Chapter XIX: Belly of the Beast
"Okay, so we just got inhaled by a giant Zora fish god and are walking around inside its belly looking for their Princess."
Link looked around the slimy, glowing pink and red interior of Lord Jabu-Jabu, the revered water spirit of the Zora, Navi drifting beside him. The gut of the vast spirit seemed like nothing short of an organic cavern, with walls and floor of writhing pink flesh. This was certainly one of the last places he had been expecting to explore on his journey.
"I think that sums it up," Navi replied. Link grunted, and started walking down the fleshy corridor that was the fish deity's stomach.
"Guess there's a first time for everything," he muttered, sword in hand.
Two hours earlier, the cool and clear waters of Zora's River had been flowing furiously downstream, twisting through a deep canyon before feeding out into the myriad rivers and streams of Hyrule. Beside this river, his brown boots lying on the grass beside him, was Link, his bare feet resting in the cool water. He leaned back, relaxing, and Navi was lying in the grass beside him while he took his break. Saving the world took quite a bit of legwork, he had come to realize, and he decided to stop and enjoy the beauty of the river while he could.
"The Zoras live around here, right?" he asked as he looked up at the blue sky overhead.
"They're aquatic, so they live anywhere where there's deep water," Navi replied, nestled in the grass beside him, her azure glow filtering through the green blades. "But Zora's Domain is their capital."
"And that's up this way," Link said, peering upstream, at the vast, twisting river. In the far distance, he could hear the echo of a deep roar, and Link had seen enough flowing creeks and streams in the woods to recognize the sound of a waterfall, even when multiplied over many times.
"Do you think they'll be as friendly as the Gorons?" the Kokiri asked, and Navi mulled over that for a moment.
"Zora are an odd bunch, from what the Great Deku Tree told me," the fairy replied, poking her head above the grass. "The Gorons, well, they're bred from the stones and the hills, in a way, so being like they are is natural for them. Zora are a lot more like Kokiri, or Hylians, from what I've seen, a lot more individual."
"Wait and see then, huh?" Link asked, and yawned. "Hopefully the first ones we run into are going to be nice guys at least." His blue eyes traced the sky for a few more moments, and he started to doze off, feeling the comfortable, cooling wash of the river caressing his feet as he flopped back on the grass. He'd been walking all day, and this relaxing pause during the middle of the hot day was tempting him to take a midday nap.
His eyes closed, and then snapped open as he sensed a shadow pass overhead. The rustle of broad wings flapping in the air touched his ears, and the Kokiri sat up, to see a huge, familiar brown form settling into the branches of a tree along the river bank. The owl's large eyes peered over Link as he rose, pushing himself up on his elbows.
"Ah, Link," said Kaepora Gaebora, twisting his head around as if to get a better look at the Kokiri.
"From what I can tell, you've come a long way since we last spoke." As Kaepora's words touched him, Link paused, and realized that just a week and a half ago he'd been cautiously venturing out into Hyrule's grasslands, terrified and lost.
"I guess I have," he replied, chuckling, and the owl bobbed his head.
"You've improved and grown stronger in the last few days," he remarked. "Some Hylians go years without learning and seeing what you've accomplished."
"Well, I've been busy," he said with a shrug, and Kaepora's head bobbed again.
"I've noticed that you've gained some unusual new abilities since we last spoke," the owl said, and his huge eyes turned toward the Kokiri Sword.
"Yeah, Navi showed me how to use magic!" Links aid, his excitement returning as he remembered the grass falling to his own life force as it had burst from his blade.
"Indeed," the owl said. "But, you must keep in mind that magic, like all other skills, may atrophy over time. Do not neglect it, nor neglect your martial skills either. What has been granted to you is a powerful tool, but a limited one. Do not abuse or become too reliant on that power; your greatest strengths will always come from your mind and your body, not from the arcane. Many wizards forget this." Link's dutiful nod confirmed that he understood what Kaepora was saying.
"Well, now that that is settled," he hooted, and turned his head upstream. "I understand that you are now heading for another strange and new place, aren't you?"
"Zora's Domain," Link said, and the owl hooted again.
"The source of the rivers that flow throughout Hyrule," the owl said thoughtfully. "You should be wary, Link, for the darkness that you struggle against has a long reach, and it seeks the Spiritual Stones relentlessly."
"Are the Zoras in trouble?" the Kokiri asked, scrambling to his feet, and Kaepora hooted again.
"The dark magic of the sorcerer clouds this land, at the very source of Hyrule's water source. Go there and discover it for yourself, young Link. I will let you view it with your own eyes." With those cryptic words, the owl spread his wings and took to the air again, flying above Link and back downstream.
The Kokiri waited only a moment before tugging his boots back on, gathering his gear, and hurrying up the river, the owl's words driving him upstream; if Ganondorf had caused any mischief among the Zora like he had to the Gorons, Link intended to do what he could to counter it. He moved so swiftly and so intently that he didn't notice a sleek form sliding through the river a discreet distance behind, tailing him as he moved up the river.
Three more hours passed, and the sun had already passed its apex as Link ran upstream. He stopped briefly for another break by the river's edge, and the distant roar of the waterfall was growing louder; he suspected he was only a few miles from the waterfall itself. As soon as he had finished pausing to eat some berries and refill his waterskin, Link rose and started back up the length of the river, Navi following.
The shallow, twisting canyon that was the upper length of Zora's River steadily grew smaller and tighter, and the terrain got rougher; Link found himself scrambling over rocks and the roots of trees that loomed overhead as he advanced along the river. He wondered how hospitable the water folk would be if the approach to their city was so difficult for legged land dwellers.
