It seemed an eternity, his legs already aching with strain, but he knew, without turning, that it would amount to nothing. He heard the sounds of splintering wood behind him, of stone grinding upon stone, and knew that death would be upon him in a matter of moments. Then, suddenly, his world was torn from beneath him. No sound escaped from the Deku's mouth, the wind stolen from his lungs, as the ground crumbled beneath him. Orange eyes tumbled into the darkness, falling deeper, deeper, deeper....

The gargantuan beast remained stationary for a few moments after looking up, seemingly not moving. However, he did shortly after. Slowly, he came to a stand, his body slouched over but still quite large. Taking a step forward, it was a loud stomp, vibrating the small area around his foot and shaking portions of the room. He slowly walked forward with each stomp. Dante quickly shouted at Rika to run. While Dante ran for the door, Rika ran to the right to have them split up; It's range was far too great for them to stick together. It's massive bicep slammed against the stone floor, smashing it to rubble as Dante fell down the hole. However, luckily it didn't seem like he was hit. He seemed to stare at the hole for mere moments, before slowly turning his body towards his nearest target; Wollo.

"Shit!" Rika quickly thought, panicking. Wollo couldn't do anything to avoid him. In a rush, an orb of flames formed in Rika's palm, as he flung it at the beast. It slammed against the back of it's head, but he just stood there, as if he hadn't even noticed. Slowly, his hand moved to the back of his head, giving it a scratch. "Fuck, did he just shrug it off as a scratch?! What the hell kind of mirror is this. . ." Rika quickly thought, before looking at the beast. Although he didn't seem effected at all by the Fire spell, Rika had still physically attacked him. As such, his mind found the ball of fire as a larger threat than the pink ball cowering by him beyond the hole. Slowly turning towards Rika, he started stomping over. "Quick Wollo, run!" Rika shouted at the Octorock, who had no qualms with doing so. The creature quickly darted off towards the door, even with his slow running speed.

As the creature moved towards Rika, he had to think of what to do. "Damn it, what can I do against it? Not get hit, I guess. . ." As the beast reached Rika, it stuck it's left arm out, swiping it across. The Kokiri expected an attack and was able to dive to the ground and jump to the side in succession, avoiding it. However, the beast's arm cut through the stone wall behind Rika with ease, as if it was paper. He couldn't take this thing on without Dante. Turning towards the hole, Rika ran towards it. All he could do was jump down and hope it wasn't a particularly deep drop. After all, it couldn't be much worse than this thing. Making a leap of faith and preparing himself for a fall, Rika descended down the hole Dante had fallen down.

Of course, they weren't alone. Since Wollo had hidden while the beast was pre-occupied with Rika, he had completely forgotten about him. Slowly stomping towards the hole, he made a huge leap, descending down the hole shortly after Rika. None of them even knew what was at the bottom, either.

Oh. Am I going to die?... Dante thought to himself as he fell into darkness. It was a strange experience for the Deku certainly, air whooshing about him, his clothing aflutter. Who's going to take care of my garden? he wondered wistfully, remembering his home in the Lost Woods. He wondered if it was even there anymore, after all this time. Perhaps the plants had already died, now mere husks of their former selves. He remembered, too, the warmth of those past days, of loving time spent in the forest. All had been right, then. He had been young and full of adventure, had thought he could take anything life threw at him. He had been wrong...

Blinding light, now, surrounding him from all sides. He looked around, saw nothing but clouds drifting by. "... Is it over?" He asked, more to himself than anything. A slight chuckle from perhaps the most melodious voice Dante had ever heard rang through him, his spine tingling. Not yet, little one, not yet. He searched round and round for the voice, until he was dizzy with turning. Yet he could see nothing, could see no one. Your time in the place is not yet over. Still you have much to do, before you reach the end. Whether times of joy or times of sadness, your story will not end here. Still Dante searched, but to no avail. Though he was not frightened, in fact quite the opposite, he was perplexed. Why did the voice seem familiar, as if he'd heard it before?

