Chapter 5: The Forgotten Memory
Three Zoras quietly sneaked out of the food court after they had finished their meal. They had to dodge into small hallways now and then when they saw a teacher heading toward them. They couldn't risk being caught.
"Tell me something... do we really have to risk our own neck for Japas here?" Or'an complained after he had painfully bumped his head right into a locker. He used his tail to rub his aching head.
Mikau winced as he saw the lump on Or'an's forehead. "Well, yes. He is my best friend you know. We grew up together. And I will do anything to help him."
Japas looked at Mikau blankly. "You are my best friend?"
"Uh... yes..." the Zoran Hero slowly replied.
"Hey guys! I think I saw Lulu at the end of the corridor!" Or'an whispered as he carefully peaked his head out.
"Right then. Let's get started. Japas, you will go and meet Lulu. Tell her that we are down the hall to the right," Mikau ordered.
Japas looked surprised. "Why me? Any specific reasons?"
Both Mikau and Or'an stared at the dumbfounded Zora. After a few silent moments, both of them grabbed Japas and threw him out into the open hallway. The Zora landed in a heap, or rather, floated in a heap. He quickly regained his senses and swam toward Lulu.
"Here," Lulu handed him a bubble containing four florescent fishes. They glowed with bright yellow light.
Japas clumsily held onto the clear bubble as he stared contently into it.
"Don't eat them," the female Zora warned with a fierce look.
"Yes ma'am," he complied immediately.
Constantly glancing behind their back, both Lulu and Japas reached Or'an and Mikau without confronting any teacher.
"Okay, now we sneak out through the door in front of us. Be quiet though. It is nine-thirty. Most of the students had gone to their room, so this place will be extremely silent." Or'an pointed at the coral door.
Heads nodded, except Japas. He was bouncing the bubble up and down on the floor as if he was playing basketball. (Well, Zoras don't actually play 'basketball'. They play Water Ball instead. But I had no other choices. I am running out of freaking ideas!)
"Japas!" all three of them hissed with irritation.
"Sorry," Japas said as he cleared his throat. He secured the bubble around his waist with a rope that he had found.
"Don't bounce it darn it!" Mikau snarled. "The fishes would get scared!"
"But it is fun. So bouncy and squishy and-"
"Don't bounce, don't squeeze, and don't breathe!" Or'an growled. "In fact, don't do anything at all!"
"But I need to breathe! I will die if I-"
Lulu stood in between the small arguing group. "Can we leave the building first, THEN argue?"
Taking one last look, Or'an swam out, followed by Mikau. Japas looked hurt. Lulu smiled as she laid a hand on his arm. The young male Zora flinched a little at her touch.
"Don't worry. Once you get your memory back, you won't have to act so stupid." she then headed out through the door.
Japas just stared after her. "Stupid? I am stupid? Is that a compliment or an insult?" he mumbled as he followed closely behind.
* * *
All four of them swam hastily and quietly through the ocean water. It was dark. Most of them couldn't see far.
"Light please," Mikau said as he tried to observe the land in front of him.
Japas reeled his arm back and slapped the bubble toward his friend. The translucent sphere bounced away on the Zoran Hero's head. Lulu, Or'an, and Mikau glared at him. He shrank a little.
"This, is NOT, a volleyball... nor is it a dodge ball..." Or'an said coldly. He was getting fed up with Japas and his crazy actions. (Again, Zoras had no idea what a volleyball or a dodge ball is. Again, I couldn't help it. Running out of ideas.)
"Sorry. Won't do it again. Promise."
Rolling their eyes, they continued moving forward. Japas shrugged and followed.
After an hour of swimming in the dark, with the help of the florescent fishes of course, the four Zoras had arrived at the Chaotic Rim.
"Spread out," Mikau said as he moved the bubble back and forth in his hands, looking at the scene in front of his eyes.
"Just what are we looking for?" Or'an asked.
"We are looking for evidence regarding to the loss of Japas' memory. Japas, swim around and see if you can recall anything that you can't remember." Lulu explained.
Slowly, the group fanned out.
