Disclaimer: I still do not own anything from Nintendo, such as the characters, plots and the many other settings. I'm just a fan of most of their work and, I quite enjoy some the games.

The Legend of Zelda

Ocarina of Time

Chapter 10: Lord Jabu Jabu

"Dear Whomever it may concern…

I am currently inside the water spirit that is Lord Jabu Jabu, that lays within the Hylia Fountain. I am fine, and do not need any assistance of any sort. I went in of my own whims, in search of something very important to me.

-Princess Ruto

P.S. Don't tell my mother…!"

Link had found this letter within the bottle he had obtained from the lake; it was rather surprising that it was connected to Ruto completely… and coincidental also. This may help him get to Zora's Domain, but… Looking at the PS again, well, Link couldn't bring himself to do it. Hylia Fountain, and inside of Lord Jabu Jabu… Why did something tell him that in order to put in an effort to save Ruto, he would have to be eaten alive…? Something about this didn't settle with Link very well, but yet… what other options did he have?

Link would reach into his bag to grab the map of his, and looked it over. Seems the Hylia Fountain was surprisingly close to him, it was actually a connection of this lake, it seemed! So many coincidences were stacking here that he felt he could use to his advantage, while recalling Impa's words…

"It is still possible, if you can find some evidence linking to Ruto's whereabouts, you may gain access; perhaps even finding Ruto is your key to the spiritual stone, lad."

Link considered this, but maybe he was taking this far too literally, really… though Navi wasn't saying anything, though he didn't say anything may be the reason. "Well, we're going to save Ruto… She may say she's fine, and I may not be completely aware of Zora combat styles, but leaving her in her location for too long may not be the greatest idea." Link spoke, nodding a bit as he does; though he was still damp from his dive, he had energy to keep going onwards to his next destination. Putting his sword on his back once again, and his traveling bag close, the blond would follow the path to the Hylia Fountain, with Navi following close. Unaware to the both of them, they were being watched from the Hylia Bridge, where the red-haired man was examining from a distance…

Upon arrival to the fountain, Link would look at a sign nearby, which read, "Continue onwards to Lord Jabu Jabu; an offering of a fish may provide a blessing to the believer." Link read aloud, and… well, he figured why not. The problem is, well… he had no fishing rod. He never really caught a fish before, actually, so he was basically going to do it like a man; with his bare hands. Thankfully, there was a shallow part in the waters for him to walk, and yet, fish still seemed to swim within. Being careful with his approach, the blond took the bottle that once contained Ruto's letter, cork in his right hand, bottle in his left, as he silently crept up on them.

Navi was sure to flutter close by, but not too close to Link as to startle the fish, and when Link felt he was close enough… he leapt with his bottle in a catching method. There was a splash… but that was only Link landing in the water hard, while the fish were able to swim away from him; all of them, which had Link upset. He did this about three times more; sneak up, then jump attack in an effort to catch a fish, and end in failure each time. On Link's fifth attempt, he had the fish in the bottle, but it was brief; he couldn't get the cork on fast enough, and wound up getting a few slaps to the face from the fish's tail.

On the sixth and final attempt, Link was slapped a few more times, but he managed to get the fish in the bottle, and kept there with some water to keep it alive. "Well… that took longer than I thought… But, let's keep going; who know what is happening to Ruto at this rate!" Link exclaimed, and with the bottle still in hand, he continued onwards to the fountain. Upon entering, he realized it was more of a cave… and it seemed rather quiet, as well as…

"Empty…" Navi spoke, taking the words right out of Link's mouth, while they looked around. "…Perhaps Jabu Jabu doesn't take prayers at this time?" Navi suggested, but before Link considered this, there was a number of ripples forming in the fountain before them, like something large was swimming to the surface. This… had better not have been because Link had just caught a fish just outside, was it?!

With a loud *SPLASH!*, Link closed his eyes as he was quickly drenched with water once again, as well as Navi who had just landed on his shoulder. When the water stopped falling, Link would hear what sounded like some loud breathing, and opening his eyes, he was astonished to see a very large fish that was donned in considerable jewelry. This… Could this be Lord Jabu Jabu?

"Link, offer your prayer!" Navi exclaimed, and Link recollected his thoughts, and nodded, and approached the creature. With a few breaths, the blond swordsman clasped his hands together, and closed his eyes.

"Lord Jabu Jabu, consider what I must say. The Zora princess, Ruto, is in what I believe to be in great peril; I ask that you allow me to help her in whatever ways I can. Please… it may not be much, but accept this fish I had caught for you." Link spoke, stepping back and took the bottle, pulled the cork off it, and dumped the contents in front of him. The fish he had caught was flopping and jumping out in front of him, and… well, nothing happened at first. Just Link looking at Jabu Jabu, and vice versa. Was his prayer… rejected?

