Fan Fiction ❯ Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time ❯ Azure Dreams ( Chapter 3 )

Chapter III: Azure Reflections.

Copyright: I do not own Zelda, Nintendo does. Story by Habuki productions.

How could water been so plentiful? For the past three days the duo had followed the river's trail past endless miles and miles away from civilization. Persuasion from Navi was the only thing that kept the boy following the path, because in his opinion, he thought that the river was a hoax and there were no Zoras. Had he seen one? No, he had seen a Goron in Kakariko, but never a Zora anywhere near the area. Three moons had passed and gone, going on the fourth sunrise when Link spied upon an entrance where the river led inside.

"Would that be it? Seems more like a cave, though." The structure was obviously made by a person, for it was carved into a smooth square. Link walked up to it, the path would have to be swam.

"Yea, Link, I am sure this is it. You can swim, right?"

Sticking out his chest, he laughed a little. "Of course I can! I am a Kokiiri, I was taught to swim when I was only five or six." Leaping into the water, his swimming skills didn't really come in handy this time, for currents immediately drug him screaming into the darkness. Navi was right at his side, lighting the way as the darkness turned back to the sunlight of the morning. No, not a cavern, it was actually just passage that concealed the contents of the new land from outsiders. The current threw him on the grass, out of the water.

Raising up all the way, he studied his surroundings. To his right was the base of Death Mountain poking out into the grass, on his right was a larger part of Death Mountain, for there was no end to the rocks. No where to stand upon the structure. Up ahead was a small gate with some bombing boulders infront of them? Walking through the contents of a bushel of grass just up ahead, Navi piped up.

"Look, Link." Rustling through the underbrush, the farie came back with a wooden cylinder filled with some green liquid. "You should hold onto these, I am pretty sure they recharge your manna."

"Manna? Oh, my chi. Yea, that's what those faries were talking about?" Gripping the cylinder, he stuffed them inside the same bag as his heart containers, and other little assortments. Searching throughout the grass, Link pondered upon three more heart containers (which he drank two, she drinking one.) That search ended when he came to the boulders, blowing them up with only two bombs in the center of the others, and passing over that owl (Navi made him dodge the stupid thing, so the journey would get a move on.) For the next few hours they wandered until about three o'clock, they came upon a chubby man with no shirt on.

Grimacing, Navi studied the Hylian? Yea, it was naked except some blue pants, and worn flabby, pale skin. A bullish-shaped face was planted in a grin, as it snacked upon some beans. Taking a few steps forward, Link tapped the man on the shoulders. He didn't move, so he got down on his knees, crawling infront of the man, staring deep into those beady eyes. They could have left, except a huge gate was guarding their way out. Unless Link could leap thirty feet to the other side of land, that had broken off from Death Mountain, he was stuck.

Finally noticing the two adventurers, the man leapt up against the gate in fear, leaving a rank breath of beans in Link's face. Backing up a few feet from the gate, Link looked over at the man, now noticing he was a lot younger than he was first presumed. Maybe in his early twenties, so still a man.

"Young sir! Young sir, please don't rob me!"

"R-rob you? What's that?"

"He thought we were going to steal from him, Link." Her veil was on, had been since that morning so it appeared to the young man that some sort of weird energy source was speaking, that freaked him out. With a shout of perseverance, the accusing was about to start.

"A warlock! Please don't hurt me, please! Your magic talks, I can see that with me own two eyes!"

Some eyes… "Warlock? Oh, no, I am not one of those. This is my fairie, you see I am a Kokiiri--get down." Leaping forward, the sword turned face-forward, so it didn't cut, he deflected a nasty ball that was launched out of the earth. The ball reflected back into the water and hit the purple monster that had launched the mucus at the young man. Whatever it was, a purple octopus with a metal cap upon its head and green hues, the ball launched into its nozzle-mouth. Screeching out in pain, the monster's lungs were clogged up, so it fell into the water dead, but kept floating down the river into the stream that led out into Hyrule.

Staring around the scenery, he saw no more of the weird octopuses, and looked down at the man who was shivering in fear. Smiling a little, he sat upon a small patch of land a few feet from the man, speaking out clearly. "Hey, don't worry, it's alright. I am not going to hurt you. Navi! What was that?" Keeping his eyes positioned on the man, he didn't dare look over at Navi, fear the man might bolt off in an attempt to escape the evil warlocks.

"They are called Octaroks, Link. They are octopuses that shoot out their own feces at enemies for a defense. It is hardened so that the ball could break a predator's skull, but luckily their own can be deflected back at them, or killed with a long range weapon." Fluttering to his side, she perked upon his shoulder and stared over at the boy with a bit of concern plastered upon her face.

"Oh, thank you sir! Thank you so much, oh how may I repay you? Hrm, I think I have a way." Reaching deep into his pants pocket, the man produced a small bag with the symbol for plant written on the brown bag only a fistful. Grabbing Link's hand, he scooted up and placed it in-between his palms. Smiling, he nodded to himself, getting himself ready, as if too go. "Sir, these are magical plants, if you put them into the ground, years may pass, but when they reach full growth the plants will grow and levitate to magical proportions."

"Wow…really?" Pulling open the small bag, inside were nine beans of multiple variations with the colours red, blue, yellow, and green mixed inside of them. Closing the cloth shut with the strings attached on it, Link placed it down on the pocket where his rubies were. Patting his sides, he turned to the man to thank him, but was short sided when he noticed the man was gone.

"Navi, where did he go?" Staring down at where the boy sat, a small patch of dirt was positioned down with a small leaf growing out of it. From Link's accusation, that was where the seeds needed to go, the man had planted the first one for him. There was nothing to do now, but wait until he ran into a few more of those patches. Not really his concern, since after this place, he was to head home to the Kokiiri Forest, but with a pit stop at Hyrule castle too.

"He ran away, Linky. Right after you opened the bag he slipped away, I would have caught him, but he dove in the water, and the current changed directions to let him out. Seems that my original plan is a bust."

"Original plan?" Leaning up against the wall, he studied the eight-foot tall gate. Yea, maybe he could scale it, but the bars on top were sharp enough to slice him into tiny pieces of Kokiiri. Slamming his foot against the stone wall on the left, he slumped down a little, staring over at Navi.

"I was planning on us using the current to drag us northward, but he changed the tide somehow. Maybe it changed on itself. We can wait until it changes back, or we can leapt across the structure--better yet, find a way over. If only we had something too glide with."

"Yea, if only we had a glider or a--" His ears picked up a distinct sound. The sound of a bawk was entered in his sensitive Hylian ears. Bursting for joy, the boy shushed her and ran back towards the original gate. Navi stayed back and watched him return thirty minutes later; a good distance for the run, bearing a small white Cucco nestled in his arms. Nodding towards her, she gave a smile and fluttered across to the land Link couldn't leap across.

No introduction was needed for Chicken Gliding lessons. Link jumped off the ledge, using the Cucco for a glider across the solemn path, which was inaccessible until now. When across, the boy bounced the Cucco on the head, letting it rest for the night. A few miles up the path, the sun just setting for the night, he came to the end of the ledge. Across the river, was the main path from before, except it opened up for a long distance, there were no more gates to worry about, were there? Leaping this jump, it being smaller than the previous, Link tucked the Cucco on his shoulders, so it wouldn't get away. Something told him he would need it before the night's end.

He noticed she was a little tired, so he cupped her inside of his hands, giggling. "Navi, should we go on? It's only seven o'clock, but if you are tired we can stop."

"No, no. I will just lay on you, if you don't mind." Seems he didn't, for she was lying on his shoulder before he could even respond to it. Nodding a bit, he patted her aura, letting the chi come off for the night, and wrapping her up inside the collar of his shirt. Tucking her in neatly, hoping the wouldn't fall off, Link pulled the chicken under his armpit and kept his pace out into the beautiful lush Zora's fountain.

Several ledges led up to many pillars that were positioned in the air; the bottom pathways were blocked with those strange Octaroks and numerous gates, so Link took the highroad in favor of the lowroad. Climbing up to the one at his west, the structure went up several hundred feet, connected to the wall and broke off with some platforms stretching out several hundreds of feet. Biting his lip, Link glided too the first one, easily landed on the next structure that was connected to the wall. To his far right was a platform with a piece of heart on it! Gasping, he glided across his early position and landed upon the platform with a simple thud. Laying the chicken on the ground, he grabbed the three fourth's part of the heart, placing the formed heart into its original keepsake.

Two other platforms led to some not-so-interesting places, just structures with nothing on them. The huge one, forty feet across and connected to the right side of the place, was the best place to be. That was where he rested for the night. Link was dead tired, as was his chicken, when they reached the huge area above the other platforms. Only a lone circle of rocks rested upon the earth. Slamming his behind in the middle, a thump sounded to his sensitive ears. This could only mean one thing, so he tried it.

Two bombs blasts later, he found a hole that led down into a hole. No ladder was attached, so falling back first; he plummeted inside of the pit. Death would have been near, but this was on the surface level, so no lava was spread for Link. He reappeared in a bright white room. Up ahead was a white gazebo with water spread upon the surface, but in the middle was a small little bed for him. Was it made for him? Right about his size, but why would a mountain set up a bed for him? It didn't make sense, but was reasoning something Link did at midnight? Dropping all his supplies and weapons (along with the sleeping cucco) on the path that led to the bed, Link trotted to the beautiful comfort zone without his socks or shoes on. Falling upon the bed, dampness was released upon him, as if a spring rain had filled up the bed, yet he wasn't wet.

Muffling him with the covers, the room darkened for him too sleep, but something came about. Millions and millions of pink orbs appeared in the night sky, like fireflies in their migration seasons. The 'fireflies' surrounded his bed, stretching all over him so that he was resting upon the little auras of pink. His realization kicked in when he felt the tongue of something on his leg, shivering he looked down too see the auras were gone and it was millions of fairies. Not a Fairie-sama's fountain, this must have been a fairie fountain. Drowsiness soon took over, the kisses making the scene all the sweeter before he sunk down into unconsciousness.

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"Au puise" The young sprites cooed out in their most sensual tone to the overprotective guardian. Again she shook her head with no ounce of giving in, letting them comfort the boy, but that was it. They had had a sweet taste, and wanted more of the pie. That simply wasn't happening on Navi's guard of the boy, which was forever. Never had this been a problem for Kokiiri, because the sprites helped warriors outside the forest that was their mission.

He is now a warrior outside of the forest, silly. The voice sounded out in a teasing tone; it had gotten better, but was still a jerk in Navi's opinion. They shared the same beliefs about Link, yet she was more of the playful type, something Navi just wasn't.

I know that, but they don't have too be so--

Oh, you know you want too--you have. Oh, she was getting her fill off of this, whoever this was, seemed to enjoy teasing Navi at this game. It certainly wasn't Navi, no she wasn't crazy, and this voice started appearing the day the Deku Tree had summoned her.

Shaking her head to both the voice and the sprites, Navi turned around from the little fairies and let them do their work. The first order of business was bathing him and washing his clothes, so with close observation from Navi, the sprites washed the boy in the farie fountain water, his clothes done later on. Feeding him with some of the magic that the sprites ate (it would energize him for a day), when Link awoke he was inside of his clothes, up on the bed from before.

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Dreams hadn't come through his rest, only nightmares. When he awoke from the smoke of darkness, the bed was illuminated all around him, little faries were still trailing upon him, but he was washed and refreshed. Leaping from the bed, cries of protest from the sprites, he shyly leapt off of the bed and felt under his shoulder. Navi! Navi had fallen off! Crying out, he searched around the place desperately, oblivious to the fact he was having a joke played on him.

Watching from the shadows was the young girl, admiring his grace and beauty. The cry had made her come from hiding, reclining upon his shoulder, nuzzling her face into his neck. Spinning around, the boy checked his shoulder and found her peeking over the covers at him, smiling somewhat. The veil was gone for the time being, but her clothes remained the same, it was that everlasting effect, or something. He guessed Navi didn't need baths or changes of clothes, she was a fairie, and they were special.

"Where did you go!"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I woke up hours before you and I see you stumbled upon the cavern of fairies, should of warned you about this place. I've never been here, but fairie caverns are usually full of female fairies that are just looking for heroes to take them. Now, since have Tui in your bottle, we can't have one. We should leave before we disappoint them."

Nodding, he waved too the fairies--which was a mistake, they all rushed at the poor boy who had to grabble up his equipment, slap it on, and run out of the cavern with no exit in a matter of seconds. All his stuff was on when they knocked him forward into the center of the hole he had come on. Just like in the graveyards, a small platform was there, that transported him back to the top of the cave. Standing himself up, he brushed the dust of the cavern off his clothes, pulled his Cucco out and stared out at the scenery, it was about ten o'clock.

"They were in a hurry."

"For you, Linky." She peered forward at the place. It was quite an area, all these new places really fascinated the young fairie so much, too think that this place wasn't hardly known to most Hylians, or anyone else for that matter. Navi fluttered forward, nodding for Link too follow, guiding him down the stone hideaway and onto a new platform near the edge of the wall. Not quite what she was aiming for, she was actually aiming up ahead past the blocked canals and steep climbing. Oh well, no one is perfect.

Touching down, the wide-awake Cucco wanted away from Link, so he bounced it unconscious again, sliding it into his sack where his supplies were stored.

"That's not very nice, Link."

"O-oh! Hee, I didn't think you noticed…" He grinned a little, staring off to the north side, that was when he noticed the logs had some shadows upon them. Not the Octarok shadows, but something else was there, something more peaceful. Walking up too the main log that was connected to the wall (finding out it was some roots), a group of eyes stared up at him in peaceful unison.

"Navi! What are those?"

"Let me check…" Submerging underwater with the veil on, she resurfaced a few seconds later, the veil shimmering off. "Some frogs. About six of them, they are just staring at you."

"Frogs, huh?"

"Don't bop them." Returning to his shoulder, she watched him stand in the center of the log and pull out his playing instrument. As soon as the ocarina was revealed, all six frogs popped out of the water and onto six little sub-branches connected to the main one.

"You want to hear a tune, frogs?"

"Yes, good sir, we shall want a tune. If you play some too us, we will reward you with some treasure." The center orange frog regarded. The others were violet, blue, green, red, and yellow, so when Link blew out the tune for the Royal Family, the center frog began to leap around more than the others do. His size went from fitting in the palm of your hand, too an armload. Link gasped a little, almost losing his balance off the branch, Navi repositioning him with her own face amazed.

"Music can sooth our ears and return us to our normal form. Thank you kind sir, here you are." A purple ruby appeared inside of Link's hands, but he smiled sheepishly.

"I can't accept this."

"Why not, kind sir, are you too generous?"

Giggling, he shook his head. "No, it's just my wallet is much too small for this, I can only carry ninety-nine rubies at a time. I only have fifty now, sure, but I will be one ruby short."

"Not a problem, kind sir." The blue one chirped up and whipped back its head throwing a larger wallet in Link's hands. This little bag was twice the size of the first one, and he included his new prize in the bag when he added the rubies in. That brought his total from fifty rubies too one hundred rubies.

"Thank you, frogs. That was quite generous of you." Bowing a bit, he placed the wallet at his side where the other one used to be (the latter in the riverbank now.) The ocarina was still handy, so he played Saria's song too the frogs, followed by Malon's tune that he learned in Lon Lon Ranch. His total went up too the max of two hundred. Bidding a fond farewell, Link made his way past roots and back to land.

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Over the next eight hours, he spent climbing series and series of steps that led one after another past many waterfalls in the distance. The wallet was nice, but Link had wished the landing from before had been made. If it had then they would have reached this place where the Zoras were already. Six o'clock was on the brink of time, only stopping for lunch for fifteen minutes (only for Navi, Link wasn't hungry), when he reached the last area and into a huge hill with rocks for resting points.

"Navi…this has too be…a fifty foot hill!"

"Come on, sweetie, we are almost there." A pat on the shoulder she gave him, before helping him climb the hills. Her help was sometimes lifting him most of the distance, sure she could have carried him the entire way, but these were exercises to strain his muscles too their maximum.

At nine-thirty that night, a long bridge was met from the paths of no more hills. Hills were the last thing Link ever wanted too see, so the thin bridges were actually a save from the Goddesses. Each wasn't that stubby, so he was across the first in five minutes, running to the next one in the distance. When both were accomplished, the path took a twist of turns, with no accusation to the pun. The path seemed to go in five different directions, but really the grassy earth was looping around itself in five different twists. A giant waterfall was at the base, but his best concern was the corner.

Another one of those cracks of land was on the earth, but what rested upon it was none other than the second heart piece of this land. Grinning, he took no heeding and glided down his Cucco at the heart piece, otherwise not being able to reach it. Letting the chicken go, it flew off in the distance, trying to escape the painful memories of ever traveling again. Blowing out his breath, he turned to Navi. "Fourth piece."

"I thought we were on the third?"

"No, I got one last night using the Cucco, that's why I kept it. I had the feeling we might need it." Some adjustments in his pack and the heart container were absorbed into each of them, giving them a little bit more strength. Navi tested her powers by lifting Link through the loops and setting him in the middle of the waterfall. Down below his feet was a small stone square, with a box having an inscription on it. It looked like it was carved a while ago, and Link read the verse.

Sleepless Waterfall

The flow of this waterfall serves the King of Hyrule.

When the King slumbers, so too do these falls.

"Slumber? I wonder what it means." Navi pondered the thought out loud, as Link sat down on the platform and stared forward, listening to Navi speak aloud. These riddles weren't that hard, but all it took was some thought to solve them. Growling, he laid down upon it and stared forward into the waterfall, it was moving too fast for them too jump, he would make it, but the fall and the current speed would kill him.

"King of Hyrule, maybe they mean the lullaby? Impa-san did call it a Lullaby, maybe this is a riddle, because most people don't know that it is a Lullaby, even if they got a hold to the tune." Link thought out loud towards Navi's direction.

"Yes, if the lullaby puts the king to sleep, maybe it would put the falls too sleep, or cease them to stop moving. That's it, Linky, you are good at this!" She giggled a little, tugging for him to stand up, but he refereed to sit and play. Pulling out his ocarina from his satchel, the boy blew the tune of the Royal Family, watching as the waterfall dried off. The water came from onto Death Mountain, it was weird, but it was all gone all at once. There was no little stopping motion; it was so sudden it scared Link.

"Ready?"

"Sure, we may get caught, Navi, we really aren't supposed to be here." Shrugging a shoulder, he grinned a little. These little escapades were growing upon the boy, his fear still existed, but maybe the courage was finally revealing its true colours. Leaning for her, he blurted out.

"I am starting to like danger, anyway." Gripping her with his hands, the boy jumped the ten feet to the side of the waterfall, surprised too find out that it was made of stone. Darkness embedded the sky as it turned darker and darker, seeming the pathway to get also the midnight flush. Gulping, he trenched forward deep into the hidden city of Zoras.

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A domain was the only way to explain this place. After they emerged from the long corridor of darkness, the two entered a large place carved straight out of Death Mountain. The entire place was made of stone, not a bit of grass or anything else from the outside riverbanks. A winding road stretching down a few miles, and after following it, they saw that it led down into the city (or what was best described as a city.) Entirely the place consisted of a huge lake stretching across several hundreds of feet, looking as if it were many meters deep. Too deep for Link to dive in, but he could swim, not that swimming was a choice at this point. All that was in the lake was a waterfall that led up and a large boulder in the right-hand corner of the lake, and one more near the waterfall.

Shivering a bit from the cold, Link headed down towards the small shop, opened to the public, but first stood upon the carpet in the front. No, the carpet wasn't the reason to be down there, but a small torch was the reason.

"Should I try my manna?" Backing from the carpet, singing was something he didn't need, he moved towards the torch.

"Yea, give it a try, this place has to be below the temperature of Hyrule." It wasn't a snowy mountain region or anything like that, but pretty cold for a place where civilization existed. Not to be even compared to the dungeons that Link had faced, he was just cold, that was all. Spreading his legs, the boy crossed his hands, slamming his fist into the ground. Out erupted the red flames from the dust, spreading towards the torch, but when it hit, a chiming sound came out of the middle of no where. Navi recognized the sound, speaking.

"Link, the torches, it is another one of those puzzles. Light yourself a torch and find some places to light." Moving towards his pack, she came out with a Deku Stick, lit it, and places it between his palms.

The lad ran forward, water almost making him lose his balance, but realizing that it was only the shallow region of the water. Coldness stopped right above his boots, so he waded to the next torch in the middle of the water. Placing the crimson flames upon it, he noticed another region, hidden behind the waterfall where two torches stood. That was the piece of pie, for when he jumped past the deep in, saving the torch from wetness, his fire went to the other two, making another chime come about. Whisking around his feet, as out of no where, a large chest appeared. Bowing to his knees, the boy pried it open, coming upon a piece of heart.

Sticking it inside his satchel, Link made his way past the water, noticing there were tiny fish in it, but something else caught his attention. The water was swirling back and forth in different directions, not like a whirlpool. It was as if a person was swimming at an incredible speed. Moving to the edge of the shallow, the boy sat on what seemed like a cliff yelling out a call of hello.

Flurrying from the water, something jumped right infront of him, armed with a spread from both of its hands. In the shallow water, he got a full view at the creature, and boy what a view it was. Six feet of slimy scales adorned over Link, the skin wasn't really a reptilian scale, but more of the skin type amphibians had. A muscular male of this race, blue was the colour of the skin, except on the fins at its sides and the fins attached to his arms, those were green with white spots upon them. His basic form was a human with the skin of a fish, fins upon his hips and arms, plus his feet were webbed like a ducks. The most unusual feature were his eyes had no pupils in them, only a strict deep blue stared down at him, a tail attached to the back of his skull, matching the colours of the fins.

His weapon of choice was a pointy blade attached to a wooden pole, and this spear was aimed right at Link in a way of unfriendliness. The spear launched forward, Link jumping backward into a wall, his shield ricocheting him off wall into the spear's direction. Spinning him in the air, the spear connected with the shield, slamming him back against the wall. Rolling to the right, his blade went up when he spun around, hitting the wood of the spread. Farore's blade went into action, cutting the spear in half, making the fish-creature gasp out in a bit of fear. Before Link could go in for the kill, Navi flew infront of the creature, holding her hands out in both his and its direction.

"Wait, wait, wait! Please, sir, we come in piece." Navi unveiled herself to the Zora, he stared at the fairie in fascination, fairies were not something common to whatever this thing was, or so it seemed. Curiosity escaped the thing, which poked the empty pole at the man; the wood was very unknown to Link. Deku wasn't known out here, so maybe they were from some other trees, for he had seen others.

"I demand to know why you are here! You have no permission, and you certainly aren't royalty, how did you sneak in!" The wood poked at Link, who slapped it away, whining a little. The thing didn't hurt, but it certainly made him uncomfortable, so he spoke.

"We used the tune of the Royal Family that I learned from Zelda-sama, we are after-" He didn't finished his sentence, before the guard threw down the pole and lifted him upon his shoulders, laughing jovially. Before Link could even finish, the guard raised his hands and yelled out something in another language. Heads of all kinds, mostly with tails upon the backs, appeared at the water, nodded and went back in. Changing direction, the guard headed up past the shop, to the winding path that led upward, turning forward and stopped infront of a long winding path of stairs. Sitting the boy back on the ground, the guard stared down at him.

"Our outside waterfall had stopped so I believe your story. I am truly sorry."

"Oh, it's fine, now could you just give us the st--" the joyful guard, whose expression turned a bit sour, interrupted Navi.

"Now normally we would have a party in the celebration of someone from the Royal Family visiting, but we can't. Alas, our princess gone missing and we are searching desperately for her. This entrance leads up to our Zorian King; you may ask talk to him personally. Again, I apologize for the misinterpretation." Bowing in an apology, the Zora leapt off the stairs to his doom. Gasping, Link jumped towards the edge, watching the man fall gracefully into the water. Blowing a sweet sigh of relief, he pulled himself up, staring up.

"So, those were the Zora? I don't think we maybe able to get our jewel for quite a while." The young fairie stared on ahead, as the Kokiiri slimily climbed the pair of the stairs that winded sideways, turning back up forwards for the hundreds of feet into the air. He guessed they climbed to the path of the waterfall inside the domain, for when they reached the front, he heard the fall of water.

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This was not well; this was not well at all. Something had happened to her, and all he could blame was that damn man from the desert. He had visited the Zoras a few days ago, somehow entering the place with the tune of the Royal Family. After the waterfall had parted, he greeted them with such a kindly manner, that the king was ready to give up the stone. His daughter was the one who had protested this whole thing, claiming that she felt a bad aura about him, proclaiming that something terrible was going to happen.

After discussing the matter with the bred of his late wife, the king decided that it was a good choice to keep the stones that were assigned to them by Naryu. The agreement was discussed with Ganondorf, whose expression remained pure, that was until the end of the discussion when it was simply put like this: we aren't giving the stone too you. Enraged in a manner not known to the Zoras for years, the man promised revenge on the king, and on his daughter for knocking the king' "foolish mind astray" as he put it.

The Zorian guards had to drag that Dragmire away from the Domain, but they were killed in a matter of seconds. Dragmire raced for the two royalties of the Zoras, but did not touch them; he simply raced out beyond the King and headed towards the Lord Jabu Jabu's home. After moving himself, the king sent his guards to check out the area, and after days of swimming, they found no trace of Ganon.

Lord Jabu Jabu was the same as usual, a bit grumpier than before, but no harm had come to him. It was concluded that the Jabu Jabu had either swallowed up the Gerudo, smashed him or the Gerudo knew magic and preformed a simple warping spell to escape the place. The Zoras, after all, were planning on putting him to death for insulting their king.

That was all a few weeks ago, but now, as he sat weeping the missing of his daughter, the king knew not what to do. Some commotion was found downstairs. Since no one came to warn him, he guessed it did the Zoras find just a misguided clue? Footsteps clad up to his chambers, that not of the Zoras. At first, he feared the Gerudo had killed all the Zora and was here for the stone, except these steps weren't as heavy as the Ganondorf's were. These steps were light on their feet, as if a child was coming. Still, they were shoes, so he knew it wasn't his Ruto.

Bracing himself for the intruder, the man was surprised to see that it was indeed a child! A young child of the Hylian descent, maybe a messenger of the Royal Family was here? After the Gerudo had left, he had sent out his strongest warrior that was promised to his Ruto when she came about age, but no word had come to him. Still, it was strange of the king to send a child; he may have had a sword and--was that a Hylian shield? How could a mere child brace it? Those questions fondled him, along with the little girl upon his shoulder. Not a smaller child, but a miniature adult.

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"Whoa!" His expression filled a 'o' in his mouth. Up there was a platform in the center of the room, but around the left corner, there was an entrance that had to have led to the top of the waterfall. The main attraction wasn't there, because moving to the top of the four-foot platform, two torches ablating him with heat; the boy grasped reality of above. A fifteen-foot wall was at the top, a path to the right leading up to the wall, where beautiful gates of gold adorned the passage beyond that. In the center of the passage, blocking it, but also stopping most of the water from sliding through, was a Zora. This was no ordinary Zora; however, this thing had to be at least thirty feet tall.

The beast resembled the guardian in some ways, but different in others. His skin was all blue around him, except upon his swollen neck. No fins were found on his thighs, but that robe of royal colours may have hid the ones on his hands. Crimson etched with gold was laced around his body, exposing his stomach and everything below, but adorning his shoulders and back. This ones eyes had actual pupils, and the whites shone through at the new coming boy, where giant fish lips puckered up in an expression of grief. Gills that resembled mustaches exposed to the area, where a tattoo that somewhat resembled Daruina's was right below the lips. Lastly, a crown of gold sat on top of his head, a red jewel sparkled forward, obviously not a sapphire.

"Ho, ho, ho, now who is this?" Hands went to his chin, in though, exposing mounds of flesh, but no fins were attached to his upper appendages.

"I am Link, of the Kokiiri, I come in piece. But I am in search of something."

"Are you a messenger of the Royal Family?"

"Yes, and no… I am not a messenger from the family, but I do know them." Giggling nervously, the boy peered around the room and saw no guards. That was good, for guards may not have known about him and accidentally killed him. The ones in the lake looked like citizens, so where was the army? He had read of the war between the races, and the Zoras were formidable foes.

"Let me explain this, Link," Navi spoke up, floating up to the king, stopping a few feet from his face and speaking. "I am a Fairie from the Kokiiri forest, and my friend here is a Kokiiri."

"An ancient child of the woods, my, my, I thought they had died out. You have all been so isolated for the past years, but I am surprised to see a fairie. Besides the healing, you never see them neither."

"Hee, anyway, we were sent on a mission from the Princess to collect the three Spiritual Stones, we have collected the forest from the late Deku Tree--." The King interrupted, he had personally met the Deku Tree back in the olden days, showing that the King was pretty old, older than most of the other Zoras.

"Late? What do you mean, he has died?"

"Yes sir, the evil Ganondorf had poisoned him with a monster called Gohma. This spider we stopped, and received the jewel as a reward, then asked to travel to the Princess. She taught the tune and told us to collect the other two stones, now we have the ones from the Great Daruina, now we need yours."

Staring down at her face, then down at the boys, he nodded. "I can see your eyes, you are both very courageous, not an ounce of vile is in your aura. I would give it too you, but you see, my little one is gone from me."

"The princess? Oh, the guard told us about that. They were searching for her, is Ganondorf responsible?" Link interrupted, plopping down on the platform, to the surprise of both Navi and the king. She was about to protest, when the king chuckled loudly, his laugh killing the entire domain, letting the guards suspicious down about the mysterious boy.

"Yes…Ganondorf Dragmire is quite responsible. I believe he is, for he swore revenge and now my little Ruto has disappeared. She has her hands on the Spiritual Stone; it was a gift from my late wife, so you need to find her to get hold of the jewel. I am sorry, but I do have something for you, you see that entrance to my right?"

"Yes sir I have seen that, but what about it?"

"There is a female Zora there who will challenge you to dive down and get her rubies, accept the challenge and win. If you succeed, and believe it isn't very hard, you seem to possess skills. Anyway, if you win, then she will give you a scale of our kind. That doubles your length of passage. How far can you dive?"

"Last time I checked, three meters." Navi looked onward at the conversation, letting them converse.

"Then you shall dive six with the scale, your fairie will possess the ability to let her veil let her breath as long as you can. Now, go on, find word of my daughter and I shall reward you with the jewel of the water."

Bidding his farewell, Link bowed to the giant king and leapt off the platform into the shallow water. Waiting for Navi to return the thanks for them both, and join him, the boy groped her with his fingers while heading out into the left entrance they had seen from before. The water waded for a few yards, before he came upon the entrance of the waterfall, where a lone Zora took with her arms crossed about her chest in a resting position. The female Zoras didn't have the tails in their backs, plus, this girl had the mounds that female girls of every other race had. The other naked ones had been all right, nothing was showing, but here, he had to stare away. Moving a few feet up, he tapped her on the shoulder very lightly. Nothing at all, so he hit her arm a little roughly.

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Eyes popped open, again no whites in the eyes, those blue hues darted at him in hatred. That was before she noticed that it wasn't a little adolescent Zora who liked to pull tricks upon the girl with the worst job here. Everyone could dive, and they even got to keep the rubies! Shaking her head in confusion, she rubbed her eyes with her arms, they still had fins and everything, like the males, but they were a bit longer.

"W-what are you?" Kneeling down a bit, she pulled his hat back, stroking those blonde tresses to get a small feel of him. Never had she seen something so mysterious, the Hylian King she had seen, but he was old and creased with wrinkles. This one was pure, about the princesses' age, with the most beautiful hair she had ever seen. Those five digits moved his hair back, smoothing her fingers throughout them once more, before rising she, and smiling a little. "So, what brings you here, young one?"

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Wow, they were really soft. The surprising thing was that the skins of her fingers were soft. When the embrace was done, she asked him a question, so he stared back at her with a down look expression. Yes, he knew that Navi was right at his side with a boiling temper available for this Zora, it must have been that the creature was paying attention to him, but it was new to her to see hair and tan skin like this. Clearing his throat, he stared forward.

"We are here for the scale of your people, we want to take the test."

"Ha, that is why you are here. I guess the king sent you out on the mission, well all right. I am going to throw down fifty rubies into the water below, now you must dive down and get them--Eh? Don't give me that face, cutie. The water is so soft here that it won't hurt you, I believe you have seen us dive off. I am telling you that the impact won't crush you, as it would other water. You dive and get the rubies--it is only three meter water--then you return them back to me and I give you the Silver Scale."

"How long do I have?"

"Fifty seconds, but not to get back up here. I can see you perfectly and I will call time when you get all of the rubies, plus you can keep the fifty rubies."

"Alright, throw them." He walked to the edge, bearing his arms to dive down, but she pulled him back near him.

"No so fast, young one. The price is twenty rubies for the play, you will earn it back in the jewels, so don't worry." Letting the boy cough out twenty rubies, she threw down the two red ones, and two blue ones. Clapping her hands, she threw him off the edge of the waterfall.

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Navi was quiet the entire scenario, because that one just didn't need no expression for thought. It was as if she blanked out of the message and ignored the conversation, but her emotions flowed through, the reason that Link had noticed her literally steaming. Now that stage was over from the time, because when she heard Link's screaming, her stillness let through, and she peered at the crying boy. Gasping, she gripped him, but couldn't get a hold before they hit the water before.

It wasn't over, like that woman had said, for the water felt as if he had only fell from three feet, instead of the usual miles up. Her grip let go of Link when he hit, she floating in the air, and watching the boy dive deeply into the three-meter water, searching desperately for something. Oh, wait--the scale appeared to her mind, and she dove under with him, searching for the jewels too. All at thirty seconds, Link and Navi appeared holding all the jewels, when the girl yelled out 'time!' She guesses that initiated the end of the session, for Link was swimming to the shallow mark, herself having trouble keeping up with him.

"Did we win?"

"'Course. We had fifty seconds, I did it in thirty-two. Pulling out of the water, he was drenched from head to toe. It seemed the powder Saria had mixed was long gone, but the effort was worth it. I guess she didn't know it would have taken too long to reach this spot. Sloshing herself off, the girl followed Link up past the winding stairs, bypassing the sleeping king's chambers, and coming to a halt right infront of the lady from seconds before. Overall, he raced up the paths in thirty seconds, sticking twenty of the rubies he gave away, letting her keep the other thirty.

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"I told you to keep all of them." The Zora woman said, reaching out her hands, making a small scale appear incased inside a small little tube. Sticking the extra rubies back at her side, she smiled a little, presenting him with the scale of her people. It wasn't her own, but looked fresh when it was contained inside that small watery bubble? Maybe, it wasn't a tube that was for sure.

"Couldn't, didn't have enough room. Hee!" He grabbed the scale pressing it up towards his body, but the reaction caused him to gasp a little. The little scale disappeared from his grasped; appearing down on his opposite wrist the bomb flower was on. The insignia of the Zora (that was placed on the King's neck) now appeared on his other wrist. With those two insignias, it was as if he was accepted from both races. Maybe the Deku shield was the one from the Kokiiri tribe, but since his shield was burnt--he was pressed away from that race. It was true; he was pressed from his own race, except for Saria.

"Alright, I am going to go, but…where do I use this?" He had started heading down the path, past the king, and was now on his way down the stairs, the woman was following him, her shop closed for the night.

"Why, you use it to reach Lake Hylia, but the gate is closed for the night. I am sorry about that, we all sleep underwater, but you can always sleep on that rock outside." She spoke, lifting him up a bit, letting his fairie coil up at his hat for the night. Reaching the bottom of the stairs, she pointed forward.

"The one in the water?" Navi intercepted, she was resting on the hat, not in it.

"Yes, Fairie-san. It is very warm on the rock."

"Urm, there are no covers…" Link spoke, the Zora had dove in the water, wavering towards the rock. It was quite silent, for the other Zoras had disappeared to their underwater homes for the night.

Setting him upon the rock, she leaned forward, nuzzling him with acknowledgement before disappearing inside of the water. Blinking, the boy took off all his equipment off the large rock, laying down for a few seconds, then nodded to Navi. "She wasn't lying."

