"Hey!" Megavolt heard someone say loudly. "Wake up!"

Megavolt yawned and groggily opened his eyes. He suddenly found himself staring up at a blue creature with wings...that was standing on his forehead.

"Hi!" the creature said in a cheerful, high-pitched voice. "I'm Zippi and the Great Duku Tree sent me to--"

Megavolt interrupted by yelling loudly in surprise and sitting straight up, flinging Zippi into the wall.

"Hey!" she protested as she hit the wall with a small 'ping'. Zippi quickly picked herself up and brushed herself off, then looked back at her wings and fluttered them a few times. When she was satisfied that her wings had been undamaged, she quickly zipped through the air and landed daintily on Megavolt's nose.

"Who are you?" Megavolt asked, having to cross his eyes to see her.

"Weren't you listening?" Zippi sighed in exasperation. "I'm Zippi and the Great Duku Tree sent me to be your partner during your quest." She crossed her arms over her chest and looked indignant. "You know, flinging me into a wall probably isn't the best way to start our partnership."

"What quest?" Megavolt asked, making a mental note not to fling Zippi into any more walls any time soon.

"You get to save the world and stuff!" Zippi told him excitedly. "Won't that be spiffy!?"

"Isn't that something a hero would do?" Megavolt asked thoughtfully.

"Well in case you hadn't noticed from the Peter Pan get-up," Zippi retorted. "That's exactly what you are."

Megavolt looked down at himself in horror. He was wearing a green tunic, an odd-looking blue belt across his chest, light-blue finger-less gloves, and brown boots. Luckily, since the tunic was quite short, he was also wearing a yellow jumpsuit, much like his usual one, underneath everything.

"And check out your hair," Zippi giggled. "You've gone blond."

"Yah!" Megavolt exclaimed. "Why me?"

"Don't ask me," Zippi told him. "I wasn't involved in the casting decisions." Her eyes widened suddenly. "Oh! I forgot! You're supposed to go talk to the Great Duku Tree...But first you have to get supplies and stuff and--Ooh! So many things to remember! My filaments and wires can't take it! Let's just go!"

Megavolt sighed and reluctantly got up, stretching the kinks out of his back with several loud 'cracks'. When he stepped out of his treehouse, he noticed someone running up to the large tree it was in.

"Hi, Megs!" the green-haired fox shouted up to him. "Come on down!"

Megavolt slid down the ladder attached to the tree and turned to get a better look at the fox.

"Wow! A fairy!" she exclaimed. "That's great! Now you're a real Quackiri, Megs."

"And the Great Duku Tree summoned him, too, Sarina!" Zippi piped up, sitting on Megavolt's shoulder.

"Really? The Great Duku Tree?" Sarina breathed. "Wow, what an honor."

"But first we've gotta get supplies and stuff," Zippi told her. "Any idea where we can find a sword and shield?"

"Hmm, a sword and shield?" Sarina repeated thoughtfully. "I think there's a sword somewhere near the Forest Training Center, and you should be able to find a shield at the Quackiri Shop."

"Uh, thanks," Megavolt said slowly.

"No problem! Now you better get going," Sarina commented, quickly hugging Megavolt. "I'll wait here till you get back." She grinned and waved cheerfully as he walked off.

"Who was she?" Megavolt asked Zippi once they were out of earshot.

"That was Sarina," Zippi told him. "Your best friend."

"And where's the Forest Training Center?"

"Start reading signs," Zippi said, pointing to a sign a few feet away. "That's what they're there for."

"Oh," Megavolt said in surprise, then read the sign outloud. "'Forest Training Center'. That was fast!"

"Yeah," Zippi agreed. "Pretty much everything goes quickly here. It's to keep things from getting boring. In fact, I'll make things even faster and tell you where the sword is."

She zipped off his shoulder and hovered over a large hole in the nearby rock-wall. "Crawl through here!"

Megavolt groaned, the hole wasn't that big, he would have a hard time getting through it.

"Oh fine!" Zippi sighed, tapping him on the nose. Almost instantly, they were on the other side of the wall. "But don't expect me to do that very often."

"Yeah sure," Megavolt agreed quickly, looking around curiously. "Where to now--What the heck is that?!" He jumped back as a giant boulder rolled past him.

"Um, a giant boulder?" Zippi said sheepishly. "Just time it right and you'll be able to get past it."

"Get past it?!" Megavolt demanded. "I'll get flattened!"

"Well the sword's past the boulder so you can either sit here like a coward for all eternity or you can run for it!" Zippi snapped.

Megavolt and Zippi glared at each other for a moment before Megavolt finally gave in. "Fine," he grumbled. He took a deep breath and, before he had much time to think about it, ran out into the boulder's path.

"Left!" Zippi shouted as the boulder came at him. Megavolt ran left. "Now right!" Megavolt swerved right. "Now jump!" Megavolt jumped into an opening in the wall, and ran into something.