Twenty more minutes of negotiating the difficult, twisting terrain, and Link squeezed along through the canyon, walking along a ledge overlooking the river rushing past below, now traveling swiftly at the heart of the waters' source. The roar of the waterfall was deep and powerful now. He pressed on, and emerged into a large, open valley with a tremendous waterfall directly ahead, spilling from high above him into a deep pool. Link skirted around the edge of the swirling pool, amazed by the size and power of the waterfall, seeming to fall from heights far above; the thunder of its flow into the pool filled his ears.
He barely heard Navi when she shouted something, and he glance dup, to see something moving in the water near by. He started, grabbing his slingshot, when the figure emerged from the pool, large black eyes watching him curiously. The Kokiri blinked, not sure what he was seeing, until Navi muttered something in his ear.
"A Zora," she said. The pale, blue-white creature's face was human-like but narrow and elongated, with what looked like an extended, muscular fish tail stretching back from the rear of its head. Even as the Kokiri was taking the creature's appearance in, the Zora climbed out of the water, and he could see that it had a largely humanoid shape to its body, taller and more slender than most Hylians and towering over the tiny Kokiri. Elongated fins emerged from the backs of its arm and legs, patterned with darker blue coloring and scales.
"Greetings," the Zora said, its voice light and musical, and it gestured toward the waterfall. "Welcome to Zora's Domain." The fish-person's mouth turned in a smile as it spoke, barely audible over the roar of the waterfall.
"Uh, hi," Link replied a moment later, sheepishly putting away his tiny slingshot. "You surprised me." He had to shout, as he could barely hear his own words, but the Zora seemed to hear him perfectly fine.
"I saw you coming up the river, and I wasn't sure if you were coming up toward Zora's Domain or not," the Zora added, stepping closer so Link could hear the words more clearly. "I'm surprised you took such a difficult route so easily. Not very many Hylians come to visit our capital."
"I'm a Kokiri, actually," Link said, and the Zora frowned in surprise, before nodding.
"Forest folk are very rare in these parts," it said. "Ordinarily, we'd be a little bit more hospitable, but right now we're in a bit of a panic."
"What's wrong?" Link asked, to which the Zora shook his head.
"Our Princess has gone missing, again, and our guardian deity, Lord Jabu-Jabu, has gone sick. All of it after that Gerudo came visiting, though I'm not sure how he got here, as he didn't take the river passage . . . ."
"Ganondorf," Link muttered, his words lost under the roar of the waterfall. He glanced back up to the Zora.
"Can I go inside?" he asked, not sure what he could do to help, but knowing that if Ganondorf was behind these problems, he wouldn't stop until he had foiled the sorcerer's plots.
"The Domain is closed to visitors right now until we sort this mess out," the Zora apologized. "We don't want any more interference than we can afford, and we can only trust agents of the Royal Family of Hyrule right now."
"I'm on a mission from Princess Zelda, actually," Link said, and the Zora's black eyes widened.
"If you are, then they've no doubt given you special credentials to prove that," the Zora replied. "Right now, our King has placed a spell upon the waterfall so that it will only open if you show them."
Easy enough, Link thought, as he took out his ocarina, and glanced around.
"Any place specific where I need to stand?" he asked, and the Zora scoffed.
"This isn't a game," it said. "Just show your proof. Who would require you to stand in a specific spot to play a song, anyway?" Link chuckled and raised the ocarina to his lips. Air flowed down the mouthpiece and out the holes in the wood as his fingers moved over the instrument. The familiar, soothing melody of Zelda's lullaby flowed through the air, seeming to cut through the roar of the fog like a blade through cloth. The Zora closed its eyes as it listened to the pleasant, peaceful song, and as Link finished, he thought the roar of the waterfall diminish.
"Excellent," the Zora said, nodding as the song ended. They both looked to the waterfall, to find it had dissipated, and beyond was a passage leading into the rock wall behind it. "I had forgotten the beauty o that song. You should hurry, before the spell ends and the water resumes its flow."
Link nodded, thanking the Zora for its help, and then hurried toward the waterfall. Mist still filled the air as he circled around behind the once-intense flow and stepped into the passage beyond. It was only a few short meters before Link emerged from the passage, a wave of pleasantly cool air and the quiet lapping of water greeting him as he stepped into the grotto beyond.
It was a vast, open chamber or gray stone, and Link stood upon a ledge overlooking an immensely deep pool. Below, he could see multitudes of pale, blue-white forms moving about in the clear waters or lounging on rocky ledges along the water's edge. From his vantage point, Link could see deep into the grotto's water, and saw what he suspected were the underwater homes of the Zora, a village built within the clefts and tunnels beneath the water's surface. Black eyes peered up at the newcomer as he walked along the ledge, looking around in amazement, wondering what it was like to live underneath the water's surface.
"Welcome!" called a voice ahead, and Link looked up, to see a pair of Zoras walking toward him, clad in what looked like loose, light scale suits of armor, an carrying curving spears that looked to have been fashioned out of the bones of sea creatures. "We weren't expecting any visitors from outside the enclave today, so this is a pleasant surprise."
"We heard the sound of the waterfall receding," the other said. "Since our King has barred access to non-Zora outside of the Royal Family, does that mean that you're one of their messengers?"
"That's right," Link replied, and the two Zoras nodded.
"I apologize for the disappointment, but the King cannot speak with any royal agents right now," the second Zora said. "He is . . . Rather inconsolable since Princess Ruto vanished this morning."
