Chapter 13: Day at the Beach; To Great Bay and Back
Scourge of the Ocean Pirates Arc
Disclaimer: I don't own The Legend of Zelda, this is just a Fanfiction.
Featured Music: "Ranked Amongst the World's Best" - The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass OST. Chapter Briefing.
"Clash" - Fire Emblem IX: Path of Radiance OST. Scene 1 (First Half).
"Great Bay Coast" - The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask OST. Scene 1 (Second Half).
"Don't Go" - Five Nights at Freddy's III OST. Scene 2 (Second Half).
"Pirate's Fortress" - The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask OST. Scene 3 (First Half).
In a single three day cycle, generously gifted to him by the Sorcerer of the Divine Divide, Link and Tatl both manage to overcome the oddities and strange troubles that Romani Ranch are subjected to; a hostile invasion of what seem to be alien-like invaders as well as an attack of their neighbours, presumably for their coveted supply of Chateau Romani. Resting close-by to the sun-kissed ranch of Romani are the two Gorman brothers; with an incredible likeness to Hyrule's 'Ingo', these men own and operate their own brand of livestock and farm supplies.
Unfortunately, however for the two Romani sisters, it would appear these men were also behind blocking off their entire farm from entry into Termina Field and neighbouring Clock Town.
Having gained the license to buy, sell and use Goron-operated Powder Kegs – huge machinery of explosives – the ever confident-expressed Link manages to break down the gigantic rock used to keep the sisters in. In making fast friends with two young girls, oddly reminiscent of Lon Lon's Malon, he also at last locates his missing companion that once belonged to the farm-girl; the ever loyal Epona.
In assisting the two Romani twins, Tatl and Link are gifted not only with Romani's Mask but the little horse that they had been previously looking after; a gesture of peace and friendship that wins the former Hero of Time a road into his new clue that Tael left her older sister...
A place far to the east is a long beach and ocean filled to the brim with the familiar 'Zoran' people that Link remembers from his adventure across time in his home country. 'Great Bay' – a place wrought with its own woes and troubles that run deep within its native land of people. Home to a number of great sights and attractions such as Pinnacle Rock, Zora Cape, the Waterfall Rapids and even the Great Bay Temple itself; it is here that the two heroes make their next claim to ending Majora's Mask's dark hand of influence.
For only through the 'Hero of Time' can Termina truly be redeemed.
Scene 1
DAWN OF THE FIRST DAY
-72 Hours Remain-
CLANG-SKRRRRRRRR...
Mikau gasped as his forefin's blade clashed heavily and noisily with his opponent's. A young woman dressed in the revealing-red of the Gerudo pirates and decked out to match; she cast her narrow-eyed grin past the countless sparks that emanated between her paired scimitars, her gold-shaded eyes glaring back at his aquatic-blue.
"Pathetic...," the young woman cursed out forward in a hateful-toned chuckle. "I'll never understand you people."
FWIP
Mikau, his sea-blue eyes widening, found his footing knocked over by his opponent's swift sweep; as he dropped down toward the ground below him he used his free remaining left hand to grip at the surface beneath him. In doing so he grunted as he pushed off of it, effectively finding himself side-flipping acrobatically through the air in evasion.
"Hmph..."
In a single frowning grunt the young woman tossed one of her scimitars forward, and its powerful steel sung noisily as it spun through the air, hungrily searching for its sea-faring foe. Realising it was fast-approaching Mikau glared back at it before widening his eyes and intensifying the flow of his inner Aegir to form a familiar brightly-blue shield.
VVVVVVV...
CLANG-THWUCK-THWUCK-THWUCK
As the curved sword collided with the visibly electric-like aura of Quintessence surrounding Mikau's form, it rebounded potently from it before seemingly endlessly flipping harmlessly in mid-air as a result.
Unfortunately for the young Zoran band member however, it wasn't the floating scimitar that mattered.
