Disclaimer: *is sitting on top of the sign that was in the last disclaimer*
Yeah I know. I got lazy. So sue me...er...wait a sec...don't sue me! Please
don't! *starts to panic*
A/N: Sorry bout the last chappie being a little short. I had to stop there or else it would have been huge. This would have been up sooner but FFN was having problems. Heck, you people deserve the next chapter quickly! I got so many reviews over the last few days I almost fainted with happiness! No way am I going to keep you good reviewers waiting. And a heads up to Aria Zephr about what you said in your most recent review. This chap might clear up anything you might have had a question on. Hope you like this one! ^_^
Oh yeah before I forget. Any questions about my story will be explained and/or answered in the author's summary after the very last chapter (if I haven't already mentioned it before...I think I did...arg, bad memory .). But that doesn't really mean you should save you questions until then! Not in the least! By all means, ask away in a review and I'll get back to it when I write the summary. Ok I think that's about it...*inches away* Sorry to keep you waiting ^.^;
Chapter 7: Unexpected News
-------------------------------------------------
"LAND HO!"
Upon hearing Zuko's call, the crew lifted their heads to try and spot the reason for his call.
All of the crew was very excited. They haven't been on shore for a number of days, maybe even weeks! They didn't count the stop at Outset, since instead of getting a break, they got a kid in a odd green outfit. The thought of decent food and rest from the hard work on board made their spirits high with relief and excitement. Even Tetra was relieved at the thought of seeing civilization again.
Not only were they looking forward to rest, but they were also glad to go back to doing what pirates did best: Looking for treasure! Tetra had informed her crew that they were searching for a great gem that was hidden on Greatfish isle.
The crew was glad to hear that they were finally going back to their normal life as pirates. But no one got too excited, since they knew Zuko always announced their arrival when he first spotted land; and usually that meant they still had about an hour left of sailing. So...the crew went back to doing whatever they were doing to pass the time.
About a half hour later, Tetra grew too impatient with the waiting and climbed up to where Zuko was in the crow's nest. Zuko was doing the usual...looking through his telescope and keeping an eye on their destination. Tetra didn't talk to him much except when she gave an order so she rarely knew what was on his mind. She often wondered if he ever got bored of looking through the darn thing twenty-four seven. She didn't bother with it though.
Tetra wanted to see their destination up close and didn't have enough patience to want to wait another long half hour...so she asked Zuko for his telescope.
Zuko didn't hesitate to hand it to her, knowing that what Tetra said, goes. All of the crew knew to stay on her good side, knowing the extra work they would have to do if they failed to do so.
Tetra peered through the finder and searched. A somewhat rounded- shaped island floated on the horizon, poking its tall earth above sea level and clawing at the wind as if it was out of air. It looked a little like a stranded fish out of water; hence the name Greatfish Isle. She had been here once or twice before when she was little, though she could barely remember what it was like. Her thoughts were on other things as she gazed at the distant island through the finder.
"I'm not sure how I will go about finding this pearl..." Tetra thought to herself. "...but I will get it! Somehow..."
She lowered the telescope and gave it back to Zuko, who immediately began to peer at the island like he was doing before she arrived. He moved the telescope around to view the outskirts of the isle, just out of curiosity.
Tetra was about to make her way back down the ladder when she suddenly heard Zuko say a couple of things at a rapid pace. She turned around and gave him a look of confusion, not knowing what the heck he had just said.
The small side-burned pirate was pointing toward the island while still looking through his telescope. He glanced at her quickly, then looked through the finder, then back at her.
"I really don't feel like playing charades, Zuko." Tetra said, raising an eyebrow. Seeing how he kept pointing out to the ocean, she tried none the less to find what he was so excited about with her own eyes. She couldn't see anything but water and the islands silhouette.
Finding Zuko's rare fast talk annoying now, the young captain stuck a hand on her hip and cocked her head to him, partially rolling her eyes.
"Repeat that in English, if you please." She requested in a slightly huffed tone.
Zuko caught the hint and quickly calmed himself. Still motioning his head to the sea, he began to speak in his normal stuttering speech. "Something approaches...from the island." He held out the telescope to her, quickly finding it hard to keep himself calm.
Tetra took the telescope, gave Zuko a weird look, then peeked through the finder. She focused on the water's surface and found nothing but waves at first.
Suddenly, she spotted something that puzzled her.
Something was moving through the water in between their ship and the island at quick speeds. It looked like some sort of sea creature...and it was splitting through the waters and heading right towards them.
