CHAPTER 13
Peach wakes up in her shelter only to see Link is missing from it. She heads out to see Link sitting outside sewing something.
"Link, what are you doing?" asks Peach, surprised to see him.
Link stops stitching and looks up at her. Showing her the Zora Tunic he created.
"Aw, Link! That's so sweet of you!" Peach says, giving him a peck on the cheek. "So...I haven't seen any sign of Zelda or the others...You wanna head out to Blue Toad Castle on our own?"
Link gives a thumbs up.
"Good, Let's go!" Peach puts on her Zora Tunic, grabs his hand and they walk off into the ocean together.
Link and Peach are seen swimming underwater towards Blue Toad Castle.
"I wonder what happened to the Blue Toads that would cause their castle to end up like this." Peach wonders aloud.
Link shrugs, they swim up to the front door. Peach knocks on it.
"Hello?" calls out Peach. "Is anyone home?"
There is no answer.
"Maybe they're not here anymore?" says Peach.
Link nudges Peach's arm, he points out a giant hole in the other side of the castle. There is nothing observable in it but darkness.
"Good eye Link," says Peach. "Let's go in through the hole".
Link nods and they both dive into the dark abyss.
"There's...no one here" says Peach.
Link has set up a fairy lantern to examine the castle, it looks like it was once a self-sustaining castle with advanced technology. Now it's destroyed, though all the damage looks relatively new. As if it was from just the night prior.
"I wonder where everyone went," Peach muses. "We should probably head back to camp. Wait till we get everyone back together." she tells Link.
Link nods, but they then hear a large "THUD" from below them.
"What was that?" asks Peach.
Link shrugs.
"Let's take a look," says Peach.
They descend to the floor below, it's a grand hall with a massive staircase leading up to the floor they were just on. In the middle of the ballroom they see a giant hole in the ground.
"Whoa!" gasps Peach. "What is that?"
Link dives into the hole, he sees a huge glowing crystal at the center of the room. He stops, but Peach keeps going and soon touches the crystal. A blinding light envelops them both.
Once the light fades, they see each other and see they're on a giant floating platform. It's shaped like an upside down pyramid and has several smaller ones surrounding it.
"Oh! I see!" Peach says. "The crystal must be a way to teleport them to their real home".
They both jump into the air and land on one of the platforms. The platform floats through a gigantic gate and into a strange world.
"Wow! Where are we?" asks Peach.
The platform lands in what appears to be a futuristic throne room, in which there is a visibly weathered and worn old Toad, standing next to him is a Zora woman with long white hair wearing a green dress.
"I see you've returned" says the old man. "I was beginning to lose hope"
"Are you the king?"
"I am...or at least I was" says the Old Toad.
"You look really old," says Peach.
"That's because I am," he bluntly replies.
"Right…Where is everyone else?" Peach asks.
"Gone" he replies. "My people are going to be food for that monster."
"Monster!?" Peach says.
"Yes! That creature that's been eating everyone! The Morpheel!"
"I wish you hadn't said that," says Peach.
"Well, it's the truth," says the Zora woman. "Our people have been taken away by it. It was horrible! It even got three visitors who came to our secluded castle".
"Three? Who are they?" asks Peach.
"Let's see," she says. "A woman about your height with pointy ears, a large Yoshi, and an old orange toad.
"Link!" Peach says, "That's our friends!"
"That's right," says the Zora woman. "Those last three were the most shocking. The Morpheel ate them. I never believed it until I saw the remains myself!"
The Zora woman pulls out some pieces from Zelda, Yashil, and Naranjo's outfits. Zelda's royal glove, Yashil's flower crown, and Naranjo's tiny military boot.
"This is terrible!" Peach cries. "Link! We have to go after that thing!" She turns to the King and Queen. "Where does this Morpheel reside?"
"In the very heart of our kingdom" says the King. "It's so deep inside the mountain we reside in that we don't know how to get there. It is behind an ancient puzzle that has not been solved for centuries!"
"Is that the "Ancient Puzzle" over there? The one that looks an futuristic version of those toys with shape blocks and holes that we used to play with when we were babies?"
"Yes, that's the one! Don't even bother trying it!" The King cries. "Even the gods couldn't solve it, so there is no hope for our people! The Morpheel will be coming to us soon! Soon he will eat us all alive! We must pray to the gods that they-"
Link has already solved the so called "ancient puzzle" while the King was ranting about their fate. It teleports him and Peach into the Morpheel's chamber.
"Link, you and Peach have a lot of guts coming here" says the King, not realizing they're already gone. "I want you to take as many of the Blue Toads left and rescue them before they suffer the same fate as the rest of my people and your friends. I understand this task may seem impossible, but I have in you two that- ." He turns around and sees they're gone. "Oh".
Link and Peach float down to the bottom of the Morpheel's Chamber. The walls are covered in strange symbols and glowing crystals.
"I wonder what this means," says Peach. "Maybe it'll tell us more about what's going on!"
As she swims towards one of them, another giant glowing crystal shines in the middle of the room.
"That must be how the Morpheel is able to get around!" Peach realizes. "Must be an intelligent monster if it can figure out how to use these teleportation crystals!"
Link nods, he starts swimming towards the crystal.
"What exactly are you doing?" asks Peach.
Link takes out his hookshot and fires at the crystal!
"Link! That's dangerous!" Peach cries.
He pulls with all his might and the crystal breaks off from itself. Its shining light turns darker yet darker with each second. Something crawls out from the crystal.
"Link! What is that thing coming out of the crystal?" Peach says.
The Morpheel is now revealed in all its glory. It looks like a huge sea worm, with two huge fins protruding from its back. It's black and purple with red eyes. A green eye resides in its forehead. It looks like its stomach is made of solid blue and white blood cells, but upon closer inspection it turns out to be.
"The toads!" Peach cries! "They're being digested!"