Trial of Keys

V2.4b

By: (o'.')o [pc_prettycool@email.com]

Disclaimer:

……. I forget. Oh wait. Legend of Zelda is copyright of Nintendo. Is that right?

Note from Author

If you read this fic, please review it. Oh, and if you actually like this fic, I encourage you to check out the other fics. This series should go in 3 Part Volumes…The first part being A Kid Named Link. The Second Part being Trial of Keys. Read em and enjoy.

This part I call 2.4b. It's too much on the same vein to me called 2.5. I thought 2.5 was too short, did you? Well this part is fairly long. Sorry. (v-_-)

I said somewhere that there would be four girls featured in this series. I was mistaken. I meant 5. Five girls around Link? That's one spicy meat-a-ball!

**********

Last Chapter:

It seemed obvious that no matter how harshly they acted towards one another, Link and Zelda were enjoying ( in some childish combative way ) each others company. That's how it went, when they finally reached the Kingdom of the Zora. They tried to ask the King for help, only to be attacked by soldiers. It seemed the Princess of the Zora was missing, and the King was too depressed to help them. Link promised to find the Princess, to Zelda's chagrin, and he was teleported to the inside of a giant fish to look for the Water Key. Zelda Malon and Saria were transported elsewhere….

And on with the story

*********

Not even the darkness of the cell the girls were held in could contain Zelda's rage. Even the guards outside the barred door felt a bit wary about being so close to the enraged girl. Saria was a bit wary of Zelda too, but Malon just looked at her in complete fascination.

"That IDIOT!" Zelda fumed. "I'll kill him! I'll gut him alive, and I'll make him enjoy it!" She paced around the room, not able to sit down or stand still anywhere.

"I just hope the Zoran King lets him find the Water Key first." Saria murmured. She didn't exactly like the idea of Link searching high and low for this princess, then fighting for the Water Key.

The whole situation ranked on the young Hyrulian monarch. "His damn mouth!" she exclaimed. "How could he have been so thoughtless!" She crossed her arms underneath her breasts and scowled evilly. "Was he even thinking? Can he even think!? We'll be here forever because of him now."

Zelda's anger finally caught up to her, and she was exhausted. She took a seat equidistant of both Malon and Saria and placed a fist underneath her chin. "And the future of my Kingdom rests on the shoulders of that dingbat." She sighed. "What a joke."

Malon glanced at the girl, not particularly liking the way she continued to badmouth Link as she did. She shrugged. "Link is always like that. He always does what he thinks needs to be done…hardly thinking of the 'ifs' or 'buts'…"

"Or consequences!" Zelda interjected.

Malon shrugged again. "Well…his instincts are usually right."

"Bah!" Zelda huffed. She whispered something about Malon needing to wake up, before bringing her knees close to her.

Saria watched the Princess too. She was a very intriguing person, and the way she interacted with Link was something else. Zelda was also very beautiful…she almost looked like a Goddess herself.

Even in these conditions, her skin continued to look soft and smooth , her hair as shiny and as full as the most expensive silk, her face, her eyes. Malon too looked every bit the beautiful buxom young woman. Saria wondered why she looked that way. Saria herself still looked…well almost still like a kid, while Zelda and Malon were visually entering the stage of womanhood.

Saria thought it might have been because she had just started to 'age' herself, and her body was still going through the motions. Still, it was a little daunting. A small part of Saria thought she was competing with this girls, and with their looks, she felt as if she were at a disadvantage.

Saria shook those thoughts out of her head. They were unimportant, it was time for her to deposit her own two rupees in.

"What's bothering you Zelda?" she asked innocently. Esea snuggled on her elbow, trying to catch some sleep for the first time since they had reunited with Link. Her glow dimmed, reducing the light in the already dark room. Saria could hardly see the incredulous look on Zelda's face.

"What's bothering me??" Zelda repeated. She waved her hand around the room and looked sharply at the ex-Kokiri. "What do you think is bothering me!?"

"Aside from that." Saria continued quietly. "What's made you so angry at Link….really."

Zelda stared at her as if she had no right to ask such a question. Then she brought her knees up closer to her chest and rested her hands in them. "He's so quick to give himself to people…to their quests, their agendas…." Zelda explained.