Mikau hummed a few notes to himself as he swam up and down, studying the ocean floor with sharp attention. Or'an stayed behind and watched for predators. Sharks and other unidentified life forms were famous in the Chaotic Rim. They could sneak up on you without you noticing them. Japas headed left. He didn't know why, but he felt as if there was something over there that might help him. Lulu swam toward the right, and found herself among a few Like Like.
The Like Like slowly slid their way toward the young female Zora. Their mouth wide open.
"Mikau!" Lulu screamed as she felt being sucked into the everlasting empty stomachs of the disgusting creatures.
With a sharp twist, doing one-hundred-and-eighty degree turn, the Zoran Hero shot out two arm blades. The blades sliced through the water with ease and cut through three worm-like creatures. The insides of the filth-eating monsters floated unhurriedly out of their severed body.
Lulu felt sick. She wanted to throw up. Mikau retrieved his arm blades and swam toward her.
"You ok?" he asked.
Lulu nodded.
"Hey guys! Look what I've found!" Japas cried as he arrived at the area where Morpha had appeared.
Or'an, Lulu, and Mikau came as quickly as they could.
"The place looked like a war zone..." Or'an whispered as he stared at a bunch of smashed up rocks, reefs, boulders, and ocean plants.
"Whatever that came out of here had basically destroyed everything within its path," Mikau said.
"What could it be? What kind of animal would have such strength?"
Japas floated there, not talking. In fact, he couldn't hear what they were saying anymore. He felt as if the world had collapsed on him. He couldn't breathe. He knew that he had been here before! But what happened?
*Flash!* Suddenly, Japas saw himself swimming away from the University. He saw himself heading toward this place. Just as he was going to yell out...*Flash!*
There was nothing in front of him now. Just his friends looking at him with concern.
"What's wrong?" Lulu asked when he saw Japas' pale face.
"N-nothing..." he stammered. Sweat broke out of his head and ran down his face. (Okay, if he was on land, then yes, you can see the sweat. Though now he was in the water, you can't see the sweat. So just pretend he was on land and everything will be fine and dandy.)
"Remembered anything yet? Japas?" Or'an asked as he moved closer to the frightened Zora.
Japas shook his head. What could he say? He saw something that might be in his dream? It might be real? Or it might be delusional? He was not sure.
"Say guys..." Mikau gestured toward a trail of purple blood on the sand. "Check this out."
Lulu drifted down slowly and landed on the ground. She knelt down and inspected the liquid.
"That's odd," she said. "Normally, any liquid in the water should dissipate after some time. Yet, this trail of unknown substance stayed together in almost a perfect form!" (Lulu was very good at Science Class. And who cares if I made mistakes here and there about scientific terms and lessons and theories? I am not writing a sci-fi tale here.)
Or'an stood beside her. He carefully picked up some of the stuff with one of his fingers. He brought them to his nose.
"This is not a normal sea creature's blood. It's something more..." he concluded. (Or'an was a very good hunter. Staying in the bare ocean on his own for six years before coming to the Zora University under the threat of his mom can be helpful, especially in this situation.)
Mikau sighed. "Okay. Do any of you think that this may had to do with Japas' memory?" (The Zoran Hero here was known for his agility and his attack with arm blades. Other than that, he had no idea of the anatomy of ocean life forms and what they consisted of.)
"I don't think so. If it is, I like to know how did it make Japas lose his memory," Or'an placed his hands on his hips.
*Flash!* "Well, to tell you the truth, I want to swim out away from the school area and catch myself a juicy Shabom."
Japas heard himself saying these words. He saw that he was talking to Mikau in a Cafeteria. *Flash!*
Mikau watched Japas shaking his head. He swam toward his buddy and placed a hand on Japas' shoulder.
"You okay man?" Mikau asked gently.
"No... I am not ok. My brain is screwed up. I think I can remember bits and pieces of what had happened... but..." Japas' voice broke.
"Hey. It's all right! You will remember it all soon. I promise." Mikau grinned as he stared into Japas' eyes.
