Reviewer response time! And there are quite a few!

Dragon-Charmer16: You've reclaimed your glory of being first to review! (gives a cookie) And I'm almost done with my art website so you can see what Hieke and the other Spirits look like. The song… the song is pure evil. No one will ever be able to escape it's wrath… (shudder) Yayz! More plushies!

Jana+Anthony: Um… I got them out of a book. And Acarsis is my favorite, too.

Jonas: Yep, starting the plot is always good. AND WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE! Chapter 2 was boring as dirt! I almost fell asleep writing it! …glad you guys seem to like it anyway, though.

Maria Lynn: Well, she's not exactly mean, per se. She's just bubbly and hyperactive and impatient. I like Chapter 3, too. It got the humor goin'. Heh, Zelda's just not content being a girl so she has to cross-dress as a guy… Is that what you're thinking?

Gina: Hieke will do anything she has to in order to save the world. You'll see a better display of this quality in the last chapter.

Gina: Well… you can't have one. Because it… isn't real. Yes, bloated fish thing… I can't do any worse than just insults, because I'll probably get flamed… I'm surprised I haven't been flamed yet, except by that guy who said Link should be a monkey, Hieke should be a banana, and Link should eat Hieke… but I'm guessing that was a joke. It sure was funny!

Gina: What was wow about the ending? I don't remember my own writing… (ish confuzzled) And sorry, but you still can't have one.

Gina: I'm not kidding. It's called a Peahat and basically looks like a flower pot with a giant bloom on top and it chases you around all day. Well, it's not exactly white, more like a cream color. And I said nothing about the Teletubbies! Just the theme song…

Gina: That song is the epitome of all the evil thoughts of children… and there are more than you may expect. And the scary thing is that I didn't even try to model Acarsis after myself! Heh… just goes to show: like character, like author. I guess… No, I made that up…

All righty! That's all for the reviews! Now… onto the story!

Chapter 10: You Go That-a-Way and I'll Go This-a-Way

"Frederick," Hieke repeated for the thousandth time. This time, Link was keeping count. "Frederick," she said once more, sounding out each syllable carefully. "Personally, I like Klikkity-klikkity Wong-wong better," Link said. He chuckled slightly. "Almost as good as Niffy-poots…"

"What the freak is wrong with these spirits!" Hieke exclaimed in disgust. "They're supposed to represent the all-mighty forces of nature! Now we have the Shadow Spirit, the omniscient and omnipotent force of darkness, named Frederick!" Link shrugged. "Maybe Acarsis was just making that up. These Spirits seem awfully prone to telling lies and laughing at them later.

Back at Zora Fountain, Acarsis was laughing her fishy fins off at the lie she told. But that's besides the point…

"You know, we got off easy with the last two Spirits," Link pointed out. "I bet from here on out they'll be guarded by horrible monsters." Hieke nodded in assent. "We've been lucky so far," she commented with a sideways frown. "And you know that saying. 'It'll only get worse before it gets better'…"

The trip to Kakariko was so far, Link started to wonder why they didn't take care of the Shadow Spirit on their way past Kakariko Village when they were leaving Hyrule Castle Town. He cursed repeatedly under his breath. When they did finally reach the village, they were torn between their next destination.

"I want to go to the well!" Hieke stated and started off towards the well. "No!" Link objected. He yanked his friend back by her jacket collar. "The Shadow Spirit will be in the Shadow Temple!"

"But the Water Spirit wasn't in the Water Temple, was she?"

"What does it matter where Acarsis was? This is Frederick!"

"No! Don't call him that! That made-up name sucks!"

"Tell ya what: I'll go to the Shadow Temple and you go to the well. Okay?"

"Fine by me!"

So Hieke stalked off towards the terrifying well of the undead hands and such that latch onto your face and suck out life through your nostrils and eye sockets. Link, on the other hand, when to the horrifying temple of undead mummies and zombies that latch onto your back and suck out your life through your ears and scalp. There was no winner here…

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Man, I hate the well and the Shadow Temple. Undead things make me shudder... and what was with all those rat statues operating giant guillotines (sp?)! They scared me the most... I tried to kill them with Din's Fire. It didn't work.

Next chapter, five reviews. You know the drill! Then you'll see the next chapter tomorrow morning!