"I'm just afraid he'll volunteer for one thing too many, and then he'll die." She sighed and finished quickly, "And how will that bode for Hyrule, if he's the only one that can wield the Master Sword."

Saria nodded, understanding Zelda's explanation. Malon however, caught something else in the Princess's words…moreover, her voice. It wavered slightly when she said 'then he'll die'.

Malon knew that the Princess had some feelings towards Link. She didn't know whether it was a need in Link to complete the mission, or something more. Whatever it was, it forced Malon to examine her feelings too, and at the young man she had such strong affections for. Examinations she could do without.

The young farm heiress sighed inwardly. Maybe he was right, it was probably not a good idea to join Link on his quest after all.

*******

Link had traveled the insides of the large fish for nearly an hour now. He had no idea the thing was so damn huge. Link had narrowly missed the long tunnel that he knew led to the stomach, where the strong acids would have devoured him alive. Link was also lucky enough to avoid 2 other such tunnels just like the first one. He didn't know the fish had more than one passage that led to the stomach.

He now navigated a narrow corridor, the walls pulsing and beating as if alive ( which of course, they were.) Many symbiotic and parasitic organisms traveled along those walls. One such organism, a blue transparent Jellyfish, came towards Link menacingly.

Link waited until it was 2 feet away from him, then he bent his knees and whipped his sword out of his sheath with terrific speed. The 180 degree attack hit the jellyfish dead on.

And Link got electrocuted for his trouble.

The Jellyfish glided away, laughing inside. Link lay on the floor of the corrordor in a smoking heap. Slowly he got up, lashing out with every curse and swear he ever learned from Ingo at Lon-Lon Ranch.

"Dammit!" he thought finally, when the cursing was over. "I hate this! It's wet, it's sticky…and…and…..IT SMELLS!" he exploded. He was about to scream his frustrations across the caverns of the fish when something else filled the air.

"Get your dirty hands off me!" he heard. Link's sharp ears perked up, picking up the words even more clearly.

" I said let me go! You're so dead!"

"Please.." a voice begged. "Try to be reasonable…"

"REASONABLE!??!"

Link recognized the voice…there was no doubt I his mind who it was. Still, he had to go look. He followed the trail of the voices through several narrow passages. Finally, he reached a wall that blocked the rest of the way.

"What the…" Link started in frustration. He had heard those voices! He was about to turn back when the floor opened up beneath him. Link didn't even have time to yell before he was plummeting several meters down the monster fish's tube. He thought it would lead straight into the stomach, where his quest would end right then and there.

Instead, he landed right on his duff, on a wet squishy ground. Again, Link cursed, before getting to his feet slowly. In front of him, two Zoran people were having a confrontation. One of them was a young girl, chained to the wall of the giant fish. The other was a tall, lanky man, who held a trident in one hand. Link didn't know that one, but he knew the girl.

"Ruto." He said, a bit puzzled. The girl looked at him and gave him a dazzling smile. Link shot back a half smile. That Ruto, she always had a way of making people do that.

"Goddesses! Cliff!" she exclaimed. " I can't believe it, you actually came to save me!" she waved her head over to the man next to her. "Go on, kill him, then cut me loose."

Link put a hand on his hip, examining the situation. The other Zora looked at Ruto incredulously. "You actually know this Elf?" he asked, shocked.

"Of course!" Ruto spat. "He's a dear dear friend of mine, and he's going to kill you. How do you like that you jerk!"

The Zoran shook his head. "The Princess of the Zora, cavorting with Elves. It's worse than I thought. The Zoran people will be doomed. There needs to be a change.

Link's eyes grew wide. "Ruto….Princess of the Zora…. of course, I should have known before" Link thought. For some reason, she never struck him as the Princessly type. She certainly wasn't like Zelda. Link looked at Ruto deeply now, and suddenly realized why she had been so upset about her body. She was the Princess, she had to be scrutinized and observed everyday. She was as old as the other buxom grils of her race, but look at her. She was so….petite! Even compared to Saria! No wonder she thought herself inadequate.