Tetra slowly lowered the telescope and gawked at the abnormal wave in front of them. It was moving so fast that it only took about a few minutes before it got close enough for the entire crew to notice it. Everyone went to the side of the ship to get a better look.
The creature was a huge greenish-blue fish. It had big, bulgy eyes and a weird-looking flab of flesh that hung in front of its forehead. A lantern-shaped object hung at the tip of it, swaying back and forth from the movement the fish was making.
Everyone on board grew silent as the fish grew in size when it got closer. It didn't look like it wanted to attack them...the problem was it was still heading toward their ship...and it wasn't slowing down or showing signs of wanting to turn!
Tetra shook her head to get herself out of her gaze and leaned over the nests edge and shouted.
"Don't just stand there you morons! Get this ship out of the way!"
The crew got out of their state of amazement and quickly ran to their evasive stations. As quickly as they could, they tried to turn the ship out of the fish's path.
Tetra watched as the fish got even closer. It was still showing no signs of slowing down, and it was now so close that it would smash right into the side of the ship even if it turned or even slowed down!
"Brace yourselves! It's going to hit!" The captain shouted as she gripped the edge of the crows nest and prepared for impact. Her crew quickly did the same to whatever they were holding onto.
Just at the last few moments, the huge fish dipped its head and launched itself completely up and out of the water. It jumped so high up in fact that it soared right over the pirate ship...without even touching it!
Water dripped upon the ship as it literally flew overhead and bathed the crew with its cascading water and darkness from its shadow. In a huge splash, it landed on the other side of the ship and as quickly as it appeared, it vanished beneath the waves.
Tetra ran a hand through her hair, relieved that the fish did what it did; otherwise, she wouldn't have a ship to sail the sea. But she wondered...what was it swimming from?
"Miss Tetra!" Zuko called. "Look!"
Tetra spun around to see what Zuko saw this time. But instead of seeing something in the water this time around, she spotted something dark and disfigured in the sky. She quickly snatched the telescope to get a better look, but before she could focus on the strange thing, she suddenly heard a faint whoosh followed by a loud bang that literally made the ship vibrate!
Tetra looked up toward the island and gasped at what she saw.
The island was no longer a round hunk of earth but a huge ball of fire! The island had just been struck by some sort of magical attack that literally ignited the whole island. The place was burning so intensely that smoke had covered the entire isle in a matter of minutes.
Huge chucks of earth shifted positions as more small orbs of magic suddenly began to shower the place!
Through her shock, Tetra quickly glanced through the telescope to find the source of all this destruction. What she finally focused on, didn't really surprise her...
No sooner had she spotted them, the figure of that wretched bird was suddenly seen flying away from the now burning island.
And along with it, that same horrible man from her dreams was perched on its back...
His name suddenly entered Tetra's mind.
"Ganondorf." she uttered through gritted teeth. Not only was she infuriated at the man and his stupid pet, but she couldn't figure out why someone would do such a horrible thing for no apparent reason! All those people living on the island...why would anyone want to end so many lives at once? Sure she was use to seeing destruction, what with being a pirate and all...but not like this! She and her crew would never kill anything unless they knew the thing was pure evil.
Tetra slammed her fist on the side of the nest out of anger. How many times was she going to witness this horrible demon and his monster destroy another life? It was hard to bear even if it wasn't happening to her specifically. She raised her head to take one more look at the smoldering isle...and her face twisted into a look of confusion and curiosity.
The island was still burning immensely, but now this huge, odd- looking cloud hung above the whole place like a big levitating blanket. It was only above the island, and nowhere else as rain was now being seen pouring on the island, putting out the large fire that had spread through the whole isle.
Tetra squinted as a thought popped into her head. Without much hesitation, she quickly climbed down the ladder, shouting a command to the rest of her crew.
"Get back to your stations." She ordered. "We are still going ashore."
The crew looked at their captain and followed her order as they continued on toward Greatfish Isle...
...or what was left of it anyways...
Once ashore, Tetra ordered them to search as much of the place as possible and search for any signs of life. In addition, they needed to see if the treasure was still here. After an ordeal like that, it could have been blown off the island and lost at sea...or worse...it could have been destroyed.
Tetra hastened the search. The treasure had to be here somewhere. It just had to be! She didn't come all the way over here just to fail.
Her efforts to find the gem or a survivor was dimmed however, when her crew reported nothing after a half hours search. No one had spotted treasure or a survivor anywhere on the island.
