The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time: Book I

by Habuki

Hey, I am revising and editing my old story, making it better and cutting it into three separate sections. First is book one which is from the beginning to when Link is imprisoned. Oh and I added a epilogue in Ganon's PoV after Link is imprisoned.

11. Chapter X Indwellings of the Fish

Chapter X: Indwelling of the Fish

Copyright: I do not own Zelda, Nintendo does. Story by Habuki productions.

Fish of the Zorians was sucked all the way down to the stomach, where acid poured upon it, knocking it down into proteins; the same would have been for Link, if he hadn't grabbed the piece of skin right before the mouth closed. Hanging upon the gums, the boy waited until all the passageways of Jabu's body closed, before letting go and falling in some sort of liquid. Liquid? That couldn't be good. Leaping up, he brushed the liquid off his tunic (the special power kicking in and drying instantly.) Giving a satisfactory nod, the boy crossed his arms across his chest, opening a palm to let Navi out, and looked about.

Pink was an understatement of the room. This chamber in what Link guessed to be his mouth consisted of gums all around the entire room, all pink, red near the top, and purple at the roof. Wading about the water, the boy looked back to his fairie questionably, there were no enemies about, which had quite frightened Link. Maybe they were smarter this time, had more stealth skills, and were just waiting for him to come about? Halting all movement, he gave a quick warrior's signal, and continued to explore his situation.

There was some sort of door up ahead, looked like it was made of a thick flab of skin, but no door or recognition that they were even going to get inside the room. Near the door were a few harmless bubbles, so he ignored them for now, but also near the door was dry land, as he was in the wetlands for now. Staring up at the violet ceiling, a piece of a tooth was hanging about, rotten with plaque and yellow crust upon it. Shivering, he was interrupted from his thoughts by Navi's screams.

She couldn't remember their names, but when the Octaroks appeared out of the deep end of the water, she had nothing more to do than scream. Yelling out his name with passion, she knew he wasn't going to make it, for that nasty ball of phlegm was already headed for Link's sweet young face. Firing out a chi ball, it flew through the ball, making it explode into hundreds of pieces, but it didn't stop there. No, not at all, the straight lance of energy went through the mucus and into the head of the evil octopus. Squealing in pure pain, it soon fell over dead, as its face was slowly disintegrated into ashes. The corpse slumped over to the ground, as its brother saw the action, firing a mucus ball at them.

However, Link was ready, bouncing the ball upon his sword with direct accuracy. Navi noting mentally that before this journey, he probably couldn't balance a rock upon his sword, now throwing balls off with the dull end of a sword. When it clicked with ball, it reflected back and smashed back into the face of the octopus. Not like last time, so it gave Link the distraction he needed, and while it fumed at that he moved in for a vertical strike. Throwing himself off the ground, he trusted fate and landed down with the strike right at the base of its head and slid down to the end of its groin.

Rolling forward, past the damage, and upon the dry land, the boy gave out a laugh, while behind him the thing brushed air of submission, blood pouring down its crown, glowing eyes, and through its mouth. Sinking into the only deep end in the saliva--yes, saliva, the thing sunk down towards the underworld with its sibling. Navi brushed past him, noticing the bubbles had turned from innocent floating, towards a mad rush at him, gasping, she was about to call out his name, but Link saw the bubbles and charged at them in a light rage.

Striking the first one, it popped on impact, but threw Link up against the side of Jabu's mouth when he came in close contact. Gasping in the pain of the impact, the boy sheathed his sword and tried to go for a different impact of choice. Five other bubbles were in a line, hurling towards of them; originally there were eight, though. Looking over, she saw that Navi had cleaned two bubbles off in a quick chi ball. Grinning, he flipped back, right near the door while the slingshot pulled out for battle.

Firing off a shot at the center of the bubble, it imploded inside of itself, no scream of pain, or even realization that it was alive. If he had to guess, the bubbles were inanimate before, but had been possessed by Ganondorf's evil magic. Seeing them directly behind each other, there were only two shots fired next, for each shot took two of them down at once with the right pressure applied to the seed. Finally, when the creatures had deceased their presence, he looked over towards the wall, calling out for Navi.

"What were those?"

"Shaboms, they are normal bubbles that have been corrupted. Feel no pain at all, like marionettes." His voice was a bit saddened.

"You…you pity them?"

"But of course, having no soul at all." Smiling briefly, her aura reappeared around herself, and she flew up to the tooth with a bit of fascination.

"Hey! Is that a tonsil, or something!"

"No! Looks like a lymph node, but I sense no activity in it. Shoot it with a sling!" Flaring back to him, she landed upon his shoulder, watching with that eager presentation. If her accusation was correct, this may have been some sort switch that would open the pathway to the rooms. It seemed right, since there would be none of those switches you stepped on down here, as in the previous dungeons. Dungeons, that was a nice name for these places, they certainly weren't any utopias. Her mind sank back to the scene as Link fired a seed upon the lymph with bad accuracy, missing the node.

"Missed, dang it! One more time." Pulling back, aiming right below with the band of the slingshot, he fired forward and sliced the shot with perfect accuracy. Grinning, he slipped the sling into the side of his belt (he thought he might need it later), and while doing that heard a sloshing sound. Spinning around, hand upon the hilt, he saw that the skin upon the passageway had split into four pieces and spread out into nothing, leaving an open path for the boy. Unsheathing his sword, the boy walked forward the few feet and stepped through the deep dark corridor. It seemed that the further he got in these missions, every door was usually dark.

Fortunately, this one was only a few seconds, since the skin wasn't that thick around the ridges. It opened up to a large piece of land connected to the fleshy underbrush of its insides. No, not land maybe a piece of dried crust? Oh, this place was making Link nauseous, so walking to the small section, off to his write was nothing at all; it was as if the land to the right had been stripped off to a lower level. Peering over the edge, all he saw was darkness, maybe the stomach acids were down there?

Whatever it was, he didn't want to be in the shadowy abyss. Clearing his throat softly, he turned around the study the cross-shaped room that seemed to have been ill tempered with, finally giving out the judgement that all was well here. Boxes were situated around the room, obviously things Jabu had swallowed, but nothing else resided in the air except particles of blue forming together.

"Link, what're those?" Pattering about the area of the tiny water particles forming, Navi stared at them with a deep interest in her stern gaze. Not only blue, but also violet, other cool colours were surrounded in the underneath. Giving a slight shrug to the boy, not waiting for an awnser to his question, she turned back, crossing her arms about her chest in a frustrating manner. Not knowing whether to run, attack, or leave it be, the study of evolution had baffled her this morning. Just as she was about to turn back to Link and fly over, a popping sound approached, as if the space and time warp had been vexed.

Solvating in spinning, the fairie turned a three hundred and sixty-degree angle, dashing back towards Link's side with a screech of fear. What had appeared was only a tiny little creature (soft and gooey), with a few tentacles stretching out in eight different directions. No eyes or any inanimate objects on the other sea creatures, this one didn't seem to acknowledge its own existence that was until it noticed Link. Fluttering through the air, the jellyfish's watery exterior seemed at a slow pace, picking it up whenever a current out small air would wish through the body. It would have made it too, but the child was faster, smarter, and more refluxed with fighting, so the thing never stood a chance.

Plunging in quite rage, the hilt of the sword was the only part visible when it sank into the creature that could have fit in the palm of both of Link's hands. Now, that should have been the end of it, the jellyfish was supposed to have split in up different directions, dying of blood loss, but one thing noticed is that Hyrule had no beaches. As a rule of the beach, the jellyfish was a stinging invertebrate, so what did that mean? It meant that the retracted metal was really going to give the poor boy the shock of his life into the animal kingdom, where he was ready for it or not. Navi hadn't even thought of scanning the creature, so it was to both their surprises when Link collapsed on the wet exterior of the body.

It wasn't even known how many volts of electricity burst through the boy, certainly not enough to kill him, or even that much of a electric eel. These little jellyfish were small, so they couldn't hold that much electricity at one that, which was to Link's quick advantage, when he collapsed on the ground with a scream echoing through the second section of the legendary Zorian God. Slinging the sword off to the right (slicing into the wall, making vile green blood slosh about and the room violently shake), his hands curled around his chest, throwing some bile up. Rolling away from the stink, the boy was on his knees, trying to sit himself up as Navi flew back and forth across his body checking him over.

"What happened, Link!" No answer was given, so she slapped his face, making only quick few mumbles escape. Growling, a fist slammed into his jaw, knocking him out of the misery trip. Shaking his head a little, he tried to stand up a little, failing in the process, only to wet his waterproof tunic a little more. What's worse was the creature (which after checking was called Biris) wasn't like a honeybee when it strung, that monster was only a few feet from him.

"Get away from him!" Shooting off a few manna shots, they bounced off the Biris electrical barrier that surrounded it, it seemed after each shock it grew a little and little more stronger. Standing her ground behind the boy, she began to fire off blind spells (which was pointless, the thing had no eyes!) All that resulted in was sudden stopping movements of the jellyfish, a quick glance around the room, and coming back. This only drained her own manna, but nevertheless she continued to launch the missiles at the creature. Coming just two feet before the fairie, she squealed and dived against Link's chest, hearing the heaving beatings of his rapid heard. This is it, one more shock like that and he's dead! He'll die and then I'll be ne-- Her thoughts cut off when the Biris gave out a squeal of pain.

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"Stupid creature." Bending over to the ground, he hawked out another load of bile, losing the beautiful breakfast he had given in for this morning, splintering his foot supplies. Backing away from the mess of bile, a triumphant smirk formed around his lips, watching the slithering Biris struggle to get up off the Deku stick that was impaled inside of it. Onto of the stick was a bomb, so as he gathered a few feet away, holding Navi to his chest, the explosion inquired leaving only charred remains, when the spoke cleared. As Navi had been despairing over death, Link had gotten to thinking about the simple fact of science.

The metal made the friction occur, so he got it in his head to use the Deku Stick instead of the sword, sure it was now in nothing, but they had escaped the perils of the jellyfish. Moving up on his feet, the boy reached into his satchel and took out three heart containers, consuming them one after another. Gasping in the refreshes, he grabbed one of those magic tubes and threw it at Navi.

She caught it with some ease, drinking half of the liter bottle and launching it back at him. When he had secured the bottle safely into his satchel, the boy looked over at her with a grin painted upon his face. Quick thinking is what had saved him, the barrier had been obvious, for when the electricity had formed, it seemed that thing hadn't shot anything off in quite a while, why wouldn't it conduct a small magic barrier? What no one accounted on was a Goron's special crop in its face. Watching her expression of amazement, he recounted on how he had figured out the simple problem in the thirty seconds they had to react to the situation.

