A/N: Again, I own nothing. Don't sue me. Thoughts are 'Sunshine rainbows happiness'. No lemons yet. Won't be for a while. I'll let y'all know. Enjoy!
CHAPTER TWO
By the time Link left the castle, Talon and his cart were gone, and the sun was just starting to set. The guards were changing shifts.
"Bye, Jerry, see you later, Olaf," Link said as he saw Jerry heading towards the castle and Olaf towards the gate.
"See you, Link," Jerry said.
"Have a good one, Link," replied Olaf.
As Link passed the gate and heard it clang shut, he ducked around the bend in the path and changed into his red tunic. He continued to Castle Town and headed into the clothing shop, run by a young woman with black hair and green eyes.
"Link! How are you? Come to buy a new tunic?" Meria, the shopkeep, greeted.
"Actually, that might not be a bad idea. A new formal tunic would be great. For now, just clean this one," Link replied, handing over his beaten, bloody, sweat-stained tunic.
"Um...Link? It would be cheaper to just buy a new tunic. Tell ya what. I've got a new tunic here in a forest green, with matching hat for 50 rupees," Meria said, eyeing Link's tunic 'Let's see...stain removal, odor removal, repair, re-dye...'
"Well, let's take a look!" Link quickly replied, eager to get out of here and to Kakariko before night fall.
Meria went to the back and returned with a plain green tunic, about two shades darker than his kelly green tunic. This was less kelly and more forest. Link liked it. A lot.
"It's perfect! I'll take it! Also, do you have anything more formal for the Gala? If I show up in my battle-worn clothes again, I'll never hear the end of it from Princess Zelda. Or my date," Link lamented.
Meria's eyes got big. "Ooh, you have a date this year?! Who's the lucky lady?" She went back to the store room.
"Malon. I'll be going with her," Link said.
"Aww, that's so nice of you to be her date. I've got JUST the thing...oh where is it...AH HA! Got it!" Meria said, while rustling hangers in the back. She quickly walked out with a tunic identical to the one he just bought, but this one had gold decorative stitching and huge green, rupee shaped rhinestones around the sleeves, neckline, and along the bottom. Also, the hat had gold stitching along the brim, and had six huge green, rupee shaped rhinestones, evenly spaced, sewn into the gold stitching.
"Total comes to 400 rupees," Meria said, placing the two items in a canvas bag.
"Yeah, ok," Link took out 20 red rupees, and placed them on the counter while taking the bag. Link left the shop, and ran out of the main gate. He ran as fast as he could to Kakariko, and got there just as night fell. He then headed to the mountain pass.
"Link, you'd better have a good reason for wanting to go up there...the volcano is so active, the tektites have abandoned the pass," Jarvis the guard warned.
"Yeah, well, I've got my Royal To-Do-List® right here, and it includes clearing out dodongos in Dodongo's Cavern," Link replied, slightly annoyed.
"WAHAHAHAHA! Oh, that's funny! Royal To-Do-List®! Go on ahead, then! WAHAHAHAHA!" Jarvis opened the gate, and Link was off.
As soon as Link hit the path, rocks started falling. He was able to dodge them easy enough, though there were a couple close calls where he had to use his shield. By the time he made it to Goron city, it was daylight.
"So, Darunia, how bad is it?" Link asked the Goron leader.
"Ah, Link, it's a tragedy! We can't get to the top sirloin rocks we've gotten used to. The salt supply is also running low near the entrance, and while that's good for profits, it's not so good for demand. You still have that Biggoron Sword, right?"
Link turned his back to Darunia.
"Ah, excellent. That should wipe those creatures out fast enough. Here, have a bomb bag and 20 bombs. Those should get you to the inner sanctum where those 'dongos have holed themselves up," Darunia said, clapping Link on the back and bringing him to his knees.
Link stood up and replied, "Yeah, no worries. I got this,"
Link headed to Dodongo's Cavern and immediately started killing Dodongos. After what felt like 12 hours, he had finally cleared out every last one of them nasty little buggers. He returned to Goron City, and went to Darunia's chamber.
