Link catches up to the beacon he placed on the map, only there’s nothing there. He continues on to the next area, Faron Woods. Fi pops up to talk about the local wildlife – I didn’t realize I needed a tour guide. She also says Zelda’s probably nearby, so keep on dowsing for her. After a bird statue, Link comes to a gap he needs to swing across on a rope, and it’s motion controlled, but the controls are pretty much exactly like the Wind Waker controls only swinging the Wiimote rather than pushing the stick forward and backward, so it’s not so bad.
A little farther on, Link comes across a couple Bokoblins bullying a cowering plant creature. They see Link and spare him the trouble of coming over to them to kill them, and Link checks on the plant creature. He mistakes Link for a green Bokoblin and runs off, terrified. As it runs, Fi pops up, saying that the creature is resonating with Zelda’s dowsing aura. She identifies the creature as Kikwi – possibly an ancestor race of the Kokiri? – and encourages Link to catch him to find why the dowsing results match up. Link gives chase, with the Kikwi skipping off every time he gets near.
Finally, the Kikwi throws himself on the ground rather than running; he has a growth on its back that unfolds to resemble a bush as a form of camouflage, but the form seems poorly chosen when running from Link. Better than growing a pot, I guess. Fortunately, Link just stands there staring at him, and he realizes Link fought off the Bokoblins so he’s maybe not a bad guy after all. He introduces himself as Machi, and says he saw another human earlier. The Bokoblins were after her, but the Kikwi elder helped her escape. Fi pops up to comment, and Machi throws himself to the ground in panic once again. Fi recaps what Machi just said before getting to the point – Machi triggered a fake dowsing reading because of its contact with Zelda, so… it’s not just likely or probable that the elder will as well, but Fi says there’s an “85% chance” of it. Once she’s back into the sword, Machi stands up and asks Link if he’s going to see the elder anyway, to tell him that he’s okay.
Getting to the elder requires fighting more Bokoblins, Deku Babas, and what I assumed were Deku Scrubs but are actually Octoroks (Link needs a well-timed shield bash to reflect the rocks back at it). There’s also a rope he’s got to cut loose, and he can’t be smart and hold it with his left [1] hand while cutting with the right, noooo. It’s got to fly free and he’s got to jump to catch it. After making the swing, Link comes to Bucha, the Kikwi elder, who’s huge and lying face-down. (He doesn’t have any vegetation growing from his back, although he has the same growth Machi did.) Bucha is reluctant to discuss Zelda while the Kikwis are scattered and in danger, talking about how the situation has made his memory fail. He’s happy to hear Machi is safe, but there are three more. Fi pops up with another 85% chance estimate that finding the missing Kikwis might ultimately help Link in his search for Zelda, and so now Link can dowse for Kikwis. Fortunately, she’s able to not locate already-identified Kikwis, so Bucha being right there doesn’t throw Link off.
Getting to the first Kikwi requires crawling through a tunnel and walking over a tightrope, and the tightrope controls are terrible. Link’s constantly falling one way or the other and the Wiimote has to be pointed in the other direction to balance him and, screw that, it’s easier to fall so Link can grab on from below and shuffle along, climbing back up when the Stamina Lime starts running low. Then he has to stop a bunch of Bokoblins who are bothering the treed Kikwi. Finally, the Kikwi’s too shaken to climb down, so Link rolls into the tree, shaking him out. Fi pops up, scaring Lopsa, to tell Link that she’s marked the location on the map and there are two more Kikwis to find.
The second Kikwi, Erla, is on a surface Link can reach by climbing vines and using its camouflage bush to hide among real bushes. Thankfully, Link manages not to cut the Kikwi while getting rid of enough bushes to force Erla out into the open. En route to the final Kikwi, Link grabs a piece of heart across a tightrope. The final Kikwi, Oolo, is in a cave in a hole in the ground, and Link has to try to pick him up to get him to talk. Oolo is also scared of Fi.
With all the Kikwis located, Link returns to Bucha. Bucha remembers that Zelda went to the temple deeper in the woods. As thanks to Link for his help, Bucha flops on the ground and spreads the comically undersized bush on its back – which has a slingshot Link can use to help him on his quest. With Bucha’s encouragement, Link shoots a vine free and swings across a gap. After saving his game atop a “viewing platform,” he shoots another vine, which prompts Fi to pop up with an item and aiming tutorial. He climbs the vine and heads deeper into the woods as someone watches him from the viewing platform.
Next: Look, if you didn’t want your chandelier broken…
[1] Another side effect of motion controls: to match having the Wiimote in the right hand and Nunchuk in the left, this version of Link is right-handed.