Embarrassment caught the fairie, usually thinking she was the one that was hardened in the fast situations, happy, but disappointed that she was outlasted by her guarded. Did he need guarding anymore, was he capable on his own, now? That answer was given when he threw up once more, whining out like a small infant, so quickly returning to his side, she forced him to drink another heart container to relieve the sickness from his body. Resting only thirty minutes, the boy was up again, and on his way by the time forty five-minutes had passed (getting up was hard, his legs had been numb, so he had to walk them off.)

Across the corner, they ran into another Biris, but with a simple stab of the Deku Stick, and smashing its brains (or whatever was up there) in, he found out his shoes didn't conduct electric currents too, luckily, they had rested in a dry spot, or he would've been shocked. While taking his energy to come back, they had discovered another fleshy door to the right, where the land was cut off, but no way to reach it without plummeting to their doom. Deciding to take the chance of another door, their luck ran in, when another fleshy door was right in the room of this one. Grinning, he gave another look about the room for any signs of Princess Ruto, frowning with a start and slipped through the thin semi-darkened room.

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H-how dare he, how dare he do this, the only punishment was death! The young female cried out at another one of those weird jellyfish appeared before her, shocking her wet body with the something of a grin of sodomy placed on it. It was stupid to think that, but she couldn't help it, when it came in contact with her pale, naturally wet skin. It was a much stronger current than what of the boy in the back room wood of felt was. Ruto would have gone searching for someone, she needed help, she needed it bad, but she was just too afraid to leave this room, but there were jellyfish here! Plus, the fact that the rooms were locked around her, as if concealing her from the rest of the world.

Occasionally a huge Jellyfish would appear out of nowhere, but she would hide under the many layers of fat to escape most of the Jelly fish, that's why this room was so good, there were layers of room to hide from them, the jellies couldn't sniff you out. As luck would have it, though, this one had seen one of her arms lying out from the last night of famished starvation. Sure, the fish could survive for weeks at a time, but how long had she been in this once-playground? A week, maybe a week in a half, there was no way to get out a message for help, so maybe they would notice the lord's strange behavior and investigate.

All she could think of was how that Dragmire was going to pay with his life, when she got out of here, she was the only who convinced her father to keep the stone (she'd have to marry him one day!) Shivering at the thought of marrying out of her race, she had always found Hylians, Gerudos, and the other race with the small ears to be a bit of a drag, most were too stupid in their honour to actually show bravery. All were usually stupid, running to fight a dragon with only a metal sword and shield, I mean, really! The possibility she was just looking over the stereotypical Hylian, but then why would they write those stories if they weren't true, those were history lessons, after all, or she regard them as it.

Hylians she could stand to be around, Gerudos were different on the other hand. She had seen only one other Gerudo in her life, a few weeks before Ganondorf came around, some Gerudo tried to attack the palace, it was really sad because the ratio of people were 1 thief to 10 Zoras. The Zorians may not have had an army like the Hylians, but they sure as well had their guards in such respectful duties. The King didn't believe in knighting guards (for they were all equally important in his eyes), so a guard was trained just as well as a Hylian knight would have been, receiving the extensive spear training.

Now here she was, curled under a layer of fat, her arms wrapped around herself in a quick ball, while this damned jellyfish kept pulling its tentacle under the small hole. A hole that had formed when he crawled in, poking her little fanny with it, making each shock more unbeatable than the next, sure she had only had a few of them, but they hurt so much. Squealing in pain from one that just occurred, she wished she had her stone, then she could bash its brains in with the flip of a wrist, but she just had have gone to lose it! Why couldn't she have worn something with pockets, well, it was known the Zoras were always known, since they could hide their genitalia, yet she wished she had had a bag or something.

Unbeknownst to her, the same feeding situation with Link had happened to her; she had been playing around with the Zora God, feeding it a fish, which is usually lapped up sweetly. Yet this new Jabu had gulped her up in quick second, her jewel swirling through the air-flowing holes and falling down to where the stomach acids were. Sure, there were nothing in the world that could burn or melt her stone, but it was the thought that counted, she hated that her stone was gone! Disappeared in the blink of an eye, and now she was sitting her crying over some stupid tentacle. Crying out again, the cry drowned out the fleshy pop that only happened when a door was being opened. Her Hylian ears perked up a bit, hearing the squeals of five Biris, almost not containing herself when she jumped out of the hole, her face deadening with terror.

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"Oh, no, not again." Slapping her forehead, the third they came upon was empty upon first vial, just a huge room with some swirling holes on the bottom, actually reminding Navi of those quicksand pits mentioned in the old stories of the desert, since she had never been out there. She had decided to leave Link alone while flying out to the scan the area, coming upon some Biris, which resulted in her yell towards the boy. Yet, that wasn't the worst of it, the worst was something she didn't even know what it was. At the right end of the box-shaped room was a green tentacle of some sort poking up against the end, hiding a hole. Whatever was there, seemed to be where they needed to be, and after a few manna shots, she saw that wasn't going to happen anytime soon.

"What's up?" Jogging past the sticky holes, almost getting drained down one, Link appeared by her side and looked up at the hole with a bit of disinterest. It didn't seem like a monster, for from close view, he saw it wasn't really entrenched in them. A curvy green tentacle that stretched from the ceiling down inside the swirl hole it was pervading inside. Looking around, he caught a few Biris, making short work of them in a matter of thirty seconds. After each one, it left a soft squeal, not the kind that could be heard by anyone at all. It was as if they were decoys, so he kept his eyes out for anything strange.

"Link, don't touch that one, we'll figure it out later. Right now we have a door and four holes we can venture into, my guess is that this will take us deeper into the Jabu.

"It looked one level to me."

"Probably was hiding some of its body under the water, I dunno. I say we check out the door first, then if we find nothing, we come back here and pick a hole, I'll go to check for stomach acid, and you can follow me if its safe enough."

Safe enough… Glaring at her roughly, she giggled a patted his head a little. Letting the subject drop, he evaded the holes until he came to the center of the doorway, staring forward at it with little ease. Mm, when were they going to find this princess of the Zoras, was she dead or something? Just then his ears picked up some sort of muffled scream, and looked to the left, he didn't even have time to formulate a plan. Being thrown up against the squishy underfoot, Navi pushed him against the ground as a huge mass of jelly fell down where he stood. Picking himself up, he looked over at the huge mass, that could have been lifted in his hands, peering at it a little.

"There seems to be no electricity coursing through its veins. The Biris had a special aura about them, this one doesn't"

"My best guess is this is a home of Biris, maybe they live inside, try to strike it open, Link, but not with your sword. I think the things might still be active and would try and shock you if you so much as touch them with that metal blade, now is the time for the sticks, I guess."

Of course he knew that, but the sticks weren't quite on his mind, the Gorons special crop were, so unsheathing his sword, he dashed at the monster with infuriating anger. Navi shouted out a warning, which he waved away, grabbing a bomb from the bag and starting the fuse. Coming in close contact, he slid the end of top of the jelly that led the Biris in and out, shoving a bomb right in the entranceway of where they tried to escape. Running back with all his might, he knew that not even seconds would count now, not because of the fuse, but because of the shocking that they would do to move the bombs. Those stupid creatures followed his plan perfectly, for when they shocked the bomb, it automatically exploded leaving no remains this time, but a black stain upon the fish's body.

Chuckling a little, he had to cover his precious ears with his hands for the five screams that came out of it. Whatever they were, they were long dead, the screams echoing inside of his mind. Sheathing his sword, Link turned back towards Navi, grinning, but saw she was with a strange. Walking a few ways, he looked over at the stranger curiously.

"Y-you! Who are you!" The female stranger announced, from the looks of it she was definitely a female Zora, about a year older than he was. Developing breast had already seemed to form upon her petite figures (making the boy stare away in shame), but before he looked down there, he got a good look of the rest of her body, quite surprised of the aftermath. She didn't really resemble the Zora in some ways, staring with the bulb that was sitting upon her head, stained a deep blue, with pairs of eyes on the left and right side. Upon her face were a pair of violet eyes, a cute little face, but a nose and ears that seemed to protruded from the Hylian descent, that was right, she had pointy ears like his.

The only difference was she had some shelled skin around the ears (probably to stop ultra sonic waves, or piercing screams.) The rest of her body was as a Zora, even the flipper feet. "Who am I? Why, I am Link, was sent by your father to come rescue you."

"And, I am Navi, his guardian. We are form the Kokiiri forest."

"You lie, there is no way!" Her voice wasn't too bad; she just seemed to be in a very bad mood. Link groaned softly, looking up to her with a bit of a smile, confirming that they were indeed from the forest. It was strange how you can say you're a Gerudo, they believe you, a Goron, Zora, or Hylian, and they believe you. But a Kokiiri? Oh, Goddess forbid if you were one of those, maybe it was the way they were supposed to be extinct, and only a distinct few knew about them. Obviously they weren't going anywhere for the next few minutes, so he leaned against the wall and watched her.

"Believe us or no, you are Princess Ruto, correct?" Navi chimed on, leaving her descent from Ruto back to Link was. The fish-girl followed them with a bit of a stomp in her step, Goddess forbid if she walked a few centimeters. This was exactly why she liked the system of government where they were from, no monarchs or any of these people with supposed 'high blood.' Zelda wasn't as worse as this girl wasn't; this one was just stuck up by her nose.

"Fine, I will believe you--in time." She remarked with an evil grin, it seemed that he might have been from the forest. I mean, healing fairies didn't exactly turn blue over-night, plus the fact of his attire, the blade he bore, but the shield had her mystified, it was a Hylian shield, wasn't it? How could a boy so small carry such a large shield? Crossing her arms over her chest, she stomped her feet a bit cutely, trying to give on that tough girl appearance and began to walk away from him. "I don't need help!"

Link jumped off the wall, running after her, grabbing her by the shoulder to stop her. Receiving a slap in the face, he blinked a few times and looked to her a bit confused. When he didn't seem to get it, she slapped him again and cried out in frustration. Mumbling something about having to deal with idiots like these around the castle, but a so-called hero had to be one too. Rolling his eyes, he watched her walk a few feet, until he noticed where she was. "Hey, watch out, it's a suck hole!"

"I know what I'm doing--aiiiee!" A slurping sound occurred when she fell through the hole, Link was already in the air to catch her, missing her hand by such an inch, landing upon the hole. Grasping, he grabbed the speeding Navi and fell through the hole himself, wherever he would land was probably on top of her, so if they did fall in acid he would be saved the scars from it, anyway. Holding Navi tight, the boys looked down to see that there was solid ground, the princess just below him. Flipping his shield on his behind, he evaded her and slammed down into the ground with a clanging sound.

Before even getting a look around the room, she had appeared before his sitting form, shadowing off a dark and sinister mood. Crying out again in frustration, she tried to slap him again, yet he caught her hand with his own. With the other hand she tried the same act, which he caught again, looking her deep into the eyes, giving her the talk of her own place. There was no way he was going to endure this torture, he wasn't some stupid wimp that she could push around. "I am not one of your cronies, princess, you slap me again and I'll slap you back."