Link genuinely thought it was all hogwash. He really did think that Ruto was very attractive…well…for a Zoran anyway.

"You, boy!" The Zoran blasted, pointing his Trident at him. "Take your eyes of the Princess. They are not worthy, Elven filth."

Link sighed. "Cliff!" Ruto yelled. "He's gonna kill me and take over the Kingdom. He said so himself, he'll toss me in Jabu-Jabu's stomach! Kill him now! Skewer him with that sword of yours!"

Link was inclined to do so, just for the fun of it, but the other Zora had other ideas. He walked towards Link menacingly, brandishing his Trident.

"This is between the Princess and I boy." He scowled. "Forgive me for cutting your life so short." With that, he lounged at Link with the Trident.

Link parried with the handle of his blade, and with one swift underhand, sliced the Trident clean in half.

Link sheathed his sword and put a hand on his hip, staring at the stunned Zoran. The lanky man looked up at him in horror. "You……you….." he gasped. Then he broke into a run. Before Link could move, he was through an air-hole that acted like a door and completely out of site.

Ruto laughed at the scene. "Did you see the look on his face?!" Ruto said, beaming. "You sure showed him Cliff. Now cut me down, pweeese?"

Link rolled his eyes. "You don't have to ask like that." he admonished. Several quick swipes with his blade, an Ruto was free from her shackles. Immediately, she went at Link for an embrace.

"Thaaaaank you!" she said, snuggling against his shoulder. "That guy was such a pain, don't you think?"

Link nodded tersely, keeping his hands away from Ruto's body. She was naked, after all. "Uh..wh..who was that guy anyway?" Link asked, mostly to get Ruto thinking about something else.

She stepped back from him and smiled. "Kardo. He's an anarchist. He thinks he's so smart, it's annoying. Plus he's a lousy conversationalist." Ruto complained.

Link was amazed. She was at the mercy of a terrorist for who knows how many hours, and she didn't seem at all frightened. She wondered if she truly realized what had just happened, how much danger she was really in..

"Well, enough of that." Ruto said. She locked her arm around his and smiled at him. "Take me home." She asked.

Link suddenly remembered his duel-mission, find the Water Key, find the Princess. One of those objectives were actually accomplished. "Princess, do you know where I can find the Water Key?"

Ruto looked at him, seriousness crossing over her eyes, but only for a moment. "I dunno. Why?"

"I need it."

Ruto crossed her arms. "I think my father knows. He'll tell you. First take me home." Link didn't think he had any choice but to comply. However, he kept thinking about how King Zora sent him here to look for the Water Key…not his daughter. It had to be here, somewhere.

*********

After a few hours of traveling through the tunnels of the creature Link now knew to be the Zora's demi-god, Jabu-Jabu, he finally realized how lost he really was.

Link stopped and crossed his arms, trying to get a bearing of where he was. Usually, it'd be hard to get his bearings inside of a live giant fish…but this one was completely still. He wondered if it was dead.

"No." Ruto explained. "Lord Jabu-Jabu is comatose. We're probably miles below the ocean right now." She placed her hands on her hips and looked around the area. "This isn't good Cliff. You got us lost."

"Princess, why didn't you tell me you were Royalty when we first met?" Link asked suddenly. The question had been nagging on his mind the past few minutes.

Ruto looked at him in surprise. "Cause." She answered. "I didn't want to." She saw the look on Link's face and continued. "Hey, it's not like I'm not the only one who keeps secrets, Chain…Link….Fence!"

Link's face suddenly turned several shades of red. "Uhhh….."

Ruto laughed, flinging her arms around his neck. "Yeah, like I'm really going to fall for a name like that!"

Link sighed, completely mortified. He was chuckling slightly too. Ruto certainly was a joy to be around. She took some of his worries off of his back. One worried that still remained was the worry that he would become unprepared for battle.

Almost as if he prophesied it, a giant tentacle came swinging from the roof of the open corridor. It wrapped around Link tightly, swinging his body across the room, hitting Ruto along the way. Ruto fell to her bottom, and Link smashed hard against the side of the wall.

Link looked up at his assailant. A giant squid fell from the roof of the corridor, obviously under the control of Kardo, who fell through the roof behind the creature.

