Legend Of Zelda Fan Fiction ❯ The Legend of Zelda: Real Courage ❯ Chapter Five: Gyorg ( Chapter 5 )

The rest of the rooms held similar challenges. Mori identified the additional enemies she encountered as Bari, White Wolfos, Ice Chu, Pengators, and Bokoblins. Though each challenge got harder and harder, Lila got bored quickly. To make matters worse, she had to keep running around the castle flipping switches so the water level would be just right. The only thing that made it worth her trouble was the money. Well, and the fact that Lady Ganondra had sent her on the mission. If it weren't for her, she would have turned around and left.

Once they had collected the four keys–which all looked the same–Mori and Lila stood in front of the giant door with the lock. She placed each key in the holes. The lock undid itself and dropped to the floor, landing on Lila's toes.

"Ow!" she shouted, hopping on one foot.

"Quit complaining. At least you have feet," Mori chided.

"That's just stupid," Lila said, ignoring the pain. "Let's go. I hope there's some sort of boss battle ahead."

"What's a boss battle?"

Lila shrugged. "I dunno, but it sounds cool."

Without waiting any longer, Lila pushed the heavy door open. It led to dark stairs leading down, which she entered without hesitating. At the end of the stairs, her eyes started adjusting to the dim light. Once again, the light seemed to come from the walls themselves, but they were so far away, they couldn't light up the whole room. The room was so large, it seemed to be the size of the entire castle.

She was standing on a balcony, which ran around the edge of the room, just like the entrance to the castle. In the center was a giant pool of water. Something was glowing deep in the middle. Lila stepped to the edge of the pool to get a better look, and the door slammed closed behind her.

"Not again!" Mori whined. "Why does this keep happening?"

Lila answered, "Obviously it means something important is in here. Maybe it's the chainmail."

"But where is it?"

"Can't you sense it?"

Mori thought for a moment. "Wait, yes I can. It's in the water, where the light is coming from."

Lila sighed. "I don't want to have to go swimming in that freezing water anymore. You go get it."

"What? Me? How am I supposed to get it?"

"I dunno," she sighed again and sat on the edge of the balcony, her legs crossed. She touched the water with her fingertips, sending light ripples through the pool. Just a touch sent shivers down her spine. "Yeah, I'm not going in there again."

The ripples in the center of the pool were getting bigger. Lila looked up, hearing a rumbling sound. The light was growing closer, brighter, and larger. It came toward the surface at an amazing speed.

"What's that?" Lila wondered, backing away.

There was a giant splash as the fish jumped out of the water. It was purplish red with glowing scales and fins. Its mouth was a gaping hole with millions of teeth, some massive and some tiny. Two horns protruded from its face, and its eyes glowed an angry blue.

"Gyorg!"

"Wh-what?" Lila asked. Her mind went blank with fear.

"He works for Lady Ganondra!"

"Gyorg?"

"Yes, I said that. The chainmail is inside him. Looks like you have to fight."

"F-fight?" Lila stuttered. "That thing? But... but it's huge!"

The fish swam to her and snapped its jaw at her. She jumped back against the wall, narrowly avoiding being eaten.

"Come on," Mori encouraged as he flew to the ceiling. "You can beat this guy easy!"

Lila gulped. "Yeah, uh-huh. I can do this." With trembling fingers, she reached for the sword at her hip. Gyorg had dived back into the water and was getting ready for another charge. An idea came to her then. She stepped forward, leading with her new shield. Then when the fish jumped out of the water, she thrust her sword up at it, catching it by surprise. The monster roared and dived back underwater, luminescent blue blood trickling behind it.

"Nice one! But I don't think that trick will work twice."

"Got it. If only there were a way to get it on land..." Lila pondered the problem as she waited for the fish to resurface. It lifted its eyes above the water, clear across the room, examining her. Both opponents were working out their next move.

Gyorg moved first, charging at Lila with only its horns out of the water. She didn't think her shield could defend from such sharp points, so she backed away from the edge. Because Gyorg's eyes were pointed down, it didn't see the wall when it crashed into it. Lila took this opportunity to attack from above, ignoring her shield and just swinging her sword left and right.

Eventually, the fish recovered. It spun around and slapped Lila with its tail, sending her flying to the outer wall. This time it was her turn to be dazed. The fish used strong arms Lila hadn't noticed before to drag itself to land. It reached out for her leg and started pulling her toward the water.

"Lila, get up!"

She shook her head to clear it and slashed Gyorg's arm, cutting it clean off. The monster howled in pain and flopped around.

Lila smirked. "Fish out of water." She got to her feet, but she was shorter than the monster now that it was at her level. Its size threw her off for a moment, but she pushed past the fear and attacked the fish again. She aimed for the glowing areas, which seemed to be weaker flesh than the scales. With one final stab, the fish exploded, spraying guts everywhere.

"Ew!" Lila shouted, turning from the sight. She could feel warm flesh covering her, making her gag. All around her was the sound of something sizzling.

"Don't worry, Lila," Mori said, flying to her side. "The body is dissolving. You'll be fine in no time."

Lila kept her arm over her eyes. "That's just gross," she muttered.

"On the bright side, I can see the chainmail."

"I don't think I want it anymore."

"Oh, and there's a heart-shaped jewel floating next to it," Mori added. "Come on, just look."

Lila gulped. "Fine." She dropped her arm slowly. The sizzling noise was almost gone, and so was the flesh. The only thing left was an entirely clean chainmail shirt, and the jewel Mori had talked about. Lila was drawn to the heart. It was about two feet tall and wide and floated two inches off the ground as it rotated. The center looked to be made out of perfectly cut ruby, and it had a gold border around it.

"Wow, that's... beautiful," Lila breathed.

"What? It's just steel links."

"Not that, stupid! The heart."

"Oh, yeah. I guess that is kinda pretty."

"You're making fun of me."

Mori giggled in reply, so Lila took a swipe at him. As always, he flew out of her reach.

"Whatever, I'm keeping it," she said. When she reached out for it, it spun faster and disappeared in a bunch of sparkles. She instantly felt revived.

"Guess you're not keeping it."

Lila smiled. "No, I still have it."

"Huh?"

"You wouldn't understand. Let's just get what we came here for and go."

"Now you're talking."