"What happened?" Link asked, and the two soldiers shrugged.
"She was last seen feeding Lord Jabu-Jabu, which is her responsibility," the first soldier replied. "Unfortunately, she hasn't been seen since, and we're theorizing that the Gerudo sorcerer had a hand in it."
"Ganondorf," Link spat, and the second soldier nodded.
"He requested that we turn over the Zora's Sapphire to him, and we refused to do so," it explained. "And now, Lord Jabu-Jabu is sick, and Ruto has disappeared. We're still just trying to sort everything out now."
"Actually, the Zora's Sapphire is why I was sent here," Link remarked. "Princess Zelda asked me to recover the Spiritual Stones for her." The Zoras paused, rubbing their chins, and the first soldier shook his head sadly.
"We cannot help you with that problem, unfortunately," he apologized. "While we can certainly trust your credentials as an agent of the Royal Family, Princess Ruto is the keeper of the Sapphire as well as Lord Jabu-Jabu's caretaker. This is why we fear for her safety, with the sorcerer's demands and the Lord's illness."
"Can I help search for her?" Link asked, and the two Zoras nodded immediately.
"Any help would be appreciated," the second soldier said. "Please, come." They led Link up along the path, through tunnels that ran with rivulets of water and past passages of flowing springs and tiny waterfalls. A mist filled the air, cool and refreshing, reminding Link of the fairy springs of the Kokiri Forest, but everywhere within this grotto. He spotted other Zoras moving around in the drier (relatively speaking) areas of the caves, and among them were oddly shaped Zora, taking on the shapes of other aquatic creatures, ranging from tall, sinewy eel-like Zora to squat, bulbous beings who seemed like fat puffer fish instead of the lithe forms of their fellows. They all seemed strange and alien to Link, who knew relatively little about fish beyond the creatures that dwelled in the lakes and creeks of his homeland.
After several minutes of winding their way up the stairways and passages, the soldiers led Link into an open room with a low pool of water that rose up to ankle level, fed by a slow, wide waterfall that flowed around a huge, fat Zora, sitting at the far end of the room atop a high ledge, beyond which was a tunnel that led off into daylight. The immense Zora's eyes were low, and he was rubbing his hands together, distraught. Several retainers were talking to the great creature, trying to comfort him or talking among themselves; Link assumed this was the throne room and the huge Zora was the king.
"My liege," spoke one of the soldiers. "We have brought a messenger sent from Princess Zelda."
"A messenger?" the king asked, and he looked up for a moment, and nodded half-heartedly. "What does Princess Zelda need of us?"
"She asked me to bring back the Spiritual Stone of Water," Link said. "I heard that Princess Ruto has it, but she's gone missing." The king nodded, seeming to quickly revert back to his former distress.
"My daughter, she has . . . We cannot find her," he said. "I am sorry, right now I'm just . . . I feel very tired."
"He has offered to help us search for the princess," one of the soldiers spoke, and the King looked back up, his eyes brightening slightly.
"I'm not certain how much help you may be, but we welcome any assistance," the king said graciously. "Guards, please permit the royal agent to the shrine if he should wish to search there."
"Of course, my liege," the first soldier spoke. He gestured past the ledge. "Please, follow us. We will take you to the shrine of Lord Jabu-Jabu."
The passageway beyond led back out into the open air, with ankle dee water flowing out from it. Link soon realized that the water came from a lake right outside the passageway beyond, and as he stepped back out into the sunlight, he heard a deep breathing sound coming from his right. When the Kokiri looked up in that direction, he saw a smalls tone shrine that was shaped like a ship dock, built next to the rock tunnel, and resting at the end of the shrine was what could only be Lord Jabu Jabu.
The creature was an immense fish, a hundred times Link's size, with gray skin and large, glazed-over gray eyes. The creature wasn't moving, beyond slight motions of the large fins on either side of its body to keep it near the dock. As Link steppe dout into the open, the eyes seemed to focus on him for a minute, before moving away.
"Is he sick?" Link asked, and the Zora soldiers nodded.
"We know not the cause of his illness, but it is only very recent." Link nodded as he stepped up onto the shrine and peered around the rest of the wide mountain lake.
The great lake that Lord Jabu-Jabu inhabited was wide and its waters were clear and pure, clearer than nearly anything he'd seen thus far. As Link peered around the lake, he was somewhat confused, for he did not see any other creeks or streams flowing into and feeding the deep lake, and while he had lived in the forest all his life he knew a little about geography.
"Where is all the water coming from?" the Kokiri asked as he walked toward Jabu-Jabu, and one of the Zora soldiers rubbed his chin, surprised.
"Most outsiders rarely ask that question," the soldier remarked, and the other chuckled.
"The shrine and home of our great Lord is the source of Zora's River," he replied. "It does not draw from underground springs or mountain ice or rainfall. Our Lord and the magic of this place makes it so."
"Wow," Link muttered, nodding in amazement. It was subtle and not readily apparent, but the fact that the water literally sprang from this lake told him of how magical this place really was. There was no doubt in Link's mind that Jabu-Jabu, for all his stillness and lethargy, was probably as powerful in his domain as the Great Deku Tree had been in his. The immense fish god was now viewed in a new light by the Kokiri, and he felt an odd sense of kinship with the Zora, who he suspected had a similar relationship to Jabu-Jabu that the Kokiri had to their spiritual father.
He shook off the reverence a moment later, and walked across the shrine toward the Lord, who remained motionless except for his gently splashing tail. The huge eyes seemed to glance at the Kokiri, but then looked away, dismissively, and resumed being distant and unfocused.
