Fishbone Guitar
Mikau awoke, sweating. He didn't have a bad dream or anything. He was just hot. He looked at his clock. Rehearsal was in half an hour. "Oh, man. Why do we have these so early?"
"What is it?" Tijo, his roomate, asked.
"Look at the clock," Mikau said. "Rehearsal in thirty minutes."
"What? Oh, man. I can't believe I didn't notice. Mike, will you help me carry my drums?" Tijo asked.
"Sure." He jumped from the ledge where his bed was onto the ground. "Ok, one, two, three!" Mikau and Tijo lifted the fish drum, and slowly carried it out the door. It was a tight squeeze, but they managed it. They had carried Tijo's drum set many times before.
When they got outside of their room and into Zora hall, Evan, the keyboardist and bandleader immediately started yelling at them.
"Mikau, Tijo, what the hell? We have rehearsal in thirty minutes! I'll get the bridge."
"Ok, Evan." Mikau muttered. Mikau would have liked Evan, although he was extremely bossy and selfish.
Since the seashell stage was surrounded by water, the band members needed a bridge to get the instruments to the stage. They had a big piece of wood they used for that.
Evan set the wood across the water to the stage so Mikau and Tijo could get to the stage. When they did, they set the heavy drum kit down, and then collapsed from exhaustion.
"Get up, Mikau! Get your guitar!"
"Evan! Don't be so mean to him!" Evan turned around. It was Lulu, the singer. "Why don't you get Tijo's drum kit next time?" Evan started to protest, but then decided not to. Although Lulu wasn't the band manager, or even the leader, everyone always knew to listen to her. Mikau walked off to get his guitar from his room. Before he went in, he turned around and gave Lulu a wink. She smiled at him.
Mikau opened his guitar case, and inside was his fishbone guitar. Mikau loved his guitar, and he could play it like know one could. Mikau brought it to the stage. The whole band was there. Mikau, the guitarist. Lulu, the singer. Evan, the keyboardist. Tijo, the drummer. And Japas, the bassist. Toto, the band manager, was there, too, but the Indigo-gos didn't really qualify him as "in the band."
"Evan, could you play me and A?" Mikau asked.
"Sure." Evan played an A on his keyboard. Mikau tuned his guitar to it. Since Mikau knew every string in relation to each other, all he need was one note for his whole guitar.
Already Zoras were gathering on the balcony for the rehearsal. "Five minutes!" Toto yelled.
"Hey, Mikau." It was Japas.
"Oh, hi."
"You exited for the rehearsal, man?"
"Yeah," Mikau replied.
"You know, our performance in Clock Town is in, like, what, a week?"
"Yeah, something like that. I'm kinda neverous. Clock Town is a pretty big place, isn't it? I haven't been there many times."
"I've only been there once, and that was last years performance. There are a lot of slimy blob thingys on Terimina Field. I'm not saying I'm scared of them or anything, but"
"Uh, Japas, I'd hate to brake the news to you, but those are Chuchus. We drink them." Japas looked at Mikau as if he were about to throw up.
"Those are Chuchus?"
"Ok, we're ready!" Toto said. "And a one, and a two, and a three!"
Evan started the song with a piano chord, and then Mikau and Japas stared off. Tijo had a steady beat in the background. And then Lulu's beautiful voice started in. It filled Zora hall with music and sounds like no one had heard before.
After the Indigo-gos had finished their last song, Ballad of the Wind Fish, Toto excused them. "Nice rehearsal, everyone. Great job. I'll see you later tonight for notes."
"Hey, Mikau, what do you say we go for a swim?" Japas asked him.
"Sure," said Mikau. They walked out of Zora hall and into Great Bay.
Mikau did a fabulous dive into the water, and came back up, treading water. "Man! This water's hot!" Mikau said. "Come in, Japas, it feels nice after a long rehearsal."
Japas attempted a backflip, but messed up and fell flat on his back. "Ahh!"
"Smooth, Japas," Mikau teased.
"Shut up, Mikau. It's not cool to diss people like that."
"You always say it's not cool to do something, Japas."
"No, I don't!"
"Yes, you do!"
"When did I say that?"
"You say it al the time!" Mikau argued.
"Do not!"
