Author's Notes: Thanks to all of you who reviewed my story last week.
Air Bender Yutakia: I am disappointed at the lack of reviews as well, though plenty of people have been reading this story (now well over 900 hits). I would like to be getting some more feedback from the readers as well. But if you think this story is "wow" at chapter 3, wait until you hit the parts of the story that were written much more recently. As for the 1992, if you check my profile on this site, you'll notice that I have planned a trilogy of which this story is the first part. The third part takes place nine years after this story, in which Jonathan will return to Earth on September 9, 2001. I still haven't worked out how that story is going to work out yet, but you see where I'm going with the timeline. It's also my attempt to rant and rave a little bit about the world we live in nowadays. Thanks for your support and questions.
By the way, I've noticed that once this story as a whole hit 30,000 words, the number of hits for it exploded. Any reason for that? And now, for the next dungeon.
Chapter 11: A Watery Grave?
Jonathan swam to the surface of the water and climbed onto the white-colored stone platform in front of him and looked around the Water Temple. He saw that his level was the highest level he could see, with two additional levels below his. The temple was flooded up to the third floor with water. He also saw a large columnlike structure in the middle of the room.
Zelda came out of the water and stood next to Jonathan. She suddenly looked down at her feet and put her right hand to her forehead.
"Zelda, is something wrong?" Jonathan asked.
"No, but Princess Ruto is nearby," Zelda answered.
Jonathan looked into the water in front of him. "It looks like there are some spiked creatures down there, but I think we can avoid them if we need to," Jonathan stated.
"She's down on the first level," Zelda said as she looked back up again, "But I'm not quite sure where."
"Let's go right first," Jonathan said as he jumped into the water and swam over and down to the right. Zelda followed him as they reached the first floor of the temple. They avoided the spiked metal creatures that rolled toward them slowly as they made their way into the corridor. They followed the stone hallway as it turned to the left.
"What the…" Jonathan said as he saw a blue creature standing ahead of him in a submerged room. The creature was about the same height as Jonathan. She (at least, it appeared to be a she to Jonathan) looked like a human except that there was something fish-like about her eyes and that she had a webbing of some sort stretching between her torso and her arms.
"Why, hello there," the creature said in a very feminine voice with a hint of flirting, "And who might you be?"
Before Jonathan had a chance to answer, Zelda walked around Jonathan. The creature caught sight of Zelda. "Ah, Princess Zelda," the creature said in surprise, "Why are you here?"
"Jonathan," Zelda began, "This is Princess Ruto of the Zora. Ruto, this is Jonathan, a faithful warrior of my father's."
"He seems rather strange. I was hoping Link would come," Ruto said wishfully.
"Speaking of Link, that's why we're here," Jonathan said, "In a manner of speaking."
"Yes?" Ruto asked as she looked at Jonathan.
"Ruto, we need your Spiritual Stone," Zelda explained.
"Oh, I have it with me, but it belongs to Link, you know," Ruto stated.
"Unless you let us have it, we will all be killed by Ganondorf's forces," Zelda persuaded.
Ruto sighed and said, "Alright, I guess you can have it. But you must help me first."
"What do you need?" Jonathan asked.
"A creature has taken over this temple. I want you to defeat him so that Ganondorf does not take control of Hyrule's water supply," Ruto explained, "If he gains control of Lake Hylia, he can poison the waters and bring the whole of Hyrule to its knees."
"And if we do this, will you give us your Spiritual Stone?" Jonathan asked.
Ruto nodded in response.
"Lead the way to this creature," Jonathan ordered.
"It's not that simple, Jonathan," Zelda said.
Jonathan sighed as he looked down to the floor. "I knew you were going to say that, Zelda," he replied.
"The door to this evil creature's lair is locked and I can't find the key to open the door," Ruto explained.
"Then we must find that key," Zelda said, "Ruto, you get out of the Water Temple and get back to your father. We'll destroy this monster."
"See you later, you two!" Ruto called as she swam through the corridor Zelda and Jonathan had just walked through.
"Jonathan, follow me," Zelda said as she swam into the center of the small room and began to rise up through a hole in the top of the room. Jonathan followed her up.
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Ruto swam out of the Water Temple and back into the waters of Lake Hylia. She was about to swim toward the passage to Zora's Domain when she heard a deep voice from behind her say, "Why hello there, Princess Ruto."
She turned around as quickly as the water would allow her. "You!" she exclaimed with a gasp as a sphere of purple light imprisoned her.