"Who are you?" Dante whispered, both anticipating and dreading the answer. There was that laugh again, though this time it seemed distant, almost sad. "I am the wind, the wild, the breath of life. You know my voice, Deku, for it is one you have heard all your life." The voice came from behind Dante, though he did not turn around. He now knew to whom the voice belonged, for she was right; he had heard it every waking moment of his existence. A tear rolled down his cheek, staining the bark of his face. Here was that which embodied life and death, and for all her pretty words, it seemed she had never been there for him in his times of need. "Why?" he asked hoarsely, for it was all he had to say. Without turning to face her, he saw the sad-sweet smile on her face, and at that moment, he both loved her and hated her.

"There must be balance all things. There will always be good and evil, light and dark, life and death. Even the goddesses cannot change that." She said quietly, pausing gravely. "And though it may not be by our design, there is a time for everything. Your time has not yet come. So, child of wind, remember the strength you once had. Remember the old magic that once coursed through your veins. And remember, I will be watching. I have been, and will be with you, always." Hands and arms fell over Dante's shoulders from behind, as the woman knelt to hold him, grasping him in a warm embrace. Tears were now streaming down his face, tears of bitterness and tears of purpose. She was right. His role in this play had not yet ended. He could not fail, he would not allow it.

As consciousness returned to the Deku, he could not recall if he had experienced a dream or a vision. Still, he sent a prayer of thanks to the goddesses. Turning in the air, his body revolving around slowly, Dante was engulfed in a an ethereal green glow, tendrils of power lifting from his tiny body. The light of his magic was him seem as a falling star, shooting towards the earth. A Deku Nut escaped his mouth, propelled forward with the billows of his lungs. A send blast of air, from his Whirlwind, sent the Deku Nut hurtling towards the ground ahead of him. Streaking down, the nut exploded against the stone floor, lighting up the darkness below him for just a moment, as he flew ever faster to his doom. The green engulfing his body winked out for a moment, drawn to his Whirlwind, its propellers pointed towards the earth. The light flared to live, now letting out an ear piercing scream as the concentrated arcana tore through the air. Pulling the trigger, a massive ball of wind was birthed, streaking to the ground. The sphere hit stone, collapsing in upon itself, then unleashing a great wave of air in all directions. It was this that cushioned Dante as his small form fell from the sky, the great force breaking his fall.

He landed on his feet, rolled forward. Now upon one knee, he looked above him, though he still could not see. Orange eyes looked out from the darkness, awaiting their pursuer to fall from the heavens...

Falling. Falling. The area was pitch black around Rika, but he could tell it was wide; He couldn't feel any sort of wall. It was also deep, as he had not yet reached the bottom, even though he hadn't been falling for very long. "Shit! This landing won't be pretty. . ." Thinking to himself and looking around, Rika saw a large flash of light below him, quickly subsiding. However, he could clearly make out Dante's form, having been the one that created it. Shortly after, Rika felt a massive gust of air wash over his body, quickly slowing his descent.

He wasn't quite at the ground when it passed, however, and would start falling faster again. Sticking his arm forward, a ball of wind started swarming at his palm. Releasing towards the ground, it slowed Rika's descent slightly, as he tumbled towards the ground, attempting to land safely. For the most part, he did, although it was somewhat of a shaky landing. Quickly getting up, Rika looked forward, seeing Dante's glowing orange eyes and nothing else. Wasting no time, Rika ran forward, all while shouting, "Dante! Fire another Deku Nut in the room!" As he did, he ran towards the Deku, attempting to pick him up and continue running away from the center of the room where he had fallen. Ook had jumped shortly after Rika, and would be arriving soon; They didn't want to be under him when that happened.

Dante shook the last remnants of the dream away, clearing his vision. Quietly, then boomingly loud, he heard Rika's voice in the darkness. Dante! Fire another Deku Nut in the room! The Kokiri shouted out. It took a moment for the deku to register what was going on; but he quickly realized that, without being able to see the room around them, they would be sitting ducks for the quickly falling Ook. Drawing a deep breath, feeling a Deku Nut be drawn into his trachea from its reserves, Dante blew forcefully from his snout, launching the Deku Nut into the air. It whistled as it shot towards the ground, and wit ha sharp crack, he was bathed in blinding, white light.