"If we're going to figure out what happened to the Princess, we should follow her disappearance one step at a time," Navi suggested, and Link nodded.
"You guys said Princess Ruto vanished while feeding Lord Jabu-Jabu?" the Kokiri asked, and they nodded. The fish god's eyes, Link noticed, glanced back down at him as he mentioned the prospect of food.
"It is mostly an act of appeasement and symbolism," one of the troops replied. "I'm sure Lord Jabu-Jabu would tell you this himself if he wasn't feeling so ill." Behind link, there was a low rumble, though whether it was the deity acknowledging the Zora or simple being hungry was uncertain.
"Being a guardian spirit, he doesn't need fish, and can eat all the ones he wants on his own," the other Zora said. "But we offer him fish as a way of thanking him for his protection and the pure waters he gives us."
"Well, that's how she disappeared, so we should start there," Link said, and the two Zora nodded. One of the soldiers turned and stepped off the side of the shrine, disappearing into the water. Link watched with fascination as the fish person jetted across the lagoon, wheeling and turning through the water like a bird in the air, his fins flowing and pumping as he cut through the clear lagoon. Within moments he returned, climbing up onto the platform with water sloughing off his smooth skin and armor. A large, wriggling fish was held in his hand.
"Now, when you offer this fish to the Lord, you hold it out for him to see and then place it on the stone, and then back away. The Lord will draw it inside on his own, and he is rather . . . forceful."
"Let me try it," Link volunteered with a smile and outstretched hand.
In retrospect, he shouldn't have been so eager to go waving a squirming fish in front a fish deity when he'd been warned seconds before that said guardian spirit was very forceful in eating his meals.
"I want to say I'm surprised at how big Lord Jabu Jabu's guts are, but I'm not," he remarked as he walked down what he guessed was the deity's throat. Strange bubble-like shapes drifted through the cavernous chamber, and Link was still having a hard time wrapping his head around the fact that he was wandering around inside the belly of a guardian deity. But even if it was hard to reconcile the size of the fish-god's innards, he wasn't terribly surprised that it was huge; after all, spirits were strange creatures, and he was on a pretty strange adventure.
"If Lord Jabu-Jabu did the same thing to the Princess that he did to us, then that probably means she's inside his belly," Navi explained, and Link nodded.
"It would explain why she vanished, but is she okay?" Link couldn't imagine being inside the guts of a fish deity was very healthy, but then again, he wasn't much of an authority on walking around inside guardian spirits' innards.
"Let's hurry up and see if we can find her," Navi said, and Link nodded, walking down the "passage" with his blade in hand. He wasn't sure why he had his sword out, but Link wasn't taking any chances. Both of the places that Ganondorf had cursed before had been infested by monsters, and Link didn't think even the belly of Lord Jabu-Jabu was safe from the sorcerer's magic.
The Kokiri and his partner continued moving down the deity's throat, the pink, fleshy walls quivering slowly as he advanced. The boy was careful to keep his hand steady and his grip tight, as he didn't want to accidentally cut or injure Jabu-Jabu.
The passageway narrowed, and then suddenly opened, and Link and Navi found themselves stepping out into a wide "chamber" of heaving pink walls and a somewhat unstable "floor." The Kokiri glanced around the room, and noted several large, glowing blue-white creatures hovering at various points in the room, wandering aimlessly through the air. He had heard of "jellyfish" before, but had never seen them, but these things loosely matched the description, with large bulbous upper bodies and trailing feelers beneath them, small arcs of white electricity jumping between them.
"You there!" Link started in shock as he heard a girl's voice, speaking in the same high-pitched, musical tone of the Zora. He turned in the direction of the voice, to see what he guessed to be a young Zora female; she was slightly shorter than Link himself, and unlike the tall, graceful creatures he had encountered earlier, she seemed smaller and more stocky, with only small stubs for fins growing out of her arms and no tail sprouting from the back of her head. She looked over Link, and what he guessed was a surprised scowl appeared on her face.
"Who are you?" she demanded, and the Kokiri was taken aback by her tone, her words both demanding and accusing.
"I'm Link," he replied bluntly, matching her tone. "You're Princess Ruto, right?" The Zora girl blinked, and nodded.
"How did you know my name?"
"No one else has been disappearing inside fish gods' bellies lately," Link replied. "Your people are worried about you, especially your father."
"I don't care!" she suddenly snapped, indignant, and the Zora princess looked away. "I have things to take care of in here anyway." Link was about to protest her refusal to listen when Navi's shout caught his attention.
"behind you, Link!"
He whirled, raising his shield, and saw one of the glittering blue jellyfish-like creatures had floated in close behind him. His shield met the creature's tentacles, which struck remarkably hard for such a small monster, and he saw the spark of static lightning arcing off of it. The Kokiri Sword snapped across, an instinctive counter to the monster's attack.
Later, Link decided, following instinct wasn't always wise.
He let out a scream of agony as lightning coursed down his sword, blasting his body. His muscles jerked and spasmed, and the Kokiri was thrown off his feet and sent rolling across the fleshy floor, his skin smoking and pain stretching across his entire body. He had no idea what had just happened, but as he scrambled to his feet, Link resolved to not hit those jellyfish creatures with his sword again.
The monster continued closing in, focusing on Link. Navi danced in front of it, trying to distract it, but the monster didn't even seem to notice her, instead drifting at the Kokiri. Link considered grabbing his slingshot, until he remembered the lesson Navi had taught him yesterday.