"Here's your bombs back," Link offered.
"Ha ha, good one! No, Link, those are yours now! You need them way more than we do. We use bomb flowers, remember? We make bombs for the Hylian Army, and for a select few other customers. No worries! As my Sworn Brother, you are always free to purchase bombs in our shop as you need them," Darunia stated.
"Well, thanks. I best be off, now. Oh, can I ask a favor from you?" Link remembered Talon's simple request.
"Of course! Name it!" Darunia replied.
"I need about five pounds of salt. I know it's a lot to ask for, but..." Link started, but was interrupted by Darunia.
"Nonsense! I was going to pay you in rupees, but we can work this out...let's see...Gor Coron! Bring me a five pound block of the finest pink salt that we have! Then go to the treasury and fetch a single gold rupee!"
"Yes, right away, Lord Darunia!" Gor Coron rolled off into the city, and returned with the rupee and salt. "The best salt we ever mined, the 2954 batch, the last block of it! Though with the volcanic activity picking up again, I imagine we'll have a fresh supply of top quality salt within the year,"
"Very good, Gor Coron! Thank you very much! Is there anything else I can do for you, Link?"
Link smiled. "Nope, this is fine. Thank you very much for your generosity, Darunia,"
"Nonsense! You earned that! I'm sure the Princess Zelda has got other things for you to take care of, so you best be on your way. Thank you very much for helping us out with those 'dongos. Hope to see you again soon, under better circumstances!" Darunia exclaimed cheerfully.
With that, Link was off to his next destination. Only two tasks left on the list and only a few days until the Gala. It looked like Link would have to hurry as fast as possible to make it to the palace on time. Link ran to Kakariko and zoomed through the village to the stairs leading to Hyrule field.
Once in Hyrule field, Link brought out his ocarina, gifted to him by Saria when he saved Hyrule all those years ago. Link put the ocarina to his lips. He played Epona's Song. Epona came running, and stopped in front of Link. Link got on Epona and rode to the lower part of Zora's River.
"This is my stop, girl. I'll be back as soon as I can," Link said, changing into his blue tunic, then stroking Epona's mane, before jumping into the river and swimming upstream.
Link got up to the entrance of Zora's Domain and played the Song of the Royal Family, then jumped through the waterfall. He was greeted by the sight of slightly discolored Zora. 'Oh boy. This looks bad.' Link continued to the throne room.
"Link! Oh, am I glad to see you! I'd give you a hug, but...well...I don't want to give you...whatever this is..." Queen Ruto trailed off, looking at her greenish arms.
"No problem. Listen, I'm going to need two fish. One from Lake Hylia, and one from here," Link explained.
"You think it's infected the fish?" Ruto asked, horrified.
"I'm not sure. It's either in the water or your food. Seeing as how it just appeared, my guess is it's your food, and all you really eat is fish...so..."
"That makes sense, actually. We've been seeing some strange algae around here, that we haven't seen before, as well. I think it has to do with the volcanic activity at Death Mountain. Our water is warmer than usual," Ruto stated.
"I'm going to need a sample of that, as well, then," Link responded. "Luckily, I have three empty bottles. I'm going to get the fish first, then I'll come back here for the algae,"
Ruto nodded, and Link walked down past the store, and to the tide pool. He captured a fish in the bottle, and noted nothing unusual about its appearance. He then dove into the water and into the underwater tunnel leading to Lake Hylia. He surfaced, then walked around the shore until he found a fish he could capture. He got the fish in the bottle, and again, noticed nothing strange about it. Then Link dove back into Zora's Domain, and met Ruto back in the throne room. She was looking slightly worse than before. He half filled an empty bottle with water.
"Here's a sample of the algae, Link. It seems to grow mostly on the grates under the throne," Ruto explained, placing the strange algae in Link's bottle half full of water.
"Great, thanks! I'll get these samples to the Lake Laboratory right away!" Link said. Queen Ruto thanked him as Link jumped off the diving platform, and dove straight into the Lake Hylia exit.