"What did she say? I just thought she kissed you…" She trailed off a bit, resettling upon hat, peering over the crest of it at him.

"She said it was soft and that I wouldn't need that covers, since they didn't use them. It is soft, so I guess we can sleep here tonight, hee! You trust them, Navi?" Stretching upon his back, the boy used his satchel as a pillow, laying his sword, shield, and side pack off at the edge of the boulders. Not so far as it would fall off, but enough so he couldn't kick it in his sleep.

"I guess we should, Linky-chan. I don't know, I do trust the Zoras very much, but I don't trust her one little bit." The crease was too small now, so she planted herself upon his chest, sitting at the top of it, still a good distance away from her. Hrm, she couldn't help but stare forward at the boy as they talked the next few hours, eventually him falling asleep in the talking. When he finally succumbed to the evil temptress of unconsciousness, Navi coiled in the collar of his shirt, kissing his cheek gently. Giving into her own pleasure, another kiss was planted upon his lips, letting the darkness take her over.

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By morning he was up again, but this time a bit earlier than usual. When dawn first cracked its wings in the river of the Zoras, he was awakened by the ancient fish people and escorted right too the king. Chatting with the king for a few minutes, his stomach began to growl, for his potion was dissipated from the day before. Promptly asking for a meal, he was given a large fish, and a smaller one for Navi. Thinking it was cannibalism, he asked about it, but was given the answer that they weren't fish at all. Zorians were actually a race of evolved mermaids from the ancient legends; it had to do with a Hylian fisherman.

At a quarter past nine, he was escorted down the halls towards the center of the lake; there the guard from yesterday stared down at the youth, asking questions to him. Such questions were his origins, the Kokiiri tribe, the other tribes he had visited, and other things of that sort. The real deal was the Zoras never traveled out of the regions of Lake Hylia or the River, so the Hylians, Gorons, Gerudos, and Kokiiri were foreign to them. After a recount of his battles, with some of the smaller Zoras, he was asked an important question. Would he find the princess?

"I guess I have too, might as well get started. Urm, where is everyone looking? Surely she isn't in this domain."

"Lake Hylia."

"Lake Hylia! Lake Hylia is past the Kokiiri Forest, how do you get that far?" Navi bewildered in amazement. Link may not have had an overview of Hyrule, but she did. It was a clear fact that the area was hundreds of miles away from the Kokiiri Forest.

"A secret passage," the guard from yesterday answered. Where they were sitting was on the steps, the lake of the domain right below, and grabbing the boy, the guard leapt down into the waters below. Submergence was weird, for as he held his breath, they swam down to the bottom of the river and through a passage that wasn't hidden before.

The intensity of the farie cavern and the graveyard filled him once more, as the warping from the Domain to a Lake hundreds of miles away, occurred. Reappearing in new surrounding, the water much cooler than at the Zoras, the Zora swam to the top, left Link there and disappeared back into the warp-hole from which he came. Grasping for air, Link swam to the top of the water, Navi right at his head, while they stared around the place, amazed. The place was huge; this lake made the size of the domain's lake look like a puddle. It was almost like an ocean, but the water spread out for miles and miles.

Fortunately, the warp point was at the beginning of the lake, so they didn't have to swim but a few miles to reach the shore. When breaching the shore, Navi took a glance around the place, reporting back in a full five minutes. That was quite a while for the ever perusing fairie, the area was just that big. It seems there was more than a lake around here, a whole observatory was available.

"How much, Navi-chan?"

"The back of the lake reaches the ending curl of Death Mountain. I didn't imagine it was so huge, my goodness." Lifting upward, the guardian came a few feet forward and placed him upon the landing arch, that was barely underwater. Raising her hands, Navi explained that this was the only land in the entire region, a small island was at the back of region, but only a lone tombstone and a large tree stood there. Also, it could be reached by a rope bridge that stretched out as far as the eye could see, another island in the center was connected to the bridge, yet another tombstone was on there. Moving onward, there was an observatory behind them, where nothing in particular was there, except a scientist that lived amongst the aquatic creatures, a strange fellow indeed.

"This path stretches outward, as far as I can tell there are some gardens over to our right, and a small house where I think we can rest for tonight, if we get delayed. To our left, past the observatory was a land bridge that led to some grass, but the real feature is there is another waterfall. Nothing's hidden under this one, yet it led into Gerudo Valley." Her eyes lit up a bit, Dragmire's home.

"G-Gerudo! Are you sure? You mean Ganondorf's home!"

"Yes, but he isn't there. Plus, I doubt we could get in, I heard they are a bunch of thieves and you need a pass to get in. Anyway, let's search the lake for something on Princess Ruto, shall we?"

"Mmhm." Diving off the landing mark, his search started out by swimming a few miles north, working his way back and forth for some sort of clues. Navi took the same approach, except they went over towards where the gardens were shown from the ocean, searching there. No clues would turn up for hours at a time, each time he ran into small little things such as jewels, complaining Zoras, or bumped into Navi. Going their separate directions, it would have been better to scout it together, yet they needed to do this fast and get that gem.

Finally scouting out ten miles from land, the two of them met up once more, but decided to stay together. It was 'better this far out' incase they got misguided by the wind. Working together proved more efficient, the more jewels they found, the better and closer they thought that the outcome of the search was coming. Time really passed that day, no one stopped for breaks, unless Link got a cramp or felt he was about to drown, then he stopped for a few minutes. Pure horror was a great way to describe that day at the lake, after that, Link didn't like water too much.

When they started it was about nine o'clock, but when they finished it was around ten o'clock. No, not ten o'clock as in an hour later, but ten o'clock as in thirteen hours later had passed since the time they had left the lake. All the other Zoras had gone in at about around seven for the night, the warp being shut down after ridiculous warnings from guards all around, that monsters came out at night. Link just shrugged a shoulder at them, but now at around ten-thirty, he was back at the place he had dove off of, near the portal…desperately searching.

"Link! What's that!" Blowing a bright green, she fluttered underwater at a glass casing entombed under a large rock. Link had to squint a little to catch the flow, and shrugging his shoulder, dove under the water to grab the object. A few minutes later they both emerged with a glass jar in their hands. Another one of those bottles like the one Anju gave him, and like the one he got from Malon.

"A bottle…that's it! We've been searching for hours and that's it!" Crying out, he crawled out of the water, crawling towards one of the patches of grass, taking a gentle rest into it. Navi was right at his side, sighing a little too, examining the jar. Yes it was another jar with a casing, some small paper stuffed inside--paper! Doing a double take, Navi grabbed the bottle and pried it from Link's soft arms, they felt like jelly.

"I think I am going to be wrinkled as a prune the rest of my--Navi? What is it?" Before he even noticed, she had the bottle halfway open. Staring forward, he watched her yank out a small sheet of white paper, hardly visible in the moonlight, let alone water.

"Link, I think we found out clue. A message in a bottle!" Throwing the jar down upon the soft grass, she spread the note before them, reading into it. Written in Hyrulian, at least it wasn't written in Zorian, but before she could read it, Link pondered her with some questions.

"Message in a bottle? What do you mean? What's that?"

"…When people are lost at sea they send a message in a bottle for--"

"There is no sea, we are trapped by Death Mountain--" Link was touted by Navi interrupting him.

"If you let me finish! It is a sign of help, now be quiet. All right, here is what is says…" But before she could read, the letter seemed to change, the text mixing itself up into a few little different runic, Navi swore to herself silently, pushing the letter back in the bottle and slamming it down into his satchel. Scarlet struck out on her face, as if she had been played a cruel trick upon. Link's face slashed concern, as he picked her up and stared at her.

"What is it? Navi…"

"They changed it--damn. They changed it, it must be magic. It was in Hyrulian, but now it is in Zorian. We will have to wait until tomorrow." Flinching as she swore (Navi never swore), Link nodded a little, relaxing his head upon the bushels. Nothing was peeking through the pushes, so he used the thing as a bed, the house up there did look comfortable, but it stretched out for a two-mile swim.

"Sorry…" He smiled a little, curling her frustrated body up in his hand, feeling the tenseness, he rubbed her small bit. That made a moan escape her, nuzzling against that large hand, yet keeping some of her sternness up at herself. Yet, she couldn't help but looked over at him, smiling a little for showing his compassion.

"It's not your fault. I have a feeling Ruto-sama didn't write that. I believe the note, but Ganondorf may have written it. How else would her letter have gotten out if something swallowed her, they did say Jabu Jabu was a person. I think Ganondorf has discovered us--he may have been watching us since that day we saw him."

"You are right, we should get out of the open, shouldn't we? Since we are right near the Gerudo Valley, couldn't he send an assassin out too kill us?"

"We should leave, but I highly doubt an assassin could make it out here just yet. Gerudo Valley is a two-day journey from here, not to mention this is Zorian territory and they might kill the treaty they have signed."

"Treaty?" Forcing himself from the soft patch of land, Link began to walk with her over towards the lake, a mile was the distance towards where the shore gave the shortest route, so he took his chances at walking. Sea legs were not something that Link would ever acquire. Not pushing away from the conversation, he paid attention to her as she explained something.

"Saria taught you history, right?" After receiving a nod, she went on. "Well, you know the war between every race that ended about a decade ago, well after the war they all signed a treaty. The Gerudo did it only to be at peace, for they hate every race. Anyway, Death Mountain was for the Gorons, the Kokiiri had the forest (but they didn't participate in the war, so they didn't even earn it), the Hylians got the Market Place, Shiekahs got Kakariko--"

"Aren't Hylians there too?"

"Yes, Impa-san opened it up to the public some time ago, or that's what she told me. Urm, the Zoras got the lake, domain, and the lake. It is open to everyone except the Gerudos, for they were mortal enemies. I wouldn't worry about us running into any of those." Chuckling, her eyes widened a bit, pointing behind her.

Spinning around, slapping Navi on his shoulder, his hand was on the hilt of the sword when he saw it. Just another one of those Tektites from Death Mountain, except this ones armour was blue. Must be tougher, Eh? Smirking, he leapt forward aiming for the red eye, a trick learned from the infamous Gohma. With a slash of the quick blade, Link had the thing into two halves, no screeches able to explain the pain from the sword of Farore. More were staring to appear of the horizon, so Link charged them head-on.

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It was more of a quick battle than a war; Link was the head one pursuit, while three of the Tektites went in three different directions to confuse him. That didn't work, Navi knew it wouldn't. For when they went out towards the closing, and pursued in for the so-called 'kill' Link had his blade held out to the left with concentration pressed upon it. A white chi appeared around his body, spreading out until it only surrounded the blade, there is shined a bright, then turned a dark crimson. Keeping his eyes locked to the ground, he let out a yell.

"Rhiu-Kiyto!" If the call hadn't been initiated then nothing else would have happened, except the chi may have gone down, but that wasn't this case. What happened was when he let go of pressing to the left; he completed a three hundred and sixty-degree spin at ground level. This was right about the time that the Tektites started to close in for their assault. Screeches were the only things that sounded as one after another, they watched themselves slit into three pieces. Yes, his sword did slice through, but before it stopped, it would do a backslash for the effect.

Grabbing his sword, slamming it into the sheath, nine pieces of Tektite appeared around the circle around him. Crossing his arms across his chest, the boy looked over at the startled Navi. Maybe it was a bit surprising, but the boy had been trying to perfect his technique ever since they left Death Mountain with it. He only did it when the night was high, so Navi was asleep, but this really was his first time using the technique in full battle. Grinning a little, his arms went up to the back of his head, stretching a bit.

"You surprised?" She now hovered over his head.

"Yes, I am. How did you get so good?"

"Maybe the heart pieces, but I have been practicing my techniques for the past few nights, not since we've been in the Zora territory. Before that, like when we were heading down the river."

"When have you been practicing?" For she also had been practicing, if they were going to train, they should do it together, not apart. Although those words that Impa spoke still rang in her ears. What if she needed to protect him one day, and could only combat separately? So, that was that, she decided to not mention her part on training, they might need to do some togetherness, though.

"Usually around midnight, for a few hours. I move away so the noise doesn't wake you--you mad?"

"Not at all. I think we all need a little training, urm, could we just go in the morning to that house. I am pretty sure it isn't an inn."

"What is it, then, Navi?" Glancing over at the wooden cabin, he was almost sure it was a cabin, but Navi had been the one to search. She had probably looked in the window and mistaken it for something else. Whatever the case, Link found another large bushel to rest in, so he piled in it, slipping his materials off, letting her lay in the grass with him. Keeping on his side, they could see each other now, as the lunar lights flared overhead.

"It's a fishing arena. It's run by some Hyrulian."

"What's the difference in them again?"

"Hylians have long ears like the Kokiiri and have psychic powers, like Zelda-sama's dream. Hyrulians are normal humans, they have round ears." Giggling, she covered herself in a bit of grass, keeping attention focused at him.

"I see. A fishing area? Can we check that out, I've never been fishing? I mean, there are none in the Kokiiri forest, maybe it's sort of fun? What's inside their, part of the lake?"

"Nope, it is a man-made lake. There is a counter where you rent rods and reels, then there is a small lake with some logs, rocks, weeds, and fish in them. Huge fish too, I even read that you get a prize for catching a huge one, something about the heart of the fish."

"Another piece of heart? I am sure we will need those in our quest, they have helped me master that technique." Yanking out his satchel, the scrounged around for some food, some of the fish cooked fish was in there from today, but not any good for a meal. Throwing the bag that it was in out to the side, Link closed his satchel, his stomach growling a bit.

"Hee, you hungry?"

"Yes, ma'am. We should have come back for supper when they called us." Now closer to the house, he could peer it on its tiny ledge, frowning a bit. If they had swum the two miles, they would have been let down, for there were no lights shining through the windows. Stretching his legs a little, he watched Navi wonder through the satchel and come out with the jar from the fairie. Popping open the top, the fairie poured out of the jar and surrounded him. Giggling, his fatigue was automatically gone, Navi's also disappearing, but the fairie left with the fatigue.

"Awe, she left."

"Only one use. You full now?"

"Yea, how long does this last?"

"Probably until lunch tomorrow, so let us rest now." Navi stared down at him, watching him contently with that smile broadening her face, yes, she was going to wait for him to fall asleep, just as she usually did the nights beforehand. It was always him going to sleep first, her admiring him, and then her finally falling down into the darkness. The mornings followed with her up first, then him, so she can admire him for the morning.

"Goodnight…Navi." Those hues rested themselves downward, while his head with the cap sunk down into the grass. Navi meanwhile just glanced upon him, watching him rest himself for the night before. Where would they go, maybe to the fishing arena to gain the piece of heart, but something else was going to happen. Maybe they would head over to Gerudo Valley for the day. If only she could find Gaebora right now, she had seen him perching upon the stones, but that had been so long ago.

Pushing off away from her little one, Navi flew past the mountains to check out for monsters. No fiends were in the area, so she was safe to travel away from Link for the time being. Catching the owl's scent, she headed over to the two little islands, searching for the feathered one. At the gravestone with the arrow inscription and the three, she found nothing at all, but when she flew over towards the nearest isle of the land, the owl was rested on there. Growling, the fairie headed towards the owl, watching it perch upon gravestone and gaze at her coming.

"Hoo, hoo, hoo! What brings you down here, young one?"

"I need a favor." Lowering her eyes, she stared down at the tombstone, reading the insignia of here lie the Zoras of the past, just some memorial. Knocking here attention away from the animal, he had to slap her with his wing to get the young ones attention. Flashing up with anger, she stared up the animal.

"Calm down, young one, what is your favor?"

"We need a ride to Gerudo Valley tomorrow, do you mind?"

"Not at all, but is that really your problem."

"Shut up!" Sparkling up, she fluttered away, watching the owl turn its head upside down, giving out a squawky laughter. When it did that, the thing reminded Navi of those quails, but nevertheless, she heard his voice drowning out her own little screams of frustration. The words that made her want to rip out her own hair, telling the whole word to screw themselves and those words were this: don't fall in love. Why did they all care!

Her own tears were starched across her face when she returned to him ten minutes later, some time was needed to get herself aquatinted with realty, some was needed to let it out, but most of it was to tell the others to let themselves worry about their own problems. Who cared what Gaebora thought! Who cared what the Deku Tree thought Farore rest his soul, but who cared? This wasn't supposed to be a mission that would take almost two months, this was a supposed to be a day mission. The rules had changed, and love was in the air, nothing could stop them.

Unless he doesn't return it… "She" taunted out.

Shut up! Shut up, I say!

He won't return it! He won't return it!

Shut up! Yes, he will! Her mind screamed towards the voice, something had exorcised her out.

That proves it, prove it to me.

Grabbing his face, she pulled him into a kiss, nuzzling her face into his. Growling at the voice, as if snapping at it, the fairie nuzzled her into him, holding him with herself, letting the tears drop down from her body. It was so weird, what if she didn't return his love? No! This isn't the time, it is almost over, and we are almost done. One more jewel, we are almost there, and then we can leave and retain ours lives in the forest with the Kokiiri. Of course she knew the Kokiiri had abandoned them, they would most likely become travelers around this world, but this wasn't the time. Forgetting the voice, she nestled into him, falling asleep.

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Morning brought a few surprises. Link was up before her, and while up he discovered a few things about the island that she hadn't gone over the day before. Wondering over to the observatory, Navi inside of his hat, the boy had found one of those potted plants like from the Zora's domain. Laying a magic bean on there, a small root grew up as the other one had been formed. Inside the place, he found no one, but a locked door. A sign on the outside said that the scientist was hard at work, so Link left them is whoever this scientist was.

At the garden, he found a few vegetables to munch on; the fairie hadn't been used to her full power, so he was pretty hungry. Link could ponder on the other fairie, but that one might be needed for going inside Jabu Jabu. If his assumptions were right, then Jabu Jabu was really possessed (like the Deku Tree), and may have had evil spirits inside of him. On his dig through the garden, Link just came across two scarecrows; they actually frightened him, for he had never seen crows before, or scarecrows. The weirder thing was that one of them talked to him!

"Well, howdy there, and who might you be?" The topmost scarecrow spoke out loud.

Spinning around, his hand on the sheath of his sword, the boy examined the scarecrow, figuring he was nice, and smiled a little shrugging a shoulder. Leaning across the iron fence that separated the scarecrows, Link stared up at him with eyes wide.

"I can see from your expression that you thought I was inanimate, yea. I get that a lot. My name is Pierre, and I am a scarecrow who adores music. Any type of music is good enough for me." Stopping for a second, the scarecrow sniffed something with a nose that wasn't there. His straw stiffened. "Mm, I smell an instrument, you wouldn't happen to have one on you, would you?"

"Yes sir, I do." Pulling out the ocarina, the scarecrow went ecstatic. He leapt upon the pole he was positioned one, holding his hands into air in a jovial manner.

"My, my! Would you happen to play a tune for me? I am have an excellent memory and would remember any tune you gave me. Come on, don't be shy, and I want one you made up, nothing authentic. If it has ever been played, I will know it, my ears do not deceive me."

Well, playing a tune from his collection was out of the collection, so he reversed the notes on Saria's tune, claiming it as his own. It was technically his own, you know. The scarecrow jumped for joy when he gave it to him, telling him to come back in a few years and visit him, only then would the song become useful. After being unanimated once again, Link wondered away from the garden with an expression of confusion on his face, yet he did write down the tune in his sheet as the Scarecrow's Song.

The fishing arena was the only other place to spend the day, so the at nine o'clock that morning, he spread out his arms and dove into Lake Hylia. Those weird creatures from before were back, the Octaroks, or whatever they were called. Link could only dive under when they came near, for if he took out his sword, he feared that it might get lost it in the one hundred feet deep water. That was right, near the entrance it was shallow, but now the scene just scared the boy to death, as if the octopuses made it any better! For an hour and half he swam at full speed, reaching the small island at about ten thirty that morning. Fully energized from the vegetables, he had no trouble scanning the small hill that led up to the tiny house at the top. In a matter of fifteen minutes, his hands latched open the wooden door, pushing inside.

--------------------

Discoveries were one in the same at some places, so when the boy wandered past the doors of the cabin and into the man-made lake, all saw was all the glory of it. Navi had been right, there was some sort of man-made lake sculpted out of the ground. Infront of him was a path that led to some sandy ground, then inside the circle of that was a small pond extending twenty feet across and thirty feet wide. He didn't even notice the voice, until something hooked him on the back, making him scream with surprise.

Whirled back into the air, the boy levitated for a few seconds, before he uncovered his eyes cowardly. Before him, a man with a hat was chuckling away, holding a fishing pole into his hands. Putting two and two together, the boy spotted the line sinking down towards his clothes, and the bobble hooked under his shirt. Growling, the boy threw himself off the hook, tearing a huge cut in the shirt, but landed on his bottom with an abrupt sound.

Shaking those tresses aside, his long cap having come unraveled from the scene before, the boy scooped up the headgear (his slumbering fairie, also), putting them back into position. Taking a good look at the man, he saw he was about middle aged, tan skin, and some weird shirt with different blue and red patterns sketched upon it. Link couldn't view any pants on the man, because he was sitting at a desk with a register to hold money, and fishing poles held on the back wall. On the desk were a few odds and ends, paperweights, and extra rubies. Attracting the most attention was a huge tank of water that was empty to the core. Taking a few steps forward, the boy put his hands on the counter, staring up at the Hyrulian (yea, he had small ears!), with a hat that was perked through with hooks.

--------------------

It was a fisherman's hat, or so the man would have said. Taking one quick look at the boy was enough to make him burst out laughing. How did a kid ever get out this far to Lake Hylia and swim the few miles to the cabin? Only the most strongly of men could earn their way out here to the lake, sometimes resting for days when the reached the cabin, but this kid looked as if he had just woken up. By Goddess, he still had sleep in his eyes, was he that fast! Grinning a little, he stared down at the boy, tipping the hat towards him. "What can I do for you, son? You lost or something?" Of course the lad wasn't.

"Oh, well…" Seemed sort of nervous, he did. "I want to go fishing, may I have a pole?"

"Fishing? Well, you seemed to come out a long way, so I guess I can give you a deal. This is an adult's fishing hole, yet there aren't many around, so I'll cut you some slack. But I am warning you…" Pulling out his finger, the man taunted the boy in the face. "The fish out here are not friendly. Sure there are some that could be around a pound or so, but some of them get as much as twenty-two pounds. If that happens, break the line, son."

"Break the line?"

Oh that was it! He couldn't help himself! Grabbing the edge of the counter, the man guffawed into the sides of his mouth, holding back the laughs as much as possible. No avail was given because for three minutes the boy sat there steamed the man laughing, and a sparkle coming lazily out of the kid's lap. Not even bothering with questions, he handed him his smallest rod, hooked with a lime green bait.

"It's twenty rubies, kid."

Pouring out twenty from his adult wallet bag, the boy stared up at him, the pole over his shoulder like a long sword. "I am ready to fish, any final thoughts?"

"Just don't--- just don't-- just don't--oh Goddess!" The man was still laughing when the boy hit him with the side of the rod, running off out into the lake. Rubbing his head gently, the middle-aged man shook his head one last time, giving them a farewell glance. It seemed like a short distance, but the end of the lake he was at. It had to be a mile out, too far for the man to see. You see, the lake may have been small, but the land was vast and rich all around that area, harboring some sea crabs, other crustaceans, and plants of all sorts. The crabs and all were indoors for the season, so he didn't warn the boy about them.

Eventful dreams soon took over his mind; this was his own business, so he didn't have to worry about anyone taking him for granted. All the Hyrulian got for his troubles were some fish from the Zora, traded with the fish-people and the solitary time by him. It was pure bliss to be out here, the erected tops hanging off themselves, shining the artificial light from the sunroof out into the real scenery, all the woods and reefs for the best fishing, and the dream that one day someone might catch ole' Mody. Yes, ole' Mody was the one he was after, a twenty-five pounder he had meant to keep for himself, spending thousands hours rooting after, but he never came close to bagging him.

Tuckering himself off, the boy watched the child from the distance, only a speck of a real manufacture. The kid caught quite a few fish, more than the man had predicted, but nothing over five pounds. That was chump change, according to the fisherman, nothing over seven was anything special, and nothing under nine could go in his hall of fame (the tank.) Not many people came out here to fish, so he really didn't have anything to put in there, plus the last one had died in a misfortunate night he had been hungry. Lazily resting his head down, he drifted off to sleep at one o'clock that afternoon.

--------------------

"What was that all about?" When Link reached the area as far away from the man as possible, his guardian was fully awake, letting out a cute little yawn. Looking over towards her little one, a small question pondered her inner brain. Why was Link up before him, how was he at the fisherman's house, what exactly had happened last night? Yes, the stuff from last night was blurry (not the part with Gaebora, but when she had returned to Link and the thoughts that passed therein.) Hardly recalling much of anything, the fairie lounged off his hat when the question popped.

Trying to figure the rod out, Link sat upon a rock on the beach-covered surface, studying the oak-made rod. He knew little about fishing, they fished out in the Kokiiri forest (a stream led down there), but he had never been out there. Saria's world was the outdoors, but she detested killing little fish for food, when they had all of these berries and natural supplies to benefit them. Reason is, when he first tasted meat on the outside world it was quite a surprise to him, just on how much he had been missing from the isolated forest. Grabbing the rod by the head, he launched it out into the open.

"Huh? Oh, him… I think he was laughing because I am so small…stupid man."

"Oh, Linky, don't mind him. He is a simple man who thinks you are just another immature Hylian kit, but in reality, you are a fully mature Kokiiri."

"Navi…I am not a mature Kokiiri, I am an immature Kokiiri, I am only a decade old." Letting out a giggle, he held the large pole under his armpit, pressing her flimsy body into his face.

"Mm, you act better than the others, anyway." Letting herself be nuzzled, the girl went back and did the same thing to her as he was doing to her. Not in so many motions, since she was smaller, of course.

Cuddling with her a few seconds, the boy slapped her on his pole as the line began to tug. Grasping, the boy yanked back with all his strength, the small flying through the air. Grasping the line quickly, he examined the fish with the disappointment forming in his face. The fish wasn't a fish at all; it had to have been a fish stick! Only under three pounds, the boy grasped the fish and chunked it back into the fresh underwater.

"What happened, why did you throw it back?"

"Did you see the size of that fish?"

"Looked pretty big to me, maybe it could have won." Two pounds was actually a lot for Navi, so she really couldn't tell if the ten-pounders were in there or not. Floating towards the fish, Navi peered at the fish with her eyes glaring a bit. Taking a glance over at the man, he was watching them with drooping eyes of an old pervert. Automatically her veil reappeared, going back over towards Link, she perched upon his shoulder once more.

"No, ten-pounders win the heart, I am pretty sure."

"Well, let's get to work!"

--------------------

Moving to the center of the pond was Link's idea of the day. At the beginning of the lake was a reef that extended out to the center of the lake, or almost to the center. After measuring the reef for its weight several times, the boy stood upon the reef and began to fish for his luck. The following three hours had been spent catching five pounders at the most, but the first scaly animal he caught was a seven-pound fish! Grasping with excitement, the boy began to fish out for the following three hours, keeping himself out of the trouble from falling in the water.

Ten pounders didn't start appearing until he caught himself an eight-pound fish, instead of throwing it away; the kid used it as bait for the other fish. It was only common in the food chain that bigger animal ate the smaller animals, not plastic little reefs he got for renting a stupid pole. The first time he used and eight-pound fish, he received an eight and a half pound fish. Using that one, he came across the nine pound one, and following the process over, he came upon the ten pounds.

Some amounts of mass seemed easier on the first impression. Ten pounds may have been easy to lift, but it wasn't easy to pull. Especially when the dreaded little 'moby dick' had its head wrapped around the line and pulled back as strong as any of the monsters he had faced. Ever since Link had come out to the reef he had been using the little string attached to the coil that you turned to yank it in. Throwing himself back in the air would land him a quick ease in the deep water, losing any fish he came into contact with. The funny thing was that when he was after the other fish, he had no need to yank the fish in that other manner, except with when multiplied by five.

Jumping upon the edges of the reef, he kept his feet apart and the rode buried between those hands that hung on for dear life, trying to keep those other stupid fish from biting at the line. Navi took the position without warning, throwing her weight against the smaller fish, scaring her off, but the real problem was getting that traumatic thing to calm down. Flaring her aura, the kind she used to blind enemies, she zapped the fish in the eyes, making a squeal erupt from the cry out. Blood splattered all over the water, just from the hook, not from the zapping or anything like that.

Chance was all in it, for when Navi blinded the fish, it gave up in the fight for survival. Pulling back all the way, he made the yank, throwing himself into the water, but held onto the pole as if he was on a cliff and the edges were the only escape. Leaping into the air, a reef to propel him upward, the boy caught the fish in the air. When he landed, halfway in the water, halfway on the coral structure, his hands still held the fish down. Surprise threw him off the coral, making him grip the fish (and the fishing pole, which he picked up before leaving), tracking back the mile in only a few minutes.

The distance didn't seem like anything, only staying on the move, so that they reached the area in under a minute. Staring up at the fisherman with disappointing eyes, the boy let out a smug growl and slammed his fist upon the wood. Nothing, nothing at all. Giving Navi a disgusted look for the man, he reached forward and put the fish before the man's lips, nada, nothing at all. Well, he had one last idea, but it was sort of a dozy Running back a few feet, the boy cupped his hands together letting out an excruciating long screech of excitement towards his direction. Sound waves picked up, and the man jutted awake with profuse intrusion.

--------------------

Jutting awake from the screaming of a young child, the fisherman stared forward to see the child from before. Obviously he was turning in his pole, having given up? No, that wasn't the reason at all, in his hands he held a fish consisting of what seemed more than nine pounds. Gripping the fish quickly, he slammed it upon the weight, surprised to see it far exceeded ten pounds, it went past the area of fifteen miles. How could a young child get something this heavy, how could he catch it? Not even bothering with details, the man fed the fish something from a blue bottle, putting it inside the water, where the hatch closed making the glass turn black.

"How did you c-catch something that big?"

"Used some of the smaller fish for bait, I guess. How much is it?"

"F-fifteen pounds. I can't believe you caught something that huge, that is just unbelievable." Shaking his head, the boy handed him the pole back, which he hung up generously (not even a smirk forming his lips, contradictory of this morning.) Leaning forward, the man patted the boy upon his head, searching through his bag and pulling out a fourth of a heart. He didn't know what exactly the thing was, but from the excitement in his face, it had to be something special. "You certainly earned it, whatever it is. I found it while cleaning out the pool last week and decided to postpone it as a reward, what exactly is it?"

"Well, if you earn four of these in a row, then you grow stronger and stronger." Pulling out the fourth of a piece, he connected the two together, forming a whole half. Showing the pieces off to the amazed man, the boy said his thanks and disappeared out of the door. There was something weird about that boy; he wasn't ordinary, which was for sure. Something told him that one day he would see that child again, a much older man, and he would do great things. Maybe it was his allergies acting up, but something was abyss.

Ignoring the thoughts of tonight, the man opened up the tank and checked upon his new prize. There it was fifteen pounds of fish for all the people who visited his new business to notice and ponder who caught it? His story would come out how a boy dressed in green, guarded by a sparkle of bright blue, braved the odds and captured the fish. Unfortunately, he did not have the boy's name, but he knew of a legend of the green clothed children, those from the ancient tribe. In the following morning a plaque would be placed right above the tank that said "the Kokiiri tribe wander." For now, the man would slip back to sleep at three in the afternoon. The life of a fisherman was patience that was the number one rule: patience.

--------------------

Shutting the door quietly, Link cupped his hands together, holding the half of a heart pressed completely together. Throwing the heart into the air, the boy pressed his index and middle finger up together, performing the peace sign. Meanwhile, Navi caught the heart piece launching it down inside of the satchel, snapping it shut. Giggling at the child, she pushed him down off the edge of the island and into the water. When his head emerged from the cerulean pool, the girl fluttered near his face.

"Why'd you do that?!" Shaking those blonde tendrils back and forth, the kid stared up at the fairie.

"Hee!" Landing up on his cheeks, she rubbed them a little bit, glancing down at him. "Come on, little one, let's head back and maybe we'll make it by the end of the afternoon."

"Then we head back to the domain and deliver that letter?" Putting his feet against the edge of the island, he pressed off into the water, quickly breast stroking the entire way, on the fifteen-minute way they spoke at what the next destination was. Navi's idea was not to head back to the domain, at least until later tonight, but to take the advice of Gaebora. Yes, she still remembers the encounter with Gaebora Kaepora, that was clear in her mind, and the favor was still fresh in her young mind.

"No, we don't. I say we head to Gerudo Valley."

"But, I thought you didn't want to waste anymore time? Isn't the Gerudo home over two days away?"

"Yes, but we will be there in two hours." Grinning, her veil flashed off for the time being, then she explained her situation. Well, I shouldn't say she explained it all, there was a bit of fibbing in the story, but then again, what would it hurt? Navi explained that on her way back from the bathroom last night that she stumbled upon the infamous (or at least she thought so) Gaebora. Reminding him what Gaebora was (although he needed no remembrance); the girl went on to speak that the owl had suggested they take a trip to the thieves' valley for a few surprises.

"The owl mentioned something about some rewards at the valley."

"Rewards, like those heart pieces?"

"Maybe, maybe not." It was a fact that Navi knew that there were two pieces stored in the valley, it was just there wasn't really the location she knew. And another factor that stood was they wouldn't be able to get across the Gerudo, so those things needed to be near the area before they reached the guards gates. Hrm, that would be a problem, but if they couldn't get past them, they just couldn't. The Gerudo women were trained to fight from the day they could walk, they would easily dispatch the boy.

A fourth of an hour displayed later before he was sitting upon the grass and drying his clothes out in the afternoon sun. Nothing much else happened for the remainder of the hour, both of them taking a forty-five minute nap, awakening at ten after four. Waking himself up with the automatic alarm clock, the boy and his fairie were surprised to see the wise owl perching upon the gate, where they slept, staring at him with eyes closed. As soon as Link made the first attempt to move, though, the owl stared down at him with those yellow glaring eyes, brown feathers stretching out.

"Hoot, Hoot! Well, good afternoon, young hero. I presume your accomplice has told you about our travel plans?"

"Accomplice?" He giggled a little, nodding his head somewhat. "Yea, she told us we were going over to the Gerudo Valley, but-- you never said how we are going to get there."

"Fly, you dummy!" The 'accomplice' spoke up, shaking her head a little. "Forgive him today, Gaebora, he got too much water in his brai-" Being thrown across the ground, the girl was tackled by the Kokiiri, who began to tickle her all over. Bursting out into a fresh stream of giggles, the girl tried to tickle back, but to no avail. That forest child was just too strong at sometimes, playfully repeating over and over that he wasn't the dummy--she was. Kaepora just watched to two with a chuckling look upon his animal features.

Separating the two apart, the owl shrugged a small feathery shoulder. He tried to separate the two with the slip of his wings, but that didn't really work, for Link threw himself over to another patch of overgrown grass, continuing the tickle torture upon her. What was so strange to the owl was how gentle the boy was with her, being how fierce he could get, how could one be so gentle with a fairie only the size of his middle finger?

Finally deciding to separate the two beings, he pushed his wings between the two. That didn't help, for Link crawled over the wings in an instant, Navi flying in-between the wings, also. Throwing her head back in a squawk, his claw grabbed Link by the shirt collar, clasping the fairie with both wings pushing together. Struggling with the two for a few minutes, the kid's energy finally pushed down, slumping down somewhat, as Kaepora put Navi in Link's hat.

"Hang on, you two."

"You are gonna fly us, Kaepora-san?"

"But of course, little hero." Throwing his wingspan out, the flyer lifted up one hundred feet into the air, staring forward at over the horizon. There wasn't that long left until they would reach Gerudo Valley from this destination, so taking off towards the eastern horizon, Gaebora would stop until they reached the area of the thieves. Looking down at the boy, he had already fallen asleep from the air travel within the first few minutes, his ears popping the higher and higher they rose. He was very careful not to go up too high in the sky, fearing the atmospheric conditions would make him short of breath.

