E1pnvn's Note: I'm BA-ACK! Wahoo! And let me say that I am SOOOOO SORRY for the long wait. I said I'd be back in two weeks, but it ended up more like four weeks because right when we got back from the Galapagos, our DSL stopped working and we couldn't access the internet for some reason. (We lost our water for a few days too. It wasn't a very nice welcome home present.) But, as for the actual trip, the Galapagos was amazing! For those of you who might remotely care, I wrote afew paragraphsabout it at the bottom of the page, right before the thank-yous. And... um... yeah, that's it. Here's (finally) chapter four!
DISCLAIMER - I don't own Zelda. I don't own any islands either... It would be so nice to have both...
SKULLTULLA HAUS
By E1pnvn
Chapter four - Something Fishy
When I had been thoroughly pecked half to death, the cucco was finallysatisfied and let me be. It went clucking down the river in the opposite direction I was headed in and soon disappeared around a corner. I was more than a little relieved to see it go. Although, I did feel a tiny bit lonely when I continued on my quest without the evil little bird. I kind of missed having something around to talk to, even if it only responded with clucks. I walked on in this bored state of mind, wishing for some kind of a companion, until I realized that there WAS someone I could talk to. And the means of talking to him was hanging around my neck.
I examined the web-thing while I walked and held it to my mouth.
"Hey, Jonas, are you there?" I asked.
As usual, the web-thing glowed blue and Jonas' voice said: "Yes, can I help you, m'lady?"
I opened my mouth to speak, but before I could he said: "Oh, you haven't run into any other monsters, have you?"
"No, no, I'm fine," I said. "I just wanted to... talk."
There was a long, awkward silence.
"Why?" Jonas asked.
I sighed. "I don't know," I said. "I'm just kind of lonely, I guess. I wanted someone to talk to..."
"Oh... ok," said Jonas. "Um... What do you want to talk about?"
I scampered my way up a small slope, letting the web-thing fall back around my neck.
"Dunno, what do you want to talk about?" I asked, loud enough to be heard, even without the web-thing by my mouth.
"Well... I haven't really had a conversation like this in over ninety years..." Jonas said.
"But you talk to Gustave and the others, don't you?" I said. "What do you guys talk about?"
"Hmm..." said Jonas, as I climbed over a few more rocks. "Well, Gustave usually talks about his old blacksmithing buisness. He always wonders what ever happened to it since both he and his apprentice disappeared. And as for Anne and Leonard... They're usually fighting about something or other. The other day Anne was crying because Leonard forgot that it was the 116th anniversary of the day they met..."
"Sounds... interesting," I said. "Don't you ever get bored with the same old thing for years and years?"
"Sometimes," said Jonas. "But it would be a lie to say that there's never anything to do at Skulltulla Haus..."
"Skulltulla Haus?" I interrupted. "What's that?"
"Oh..." There was a light chuckle from Jonas. "That's what we call the house we stay in. It's kind of our own little joke... It's like saying that this house is some quaint little inn or something that we have all to ourselves. It's basically just something we made up to laugh at whenever things look bleak."
I thought about that. It didn't seem like that bad of an idea...
"So, if you don't talk to your friends, what do you do at Skulltulla Haus?" I asked.
"Oh, lots of things," said Jonas. "I'm the one who tries to comfort Gustave when he mourns his lost buisness. And I'm the nuetral one in all of Anne and Leonard's arguments. Plus, I'm in charge of greeting humans, like you, when they venture into our house. So, really, I have a lot of jobs to do around here. But, on the rare occasion that I find myself bored, I make webs."
"You make webs?" I repeated.
"Well, what else is a spider supposed to do for fun?" said Jonas. "I'm actually rather good at it. Once, I made a giant picture of Hyrule Castle out of web on the ceiling. But then a bunch of flies got stuck in it and ruined it..."
"I see..." I murmured. "Um... Sounds fun."
Jonas chuckled. "You don't sound convinced," he said. "By the way, have you made it to the waterfall yet?"