It was only when he swerved his head 'round to his undefended side that he realised that the tossed cutlass was merely a distraction; behind him the grinning young red-haired woman hung in mid-air in a similar posture to himself, facing him in a side-on position. Unlike the similarly young Zoran warrior however, she instead had the option to fixate her body's position as opposed to the wildly-spinning form of her opponent.
"Ready to die, baby...?"
In that single suggestive whisper that she made into his small ears, hidden behind the long blonde bangs he wore so well, she grunted noisily as she swung her free left fist across his lower stomach.
DRRRRRING-CLANG
The buzzing electric shield of Aegir that Mikau employed so powerfully, just as quickly dissipated as the woman's back-fist made contact, essentially leaving the Zoran hero defenceless. The nameless Gerudian pirate, golden eyes narrowed, spun her body 'round a second time to slam her curved shoed leg directly into the young man's undefended side.
CRACK
"Agh...!"
Unable to respond to the quick body movement she graced him with, Mikau could only widen his oceanic-toned eyes in expectance, merely waiting for the inevitable follow-up.
"Hngh...! Yah!"
SQUELCH-CRACK
In a devastating collision of steel and flesh, the Gerudo's last remaining scimitar found its mark; as she spun again mid-flight she pinned her weapon directly into his now open chest, dark-blue shaded blood seeping out and spraying violently from the assault.
"Now die!" The young woman exclaimed, eyes widened as she spun one final time, their bodies at last approaching the ground. Almost as soon as his body struck the surface did her right leg smash brutally into the hilt of her instilled cutlass, worsening the already painful wound and effectively pinning the poor Zoran warrior into the ground below. "Whitetip Cleave!"
CRASH-RUMBLE-RUMBLE...
A conclusion of savage brutality and agony; as Mikau lay there in a bloodied and broken heap, he turned his wide-eyed stare skyward to the arena's ceiling as if to search for some kind of lost hope. The seemingly nameless young woman, a satisfied grin on her face, chuckled maliciously as she pushed herself up to her feet. She folded her similarly slim arms down at him as she narrowed her vision forward, a look of knowing intent deep within the gold irises in her eyes.
"When you get down to hell...," she began before her grin widened a little, baring some teeth as she did. "Tell 'em Aveil sent you."
"Yo, this place is beautiful."
The sound of nearby-flying seagulls and the rolling waves made the riding Link, Tatl and Epona cast their contrasting expressions and gazes around as they entered the limits of Great Bay Coast.
"What do ya think girl?" The former Kokiri grinned down at the similarly small horse resting beneath him. "I wouldn't mind comin' here for a vacation."
He chuckled when she snorted in response; seemingly a happy-sounding agreement from her.
"We're not here to sunbathe," Tatl insisted, rolling her eyes as she turned her butter-shaded light down on him. "We're here to-"
"What a gyp," Link sighed, rolling his own eyes in response as if similarly frustrated, though not without his ever-usual grin upon his face. "Yes mistress."
"Mistress...," Tatl parroted, a thoughtful tone to her soprano. She regained the grin in her own voice as she re-opened her mouth to elaborate. "I like the sound of that."
"I bet you do."
His banter, suggestive and mischeivous, caused the listening little guardian fairy to turn her light on him in a briefly-lit smirk.
Odd, he thought.
This is the second time she's spoken to me like that; it feels like Malon's odd wordplay when she was hitting on me.
"She can't be, surely...," he wondered silently, his grin slowly dissolving into a hardened frown as he narrowed his oceanic eyes up at her. "Can she...?"
As the three adventurers travelled forward through the sandy surface of Great Bay's beach, the riding Link found himself appreciating the waterfront all the same. As Epona's slow clipping and clopping carried the two heroes through the lovely sandy background, their eyes beheld the beauty before them as well as some interesting sightseeing.
