Fan Fiction ❯ Professional Hero ❯ The new guardian ( Chapter 32 )

Chapter 53 - The new guardian

The atmosphere was damp and hot. Link's children found it a bit harder to breathe because of the moisture in the air, but the three Zora children had no problem at all.

"So, what is this terrible evil that threatens Lord Jabu Jabu?" Kerin asked, mockingly.

Suddenly a white bat-like creature jumped up from on the wall and glided towards Kerin. Only an arrow, shot by Mikau, stopped it in its tracks.

"I think that's one of them." Mikau simply stated.

"Way to go Mikau," Ella cheered, causing Mikau to flinch, "you nailed that thing!"

"It's not over yet," Darmani warned as he drew his sword, "it's not even started yet."

The door opened and two jelly fish came floating in, followed by more of the bat-creatures.

"Don't touch them!" Navi told Darmani, "they're electric and will shock you if you touch them with your sword."

"O-kay," Darmani nodded as he took a step back, "now what?"

Mikau shot another one of the bat-creatures and the two electric jelly fish were stopped by the boomerangs of Kerin and Daibe.

"Nice stuff," Darmani complemented the two boys, "where did you get those?"

"They're standard weapons in the Zora army," Daibe explained as he caught his returning boomerang, they're a reminder of the detachable fins the old Zora heroes used to have."

"But that's just a fairy tale." Kerin shrugged.

"Let's get back here," Ella told Malon, "let the boys do all the word."

Malon stepped forward and shot her bow, piercing the two remaining bat-creatures with one arrow.

"Why?" she asked the Zora princess with a straight face.

"Wow, you're pretty goo…" Daibe started, but Mikau cut him off.

"Where can we find the vital part of Lord Jabu Jabu, because that's where the monster will be."

"Uhm, follow me." Daibe responded, a bit uneased at the eagerness of the four children.

Didn't they know that this was dangerous? Maybe they should get some Zora guards to vanquish the threat to Lord Jabu Jabu.

"How do you open the door?" Dekaru interrupted Daibe's thoughts.

"That… that switch over there."

Dekaru got out his slingshot and shot the switch.

"Finally," Darmani grinned as he cracked his knuckles, "let's go kill something."

Yep, their eagerness was really unnerving.

After a while and some minor enemies, they entered a great hall that seemed empty.

"Not good," Darmani winced, "there's something not right here."

"What are you talking about?" Kerin asked, "there's nothing here."

"That's the part that's not right," Navi explained, "there should be monsters, but in my experience, if the room is empty, it's gonna get hard."

"Lizalfos again?" Mikau asked.

"We're in a fish," Dekaru shook his head, "you're not gonna find a flame breathing monster in a fish."

"Flame breathing?" Ella repeated in disbelief.

"In a fish, you'll see that." Malon pointed.

At the far end of the room, some jelly like form lifted itself upward and seemed to watch the children.

"Easy," Mikau grinned as he aimed his bow and shot at the same time as Malon.

Two tentacles shot out of the shapeless blob and caught the two arrows. The tentacles swayed around, seemingly eager to strike at the children.

"Okay," Malon said, "let's try again, but this time with feeling."

Dekaru got out his slingshot and Darmani his bow. The two Zora boys threw their boomerangs when Links children shot their weapons, but once again, tentacles shot out of the blob and stopped all projectiles.

"It even stopped my deku nuts?" Dekaru exclaimed, "how can it grab deku nuts out of the air? They're very small? And how many arms does that thing have?"

"You keep shooting," Darmani decided, "I'm gonna get close to cut that thing down to size."

"Wait," Navi shot forward to the monster, "first I'll go check things out."

As soon as the fairy neared the monster, even more tentacles shot out, trying to catch the fairy. Navi dodged the arms, evading electric shocks that jumped from tentacle to tentacle. When she had decided she had seen enough, Navi turned to return to the children, but then two tentacles hit each other, close to the fairy. A huge spark illuminated the room, making the children cry out for the fairy. When the flash was over, the fairy was nowhere in sight.

"Navi?" Dekaru shouted.