Link surfaced and ran to the laboratory. He opened the door and walked in. "Professor Talvani. How nice to see that you are well," Link greeted the professor.
"Link! Well, the past 76 years have been kind to me, I imagine...the 20 before that were rough, but I can't complain. How can I help you?" the old man replied.
"I need a full analysis on these specimens here. Something is making the Zoras sick, and I suspect it's one of these things," Link explained.
"Ah, I see...I will see what I can do, though I must say...it has been a very long time since I've seen this type of algae...I wonder...AH! No matter! Be off with you! I have research to complete!" The professor waved at Link as he turned to his microscope.
Link left the lab, and dove back into Lake Hylia. He swam under and re-entered Zora's Domain. He then let Ruto know that he would be back in a day, hopefully with a cure. She thanked him, then Link left Zora's Domain, and jumped into the river. He followed the flow all the way back to Hyrule Field. He climbed out of the water, dried himself off, and changed into his new non-formal tunic. Then, he hopped on Epona and made it to the Kokiri Forest entrance.
Saria was standing on the bridge. "LINK! Thank the Goddesses! We really need your help. The deku scrubs all started moving into the Sacred Grove and they're EVERYWHERE! I can't even get to my favorite stump!"
"But, Saria...you don't have to worry about being attacked by forest creatures...it's not a thing that happens to forest spirits," Link reasoned.
"Nooo, that's not the problem. The problem is that there's so many of them in the maze, that they can't move around, and are unable to get to their respective holes! So they just block EVERYTHING!" Saria clarified.
"Well, that IS a problem. All right, I'll wipe them out for you, Saria. How many do you want left?" Link asked.
"Five in the maze, three guarding the Forest Temple corridor," replied Saria.
"Got it. It shall be done," said Link, running into the Kokiri forest on his way to the Lost Woods.
Once in the woods, Link was all, 'Right, left, right, left, straight, left, right' then he immediately saw the problem. These weren't angry scrubs...they were the happy sort that just overpopulated the place. They were scared of the big Hylian man wearing Kokirish clothing.
"Please, Mister, I'm Dezgi the leader of the forest scrubs. Please don't kill us..."
"Alright, Dezgi, how do you think we can solve this obvious overpopulation without anyone dying?" Link questioned the leader.
"I...I don't know...we could disperse throughout the woods, I suppose. Perhaps five or ten to a section? A few in the grottos?" suggested Dezgi.
"Yeah, let's do that. I like that. ALRIGHT LISTEN UP EVERYONE! I WANT YOU ALL TO MOVE SINGLE FILE-LIKE OUT OF THE MAZE. THREE OF YOU STAY IN THE TEMPLE CORRIDOR. FIVE STAY IN THE MAZE. THE REST OF YOU...DISPERSE THROUGHOUT THE LOST WOODS!" Link ordered.
After a time...a LONG time...hours...the deku scrubs cleared out, and found other places in the Lost Woods to occupy. It turns out, they all came from inside the Forest Temple, and decided it was too lonely there. Not knowing how to disperse the population, they just crowded together, which caused problems for all of them. A few made it to Kokiri Village, and were welcomed there.
"Link, you did it! You saved the Forest again!" Saria exclaimed.
"Yeah, I seem to do that at least once a lifetime," Link lamented.
"Will I see you again? I remember, you know...I remember everything. All the Sages do. I miss your friendship, Link," Saria sadly commented.
"Saria...I...had no idea. I remember your song. I'll play it from now on, as much as I can. I wish you could leave the forest...there's a Gala at the castle. Everyone will be there..."
"No, Link. You know we Kokiri are bound to these trees. We can't leave without dying," Saria said, giving Link a hug.
Link bent down and hugged Saria back. "I know. Once everything calms down, I'll come visit you," Link promised, as he gave his friend one last hug before returning to Hyrule Field.
Link got on Epona, and headed back to the ranch. The sun was starting to set, and he didn't feel like dealing with Stalchildren at the moment. He arrived just in time for dinner.