"Ruto, get back!" he called as he focused on himself, calling up his inner reserved as he slowly backed away from the jellyfish, letting it close in while he charged his blade with his spirit.
"That's Princess-"
"Get back!" Link shouted again as blue light flowed down his blade. The Zora princess was many things, but she wasn't stupid, and she realized that whatever Link was about to do wasn't likely healthy. She scrambled away as the blue light's tinge became a darker red, the energy intensifying as the jellyfish drew nearer.
With a shout of fury, the Kokiri snapped his sword forward, and the shockwave of spiraling chi burst forward, slamming into the jellyfish and launching it across the room. It slammed into one of the stomach walls and hit the floor, before shakily rising, battered but still alive. Link exhaled, exhaustion beginning to creep in as he expended so much energy on that attack.
A hand touched his shoulder, and he jerked in surprise, only to realize as he spun that it was the Princess. As he faced her, the Zora pointed toward the other side of the room, and one of the "passages" that led out of this chamber.
"This way," she hissed, and not questioning her logic, Link followed after her. Ruto did not run, but she walked at a brisk pace, and Link saw that this was more than enough to keep them away from the jellyfish creatures; they seemed lethargic and slow, more guards that anything else. Though several more started floating toward the trio, none of them got close before they were outside of the stomach chamber and standing in a narrow, dark-colored passageway beyond.
"Where are we going?" Link asked, and Ruto huffed.
"Away from somewhere that will get you killed," she replied. "Its obvious you can't hurt those things with your sword, so we need to improvise if we're going to handle this mess."
"Mess?" Link said. "Hold on a second, your Highness, I'm here to find you and get you out of here first."
"Then you'll help me," Ruto replied firmly. "I'm not leaving until I find the Zora's sapphire."
"I thought you had the Sapphire," Links aid, surprised, to which Ruto frowned.
"I had it," she replied, shaking her head. "Lord Jabu-Jabu . . . ." She paused, and sighed. "look, I've been going in and out of Lord Jabu-Jabu's belly like this for a long time. He's rather eager when I feed him, so I tend to get sucked inside, probably like you did, but he always lets me out once he figures out what he did. But he was sick today, so I didn't expect him to inhale me so aggressively, and I lost the sapphire when I fell inside." She frowned, and gestured down the passage.
"If you drop something inside Jabu-Jabu's belly, it could end up anywhere inside him. I've been looking around for it, but I can't get very far with all these weird jellyfish monsters everywhere. They've never been in here before."
"So, how do we get past them?" Link asked, remembering the tone of her voice earlier. The Princess had to know of some other plan they could use the bypass these creatures.
"This way," she muttered, and gestured down the passage again. "A few weeks ago I found something that Jabu-Jabu had swallowed. It looked like a chest that someone had dumped in the lake decades ago. I don't know how it ended up in his belly." They walked down the 'corridor", which weaved and turned and branched off in several places. Ruto led him unerringly, apparently quite well-versed in navigating the fish-god's guts. Within minutes she had brought him down a side passage, which opened into a larger chamber. In the corner was something that looked distinctly wooden and dark, made of rotten planks and metal strips: an old chest. She led Link straight toward it.
"Link," Navi hissed as Ruto opened the chest. "We're not alone." He looked over his shoulder, and spotted a pair of the blue jellyfish hovering near the entrance to the chamber, drifting down over the entrance and blocking the way out.
"Ruto, I hope your-"
"Princess Ruto," she snapped.
"O Holy Shiny Divine Zora Princess of All Hyrule, I hope this thing works, because we've got company." Ruto looked up, sour expression on her face at Link's mocking string of titles, and she turned, holding something in her hand. Link glanced at it, confused at the item: it was a narrow, bent strip of carved wood with sharpened edges and a large red gem set in the center, where the wood was crooked.
"A boomerang?" Link muttered, and Ruto tossed it toward him. He caught the weapon, not sure what this was doing here or what to do with it. Some Kokiri had used boomerangs as hunting tools and toys, but Link had never had any real aptitude for them, preferring the slingshot. However, s he looked at the device, he felt something odd, a tingle of energy in the fingers that gripped the weapon, and an urge to turn and fling the weapon at the nearest foe.
He didn't argue with the urge, flipping the boomerang around to hold it by the tip, and raising it over his shoulder, as he had learned a long time ago; even though he wasn't very good with boomerangs, he still knew how to toss them. Link focused on the nearest jellyfish, adjusted his aim slightly, and pumped his arm, the wooden wedge flying out in a spinning arc. Link winced as he let loose, seeing the clumsy throw for what it was.
To his surprise, the weapon seemed to home right in on the monster, wheeling around of its own accord and slamming into the jellyfish. Even more surprising, it cut right through the monster, slicing it in half and arcing back toward Link. The Kokiri barely retained the presence of mind to catch the boomerang as it dropped back toward him, even as the jellyfish burned with black flames and faded away into ash.
That was all Link needed to confirm that Ganondorf's hand was in the infestation of Jabu-Jabu's innards, and he raised the enchanted boomerang again, sighting his other foe. His arm pumped again, and the monster was sliced apart as the weapon hit its target unerringly.
"Okay, that was nice," Link whispered as he caught the boomerang, which seemed to guide itself back to his hand. He looked a the strange weapon with new respect, and then back to Ruto, who seemed rather impressed by his quick disposal of the electrical monsters.
"Okay, let's find this Sapphire and get out of here," he said, and she nodded.
"I'll take you to the places I wasn't able to reach by myself," she stated, and stepped past him. The Kokiri followed, boomerang in hand.