"I'm okay," a voice from above responded, "I'm just a bit dazed."

Navi flew down from the ceiling, fluttering a bit unsteady.

"When those tentacles connected, I flew straight up, avoiding the most of the blast," she reassured the children, "but I think I'll sit down for a while. It's exterior is that of an electric jelly fish, but inside there seems to be some sort of green core that spawns the tentacles."

"With all those electric shocks," Dekaru got out his deku stick, "you'll never get near, Darmani. I'll go."

Before anyone could say anything, the young boy jumped forward with his deku stick raised.

"Shoot damnit!" Darmani shouted as he regained his senses, raising his bow.

Dekaru seemed impossible to catch, as the tentacles were busy trying to catch the arrows his older brothers and sister fired. He landed before the blob, jamming his deku stick in the exterior of the monster, until it hit the green core. He raised his stick with a swift motion and send the green orb flying through the air. The blob fell apart and the tentacles were retracted. Mikau fired the last arrow that pinned the green thing to the wall of the room.

"Yes, Mikau! You killed it!" Ella cheered.

"Well, I couldn't have done it without Dekaru." Mikau shrugged.

"You did it! Yay!"

"Uhm, I got the monster?" Dekaru raised his hand to get the attention.

Darmani looked around, trying to look inconspicuous and nudged Malon.

"If we're inside a giant fish," he whispered his sister, "and we just shot an arrow in the wall. Doesn't that, like, hurt the fish?"

"Just ignore it," she whispered back, "they didn't notice and it's best not to tell them."

"What they don't know, can't hurt us." Darmani nodded.

"Now what?" Dekaru asked as he looked to the three Zora kids for directions.

The three children looked at each other, seemingly guilty.

"I don't know," Daibe confessed, "the only times we were in here, were with mom, and we never really paid attention to the way."

"It wasn't necessary for us to be in here." Ella explained.

"All we know, it's one of the holes down." Kerin said.

"Holes down?" Darmani repeated, "what do you mean?"

"Oh Goddess," Navi sighed, "let me think what way it is. Just give me a sec, it's been a while…"

The door opened and Link came running in, followed by Navi.

"What's going on?" Kerin yelled.

"Shh," Malon nudged him hard in the ribs, "they're pictures of the past."

"Now what?" Link asked, "we've already been here and we're stuck!"

"Look Link," Navi shouted, "that big nerve thing is gone, we can get down that way now."

"So?"

"That raised platform we couldn't reach was under that? Don't you ever pay attention?"

"Yeah, but…" Link tried to talk his way out, "I was busy fighting that squid thing, okay? You do the thinking, I do the fighting!"

As Navi reacted to this, the image faded.

"This hole?" Mikau asked as he pointed to one near the far end of the room.

"That's the one." Navi confirmed, "that one leaded to the bosses room."

"Let's go then!" Dekaru shouted as he jumped down the hole, followed by Darmani.

"You okay?" Mikau frowned as he saw Malon standing there, seemingly lost in thoughts.

"You're right," she said, "I heard music as well when dad appeared."

"That was your father?" Ella asked, and then addressed Mikau, "he was cute, I can see where you got your good looks."

"I didn't hear any music this time," Mikau ignored the Zora princess, "I was starting to doubt if I had actually heard it, but if you say you've heard it, then I'm sure something strange is going on."

"Mikau! Malon!" a voice came from down below, "where are you guys? We need some help here!"

"Let's go!" Malon nudged her brothers as she jumped down with her bow ready.

Darmani and Dekaru landed on a high platform, towering over a huge puddle of water. Darmani looked down at the water and called his youngest brother.

"Hey, look, there are fish down there."

"Probably all the fish he eats." Dekaru laughed as he joined his brother on the edge.

"Na," Darmani shook his head, "they don't look like normal fish. Actually they look like those…"

Darmani's eyes grew wide as six of the bat-like creatures emerged from the water and shot upwards. Darmani grabbed his sword and slashed one in half. Dekaru swung his deku stick but couldn't hit one.

"Mikau! Malon!" he shouted, "where are you guys? We need some help here!"

