"Twenty-thousand Leagues under the sea and he thinks it's a vacation."

Link heard his crewmate's sass before he felt the slap of a wet cloth against his face, thrusting him from sleep. He pulled the damp cloth off and wiped his eyes as he listened to her chastise him again.

"You're so lazy — don't think you're getting out of recon duty. I went last time."

When he looked at the Gerudo, she was akimbo and held fast pursed lips and furrowed brow. Her fiery red hair was pulled back into a very professional bun, accentuating her sharp cheekbones.

"At least when Link goes, he doesn't complain about it through the intercom the whole time," said their other crewmate, a Hylian with a deep voice. "Unlike a certain assistant mechanic."
Her sharp, amber eyes glared at him. "All right, all right, I get it, Ridik, you're better than me and more experienced and blah, blah, blah."
Ridik chuckled. "Now, Hinan, you know that's not what I meant."

Ridik and Hinan had been cleaning the main control room before Link was scheduled to go out, which also happened to be where he was trying to nap while everyone else was in the dining quarters for lunch. He was between a row of desks where he sat up against the vent, staring down the row at Hinan who now had her arms crossed. Whenever Hinan caught him sleeping, she'd throw a fit (and usually an object) over it.

"The captain is strict with us," she said as she aggressively wiped the powered-down control panel beside her. "I don't see why he lets Link do whatever he wants — I mean, what are we paying the guy for?"
"Firstly, you're not paying Link anything," said Ridik, scratching his dark brown sideburn as he mopped with the other hand. "And secondly, Captain Linebeck's guidance has never steered us wrong before. You'd do well to respect and trust him."

Link stood and stretched, thinking about Linebeck. If he was honest, he did get liberties that the rest of the crew did not, but that was his favorite part about gigs with his old cohort. At least that's what Linebeck always called them, cohorts. Link preferred accomplices. It was a morally grey term, much like his line of work had always been. People made up their own minds about Link and he'd have it no other way. Even if it meant getting a shoe thrown at him by Hinan sometimes.

He walked over to the south-eastern door which led down a metallic hall. He passed vents and tubes running oxygen throughout the vessel. There was a door he passed on his right which led down to the Captain and Vice Captain quarters. At the very end was a ladder which led to the suiting area so he could dress in his reconnaissance gear. Once the door was opened, a small chime went off and the intercom inside crackled on.

"You're late," came Linebeck's somewhat static voice. With all the tech in New Hyrule, they somehow couldn't get decent communication systems in smaller submarines. Linebeck continued, "no matter. Just get out there and see what you can find. Oh, and don't forget to turn on your headset this time…"

Forget. Right. That's what happened last time, Link… forgot, conveniently, to turn on his headset. But the earful he got from Linebeck afterward didn't exactly make the peace worth it. He squeezed into his one-piece recon suit and buttoned up the dirty cream-colored front from the inside. He slipped on his thick brown gloves and flippers, tying their lacing straps. Over top of all that was a translucent piece of cloth with a loose collar around his shoulders, and that squeezed his chest and legs tightly. It was known as a Clear Coat and was oddly comfortable while allowing full range of motion. He put on his headset, hearing the muffled crackling of the intercom in the room.

"Turn it on," Linebeck's autocratic voice said before the intercom shut off again.
Link pressed the button on the side that turned it on.
"Thank you," said Linebeck in his ears.

Link picked up the silver, bucket-like helmet and placed it over his head, letting its open maw cascade over his shoulders. The loose cloth suctioned onto the helmet's shoulders, holding it tight to his body. He donned the air supply pack with straps around his shoulders and reached behind to grab the tubes leading from it. One was on the bottom near his back (to which the small hole in the Clear Coat quickly adhered) where carbon dioxide, methane, other gases released from the body could be taken into the bottom and recycled into oxygen. Then it was pushed through the top and out of the output tube, which he attached right behind his head. They clicked into place and turned on immediately.

"All right, Link, that should give you two and a half hours of oxygen. Would be more if you recharged it at night. Make for better undersea naps, eh? If the nitrogen narcosis didn't do you in first."

