Although not a particularly rough spot, Windfall Island seems to be home to several bad-mannered and haughty citizens. Interestingly, the island also houses the Great Sea’s only jail (its sole inmate being Tingle, imprisoned for transgressions unclear). Because Windfall functions primarily as a port for sailors and merchants, it provides little in the way of entertainment for children; thus, many have resorted to mischief as a hobby. A noteworthy group of such children are the Killer Bees.
The Killer Bees, whose members consist of Ivan (the leader), Jin, Jan, and Jun-Roberto, are a gang of tightly-knit, juvenile ne’er-do-wells, quite the opposite of the altruistic Bombers from Majora’s Mask and with a considerably less sophisticated hierarchy. And unlike the Bombers, the Killer Bees do not possess extensive knowledge or insight about the goings-on in their island home; they are simply preoccupied with getting up to no good. The Bees consider themselves to be pretty cool, but apparently not quite too cool for school, as all four are enrolled in Mrs. Marie’s School of Joy.
Mrs. Marie employs a Montessori-esque approach to education, emphasizing creativity and self-direction in her students. She strives to carefully nurture each child’s untapped ability. Although their attendance record is spotty, the Killer Bees have managed to pique the interest of Mrs. Marie, who believes their troublesome behavior is getting in the way of some serious scholastic potential. On a whim, she decides to enlist Link to help her talk some sense in the boys and hopefully guide them back on the straight and narrow.
This is, quite frankly, the worst possible solution to the problem. Undoubtedly, Mrs. Marie’s tendency to view people in the best possible light means that she has developed a bit of a blind spot towards acknowledging her students’ true natures, and this makes for somewhat unrealistic expectations.
So, Link cautiously sets out on his quest to talk some sense into the four Bees, with the aim of convincing them to chill out, stop skipping school, and give up the trouble making. This goes over pretty much as expected, with the leader Ivan doubling down on his refusal to attend school with a cheeky rebuke: “Do you think we’d listen to a chump like you?” The result is a classic Zelda trope which I have dubbed: “Beat me at this game, and I’ll tell you everything I know (and also do whatever you say).”
Ivan issues a challenge to Link: he says that the gang will hear him out if he can defeat them all in a game of hide-and-seek. The boys choose fairly predictable hiding spots (behind a building, next to a bush, etc). However, it’s not enough to simply locate them. Each of the Bees will require you to also beat them at a game of tag once found. The trickiest of all is Ivan’s hiding spot, which rests at the top of an immense evergreen tree and requires one of Link’s signature tuck-and-rolls to jostle him free. With no cards left to play, Ivan surrenders and agrees to “cause no more trouble for anyone.” He will also reward you with a piece of heart for your impressive hide-and-seek skills.
In an unexpected and heartwarming twist, the boys express their remorse for being a burden on the saintly Mrs. Marie, whose only concern is their welfare. They ask Link to assist them in organizing a thank-you gesture for their teacher, but the catch is that they don’t want Mrs. Marie to know they are the ones behind it. So, once again, Link is tasked with collecting another pile of those tacky Joy Pendants to present to Mrs. Marie (sigh). But all in all, a happy ending.
As I’ve discussed in previous columns, The Wind Waker contains plenty of annoying NPCs who will always chase Link once they have him in sight. Predictably, the Killer Bees are the hardest to avoid — they’ll make a bee line for and encircle Link once he’s in their sights. What’s more, they will continue to mercilessly chase after Link even after completing the hide-and-seek side quest. You may have set them back on the straight and narrow, but it seems there’s just no escaping those four hoodlums.