Malon and Mikau came falling down, both reading their bow as they fell, followed by the three Zora children. With the archery of Mikau and Malon the bat-creatures were easily dispatched off. Dekaru looked down at the water and grabbed his slingshot.

"There are more of those things down there!" he shouted as a new wave erupted from the water.

"You keep them at bay," Darmani ordered his brothers and sister, "I'll try to get this door open!"

Ella ran towards Darmani as her brothers threw their boomerangs in an effort to protect their sisters, while Darmani pushed the huge pink door.

"How do you open this thing?" he asked her.

"Huh," Ella looked up and then to the door, "wait, let me think."

She gently touched the door and stroke it softly. The door slid open and Darmani called for the others. Quickly they ran into the new hallway and the door closed behind them.

"That was close," Mikau sighed, as he examined his bleeding arm "those things had me some times."

"You think you need…" Malon started, but Mikau shook his head.

"I'll live, for the moment."

"You really should look after that," Ella told the boy, "I'll fix you up."

"That's nice," Mikau thanked her, "but we don't have the time. We must move on."

"Navi," Dekaru asked the fairy, "is it far?"

"We're close now," the fairy told the children, "we're almost there."

The kids arrived finally at the large door that hid the evil threatening Lord Jabu Jabu. Ella touched the door gently and it opened slowly. There was a long path leading to a platform in the middle of the room, surrounded by a deep lake. Slowly the children moved to the middle of the platform, carefully watching their surroundings for potential ambushes.

"This sure looks different than the last time I was here." Navi said to break the silence.

Suddenly a red orange form erupted from the water and landed on the platform before the kids. What appeared to be an arm blurred out and struck Daibe and Dekaru, sending them flying in the water. The monster stood tall before the children, thinking it's size would intimidate them into an easy victory. Now they could see it was a large crablike monster with a giant claw. A giant green eye was visible form underneath the shell.

"Hit it's eye!" Navi shrieked.

Malon and Mikau jumped back and took out their bows. The giant claw sprung forward again and barely missed Mikau, but knocked his bow out of his hands. Mikau grabbed his sword in a fluent motion and hit the claw, to no avail. Darmani grabbed Kerin and Ella and pulled them back to the entrance.

"You keep here, using your boomerangs to hit it from a distance," he told them, "we can't fight it from up close."

Kerin looked at the monster in fear, then looked at Darmani and nodded. He looked back at the monster that was trying to pin Mikau down and suddenly realised Darmani asked him for help. He took out his boomerang and threw it. It bounced of the shell, but drew the attention of the crab. The monster came crawling to the young Zora prince, but Darmani stood besides him, shooting his bow. The crab-monster shielded his eye with his claw from the arrows and slowly drew closer. Just before it reached the two boys it jumped forward. Darmani could barely pull Kerin out of the way and the monster dove into the water.

"Where is it?" Mikau shouted, scouting around for the monster.

"It's under water," Darmani responded, "I don't know which side."

"By the Goddess!" Ella suddenly shrieked, "Daibe!"

"And Dekaru," Malon completed, "they're still under water."

"Dekaru is at a ledge at the side over there," Navi said, "but I think Daibe is still under water."

"Dekaru!" Kerin shouted, "where's my brother?"

Dekaru shrugged as he kept on scouting the water surface. Daibe emerged from the water near the platform and quickly climbed up.

"I'm alright," he panted, "but I found the weak spot of the monster. His belly is unprotected. We can get him there."

"How?" Kerin asked, "we ask him to turn over?"

"No," Daibe shook his head and looked straight at his brother, "we get into the water and attack him from below."

"Good plan, one flaw," Mikau interrupted, "that only works under water and he's not under water."

The monster climbed back onto the platform and dashed forward. Mikau grabbed his sword and thrust. The claw of the monster blurred forward at the same time and the tip entered Mikau's belly and came out the other side.

"Mikau!" Ella shrieked as the young boy looked down in disbelief, coughing up blood.

The monster let Mikau slide on the floor and stepped forward, raising it's bloody claw.

"Good plan," Darmani murmured, "but next time let us know."

The monster kept on crawling forward towards the other kids.

