Howdy do. I promise this chapter will be longer and more interesting than
the last one. Honest!
Disclaimer: I'm bored.
Chapter 10
The turtle stopped swimming. They had reached their destination. They had entered the front hall of the temple. It had a tiled floor with several barrels scattered around the room. The turtle anchored himself in the pool of water right in front of a set of stairs that led up to a door. After saying their good-byes, Skull Kid and Tael headed through the door. They were in a huge square room, filled with water. Two elevator platforms went up the walls on either side of the platform with the door. The platform on the left led to an empty ledge. The one on the right led to a larger ledge with a gap between it and the next ledge, which had a door on it. The floor of the pool was covered with yellow and red pipes. In the very middle of the room was a yellow crank on a platform. On either side of the crank was a waterspout. The one on the left was red and inactive. A red pipe led from the waterspout to a tall pillar with a red crank on it, which had another red pipe that led to another inactive waterspout, then went through the wall to the next room. The one on the right was yellow and active, sending water up to a large waterwheel on the ceiling, turning its shaft that led into another room. In the upper-right corner of the pool was another yellow crank, which had a pipe leading to an inactive waterspout in the gap between the two ledges. Another pipe led from the next room to the crank, splitting so it went to the second crank as well. There did not appear to be any enemies in the room. Skull Kid swam over to the first yellow crank. He pulled himself onto the platform and turned it. Immediately, the yellow waterspout shut off. The waterwheel stopped turning, and the elevators stopped working. Skull Kid quickly reactivated the waterspout, fixing the machinery. He decided to try the other crank, which was underwater. He put on the Zora Mask and dived onto the platform. He turned the crank, activating the other yellow waterspout, making a sort of bridge for the gap. Skull Kid swam over to the right elevator platform and hopped on. When he was level with the ledge, he jumped onto it and was immediately attacked by two Skulltulla. Angrily, he killed them with a few well-timed kicks. He ran over to the edge of the ledge and looked over the side, into the waterspout, which periodically rose and fell. He knew he was a better jumper as his true form, so he took off the mask and jumped onto the waterspout. When it was high enough, Skull Kid jumped off onto the ledge. He ran through the door at the end and found himself in an amazing room. It was round and very deep. Most of the room was filled with water. Red and green pipes went from door to door in the room. Speaking of which, most of the doors were underwater. There was a staircase from his door that led down to a bridge that went straight across the room. However, there was a square tower jutting out of the room's floor and blocked the bridge. It had a ledge around it to walk across, but it was spinning. The waterwheel in the first room connected to a large set of gears on this room's ceiling, which led down in a shaft that connected with the top of the tower, making it turn. Three sets of paddles extended from the tower, one for each level of the pool. The pool itself had several doors on the walls. The rim of the pool had a narrow ledge that circled the whole room. Ladders on either side of Skull Kid's pillar led down to the ledge. At the other end of the bridge was a door on a pillar. A large statue of a dragon's head and neck peered over the edge of the platform, a hookshot target on its neck. Skull Kid would have been able to hookshot to it, but a strong waterfall from a grate in the ceiling only inches above the dragon head blocked it. At the very bottom of the pool was a grate that the water drained into. The water probably went through several complex plumbing before coming out the grate again. It was like perpetual motion, sort of. There was probably some way to shut off the grate. Skull Kid was completely unsure of where to start. This central room was so big. "Tael, where do we start?"
Tael flew into the water and was pulled along by the current. He came out a second later. "The current is very strong. We can only go to two of the rooms. The current blocks everything else. The tower has a door in its base, but it's locked with the Boss Key lock. Even if we had the Boss Key, I don't think we could use the door just yet, because I saw a green pipe leading from one of the doors that went into the floor right next to the tower. I think we have to turn a bunch of green and red cranks, seeing all of the pipes around this place. I suggest we use the door on the right side of the middle floor. My guardian fairy instincts agree on this."
Skull Kid nodded and walked onto the bridge in the middle of the room. He donned the Zora Mask and dove into the water, swimming with the current to the appropriate passage. The corridor turned to the left, where a row of sharp spikes prevented him from walking any further. He swam over the spikes and continued down the corridor. The corridor turned right again, and ended in a dead end. Skull Kid was stumped until he saw the hole in the ceiling. He swam up the hole and Skull Kid found himself in a pool in a long, narrow rectangular room. There were several Skullfish, who immediately saw him and tried to attack. Skull Kid easily killed them all, then rose to the surface. There were four platforms scattered about the room. The closest platform was low enough for him to climb up on, but the other three were not. One of the higher platforms had a treasure chest, another had jars, and the platform at the far end of the room had a door. Unfortunately, it was inaccessible at the moment. A corridor was in the wall above the platform with the jars, a green pipe running from it and going through the corridor Skull Kid had come through. Skull Kid climbed onto the low platform then took off the Zora Mask. He targeted the treasure chest with his hookshot, then pulled himself onto it. He opened the chest and found…"Gee, a compass. Big whoop. Hey Tael, how do these compass things allow me to see hidden treasure chests? I've never understand that."
Tael shrugged. "Search me."
Skull Kid put the compass away and donned the Zora Mask once more. He dived to the bottom of the pool and headed towards another hole in the floor. He jumped in, but was grabbed from behind by something very powerful. It shook him about before throwing him into a wall. He groaned and got up. "What the?"
"That was a Dexihand. It's an annoying aquatic life form that can only be killed with a boomerang or an electric attack."
"I think I'll take my chances with boomerang. Z-Target!" Tael targeted the Dexihand, which was on the edge of the hole. He shot it with his boomerang fins, killing it. He sunk into the hole, finding himself in another corridor. He walked down the corridor and entered a small rectangular room, really only a little taller than the corridor. There was a platform with a door above the pool at the other end of the room. Large lily pads floated in the water. From their undersides hung Bio Deku Babas. Skull Kid hated weeds like these. They were like normal Deku Baba, except they lived underwater and had arms. Using his boomerang fins, Skull Kid severed the Babas from their stalks. They fell to the floor, and mutated into horrible new creatures! They tried to attack Skull Kid, but he killed them with a few electric attacks. He floated to the surface and headed through the door. He was in an irregular-shaped room. He was on a large T- shaped platform, on the bottom part. A channel ran beneath the bottom part of the platform, moving at an intense speed. In front of the main portion was a large pool of water, with some more Bio Deku Baba lily pads. An alcove at the other end of the room contained a treasure chest and a Real Bombchu. It could only be accessed by the hookshot. Another alcove next to it was longer, more like a corridor. However, there seemed to be no way to get there just yet. At the bottom of the pool was another treasure chest, guarded by a Dexihand. Skull Kid easily eliminated all the enemies in the room before checking out the booty. Using the hookshot, he got to the alcove and found…the Dungeon Map! Since the map had actually been useful in the last temple, Skull Kid just put it away. He then turned into a Zora and sank to the other treasure chest. He found…a Small Key! "Oh no! Not these things again!" moaned Skull Kid. "Tael, please tell me this is a Water Key or something that unlocks all the doors in this temple!"
"Sorry Skull Kid, but it isn't." Skull Kid groaned and put away the key. He then realized that he was sort of trapped in here, since the current that had taken him to that first room was one-way. He decided the best (and only) way out of this room was to jump into the channel. He jumped in and let the current pull him along.
He found himself back in the central chamber, but this time he was on the first level. He swam to the surface and pulled himself onto the ledge around the room. "Where's that other door you mentioned?" asked Skull Kid.
"It's on the bottom floor, upper left side. It has a big wooden block in front of it." Skull Kid sank to the floor and allowed himself to be pulled towards the appropriate door. He entered the corridor and turned right, following the path. He had to climb out of the water at the end to enter the next room. He found himself in a room with a large gap. A crystal switch stood next to him. A pair of Blue Tektite sat at the other end of the room, in front of the door. Skull Kid stunned the Tektites with his boomerang fins then hit the switch next to him. A waterspout shot out of the gap, providing a stepping stone to the other side. Skull Kid jumped across and went through the door before the Tektites could wake up. He was in another corridor that turned left. He followed it and was in yet another room. It was square, with a huge red pedestal/pump extending out of the water. A crank sat on top of the pillar. A red pipe ran from the pillar, crawling across the walls until it met with a ledge on the north side of the room, went just beneath it, then sloped into the water on the east wall, finally going through the corridor Skull Kid had just exited. The ledge the pipe had run under had a door on it. In the southeast and southwest corners of the room on the surface was a pair of platforms. There were plenty of Skullfish and Shell Blades in the water, and a few Octorocks on the surface. Skull Kid eliminated the Skullfish easily, but the Shell Blades were a lot tougher. He managed to kill them, but not without suffering major damage. His left arm was badly hurt. He had a few Red Potions, a few bottles of Lon-Lon Milk, one dose of Chateau Romani, along with some fish and a couple of bottles of Gold Dust he had probably acquired while he had been drunk back at Goron City. He could only use the Red Potions on land, so he had to get to the surface. He had noticed the door on the ledge and knew he had to get there. He swam over to the bottom of the red pipe and started walking up. As he walked up the pipe, he had to be careful to avoid the Octorock attacks while clutching his left arm to stop the bleeding. He made it to the ledge and gulped down a Red Potion, healing himself. He took off the mask and headed through the door. He was in a corridor with a pair of Chuchu. He easily killed them and entered the door at the other side of the corridor. He was in a tall, square room with several gratings on the walls. As he took a step forward, iron bars sealed the door behind him. A Gekko appeared, dropping from the ceiling. It was hideous, like a giant red poisonous frog on its hind legs. It had black stripes all over its body, and spines protruding from its back. It had a wide, evil grin and big yellow eyes. It ribbited and hopped towards Skull Kid. Tael targeted it. Skull Kid shot it with his crossbow. That made the Gekko angry. It grinned and pointed at the ceiling. Skull Kid looked, and wished he hadn't. On the ceiling was a grotesque giant eyeball, surrounded by about a hundred little bubbles. The eyeball, along with the bubbles, dropped from the ceiling, hitting the floor with a sickening thud. The Gekko cackled and started hopping towards the giant eyeball. The bubbles began bouncing towards Skull Kid. Skull Kid stared in disgust. "Tael? Please identify!"
Tael flew over to the eyeball. "This thing is a Wart. Those bubbles bouncing towards you are its children. The Wart will attack you by rolling at you. The only way you can damage it is by shooting it in the eye." Said Tael.