I started to say "no", but then I turned a corner and, sure enough, I found myself staring at a waterfall. It was tall, almost thirty feet, and roaring.
"Uh, yes actually," I said. "What do I do now?"
"Just walk into the waterfall," said Jonas. "There's a huge door behind the water."
"How do I open the door?" I asked.
"It's always open," Jonas replied. "The Zoras used to only let members of the royal family into their Domain, but now it's open to the general public. All you have to do is walk into the waterfall."
"Ok," I said. "And what do I do once I'm inside?"
"Look for a big, ugly spider," said Jonas. "The Skulltulla's in there somewhere."
"Got it," I said. "Bye, Jonas."
"Goodbye," said Jonas, and the web-thing stopped glowing.
I approached the waterfall; the sound of the water was almost deafening. Then, I took a deep breath and walked into it.
The water beat down on me as I went through, but not hard enough to stop me from reaching the door on the other side. I entered and was instantly stunned by what I saw.
Zora's Domain was a giant, hollowed out cave with a huge pool of water in its center. The water was the prettiest shade of blue I had ever seen and around it there were pathways and houses cut into the rock, all lit by torches. It was an amazing scene. But even more amazing were the Zoras themselves. They looked almost human, except that they were blue and had fishtails and fins. I had heard of the Zoras and how they were fish-people, but I was still shocked to see them in person. I'd expected them to be grotusque and deformed-looking. But instead, everything about the Zoras was elegant, from the way they looked to the way they moved. That plus the scenery was enough to make me stand in the doorway with my mouth hanging open for a few minutes.
But my fly-catching was soon interrupted by a pair of Zoras that came running by. Before I knew what was happening, they ran into me and knocked me off of the path, sending me hurtling into the pool of water below. I could only just let out a surprised yelp before splashing into the water. I went under, then bobbed back up to the surface. Coughing and sputtering, I looked around for my offenders. The Zoras in question were still up near the entrance, looking at me. They looked identical. Were they twins?
"Hey you two!" I yelled at them. "Watch where you're going! You could've killed somebody, running around and knocking into people like that!"
"Sorry!" one of the twins replied, cupping his hands around his mouth to amplify his voice. "Just hang on a sec; we'll get you out of there!"
"No, that's ok-" I started, but the two Zoras had already dived into the pool.
They landed on either side of me, splashing me in the process. They came up and smiled at me, then each of them grabbed one of my arms.
"HEY! What are you doing!" I yelped, kicking my legs.
"Helping you!" said one of the twins.
And with that, the two Zoras swam like dolphins back to land, dragging me along like I was a rag doll. When we had reached a path, the twins tossed me up rather roughly before climbing up themselves. I rubbed my poor, bruising arms and got to my feet. The two dripping Zoras smiled at me.
"Thanks," I grumbled, not really meaning it.
"No problem," said one of the twins.
"Sorry for knocking you over," said the other. "But we were in a hurry. I'm Tadzi by the way."
He held out his hand and shook mine enthusiastically.
"And I'm Taft," said the other twin.
He grabbed my hand too, even though his brother was still holding it, and they both shook it, so much so that I was afraid they'd pull my arm out of its socket. I finally managed to pull my hand away and stroked it gently.
"Um...great," I said. "My name's Sara."
"Sara?" said Tadzi. "Oh, I knew a Sara once! She was really nice. But she had this strange foot condition that made her toes green..."
"I remember her!" said Taft. "Her name was Sara Greenridge. But we always called her Sara Greentoe instead!"
They continued in this manner as I listened, my patience depleting rapidly. By now, I had decided that the twins were either clinically insane or just plain obnoxious.
"Hey," I interrupted after awhile. "Um... That's a great story and all, but I kind of have to find something, so if you'll excuse me-"
"You have to FIND something?" Tadzi repeated. His eyes glistened excitedly.
"Um... Yeah..." I said.
"Then you're in luck!" said Taft. "My brother and I are private gills!"
"Private what?" I asked.
"Gills," said Tadzi. "You know, like detectives."