Just as Link was about to call it quits, or decide that maybe the size of the fish is what matters for Jabu Jabu, the ornated Lord opened his mouth, and began to inhale with a strong force. The fish was easily consumed, but the vacuum pull was strong enough to sweep Link off his feet, and pulled him right into the mouth of the creature; even Navi was forced to follow with him inside the creature. Everything went back for the both of them at first… but then, everything changed to red, a subtle glow that allowed Link and Navi to see...

"…Exactly as I had thought; I knew that an effort to save Ruto would get me eaten alive!" Link exclaimed, steadily as he got back up to his feet. He felt so… slimy and wet, it was like he was covered in saliva. "When this is over, I'm going for a swim to wash myself off!" Link added, shaking his head as he turned to Navi. Surprisingly, she was spared of the same fate as well; talk about lucky for the fairy, he thought. In time, he would begin hearing some rumbling sounds echo within the depths of Jabu Jabu, and Link had himself holding his sword.

He almost reached for his shield, but remembered that he no longer had it; this would be fun, he thought, but it seems he will have to remain on the evasive within in case he comes in contact that may be considered a threat. Link walked forwards, his vision looking around and everything seemed rather clear for him so far, right up to his first passage. Walking forwards, the rumblings were louder, and looking around, he eventually caught sight of his first ever jellyfish… at least, that was what it looked like.

"That's a Biri, Link; it's an electrified jellyfish. If you strike it with your sword, you'll get a terrible shock. It's best to take it out with something that doesn't conduct electricity or a range; my suggestion is to keep your distance from them for now." Navi explained to Link, and while the swordsman considered attacking it with his slingshot, the deku seeds that is his ammunition may not be very effective on that elastic-looking body. As such, he watched its movements, and when it approached, he rolled under it, and carried onwards. After getting far enough away, it stopped chasing him, and just idly floated around.

"…Guess they're near-sighted as well…" Link muttered softly, sheathing his sword as he carried onwards. He passed by what seemed like a couple of crates, and then another passage for him to go through to another room. This one seemed… rather linear at first; Biri were all around, with some kind of tendrils hanging from the ceiling and… well, he didn't know what they were at first, but he guessed they were probably holes? But, what caught his attention the most was when he spotted a girl that seemed rather… fish-like in appearance, and Link wondered if this was Ruto. He approached with caution, mainly because she hadn't seen him yet.

"Excuse me… would you happen to be Ruto of the Zoras?" Link would ask; the Biri seemed to be floating far enough away to not even consider his or this girl's presence right at the moment, though she did catch Link's presence when he spoke.

"What business is it of yours, huh?" She responded, her tone of voice sounding rather harsh and aggressive; well… she certainly was nothing like Zelda, that much was obvious, even if she was a princess. Though, Link responded when he showed her the letter he found, and while she blushed at first, she shook her head.

"Wh-why would you bring me something of lesser value?! Besides, if it WERE me, I wouldn't have asked for someone like YOU to help me. What are you… a fairy boy with an obnoxious fairy following you? Just because you carry a blade doesn't mean I would ever consider you as a rescuer!" Right away, the girl was ranting… but it was obvious to Link that this was indeed Ruto, despite her denial towards him.

"Besides… I'm not going ANYWHERE until I get what I came in here for. As for you two; get lost! Got it?!" The Zora explained, and turned on spot with a "Humph!" and wandered forwards. Link was appalled by this… though he was shocked to watch her fall through one of the things he believed was a hole earlier, hearing her cry out in response. While Link was tempted to rub it in, he shook his head; no, he wasn't going anywhere without her! So… he followed in after the Zora, landing firmly on the floor just near the Zora, who was still getting to her feet.

"…And I'm not going ANYWHERE until I get you out of here, regardless of what you say, Ruto!" Link exclaimed, his voice showing a bit of annoyance in his tone as he watched her get back to her feet, and she was surprised to see him there. "You have NO idea what I had gone through to get this far, and I'm not going to stop just because a princess told me so!" Link continued, and… well, Navi shifted a little to show her uneasiness to the situation. Perhaps she was feeling a bit uncomfortable with how Link was addressing her.

"…Tch." Ruto seemed upset that she was addressed in such a fashion, but shook her head. "I've been inside Jabu Jabu several times before, and he would never dare to actually eat me. But… everything is rather strange; jellyfish are everywhere, holes are around, and what's more, my mother's…" Ruto stopped, and shook her head. "Regardless, I can handle myself! I don't need your help, so go home!" Ruto shouted again, and… there they go again.

"I already said it before, I'm not going anywhere without you. If you're missing something very important, then I'll accompany you to where you get it back; as soon as you do that, we can leave, and I'll be on my way like nothing had ever happened. Deal?" This… may not be wise, but Link had to make it sound convincing for Ruto to let him come along with her.

