I don't own Legend of Zelda. If I did the games would tie in together better and there would be a few different ones added in.
Part One: Oracle of Seasons
Chapter Twenty-Five: Summer Shrine Part Three
The room they were in now was as expected just a big mostly empty chamber. They were on a porch near the top with the majority of the room below them, water pouring down from the sides of the way they entered via spouts. On the other walls were more spouts that poured in water nonstop, creating an endless gurgling noise. Naturally the bottom of the chamber was flooded, and one could see the top of a circular tunnel entrance mostly filled with water, presumably the drain for the room taking the water back out and hopefully back into the river outside the shrine. All the water going into the shrine had to get out somehow otherwise it would be completely flooded.
Above the water level was what looked like an arched bridge, but as there were no doors of any kind at either end that kind of made it an unnecessary addition to the room. So why was it there?
Link and Romani looked at each other, both familiar enough with this situation to know that something was hiding, waiting to show itself to them and attack. The only question was what it would be.
A strange bubbling noise was heard, their first clue that the resident monster was about to make its appearance. Their second clue was the water getting darker, like something was emerging. Then finally, the monster emerged from the water and displayed itself to them.
The creature was definitely aquatic, no surprise there, colored a deep blue and looking like a giant squid. It had a mouth at the top, one that looked like a brown sideways beak with lots of sharp teeth, with four green eyes below it and four green tentacles hoisted up.
"I think that's the thing I had to fight off earlier." Romani said. "It's uglier now that I can see more of it."
"How did you fight it off?" Link asked.
Before the ranch girl could reply, one of the tentacles came at them trying to crush them from above. They jumped aside and the tentacle hit the stone walkway, making it shake like in an earthquake but not break apart. The two couldn't stand up during the tremor. Another tentacle tried the same and it was closer to Link. He rolled and ended up crashing into Romani, but he escaped the attack.
The third tentacle came at them both, forcing them to roll away from each other, and the fourth came next, this time aiming for Romani. She took out her sword and tried to roll while holding it up, hoping to do some damage to the beast. Sadly though her blade missed.
The tentacles retreated underwater, giving the two a chance to get back on their feet.
"How can we fight something when it's hard enough just standing up?" Romani asked.
"You should have been there in the Shadow Temple then. Try fighting atop a giant drum." He remarked, well aware he had already told her that story. He glanced at the gauntlets he had acquired in this shrine. "Somehow these-"
The squid cried out in a sound that was best described as a cough and hoot at the same time. It aimed its beak at them and fired a few balls of ink, which they blocked with their shields. The balls splattered rather than bounce off, but the shields themselves were undamaged beyond being painted black.
The squid then dived under the surface, disappearing from their sight.
"While we have a moment to think of something, got any ideas?" Romani asked.
"We got some arrows right? Let's make them thunder arrows and kill it quickly." Link said, taking out his bow and arming it.
"Good thinking. We don't even have to hit it, just the water around it would be good enough." Romani said, taking out her bow too. She still intended to hit the creature, she was proud of her marksmanship after all.
The two charged their arrows, giving them an orange glow with a light crackling sound, and shot them in tandem into the water. The arrows kept going, but streaks of dancing could be seen dancing around the surface spreading out like a web. A rumble was heard followed by a brief tremor, implying that the squid had crashed against a wall.
"Think that did it?" Romani asked, waiting for the sign that the monster was dead they always got when they cleared a shrine.
There was just silence for a bit, but then the surface of the water started to quiver and splash around, almost like it was trying to boil without heat. Then all of a sudden the squid erupted out of the water from under the bridge, shattering it and cutting the two off from leaving the platform by any means other than getting into the water itself. All the while the squid was shrieking aggressively.
"I think we just pissed it off." Link muttered.
The squid thrashed against the walls, and from above a large steel ball fell from the roof hitting the squid on it's head. It shrieked painfully and the ball rolled off, landing in between Link and Romani with a heavy thud.
"That looked like it hurt it the most." Link noted, glancing from the ball to the squid and back. "Maybe we have to hit it with heavy strikes instead."
"And how are we supposed to do that? Throw the ball back at it?" Romani asked sarcastically.
Link glanced at the gauntlets he had acquired in this shrine. "You got a better idea?" He tried to grab the ball from underneath, which was easier said than done since it was slightly more than half his size and heavier than it looked. However when he touched it, he felt a weird surge in his right hand, and suddenly lifting it wasn't a problem at all. He held it above his head, balancing it carefully.
Romani smiled. "Guess you were right about those making you stronger. Now throw it."
Link tried, but the ball refused to leave his right hand, like it was stuck, and he collapsed on his front. The squid took the opportunity to attack, and so one of its tentacles struck the boy across the back rather painfully. When this happened, some kind of energy came from his left hand and the steel ball separated from his right, rolling off the bridge and dropping into the water.
"Link!" Romani cried out, rushing to check on him. One of the tentacles tried to continue the attack, and she blocked it with her shield. "Whatever you did just pissed it off more."