Link wasn't as dumb as Linebeck liked to think. He knew he could get away with a three-hour nap before the narcosis became fatal. Link grabbed the huge vaulted door that led to the decompression chamber and pulled on the lock, spinning it halfway and pulling the unlocked door open. He closed and locked it behind him, then entered the decompression code on the keypad. The flash of green told him that the chamber was active. It didn't feel like much; a little tingling of his skin, a light straining of his nostrils, and some dryness of the eyes. Most of the lights went out and water flooded the chamber, a slight chill felt through even his insulated suit. It was the worst part about going out. Hearing the loud water slap against the walls and fellow waves in the dark, small room made Link squirm and close his eyes every time. Once his helmet was covered and the water was a dull thudding above him, he could open his eyes once more and wait for the chamber's finishing diagnostics. Soon, the light flashed yellow, indicating a successful sequence. The remaining two lights lead to the final, vaulted door, tighter than the last and needing another code.

Once it opened, he saw the illuminated floor below them about a League below, covered in dense corals like gnarled, blackened vines. He was disappointed when he saw the hole he'd made the other day, lit up by the under-light of the submarine. There hadn't been anything interesting below them, just a sandy, rocky bottom. It was as though the coral was dead, brittle and slowly becoming dust. Link hit one of the buttons on the side of his helmet and turned on the lamp above his forehead, swimming with his webbed gloves and long flipper boots.

"Tracking systems on," said Linebeck.

In the corner of his eye, he saw the directions back to the submarine hovering on his helmet's viewport and estimated time of arrival from his location. The other side told him how much oxygen he had in his tank: 2 hours 20 minutes. It would go down faster the harder he breathed, so pacing himself was key to a long tank life. Recycling could only do so much, but he remembered how much Linebeck would complain just five years ago that an hour of oxygen was never enough. Even nowadays at four hours on full-charge, Linebeck still didn't think it was enough.

Link shook his head at the thought, smiling. He was eager to check out the woods that Hinan had seen yesterday. She didn't have enough oxygen to check it out, but if Link went there immediately, he could actually head inside.

"Ah, the forest?" Linebeck questioned knowingly. "You did seem interested last night when Hinan was telling us about it over dinner. Judging by what she described, it's a good twenty-minute swim, nothing you can't handle."

And given what Hinan had said, Link would know it when he saw it. It would be a large mound of actual trees, impenetrable from all angles except one. He swam in the direction Hinan outlined, passing by a school of glowing fish. The only reason he could see them was from their own light, as his was quickly swallowed up by the inky blackness of the deep ocean. The gentle rumble in his ears let him know that the ocean around him was calm, for now. The crew needed to be wary of underwater volcanic activity, especially so close to Death Mountain. But Link was heading the opposite direction where the insulation of his Clear Coat needed to thicken to keep him warm. Still, life thrived in the chilly water, even as deep as they were. Many of the creatures were bio-luminescent, but some of them lived purely through smell and their dark figures would flit in front of Link's headlamp.

Twenty minutes later, he definitely knew he'd reached the forest. It was huge, surrounded by centuries of layers of the rocky ocean floor so just the tops of the forest was revealed. A great expanse of treetops almost completely level. When he was close enough to the green leaves, he touched them and tried to push his hands through, but it didn't give way. It was hard as stone. How was it so green and lush when no sunlight permeated the dark ocean floor? He couldn't see anything on the inside, but as he looked out over the landscape, he swore he saw a pit of darkness not far.

Link kicked hard, swimming fast toward the opening. The lamp on his head permeated the black pit, revealing tree branches with healthy leaves. The light was swallowed up before it could reach very far.

"Been long enough, I'm guessing you made it?" Linebeck asked. "Keep an eye on your oxygen tank. We'll never find your body if you die in that forest."

If there was one good thing about Linebeck, it was his uncanny ability to lighten the mood. Link internally thanked him for that as he breached the threshold and swam through the branches of the tree. It was thick. The branches were larger than his body. He seemed close to the trunk, which looked old but still strong; weather-worn yet proud. How old was this tree? This forest? So vibrant on the outside, so wizened on the inside. It was colder under the canopy. The farther down he went, the more his ear-tips chilled and his body shuddered before the insulation adjusted.

He watched his oxygen meter go down from 2 hours to 1 hour 55 minutes before he could see through the branches. It was still dark under them, his light drowning in the infinite black that seemed to envelop the entire forest. However, as he swam down, hoping to see a bottom, he finally came across luscious grasses and brush. 1 hour and 52 minutes to go. Link approached the forest floor and touched the brush. They gave way, letting him reach inside. He pushed the thicket to peer into it, seeing the natural-looking branches and mossy bottoms one may find topside in Old Hyrule. His hand caressed the grass beside him, loosening detritus and sending the matter upward in a cloud, only to peter off and float down.