"Stubborn… tch! Fine… BUT!" Oh great, here it comes, the clincher. "…Keep the jellyfish as far away from me as possible. Don't… think I'm giving this to you because you're so stubborn! I'm only giving this to you because that sword will kill you in here." Ruto explained, and handed Link what appeared to be a boomerang; nothing too fancy, but when thrown, it will return to his hand. This will help him get further in to where Ruto's precious item is.

"Well, go on, lead the way, Mr. Hero!" Great, now he was being called this by Ruto… Link rolled his eyes, and decided to just go onwards; he didn't know the layout to Jabu Jabu, but he would have to make some rough guesses. After a moment of wandering and looking around, Link caught sight of something to climb up. In addition, he found what appeared to be a promising doorway at a higher portion of the room, and a hole was located just above it.

"That's somewhere to start… Let's climb back up where we met, Ruto; we will have to fall down another hole, but it's better to check every bit that we can." Link explained, leading Ruto towards the climbable wall. Link was the first to climb up, with Ruto right behind him. Link climbed for a moment, but stopped when he heard that Ruto had stopped moving. Just as he looked over his shoulder, he saw her looking right at the wall… was her face just a bit red there?

"Well, wh-what are you waiting for, jerk?! Keep going; don't keep me waiting!" Jeez… Ruto really wasn't raised right or something, but Link continued climbing up, right to where he would plant his feet back on solid ground again. He walked away from the ledge, allowing Ruto to climb up herself. This was getting rather strange and bizarre of an encounter, but Link was only sticking around for as long as Ruto and him get out of Jabu Jabu.

"…The hole should be… in that corner." Link spoke, making his suggestion, leading around the room a little, though when he saw a Biri make an approach on them, he threw his newly acquired boomerang in their direction; despite being made of wood, the thrown weapon seemed to do the trick, and returned to his hand as he thought. Though, along the way, he was surprised to encounter a larger kind of jellyfish, one that Navi called "Bari", which were larger in appearance, but they didn't seem to move at all. Though, a strike from the boomerang had it split into three Biris, which hover skywards for a moment.

This left a brief opening for Link and Ruto to carry onwards, with Link falling down the hole and landing firmly. However, Ruto didn't follow after him right away. This had him wonder what was going on.

"Come on Ruto, jump down; I'll catch you!" Link called out, and while Ruto remained being hesitant, the Biri were approaching her, so she had no choice, and jumped in after Link, crying out as she does. Link was there to catch her, as he said… though he would fall over as a result; jeez, she wasn't very light at all, but regardless, they were there, ready to carry on.

"U-unhand me, idiot!" Ruto called out, and… Link reacted accordingly, letting Ruto go and got to his feet, with Ruto doing the same. Regardless, they were in front of the next gateway, though Ruto seemed to rush on ahead. Link was quick to follow after her, entering the room she was in, and saw as she picked up what seemed like a blue and gold stone. This had Link give a bit of a deadpanned expression; the item she was looking for was the Spiritual Stone?! Well… this reduced the chances of completing his quest now.

"This stone is very important to me, because it belonged to my mother, which she handed down to me. Now that I have it, I don't need to be inside Jabu Jabu. But, now I must make a request; take me home, right now!" Ruto commanded, and Link, well… he seemed to have little opinion in the matter. He approached and got on the platform that she was on, and while it rose to a higher floor, the area around them seemed to get darker. And… they could hear large charges of electricity being stored nearby. This can't be a good sign, especially for Link who was shieldless!

"This… this must be why Lord Jabu Jabu looked ill and everything was so strange inside him; it must be because of that… thing!" Ruto explained, pointing to the large creature on the opposite side of the room. While a lot of Bari were in the room, they seemed to be electrically charged and connected to this creature, which appeared to be connected to Jabu Jabu's inner workings. Those three things at the top seemed to be moving in what seemed like a sucking motion…

"This thing must be a parasite, Link! Lord Jabu Jabu is portrayed as a god to the Zoras, and if it keeps leaching off Jabu Jabu, things can go sour right away!" Navi exclaimed as Link approached the creature, boomerang in hand. If he could kill this thing… could he earn enough of a thanks from Ruto to have her part with the Spiritual Stone? Well… Only one way to find out! Link tossed the boomerang at the first sucker, which immediately cut it when it made contact. It was at this moment the creature became aware of Link's presence, just as he caught the weapon.

"Stay in the corner and out of my way, Ruto! I'll handle this!" Link called out, and managed to roll out of the way as bolts of electricity were shot at him, nearly hitting him. He threw the boomerang at the second sucker, and cut it off.