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Jonathan and Zelda entered the central column from the door on the first floor of the Water Temple, which had now been drained. It was completely hollow on the inside, with some platforms sticking out of the walls. There were also spikes all around Jonathan and Zelda except for a path right ahead of them. Once on the other side of the column, Jonathan looked up and saw a target on the platform above him that he could use with his hookshot. He pulled out his tool and said, "Hang on tight, Zelda."
Zelda grabbed Jonathan by the shoulders as he aimed the hookshot at the target. He launched the point toward the target, which lodged itself into the soft material of the target. Jonathan tested how well the point had lodged itself. Satisfied, he twisted the handle, causing him and Zelda to be pulled up to the platform rapidly. Jonathan grabbed the ledge and struggled to pull himself and Zelda onto the platform.
"It's a good thing Impa's training strengthened me so much," Jonathan said as Zelda got off his back.
Zelda looked up. "It looks like you're going to have to do that whole thing all over again," she said as she pointed to another hookshot target on a platform above theirs.
"Oh boy," Jonathan groaned, "Okay, get on again."
Zelda grabbed his shoulders again as Jonathan successfully repeated the process… barely.
"I don't think I'll be able to do that again," Jonathan said as he laid face-down on the platform.
"You may not have to," Zelda said as she looked at a small Triforce symbol on the wall near her.
Jonathan looked and saw it as well. "Go ahead and do your thing," he said as he began to stand up again, rubbing his shoulders as he did so.
Zelda took out her ocarina and pressed it to her lips as she looked at the symbol and began to play the song that Impa had played to stop the waterfall outside Zora's Domain. Suddenly, the water level, which had been at the first floor, began to rise up and stopped at the second floor, leaving the first completely submerged again. Jonathan and Zelda then swam to the nearby door and went back outside the column and saw that the water around them had risen to the second floor throughout the temple.
"Lets go this way," Jonathan said as he and Zelda swam to the western corridor on the second floor. Inside, they found a room with a hole in the floor where a small geyser would be. Jonathan also saw on the other side of the room from the geyser a clear crystal switch.
"Stay there," Jonathan told Zelda as he walked over to the geyser and listened very hard, "Something doesn't feel right to me." Then he heard it. The sound of something jumping, approaching him. He backed away from the geyser just as something very colorful came down through the opening in the roof.
"Another tektile!" Zelda cried, referring to the small creature on four legs with many different colors which had dropped into the room.
"I'll take care of it!" Jonathan said as he unsheathed his sword and ran at the tektile and swung at it. The creature never stood a chance as the blade cut it into two pieces, spreading its insides all over the nearby wall.
"Zelda, come over here," Jonathan said as he sheathed the sword and pulled out his hookshot. Zelda stood next to him on top of the geyser and Jonathan launched the hook at the switch. It glowed yellow as the geyser suddenly lifted them up to the third floor.
"Look! Another Triforce symbol!" Jonathan said as he pointed to the wall with the Triforce on the wall.
"I see it," Zelda said as she walked over to the wall and pulled out her ocarina once again. She played her soothing melody once again and the water level rose to the third floor once again.
Jonathan then looked to his left and saw the central room. The water now filled it to the third floor again. Jonathan and Zelda jumped into the water and went into the western corridor on the third floor. Once they made it through the corridor, they found a huge room with a waterfall falling down the opposite end of the room from Zelda and Jonathan. He looked over the edge of the room and saw a platform moving up and down the wall slowly, while there was a constant stream of platforms falling slowly down the side of the room with the waterfall, resembling an escalator.
"I think you ought to stay behind for this one, Zelda," Jonathan said as he pulled out his hookshot again.
"Yeah, I think you're right," Zelda replied.
"I'll meet you back in the central room," Jonathan said as he jumped down onto the platform.
"Right," Zelda replied as she hurried back the way she came.
Jonathan then aimed for the highest platform on the other side of the room that he could reach using the hookshot. He fired at the target on the platform and then almost flew over to the platform. He quickly climbed onto the platform, and then aimed his hookshot at the highest platform on this side of the room. He flew up to that platform, climbed on top of it, and quickly hurried toward a door in front of him in a corridor.
"What a rush!" Jonathan said as he went through the door.
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"Now, how about you give me that Spiritual Stone you have?" Orizon asked Ruto, who was now stuck inside a purple field of energy on the island in the middle of Lake Hylia.
"Absolutely not," Ruto said stubbornly as she pounded her fists against the inside of the field, "Let me out of this… thing!"
Orizon shook his head. "Not until you give me your Spiritual Stone," he said.
"I have already promised it to someone else!" Ruto cried.
"Who?" Orizon asked.
"I'm not telling you," Ruto replied as she crossed her arms and looked away from Orizon.