From the lake he would head east, along side the huge range of Death Mountain. Spiraling forward for the next hour and a half, nothing else was in order unless he ran into the occasional Peahat (which he evaded easily.) Since it wasn't nice there were no problem of the Stalchildren, but then again, they could never reach this high up, could they? An hour later went by with no activity; the mountains remained the same until they carved down into a valley. Past the structure of the valley was places were the grass grew no more.

Streaking off the grassy plains was a rooftop that extended out, guarded by a gate, but below that was the bare plains full of dirt and rock. Nothing was around this area except the occasional rocks, even the Peahats weren't in this area, and it seemed the Gerudo had the unstable environment of them all. No grass, no water, although the river was up ahead, but it seemed that it didn't rain out here and all. Gaebora hadn't been out here in a while (the first hundreds of years ago), but back then again in the past it had been beautiful as the center of Hyrule Field.

Pulling away from the breeze, the owl flapped down into the valley, pushing down into the valley that narrowed its length to just fifteen feet across. Maneuvering through the place in fifteen minutes, the owl came up to an area with a long rock bridge that led into the beginning of the Gerudo inner valley, a small little waterfall was at his right (but not the one that led to Hylia.) Flapping up a few more feet, landing just after the stone flab of rock, he pulled the two down on the ground, shaking them with their wings. Not even waiting for them to awaken, the owl flew up into the air and took off away from the valley, it gave him some bad vibes, but Navi wanted to come here for some reason.

--------------------

The trip was a blur to Link, it seemed like the owl had some sort of sleeping power in his talons, for he was asleep from the time he took off, until the time he heard the animal give out a screech of farewell. Sitting up, he covered his face with those hands, staring over at the land, surprised with not so much as envy. The entire place was barren; all he saw from all around were barren plains that stretched forward. Looking up, he noticed that it was just a hill, so when he climbed to the top, his discovery was a more barren land, but also a nice-looking rope bridge. It seemed this had been built for good use, the thing was ten feet wide and fifty feet across.

Carved from stone, the beginning of the bridge seemed to be. Above the bridge were two pillars that stood five feet in the air, that was what the ends of the bridge were connected to. On the other side was another pair of pillars with the opposite end of bridge connected to them. Walking ahead, the boy stepped on the footbridge as Navi began to flutter from out of his hat, staring around at him, rubbing her eyes tiredly. Giggling, he kept his hands on the rope that was used as the handrails.

"Mm, where did owl go?" Peeking ahead, there was a shadow up ahead, but it didn't seem threatening, at least from right now. What really was frightening was when he looked down at the ground. There was some way down; it reached down into the Gerudo River that would connect to Lake Hylia. No, that wasn't the scariest part of this adventure, it was the drop down that frightened him past all beyond belief. Wide-eyed, the child glanced down at the ground, feeling his legs begin to wobble a little.

"L-Link, calm down! Heights, you must be afraid of heights! Calm down, little guy, the bridge is wide, you won't fall. Stable yourself!"

Sinking down upon his knees, the boy's vision began to sink back and forward. Gaping forward, the boy grabbed the Rope Bridge, slamming into the bridge and slinging back and forth. Falling upon his back, he curled up a little bit…rocking back and forth upon the bridge, making it not seem so stable. This would have gone on for the entire time, unless Navi hadn't lifted him up and carried him the whole way, until she stopped and dropped him down on his stomach. Her eyes had jolted out in an expression of pure fear, there was no un-mistaking it, it was as if Ganondorf himself had appeared before them.

Crying out in slight pain, the boy looked up at what had scared her so bad, for when he looked at her she was shaking a little and pointing forward. Ganondorf it was not, but there was a beautiful woman just less than six feet with her arms crossed over her chest. A small scarf wrapped around her mouth, so he couldn't view her expression, but the rest of her body gave off a nice sensual glow. Her invisible aura shot off a beautiful feeling, but also a deadly feeling, because the girl was stretched inside what looking like Gypsy clothing. Gypsy clothing was strung about her body, her halter top made of silk, showing off her flat, tanned stomach, and matching violet silk pants upon her slim form. The traditional Arabian shoes lay on her feet, also. Sheathed at her side was a sword, but not like his, it was small at the bottom and curved up into a beautiful wide blade made of stainless steel (bigger than his, that was for sure.)

No armour strung across her form, but that silky red hair, which was tied up into a ponytail, glanced down as she stared down at him with cat-like yellow eyes. Her nose stuck out against the purple cover, but from the imprint, Link could make out that a grin was positioned upon her face. Bending down on her knees, the woman leaned against an Iron Gate that had to have sealed the Gerudo palace form the rest of the world. Without even asking, Link knew it was a Gerudo, and taking a few steps back, his fear of the fall dissipated.

"Where do you think you're going?" Her arms uncrossed heading for the sword, but before she could get the thing out of its sheath, Navi slammed into it and watched as it bounced off the ground and flew down into the river.

"Why you--what the hell was that!" Flailing at the dot, it easily evaded her feeble attacks with her hands. From the looks of it, the Gerudo fought like girls, but were mastered in the blade. That was a bad disadvantage for them, but a good one for Link. Flipping backward, his sword was pushed out and ready to fight (his first human opponent), it seemed this would be his first human kill. Readying himself, the child charged up at the woman, aiming for her throat and ready for the kill.

"P-please wait!" Throwing herself upon her knees, the girl burst into tears, crying softly into her hands. Link blinked a little, looking down at her, to Navi, and then back to the girl. Staring down at the sharpened blade…the boy slipped it inside of the sheath and slumped down on his knees right next to her. Grabbing her shoulders, he smiled a little and spoke sweetly.

"Hey, it's okay, I won't hurt you."

"P-promise?"

"Of course." Grinning, he shrugged a shoulder and stood up ready to speak to her, but that was when he was overtaken by a slam to the gut. Gasping, his hands fell upon his stomach, staring up at the grinning woman, eyes widened with pain. She gripped him by the collar, spitting into his face, and reached for his blade. Shaking her head, the woman walked over to the side of the bridge, dangling him over.

"I hate men…I hate boys, and I hate you." Spitting into his face, she dropped him off the edge of the bridge.

--------------------

This was it, this was the end. His own stupidity would be his demise, he knew from the start he should of killed her, but she just looked so sweet! He couldn't help, but feel sorry for the beautiful woman who was crying on her knees. Must be one of the attacks against the men, Eh? Seduction was a good term for it, and if he survived (of course I won't), he wouldn't fall for it again. Shaking his head, the boy cried silently as the hundreds of feet sank down from miles to miles, doing the only thing he could, which was hide his shield above him and hope it broke the impact.

Nothing would break the destruction he imagined, nothing could save him, even if Navi would get a hold of him, there was no way she could stop him and float him down the feet this valley reached. Below was a river, but the impact was going to kill him! Another alternative was that it may have been like the water in the Zorian Domain and was soft, although he knew the answer to that, since this was the same water he had spent thirteen hours scrounging in. Great, no one would ever find Ruto; she would just turn into stomach acid after a while, what a wonderful way to die!

He could feel to fluttering of Navi, trying to scream her name for help, but his voice was drowned out by the fall. How long had he been in the air, five, ten hours? He couldn't tell, but he believed it had only been a few seconds, was his life flashing before his eyes? Images of everything that had happened were weighing upon his soldiers, he was be a traitor to the Kokiiri, brother to Goron, loser to Zoras, disappointing Zelda, Ganondorf would rule the world, and Saria would have been disappointed he hadn't come to visit. Hands stretched out and grasped Navi, holding him close to her, he tried to hold it in, but the tears began to splash down his cheeks and into the air (he was falling face-first, so they streamed upward.)

Feeling and watching Navi, he saw she was crying and trying her best to help him survive. She would survive, of course, he hoped that her next master would be better than the other would. Pulling her close to him as much as she could, he whispered into her ear to find a better master next time. That made him receive a hard slap across the face, and her beginning to choke over her sobs, Goddess! He made her cry that was a heavier weight on his heart than anything else did. Holding him close, she mouthed something to him that he couldn't understand, it started with an 'L' that's all he caught.

--------------------

This wasn't happening! It couldn't happen this was insane! Goddess, she should have told him to cut the wenches' throat when she had thrown the sword aside, but her honesty rule of not killing something unarmed had kicked in. Vowing never to use that damned thing again, the girl had been quite surprised when she heard the boy yell and saw that nothing was where he had been two seconds ago. Viewing downward, she saw that the girl had knocked him off, spit on him, and said some awful words towards the kid. Flying up at the Gerudo's face, she brightened herself and shot a chi ball right into her forehead. There was a yowl and cursing in the ole' Gerudo language when Navi had thrown herself, spiraling a downward speed to Link.

She reached him a few seconds later, seeing he was trying the trick in the Deku Tree, but this time it wouldn't work, that valley had to be at least five hundred feet deep. He was already halfway there when she reached him and started to cuddle up with him, for she knew she couldn't stop the impact of the fall, it would kill both of them. Here's what would happen: the impact of stopping him would kill her and then he would drop the rest of the way and die. Was it better to live on her own, for she knew she couldn't live on her own? The little fairie had always been alone, but now here she was with Link and he was going to die! No, no, she wouldn't allow him to die, she wouldn't allow it. Cuddling up with him, she began to think as the seconds ticked away.

No, nothing would stop them now; nothing would stop this process, for they were doomed. All the possible choices flowed through her mind; they could land and die. They also could do some more sensible manners and try to find someway to float down, but how? Nothing in his satchel was a parachute, the satchel! Maybe they could use that as a parachute? No, it wasn't big enough; there was nothing else in here that would help them, unless it was the shield, which was the only way to do it. All that ran through Navi's mind was if the Goddesses' wanted their tasks accomplished they would have to thrown out an ole' miracle at the two.

During her thinking process he brought up the part of maybe getting a nicer master. A nicer master! How dare he, she couldn't help but slam her fist into his cheek, and cry out in curse words, cursing him for saying such words. How could he say something like that! How could he be so cruel? Beating upon his chest, the girl was surprise when he pulled her towards him and kissed her cheeks sweetly. Pushing against him, the girl yelled out at the top of her lungs "LINK! I LOVE YOU!' her voice being drowned out by the air of the wind. Cursing herself, she was about to give up when she heard the squawk.

A squawk? A cucco? Her mind rattled on for the questions to the answers, and turning sideways, she saw that to her left was a Cucco. How it got here was a mystery in itself, but a miracle was all that could explain it. Grabbing hold of the Cucco, she threw it at the weeping boy, he fumbled with it for a few seconds, but caught it around the waist. All of a sudden his impact was slowed down, as the chicken began to flap around for some pressure. The pressure stopped slowly, easing down as the falling stopped all at once. There he was, floating down to the rocks, and what was better was that there were two spaces that he could land where there were places to rest!

"Link, we did it! We're saved!" Actually, she was never in any danger, but after this experience, he thought of them two as one in the same. Her decision would have been to probably to stop the fall at only a few feet and die, for she knew she couldn't have bared to watch him splat upon the water, or the cliffs nearby. As luck would have it they were floating southward towards the higher cliff that was only twenty feet above the lower one. Coming to a full stop at the edge of the first cliff, he put the Cucco out inside of she searched around for those rewards, this may have been the place that she had mentioned earlier, but that sure wasn't the initial plan of the day.

--------------------

My Goddess, how could a miracle like this happen? Link had presumed himself dead, but out of the blue a Cucco appeared and Navi threw it at him. Relying on past experience, the boy floated down the rest of the way and kept he in one piece when he landed off of a ledge that wasn't quite at the end of the mountain, but a pit stop. Staring around, in utter amazement at the situation, the boy pulled the chicken into his satchel and fell upon the rock ground. Yelling at the top of his lungs, he sighed with satisfaction after the souring of his lungs. Who cared, he was alive! Oh, Goddess how could this happen, did the Gerudo throw a chicken down after them, did she feel sorry for them?

His fairie had gotten up and was already looking around the seven feet long cliff, so he got up and went after her. Curiosity was still pondering his mind on what exactly she said before, he hadn't gotten it out, but it wasn't his name (even though it started with the same letter.) The lip synch was quite different, so moving over to her, the boy sat down right infront of where she was searching and spoke to her. What he didn't notice was that there was a chest right infront of where Navi was perched.

"Navi-chan, what did you say earlier?"

"Say, what do you mean?" Trying to crack the huge lock upon it, she began to perform Ki shots upon it until it finally snapped open.

"When we were falling. You said something that started with an 'L', but it wasn't my name."

"O-oh, that! N-nothing at all, sweetheart I was just saying stuff, I forgot, I was temporary insane." Flushing, she pushed open the chest and came out with a piece of heart, revealing it for the boy. That would wash away his questions, no doubt, because he grabbed the piece and grabbed the half of one, linking them together to form the seventy-five percent of one. Squealing and placing it down inside of his satchel, the boy stared back at her.

"How do we get down?"

"Easy, there is another cliff down there that leads right to the waterfall, you can float down the river until we reach Hylia and then we can head back to the Zoras."

"How long will that take," He scooped her up and placed him on her shoulder, walking over the edge and peering over, grabbing the Cucco, he readied himself to launch off, but waited for Navi to answer his question.

"A few hours, we should be there at nine-thirty. Judging that from the sun it is almost six o'clock, so we should be there at night. I think we should go into Jabu Jabu at night though, something tells me the hear will not be so excellent in the daytime." Pushing him off the ledge, the boy gasped out loud, grabbing onto the Cucco for all his might, and floating down the remaining way of the valley. Shrugging a quick shoulder, the boy actually agreed with her, who knows what sort of stuff was inside this giant fish (or whatever it was), it was best to come at night.

"As long as the king lets us through."

"I think he will when we show him the bottle…he was upset over his daughter's disappearance, Link."

Agreeing silently, he could tell that the king would want them to go get his daughter. He hoped she was as sweet at the king was, he may have been an old fish, but he was one of the nicest people Link had ever met. The King would respect Link for his courage, he thought he was brave for taking one of his own guards down with the sword, and agreed that if they got the stone, then they could keep it. That was best part of it, because he was wearing their symbol, and if he wore their scale, he needed to keep his honor too them. Maybe it was irony, but his Kokiiri tribe symbol was gone, since he was thrown out from the tribe. So, maybe he had to honour himself with the other ones, even though he really wasn't their race, but he was accepted as one of them. It was strange, strange and stupid in a way, yet he would keep his honor towards the Zoras and rescue the princess.

After a few minutes of floating, only six feet from the landing point, the chicken gave out of strength. Maybe he should of let it rest, or maybe he should of checked to see if it was in any bad condition, for when Link looked up the chicken was dead. There was no time to retaliate, all he did was cry out and throw the chicken down into the ground. The chicken smashed into the ground, where a little blood splashed over, but the funny part was when he hit the ground. He landed right onto of the Cucco, which exploded into millions of pieces. Crying out in disgust, the boy jumped up and stared down at the mass of pulp.

That wasn't even a chicken anymore, it was some sort of monster. Bones and entire skeleton had been ruptured into nothing, there were guts and brains scattered all around, surrounded by feathers. Those feathers were covered with red liquid, the blood obviously, and Link couldn't control it. Running over away from the waterfall (this one was about forty feet long), he hit the ground and threw up over the edge of the water. Bile had begun to form in his throat when he heard the cracks of the bones, but seeing it was so different. Watching the puke flow down the river, the boy drowned himself in the fresh water and gulped it down. Rolling away, he grabbed his stomach as the cramp form, crying out in pain. He would have rolled into the cliff, but a large foot stopped him.

"Well, what do we have hear?" A voice, feminine in speaking, rolled out from the tip of a tongue. Moving his head past the foot, he saw another Gerudo, but this one wore no weapon of choice, and was dressed in a silken suit of white that showed no parts, aside her appendages. That, however, didn't mean she wasn't dangerous. Navi was about to pounce with a blinding attack, but something told the boy to stop, so he calmed her down and cupped her inside of hands.

She must have noticed him doing something with his hands, maybe a magic spell, perhaps, so she reached in for a hit to the throat. Pushing himself backward, the boy caught his feet guard, and threw himself backwards a few more feet. Reaching for his sword, the boy stopped and watched the unarmed woman, he had some honor. No, he wouldn't attack the woman without a weapon, but holding the sword steadily in his hands, he backed away from her. Meanwhile the commotion was around, Navi slipped back behind Link and drifted off towards the waterfall.

With a gasp, he realized his fairie had deserted him. Turning around to call out her name, he was greeted with a swift kick to the back, surely would have knocked him out, had it not been for the shield. Luckily, he just pushed him to the ground, which he greeted with pushing his hands back and flipping him upwards. Landing upon his feet, the blade aimed steadily behind her, the boy nodded a quick few steps and watched her. No, she didn't seem to be going a where now, seems she underestimated a warrior, and you were to never do that (even if it was a child.)

A few minutes of yelling for Navi, his front form never leaving the Gerudo's nasty eyes, and keeping her at bay with some of the few rumbles, had really tuckered the boy out. Crying out once more, Navi returned to his side with something concealed behind her back, so he didn't see when she slipped it inside of his pocket and a clinking sound chimed. Immediately he knew what the sound was, that was the sound of a fourth of a container clicking together. That meant that the whole heart was completed, and when that happened, well, we will just see.

Ki-ing a deep blue, the boy sheathed down his sword and ran right at the Gerudo. It seemed these surges not only increased his stamina, speed, and strength, but also gave him the capabilities of something far past his normal extents, when it was charging up. That poor thief tried to throw a punch at him, which he parried by flying back against a wall, and bottle rocketing into her chin with his fist. Not aiming to break, he nicked it, causing her to break down in pain. While the girl was tending to her face, Link hit her in the side of the head with his hilt. Reclaiming the sword into the scabbard, he saw nothing else of interest and did the only normal thing to do: dive in.

--------------------

Navi resumed her position at his head while he fought the Gerudo, you see, she had heard the hollow trinkets of the waterfall on their way down, which only had to meant there was some hole carved in there. Taking her natural instincts for granted, she flew behind the waterfall and landed right upon a ladder that led up to the human-carved hole. Certainly not made by erosion, the block concealed a hidden brown chest that hid upon the fourth heart piece they would discover. Fluttering back to the one she protected, she handed him the piece and viewed the battle with astounded ability. The view upon his face made her beam with her own little ambition, yea, the journey out here was not just a waste of time, it was relaxation and collection four extra heart pieces sure helped the boy and her in their quest to defeat Ganondorf. From her guess, Link was nine times as strong as when he arrived, not that he was nine Kokiiri boys put together, more like he was strong as a nineteen-year-old Hylian would was.

Not even bothering to test out her own ability, she guarded the enemy, but gave no tips on how to beat the Gerudo. I mean, it wasn't hard to be an undefended woman, who was deadly nevertheless, but had to be taken care of so not to report down to her comrades. How she got down here and how she got back up was still a mystery to Navi, maybe she was an outsider? If she had been an outsider, she would have greeted them pleasantly, but no, she just had to attack them with the ferociousness. From Navi's guess, she was the Gerudo farmed of some sort, that would explain the huge cow right where she stood, a crate, and a small soaked patch of where seeds would go.

When she went to plant the seeds down inside of the patch, without Link's understanding, she heard a splash and feared the worst. The guard must have jumped in for help! Retracting around, she heard Link call her name out in a boyish laughter, pointing for her to follow him. Clutching the newly tied bag of seeds together, the fairie went after the boy. Yes, she almost caught up with him, before the water seemed to disappear, or was it dip down? A scream erupted, then a splash as Link sailed down a miniature waterfall. He was spluttering when Navi caught up with him, nestling upon his shoulder, chuckling silently.

When he finally returned back to breathing in oxygen, instead of the usual aquatic features, the boy looked over to his fairie and gave her a quiet slap on the face. She cried out loud, staring at him, holding her sore mouth with a bit of hurt in her face. Pulling a finger forward, he stroked the cheek softly, not really patting her so hard, it was just a punishment of payback for not telling him of those 'little' adventures on the rapids. Almost reading his mind, the fairie nodded and slunk down inside of his hat, which was the driest place for all. Storing those seeds with her, so not to fall out since he couldn't reach his side belt in these conditions, the fairie drifted down the sleep as Link dealt with the rapids.

And what a dealing it was! Link spent the next three hours dodging rocks, not that there were many, closing his eyes for the impact of the waterfalls, and drifting along in the loneliness of the world. It really gave him a good chance to think of some things, gave him the chances to study his options when the quest was over. Gotta get the third stone first, dummy. His mind pointed out to him in a matter-of-fact tone. Shrugging sheepishly, the boy dodged one more rock for what seemed the thousandth time.

How was he going to end this, were they going back the Kokiiri Forest to live? Man, why do I think like that, I am already banned from there, I would be living in the Lost Woods for my life. There were other options, he could stay with the Gorons, but those beasts had hugged too much. Ever since Link had been named the 'Dodongo Buster.' (Which they said with so much prides, it was gloating) the child got hugs from every type of Gorons. A Goron hug was not a very nice hug to compensate with in the matter of his already weakened bones.

Maybe stay with the Princess? Not that was a nice thought, he could stay with the Princess (even though he didn't particularly find her as his favorite person, she seemed to know too much), but the chance to train with Impa-sama was a great honour. When it came right down to it, she was his first and only sensei (unless you count the fairies, which he didn't, they just gave him the technique coordinates, anyone could do that.) He would deal with Zelda-sama, it wasn't that he didn't like her, she was pretty and all, it was just that he decided the King wouldn't want a boy a junior to his daughter living in his castle.

If I go ahead and rescue this princess, maybe here? He did enjoy fish a lot, and the fishing arena was a fun place to be. With the new scale he would have no problem staying here, and catching his own food. That was a mistake for staying with the Gorons, they made him food from the Dodongo's, but after those were gone they went back to eating rocks. His pearly whites just couldn't suffer that sort of damage from eating those hard rambles of dirt. Zoras were as good as any place as this, unless the Kokiiri could be reasoned with and understood he didn't do anything to harm them or the Deku Tree.

Maybe the Gerudos? That one gave a short laugh, he hadn't even told the Gerudos what he was and he was already dealing with their antics. Not to mention their king was the enemy of his, maybe if he killed Ganondorf then he would become the King of the Gerudos? Not a fancy title, there would be no one to mess with him, though Link didn't think he was King-material. Most likely, he would be a visitor to the forest and a drifter from town to town, maybe a mercenary of some sort? It was a sad destiny, but at least he would have his companion at his side, he would be with her forever. That was a reassurance that made him consider himself very lucky for her.

Then that other question pondered his mind, the one he had been trying to knock back for all eternity. Why was Navi so different? It is like she had changed over the time they met from the present day today, looking back on the days, he couldn't count how many. Maybe he should have brought a journal to record his history for some tales that would be told hundreds of years from the present day. Link just couldn't understand her behavior, she was different, but not in a bad way, she just seemed to get overzealous of him. The lad didn't understand why women thought he was cute; maybe it was a gift or maybe a curse, and all he understood was Navi.

Communication was different from them, sometimes it was like they could read each other's minds, and known what the other one was thinking. Yet, in this case she had some sort of mind block upon him, and just claimed that she didn't want to lose him to any of those other pretty girls. Did that mean that she thought that he-- nah, she wouldn't think of that, Navi was pretty, but she was just a fairie. They didn't--or did they have feelings like that? Staring up from his nostalgia, he noticed he was not drifting down the Gerudo River anymore, how he was sitting at the base of Lake Hylia with his waist pressed against the edge.

Four hours had actually passed by the time he found the entrance that led back to the Zora's domain, the reason that he had delayed somewhat for the heart pieces, and the fact that later on he discovered himself. When he had found himself lying on the beach, he would later discover that he had been lying on the side of the Lake Hylia for thirty minutes. Another factor was finding the entrance, without the slumbering fairies help, was going to be hard work. Link doubted they would start the dungeon today, he was just too tired to even consider venturing inside the belly of a beast.

Ruto would just have to wait another day that was the answer when Link swam inside of the door to the Zorians, pounded upon it with a message for the King, and was promptly let inside. After making his way from the curious squeals of some Zoras (including the guard, plus the sultry one), the boy was let through to the Zorian King. Now, he would have been down there too in a heartbeat, except the fact that he couldn't move. When Link went up to the platform and yanked out a letter made in the paper of the Zoras, the king was ecstatic.

"W-who is that from, young warrior?" Balling the letter up, Link chunked it up at the King, who caught it with a slick flipper. Even though the Kokiiri and his fairie couldn't decipher the message runic very well, the king was done in three minutes and proudly announced it to Link and Navi (whom had just been pushed from her early slumber by the tiring Link, whose lids needed the rest even more.)

"It says this "Please help me, I am trapped inside of Jabu Jabu's belly. Please hurry, and don't tell my father.' Her signature are there, which looks authentic, but the strange thing is that she can't conduct these sort of runic in her schooling lessons yet. It is either the opposition of Ganondorf, or he wrote the note to tease us, for we might never find it and that is where the princess has gone."

"Was her time to feed Jabu when she disappeared?" Navi blurted sleepily, wiping her eyes a bit, reclining upon Link as support from her nearly unconscious body, yet she heard the whole conversation in whole. Thank the Goddess' for the long elven ears, Eh?

"Why, when you mention it, it was her time! Oh dear me, Jabu Jabu must have been poisoned like your poor guardian and now instead of the contents being evil, he is evil instead." He was shifting his weight back and forth, when suddenly his eyes fixated upon Link. "You will go and rescue her tomorrow, or tonight? Please, let it be as soon as possible, I am ready for my daughter's safe return and I know you are ready for your present."

"Tomorrow, dear king, my partner here has been to the Gerudo Valley today looking for clues your daughter's disappearance, I think he deserves a nights rest and a full meal tomorrow, what do you say?"

"Well, of course, and when you bring her back we shall have a feast in your honour. Now, go on and eat your meal for tonight, I will have you some freshly cooked fish in the morning. Also, I want you to keep that bottle forever, it is sort of a reward. Be sure before you visit the domain of Jabu Jabu that you put a fish and water in there. The Lord would never let you into his bowels without an offering, at least for the past few weeks he hasn't.

"You actually travel inside him, how big is this guy!" -Leaning against one of the unlit torches, Link was trying to brave the conscious world, yet trying to listen to his next mission objectives, too.

"You'll see. Ah, look at you, poor thing." Clapping his fins together, two guards suddenly appeared out of no where and bowed for him to serve. When he pointed towards the tired child and his guardians, they nodded and helped him down the stairs to a hidden room in the caves, this is where a small bed was positioned, only one for him and her. There he was promptly tucked into the bed by some female Zora, stripped of his tunic and left in the bed in his undergarments for the time being.

A few minutes later, the fairie and the boy were fed a hearty meal of Octopus, probably the kind he saw a few days ago, but nevertheless he gulped it down in three portions (followed by the cleanest water he ever laid eyes upon.) While the things put him to sleep and Navi also, the crew of women came in and stripped him down to nothing. Sinking him from the bed, he was promptly given a bath and washed from all his dirty scars upon the young body. Returned to his bed in a pair of new undergarments, his tunic was replaced with sheen on it. The sheen was that sort of like the one Saria had put on for waterproof action, yet this one would be permanent and actually work in all situations.

Having replaced all his nuts and sticks with new ones, the side pack and satchel were emptied (not searched), and replaced with identical ones that were just as dry. Shield was washed and polished, along with the beautiful sword they revoked over. The Faroeians got the sword, while they got the water, why would the children have the dagger anyway? The Zorians had a magical triton that was sealed up, but who knew what the Gorons had. Finally when all the action died down, all his clothes and materials were aligned along his bedside (a fish in water in the new bottle), while the second empty one was poured with some elixir.

Commotion had finally ceased once and for all, that night he slept as sound as a baby did. He would never sleep like that again, maybe there were some weird weeds in the water, or the fish was toxin for his sleeping ordains. Whatever the case, he loved the sleep, for the nightmares were not there that night, all he dreamt of were things he used to dream of as a kid: fighting monsters, being a winner, and winning the girls, as in the story books. Except instead of Mido being the monster this time and Saria being the beautiful princess, there were two new characters in the plot. Ganondorf was the monster, and not Zelda, but Navi took the position as the beautiful damsel.

His dreams were sound and soft, as were hers. Though they never spoke of them, they both could be heard during most nights screaming and crying in their sleeps. It was torture, but relief when her own nightmares were gone from her. It had to be some special potion from the Zorians, which they wished they could thank with all the rubies in the world. Her dreams differed from hers, it wasn't a hero play, but that of a romantic, and the two together were as you guessed it: Link and Navi. The whole world was blown up, except them two, and they had to restart the population of the world. With the two slumbering beauties down, they had no idea what awaited them.

During the middle of the night, the Zorians returned and put the dried clothes upon the boy. Also, since the veil was off, Navi's clothes were washed and redone. Her body even washed, although they knew it didn't need it, when she would awake she would be as refreshed as the boy was the next day. As the Zorians left for the night, there are another slumber awakening, yet this one wasn't met with such a potion. This one was met with nightmares, belonging to a beautiful princess, her guardian holding her through the tears of pain. Elixirs like this weren't offered to the Hylians, for no one knew they had such dreams (psychic dreams, they did have, but never discussed them.)

--------------------

No repentance came about the fallen night, only a few hours passed. Abruptly they both awoke refitted, relaxed, and nurtured as if they were royalties. Being fed breakfast in bed didn't really seem to help the situation of being spoiled, either. After finishing his meal of fish eggs (a bland taste to them) some broiled fish, and fresh spring water; he was led to the King's chamber for one last talk with him. The talk didn't last long; the king basically explained what was going to be going on in Jabu's mouth, or his hypothesis.

He said he expected it to be a long and cruel journey, that he might spend as much as a day inside the creature, yet there was no worry, for a specific room was located inside of Jabu Jabu where they could rest the night. When Link questioned where this room was, the king flustered and began to dig through out his royal garments for something. Questioningly, Navi asked what he was looking for, yet the man ignored her and spoke something in his Zora language. After two calls to guards, they located a firm brown piece of paper, which one of them handed to the boy.

"A map?" Navi spoke up, while Link sat on the ground, spreading the small map on his lap.

"Yes, that is a map of Jabu Jabu."

"We've usually found these in the main area we were searching, before, I mean."

"Well, consider yourselves lucky, there might be a chest in there with a map, but I am helping you out so you can find the room. The room isn't located on that map, because it is so old and updated."

"Jabu created this room, then? How long ago, right before he changed." Link blurted out, clasping the map. He had seen a room that quite a while away, marked by some red ink, taking that for the room.

"No, three years ago he created if for when we would journey in him and get lost, we could always sleep there. There are some of our own supplies, so you don't have to sleep on his skin. Anyway, the venture will be tough, but I am sure you will get through it."

"Are there any enemies we should be worried about."

"There are no Youma around." The King clasped his fins together, nodding with himself. "At least, that is the last time we were in there."

"Youma, what are you--"

"Monsters, Link, it's the Zorian language, I know that much." Navi inquired, she couldn't speak the language, but knew a few odds and ends from the Deku library that Deku Tree had for the children, or fairies to study.

"You are correct, little fairie. Youma are monsters, but the last time we went in there it was empty. Now, you received a fish last night when you slept, did you not?" Not waiting for a response, because he had seen that it was put in there, the fish went on. "I want you to offer it to Jabu Jabu-sama. You see, there is a large ceremonial platform where people stand and talk to him, or offer him meals as thanks. Offer him a fish and his mouth shall open, not matter how cursed he maybe, he still eats."

"Yes, sir. I shall do it, now where is this Jabu?" He clasped the map and slipped it into his belt. The past maps were now thrown away, the compasses also (or compass), since they no longer worked whenever they left the dungeon. He had tried one on the outside area towards Death Mountain, but the stupid thing malfunctioned with all cost together. Maybe they were paired with magic that kept them there, maybe they returned? All he knew, was that his was sitting on Death Mountain trail, probably being pummeled by ten of hundreds nasty rocks. No compass was offered to them, so he figured that either the fish didn't have one, didn't want to give one, or didn't know there was a compass in there. Not taking it at rudeness, they looked onto the king who began to shift.

First time he had moved in the days they had met, the huge fish shifted from the right over to the left. He only moved an inch at a time (after each shift the gates he was behind showed a clear path open.) Finally, ten minutes later, after Link was sitting on the floor and waiting, Zora got over as far as he could and contended himself back, by rubbing his robes. Sitting up, the boy dashed up the long case that led up to where the King was. To Link's surprise, the man wasn't holding back a waterfall, but it was just an area with so much few water, he thought the place where Jabu was must have been drained completely. Turning his head towards the boy, the Zora royalty smiled a fishy smile.

"Now be careful. I seem to like you, young man, and don't want you getting yourself killed on account of my daughter. I would normally send one of my guards, but they seem to be weaker than you!" Bellowing out in a guffaw of laughter, he beat upon his chest with a precedence never to do that again. Clearing that gilled throat, he looked down at the boy with a sense of seriousness. "You are a skilled warrior, train yourself well, and succeed. Then you shall receive the my jewel."

Nodding an approval of thanks, the boy took off down into the darkness that led to a lighter edge. The Zora's words rang true in his mind, for he had never gotten such pleasure from going on one of these missions, what I mean was he usually was pushed into it. In the Kokiiri's case, he was pushed to be a true hero, in Daruina's matter, it was a survival bet, but this one was different in so many ways. This case gave him a feeling of content, that if he failed and found Ruto-sama dead, that the man would not kill him. Although, if he failed, he would want the king to kill him, he'd fell as if he betrayed himself to get so mad over a stupid stone.

When the light escaped from the darkness, Link was astounded to find that the rocks had disappeared. Hell, even the domain structure had disappeared, and what took its place was nothing short of a fountain. No, nothing was spewing about, or like the fairy's fountains, but the place stretched out about tens miles (not that Link had to swim that far. Wading through shallow water, he found the holy ceremonial platform that the king had spoken of, but he hadn't thought have been how big Jabu was.

Four pillars stretched out on each corner of the square-shaped ceremony, and the whole thing seamed to be made of rocked, yet runic of the Zorian language outstretched the entire full. At the end of the platform, near was a small barrier, Link walked up towards it and stared down at the runics. Yes, just like the letter, they were, for they changed in the form of the language he could read, his home language, Kokiirish. Kneeling before the platform, he reached inside of his weapon pack and pulled out a bottle, reading the inscription to Navi aloud.

Those who want to enter the sacred fish;

Give what a fish blessed by the holy king.

Only then shouldst thee receive an opening;

To the great beyond of an open sea.

"Open the bottle, Link, and I guess he'll open his mouth." Navi retorted, glaring around at the barrier. It was actually nothing there, no fish, nothing at all. Stretching across the left for a few miles, he caught the sight of a cave that lifted up eleven feet in the air. At his near right was a huge slab of rock that was at least a mile far, with trees extending off the horizon up to the rocky exterior. Link thought it was yet again a part of the Death Mountain trail, those mountains seemed to dominant the entire structure of Hyrule. Far off to the left, only a distance in the being, was a short island, but that was all he could see. It had to be right near the end of the fountain, for he couldn't view the full extent of it, only a gargantuan tree in the far-reach.

"Is he under the water, Navi?"

"Yea, I imagine so." It may have been shallow until they reached the platform, but when they reached after it, the water took a sudden dunk in depth. Staring over the edge of his ground, he considered he couldn't see the bottom of the fountain, it was not as deep as Lake Hylia, (he couldn't go some places in Hylia, because they were under six meters), but it gave the domain quite a challenge. Smiling a bit, he reached out for the bottle and popped the cork upon the bottle.

With a flip of the wrist, the fish fell upon the ground in a splash of water. Since the bottle wasn't that deep, the water soon evaporated in the hot sun, while the fish began to wiggle on the ground. Quite a sad sight, but with in two minutes the un-evolved Zora was dead as a doornail. Ten minutes flew by in a flash, the boy growling as he kicked the fish to the edge of the platform. It almost went in, which would have been bad, for no fish resided down in here (except the slumbering Jabu.) Crossing his arms about his waist, the boy sat down upon the ground and got into a waiting stance.