"Hey, guys," a voice from behind them said. Mikau and Japas turned around in the water. It was Lulu, in a bikini. "I saw you come out here to swim, and I was wondering if I could, too."
"Sure." Mikau and Japas said simultaneously. Lulu did a smooth backflip dive into the water.
"So, what were you boys arguing about?" Lulu asked.
"Mikau says I always say it's not cool to do something."
"Well, you do," Lulu said.
"I do not!" Japas argued. Behind his back, Lulu winked at Mikau. Mikau smiled back. Japas turned around to see why he was smiling. Lulu was looking around innocently.
"Hey, what's that at Pinnacle Rock? Mikau asked. Japas turned around. "Go!" Mikau yelled. Lulu and Mikau dove off underwater at top speed.
"Well, it's a little cloudy, and the water looks thick, but I don't seehey! Mikau! Lulu!" Japas dove after them.
Mikau and Lulu looked at each over while they were swimming, and smiled. Lulu dove deep. Mikau followed.
Lulu touched the bottom, and stayed. Mikau knew what she was thinking. They looked up to see Japas zoom right past them
"Haha, lost him." Mikau said. "Good idea."
"Thanks. Hey, by the way, nice rehearsal."
"Oh, thanks. You too." The two stars of the Indigo-gos stared at each other for a while. Then they leaned forward, and kissed.
Half an hour later, Mikau and Lulu climbed out of the ocean, sweating and breathing hard.
It wasn't because of the water.
They kissed again, and then heard something, so they suddenly shot straight back up to see what it was.
"Yo! Mikau! Lulu! Where've you two been?" it was Japas. He swam over, and climbed on the platform outside of Zora hall.
"UhI guess we really lost you, didn't we?" said Lulu, nervously.
"Man, you two look sweaty! I mean, the water is warm and all, but I mean, come on!"
"Uh, this isn't sweat," said Mikau. "It's just water." Japas looked at him suspiciously.
"Arm up," said Japas. "Let me smell."
"Japas, why do you want to know if Mikau's been sweating?" Lulu asked.
"Huh. You have a point." He walked into Zora hall. Lulu sighed.
"That was close," she said. "Do you thinkhe knowswhat we did?"
"I don't think so," said Mikau. "He's not the brightest guy in the world, you know?"
Lulu laughed. "Yeah, I guess your right."
By now it was lunchtime, so the Indigo-go's sat around a giant table to eat. Today they were having vegetables and fruits to eat, and to drink they had some Chuchu juice. (All except Japas.) "Have you seen the moon?" He asked. I don't know why, but it looks bigger. Just slightly."
"Bigger?" Evan looked at him quizzically. "Japas, how would the moon get bigger?"
"I don't know, but it just looks bigger," Japas answered.
"And, on top of that, the water is much warmer than usual. Strange things have been happening recently," Tijo said.
"I think we've all gone mad and we just need a BRAKE FROM REHEARSAL!" Mikau yelled, looking directly at Toto, giving an obvious hint.
"Mikau, the Carnival of Time is in a week. We need to get prepared," Toto said.
"We are prepared! We've been prepared! We've played Ballad of the Wind Fish twenty billion times, everyone in Terimina has heard it! And now your saying we need to get more prepared. How more prepared could we possibly get? Your such a workaholic."
"Toto, you're more workaholic than Tingle by the lab is chocoholic," Japas said. "And Tingle is very obsessed with chocolate."
"Who's Tingle?" Lulu asked.
"He's the dude with the reddish skin and the moustache with the ugly wart in the green clothes and the orange balloon."
"The mapmaker?" She asked.
"That's him," Japas answered.
"Anyway, Toto, I think we are overworked and deserve a brake. Is that too much to ask?"
Toto sighed. "Ok. You'll have tomorrow off. But the next day, rehearsal. Got it?"
"Got it," the band answered.
After lunch, Mikau went for another swim by himself. He dove underwater, and swam right above the ocean surface. He was looking down and the coral rushing past him, when he dove straight into the mouth of a Like-Like.
Mikau struggled and gasped, and tried to fight his way out of the Like-Like grasps, but he was stuck.