"Heh, you say that like it's never happened before." He remarked, letting her know he was still okay if he could joke around. "But that also means I hurt it."
"Well hurt it some more if you don't mind." She remarked, using her sword to try and keep the tentacles at bay.
Glancing at his new gauntlets, Link tried to figure out how they worked. 'The ball stuck to my right hand, and was easy to lift, but it wouldn't let go. So maybe my right hand brings things to me like a hookshot, but the left hand allows me to throw it back? Well, at least my good hand is the one that requires aim here.'
Testing this out, Link held out his right hand and tried to will whatever surge of energy he felt before to happen again. He felt a tug, like when the hookshot pulls him forward but not as strong, towards the water. He tried to resist yet keep the surge going, and after a bit the steel ball came back out of the water and connected with his hand.
Holding it towards the water, Link tried to see a spot to aim for. Judging by the tentacles, he had a general direction, then put his left palm on the ball and willed a surge from it. The ball detached from his right hand and rocketed in the direction he had aimed, making a large splash in the process.
The tentacles shook violently and pointed straight up. Some kind of wail was heard from underwater. Link took the opportunity to recall the steel ball.
"This might go faster if we could get down there and fight them as zora." Romani commented, firing a few thunder arrows again. Lightning danced all over the water and the squid was in more agony. But it wasn't dead yet.
The main body of the squid came up and the mouth tried to engulf them both. They jumped apart, Romani going left and Link going right, so it missed. Romani took out another arrow, but this time made it a stone arrow and fired. This arrow hit not that far from one of the four eyes of the squid, and the petrifying started its process.
The creature turned to stone and squirmed like it was trying to fight it or kill them before the process finished. Romani protected herself with her shield and Link used the steel ball to the same extent. It got slower and slower, then it was all stone.
"We should probably use these arrows more often." Romani stated.
Link threw the steel ball at the statue, breaking a hole in the closest thing to a face it had, and didn't bother recalling the ball. "They are good, but we probably shouldn't get dependent on them. What if we encounter something that's already stone?"
"Point taken."
On the other side of the room, where the bridge would have led to if it hadn't been destroyed, was the telltale glowing light that would allow them to leave the shrine. However, they had no way to get there now.
"Should we use our hookshots?" Romani offered.
"Worth a try."
Each aimed for the other side of the room and fired their hookshots. The grappling ends made contact and sank into the stone, making a lot of cracks in the process, then yanked the two forward. Relieved that had worked, they both stepped into the light and were taken to another room. Like the other shrines, this one had a statue of a woman, this one wearing a yellow dress, and it spoke to them.
"Hello bright ones, I am Natsumi, Goddess of Summer. Thank you for returning light to my shrine."
"Three down, one to go." Link said, taking out the rod of seasons.
"Where's Din?" Romani asked.
"She is where you think she is, Onox's prisoner. But you cannot get to her until the rod is at full power. Allow me to bestow the Essence of Summer." There was a bright glow, then on one side of the rod an emblem of a sun appeared. "You now can summon summer to you and have power over fire and light."
"Where's the last shrine?" Link asked.
"To the east. You will have to problem finding it. Getting there will be different though."
"Getting to places I need to be usually is." Link mumbled.
"Then be on your way, and don't dawdle." Natsumi told them.
There was a blindingly bright light and the next thing Link and Romani knew they were out on a mountainside. Sunken City could be seen but an easy way to get there was not seen. The sky was clear, not a single cloud in sight except by the horizon, and there was a breeze, but it was definitely as warm as summer.
"Well, might as well get down before we check the map." Link said, then pulled out his goron mask. "Wanna race?"
Romani grinned and pulled out her own. "You're on."
"They're back." One witch said while looking into a crystal ball, seeing two gorons rolling side by side in the mountains.
"That's three shrines by my count. They have one more to clear before the rod is full powered." A second witch said, looking into the crystal ball from the opposite side.
"With it Onox will be able to conquer more than just Holodrum. The effects of the altered seasons are limited to just here, which fortunately has given the other countries no reason to get involved these past nine months. But once Onox has the rod, he can devastate the seasons in any country."
"What about if he tries to attack Hyrule?"
The second witch cackled. "He has no actual means to kill Ganondorf. If he tries, all he'll be doing is giving Ganondorf a new way to control Hyrule and draw that wretched Zelda out of hiding."
The first witch put her hand on her chin. "Actually Ganondorf having the rod sounds better to me. So why are we helping some dark general get it instead?"
"Because at the moment the rod can only regain it's power in Holodrum and Onox is already there. Besides dear sister, once Onox deals with the brats do you think he could get to the rod before we could? Let him think we're helping him. He's the one helping us here."
The first witch nodded and looked back at the ball. "For now, we ought to do something about these two. After all, once they fully empower the rod, there's no actual need for them to meet Onox is there?"
The second witch smiled. "Technically, no. So what are you thinking sis?"