Disclaimer: I do not own the Legend of Zelda. If I did, I would feed Keapora Geabora to King Dodongo.
K'ger: Wow. This chapter took FOREVER! I had a little trouble "entering the belly of the beast" if you will. do you know how hard it is to describe the inside of a fish? Anyway, here it is, I won't bother you anymore. Hey...why are you still reading this? go on! Read the story already!
A hero gets engaged
Link landed with a soft thud on the squishy interior of Lord Jabu Jabu, dim light came from an unknown source, and illuminated the spongy pink insides of the fish. Link soon realized that he was covered in thick, globular saliva.
Uck! He thought, trying to wipe his face clean with his hands, but they were just as dirty. Giving up on the attempt, he looked around, it seemed he hadn't been sucked much further than the fish's tongue, but what concerned him was simple: where was Malon?
Malon? He called, several minutes passed,
Link? A faint voice asked, somewhere far back in his mind.
Link was half-surprised that Malon could contact him through thoughts, he had thought he was the only one who could tap others' minds.
Wow! I have to watch what think! I think I could get in big trouble!
What was that?
Oh, nothing.
Link's face turned to seriousness.
Mal, where are you? He asked, going a few steps deeper into Jabu Jabu.
I really can't tell! All I know it's some round chamber in this stupid fish! He could hear her say exasperatedly.
It's all right, just stay where you are, that'll make it easier for me to find you. He said, cracking his knuckles and striding down the fish's throat.
Stepping into the main chamber of Lord Jabu Jabu's belly, he started to notice that something was wrong, thick black goo seeped from the walls, turning flesh and membrane red and raw, irritating the giant fish. He gasped at the smell. It was like rotten eggs and burning meat.
"Hey!"
Link jolted, not expecting anyone to speak to him outside of his mind, his hand flew to his right shoulder, reaching for his sword, only to remember that the Zoras had confiscated it. He glared at where the voice had come from.
"You again?" the voice said, standing on an island of dry skin surrounded by bubbling green bile was the female Zora from before.
He let his hand fall back to his side, the Zora looked at him.
"Well? Are you going to help me or not?"
What is with the women in this kingdom and forcing me to help them? He wondered, striding over to the edge of the bile and reaching out, the Zora grabbed his hand and squealed as he pulled her to him. Afterward, she wiped herself off, acting as if merely touching a human was disgusting.
"I guess I owe you now, don't I?" she said begrudgingly, Link shrugged, turning away and starting for a small tunnel he desperately hoped wasn't the bowels.
"And just where do you think you're going?" the Zora asked, putting her hands on her hips.
Link gave her a confused look over his shoulder,
"You weren't planning on leaving me alone, were you? My name is Ruto, I'm the princess of the Zoras!"
"Carrying me is a honor! You should feel proud!" the Zora said conceitedly, one finger lazily tracing Link's ears. Had he any free hands, he would've swatted her, (secretly, his ears were ticklish,) but he was to busy trying to navigate the intestines of a giant deity fish without being zapped by strange monsters the Zora on his back referred as "Bari."
Ruto readjusted herself in his grip, Link grimaced, she was putting a lot of weight on his injured hand. Together, they made their way down the intestine until they reached a filmy membrane that blocked the way. To Ruto's great disgust, Link dumped the Zora princess unceremoniously to the floor.
He tapped the membrane, it bounced against his hand, quizzically, he poked it harder, and a tiny tear appeared. He stuffed his fingers into the tear and grabbed, ripping it open without hesitation. Ruto screamed as the fish thrashed in pain, obviously the membrane was part of him, and Link had just ripped it to shreds.
Link felt a pang of guilt for hurting the fish, but couldn't spend the time to focus on it right now, the number one goal was to find Malon and number two was to get the heck out of that fish.
He stepped through the sticky, shredded remains of the membrane, entering a strange wide spot that, to the best of Link's knowledge of anatomy, should not have existed.
A scream caught his attention, in front of him, struggling against a tentacle, was Malon.
In the middle of the room was a mass of seething tentacles and stingers, several Bari floated around the massive parasite.
Link had to save Malon, but how was he supposed to fight without a sword?
Well, you felled ShinRin with nothing more than a stick. One side of his mind reasoned, But, then again, that thing was on the edge of death anyhow, and besides, there are no sticks here!
The mass of tentacles and stingers and Bari surged with energy, and a beam of pure electric energy pulsed through the beast.
"It's a Bio-Electric Anemone, like in the legends," Ruto said behind him, "you need to use a boomerang to defeat it."
Link looked over his shoulder at her, clearly conveying the fact that he didn't have a boomerang!
"Don't tell me you didn't bring a boomerang!"
Well I didn't realize I was going to be eaten by a giant fish! He thought, knowing she couldn't hear him.