The Gekko jumped on top of the Wart. The Wart began to roll straight for Skull Kid. The Gekko managed to stay on by running against the direction of his steed's roll. Skull Kid jumped out of his way, the bubbles surrounding them. He swung his dagger, hitting and popping bubble after bubble. They still kept crowding around him. Skull Kid charged up his dagger, unleashing a spin attack and popping a dozen bubbles. They still kept coming, and the Wart was about to roll into him. Then he had a brilliant idea. He put on the Zora Mask and unleashed his electric attack. Since bubbles are basically made of water, the current of electricity ran from bubble to bubble, killing them all. Now there was nothing to distract from the main fight. Wart and Gekko rolled towards Skull Kid. As Tael targeted, Skull Kid whipped out the hookshot and fired at Wart's eye, striking just before the ugly monster hit him. Wart roared and stopped rolling, its eye spinning. The sudden brake caused Gekko to be hurled off, straight into a wall. He stumbled around, dazed. Skull Kid quickly shot the frog with his crossbow. The Gekko yelped and hopped back towards Wart. Skull Kid backed away, ready to use his hookshot. However, what happened next was unexpected. When the Gekko got onto Wart, it screamed a command. The Wart trembled and jumped, attaching itself to the ceiling. It glared at Skull Kid with his eye, then dropped, barely missing him. Dazed, Skull Kid barely dodged the eyeball's roll. When he recovered, he readied his hookshot as Wart started to turn around. He shot the beast in the eye again, allowing him to hit Gekko with another arrow. When Gekko and Wart hopped onto the ceiling again, Skull Kid managed to make it to one of the room's corners before the eyeball fell and started rolling. Skull Kid poked it once again, and shot Gekko with another arrow. Gekko and Wart jumped back to the ceiling again, while Skull Kid stayed in his corner. As the eye prepared to drop, Skull Kid got a great idea. He shot Wart with his hookshot before he could drop from the ceiling. Stunned, Wart fell to the ground, knocking Gekko off. Skull Kid shot the poisonous frog with yet another arrow. Gekko and Wart tried their drop again, but Skull Kid shot them down and fired one last arrow at Gekko. The frog screamed. Wart trembled and exploded into a puddle of green goo. The Gekko screamed again and fell to the floor, its flesh melting and crumbling to pieces. A treasure chest appeared in the middle of the room. Skull Kid panted and took a swig of Lon-Lon Milk, re-energizing himself. He walked over to the chest and opened it. He was surprised to find…a Boomerang! It was not the regular orange with a red jewel, instead it was blue with a white jewel. "Hey, wait! I already have boomerang fins! " Said Skull Kid.
"That's not a regular boomerang. That's an Icerang! It allows you to freeze objects at great distances. You can use it to plug up grates of water, or turn enemies into temporary blocks of ice, or even make icebergs to cross water. Very useful, no?"
"Well, I can see several uses for this baby. After all, this is a temple filled with water." Skull Kid put away the Icerang and headed back to the room with the red crank. Skull Kid could see no way to access it. The pipe went sheer vertical for a little while, so he couldn't climb it. He couldn't jump to it, and he couldn't hookshot to it. Frustrated, he jumped into the water. However, he had forgotten about the Octorocks. As they bombarded him with rocks, he quickly swam towards one of the platforms in the southern corners of the room. He pulled himself up. An Octorock was in the water right in front of him. The stupid cephalopod spat a rock, only to shatter against the edge of the platform. Suddenly, Skull Kid got an inspiration. The Octorock was right between him and the platform. In fact, if he could climb on top of the Octorock, he could jump to the platform. And he had just the thing to make the Octorock stand still. He threw his Icerang at the Octorock, freezing it in a block of ice. He ran and jumped onto the block of ice, grabbing it by the edge. He pulled himself up and made another jump, also grabbing on by the edge. Behind him, the Octorock quickly melted then turned around, about to spit a rock that would cause Skull Kid to fall. He pulled himself up before that could happen. He walked over to the crank and turned it, sending water down the red pipe. Skull Kid knew the current would prevent him from exiting the way he had entered, but he spied another corridor underwater. He donned the Zora Mask and dove to the corridor, following the current and finding himself back at the main room, bottom level. Following the current, he decided to keep after the red pipe to see where the next crank was. It led back to the room where he had gotten the Compass. He retraced his route, finding himself back in that room. The pipe led up to the door on the platform, disappearing into the wall. Skull Kid knew not even the Zora dolphin leap could help him here, but he had another method to cross. He pulled off his Zora Mask and took out his Icerang. He threw it at the water just in front of him, forming a small iceberg. He hopped onto the iceberg and used his Icerang on the water right in front of his iceberg, forming another iceberg. He continued in this manner until he reached the platform with the door. Even though the iceberg elevated him a bit, he was still too short to make it to the platform. So he put on the Zora Mask, stepped onto the iceberg right behind the one he had been standing on and took a running jump for the platform. As he grabbed onto the edge, the icebergs he had used all melted. He climbed up onto the platform and discovered the door was locked. Good thing he had a small key. He entered the room. It wasn't that big. Another red crank sat at the back wall on a high pillar. The red pipe from before went into the pillar, and came out the other side, going back into the room Skull Kid had just left. There seemed to be no way up the pillar. In front of Skull Kid was a Blue Chuchu. Skull Kid was about to kill it with his Zora Boomerang, when he suddenly had an idea. He took off the Zora Mask and hit the Chuchu with his Icerang, freezing it in a block of ice. He then pushed the block until it made contact with the pillar. He climbed onto the block and the pillar then turned the red crank. Water was sent gushing through the red pipe, heading back into the last room. Skull Kid put the mask back on and left the room before the Blue Chuchu could melt. He looked for where the red pipe went and saw it went into the corridor that used to have all those Bio Deku Baba. It looked like he was going to have to go a long way before he could make it back to the first room and activate the red crank there. He walked down the long corridor, finally making it back to the room where he had found the Dungeon Map. He was about to jump in the channel, when he suddenly remembered he could now travel to that previously inaccessible alcove/corridor using the Icerang. After taking off the mask and making more iceberg bridges, he pulled himself up to the corridor and found it was icy. There were icicles in his way (Which he easily chopped down) and a block of ice blocking the door. He used the Gigaton Hammer to melt the ice, then entered the door. He was in a room exactly like the Gekko/Wart room had been. Skull Kid looked at the ceiling to see if there was anything on it. There wasn't. He stepped forward and iron bars sealed the door behind him. The shadows in the corners of the room quivered then came together in the center of the room, merging into a large black pool of shadow. The pool started shrinking, sending its mass upward to take on a new shape. A familiar shape. It was…Link? Skull Kid blinked and looked again. It was, and at the same time, was not Link. This Link was completely black in clothing and skin, with red eyes and a black sword and shield. He had a black fairy as well. A very, very familiar-looking black fairy. Skull Kid couldn't believe it. They had locked him away! But it was he. Vari, Navi's evil brother. "Vari!" exclaimed Skull Kid. "What are you doing out of your cell?"
The evil fairy chuckled. "I managed to escape when the demon began his takeover. The foolish fairies of Mesmoria were too busy strengthening the barrier too notice my escape. I easily found my way into employ with Ganondorf, who sent me here to guard the temple along with his creation over here, Dark Link. Isn't that right, Darky?" Dark Link grunted. "Not much of a talker, is he? Anyway, I'm very surprised that you two would be the intruders. Now I'll have to have Dark Link kill you two in revenge."
"Okay, I understand why you would want revenge against Skull Kid since he's the one that uncovered your evil scheme. But why do you want revenge against me? What did I ever do to you?" asked Tael.
"You replaced me as prince of Mesmoria! That is even worse than what Skull Kid did to me! In fact, I think I shall kill you myself for that!"
"Bring it on, Vari." Said Tael.
"Just a second. Dark Link! Do kill the imp for me, would you?" Dark Link grunted. "Okay, thanks. Prepare to die, Tael!" The evil fairy charge Tael. The evil shadow of Link charged Skull Kid. For a moment, he was worried because no Tael meant no targeting, then he remembered that meant Dark Link had no targeting either, since Vari's pride was so great. Slightly reassured by his extra speed as a smaller creature than Dark Link helped encourage him. He ran at Dark Link. Dark Link swung his sword low, trying to cut off Skull Kid's head. Skull Kid rolled under the swing and sliced at Dark Link's stomach with his dagger. The shadow screamed and whacked him with his shield. Skull Kid stumbled away, trying to dodge more swings. He tried to do a jump attack. Dark Link jumped out of the way and struck Skull Kid on the back, drawing blood. Skull Kid winced and tried to get in with his dagger, but Dark Link kept parrying his blows. Out of the corner of his eye, Skull Kid could see a similar fight with Tael and Vari. Charging with electricity, each kept slamming into the other, trying to shock their opponent into submission and only countering each other. Skull Kid realized that daggerplay wasn't going to work on Dark Link. Then he remembered what Link had said about how he had beaten Dark Link. Skull Kid grinned. He backflipped away from Dark Link, getting out of range of the shadow's sword. Her took out the Gigaton Hammer and smashed it on the ground, unleashing a wave of flame that burnt Dark Link. He screamed and vanished, reappearing behind Skull Kid, who swung the hammer, hoping to hit Dark Link. He did, in more ways than one. He heard a high-pitched sound, then a thud as Dark Link fell to the floor. Skull Kid turned around and saw Dark Link was on the floor, wincing in pain and clutching his…er…family jewels, where it seemed Skull Kid had hit him with the Hammer. Skull Kid felt a bit embarrassed but knew he might not get another chance like this. He drew his dagger and stabbed Dark Link through the heart. Dark Link roared and got up, shaking the dagger from his body. Skull Kid was astonished. He was still alive? He had no time to think this over as Dark Link tried to decapitate him. Skull Kid ducked, grabbed his dagger, and rolled forward, knocking Dark Link off his feet. While he was down, Skull Kid stabbed him in the back. The evil shadow roared and flipped onto his back, kicking Skull Kid in the stomach. As Skull Kid doubled over in pain, Dark Link jumped to his feet and raised his sword. Skull Kid recovered and jumped out of the way of the chop. He doubted that Dark Link would allow him to use the same trick twice, so he had to think of a new strategy. He got one. Backing away from the sword swings, Skull Kid powered up and launched his Spinning Dagger Attack. Thanks to certain improvements by a certain blacksmith, the dagger, and thus the attack, were much stronger. Thanks to the spin, the dagger's energy cut into Dark Link's skin, hitting him twelve times. Dark Link screamed and charged Skull Kid. Skull Kid jumped out of the way as Dark Link chopped with unbelievable force. Unfortunately, it caused his sword to get stuck in the ground. While he tried to pull his sword out of the floor, Skull Kid stabbed him in the back. Dark Link roared and pulled his sword out, swinging it over his head and nearly driving it through Skull Kid's forehead. Skull Kid had run out of ideas. He had no more tricks up his sleeve. He ran away, Dark Link chasing after him, waving his sword over his head. He saw Tael and Vari were still at it, and that's when he had a brilliant idea. He ran just past the two fairies, too low to get hit by their electric discharge. Dark Link ran towards the imp, his sword raised high. Tael and Vari, oblivious to anything but each other, backed up, preparing another charge. As Dark Link ran between them, they came together right on his sword, smashing into the flat parts of the blade. Since they had been crackling with electricity, and swords are made from metal, which is conductive to electricity, and Dark Link was holding the sword, he got shocked. He screeched. Tael and Vari flew back, slightly dazed. Dark Link was temporarily paralyzed from the electric discharge. Now was his chance! Skull Kid ran forwards and stabbed Dark Link once more. And that did it. Dark Link moaned and fell to his knees, then to his chest, dead. His sword and shield clattered to the ground, useless. Even though he had not been real, Dark Link had left a pretty real corpse, and pretty real black blood oozing from Dark Link's body, pooling onto the ground. Vari stared in horror and disbelief at what had been one of Ganondorf's greatest creations. "No! No! Noooooo! Who will protect me now?" He gulped and turned to Tael, who was still crackling with electricity, then turned again to Skull Kid, who was approaching him, dagger drawn. Vari gulped again. "Er, maybe we could talk about this…" Tael chose that moment to ram into the unsuspecting Vari, shocking him. "OW! OW! That hurt, you little motherf" Before he could get out another syllable of that awful insult, Skull Kid pulled out his only empty bottle and brought it over the former fairy prince, effectively trapping him. "No! NO! Don't trap me in here like a common peon like that forest fairy over there! Let me out! Let me out! Ahhhh! It's just like my cell in the prison! The walls…the walls are closing in on me! I can't breathe! I can't breathe! I can't…" He fainted.