"No! Please" Mikau was getting crushed, when finally the Like-Like spat him out. "Die, you bastard!" Mikau crossed his arms and fired his fins. Each one hit the Like-Like, and it turned blue and lay stunned. Mikau swam up to it and used his electric shield, and the Like-Like roared before falling down and dying.
Firing his fins was an ability no other Zora had. Mikau didn't know how it worked, or why it happened, but Mikau had the ability to shoot his fins away from him, which acted like boomerangs and came back to him.
Mikau slowly swam back to Zora hall, and entered the Zora shop.
"Uh, yeah, one red potion, please," Mikau asked. The owner of the Zora shop handed the potion to Mikau, and he handed the owner a purple rupee and two blue rupees. 60 rupees. Mikau drank the potion and was fully recovered from the last battle.
Mikau looked at his sundial. "Whoa, time flies. It's already 2:00." On the way into his room, Mikau bumped into Japas.
"Whoa! Hey, Mikau, I was looking for you. I was kinda bored, so you wana have a jam session or something?" he asked.
"What? Oh, uh, yeah, sure." Mikau answered. They walked into the bass player's room.
"Ok, I got this great new riff here. Check it out." Japas strummed a hard-core heavy-metal riff. "I just need to think of a guitar part for it."
Mikau thought hard. "Well, it's a bit loud. We don't want Go-go newbies thinking we're this punk-ass band that hangs out in the swamp."
"Come on, Mike. Like Evan is really going to publish our ideas? I'm just writing songs for the fun of it. I don't necessarily want them all to be hits." Japas said.
"Well, we could use, like, subliminal messages to get our ideas into his head."
"Yeah, but then we wouldn't be getting any credit for them," Japas replied.
"Well, we don't really need any more credit. We're stars, man! We're livin' the good life!" Mikau explained.
"Maybe you are, but I'm not! I'm just one of those overlooked people. Everyone loves Mikau! Everyone loves Lulu! What about Japas? What about Japas, Mikau?" Japas snapped. He sighed sighed. "Sorry, man. I just blew up. Forget this happened."
"Wait, so, you're jealous?"
"Forget it."
"You know, if you're jealous, you could have just said so. I have no problem with-"
"Forget it!" Japas stormed out of his room, slamming his bass on the ground, leaving Mikau alone. A string popped, and it made a disordered sound.
The guitarist went into his room to practice. He climbed up the ladder to his practice area and opened his guitar case. Mikau pulled out his instrument, sat back in a chair, and tuned his guitar the best he could without Evan.
Without thinking, Mikau played a chord on his guitar, followed by another one. He sat up. He played the first chord six times, and the second one four.
"That's got a nice feel to it," a voice said. Mikau looked down.
"Oh, hey Tijo. Yeah, it is cool." He strummed the phrase again. "I need some inspiration for the lyrics."
"Uh, write about the unusual weather at Great Bay." Tijo suggested.
"Yeah, that's a good idea." He played the phrase again. "Whoa! Something's a-happenin' in Great Bay! Is it now? Ah yeah!"
Tijo caught on and started drumming a part for the song.
"Whoa! It's as hot as hell here. Whoa! I'll say it's weird. Uh huh!" Mikau played his phrase fortissimo. "And the moon is biggah! Yeah! What the hell is happenin' here?" Tijo started to play a more intricate drumbeat. "We have rehearsal twenty four-seven! Clock Town's Carnival comin' up! Yeah! Evan is selfish, who gives a damn? We'll write our own songs! YEAH!" Mikau strummed the last chord and used the whammy bar to make it reverberate.
"Hot tune, Mike. Especially since it was all improv."
"Yeah, thanks, Tijo. You did good, too. I don't know how you can keep a beat that steady."
"Well, some people are just born for an instrument."
"Yeah, I guess you're right" Mikau said.
The next day was slow. All day long, all Mikau and the band did was have rehearsal, nothing really exciting happnend. Right after dinner, Mikau and Lulu went for another swim toghether, stopping underwater to make out.Then Mikau went into his room, where Tijo was already sleeping soundly, his fat belly rising up and down as he snored. Mikau climbed the ladder and hopped into his bed.
He lay awake for a long time, as he did every night. The moon had gotten slightly bigger today, that was obvious. And Great Bay was still considerably hotter than normal. Something strange was going on, and Mikau had to do something about it. The thought didn't stay in his head very long, though, for he quickly fell asleep.