Fluttering near his shoulder, she listened in silence with him, because she knew what he was doing: he was searching for something, trying to hear a tremble, or a rumble in the oceanic floor. Nothing at all came about this, but more grumbling from the boy. Ten sixty seconds passed by their eyes, before the last wisp of power came out, it seemed it took quite a while for the scent to come to the bottom of ocean. Good enough for him, for soon he was back on his feet, grinning a little bit. Rumbling went on for the next three minutes, obviously the ascent to the floor, and then a shadow appeared right above the surface. Seeing it from his feet away, he gasped at the momentous size of it, that made anything he had ever seen disappear from his head.

Great Deku Tree-sama rivaled the beast, rising above it in height in length, yet that was a few eons old tree, and this was a fish. Finally when the monstrous beast jumped out of the ocean, landing its head upon the end of the platform, it breathed in the scent of the fish and searched around it with pupated eyes. The beast had to at least be one hundred and sixty feet tall, its total weight was so astronomical he couldn't begin to guess at it. Flushing, the face was right near him, so he could study the monster in its full view. This had to have been the God of the Zoras, but he thought that they worshipped the Goddesses, yet maybe it was like Daruina and Deku Tree, a symbol.

Pale skin of the other Zoras did show that it was atlas half the Zora, maybe a full one, since he saw not a bit of Hylian in it. The pale skin stopped until it reached near the head, where hundred of rows of aquamarine scales aligned its his right down to the top of the tail that flapped tidal waves about. To see the view, the boy jumped back a few feet, catching Navi even further back than him. Giving a cute smile, he nodded and motioned for her to come over by his side, and finally when she did, he looked back to the beast to study it.

Right on the bridge of his nose was a golden chastise of some kind. What it meant was a grown endowed inside of his head, so that it could never be taken off, but it was known that the thing wasn't naturally made. This crown was aligned with hundreds of jewels in front, diamonds at the very most, then near the sides were rubies and emeralds. The 'crown' stopped right about where his neck was, and then that was it for its royalty. No pupils were in his eyes, just bulbous orbs that rocked inches from their sockets.

A fish backed from the platform and peered at the smaller fish, but it was strange, since the creature had never laid eyes upon a Hylian before. When the King came out to visit, they never called Jabu to rest, for he was always too busy slumbering and eating (his hibernation time was seven months a year.) Sniffing the food with great interest, instead of sucking the small fish up and opening its mouth, he raised his mouth as much as it could go, inhaling deep with great pleasure. What it thought, since the thing had fish scent on it, was that this was some sort of new breed of fish for him to taste. Sliding down his throat, the fish did, but it didn't stop there, for it began to breathe deeper and deeper for the bigger object to slither in.

"It's gonna eat me!" Squealing, Link jumped up and began to run back towards the domain. No, he would get the Zorian King to open up, but there was no way he was going to be chewed up by some smelly old fish. Crying out when his legs stopped moving, he was lifted up in the air and sucked backwards, peering Navi off to the side, her wings begging her useless. Gripping the tiny fairie, he stuck her between her paws so if they did survive those teeth, they wouldn't be separated. Yea, a stupid little thought, but it was better than succumbing to the inevitable, he knew he was going to be sucked in.

No chi magic would work upon this beast, so Link just curled himself up into a ball and gave into the darkness. The air pressure made his ears pop, as what had happened on the owl, only difference was that in the air he had been asleep, not he was in pain and crying out. Clawing upon his ears, he entered near the mouth, yet he noticed that Jabu's mouth wasn't descending shut. Maybe it was a twist a fate, irony, or just pure dumb luck, but as Link was sucked in, his face broke out into a grin, yes, he was not going to be eaten. Saying that same verse as the boy and his fairie were suckled inside, the mouth clasping shut after it.

In actuality, the fish was more of a whale. Not that it was mammal, but it ate like a whale, for it didn't chew up anything that was knocked into its system, the antibodies were for that, but instead swallowed it whole. The fish, if being normal, would have caught the scent of the Hylian and stopped its actions, also the scent of the fairie, but something was very wrong with this Jabu. It's expression was different, a emotionless aura came about it, as if it was being killed from the inside, maybe it was, or being ready to be killed. This was the punishment of Dragmire, or so it seemed, nothing could escape it, and nothing was going to let the food out.

--------------------

Fish of the Zorians was sucked all the way down to the stomach, where acid poured upon it, knocking it down into proteins; the same would have been for Link, if he hadn't grabbed the piece of skin right before the mouth closed. Hanging upon the gums, the boy waited until all the passageways of Jabu's body closed, before letting go and falling in some sort of liquid. Liquid? That couldn't be good. Leaping up, he brushed the liquid off his tunic (the special power kicking in and drying instantly.) Giving a satisfactory nod, the boy crossed his arms across his chest, opening a palm to let Navi out, and looked about.

Pink was an understatement of the room. This chamber in what Link guessed to be his mouth consisted of gums all around the entire room, all pink, red near the top, and purple at the roof. Wading about the water, the boy looked back to his fairie questionably, there were no enemies about, which had quite frightened Link. Maybe they were smarter this time, had more stealth skills, and were just waiting for him to come about? Halting all movement, he gave a quick warrior's signal, and continued to explore his situation.

There was some sort of door up ahead, looked like it was made of a thick flab of skin, but no door or recognition that they were even going to get inside the room. Near the door were a few harmless bubbles, so he ignored them for now, but also near the door was dry land, as he was in the wetlands for now. Staring up at the violet ceiling, a piece of a tooth was hanging about, rotten with plaque and yellow crust upon it. Shivering, he was interrupted from his thoughts by Navi's screams.

She couldn't remember their names, but when the Octaroks appeared out of the deep end of the water, she had nothing more to do than scream. Yelling out his name with passion, she knew he wasn't going to make it, for that nasty ball of phlegm was already headed for Link's sweet young face. Firing out a chi ball, it flew through the ball, making it explode into hundreds of pieces, but it didn't stop there. No, not at all, the straight lance of energy went through the mucus and into the head of the evil octopus. Squealing in pure pain, it soon fell over dead, as its face was slowly disintegrated into ashes. The corpse slumped over to the ground, as its brother saw the action, firing a mucus ball at them.

However, Link was ready, bouncing the ball upon his sword with direct accuracy. Navi noting mentally that before this journey, he probably couldn't balance a rock upon his sword, now throwing balls off with the dull end of a sword. When it clicked with ball, it reflected back and smashed back into the face of the octopus. Not like last time, so it gave Link the distraction he needed, and while it fumed at that he moved in for a vertical strike. Throwing himself off the ground, he trusted fate and landed down with the strike right at the base of its head and slid down to the end of its groin.

Rolling forward, past the damage, and upon the dry land, the boy gave out a laugh, while behind him the thing brushed air of submission, blood pouring down its crown, glowing eyes, and through its mouth. Sinking into the only deep end in the saliva--yes, saliva, the thing sunk down towards the underworld with its sibling. Navi brushed past him, noticing the bubbles had turned from innocent floating, towards a mad rush at him, gasping, she was about to call out his name, but Link saw the bubbles and charged at them in a light rage.

Striking the first one, it popped on impact, but threw Link up against the side of Jabu's mouth when he came in close contact. Gasping in the pain of the impact, the boy sheathed his sword and tried to go for a different impact of choice. Five other bubbles were in a line, hurling towards of them; originally there were eight, though. Looking over, she saw that Navi had cleaned two bubbles off in a quick chi ball. Grinning, he flipped back, right near the door while the slingshot pulled out for battle.

Firing off a shot at the center of the bubble, it imploded inside of itself, no scream of pain, or even realization that it was alive. If he had to guess, the bubbles were inanimate before, but had been possessed by Ganondorf's evil magic. Seeing them directly behind each other, there were only two shots fired next, for each shot took two of them down at once with the right pressure applied to the seed. Finally, when the creatures had deceased their presence, he looked over towards the wall, calling out for Navi.

"What were those?"

"Shaboms, they are normal bubbles that have been corrupted. Feel no pain at all, like marionettes."

"You…you pity them?"

"But of course, having no soul at all." Smiling briefly, her aura reappeared around herself, and she flew up to the tooth with a bit of fascination.

"Hey! Is that a tonsil, or something!"

"No! Looks like a lymph node, but I sense no activity in it. Shoot it with a sling!" Flaring back to him, she landed upon his shoulder, watching with that eager presentation. If her accusation was correct, this may have been some sort switch that would open the pathway to the rooms. It seemed right, since there would be none of those switches you stepped on down here, as in the previous dungeons. Dungeons, that was a nice name for these places, they certainly weren't any utopias. Her mind sank back to the scene as Link fired a seed upon the lymph with bad accuracy, missing the node.

"Missed, dang it! One more time." Pulling back, aiming right below with the band of the slingshot, he fired forward and sliced the shot with perfect accuracy. Grinning, he slipped the sling into the side of his belt (he thought he might need it later), and while doing that heard a sloshing sound. Spinning around, hand upon the hilt, he saw that the skin upon the passageway had split into four pieces and spread out into nothing, leaving an open path for the boy. Unsheathing his sword, the boy walked forward the few feet and stepped through the deep dark corridor. It seemed that the further he got in these missions, every door was usually dark.

Fortunately, this one was only a few seconds, since the skin wasn't that thick around the ridges. It opened up to a large piece of land connected to the fleshy underbrush of its insides. No, not land maybe a piece of dried crust? Oh, this place was making Link nauseous, so walking to the small section, off to his write was nothing at all; it was as if the land to the right had been stripped off to a lower level. Peering over the edge, all he saw was darkness, maybe the stomach acids were down there? Whatever it was, he didn't want to be in the shadowy abyss. Clearing his throat softly, he turned around the study the cross-shaped room that seemed to have been ill tempered with, finally giving out the judgement that all was well here. Boxes were situated around the room, obviously things Jabu had swallowed, but nothing else resided in the air except particles of blue forming together.

"Link, what're those?" Pattering about the area of the tiny water particles forming, Navi stared at them with a deep interest in her stern gaze. Not only blue, but also violet, other cool colours were surrounded in the underneath. Giving a slight shrug to the boy, not waiting for an awnser to his question, she turned back, crossing her arms about her chest in a frustrating manner. Not knowing whether to run, attack, or leave it be, the study of evolution had baffled her this morning. Just as she was about to turn back to Link and fly over, a popping sound approached, as if the space and time warp had been vexed.

Solvating in spinning, the fairie turned a three hundred and sixty-degree angle, dashing back towards Link's side with a screech of fear. What had appeared was only a tiny little creature (soft and gooey), with a few tentacles stretching out in eight different directions. No eyes or any inanimate objects on the other sea creatures, this one didn't seem to acknowledge its own existence that was until it noticed Link. Fluttering through the air, the jellyfish's watery exterior seemed at a slow pace, picking it up whenever a current out small air would wish through the body. It would have made it too, but the child was faster, smarter, and more refluxed with fighting, so the thing never stood a chance.

Plunging in quite rage, the hilt of the sword was the only part visible when it sank into the creature that could have fit in the palm of both of Link's hands. Now, that should have been the end of it, the jellyfish was supposed to have split in up different directions, dying of blood loss, but one thing noticed is that Hyrule had no beaches. As a rule of the beach, the jellyfish was a stinging invertebrate, so what did that mean? It meant that the retracted metal was really going to give the poor boy the shock of his life into the animal kingdom, where he was ready for it or not. Navi hadn't even thought of scanning the creature, so it was to both their surprises when Link collapsed on the wet exterior of the body.

It wasn't even known how many volts of electricity burst through the boy, certainly not enough to kill him, or even that much of a electric eel. These little jellyfish were small, so they couldn't hold that much electricity at one that, which was to Link's quick advantage, when he collapsed on the ground with a scream echoing through the second section of the legendary Zorian God. Slinging the sword off to the right (slicing into the wall, making vile green blood slosh about and the room violently shake), his hands curled around his chest, throwing some bile up. Rolling away from the stink, the boy was on his knees, trying to sit himself up as Navi flew back and forth across his body checking him over.

"What happened, Link!" No answer was given, so she slapped his face, making only quick few mumbles escape. Growling, a fist slammed into his jaw, knocking him out of the misery trip. Shaking his head a little, he tried to stand up a little, failing in the process, only to wet his waterproof tunic a little more. What's worse was the creature (which after checking was called Biris) wasn't like a honeybee when it strung, that monster was only a few feet from him.

"Get away from him!" Shooting off a few manna shots, they bounced off the Biris electrical barrier that surrounded it, it seemed after each shock it grew a little and little more stronger. Standing her ground behind the boy, she began to fire off blind spells (which was pointless, the thing had no eyes!) All that resulted in was sudden stopping movements of the jellyfish, a quick glance around the room, and coming back. This only drained her own manna, but nevertheless she continued to launch the missiles at the creature. Coming just two feet before the fairie, she squealed and dived against Link's chest, hearing the heaving beatings of his rapid heard. This is it, one more shock like that and he's dead! He'll die and then I'll be ne-- Her thoughts cut off when the Biris gave out a squeal of pain.

--------------------

"Stupid creature." Bending over to the ground, he hawked out another load of bile, losing the beautiful breakfast he had given in for this morning, splintering his foot supplies. Backing away from the mess of bile, a triumphant smirk formed around his lips, watching the slithering Biris struggle to get up off the Deku stick that was impaled inside of it. Onto of the stick was a bomb, so as he gathered a few feet away, holding Navi to his chest, the explosion inquired leaving only charred remains, when the spoke cleared. As Navi had been despairing over death, Link had gotten to thinking about the simple fact of science. The metal made the friction occur, so he got it in his head to use the Deku Stick instead of the sword, sure it was now in nothing, but they had escaped the perils of the jellyfish. Moving up on his feet, the boy reached into his satchel and took out three heart containers, consuming them one after another. Gasping in the refreshes, he grabbed one of those magic tubes and threw it at Navi.

She caught it with some ease, drinking half of the liter bottle and launching it back at him. When he had secured the bottle safely into his satchel, the boy looked over at her with a grin painted upon his face. Quick thinking is what had saved him, the barrier had been obvious, for when the electricity had formed, it seemed that thing hadn't shot anything off in quite a while, why wouldn't it conduct a small magic barrier? What no one accounted on was a Goron's special crop in its face. Watching her expression of amazement, he recounted on how he had figured out the simple problem in the thirty seconds they had to react to the situation.

Embarrassment caught the fairie, usually thinking she was the one that was hardened in the fast situations, happy, but disappointed that she was outlasted by her guarded. Did he need guarding anymore, was he capable on his own, now? That answer was given when he threw up once more, whining out like a small infant, so quickly returning to his side, she forced him to drink another heart container to relieve the sickness from his body. Resting only thirty minutes, the boy was up again, and on his way by the time forty five-minutes had passed (getting up was hard, his legs had been numb, so he had to walk them off.)

Across the corner, they ran into another Biris, but with a simple stab of the Deku Stick, and smashing its brains (or whatever was up there) in, he found out his shoes didn't conduct electric currents too, luckily, they had rested in a dry spot, or he would've been shocked. While taking his energy to come back, they had discovered another fleshy door to the right, where the land was cut off, but no way to reach it without plummeting to their doom. Deciding to take the chance of another door, their luck ran in, when another fleshy door was right in the room of this one. Grinning, he gave another look about the room for any signs of Princess Ruto, frowning with a start and slipped through the thin semi-darkened room.

--------------------

H-how dare he, how dare he do this, the only punishment was death! The young female cried out at another one of those weird jellyfish appeared before her, shocking her wet body with the something of a grin of sodomy placed on it. It was stupid to think that, but she couldn't help it, when it came in contact with her pale, naturally wet skin. It was a much stronger current than what of the boy in the back room wood of felt was. Ruto would have gone searching for someone, she needed help, she needed it bad, but she was just too afraid to leave this room, but there were jellyfish here! Plus, the fact that the rooms were locked around her, as if concealing her from the rest of the world.

Occasionally a huge Jellyfish would appear out of nowhere, but she would hide under the many layers of fat to escape most of the Jelly fish, that's why this room was so good, there were layers of room to hide from them, the jellies couldn't sniff you out. As luck would have it, though, this one had seen one of her arms lying out from the last night of famished starvation. Sure, the fish could survive for weeks at a time, but how long had she been in this once-playground? A week, maybe a week in a half, there was no way to get out a message for help, so maybe they would notice the lord's strange behavior and investigate.

All she could think of was how that Dragmire was going to pay with his life, when she got out of here, she was the only who convinced her father to keep the stone (she'd have to marry him one day!) Shivering at the thought of marrying out of her race, she had always found Hylians, Gerudos, and the other race with the small ears to be a bit of a drag, most were too stupid in their honour to actually show bravery. All were usually stupid, running to fight a dragon with only a metal sword and shield, I mean, really! The possibility she was just looking over the stereotypical Hylian, but then why would they write those stories if they weren't true, those were history lessons, after all, or she regard them as it.

Hylians she could stand to be around, Gerudos were different on the other hand. She had seen only one other Gerudo in her life, a few weeks before Ganondorf came around, some Gerudo tried to attack the palace, it was really sad because the ratio of people were 1 thief to 10 Zoras. The Zorians may not have had an army like the Hylians, but they sure as well had their guards in such respectful duties. The King didn't believe in knighting guards (for they were all equally important in his eyes), so a guard was trained just as well as a Hylian knight would have been, receiving the extensive spear training.

Now here she was, curled under a layer of fat, her arms wrapped around herself in a quick ball, while this damned jellyfish kept pulling its tentacle under the small hole. A hole that had formed when he crawled in, poking her little fanny with it, making each shock more unbeatable than the next, sure she had only had a few of them, but they hurt so much. Squealing in pain from one that just occurred, she wished she had her stone, then she could bash its brains in with the flip of a wrist, but she just had have gone to lose it! Why couldn't she have worn something with pockets, well, it was known the Zoras were always known, since they could hide their genitalia, yet she wished she had had a bag or something.

Unbeknownst to her, the same feeding situation with Link had happened to her; she had been playing around with the Zora God, feeding it a fish, which is usually lapped up sweetly. Yet this new Jabu had gulped her up in quick second, her jewel swirling through the air-flowing holes and falling down to where the stomach acids were. Sure, there were nothing in the world that could burn or melt her stone, but it was the thought that counted, she hated that her stone was gone! Disappeared in the blink of an eye, and now she was sitting her crying over some stupid tentacle. Crying out again, the cry drowned out the fleshy pop that only happened when a door was being opened. Her Hylian ears perked up a bit, hearing the squeals of five Biris, almost not containing herself when she jumped out of the hole, her face deadening with terror.

--------------------

"Oh, no, not again." Slapping her forehead, the third they came upon was empty upon first vial, just a huge room with some swirling holes on the bottom, actually reminding Navi of those quicksand pits mentioned in the old stories of the desert, since she had never been out there. She had decided to leave Link alone while flying out to the scan the area, coming upon some Biris, which resulted in her yell towards the boy. Yet, that wasn't the worst of it, the worst was something she didn't even know what it was. At the right end of the box-shaped room was a green tentacle of some sort poking up against the end, hiding a hole. Whatever was there, seemed to be where they needed to be, and after a few manna shots, she saw that wasn't going to happen anytime soon.

"What's up?" Jogging past the sticky holes, almost getting drained down one, Link appeared by her side and looked up at the hole with a bit of disinterest. It didn't seem like a monster, for from close view, he saw it wasn't really entrenched in them. A curvy green tentacle that stretched from the ceiling down inside the swirl hole it was pervading inside. Looking around, he caught a few Biris, making short work of them in a matter of thirty seconds. After each one, it left a soft squeal, not the kind that could be heard by anyone at all. It was as if they were decoys, so he kept his eyes out for anything strange.

"Link, don't touch that one, we'll figure it out later. Right now we have a door and four holes we can venture into, my guess is that this will take us deeper into the Jabu.

"It looked one level to me."

"Probably was hiding some of its body under the water, I dunno. I say we check out the door first, then if we find nothing, we come back here and pick a hole, I'll go to check for stomach acid, and you can follow me if its safe enough."

Safe enough… Glaring at her roughly, she giggled a patted his head a little. Letting the subject drop, he evaded the holes until he came to the center of the doorway, staring forward at it with little ease. Mm, when were they going to find this princess of the Zoras, was she dead or something? Just then his ears picked up some sort of muffled scream, and looked to the left, he didn't even have time to formulate a plan. Being thrown up against the squishy underfoot, Navi pushed him against the ground as a huge mass of jelly fell down where he stood. Picking himself up, he looked over at the huge mass, that could have been lifted in his hands, peering at it a little.

"There seems to be no electricity coursing through its veins. The Biris had a special aura about them, this one doesn't"

"My best guess is this is a home of Biris, maybe they live inside, try to strike it open, Link, but not with your sword. I think the things might still be active and would try and shock you if you so much as touch them with that metal blade, now is the time for the sticks, I guess."

Of course he knew that, but the sticks weren't quite on his mind, the Gorons special crop were, so unsheathing his sword, he dashed at the monster with infuriating anger. Navi shouted out a warning, which he waved away, grabbing a bomb from the bag and starting the fuse. Coming in close contact, he slid the end of top of the jelly that led the Biris in and out, shoving a bomb right in the entranceway of where they tried to escape. Running back with all his might, he knew that not even seconds would count now, not because of the fuse, but because of the shocking that they would do to move the bombs. Those stupid creatures followed his plan perfectly, for when they shocked the bomb, it automatically exploded leaving no remains this time, but a black stain upon the fish's body. Chuckling a little, he had to cover his precious ears with his hands for the five screams that came out of it. Whatever they were, they were long dead, the screams echoing inside of his mind. Sheathing his sword, Link turned back towards Navi, grinning, but saw she was with a strange. Walking a few ways, he looked over at the stranger curiously.

"Y-you! Who are you!" The female stranger announced, from the looks of it she was definitely a female Zora, about a year older than he was. Developing breast had already seemed to form upon her petite figures (making the boy stare away in shame), but before he looked down there, he got a good look of the rest of her body, quite surprised of the aftermath. She didn't really resemble the Zora in some ways, staring with the bulb that was sitting upon her head, stained a deep blue, with pairs of eyes on the left and right side. Upon her face were a pair of violet eyes, a cute little face, but a nose and ears that seemed to protruded from the Hylian descent, that was right, she had pointy ears like his. The only difference was she had some shelled skin around the ears (probably to stop ultra sonic waves, or piercing screams.) The rest of her body was as a Zora, even the flipper feet.

"Who am I? Why, I am Link, was sent by your father to come rescue you."

"And, I am Navi, his guardian. We are form the Kokiiri forest."

"You lie, there is no way!" Her voice wasn't too bad; she just seemed to be in a very bad mood. Link groaned softly, looking up to her with a bit of a smile, confirming that they were indeed from the forest. It was strange how you can say you're a Gerudo, they believe you, a Goron, Zora, or Hylian, and they believe you. But a Kokiiri? Oh, Goddess forbid if you were one of those, maybe it was the way they were supposed to be extinct, and only a distinct few knew about them. Obviously they weren't going anywhere for the next few minutes, so he leaned against the wall and watched her.

"Believe us or no, you are Princess Ruto, correct?" Navi chimed on, leaving her descent from Ruto back to Link was. The fish-girl followed them with a bit of a stomp in her step, Goddess forbid if she walked a few centimeters. This was exactly why she liked the system of government where they were from, no monarchs or any of these people with supposed 'high blood.' Zelda wasn't as worse as this girl wasn't; this one was just stuck up by her nose.

"Fine, I will believe you--in time." She remarked with an evil grin, it seemed that he might have been from the forest. I mean, healing fairies didn't exactly turn blue over-night, plus the fact of his attire, the blade he bore, but the shield had her mystified, it was a Hylian shield, wasn't it? How could a boy so small carry such a large shield? Crossing her arms over her chest, she stomped her feet a bit cutely, trying to give on that tough girl appearance and began to walk away from him. "I don't need help!"

Link jumped off the wall, running after her, grabbing her by the shoulder to stop her. Receiving a slap in the face, he blinked a few times and looked to her a bit confused. When he didn't seem to get it, she slapped him again and cried out in frustration. Mumbling something about having to deal with idiots like these around the castle, but a so-called hero had to be one too. Rolling his eyes, he watched her walk a few feet, until he noticed where she was. "Hey, watch out, it's a suck hole!"

"I know what I'm doing--aiiiee!!!" A slurping sound occurred when she fell through the hole, Link was already in the air to catch her, missing her hand by such an inch, landing upon the hole. Grasping, he grabbed the speeding Navi and fell through the hole himself, wherever he would land was probably on top of her, so if they did fall in acid he would be saved the scars from it, anyway. Holding Navi tight, the boys looked down to see that there was solid ground, the princess just below him. Flipping his shield on his behind, he evaded her and slammed down into the ground with a clanging sound.

Before even getting a look around the room, she had appeared before his sitting form, shadowing off a dark and sinister mood. Crying out again in frustration, she tried to slap him again, yet he caught her hand with his own. With the other hand she tried the same act, which he caught again, looking her deep into the eyes, giving her the talk of her own place. There was no way he was going to endure this torture, he wasn't some stupid wimp that she could push around. "I am not one of your cronies, princess, you slap me again and I'll slap you back."

She was taken aback with fear. Never had someone actually threatened her with more than a punishment (he father, but she could tease him into stopping it.) How dare this lowly coward try to tell him on what she could do or couldn't do. Leaping up in the air, she put her feet into his chest and pushed herself off, flipping out of his grasp and landing upon he feet. She could of gone for the lower approach, but she wasn't that mean, she knew what boys had down there, Hylian or not. Sticking out her tongue in a childish manner, she giggled a little. Catching herself in the giggle, she looked down to the ground speaking something in her language.

"Watch your tongue, princess!" Navi protested, letting out a furious growl for her size. It was actually small and cute, which Link looked down at her smiling. Nodding at the comment of "watch her tongue" he took it literally and jumped near her, grabbing her blue tongue out stretching it out a few inches. Struggling with him, she did, of course, it was only natural when someone was pulling her tongue, but she did need to learn her place with him. Finally letting her tongue go, after a punch to the chest (she was strong for a girl), he fell upon the ground in a series of giggles, watching as her expressions changed from anger, a little bit of joy, sadness, and back to that infuriating rage.

"How dare you, peasant! I shall teach you your place!" Leaping upon his chest, she began to bang her fist into his chest roughly, making she boy shiver and tingle all over, before she could continue anymore, the fairie slung her off of the boy and turned him over onto his back. Where they landed was a small rock upon several others that stretched across a small landscape ten feet before. Throwing his head over the edge of the rock, he vomited for the fourth time in a while, but still, the excitement had caught him off guard. Gasping out, she approached him after he had cleaned himself up.

"A-are you okay, Link?" Finally using his first name, he gave a smile and nodded a little.

"I'm sick, I dunno, I feel bad because I got electrocuted by one of those Biris with my sword."

"Oh, my goodness, metallic objects can intensify the electrical currents up to ten times. And here I was mentally complaining about one tentacle shocking me." Damn, there she went again expressing her fingers, with a small smirk, she told him to go ahead and handle it like a man, which to her surprise he returned the smirk and nodded off. Yes, there was something between them, she didn't know yet, but maybe a rivalry could ensue, they seemed to enjoy each others company, at least she did, in her case. He was fun, yet he was a Hylian, which was weird. Ruto wasn't a jerk really, she was just raised for high-blood, so it was hard to make friends with the other Zoras, and maybe what she needed was someone that could be as cocky as she was? If that was true, she had stopped her search, for Link's enchantment of cockiness was growing as he developed in his journeys.

"So, are you gonna go with me, or not?" What was Link's general opinion of this Ruto character? Personally, he liked her a little bit more than Malon and Zelda. Malon was sweet and all, she just wasn't really a person he could be with, she was too girly, but the princess was just the opposite, she could be boyish. She even started in some of the training sessions that had ensued, getting him pinned several times, but she just had this weird thing about her, maybe it was royalty. It couldn't be, since he was with royalty now and it didn't seem to bother him. Ruto was all right in his book, yet nothing compared to Saria, Saria was girlish and boyish, she could be rough as a rogue, and gentle as a mother.

"We really need to be going, princess." Navi had remained quiet through out the whole escapade. She actually enjoyed Ruto's company too, which was the opposite of Ruto, she thought that Navi was being a little meant to end their fun. Nevertheless, Navi did like her for the reason that she didn't seem to like Link in that way at all. From the first time they met, a gaze Link didn't seem, she saw that Ruto didn't really like Hylians or Kokiiris in this case. At least she noticed that it would be too weird for a breed already in Hylian in it, to bring another into the company, but another reason was that she helped Link in growing. He was a boy, and loved to get dirty and such, she loved playing with Link, yet she was so small. This way he could get out all his energy, and yet have no worries of hurting his playmate.

"Alright, alright. Let's go." Sitting down upon the ground, she looked up at Link with an appropriate gaze of seriousness. He, on the other hand, extended an arm to lift her arm, but she didn't to seem to want to budge. Grabbing her and sitting her up, she sat back down upon the ground and looked up at him, arms crossed about her chest in anger. What did he do, he was quite confused at this moment, and scratched his head a little. Looking to Navi for some encouragement, she just shrugged a small shoulder, the veil off for the time being.

"What do you want, Ruto-sama?"

"Pick me up, Link."

"But you can walk."

"But I am royalty."

"Do I look like I care?" Another argument, just great, Navi just went to his hat and watched silently. It was like those plays, the comedy was on, yet there was seriousness to it.

"…Well, no, but please?"

Feeling a little weakened; he was about to, but straightened himself up and shook his head back and forth furiously. "Why should I?"

"Because I said so?"

"Not good enough."

"Well, it's because me, I am naturally wet and can be shocked much easier than you. Please? Oh, please, Link?" She let out a squeal of joy when he reluctantly gave into her demands by sitting her upon his head, well, actually he sat her so that her legs were wrapped about his shoulders and she used his head as a stool. Groaning, he would rather drag her, but was surprised to find she wasn't that heavy at all and not much of a burden, plus the fact he discovered she didn't smell like a nasty fish. A flavor scent was about his nose, intoxicating him for a few minutes, which he pushed aside and gaped in the basement floor of Jabu. The tremendous room he had expected, was only the lather of it, only the size of the previous room above him. All around him tiny islands trenched around, some too far in the distance to reach, and some he might be able to propel himself off, if with the right blade maneuver. However, those all disinterested him, turning around, to catch glimpse of a flesh hole behind him.

Giving a silent nod, the boy secured Ruto's legs around his shoulders, which she grumbled a bit, but stopped when he threatened to throw her off of him. Looking up towards his friend, the fairie gave a nod to proceed on, and gently kept her away from his had and upon his shoulder (Ruto was sitting on his hat.) Taking a few steps forward, pushing his hand against the hole, it opened up and light poured out into the entranced doorway. Moving in ten steps, a new room opened up, yet only a blind path was ahead for him, the path running over a corner, so Link couldn't view what was up ahead. Keeping his sword ready for any action, the boy walked the next few feet, rounding the corner, seeing the entrance to the new room up ahead, but blocked by a seemingly endless number of Shaboms.

Reaching for a Deku Stick was next to impossible, and with the sword improbable, he had no choice but to rely upon Navi's manna skills, not that they were bad. Some fast shooting of the eight bubbles and she was back by his side with a grin plastered upon his face? Smiling brightly, the trio walked past watery remains of the bubbles, opening up into the room he had plundered for since going through the flesh. To his north was nothing but land, then a deep pit that went out a few yards, extending up to the other side was a matching path. Looking over the edge, he saw that the place had a tooth placed incidentally into the ground. There were vines around (or was that snot.) Oh, the corn silken lad was getting nauseous at these thoughts. Brushing them aside, he jumped down in the five feet deep pit, trudging across.

Coming upon the switch, he was about to push upon it when the princess upon his head gave out a startled cry of help. Looking up at her, immediately in his general directions, he saw no danger, but she was crying out so he went through the water checking for any surprises. The shallow water was only less than a foot deep, so nothing aside bugs could hide in there. Sighing, he was sitting her down in the water, when again she cried out, so he sat her upon the tooth, staring at her. "What is it?"

"W-water, I hate it." Wrapping her arms about her chest, she gave a shiver.

"But you're part fish!" Throwing his hands up in frustration, he leaned against the side of the land (or flesh) peering back at her with diverted eyes.

"I-I know, but this isn't water, Link, it's saliva and when I think about being soaked in it…" Again she grabbed herself, shivering deeply. The reason the water had arisen was she may have been smaller, but the simple fact was she weighed a less than he did. The pounds upon her simply not enough to eradicate the surface of the switch. A solution popped up in his head; he could throw the five feet, couldn't he? Of course he could! Picking her up, standing upon the switch, he pressed back and launched her upon on the platform that led up. With a squeal she landed upon the ground, rubbing her fishy behind, and looking down at him with a bit of anger, yet thanks. Shrugging his slender shoulder, the boy jumped on the switch, resetting it deep into the ground.

"I don't want to be covered in saliva, either!" He jumped from the depressed tooth and grabbed the vines of dried snot that were attached to the wall, and yanking himself up, peered over at the jump that lay before him. Yes, the vines had been to his right, so a quick throw to the northeast and he was home free, yet there proposed a new problem, one he'd never been aware of, just until now. That was the cry Ruto had given out a few minutes earlier. She may have been crying about the water, but when Link looked down, he saw four of five pairs of silted violet eyes staring up at him in orgasmic rage. Leaping to the northeast, his jump connected perfectly, leaving no time to celebrate, because soon the first of the group of monsters leapt up after him.

Spinning around with the sword unsheathed, he looked over to Navi. "What is it?" She shrugged a shoulder, beginning to scan the enemy for any statistics. Meanwhile, he gave it a little look down, surprised it had been so menacing inside the water. It was true the thing was under a foot tall, just a discus of deep violet skin with an akin of crimson eyes staring him down. The ability of flight seemed present in it, somehow, so when it sped-dove at the boy, he struck his blade out in a menacing frontal strike. A screech of pain escaped the monsters as it was impaled between the eyes, the mashes of goo from its cranial areas seeping out between the sword. With disgust, he threw the monster back upon the ground, setting his sight back to Navi.

"Stingers. As the name gives, they have electric based stingers on their bottoms, but don't worry about it. They are very weak. Since you took that one on alone, it quite a simple battle, but these next ones might not be." Did these Stingers read minds? After the second Navi finished her sentence, four of the Stringers burst from the salvia, pouring out of the water and closed in upon him. Disaster was spelt, as Ruto ran to the fleshy door, looking up to Link for some recognition. Nothing mattered at this time, anything was going to save him, and watching as they wretched in four behind position, electricity crackling through the end of each tail, he fell to his knees and buried himself with the shield.

"Nai Sui Fo!" From out of nowhere, a whirlpool tormented out of the arisen saliva. As if claiming its young, the whirlpool broke into four tiny nozzles, gathering up the four little tyrants and pushing down deep into the surface of the water. Blinking with confusion, the boy had watched the entire episode from the comfort of his own shield. Not recognizing the words as a skill or chant of fairish, he looked to Navi, who was pointing behind her with her hands clasped to her cheeks, they exposing red. The princess had her hands extended forward, curving into a circle, the fresh memory of incantations fresh upon her lips. Giving a little smile, she walked over to him, patting him upon the head. "It's alright, I know you can't fight…"

"C-Can't fight! What are you talking about, and just what was that!"

"The Nai Sui Fo, or better translated as whirlpool. I am a Zora, so I can conduct aquatic activities, not like a god or anything, but I can control some water substances. And, yes you are a wimp." Poking his nose with her finger, he snapped at her, making her jump back and sit down back upon her behind. An urge to throw her off of his arms and into the ground probed his mind, the good conscious pushing the nasty thought away. Best to leave it alone for now, his mind spoke to him, and yet he couldn't help but he infuriated at being called a wimp. How could she get off saying that he was a wimp? He wasn't the one who ran to the corner and who cries over water, but this only encouraged him to show off some heretics to prove himself to her.