As he retrieved the weapon, he heard Ruto call out, "I-idiot! What are you trying to do, ask for a death wish?! This thing will kill you if you stand still for too long!" Link was not in the mood to hear this, but he threw the boomerang at the last sucker, and when it was cut, the creature seemed to drop down a bit, all of the suckers dripping green blood onto the floor he walked on. Though, the… thing, would release a number of Bari out across the room, and Link found it hard to concentrate to try and attack the parasite and the Bari all at once. Then, he recalled what Deku Nuts done; they stun with their flashes.

"Shield your eyes!" Link called as he grabbed one from his bag, and as he threw it, there was a blinding light through the room, and this caused all the Bari around him to freeze in place. With that, Link drew his sword in a sort of spinning motion, cutting all of them at once. That was one line of defense down, but… well, there seemed to be additional Bari connected to the parasite, though these seemed to work more like a spinning shield than anything. When Link was able to get close enough to throw the boomerang, the force of the spinning was too much for the boomerang to handle, bounding back for Link to catch.

"…Running out of ideas here…!" Link muttered, doing his best to avoid the oncoming lightning bolts flying his way, and doing his best to avoid the Bari spinning towards him. With no shield to defend him, that was all he can do. He tried his slingshot, firing a seed at the main body, but it didn't seem to work at all, merely bouncing right off. Though… the parasite would eventually dig itself into the floor, and the Bari were disconnected to it now! Aiming at the Bari, he would throw the boomerang at them, cutting them up one at a time. He was only able to kill three of them before the thing called Barinade rose from the ground, and electrical currents connected it with the Bari again, but… now there was a gap for Link to throw the boomerang into!

He took this chance, and threw when the gap came up… and cut into the creature. Link's attention returned to the jellyfish, throwing the boomerang at them one at a time until the remaining few were gone! Now, this time, it was just the parasite remaining, no more jellyfish to worry about. It seemed to be moving around like a spinning top, moving towards him and the walls… and this would leave Ruto having to move around as well as Link.

"Come on… hold still!" Link cried out, trying to throw his boomerang at the exposed body, but Link wasn't entirely sure of the range of the weapon, and the throws came up short, missing Barinade completely as a result because it moved away from him frequently. And… it seemed to have gotten rather close to Ruto a few times already, who screamed when it got uncomfortably close to her. It didn't hit her, however, for Link was able to move in close enough to stun it with the boomerang. Now exposed, Link drew his sword and slashed at it a number of times, earning growls and hisses from the creature as a result. After a few hits, it seemed to submerge back into the floor to protect itself, which had Link move around with Ruto to avoid the shocks of electricity.

"…Come on, give me the boomerang! I can hit it much more reliably; just keep it busy and I'll get it vulnerable for you to strike!" Ruto called out, and… Link wasn't in a position to argue; she was the one who owned it last, so she had a better understanding of how the weapon worked, so he tossed it gently in her directly, so she could catch it. Link had nearly got hit by a bolt by doing that, however, and soon, the parasite was back out of the ground. It was spinning wildly, at Link because it viewed him as the most dangerous right now, giving Ruto time to aim the boomerang.

She threw it when she had the timing down, and with another hiss from the creature, it went still. Link rushed in, climbing up the creature a bit as he does. Hitting the lower body was only inflicting minor wounds, so he hoped that by striking somewhere higher up will inflict more damage, even death to the creature. Holding tightly with his right hand, he held his sword firmly with his left, and just before the creature was about to submerge, he thrust the blade deep into the creature, right up to his hand practically, causing it to stop completely and began to gurgle and hiss.

"This is the last time you're leeching off anything!" Link called out, and with a shout, he twisted his sword like a key in a slot it shouldn't fit in, and slashed as fast as he could, effectively gutting the creature. It roared out as it began to swell up. Link kicked off it to some distance away, and watched as the creature swelled to the point where, first, the cut suckers would implode into a mess, then the entire body except where Link had cut and… *SPLAT!* With a death roar, the creature popped like a giant pimple, remaining residue of the parasite littered the floor as well as its blood. Other than that, it was completely gone, which left Link with another victory under his belt.

Link was exhausted, however, panting tiredly after all of that, though Ruto was there to see him like this. "I-idiot! You could've died! Why would you do this for someone you don't even know?! You idiot!" Link, again, was in no mood to argue despite Ruto's words, for he would soon find himself losing consciousness from pure exhaustion. "H-hey, don't do this on me! I-idiooooot~!" These were the words that Link heard last before he saw black…

Creativity is back in the swing of things, it seems; two chapters in quick succession! I guess all I needed was a push and a look back at your reviews from all of you. Once again, I am so sorry for the really long delay for these chapters, but I do hope that the standard and quality makes up for the long way. Please provide your own comments and reviews if you so have the urge to, though I leave that in your hands to decide.