The next morning, Mikau got up and jumped down from his practice area and walked out to breakfast, sitting down next to Lulu. She looked troubled. Mikau scarfed down a pancake, while Lulu whispered something in his ear.
"There is something important I have to show you. It's urgent."
Mikau stopped eating, and stood up from the table.
"I'm finished," he said.
"Me, too," said Lulu. The other band members looked at them strangley,for it was odd that they got up at the exact same time. Mikau and Lulu looked at each other, and then walked off to the singer's room.
Lulu and Mikau stood outside the door, with Lulu's head bowed and Mikau bursting with curisosity.
Lulu opened the door and the two walked in.
"Oh my–" Lulu cut him off.
"Shh! I don't want the other band members to know!" Mikau nodded, and then sighed.
"Seven," Mikau counted. "It could be worse."
"Yeah," Lulu replied, "but it could also be better."
They stared at the eggs for a while.
"When did this happen?" Mikau asked.
"Last night," Lulu answered.
"Huh," said Mikau. "I didn't know they could get layed so fast."
"Me, too," responded Lulu. "What are we going to do?"
There was a long pause. The only sound was the chuckle of the waterfall in Lulu's room.
"Let's go outside," Mikau suggested. "I need a breath of fresh air." And so they did.
No one noticed them going outside. "Rehearsal is in 5 minutes, where are Lulu and Mikau? We need to set up the amp's!" Toto fussed.
"I saw them in Lulu's room last," Japas said. "I'll go get them." He swam off the stage and entered Lulu's room.
"Mikau? Lulu? Are you inwhat theeggs?"
Mikau and Lulu walked back into Zora hall, and they found everyone in the band, including Toto, all waiting for them. They were all looking straight at the two, with expressions on their faces the Mikau couldn't decode.
"What?" he asked.
Rehearsal was cancelled that day. Everyone in the band sat in the meeting.
"You can't be mad at us because we love each other!" Mikau argued. "Since when is it against the law to love?"
"It's not that," Evan replied. "It's just that" He tried to find the right words. Tijo was about to fill in for him, but then realized he had the wrong words.
"It's just that you are bandmembers," Japas said.
"So? What does that have to do with anything?" Mikau yelled. Throughout the whole conversation, Lulu cowered in a corner, too upset to say anything.
"It's discomferting knowing that you are living with too people that are having sex all the time," Evan said.
Mikau started to object, but then realized he had lost the argument. Evans statement was true; there was no denying it. Mikau stood up and walked out the room, his head hanging low.
"Meeting ajourned," Toto said. Everone got up and left, except for Lulu, who stayed in the room, weeping.
When Mikau went into his room to go to bed a few hours later, Tijo was practicing his drums. When he saw Mikau, he stopped abruptly. The two stared at each other for a minute, not moving. Then Tijo got up and walked to his bed.
"Good night," he said harshly, and fell asleep.
Mikau blinked, and climbed to his bed. He quickly fell asleep.
In the middle of the night, Mikau heared a scream. He rubbed sleep from his eyes, and then hopped down from his bed to see what was going on.
He saw shadowed figures dart from Lulu's room and escape out the door. Mikau ran into Lulu's room to find her on the ground with a giant bruise on her forehead and blood trickling down her leg. He eyes were closed.
Then Mikau noticed that the eggs were gone, and he immediately knew who did it.
Geurdo Pirates.
Mikau ran out the door and followed the Geurdos, running as fast as his legs were capable of. He got out just in time to see the Pirates hop into their boat and motor away. Mikau hopped onto the boat. The Geurdo turned around just in time to see a fist fly at her, and she was knocked out. Then the other Pirates noticed Mikau, and they all swung their spears. One got Mikau in the eye, the other in the leg, and the last one in the stomach. Mikau screamed and fell off the boat.
Mikau's eyes slowly opened. The sun was just starting to rise up. The moon was gigantic. All the band members were standing around Mikau.
"Mikau! You're ok! What happened?"
"We were worried for a sec!"
Mikau sat up. He was on the platform outside Zora Hall. "Where's Lulu?" Mikau asked. Evan pointed to her. She was on the end of the platform, crying to herself.