She was taken aback with fear. Never had someone actually threatened her with more than a punishment (he father, but she could tease him into stopping it.) How dare this lowly coward try to tell him on what she could do or couldn't do. Leaping up in the air, she put her feet into his chest and pushed herself off, flipping out of his grasp and landing upon he feet. She could of gone for the lower approach, but she wasn't that mean, she knew what boys had down there, Hylian or not. Sticking out her tongue in a childish manner, she giggled a little. Catching herself in the giggle, she looked down to the ground speaking something in her language.

"Watch your tongue, princess!" Navi protested, letting out a furious growl for her size. It was actually small and cute, which Link looked down at her smiling. Nodding at the comment of "watch her tongue" he took it literally and jumped near her, grabbing her blue tongue out stretching it out a few inches. Struggling with him, she did, of course, it was only natural when someone was pulling her tongue, but she did need to learn her place with him. Finally letting her tongue go, after a punch to the chest (she was strong for a girl), he fell upon the ground in a series of giggles, watching as her expressions changed from anger, a little bit of joy, sadness, and back to that infuriating rage.

"How dare you, peasant! I shall teach you your place!" Leaping upon his chest, she began to bang her fist into his chest roughly, making she boy shiver and tingle all over, before she could continue anymore, the fairie slung her off of the boy and turned him over onto his back. Where they landed was a small rock upon several others that stretched across a small landscape ten feet before. Throwing his head over the edge of the rock, he vomited for the fourth time in a while, but still, the excitement had caught him off guard. Gasping out, she approached him after he had cleaned himself up.

"A-are you okay, Link?" Finally using his first name, he gave a smile and nodded a little.

"I'm sick, I dunno, I feel bad because I got electrocuted by one of those Biris with my sword."

"Oh, my goodness, metallic objects can intensify the electrical currents up to ten times. And here I was mentally complaining about one tentacle shocking me." Damn, there she went again expressing her fingers, with a small smirk, she told him to go ahead and handle it like a man, which to her surprise he returned the smirk and nodded off. Yes, there was something between them, she didn't know yet, but maybe a rivalry could ensue, they seemed to enjoy each others company, at least she did, in her case. He was fun, yet he was a Hylian, which was weird. Ruto wasn't a jerk really, she was just raised for high-blood, so it was hard to make friends with the other Zoras, and maybe what she needed was someone that could be as cocky as she was? If that was true, she had stopped her search, for Link's enchantment of cockiness was growing as he developed in his journeys.

"So, are you gonna go with me, or not?" What was Link's general opinion of this Ruto character? Personally, he liked her a little bit more than Malon and Zelda. Malon was sweet and all, she just wasn't really a person he could be with, she was too girly, but the princess was just the opposite, she could be boyish. She even started in some of the training sessions that had ensued, getting him pinned several times, but she just had this weird thing about her, maybe it was royalty. It couldn't be, since he was with royalty now and it didn't seem to bother him. Ruto was all right in his book, yet nothing compared to Saria, Saria was girlish and boyish, she could be rough as a rogue, and gentle as a mother.

"We really need to be going, princess." Navi had remained quiet through out the whole escapade. She actually enjoyed Ruto's company too, which was the opposite of Ruto, she thought that Navi was being a little meant to end their fun. Nevertheless, Navi did like her for the reason that she didn't seem to like Link in that way at all. From the first time they met, a gaze Link didn't seem, she saw that Ruto didn't really like Hylians or Kokiiris in this case. At least she noticed that it would be too weird for a breed already in Hylian in it, to bring another into the company, but another reason was that she helped Link in growing. He was a boy, and loved to get dirty and such, she loved playing with Link, yet she was so small. This way he could get out all his energy, and yet have no worries of hurting his playmate.

"Alright, alright. Let's go." Sitting down upon the ground, she looked up at Link with an appropriate gaze of seriousness. He, on the other hand, extended an arm to lift her arm, but she didn't to seem to want to budge. Grabbing her and sitting her up, she sat back down upon the ground and looked up at him, arms crossed about her chest in anger. What did he do, he was quite confused at this moment, and scratched his head a little. Looking to Navi for some encouragement, she just shrugged a small shoulder, the veil off for the time being.

"What do you want, Ruto?"

"Pick me up, Link."

"But you can walk."

"But I am royalty."

"Do I look like I care?" Another argument, just great, Navi just went to his hat and watched silently. It was like those plays, the comedy was on, yet there was seriousness to it.

"…Well, no, but please?"

Feeling a little weakened; he was about to, but straightened himself up and shook his head back and forth furiously. "Why should I?"

"Because I said so?"

"Not good enough."

"Well, it's because me, I am naturally wet and can be shocked much easier than you. Please? Oh, please, Link?" She let out a squeal of joy when he reluctantly gave into her demands by sitting her upon his head, well, actually he sat her so that her legs were wrapped about his shoulders and she used his head as a stool. Groaning, he would rather drag her, but was surprised to find she wasn't that heavy at all and not much of a burden, plus the fact he discovered she didn't smell like a nasty fish. A flavor scent was about his nose, intoxicating him for a few minutes, which he pushed aside and gaped in the basement floor of Jabu. The tremendous room he had expected, was only the lather of it, only the size of the previous room above him. All around him tiny islands trenched around, some too far in the distance to reach, and some he might be able to propel himself off, if with the right blade maneuver. However, those all disinterested him, turning around, to catch glimpse of a flesh hole behind him.

Giving a silent nod, the boy secured Ruto's legs around his shoulders, which she grumbled a bit, but stopped when he threatened to throw her off of him. Looking up towards his friend, the fairie gave a nod to proceed on, and gently kept her away from his had and upon his shoulder (Ruto was sitting on his hat.) Taking a few steps forward, pushing his hand against the hole, it opened up and light poured out into the entranced doorway. Moving in ten steps, a new room opened up, yet only a blind path was ahead for him, the path running over a corner, so Link couldn't view what was up ahead. Keeping his sword ready for any action, the boy walked the next few feet, rounding the corner, seeing the entrance to the new room up ahead, but blocked by a seemingly endless number of Shaboms.

Reaching for a Deku Stick was next to impossible, and with the sword improbable, he had no choice but to rely upon Navi's manna skills, not that they were bad. Some fast shooting of the eight bubbles and she was back by his side with a grin plastered upon his face? Smiling brightly, the trio walked past watery remains of the bubbles, opening up into the room he had plundered for since going through the flesh. To his north was nothing but land, then a deep pit that went out a few yards, extending up to the other side was a matching path. Looking over the edge, he saw that the place had a tooth placed incidentally into the ground. There were vines around (or was that snot.) Oh, the corn silken lad was getting nauseous at these thoughts. Brushing them aside, he jumped down in the five feet deep pit, trudging across.

Coming upon the switch, he was about to push upon it when the princess upon his head gave out a startled cry of help. Looking up at her, immediately in his general directions, he saw no danger, but she was crying out so he went through the water checking for any surprises. The shallow water was only less than a foot deep, so nothing aside bugs could hide in there. Sighing, he was sitting her down in the water, when again she cried out, so he sat her upon the tooth, staring at her. "What is it?"

"W-water, I hate it." Wrapping her arms about her chest, she gave a shiver.

"But you're part fish!" Throwing his hands up in frustration, he leaned against the side of the land (or flesh) peering back at her with diverted eyes.

"I-I know, but this isn't water, Link, it's saliva and when I think about being soaked in it…" Again she grabbed herself, shivering deeply. The reason the water had arisen was she may have been smaller, but the simple fact was she weighed a less than he did. The pounds upon her simply not enough to eradicate the surface of the switch. A solution popped up in his head; he could throw the five feet, couldn't he? Of course he could! Picking her up, standing upon the switch, he pressed back and launched her upon on the platform that led up. With a squeal she landed upon the ground, rubbing her fishy behind, and looking down at him with a bit of anger, yet thanks. Shrugging his slender shoulder, the boy jumped on the switch, resetting it deep into the ground.

"I don't want to be covered in saliva, either!" He jumped from the depressed tooth and grabbed the vines of dried snot that were attached to the wall, and yanking himself up, peered over at the jump that lay before him. Yes, the vines had been to his right, so a quick throw to the northeast and he was home free, yet there proposed a new problem, one he'd never been aware of, just until now. That was the cry Ruto had given out a few minutes earlier. She may have been crying about the water, but when Link looked down, he saw four of five pairs of silted violet eyes staring up at him in orgasmic rage. Leaping to the northeast, his jump connected perfectly, leaving no time to celebrate, because soon the first of the group of monsters leapt up after him.

Spinning around with the sword unsheathed, he looked over to Navi. "What is it?" She shrugged a shoulder, beginning to scan the enemy for any statistics. Meanwhile, he gave it a little look down, surprised it had been so menacing inside the water. It was true the thing was under a foot tall, just a discus of deep violet skin with an akin of crimson eyes staring him down. The ability of flight seemed present in it, somehow, so when it sped-dove at the boy, he struck his blade out in a menacing frontal strike. A screech of pain escaped the monsters as it was impaled between the eyes, the mashes of goo from its cranial areas seeping out between the sword. With disgust, he threw the monster back upon the ground, setting his sight back to Navi.

"Stingers. As the name gives, they have electric based stingers on their bottoms, but don't worry about it. They are very weak. Since you took that one on alone, it quite a simple battle, but these next ones might not be." Did these Stingers read minds? After the second Navi finished her sentence, four of the Stringers burst from the salvia, pouring out of the water and closed in upon him. Disaster was spelt, as Ruto ran to the fleshy door, looking up to Link for some recognition. Nothing mattered at this time, anything was going to save him, and watching as they wretched in four behind position, electricity crackling through the end of each tail, he fell to his knees and buried himself with the shield.

"Nai Sui Fo!" From out of nowhere, a whirlpool tormented out of the arisen saliva. As if claiming its young, the whirlpool broke into four tiny nozzles, gathering up the four little tyrants and pushing down deep into the surface of the water. Blinking with confusion, the boy had watched the entire episode from the comfort of his own shield. Not recognizing the words as a skill or chant of fairish, he looked to Navi, who was pointing behind her with her hands clasped to her cheeks, they exposing red. The princess had her hands extended forward, curving into a circle, the fresh memory of incantations fresh upon her lips. Giving a little smile, she walked over to him, patting him upon the head. "It's alright, I know you can't fight…"

"C-Can't fight! What are you talking about, and just what was that!"

"The Nai Sui Fo, or better translated as whirlpool. I am a Zora, so I can conduct aquatic activities, not like a god or anything, but I can control some water substances. And, yes you are a wimp." Poking his nose with her finger, he snapped at her, making her jump back and sit down back upon her behind. An urge to throw her off of his arms and into the ground probed his mind, the good conscious pushing the nasty thought away. Best to leave it alone for now, his mind spoke to him, and yet he couldn't help but he infuriated at being called a wimp. How could she get off saying that he was a wimp? He wasn't the one who ran to the corner and who cries over water, but this only encouraged him to show off some heretics to prove himself to her.