"Don't you mean private EYES?" I asked.
"HYLIAN detectives are private eyes," Taft said, knowingly. "Zoran detectives are private gills."
"Oh... I see..." I said. I didn't really like where this was going.
"So, we'll be able to help you!" Tadzi said, confirming my fears.
I had a horrible mental picture of the two of them dragging me around in circles by my arms, calling for the Skulltulla as if it was a lost dog.
"Uh, well," I said. "Thanks for the offer, but I really don't think you should help me..."
"She's right!" said Taft. He turned to his brother. "Tadzi, as nice as Sara is, we still have a much more important mission to focus on. All of Zora's Domain could depend on it, remember?"
"Oh, yes, yes," said Tadzi. "Sorry, Sara, but he's right. We can't help you; we're too busy."
I blinked. "Wait... What are you guys talking about?" I asked.
Taft looked around to make sure no one was listening. Then, he leaned in close to me and whispered: "We'retrying to foil a Zoran conspiracy."
I raised an eyebrow. Somehow, I couldn't see these guys doing serious detective work.
"Our monarch, Queen Ruto, has a horrible plot to destroy the Zoras' very way of life!" said Tadzi. "And we have to stop her! The only problem is... well..."
"No one believes us," Taft finished.
I couldn't imagine why.
"So... what is this 'evil plot'?" I asked. I didn'texactly knowwhy I was humoring them, but I was curious nonetheless.
"Uh... We don't really know," said Tadzi.
"But Ruto IS up to something!" said Taft. "We're sure about that."
"I see..." I said. "Well, I guess I should get going then."
I turned to leave, but the twins moved in front of me.
"You believe us, don't you?" Tadzi asked. There was something like pleading in his voice.
I softened a little. They looked so pathetic... Actually, they kind of WERE so pathetic. I felt sorry for them.
"Sure," I said with a shrug. "I believe you."
"Great!" Taft cried. "Then you can help us!"
"What?" I said. "No, no, no. That's not what I meant..."
"But you're the only one who understands the truth besides us!" said Tadzi. "You HAVE to help us!"
They gave me those pleading, pathetic looks again. I sighed.
"Look, I'm sorry," I said. "But I really can't help you. I have to find that thing I was talking about and-"
"That's no problem!" Taft interrupted. "If you help us, we'll be able to save Zora's Domain in no time! And then Tadzi and I can help you find whatever you're looking for."
I considered this. Actually, I probably COULD use some help finding the Skulltulla. Zora's Domain was a big place...
"It'll be a piece of cake," Tadzi said. "Do we have a deal?"
I bit my lip. Then, I slowly nodded.
"Alright," I said. "Why not?"
The twins cheered. Then, before I could stop them, they grabbed my arms and whisked me away again.
They ran almost as fast as they swam and soon we were inside one of the houses that lined the path. I assumed it was the twins' house because it had two of everything. There were two beds, two chairs, two posters of some Zoran band called the Indigo-gos and so on. I wondered vaguely if they each had their own bathroom as they sat me down in one of the chairs.
"Hang on for a second," Tadzi said. "Taft and I are gonna go get our detective gear."
"And maybe a towel for you, too," Taft added. "You're kinda wet."
And with that, they disappeared into another room.
I leaned back in the chair and sighed. It looked liked Jonas and the others would have to wait awhile... I decided that I should probably inform Jonas of the delay. I whispered his name into the web-thing and, asalways, it glowed.
"Yes, m'lady?" said Jonas.
"Um..." I said, listening to the twins rummaging around in the other room. "I have something to tell you."
"Ok. I'm listening," said Jonas.
"Well..." I said. "I think it's going to take a bit longer for me to get that Skulltulla than planned. You see, I ran into these crazy Zoras and they want me to help them be detectives."
There was a long silence.
"Excuse me?" Jonas said. "Crazy Zoran detectives? What are you talking about?"
"It's a long story," I said, massaging my temple. "But I promised that I would help them. That isn't a problem, is it?"
"N-no, of course not..." said Jonas. But there was something odd about the way he said it.