Tetra hung her head, letting the rain run down her hair and drip to the ground. They had just hit a roadblock. The pearl was nowhere to be found on the place Tetra was instructed to look...now what was she suppose to do?
She kicked her foot and sent a small cloud of wet sand into the air. The crew looked at each other, knowing their captain was getting frustrated from all that was going on.
"Miss Tetra?" Nudge said, sounding concerned.
Tetra kept her eyes to the ground as she ran a hand through her blonde hair and quietly spoke.
"I'm fine..." she muttered, trying to cover up her stress by sounding tough. "I just...don't know what to do now..."
Nudge looked back at everyone behind him. They just looked at each other again, hoping someone would say an answer to their predicament. But no one said a word...
Nudge looked back at Tetra and scratched the back of his head, obviously not having an answer himself.
Tetra flung her head up to get her dripping bangs out of her face and
spoke.
"Let's get back to the ship." she ordered quietly. "There's no sense in staying here any longer..."
The crew nodded in agreement. With no one uttering a word, they slowly made their way back to their ship.
~ ~ ~
The pirate ship swayed with the small current of waves that hit its flank. For hours, the large vessel was drifting in such a manner since Tetra gave no order to go anywhere or do anything. The ship was floating on an unknown course...where they ended up didn't even matter to the captain. She was secretly hoping the wind would carry her to the right place...but she knew she was only fooling herself again.
"Darn it!" she thought to herself. "How am I supposed to know where to go now? I don't have the slightest idea where to start." She leaned against the railing of the ship as she gazed out into the open sea. "I need a hint...a clue...anything that can point me in the right direction."
"Miss Tetra!" Zuko called from the nest.
Tetra looked up from her thinking position and glanced up at him. Well...that didn't take long...
"What is it?" she called back to him, finding his abnormal loud
tone questionable.
Zuko pointed toward the east and replied.
"Something is approaching from the east!"
Tetra, along with the rest of the crew, looked in that direction and faintly saw something coming toward them.
...and it was flying.
Tetra immediately tensed up. "It can't be!" she thought. That thing flying toward them...could it be...that bird?
She grinned. "So...he came back for me, huh?"
Tetra spun around to face her crew and ordered.
"Battle stations everyone!"
The crew saluted and ran to their positions to prepare for battle. Tetra followed Gonzo and Senza to help them aim the catapult, since last time they kept missing the darn thing.
"Turn it forty-five degrees, Senza! I want to hit our target
this time!"
"Aye-aye, Miss Tetra!" Senza said while cranking the handle to
aim the launcher.
"Cannonball loaded, Miss." Gonzo added.
"Good!" She replied. "Ready..."
Senza grabbed the handle that released the catapult.
"FIRE!"
With a quick pull, Senza yanked the lever down. The cannonball placed in the holder went flying through the air at a crazy speed toward the oncoming creature. Everyone watched to see if their aim was true...
Whatever was approaching them had seen the cannonball launched and was now flapping like crazy to try and get out of the way. It managed to get out of its path, but as the cannonball flew past it, it got clipped in one of the wings and started to plummet right out of the sky. It flapped even more vigorously as a result to try and keep itself stable in the air.
As she was watching, Tetra suddenly noticed that the thing they were shooting down was way too small to be the huge bird.
In fact...it wasn't even a bird...
"Oh shoot!" Tetra choked as she spun around. "Stop your fire! That's not the bird!"
The crew stopped what they were doing and looked at her with confusion, then looked at the thing in the air. It had stabilized itself by now and was hovering in mid-air, not even daring to get any closer.
Tetra ran to the ships railing, cupped her mouth, and called.
"It's ok! You have permission to come aboard."
Upon hearing this, the thing flew closer so that everyone on board could see who or what it was.
That thing...was Quill.
Quill landed on the ship and spread out his right wing to examine it. Other than a couple of feathers ripped off, it looked ok. He took one look at Tetra and said.
"A little jumpy, aren't we?"
Tetra smirked at him.
"Sorry about that. We thought you were that huge bird."
Quill folded his wing back and looked at her, baffled.
"I don't see how I look anything like that foul creature..." he commented. He looked around at all the crew members, wielding a puzzled expression for some reason.
"By the way..." He continued, looking down at Tetra. "...where is
Link?"
Tetra's smirk suddenly turned upside down at the mention of Link's name. The whole crew had heard this question and all of them were now looking at each other, knowing that they had lost the kid at sea.
Tetra looked to the ground at her right to hide her sudden change in mood that showed on her face. She didn't want to remember the fact that Link was gone.