Without further hesitation, Link gathered her up and carried the blue-bulb girl through the door that stood only a few feet behind him. As soon as exiting from the tranquility of the room, checking the map for some explanations of the hidden room, he found something he least expected: an elevator. Yes, an elevator was positioned in the small room that contained only that and a pool of water below, something he compensated with stomach acid. He wasn't going to try his luck out, so he leapt the three feet to the elevator, when landing upon it, the thing sped up towards its destination, but where was? His answers were silently answered when he stepped back into a land of vagueness. Yes, he was back in the room they had fallen out of; the Biris still dead from before.

Resting his assurance, no more of those stupid levels below anymore, he did even bother to view the room over; there wasn't a danger around anyway. The room was led through in a matter of minutes, dodging some of the reforming Biris he hadn't noticed by first glance, but the big pod of a Biris wasn't hanging around anymore, he figured that one was dead as a doornail. Doornails didn't matter when he passed the path that the thing had preyed upon earlier, checking up for reassurance. No telling what could reform in the half an hour they had been wondering, his guess was just as good as anyone else's. Looking up at Ruto, he noticed for the first time she had sunk asleep.

Silently looking over to Navi, she also was curled up in the collar of his shirt, slumbering for the battles to come. Oh, great, all the women sleep, while the 'wimp' has to stay awake and deal with the puzzles! Nah, he didn't really mind at all, it was better for Navi to recharge herself for some harsher battles, and Ruto was a princess, so she was used to pampering. Leaning against the crack of flesh right before the door, he rested his aching body from the small weight of Ruto. If they ever ran into the damned hidden room, he was going to put her in there and leave her until they ran into her stone, then they could leave this junk pile.

She had explained she always used to play around in Jabu, but new areas had been completed…who plays inside of a huge fish, that was the million-ruby question that baffled Link. Repressing his leisure, he unleaded from the wall and walked infront of the door, taping it with the reverse side of his sword. A small squeal and the door opened up.

In the blink of an eye, he had run into the center of the new room, since nothing was at the beginning, shaking his head in a sort of sad pity. Surrounding him north were three different pathways that led north, northeast, and northwest. To his west and east were two other paths, totaling in five different paths in one room. What's worse, was each was filled with the strangest skin he had ever seen, the skin seemed to be revolving back and forth, so if he didn't move quick, he was dragged back to the center, and each room had these! Actually, some of the rooms were blocked by various reasons, some needing more weight than he had, some with thinner tentacles like the one in the main room, and some just wouldn't open for films of snot were placed across the top. After checking them all, his choices limited down to only two or so. Then he chose the closest entrance, the east.

As he was headed out to the eastern direction, something latching upon his ankle in a painful manner. Falling back, Ruto slammed into the soft call, coming awake in an instant, and gasping in fear. Shrieking, she sat down, pulling herself away from the helpless boy and back a few feet away. Turning around, he caught wind of some sort of parasitic insect latched upon his leg with its jaw seeping down into his ankle. Blood must have scared her, probably because they don't have red blood? His guess was blue, if any, but then again the Kokiiris didn't have peach blood. Reaching for his sword, finding it misplaced it saw that the floors had really been against him this time, for it was stuck in-between a hedge at least ten feet away.

"Help me!"

"I-I-I can't." She blubbered out miserably.

"Help me or I die, please. You don't have to fight, grab my sword--!" Crying out, the grip upon his legs tightened a fresh stream of crimson pouring down in his boots. Ruto shrieked again, shaking his head and curling up into a small ball, shivering as best she could, crying her eyes out in pain. Cursing silently, the boy looked up to where his fairie was, yet she wasn't there. Gasping, he was about to call her name when the grip around his leg was gone, and something was kissing upon it. Down there was Navi, freshly charged from manna shot, but yet held up a small potion.

"Wait, don't let it go…we need it." The cork was gone before he could even finish the second part of the sentence the potion was applied to the wound. It was so great that it needed to be or infection was a great risk, plus his running abilities would be hurt until then. Wrapping it up in a slick bandage, the boy tightened it enough and pulled his boots up enough so it would hardly be seen. They were saving the healing sprite for if Link went unconscious; it wouldn't completely heal him, but revive him and give him a good advantage point. Sure the wounds would leave a few scars, but those were expected. Besides that, it was all right, but his attention wasn't with Navi of the sprite, he turned towards the hidden Ruto, whom had since some out of her depressed manner, staring at the ground sulking.

Now, Link's temper wasn't that great, so he calmed down when he saw a few tears pouring from those big eyes, looking off to the side and whispering her sorry. Nodding silently, he picked himself up, testing the leg out (which was good as new), and walked over to comfort her, only stopped by a fuming Navi.

"Show some backbone! You should have gone and gotten his sword, if it wasn't for me that thing would have cut his leg off and killed him, then coming after you!" Her anger burst more than it had for Anju did, and the simple fact was that this girl had endangered Link in some serious trouble. Panting up and down, she noticed the cries, but only scoffed a little. "Grow up" was her only response to the tears, telling her if she really wanted to be a good princess, then she needed to not be afraid of a small centipede that could fit in the palm in her hand. Navi wouldn't even let the girl weight her evidence in, it just wasn't any good with Navi, and she had to have Link hold her, to calm her down, shushing her silently.

While she was being shushed, Ruto collapsed on the ground, sobbing her heart's content out with every breath she could. Not holding anything back, she buried her face into the skin, crying out deeper and deeper for his forgiveness, that she hadn't meant any harm by it, it was just she was going to get it, but something had stopped her, something on his leg. Being picked off the ground, Link (after escorting Navi in his hat) wrapped his arms around the trembling Zora, letting her cry all she want, while he quietly whispered that the differences between the Kokiiri and the Zora blood. After a few minutes she was a little better, the sobs having turned into little sniffles, still curled up in his arms.

Sitting in the center of the room, the only room without a moving floor, he reached over the grabbed his sword, re-sheathing it back down. Staring down at her, he saw she was about to burst into tears again, but put a finger up to her lips and shook his head silently. Another few ramblings of how much it hurt, if he wanted to hurt her, and about Navi rolled through her tongue, Navi having heard the things, of course. She asked how she could be so cruel to her, if she was mean to other people and stuff like that. Link found it hard to explain Navi to her, and he came out with "she's a very complex person", she has initiate, doesn't like other people sometimes, but she isn't bad."

"You think she hates me?"

"Of course not. Listen, when I first met Navi she didn't like me very well, either, she thought I was sort of spoiled by Saria."

"W-whose that?" She asked curiously, now that he was sitting down and, she was sitting in his lap, staring up at him with those eyes wide with curiosity. Link couldn't help, but smile and tell her all about himself.

"Oh, Saria is like my foster mother, my friend, and my sister. She raised me, but isn't a real mother, she acts like one sometimes, and did spoil me a lot by keeping me inside most of the time and away from the others."

"They didn't like you?"

"Nah, I didn't have Navi at the time, I was known as "the boy without a fairie" until she came to visit me about, oh, going on two months or so now. " Smiling, he told her the entire story of their journey, how the monsters they battled, who they fought, about Zelda, Ganondorf, the adventures in Hylia, Daruina, and some of the Deku Tree.

Time had really flied, for when Navi came out, she announced that the two had been at it for two hours. Gasping with surprise, he looked up at her with surprise, she giving a comforting nod. Her eyes were a bit red, as if she had been asleep, but the anger seemed to swell down. Looking over at Ruto, she smiled apologetically, which Ruto nodded and smiled back at her, extending out a hand. "Friends?"

"Friends." Ruto answered back, taking the small hand inside of her fin one. So different between the races, yet so common that they would get along for the common bond to appease Link. Clasping both of their hands together, he smiled sweetly and picked Ruto back up, sitting her back on his head, first grabbing his hat and stuffing it down in his belt. Picking Navi up gently, she was sat back on his collar, where she could slip back to sleep. Looking forward, he noticed the two weren't going to go back to sleep for quite some while, which was all right with him, he rather enjoyed the company of them both. Picking his hat from his belt, he handed it up to Ruto, who put it on the top of her head and gave off a slight giggle, making the boy smile somehow in the dungeon of doom.

He hoped another light would transport them out of here, the other way out he didn't want to think about. Shivering mentally, he turned towards the east and left the creatures behind, whatever they were, walking to the door to the east and stepping inside. On the way to the doorway a tooth was directed infront of him, when stepping on it with both of their weight it didn't even budge, yet with the strength of two people the smash swabbed open and mucus vines disappeared, letting the vines cling freely. Brushing the contents of the remains aside, he stepped inside the fleshy exterior, sword readying.

As soon as they were inside the room, the door shut and another impenetrable mucus web surrounded their only exit out of this room. Sitting Ruto by the door way (telling her to remain there so he could check out the room), the duo was surprised only to find a bit of the room available, not very big in size, and consisting of only the wet surface ground. No chests, no monsters, no nothing was in here, but why was there a trap like before? Suddenly, his eyes widened and he jumped out of the way as something zipped past him, slicing his shoulder a bit. Sucking in a breath from the pain, fresh blood oozed down his tunic, not a very deep wound from the feel, but quite a little crimson tint. Catching himself in a roll, he spun around, intersecting with the Stinger that slammed into the hilt of his sword. Link's luck was in order; the monster had gotten his left hand, not his right.

"Link, are you okay!" Ruto screamed from behind, her eager whispers in the language were futile in this room, it seemed the room had to be flooded like before.

"Aye, I am alright, Ruto. Just go back and--" His eyes widened as something propelled into his stomach, sending him slamming into the sickly tissue of the Jabu. A roar of pain surrounded the room, acting almost like an earthquake, which sank Link down, but also made the rest of the Stingers come out of the room. Ten were up and at battle, reading themselves for the preparations of a meal. Slumping up, the boy looked over to his fairie, who was trying to shoot meaningless chi shots at them, the futile of it making him bite his lips in frustration. Why didn't the magic work!

"Link, they have some sort of barrier upon them, damn! My manna isn't affecting them in the least." Slinking down against him, her ears perked up. "How about the fire, Din's."

"But, the surface is cold."

"It's better than being shredded to pieces, isn't it?" Yes, that was true. Whatever these Stringers had upon them was obviously bladed sharp, and would mince him up in a matter of seconds. Fortunately for them, the butt to the wall had been used with the Stringer's head, only causing a small bruise to later appear upon Link's tender chest. Skidding down in the wet water, moving towards the end of the room, so the marks wouldn't affect Ruto, the boy waited until they closed in for the kill, before initiating it. Whatever happened would happen, he had come to accept that fact from now on, he might die in this journey, but he would give it his all, that was what he was: a hero.