"She won't say a word. It's about the eggs, isn't it? Mikau, I'm sorry"
Mikau walked over to Lulu. She turned away from him.
"Lulu" She kept crying, so Mikau walked back to where the rest of the band was standing.
"I gotta go," Mikau said as he jumped in the water and swam off as fast as he could.
Finally he arrived at the Pirates Fortress. Mikau, when he was a child, liked to swim around the area a lot, so he knew the secret entrance. He walked on the bottom of the lake and rolled into a board with a skull mark on it. It smashed open, and Mikau went inside.
There was a vast lagoon, and the Pirates on motorboats sailed around it. Mikau noticed that there were only 4 guards, and they all motored toghether, so when they passed, Mikau could easily get past them. When they went around without bothering to look up, Mikau jumped off the small cliff he was standing on and dove into the water. He found where the entrance was, and sped over to it.
It was locked.
Mikau tried to zap down the door with his electric shield, but it was no use. He swam at it as fast as he could, but it only resulted in his head getting banged.
Meanwhile, the guards spotted him.
"Halt! Stay right where you are!" A Pirate yelled.
"Damn!" said Mikau, and he swam away. The guards followed them.
Since Mikau was a Zora, he was no match for the slow motors. But, the very second he got on land, a Geurdo threw her spear at him.
"Ungh!" he yelled, falling to the ground with the spear protruding from his back. Another one threw her spear, and it got Mikau in the head. "Augh!" Mikau screamed. The next two spears both got Mikau in the thigh.
A Pirate sailed her boat over to where the half dead Zora lay.She kicked him, and then picked him up and threw him out of the fortress.
The waters picked up Mikau, and he drifted quite far, leaving a trail of blood behind him. His life was in extreme jepordy, and the chances of him living were extremly slim.
After a day of drifting and being unable to move, Mikau finally arrived near the waters of the laboratory. He was going to die, and he knew it.
Suddenly, he heard a voice.
"Hey, Link! What's that in the water?"
Mikau felt ripples in the water push against him, and he knew someone was in the water with him. He raised his head and managed to say some words.
"I am Mikau" he winced. Was his body incapable of talking? No, he had the urge to get his final message out. He continued, "guitarist in the Zora band. II must get to shore. Please" and then he fell limp. The person swam behind him and pushed him through the water. Mikau could tell by the warmth of his/her hands that he/she was human. The stranger was also probably from Clock Town. And Mikau could tell by the human's grunting and tone of voice that it was also a male child. Finally, after what seemed like hours, Mikau made it to shore.
"I mustget my finall messageout. Please" The boy nodded his head, and, building up all his strength, stood up. He loved music, and his last words would be a song.
It was the same song that he had made up with Tijo, only with different lyrics. He improved the lyrics.
And his guitarMikau didn't know if it was actually his guitar and it appeared out of nowhere, or if he was just hallucinating. But, he still played the song.
Mikau sang about what was going on. The warm weather, the large moon, and Lulu and her stolen eggs.
And then he pleaded. He pleaded that someone would heal his soul. He had to bring back Lulu's eggs. He had to. He couldn't die, not with all the stuff he hadn't achived in his life.
And then, with a final chord, Mikau collapsed, ready to die.
"Please, kid. Heal me." Mikau begged.
The boy sighed. "I can't heal you," he said. Mikau winced at the sound of thst sentence. "but I can take your life into mine. I can be you. Make up all your mistakes and seal your vows. I can become you, Mikau."
Mikau closed his eyes. "Thank you," he said.
The boy pulled out a blue insturment. Mikau reconized it as an ocarina. Then the boy played and eeiry, yet soothing melody. And then the world went black.
Mikau was floating, or swimming, maybe, with his stomach towards the ground. Lulu then swam with her back to the ground, facing Mikau, and the two locked eyes. Then Mikau realized that they weren't sideways at all; they were standing on the ground. Lulu looked at Mikau, and then off into the blackness. Suddenly, forms of the band members popped up. They were playing, "Ballad of the Wind Fish" but making no sound at all. Lulu looked back at Mikau, and the two held hands and walked to the group. They walked forever, hand in hand, never reaching the band, but always looking ahead, enjoying the company of each other.
Too sappy? I thought it was kinda sappy. Read and review! Constructive critisism welcomed.