"Interesting," Navi's voice came a few moments later as they worked their way up the passage. She hovered near Link's left hand, looking over the new weapon in his arsenal.
"What?" he asked, glancing down at her.
"This thing is definitely magical," she remarked. "Powerful wind-based enchantments have been placed on it." He looked over the wooden boomerang, and nodded.
"Wonder how it got inside the lake," he mused, and then jerked his head back up at a cry from the princess. Ruto was scrambling backward from a trio of the blue jellyfish that were drifting down the passage toward her. The boomerang arced over her head and took one of them apart before she's even managed to get back to where Link stood, and he calmly dispatched the others with two more throws, their bodies burning away. The ashes seemed to be consumed by Jabu-Jabu's innards, the fish god letting no taint remain inside his body.
"Maybe you should stay behind me," Link suggested, edging in front of the princess, who let out an indignant "hmph" but agreed.
The Kokiri put up with her pointing him around as they explored the side passages, and kept his new weapon at the ready. Several of the sparking jellyfish emerged to menace the group, but between Navi's sharp eyes and Link's swift throwing arm, they dispatched the creatures with relative ease. The magical boomerang made the search much easier, but after twenty minute Ruto confirmed that they had scoured almost all the passages, with nothing to show for it. As they turned down another fleshy corridor, the princess insisted on taking the lead again.
"It has to be down this way," she said, her voice certain, and started moving up the passage, Link and Navi chasing behind her. The fairy suddenly dropped close to his ear.
"Something is wrong," she whispered. "I can fell . . . Darkness. Like the kind we felt with Gohma's lair under the Deku Tree." To this, the Kokiri's eyes widened, and he sped up, grabbing the princess by the shoulder.
"I really think you should stay back," he hissed, and she shot him a venomous look, which quickly faded when she saw the expression on his face. Where there had been a wariness and confusion - in no small part due to his surroundings - there was now a grim certainty. The knuckles clenching his boomerang were white, and he kept his eyes focused down the corridor. To the Zora princess, it was almost frightening to see the shift in the boy.
Link stepped out ahead of her and strode forward, crouched and tensed. If Navi was right, if something of the same ilk as the Ghoma Queen lurked ahead, he would need to be ready.
The chamber beyond was large, but dark. However, as Link peered around the vast room, the largest he'd seen inside Jabu-Jabu's belly, he thought he saw flickers of gleaming blue-white light, but far larger than the small jellyfish he had seen before. Arcs of yellow electricity filled the room . . . And in the center of the chamber he caught sight of gleaming gold and blue, the shining light of a Spiritual Stone.
"That's it!" Ruto whispered into his ear, and he nodded, waving a hand for her to stay back a she advanced into the chamber. His blue eyes flicked round the room, and he could sense the presence of another entity in this room, dark and evil and alien.
"Navi, what do you see?" he asked, and the fairy was silent for a moment.
"Dark power," she whispered. "The curse on Jabu-Jabu is here, I can feel it." Link opened his mouth to ask for more information, but suddenly he didn't need to.
The arcs of yellow electricity intensified, and the glow from the Spiritual Stone vanished, seeming to be snuffed out by an outside force, and then Link finally saw what lay at the heart of the room. He could see through the intense blue glow of immense jellyfish, bigger than even the Kokiri, spinning around a huge shape of immense pink and brown flesh, diseased and rotten yet mobile and filled with a hideously dark and evil life. The monstrosity was tall, stretching from the floor of the chamber to its high ceiling, a cylindrical abomination that pulsed and writhed where it towered. A scent struck him, the foul stench of the sorcery that was at work in this room, an immense parasitic monster latched onto the innards of the fish god, feeding upon it just as Gohma had fed upon the Great Deku Tree.
Another parasite, feeding on another benevolent spirit that did nothing but protect this land from the vile machinations of Ganondorf. Link's eyes narrowed, and his teeth clenched as raw anger filled him, a wrathful and vengeful fury as he realized he truly was facing a beast of the same ilk as the monster that had killed his spiritual father.
"Ruto!" he shouted as the jellyfish began to spin around the central monstrosity. "Stay back!" He turned toward the monster, his anger only growing as he stared at it. He would not let Jabu-Jabu suffer the same fate that the Great Deku Tree had suffered.
As the illumination grew, he could see it more and more clearly - and he saw the tentacles at the top of the beats, a trio of them anchoring it t the ceiling, and three more tipped with sparking appendages, glowing with static electricity. The abomination seemed to become aware of his presence, and the tentacles turned toward him, bringing their sparking tips to bear on the Kokiri.
He knew enough about Ganondorf's abominations by now to not be where something was pointing, and Link dove aside. An instant later a high-pitched roar filled his ears, and two lightning bolts stabbed down at where he had stood.
Link ran, his little legs pumping as the monster turned its electrical appendages and fired another barrage. Arcs of searing electricity slammed down around Link, but the agile Kokiri ducked and spun beneath them, reversing his direction as he tried to figure out how to fight this cursed creature. The Kokiri couldn't get close, due to the huge jellyfish that seemed to hover around the monster like living armor. He scanned the parasite, and as he did so, Navi's azure glow suddenly appeared next to him.
"That thing is drawing energy from Jabu-Jabu through those things in the ceiling," she shouted over the bursts of lighting that rained down around Link. Ignoring the incongruity of there even being a ceiling inside a fish deity's innards, Link saw what she was talking about, and it took him only half a second to figure out how he was going to hit them. He new boomerang clenched tightly, he dove under another storm of lightning bolts and whirled, raising the weapon. He didn't have time to line up a good shot, and instead let fly at one of the anchors descending from the ceiling as he ran.