Skull Kid sighed in relief. "Finally. I thought he would never shut up." He put away the bottle and took a bottle of Red Potion, draining it and healing himself. "Well, that's my last Red Potion. I hope we don't need it later."
"Hey Skull Kid, the door has opened and a treasure chest has appeared over there."
"Well, let's see what's in that chest. By the way, Tael, nice job with the attacking-him-from-behind thing. It allowed me to bottle him."
"Aw, it was nothing. You did all the work."
"True, true. That evil shadow was quite tough, but not too tough for Skull Kid! Mighty Warrior!" They laughed, then went to the ornate treasure chest and opened it, finding…"Sweet! It's the Boss Key! Now I can get into the chamber where the Boss lurks!"
"Yes, I know. So why did you yell it out?"
"Eh, I felt like it. Come on, let's get back to the first room and see what those red cranks we activated do." They left the chamber, finding themselves back in the room where the Dungeon Map had been acquired. Skull Kid put on the Zora Mask and jumped into the channel, letting himself get pulled back to the main room. Once there, he pulled himself onto the edge of the ledge that ran around the room and walked over to the door back to the first room, climbing up the ladders on the side. He pulled off the mask and entered. Once inside, he saw that the first red waterspout was now active. It was in the northwest corner of the room, to his right, but he saw no way to get to it. He couldn't jump to it from his ledge. Then he saw a hookshot target just above the waterspout. He used the hookshot on the target, pulling himself onto the top of the waterspout. The pillar of water rose and fell, matching heights with the red crank when at its maximum height. Skull Kid jumped over to the crank platform and turned it. The inactive red waterspout in the middle of the room went on, shooting water at the waterwheel on the ceiling. With both the yellow waterspout and the red waterspout on, the wheel stopped turning, meaning that there was no more current in the last room. This would have been great, except for one thing. The lifts had stopped working because the waterwheel had stopped turning, leaving Skull Kid stuck in this room until he turned off one of the waterwheels. He remembered what Tael had said about green pipes, and remembered that the corridors in the main room that led from the rooms where Skull Kid had gotten the Compass, the Dungeon Map, and the Boss Key had green pipes coming to or from them. Skull Kid considered just turning off the red pipe, until he checked the Dungeon Map. It seemed that the channel in the Dungeon Map room actually led from another room! If Skull Kid could reverse the current by turning off the yellow waterspout, then he would be able to access whatever was in those other rooms. He jumped off the platform, diving into the water. Since the crank he was looking for was on the surface of the water, he didn't need to turn into a Zora to get it. He climbed onto the crank's platform, and turned it, shutting off the yellow waterspout under the waterwheel, causing it to turn the other way. The yellow bridge waterspout still remained. The elevator platforms started working again. Skull kid swam over to them and jumped on, then hopped across the ledges and waterspout back to the main chamber. He was pleased to see the big tower-paddle-thingy was now turning the other way. He was about to get in the water, when he noticed that the beginning of the green pipe (as well as the non-important yellow pipe) came out from over the doorway that was blocked by the waterfall from the ceiling. The only way to get to that doorway would be to cross the rotating building/pillar. It didn't look that hard. He walked down the stairs from his platform and walked across the bridge to the rotating tower. He jumped onto its ledge and almost lost his balance. The tower seemed to be spinning quite fast. He stumbled around the tower, trying to make it to the bridge. He jumped off, hoping he was on the right end. He wasn't. He had to think of a better way to get to the other side. He got one. He pulled out his Icerang and threw it at the water, forming an iceberg. The iceberg was caught up in the current and came towards Skull Kid, hitting the bridge and stopping. Skull Kid hopped onto the iceberg and made another one just to his right, which also got caught by the current and knocked into the bridge. Skull Kid repeated this process until he finally reached the bridge and walked to the bottom of the waterfall. The water spilled off into the pool itself, the source of the pool's water. Skull Kid knew there was a drain at the bottom of the pool, which recycled the water back into this same waterfall. He hadn't found a switch to stop the flow of water, but he found something better. He threw his Icerang at the grate, freezing the water just coming out in a block of ice, stopping the waterfall. The room's water did not drain, for one simple reason: since the waterfall and the drain were both recycling the same thing, if there were no way to start either grate, the whole plumbing system would automatically shut down, preventing any water from entering or exiting the room through the complex plumbing system mentioned earlier. However, this meant that even if Skull Kid turned the green crank in the next room, it would not send water down the pipe until the system was fixed. But that wouldn't present any problem, Skull Kid could just climb up the statue's neck and use the Gigaton Hammer to melt the block of ice he had made. He hookshot up to the statue, walked around it to the door, and went in. He was in a corridor with a steep slope leading up to the door. Spike Traps spun across the slope. It was easy to get past them, all he had to do was time his ascent with the patterns of the Traps' movements. He reached the door and went in. He was in a square room with a high ceiling. There was a meshwork grating covering most of the ceiling, forming a platform with a few barrels on it. Gaps in the meshing had hookshots on the ceiling above and a little to the side of them, allowing access. However, there was nothing of interest up there, as I already said. The floor was a fairly wide walkway around a deep square pool. Spikes lined the walls, along with a few hookshot targets. Four square pillars rose from the pool. Two of them had grooves on their sides, allowing a person to climb. The other two pillars were the pumps for the yellow and green pipes. The yellow pump had no crank, merely the yellow pipe coming from the top of it and going through the wall above the door. The green pipe came from the side of its pump and went through the wall above the door, just like the yellow pipe. It had a crank on top. Skull Kid was easily able to jump across the pillars to get to the crank. He turned it, but nothing happened since the pumps were shut off. He would have to go outside and turn them back on. But once the pumps were activated, the water would go through the green pipe since the crank had been turned. Skull Kid left the room and carefully descended the slope back into the main room. Once there, he climbed to the top of the dragon statue and slammed his Gigaton Hammer, unleashing a wave of fire that melted the ice, restarting the waterfall and the plumbing system. Water flowed through the green pipe to the next crank. Skull Kid donned the Zora Mask and jumped off the dragon's head, diving to the water far below in a spectacular, flawless dive that left Tael speechless. He submerged and let the current pull him around, while he looked for the green pipe's whereabouts. It led into the channel that led from the room where he had gotten the Dungeon Map. With the current reversed, he would be able to go the other way down the channel. He swam into it and let the current pull him to its end. He passed through the Dungeon map room, past a pair of Dexihands that were too slow to catch him, and down another long corridor before the current died down. He was in a pool of water in yet another big room. There were several Skullfish in the water that he easily dispatched before coming to the surface. To his right was a platform with an elevator platform going up and down next to it. Above him was another huge waterwheel, being turned by a waterfall from the ceiling. At the far end of the room, level and a bit to the right of the waterwheel, was a corridor. The green pipe snaked from the corridor Skull Kid had just come out of and went into the door. Skull Kid saw that the far end of the waterwheel had a flywheel that would actually allow Skull Kid to jump to the corridor if he could somehow stop the waterwheel and get up there without the lift. Then he saw how he could do it. He knew that the temple builders had probably designed it so that the lift only worked when the waterwheel was turning. He could use the Icerang to freeze the waterfall as long as he was high enough to make the jump to the waterwheel from the lift. He took off the Zora Mask and swam over to the lift as it went underwater. When it went back up, it carried Skull Kid as well, taking him up to the ceiling. Skull Kid knew he had to time this perfectly. If he messed up, he would have no way to reach the block of ice to melt it. His hammer's range was twenty feet, and he knew that the waterfall was beyond that. He waited until he was just at the top of the lift's path, then threw the Icerang. It froze, stopping the lift and the waterwheel, whose flywheel was now horizontal. Skull Kid backed up and made a rolling jump from the edge of the lift, increasing his chances of hitting the lift. He did. It hurt a little, but Skull Kid shook it off and carefully walked down the shaft of the lift. He walked along the flywheel to its edge, looking to his left to see the corridor. He made another risky jump, grabbing onto the corridor's edge. He walked down the corridor, following the pipe, and found himself in a small room. It was a room with a single green crank in its center. The floor was covered in ankle-deep water. There was another corridor on the right side of the room. There were no enemies or puzzles. It looked too easy. Suspicious, Skull Kid stepped towards the crank.
"Skull Kid, doesn't this seem like a trap to you? Don't touch the crank until we find out why this room is so easy."
Skull Kid paused. "Yeah, I'm betting this is a trap, but I don't see anything. I wonder…" He looked up and saw thirty large, bulbous pods covering the high ceiling.
"Ew," said Tael. "Those are Tektite eggs."
"I get it now, if I had touched the crank, the Tektites would have hatched and attacked me. Well, we'll just see about that." He took out his Icerang. "Tael, target each egg one by one for me, willya?"
Tael flew up to a random egg. "Pull!" he yelled. Skull Kid hurled the Icerang, freezing the egg and killing the Tektite larvae inside of it. He repeated the process with each egg until all were frozen and dead. Skull Kid didn't grin though. He seemed a little troubled. "What is it?" asked Tael, flying back to his partner.
"It's just, well, we killed those babies before they even had a chance to grow, to live. Even if they were evil monsters, was it right to kill them before they could even mature?" He sighed. "I know we're on an important mission and all, but I've heard that the ends do not justify the means. Does saving the world mean killing thirty defenseless larvae? Maybe I should have just tried fighting them all."
Tael snorted. "Yeah, and died trying. Where would you be then? Dead, your mission ended, your friends and family disappointed in you, the entire universe destroyed, just because you didn't want to kill thirty insects in their sleep? There is such a thing as necessary evil, you know."
Skull Kid sighed. "It doesn't matter anyway. What's done is done. Let's just push this crank and move on. I hope I don't have to do a murder like that again."
"I'm sure you won't." said Tael reassuringly. Skull Kid pushed the crank, sending water through the green pipe in the corridor to the right. Skull Kid went down the corridor and found himself in the previously inaccessible high corridor overlooking the room where he had found the compass. He jumped down and put on the Zora Mask. Since the current had been reversed, he could now easily leave the room, following the green pipe down the corridor until he back in the main room. The pipe went down the wall and across the floor, ending in a non-rotational base beneath the central rotating tower. Skull Kid knew it was time. He swam down to the building, grabbing on to the edge of the doorstop. He pulled himself up and used the Boss Key in the door, going inside.
He was now inside the tower. The shaft of the paddle thing came through the roof, where it stopped just the floor and split sideways, sending two metal bars into the walls, where they became the paddles outside. There were two other pairs of protruding metal bars as well, one for each set of paddles. Skull Kid was standing on solid ground between two rows of spikes. At the end of the ground was a wooden block, set into the floor. There were several ledges protruding from the walls higher up. One of them on the second level, right wall, had a hookshot target on its edge. The entire tower was slowly rotating. It was a little wobbly, but Skull Kid could walk. Skull Kid pulled off the Zora Mask and used his hookshot to get up to the ledge, pulling himself up the edge. There was another ledge just to his right that he could easily jump to, and another ledge across from his current position that he could reach by jumping from the second ledge. He made the jumps to the ledge on the other side and found an inscription with a Triforce carved above it. Skull Kid read the inscription. "It says, if you wish to awaken the path sleeping beneath this temple, you must play the song that awakened the shelled one in the form of a fish. I understand that the shelled one was the turtle and the form of a fish would be me as a Zora. But what song does it mean?"