"Oh, I'm sure you will," Orizon said as he walked back to the dead tree on the central island, "Anyone who served in the War of Chaos with me knows that I have many ways of making all types of beings give me information. You will be no different."
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Jonathan was stunned by what he saw upon entering a huge room in the western corridor of the third floor of the Water Temple. The floor, the ceiling and the walls of this room appeared to be made of liquid water, but Jonathan did not sink into the floor. The room also seemed to stretch on for forever. Jonathan was simply overwhelmed with awe as he slowly walked toward the other end of the strange room.
"I wish Zelda were here to see this," Jonathan whispered as he walked over what appeared to be a small island of sorts in the very middle of the room, barely noticing it as he continued to look around. He continued walking toward the other end of the room and found a door there, but it was barred shut.
"Damn it!" Jonathan exclaimed as he looked around the room again. Then he looked down at his feet. "What the hell?" Jonathan asked as he did a double-take, "Where did my shadow go?" He looked toward the central island in the room and saw… something. It appeared to be gray in color.
"Strange," Jonathan said as he began walking toward the island again, "I don't remember seeing that before." As he grew closer, Jonathan saw that the thing he had seen was shaped like a human, except where a face should have been, there was no face.
"Is that… my shadow?" Jonathan asked as he came within 15 feet of the island and saw that the gray figure had a shield on its left arm and a sheathed sword attached to its left side. Suddenly, the figure began moving quickly toward Jonathan, drawing its sword as it did so.
"Uh oh!" Jonathan said as he pulled out his sword and raised his shield in time to block a strike from his shadow. This thing can actually kill me! Jonathan realized as he swung his sword at his other self.
The shadow did not raise his shield, but did exactly the same motion that Jonathan made as he made it, parrying Jonathan's strike. Jonathan tried to deliver another five strikes with the same thing happening every time. Then, Jonathan went for the kill.
"Yah!" Jonathan grunted as he quickly stabbed at his shadow, only to hit nothing. He then quickly saw the shadow's feet standing on the end of his blade.
"What the…," was the only thing Jonathan had time to say as his shadow back flipped off his sword, kicking Jonathan square beneath the chin in the process. He grunted as he was kicked, and grunted again as he hit the ground about five feet away from where he had been standing a moment before.
My sword isn't going to work, Jonathan thought as he stood up quickly to block another attack from the shadow, But what else do I have? He'll just steer clear of my bombs. And he'll stay too close to use my bow. The Megaton Hammer? Maybe that'll work.
Jonathan quickly back flipped away from his shadow to give him some time to sheathe his sword, and then grabbed the hammer from off of his back. He was just getting in a defensive stance when the shadow came at him again. This time, Jonathan angled his shield to deflect the blow, and then swung around the Megaton Hammer from right to left as his shadow self was recovering. His shadow never knew what happened, as the blow hit him in the torso area. It didn't matter that its shield stopped the blow from hitting it directly. It went flying to the left and hit the ground about 10 feet away from where it was hit.
Now Jonathan quickly ran over to the shadow with the Megaton Hammer raised over his head. "DIE!" he shouted as he brought the hammer down on his shadow self…
Or at least tried to. The shadow rolled away from Jonathan just as the hammer was going to kill it. It got up and came at Jonathan again with a fast sword stab. But Jonathan was able to duck under the stab, and then jabbed the hammer into his shadow self. The shadow jumped back a few feet to avoid the hammer. Perfect, Jonathan thought with a smile as he quickly got close to the shadow again and swung the hammer around from the right to the left at him again.
This time, the shadow tried to block the hammer with his shield. He succeeded, but his entire body was thrown way off balance by the hit. Then, Jonathan quickly reversed the course of the hammer, hitting his shadow square in the chest area. The shadow once again went flying and ended up lying on the ground. Jonathan ran over to the shadow, which was still recovering from the blow and was unable to move. Jonathan swung the Megaton Hammer onto the shadow's chest area.
The shadow raised its shield to stop the blow, but it was a fruitless matter. The Megaton Hammer was designed to crush flesh and bone regardless of what armor was defending the enemy. The hammer crushed the shadow's shield arm into its chest, debilitating the shadow completely.
"Now you die," Jonathan said as he lifted the hammer again and brought it down onto the shadow's head. The shadow twitched, then went motionless and disappeared. Jonathan let out a loud cry of victory and raised the hammer over his head with both arms as the room around him began to change. The walls and ceiling and floor turned into the blue colored stone that Jonathan had been seeing throughout the Water Temple. Then he heard the bars in front of the barred door lift themselves.
