Now able to see the way, the Heroes made for the bottom of the pond, hopefully without further ailment.
About every sixty seconds, the magic from the Sun's Song would wear off, and Link would play it again, if not so they could see, to keep the bone fish away. Soon, they reached what seemed to be the bottom most point of the spring, but all that greeted them was a rocky sea floor.
"No monster, no harp... nothing! The Zora Baron said that the fish reside at the very bottom of the spring right? So where's the harp piece?"
"No doubt, it's down here somewhere. We need to fan out and search. Link, keep playing that song, I don't want you two to get caught up in those fish again."
With a nod, the boy played the tune again, and the group split off. Continuing along the sea bottom in different directions, everyone treaded over the rocks, searching for any signs of anything. Nothing seemed to make itself apparent, just rocks, the occasional skeleton, more rocks. Saria combed the sea floor carefully with her eyes, if something were partially buried, she wouldn't want to miss it. At first, she brushed past it, but after processing it in her mind, the girl turned around and set her eyes on a strange grove in the stone. It ran straight across the ground for about fifteen feet, and formed the diameter of a circle shaped groove in the floor.
"Hey uh... Link? Mari? Take a look at this. I don't think this is natural."
Saria's two companions approached at her call, and studied the engraving with her.
"It's kind of rough, but this definitely didn't form by accident. Something must be here!"
"Is it even related to the harp though?"
"I have no idea, but at least it's a lead. Perhaps there's something under here! Do you have a shovel Link?"
In an almost amusing manner, Link twisted his nose and shook his head.
"No? Hm... well, I don't think we're going to get anywhere digging through stone with our bare hands. Is there anything we could do to loosen the ground?"
Drawing his sword from his back, Link stuck the blade into the stone. The ground soon began to tremble, prompting him to withdraw his weapon, bringing the rumbling to an end. Everyone exchanged uneasy glances, before Link drove his sword against the floor again. Another tremor began, however, when Link removed his sword, the quake did not cease. All around them, the ground seemed to shift, had they triggered seismic activity? While the rest of the sea floor moved, the strange engraving seemed to stir on its own. In an instant, the land of the circle peeled back in halves, sliding apart from the diameter. Under the surface was an incredible red glow. The glow seemed to track the children, and appeared quite angry. It wasn't an engraving, it was an eye!
"Great Kaepora Gaebora!"
"It's a sea monster! But where is it's body?"
"I think we're standing on it!"
With as much speed as they could get in the water, Link and Saria swam straight away from the shifting stone floor, and watched as it rose from the sea bottom. It quickly became apparent that the eye's owner had been burrowed under the ground, lying in rest. Now that the trio had disturbed the massive monster, with light at the bottom of its murky spring no less, it launched into a ravenous rage. With jaws so large and bony that they could have easily crunched a Goron to bits, the Skeletal Megalodon made a beeline for the two swimmers. While the smaller bone fishs' snaps had sounded like a child smacking two rocks against each other, this beast's bite let out a noise so powerful that it vibrated the water around it.
"Agh! It's coming for us! What do we do?!"
As the Skeletal Megalodon approached, the light of the Sun's Song began to fade, and the only indicator of the monster's position became its gigantic red eyes. Link and Saria narrowly evaded its jaws, but the colossal fossil wasn't done. It whipped back around, and made a charge for them again.
"Why does everything keep attacking us?! There's got to be something else down here for all these skeletons to eat!"
Why had they gathered so much attention? Now that it had become dark again, the answer was quite obvious. Mari glowed in the dark. In a swift flick of his arm, Link caught the fairy in his hat, much to her dismay.
"Hey! What was that for?"
With Mari's light now doused, Link grabbed Saria by the arm, and pulled her out of the titan's path. Both watched as the monster swam right past them. Unable to locate its pray any longer, the Skeletal Megalodon made territorial circles around the spring.
"Oh, good going Link! If it can't see us, it can't get us!"
"Can you let me out now?"
"Hang in there Mari, we're forming a plan."