Quill noticed this weird change and cocked his white head.
"He is with you, isn't he?" he questioned.
Tetra kept her eyes to the ground.
"No." she said quietly, trying to keep a straight tone.
Seeing how his captain was getting bugged by something, Gonzo
quickly stepped forward to get the Rito off her back.
"The kid was lost at sea, yeah?" he explained.
Quill got a concerned look on his face. He lifted one hand and
asked.
"When?"
Mako stepped forward this time and peered up at the tall Rito.
"About five days ago..."
Quill put a hand up to his mouth in thought, then scratched his beak with confusion.
"But how can that be?" he questioned them. "He was at my home island just four days ago."
Tetra's head shot up when she heard this. Her eyes went wide along with a "huh" from the rest of the crew. Link was still alive?! But how...?
Quill looked at all of them with a puzzled look. Seeing how the pirates were too shocked at the news to answer him, he cleared his throat to get their attention.
"I need to find Link as quickly as possible." Quill stated. "I have a message from the great Valoo to give to him." He cocked his head again. "So...do you know where he is?"
All the pirates were still staring at him. They blinked a couple of times without answering.
"I'll take that as a no..." Quill quietly stated to himself. He turned his back to the pirates and looked back at them. "Whether you pirates will help me or not, I must find him." He then proceeded to walk away.
Tetra had a lot of thoughts running through her mind. Not only was she shocked to hear that Link was still alive but for some reason she felt relieved as well.
That weird feeling suddenly lifted in her stomach again. She had no idea she would be this happy to here he was still living.
But...where was he now? And what was this message he needed to
hear?
"Wait a minute!" Gonzo suddenly called to him.
Quill paused and looked over his shoulder as the large pirate
frowned at him and spoke.
"Just what is this message that you have for the kid that we pirates can't hear?"
In response to getting talked to finally, the Rito turned his body
around to face them again.
"I thought for sure that Link would have found and told you by now..." he stated as he crossed his arms. "I only mean to tell him that GreatFish Isle was destroyed and that he will not find the water spirit, Jabun, there."
Everyone straightened up, even Tetra...slightly.
"Who's Jabun?" Gonzo questioned, making the winged mailman statement sound dumb and pointless.
Quill raised an eyebrow at him, thinking pirates would be the first to know who Jabun was. But none the less, he began to explain. "He's a great spirit that use to live on GreatFish Isle, until it got cursed by the shadow in the fortress. He fled the island beforehand though, and is now taking residence at Link's home island."
This time, Tetra was only one who straightened up even more as Quill
continued.
"I must let him know that Jabun resides there and that he must go to Outset if he wishes to speak to him."
Now the captain was even more interested. By Quill's description, this Jabun character had to be that huge fish that nearly collided with them on their way to GreatFish Isle.
It all made sense now. That fish must have the pearl she was after!
"So..." she thought to herself. "It was fleeing from Ganondorf, huh? Could he be after the pearl too?" She scratched the bottom of her chin as she confirmed the reason and got a determined look. "If he is then I better get it first!"
Then another thought struck her mind, this one more serious than the
first.
"If he's after the pearl...and Jabun is at Outset...then..." She suddenly stopped scratching her chin.
She quickly spun around, not wasting another second while she gave a stern order to her crew.
"Boys!" She proclaimed in a high tone. "Get to your stations. We are going to Outset!"
Everyone but Quill saluted and scattered across the ship.
Quill quickly looked around as they dispersed, then looked at Tetra with a confused expression on his face.
"Why are you going to Outset?" he questioned.
Tetra frowned at him.
"Non of your business." She replied in a huffed tone.
Quill didn't like the sound of that. He was suddenly starting to regret telling these pirates about Jabun and Outset Island.
By now, Tetra was getting annoyed with his presence on her ship. She eyed him and spoke to him directly to get his attention.
"If you don't mind, I would like it if you would leave now." She looked away. "Link is not with us so go find him and tell him your silly message."
Quill backed his head after hearing this girl command him to leave. He wasn't really surprised though, since this was the same attitude she had the last time he saw her. But she was right about one thing...he still had to find Link and tell him the news.
He turned around and spread his brown wings. Seeing that the pirates were serious in this matter, he figured he had to hasten his search for Link. With a couple huge flaps of his wings, Quill lifted off the deck and flew into the wind. In minutes, he disappeared in the opposite direction.
Tetra crossed her arms as she stared ahead of the ship, which was now heading south. She kept her eyes on the horizon as she lowered her head and quietly spoke to herself...