"Slow it down!" Darmani ordered, "we got to stop it completely!"

Darmani and Malon started to shoot their arrows, and Dekaru shot the monster from on his ledge. The monster just ignored them and kept advancing. Suddenly a large plantlike monster appeared next to the crab, shooting out electric beams in an attempt to hit the young Link. The monster was dazzled by this and stepped back. Suddenly his eye grew wide and his body jerked. It collapsed with a grunt.

"What happened?" Kerin asked as Darmani shoved the dead carcass.

"Dekaru!" Darmani called his younger brother, "Get over here to lift this thing!"

"That vision must have killed the monster somehow," Daibe frowned, "it has to be."

"Well, couldn't it have killed him sooner?" Ella cried, "now he's killed Mikau and crushed his body."

"Let's hope not," Malon grinned as Darmani and Dekaru tried to lift the heavy shell.

"How come…" a voice came from underneath the shell, "I'm always the only one who gets hurt on these things?"

"What are you talking about?" Darmani panted as he held up the pantser and Dekaru got his brother from underneath, "remember that Lizalfos that fell on me?"

"That was a huge crab thing," Mikau continued, "it's not the same like some tiny Lizalfos."

"Tiny?" Darmani grinned, "I'll show you tiny…"

"Boys!" Malon interrupted, as she pointed to the dumbstruck Zora children, "I think we have some explaining to do."

"It's simple," Dekaru explained as Mikau caught his breath, "the monster thought Mikau was dead and let him fall, and then stepped over him. We had to keep him above Mikau until he was healed by the fairy he brought, and could stab the monster in it's soft belly."

"So, he wasn't dead?" Ella asked with tears in her eyes.

"No," Malon shook her head, "he's fine, a bit shook up, but fine."

"So," Mikau panted, "that's it? The great evil vanquished?"

"Yes," Ella rejoiced, "you did it, you killed the monster!"

"But we're not done yet," Dekaru interrupted the girl, "when I was in the water, I saw some movement at the bottom. It looked like a big fish that was stuck there."

"So?" Kerin shrugged, "Lord Jabu Jabu eats fish."

"That big?" Dekaru shook his head, "something's wrong with that fish."

Mikau got up and took Daibe's boomerang.

"Where's that fish?"

Dekaru explained his older brother where he had seen the fish and indeed, if Mikau looked closely, he could see a big fish, seemingly trapped in a net. He raised the boomerang and threw it with a gracious arc. The boomerang glided through the water and hit the net, letting the fish free. As soon as the fish was free, the room started to shake.

"What's going on?" Kerin shouted.

"I don't know," Darmani answered, "but we better get out of here."

The children ran out of the hall, back to the entrance. As they ran to escape the sudden cave in, they saw a few left over monsters die as the magic that called them there was gone. When they had almost reached the entrance, water came running in.

"What's with the water?" Dekaru asked.

"Lord Jabu Jabu must be going under," Daibe answered, "it's the only explanation."

"He better not go under while we're still here," Malon said, "I'm not that good of a swimmer."

"Don't worry, we're almost there." Ella told the young girl.

The last door before Lord Jabu Jabu's mouth opened and let in a wave of ice cold water, dragging the children down.

"Get them!" Daibe shouted as Darmani, Mikau, Malon and Dekaru went under.

Quickly Ella and Kerin reacted and grabbed the Mikau and Malon. Daibe grabbed Dekaru and was almost pulled down by Darmani. Daibe called out to Kerin to help him. Kerin didn't listen however and swam to the entrance to get Malon to safety.

"Stay here and hold on to something!" he told her as she coughed up water, "I'm going down for your brothers."

Just as Ella emerged from the water and helped Mikau up, Kerin dove down, followed by a new wave of water. Ella was barely able to hold on to Mikau so he wouldn't be dragged down again, and Malon could grab on to Ella and a tooth of Lord Jabu Jabu. Kerin however was sucked down by the undertow, created by the new flood and bumped into Darmani, pulling him free of Daibe's grip. Daibe suddenly went up, freed from the extra weight and continued to swim up as Dekaru started to have breathing difficulty's. Daibe surfaced the dark water and dragged the young boy to a safe place.