Without further hesitation, Link gathered her up and carried the blue-bulb girl through the door that stood only a few feet behind him. As soon as exiting from the tranquility of the room, checking the map for some explanations of the hidden room, he found something he least expected: an elevator. Yes, an elevator was positioned in the small room that contained only that and a pool of water below, something he compensated with stomach acid. He wasn't going to try his luck out, so he leapt the three feet to the elevator, when landing upon it, the thing sped up towards its destination, but where was? His answers were silently answered when he stepped back into a land of vagueness. Yes, he was back in the room they had fallen out of; the Biris still dead from before.

Resting his assurance, no more of those stupid levels below anymore, he did not even bother to view the room over; there wasn't a danger around anyway. The room was led through in a matter of minutes, dodging some of the reforming Biris he hadn't noticed by first glance, but the big pod of a Biris wasn't hanging around anymore, he figured that one was dead as a doornail. Doornails didn't matter when he passed the path that the thing had preyed upon earlier, checking up for reassurance. No telling what could reform in the half an hour they had been wondering, his guess was just as good as anyone else's. Looking up at Ruto, he noticed for the first time she had sunk asleep.

Silently looking over to Navi, she also was curled up in the collar of his shirt, slumbering for the battles to come. Oh, great, all the women sleep, while the 'wimp' has to stay awake and deal with the puzzles! Nah, he didn't really mind at all, it was better for Navi to recharge herself for some harsher battles, and Ruto was a princess, so she was used to pampering. Leaning against the crack of flesh right before the door, he rested his aching body from the small weight of Ruto. If they ever ran into the damned hidden room, he was going to put her in there and leave her until they ran into her stone, then they could leave this junk pile. She had explained she always used to play around in Jabu, but new areas had been completed…who plays inside of a huge fish, that was the million-ruby question that baffled Link. Repressing his leisure, he unleaded from the wall and walked infront of the door, taping it with the reverse side of his sword. A small squeal and the door opened up.

In the blink of an eye, he had run into the center of the new room, since nothing was at the beginning, shaking his head in a sort of sad pity. Surrounding him north were three different pathways that led north, northeast, and northwest. To his west and east were two other paths, totaling in five different paths in one room. What's worse, was each was filled with the strangest skin he had ever seen, the skin seemed to be revolving back and forth, so if he didn't move quick, he was dragged back to the center, and each room had these! Actually, some of the rooms were blocked by various reasons, some needing more weight than he had, some with thinner tentacles like the one in the main room, and some just wouldn't open for films of snot were placed across the top. After checking them all, his choices limited down to only two or so. Then he chose the closest entrance, the east.

As he was headed out to the eastern direction, something latching upon his ankle in a painful manner. Falling back, Ruto slammed into the soft call, coming awake in an instant, and gasping in fear. Shrieking, she sat down, pulling herself away from the helpless boy and back a few feet away. Turning around, he caught wind of some sort of parasitic insect latched upon his leg with its jaw seeping down into his ankle. Blood must have scared her, probably because they don't have red blood? His guess was blue, if any, but then again the Kokiiris didn't have peach blood. Reaching for his sword, finding it misplaced it saw that the floors had really been against him this time, for it was stuck in-between a hedge at least ten feet away.

"Help me!"

"I-I-I can't." She blubbered out miserably.

"Help me or I die, please. You don't have to fight, grab my sword--!" Crying out, the grip upon his legs tightened a fresh stream of crimson pouring down in his boots. Ruto shrieked again, shaking his head and curling up into a small ball, shivering as best she could, crying her eyes out in pain. Cursing silently, the boy looked up to where his fairie was, yet she wasn't there. Gasping, he was about to call her name when the grip around his leg was gone, and something was kissing upon it. Down there was Navi, freshly charged from manna shot, but yet held up a small potion.

"Wait, don't let it go…we need it." The cork was gone before he could even finish the second part of the sentence the potion was applied to the wound. It was so great that it needed to be or infection was a great risk, plus his running abilities would be hurt until then. Wrapping it up in a slick bandage, the boy tightened it enough and pulled his boots up enough so it would hardly be seen. They were saving the healing sprite for if Link went unconscious; it wouldn't completely heal him, but revive him and give him a good advantage point. Sure the wounds would leave a few scars, but those were expected. Besides that, it was all right, but his attention wasn't with Navi of the sprite, he turned towards the hidden Ruto, whom had since some out of her depressed manner, staring at the ground sulking. Now, Link's temper wasn't that great, so he calmed down when he saw a few tears pouring from those big eyes, looking off to the side and whispering her sorry. Nodding silently, he picked himself up, testing the leg out (which was good as new), and walked over to comfort her, only stopped by a fuming Navi.

"Show some backbone! You should have gone and gotten his sword, if it wasn't for me that thing would have cut his leg off and killed him, then coming after you!" Her anger burst more than it had for Anju did, and the simple fact was that this girl had endangered Link in some serious trouble. Panting up and down, she noticed the cries, but only scoffed a little. "Grow up" was her only response to the tears, telling her if she really wanted to be a good princess, then she needed to not be afraid of a small centipede that could fit in the palm in her hand. Navi wouldn't even let the girl weight her evidence in, it just wasn't any good with Navi, and she had to have Link hold her, to calm her down, shushing her silently.

While she was being shushed, Ruto collapsed on the ground, sobbing her heart's content out with every breath she could. Not holding anything back, she buried her face into the skin, crying out deeper and deeper for his forgiveness, that she hadn't meant any harm by it, it was just she was going to get it, but something had stopped her, something on his leg. Being picked off the ground, Link (after escorting Navi in his hat) wrapped his arms around the trembling Zora, letting her cry all she want, while he quietly whispered that the differences between the Kokiiri and the Zora blood. After a few minutes she was a little better, the sobs having turned into little sniffles, still curled up in his arms.

Sitting in the center of the room, the only room without a moving floor, he reached over the grabbed his sword, re-sheathing it back down. Staring down at her, he saw she was about to burst into tears again, but put a finger up to her lips and shook his head silently. Another few ramblings of how much it hurt, if he wanted to hurt her, and about Navi rolled through her tongue, Navi having heard the things, of course. She asked how she could be so cruel to her, if she was mean to other people and stuff like that. Link found it hard to explain Navi to her, and he came out with "she's a very complex person", she has initiate, doesn't like other people sometimes, but she isn't bad."

"You think she hates me?"

"Of course not. Listen, when I first met Navi she didn't like me very well, either, she thought I was sort of spoiled by Saria."

"W-whose that?" She asked curiously, now that he was sitting down, she was sitting in his lap, staring up at him with those eyes wide with curiosity. Link couldn't help, but smile and tell her all about himself.

"Oh, Saria is like my foster mother, my friend, and my sister. She raised me, but isn't a real mother, she acts like one sometimes, and did spoil me a lot by keeping me inside most of the time and away from the others."

"They didn't like you?"

"Nah, I didn't have Navi at the time, I was known as "the boy without a fairie" until she came to visit me about, oh, going on two months or so now. " Smiling, he told her the entire story of their journey, how the monsters they battled, who they fought, about Zelda, Ganondorf, the adventures in Hylia, Daruina, and some of the Deku Tree. Time had really flied, for when Navi came out, she announced that the two had been at it for two hours. Gasping with surprise, he looked up at her with surprise, she giving a comforting nod. Her eyes were a bit red, as if she had been asleep, but the anger seemed to swell down. Looking over at Ruto, she smiled apologetically, which Ruto nodded and smiled back at her, extending out a hand. "Friends?"

"Friends." Ruto answered back, taking the small hand inside of her fin one. So different between the races, yet so common that they would get along for the common bond to appease Link. Clasping both of their hands together, he smiled sweetly and picked Ruto back up, sitting her back on his head, first grabbing his hat and stuffing it down in his belt. Picking Navi up gently, she was sat back on his collar, where she could slip back to sleep. Looking forward, he noticed the two weren't going to go back to sleep for quite some while, which was all right with him, he rather enjoyed the company of them both. Picking his hat from his belt, he handed it up to Ruto, who put it on the top of her head and gave off a slight giggle, making the boy smile somehow in the dungeon of doom. He hoped another light would transport them out of here, the other way out he didn't want to think about. Shivering mentally, he turned towards the east and left the creatures behind, whatever they were, walking to the door to the east and stepping inside. On the way to the doorway a tooth was directed infront of him, when stepping on it with both of their weight it didn't even budge, yet with the strength of two people the smash swabbed open and mucus vines disappeared, letting the vines cling freely. Brushing the contents of the remains aside, he stepped inside the fleshy exterior, sword readying.

As soon as they were inside the room, the door shut and another impenetrable mucus web surrounded their only exit out of this room. Sitting Ruto by the door way (telling her to remain there so he could check out the room), the duo was surprised only to find a bit of the room available, not very big in size, and consisting of only the wet surface ground. No chests, no monsters, no nothing was in here, but why was there a trap like before? Suddenly, his eyes widened and he jumped out of the way as something zipped past him, slicing his shoulder a bit. Sucking in a breath from the pain, fresh blood oozed down his tunic, not a very deep wound from the feel, but quite a little crimson tint. Catching himself in a roll, he spun around, intersecting with the Stinger that slammed into the hilt of his sword. Link's luck was in order; the monster had gotten his left hand, not his right.

"Link, are you okay!" Ruto screamed from behind, her eager whispers in the language were futile in this room, it seemed the room had to be flooded like before.

"Aye, I am alright, Ruto-sama. Just go back and--" His eyes widened as something propelled into his stomach, sending him slamming into the sickly tissue of the Jabu. A roar of pain surrounded the room, acting almost like an earthquake, which sank Link down, but also made the rest of the Stingers come out of the room. Ten were up and at battle, reading themselves for the preparations of a meal. Slumping up, the boy looked over to his fairie, who was trying to shoot meaningless chi shots at them, the futile of it making him bite his lips in frustration. Why didn't the magic work!

"Link, they have some sort of barrier upon them, damn! My manna isn't affecting them in the least." Slinking down against him, her ears perked up. "How about the fire, Din's."

"But, the surface is cold."

"It's better than being shredded to pieces, isn't it?" Yes, that was true. Whatever these Stringers had upon them was obviously bladed sharp, and would mince him up in a matter of seconds. Fortunately for them, the butt to the wall had been used with the Stringer's head, only causing a small bruise to later appear upon Link's tender chest. Skidding down in the wet water, moving towards the end of the room, so the marks wouldn't affect Ruto, the boy waited until they closed in for the kill, before initiating it. Whatever happened would happen, he had come to accept that fact from now on, he might die in this journey, but he would give it his all, that was what he was: a hero.

--------------------

"Link!" Screeching out, her eyes almost bulged out of their sockets. What was that idiot thinking! He was just luring them in, with a smirk upon his face, but she wouldn't let that happen, for in the next few seconds she began to glide upon the wet surface (using her flippers) to reach him. Only a few seconds it would take, but as soon as she landed next to Link, he threw her back across the landscape, so she sunk inside of the wall near the entrance. Fighting with all her strength, she just couldn't seem to get out of the accursed entombment of skin. No, it wasn't going to eat her or anything, but allowed her not to help her friend. Does he need help; he had a smirk on his face and was preparing for some sort of an attack? No, that was silly, he had no such powers, he couldn't attack.

Angst threw out of her heart when the ten Stingers surrounded to boy in a miniature circle so all she could get from the view were his legs sticking out. Biting her lip in frustration, she cried out his name as loud as possible, the grip upon her seeming to intensify so to shut her up. Quieting down, her form remaining sunk inside of the flesh, she began to whisper upon the prayer, again nothing happened with her. Damn them, damn them, how was she supposed to watch her new friend die? Well, peasant, not friend-- no, not really. A yell of some sort ignited through the air, Link's voice, but not a yell a pain, something in another language. In another instant the entire Stinger collapsed to the ground.

The silken hero was in the air as the Stingers fell some all at once and many of the others on the other spin. Submerged in the air, the blade of his sword was turning a bright crimson, while the base lit off a deep blue. Covering her eyes from the bright appearances, yes they reached over here, her eyes remained shut until the tenth scream ringed out through her Hylian ears. Hands clamped over her face, she peeked through them shyly to see that the boy's sword had obviously calmed down, but his hair was sticking up, swirling with the electricity of it all. Some had managed to sting them, that was apparent in him, yet no pain was reflected upon his face, only the static energy in his hair.

Brushing back his hair with the dull end of his sword, the colours of the blade swirled down to the iron steel, as he laid it upon his side and stared back at her, but before heading back, something began to appear around them. Looking down with eyes wide, she saw that a yellow light came out of the flesh, not burning it, but hiding the flesh under it. Concealing from the light was a huge brown box that Link seemed oh-so-eager to look at. It didn't really impress her, but maybe he thought it was some sort of reward. Anyway, the light went away as he yanked open the box and took out some weird tool.

--------------------

"Din's Fire won't work, Navi! I am gonna try the Rhiu-Kiyto, it doesn't drain as much, and will be more effective." Link was staring dead at the enemies, them just a few feet above the air, and descending upon them. He still thought that the fire technique would not work for them, but would only dissipate in the water surface, no matter how small it was. The appearance of Ruto had actually shocked him, almost glad the dreaded Jabu had imprisoned her inside the cage of flesh, the farther she was away from here, the better. Yes, he accompanied that stings would come before the blade would spin around, he did have to go 360 degrees before the blade actually shot out the manna in a circle, but then the technique went into a full rage of fury.

"But Link, they have to surround you, it's dangerous! You know I don't have any special type of barriers for you." The barrier she could extend upon him, but it was only a mass of veil, not a barrier, and wouldn't stop the shocks of their tails as they shot through their skin. Seeing the determination sketched across his face made her give a quick nod, wanting to get it over as fast as they could. The mad fish were descending upon him and fast, there was no telling how fast they would counter in and strike both of them down; their only chance was the Rhiu-Kiyto. The last time she had seen Link practice it, he was pretty good, she so hoped he had been practicing a technique of the style that took out ten enemies in a row, there was no way they were going to get all ten, maybe five at the most.

As if reading her mind, he gave a slight smirk. "I've added a slight reproach to my Kiyto technique, I call this one the Rhiu-Buijitsu!" Now the enemies had collapse in, only a mere five feet away from them with the tails just a brutalizing with electricity. Gripping around him, she didn't hide, no she wasn't going to do that, but merely stood right beside him, landing upon his shoulder so if he got shocked so would she. Link grabbed the blade of the sword and instead of holding it to the left, he placed it right infront of him, an aura of blue surrounding his body. A clear blue aura of innocence kept around him, circling her too, while the tails slashed in for battle.

One by one they went in, each one connected with her and him, making her scream in pain, the boy not letting out so much as a peep, for that would break his concentration. Tears were moistened in his eyes when the second round of strings arose, his hair rising up all the way (since his hat was gone) the static waves showing their existence in high colours. As much as she wanted to get up and rub his cheeks, smooth his brow, or to speak to him, she knew she just couldn't. The shocks had actually pinned her up to his clothes, reassuring that she would not escape this espionage alive. After the third (and final) wave of stings hit both of them, she crying out again in pain, the boys opened his eyes, the aura spreading about them and surrounding each of the Stingers in it.

"Now they die. Rhiu-Buijitsu, I call upon Naryu for the winds of the Goddess!" Screeching upon the last speech, he actually lifted in the air, his body becoming one with the air, leaving that old rule of gravity right behind with all the other physics laws. Spreading his sword out to the left, he didn't even have to charge the Rhiu-Kiyto. It automatically turned crimson; the edge of the blade, while the dull end blew out a mystical blew sound. Crying out in fury, the hero's sword spun around in a three hundred and sixty-degree circle, slashing half of the Stingers. Some of them tried to escape their destiny, but he just pointed at the sword, and shot out a quick energy ring from the side of the blade, by slashing their way.

Turning around, the boy crossed his arms and gave out a triumphant laugh, a laugh that would make him suffer, for as soon as his back was turned something leapt upon it and drove the tail deep inside of the wound from before. Crying in pain, electrical shocks guttered through his body, the sword slinging to the side of the ground, moving out of his range of reach. Not that it would matter anyway, he was back on his knees with his sense becoming weakened, his own little mind thrashing for hope to calm himself down. No, I won't die! Ears didn't hear anything, the cry of Navi, the cry of anyone, all he heard was himself praying for his own health, and that death wouldn't succumb over his body.

Only one of the Stingers remained, wanting to avenge its siblings for their destruction, this one quite damaged from the attack, but one of the smartest to duck of the aftershock that door out the most. Only half of its body was remained, some of it slicing down with the stinger strung across an open wound that had remained from the previous tortures. Crying out in fury and pain, it would avenge its siblings, it would make this little bastard pay for its crimes, and sending it deeper into the wound, the elf-child's cries were echoed through the valley, a barrier of electricity surrounding the two.

Navi had to come noticed, for Link peered at her beating upon the glass, tears streaming down her eyes in pain. Wha?…why is she crying, Navi, it's alright…Then the second shot hit him, but gripping the side of flesh, it took it with full force, looking up to see a decimated little thing with its invisible eyes sensing him. Only one chance, this will hurt, but I have no choice, thinking the last thought, he leapt upon the creature stabbing his fingers inside of the creatures face. Ripping out the guts of the creature furiously, the shocking making him whimper softer than ever, the incredible pain was so unbearable, but he let it go. Dropping all the pain, the lad found the part of the jellyfish that contained the brain, smashing it within his fingers.

A crackle of electricity bared out, spreading in an invisible manner before disappearing entirely. Without the source in place, the main power would die, so he was free. Stupid creatures…I hate them. Resting a hand forward, he groped for his Fairie, the skin upon him was still the same colour, parts of his body ached all over with reflecting. Gripping her, the boy saw her lips moving, but never caught the words that came out of them. Nodding his head incoherently, the drone looked up at her lips, trying to read them, but utterly failing in the attempt. Finally, the ignoramus ended up laying his head upon the wet surface, closing those eyes and passing out from unconsciousness, letting his dreams let through.

--------------------

"Where are we?" It looked familiar, like a place he had already visited before in another life…or another dream. Painted garden walls were all around, the roses blooming out from the fresh spring, the area he was, but next to him was a separate layer of molten lava, no barrier between the two. Yet the smoke didn't touch the beautifully grassed lands, and next to the lava laid an ocean of organic colours, pouring out as far as the eye can see. Finally, he saw he wasn't in the forest at all, but on top of a small platform that reached up to the sky. Staring down at the three platforms, the images of three being appeared, them speaking in a tongue he couldn't recognize. Nearly falling off the platform, he stumbled over a little when a larger structure landed over him, a hundred feet taller, a castle matching that of Hyrule.

Except there was no royal beauty with this piece of architecture, there was only energy of pure evil. The castle from second glance grew much taller than the Hylian castle, additional towers moving over and crisps-crossing in directions that seemed endless, the place pained (or stained) an ashen black. At the top of entrance stood a being with a flowing cape, arms crossed over his chest and smirking deeply with all concern, a deep chuckle left his throat and the scream is what awoken him.

Link had been muddled together after the initial attack, Navi not being able to free the reluctant Ruto, went on the search for some sort of healing items. There were none, so she relied upon the 1st Aid Kit that Saria had posted for them when they were on the earlier quests. Thrashing through the aid kit like a wild man, she found some part of a potion, not that it would kill the pain forever, but for the time being, so she applied the part all over his skin and tarred tunic. Waterproof is may have been, but not thunder-proof at all. Applying some of the ointments to the boy, she let him rest for the following hours, until he finally awoken from the deep turmoil of sleep.

--------------------

I ache all over, why? Stretching his arms out, the boy gave a small sigh, being bombarded a few seconds later with kisses of a reluctant fairie. Smiling, the boy bundled her up in his arms, awakening only to find himself surrounded in some bandages around the prick holes that the Stingers had damaged. Whatever was in this room, he thought he had earned it to say the latest. Sitting Navi on his shoulder, he slunk up his form silently and stared around to room, so find that a few of the Stingers were about, the ones without stingers, obviously, so they were harmless, yet he didn't feel that way. The turmoil he felt was to punish these creatures, make them pay for their crimes, assign himself as the reaper. Grinning softly, he scrounged around for his sword, raising it up and prepared himself.

Wherever he learned these, was beyond her control. The power, the fury, the being was all inspired within that little heard. With one last slash to the left, he went around dissecting and finishing off all what was left of those dreaded stringers. The blade fell from his hands, as he collapsed in the cool water, grasping it before it hit the water (with just a little bit of shock than needed.) Maybe it was because the chi waves would have spread out and hit Ruto? That could be a possibility and a good one while he was at it. Feeling it was metaphorically was too heated to be put away, the boy stuck the blade under his arm, staring to walk back towards the princess he was guarding, when something began to appear before him. Grabbing the sword, he readied himself, while she began to form a line of manna.

The "enemy" was actually one of those appearing chests, as in the previous dungeons. Quickly dispersing her hidden manna, she stared over at the boy, seeing the fatigue and worry in her face. Must have used most of his manna on that attack, I guess his first technique was weak, but borrowing the powers of the Goddess' probably took more than three-quarters of his power done. As he opened up the chest and dug through its contents, she grabbed one of the magic slots from his satchel (the one she had drank on before) feeding it through him slightly. Slurping up it, she also grabbed out the last of the ten heart containers, feeding him six and herself four. It wasn't like they were back at full strength, but at least they could survive some more fights (as long as it wasn't another ten Stringers.)

--------------------

Was Lady Luck in his favor, or just some little toy was there? As he pulled out the unique tool, his face was that of curiosity, it was definitely not something he had ever lied eyes upon before. Shaped like the moon was sometimes--oh, what was it called-- a crescent? Yes, shaped like one of those, and pained upon an orange colour, the weapon was. A deep red jewel was fixed in the center of the crescent, surrounded by a line of gold. That was all for the jewelry, except the matching jewel on the back, but upon the left and right handles were two small green marks. Scoffing a little, he held up to Navi, just staring at it.

"What is this, Navi-chan?" Looking to his left, he saw she wasn't there. H-had she been crushed! Gasping, he spun around, looking desperately for her, but finding no sign of her. Whimpering sadly, he was about to go out to the bushes to scrounge, but a voice broke his concentration.

"Urm, hello? Let me out? Link!" Flipping his head to the south region, he broke out in a grin, staring up at the pale-skinned fish encased inside of the barriers of the flesh. The flash of the smile caused the scar that would be left upon his left shoulder to ache somewhat. Shrugging his capable shoulder, as if to test it out, he threw the weapon up at Ruto or towards to skin, to loosen the skin up. To unexpected surprise, the tool not only hit the surface, causing Ruto to land upon the flat surface, but actually spun around in the shape it was, returning to his hand only raised up to catch it. Staring down at the tool, Navi had finally caught up with him, and looked down at the tool, her arms covered with supplies.

"Navi-chan!" Grabbing her into a tight embrace, the supplies from her hands bounced upon the soft ground, preserving them from shattering. Letting out a small giggle, he cuddled her inside of his arms. "Awe, you had me so worried, Navi, I thought maybe I had cut you up, or one of the bodies had gotten you!" Nuzzling her face gently, it was Ruto who broke up the sweet reunion with a simple question of her own, and what that was pondered on both hers and Link's minds: what in Hyrule was that thing in Link's hands. If he had to guess, it was some sort of weird pix-axe, that didn't use the blade, but that was he.

"Ah, Link-kun, I missed you too. Mm, what you are holding is called a boomerang. I haven't seen one in quite a while, but if you throw it in the right direction, then it shall return to you. Those jewels seem to help direct the focus upon the persons chi, obviously, so I am just guessing, but that means it shall always come back to you, even if you don't try to catch it." Slumping upon her shoulder, they really needed to find that room desperately, she was tired desperate for some rest, and sick of these battles. It was fine and might that these were going to be the last ones she would see for the rest of her life, those thoughts really excited her. Her life with Link, oh what would they do, how would they repor-

Focus! Focus, now, and worry about that later. Reproduction? Ha! The voice inside of her head carried on, stupidly, the fairie rolling her eyes to no one in particular. Ruto, however, was talking about something and caught the roll in the general direction. Gasping, she looked away with a bit of her hurt in her eyes, speaking out in a calm and malicious tone. Not really an evil tone, but one that had been seriously hurt. True she didn't like Navi more than Link, but really, she could have at least been respected in some general direction.

"If you don't want to hear, just say so."

"Huh? Princess, what do you mean?"

"You rolled your eyes at me!"

"I-I did? Oh, I-I'm sorry, Princess, I didn't even notice." Giving a snort, Ruto turned towards Link to comment, but all what was there was a distant shadow of the past. Peeking around, she ran towards the door when she saw him hacking away at the mucus that had somehow concealed them before. Now that the monsters were dead, nothing was keeping the snot hard, so it was quite easy to slice through it within a few minutes. As Ruto (trailed by Navi) arrived at the scene, Link had gotten the last good gunk off, pealing it off with the back of his sword (that was also smeared with guts, and blood.) He couldn't help himself, as he slunk to his knees and wiped it clean from the past battles inside of this hellhole, no he was strong, so he wouldn't break. The only person he could do that infront of was Ruto, but as he descended for her to climb upon his shoulders, she barely heard him.

It was only halfway past the area, heading in the western direction this time, for tentacles like the other room blocked the others that he ran into some previous trouble. Out of the blue popped another one of those ugly creatures, his sword sheathed for now, the boomerang held at his side (something telling him it would aid better in this battlement.) Flipping backwards, he readied the rang as Navi shot out the name of his attacker.

"A Tailpasaran, the centipede type, nothing unusual about it--wait. It said that electrical type so now sword types, use your new weapon Link!"

"Mmhm, way ahead of you." As soon as it lunged at him, the hideous red furry body with insect-legs teetering in the air, he let loose the boomerang of jewels. As soon as the boomerang clashed against the end of the Tailpasaran's neck, it locked it up against the side of the wall, instead of returning back to its master. Link stared at it curiously as it ferociously tried to battle away at it, desperately trying to keep alive, yet squeeze through the hole at the same time. The blade held up, he couldn't see anymore-electrical spots upon the centipede, so he curiously watched her scan the enemy once more.

"Confirmed, the boomerang knocked the electricity away. You can go in for the kill now, Link." And indeed he did that, without hesitation, he slammed the tip of the blade down the skull of the Tailpasaran, tearing its exoskeleton into shreds of remains. Not even a screech was rewarded with any final last words, only the thump of the corpse as it slid up off the boomerang and down on the swirling ground. Suddenly a small hole appeared and disposed of the body, maybe used for food. His emotions stayed roughly hatred, watching the wretched thing drift away, with a drift of good riddance. Staring up at Ruto, he saw her expression was soft and pitied, pouting of the young creature, then to Navi who nodded with her arms crossed around her chest. Yes, nothing could have stopped it; it was just a stupid creature anyway. Reaching up, he fiddled with Ruto a little, grabbing his hat and readjusting it upon his head. Grabbing her, he put her so her legs were around his neck and she rested right before his head, instead of on it.

"You alright like that? You are kinda heavy on my head, don't want to pass out or anything." Chuckling, he patted her thigh tenderly.

"Mmhm, I am fine. I-I'm sorry." Eyes moistened a bit, Ruto said.

"About what, Ruto?"

"About that thing, how I couldn't save you. I-I promise I'll do better next time-- I swear!" Giving a quick nod to the girl, he shushed her softly, telling her tenderly that it was all right. Matter of a fact, it was alright, sure he could have almost been killed, but the fact was that he hadn't been despised from this world, he was with his guardian and the princess whom he was guarding. Listening to the silence of the conversation, he figured it over, heading over towards the doors where the western edge was. Stepping upon the switch with both of them, it slid down and the magic-based mucus gave away, yet when he jumped off it was sliding back together. Frowning, he stepped upon it with both of them again, and the same thing happened again! Stomping his left foot on the switch, it popped down with only the slightest bit of weight upon it.

"It's not weight, Link, it's mass. One of us has to stay back here and stay on the switch so it doesn't go down. Ruto, would you mind staying while me and Link check it out?" At first Navi thought she was going to go on a rampage of how she was princess and she deserved just as much right out with the rest of them, than anyone else, but she didn't. Barely even acknowledging them, she sat upon the tooth as he sat her down, the door staying open when they backed towards it slowly, Link's eyes resting upon Ruto with concern.

"Are you going to be okay, Ruto-sama? If you are upset over the bloodshed, I am sorry for it, but it's necessary. Besides, these creatures aren't real; they are the reincarnations of evil into the goodness of beings. The spirits are long dead, so there is no way to save them, I know it hurts to see death, but I do not kill people, for that I have sworn my life by. It's all right to be sad, Ruto, really it is. Just don't let it get you down too much, 'kay?" Smiling, he turned around and ran for the door, popping on reach, and ran through the door that closed when they were inside.

--------------------

"Is she going to be okay, Navi?" Link whispered as they walked into the new room, similar to the Stinger's room, yet no water was there for them to hide. This room was completely empty, not a soul in sight, and since it was so small, and he could make an accurate guess it was all right for the time being. Moving over towards the center, the boy looked to his fairie, with compassion glancing through those brushed features.

"She's tough, I think she'll be all right. Well, why all of a sudden worried about others? You have a crush upon her, or something?"

"Not really, I am just worried about her, that's all." The trick had been a test to see what would happen, and since he didn't flush and look away stupidly like he did with Saria, it was really love. Ruto didn't seem to show that for the boy, either, so it seemed that this particular meeting was in her own favor. It was probably the species that didn't attract them together, at least for Ruto, she knew she couldn't fall in love with a Kokiiri, for one day she would grow wise beyond his senior, dominating over him, in the weirdest fashion."

"Is she not pretty?"

"Oh, no, she is pretty, one of the prettiest Zoras, I just don't feel that sort of love for her. I love her, of course, as a friend, but I also love Zelda-sama and Malon as a friend, also."

"Well, what about Saria and I?" The question rose upon her lips, what did he really feel for her.

"Saria? I love her more than anything, she was my mother, my protector, and my friend, I love her more than anyone I have ever met in my life, you equally." Breaking out in a small grin, he felt the pressure that she pressed upon him, but didn't give into it, he just shrugged a shoulder at the second part of the question. "Maybe I'll tell you anoth--" Suddenly he was cut off as something slammed him across the ground, unlike anything that was like the impact of the Stringers. Whatever did it couldn't reach him from that far away, so the boy tucked softly to the ground, crying out in pain. The moistened land fells upon his wounds, making the ones from before even intensify from before. Staring up at the ground, he saw what was a fifty feet tentacle staring at him with a face-less body, it was brown and slimy, from the feel of it all over his body. Wincing, he raised himself up weakly, backing against the wall to secure himself from further damage.

"Link! Oh, Goddess, Link" Flying to his side, the fairie stared up at the tentacle with her eyes widening. She had thought the tentacle not a threat, but now they were dealing with it. Or a cousin of one, for this one was a mahogany colour, while the other one was a dark green. Detecting no marks upon it, seeing as it went up towards twenty-five feet up, so a projectile weapon was out of the question. "Link, I don't see a weakness upon this Parasitic Tentacle. I don't think there is a way, except magic." Her eyes sort of curiously warned him when she shook his head, reaching for the boomerang with a grin.

"I saw a weak spot, right when it smacked me."

"Projectiles won't work, Link, it'll slap it away."

"Nuh-uh, it's got a tender spot about thirty feet up the road, that's why he is holding it in, so I can't access to it."

"How do you plan on getting it?" There was nearly no way to reach it, surely he wasn't insane enough too-- he questions were answered when he grinned a huge smirk and shrugged a shoulder as If to say it was nothing. Nothing was certainly was an understatement for this; it was suicide, basic suicide. She shook her head, blocking his path, only to be pushed out of the way softly. No, no, no! She wasn't going to let himself get killed to get to a stupid part down there, it just wasn't worth it, and there was no way she'd risk it.

"You won't make it in time."

"I will, I'll dodge it after I throw the rang, besides, I need you now." I've always needed you, nothing can stop me now, I feel the fear of this place, but with you at my side, I can do this.

"Need me, but how?"

"I need you to go to the spot and light up with its aligned with my boomerang, then I'll throw it and duck, as you said the boomerang will come back to my chi level, so we have nothing to worry about, and I need your own soul with mine." Interjection of the souls may have increased the power of the throw, the momentum of the holding, and the breaking of however this creature would die.

"But, Link!"

"No, buts. I don't plan on dying, Navi; I plan on surviving this. As my correct guess there are two or more of these creepy crawlers about, we are gonna need to knew how to mess with them. I am almost out of magic, even though you filled me up, and my fire won't work on them, they are too oily. If this doesn't work you can kill me yourself, okay?" At least I hope so. Sealing the deal off with a sweet smile, the girl gritted her teeth, trying to steady herself for the answer, but it was no use. She had swept him off his feet and now they were going to head out for that simple place and die an untimely death, all on the account of her weakness and his adventure sense was more developed. She had noticed his he changed so much, it was quite ironic, but in the distant past he would have never attempted something so stupid or foolish. Not that he was getting dumber; his courage was rising, though.

"A-alright. But, you'd better not get hurt!" With a quick nod, the boy let her levitate up right above him, but thirty feet in the air. The accurate guess on where the weak spot was, Link knew what it was, because the colours were a lighter mahogany, that implicated a weakness, or a colour where it slept. If his guess was wrong, then he was dead anyway, it was better than sitting here and waiting to become foot, Eh? Running up toward the center of the room, staring up at the slithering hole, he watched eagerly as it slid down the fifty feet and closed in the distance between them with only a pushpin of a difference in location. Even as he stared it up in the eyes, boomerang positioned in his left hand, the pain in his right and bruises on his chest crying out, he couldn't help, but laugh.

The laugh was like the pistol-shot at a horse race; it was the time to move on with the prize in his mind. Quickly dodging to the left, he waited for his signal, the yellow light, that the signal had been found, it was weak indeed, and when to throw. For now, however, he had an angry tentacle that was even more pissed overtime he dodged six foot thick matching appendage. Throwing him to the right, the arm slammed down into the ground, causing Jabu to scream; yet it didn't seem to affect either of them in the least. Keeping his eyes on the beginning of the tail, noticing when it moved he, he reacted, and when searching for Navi to light up in the dark, so it was easy to dodge. Within the fourth dodge, the light lit up for him to throw him boomerang, so reaching forward he threw it around in the crescent shot, maneuvering under the tentacle, watching for the moment of truth.

--------------------

Sniffling silently, the child had watched him enter the door, watching as the flap of tissue ceased back into a door, only seconds later. Sure, she was depressed, but what was she saddened by? From everything, to put it bluntly. The cowdarance she felt when faced up with a tiny centipede, the courage the boy showed, the insides of her fellow fish God, and even this environment itself. No, this was not the Jabu that she loved, not the fish she spent many times wandering in alone, this was some defect, some sort of monster. How could this be the same creature that used to let her wander his endowments with no fear of being attacked? The simple answer was that this wasn't it, or if it were, then it would soon be destroyed and/or cured.

Flaps of Jabu's "doors" may have been thin on the first glance, but Ruto couldn't even seem to hear through the walls. Jumping off of the switch, she made her way over towards the wall and pressed her ear up against it firmly. Even with the incredible Hylian breech of her ears, the sounds through the thin wall weren't bouncing in her direction. Taking a braver approach, her ear pressed up against the wall, where in turn was greeted with the duplicate effect. Throwing her hands back in frustration, she sat back upon the tooth, the one that didn't even open, even when she was on it. Folding her hands about her chest, her mind began to melt down to some minor thoughts.

What was going to happen when the two got out of here? Obviously, the boy was some sort of hero, she hadn't gotten around to asking him any personal questions, they hadn't known each other that long, why be nosy? No, she was nosy at this point, she wanted to know everything about him, what the Kokiiri tribe did, had they ever interacted with each other, that sort of stuff. She had never heard of the Kokiiri except through some history lessons with her professors, and even then the teachers were quite skeptics, saying no one could have eternal youth just because some "magical" tree kept them up and about. These were the same mentors that taught her how to summon her spells, really, how can one not believe in a mystic tree, yet teach the ancient art of magic? The situations made no sense to her.