"Oh! Oh! It means the New Wave Bossa Nova. The scientist guy taught it to me when I was getting help to save you from the pirates. It goes like this…" He jingled out the tune.
Skull Kid played it on his flute. Nothing happened. "Oh yeah, I have to be a Zora." He put on the Zora Mask, then played the flute. Suddenly, at the bottom of the tower, slits that had looked like just carvings on the walls opened, letting water in. Buoyed by the water, the wooden block floated from its setting, stopping beneath the ledge that had the Hookshot target. Once the block had hit the ledge, the slits closed, leaving the tower almost half-filled with water.
"What was the point of that?" asked Tael.
"I think I know. Look! There's a hole where the block was. He can go down it and find the boss. See, you can see the green pipe down there, so there must be another crank in wherever the passage leads that will get us to the boss."
"Let's go then!"
Skull Kid dived into the water and submerged, trying to avoid the spikes at the bottom as the tower kept spinning. He found it easier to stay near the center, but that wasn't easy since while underwater, he wasn't affected by the tower's spinning and could get hit by the walls or the paddle-bars. Still, he managed to hit the ground and walk beneath the shaft to the hole with the pipe. He fell in and sank down a long tunnel. At the bottom was a corridor going straight ahead, with the green pipe on the wall. Skull Kid followed the pipe and found himself at the bottom of a pool of water in a huge slightly rectangular room. The green pipe went along the wall, rising out of the water to make a slope, until it turned right, leaving the wall and making contact with the platform that held the final crank, suspended high above the pool in the middle of the room by arches coming out of the underwater floor. The pipe went along the wall again out of the crank and snaked across the wall before going back under the water and ending in a green waterspout, which was between the crank platform and a ledge with a door on it. That door had to be where the demon was, since it was the only place left to look. Also, creepy spider-like legs grew from the bottom of the ledge that went into the water, not to mention the various bright lights surrounding the ledge and the door, and the fact that the door was very big and decorated differently than the rest of the temple's doors. Skull Kid walked up the pipe, carefully making his way to the crank. Once there, he turned it, activating the green waterspout. He pulled off the Zora Mask and took a running jump to the waterspout. When it reached the top of its climb, Skull Kid jumped onto the ledge, grabbing it by the edge. He climbed up, ran to the door, and opened it. He went inside. The next room was kind of small. It was octagonal, with a hole in the middle of the floor. Cries of help could be heard from below. "Sounds like the Sages of this Temple. Let's save them!" Skull Kid jumped into the hole. After a relatively long drop, he landed on a circular platform in the middle of a huge square room filled with water. There appeared to be seaweed and rocks growing at the bottom of the pool. He looked around and suddenly saw two female Zoras bobbing in big bubbles on opposite sides of the room. The bubbles were attached to the floor by strong kelp stalks. The first Zora Skull Kid sort of recognized as Ruto, Sage of Water and princess of the Zoras. The other Zora was ten years older, but still looked like Ruto. Skull Kid recognized her as Lulu, lead singer in the Indigo-go's and obviously the new Sage of whatever. Skull Kid knew the demon Gyorg was around here somewhere. Remembering how useful the boss masks had been in the past, he took out Gyorg's Mask and put it on, searching for its power. He found it. "Ah man."
"What? What power does the mask have?"
"It has the power to make me breathe underwater."
A moment passed. "WHAT?"
"You heard me. A completely useless power. It looks like I'll have to think of something clever to save the day." They were interrupted by a bubbling noise in the water close to them. Suddenly, something erupted from the water and leapt over the platform. It was a whopping thirty feet long. It was red-brown, covered in scales. It had three fins on its back. Its tail was large as well, flexible enough to easily propel its owner through the water. Six sharp spines jutted from its sides, able to cut through anything on either side of the thing. Its front fins actually looked more like some kind of bat wing, with three claws coming from the fin's end. Its head was huge and ugly, squat but tall. It had two horns protruding from its forehead, one above the other. It had two giant green eyes, and a massive mouth filled with razor sharp teeth and huge fangs. Or were they big enough to be considered tusks? Either way, it was definitely the demon.
GYORG: GARGANTUAN POETRY-WRITING DEMON FISH
Gyorg splashed down on the other side of the platform, then came up, spinning to face Skull Kid. "Who dares intrude in my temple? Say, is that the mask that I was imprisoned in for over a thousand years?"
Skull Kid decided now would be a good time to think of something clever. He did. "Um, no. I actually carved this mask myself. I'm a huge fan of yours!"
Gyorg actually believed it. "Really? You like my poetry? I thought nobody liked my poetry! Majora only said he was going to publish my books because he wanted to see if there was such a thing as mass torture. So which book did you like the best? Ocean gurgling? Aqua noise? Fishy feelings?"
"Uh, the second one."
"Ooh, that's my favorite too! You know nobody back in Hell appreciated my poetic genius either, not even all the other water demons! They all keep paying attention to stupid Tortus! Those two Zoras don't seem to like my poetry either! Here, let me read you this one I've just made up: When the sea is blue, that makes me blue too, when the sea is green, that makes me feel green too, when the sea is red, that makes me feel red too, when the sea is purple, that makes me feel purple too, when the sea is orange, that makes me feel orange too, when the sea is white, that makes me feel white too, when the sea is orange, that makes me feel orange too, when the sea is black, that makes me feel black too, when the sea is fuschia, that makes me feel fuschia too…" One hour later, Gyorg was finally finishing the poem, after going through every color and color variation he knew of. "…That makes me feel gray too, I feel colorful man! So, what'd you think!"
Ruto and Lulu were throwing up in their bubbles. Skull Kid would have gawked if he weren't wearing a tight mask. That was definitely the worst poem he had ever heard. No wonder nobody liked his poetry! He had to say something complimentary and fast if he wanted to keep up the act. "That…that was the most beautiful poem I have ever heard!" Tael looked like he was going to throw up. Of course, since he was a ball of light, it was hard to tell.
"Great! I'll read it again…"
"No! No! I want to keep that first reading etched in my mind forever! May I have your autograph?"
"Sure! I'll come right over." Gyorg swam to the edge of the platform, pulling his upper body onto the platform itself. "Now, may I have a paper or something?"
"Sure, just lean a little closer, with your mouth open…that's right, that's right…there! Now, let me just get you a paper and pen so you can sign using that beautiful tongue of yours. I would like it to say, "To my fan, EAT EXPLOSIVE DEATH YOU BASTARD!"
"Eat explosive death you bastard? What kind of name is that?" Skull Kid pulled out the normal bomb that he had lit inside of the pack and hurled it into the demon's mouth. It exploded in Gyorg's stomach, stunning him. Skull Kid whipped out his dagger and stabbed the demon fish through the eye, piercing his brain. Gyorg roared and leapt completely onto the platform, flopping around like a fish out of water, which he was. With each flop he got smaller and smaller, until finally what was left of him burned up, returning to Hell. A portal opened where he had vanished.
Skull Kid pulled off the mask, grinning. "Wow! This worthless mask did come in handy after all!"
"Say, shouldn't we help those girls now?"
"Right, right." Skull Kid put on the Zora Mask and dove into the water, heading for Lulu's bubble first. He cut the kelp strand with his boomerang fins, popping the bubble as well. Lulu eagerly swam to the platform, yelling her thanks back at Skull Kid. Skull Kid repeated the process with Ruto, who actually sank to the bottom and gave him a big kiss on the cheek before going to the platform.
When Skull Kid made it back to the platform, the Zoras had already jumped into the portal. He pulled off the mask and followed suit. He was back in the Chamber of Sages. As usual, Rauru was standing on his platform, looking pleased. Ruto and Lulu were on the Water platform. They gave a little wave to him, smiling. Rauru smiled and spoke. "Another temple completed. I'm impressed. You've still got over three weeks to go. Now, your friends would like to give you something."
Ruto spoke. "I was kind of expecting Linky or Tito to save me from that fish's awful poetry, but you'll do. You know, you're pretty cute. Kind of reminds me of how Link was when we first met…" she sighed, slightly wistful. "But I'm over that. Now, let me give you your reward. Of course, that kiss could be seen as a reward, so just take this Water Medallion, will you?" She raised her hands. There was a flash high above, and another Medallion fell to him. Skull Kid grabbed it as it fell. It was deep blue, with a Triforce symbol on the back and six drops of water arranged in an outward-pointing circle on the front.
Lulu spoke. "I kind of thought it was funny how you tricked that fish. I knew he was stupid enough to write poetry like that, but I didn't know he was that stupid. By the way, how is my husband and the rest of the band?"
Skull Kid stalled, then said, "Last time I saw them, they were frozen in a big block of ice."
Lulu actually seemed reassured. "Good, that means they weren't hurt. They should be melting now that Gyorg is gone, and the water will return to normal as well. In any case, I don't want you wasting time by going all the way to Zora's Domain to check on them or anything. I just want you to tell Juba-Juba that I'm fine and he'll still get to hear me sing."
"Who's Juba-Juba?"
"The turtle." Whispered Tael.
"Now, I would like to reward you with two things." Lulu tossed Skull Kid four pieces of paper. "These are tickets for the Indigo-go's next concert, whenever that is. You can take three of your friends with you and get front- row seats."
"Sweet!" said Skull Kid, putting the tickets away.
"Now for your more important reward. Take this Ocean Medallion with my thanks." She tossed the Medallion to Skull Kid. He caught it. It was blue- green, with a Triforce symbol on the back and a tidal wave on the front.
Rauru coughed to get Skull Kid's attention. "Now it's my turn. I think I should tell you a little more about where you're going. First, the dragon. Nabooru's ancestor, the builder of the Spirit Temple, created the dragon Ge from the sands of the desert. Now for the more important part. Stone Tower. I have no idea who the Sage there is. I'm not sure who built the place in the first place. It actually seems to be older than the other temples, almost as old as the Temple of Time itself. I don't know what the Sage is of, either."
Skull Kid shrugged. "Big deal. Pretty much all of the Sages are leaders among their own kind. Who's down with the Gerudo now?"
"The undead of Ikana." Said Rauru.
"Then that means Igos is probably the Sage. No worries Rauru. I can handle the temple."
"You're probably right, but remember that this temple is going to be more dangerous and more confusing than the last three. It'll also take the most time, because it will take about a week round trip to cross the desert. Anyway, to get there you'll have to pass through Gerudo/Ikana Canyon. To reach the canyon, leave the beach and head northwest across Hymina Field for three days. When you reach ground that has no trees, head west. You'll reach the canyon in no time. Now, go forth and continue your good work." Rauru raised his arms. There was a flash, then nothingness.
Well, what did you think? Bet the boss battle was nothing like you expected, was it? Skull Kid has completed three-fourths of his quest to find the Sages. And then he must defeat Ganondorf…and Majora. Will he persevere? And is Igos really the next sage? Find out next time!