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"Link!" Screeching out, her eyes almost bulged out of their sockets. What was that idiot thinking! He was just luring them in, with a smirk upon his face, but she wouldn't let that happen, for in the next few seconds she began to glide upon the wet surface (using her flippers) to reach him. Only a few seconds it would take, but as soon as she landed next to Link, he threw her back across the landscape, so she sunk inside of the wall near the entrance. Fighting with all her strength, she just couldn't seem to get out of the accursed entombment of skin. No, it wasn't going to eat her or anything, but allowed her not to help her friend. Does he need help; he had a smirk on his face and was preparing for some sort of an attack? No, that was silly, he had no such powers, he couldn't attack.

Angst threw out of her heart when the ten Stingers surrounded to boy in a miniature circle so all she could get from the view were his legs sticking out. Biting her lip in frustration, she cried out his name as loud as possible, the grip upon her seeming to intensify so to shut her up. Quieting down, her form remaining sunk inside of the flesh, she began to whisper upon the prayer, again nothing happened with her. Damn them, damn them, how was she supposed to watch her new friend die? Well, peasant, not friend-- no, not really. A yell of some sort ignited through the air, Link's voice, but not a yell a pain, something in another language. In another instant the entire Stinger collapsed to the ground.

The silken hero was in the air as the Stingers fell some all at once and many of the others on the other spin. Submerged in the air, the blade of his sword was turning a bright crimson, while the base lit off a deep blue. Covering her eyes from the bright appearances, yes they reached over here, her eyes remained shut until the tenth scream ringed out through her Hylian ears. Hands clamped over her face, she peeked through them shyly to see that the boy's sword had obviously calmed down, but his hair was sticking up, swirling with the electricity of it all. Some had managed to sting them, that was apparent in him, yet no pain was reflected upon his face, only the static energy in his hair.

Brushing back his hair with the dull end of his sword, the colours of the blade swirled down to the iron steel, as he laid it upon his side and stared back at her, but before heading back, something began to appear around them. Looking down with eyes wide, she saw that a yellow light came out of the flesh, not burning it, but hiding the flesh under it. Concealing from the light was a huge brown box that Link seemed oh-so-eager to look at. It didn't really impress her, but maybe he thought it was some sort of reward. Anyway, the light went away as he yanked open the box and took out some weird tool.

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"Din's Fire won't work, Navi! I am gonna try the Rhiu-Kiyto, it doesn't drain as much, and will be more effective." Link was staring dead at the enemies, them just a few feet above the air, and descending upon them. He still thought that the fire technique would not work for them, but would only dissipate in the water surface, no matter how small it was. The appearance of Ruto had actually shocked him, almost glad the dreaded Jabu had imprisoned her inside the cage of flesh, the farther she was away from here, the better. Yes, he accompanied that stings would come before the blade would spin around, he did have to go 360 degrees before the blade actually shot out the manna in a circle, but then the technique went into a full rage of fury.

"But Link, they have to surround you, it's dangerous! You know I don't have any special type of barriers for you." The barrier she could extend upon him, but it was only a mass of veil, not a barrier, and wouldn't stop the shocks of their tails as they shot through their skin. Seeing the determination sketched across his face made her give a quick nod, wanting to get it over as fast as they could. The mad fish were descending upon him and fast, there was no telling how fast they would counter in and strike both of them down; their only chance was the Rhiu-Kiyto. The last time she had seen Link practice it, he was pretty good, she so hoped he had been practicing a technique of the style that took out ten enemies in a row, there was no way they were going to get all ten, maybe five at the most.

As if reading her mind, he gave a slight smirk. "I've added a slight reproach to my Kiyto technique, I call this one the Rhiu-Buijitsu!" Now the enemies had collapse in, only a mere five feet away from them with the tails just a brutalizing with electricity. Gripping around him, she didn't hide, no she wasn't going to do that, but merely stood right beside him, landing upon his shoulder so if he got shocked so would she. Link grabbed the blade of the sword and instead of holding it to the left, he placed it right infront of him, an aura of blue surrounding his body. A clear blue aura of innocence kept around him, circling her too, while the tails slashed in for battle.

One by one they went in, each one connected with her and him, making her scream in pain, the boy not letting out so much as a peep, for that would break his concentration. Tears were moistened in his eyes when the second round of strings arose, his hair rising up all the way (since his hat was gone) the static waves showing their existence in high colours. As much as she wanted to get up and rub his cheeks, smooth his brow, or to speak to him, she knew she just couldn't. The shocks had actually pinned her up to his clothes, reassuring that she would not escape this espionage alive. After the third (and final) wave of stings hit both of them, she crying out again in pain, the boys opened his eyes, the aura spreading about them and surrounding each of the Stingers in it.

"Now they die. Rhiu-Buijitsu, I call upon Naryu for the winds of the Goddess!" Screeching upon the last speech, he actually lifted in the air, his body becoming one with the air, leaving that old rule of gravity right behind with all the other physics laws. Spreading his sword out to the left, he didn't even have to charge the Rhiu-Kiyto. It automatically turned crimson; the edge of the blade, while the dull end blew out a mystical blew sound. Crying out in fury, the hero's sword spun around in a three hundred and sixty-degree circle, slashing half of the Stingers. Some of them tried to escape their destiny, but he just pointed at the sword, and shot out a quick energy ring from the side of the blade, by slashing their way.

Turning around, the boy crossed his arms and gave out a triumphant laugh, a laugh that would make him suffer, for as soon as his back was turned something leapt upon it and drove the tail deep inside of the wound from before. Crying in pain, electrical shocks guttered through his body, the sword slinging to the side of the ground, moving out of his range of reach. Not that it would matter anyway, he was back on his knees with his sense becoming weakened, his own little mind thrashing for hope to calm himself down. No, I won't die! Ears didn't hear anything, the cry of Navi, the cry of anyone, all he heard was himself praying for his own health, and that death wouldn't succumb over his body.

Only one of the Stingers remained, wanting to avenge its siblings for their destruction, this one quite damaged from the attack, but one of the smartest to duck of the aftershock that door out the most. Only half of its body was remained, some of it slicing down with the stinger strung across an open wound that had remained from the previous tortures. Crying out in fury and pain, it would avenge its siblings, it would make this little bastard pay for its crimes, and sending it deeper into the wound, the elf-child's cries were echoed through the valley, a barrier of electricity surrounding the two.

Navi had to come noticed, for Link peered at her beating upon the glass, tears streaming down her eyes in pain. Wha?…why is she crying, Navi, it's alright…Then the second shot hit him, but gripping the side of flesh, it took it with full force, looking up to see a decimated little thing with its invisible eyes sensing him. Only one chance, this will hurt, but I have no choice, thinking the last thought, he leapt upon the creature stabbing his fingers inside of the creatures face. Ripping out the guts of the creature furiously, the shocking making him whimper softer than ever, the incredible pain was so unbearable, but he let it go. Dropping all the pain, the lad found the part of the jellyfish that contained the brain, smashing it within his fingers.

A crackle of electricity bared out, spreading in an invisible manner before disappearing entirely. Without the source in place, the main power would die, so he was free. Stupid creatures…I hate them. Resting a hand forward, he groped for his Fairie, the skin upon him was still the same colour, parts of his body ached all over with reflecting. Gripping her, the boy saw her lips moving, but never caught the words that came out of them. Nodding his head incoherently, the drone looked up at her lips, trying to read them, but utterly failing in the attempt. Finally, the ignoramus ended up laying his head upon the wet surface, closing those eyes and passing out from unconsciousness, letting his dreams let through.

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"Where are we?" It looked familiar, like a place he had already visited before in another life…or another dream. Painted garden walls were all around, the roses blooming out from the fresh spring, the area he was, but next to him was a separate layer of molten lava, no barrier between the two. Yet the smoke didn't touch the beautifully grassed lands, and next to the lava laid an ocean of organic colours, pouring out as far as the eye can see. Finally, he saw he wasn't in the forest at all, but on top of a small platform that reached up to the sky.

Staring down at the three platforms, the images of three being appeared, them speaking in a tongue he couldn't recognize. Nearly falling off the platform, he stumbled over a little when a larger structure landed over him, a hundred feet taller, a castle matching that of Hyrule.

Except there was no royal beauty with this piece of architecture, there was only energy of pure evil. The castle from second glance grew much taller than the Hylian castle, additional towers moving over and crisps-crossing in directions that seemed endless, the place pained (or stained) an ashen black. At the top of entrance stood a being with a flowing cape, arms crossed over his chest and smirking deeply with all concern, a deep chuckle left his throat and the scream is what awoken him.

Link had been muddled together after the initial attack, Navi not being able to free the reluctant Ruto, went on the search for some sort of healing items. There were none, so she relied upon the 1st Aid Kit that Saria had posted for them when they were on the earlier quests. Thrashing through the aid kit like a wild man, she found some part of a potion, not that it would kill the pain forever, but for the time being, so she applied the part all over his skin and tarred tunic. Waterproof is may have been, but not thunder-proof at all. Applying some of the ointments to the boy, she let him rest for the following hours, until he finally awoken from the deep turmoil of sleep.

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I ache all over, why? Stretching his arms out, the boy gave a small sigh, being bombarded a few seconds later with kisses of a reluctant fairie. Smiling, the boy bundled her up in his arms, awakening only to find himself surrounded in some bandages around the prick holes that the Stingers had damaged. Whatever was in this room, he thought he had earned it to say the latest. Sitting Navi on his shoulder, he slunk up his form silently and stared around to room, so find that a few of the Stingers were about, the ones without stingers, obviously, so they were harmless, yet he didn't feel that way.

The turmoil he felt was to punish these creatures, make them pay for their crimes, assign himself as the reaper. Grinning softly, he scrounged around for his sword, raising it up and prepared himself.

Wherever he learned these, was beyond her control. The power, the fury, the being was all inspired within that little heard. With one last slash to the left, he went around dissecting and finishing off all what was left of those dreaded stringers. The blade fell from his hands, as he collapsed in the cool water, grasping it before it hit the water (with just a little bit of shock than needed.) Maybe it was because the chi waves would have spread out and hit Ruto? That could be a possibility and a good one while he was at it. Feeling it was metaphorically was too heated to be put away, the boy stuck the blade under his arm, staring to walk back towards the princess he was guarding, when something began to appear before him. Grabbing the sword, he readied himself, while she began to form a line of manna.

The "enemy" was actually one of those appearing chests, as in the previous dungeons. Quickly dispersing her hidden manna, she stared over at the boy, seeing the fatigue and worry in her face. Must have used most of his manna on that attack, I guess his first technique was weak, but borrowing the powers of the Goddess' probably took more than three-quarters of his power done. As he opened up the chest and dug through its contents, she grabbed one of the magic slots from his satchel (the one she had drank on before) feeding it through him slightly. Slurping up it, she also grabbed out the last of the ten heart containers, feeding him six and herself four. It wasn't like they were back at full strength, but at least they could survive some more fights (as long as it wasn't another ten Stringers.)