The wooden blade swept through the air, tumbling and spinning, and as Link watched, it sheared straight through the disgusting fleshy appendage, and he felt the room shudder as the parasite seemed to roar in fury and agony. The boomerang swung back toward Link, and he raised his hand to catch it.
Then there was pain, and the Kokiri fell backward with sparks of electricity shooting off his body, a scream still escaping from his lips as he rolled away. He started to stand back up numbly, instinctively knowing that he had to get away, and he leapt forward before the next blast of lightning could hit him head-on. Tendrils of yellow electricity leapt off the floor as Link jumped away, jolting him, but it was ignored as he ran forward, knowing he had to throw off the increasingly accurate lightning blasts. He looked up toward the monster's appendages, and sorted out another of the anchor points.
His left arm pumped, and he didn't bother tracking where the boomerang went, instead running as fast as he could, circling around the creature. The thunderstorm raged around the boy, threatening to engulf him, and then suddenly halted, another roar of agony from the parasite telling Link he'd hit his target. He looked up as he heard the enchanted boomerang closing in, swishing through the air, and his hand snapped up and caught it with deft ease.
Whatever spell they put on this thing, its doing its job really well.
Then Link didn't have time to think, as the monster had sighted him once again, all three of its lightning appendages turning to face him and charging up. He dug his heels into the fleshy floor, and a blast of lightning arced down in front of him, the edges of the electricity barely missing him. As he ducked, some part of him realized that if even one bolt hit him now he would probably be finished, but he dismissed the idea as a second blast cut over his dropping form. He shot up as the bolt passed, his legs pushing, and he flipped over a third blast that would have hit him in the stomach an instant earlier.
As he leapt, Link spotted the third anchor point connecting the monster to Jabu-Jabu, and he let fly while still airborne, the wooden wedge seeming to leap from his fingers and seek out the target with unerring precision.
As the Kokiri's boots hit the floor, he heard the monster thunder, the boomerang severing its last connection and spinning back toward his hands. Link's fingers closed around the handle as he saw the monster sag, its bursts of lightning letting up for a moment.
Golden arcs of lightning suddenly lanced out, striking each of the jellyfish armoring the abomination, and they began to spin around the parasite, a whirling storm of electricity. As Link watched, the monster seemed to be trying to uproot itself from the floor, and he knew he couldn't wait around; it was wounded, and now was the time to strike. The only question was . . . where?
Navi seemed on the verge of speaking when Link suddenly found the target for himself: beneath the wave of spinning jellyfish - which, he realized, were spinning around the core monster as a desperate defensive measure - he could see vulnerable flesh, and knew that was where he needed to strike. The only problem was how to get an opening, and Link quickly realized the easiest way to strike inside that vulnerable shield.
Find an opening, Link thought as he let fly with his boomerang, and in the back of his mind he finally realized why Lord Jabu-Jabu had swallowed that treasure chest holding this magical weapon. The spinning wedge lanced out, whirling and diving, and suddenly slipped amongst the spiraling jellyfish-
-and the beast roared again, the sparks of lightning vanishing and a gap appearing in its armor. The Kokiri leapt forward, slipping between the jellyfish and stabbing down with his sword. He let his fury loose as he finally could bring the Kokiri sword to bear, his tiny arms pumping and stabbing, the sword cutting and biting into the monster's flesh. Green ichors burst forth, sickening fluids of corruption and evil, but he ignored them as he slashed into the abomination's hide, cutting a series of deep, oozing gashes.
He felt more than heard the lightning arcing out toward the jellyfish again, and Link leapt backward as the deadly golden light swarmed around the monsters, bringing them in close. He skirted around the edges of the defensive barrier, his magical boomerang ready to strike once more, probing for an opening like a jaguar watching its prey.
"Its too big for your sword to kill it, Link," Navi hissed in his ear, and he nodded, coming to that assessment as well. It would take a dozen attacks like that last one to seriously wound such a huge beast; he needed to hit it harder, to use something that dealt a lot more damage than his small forest blade. He would need something like . . . .
His hand touched his pouch, and he grinned, thanking Darunia as he raised his boomerang, spotting the gashes he'd cut moments before and homing in on them. They were close together, leaving a single large wound, deep and vulnerable. Link's arm pumped again, and the boomerang swooped through the air, directly toward his enemy. As with before, it weaved straight through the barrier of jellyfish and struck home, dazing the monster with its impact.
And then Link was there, catching the magical weapon and stuffing it into his belt, even as his right hand pulled out one of the small black spheres he'd acquired on Death Mountain.
The oozing wound wasn't big enough, but Link tore out his Kokiri Sword to fix that problem. It chopped and cut, ripping open a larger, bleeding wound, and he ignited the bomb. Link's hand thrust forward, stuffing the explosive deep inside the wound, and he leapt backward even as the abomination tried to recover.
The explosion was muffled by the layers of the beast's flesh, but the results were undeniable. As Link hit the floor and rolled away, jets of sickening green fluids burst from the injury as the bomb shredded the parasite's innards, and the jellyfish armor seemed to dissolve, the individual monsters flopping to the floor like puppets with their strings cut. As Link watched, the monster itself sagged to the floor, its body seeming to bloat and expand outward, green fluids leaking from dozens of ruptures across its body . . . and then it exploded.
Verdant ichors filled the air, and the Kokiri met them head on. Link looked down at himself, seeing his clothes covered with the sickening fluids and bits of rotten, ruined pink flesh, even as more material rained down around the room.