Disclaimer: I'm bored.
Chapter 10
The turtle stopped swimming. They had reached their destination. They had entered the front hall of the temple. It had a tiled floor with several barrels scattered around the room. The turtle anchored himself in the pool of water right in front of a set of stairs that led up to a door. After saying their good-byes, Skull Kid and Tael headed through the door. They were in a huge square room, filled with water. Two elevator platforms went up the walls on either side of the platform with the door. The platform on the left led to an empty ledge. The one on the right led to a larger ledge with a gap between it and the next ledge, which had a door on it. The floor of the pool was covered with yellow and red pipes. In the very middle of the room was a yellow crank on a platform. On either side of the crank was a waterspout. The one on the left was red and inactive. A red pipe led from the waterspout to a tall pillar with a red crank on it, which had another red pipe that led to another inactive waterspout, then went through the wall to the next room. The one on the right was yellow and active, sending water up to a large waterwheel on the ceiling, turning its shaft that led into another room. In the upper-right corner of the pool was another yellow crank, which had a pipe leading to an inactive waterspout in the gap between the two ledges. Another pipe led from the next room to the crank, splitting so it went to the second crank as well. There did not appear to be any enemies in the room. Skull Kid swam over to the first yellow crank. He pulled himself onto the platform and turned it. Immediately, the yellow waterspout shut off. The waterwheel stopped turning, and the elevators stopped working. Skull Kid quickly reactivated the waterspout, fixing the machinery. He decided to try the other crank, which was underwater. He put on the Zora Mask and dived onto the platform. He turned the crank, activating the other yellow waterspout, making a sort of bridge for the gap. Skull Kid swam over to the right elevator platform and hopped on. When he was level with the ledge, he jumped onto it and was immediately attacked by two Skulltulla. Angrily, he killed them with a few well-timed kicks. He ran over to the edge of the ledge and looked over the side, into the waterspout, which periodically rose and fell. He knew he was a better jumper as his true form, so he took off the mask and jumped onto the waterspout. When it was high enough, Skull Kid jumped off onto the ledge. He ran through the door at the end and found himself in an amazing room. It was round and very deep. Most of the room was filled with water. Red and green pipes went from door to door in the room. Speaking of which, most of the doors were underwater. There was a staircase from his door that led down to a bridge that went straight across the room. However, there was a square tower jutting out of the room's floor and blocked the bridge. It had a ledge around it to walk across, but it was spinning. The waterwheel in the first room connected to a large set of gears on this room's ceiling, which led down in a shaft that connected with the top of the tower, making it turn. Three sets of paddles extended from the tower, one for each level of the pool. The pool itself had several doors on the walls. The rim of the pool had a narrow ledge that circled the whole room. Ladders on either side of Skull Kid's pillar led down to the ledge. At the other end of the bridge was a door on a pillar. A large statue of a dragon's head and neck peered over the edge of the platform, a hookshot target on its neck. Skull Kid would have been able to hookshot to it, but a strong waterfall from a grate in the ceiling only inches above the dragon head blocked it. At the very bottom of the pool was a grate that the water drained into. The water probably went through several complex plumbing before coming out the grate again. It was like perpetual motion, sort of. There was probably some way to shut off the grate. Skull Kid was completely unsure of where to start. This central room was so big. "Tael, where do we start?"
Tael flew into the water and was pulled along by the current. He came out a second later. "The current is very strong. We can only go to two of the rooms. The current blocks everything else. The tower has a door in its base, but it's locked with the Boss Key lock. Even if we had the Boss Key, I don't think we could use the door just yet, because I saw a green pipe leading from one of the doors that went into the floor right next to the tower. I think we have to turn a bunch of green and red cranks, seeing all of the pipes around this place. I suggest we use the door on the right side of the middle floor. My guardian fairy instincts agree on this."
Skull Kid nodded and walked onto the bridge in the middle of the room. He donned the Zora Mask and dove into the water, swimming with the current to the appropriate passage. The corridor turned to the left, where a row of sharp spikes prevented him from walking any further. He swam over the spikes and continued down the corridor. The corridor turned right again, and ended in a dead end. Skull Kid was stumped until he saw the hole in the ceiling. He swam up the hole and Skull Kid found himself in a pool in a long, narrow rectangular room. There were several Skullfish, who immediately saw him and tried to attack. Skull Kid easily killed them all, then rose to the surface. There were four platforms scattered about the room. The closest platform was low enough for him to climb up on, but the other three were not. One of the higher platforms had a treasure chest, another had jars, and the platform at the far end of the room had a door. Unfortunately, it was inaccessible at the moment. A corridor was in the wall above the platform with the jars, a green pipe running from it and going through the corridor Skull Kid had come through. Skull Kid climbed onto the low platform then took off the Zora Mask. He targeted the treasure chest with his hookshot, then pulled himself onto it. He opened the chest and found…"Gee, a compass. Big whoop. Hey Tael, how do these compass things allow me to see hidden treasure chests? I've never understand that."
Tael shrugged. "Search me."
Skull Kid put the compass away and donned the Zora Mask once more. He dived to the bottom of the pool and headed towards another hole in the floor. He jumped in, but was grabbed from behind by something very powerful. It shook him about before throwing him into a wall. He groaned and got up. "What the?"
"That was a Dexihand. It's an annoying aquatic life form that can only be killed with a boomerang or an electric attack."
"I think I'll take my chances with boomerang. Z-Target!" Tael targeted the Dexihand, which was on the edge of the hole. He shot it with his boomerang fins, killing it. He sunk into the hole, finding himself in another corridor. He walked down the corridor and entered a small rectangular room, really only a little taller than the corridor. There was a platform with a door above the pool at the other end of the room. Large lily pads floated in the water. From their undersides hung Bio Deku Babas. Skull Kid hated weeds like these. They were like normal Deku Baba, except they lived underwater and had arms. Using his boomerang fins, Skull Kid severed the Babas from their stalks. They fell to the floor, and mutated into horrible new creatures! They tried to attack Skull Kid, but he killed them with a few electric attacks. He floated to the surface and headed through the door. He was in an irregular-shaped room. He was on a large T- shaped platform, on the bottom part. A channel ran beneath the bottom part of the platform, moving at an intense speed. In front of the main portion was a large pool of water, with some more Bio Deku Baba lily pads. An alcove at the other end of the room contained a treasure chest and a Real Bombchu. It could only be accessed by the hookshot. Another alcove next to it was longer, more like a corridor. However, there seemed to be no way to get there just yet. At the bottom of the pool was another treasure chest, guarded by a Dexihand. Skull Kid easily eliminated all the enemies in the room before checking out the booty. Using the hookshot, he got to the alcove and found…the Dungeon Map! Since the map had actually been useful in the last temple, Skull Kid just put it away. He then turned into a Zora and sank to the other treasure chest. He found…a Small Key! "Oh no! Not these things again!" moaned Skull Kid. "Tael, please tell me this is a Water Key or something that unlocks all the doors in this temple!"
"Sorry Skull Kid, but it isn't." Skull Kid groaned and put away the key. He then realized that he was sort of trapped in here, since the current that had taken him to that first room was one-way. He decided the best (and only) way out of this room was to jump into the channel. He jumped in and let the current pull him along.
He found himself back in the central chamber, but this time he was on the first level. He swam to the surface and pulled himself onto the ledge around the room. "Where's that other door you mentioned?" asked Skull Kid.
"It's on the bottom floor, upper left side. It has a big wooden block in front of it." Skull Kid sank to the floor and allowed himself to be pulled towards the appropriate door. He entered the corridor and turned right, following the path. He had to climb out of the water at the end to enter the next room. He found himself in a room with a large gap. A crystal switch stood next to him. A pair of Blue Tektite sat at the other end of the room, in front of the door. Skull Kid stunned the Tektites with his boomerang fins then hit the switch next to him. A waterspout shot out of the gap, providing a stepping stone to the other side. Skull Kid jumped across and went through the door before the Tektites could wake up. He was in another corridor that turned left. He followed it and was in yet another room. It was square, with a huge red pedestal/pump extending out of the water. A crank sat on top of the pillar. A red pipe ran from the pillar, crawling across the walls until it met with a ledge on the north side of the room, went just beneath it, then sloped into the water on the east wall, finally going through the corridor Skull Kid had just exited. The ledge the pipe had run under had a door on it. In the southeast and southwest corners of the room on the surface was a pair of platforms. There were plenty of Skullfish and Shell Blades in the water, and a few Octorocks on the surface. Skull Kid eliminated the Skullfish easily, but the Shell Blades were a lot tougher. He managed to kill them, but not without suffering major damage. His left arm was badly hurt. He had a few Red Potions, a few bottles of Lon-Lon Milk, one dose of Chateau Romani, along with some fish and a couple of bottles of Gold Dust he had probably acquired while he had been drunk back at Goron City. He could only use the Red Potions on land, so he had to get to the surface. He had noticed the door on the ledge and knew he had to get there. He swam over to the bottom of the red pipe and started walking up. As he walked up the pipe, he had to be careful to avoid the Octorock attacks while clutching his left arm to stop the bleeding. He made it to the ledge and gulped down a Red Potion, healing himself. He took off the mask and headed through the door. He was in a corridor with a pair of Chuchu. He easily killed them and entered the door at the other side of the corridor. He was in a tall, square room with several gratings on the walls. As he took a step forward, iron bars sealed the door behind him. A Gekko appeared, dropping from the ceiling. It was hideous, like a giant red poisonous frog on its hind legs. It had black stripes all over its body, and spines protruding from its back. It had a wide, evil grin and big yellow eyes. It ribbited and hopped towards Skull Kid. Tael targeted it. Skull Kid shot it with his crossbow. That made the Gekko angry. It grinned and pointed at the ceiling. Skull Kid looked, and wished he hadn't. On the ceiling was a grotesque giant eyeball, surrounded by about a hundred little bubbles. The eyeball, along with the bubbles, dropped from the ceiling, hitting the floor with a sickening thud. The Gekko cackled and started hopping towards the giant eyeball. The bubbles began bouncing towards Skull Kid. Skull Kid stared in disgust. "Tael? Please identify!"
Tael flew over to the eyeball. "This thing is a Wart. Those bubbles bouncing towards you are its children. The Wart will attack you by rolling at you. The only way you can damage it is by shooting it in the eye." Said Tael.