--------------------

Was Lady Luck in his favor, or just some little toy was there? As he pulled out the unique tool, his face was that of curiosity, it was definitely not something he had ever lied eyes upon before. Shaped like the moon was sometimes--oh, what was it called-- a crescent? Yes, shaped like one of those, and pained upon an orange colour, the weapon was. A deep red jewel was fixed in the center of the crescent, surrounded by a line of gold. That was all for the jewelry, except the matching jewel on the back, but upon the left and right handles were two small green marks. Scoffing a little, he held up to Navi, just staring at it.

"What is this, Navi?" Looking to his left, he saw she wasn't there. H-had she been crushed! Gasping, he spun around, looking desperately for her, but finding no sign of her. Whimpering sadly, he was about to go out to the bushes to scrounge, but a voice broke his concentration.

"Urm, hello? Let me out? Link!" Flipping his head to the south region, he broke out in a grin, staring up at the pale-skinned fish encased inside of the barriers of the flesh. The flash of the smile caused the scar that would be left upon his left shoulder to ache somewhat. Shrugging his capable shoulder, as if to test it out, he threw the weapon up at Ruto or towards to skin, to loosen the skin up. To unexpected surprise, the tool not only hit the surface, causing Ruto to land upon the flat surface, but actually spun around in the shape it was, returning to his hand only raised up to catch it. Staring down at the tool, Navi had finally caught up with him, and looked down at the tool, her arms covered with supplies.

"Navi!" Grabbing her into a tight embrace, the supplies from her hands bounced upon the soft ground, preserving them from shattering. Letting out a small giggle, he cuddled her inside of his arms. "Awe, you had me so worried, Navi, I thought maybe I had cut you up, or one of the bodies had gotten you!" Nuzzling her face gently, it was Ruto who broke up the sweet reunion with a simple question of her own, and what that was pondered on both hers and Link's minds: what in Hyrule was that thing in Link's hands. If he had to guess, it was some sort of weird pix-axe, that didn't use the blade, but that was he.

"Ah, Link, I missed you too. Mm, what you are holding is called a boomerang. I haven't seen one in quite a while, but if you throw it in the right direction, then it shall return to you. Those jewels seem to help direct the focus upon the persons chi, obviously, so I am just guessing, but that means it shall always come back to you, even if you don't try to catch it." Slumping upon her shoulder, they really needed to find that room desperately, she was tired desperate for some rest, and sick of these battles. It was fine and might that these were going to be the last ones she would see for the rest of her life, those thoughts really excited her. Her life with Link, oh what would they do, how would they repor-

Focus! Focus, now, and worry about that later. Reproduction? Ha! The voice inside of her head carried on, stupidly, the fairie rolling her eyes to no one in particular. Ruto, however, was talking about something and caught the roll in the general direction. Gasping, she looked away with a bit of her hurt in her eyes, speaking out in a calm and malicious tone. Not really an evil tone, but one that had been seriously hurt. True she didn't like Navi more than Link, but really, she could have at least been respected in some general direction.

"If you don't want to hear, just say so."

"Huh? Princess, what do you mean?"

"You rolled your eyes at me!"

"I-I did? Oh, I-I'm sorry, Princess, I didn't even notice." Giving a snort, Ruto turned towards Link to comment, but all what was there was a distant shadow of the past. Peeking around, she ran towards the door when she saw him hacking away at the mucus that had somehow concealed them before. Now that the monsters were dead, nothing was keeping the snot hard, so it was quite easy to slice through it within a few minutes. As Ruto (trailed by Navi) arrived at the scene, Link had gotten the last good gunk off, pealing it off with the back of his sword (that was also smeared with guts, and blood.) He couldn't help himself, as he slunk to his knees and wiped it clean from the past battles inside of this hellhole, no he was strong, so he wouldn't break. The only person he could do that infront of was Ruto, but as he descended for her to climb upon his shoulders, she barely heard him.

It was only halfway past the area, heading in the western direction this time, for tentacles like the other room blocked the others that he ran into some previous trouble. Out of the blue popped another one of those ugly creatures, his sword sheathed for now, the boomerang held at his side (something telling him it would aid better in this battlement.) Flipping backwards, he readied the rang as Navi shot out the name of his attacker.

"A Tailpasaran, the centipede type, nothing unusual about it--wait. It said that electrical type so now sword types, use your new weapon Link!"

"Mmhm, way ahead of you." As soon as it lunged at him, the hideous red furry body with insect-legs teetering in the air, he let loose the boomerang of jewels. As soon as the boomerang clashed against the end of the Tailpasaran's neck, it locked it up against the side of the wall, instead of returning back to its master. Link stared at it curiously as it ferociously tried to battle away at it, desperately trying to keep alive, yet squeeze through the hole at the same time. The blade held up, he couldn't see anymore-electrical spots upon the centipede, so he curiously watched her scan the enemy once more.

"Confirmed, the boomerang knocked the electricity away. You can go in for the kill now, Link." And indeed he did that, without hesitation, he slammed the tip of the blade down the skull of the Tailpasaran, tearing its exoskeleton into shreds of remains. Not even a screech was rewarded with any final last words, only the thump of the corpse as it slid up off the boomerang and down on the swirling ground. Suddenly a small hole appeared and disposed of the body, maybe used for food. His emotions stayed roughly hatred, watching the wretched thing drift away, with a drift of good riddance. Staring up at Ruto, he saw her expression was soft and pitied, pouting of the young creature, then to Navi who nodded with her arms crossed around her chest.

Yes, nothing could have stopped it; it was just a stupid creature anyway. Reaching up, he fiddled with Ruto a little, grabbing his hat and readjusting it upon his head. Grabbing her, he put her so her legs were around his neck and she rested right before his head, instead of on it.

"You alright like that? You are kinda heavy on my head, don't want to pass out or anything." Chuckling, he patted her thigh tenderly.

"Mmhm, I am fine. I-I'm sorry." Eyes moistened a bit, Ruto said.

"About what, Ruto?"

"About that thing, how I couldn't save you. I-I promise I'll do better next time-- I swear!" Giving a quick nod to the girl, he shushed her softly, telling her tenderly that it was all right. Matter of a fact, it was alright, sure he could have almost been killed, but the fact was that he hadn't been despised from this world, he was with his guardian and the princess whom he was guarding. Listening to the silence of the conversation, he figured it over, heading over towards the doors where the western edge was. Stepping upon the switch with both of them, it slid down and the magic-based mucus gave away, yet when he jumped off it was sliding back together. Frowning, he stepped upon it with both of them again, and the same thing happened again! Stomping his left foot on the switch, it popped down with only the slightest bit of weight upon it.

"It's not weight, Link, it's mass. One of us has to stay back here and stay on the switch so it doesn't go down. Ruto, would you mind staying while me and Link check it out?" At first Navi thought she was going to go on a rampage of how she was princess and she deserved just as much right out with the rest of them, than anyone else, but she didn't. Barely even acknowledging them, she sat upon the tooth as he sat her down, the door staying open when they backed towards it slowly, Link's eyes resting upon Ruto with concern.

"Are you going to be okay, Ruto-sama? If you are upset over the bloodshed, I am sorry for it, but it's necessary. Besides, these creatures aren't real; they are the reincarnations of evil into the goodness of beings. The spirits are long dead, so there is no way to save them, I know it hurts to see death, but I do not kill people, for that I have sworn my life by. It's all right to be sad, Ruto, really it is. Just don't let it get you down too much, 'kay?" Smiling, he turned around and ran for the door, popping on reach, and ran through the door that closed when they were inside.

--------------------

"Is she going to be okay, Navi?" Link whispered as they walked into the new room, similar to the Stinger's room, yet no water was there for them to hide. This room was completely empty, not a soul in sight, and since it was so small, and he could make an accurate guess it was all right for the time being. Moving over towards the center, the boy looked to his fairie, with compassion glancing through those brushed features.

"She's tough, I think she'll be all right. Well, why all of a sudden worried about others? You have a crush upon her, or something?"

"Not really, I am just worried about her, that's all." The trick had been a test to see what would happen, and since he didn't flush and look away stupidly like he did with Saria, it was really love. Ruto didn't seem to show that for the boy, either, so it seemed that this particular meeting was in her own favor. It was probably the species that didn't attract them together, at least for Ruto, she knew she couldn't fall in love with a Kokiiri, for one day she would grow wise beyond his senior, dominating over him, in the weirdest fashion."

"Is she not pretty?" She whispered softly.

"Oh, no, she is pretty, one of the prettiest Zoras, I just don't feel that sort of love for her. I love her, of course, as a friend, but I also love Zelda and Malon as a friend, also."

"Well, what about Saria and I?" The question rose upon her lips, what did he really feel for her.

"Saria? I love her more than anything, she was my mother, my protector, and my friend, I love her more than anyone I have ever met in my life, you equally." Breaking out in a small grin, he felt the pressure that she pressed upon him, but didn't give into it, he just shrugged a shoulder at the second part of the question.

"Oh really?" Navi smiled at the thought, being equal with Saria was something she had hoped to achieve.

"Maybe I'll tell you anoth--" Suddenly he was cut off as something slammed him across the ground, unlike anything that was like the impact of the Stringers. Whatever did it couldn't reach him from that far away, so the boy tucked softly to the ground, crying out in pain. The moistened land fells upon his wounds, making the ones from before even intensify from before. Staring up at the ground, he saw what was a fifty feet tentacle staring at him with a face-less body, it was brown and slimy, from the feel of it all over his body. Wincing, he raised himself up weakly, backing against the wall to secure himself from further damage.

"Link! Oh, Goddess, Link" Flying to his side, the fairie stared up at the tentacle with her eyes widening. She had thought the tentacle not a threat, but now they were dealing with it. Or a cousin of one, for this one was a mahogany colour, while the other one was a dark green. Detecting no marks upon it, seeing as it went up towards twenty-five feet up, so a projectile weapon was out of the question. "Link, I don't see a weakness upon this Parasitic Tentacle. I don't think there is a way, except magic." Her eyes sort of curiously warned him when she shook his head, reaching for the boomerang with a grin.

"I saw a weak spot, right when it smacked me."

"Projectiles won't work, Link, it'll slap it away."

"Nuh-uh, it's got a tender spot about thirty feet up the road, that's why he is holding it in, so I can't access to it."

"How do you plan on getting it?" There was nearly no way to reach it, surely he wasn't insane enough too-- he questions were answered when he grinned a huge smirk and shrugged a shoulder as If to say it was nothing. Nothing was certainly was an understatement for this; it was suicide, basic suicide. She shook her head, blocking his path, only to be pushed out of the way softly. No, no, no! She wasn't going to let himself get killed to get to a stupid part down there, it just wasn't worth it, and there was no way she'd risk it.

"You won't make it in time."