Japas turned and looked at his friends.
*Flash!* "No! No! No!"
Japas could see that he was screaming. A giant purple tentacle grabbed onto his leg. *Flash!*
With reflex, he rubbed his ankle. He was back in reality once again.
"Do you remember anything now?" Lulu asked with slight confusion. She saw Japas staring into nothing for one second, then she saw him snapped out of whatever that he was seeing with a jerk in the next.
"Yes... I sort of remembered..." Japas murmured.
He swam toward the pile of rocks. He laid a hand on them softly. He could see the blood of the monster that had crashed out and chased after him.
*Flash!* Japas could see himself gathering up energies to launch an electric shock that was so enormous that he could have killed himself...
He could see the purple creature screaming in agony. He could see it twisting around furiously as the blinding light seared into its flesh, and his also in the process... *Flash!*
Blinking, the Zora got up from the rubble and faced Mikau.
"Mikau...?" Japas whimpered as he inched toward his long-time friend.
The Zoran Hero floated back a little. He held out his palms as if he was trying to ward off an evil that was coming toward him. Or'an and Lulu had a funny expression on their face. Somehow... they wouldn't want to see male hugging male. That would be disgusting.
"Uh... Japas? You all right?" Mikau said as he continued moving away from the weird Zora.
Japas stared at him with wild-looking eyes. His mouthed the words that he was going to say. He couldn't speak. Something was choking his words back.
"What? You need to eat again?" Or'an asked as he frowned.
Shaking his head, Japas continued moving toward them with a speed so slow, that even a Like Like could win him in a race.
"You need to sleep?" Lulu questioned.
Again, shaking his head.
"Then what?" Mikau growled with frustration. Japas was scaring him now.
"I - I..." he stammered. "I - I... I..."
All three leaned in, trying to hear what Japas was saying.
"I got my memory back!" Japas suddenly screamed.
All three Zoras closed their hands over their ears. The sudden shout had set their teeth on edge with sharp pain.
"Don't shout like that!" all of them yelled with anger as they rubbed their ears.
Japas laughed. He was doubling-over, twisting in the water as he tried to catch his breath.
"S-sorry... hahaha... ju-just can't re-resist the temptation! Hehehe..." he continued giggling after he had calmed down somewhat.
Or'an looked at Mikau with puzzlement. Mikau sighed and smiled.
"That's Japas all right. He's back!"
All eyes went wide.
"Really?" Lulu cried with happiness.
"Finally!" Or'an roared with glee.
"Japas!" Mikau rushed to his friend.
"Mikau!" Japas did the same thing.
They both embraced and patted each other's back.
"I got my memory back! I understand now! I understand what had happened!" Japas yelled at the top of his lungs.
Mikau laughed.
Suddenly, Or'an and Lulu cried out in terror.
Both Mikau and Japas stopped their celebration. They turned around. The color on Mikau's face was drained out instantly as he saw what was in front of them.
Japas gritted his teeth in anger as he charged up his power.
In front of them, Morpha had appeared. It was using its many tentacles to capture two of the four Zoras that were closest to it.
"It's back," Japas snarled as he swam forward with pure hatred.
"Hey! Wait up!" Mikau followed with arm blades extending to their full size.
~End Chapter 5~
Author's Note: This is the second last chapter before the final one. I still couldn't believe that this story would end in about six chapters. It is somewhat short for me. But, since the school is going to start soon, I figured that I should finish it as soon as possible. This chapter's dialogues are not that great. As I have already mentioned above, I am seriously lacking ideas. That's the reason why I updated this chapter so slow, compared to the previous one.
Once this story is complete, I will start gathering more ideas for my next, and final story. I think I will call it: The Unfurled Plan. It won't be about Zelda, and it is going to be a long one, but I won't start it right now. In fact, I think I will start writing it next July when my provincial tests results are back, ensuring me that I can get into a University. Until then, I will try my best for the last chapter in Memory Loss.
Perhaps... if I feel like it, I might write another Zelda story.... What do you think? :D
Final chapter, Chapter 6 will be out soon. Stay tuned.
