Waste Of Rupees

<---Index

The group looked at the strange creature and Shadow groaned. “Of all the creatures in both worlds to let out of a prison cell, you had to choose THAT one, didn't you?” Link smiled politely and said, “Aw, come on. How bad can he be?” The creature called Tingle said, “Death Mountain is a very big big place. If you want to get around, you'll need a map, Yes?” Saria nodded and said, “You know, he does have a point.”

Tingle smiled and replied, “Then you, my friends, are in luck. I just so happen to have a map of Death Mountain, and it can be yours for a mere fifteen thousand rupees.” The group almost fell over in shock at the absolute ridiculously obscene price. Link smiled and muttered, “Uh... that's a little too expensive for my tastes.” Sheik chuckled and added, “On top of the fact that who the Hell actually carries fifteen thousand rupees around on them? That's just asking to get robbed.”

Shadow shook his head. “Trust me, not much of a difference in this case...” The others simply brushed off the comment. Tingle looked disappointed. “Oh? You don't have enough? Oh well, then. Bye-bye.” A  balloon came out of the bag on his back and he started floating towards the exit when Saria literally burst his bubble.

Standing there, She said, “You know, now that I think about it, if it weren't for us, you'd still be rotting in that cell. Personally, I think that deserves a freebee, don't you agree?” The curious creature looked at her, and said, “Well, it's not usually my policy to simply give away maps all willy-nilly, but maybe I can let one go for a reduced price.” Sheik didn't look impressed. “And what's the reduced price?”

Thinking, Tingle said, “Well, how about ten thousand rupees?” He let out a loud “Ow!” as he got hit in the head by a Deku Seed. Saria stood there with her prized slingshot, saying, “Try again.” The creature was looking a fair bit distressed at the rather tough patrons he had the misfortune of encountering. “Nine hundred and ninety?”

Drawing his sword, Shadow headed towards him and said, “Aw, let's just kill him and take it!” the group prepared to stop him when the frightened tingle yelled, “four hundred! I'll sell it for four hundred Rupees!” Looking at the creature, Saria tossed a pouch and said, “Here.” leaving the map, he said, “You weren't really going to kill me over a map, were you?”

Saria shook her head. “I think he was bluffing.” Shadow nodded. “I wasn't going to kill you over paper. I was going to kill you because I really hate map salesmen!” The creature grabbed the Rupees and ran off, saying, “Have a good day!” he stopped at the door and said, “If you ever need a map, Be sure to look me up, Okay?” Before they could answer, he ran off. Link smiled and said, “Well, this will make things a lot easier.”
“Don't count on it,” The dark elf muttered under his breath.

Ignoring the pessimistic attitude of their not so better teammate the group headed to the path towards the top of the mountain. Setting bombs at different locations that were obstructed, they made significant progress up the mountain. A little ways up, they turned down a corridor and headed along it to see where it leads. After a while, Sheik muttered, “We're lost.” Link sighed. “We're not lost. We just head this way.” Shadow shook his head. “We've been walking on fairly level ground for close to an hour. I think we're going in circles.”

Groaning, Link said, “We're not lost. This is just a … scenic route.” Grabbing the elf by the hair, Saria yelled, “Do you know where you're going or not, Blondie?!?”
“We're NOT LOST!!! We have a MAP, remember?” The group yelled, “Then LOOK at it!!!” Sighing, he pulled the map out of his bag and said, “Hmmm. This way.” the group followed at renewed ease.

This, however, began to fade when over time, they noticed that the walls were looking distinctively familiar. Suddenly, Link fell to the ground. Sighing, Sheik said, “We're going in circles.” The group looked at him confused. Picking up a banana peel, he muttered, “I finished this ten minutes ago.” Link could feel the angry eyes glaring at him and he knew he had to come clean.

Pulling out the map, he threw it to the ground and Saria muttered, “I'll lead, and I'll be using this map.” Link shook his head, saying, “Good luck on that.” As she opened the map, she let out a stream of curses. Shadow blinked in shock. “Wow. That was unladylike.”
“Blank Paper? He gave us BLANK PAPER?!?” Shadow shook his head. “Not exactly. The back says Do It Yourself Map version 2.0...” Saria yelled, “That little Imp made us pay four hundred Rupees for this Junk! I'm going to KILL him!”

Shadow sighed. “Should have let me do it when we had the chance. I told you I hate map salesmen, and this is exactly why. They don't seem to be different in either world.” Saria slumped into a seated position and muttered, “Now what do we do?” Sheik smiled and said, “Follow me.” seeing there was really no other alternatives, they followed the blue garbed warrior. Every so often, he would stop and look a the wall, nod, then continue. Before long, the group found themselves back on the path towards the top of the mountain.

“Wow,” Link exclaimed. “How did you do that?” The warrior tapped the wall, saying, “Followed the signs. Looking at the petrified Goron to his right, he smiled and said, “Jackpot.” He pulled out a scroll and said, “We now have a map.” Link sighed. “Well, now that we wasted four hundred Rupees and found what we wanted free, let's get going.” He got hit buy a Deku seed as Saria yelled. “You should never have let that gnome out of the cell.”

Shadow sighed. “You didn't exactly stop him either.” Now he too was hit by a seed. “She's way too trigger happy.” Sheik muttered as he prepared for the impact. Nothing happened. Turning to Saria, she groaned. “Out of Deku Seeds.” Everyone let out a sigh of relief. Then they were each hit by a stone. Smiling, she said, “Rocks seem to work pretty well.” Enraged, Shadow yelled, “Ground rule number one! No shooting your teammates!!!” With that he stormed off, the others following so as not to get separated. Saria sighed. “You're no fun.” she immediately ran in pursuit.

Sprit said to her, “Don't be upset. The dark elf just isn't used to your type of affection... well, neither is the rest of the world...” Saria looked upset by the comment. The fairy said in a cheerful voice, “Don't worry. I'll talk to him. Might help him understand the team if he knows a little about our past and why we do what we do.” Saria looked a little relieved, but not very at the Fairy's words. “It's okay. I guess we're all just too different for his tastes.”

Flint, who had overheard the two, said in a mournful tone, “No, Saria... The truth is, you are more similar than you think, and that's what he's truly afraid of.”