"Don't want to go through that again," Jonathan said as he attached the Megaton Hammer on his back again and wiped his forehead clear of sweat. He then felt the area under his chin. It felt sore to touch it. "Damn," Jonathan said, "Almost definitely a bruise. But I guess it could have been worse." He walked through the unbarred door and found a large brown treasure chest.
"Another item, eh?" Jonathan remarked as he walked to the front of the chest, unlocked the latch, and opened the chest. Inside he found… "Another hookshot?" Jonathan inquired as he picked up the new item. It looked like the hookshot that Jonathan already had, except that the chamber where the chain was held was about twice as large on the new one. Jonathan walked back into the previous room and pulled out his old hookshot in his left hand and his new one in his right. He launched both at the same time and saw that the new hookshot went out twice as far as the old one.
"I think I'll call this one a longshot," Jonathan remarked as he wound both chains up again and put the old hookshot in a pouch on his back with some other items, "I'll give the hookshot to Zelda." He then walked back into the room where he had found the longshot and saw a hole in the floor behind the chest.
"I guess I have no choice," Jonathan remarked as he jumped down into the hole, "Onward I go."
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Zelda made her way back to the central room of the Water Temple and thought for a moment about what to do next. As she thought, she looked to the north and saw a door that was out of her reach. "That's probably the way to that creature Ruto told us about," Zelda said as she looked at the ledge that door was on more carefully. She saw another hookshot target that would get them onto the ledge. "But that target is out of reach, even for Jonathan's hookshot," Zelda realized, "So how do we get to that door?"
Suddenly, Zelda heard footsteps approaching the central room from the west. She walked over to see Jonathan walking slowly into the central room. Zelda gasped at the sight of Jonathan. There was a huge bruise forming under his chin and he was almost struggling just to keep walking, it seemed.
"Do I look that bad?" Jonathan asked her. He had one hell of a time getting through that particular part of the temple.
Zelda nodded her head. "You look like a wreck," she explained, "You need to rest."
Jonathan shook his head as he jumped into the water and swam up to the central column where Zelda was standing. "No time for rest," Jonathan said as he pulled himself onto the walkway around the column, "Besides, I just got this." He pulled out his longshot.
"That's a new one?" Zelda asked.
"Yeah, and it has a longer reach than the old one," Jonathan explained as he pulled the hookshot out of his bag, "Which I want you to have. I'm not strong enough to lift myself onto platforms with you on my back."
"Right," Zelda said as she took the hookshot from Jonathan, "Just press the button, and then twist the handle, right?"
"Yeah, that's about right," Jonathan answered.
"By the way," Zelda remarked, "I think I found the way to that creature Ruto told us about earlier." She then pointed toward the northern platform.
"Yeah, that's probably it," Jonathan said, "But we need to find that key first."
Zelda pulled out a map of the Water Temple she had found earlier and Jonathan marked off the rooms he had gone through. "That means the key must be located in these rooms in the north on the first floor," she said as she went over the map again, "But there's no northern passage on the first floor."
"Then it must be through that gated corridor on the second floor," Jonathan remarked, as he waved down toward the opening he was talking about, "Which means we're going to need to get the water back to the level of the second floor."
"I can do that by myself, Jonathan," Zelda said, "You need to rest for a little here."
"Are you sure you can manage without me?" Jonathan asked.
"Yeah," Zelda replied, "It's not too hard." She then dived into the water and sank down toward the western corridor on the first floor.
Jonathan looked into the water and saw what had caught Zelda so off guard. "Damn, I am a wreck!" he said, "When I get back to the Forest Temple, I'm going to demand a hot bath."
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Dusk was approaching over Lake Hylia. Princess Ruto looked at Orizon and asked, "What do you intend to do, Orizon?"
"What do I intend to do?" Orizon asked rhetorically, "Why, I intend to get that Spiritual Stone of yours."
"But why?" Ruto asked quickly.
"Because King Ganondorf wants at least one Spiritual Stone," Orizon explained, "If you give me yours, I'll release you from that prison and leave."
Ruto lowered her head for about five seconds, and then said, "I just can't do that."
"Then I'll leave you to die on this island," Orizon warned.
"You do realize that would take at least 24 more hours to do, right?" Ruto asked as she crossed her arms over her chest, "My people will come to look for my rescuers and myself well before then."
"Well, of course I realize that," Orizon answered as he walked toward Ruto, "But the real question is if Jonathan knows that. Tell me Princess Ruto, does he?"
Ruto swallowed. Unless Zelda told him that, no, she thought in dismay.
Orizon smiled as Ruto turned her gaze to the ground again. "I thought as much," Orizon remarked as he turned away from her and waited.