Three Zoras quietly sneaked out of the food court after they had finished their meal. They had to dodge into small hallways now and then when they saw a teacher heading toward them. They couldn't risk being caught.
"Tell me something... do we really have to risk our own neck for Japas here?" Or'an complained after he had painfully bumped his head right into a locker. He used his tail to rub his aching head.
Mikau winced as he saw the lump on Or'an's forehead. "Well, yes. He is my best friend you know. We grew up together. And I will do anything to help him."
Japas looked at Mikau blankly. "You are my best friend?"
"Uh... yes..." the Zoran Hero slowly replied.
"Hey guys! I think I saw Lulu at the end of the corridor!" Or'an whispered as he carefully peaked his head out.
"Right then. Let's get started. Japas, you will go and meet Lulu. Tell her that we are down the hall to the right," Mikau ordered.
Japas looked surprised. "Why me? Any specific reasons?"
Both Mikau and Or'an stared at the dumbfounded Zora. After a few silent moments, both of them grabbed Japas and threw him out into the open hallway. The Zora landed in a heap, or rather, floated in a heap. He quickly regained his senses and swam toward Lulu.
"Here," Lulu handed him a bubble containing four florescent fishes. They glowed with bright yellow light.
Japas clumsily held onto the clear bubble as he stared contently into it.
"Don't eat them," the female Zora warned with a fierce look.
"Yes ma'am," he complied immediately.
Constantly glancing behind their back, both Lulu and Japas reached Or'an and Mikau without confronting any teacher.
"Okay, now we sneak out through the door in front of us. Be quiet though. It is nine-thirty. Most of the students had gone to their room, so this place will be extremely silent." Or'an pointed at the coral door.
Heads nodded, except Japas. He was bouncing the bubble up and down on the floor as if he was playing basketball. (Well, Zoras don't actually play 'basketball'. They play Water Ball instead. But I had no other choices. I am running out of freaking ideas!)
"Japas!" all three of them hissed with irritation.
"Sorry," Japas said as he cleared his throat. He secured the bubble around his waist with a rope that he had found.
"Don't bounce it darn it!" Mikau snarled. "The fishes would get scared!"
"But it is fun. So bouncy and squishy and-"
"Don't bounce, don't squeeze, and don't breathe!" Or'an growled. "In fact, don't do anything at all!"
"But I need to breathe! I will die if I-"
Lulu stood in between the small arguing group. "Can we leave the building first, THEN argue?"
Taking one last look, Or'an swam out, followed by Mikau. Japas looked hurt. Lulu smiled as she laid a hand on his arm. The young male Zora flinched a little at her touch.
"Don't worry. Once you get your memory back, you won't have to act so stupid." she then headed out through the door.
Japas just stared after her. "Stupid? I am stupid? Is that a compliment or an insult?" he mumbled as he followed closely behind.
* * *
All four of them swam hastily and quietly through the ocean water. It was dark. Most of them couldn't see far.
"Light please," Mikau said as he tried to observe the land in front of him.
Japas reeled his arm back and slapped the bubble toward his friend. The translucent sphere bounced away on the Zoran Hero's head. Lulu, Or'an, and Mikau glared at him. He shrank a little.
"This, is NOT, a volleyball... nor is it a dodge ball..." Or'an said coldly. He was getting fed up with Japas and his crazy actions. (Again, Zoras had no idea what a volleyball or a dodge ball is. Again, I couldn't help it. Running out of ideas.)
"Sorry. Won't do it again. Promise."
Rolling their eyes, they continued moving forward. Japas shrugged and followed.
After an hour of swimming in the dark, with the help of the florescent fishes of course, the four Zoras had arrived at the Chaotic Rim.
"Spread out," Mikau said as he moved the bubble back and forth in his hands, looking at the scene in front of his eyes.
"Just what are we looking for?" Or'an asked.
"We are looking for evidence regarding to the loss of Japas' memory. Japas, swim around and see if you can recall anything that you can't remember." Lulu explained.
Slowly, the group fanned out.