"I will, I'll dodge it after I throw the rang, besides, I need you now." I've always needed you, nothing can stop me now, I feel the fear of this place, but with you at my side, I can do this.

"Need me, but how?"

"I need you to go to the spot and light up with its aligned with my boomerang, then I'll throw it and duck, as you said the boomerang will come back to my chi level, so we have nothing to worry about, and I need your own soul with mine." Interjection of the souls may have increased the power of the throw, the momentum of the holding, and the breaking of however this creature would die.

"But, Link!"

"No, buts. I don't plan on dying, Navi; I plan on surviving this. As my correct guess there are two or more of these creepy crawlers about, we are gonna need to knew how to mess with them. I am almost out of magic, even though you filled me up, and my fire won't work on them, they are too oily. If this doesn't work you can kill me yourself, okay?" At least I hope so. Sealing the deal off with a sweet smile, the girl gritted her teeth, trying to steady herself for the answer, but it was no use. She had swept him off his feet and now they were going to head out for that simple place and die an untimely death, all on the account of her weakness and his adventure sense was more developed. She had noticed his he changed so much, it was quite ironic, but in the distant past he would have never attempted something so stupid or foolish. Not that he was getting dumber; his courage was rising, though.

"A-alright. But, you'd better not get hurt!" With a quick nod, the boy let her levitate up right above him, but thirty feet in the air. The accurate guess on where the weak spot was, Link knew what it was, because the colours were a lighter mahogany, that implicated a weakness, or a colour where it slept. If his guess was wrong, then he was dead anyway, it was better than sitting here and waiting to become foot, Eh? Running up toward the center of the room, staring up at the slithering hole, he watched eagerly as it slid down the fifty feet and closed in the distance between them with only a pushpin of a difference in location. Even as he stared it up in the eyes, boomerang positioned in his left hand, the pain in his right and bruises on his chest crying out, he couldn't help, but laugh.

The laugh was like the pistol-shot at a horse race; it was the time to move on with the prize in his mind. Quickly dodging to the left, he waited for his signal, the yellow light, that the signal had been found, it was weak indeed, and when to throw. For now, however, he had an angry tentacle that was even more pissed overtime he dodged six foot thick matching appendage. Throwing him to the right, the arm slammed down into the ground, causing Jabu to scream; yet it didn't seem to affect either of them in the least. Keeping his eyes on the beginning of the tail, noticing when it moved he, he reacted, and when searching for Navi to light up in the dark, so it was easy to dodge.

Within the fourth dodge, the light lit up for him to throw him boomerang, so reaching forward he threw it around in the crescent shot, maneuvering under the tentacle, watching for the moment of truth.

--------------------

Sniffling silently, the child had watched him enter the door, watching as the flap of tissue ceased back into a door, only seconds later. Sure, she was depressed, but what was she saddened by? From everything, to put it bluntly. The cowardice she felt when faced up with a tiny centipede, the courage the boy showed, the insides of her fellow fish God, and even this environment itself. No, this was not the Jabu that she loved, not the fish she spent many times wandering in alone, this was some defect, some sort of monster. How could this be the same creature that used to let her wander his endowments with no fear of being attacked? The simple answer was that this wasn't it, or if it were, then it would soon be destroyed and/or cured.

Flaps of Jabu's "doors" may have been thin on the first glance, but Ruto couldn't even seem to hear through the walls. Jumping off of the switch, she made her way over towards the wall and pressed her ear up against it firmly. Even with the incredible Hylian breech of her ears, the sounds through the thin wall weren't bouncing in her direction. Taking a braver approach, her ear pressed up against the wall, where in turn was greeted with the duplicate effect. Throwing her hands back in frustration, she sat back upon the tooth, the one that didn't even open, even when she was on it. Folding her hands about her chest, her mind began to melt down to some minor thoughts.

What was going to happen when the two got out of here? Obviously, the boy was some sort of hero, she hadn't gotten around to asking him any personal questions, they hadn't known each other that long, why be nosy? No, she was nosy at this point, she wanted to know everything about him, what the Kokiiri tribe did, had they ever interacted with each other, that sort of stuff. She had never heard of the Kokiiri except through some history lessons with her professors, and even then the teachers were quite skeptics, saying no one could have eternal youth just because some "magical" tree kept them up and about. These were the same mentors that taught her how to summon her spells, really, how can one not believe in a mystic tree, yet teach the ancient art of magic? The situations made no sense to her.

Was he going to leave after they got out of here? Well, sure he was, he was an adventurer at sorts, or that's what she recommended, how could he not be with that deviance smile, those moves from fighting, and that power! That mystical attack from which was from the Goddess that they worshipped, how could he learn such a technique. Having heard the name of the technique was different, it was some other language she couldn't understand, but had Zorian words in it. So confusing, so little time to compensate for it. Maybe a guard, or his father had taught him the technique, it seemed to be a real drain on his manna, hence the reason for his skin becoming light. His manna wouldn't last much longer, unless he had himself a green potion, but she hadn't seen those in forever.

"Oh, Naryu, help me. Give me strength to fight enemies when we come in close contact again. But, why do I want to do this, I had never ever wanted to do anything this weird before, especially with a peasant. Why am I treating a peasant with such expertise, he may deserve it, but he isn't of our royal blood--nor out species, for that matter. Ohh, tell me why, great Goddess of wind and water, the procreator of physics." Nothing answered her sweet prayers, only the incubated breathing of the outer world. If Ruto had one thing on her mind when that scream came out, it was that she would never lay a foot back here again-- a scream? Yes, a scream so loud broke the sound barrier of the once proofed room, but it wasn't the scream of the boy she knew, it was the scream of something else, something in terrible pain.

Maybe the monster that he is fighting. Oh, yes, there was such a monster behind the door, maybe it was its scent he caught, or maybe she could decipher aura, the latter seeming more ridiculous than its predecessor could. Laying eyes on the door, a great sigh of relief died through the winds of the great fish, as if a gargantuan burden had been lifted from its shoulders. Something happened then, something that she couldn't explain; some of the skin upon Jabu began to change. When she had been first sucked in, it was the most abnormal shade of pink that the skin had ever been, the roof a violent violet. Now, however, the skin upon the roof was a paler pink, while the matching skin had moved up a shade of two. Must mean he's healing, yes that was it, nothing else could explain it? Suckling of the walls also stopped, some of the creatures may have died, she really didn't know.

Suddenly she knew in her mind that they were going to get out. From the beginning she had been skeptic, always thinking that this idiot would turn upon her, turn tail and run, or simply put her out of her misery, however now she held a certain trust towards him. Who cared if he was a peasant, a Kokiiri, or a boy, not she, she didn't give a damn in the least. All that mattered was that he was risking his life for her, and the best she could do was ride on his head. No more, no more at all, for when he got out of there she was going to hold his hand and walk by his side the rest of the way. Yes, yes, she was going too--ohh, a slight yawn entered her train of thought, circling her thoughts in a swirl of emotions. Just a bit of rest, yes, just a little bit, then I'll be good as knew. Curling up in a ball on the flat tooth, she tenderly rubbed her sides and gazed herself into unconsciousness.

--------------------

"A perfect hit, Link!" Navi cheered on as the boomerang swung upside to the monster, slashing right across the more tender area, swerving around and re-landing in his hands. Grinning over to Navi, he gave a light shrug and stared up at the monster, the blow hadn't killed it, that for sure, but now it was seriously pissed, the tail began to swerve back and forth in hectic motions. Dodging each one with the right amount of accuracy, he later would grant himself the beauty in his evasion, for the thing was swinging so hard, it might have taken his head off in one clean snap. Shuddering down the sickening feeling, the boy back-flipped away from the tail's point of attack, watching it rise the extra thirty feet once again, holding itself at bay.

Slightly chuckling, he leaned against the side of the walls, noticing a slight colour change, but nothing so immediate. Pulling out the boomerang, he noticed the guts upon the jewel, where it hit to the side, but a direct hit hadn't happened. From his guess, if a direct hit would happen, the might beast would succumb with a loud scream, either snapping off or dying, or shriveling up into an old weed. Pushing back his hat, the boy looked over to his fairie, trying to hold back the laughs. "Told you."

"Mm, yes, you did. He is a bit slow compared to you, isn't he? But be warned, one hit with that may kill you."

"Yea, I guessed that much. Round two coming up!" The second time around was much quicker, much more intense than the time before. Time seemed to slow down as each little throw it threw was dodged with perfect accession, sometimes slipping down, rolling to the side in the next moment, but hey, nobody's perfect. Rolling upon his back, the boy dodged backward, throwing the boomerang straight at the sparkled area where his fairie had returned, a scream of impact illuminating both of them in pain.

Covering his ears caused the boomerang to stay up there, the jewel upon the rang was reacting seriously, responding to the contact of flesh it came out to touch. As it seemed, the weapon of its choices could hurt this little monster, maybe the reason it was so well guarded. Finally the scream faded off, Link reaching a hand out and the boomerang returned to its master, but by that time the monster was already dead. As soon as the boomerang let out of its skin, the tail slumped to the ground, turning a disfigured brown colour, then disappearing inside a swirl hole that appeared out of nowhere. Clean-up duty seemed to be on their side for a change, yet a strange feeling in the back of his mind told him it would clean up his body just as fast, if he had been the one punishable.

As soon as the tail disappeared, a louder scream echoed through the walls, this one loud, but not so hearing-impaired. Link's guess was that they destroyed the center of the larger tails that were covering some of the entrances to the nearby doors. That might mean if they headed to those doors after disposing of them, then it was a good chance they would find an empty path to the room. Tucking the boomerang in his belt, instead the empty space in his side pack, the boy looked over to Navi with his eyes falling upon her with compassion, she had soon come down while he watched the incarnate of this creatures cruel fate.

"Sad, isn't it?" Her words echoed like distant shadows.

"Mmhm, it is sad. Shall we go, I have a hunch there are more of these, besides the green one, and we should clear them out as soon as possible." When he turned to leave, his eyes brightened up--no, the room brightened up. The entire room began to shrivel and form a new colour, a lighter shade of inner muscle surrounding the contents they were concealed inside. "Think that means he is healed somewhat?" Receive a small reply of approval, the boy walked over the nasty tail, stomping the small squiggling edge into the ground, before stepping before the layer of flesh, that led back to the old room.

"Awe, she's asleep…" Navi floated across her face, watching the little Zora slumber upon her guarding point, so defenseless it was cute. Picking her up with the power that Navi possessed, she put the girl up on Link's shoulder, which he took as if some sort of relief. Thanking his partner with a nod, he continued down the path, staring down at the tree exits. Whichever way they would go out to be quick and easy, but the hard part was to decide which way to go. Those paths were so slippery it was harder to get upon, plus sometimes a deadly electrocuting tentacle was awaiting them. Well, he guessed that they were lightning-based.

"So, which direction?"

"Northwest, it had the brownish tail."

"You sure, Navi?"