"Where's Darmani?" Malon asked in panic.

"He was dragged down along with Kerin," Daibe said, "I don't know if I can reach them, the water's too dark."

"What do you mean," Mikau panted, "you don't know if you can reach them? Go get them!"

"It's not that easy. If you're sucked down by the undertow, there's a feeling of disorientation and with that dark water, it could be he can't find the way."

"But then Darmani can drown." Malon said quietly.

"I'm sorry." Daibe dropped his head.

"Go get him!" Mikau shrieked as a new flood entered Lord Jabu Jabu's mouth.

"We'll go after him," Ella said, "if you leave now. It's become too dangerous. Lord Jabu Jabu might go down completely."

Malon silently nodded and took Dekaru. She looked at Mikau who shook his head.

"I'm not giving up on Darmani."

"I'm not either, but we can't help him."

Dekaru grunted as he came around and looked around him.

"We're still in the fish?" he sighed.

Then he looked at the dark water and frowned.

"Is that Navi?"

A bright spot in the water grew slowly and finally the fairy reached the surface, followed by Kerin and Darmani.

"Get him out, now!" Malon shrieked as he didn't move.

Mikau carried his twin brother outside in the open air, while Daibe supported Kerin. Darmani was laid on the shrine and Ella tried to pump the water out of his lungs. Darmani suddenly jerked up and coughed up water. At that time, Lord Jabu Jabu submerged the cold dark water.

"Lord Jabu Jabu?" Kerin asked to no one in particular.

It was silent for a couple of minutes.

"He's dead," Kerin said, as the situation finally hit him.

He turned to the four children and held up his fist.

"You killed him!" he shouted in anger, "Lord Jabu Jabu was fine, but then you came and you killed him."

"How can you say that?" Mikau shot out, "you were there with us. We didn't kill him! We killed that crab monster, that's it."

"That small fish!" Kerin continued, "all was fine until you released that little fish! That's what killed him!"

"That little fish?" Dekaru asked and pointed behind Kerin.

Kerin turned slowly and in the place of Lord Jabu Jabu, the small fish was lying at the shrine.

"Lord… Jabu… Jabu?" he frowned.

The small fish started to flap its fins and opened its mouth when it heard its name.

"I think this is the reincarnation of Lord Jabu Jabu," Darmani said, "remember that dad told us when the old Deku Tree died, a new one sprouted?"

"This must be the same thing," Mikau continued, "the old Lord Jabu Jabu died, but a new one took his place."

"And that crab monster held it hostage so it couldn't be born and take Lord Jabu Jabu's place." Malon finished.

"There's a new Lord Jabu Jabu?" Kerin repeated, finding the situation hard to belief.

"And Mikau did it, with his boomerang." Ella smirked.

"Well, not mine, actually," the boy said to try to stop the adoration, but to no avail, "it was Daibe's."

"Because you rescued the new Lord Jabu Jabu," Ella continued, "I'll reward you all."

"Reward?" Darmani grinned and looked at his brothers and sisters, "that's nice."

"Quickly follow me, and I'll give you my reward."

The young Zora princess ran inside, followed by the four children and Daibe. Kerin remained on the shrine, looking at Lord Jabu Jabu. Slowly he walked over to the small fish and kneeled next to it. He hesitated for a second but started to gently pet the fish. Lord Jabu Jabu flapped its fins as a token of appreciation.

"Lord Jabu Jabu," Kerin softly repeated, "it's strange, when I was just a little kid, I was always afraid of you. But don't worry, I'll protect you now from whatever evil that may threaten you and the Zora."

He stood up and walked to the tunnel to Zora's domain. Before he entered however, he turned for one last look at the newborn Zora guardian, grinned and ran inside.

AN: Don't worry, your patience will be well rewarded, for Link returns next chapter. Yes, everyone's favourite Goron comes back to Hyrule, but not alone. He also brings Link, the most popular Zora of all time. And to make things complete, they bring along Link, but I have no idea who that guy is…

Anyway, Link is back in seven days, with a small army. Question is, will it be enough?