I was about to ask him if he was alright, but just thenthe Zora twins returned and I quickly tucked the web-thing into my shirt to hide it.
"We're ready!" said Tadzi, as Taft threw me a towel.
I muttered a quick "thanks" and started to dry myself off. As I was drying my chest, I noticed that the web-thing wasn't glowing anymore. Jonas must have gotten the hint...
"So, what's your 'detective gear'?" I asked, just for the heck of it.
"We've got magnifying glasses and fingerprint powder and cool binoculars..." Tadzi said, counting them off on his fingers.
"And THIS," said Taft.
And he held up a book so that I could see it. It was a Zoran mystery novel called "The Adventures of Sherlock Shoalms".
"Sherlock Shoalms was the greatest private gill ever!" said Tadzi. "He's our hero."
"Even though he was made up." said Taft.
I just stared at them for a moment. Then, I sighed and got to my feet.
"Well, then," I said. "Let the investigation begin, I guess."
They grinned and grabbed my arms again, hurrying me out of the house.
E1pnvn's Other Note: Hmm... Well, sorry for the rather uneventful chapter. I feel bad because you guys waited so long and nothing really happened. But I had a pinch of writer's block so... sorry! Anyway, about my trip:
For those of you who don't know, the Galapagos are a group of volcanic islands off the coast of Ecuador (that's in South America, for those of you who don't know...)and they are famous for the strange animals that can be found there. For one,even though the Galapagos is on the Equator, there are cold sea currents that allow penguins and fur seals to live there. And there are also swimming iganuas and a weird bird called a blue-footed boobie that has bright blue feet (it's a very odd place). But, most importantly, the Galapagos is almost untouched by human influence, so the animals aren't afraid of people. They'll walk right up to you and let you walk up to them. In fact, it was kind of difficult to not step on any animals. One guy even mistook a sea lion for a rock and almost sat on it.
Anyway, my trip was a cruise through the islands. We went to two locations each day and saw a TON of amazing things. We went snorkeling and saw white-tipped reef sharks and all kinds of fish. But the best part was that penguins and sea lions swam with us! The sea lions were really playful and sometimes came up to blow bubbles at us or circle around us. We also hiked up plenty of volcanoes and saw some amazing scenery. But, my personal favorite part was this one island that was covered in birds. Birds were EVERYWHERE. The sky was practically moving with wings. But not only were their numbers amazing; the birds' behaviors were really cool too. It was mating season, so we saw frigit birds with inflated pouches and blue-footed boobies doing their mating dance. Boobies are really clumsy birds, you see,so their mating dance was pretty funny and involved much showing off of their blue suade feet. So, in short, the trip was FANTASTIC! I missed you all, of course, though. Speaking of which, it's thank you time:
Greki - You're welcome. I'm glad it's still cool!
neogirl7900 - I didn't realize that the cucco was so popular! Maybe I'll bring it back later.
Vladimir the Hamster - I'm glad you like the Skulltullas. And thank you for the inspiring story at the beginning of your review. Haha!
Dark Elven Warrior - Sorry I kept your waiting so long! Thanks for telling me how you think cucoo is spelled. I'm confused now though (more than normal, I mean). Maybe I should actually go and check the game... Hmm, novel idea...
monkeybait and Doray - I doubt you guys will actually be reading this, so I'll reply to your reviews next time I review your stories. But, in case you ARE reading this: thanks for the little alerts. I feel so appreciated!
Huanir - Again, sorry for the wait. Glad you liked the chicken dedication. I figured that one must always thank the little people, even if they are evil and have feathers...
Jaderill - Oh dear. You do realize that I'm probably going to get you and your sister mixed up now, right? Haha, this will be interesting. Anyway, I'm glad you guys like the story!
Sailor Star Mars - Ok... I understand... Please try to be a little less vague next time. Keep up the nice work on your story, by the way.
And that's that. I promise my next update won't be so far away. Although the next Harry Potter book IS coming out soon so there may be a few delays... Please review.