Mikau hummed a few notes to himself as he swam up and down, studying the ocean floor with sharp attention. Or'an stayed behind and watched for predators. Sharks and other unidentified life forms were famous in the Chaotic Rim. They could sneak up on you without you noticing them. Japas headed left. He didn't know why, but he felt as if there was something over there that might help him. Lulu swam toward the right, and found herself among a few Like Like.
The Like Like slowly slid their way toward the young female Zora. Their mouth wide open.
"Mikau!" Lulu screamed as she felt being sucked into the everlasting empty stomachs of the disgusting creatures.
With a sharp twist, doing one-hundred-and-eighty degree turn, the Zoran Hero shot out two arm blades. The blades sliced through the water with ease and cut through three worm-like creatures. The insides of the filth-eating monsters floated unhurriedly out of their severed body.
Lulu felt sick. She wanted to throw up. Mikau retrieved his arm blades and swam toward her.
"You ok?" he asked.
Lulu nodded.
"Hey guys! Look what I've found!" Japas cried as he arrived at the area where Morpha had appeared.
Or'an, Lulu, and Mikau came as quickly as they could.
"The place looked like a war zone..." Or'an whispered as he stared at a bunch of smashed up rocks, reefs, boulders, and ocean plants.
"Whatever that came out of here had basically destroyed everything within its path," Mikau said.
"What could it be? What kind of animal would have such strength?"
Japas floated there, not talking. In fact, he couldn't hear what they were saying anymore. He felt as if the world had collapsed on him. He couldn't breathe. He knew that he had been here before! But what happened?
*Flash!* Suddenly, Japas saw himself swimming away from the University. He saw himself heading toward this place. Just as he was going to yell out...*Flash!*
There was nothing in front of him now. Just his friends looking at him with concern.
"What's wrong?" Lulu asked when he saw Japas' pale face.
"N-nothing..." he stammered. Sweat broke out of his head and ran down his face. (Okay, if he was on land, then yes, you can see the sweat. Though now he was in the water, you can't see the sweat. So just pretend he was on land and everything will be fine and dandy.)
"Remembered anything yet? Japas?" Or'an asked as he moved closer to the frightened Zora.
Japas shook his head. What could he say? He saw something that might be in his dream? It might be real? Or it might be delusional? He was not sure.
"Say guys..." Mikau gestured toward a trail of purple blood on the sand. "Check this out."
Lulu drifted down slowly and landed on the ground. She knelt down and inspected the liquid.
"That's odd," she said. "Normally, any liquid in the water should dissipate after some time. Yet, this trail of unknown substance stayed together in almost a perfect form!" (Lulu was very good at Science Class. And who cares if I made mistakes here and there about scientific terms and lessons and theories? I am not writing a sci-fi tale here.)
Or'an stood beside her. He carefully picked up some of the stuff with one of his fingers. He brought them to his nose.
"This is not a normal sea creature's blood. It's something more..." he concluded. (Or'an was a very good hunter. Staying in the bare ocean on his own for six years before coming to the Zora University under the threat of his mom can be helpful, especially in this situation.)
Mikau sighed. "Okay. Do any of you think that this may had to do with Japas' memory?" (The Zoran Hero here was known for his agility and his attack with arm blades. Other than that, he had no idea of the anatomy of ocean life forms and what they consisted of.)
"I don't think so. If it is, I like to know how did it make Japas lose his memory," Or'an placed his hands on his hips.
*Flash!* "Well, to tell you the truth, I want to swim out away from the school area and catch myself a juicy Shabom."
Japas heard himself saying these words. He saw that he was talking to Mikau in a Cafeteria. *Flash!*
Mikau watched Japas shaking his head. He swam toward his buddy and placed a hand on Japas' shoulder.
"You okay man?" Mikau asked gently.
"No... I am not ok. My brain is screwed up. I think I can remember bits and pieces of what had happened... but..." Japas' voice broke.
"Hey. It's all right! You will remember it all soon. I promise." Mikau grinned as he stared into Japas' eyes.
Japas turned and looked at his friends.