Malon squirmed around in the tentacles' grip, seeing Link, she fought harder. One of the Bari detached itself from its master and floated toward him, it flicked it's stingers around and tried to attach to Link, he practically leapt out of his boots as a jolting shock ran through his body.
Note to self: Bari are electric, shocking! He thought, trying to deflect the jellyfish without getting stung.
"Fine, obviously you were too dumb to bring a weapon." He could hear Ruto say, the Bari suddenly was thrown back and landed on the ground, dead. A small knife with a coral hilt protruded from the Bari's dead body.
"You can use my knife, but now we're even." Ruto said snobbishly, hands still on her hips.
Link grabbed the knife and pulled it out, purplish-red goo dripped from the shining blade. He settled the hilt in his grasp and set his jaw, time to improvise!
He squinted his right eye slightly, aiming directly for one of the Bari, he took a breath, and as he exhaled, threw. The knife hit its mark, killing the second Bari.
This method was almost as good as the boomerang, but the problem was simple, it didn't come back, he had to collect the knife each time. Thankfully, there were only three left Bari left, he could make quick work of them.
You can do this. Do it for Malon. He told himself over and over again, but for some reason, he was weakening, his breath was coming in shorter gasps and his heartbeat felt shallow. Why was this?
As he killed the last Bari, the giant anemone lashed out with one of its enormous stingers, Link had no time to react, the stinger hit one of the long, aching gashes on his left hand, sending shock waves through flesh and bone alike. He gasped, staggering desperately to keep his balance.
His vision was ebbed in black, his body was trying to give out on him. Not now! NOT NOW! He scolded himself, looking up, he saw that three tendril-like appendages attached the anemone to the stomach of Jabu Jabu, writhing as energy was drained from the giant fish and flowed into the parasite.
"Those, attack those tendrils!" Ruto shouted, not realizing how close Link was to collapsing.
He steadied himself and held the coral knife out in front of him, he had to cut all three with one shot, that was his only chance. Again, throwing as he exhaled a stuttering breath, the knife hit its mark, slicing through the three reddish-purple tendrils. The anemone swayed as it's only source of balance was removed, collecting itself, Link cursed silently as the anemone actually started spinning.
Oh come on! He thought, dodging the stingers as Barinade, (which was what the anemone was actually called) tried to attack him again, chasing after as he ran sloppily around the chamber. Five more Bari appeared from nowhere as well, only adding to Link's frustration.
Ruto screamed as one of the Bari came close, Link grabbed the coral knife off of the floor and flung it, nearly slicing the monster in two.
"Uh…wow…thanks." She stammered, his sharp blue eyes catching her attention for the first time. They reminded her of the depths of Lake Hylia. She could feel her cheeks get hot.
Jumping up to dodge Barinade, Link slashed at the exposed top of the anemone and landed on the other side, almost immediately, he dropped to one knee, exhausted. Malon broke free and ran to him, trying to get away from the anemone as it shook and shivered strangely. Before she was even halfway there, there was a deafening BANG!
Looking up from their crouched positions, Link, Malon and Ruto found that they were all covered from head-to-toe in the…blown up…remains of Barinade.
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWW!" Link could hear both of the women groan. He stood up warily, vision still ebbed in black, but his job wasn't over, he still had to get Malon and Ruto out of the fish, and he still had to collect the Zoras Sapphire.
Noticing the Zora, Malon took Link's arm defensively as he walked them both back the way he had come, making their way for Jabu Jabu's mouth.
Strangely, as soon as the three of them made it back to the mouth of the giant deity, it opened, allowing them to exit. Waiting for them at alter was a floating ball of light.
"What the heck is that?" Malon asked, Link glared at Navi.
"Well your welcome!" Navi said, flitting straight to Link.
"Your welcome? For what?" Ruto snarled, the fairy zoomed over to the Zora.
"How do you think you got out of that fish? You seriously think you're that good? Ha! I had to bother that fish until he opened his mouth!"
All three of them ignored the fairy, stepping off of the alter, Ruto grabbed Link before he entered the tunnel.
He and Malon looked back at her.
"Hey, I…uh…just wanted say thank you, you know, for saving me back there…and…" she stopped for a moment, walked over to a rock submerged in the shallow water, kicked it over and picked up something shiny. She handed him the Zoras Sapphire.
"Here, you take it, I don't want it. I hid it when that strange guy showed up. My mom told me to give it to someone I…uh…admire, so take it, I'll distract my father."
"Daughter! You've returned!" the Zora King exclaimed, holding out his arms to Ruto, she begrudgingly allowed him to hug her, but only long enough for Link and Malon to sneak past.
"Goodness, now the wedding can go on!" the King realized, "daughter, where is the Zoras Sapphire?"
Ruto smirked almost evilly.
"I already gave it away." She said in her sweetest voice.
Her father was speechless.
The Zora warrior she had been set to marry fell to the ground in a dead faint...