The Gekko jumped on top of the Wart. The Wart began to roll straight for Skull Kid. The Gekko managed to stay on by running against the direction of his steed's roll. Skull Kid jumped out of his way, the bubbles surrounding them. He swung his dagger, hitting and popping bubble after bubble. They still kept crowding around him. Skull Kid charged up his dagger, unleashing a spin attack and popping a dozen bubbles. They still kept coming, and the Wart was about to roll into him. Then he had a brilliant idea. He put on the Zora Mask and unleashed his electric attack. Since bubbles are basically made of water, the current of electricity ran from bubble to bubble, killing them all. Now there was nothing to distract from the main fight. Wart and Gekko rolled towards Skull Kid. As Tael targeted, Skull Kid whipped out the hookshot and fired at Wart's eye, striking just before the ugly monster hit him. Wart roared and stopped rolling, its eye spinning. The sudden brake caused Gekko to be hurled off, straight into a wall. He stumbled around, dazed. Skull Kid quickly shot the frog with his crossbow. The Gekko yelped and hopped back towards Wart. Skull Kid backed away, ready to use his hookshot. However, what happened next was unexpected. When the Gekko got onto Wart, it screamed a command. The Wart trembled and jumped, attaching itself to the ceiling. It glared at Skull Kid with his eye, then dropped, barely missing him. Dazed, Skull Kid barely dodged the eyeball's roll. When he recovered, he readied his hookshot as Wart started to turn around. He shot the beast in the eye again, allowing him to hit Gekko with another arrow. When Gekko and Wart hopped onto the ceiling again, Skull Kid managed to make it to one of the room's corners before the eyeball fell and started rolling. Skull Kid poked it once again, and shot Gekko with another arrow. Gekko and Wart jumped back to the ceiling again, while Skull Kid stayed in his corner. As the eye prepared to drop, Skull Kid got a great idea. He shot Wart with his hookshot before he could drop from the ceiling. Stunned, Wart fell to the ground, knocking Gekko off. Skull Kid shot the poisonous frog with yet another arrow. Gekko and Wart tried their drop again, but Skull Kid shot them down and fired one last arrow at Gekko. The frog screamed. Wart trembled and exploded into a puddle of green goo. The Gekko screamed again and fell to the floor, its flesh melting and crumbling to pieces. A treasure chest appeared in the middle of the room. Skull Kid panted and took a swig of Lon-Lon Milk, re-energizing himself. He walked over to the chest and opened it. He was surprised to find…a Boomerang! It was not the regular orange with a red jewel, instead it was blue with a white jewel. "Hey, wait! I already have boomerang fins! " Said Skull Kid.
"That's not a regular boomerang. That's an Icerang! It allows you to freeze objects at great distances. You can use it to plug up grates of water, or turn enemies into temporary blocks of ice, or even make icebergs to cross water. Very useful, no?"
"Well, I can see several uses for this baby. After all, this is a temple filled with water." Skull Kid put away the Icerang and headed back to the room with the red crank. Skull Kid could see no way to access it. The pipe went sheer vertical for a little while, so he couldn't climb it. He couldn't jump to it, and he couldn't hookshot to it. Frustrated, he jumped into the water. However, he had forgotten about the Octorocks. As they bombarded him with rocks, he quickly swam towards one of the platforms in the southern corners of the room. He pulled himself up. An Octorock was in the water right in front of him. The stupid cephalopod spat a rock, only to shatter against the edge of the platform. Suddenly, Skull Kid got an inspiration. The Octorock was right between him and the platform. In fact, if he could climb on top of the Octorock, he could jump to the platform. And he had just the thing to make the Octorock stand still. He threw his Icerang at the Octorock, freezing it in a block of ice. He ran and jumped onto the block of ice, grabbing it by the edge. He pulled himself up and made another jump, also grabbing on by the edge. Behind him, the Octorock quickly melted then turned around, about to spit a rock that would cause Skull Kid to fall. He pulled himself up before that could happen. He walked over to the crank and turned it, sending water down the red pipe. Skull Kid knew the current would prevent him from exiting the way he had entered, but he spied another corridor underwater. He donned the Zora Mask and dove to the corridor, following the current and finding himself back at the main room, bottom level. Following the current, he decided to keep after the red pipe to see where the next crank was. It led back to the room where he had gotten the Compass. He retraced his route, finding himself back in that room. The pipe led up to the door on the platform, disappearing into the wall. Skull Kid knew not even the Zora dolphin leap could help him here, but he had another method to cross. He pulled off his Zora Mask and took out his Icerang. He threw it at the water just in front of him, forming a small iceberg. He hopped onto the iceberg and used his Icerang on the water right in front of his iceberg, forming another iceberg. He continued in this manner until he reached the platform with the door. Even though the iceberg elevated him a bit, he was still too short to make it to the platform. So he put on the Zora Mask, stepped onto the iceberg right behind the one he had been standing on and took a running jump for the platform. As he grabbed onto the edge, the icebergs he had used all melted. He climbed up onto the platform and discovered the door was locked. Good thing he had a small key. He entered the room. It wasn't that big. Another red crank sat at the back wall on a high pillar. The red pipe from before went into the pillar, and came out the other side, going back into the room Skull Kid had just left. There seemed to be no way up the pillar. In front of Skull Kid was a Blue Chuchu. Skull Kid was about to kill it with his Zora Boomerang, when he suddenly had an idea. He took off the Zora Mask and hit the Chuchu with his Icerang, freezing it in a block of ice. He then pushed the block until it made contact with the pillar. He climbed onto the block and the pillar then turned the red crank. Water was sent gushing through the red pipe, heading back into the last room. Skull Kid put the mask back on and left the room before the Blue Chuchu could melt. He looked for where the red pipe went and saw it went into the corridor that used to have all those Bio Deku Baba. It looked like he was going to have to go a long way before he could make it back to the first room and activate the red crank there. He walked down the long corridor, finally making it back to the room where he had found the Dungeon Map. He was about to jump in the channel, when he suddenly remembered he could now travel to that previously inaccessible alcove/corridor using the Icerang. After taking off the mask and making more iceberg bridges, he pulled himself up to the corridor and found it was icy. There were icicles in his way (Which he easily chopped down) and a block of ice blocking the door. He used the Gigaton Hammer to melt the ice, then entered the door. He was in a room exactly like the Gekko/Wart room had been. Skull Kid looked at the ceiling to see if there was anything on it. There wasn't. He stepped forward and iron bars sealed the door behind him. The shadows in the corners of the room quivered then came together in the center of the room, merging into a large black pool of shadow. The pool started shrinking, sending its mass upward to take on a new shape. A familiar shape. It was…Link? Skull Kid blinked and looked again. It was, and at the same time, was not Link. This Link was completely black in clothing and skin, with red eyes and a black sword and shield. He had a black fairy as well. A very, very familiar-looking black fairy. Skull Kid couldn't believe it. They had locked him away! But it was he. Vari, Navi's evil brother. "Vari!" exclaimed Skull Kid. "What are you doing out of your cell?"
The evil fairy chuckled. "I managed to escape when the demon began his takeover. The foolish fairies of Mesmoria were too busy strengthening the barrier too notice my escape. I easily found my way into employ with Ganondorf, who sent me here to guard the temple along with his creation over here, Dark Link. Isn't that right, Darky?" Dark Link grunted. "Not much of a talker, is he? Anyway, I'm very surprised that you two would be the intruders. Now I'll have to have Dark Link kill you two in revenge."
"Okay, I understand why you would want revenge against Skull Kid since he's the one that uncovered your evil scheme. But why do you want revenge against me? What did I ever do to you?" asked Tael.
"You replaced me as prince of Mesmoria! That is even worse than what Skull Kid did to me! In fact, I think I shall kill you myself for that!"
"Bring it on, Vari." Said Tael.
"Just a second. Dark Link! Do kill the imp for me, would you?" Dark Link grunted. "Okay, thanks. Prepare to die, Tael!" The evil fairy charge Tael. The evil shadow of Link charged Skull Kid. For a moment, he was worried because no Tael meant no targeting, then he remembered that meant Dark Link had no targeting either, since Vari's pride was so great. Slightly reassured by his extra speed as a smaller creature than Dark Link helped encourage him. He ran at Dark Link. Dark Link swung his sword low, trying to cut off Skull Kid's head. Skull Kid rolled under the swing and sliced at Dark Link's stomach with his dagger. The shadow screamed and whacked him with his shield. Skull Kid stumbled away, trying to dodge more swings. He tried to do a jump attack. Dark Link jumped out of the way and struck Skull Kid on the back, drawing blood. Skull Kid winced and tried to get in with his dagger, but Dark Link kept parrying his blows. Out of the corner of his eye, Skull Kid could see a similar fight with Tael and Vari. Charging with electricity, each kept slamming into the other, trying to shock their opponent into submission and only countering each other. Skull Kid realized that daggerplay wasn't going to work on Dark Link. Then he remembered what Link had said about how he had beaten Dark Link. Skull Kid grinned. He backflipped away from Dark Link, getting out of range of the shadow's sword. Her took out the Gigaton Hammer and smashed it on the ground, unleashing a wave of flame that burnt Dark Link. He screamed and vanished, reappearing behind Skull Kid, who swung the hammer, hoping to hit Dark Link. He did, in more ways than one. He heard a high-pitched sound, then a thud as Dark Link fell to the floor. Skull Kid turned around and saw Dark Link was on the floor, wincing in pain and clutching his…er…family jewels, where it seemed Skull Kid had hit him with the Hammer. Skull Kid felt a bit embarrassed but knew he might not get another chance like this. He drew his dagger and stabbed Dark Link through the heart. Dark Link roared and got up, shaking the dagger from his body. Skull Kid was astonished. He was still alive? He had no time to think this over as Dark Link tried to decapitate him. Skull Kid ducked, grabbed his dagger, and rolled forward, knocking Dark Link off his feet. While he was down, Skull Kid stabbed him in the back. The evil shadow roared and flipped onto his back, kicking Skull Kid in the stomach. As Skull Kid doubled over in pain, Dark Link jumped to his feet and raised his sword. Skull Kid recovered and jumped out of the way of the chop. He doubted that Dark Link would allow him to use the same trick twice, so he had to think of a new strategy. He got one. Backing away from the sword swings, Skull Kid powered up and launched his Spinning Dagger Attack. Thanks to certain improvements by a certain blacksmith, the dagger, and thus the attack, were much stronger. Thanks to the spin, the dagger's energy cut into Dark Link's skin, hitting him twelve times. Dark Link screamed and charged Skull Kid. Skull Kid jumped out of the way as Dark Link chopped with unbelievable force. Unfortunately, it caused his sword to get stuck in the ground. While he tried to pull his sword out of the floor, Skull Kid stabbed him in the back. Dark Link roared and pulled his sword out, swinging it over his head and nearly driving it through Skull Kid's forehead. Skull Kid had run out of ideas. He had no more tricks up his sleeve. He ran away, Dark Link chasing after him, waving his sword over his head. He saw Tael and Vari were still at it, and that's when he had a brilliant idea. He ran just past the two fairies, too low to get hit by their electric discharge. Dark Link ran towards the imp, his sword raised high. Tael and Vari, oblivious to anything but each other, backed up, preparing another charge. As Dark Link ran between them, they came together right on his sword, smashing into the flat parts of the blade. Since they had been crackling with electricity, and swords are made from metal, which is conductive to electricity, and Dark Link was holding the sword, he got shocked. He screeched. Tael and Vari flew back, slightly dazed. Dark Link was temporarily paralyzed from the electric discharge. Now was his chance! Skull Kid ran forwards and stabbed Dark Link once more. And that did it. Dark Link moaned and fell to his knees, then to his chest, dead. His sword and shield clattered to the ground, useless. Even though he had not been real, Dark Link had left a pretty real corpse, and pretty real black blood oozing from Dark Link's body, pooling onto the ground. Vari stared in horror and disbelief at what had been one of Ganondorf's greatest creations. "No! No! Noooooo! Who will protect me now?" He gulped and turned to Tael, who was still crackling with electricity, then turned again to Skull Kid, who was approaching him, dagger drawn. Vari gulped again. "Er, maybe we could talk about this…" Tael chose that moment to ram into the unsuspecting Vari, shocking him. "OW! OW! That hurt, you little motherf" Before he could get out another syllable of that awful insult, Skull Kid pulled out his only empty bottle and brought it over the former fairy prince, effectively trapping him. "No! NO! Don't trap me in here like a common peon like that forest fairy over there! Let me out! Let me out! Ahhhh! It's just like my cell in the prison! The walls…the walls are closing in on me! I can't breathe! I can't breathe! I can't…" He fainted.
