The Legend of Zelda: After the Wild

Chapter 5: The Song of the Forest

Chapter 5: The Song of the Forest

The Zora was extremely upset that Poump was gone. "We can't just leave him down there!"

"There's nothing we can do right now. If we stay here, we don't know what that strange child will do to us. Let's go down that pathway now, since we've got each other and that cucco." The Sheikah was very adamant on leaving the forest. Even if it meant that they couldn't find Poump again.

"Oh alright." The Zora gave up and walked down the pathway with the Sheikah.

Meanwhile, under the ground, Poump awoke once again, only this time there was a warm fire illuminating the cave, and he was sitting right next to it. He saw that Link was sitting at the other side of the fire. "Ah yes, you're finally awake." Link said. "Here, have some meat that I cooked up."

Poump took the meat and ate it right up.

"Haha, you remind me of myself when I was younger. I'd always wolf food down like that. A lot of people looked at me funny but I didn't have a care in the world." Link then brought out his own Sheikah Slate and started flipping through some different screens.

Poump didn't like the fact that he was compared to Link. He preferred to be his own person, but right now, he was thankful for it. What would've happened if Link didn't find him down there? He thought to himself how crazy it was that he was sitting next to the Great Hero of Hyrule himself. He finished up his food. "Hey Link, what are you looking at?" Poump asked him.

Link turned his Sheikah Slate off. "It's nothing." He stood right up and took a torch to the fire. "I take it you're conscious enough to walk out of here with me. Follow me." Without delay, Poump followed Link through the cave, with the light of the torch's fire being their only guidance.

As for the Zora, the Sheikah, and the cucco, they continued walking down the path, until they found themselves at an area of the woods that the sun shone through the leaves. A large tree with what looked like a faintly distinct face on it overlooked most of the area. At the center of the area lay what looked like a stone with a small slit in it. As they observed the stone, they noticed a bunch of leaves swarming around them. The cucco started raising it's feathers at the strange phenomena.

"YA-HAA!" One of the leaves made this noise.

"YA-HAA!" And then another one.

"YA-HAA!" And another one.

"YA-HAA!" And again.

"YA-HAA!" And that was it.

"What the heck are these things?" The Zora said. Her and the Sheikah started to notice that there seemed to be a wooden doll-like build behind the leaves. The leaves went even closer to them, and then they noticed that they had very peculiar faces drawn on them.

"ENOUGH." A loud booming voice was heard from the direction of the tree. The Sheikah could've sworn he noticed the tree's mouth move. The leaf creatures started dispersing away and looked at the group from afar.

"Who said that?" The Sheikah said as he looked around the area.

The tree with what looked like a face started moving its mouth. "I apologize for the scare done by those little rascals. It appears that three travelers have decided to greet me, the Deku Tree. What could bring you three all the way through the Lost Woods, and alive, to see me?"

The Zora had no clue how to respond, but the Sheikah stepped up to the Deku Tree, willing to speak to it. "We are here because Link, a friend of ours, guided us here. We have come here to learn a song of the forest."