Grasping out as bright spots swam in his vision, Dante was reassured by the strong grip of his Kokiri companion. Clearly, Rika knew where he was going; at least, that was the hope. The Kokiri dragged Dante along, pulling him towards one side of the room. But Ook had almost reached his destination. As the two began to run, a massive shockwave of sound and force blasted out from behind them, pushing them forward, and adding a new, fearful spring to their step. Ook had landed, and would shortly be pursuing them. The ground crackled with the force of his landing, and broke apart even more as he once again continued his mad charge towards the unfortunate companions.

As the Deku Nut flew behind Rika and exploded, Rika could clearly see the room. Due to facing the other way, Rika wasn't blinded by the flash, instead being granted vision by it. There was just what they needed, too; A door. The rest of the room didn't matter, they just needed a way out. Gripping Dante, Rika made a mad dash for the door, as Ook would be here any second. Halfway there. The giant ape slammed into the ground, sending a massive shockwave of force towards Rika. As he neared the door, he was interrupted by this, tripping to the ground. "Shit!" He thought, realizing that they were dead because of this.

Not quite, however. As Ook started walking forward, the impact of his stomps combined with the heavy collision to the ground moments ago chained together. The floor couldn't hold all of that force, as it started breaking and crumbling. Ook fell as the floor crumbled, Rika quickly trying to get up to prevent himself and Dante from meeting the same fate. Kicking to his feet, Rika grabbed Dante with one hand, dashing towards the door as the ground was collapsing. Rushing to grab the door, Rika quickly pulled it open, throwing Dante in as he grabbed tightly to the door.

The floor below him had collapsed, and the only thing holding him up was the door. "Dante, help me here before the door breaks, please." Rika asked him, not wanting to try to swing himself over and risk falling. Where did Ook fall to, however?

Dante quickly helped Rika up and over to what was now a ledge, egged on faster by the angry sounds coming from below, as well as the earth-quaking vibrations. "I'm beginning to think that whatever magic is in that mirror might not be worth it." Dante said wryly, brushing the dust off of himself, only to be showered with more due to the shaking of the temple. "Either way, though, I suppose we're committed now, huh?" he added, rather dourly. Shrugging, deciding that perhaps standing here talking wasn't the best course of action, Dante decided to press on further into the temple. There had to be some way to return to the surface. And they had to find it soon, lest Ook catch up to them. Already, it sounded as if the overgrown monkey were tearing through the levels of the temple, in an attempt to find the two unfortunate adventurers.

Running, now, Dante stumbled, then slid to a halt. "Stop!" He yelled to Rika behind him, closing his eyes and hoping the Kokiri wouldn't barrel into him. Apparently he did not, though, Dante opening his eyes, half expecting to have been thrown into another dark pit. Luckily, he was not. What stood before him now was a complex room, with dozens of revolving bridges, each attached to a pole with large flat panels circling them. The room was clearly very old, judging by the cracks in the wood, in both the poles and the bridges. All the more dangerous.... Dante muttered, as it appeared that a bridge could fall into oblivion rather easily. His thoughts were followed quickly by a bridge letting out a loud Snap!, and falling entirely into the darkness, the shaking of the temple shaking it apart.

Dante sighed. Such was the life of an adventurer. There was nothing for it, though, so he grabbed his Whirlwind, and sent a blast of wind towards the nearest bridge, the windy ball colliding with one of the panels. Slowly but surely the bridge began to rotate, one end coming close to where Dante was. "Quickly, now!" Though it seemed slow at first, its size was not to be underestimated. Dante leaped onto the edge of the bridge, quickly turning around to catch and help Rika, in case he needed it.