Skull Kid sighed in relief. "Finally. I thought he would never shut up." He put away the bottle and took a bottle of Red Potion, draining it and healing himself. "Well, that's my last Red Potion. I hope we don't need it later."
"Hey Skull Kid, the door has opened and a treasure chest has appeared over there."
"Well, let's see what's in that chest. By the way, Tael, nice job with the attacking-him-from-behind thing. It allowed me to bottle him."
"Aw, it was nothing. You did all the work."
"True, true. That evil shadow was quite tough, but not too tough for Skull Kid! Mighty Warrior!" They laughed, then went to the ornate treasure chest and opened it, finding…"Sweet! It's the Boss Key! Now I can get into the chamber where the Boss lurks!"
"Yes, I know. So why did you yell it out?"
"Eh, I felt like it. Come on, let's get back to the first room and see what those red cranks we activated do." They left the chamber, finding themselves back in the room where the Dungeon Map had been acquired. Skull Kid put on the Zora Mask and jumped into the channel, letting himself get pulled back to the main room. Once there, he pulled himself onto the edge of the ledge that ran around the room and walked over to the door back to the first room, climbing up the ladders on the side. He pulled off the mask and entered. Once inside, he saw that the first red waterspout was now active. It was in the northwest corner of the room, to his right, but he saw no way to get to it. He couldn't jump to it from his ledge. Then he saw a hookshot target just above the waterspout. He used the hookshot on the target, pulling himself onto the top of the waterspout. The pillar of water rose and fell, matching heights with the red crank when at its maximum height. Skull Kid jumped over to the crank platform and turned it. The inactive red waterspout in the middle of the room went on, shooting water at the waterwheel on the ceiling. With both the yellow waterspout and the red waterspout on, the wheel stopped turning, meaning that there was no more current in the last room. This would have been great, except for one thing. The lifts had stopped working because the waterwheel had stopped turning, leaving Skull Kid stuck in this room until he turned off one of the waterwheels. He remembered what Tael had said about green pipes, and remembered that the corridors in the main room that led from the rooms where Skull Kid had gotten the Compass, the Dungeon Map, and the Boss Key had green pipes coming to or from them. Skull Kid considered just turning off the red pipe, until he checked the Dungeon Map. It seemed that the channel in the Dungeon Map room actually led from another room! If Skull Kid could reverse the current by turning off the yellow waterspout, then he would be able to access whatever was in those other rooms. He jumped off the platform, diving into the water. Since the crank he was looking for was on the surface of the water, he didn't need to turn into a Zora to get it. He climbed onto the crank's platform, and turned it, shutting off the yellow waterspout under the waterwheel, causing it to turn the other way. The yellow bridge waterspout still remained. The elevator platforms started working again. Skull kid swam over to them and jumped on, then hopped across the ledges and waterspout back to the main chamber. He was pleased to see the big tower-paddle-thingy was now turning the other way. He was about to get in the water, when he noticed that the beginning of the green pipe (as well as the non-important yellow pipe) came out from over the doorway that was blocked by the waterfall from the ceiling. The only way to get to that doorway would be to cross the rotating building/pillar. It didn't look that hard. He walked down the stairs from his platform and walked across the bridge to the rotating tower. He jumped onto its ledge and almost lost his balance. The tower seemed to be spinning quite fast. He stumbled around the tower, trying to make it to the bridge. He jumped off, hoping he was on the right end. He wasn't. He had to think of a better way to get to the other side. He got one. He pulled out his Icerang and threw it at the water, forming an iceberg. The iceberg was caught up in the current and came towards Skull Kid, hitting the bridge and stopping. Skull Kid hopped onto the iceberg and made another one just to his right, which also got caught by the current and knocked into the bridge. Skull Kid repeated this process until he finally reached the bridge and walked to the bottom of the waterfall. The water spilled off into the pool itself, the source of the pool's water. Skull Kid knew there was a drain at the bottom of the pool, which recycled the water back into this same waterfall. He hadn't found a switch to stop the flow of water, but he found something better. He threw his Icerang at the grate, freezing the water just coming out in a block of ice, stopping the waterfall. The room's water did not drain, for one simple reason: since the waterfall and the drain were both recycling the same thing, if there were no way to start either grate, the whole plumbing system would automatically shut down, preventing any water from entering or exiting the room through the complex plumbing system mentioned earlier. However, this meant that even if Skull Kid turned the green crank in the next room, it would not send water down the pipe until the system was fixed. But that wouldn't present any problem, Skull Kid could just climb up the statue's neck and use the Gigaton Hammer to melt the block of ice he had made. He hookshot up to the statue, walked around it to the door, and went in. He was in a corridor with a steep slope leading up to the door. Spike Traps spun across the slope. It was easy to get past them, all he had to do was time his ascent with the patterns of the Traps' movements. He reached the door and went in. He was in a square room with a high ceiling. There was a meshwork grating covering most of the ceiling, forming a platform with a few barrels on it. Gaps in the meshing had hookshots on the ceiling above and a little to the side of them, allowing access. However, there was nothing of interest up there, as I already said. The floor was a fairly wide walkway around a deep square pool. Spikes lined the walls, along with a few hookshot targets. Four square pillars rose from the pool. Two of them had grooves on their sides, allowing a person to climb. The other two pillars were the pumps for the yellow and green pipes. The yellow pump had no crank, merely the yellow pipe coming from the top of it and going through the wall above the door. The green pipe came from the side of its pump and went through the wall above the door, just like the yellow pipe. It had a crank on top. Skull Kid was easily able to jump across the pillars to get to the crank. He turned it, but nothing happened since the pumps were shut off. He would have to go outside and turn them back on. But once the pumps were activated, the water would go through the green pipe since the crank had been turned. Skull Kid left the room and carefully descended the slope back into the main room. Once there, he climbed to the top of the dragon statue and slammed his Gigaton Hammer, unleashing a wave of fire that melted the ice, restarting the waterfall and the plumbing system. Water flowed through the green pipe to the next crank. Skull Kid donned the Zora Mask and jumped off the dragon's head, diving to the water far below in a spectacular, flawless dive that left Tael speechless. He submerged and let the current pull him around, while he looked for the green pipe's whereabouts. It led into the channel that led from the room where he had gotten the Dungeon Map. With the current reversed, he would be able to go the other way down the channel. He swam into it and let the current pull him to its end. He passed through the Dungeon map room, past a pair of Dexihands that were too slow to catch him, and down another long corridor before the current died down. He was in a pool of water in yet another big room. There were several Skullfish in the water that he easily dispatched before coming to the surface. To his right was a platform with an elevator platform going up and down next to it. Above him was another huge waterwheel, being turned by a waterfall from the ceiling. At the far end of the room, level and a bit to the right of the waterwheel, was a corridor. The green pipe snaked from the corridor Skull Kid had just come out of and went into the door. Skull Kid saw that the far end of the waterwheel had a flywheel that would actually allow Skull Kid to jump to the corridor if he could somehow stop the waterwheel and get up there without the lift. Then he saw how he could do it. He knew that the temple builders had probably designed it so that the lift only worked when the waterwheel was turning. He could use the Icerang to freeze the waterfall as long as he was high enough to make the jump to the waterwheel from the lift. He took off the Zora Mask and swam over to the lift as it went underwater. When it went back up, it carried Skull Kid as well, taking him up to the ceiling. Skull Kid knew he had to time this perfectly. If he messed up, he would have no way to reach the block of ice to melt it. His hammer's range was twenty feet, and he knew that the waterfall was beyond that. He waited until he was just at the top of the lift's path, then threw the Icerang. It froze, stopping the lift and the waterwheel, whose flywheel was now horizontal. Skull Kid backed up and made a rolling jump from the edge of the lift, increasing his chances of hitting the lift. He did. It hurt a little, but Skull Kid shook it off and carefully walked down the shaft of the lift. He walked along the flywheel to its edge, looking to his left to see the corridor. He made another risky jump, grabbing onto the corridor's edge. He walked down the corridor, following the pipe, and found himself in a small room. It was a room with a single green crank in its center. The floor was covered in ankle-deep water. There was another corridor on the right side of the room. There were no enemies or puzzles. It looked too easy. Suspicious, Skull Kid stepped towards the crank.
"Skull Kid, doesn't this seem like a trap to you? Don't touch the crank until we find out why this room is so easy."
Skull Kid paused. "Yeah, I'm betting this is a trap, but I don't see anything. I wonder…" He looked up and saw thirty large, bulbous pods covering the high ceiling.
"Ew," said Tael. "Those are Tektite eggs."
"I get it now, if I had touched the crank, the Tektites would have hatched and attacked me. Well, we'll just see about that." He took out his Icerang. "Tael, target each egg one by one for me, willya?"
Tael flew up to a random egg. "Pull!" he yelled. Skull Kid hurled the Icerang, freezing the egg and killing the Tektite larvae inside of it. He repeated the process with each egg until all were frozen and dead. Skull Kid didn't grin though. He seemed a little troubled. "What is it?" asked Tael, flying back to his partner.
"It's just, well, we killed those babies before they even had a chance to grow, to live. Even if they were evil monsters, was it right to kill them before they could even mature?" He sighed. "I know we're on an important mission and all, but I've heard that the ends do not justify the means. Does saving the world mean killing thirty defenseless larvae? Maybe I should have just tried fighting them all."
Tael snorted. "Yeah, and died trying. Where would you be then? Dead, your mission ended, your friends and family disappointed in you, the entire universe destroyed, just because you didn't want to kill thirty insects in their sleep? There is such a thing as necessary evil, you know."
Skull Kid sighed. "It doesn't matter anyway. What's done is done. Let's just push this crank and move on. I hope I don't have to do a murder like that again."
"I'm sure you won't." said Tael reassuringly. Skull Kid pushed the crank, sending water through the green pipe in the corridor to the right. Skull Kid went down the corridor and found himself in the previously inaccessible high corridor overlooking the room where he had found the compass. He jumped down and put on the Zora Mask. Since the current had been reversed, he could now easily leave the room, following the green pipe down the corridor until he back in the main room. The pipe went down the wall and across the floor, ending in a non-rotational base beneath the central rotating tower. Skull Kid knew it was time. He swam down to the building, grabbing on to the edge of the doorstop. He pulled himself up and used the Boss Key in the door, going inside.
He was now inside the tower. The shaft of the paddle thing came through the roof, where it stopped just the floor and split sideways, sending two metal bars into the walls, where they became the paddles outside. There were two other pairs of protruding metal bars as well, one for each set of paddles. Skull Kid was standing on solid ground between two rows of spikes. At the end of the ground was a wooden block, set into the floor. There were several ledges protruding from the walls higher up. One of them on the second level, right wall, had a hookshot target on its edge. The entire tower was slowly rotating. It was a little wobbly, but Skull Kid could walk. Skull Kid pulled off the Zora Mask and used his hookshot to get up to the ledge, pulling himself up the edge. There was another ledge just to his right that he could easily jump to, and another ledge across from his current position that he could reach by jumping from the second ledge. He made the jumps to the ledge on the other side and found an inscription with a Triforce carved above it. Skull Kid read the inscription. "It says, if you wish to awaken the path sleeping beneath this temple, you must play the song that awakened the shelled one in the form of a fish. I understand that the shelled one was the turtle and the form of a fish would be me as a Zora. But what song does it mean?"
