The Legend of Zelda: Real Courage [Version 2]

Chapter Twenty-Two: Mother Isle

When Lila looked for a way to get to the locked door, she saw latches on either side. They looked like the perfect grip for her new toy, which she decided to call a "hookshot." She used her boots to get past the wind and then used the hookshot to get to the door. Her plan worked perfectly.

On the other side of the door, Lila groaned. She was awed at the beauty but frustrated by the size of the place. Sunlight made the room glow with an ethereal forest light. Trees lined the inside walls and opened their leaves above. There was no ceiling, so they grew freely. There was a small pond and several brooks at the base of the trees. Lily pads, moss, and flowers grew all over the water. This was a place where Lila could spend eternity.

On the other hand, she had a job to do, and another large dungeon would only slow her down. She found the nearest unlocked door and set to work.

Lila used her hookshot many times, shooting from platform to platform, tree to tree. She fought a few of the same monsters, but also some different ones. There were bulbous carnivorous plants taller than her, though they were quite easy for her to handle.

Hidden among clumps of mushrooms, she also came across a monster she affectionately named "puffstools." They were about as tall as her knee, some a bit taller, with red caps. They attacked by letting out puffs of dust that did little to affect her. She mostly just passed them by, since they posed no real threat. After a while, they seemed to grow attached to her.

Finally, with all four pieces of the key assembled, Lila arrived at the boss room. She hoped the battle would be quick; the sun was starting to set.

The wind whipped at her as the door opened. To her surprise, she was once again outside. The door faced directly west, so Lila had to shield her eyes from the dying sun. She stood at the bottom of some stairs. The top of the stairs was slightly below eye level, and she could tell it was a flat surface covered in orange dirt and small rocks. As she walked up the stairs, she saw stone pillars in a ring around her, the bases of which were in the water. Looking behind her, she saw the tops of the trees she saw earlier.

"If only I got here in the morning," Lila remarked to the empty air, "the sun would've been behind the trees. Oh well," she shrugged. She didn't want to wait another night just for convenience.

The area was eerily quiet. No monster immediately attacked her. She readied herself by putting the hookshot on her right hand and holding her sword in her left. She walked around the area, keeping her eyes out for any opposition. For a long time, it was just her and the sky.

When the sun was almost completely gone, the wind became more furious. It all seemed to converge in the center of the platform. A blueish form began materializing inside the focus. It was bulbous on top, and several wiggly limbs danced around the middle. The creature sat upon a swirling cloud.

"There you are," Lila said aloud. Without waiting to see what the creature would do she raced at it with her sword raised.

Of course, the creature easily moved out of her reach.

"Mori would be laughing so hard," Lila muttered. She watched the thing fly around. It reminded her of an octorok, with the only difference being the cloud it floated on. She wondered if it would make similar attacks. Although with the wind blowing so hard, she thought it would probably use that to its advantage.

The octorok seemed to puff up, and then a twisting burst of wind blasted from out of its mouth. Lila quickly moved out of the way, but it was followed by two others. The third one scraped her arm with what felt like dozens of pieces of sand.

She growled at the thing and took aim with the hookshot. The octorok was too fast for her, though. She cried out, "Blast it, hold still!"

The octorok replied with more tornadoes.

After somersaulting away, Lila wondered how she could get herself close enough to attack properly with it flitting away so easily. She needed to slow it down, but how? It was almost a completely opposite battle from the ones against ReDead Knights. Instead of being stunned, she needed to stun.

"That's it!" she thought. Lila pulled out the boomerang she had used in the previous dungeon. Taking careful aim, she timed her throw for when the octorok spat out the wind.

"This will slow you."

It worked. The octorok fell limp upon its cloud, so Lila charged forward. She brought her sword down on it, but its head wasn't as soft as she expected. Her sword penetrated only about two inches into its blubbery skin. She tried stabbing it, successfully pushing in her sword about five or six inches deep.

Then the monster recovered and pushed away. The octorok took a few seconds to compose itself and then rammed straight at Lila. The cloud plus the force of the wind made her stumble back in pain. Though it was dull, it had hit her square on, causing every part of her body to ache with surprising severity.

Lila growled, "You're wasting my time."

Another burst of tornadoes answered her. Lila dodged quickly and released the boomerang once more. She started running toward the octorok even before the boomerang reached the target. Her speed paid off; she got in a few more hits than the last time. By the time it escaped, she could tell it was nearly done for.

The octorok injured her twice more before she was able to kill it. Though she felt drained and hurt all over, she was considerably less damaged than in previous boss battles. She just hoped she would make it back in time.

With the threat gone and the black sky surrounding her, exhaustion overtook her. She searched the octorok's death spot with bleary eyes. There she found the item she had been sent for.

"The Cloak of Shadows," Lila said in relief. She touched the familiar decorated heart and then fell asleep right there. The cloak rested on her like a blanket.