Rika slowly climbed up the doorway, using a combination of the door, wall, and Dante to get back up. It was a little awkward due to Dante's size, but they managed to get him back up perfectly fine. Rika glanced down into the darkness of the hole for a few moments. The rampaging and screeching of Ook echoed across the walls back up to them, the ape destroying everything in his path to find the two of them again. Hearing Dante say something, Rika chuckled slightly. "It might be, it might not be, who knows. Isn't that part of the fun though, Dante?" The duo continued down the pathway, going at a light sprinting speed. Suddenly, Dante shouted for Rika to stop. The Kokiri slid to a halt, almost stumbling due to the suddenness of the request.

Luckily for them, he didn't. His eyes were met with a massively expansive room, with many, many rotating bridges, slowly alternating between rotations. A massive pole held them up, heading downward into the abyss below. Above them rest small fans. Occasionally a gust of wind- Wherever it was coming from, anyway- would hit the fans, causing the bridges to rotate a small distance.

"Wow, I'm surprised something like this exists underground below the temple. I can't say I'm surprised though, there's always something like this around."

That wasn't what Rika was concerned with, however. His concern was with the fact that the bridges looked like they were about to break. Now, for Dante, this might not come across as a problem due to his size. However, for Rika, it was a big problem.

"Yeah uh, I don't know about this one though, Dante. Those bridges look like they'll collapse if I stare at them." He sighed, before looking back at the way they came. "Can't say I have a choice though." With nothing else left to do, Rika carefully leaped over to the bridge. Upon landing, he heard a creaking noise that put him on edge. Lucky for him, however, he wasn't literally on edge. Looking over towards the next bridge, Rika pointed his hand towards the fan. Air started sucking towards his palm in a spinning motion, a ball of air quickly forming in his hands. The wind sporadically spun in all directions like a spinning ball of blades, never going the same way.

The bridge slowly turned towards them, as they carefully leaped to the next one. This went on for a few minutes as they slowly traversed the complex maze-like bridge puzzle, careful to make sure they didn't go the wrong way and potentially get stuck. However, not all things would go well forever. As they continued across a bridge, they heard a cracking. The side they just came from collapsed into the abyss, leaving them standing on the pole supporting the bridge's whole. The other side would probably do the same. Looking across, they seemed to be getting close to what looked like the exit; Or, at the very least a sturdy patch of land. Forming a second ball of wind in his hand, Rika fired it at the next bridge, causing it to slowly start spinning in place.

The next thing was a little crazy. "Alright, hold on Dante, this is gonna be fun." Rika simultaneously grabbed Dante by the head with his left hand and held out his right hand. A large, glowing circle appeared on the side of the bridge, the side supposedly connecting to the other bridge. It was larger than the bridge itself, so it looked rather strange. Intricate magical golden markings detailed the air, the rest of it seeing through to the other side. Rika instantly started running, hearing the crumbling of the bridge as he did. Just before he reached the end, A massive spire of wood launched out of the side, the Kokiri leaping on top of it and running across. He jumped as the spire fell into the abyss below, landing onto the next bridge.

It seems the goddesses favored the two adventurers today, as this bridge he landed on didn't collapse beneath their feet. Setting Dante down, Rika took the moment to get a gulp of air. "See, what did I tell you? Fun." He jokingly said to his friend, letting out a small laugh.

"Fun. That.... is the opposite of how I would describe this experience we have just shared. But at least we are still alive. At least, so far." Dante replied, recomposing himself and straightening the leaves upon his head. "But, I may have a better idea, at least for getting across this last leg. It will take a moment." Ushering Rika over to the other side, he pulled a plank off from the bridge. Pulling out the simple pegs that had held in in place, Dante reached into his pack and unraveled a length of simple rope. Threading it through the center holes of the plank, he tied a thick and solid knot, swinging the plank around a few times to ensure the integrity of it.