"Gross." He shook his head, wondering if the stuff would come out; Kokiri clothes were designed to be rugged and easy to clean, but he doubted that anyone had expected they would be tromping around the innards of fish gods and killing exploding parasites formed of evil sorcery.
Behind him, he could hear footsteps, squishing through the remains of the monster, and looked back, to see Pirncess Ruto daintily stepping among the disgusting ruins of the monster. She paused, and bent down, grabbing something glittering and gold, and held it up for Link to see: the Zora's Sapphire.
"Finally," she whispered, and looked toward him, her expression shifting to one of uncertainty, before finally smiling.
"That was . . . That was amazing, Link," she admitted. He grunted, and looked down at himself again. Killing minions of Ganondorf seemed to be becoming routine for him, but this . . . though disgusting, it was satisfying.
Any further thoughts were halted as a sudden azure glow filled the chamber, and Link suddenly felt himself being pulled up and away by the same magic the Deku Tree had used-
-and then he was cold and wet, water lapping up around his knees. The glow vanished, and Link found himself standing on the edge of Lord Jabu-Jabu's lake, across from the shrine where the fish deity had been resting. To his surprise, Jabu-Jabu was no longer there, instead slowly turning away from the shrine and starting to swim away, the lethargy and sickness suddenly gone. This brought a smile to his face, and he heard pleasant laughter from behind. His head moved around, recognizing Ruto's voice, but before he could turn all the way around, he felt her hands plant themselves on his back, and he was pushed forward.
"You are nasty, Link," he heard her say before he splashed into the water. His arms pumped, and he rose back up to the surface, sputtering indignantly as he came back to the top. His arms spread outward, treading water with ease in spite of all of his gear, and he looked up in time to see Ruto her self jump into the water beside him. She rose to the surface, easily treading water by simply extending her arms to the sides.
"You looked pretty amazing back there," she said with a smile. "A lot more than I thought you would." She paused, and laughed. "All of our soldiers, and it turns out that the one who would help me the most is a little Kokiri kid."
"Thanks," Link offered, and she nodded as she floated.
"Since you saved me, the Sapphire, and Jabu-Jabu, I guess should pay you back," she added. "What do you want the most?"
"Well, I came here for the Zora's Sapphire, actually," he said, and Ruto's eyes widened for a moment, and then she laughed again.
"Really?" she asked, curious, and she held up the Spiritual Stone, a trio of gleaming sapphires set in a golden frame. She looked him over again, and the look in her eyes made Link uncomfortable for some reason.
"You know what else the Zora's Sapphire is called, right?" she asked, and he nodded, thinking she meant that it was the Spiritual Stone of water. Her eyes lit up, and with her smile growing, she extended the hand with the Stone.
"If you want it," she said, "you can have it, though I think you're a bit too young right now." Link blinked in confusion, not sure what she was talking about, but he pushed that confusion aside as he took the last Spiritual Stone in hand.
Princess Zelda's task was done, and now he had to return as quickly as he could, to help her safeguard the Triforce.
Link didn't stick around to be heaped and praised as he had with the Gorons; he wasn't sure if the Zoras were as enthusiastic with their celebrations as the mountain folk, and he didn't want to find out the hard way. Instead, he simply bid Princess Ruto and her father a farewell and hurried off, departing Zora's Domain as swiftly as he had come.
After he departed, the immense King looked down at his daughter.
"So, you gave the Sapphire to him?" he asked, and she nodded, a wide smile on her face.
"What do you think of him?" she asked, and the King frowned, scratching his gills.
"He has a distinct lack of fins, and that pink skin is very unusual, and all that hair . . . ." he shrugged.
"But, if he is as brave as you said he was, and I have no reason to doubt that," he added. "I think he will make a fine husband for you, human or not."
"That's why I gave him the Zora's Engagement Ring in the first place," Ruto added. "I can't wait until we're old enough . . . ."
What passed within the halls of Zora's Domain did not proceed unnoticed, and as Princess Ruto had bestowed her greatest treasure on the unsuspecting Kokiri, red eyes had seen all that transpired.
As the Keese sat on its master's shoulders, imparting what it had seen, the crimson-haired Gerudo smiled, laughing quietly, and clenched his fist, dark magic emanating from his hands as he set in motion the last steps of his plans.
"Bring them all here, little hero," he muttered into the night air, feeling the cool, life-bringing breeze on his skin. "I'll be waiting."
The wind carried Ganondorf's laughter away into the night, heralding nights that would be blacker than any imagined.
-
Okay, that took way too long to write. Jabu-Jabu is still one of my least favorite dungeons in Ocarina, both from a storyline perspective and because you hve to haul Ruto around through the whole dungeon. Naturally, it was a challenge for me to write Link running around in the guts of a giant fish god without it getting completely silly. It was also tough for me to get all the dialogue in this chapter done properly. Overall, this one was a huge challenge for me to write, and I spent a long time letting it sit while I stewed over how to properly do the chapter. I did cut out quite a bit of the Jabu-Jabu dungeon, but I tried to make up for it with the Barinade battle at the end, which was very fun to write.
Now, with that being said, now that we've gotten past the Dungeon I Hate Soooooo Much, this story is going to pick up, as we're only a short while away from things taking a massively dark twist, and Link's innocence vanishing as he goes from a little Kokiri kid to a completely ass-kicking adult. The next twenty or so chapters are going to rock. I am stoked for what's coming up next. :D
Chapter title came from the third Act of Gears of War, which is also my least favorite part of that game too. :P
Unil next chapter . . . .