Quietly, Link and Saria bounced ideas between each other on how to defeat the beast. No doubt, it housed the harp within itself, but the real question was how to get it. Saria's first suggestion was to swim straight into the beast's mouth, but she shot down her own plan after realizing its stupidity. Link thought to fire the hookshot repeatedly at the monster, but what good would that do? If a direct stab with his sword hardly even penetrated the bone, a much duller hook would surely not even scratch it. They needed a leg up, a tactical advantage, something that would give them an edge against the boss. If they had woken the beast by prodding its bony eyelids, then maybe its weakness was its eyes? Given that there appeared to be no other clear way to defeat the fish, both the children deemed it best to at least try attacking its bright red visage. And of course, the best way to do that, was to bring the beast to them. Link released an irritated Mari from his hat, and her glow brought faint light to the water once more.
"So, we're using me as bait?"
"Yup, pretty much. Unless you have any better ideas?"
"No, sadly, I can't say that I do. I just hope that both you know what you're doing."
"What could possibly go wrong?"
"That whale of a skeleton could chew you two to bits, strip you of your flesh, crunch your bones, and get me stuck between its teeth."
"Mari, you have got to stop answering my retorts."
Before either could get off another comment, the Skeletal Megalodon's bright eyes made themselves visible in the distance. Both Link and Saria drew their hookshots, and watched with beaming anticipation as the two points of light grew larger, and the beast drew nearer. *Chomp! Chomp! Chomp!* At Link's call, both fired their hooks straight at the monster's eyes. With one hook nailing each socket, the giant fish dipped down, and tumbled toward the spring floor. With a terrible crash, bone met rock, cracking several parts of the skeleton. The titan reared back up in a fiery rage, and charged again for the children and the fairy. Link whipped his hat back over Mari, and both him and Saria quickly evaded the Skeletal Megalodon.
"I think we hurt it. I bet if we could get it to charge straight into the rocks, that ugly old thing will smash to bits!"
Agreeing with his friend's path of logic, Link swam for the largest stone surface he could find, and released Mari from his cap.
"You know, as good at that as you are, it makes me think you've caught fairies before."
Right on queue, the angry colossus came charging towards the light, with its jaws snapping wildly. To ensure the most damage to their enemy, they would need to cut it close as possible.
"On three, fire your hookshot, and swim like hell."
Saria cut her eyes disapprovingly toward Link at his mild language usage, but rather than chastising him, she recentered her focus on the monster before them.
"One."
Like a torpedo, the demon of a fish shot through the water. The vibration from the creature's snaps began to reach the two children.
"Two."
Ever nearer the monster drew, it felt as though if they hesitated even a second, they would become fish food.
"Three!"
Both hooks plunged through the water and into the Skeletal Megalodon's glowing visage. As the beast lost control and tumbled forward, Link and Saria swam for their lives, while the colossal skeleton smashed against the stone wall. Bits and chunks of bone flew in every direction, and the monster disintegrated.
"... Is it gone?"
"Hey Link, you didn't play that song again, did you?"
Now that the Skeletal Megalodon had been demolished, the water began to lose its cloudy murk, and let light into its depths. All around them, the children watched as several smaller bone fish sank lifelessly to the bottom of the spring. With their surroundings now clear, a gleam of light caught Mari's eye in the pile of bones.
"Wait, down there!"
She buzzed over to the shine to highlight it, and Link and Saria dug through the monster's remains to find the origin of the glow.
"It's the harp!"
"Yeah! Mission accomplished!"
Saria started to reach for it, but then pulled her hand back.
"What is it?"
"Every time we've found one of these, after we touch it, we're whisked away to some glowing land, aren't we?"
"Yes? And?"
"There's always been some mysterious figure there, right?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you think that's going to happen again if we pick this one up?"
"Logically, it should."
"Okay... maybe we can figure out who has been talking to us this time."
The girl put her hand on the blue harp fragment, and the group of three watched as their surroundings turned to light.
Author's Note
I apologize for taking so long to write these two chapters.
Dungeons (or at least my story's equivalent to them) are not easy to write.
Things are going to start cooking as we get into the fourth leg of the story.
That said, I may not be able to update it for a little bit, but stay tuned anyhow.