"Should be good enough..." He muttered to himself. They were on the last bridge before they made it to the balcony of the other side, but the jump was a long one, and he wasn't sure that even he could make it, even with magic. He looked towards their goal, glad that was was nearly in reach, and at least still within a reasonable distance. There was a door at the far end of the balcony, though that was only about ten feet back, if he gauged correctly. Tying the opposite end of the rope to the pole by which the bridge rotated, he walked towards the end of the bridge closest to the balcony. Grabbing the rope, he began to spin the plank rhythmically, the wooden board slowly increasing in momentum.

With as much strength as he could muster, he hurled it to the other side, the plank sailing straight through the doorway. Yanking back on it, the plank adjust itself horizontally, lodging itself at the foot of the door, its span too wide to pass. "Good." He nodded to himself, congratulating himself on the good work. "I'd hold onto something, Rika." He told his companion, before aiming his Whirlwind at the fans of the bridge that they stood upon. Unleashing a gust of wind, the bridge began to rotate, slowly turning and tightening the rope, until finally the bridge came to a halt and the rope was taut.

"Haha, don't be such a stiff, Dante. Doing crazy stuff like that is all part of the adventure! If you have a plan though, let's do it." Rika watched as Dante created a makeshift grappling hook, wrapping the spare rope in his pack around one of the old wooden boards making up part of the bridge. Slowly spinning it, the board was tossed through the air, landing through the passageway. With a tug it fell horizontally, becoming stuck within the doorway. At the behest of Dante, Rika put his right hand on the pole holding them all up as Dante pulled out his Whirlwind.

The bridge slowly spun until the rope tightened and tightened, continuing until no slack remained. Rika looked at the contraption he made, then back at his companion. "You want us to cross this? Using one of the weak boards from this bridge, which has had difficulty holding us up by merely walking on it? Hahaha, you're crazier than I am, Dante." One by one, the Kokiri and Deku inched across the rope. Despite the risk involved due to the weak wood, no problems happened, and they made it safely across.

The two headed into the door to the next area inching closer and closer to the end. They walked down a slightly narrow hallway, winding left and right before angling upward slightly. Then, they were met with another large room. Massive stone tiles decorated the ground, dozens and dozens spread about the entirety of the room like a massive chess board. Four stone walls reached up to the sky, colliding with earth. Drops of dirt occasionally fell as the ceiling was made of dirt, small tree roots sticking out in certain places. Spread out on various stone squares were Deku Likes, equaling about four or five in total. At the end of the room opposite to Rika and Dante rest a massive blue treasure chest, golden trimmings outlining and decorating it.

Looking around at the room, Rika sighed. "Well, we're closer to base level now, but there's no door here. There's gotta be some way out though, we just have to look." Rika said to Dante as he examined the room further. "Might as well see what treasure is here though."

Dante shrugged as Rika commented about the danger of his own method of crossing. "Yeah, I suppose. But at least if the board breaks, we'd have the rope there to hang on to. As small of a consolation that is." He replied, climbing onto the aforementioned rope. Deku and Kokiri shimmied across slowly, steadily making their way to the other side. Dante couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief as he reached the other side. "Glad that board didn't break...." He muttered to himself, stepping over the plank and through the doorway.

The two entered the new room, Dante's wooden feet clacking against the stone floor. It was well lit, which Dante was thankful for, though one had to wonder why there were burning torches within the room, spaced along the four walls. But one thing was painfully apparent as they walked into the room: there was no exit, or at least there wasn't one that was readily apparent. "Yeah, let's check out the chest. Maybe there's something that will tell us where to go in it." He replied to Rika, walking over to the blue chest and kicking the front open casually.

The door swung up and over, revealing inside a fair bit of rupees, and a key. But no bombs, or other form of explosive, neither of which Dante carried. He sighed; getting past the Deku Likes could potentially be very difficult, as he couldn't recall Rika having anything like a bomb either. Grabbing the silver key, he tossed it to his companion. "You better hang onto that. I'd probably lose it. As for the rupees, I'll just pocket them for now, and we can split them up later, when we've gotten out of here..." Dante's voice trailed off as he fell into thought. Strange. "I don't hear that monkey at all. No shaking of the temple, nothing. Wonder what it could be doing." He mused.