"I hope you're writing down what you see…" Linebeck said in the headset, making Link aware of just how quiet it had been.

Link opened the small container on the side of his helmet (the one without the buttons) and pulled out the special quill and notebook. He recorded what he'd seen and was seeing, the tip of the quill scratching the paper to reveal his messy penmanship. He went over the list in his head as he wrote: thick trees, 5 minutes to get through branches and into forest, hard rock-like treetops but soft brush and grass under, similar to topside, what else, what else…? Fresh vines hanging from the trees, vast open space between meters wide tree trunks, a few flowers (specimens taken).

As he wrote that down, he plucked a few of the different kinds of flowers. Most of them were a golden color that reminded him of a sunrise, looking similar to an ear of corn, only far smaller and fluffy. One was a blue and white lily type of flower. He stored the picked flowers between the pages of his notebook. Then he continued on, heading deeper into the forest. There wasn't much to make note of that he could see, as it looked just like any other forest above, only huge. And that was the strangest part. This huge, healthy forest, hidden so deep under the ocean, not getting a lick of sunlight but thriving all the same. On this thought, he plucked some of the leaves and grass as he passed by to store them in his notebook as well.

Soon, it was as though a path had been laid out in front of him. Link followed it on instinct, even as the vast open spaces shrunk around him and the tree trunks themselves appeared to lead him. Curiosity drove every movement of his muscles as he swam, using mostly his legs and flippers. 1 hour and 25 minutes to go. He only had about half an hour of exploration left before he would need to turn back. As he continued his journey, he realized that he'd not seen a single animal. He quickly scribbled this down, not looking at the paper and probably writing over something he'd already written. But his eyes couldn't be torn away by such trivial things. He needed to look forward, wary not to miss a single detail.

His persistence may have paid off. He saw an opening as he rounded the corner, leading him somewhere new, somewhere no one had been in hundreds or possibly thousands of years. His heart raced with excitement, sending his oxygen meter down a smidgen faster, but the anticipation was slowly killing him. He reached out and touched the surrounding trunks at the cusp of the end and pulled himself through the narrow gap just large enough for his frame and the suit he wore. His light illuminated the cavernous room.

It looked like a natural chapel of sorts. Large, imposing, ceiling filled with hanging vines and moss. It was surrounded by trees with their classic emerald leaves, and the ground was lined with rows of brush, looking far too neat to be formed naturally. They were trimmed like seats, though a layer of moss and algae covered them as if they'd been untouched for years. The pews faced the altar, which was underwhelming, to say the least. It looked as though it had once been grand, but now stone littered the ground, spilling out into the aisles, and leaving everything to be desired as a result. What was the stone? What was this chapel? How could it look so man-made, well-kept and yet covered in at least a decade's worth of unwash?

Link swam closer to the stone pile to inspect it. Most of the rocks were quite heavy, given their sizes; dense and thick in small forms. He struggled to move some of it out of the way, especially the larger pieces. When he moved one, another fell and nearly swiped his back, making him gasp and jump. He'd need to be careful of that. If any of these rocks took out his oxygen tank, the opening would let in seawater and drown him quickly. That took off 3 minutes of his oxygen supply in an instant. 1 hour left. He should start heading back.

Link looked disappointedly one last time at the stones when an odd shape caught his eye. It looked like any other stone, but it was round. Perfectly so, aside from a minor crack in the side. He pulled on it, finding it stuck between a few other stones. With a heel on one of the perpetrators, he pulled again, arms wiggling it out of its confines. His grunting and straining intrigued Linebeck.

"I have no idea what you're doing but it sounds rough. Hopefully you'll bring up something good this time… I swear if it's another useless old-world trinket."

Link smirked. Linebeck would prefer treasure, but Link didn't care about treasure and preferred to see the look of frustration, anger, and disappointment on his accomplice's face. It was far more satisfying to Link than any treasure. But this rock wasn't one of those useless trinkets Link sometimes picked up. This felt different to him. He didn't know how or why, but he wanted to understand. The round rock came loose, flinging up and nearly hitting him upside the helmet, but he kept a good hold on it. Panting (and losing some oxygen in the process), he put the smooth, round rock under his arm and swam back to the submarine.

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