Was he going to leave after they got out of here? Well, sure he was, he was an adventurer at sorts, or that's what she recommended, how could he not be with that deviance smile, those moves from fighting, and that power! That mystical attack from which was from the Goddess that they worshipped, how could he learn such a technique. Having heard the name of the technique was different, it was some other language she couldn't understand, but had Zorian words in it. So confusing, so little time to compensate for it. Maybe a guard, or his father had taught him the technique, it seemed to be a real drain on his manna, hence the reason for his skin becoming light. His manna wouldn't last much longer, unless he had himself a green potion, but she hadn't seen those in forever.

"Oh, Naryu, help me. Give me strength to fight enemies when we come in close contact again. But, why do I want to do this, I had never ever wanted to do anything this weird before, especially with a peasant. Why am I treating a peasant with such expertise, he may deserve it, but he isn't of our royal blood--nor out species, for that matter. Ohh, tell me why, great Goddess of wind and water, the procreator of physics." Nothing answered her sweet prayers, only the incubated breathing of the outer world. If Ruto had one thing on her mind when that scream came out, it was that she would never lay a foot back here again-- a scream? Yes, a scream so loud broke the sound barrier of the once proofed room, but it wasn't the scream of the boy she knew, it was the scream of something else, something in terrible pain.

Maybe the monster that he is fighting. Oh, yes, there was such a monster behind the door, maybe it was its scent he caught, or maybe she could decipher aura, the latter seeming more ridiculous than its predecessor could. Laying eyes on the door, a great sigh of relief died through the winds of the great fish, as if a gargantuan burden had been lifted from its shoulders. Something happened then, something that she couldn't explain; some of the skin upon Jabu began to change. When she had been first sucked in, it was the most abnormal shade of pink that the skin had ever been, the roof a violent violet. Now, however, the skin upon the roof was a paler pink, while the matching skin had moved up a shade of two. Must mean he's healing, yes that was it, nothing else could explain it? Suckling of the walls also stopped, some of the creatures may have died, she really didn't know.

Suddenly she knew in her mind that they were going to get out. From the beginning she had been skeptic, always thinking that this idiot would turn upon her, turn tail and run, or simply put her out of her misery, however now she held a certain trust towards him. Who cared if he was a peasant, a Kokiiri, or a boy, not she, she didn't give a damn in the least. All that mattered was that he was risking his life for her, and the best she could do was ride on his head. No more, no more at all, for when he got out of there she was going to hold his hand and walk by his side the rest of the way. Yes, yes, she was going too--ohh, a slight yawn entered her train of thought, circling her thoughts in a swirl of emotions. Just a bit of rest, yes, just a little bit, then I'll be good as knew. Curling up in a ball on the flat tooth, she tenderly rubbed her sides and gazed herself into unconsciousness.

--------------------

"A perfect hit, Link!" Navi cheered on as the boomerang swung upside to the monster, slashing right across the more tender area, swerving around and re-landing in his hands. Grinning over to Navi, he gave a light shrug and stared up at the monster, the blow hadn't killed it, that for sure, but now it was seriously pissed, the tail began to swerve back and forth in hectic motions. Dodging each one with the right amount of accuracy, he later would grant himself the beauty in his evasion, for the thing was swinging so hard, it might have taken his head off in one clean snap. Shuddering down the sickening feeling, the boy back-flipped away from the tail's point of attack, watching it rise the extra thirty feet once again, holding itself at bay.

Slightly chuckling, he leaned against the side of the walls, noticing a slight colour change, but nothing so immediate. Pulling out the boomerang, he noticed the guts upon the jewel, where it hit to the side, but a direct hit hadn't happened. From his guess, if a direct hit would happen, the might beast would succumb with a loud scream, either snapping off or dying, or shriveling up into an old weed. Pushing back his hat, the boy looked over to his fairie, trying to hold back the laughs. "Told you."

"Mm, yes, you did. He is a bit slow compared to you, isn't he? But be warned, one hit with that may kill you."

"Yea, I guessed that much. Round two coming up!" The second time around was much quicker, much more intense than the time before. Time seemed to slow down as each little throw it threw was dodged with perfect accession, sometimes slipping down, rolling to the side in the next moment, but hey, nobody's perfect. Rolling upon his back, the boy dodged backward, throwing the boomerang straight at the sparkled area where his fairie had returned, a scream of impact illuminating both of them in pain.

Covering his ears caused the boomerang to stay up there, the jewel upon the rang was reacting seriously, responding to the contact of flesh it came out to touch. As it seemed, the weapon of its choices could hurt this little monster, maybe the reason it was so well guarded. Finally the scream faded off, Link reaching a hand out and the boomerang returned to its master, but by that time the monster was already dead. As soon as the boomerang let out of its skin, the tail slumped to the ground, turning a disfigured brown colour, then disappearing inside a swirl hole that appeared out of nowhere. Clean-up duty seemed to be on their side for a change, yet a strange feeling in the back of his mind told him it would clean up his body just as fast, if he had been the one punishable.

As soon as the tail disappeared, a louder scream echoed through the walls, this one loud, but not so hearing-impaired. Link's guess was that they destroyed the center of the larger tails that were covering some of the entrances to the nearby doors. That might mean if they headed to those doors after disposing of them, then it was a good chance they would find an empty path to the room. Tucking the boomerang in his belt, instead the empty space in his side pack, the boy looked over to Navi with his eyes falling upon her with compassion, she had soon come down while he watched the incarnate of this creatures cruel fate.

"Sad, isn't it?" Her words echoed like distant shadows.

"Mmhm, it is sad. Shall we go, I have a hunch there are more of these, besides the green one, and we should clear them out as soon as possible." When he turned to leave, his eyes brightened up--no, the room brightened up. The entire room began to shrivel and form a new colour, a lighter shade of inner muscle surrounding the contents they were concealed inside. "Think that means he is healed somewhat?" Receive a small reply of approval, the boy walked over the nasty tail, stomping the small squiggling edge into the ground, before stepping before the layer of flesh, that led back to the old room.

"Awe, she's asleep…" Navi floated across her face, watching the little Zora slumber upon her guarding point, so defenseless it was cute. Picking her up with the power that Navi possessed, she put the girl up on Link's shoulder, which he took as if some sort of relief. Thanking his partner with a nod, he continued down the path, staring down at the tree exits. Whichever way they would go out to be quick and easy, but the hard part was to decide which way to go. Those paths were so slippery it was harder to get upon, plus sometimes a deadly electrocuting tentacle was awaiting them. Well, he guessed that they were lightning-based.

"So, which direction?"

"Northwest, it had the brownish tail."

"You sure, Navi?"

"Positive, Link, now let's go." Smiling brightly at him, the boy couldn't help, but shrug a delirious hand and give into her pleasures. Yes, sometimes she had the upper hand in his battles, sometimes she usually one, but there was the occasional night when he would win, the arguments usually tedious and childish (but wasn't that what they were?) leading to nothing real interesting. Maybe it was interesting, but served no purpose to the point in their adventures, usually a debate on the future, what happens next, talking to each other, and describing each other to one another in their own words.

--------------------

A boring room waited them in the direction they headed. Though the northwest wasn't blocked from dangers, inside they found a chest with a compass awaiting them, but there was a sidetrack Shaboms were the sidetrack, for they had to defeat all twenty of them within a ticking distance, or the stupid chest would disappear. It appeared that after several times, the seconds were in the forties, that didn't give them much time for the exploding monsters, especially with bullets, but Link had himself a good idea. Sitting his passenger on the ground, away from the Shaboms, the boy flexed his muscles and prepared for the primitive attack. Not bothering to waste anymore magic, or a good percentage, on the Goddess attack, he would propel himself off the wall and help out.

Running towards the wall, the lad leapt upon it, the rubbery substance using as a polar cap and retracting him away from his initial position. Flying in the center of the room (and the Shaboms), the boy threw his hands in the position of Din's fire, letting loose a volcanic blast of flavor that would stain all the bubbles with the crimson for the time being. With heat applied to their simple bodies, the stupid creatures easily gave into popping at the intense heat, each one popping before ten seconds were over. With the chest now free, the boy jumped at the chance to gather what would be next, pushing his left with the only element of the dungeon he didn't have: a compass. Gathering up Ruto, he gave the room one last glance, before walking out of it in a little unfit manner.

Leaving the room with a tiny bit of disgust, he headed for the room to the northeast. In the distance, the boy and his companion saw a larger red tentacle blocked the path, so they headed up to the west, where the path was as clear as day. No holes to indicate that something were even here. Maybe he should have come here before the room with the boomerang? Yet as he came into the room, and saw the consequences, the boy was contented he had decided to leave himself outside without so much as the live-saver he had stuck inside of his belt.

Un-tucking his lucky crescent, the boy entered the room where a larger tail stood upright out of the ground, guarding nothing in particular. Automatically he knew that was the tentacle, so he went in for the high-pitched kill, which was to his shock, not that much of a deal. The earlier version of the tails had been smaller, more agile, capable of better blows, but this one had to make the boy chuckle out in happiness, it was just too fat to be of any threat. It was true if that one knocked him once he'd be crushed, but that was problem, the thing just couldn't seem to hit its mark. Each time it came even close to preventing damage, the boy leapt to another direction to avoid the close combat quarts.

Another one of its disadvantages was that the spot was even larger than ever, the boy trying the same trick of not holding his hand out to try and get an instant kill, that was where the downside laid in. A large figure also meant a huge neck, which led Link to be able working upon his body for fifteen minutes, usually with maddening swings, and drilling holes within the neck. Finally, the thing collapsed ion the ground as his fifteen turned into twenty-five. Staring around, nothing appeared, so he quickly took up his Zora with him, slipping out of the room before something else could be in its place for trouble. Another scream echoed through the halls, the boy covering Ruto's ears so she wouldn't awaken, and with that problem solved, he made his way out to the last entrance, the north. A hypothesis was that the green one would be there, which he diverse with the fairie on their way over there. When finally reaching the area where the red tail had been, he saw a huge imprint hole there. Staring down in the hole, all that was there was darkness, but he knew damned well that the thing had twisted and turned through the nerves to reach the room directly across from it.

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"Navi, t-there are…"

"I see them, take them out first, before you deal with the tail, just stay to the sides and you can avoid it." As he kept his distance to the sides, she stared up at the last one of the bunch: the dreaded green tail. It was quite the leader of the pack, for a group of twenty Biris surrounded them, not the big ones, but the more annoying small ones. Going with them with bombs was simply out of the questions, because seeing the green tentacle actions worried her even more, the thing was huge and agile. They found that out entering the room, the tail nearly slamming the door shut, if they hadn't been blocked, it would have been them getting the slam. Now in a direct corner, he targeted his boomerang at the first Biris and fired, if this didn't work, he'd try to escape for a new plan.

The Goddesses loved Link! As soon as they came in contact with the boomerang, the jewel responded and shot out some light at the Biris, burning it into a mass of bubbles. This one happened to swerve around five of them, crushing them into nothing within a matter of seconds. Leaping up and catching the boomerang, he squealed with a bit of joy, launching it out again at the enemies. Only getting them in-groups of two, he managed to eliminate all the Biris in eight turns (the last Biris left was all alone and making a crying sound), but he showed no mercy to them, taking it out in just a few seconds. All the bubbles weren't like the Shaboms, they actually turned into purple bubbles, which popped on their own and disappeared in the oxygen, what happened to their bodies was beyond his knowledge.

"Navi, it's working, it's working!" His cheers exploded as soon as they were all gone, running up towards the enemy with full force. This one had extended out the same fifty feet as the others, its thick hide protecting it in all places, yet the agility of it would benefit it in for a quick kill. Link liked the sound of it, the odds weren't in his favor, but were they usually? Throwing the area at the tender spot, the thing screamed out in pain, but sent a its tail right at him anyway. Hitting the ground, it scraped across his back, making him bite his lip to endure the pain of the slimy scales against it. No blood was drawn, but a huge scratch in his tunic appeared, some marks upon his back. Flipping back to the safe regions, he looked to Navi.

"Now what, he doesn't stop with the pain."

"I…well, we should, let's see." Sitting upon his shoulder, she gave out a loose shrug, before her mind widened up mentally. That was it, reaching behind his belt, she produced a bag and headed towards her enemy. Patting his shoulder, she floated up to the little thing, huge mark that was unexposed, closing the distance between it, which wasn't all that much to begin with. From past experiences, the monsters either didn't acknowledge Navi, or simply ignored her; the same was with this one. When Link came out and started to dodge the swift attacks of the monster, its most tender spot were left out for the girls' liking. Pulling out the bag she had drawn, she yanked out something big and black, pushing a button on it. The fuse of the bomb gave into the pressure; the pressure causing a chain reaction inside of the monster that mutilated it to pieces.

Flowing shrapnel was repelled, by his shield that contained the two behind it, yet more and more guts began to splatter off in all directions, soaking the shield in a green mass of blood, possibly not the guts had stained it, they had leaked out at first. As the bomb blew up, Link saw the bag being thrown to him, caught it and got the shield ready, Ruto already under it, and later Navi zipped in. Pressed against the wall, it concealed the three from any kind of guts that would have given through, but also no scream was given. It was their guess, but maybe the bomb destroyed it all at one time no need for any stupid scream.

Five minutes after the carnage settled down, he peeked the guard up, only to be hit with the small of the rotting dead. Wiping his shield off against the wall, he slipped it back around his face, the smell worsening. Must decompose pretty quickly, his voice told him, gathering up the Zora and continuing past the gut-drenched rivers that stretched out. They could have talked, but talk seemed so unimportant for now, the only thing that seemed to matter was living. No carcass was available for him to see; only the outpour of tissue, the skeleton (if there was one) destroyed into tiny shreds of pieces. Turning towards the door, he dodged the few droplets of the gunk that spread in big puddles. Finally moving past the pain of the room, he of course had no more rooms left, with only one more target in his grasp: to get past that barrier now, since the green tail was gone.

Slinking past the door, checking his map for the part where the green part was marked down, he nodded a quick hand at the little mark where there had been something was now empty. Quickly grabbing onto Navi, the fairie silently dragged them down through the muck-hole, into a new room that opened up to the folks. No, not a new room, it was actually the same level they had been upon before, the level he had a conversation with Ruto the second time. Not at the same place though, this time they were onto one of the highest places that couldn't be climbed up without special equipment, and what's more is a door stood their way.

"Should we wake her?"

"No, Link, but I wish we could--" Groping the map before--she had seen this place--, and yes she cheered out as Link grabbed the map studying the out figures of where they were and where the map was marked red. Of course, he shouldn't have missed it, upon a huge structure and leading forwards into a room marked with the letter "J." Running forwards, towards the door, he stopped there and turned towards the smaller corridor that led to the door, pressing his hand against the skin of the wall. The thing was transparent, as it could be seen, so he simply slipped past it with Ruto in his arms since the entrance was so small.

His eyes illuminated with brightness, the room seeming to transform from a glossy wet pile of mass, to a significantly filed room, the room mattered on with the flesh from the rest of the place. This meant it also had two large beds to sleep in, them made of the same materials the Zorians let Link use that night. All of a Link's wounds began to ache as soon as he saw the bed, laying Ruto on the blue silken covers of the right bed, limping to the left one on his side, sinking down into the covers. Sleep would have overtaken him, but it was too uncomfortable, and letting out a small groan of pain, the boy stared up at his fairie.

"It's uncomfortable in her-."

"Take off your shield, dummy…" She had already unsnapped his satchel, laying it upon some of the flesh-made cabinets that were in the room. Dodging the shield that flew overhead, followed by the sword, she came to lay upon the top pillow of the bed, looking down at him on the same pillow, Hrm, no she wasn't sleepy either. Ruto was out for the night, or so it seemed for the time being, so she might take this opportunity to get to know the child, they had talked over the two months. Talking had gone on over the last two months, but Link went to sleep so early they never got into deep conversations, but now that he was asleep it was a personal favorite time for Navi.

"So, tell me about yourself."

Giving her a double take, he blinked. "Navi, you know me."

"No, I don't, sweetheart. We talk and all, but I want to know about you--your past memories and your future. I already know your present, hee…"

"You really want to know?" Laying his head upon the pillow a little further up, they were facing each other. Her laying backwards, and him in the frontward position, the eyes never seeming to lend each others sockets to contain each other in the moment. Lifting a hand up, she patted his cheek in approval, where he saw up and heaved a deep sigh, as if he were about to release something big, something so big that she might not be ready. Had she wished she had gone back on her words, or was he happy she had finally asked the question?

"I knew you'd ask eventually, we've known each other for you to know the truth, so what do you want to know?"

"I want to know about Mido, I used to live deeper inside the forest, so I never saw anything that went on in the forest, I really want to know about your grudge about him."

Man, she really hit the nail! Seemed she didn't like to waste time and go over the most important element of the future. Shaking his head in disbelief, how was he supposed to word this, for he never had worded it to Saria, who had been there, but usually through the tears. Biting his lip for compassion, he was sitting in the bed, her held right above her face, inside his palms, where he stared down and recollected the story of how the evil Mido had extracted his revenge. The stupid little story that had haunted him since it had happened, never being locked out, but staying out in the open for any mind-readers to read. Reaching inside his satchel he grabbed the canteen full of water, chugging some down, handing it to the refusing Navi. Gulping down another swallow, he began.

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"Goddess, why is she with him again!" Mido bellowed out, slamming his fist into the ground. That stupid little prick was with Saria again, no damnit, why? It didn't make no sense at all, why would she be with a pipsqueak like him when she could have a man like him, why love some under-experienced, under-aged Kokiiri. Gripping the Deku stick between his fingers, be began to draw upon the pavement that figures of them three, some stupid little triangle this was. How could she do this? How could she disappoint the leader of the Kokiiri?

Sitting upon the top of his house, he was peeking over the top when he had caught wind of the beautiful Saria and the brat (only five years old) headed towards their house. The kid was so young that no one else would take him, and he couldn't live on his own, that was for sure, but Mido thought he needed to be drowned like the dog he was. In stealthy steps, the leader trailed the two underlings for the few miles at the house, waiting until they came out, and followed them on their way past into the Lost Woods. Those woods were so confusing around this time year, especially near the spring with all those stupid scrubs coming out from their hibernation.

"Link-chan…you coming." The goddess sang out to the younger kid.

"Yup!" Embracing the older child, a giggled escaped both of them before she lifted Link in her arms and continued through the maze, cold blood draining from Mido's face. Squeezing his hands shut, he needed some sort of plan to get back at Link for this, but what was there to do? If it was the winter he could dunk him in the snow, the fall in the leaves, the summer in the lake, but what about spring? Spring was more difficult for there were nothing around except Deku--which is it, pure genius!" his voice ringed out. Rubbing his hands about, the boy followed them until they reached the meadow, trailing a quick rock trail through the forest back to the village.

Re-arriving at the village in less time than before, his first stop was right to the Know-It-All Brothers who accepted the privilege within their own triplet voices, then he visited a few of his other friends until the ground had expended from the beginning Mido to seven strong. Lucky seven, that was the number they needed to do this need, not that the child was very big, but temper tantrums were in order. Folding infront of the group, he began to walk towards the Lost Woods trailing over his thoughts out loud to them. "How shall we do this? Anyone have any ideas?" Several of them raised their hands, but most were idiots, so he called on from the smartest of the Know-It-All Brothers, baffling the child that they couldn't speak in threes.

"I say we knock him out--first, and then do it."

"Too easy, stupid!" Hitting the child on the head, he cowered under Mido, giving out a small bow of sadness. "I want him to suffer for his deeds, I want him to suffer for taking her away from me!"

Lots of "hear, hears" rang out in the whistles, the group of boys banding together to take out their known enemy: Link. No girls were present because most of the girls still liked Link, he was such a cute little child, plus Mido doubted they could be as rough as the boys were going to be. Passing out weapons, each was armed with a Deku stick so resistance would be futile. Marching quietly through the spring sun, they searched the Lost Woods until they came upon the most ingenious spot, the hole was just right for him, the right size so he would slip in, but climbing out was impossible. The first task was to take out the little harem inside the tree, and that was when Mido went in alone with only a Deku stick at his disposable. "How brave" some of the boys cheered on, while others were trying to decide who would be the next Kokiiri leader?

Unknown to the rest of the children, Mido had possession of the legendary Kokiiri sword, something he had discovered a few months back without anyone else's knowledge. Holding only the sword inside his back, the child shivered when the small scuffling of steps was headed his way, while he fumbled around for something to fight with. A pair of orange eyes stared deep into his eyes, causing the boy to let out a silent scream, falling against the wall with disgust. As the Deku Scrub turned around to fire a bullet at it, a shaky hand shafted the blade inside of it.

Pure luck saved the boy from destruction; the snap of the sack had been done, so he had gotten a hold of the blade pretty quickly, dispatching the criminal. How ironic, he himself was a criminal invading ones homes, but sacrifices needed to be made for love. Black liquid poured down the blade, which he went throughout the room searching for more Deku scrubs (he wanted to scare him, not kill him; at least not yet.) No other scrubs were around the room, so after some quick rope-climbing Mido was back out of the room where a fresh change of clothes was made for him.

The next plan of action was following the rocks, which happened pretty quickly, not a difficult task to deflect the monster's deku nuts to the stupider-looking scrubs, the one he killed was a long-nozzle, these the short weakened kinds that ran away when hurt. Only using the sword, not to give the sword's location away, they reached the Sacred Forest Meadow within fifteen minutes, to their luck with the boy all alone, no one was on the stump, but him holding her Ocarina in her palms, cradling it as if it was a child. Pulling his Deku stick forward, he nodded for them to march on his mark. Counting down silently, he cupped his empty palm together when they ran at him.

--------------------

"How do you know all these details?" Navi wondered out of her mouth, looking over at him. It was nice to be here, the time passing within an hour or so, the information given by Link mystified her. How could he get this information, he wasn't there at all, he was back somewhere else, unless someone else snickered? That was highly possible, since some of the Kokiiri boys were known to be jerks. Not jerks, more like snoops, but which ones would dare tattle upon their great leader, the man that Navi had come to hate after the few confrontations with him.

"I made one to squeal, and the sword is my guess, found the corpse later on."

"W-what did they do?"

"Well, hold your horses. Saria had told me to wait there while she went to do some stuff, water the gardens in the deeper part of the meadow, so far she didn't hear my cries as they dragged me away." Clenching his fist and gritting his teeth hard, he looked down to the ground with sigh of sadness stinging his eyes. No, not a sting just tears of pain that reflected the past memories. Shaking them away, trying to forget it and grow up, he knew that Navi was waiting for the story, so he went on with his recollections of the place. Giving in every detail, so no more stops would be given for the fairie, this was his story and he intended to finish it.

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"Get him! Get that punk!" They yelled over, tackling the young boy to the ground. That ocarina sprung from his hands, rolling over to the side of the ground, hovering like an unprotected animal in the grasp of a snake's mouth, dripping venom of fangs ready to pounce. Little Link struggled, yes he did struggle at all cost, but that futile because Mido was sitting on his chest, the three brothers out with their arms crossed, and some of the other grunts holding down his arms and legs with both put together. Shrieking out in pain, calling out the pain and grasping for the name of his foster-mother, the child was clasped with a hand over his mouth, Mido breathing down into his face.

"Don't you dare call her!" Backslapping him across the face, he burst out in a stream of chuckles, slapping him over and over again. The sadistic touches each time making more and more tears stream from his cheeks, all the way being muzzled by another hand when he took both hands and smashed them into the tender cheeks. Blood began to stream down from his mouth, where he hit him in the jaw with some punches; his eyes already blackened from the punches of only Mido, when he nodded for the others to join in. They threw him over to the side pummeling him with kicks to the ribs, curses, and chants overbearing his cries.

Not that Link could cry anymore, his sobs were silently when they started whispering before themselves, Link being lifted up by the shaggy-haired Kokirii, throwing him over his shoulder. Either the crushed or tender ribs ached out loud a moan when he was rustled from the meadow and over outside of the maze, being gagged with a Deku nut when his screams started back up again. By the time he reached the special hole Mido had awaiting him, Link was convinced she wasn't going to turn out pretty, especially when he was thrown to the ground, only to be picked up by a vicious Mido.

"This will teach you, little bitch, not to mess with my woman."

"W-who?" He cried out in a choking gasp.

"Saria, you dumb ass, my woman! You need to be punished." Before Link could say that Saria was raising him, he was shoved down a hole that led down into the deep darkness of the night. The tunnel slid on for what seemed like hours, wet water, and something else staining his smaller tunic at the time. Finally coming to a sloshing stop in the tunnel, he fell into a goop of goo, staring around in to darkness for some source of light, and since none was found, there he started to call up for help. Laughs were his only response to the eagerness in his voice, a creaking metal moving over the last place of light, shutting him off in complete darkness.

Wrapping his arms about his neck, all the boy's thoughts focused onto the once lighted place. Nothing was here; he was going to die here alone with something he was slipping in. Jumping out of the goop, he landed upon some solid ground, feeling down with his fingers that it was a grass-patch of some sort. Link still had no idea where he was, he had never laid eyes upon a Deku Scrub before, Saria always able to dodge them or take a higher path up across the ledges when they came to the Sacred meadow. Saria…what would she think of me now, acting a wimp! Gritting his teeth together, gnashing the marrow back and forth across himself, he cupped his hands together, to echo it, and yelled out in a fierce voice that still matched his feminine one. "Let me out! Let me out, Mido! Let me out I am telling Saria!"

Bustles of laughter exploded from their mouths, yelling down some words Link didn't think too highly of. What's worse been that somehow it was getting hot in here. Leaning up against a wall, he began to sweat profusely thought his skin. Whimpering, he curled his knees up to his chest, shivering through the tunic at the coldness, and hot weather in here, like some sort of winder and summer in here, his mind reflected. That would calmed down, but the bristle of brushes through the woods caused him to stare over at the ground and look around…no, there was no one at all, I'm just being silly. Another bristle made him squeal and leap for the tunnel dragging himself up there with his hands gasping the muddy tunnel. The brushes were getting louder and louder as it tunneled up the pathway to him. Sometimes slipping a little, he made his best way to the top, the thing gaining.

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"What happened next?" Ruto piped up, looking over through the covers of her bed, the eyes glazed with sleepiness.

"Huh, well, that was when Mido got what he--Ruto?!" Shaking his head, he looked over to the grinning fish-girl, she jumped up from her bed and landed on Link's looking him over before slipping under the covers at where he sunk, resting his head on the pillow next to Navi and her partner. The sleepiness in her eyes faded fast, maybe she hadn't been asleep this whole time, or maybe these people were fast sleepers, all they knew is that she was the one who had interrupted the story.

"How long have you been up?"

"Since I woke up…"

Rolling his eyes a little, he tried again. "How long since I started the story." Switching the position, he pushed Navi over so she was right next to their heads, so he could face both of them. Patting the energetic Ruto upon the head, she claimed that she had been awake before they entered the door, that the muck hole ride had awoken her. Now she liked the story so far, but wanted to know what happened next, since his voice was lowering under those covers she could no longer conceal her identity. Grinning up at him, she rested her head next to his, listening as he went on-

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"That was good, Mido. Oh, man, that was the best!" Slapping Mido upon the back, one of the grunts watched his reaction, sometimes the boss got mad, but this time got a slap back on his back and grinned back at the grunt. Yes, this was his own idea, he'd thought it up entirely, why should anyone else take credit for his creative genius. Sitting upon the hole was a huge boulder, so he wouldn't be out for a few days. He can always live off the Deku feces; this caused the boy to crack up in a burst of giggles, echoing throughout the entire forest.

Combined the throwing of Link's voices, the cackles of the antagonist, someone or something had to have noticed the trouble going on and warned someone to help. If it had been one of girls or remaining men (hussies), they would have reported it back to the Deku Tree without any report, but then again we weren't talking about normal women, now were we? No, because Saria was the one who caught the giggles from the boys, wondering how they had gotten out to the meadow without permission and why they were laughing. Laughter was quite contagious, so when she emerged from the bushes near Link, her grin turned down into a dreadful downcast.

Rushing through the trees around the area of the forest, she opened the path where they would usually sit and practice the Ocarina, only to find her beautiful tool up against a wall, and blood sprayed across the green grass. Not just any blood, from the scent of it, it was Link's blood. Folding her tool into her pockets, she ran throughout the forest yelling out Link's name, hoping it was just a mistake, hoping that he had run into a tree and wandered home, but her hope disappearing when she was through the entire minutes later. Coming back into the forest and hearing the laughter road on and on down the road.

Shall I check there? No, it couldn't hurt, couldn't hurt at all. Skidding into the bushes before Mido and his gooneys, she caught the conversation about how it was so good. Puzzled, she was about to go back to her spot when her name echoed through the ears of the eleven, that child looking up, peeking around until she was sure it was coming from the underground region. A squeak in the atmosphere made her start back at Mido, who was now sitting upon a Deku dung-hole with a rock upon it, then suddenly, it appeared upon Saria. Cracking her knuckles, she leapt from the bushes and upon Mido, slamming her fist down into his face.

To say that Mido was caught off-guard was to say the least, but soon as she had the upper hand upon him, the boy had snapped his fingers while the goons grabbed her arms and held her down for the time being. The evil laugh returned as he knocked upon the boulder and began to mock Link in a singsong voice on how much trouble he was in, being up a 'shit hole' without a paddle. Saria had ignored the comment, taking the time to break free as he explained his situation, grabbing hold of one of her captors, and slamming it into the other. They fell to the ground, the rest of the group staring around at what the girl had just done.

Diving for the rock, she was caught by Mido, who tried to hole her down, but ended up looking stupid when she slammed him down into the ground, while the others ran away like the chickens they were. Now alone with Mido, Saria preceded to beat the living life out of him, asking over and over where Link was, each time deserved with that he would die down there. Saria really knew where he was, just playing the boy on for the time being, giving him his punishment for the punch. The only thing that stopped her seemed to he the rustle of bushes underground, which she cried out in surprise, jumping upon the rock and beginning to yank upon it.

"Don't just sit there, you idiot, help me! What are you--" Slapping herself mentally. Of course, the others had just ran away, and looking back at the Kokiiri boss he was out of commission for the time being. That wasn't what got her moving, it was a terrible shriek of pain that came from the underground: Link's cry. Shaking with the fear of losing him, her feet spread out, pushing up against the rock with all her might, but it just wouldn't budge an inch. No, no… I am not losing him! Spinning around, she desperately searched for some sort of device, something to help her in her pursuit. Deku sticks were spilt all over the ground, but they wouldn't work, if only she had some sort of-- a gleam in the corner of her eye made her turn around to the source.

Oh my…Sucking in her breath, the bag that Mido had had was now on the ground with the contents spread for her own enjoyment, the glint having been caused by the lone sword. Leaping at her chance, she grabbed the hilt of the sword and spun around in a circle, landing back to her old spot. Sticking the blade under the rock, she used herself as a catapult to jump upon the sword as hard as she could. No good…I-it wasn't working, this is not working. How am I going to get him out! Letting out an Amazonian cry of frustration, she was responded with some slightly giggles, lightly pounding footsteps, and a cry of surprise.

"Saria-san, what's going on?" Sati rushed up to her side, her other half on Saria's right side, staring at the rock with fascination. "What happened to Mido?" She placed a hand on Saria to pull her back from the rock, but Saria slashed out and began to slam on the blade harder and harder, building the steel piece into a harder metal, which was why now today the blade was made stronger. The force of the rocks had caused it to give in to its soft beauty, since the sword had never been used before, showing off the appeal of a war-veteran, one that had been through so many battles in her entire life.

"It's Link! He's trapped here, help me!" Several more gasps of surprise cried out. Cocking her head back, she saw that most of the girls from the village were with Sati and her sister, maybe just searching for some berries and heard Saria's cries of help. Well, this was to her and the child's advantage, for the girls didn't mind the younger boy. Sati jumped up on the sword too, her sister placing the final spot on the sword, the rock beginning to rise just a bit. Others joined in by a group of them slipping under and helping lift the rock--although not much--off the ground. Only a few inches were open this way, so the rest of the group grabbed Deku sticks and stuck them, trying to do the same technique Saria had, but not sitting upon them. Those sticks were just too weak to stand the torture of that, but being used as a way of moving something--they were made for that--harder than most trees around.

"Damn! It's only open a few inches! Sati! Something is attacking him, get him out!" Kicking the sword repetitively with each jump, she slammed her fist into the rock, crying out in fury. Yet another scream poured out, all the female forest kids perking in fear--Saria wasn't lying. A girl by the name of Jiu, the skinniest of them all, grabbed one of the smaller Deku nuts from her pockets and slipped her skinny arm down there--he would be paralyzed, but so would the monster. Dropping the nut downward, it exploded in seconds, causing all the noise to disappear, only the slight whimpering from Link. Returning to pushing, all that went on for the hours to be, but since none of the victims of the nuts were being attacked it could go on for hours at a time.

Adrenaline perused the young girl, his foster mother, and she jumped upon the rock, slamming herself on top of it by jumping. The first time it budged in the direct a few times, the second time coming up and sliding several feet to the left, the sword shimmying off to the left. Falling inside the hole, her body slammed into the young Link, whose body automatically became undone with the paralysis activities. Taking him into her arms, she handed him back up to the other Kokiiri (who began to kiss and smother him under his wounds, like an infant.) The light poured in and down she saw that a beast, a Deku Scrub was staring up at her with appeasing eyes, just asking her to touch it. So, that thing hurt him, Eh?

"Throw down the sword, Hati!" Sati's twin sister, the shyer of the bunch, silently handed the sword to Saria. She wasn't touching the thing, since her legs were spread across the narrow tunnel--letting her stand without actually touching it. Giving out a glance of hatred, like that of a lioness whose cub had been hurt, she put all her weight in the stab that did more damage to the creature than Mido had done to its counterpart. Sliding deep within the wound, black liquids slid down of its body, a scream bellowing through the smashed nozzle. Leaping for the edge, she pulled herself out, and spread out, throwing the sword like an Olympic discus player. As it sailed through the forest, they pushed the rock back into the ground, sealing the tomb, and proceeded to kick the living hell out Mido.

When the leader was faced with the question of why he did the task, he said because that he loved Saria and she was paying more attention to Link than he was. Most of the girls (and some guys) all cheered them, congratulating them on the new couple--that was except Saria, she simply spit down on him and crossed her arms about his chest. Smothering him in a dung-hole, leaving him there with a hungry Deku Scrub, and attacking her were simply not reason enough to hurt him, that was no reason to do that. Dismissing his love for her as bland stupidity, she to this day would rarely visit him unless it was at the town meetings, the annual Festival of the Stars, or if he bugged her. Those were the only reasons he would see the beautiful girl.

Also, she and the girls put up the gates, so that no one except the female of the Kokiiri, and Link could enter the forbidden zone. When questioned as if to why that was to be, they simply responded that he was better than the rest of the males, deserved more credit, and would be rewarded with that. Try as they might, the place was usually guarded by a Deku scrub who sided with the women, yes, they were capable of speech, at least the halfway decent of the race. Eventually a Wolvo killed the scrub and no one ever visited the place, except Saria and Link, who somehow could avoid the dangers and get past with Saria's song that soothed the beast. Other events between Mido and Link happened in those years they stayed together, but nothing that was savage as this one.

Sure he had wounds, the wounds that had no reason to be there, yet they healed, just as wounds always did. Nothing to savage was done to him--a few tender ribs, one of them broken, and the bruises all over his body. Aside that, that was it, he smelt strange for the next month and a half, also had a mark upon his ankle. It was in the same place where the Tailpasaran had bitten, this the place where the scrub had chewed. With some healing herbs and a month of rest his rise to fame was all right, tightness came around it during the winter, but besides that, it always remained all right, not a limp or anything.