"Here we come, Outset!"
A/N: Sorry bout the last chappie being a little short. I had to stop there or else it would have been huge. This would have been up sooner but FFN was having problems. Heck, you people deserve the next chapter quickly! I got so many reviews over the last few days I almost fainted with happiness! No way am I going to keep you good reviewers waiting. And a heads up to Aria Zephr about what you said in your most recent review. This chap might clear up anything you might have had a question on. Hope you like this one! ^_^
Oh yeah before I forget. Any questions about my story will be explained and/or answered in the author's summary after the very last chapter (if I haven't already mentioned it before...I think I did...arg, bad memory .). But that doesn't really mean you should save you questions until then! Not in the least! By all means, ask away in a review and I'll get back to it when I write the summary. Ok I think that's about it...*inches away* Sorry to keep you waiting ^.^;
Chapter 7: Unexpected News
-------------------------------------------------
"LAND HO!"
Upon hearing Zuko's call, the crew lifted their heads to try and spot the reason for his call.
All of the crew was very excited. They haven't been on shore for a number of days, maybe even weeks! They didn't count the stop at Outset, since instead of getting a break, they got a kid in a odd green outfit. The thought of decent food and rest from the hard work on board made their spirits high with relief and excitement. Even Tetra was relieved at the thought of seeing civilization again.
Not only were they looking forward to rest, but they were also glad to go back to doing what pirates did best: Looking for treasure! Tetra had informed her crew that they were searching for a great gem that was hidden on Greatfish isle.
The crew was glad to hear that they were finally going back to their normal life as pirates. But no one got too excited, since they knew Zuko always announced their arrival when he first spotted land; and usually that meant they still had about an hour left of sailing. So...the crew went back to doing whatever they were doing to pass the time.
About a half hour later, Tetra grew too impatient with the waiting and climbed up to where Zuko was in the crow's nest. Zuko was doing the usual...looking through his telescope and keeping an eye on their destination. Tetra didn't talk to him much except when she gave an order so she rarely knew what was on his mind. She often wondered if he ever got bored of looking through the darn thing twenty-four seven. She didn't bother with it though.
Tetra wanted to see their destination up close and didn't have enough patience to want to wait another long half hour...so she asked Zuko for his telescope.
Zuko didn't hesitate to hand it to her, knowing that what Tetra said, goes. All of the crew knew to stay on her good side, knowing the extra work they would have to do if they failed to do so.
Tetra peered through the finder and searched. A somewhat rounded- shaped island floated on the horizon, poking its tall earth above sea level and clawing at the wind as if it was out of air. It looked a little like a stranded fish out of water; hence the name Greatfish Isle. She had been here once or twice before when she was little, though she could barely remember what it was like. Her thoughts were on other things as she gazed at the distant island through the finder.
"I'm not sure how I will go about finding this pearl..." Tetra thought to herself. "...but I will get it! Somehow..."
She lowered the telescope and gave it back to Zuko, who immediately began to peer at the island like he was doing before she arrived. He moved the telescope around to view the outskirts of the isle, just out of curiosity.
Tetra was about to make her way back down the ladder when she suddenly heard Zuko say a couple of things at a rapid pace. She turned around and gave him a look of confusion, not knowing what the heck he had just said.
The small side-burned pirate was pointing toward the island while still looking through his telescope. He glanced at her quickly, then looked through the finder, then back at her.
"I really don't feel like playing charades, Zuko." Tetra said, raising an eyebrow. Seeing how he kept pointing out to the ocean, she tried none the less to find what he was so excited about with her own eyes. She couldn't see anything but water and the islands silhouette.
Finding Zuko's rare fast talk annoying now, the young captain stuck a hand on her hip and cocked her head to him, partially rolling her eyes.
"Repeat that in English, if you please." She requested in a slightly huffed tone.
Zuko caught the hint and quickly calmed himself. Still motioning his head to the sea, he began to speak in his normal stuttering speech. "Something approaches...from the island." He held out the telescope to her, quickly finding it hard to keep himself calm.
Tetra took the telescope, gave Zuko a weird look, then peeked through the finder. She focused on the water's surface and found nothing but waves at first.
Suddenly, she spotted something that puzzled her.
Something was moving through the water in between their ship and the island at quick speeds. It looked like some sort of sea creature...and it was splitting through the waters and heading right towards them.