"He's safe!" Zippi shouted like an umpire.

"In a manner of speaking," Megavolt muttered, leaning against something wooden while he caught his breath.

"You found it!" Zippy cried, zipping over to land on the treasure chest Megavolt was leaning against.

"A treasure chest?" Megavolt asked no one in particular. "That's just asking for someone to steal it." He rubbed his hands together. "Happy to oblige! Heh heh."

Light streamed out of the chest as he slowly opened it and picked up the small sword that was inside. For the most part, the sword looked plain, but there was a small ruby embedded in the hilt.

"Maybe I can pawn this at that shop Sarina mentioned," Megavolt said, thoughtfully studying the sword. "Or maybe trade it in for a shield."

"You can't do either of those things!" Zippi gasped, landing on his nose again. "You need to use that sword to kill evil things...and plants occasionally."

"I've got an idea," Megavolt told her. "What if I pawn this thing, run off with the money, and pretend none of this ever happened?"

"Ooh, bad things are happening," Zippi replied worriedly. "You've got to make the bad things go away. That's why you need to talk to the Great Duku Tree, so he can explain it all. If you just run off, we're all doomed! And you'll have to face the bad stuff eventually, better sooner than later!"

Megavolt stared, cross-eyed, at Zippi for a while, thinking it over.

"Ooh, sparkly things," Zippi commented suddenly, zipping over to the bushes behind the empty treasure chest.

"What are those?" Megavolt asked, looking at the shiny gems over her shoulder.

"Rupees!" Zippi exclaimed cheerfully, handing him a red one. "They're money here. That one's worth twenty rupees!"

"Twenty rupees, huh?" Megavolt said slyly, slipping the red rupee into one of his pockets.

"Yeah," Zippi confirmed. "The green ones are worth one." She handed him one of the green rupees. "And the blue ones are worth five." She handed him a blue one. Megavolt was all too happy to stuff the rupees into his pockets. "They're all over the place!"

"Why would anyone leave these things laying around everywhere?" Megavolt wondered.

"Well it's not like the Quackiri kids have all that many things they need to buy," Zippi told him, zipping back onto his shoulder. "Now let's go get that shield!"

Megavolt was about to step out of the crevice when the boulder rolled past again. He shouted in surprise and panic and jumped behind the treasure chest. "You mean I have to go past that thing again?!" he gasped.

Zippi sighed reluctantly and tapped his nose again. Almost instantly they were standing in front of a building that seemed to be made of a giant hollowed-out tree stump.

"The Quackiri Shop?" Megavolt asked Zippi.

"So you can get your shield," she answered casually.

"Uh thanks," Megavolt told her as they went into the shop.

"Would you have come here otherwise?" Zippi asked reasonably.

"Probably not," Megavolt answered.

"Welcome to the Quackiri Shop!" a slightly stuffed-up voice called.

"Who said that?" Megavolt demanded, looking around for the source of the voice.

"Me!" a duckling with large glasses said as he jumped up to see over the counter. "Can I help you with anything?"

"Uh, yeah," Megavolt told him, leaning over the counter so the duckling wouldn't have to keep jumping. "Do you have any shields?"

"We have some Quackiri shields," the duckling told him, climbing up a short ladder to reach the shields on the shelf. "Forty rupees each."

"Forty rupees?" Megavolt repeated. "For a wooden shield?"

"I assure you, sir," the duckling said. "They're very high-quality. If you don't expose them to fire, they last for a very long time."

Megavolt grumbled and fished the rupees out of his pocket. The duckling tossed the shield onto the counter and disappeared into a back room with the rupees.

"Okay," Megavolt said to Zippi as he picked up the shield and exited the shop. "I've got the sword, I've got the shield, now where's the Duku Tree?"

"The Great Duku Tree," Zippi corrected, then fluttered off his shoulder. "Follow me!" With that, she zipped off, leaving Megavolt to run after her.

"He's got permission from the Great Duku Tree, Tank!" Zippi told the rude duckling.

"What?!" Tank exclaimed. "No fair!"

Megavolt rolled his eyes and walked past the fuming Tank.

"Wait!" Zippi gasped once they had turned a corner, hovering in front of Megavolt's face. "I hear something. Maybe you should get your sword out."

"It's probably just your imaginat--" Megavolt started, but was immediately interrupted by a plant snapping at his face. Megavolt whipped out the sword and slashed at the evil plant. Amazingly, he hit its stalk and the plant fell to the ground in a heap. Dead.

"What was that?!" Megavolt gasped, staring down at it.

"An evil plant thing," Zippi replied. "Hurry! If they've gotten this far, we can't waste any time!" She zipped off around another corner and Megavolt heard her joyfully shout, "Great Duku Tree! I'm back!"

Megavolt muttered to himself and slowly turned the corner. He suddenly stopped dead in his tracks and stared up at the Great Duku Tree. If he thought the trees in the Quackiri Forest were huge before, they were nothing compared to the giant in front of him.