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"There are other reasons I hate Mido. His arrogance, him thinking he is the leader, how he treated me for not having a fairie, and some of those things." Chuckling a little, he looked over to the two girls, eating off of his very words for the past few hours. Speaking of hours, his mind was getting a little tired, so without warning he simply slid the covered over his body and slumbered off peacefully. The faces of his two comrades broke out in fury, but the simple fact was the story was over, wasn't it? Yea, it was over, the story had been finished, there were other stories in the forest, but this one had been so hard on the boy, they (or Navi) hadn't had the heart to awaken him.

"Aw, man! How dare he go to sleep on me, I really enjoyed that." Frowning, she placed her hands upon his shoulders, trying to jut him awake, when Navi tapped her silently upon the shoulder.

"Ruto, let's just go to sleep, it's late--and we need our rest, I have the feeling we are close to your jewel, so if we get out sleep we can be out of her by the morning. Look a Link, he's pooped--we need him at full power tomorrow. You tired?"

"You're no fun!" Grabbing a pillow, she hit the fairie.

"H-hey, aren't you lis--"

"Nah, nah, nah!" Placing her hands over her small ears, she began to hum a little tune to herself. Navi, infuriated, moved over to Link and on the pillow, sleeping right beside his face. Soon she was asleep, and the little princess was bored, wandering about the room for something, trying to open the doors, and going through his satchels. His extensive expertise of weapons was remarkable; each one different in its own ways, the only one she didn't trust were the bombs, and they just looked too dangerous. There she played with his weapons for a few seconds, before the room darkened, signaling Jabu was falling asleep. Stomping her foot hardly, she called out for him to open up the lights, only to be received with a long sigh of ignorance.

"Jabu Jabu…" Whining, soon the experience of sleep overtook her, but her own bed was so long away. Crawling up on Link's bed, she slid under the covers with him, wrapping her arms about his waist, sliding her head on his shoulder with a sweet sigh. So nice… she thought, sliding down into unconsciousness. Unfortunately for the two heroes, they did have silent nightmares that night, the elixir of the dreams had disappeared sometimes during the day, so throughout the night each of them awoke once (different times), looking over to Ruto with content and slipped back to sleep. Dreams only making up the happy thoughts of the land, each night they suffered with them, but only one or two, tonight being very lucky to live them out in peace. Ruto's dreams were always nice and innocent, like herself, the im-purifying thoughts of evil never penetrating her.

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"You all ready to go." Leaning against the wall, he watched the two of them get themselves ready for the journey. Each one was wearing the same clothes as yesterday (well Ruto still naked.) Each gave a nod of approval and they took off outside of the room, the room led back into the room from yesterday with a door right to the north of them. Since Ruto was wide-awake, she walked along with them that were until they entered the new room, for as soon as they entered turmoil of trouble hit them. Sliding the skin through, his hands locked around Ruto's, Navi right near him, the trio slipped inside and stared up at the place in excitement.

"Oh, oh, oh! Link, give me that, get me up there!" Struggling to reach to the top of the room, she jumped up and down to take hold of the small little octagon of land, sitting upon a top shaped like a dredge. Besides that little part of the room, the room was empty, but why did she want to get on it then? On top of the platform, with all its shining glory, was a sapphire shaped like a flower, adorned with gold all around it. Taking a few steps back so it could see the small piece, his immediate thoughts turned to that it had to be the jewel, of course, judging from Ruto's actions. I haven't asked her about the jewel yet…oh jeez.

"What's that, Ruto?"

"Jeez, Navi you can be dense, it is my jewel!" Squealing in content, she would occasionally grasp the ledge, but he thrown down for it was just to high to climb on by her. Turning around with those hips placed on hips, she stared down at the younger boy and gave out a huff of fury. From the look upon Link's face he got the idea and walked by Ruto, sword sheathed, lifting her up in his arms and placing her upon his head. Standing on his head was just the balance she needed! Now she leapt forward, the edge just above her stomach, and yanked herself up to the top of it. Sprinting for the jewel, she grasped it in both hands and cuddled with it, but her celebration was cut short when the platform began to rise.

"R-Ruto! Jump down!" It's too late; she's too high. Jumping forward, he was pushed back by the edge of the platform and slammed into another wall. Slinking to his knees, grasping the bruise that had been pushed upon; the boy grasped his sword when the platform reached at its top, (becoming blended with the roof) a scream echoing out. Ruto's scream, he knew it from the sound of it, and clasped the edge of his sword, his boomerang tucked down inside of his belt. Finally the platform returned to its normal level, but anything looking like Ruto did appear.

"Link…get back!" Shoving him against the wall, she guarded him as the huge beast jumped from the platform and down to the ground. Now from the platform to the wall was about twenty feet wise, which this creature was an inch smaller. Being so compacted against the thing gave it a disadvantage, especially when the spikes from the island stuck out and impaled the creature in its skin. The huge octopus cried out, yes, it looked like a cousin to the Octaroks. With a bellow of pain it took off in a different direction, a small orb across its rear was cracked open, as if a weak spots. Link would have taken it, if that thing wasn't so fast.

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By the time he turned around, the thing was only a few feet away from him! Skidding along the wall, the shield held out in a worrisome manner, the beast pressed against the shield and compacted him down inside the skin. No air was given to him this time, crying out in the pain as his oxygen disappeared from his body. Swimming through the skin, it acting like an ocean of water, his thoughts went aside for something. How do I beat it, how do I beat it! Sighing, he looked along the edges for Navi, whom didn't seem to be with him for the time being. Slumping against the wall, he waited for the Octarok to come back around until he thought up his first plan, the thing slower this time, for the spikes had slunk in.

When its' in pain it, it gets scared and runs; now it's walking. I have some time to spare. With another huge bruise of the shield going to be implanted on his, he threw it upon the platform and ran to the left of the circular room, keeping his distance from the creature. This way it was so much easier to think with the beast behind him, that he almost enjoyed it, but then his thoughts went back to how he was supposed to exterminate this creature. Was it the master of this place, maybe, since there were other Octaroks around, but then again what about the past masters? Each one had had kin of some kind, the Gohma babies, the Dodongo babies, and now the Octaroks? No, that's not right, the Octaroks were outside and I've only seen two easy ones!

"Navi where are you!" Damnit, where is she! His thoughts turned to dread, that she was still in that abomination of the water. No, she had flown up when that happened, hadn't she? He couldn't think, the thoughts making him all nervous, should he save his fairie or go on and fight? His answer was given when the Octarok gave out a roar of pain spinning around from its general direction and taking off in a flash of speed. Seeing the crack on the octopus gave him an idea, the thing resembled an eye, and eyes were weak. Gripping the boomerang, he gave out a running speed towards the monster, throwing it right at the crack of it.

Throwing himself forward, cursing silently when the boomerang returned to him, he regretted to notice the thing had bombarded over him again. Oh, no. My shield! Giving out a cry of pain when he was pressed up against the wall again, this time in full force, something tender gave way in his ribs, making him grip the edges of himself again, this time throwing himself out of the liquid in a few seconds. Spluttering the juice out, he threw the boomerang at the monster that was only a few feet away from him. A beam of light left the boomerang, piercing the creatures eye-crack that opened up to reveal a green light, it also turning a deep blue and spinning around.

What's going on! There was no point in calling out; Navi wasn't at his side anymore. The beast began to spin round and round, moving in dizzying effects. It went on until it stopped, the crack on its rump facing him, and began to run away from him. Crying out, the boy grabbed his sword and threw it forward at the open eye, and a squeal of pain jutted out as the thing spun around, beginning to charge him. Biting his lip, he leapt upon the wall, but this time bounced up towards the platform. Grabbing himself up, the boy pulled his shield upon his chest, so to guard that area, looking over the edge of the platform.

His blade was still stuck inside the giant Octarok which was bad, because now that he had exploited the enemies' weakness, how was he going to stop it without a sword? Tears of pain whistled down his cheeks, the pain from the bruises were aching since his heavy shield was upon it, so he switched it back in the normal position. Checking his boomerang out, he threw it out with skill, aiming with the tip towards the left, so it would swing around and hit it when it came infront of him. The rang whistled as he smashed into the monster, which in response began to spin around in a angry manner, giving Link his chance to pounce out.

Jumping down, he landed on the spinning monster, leaning over the edge, and stabbing the blade in further. Green liquid poured from the already open wound, the monster crying out in pain again, but throwing him off as it bucked like a bronco. Gripping the blade, he landed right behind it once again, seeing it take off in maddening speed. This is getting annoying! The fight wasn't that hard, his experience coming in, so when the monster spun around towards him, about to blow, he threw the sword up and sliced right at its eyes. A mistake for the octopus, indeed, with blinding speed it began to spin around, not stopping for anyone.

Damnit! He waited for his moment and launched the blade down inside the gut wrenched green area. It seemed this was the monster heart, for the final time it pierced the center, only penetrating the barriers previously. When it moved forward, the green light shut off, the remaining green in its remaining eyes disappearing, while the Octarok sank down in a mass of skin. One remaining sigh gave out from its nozzle before it lay down inside the mess it had creating, shutting down permanently. Now he had to search for his fairie, he couldn't find her anywhere before, but now was all right. Going over to the area where he had sunk in both times, the boy breathed back some air, diving inside the fleshy waters.

That didn't help, the water was so thick that within ten seconds he had to pull his head out gasping for air. Using his sword as a desecrator, the boy hacked and slashed through the flesh (whining at the screams of Jabu), coming out to the area that he had been secured in. Searching around the empty area, he choked back his fears--staring down and diving back through the portal that swam back into the Octarok room. Bipedal feet landed on the ground, bowing his head in silence, a bit of honor to his former friend.

Former? What the hell are you talking about! His mind screamed out at him in range. Regretting the former thought, his head bowed as he silently apologized. How dare he say something so vile, it made him sick? Biting his tongue, the boy stared around the room for some sort of sign or glow within the room, something that might lead him to the whereabouts of Navi. Gripping the sword, he jumped at the octopus and began to scrounge around him, to check his stomach for maybe her remains. It was a last resort, but he just had to give it his all, for there was nothing else do to. Closing his eyes and holding his breath, the lad dove inside the multiple colored guts of it.

Not ever looking up, his nose was filled with the disgusting liquids, his eyes burning to open for the satisfaction of his whereabouts. Hands palmed around for some sort of body, some sort of evidence of her, but to his luck he came up with nothing. Pulling out of the body, the smells from the carcass finally gave in, Link vomiting inside of the dead animal. Wiping the bile from his lips, he sat down and began to call out to his former guardian.

"Navi! Navi! Where are you! Please, if you come back, I-I'll be good, I won't complain. Oh, Goddess, Navi! Ruto is safe--I think, but what happened to you!" His voices were in vain, his throat growing tired after a while, taking a chug of the liquid, and cried out until his own voice becoming hoarse again. Sitting up, the guts making him wretch with pain, he removed his clothing and ran the rest of the canteen over the rest of the tunic, leaving only a little left to drink. Cold water, the saliva in the ground, and some good scrubbing got his tunic only smell half-bad, the guts knocked off of his sword, shield, satchel, and belt. Snapping his clothes and supplies, he secured the sword in his belt and the boomerang, so that they were at some great reaching places, for something else that came on. Something told the boy that wasn't the main monster of the boss. Maybe some sort of stronger minion to help it with its dirty deeds? His mind added helpfully. Mentally shrugging, his eyes reverted up to the top of the room, hopefully thinking she followed him when the monster came down. But how do I get out of here?

Oh, maybe this is some sort of bridge. Climbing up the platform was stupid, but it might act as an elevator, so it was worth a chance. Luck gave it when he scaled up the carcass and landed on the island, the elevator's reactions giving in as it rode up to the top of the second floor. Connecting to the new floor, he leapt on the solid ground before the elevator returned to its original place. Taking a look around for his two companions, he couldn't spot a thing. Traps weren't in his path, or any monsters, hell anything to do except another one of those idiotic doors. Huffing out some breath, he grabbed his boomerang, for he smelt the electricity in the air, and ran out through the door, not even waiting for it to fully open.

Nailing the two Biris in two shots, the toughened boy looked around his room, shaking his head with utter disgust. He was on a connecting piece of flesh, or so he thought the ground was, that led down into a spit valley, nothing down there at all. Another piece of flesh connected on the other side of the room, but guarded by two crimson wriggling things. Are those tongues? Why would a tongue be down here! Considering there wasn't a tongue down at the beginning, these must have been here. Thinking of nothing else to do, he was going to try to do the trick he preformed on the big Octo: paralysis.

A few misses with the boomerang, but when he nailed the first it turned to purplish-blue colour as the Octo had just nearly a fourth of an hour later. Leaping the four feet to where the tongue rested, it sank a few inches, shivering with another wave of disgust. Staring forward, he hit the other tongue with the boomerang, storing it down in his belt before leaping upon the newest tongue just as the old one reverted to its sloppy manner of wriggling around. Being hit with saliva in the middle of the air, he landed on the second tongue and rolled forward the six feet length to the next piece of flesh. Another stupid door, these dungeons so disgust me. Bitterness was around, his jewel could be gone, his partner and new ally dead. Why shouldn't he be bitter? Slamming his fist into the door, a long whimper occurred before it opened up for him. Smiling a little, the force method was so useful sometimes.

Just what I've been looking for! His next room was clear of enemies, but a piece of land stood out for someone to step upon. Grinning, he jumped on the new piece, it scurrying down to the first floor, connecting to what he had expected. Yes, the new piece connected with what he considered the main room and revealed that passage he had so long sought out for release. Ruto would have worked for the enlarged tooth, so he went around the corner to search for something to put in its place. A weapon would have also worked, but he dare not leave something so valuable outside, especially if it was something he might need in the near future.

The pain in his leg deepened as he found one of the two boxes from earlier, picking it up with ease. It wasn't as if the things were heavy, it was just all the walking was taking some considerable amount of pressure on his wound, and since it wasn't getting any better when he set the box on the tooth, he sat down. Running through his satchel, he applied some stinging alcohol to the wound, throwing the old bandage off to the side, he wrapped the wound up once more and lay down across the area, searching the swirling amounts of holes upon the floor. Nothing to do but let it rest. What shall I do? There is always wonder what will happen if I happen to find her dead? No, I shalt think that, I shall not think such impure thoughts. Wrapping himself up into a little ball, as in his story from last night, he rested his head upon his chin, beginning to sob. Where is she?

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Damnit, damnit! Where am I? I can't talk, what's wrong? Only darkness surrounded the young fairie, she could vaguely remember what happened from before. Yes, when Ruto had gone, she had followed as the octopus came forth, not even seeing it, trying to get to the child and the jewel. That was ultimately her demise, for when she was at the top, she saw something huge grab hold of Ruto, the girl screaming as she was dratted down into the skin. If Navi had seen the Octo then she would have laughed at the size comparison to this thing. Navi didn't get a good glance except an arm that reached out, a clear arm that would make her shiver with pain.

When she was sucked away, the sides of the wall began to stretch out in both directions, preventing her with no escape. Going down towards Link, the portal closed shut on her, giving her nothing to do but cry out to anything that would listen. That was the last conscious thought she read, for now she was surrounded in darkness, liquids were about her, and she cried and beat within the walls for someone to help her. Wishing that Link were all right, hoping that he would not leave this place unless she was tucked into his arms. Sure it was selfish, but if Link defeated that creature that got Ruto, then she didn't want to be left in the belly of a whale her entire life. Digging forward, she noticed the shadows remained, but that she was getting somewhere.

Maybe I have a chance? Hell, it was worth something, but this was getting her nowhere with her digging claws. Letting a barrier surround her entire body, she used her chi to power it so that she could literally drill through the flesh for a way out. Screeches of pain and thrashing around the walls came from the outside world, her hearing it, but not caring in the least, sure it would hurt. Nothing came easy, that was quite true for their case, no so much as Jabu's. Giggling silently, her voice concealed for some reason she wouldn't figure our, she only thought of Link, her determination that kept her going on through this hellish place.

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Get a grip! Handle yourself, as if she was with you. A voice, one not that of his own, was speaking to him directly. Blinking a little, the boy looked up and stared around in the room, but it wasn't the room he had been laying in only a few minutes ago, he was in a blue room. The room was actually a small piece of ground surrounded with four platforms. Staring around, the boy caught wind of what was below him, a bellow of fiery lava, and above him was a sky with the sun so bright you couldn't even see the clouds. Sitting on the platform, he stared around the find the searcher of the voice that had commanded him, a feminine voice.

Twitching, he felt something of a cold breeze surround his body, and turning around caught the image of a woman. Her back was turned to him, long blue hair cascading down her back, a pair of Hylian ears peering out. So, she was a Hylian, for her fare skin was so pale an adult she was, so Kokiiri was out of the question. The other alternatives were out of the question, even the more relative looking Gerudo. Walking towards her, he tried to touch her shoulder, the arm only going through her body, and jumping back, he gasped out loud.

Spinning around, the hair over her eyes so her blue eyes shone out, malicious cerulean eyes. Crossing her arms across her chest, a white dress felt across her body, and she held a white want with a Triforce on it. Staring towards the boy, suddenly her face changing. As if warping in and out, the face of the beautiful woman was dropped that of a dark skinned man with red hair, the dress replaced with some black armour, and that of her wand was a huge double-edged sword pointed at him.

Swinging forward, the boy jumped back away from her, but the ground that had been sitting on had shrunk, somehow, him grasping the edge of the land, hanging over the land. Staring down at the boy, the sword he gripped was drug across the smaller land, scraping down it with all his might. Floating above the land, the man with his face having only soulless black, grabbed the white of the land that formed into three separate triangles. A malicious chuckle began to form in his throat, breaking back his head to scream with laughter.

"You shall never receive the God's powers, boy!" Throwing down his sword upon the left hand, Link's silent scream echoed through his mind, the hand flowing with blood. but something was weird, where the man stabbed was a Triforce symbol, with the left one glowing. On his other hand he freed, tears streaming through his body, but the man with no face had planned this, and he launched out an energy attack at the boys' body. The world seemed to into slow motion, his eyes widening with fear; the mouth cupped open in a pure scream of agony, awaiting his doom. While this happened, the man continued to chuckle, even as the fire of the energy penetrated his body and sent the boy turned into a small corpse.

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Everything in the nearby distance of that room heard the loud scream. Each one roared with fear of what was happening, even if they were evil, the pure agony of that scream sent shivers down their spines (even the invertebrates.) Some pulled out and covered their ears; others looking for prey just sighed sadness and laid their heads upon the things they had killed, the once stalking prey having the lunch lost. Why with the terror, even Navi had heard it, crying out for Link to hang on and continuing in the distant direction she was going. The only one not hearing it was the shivering Ruto, who was trapped with a beast so hefty it wouldn't out large the Dodongo King, but twice as deadly.

Shivering badly, the boy uncurled from the ball and looked over the room, where a small hole was in the center of the room, having been there before. Laying his head over the edge, you might have thought he was puking his guts out, but he just let the tears drip down restlessly. Pulling up with some strength, he reached in his bag for something to eat, disappointed to find nothing, so with a stomp of his foot he began to stretch himself out. The scream he had given, but didn't remember it, for he was still semi-conscious when it happened. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, Link faced the doorway, blowing the mussed hair from his face, and ran through the door, hoping over the crate (which for some reason had a Lon Lon insignia upon it.)

Pressing downward the hill, the boy stared around his surroundings, noticing that the walls were made entirely of stone. Strange, how did stone get out here, his thoughts rambled as he looked down into another pit of saliva, only this time he had to jump into it, for the landing spot was a good sixty feet away. Falling down on knee-deep saliva, his senses numbed with disgust while he stared up at the room he was supposed to go too…frowning that a pack of mucus stood in its way, but nowhere to sit something down. He could have easily gone for the other box in the following room, but there wasn't a tooth to set it. Then his eyes roamed over to the large pillar right next to him.

It stretched up about twenty feet in the air, and not being able to see what was on it, he scourged the nasty mucus webs just like he had crawled across the similar vines from the Deku Tree. Reaching the top, and taking a view around, his eyes grasped as a pack of Biris was heading towards him. Biting his lip, he looked down in shame for not checking the room over. Unsnapping the boomerang, the lad began to throw the rang back and forth, missing some, but getting most of them. Still they plundered on towards him, looking for their prey with the tentacles crackling with shocking moments, desperately wanting to stick them into the young flesh for a bit of shocking sensations.

Having nailed three of them, the remaining seven scurried infront of him, stretching out some of their stingers for full access. Biting away a cry, he watched them come closer and closer…so close he could feel the hot breath from their blind mouths, running down his chest. Curling up, his boomerang headed up, he threw one last shot at the monsters, only to be relieved when it somehow bounced off of the invisible barrier, returning to him. What is this? Staring forward, mouth gaped in utter surprise, the Biris were ramming towards him, but still ten feet apart. Rubbing the remaining sleep from those beautiful hues, he saw what was holding them back: webbing of some sort was keeping them from penetrating on his territory. Spiders, no there aren't any of those Skull-whatever they are around here. Maybe some sort of snot from Jabu, or the main creature of this place? Ugh! Whatever it was, he thanked the Goddesses for it.

Not that his celebration went in vain, the things were starting to find out the way past it and turn the corner, coming towards him, but that was, sadly, their downfall. The largest was bunched up in a group of four, Link nailing them with two shots of the boomerang that took the duo out at a time, and the following happening to the other Biris surrounded in this place. Gripping his blade, staring through the light saliva web, he noticed a rotting tooth up past the barrier. Just like in the first room! Instead of aiming forward, he pressed his back near against the wall of the pillar and threw the monstrous crescent over towards the tooth, to the left. That caused the boomerang to swing over, smashing the tooth into pieces, and return back to his gripping hands, causing him to jump for joy when a sudden ding went overhead. He couldn't tell what had happened, but his hunch was that a door had opened.

Crawling down the secured vines, forgetting he didn't check them like before a very fatal mistake, the boy would drop down each time, only to catch himself in his death-defying (or idiotic) stunt. For his pleasure, he didn't know what was happening, he really hated that Navi was gone, could be dead, and that the jewel and Ruto had disappeared all at once too, maybe if they had gone at separate times he would cope, but no! Falling the last four feet, he submerged in the saliva, pulling out with some retching sounds. Wading through the water quickly, he pulled out to the small hill that connected the room he had been trying to get to this whole time, scrounging it in a matter of seconds.

Taking one good look at his clothes, wiping them off with the most prestigious care, the boy placed the sword in his right hand, the boomerang in his left. Something about this room gave him a pre-destined feeling, the same he had had before each major mass monster in the room, and it was about those Biris that really frightened him. Dodongo babies had been hard; the Gohma's had been tough, and now the Biris. Could that be the major boss, a giant Biris? It was possible, yet he had faced a giant Biris before, the ones clumped together in that single bounded shell. If it were, he'd have no use for his silly shell for protection. Grabbing the canteen, chugging the last gulp of water that was in it, he stored it back in its place, stepping up to the doors, sliding in them with that feeling biting at his neck.

Darkness and a wet feeling overcame him, not at all like the saliva from the previous rooms, but something like there was something in here producing its own spit. Trying to get a full view over his position or something in here, he realized he just couldn't, that it was perfect for the enemy. This one was smarter than the others, that was for sure, Gohma had had dark surroundings, but she had revealed herself too quickly, the King going for a sneak attack, yet unaware at his demolitions disposal. The wetness was up to his feet, giving him a bad feeling if the boss was a Biris; he'd have to find some dry land or something to survive anything electrical that it gave out. His luck was answered when he came up the crust of Jabu, sighing with deep relief, his jovial expression turned to dread when the crackle assured.

Suddenly the room lit up in a prestigious manner, as if it were a surprise party, him having the birthday. Covering eyes with a smooth hand, he peeped through the digits at what the light source was, backing up into the water with fear. Just before him was a creature, it didn't match the size of his former rival, but the deadliness of it gave off such an animosity he couldn't help but weaken in the knees. Giant Biris surrounded the monster, that stood the exact height of the room, its three tentacles connected to the roof of the room, while scullery legs jutted at the end of it. Chewing upon his lip nervously, he saw that the Biris were sort of like protective armour, as his shield would be if it could protect electrical energy. Sticking the sword back into its sheath he readied the boomerang, giving off the stance in a showdown.

Those three slithery arms that connected to the roof were a deep crimson, glowing brighter and brighter with some yellow tinted in it. So the electricity is connected to Jabu, Eh! If I cut them--oh Goddess! They're not even protected! Nodding quickly, he stared at three violet tentacles that stuck out in the open, their distinct characteristics making him even more nervous, they were just as long as the ones connected to the flesh, but at the end they shaped into a cup with a piece of skin sticking out. Below the ray of tentacles was a head that matched the colours of the slimy appendages mixed together, but that part didn't matter, the lower region must have been the most futile, it was least guarded. He couldn't even spot what colour that part of the belly was, since it was covered with the monsters. It must have been done examining her prey, for soon it shot something from that purple appendage.

Holy! No time to react, the bolt surrounded his body, tearing inside, making him scream in utter terror. These attacks weren't like the lightening he saw in the clouds on Hyrule Field, they would just torture you, not offering a sweet death, they always surrounded, not went inside. Whatever the little Biris did to him at the beginning of this place were nothing compared to this! Falling upon his knees, the creature closing in for the kill, Link could do nothing but examine the room, seeing some pots only a few feet away and scurried to them, wrapping the pots around him for protection, using his shell too, not caring what happened to it. Was that enough to stop it? It didn't seem, for soon the next shock missed him entirely, but destroyed the spot where all the last line of defense was: the jars.

Oh, Goddess! First you take her away, put me up against this, how am I supposed too…my boomerang! His mind stuck panic, noticing that it wasn't in his hands any longer. Looking up and down, not caring that the thing was absorbing my energy from the fish to give out another blow, he came upon the rang that stood only a few feet behind the creature. Mustering up a hidden power he didn't think possible, the boy limped forward (dodging the next electrical attack by only an inch), rolling over to his boomerang and holding it over his face in defense for the new blow.

Slamming up against the wall wasn't a nice way to go, the attack absorbing some of the energy, but not able to hold its own with him. Sinking inside a puddle of the water, the boy knew it couldn't help but start to cry. Oh, no…this is it, the water with intensifies the power and I'll be fried. His skin already had a few chaff marks upon it, but the water was going to kill him, he knew it. Closing his eyes as the tentacles crackled louder, he gave out one last breath of hope, aiming with blurry eyes at the line that stood above the attacking arm, throwing with all his might at the thing.

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Oh, Goddess, Link! Flying through out the skin, the screams intensifying as she went at a faster speed, she had heard the first scream from Link and continued forward. His scream echoed long and hard as she continued to break the barriers deep within the Jabu. At first the creature had resisted, trying to attack her with those weak antibodies, but now it was actually helping open the skin so it didn't have to suffer any more pain from the chi ball (which was nearly running dry, for that matter.) When she had gone into hyper-mode it began to scream louder and louder, until its paths opened up to match hers so that she could turn off her ball and zip through at a faster pace.

Finally the door compressed some sort of warp hole, not giving Navi much chance to think, it literally sucked her through the hole into a region that didn't look to familiar to her. Thoughts were washed away when another scream of her friend echoed through, this time in the same room! Spinning around, she caught wind of the creature from before headed over to Link, who was slumped down in a pile of spit from the creature. Being in the water, she saw the crackles of energy, knowing automatically it would shoot some sort of ancient Luminaries attack at the boy, that would fry him to pieces. No, I shall not let that happen!

Flying faster than ever, she trudged the room just in time to see that the boy was throwing his new weapon at one of the tentacles that connected to the top of the flesh, absorbing the energy from Jabu (she guessed.) Unfortunately, his fate was bad and the boomerang was about to miss, when Navi stepped in and shot a beam of energy at the jewel of the weapon, causing some sort of chain reaction. Absorbing the blow, the boomerang spun in a ricocheting manner, coming to a complete halt infront of the right tentacle, and slicing through with pain. The bolt stopped dead in its tracks, the creature crying out as purple blood violated its skin, making it retreat for the time being. Falling to Link's side, she desperately checked over the semi-conscious boy.

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"…Up! Wake up!" A hard sting was delivered to his cheek. Feeling the pain return to his body, he remembered his situation and jumped up out of the water, dodging a lightning bolt, making him look stupid, for there was nothing to dodge. Not feeling the aftershock of the wave, he looked over to the Biris that had spread off of the monster, as it tried desperately to repair itself, more than that just getting anger off (the wound couldn't be healed.) Reaching his hand out, the boomerang touched his palm, but who had woken him up? Staring off to his left, he caught wind of his girl, she was standing before him with a worried look on his face.

"Navi! Oh, Navi! You're alright!" Crying out in joy, forgetting the pissed off Biris and its master, he pounced the young Fairie beginning to cover her in wet, sloppy kisses, his eyes watering with the joy of the aftermath. Being prompted with another slap, he blinked a few times at the also wet-in-the-eyes Fairie who shook her head blankly, pointing up at the monster. It wasn't back to normal yet, its armour was still spinning around, not even trying to attack him. What was up, were they just there for practice, or could he?

"Get 'em first, Link, then we can celebrate."

"R-right, Navi. You are right, now let's go kick some behind!" Holding up his triumphant weapon, the boy looked over to Navi with the repetitive look on his face, some information.

"It's called the Bio-Electric Anemone Barinade."

"How do you get this information?" His eyes gazing dreamily at her, his wondrous face formed up into a smirk. She gave a nervous chuckle of embarrassment, covering her crimson face with her barrier, shrugging a shoulder.

"Just do, I look into their DNA. Anyway, this creature is electric, but you see how its belly is covered up? I think that if you rid the armour of it, then we can attack that, why else would it be that way? I am just taking a guess, for this creature is more complex than our previous ones, harder to read, too." Nodding solemly, that was the data information, but he didn't know DNA gave names, and weaknesses, but anyway, he held up his weapon of mass destruction, charging forward at the armour. The boomerang was just as effective as on the larger Biris cousins, for each one did disappearing into a heap of bubbles as soon as he took care of them. A dozen or so Biris were compacted on the monster, but he only got three when the things compacted back on Barinade, invulnerable for the time being.

Flipping backwards, the boy caught himself before slipping in the water, this time finding it easier to run from the shocks of the monster when they fired it at him. Only two of the tentacles remained around, the other hanging limply, but they were both shooting streams of attacks at him, making it harder and harder to dodge them. Navi stood at his side, dodging with him, and firing marks at the two tentacles, trying to disable them, finding the only way was to shoot the boomerang with a power-up attack and launch it forward. The only problem being that the dodging was making it too hard to shoot a Ki attack and follow up with a consecutive aim in only two seconds.

Their luck ran forward when the monsters began to drain back in some, giving them a clear shot at the monster. Link was a little more chaffed, he'd been nicked during the dodging frenzy, so it took it back ten times when the ultra boomerang slashed across the second tentacle, the first one let go of draining the good fish and proceeded to let loose its Biris again, like an idiot. Maybe they had misjudged this one, for as soon as it let the Biris gone to go after Link this time, he took them out with some quick boomerang attacks, grinning when the monster was back in consciousness, only to find it without armour. Well, they hadn't misjudged the creature too badly, for it implanted its body from the neck down into the ground, firing off the last tentacle faster than anyone could imagine.

Oh, no! Maneuvering past the shots became some sort of game for the next fifteen minutes, hiding between some pots that were around, the others that hadn't been destroyed. While this was happening, the thing would search helplessly for them, firing off in all directions, finally finding them. When all the pots were gone, nothing important in them, he was left with the simple fact of nowhere to hide, and it was good place for the monster to come back up again, this time with a dozen more monsters upon its body. Gasping in fear, the boy backed away from the creature, his eyes widened with terror, how were they supposed too? The invisible grin given off from the Barinade said it all: you can't.

"It's armour, Navi, how do we stand it?" Another slower assault of attacks from the lone creature were given off once again, the boy dodging them with ease, since there wasn't but one of the tentacles left. Dodging them was easy; he even had time to throw off an energy-powered boomerang, that missed the creature. Hopping back and forth across the battlefield, eyes always trained on the enemy (something he learned from Impa), the boy questioned to her again. How were they supposed to stop a creature that could generate infinite armour?

"Well, since the last tentacle is about to be destroyed, and she can't repair them, let's go in for the assault before we take the Biris out. Yes, while it is recuperating, only take half the Biris out, and we'll take the rest of the shots."

"Are you crazy! That's ludicrous, it's suicide…it's…it's…crazy enough to work! Good work, Navi," Slapping her upon the back, there were a few more dodging, before he threw out the powered rang and nailed the part of the monster on its last tentacle. No more attacks of energy, it really satisfied the boy somewhat, and leaping forward, he handed Navi the boomerang as he launched in for the assault of the creature. Hearing yells of throwing the heavy rang, he raised the Kokiiri sword from its sheath, and beginning to launch attacks upon the creature.

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Navi hadn't expected Link to throw the boomerang at her, but that was a better plan than hers was. This way none of them would get attacks, and then they could kill off the armour, and the creature much quicker. Swinging forward at the first trio of creatures, they quickly turned into the multi-coloured bubbles, disappearing into the atmosphere. Squealing with joy, she flew up in the air, making the Biris follow her, so they wouldn't stop Link with his beautiful caliber, the magnetism of this plan making her bit herself mentally. It wasn't that Link was stupid or anything, quite the contrary, but a tactician he could not be in some cases, this one of the rare times it surprised her to have someone like him around.

All of the jellyfish swarmed up, excluding the approach of their fellow siblings and going off in single pairs. Great, more work… It was worth it, though, the loud screams of the Biris making her glad to be taking care of these minor pests, her guess was that this Anemone didn't have as many pairs of armour that Link thought she did. How else did it take her so long, she was scrounging them up, never did she think that they would be smart enough to punish her for her crimes. Whipping the rang forward once again, taking down the closest of the bunch, the boomerang was spinning around when it took out a group of three that had so idiotically paired together again for some sort of ambush.

Ambushes were stupid with this weapon that acted like an electricity rod, and since Link didn't seem to need it anymore, she didn't mind taking it off his hands when he hauled it over. Grinning, she led them further away from the battle scene, leaving back a trail of dust that was so intoxicating that they just had to follow for a piece of the action. Some of them were thinking of coming in for some sort of ambush on the boy, but that was quickly taken care of when she sent down the boomerang again (this time charged) to ram three more of them that weren't even together. That is nine down, three to go! Her thoughts rambled on silently as she watched them with the eye of a sniper.

For once and all, she atoned their sins once more by throwing the boomerang out for the final attack. They hadn't grouped together, but with her last bit of Ki pushed into it, she was able to smash them all into the trio. Jumping for utter joy, she caught the boomerang and stared down at the boy, whose situation wasn't as grim as hers, for somehow the tentacles upon it had come back and were shooting up more and more energy. Meanwhile its stomach (which was bloated with slash marks and blood upon it) was spinning around as it twirled like a ballerina in her last performance. Coming to a halt before the boy, he stared back at her, his eyes having a deep and determined look upon them.

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Yes, Link's luck had been better than Navi's, that was, until this happened. The creature would bloat up a few inches each time he slashed it, having gotten in a total of ten slashes while it screamed and regenerated its own limbs. Now that the limbs were back, he had put his sword inside his belt and began to jump back and forth across the battlefield, and yea he knew if he tripped his leg would be sliced off. That didn't seem to be the big problem anymore, all that did was taking out this stupid monster, it was so invincible, how could such a creature possess such power? Finally coming to a complete stop before the creature, he was knocked with an energy bolt (not as powerful as before, a sign it was weakening), and slammed only a few feet away from it. Quickly rolling away from the next one, he was back upon his feet, his mind screaming at him that he had it all wrong.

Look! It's not regenerated, it is sucking from it's own body…or something. It was true; the crimson tails were still hanging limply off to the sides, as the monster continued to fire bolts of its own energy. Okay, so maybe the thing wasn't just a drain creature, it just drained the enemy for so much energy, and it wasn't weak, for this was the energy it had after Link literally tore it to shreds. Blubber hung off of the creature, giving off a sickly display of its guts (no heart), but the rest of its body to him. Holding back to urge to throw up, he was greeted with the view of Navi, who promptly landed upon his shoulder. Taking a quick glance up, he noticed the Biris gone, but the creature wasn't even going underground.