Tetra slowly lowered the telescope and gawked at the abnormal wave in front of them. It was moving so fast that it only took about a few minutes before it got close enough for the entire crew to notice it. Everyone went to the side of the ship to get a better look.
The creature was a huge greenish-blue fish. It had big, bulgy eyes and a weird-looking flab of flesh that hung in front of its forehead. A lantern-shaped object hung at the tip of it, swaying back and forth from the movement the fish was making.
Everyone on board grew silent as the fish grew in size when it got closer. It didn't look like it wanted to attack them...the problem was it was still heading toward their ship...and it wasn't slowing down or showing signs of wanting to turn!
Tetra shook her head to get herself out of her gaze and leaned over the nests edge and shouted.
"Don't just stand there you morons! Get this ship out of the way!"
The crew got out of their state of amazement and quickly ran to their evasive stations. As quickly as they could, they tried to turn the ship out of the fish's path.
Tetra watched as the fish got even closer. It was still showing no signs of slowing down, and it was now so close that it would smash right into the side of the ship even if it turned or even slowed down!
"Brace yourselves! It's going to hit!" The captain shouted as she gripped the edge of the crows nest and prepared for impact. Her crew quickly did the same to whatever they were holding onto.
Just at the last few moments, the huge fish dipped its head and launched itself completely up and out of the water. It jumped so high up in fact that it soared right over the pirate ship...without even touching it!
Water dripped upon the ship as it literally flew overhead and bathed the crew with its cascading water and darkness from its shadow. In a huge splash, it landed on the other side of the ship and as quickly as it appeared, it vanished beneath the waves.
Tetra ran a hand through her hair, relieved that the fish did what it did; otherwise, she wouldn't have a ship to sail the sea. But she wondered...what was it swimming from?
"Miss Tetra!" Zuko called. "Look!"
Tetra spun around to see what Zuko saw this time. But instead of seeing something in the water this time around, she spotted something dark and disfigured in the sky. She quickly snatched the telescope to get a better look, but before she could focus on the strange thing, she suddenly heard a faint whoosh followed by a loud bang that literally made the ship vibrate!
Tetra looked up toward the island and gasped at what she saw.
The island was no longer a round hunk of earth but a huge ball of fire! The island had just been struck by some sort of magical attack that literally ignited the whole island. The place was burning so intensely that smoke had covered the entire isle in a matter of minutes.
Huge chucks of earth shifted positions as more small orbs of magic suddenly began to shower the place!
Through her shock, Tetra quickly glanced through the telescope to find the source of all this destruction. What she finally focused on, didn't really surprise her...
No sooner had she spotted them, the figure of that wretched bird was suddenly seen flying away from the now burning island.
And along with it, that same horrible man from her dreams was perched on its back...
His name suddenly entered Tetra's mind.
"Ganondorf." she uttered through gritted teeth. Not only was she infuriated at the man and his stupid pet, but she couldn't figure out why someone would do such a horrible thing for no apparent reason! All those people living on the island...why would anyone want to end so many lives at once? Sure she was use to seeing destruction, what with being a pirate and all...but not like this! She and her crew would never kill anything unless they knew the thing was pure evil.
Tetra slammed her fist on the side of the nest out of anger. How many times was she going to witness this horrible demon and his monster destroy another life? It was hard to bear even if it wasn't happening to her specifically. She raised her head to take one more look at the smoldering isle...and her face twisted into a look of confusion and curiosity.
The island was still burning immensely, but now this huge, odd- looking cloud hung above the whole place like a big levitating blanket. It was only above the island, and nowhere else as rain was now being seen pouring on the island, putting out the large fire that had spread through the whole isle.
Tetra squinted as a thought popped into her head. Without much hesitation, she quickly climbed down the ladder, shouting a command to the rest of her crew.
"Get back to your stations." She ordered. "We are still going ashore."
The crew looked at their captain and followed her order as they continued on toward Greatfish Isle...
...or what was left of it anyways...
Once ashore, Tetra ordered them to search as much of the place as possible and search for any signs of life. In addition, they needed to see if the treasure was still here. After an ordeal like that, it could have been blown off the island and lost at sea...or worse...it could have been destroyed.
Tetra hastened the search. The treasure had to be here somewhere. It just had to be! She didn't come all the way over here just to fail.
Her efforts to find the gem or a survivor was dimmed however, when her crew reported nothing after a half hours search. No one had spotted treasure or a survivor anywhere on the island.
Tetra hung her head, letting the rain run down her hair and drip to the ground. They had just hit a roadblock. The pearl was nowhere to be found on the place Tetra was instructed to look...now what was she suppose to do?