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Zelda couldn't bear to look at Jonathan as they approached the Triforce symbol to raise the water level back to the third floor. Though he had succeeded in getting the key Ruto told them about, he was almost completely exhausted by now. Zelda reached the Triforce symbol and played her ocarina to raise the water to its highest level.
"Well, we're almost done here," Jonathan remarked as he turned to jump into the water in the central room.
"Jonathan," Zelda began, "I'm sorry for all the things I have put you through today."
"Hey, save the apologies for when they really matter," Jonathan said as he and Zelda jumped into the water and swam to the platform around the third floor level on the outside of the column, "And that's when we have that last Spiritual Stone and are back inside the safety of the Forest Temple." Jonathan added another line mentally, but he didn't dare to speak it aloud.
Zelda knew that she would be crying later over how much Jonathan was put through on this day. "You're right," Zelda said as they walked toward the northern side of the walkway.
"Well, you first," Jonathan said as they got into position to head through the northern corridor on the third floor.
Zelda turned to face Jonathan and said, "The hookshot won't reach that target."
"Sure it will," Jonathan replied, "Just try and you'll see."
"Okay, I will," Zelda said as she pulled out the hookshot and aimed it at the hookshot target on the platform above and ahead of her, and then pressed the button on the hookshot handle. Indeed, it was long enough, as the tip buried itself into the soft material of the target. Zelda twisted the handle and flew up to the ledge and pulled herself onto the platform.
Jonathan then did the same with his longshot, but his first shot at the target missed slightly. The second was on target, and Jonathan climbed onto the platform as well.
"Please tell me you missed that first one on purpose," Zelda begged.
"Don't worry, I'll be fine," Jonathan insisted as he began walking with Zelda through the door ahead of them. Inside, they found a ramp leading up to a large door with a very ornate lock on it. On the ramp, though, were three razor traps, sliding back and forth on the ramp.
Jonathan was about to pull out the Megaton Hammer to deal with the razor traps, but Zelda said, "No, I'll take care of them." She then put her hands in front of her and said some sort of incantation. Then, suddenly, a blue light appeared in Zelda's hands that spread toward the razor traps. When the blue wave reached the razor traps, they immediately came to a stop.
"Nice," Jonathan remarked as he and Zelda began trudging up the ramp toward the door. Once there, Zelda took out the key for the lock and unlocked the door. Jonathan led Zelda into the final room of the Water Temple.
Inside this room, Jonathan saw that there was a walkway around the edge of the room which surrounded what appeared to be a pool of water with four square platforms that rose out of the pool. Around the edges of the room were spikes that shot out of the wall.
"Where is it?" Zelda asked as she looked around the room.
Jonathan walked to the edge of the pool and looked into the water. "Zelda, this pool isn't filled with water," he said.
"Are you sure?" Zelda asked as she walked next to him.
"Positive, it's too blue," Jonathan said as he unsheathed his sword, "Get back."
As Zelda got back to the door, a blue gel-like tentacle rose out of the pool with a red ball-like creature near the end of the tentacle. Jonathan immediately slashed at the red ball, but his sword was deflected by the blue gel in the tentacle.
"You'll have to pull the creature out of the tentacle before you can kill it!" Zelda cried. Hearing her words, Jonathan grabbed his longshot with his left hand and aimed at the red creature, but it had sunk back into the pool by this time.
Jonathan quickly ran over to the east side of the room and waited for the tentacle to rise out of the water again. When it did, however, it tired to crush Jonathan under its weight. Jonathan was barely able to roll out of the way, and then aimed his longshot at the red ball, which Jonathan now saw was an eye. Jonathan fired the longshot, which hit its mark. Jonathan pulled the eye out of the tentacle and swung his sword at the eye. The eye never stood a chance, as it was sliced in half and destroyed quickly.
Jonathan laughed and said, "That was pathetically easy. Your people see these things as terrible beasts?"
Then a small glowing blue circle appeared on the ground near Jonathan. "Hey, let's get back to Ruto," Jonathan told Zelda.
"Fine by me," Zelda responded as she and Jonathan walked into the blue circle and disappeared.
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Author's Notes: Yes, I know the boss battle scene sucks, but I wanted to show my frustration with how easy Zelda games are nowadays. Back in the old days, bosses only seemed easy because it was so hard just getting to them through the dungeons. But now, the bosses are easy simply because they are too easy. Especially the final bosses (See the final bosses of Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess). So that's why this battle scene sucks. Well, that and I'm not very good at them.
Well, new chapter next Friday, unless I find myself too burdened with work to get around to it. Until then, read and review everyone.