"Bring me the Princess." He demanded. A tentacle shot out from the creature, wrapping itself fully around Ruto's small body before she could object. Link shot to his feet and pulled out his blade, lounging at the squid. It blocked his attack with one tentacle, and punched him hard in the stomach with another.

Ruto was whipped into Kardo's arms, where he held her as he watched the squid pummel Link with its half dozen tentacles. Link was being smashed around, not able to get a good swipe at the sea-creature.

"Damned Elf." Kardo snarled. "Get what you deserve, boy." Ruto tried to yell something, but Kardo quickly covered her mouth with a large white hand.

Link was smashed flat to the ground by another tentacle. He got to his knees, bleeding from the nose and mouth. Another attack came at him from 3 sides. Link decided to go on the defensive. He slashed quickly at the three tentacles that came to hit him. Their pieces hit the ground of the cavern, quivering sickly.

Again, Link tried for a frontal attack, only to be smashed aside by three more tentacles. Link rolled back, getting to his feet and stumbling a couple of steps. He was panting heavily. This creature had the perfect defense and attack, and he had no way of getting through it.

But he'd keep trying, even if it killed him.

Kardo was laughing hard at the fight, when his hand exploded in pain. Ruto bit down hard on it, hard enough to draw blood. Kardo screamed and pulled his hand aside, and Ruto relayed her message to the young elf.

"Behind it, Cliff, behind!!" Ruto yelled, before being slapped across the face by the enraged Zoran. Link ignored his assault for now, and leapt several feet into the air, landing hard on bent knees behind the squid.

Before the Squid could have time to turn, Link brought his sword up in a sweeping arc, tearing a bloody rent through the back of the creature. The squid screamed in pain, as blood and viscera bubbled from it's dying body.

Link jumped to the top of the creatures head, now unprotected by flailing tentacles, and jabbed his sword straight into the squids head. The sea-beast quivered for a moment, then died quickly.

Korda yelped as the creature died. Link half-turned towards the Zoran, and gave him a positively criminal look, his light brown eyes peering through strands of dirty blonde hair. Link wore a scowl that would have melted stone.

Korda took a step back, then another. "You….you can't face me, Elf!" he stammered. "Don't even try it. I'll kill you, I swear!"

Link just stared at him, hardly breathing despite the exercise he just endured.

Korda took yet another step back, when Ruto appeared to his left and shoved him hard in the chest. Karda stumbled, then fell on a marked section of the floor. Immediately, the section opened, and Korda fell through, screaming all the way.

Ruto panted, then shrugged at Link. "That….leads to the stomach. His own fault!" she said defensively. Link nodded slowly. Ruto did what she had to do, still, it was a brutal ending for the short-known Kardo.

All of a sudden, right between Link and Ruto, a pillar of light appeared. It was the same that Link saw in the Lost Woods. It would probably take them out of Jabu-Jabu's insides.

"Princess, don't step in it!" he started, when a lurch of Jabu-Jabu sent both Link and Ruto off their feet. The Demi-God had finally awakened. The two bounced around the cavern, narrowly missing pipes that lead to the stomach, before they fell into the pillar of light, and winked out of existence.

*********

It was completely dark…and wetter than anything. So wet, that there was no room for air inside it's dampness. Link opened his mouth, trying in a desperate attempt to breath. It was fruitless. Link laughed in his mind. He couldn't believe it was about to be over….and by drowning. He had countless other ways in which he preferred to die. Drowning wasn't one of them.

He sank into the murky depths, his lungs seeming to burst into flame. The pain in his chest was intense. Link felt so helpless, so stupid…for dying like this…in such a painful and helpless manner. He thought of Malon and Zelda, how they would have scolded him for dying like this. He thought of Saria. Maybe she'd return to the Kokiri after this. Probably not, but it was a thought…and that was all he had right now.

Suddenly, Link had something else. Feeling. He felt a cold pair of lips upon his. He forced open his eyes and saw Ruto in front of him, her mouth completely covering his. What was she doing? She pressed her hands on his face, not removing her mouth form his for a second. Link noticed the slits on the sides of her neck opening and closing rapidly. Ruto was breathing for two now.