She kicked her foot and sent a small cloud of wet sand into the air. The crew looked at each other, knowing their captain was getting frustrated from all that was going on.
"Miss Tetra?" Nudge said, sounding concerned.
Tetra kept her eyes to the ground as she ran a hand through her blonde hair and quietly spoke.
"I'm fine..." she muttered, trying to cover up her stress by sounding tough. "I just...don't know what to do now..."
Nudge looked back at everyone behind him. They just looked at each other again, hoping someone would say an answer to their predicament. But no one said a word...
Nudge looked back at Tetra and scratched the back of his head, obviously not having an answer himself.
Tetra flung her head up to get her dripping bangs out of her face and
spoke.
"Let's get back to the ship." she ordered quietly. "There's no sense in staying here any longer..."
The crew nodded in agreement. With no one uttering a word, they slowly made their way back to their ship.
~ ~ ~
The pirate ship swayed with the small current of waves that hit its flank. For hours, the large vessel was drifting in such a manner since Tetra gave no order to go anywhere or do anything. The ship was floating on an unknown course...where they ended up didn't even matter to the captain. She was secretly hoping the wind would carry her to the right place...but she knew she was only fooling herself again.
"Darn it!" she thought to herself. "How am I supposed to know where to go now? I don't have the slightest idea where to start." She leaned against the railing of the ship as she gazed out into the open sea. "I need a hint...a clue...anything that can point me in the right direction."
"Miss Tetra!" Zuko called from the nest.
Tetra looked up from her thinking position and glanced up at him. Well...that didn't take long...
"What is it?" she called back to him, finding his abnormal loud
tone questionable.
Zuko pointed toward the east and replied.
"Something is approaching from the east!"
Tetra, along with the rest of the crew, looked in that direction and faintly saw something coming toward them.
...and it was flying.
Tetra immediately tensed up. "It can't be!" she thought. That thing flying toward them...could it be...that bird?
She grinned. "So...he came back for me, huh?"
Tetra spun around to face her crew and ordered.
"Battle stations everyone!"
The crew saluted and ran to their positions to prepare for battle. Tetra followed Gonzo and Senza to help them aim the catapult, since last time they kept missing the darn thing.
"Turn it forty-five degrees, Senza! I want to hit our target
this time!"
"Aye-aye, Miss Tetra!" Senza said while cranking the handle to
aim the launcher.
"Cannonball loaded, Miss." Gonzo added.
"Good!" She replied. "Ready..."
Senza grabbed the handle that released the catapult.
"FIRE!"
With a quick pull, Senza yanked the lever down. The cannonball placed in the holder went flying through the air at a crazy speed toward the oncoming creature. Everyone watched to see if their aim was true...
Whatever was approaching them had seen the cannonball launched and was now flapping like crazy to try and get out of the way. It managed to get out of its path, but as the cannonball flew past it, it got clipped in one of the wings and started to plummet right out of the sky. It flapped even more vigorously as a result to try and keep itself stable in the air.
As she was watching, Tetra suddenly noticed that the thing they were shooting down was way too small to be the huge bird.
In fact...it wasn't even a bird...
"Oh shoot!" Tetra choked as she spun around. "Stop your fire! That's not the bird!"
The crew stopped what they were doing and looked at her with confusion, then looked at the thing in the air. It had stabilized itself by now and was hovering in mid-air, not even daring to get any closer.
Tetra ran to the ships railing, cupped her mouth, and called.
"It's ok! You have permission to come aboard."
Upon hearing this, the thing flew closer so that everyone on board could see who or what it was.
That thing...was Quill.
Quill landed on the ship and spread out his right wing to examine it. Other than a couple of feathers ripped off, it looked ok. He took one look at Tetra and said.
"A little jumpy, aren't we?"
Tetra smirked at him.
"Sorry about that. We thought you were that huge bird."
Quill folded his wing back and looked at her, baffled.
"I don't see how I look anything like that foul creature..." he commented. He looked around at all the crew members, wielding a puzzled expression for some reason.
"By the way..." He continued, looking down at Tetra. "...where is
Link?"
Tetra's smirk suddenly turned upside down at the mention of Link's name. The whole crew had heard this question and all of them were now looking at each other, knowing that they had lost the kid at sea.
Tetra looked to the ground at her right to hide her sudden change in mood that showed on her face. She didn't want to remember the fact that Link was gone.
Quill noticed this weird change and cocked his white head.