"What's happened, Link!"

"It's sucking from it's own bod--" He was cut off again, jumping to the left with Navi tucked in his hand. Coming to a halt, he began to dodge the attacks as she spoke to him, to concentrate on his work to add a word of help.

"Body, hmm? I took out the Biris, well, what are we supposed to do? Oh, Link, go in for an attack at the body."

Is she crazy! "I CAN'T DO THAT! She'll shock me!"

"Take a look, Link, she will not. Before she may have been aiming down at you, but look. Those slime tentacles were her sense of direction, since you took them out, I am guessing--this is just a guess--that she can't point down, so if you go in for the kill, maybe she won't hit you."

"Maybe is a bad bet, Navi."

"If she shocks you, it won't hurt as bad, look at her energy, she is so weak it's sad."

"That is true…fine you wi-" Being shoved off in the general direction, he gave a growl at the Fairie with his weapon. Pulling out the sword from his belt, he slid under the monster--not under, but right beside---and began to slice and dice at the creature. Roars of pain went out everywhere, the spinning creature trying to grab him with arms that just weren't there. Heh…stupid creature… Navi's hypothesis was correct, for the bolts only came three feet within him (at the most), never even coming close to him; the aftershocks did make him a bit light-headed, yet that was resolved with some quick reflexes. Jumping upon creature, he slammed the hilt of his blade within the monster, which threw him off with a bind of its bloating becoming too much of a habit.

The sword slung out of Link's arms, staying inside the creature, which it would remain until the monster blew up. Yes, the bloating caused the creature to die, with its hidden heart no where to be seen, the bloating was so immense that it was swell three times its own size, a limit that could not be mustered much longer. Link saw the opportunity of his winning, reaching inside of his pocket and smashing out a bomb. Pressing the quick fuse on the demolitions, he threw it straight inside the hole, leaping upon the ground and covering his own ears for the protection he know wasn't needed. If it had only missed the monster would have lived, but Lady Luck wasn't on Barinade's side this time, it was on Link's.

Navi was at Link's side, covering under his hat with fear when the monster exploded with sudden passion. Guts and everything else flew across the place, covering Link and Navi (concealed under the shield) so the Hyrule shield protected them against any nasty infections. Breathing with a small sigh of relief, the bruises of his most horrible place, imbedded inside of his mind, he couldn't help but sling the shield aside and break out in a cry of relief. After all this time, it was really over, and he just didn't mean the leader's demise, he meant the whole enchilada. Everything was gone, no more searching for jewels, no more scars, sure it had been fun in the long run, and he'd remember it for his long life. Frankly, he was glad it was gone!

Finding no where else for his acute weapon, Link stored the boomerang down in his satchel, snapping it shut. Giving a deep sigh of content, the boy turned around, only to find the familiar looking blue light, and a particular beaming young Zora. It was Ruto! Smiling, he pushed its sword back in its home, running up into the blue light, with the feeling of over wealth entering his mind. Navi was right by his side, and a silent Ruto stared on, her pale white cheeks now giving off the brightest colour of crimson ever seen. She must have seen the fight, maybe captured somewhere about, and saw the whole thing, probably seeing how skilled he was in battle? Fighting Shaboms was nothing compared to this creature.

His expectance of the overwhelming feeling of instant restoration was promptly thrown away; sure he received the power of his accomplishments (smaller than ever before.) So the child decided that for the first two dungeons he needed to grow a lot, but for the last one he had had his fair share of strength, only needing a real small dose, the healing mystified him. Maybe it was because he would be healed at when his burden of this mission was gone, the evil Ganondorf wiped out of existence, and him and his fairie going back to wince they came. Stepping down into the blue light, all went white as day, as they were sent from the bottom room of the dungeon, out of the Jabu and to a secure spot.

Landing on his own two feet, he noticed they were right on that huge slab of rock her had commented on mentally before. Yes, before them was the trees and that cavern he had wanted to explore, but instead was suckled in by the evil Jabu. Cocking his head to Ruto, he was greeted with the weirdest feeling he didn't expect from her: shyness. Yes, the princess was staring at him--no drooling over him-- with her eyes widened with excitement, the blush having been contagious in her skin, as both cheeks were illuminated, not to mention most of her face. Placing her hands back behind her back, she hunched forward, just staring at him.

Smiling warmly, he took a few steps back, greeted with the satisfaction of the end of the ledge, but caught himself with a tug of the silent Navi, who was just as curious as to what Ruto's intentions were. It was quite known that she had seen the fight, why else would she be acting this way? She was obviously impressed with his tolerance of pain, the association of tactics and everything else about him. Maybe she didn't see me cry… he thought out with a shrug, staring back into her eyes, staring up at her. Only a few inches over her, they seemed to grow as her gaze grew more and more intense, flaring over his entire form.

"Urm, Ruto-sama?"

"YOU!" She poked him upon the chest, which he caught himself once again, glaring at her, but her tone had calmed down, her arms going back behind her back. "You…you were so cool! I-I couldn't imagine you could be this good, or this cool!" Smiling playfully, she reached against his chest, running her fingers upon them blandly, which caused the boy to flush and look down at the ground, while Navi's jealously began to show its true intentions. Ruto was ignoring Navi, not even having noticed her, when he pushed back with all her strength, giving the boy a might push off the rock, herself diving off the rock with such grace only a few seconds later.

Splashing into the water, Navi following him down just as soon as he hit, the boy sped to the surface, sputtering out some water. Wiping the clear water from his eyes, he was greeted with a violet set of Ruto's gazing deep into his eyes, suddenly as whiplash did something happen, he realized just what she was getting at. Wow…his cheeks turned crimson, her cheeks having disappeared to the original colour when she dove into the water. Giggling nervously, he shrugged a shy shoulder and began to swim away, only to be leapt upon by some fierce limps, cocking his head to the left and seeing her upon his back. Gasping, he began to kick his feet farther and farther, trying to stay up, but regrettably sunk down deep into the water.

Not even being prepared to breath he gasped for air, his mouth shutting just enough to get a few swallows when he sunk down. Being under the water was her territory, so the underwater breathing mammal stared up at him with those eyes glancing sweetly at him. One of the advantages of the scale was he could see underwater also, the reason he found the bottle in the first place, and staring back at her, he looked off to the side again, shaking his head. Pulling up towards him, she wrapped her legs around his shorter waist, her arms around his neck and began to kiss him long and hard.

Navi had seen the tension this older girl was given, so when they went underwater, she took her time to breath deep and sunk under to water, only to be utterly surprised to find Ruto kissing Link. Growling a little, she grabbed hold of Link's collar, dragging him up to the surface, next to one of the limps he could take hold of. Emotions were getting harder and harder, as she cursed silently towards the little Zora she had claimed as a friend had. How dare she do something like that, especially to her partner, her friend, and dare she say it…her future lover! Not being able to stand it, the fairie flew up towards the sky, a few miles away from them and let out a tremendous scream of fury.

Grappling himself up the huge tree, he sat down with only his legs in the water, the silent Ruto resting her head upon his legs, staring up at him with those eyes gazing. Sure, she was pretty, but no they were two different races and with Navi's jealous fits that wouldn't work out. Navi…where is she? That normal warmth's was gone from his side, looking up only to catch her flying upward towards the clouds, and biting his lips he heard the screech of terror. Ruto, however, didn't expect it and jumped at the scream, looking up at Link.

"What was that?"

"Navi, she can get jealous, sometimes."

"Jealous? How?" She was still as innocent as he was, so the thoughts of him being stolen never entered her mind. Such thoughts were petty and would arrive later in her life, later when things didn't go her own way.

"Like whenever I hang around other girls, or something. I have met a lot of them on my quest, usually girls, I guess it is because I am just a kid, and adults wouldn't mess with me." Chuckling a little, he reached down and petted her head, only to be rewarded with a small little sigh of relief, nuzzling up against his bare legs once more.

"So, Link, did you want something in particular for a reward? A kiss, perhaps."

"Hee, I already got one of those! But seriously…I happened to want your jewel, you don't happen to still have it, do you? The Spiritual Stone of Water." It seemed to be her personal jewel, so claiming it would maybe have to get some sweet-talk involved. Link didn't mind kissing her again to get it, it was his third kiss after all--this one was a bit weirder than the previous ones. One other kisses he had been with Saria and Impa, but this was weirder than ever, for her lips had a coldness to them, yet giving off that beautiful warmth of a kiss. Yea, he didn't mind Ruto in the last, there was nothing wrong with being a Zora, maybe a Goron, but not a Zora.

"Well…my jewel. It did belong to my mother, and she said I should only give it to the man I would be engaged too. Alright!" Her face beamed with pleasure, reaching up from behind her back and producing the beautiful Spiritual Stone of Water. Her eyes seemed to intensify with pleasure, loving that he would be her new fiancé. Ah, the sound made her shiver with pleasure, she didn't care if he was a Hylian--he was her Hylian. It would be years and years until they got married (maybe around thirteen), but she could wait and until then he could fulfil all his duties before becoming a prince for her, later taking over the throne with her. Lost in her own thoughts, she felt his fingers grasp hers as he took his prize.

It quite surprised Link how much he didn't have to do to get the jewel, but the problem was he had no idea what engagement meant. What he guessed was that it meant something like the Sworn Brother ceremony, a bunch of phony talk for a new friend. Grabbing up the jewel, he placed it inside the sack with the other jewels, feeling the warmth it gave to have the three friends placed together again, maybe it was weird, but he guessed they had been separated a long time ago--eager to meet. Standing up, he stretched out his limbs lazily as Navi came down with her emotions fried out, spotting the expressions upon the two, she questions Link.

"What?"

"We got our third stone!" Grabbing her, he tossed her into the air, only to catch her when she returned down.

"W-we do?" Looking over to Ruto--who nodded a little diving off of the platform and swimming off towards the direction of Jabu--Navi stared back at Link in utter disbelief, it was really over? Oh, Goddess, it was finally over! After all this time, no more monsters, no more nightmares, no more fear of expressing herself. Yes, she was going to do it tonight that was decided, after the party she was going to do it!

"We head back to the castle, Navi?" Looking over the rock, he noticed that Ruto had swum out all her way and was now at the other end of the pool, waving for them to follow. Stretching a silent wave to her, he turned his attention back to his guardian, which she gave a silent nod and dove down towards the surface of the water, stopping before it hit her. Slinking his shoulders, he dove down and landed in the water, sticking to the edges of the water so he would reach the surface in the shortest amount of time. Since the rock was not that far from the surface he reached the surface only under ten minutes (no way was he as fast as Ruto) coming to a halt upon the impatient princess who was now looking over her own guardian.

Jabu Jabu seemed to be doing a lot better. Sure he would have scars within him, scars that Navi left in particular, but the sickly pale white look to him now was a vibrant Navajo colour, his gills now brighter than ever. Giving the animal a swift pad on the back, he gave some sort of semi-consciousness thought and dove down to the waters below where it would rest for the night. Speaking of rest, his own body was on the over-load, staring upward and seeing that it was night, so they had been out here for quite a while, it seemed.

"You all ready to go now? I feel a bit faint, so if we have a party, let's keep it quite and nice." Both his companions nodded, and away they strolled down back towards the domain. To say in the lightest, no one was more enthusiastic than the great King, holding an honorable feast in their honour was, giving them everything that Link didn't seem to want. When they had first arrived in the domain it was about nine-thirty that night, but after the party ended it was just about closing in on twelve, Link's muscles crying out for sleep, for someone to bash his brains out. Finally requesting a room, to the King's dismay, he was lead down to the room he had slept in barely two nights ago.

Having been made up once again, the boy sunk down into the covers, draping himself down into only his undergarments and spreading the silk sheets about his body. After a few hours of resting Ruto came up to him, explaining that in three years he was supposed to be back here (three years exactly.) Shrugging a shoulder simply, he complied that indeed he would be back here in thee years. What was the harm anyway, maybe that was when the ceremony was? With a perky giggle, the princess locked his door on her way out and strewed back to her father to tell him the great news of her marriage proposal. Navi stared at the boy, questionably looking upon him.

"Oh, there was a deal to get the stone."

"Deal? What sort of deal?"

"Navi! It's complicated and I am tired, can't we talk tomorrow?"

"Fine, forget that subject, but we can't stop talking now--I…I have something to tell you?" She flew up to his face, looking down at the ground with her veil shielded upon her body. The candles within the room burnt long and hard, giving him room to see all her expressions, frowning as she slipped that piece back on, she knew how much he hated it when she hid her emotions. Trying to push the veil off (of course he knew it wouldn't), he stared down at her with a serious tone, she only got like this when she was trying to be as honest as possible. Letting her rest her chin upon her chest, she stared up as he looked down.

"What is it, Navi."

Don't do it, it spoke with a serious and dark tone.

Why, she herself countered back at the stupid voice.

He won't love you anymore.

That's a damn lie!

"Navi…Navi!" She felt a push upon her shoulders, shaking herself a little and staring up. There Link placed a veil of concern upon his face; having seen her fall down silent for a few minutes had worried him beyond all belief! Smiling a little, he kissed her cheek, the veil now gone so that nasty after-flavor wasn't in his mouth. Breathing out a nice sigh of content, he placed a hand upon her head, patting her like an animal, as he spoke out. "Tell me what's bothering you, I want to know."

"L-Link…it's just so hard, I'm afraid you won't like me anymore."

"Now why would I do that?" Was she crazy? Did she know who she was? Goddess, that was the most ridiculous thing that he had ever heard, who couldn't love her, more than that, how could he not love her? Navi must have been hit a little too hard on the head for her to think that. Grinning a little bit, he smoothed her beautiful form over, taking the time to study it, it was true that you take things for granted until they are gone, so he should have explored her before she was gone. She isn't going anywhere, idiot. Well, maybe not, but it was best to make sure of the things you love. She was so beautiful and he just sat and around and never noticed--well he noticed--he just took it for granted.

"I-I don't know, it's just nothing we've ever talked about. It has to do with why I am jealous."

This perked his interest. "So what you said before was a lie?"

"N-no, just half of the truth, it was partially, but I didn't tell you the real reason."

"Look, Navi, I know it's hard, but I want you to just go ahead and blurt it out. I know that is what is best, I mean whatever it is, we can accomplish from it, benefit from it, or get over it--I don't care. You are one of my best friends and y'know with my reputation I don't have that many…anyway, I want you to know that whatever it is, I can cope with it. I mean come on--I was just electrocuted more times than I can count, and went through a disgusting fish's insides, I think I can take something like this."

"I love you…and not like that, the real love." Okay, maybe he wasn't ready for that. His face dropped, from the perky expression to that of concern. L-love me? Love me? How could… Turning to the side, he stared down to try to figure this out, try to do what he had mentioned the previous seconds before, but none of those things seemed important anymore, they just seemed stupid. Turning towards her, he caught her looking off to the side, cursing under her breath and crying out with her head placed down inside of her hands, knocking back the sobs, but they would win. This must have been going on for quite a while; it seemed that it had been wracked up.

"How long?"

"I tried to stop myself--believe me--I tried!"

"How long?" He asked again, being patient with her, it was best this way. Link hadn't really been set up for this before, his situation with Saria was that he loved her, and the other kisses had been flirtations, except the emotion in Saria's. This really surprised him, bring him to a desperate stop in his tracks of though. Suddenly the stones didn't seem that important--suddenly defeating Ganon didn't seem that good at all, and suddenly Saria didn't seem that important. All his attention was focused upon the little fairie on his bare chest who was crying her eyes out and blaming something she felt on herself, why she did that stupefied Link.

"S-since after the Deku Tree. I have internal conflicts to let it go, b-but I can't. I'm sorry Link, if you want another partner fairie I'll unders--" She stopped in the middle of her tracks, feeling the pressure of his lips upon hers, something she had never felt in this way, this situation. Staring up in utter shock, his cheeks and hers were both run with blood, staring down at her with the lips puckered across her own. It lasted a good ways, both of them enjoying the kisses in some way or manner. Link enjoying it for what it was--not sure of his emotions to Navi, but sure that he did love her some way or another, in some shape or form. While Navi was in pure joy, enjoying the love she was receiving from her friend, hoping it just wasn't a guilt trip or something to make her feel better.

Each of them kept the kiss on for the next five minutes, whenever one would pull away--the other would push them back with utter force. This just wasn't on Navi's part either, the first time had been Link who tried to pull back for air, but she pointed to his nose and yanked him back into the awkward smooth. Sure it was awkward, just look at her size, her race, her personality--they were all clashed with Link in some shape or form, of course Navi's attitude had changed on battle ever since she had been with the boy. Mostly it was the size that mattered, more than the race than anything else, she was only barely the size of his middle finger, so he had to pucker his lips small and she had to pucker wide to get the right movement.

With such a movement from both of them, they both broke the kiss at the same time (with no resistance to hold them back, they soon parted lips), and stared at each other in different directions. For Link it was the best kiss he had ever received, rivaling with Saria's, for this kiss was not a flirt, this kiss was not a taunt, this kiss was true love--which frightened the boy. If it was true love, there was no way he could dismiss it off as some stupid crush on the hero, like Ruto seemed to have, or something else. Licking his lips where her lips had been, tasting her upon him, he stared down at the ground, beginning to speak with such movements.

"Why would I replace you?"

"Because Deku-sama said not to love you." When she pulled back from the kiss, she saw the innocence broken upon the boy, assisting her for doing such a stupid deep. The small imp had been winded from the Deku battle and had hidden inside the hat, so according to her this was the first time that he ever received a love-kiss from anyone, maybe one day he'd tell her about that more intensifying kiss. Looking over to the boy, she answered his question with full honesty, that is what the tree had said, yes, but she regretted to mention she didn't listen to things that died. Things that had no say-so in their lives, things that didn't know the emotion--the passion that she felt during that brief kiss that only seemed like seconds. A passionate swab so perfect that he left her aching for a rematch, this time with a little more than just lips.

"Great Deku said that, Eh?"

"Link we should figure this out afterwards?"

"Yea, we really should. I appreciate your forwardness about me getting rid of you, but you honestly think I could replace you so easily? Nah, I didn't think so, now let's get some sleep and in a few days, after we're done with this mess in Hyrule we will figure this out, and don't worry, I won't dismiss you just because of your race." Slipping off down into the covers, Navi couldn't help but let out a small moan of pleasure, going under the covers with him, just as the evening lights were being lowered. That night he slept so comfortably with her friend, not sure of their destinies together, but sure it would be nice, since he didn't care about her size. Those other girls didn't matter at all, the Hylians and Ruto; the only one that proved a bad cause was a Saria. It was so bad that she happened to like Saria the best out of them, but since nothing had happened between the two of them, she thought that maybe it was just a simple crush that would go away.

Following him into dreamland, the same maiden servants who came back to tend to them the two nights before adjoined the duo. Now, however, his tunic was stripped while he was bathed and mended with matching cloth materials to look as good as new, trying to get all the blackened marks off the stupid thing. When the Zorians were done, the two were put in the same clean clothes as before, his weapons getting the cuts and smells off of them, his shoes and everything else upon his body given a good scrub down. As one o'clock approached they were done, leaving the boy with some soup in his tummy, a tonic that would help restore a little of his energy for tomorrow, and the rest of his body and mind secured. Even though nothing was used on him that night, the two still didn't dream anything bad.

A following morning they received some sort of fruit that was sealed up in their bags for safe-keeping, this way, the king said that the fruit would stay fresh inside a concealed area. Given a nice farewell, the duo set off alone with the third spiritual stone in hand, ready for anything that came their way. Zora's domain was a great deal easier this time, as they were sunk in the river and road down the stream at a riveting forty miles per hour, reaching the end of the domain in only two hours. With that save in time, the boy was overjoyed to be getting back to the closer, the faster they went on, the faster they went home to talk about this new problem that occurred.

Traveling outside of the arena, the boy had promised Saria a visit, but called at her with his ocarina and explained they would go and give the princess her three spiritual powers, then visit her. Saria didn't seem to mind in the least, only giving a little whine in her voice and announcing that when he got back they were going to play twice as much. With a small laugh, he agreed and shut off his connection with the beautiful forest maiden. No talk of the kiss was occurred as they walked past the Zora's river, passing by the alleged Kakariko Village, not giving a stop and continuing on. It was like there was time for that; they could wait until after the quest was complete, the hard part was over, but not the quest.

Two days of extra trudging was what caused him to get back to the castle further than he actually expected, yet he was met with a surprise that would haunt him for years. It was just passing midnight when they came upon the gates of the castle, about to camp down by the water (for Stalchildren hated water) when the large gates of the place opened up for him. A welcoming entrance was his first thought as thunder clouds began to form above where he stood, right infront of the castle, dripping rain down all over the scene. That scene was what made him feel all the more uncomfortable about it, it was as if he remember this from a past life or something, but he didn't believe in reincarnation.

"Navi what is this--" A neigh broke his call off, gasping as from the gates exploded a large white horses--matching in size to the ones as Lon Lon. The mare was headed right for him, so he dodged to the right, barely missing from being crushed. Leaping up, he looked over his shoulder only to see the royal insignia of the Triforce placed upon the horse, it wearing all the bearings of a steed. What was more confusing was the master of the horse wore a fashion to somewhat of Impa, not it was Impa! At her side was the little princess Zelda, a concerned look plastered upon her face. Staring back at her, she reached forward and threw something forward, Link to blinded by the lightning to see what it was and where it went.

Suddenly, he knew. "My dream! It's my dream!" Gasping, the whinny of another horse caused him to spin around, only to find him staring at a contrast of the beast from before. Sure this one had the trimmings of a beast, but another insignia rode upon it, one that had the swirls of the desert. The horse was also black all over, where the other one had blue eyes; this one shone a lunar yellow. Gulping loudly, he stared up at the master, and gazing upward he didn't even need to guess who the driver of the steed was. It was as if he knew, feeling the trembling Navi at his side, all the heroism they had felt before was dissipated.

The man everyone cursed, the one man that made Link gnashes his teeth with bitter hate: Ganondorf. Yes, Ganondorf Dragmire rode upon the horse, that sword from Link's dream was stretched in his hand, those matching yellow eyes of the horse gazing out towards the sunset, not being able to catch wind of the princess and her attendant. Hearing a loud curse in the Hylian language, the man looked down at the boy--surprised that something so small and weak was out during this time of the day, but Th a grin, he looked down at the boy and spoke a deep and booming voice.

"You there…boy! I am sure you've seen a white mare with a bitch upon it, around here. Now tell me where it went." When the child didn't reply, he pushed his sword into the larger sheath placed on his back, the sword itself enough to knock his own blocked up dagger. How did this boy dare not speak, was he mute? Asking the repeated question, the boy stood frozen with fear, a little question that Ganondorf enjoyed, but the annoyance of this pest was getting upon his nerves. Growling loudly, the Gerudo slammed a fist upon his steed--that whinnied loudly, but dare not run or buck its master off. That was only punishable by death, even though it was an animal, it feared him.

"Boy, I am going to ask you one last time! Where is that horse!"

"I-I'm not telling you, G-Ganondorf." Reaching behind his back, he pulled free the Kokiiri Sword, readying it for an assault on the man--it had come up to this. Except for the change of shield on the boy, this was the exact same dream, so recalling it, he was sad to say he feared the same ending was coming forth. Yet instead of shooting the boy, the man took a good look at the boy, beginning to bellow with laughter. Sure his voice wasn't as deep as the great Daruina's, or the Deku Tree's, it rivaled those Hylians and surely made the boy weak in the knees, his guardian floating above him, but all the while silent.

"Hey-- you're the child from the garden, aren't you? Defending them, I see. Hrm, I like you, you have spunk. Spunk is a good thing in this world--as long as you can back it up! Can you back it up, boy!" Throwing his cape back, which Link hadn't noticed before, over his shoulder, the man reached out a palmed hand and aimed it towards the boy. Maybe it was the destiny of the fate that made the boy stand still, the wading of the nightly storm, or his feet were simply stuck in the mud? No, it was that the paralyzing gaze of the evil king of thieves was pierced upon him that made him forget who he was, where he was, all he saw was the cupped palm. Navi was also paralyzed when she looked, at first trying to break the boy free from it, utterly failing, and soon falling into it herself.

"Addictive, isn't it. Boy, you will pay for your crimes, for I shall soon be king!" Ki began to form around her palms, but not the beautiful colours that Link or Navi would disrupt. Ugly colours consisting of yellow, orange, and black, the Hallows Eve colours. That palmed glove formed more than Link would ever imagine, or so he thought, so when the beam hit the boy, his sword tried to deflect the energy like a baseball, having the sword become a little bit more dense. A normal sword would have disintegrated, but this was the sword of Farore, so it remained intact.

Straying from the wimp's smoking remains, the man let out a long gale of laughter. "Alive, I see. Well, you are indeed special. Consider this a gift from me to you, which wasn't even a fourth of my power. Next time we meet, you shallot' be so lucky!" Kicking his heels into the steed's sides, the horse let out a long yelp of pain, following out in a general direction that the mare went, searching for it. For that thing the small bitch had was what he needed--what he strive for, if her were to gain the power of the Gods, something he had strive for as a child. Leaving the child might prove lucky in his hands; he felt a certain aura that might cause a minor problem in the future, not that he cared.

As soon as the man was gone, over the horizon, it was as if a spell had been lifted from the land, for when he left the storm brewed on a simple five seconds and disappeared along with the clouds, letting off only the moonlight shine down at the boy. Navi was at his side, pushing and slapping upon his body, trying to get him away, crying out for any help at all. The gates were still down, but no one was coming, staring at his remains, she began to sob. It had happened, what she feared all this time, he had died. She knew it was coming, why hadn't she, they had been unprepared for that stupid bastard and now he had taken this young life.

Navi wasn't a medical technician, for with a simple examination would have revealed that Ganondorf hadn't been lying, he had went extremely easy on the boy, only unleashing a load of pain. Swallowing his guilt, the boy crawled over to the edge of the fountain, staring down at the waters as he did, looking at something that had caught his eyes. Pulling himself up on his arms, he stared over at the hysterical Navi, giving a little sigh of dissatisfaction, calling her name out blandly. He ached all over, yes, but he would live, a huge hole was no in the place where the center of his tunic was. The sword was a few yards away, a little messed up, but overall alright.

"Link! Y-your alright!" Running a quick check over her body, she buried her face deep into his chest, nuzzling with relief, he was okay! Oh, thank the Goddess' he had been spared from that evil, that the dream that she had had with him was not a reality, only a something that could have been. Looking at his drawn face, which was pointed down towards the moat, she looked over his shoulder and stared down at something hidden within the water. Maybe the thing the princess threw? Of course it was, and soon she went down in the water alone, picking up the semi-heavy object, lugging it back up to the boy.

"N-Navi, is that what I thin--"

"The Ocarina of Time. Oh my, Link, Zelda must have thrown it, but why?" Her question was answered when they both received a daydream, something that really wasn't done much in this world, and maybe it was considered just a dream since it was still around midnight. Not even asleep, the two could see the room that they had been in before: the Temple of Time, a room so beautiful it was beyond vast words. In the dream it was the middle of the night, moonlight shining through the room and reflecting off the beautiful pictures of the Triforce.

Seated before the alter Navi had read before was the majestic princess Zelda. She was knelt in prayer, the ocarina placed before her arms, holding it up on the altar and chanting briefly. Still dressed in the royal attire and hat, she looked just as lovely as ever, but her face was drawn down in a frown, as if she knew that something was about to happen. A bad something that just couldn't be helped--it was hated by all, but accepted by everyone else. Suddenly, he eyes opened wide, staring down into the portal they saw the dream, and she spoke to them, as if she knew they were spying upon her prayers.

"Link, as you can see, this message is concealed to you and your fairie. I have incased the ocarina to you for it has been too long of a wait, now I don't blame you, I am sure you've done all you could. Now if you have all three of the spiritual stones, I want you to go to the Temple of Time. When there, I want you to use this ocarina to play a song, the most powerful of the royal family's songs: the Song of Time. Playing that song will open that wall in the room, the Door of Time, and lead you onto your destiny. Please do this, as a last request, and I am sorry we couldn't meet one last time, I loved our time together, and maybe one day we can see each other again." She pulled the ocarina to her lips, beginning to play the tune of the time. The tune was a sad melody, that gave you the feeling of remembrance, but nevertheless it was a beautiful tune to know, and easy to remember. Zelda played the tune twice for Link, knowing that it took longer to learn if you weren't some sort of musical genius.

Suddenly the dream was gone, he with the notes simplified in his head, the ocarina in hand. Grabbing the paper from his satchel that had the other notes on it, he wrote down the tune of time, marking it as the 'Song of Time.' Pressing the ocarina up to his lips, the boy battled with the semi-difficult song for the remainder of the hour, until he finally had it set inside of his head. Placing his notepaper around, he stared over at the bitter Navi, smiling sweetly at her and slumping his shoulders sadly. Truth was, their journey may not have been over, she had said that it led to their destiny, but what exactly was that? He surely didn't know, but curiosity was killing him to find out just what it was.

"You want to go?"

"We don't have a choice, Link."

"Our talk may have to wait."

"I'm alright with that, let's just do what we can to help." Smiling sincerely, he retrieved his sword and placed it back up, holding the Ocarina of Time in his hand. Standing himself up, he wobbled along from the dizziness of the energy shock, knocking it back and strode down the drawbridge. Running throughout the midnight streets of the Town Market, he easily dodged the lone guard that would have sent him back to bed, but he wasn't headed for the castle, his mission this time was to infiltrate the Temple of Time. That was a bad word, for the place wasn't even guarded, only those stupid Gossip stones were in the way, and a few small terriers roamed around with friendly invite.

Ignoring them as best he could, which was hard for their cute furry bodies but the boy finally slipped past them and inside the unlocked Temple of Time. This place had been built thousands of years ago, to hole up some sort of Sacred Realm, he didn't know too much about it, since he lacked in that study in history. Anyway, seven people had barricaded it up so just no one could retrieve the Sacred Realm and wish for something, they had to do something special, which also had slipped his mind. Stepping inside the Temple of Time, his awe was overcome with greatness, the church was definitely a place were people had come to worship the Goddess' sometimes, yet is did have other uses, some of which made no sense to him.

His footfalls were spread hollowly as they walked over that huge little insignia trapped in the Triforce he had seen earlier, then stepping over that he looked upon the inscription that Navi had read all that lone ago. He inscription that read one with the three stones of elements would be able to open the door of time and reach his destiny. Grinning sadly, the boy pulled out the three stones placing them in the order that he retrieved them from the left and onward. Forest emerald was first, the fire ruby, and then the water sapphire concluded the final intrusion of the hollow spaces. Obviously he did it right, for a cracking sound came about, the spaces locking down into the altar.

"Link, the door…" Pointing at the seemingly unbreakable Door of Time, it was beginning to move back from its hinges, and this continued on until finally it came to a rest opening all the way. A brightness shone in the room, the duo staring up and finding that the Triforce symbol at the top of the room that had been a dull gray, was now a bursting golden yellow, shining as brightly as the sun. Giggling, the boy patted the stones one last time, as if saying a goodbye to his special treasures, and ran up the three stairs that changed the floor from hard rock to a soft marble. Rolling along the marble briskly, he ran into the less darkened room inside the door.

"…Navi, what is that?" The new room held windows that shone in seven different directions, each held out a beam of moonlight that reflected upon the inhabitants of this room. From what Link could see it was as bigger walk-up platform, and studying each insignia in the octagon that went around, he saw that each held an insignia he had seen before. Noticing the Kokiiri, Goron, and Zora one, the other three dazzled him, for they were ones he hadn't seen before. Yet, in the center of the platform was all the attention, it was where a small pedestal stood, housing a sword.

"T-t-that's the Master Sword!"

"Master Sword? I've never heard of that."

"The sword of Evil's Bane, it is said to perish all of evil. You see your sword was made by Farore, and I am sure Din and Naryu weapons belong to other races, but this sword was crafted with the powers of all three of them. It is three times as powerful as your sword! Oh, my Goddess, you couldn't be…could you?"

"Could I what?" Greater than my sword? Looks kind of big. Indeed the blade was that meant for an adult, so now he had to deal with an adult shield, but an adult sword? He didn't like the sound of it, but maybe if the sword was so magical it could revert down to his size. Studying the long sword, he gave a little sigh of content, it had a blue hilt with the sides that sprung out like a hawk, reaching in the right and left directions. Upon the top of the hilt was a glowing yellow jewel, it didn't seem to be activated, but held a tremendous amount of power. From what he could see of the blade itself, that it's power did seem more than his blade; the steel seemed stainless, as the eye could be deep runics places on the sword in a language not known to him.

"You could be the Hero of Time!"

"Hero of Time, what's that?"

"A hero. This sword is stuck inside the Pedestal of Time. If you can pull it out, then you are the hero. If you are the legendary Hero of Time you will wield the Master Sword and protect the Sacred Realm from the clutches of evil, a.k.a. Ganon." How could he be the Hero of Time, she had always read that it would be some brute Hylian, it never crossed her mind that a Kokiiri would become it. Who wrote those legends, the Hylians did, they were just presuming it would be a Hylian while the other races presumed it would be one of theirs. How ironic that a child would become something that they so trained their whole life to be, which is if he can lift it.

"Go ahead Link, pull on it."

"Will it hurt if I can't?"

"Of course not, you just won't be able to yank it out, if you are the Hero then you will be able to pull it out with both hands, easily." A Hylian would be able to pull it out for two hands, but he didn't want to risk Link any further injury.

"Alright, I am trusting you." Walking upon the little pedestal, that could ['t have been less than a foot high, the boy spread his feet and placed his hand upon the hilt of the blade. Whatever happens, happens… Without further ado, the boy let out all of his strength, pulling upon the hilt as hard as it could, with all his might. To both of their jovial astonishment, the blade actually slid out of the slot, but something happened that both of them were not guessing on. A blue light surrounded the two of them, an ominous, but gentle light surrounded the boy and his fairie. Having the sword in one hand, he tried to swing at the light, yet it overtook him and his guardian in a quick second, sending down into the bowels of nowhere, wherever the energy led, was where they were taken.

--------------------

Sparing the young child was exactly that had been his plan from the beginning. Generosity wasn't one of Ganon's strong suits, but ever since he had seen the boy through the Dodongo Cavern, he knew he would be an worthy adversary. Yes, Ganondorf had been tracking the duo as they made their way from the forest, traveled through Kakariko and over ruled the triumphs at the Cavern, that had astonished Ganondorf on how a child so young could take out a beast something so powerful. It was even more spectacular inside of that damned fish, how he took care of the entire place in less than two days. How strong this boy would be wasn't the only reason, the best reason is what he left behind.

To trail the boy he had sent out a chameleon with enchanted vision powers, a more advanced power he had rewarded the Dodongo King. This way that thing could hide with its colour changing mechanisms, but still send shots back to the Ganon within his quarters with the king. It was quite fun watching some of the battles from the boy, testing his own powers, knowing he could defeat the child, bit making himself reassured of himself. The blast he gave the boy was just a stunning power--something to tide him over for disobeying him (but what did he expect?) That had been so the child could open up what he so seeded.

Getting the stones just hadn't worked for him, he wasn't a people person, as some would say. That was when he decided to entrust the private mission in the boy, letting him get all of the jewels. Ganondorf had planned on getting the ocarina and then meeting Link on the way to the princess, killing him, but his arrogance had sent him in an angry rage against the child, who had fled with her attendant. Now he was all alone, and watched silently as the boy yanked the hilt from the sword, and within a smoke and a flash his vision was gone from all the world, giving him such bad-luck he had to travel down to see what happened.

The best luck that happened next, the boy wasn't anywhere to be seen that dreaded sword was also gone. Did this mean that he had his wish, was the God's power his? Yes, that was the truth, the boy had been obliterated by the Triforces' powers, and now they were his. Standing within the glory of the room, he crossed those arms around the muscled chest, giving out a long grin of satisfaction, with nothing spilt on his side, and all he had to thank was a stupid little boy. That boy must have regretted betraying Ganondorf, for soon they all would, for with this power he wouldn't become God, but the king of the world!