"Oh! Oh! It means the New Wave Bossa Nova. The scientist guy taught it to me when I was getting help to save you from the pirates. It goes like this…" He jingled out the tune.
Skull Kid played it on his flute. Nothing happened. "Oh yeah, I have to be a Zora." He put on the Zora Mask, then played the flute. Suddenly, at the bottom of the tower, slits that had looked like just carvings on the walls opened, letting water in. Buoyed by the water, the wooden block floated from its setting, stopping beneath the ledge that had the Hookshot target. Once the block had hit the ledge, the slits closed, leaving the tower almost half-filled with water.
"What was the point of that?" asked Tael.
"I think I know. Look! There's a hole where the block was. He can go down it and find the boss. See, you can see the green pipe down there, so there must be another crank in wherever the passage leads that will get us to the boss."
"Let's go then!"
Skull Kid dived into the water and submerged, trying to avoid the spikes at the bottom as the tower kept spinning. He found it easier to stay near the center, but that wasn't easy since while underwater, he wasn't affected by the tower's spinning and could get hit by the walls or the paddle-bars. Still, he managed to hit the ground and walk beneath the shaft to the hole with the pipe. He fell in and sank down a long tunnel. At the bottom was a corridor going straight ahead, with the green pipe on the wall. Skull Kid followed the pipe and found himself at the bottom of a pool of water in a huge slightly rectangular room. The green pipe went along the wall, rising out of the water to make a slope, until it turned right, leaving the wall and making contact with the platform that held the final crank, suspended high above the pool in the middle of the room by arches coming out of the underwater floor. The pipe went along the wall again out of the crank and snaked across the wall before going back under the water and ending in a green waterspout, which was between the crank platform and a ledge with a door on it. That door had to be where the demon was, since it was the only place left to look. Also, creepy spider-like legs grew from the bottom of the ledge that went into the water, not to mention the various bright lights surrounding the ledge and the door, and the fact that the door was very big and decorated differently than the rest of the temple's doors. Skull Kid walked up the pipe, carefully making his way to the crank. Once there, he turned it, activating the green waterspout. He pulled off the Zora Mask and took a running jump to the waterspout. When it reached the top of its climb, Skull Kid jumped onto the ledge, grabbing it by the edge. He climbed up, ran to the door, and opened it. He went inside. The next room was kind of small. It was octagonal, with a hole in the middle of the floor. Cries of help could be heard from below. "Sounds like the Sages of this Temple. Let's save them!" Skull Kid jumped into the hole. After a relatively long drop, he landed on a circular platform in the middle of a huge square room filled with water. There appeared to be seaweed and rocks growing at the bottom of the pool. He looked around and suddenly saw two female Zoras bobbing in big bubbles on opposite sides of the room. The bubbles were attached to the floor by strong kelp stalks. The first Zora Skull Kid sort of recognized as Ruto, Sage of Water and princess of the Zoras. The other Zora was ten years older, but still looked like Ruto. Skull Kid recognized her as Lulu, lead singer in the Indigo-go's and obviously the new Sage of whatever. Skull Kid knew the demon Gyorg was around here somewhere. Remembering how useful the boss masks had been in the past, he took out Gyorg's Mask and put it on, searching for its power. He found it. "Ah man."
"What? What power does the mask have?"
"It has the power to make me breathe underwater."
A moment passed. "WHAT?"
"You heard me. A completely useless power. It looks like I'll have to think of something clever to save the day." They were interrupted by a bubbling noise in the water close to them. Suddenly, something erupted from the water and leapt over the platform. It was a whopping thirty feet long. It was red-brown, covered in scales. It had three fins on its back. Its tail was large as well, flexible enough to easily propel its owner through the water. Six sharp spines jutted from its sides, able to cut through anything on either side of the thing. Its front fins actually looked more like some kind of bat wing, with three claws coming from the fin's end. Its head was huge and ugly, squat but tall. It had two horns protruding from its forehead, one above the other. It had two giant green eyes, and a massive mouth filled with razor sharp teeth and huge fangs. Or were they big enough to be considered tusks? Either way, it was definitely the demon.
GYORG: GARGANTUAN POETRY-WRITING DEMON FISH
Gyorg splashed down on the other side of the platform, then came up, spinning to face Skull Kid. "Who dares intrude in my temple? Say, is that the mask that I was imprisoned in for over a thousand years?"
Skull Kid decided now would be a good time to think of something clever. He did. "Um, no. I actually carved this mask myself. I'm a huge fan of yours!"
Gyorg actually believed it. "Really? You like my poetry? I thought nobody liked my poetry! Majora only said he was going to publish my books because he wanted to see if there was such a thing as mass torture. So which book did you like the best? Ocean gurgling? Aqua noise? Fishy feelings?"
"Uh, the second one."
"Ooh, that's my favorite too! You know nobody back in Hell appreciated my poetic genius either, not even all the other water demons! They all keep paying attention to stupid Tortus! Those two Zoras don't seem to like my poetry either! Here, let me read you this one I've just made up: When the sea is blue, that makes me blue too, when the sea is green, that makes me feel green too, when the sea is red, that makes me feel red too, when the sea is purple, that makes me feel purple too, when the sea is orange, that makes me feel orange too, when the sea is white, that makes me feel white too, when the sea is orange, that makes me feel orange too, when the sea is black, that makes me feel black too, when the sea is fuschia, that makes me feel fuschia too…" One hour later, Gyorg was finally finishing the poem, after going through every color and color variation he knew of. "…That makes me feel gray too, I feel colorful man! So, what'd you think!"
Ruto and Lulu were throwing up in their bubbles. Skull Kid would have gawked if he weren't wearing a tight mask. That was definitely the worst poem he had ever heard. No wonder nobody liked his poetry! He had to say something complimentary and fast if he wanted to keep up the act. "That…that was the most beautiful poem I have ever heard!" Tael looked like he was going to throw up. Of course, since he was a ball of light, it was hard to tell.
"Great! I'll read it again…"
"No! No! I want to keep that first reading etched in my mind forever! May I have your autograph?"
"Sure! I'll come right over." Gyorg swam to the edge of the platform, pulling his upper body onto the platform itself. "Now, may I have a paper or something?"
"Sure, just lean a little closer, with your mouth open…that's right, that's right…there! Now, let me just get you a paper and pen so you can sign using that beautiful tongue of yours. I would like it to say, "To my fan, EAT EXPLOSIVE DEATH YOU BASTARD!"
"Eat explosive death you bastard? What kind of name is that?" Skull Kid pulled out the normal bomb that he had lit inside of the pack and hurled it into the demon's mouth. It exploded in Gyorg's stomach, stunning him. Skull Kid whipped out his dagger and stabbed the demon fish through the eye, piercing his brain. Gyorg roared and leapt completely onto the platform, flopping around like a fish out of water, which he was. With each flop he got smaller and smaller, until finally what was left of him burned up, returning to Hell. A portal opened where he had vanished.
Skull Kid pulled off the mask, grinning. "Wow! This worthless mask did come in handy after all!"
"Say, shouldn't we help those girls now?"
"Right, right." Skull Kid put on the Zora Mask and dove into the water, heading for Lulu's bubble first. He cut the kelp strand with his boomerang fins, popping the bubble as well. Lulu eagerly swam to the platform, yelling her thanks back at Skull Kid. Skull Kid repeated the process with Ruto, who actually sank to the bottom and gave him a big kiss on the cheek before going to the platform.
When Skull Kid made it back to the platform, the Zoras had already jumped into the portal. He pulled off the mask and followed suit. He was back in the Chamber of Sages. As usual, Rauru was standing on his platform, looking pleased. Ruto and Lulu were on the Water platform. They gave a little wave to him, smiling. Rauru smiled and spoke. "Another temple completed. I'm impressed. You've still got over three weeks to go. Now, your friends would like to give you something."
Ruto spoke. "I was kind of expecting Linky or Tito to save me from that fish's awful poetry, but you'll do. You know, you're pretty cute. Kind of reminds me of how Link was when we first met…" she sighed, slightly wistful. "But I'm over that. Now, let me give you your reward. Of course, that kiss could be seen as a reward, so just take this Water Medallion, will you?" She raised her hands. There was a flash high above, and another Medallion fell to him. Skull Kid grabbed it as it fell. It was deep blue, with a Triforce symbol on the back and six drops of water arranged in an outward-pointing circle on the front.
Lulu spoke. "I kind of thought it was funny how you tricked that fish. I knew he was stupid enough to write poetry like that, but I didn't know he was that stupid. By the way, how is my husband and the rest of the band?"
Skull Kid stalled, then said, "Last time I saw them, they were frozen in a big block of ice."
Lulu actually seemed reassured. "Good, that means they weren't hurt. They should be melting now that Gyorg is gone, and the water will return to normal as well. In any case, I don't want you wasting time by going all the way to Zora's Domain to check on them or anything. I just want you to tell Juba-Juba that I'm fine and he'll still get to hear me sing."
"Who's Juba-Juba?"
"The turtle." Whispered Tael.
"Now, I would like to reward you with two things." Lulu tossed Skull Kid four pieces of paper. "These are tickets for the Indigo-go's next concert, whenever that is. You can take three of your friends with you and get front- row seats."
"Sweet!" said Skull Kid, putting the tickets away.
"Now for your more important reward. Take this Ocean Medallion with my thanks." She tossed the Medallion to Skull Kid. He caught it. It was blue- green, with a Triforce symbol on the back and a tidal wave on the front.
Rauru coughed to get Skull Kid's attention. "Now it's my turn. I think I should tell you a little more about where you're going. First, the dragon. Nabooru's ancestor, the builder of the Spirit Temple, created the dragon Ge from the sands of the desert. Now for the more important part. Stone Tower. I have no idea who the Sage there is. I'm not sure who built the place in the first place. It actually seems to be older than the other temples, almost as old as the Temple of Time itself. I don't know what the Sage is of, either."
Skull Kid shrugged. "Big deal. Pretty much all of the Sages are leaders among their own kind. Who's down with the Gerudo now?"
"The undead of Ikana." Said Rauru.
"Then that means Igos is probably the Sage. No worries Rauru. I can handle the temple."
"You're probably right, but remember that this temple is going to be more dangerous and more confusing than the last three. It'll also take the most time, because it will take about a week round trip to cross the desert. Anyway, to get there you'll have to pass through Gerudo/Ikana Canyon. To reach the canyon, leave the beach and head northwest across Hymina Field for three days. When you reach ground that has no trees, head west. You'll reach the canyon in no time. Now, go forth and continue your good work." Rauru raised his arms. There was a flash, then nothingness.
Well, what did you think? Bet the boss battle was nothing like you expected, was it? Skull Kid has completed three-fourths of his quest to find the Sages. And then he must defeat Ganondorf…and Majora. Will he persevere? And is Igos really the next sage? Find out next time!