She pumped her legs, dragging herself and Link against the pressure of the water, and up to the surface. Link was never underwater for this long a time. It was almost surreal. He lost track of time, concentrating only on Ruto's face as she breathed for him on the way to the surface.

Finally, they broke water, and as soon as they did, Ruto broke away from him, breathing heavily. Link gasped like it was going out of style, taking in as much sweet air as he possibly could.

When he was finally normalized, he looked around his surroundings. He recognized this place as Lake Hylia. They must have been transported to the bottom of the huge lake. Link slowly swam to the shore with Ruto, where they both crawled and lay, absolutely spent.

After a while, when he could finally do so, Link spoke. "Princess…you saved my life." He panted. He turned his head and glanced at the girl who was laid out a foot away from him.

"You owe me." She gasped.

"What are you talking about?" Link smiled. "I saved your ass back there in Jabu-Jabu's belly."

"Cliff?"

"Yes?"

She got up on her elbows and peered at Link intensely. "Call me 'Ruto'" she asked.

Link nodded. "You got it. But , you should be calling me 'Link' now."

Ruto fell again on to her back, shaking her head. "Nu-uh! That's our special name."

"What?"

"It's the name you gave to me and only me Cliff." Ruto smiled. "I'm gonna use it, and you're gonna answer to it. Understand?"

Link sighed. He wasn't in the mood to argue. He was alive, and he was glad about that…but he ultimately failed in his mission.

"Uh…Cliff?"

Link turned. Ruto held a small blue orb out in front for him. Link gaped at her, then the orb, then back at her. "This is-?"

"The Water Key. I had it in the hollow in my back, one under each wing." She said quietly. She placed the orb in Link's hand. "Here. You said you needed it right?"

Link clenched his fist around the Key. "Thank you."

Ruto smiled, and again fell to her back. "So, I guess you'll be taking me back home now, right?"

"Right."

Ruto sighed. "And then you'll go on your merry way."

"Yup."

"I guess it can't be helped." Ruto acknowledged.

Link turned and peered at her. He knew she had something up her sleeve. He'll have to investigate further. First thing is to return to Zora's Kingdom and get the girls released from wherever they are. Link suddenly thought of something.

"Ruto…if I'm going to take you back home, you're going to have to wear something." Link said, as seriously as possible.

"No way!" Ruto said, appalled.

"Just a little something!" Link begged. Ruto shook her head stubbornly. Link sighed and pressed on. He had a little time now, and this was one argument he didn't plan on losing.

********

Time has passed

Korda opened his eye, and awoke in a vat of green water. He didn't know what it was or what it was for…all he knew as hurt, and pain. The pain was unimaginable. He opened the half of his mouth that still remained to scream.

A figure loomed in front of him. He wore a long tuke, with a shoal that covered all of his face except the bridge of his nose and his eyes. He wore black cloth all around him, and his left gauntlet featured a single yellow triangle. He peered at the half-man in the vat in front of him.

"Who did this to you?" a young male voice asked. Korda didn't know who this….this demon was, and he was in too much pain to care.

He blurted the information out for him gladly. "Cliff….she….called…him…" he struggled.

"Cliff. He's using a pseudonym?" The figure rubbed his hidden chin with his gloved hand. "Do I remind you of him?"

"yes….." Korda gurgled. "But…green…."

The figure nodded and turned to leave the room. Korda widened his eye in fear. "Wait….what….help…me…" he pleaded.

"You are being helped." The figure said, opening the door to the outside of the room.

Korda screamed. "ppaaiinn…"

The figure paused halfway out the door. "They say pain is a good appetizer, when serving vengeance." For a split second, Korda swore the figure underneath the black cloth had blood red eyes and a…pig snout.

The figure closed the door behind him, the agony filled-sounds of the once-Zoran inside now filling the halls of the old building.

NEXT: Sorry again for the length. Next Chapter, The final Key awaits. You can probably guess where they're gonna search for it. It's almost too predictable…hmmmmm maybe I'll put a twist in it next chapter. Be sure to read it. Please Review me, thanks a lot, and see ya next time!