Hello, fine friendly folks, I bring you another update. This is the beginning of cliffhangers everywhere, and not a spoiler to read. Ha!

Beaches

The beach is a wonderful place. As the sun rises the water is painted a wonderful gradient of colorations. A sunset the beach comes alive with much more brilliant shades. For the entire day throughout the beach, the waters roll onto the sandy shores. The beach truly is a thing of beauty to behold.

Impa had noticed the hand grabbing the princess, but was unable to do a thing, cut off from her ward by the ring of fire. As soon as she could she rushed towards the pillar, expecting an enemy. She saw nothing, absolutely nothing. She inspected the river, wondering if Zelda had fallen.

Link rushed over to the water and saw Zelda. He prepared himself for pain, pulled out the leather pouch, and fished out a mask. He dove into the water, fitting the Zora shaped mask over his face. Link drowned out his pain as the mask shifted his body into a Zora.

The Zora had a large fish skeleton on his back, that was shaped like a guitar. His entire right arm was painted with red and purple geometrical patterns. Purple tattoos went down the center of his skull. The Zora dove into the water, barely making a splash. Link swam down the river with enhanced speed, and a low amount of pain from his earlier injuries.

In no time he caught up with Zelda and used his left arm to grab onto her waist while using his right arm and legs to swim against the current. It took some effort with Zelda's waterlogged skirts, but he made it back to the platform.

Zelda weakly clambered up onto the wooden deck. Impa helped to haul her to her feet. Link followed suit soon after, when Zelda was far enough away from the edge. Zora feet spread a thin layer of water onto the deck. The tiny puddle spread and fell off the edge.

Link lifted a dripping hand to his face, pulling the mask off. There was a flash of light as his body returned to normal. Link had to use an elbow to keep from falling over in pain. He used his other hand to hold the injured sides. The pain burned anew throughout his body with the sudden shape shifting.

"Link, are you alright?"

The hero glanced up at Zelda, who had turned to him with concern. He managed a numb nod. The pain had dulled to a throb that sent the feeling of pins and needles all over his torso. Those flame swords hurt.

With a shuddering sigh, Link used both arms to pull his body up into a seated position on the grass. He carefully stood up. The hero rubbed at the injuries carefully. Even for the wounds the pain should have mostly dissipated by now, at least so much that it wouldn't bother him.

Zelda and Impa walked up the ramp towards the hero. "Was that Mikau?"

Link nodded. He noticed that the mask was still in his hand. He shoved the thing back into its respective pouch.

"Why...?"

"Because, he gets more swimming power as a Zora, and it's easier to swim without needing to hold your breath."

"Oh."

Impa spoke, "You said there were people and water up here."

Link nodded, "Yes," he pointed towards the cliff edge, "Up there. I'm going to go up and check the area myself though first. I checked this placed about an hour before getting you guys, but look what happened."

Zelda nodded, "Alright."

Link pulled out his ocarina. He put the instrument to his lips and played a melody; one unfamiliar to Zelda. When the song was finished, large transparent bird wings sprouted out of Link's back. They wrapped around him, and he dissolved.

Moments later he reappeared at the top of the cliff above the river. A good half foot in front of the boy was an owl statue with its wings spread wide. Link looked around and was pleased to see that the area had no unfriendlies, save for a few pesky birds that were easily dealt with. For good measure he walked around and saw no of the strange symbols on the ground.

He went to the cliff edge and peered down. Navi flew down to Zelda and Impa.

"Alright, the area's clear. He's going to create a few platforms in the water for you guys to cross over to the other side of the river. He's assuming you," Navi flew towards Impa, "can get up the same way as before. He has a different method for Zelda this time."

Link pulled the bow off his back and over the shield. He pulled an arrow out of the quiver and knocked it. An icy breeze and chilly blue glow spread back towards Link from the arrowhead. He aimed the arrow and let it loose.

The arrow hit its mark, exactly one foot from the edge of the first platform. The water flash froze around the shaft and rose up two feet from the surface, nearly level with the first platform. Another arrow was fired, and another platform came into existence.

Zelda skipped over the platforms and hopped onto the other one next to the waterfall with the grace and elegance fitting a princess. Impa hopped over much less gracefully, but quicker and lighter.

Link pulled a rope off the branch of the tree right above the two. He pulled out a metal chain with two loops at the end as well. The rope had a loop around one end as well. He lashed the chain around the thickest part of the tree, feeding one of the loops through the other. Then he shoved the end of the rope with the loop through the free loop in the chain. The rest of the rope was feed through the loop in the rope, making a secure knot; secure enough to haul a decently fit person up the rock face.

He made a small lasso on the free end of the rope, made sure it wouldn't tighten, and tossed it down. Navi fluttered down with it to give more instructions.

"Just put that around your waist or sit on it. Link will pull you up. It's not graceful or comfortable, he knows. But it will work." Impa waited until Zelda was secure in the seat of the lasso and a ways up before walking off to cast her blinding Sheikah magic.

Link carefully hauled Zelda up the ledge, muscles in one arm tensing before letting the other hand release the rope to pull her up another length. Impa appeared in a flash of light two feet to Link's left. She inspected the area and edged towards Link.

"You said this area was clear."

"He did..." Navi turned around and saw the upper part of the canyon, "because it was earlier..." Link groaned a little, cursing in his head.

"Faeore hates me." He thought. As soon as Impa had disappeared he had heard them. Their chuckles, the wings flapping in the air, the blue flames burning bright around them. The area was full of Blue Bubbles, night-time enemies that normally never saw the light of day. He had noticed their frequent dusk appearances throughout Termina field and it had filled him with a fair bit of concern, but he didn't think they would dare appear in the middle of the day like this.

"Hey, Impa, could you finish pulling Zelda up while Link fights them off?"

Impa nodded and grabbed the ropes from Link. Link let go and allowed Impa to pull Zelda up. Impa, as a Sheikah, as naturally a lot stronger then a normal Hylian female, and she had been training in combat for her entire life, and she was nearly as strong as Link was. This was no trouble for the middle-aged woman.

Link grumbled, coming up with ideas that involved the fates, blood, and his sword. He pulled the shield off his back, unleashing the sword into the air. Then he stopped to notice something; like the fire of the Garo Master and flame ring that had trapped him, the Blue Bubbles' blue flames were tipped in black.

He pretended to think nothing of it, his earlier injuries still burning as if they were fresh. Still, it didn't hurt to be too careful. His hand tightened, increasing his hold on the shield until his knuckles turned white. Link edged towards one of the enemies with a cautious, yet unflinching, gait.

One of the Bubbles noticed Link and flew straight at him. Fortunately for Link, this enemy had no more of a brain then the normal Blue Bubbles. He slashed his sword; the flying skull with bat wings crumpled under the force and immediately turned to ash, incinerated by its own nefarious fire. Link noticed the second enemy crash into his side, chuckle and fly backwards to ram him again. Perhaps they weren't as dumb as before after all.

Link's left hand jerked backwards against his will and sheathed the sword. In its entirety, his body was coated in blue that turned black on the nose, ears, fingers and the toes of his boots. He grumbled.

"Hey!" Navi shouted, succeeding in bringing more enemy attention on Link if that was her intent, "You've been jinxed! Now you can't use a sword to defeat them."

"That's what you think, Navi."