"Positive, Link, now let's go." Smiling brightly at him, the boy couldn't help, but shrug a delirious hand and give into her pleasures. Yes, sometimes she had the upper hand in his battles, sometimes she usually one, but there was the occasional night when he would win, the arguments usually tedious and childish (but wasn't that what they were?) leading to nothing real interesting. Maybe it was interesting, but served no purpose to the point in their adventures, usually a debate on the future, what happens next, talking to each other, and describing each other to one another in their own words.

--------------------

A boring room waited them in the direction they headed. Though the northwest wasn't blocked from dangers, inside they found a chest with a compass awaiting them, but there was a sidetrack Shaboms were the sidetrack, for they had to defeat all twenty of them within a ticking distance, or the stupid chest would disappear. It appeared that after several times, the seconds were in the forties, that didn't give them much time for the exploding monsters, especially with bullets, but Link had himself a good idea. Sitting his passenger on the ground, away from the Shaboms, the boy flexed his muscles and prepared for the primitive attack. Not bothering to waste anymore magic, or a good percentage, on the Goddess attack, he would propel himself off the wall and help out.

Running towards the wall, the lad leapt upon it, the rubbery substance using as a polar cap and retracting him away from his initial position. Flying in the center of the room (and the Shaboms), the boy threw his hands in the position of Din's fire, letting loose a volcanic blast of flavor that would stain all the bubbles with the crimson for the time being. With heat applied to their simple bodies, the stupid creatures easily gave into popping at the intense heat, each one popping before ten seconds were over. With the chest now free, the boy jumped at the chance to gather what would be next, pushing his left with the only element of the dungeon he didn't have: a compass. Gathering up Ruto, he gave the room one last glance, before walking out of it in a little unfit manner.

Leaving the room with a tiny bit of disgust, he headed for the room to the northeast. In the distance, the boy and his companion saw a larger red tentacle blocked the path, so they headed up to the west, where the path was as clear as day. No holes to indicate that something were even here. Maybe he should have come here before the room with the boomerang? Yet as he came into the room, and saw the consequences, the boy was contented he had decided to leave himself outside without so much as the live-saver he had stuck inside of his belt.

Un-tucking his lucky crescent, the boy entered the room where a larger tail stood upright out of the ground, guarding nothing in particular. Automatically he knew that was the tentacle, so he went in for the high-pitched kill, which was to his shock, not that much of a deal. The earlier version of the tails had been smaller, more agile, capable of better blows, but this one had to make the boy chuckle out in happiness, it was just too fat to be of any threat. It was true if that one knocked him once he'd be crushed, but that was problem, the thing just couldn't seem to hit its mark. Each time it came even close to preventing damage, the boy leapt to another direction to avoid the close combat quarts.

Another one of its disadvantages was that the spot was even larger than ever, the boy trying the same trick of not holding his hand out to try and get an instant kill, that was where the downside laid in. A large figure also meant a huge neck, which led Link to be able working upon his body for fifteen minutes, usually with maddening swings, and drilling holes within the neck. Finally, the thing collapsed ion the ground as his fifteen turned into twenty-five. Staring around, nothing appeared, so he quickly took up his Zora with him, slipping out of the room before something else could be in its place for trouble. Another scream echoed through the halls, the boy covering Ruto's ears so she wouldn't awaken, and with that problem solved, he made his way out to the last entrance, the north.

A hypothesis was that the green one would be there, which he diverse with the fairie on their way over there. When finally reaching the area where the red tail had been, he saw a huge imprint hole there. Staring down in the hole, all that was there was darkness, but he knew damned well that the thing had twisted and turned through the nerves to reach the room directly across from it.

--------------------

"Navi, t-there are…"

"I see them, take them out first, before you deal with the tail, just stay to the sides and you can avoid it." As he kept his distance to the sides, she stared up at the last one of the bunch: the dreaded green tail. It was quite the leader of the pack, for a group of twenty Biris surrounded them, not the big ones, but the more annoying small ones. Going with them with bombs was simply out of the questions, because seeing the green tentacle actions worried her even more, the thing was huge and agile. They found that out entering the room, the tail nearly slamming the door shut, if they hadn't been blocked, it would have been them getting the slam. Now in a direct corner, he targeted his boomerang at the first Biris and fired, if this didn't work, he'd try to escape for a new plan.

The Goddesses loved Link! As soon as they came in contact with the boomerang, the jewel responded and shot out some light at the Biris, burning it into a mass of bubbles. This one happened to swerve around five of them, crushing them into nothing within a matter of seconds. Leaping up and catching the boomerang, he squealed with a bit of joy, launching it out again at the enemies. Only getting them in-groups of two, he managed to eliminate all the Biris in eight turns (the last Biris left was all alone and making a crying sound), but he showed no mercy to them, taking it out in just a few seconds. All the bubbles weren't like the Shaboms, they actually turned into purple bubbles, which popped on their own and disappeared in the oxygen, what happened to their bodies was beyond his knowledge.

"Navi, it's working, it's working!" His cheers exploded as soon as they were all gone, running up towards the enemy with full force. This one had extended out the same fifty feet as the others, its thick hide protecting it in all places, yet the agility of it would benefit it in for a quick kill. Link liked the sound of it, the odds weren't in his favor, but were they usually? Throwing the area at the tender spot, the thing screamed out in pain, but sent a its tail right at him anyway. Hitting the ground, it scraped across his back, making him bite his lip to endure the pain of the slimy scales against it. No blood was drawn, but a huge scratch in his tunic appeared, some marks upon his back. Flipping back to the safe regions, he looked to Navi.

"Now what, he doesn't stop with the pain."

"I…well, we should, let's see." Sitting upon his shoulder, she gave out a loose shrug, before her mind widened up mentally. That was it, reaching behind his belt, she produced a bag and headed towards her enemy. Patting his shoulder, she floated up to the little thing, huge mark that was unexposed, closing the distance between it, which wasn't all that much to begin with. From past experiences, the monsters either didn't acknowledge Navi, or simply ignored her; the same was with this one. When Link came out and started to dodge the swift attacks of the monster, its most tender spot were left out for the girls' liking. Pulling out the bag she had drawn, she yanked out something big and black, pushing a button on it. The fuse of the bomb gave into the pressure; the pressure causing a chain reaction inside of the monster that mutilated it to pieces.

Flowing shrapnel was repelled, by his shield that contained the two behind it, yet more and more guts began to splatter off in all directions, soaking the shield in a green mass of blood, possibly not the guts had stained it, they had leaked out at first. As the bomb blew up, Link saw the bag being thrown to him, caught it and got the shield ready, Ruto already under it, and later Navi zipped in. Pressed against the wall, it concealed the three from any kind of guts that would have given through, but also no scream was given. It was their guess, but maybe the bomb destroyed it all at one time no need for any stupid scream.

Five minutes after the carnage settled down, he peeked the guard up, only to be hit with the small of the rotting dead. Wiping his shield off against the wall, he slipped it back around his face, the smell worsening. Must decompose pretty quickly, his voice told him, gathering up the Zora and continuing past the gut-drenched rivers that stretched out. They could have talked, but talk seemed so unimportant for now, the only thing that seemed to matter was living. No carcass was available for him to see; only the outpour of tissue, the skeleton (if there was one) destroyed into tiny shreds of pieces. Turning towards the door, he dodged the few droplets of the gunk that spread in big puddles. Finally moving past the pain of the room, he of course had no more rooms left, with only one more target in his grasp: to get past that barrier now, since the green tail was gone.

Slinking past the door, checking his map for the part where the green part was marked down, he nodded a quick hand at the little mark where there had been something was now empty. Quickly grabbing onto Navi, the fairie silently dragged them down through the muck-hole, into a new room that opened up to the folks. No, not a new room, it was actually the same level they had been upon before, the level he had a conversation with Ruto the second time. Not at the same place though, this time they were onto one of the highest places that couldn't be climbed up without special equipment, and what's more is a door stood their way.

"Should we wake her?"

"No, Link, but I wish we could--" Groping the map before--she had seen this place--, and yes she cheered out as Link grabbed the map studying the out figures of where they were and where the map was marked red. Of course, he shouldn't have missed it, upon a huge structure and leading forwards into a room marked with the letter "J." Running forwards, towards the door, he stopped there and turned towards the smaller corridor that led to the door, pressing his hand against the skin of the wall. The thing was transparent, as it could be seen, so he simply slipped past it with Ruto in his arms since the entrance was so small.

His eyes illuminated with brightness, the room seeming to transform from a glossy wet pile of mass, to a significantly filed room, the room mattered on with the flesh from the rest of the place. This meant it also had two large beds to sleep in, them made of the same materials the Zorians let Link use that night. All of a Link's wounds began to ache as soon as he saw the bed, laying Ruto on the blue silken covers of the right bed, limping to the left one on his side, sinking down into the covers. Sleep would have overtaken him, but it was too uncomfortable, and letting out a small groan of pain, the boy stared up at his fairie.

"It's uncomfortable in her-."

"Take off your shield, dummy…" She had already unsnapped his satchel, laying it upon some of the flesh-made cabinets that were in the room. Dodging the shield that flew overhead, followed by the sword, she came to lay upon the top pillow of the bed, looking down at him on the same pillow, Hrm, no she wasn't sleepy either. Ruto was out for the night, or so it seemed for the time being, so she might take this opportunity to get to know the child, they had talked over the two months. Talking had gone on over the last two months, but Link went to sleep so early they never got into deep conversations, but now that he was asleep it was a personal favorite time for Navi.

"So, tell me about yourself."

Giving her a double take, he blinked. "Navi, you know me."

"No, I don't, sweetheart. We talk and all, but I want to know about you--your past memories and your future. I already know your present, hee…"

"You really want to know?" Laying his head upon the pillow a little further up, they were facing each other. Her laying backwards, and him in the frontward position, the eyes never seeming to lend each others sockets to contain each other in the moment. Lifting a hand up, she patted his cheek in approval, where he saw up and heaved a deep sigh, as if he were about to release something big, something so big that she might not be ready. Had she wished she had gone back on her words, or was he happy she had finally asked the question?

"I knew you'd ask eventually, we've known each other for you to know the truth, so what do you want to know?"

"I want to know about Mido, I used to live deeper inside the forest, so I never saw anything that went on in the forest, I really want to know about your grudge about him."

Man, she really hit the nail! Seemed she didn't like to waste time and go over the most important element of the future. Shaking his head in disbelief, how was he supposed to word this, for he never had worded it to Saria, who had been there, but usually through the tears. Biting his lip for compassion, he was sitting in the bed, her held right above her face, inside his palms, where he stared down and recollected the story of how the evil Mido had extracted his revenge. The stupid little story that had haunted him since it had happened, never being locked out, but staying out in the open for any mind-readers to read. Reaching inside his satchel he grabbed the canteen full of water, chugging some down, handing it to the refusing Navi. Gulping down another swallow, he began.