"He is with you, isn't he?" he questioned.
Tetra kept her eyes to the ground.
"No." she said quietly, trying to keep a straight tone.
Seeing how his captain was getting bugged by something, Gonzo
quickly stepped forward to get the Rito off her back.
"The kid was lost at sea, yeah?" he explained.
Quill got a concerned look on his face. He lifted one hand and
asked.
"When?"
Mako stepped forward this time and peered up at the tall Rito.
"About five days ago..."
Quill put a hand up to his mouth in thought, then scratched his beak with confusion.
"But how can that be?" he questioned them. "He was at my home island just four days ago."
Tetra's head shot up when she heard this. Her eyes went wide along with a "huh" from the rest of the crew. Link was still alive?! But how...?
Quill looked at all of them with a puzzled look. Seeing how the pirates were too shocked at the news to answer him, he cleared his throat to get their attention.
"I need to find Link as quickly as possible." Quill stated. "I have a message from the great Valoo to give to him." He cocked his head again. "So...do you know where he is?"
All the pirates were still staring at him. They blinked a couple of times without answering.
"I'll take that as a no..." Quill quietly stated to himself. He turned his back to the pirates and looked back at them. "Whether you pirates will help me or not, I must find him." He then proceeded to walk away.
Tetra had a lot of thoughts running through her mind. Not only was she shocked to hear that Link was still alive but for some reason she felt relieved as well.
That weird feeling suddenly lifted in her stomach again. She had no idea she would be this happy to here he was still living.
But...where was he now? And what was this message he needed to
hear?
"Wait a minute!" Gonzo suddenly called to him.
Quill paused and looked over his shoulder as the large pirate
frowned at him and spoke.
"Just what is this message that you have for the kid that we pirates can't hear?"
In response to getting talked to finally, the Rito turned his body
around to face them again.
"I thought for sure that Link would have found and told you by now..." he stated as he crossed his arms. "I only mean to tell him that GreatFish Isle was destroyed and that he will not find the water spirit, Jabun, there."
Everyone straightened up, even Tetra...slightly.
"Who's Jabun?" Gonzo questioned, making the winged mailman statement sound dumb and pointless.
Quill raised an eyebrow at him, thinking pirates would be the first to know who Jabun was. But none the less, he began to explain. "He's a great spirit that use to live on GreatFish Isle, until it got cursed by the shadow in the fortress. He fled the island beforehand though, and is now taking residence at Link's home island."
This time, Tetra was only one who straightened up even more as Quill
continued.
"I must let him know that Jabun resides there and that he must go to Outset if he wishes to speak to him."
Now the captain was even more interested. By Quill's description, this Jabun character had to be that huge fish that nearly collided with them on their way to GreatFish Isle.
It all made sense now. That fish must have the pearl she was after!
"So..." she thought to herself. "It was fleeing from Ganondorf, huh? Could he be after the pearl too?" She scratched the bottom of her chin as she confirmed the reason and got a determined look. "If he is then I better get it first!"
Then another thought struck her mind, this one more serious than the
first.
"If he's after the pearl...and Jabun is at Outset...then..." She suddenly stopped scratching her chin.
She quickly spun around, not wasting another second while she gave a stern order to her crew.
"Boys!" She proclaimed in a high tone. "Get to your stations. We are going to Outset!"
Everyone but Quill saluted and scattered across the ship.
Quill quickly looked around as they dispersed, then looked at Tetra with a confused expression on his face.
"Why are you going to Outset?" he questioned.
Tetra frowned at him.
"Non of your business." She replied in a huffed tone.
Quill didn't like the sound of that. He was suddenly starting to regret telling these pirates about Jabun and Outset Island.
By now, Tetra was getting annoyed with his presence on her ship. She eyed him and spoke to him directly to get his attention.
"If you don't mind, I would like it if you would leave now." She looked away. "Link is not with us so go find him and tell him your silly message."
Quill backed his head after hearing this girl command him to leave. He wasn't really surprised though, since this was the same attitude she had the last time he saw her. But she was right about one thing...he still had to find Link and tell him the news.
He turned around and spread his brown wings. Seeing that the pirates were serious in this matter, he figured he had to hasten his search for Link. With a couple huge flaps of his wings, Quill lifted off the deck and flew into the wind. In minutes, he disappeared in the opposite direction.
Tetra crossed her arms as she stared ahead of the ship, which was now heading south. She kept her eyes on the horizon as she lowered her head and quietly spoke to herself...
"Here we come, Outset!"