*Flash!* "No! No! No!"
Japas could see that he was screaming. A giant purple tentacle grabbed onto his leg. *Flash!*
With reflex, he rubbed his ankle. He was back in reality once again.
"Do you remember anything now?" Lulu asked with slight confusion. She saw Japas staring into nothing for one second, then she saw him snapped out of whatever that he was seeing with a jerk in the next.
"Yes... I sort of remembered..." Japas murmured.
He swam toward the pile of rocks. He laid a hand on them softly. He could see the blood of the monster that had crashed out and chased after him.
*Flash!* Japas could see himself gathering up energies to launch an electric shock that was so enormous that he could have killed himself...
He could see the purple creature screaming in agony. He could see it twisting around furiously as the blinding light seared into its flesh, and his also in the process... *Flash!*
Blinking, the Zora got up from the rubble and faced Mikau.
"Mikau...?" Japas whimpered as he inched toward his long-time friend.
The Zoran Hero floated back a little. He held out his palms as if he was trying to ward off an evil that was coming toward him. Or'an and Lulu had a funny expression on their face. Somehow... they wouldn't want to see male hugging male. That would be disgusting.
"Uh... Japas? You all right?" Mikau said as he continued moving away from the weird Zora.
Japas stared at him with wild-looking eyes. His mouthed the words that he was going to say. He couldn't speak. Something was choking his words back.
"What? You need to eat again?" Or'an asked as he frowned.
Shaking his head, Japas continued moving toward them with a speed so slow, that even a Like Like could win him in a race.
"You need to sleep?" Lulu questioned.
Again, shaking his head.
"Then what?" Mikau growled with frustration. Japas was scaring him now.
"I - I..." he stammered. "I - I... I..."
All three leaned in, trying to hear what Japas was saying.
"I got my memory back!" Japas suddenly screamed.
All three Zoras closed their hands over their ears. The sudden shout had set their teeth on edge with sharp pain.
"Don't shout like that!" all of them yelled with anger as they rubbed their ears.
Japas laughed. He was doubling-over, twisting in the water as he tried to catch his breath.
"S-sorry... hahaha... ju-just can't re-resist the temptation! Hehehe..." he continued giggling after he had calmed down somewhat.
Or'an looked at Mikau with puzzlement. Mikau sighed and smiled.
"That's Japas all right. He's back!"
All eyes went wide.
"Really?" Lulu cried with happiness.
"Finally!" Or'an roared with glee.
"Japas!" Mikau rushed to his friend.
"Mikau!" Japas did the same thing.
They both embraced and patted each other's back.
"I got my memory back! I understand now! I understand what had happened!" Japas yelled at the top of his lungs.
Mikau laughed.
Suddenly, Or'an and Lulu cried out in terror.
Both Mikau and Japas stopped their celebration. They turned around. The color on Mikau's face was drained out instantly as he saw what was in front of them.
Japas gritted his teeth in anger as he charged up his power.
In front of them, Morpha had appeared. It was using its many tentacles to capture two of the four Zoras that were closest to it.
"It's back," Japas snarled as he swam forward with pure hatred.
"Hey! Wait up!" Mikau followed with arm blades extending to their full size.
~End Chapter 5~
Author's Note: This is the second last chapter before the final one. I still couldn't believe that this story would end in about six chapters. It is somewhat short for me. But, since the school is going to start soon, I figured that I should finish it as soon as possible. This chapter's dialogues are not that great. As I have already mentioned above, I am seriously lacking ideas. That's the reason why I updated this chapter so slow, compared to the previous one.
Once this story is complete, I will start gathering more ideas for my next, and final story. I think I will call it: The Unfurled Plan. It won't be about Zelda, and it is going to be a long one, but I won't start it right now. In fact, I think I will start writing it next July when my provincial tests results are back, ensuring me that I can get into a University. Until then, I will try my best for the last chapter in Memory Loss.
Perhaps... if I feel like it, I might write another Zelda story.... What do you think? :D
Final chapter, Chapter 6 will be out soon. Stay tuned.