Numerous exotic-looking palm trees, loaded of course with coconuts, sat situated all around the sun-kissed oceanfront in a dazzling show, joined only by what appeared to be sun-guard umbrellas. Sitting to the far-off top-left area of the beach was two buildings, both in an odd state of affairs; one in faded-brick-red and the other in a more up to date aquatic-blue.
"That's weird," Link gave voice to his own thoughts, eyebrow rising up curiously as he eyed the two buildings. "I wonder who-?"
"Probably just people that live on the beach," Tatl responded, business-like and all, almost as if having sensed his very ruminations before they exited his mind. "I wouldn't think too hard about it."
The frowning Link narrowed his cobalt-blue eyes at the left-most building, his intrigue successfully having been caught. "Hrm..."
"Danger!"
"High voltage?"
Tatl, half-annoyed and half-curious, could only swing her milk-shaded light 'round on the lightly-grinning Link. He shrugged back at her limp-eyed stare, his smirk ever enduring.
"What?" He asked, attempting to regain some form of innocence to his tenor.
"Danger!" The frowning guardian fairy reiterated, swivelling back around to her front to read out the hardwood signpost resting before them. "Keep Out!" She read aloud. "Swimming prohibited due to murky... water...?"
In response, the curious Link turned his legs and grunted lightly as he hopped off of Epona's back to land next to the pair. His eyes narrowed carefully as he took in the sight of the cloudy and seemingly dirty ocean before him. Resting far ahead appeared to be a steel-shaded pair of platforms, dotted with a large anchor-like building that sat atop the second floor. Even further into the light-blue distance was a huge constructed temple-like house completely surrounded by an extremely powerful whirlpool.
"Damn...," Link murmured out, surprised and all. "See that?"
"Yeah...," Tatl spoke, her own eyes narrowing as she nodded in acknowledgement. "I do."
"You thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?"
"I think I am."
The young Hero of Time found his grin re-adorning his face as he swung his oceanic-tipped eyes back on the far-off temple.
That must be Great Bay Temple, he thought.
"Our next destination."
"But... what about those?"
His unsure frown returned and in full flow when he attempted to trace Tatl's similarly curious-like call; as he stared forward he at last began to find what seemed to be an unusual collection of seagulls, all squawking and yapping away as if for some form of attention.
"Oh...," he murmured out. "I see 'em but..."
Soon the pair realised that the seagulls' behaviour wasn't just coincedence; the wide-eyed Link's eyebrows similarly shot up in realisation when he saw what seemed to be movement beneath their flying positions in the sea beneath them.
Someone's in there, he thought.
He swung his blonde-haired head around to eye both Tatl and Epona, ever a grin on his expression. In a hardened and extremely exaggerated bass-like tone of voice, he spoke his next sentence.
"I'll be back."
2
It was a difficult endeavour but in the ever enduring personality of the Hero of Time himself, Link managed to pull the poor drowning person's form out to shore; seemingly a young Zoran man of all things the revelation not only surprised the assisting Link, but his guardian fairy partner as well.
"Hello sir...," Tatl greeted, a polite tone to her frown as she spoke. The gasping Link similarly let his own frown pass his countenance as he stepped out of the powerfully-murky water behind him, shaking himself dry as if he were an animal. "Are you injured? Can you get up?"
As if in response, the grunting Zoran shakily attempted to rise himself to his feet, visibly wincing as he did.
Evidently it was difficult even to do that.
"Oh my word..."
As Tatl gasped out her shock-expressed murmur, Link could only raise a curious eyebrow as he swung his straw-haired head 'round to spy at the Zoran's front.
His own eyes widened in an unhealthy mixture of awe and unsettling surprise.
The poor man's torso, although slim and muscled, had been violently tore apart by what appeared to be a blade of some kind; although the killing weapon was visibly absent the destruction it left in its wake was commanding enough to demand attention. Flesh had been broken and his dark-blue shaded blood lay littered all over. Upon his waist he seemed to wear what looked like a coral-built belt, jittering around as similarly as he shook as he marched slowly forward.
"U-Um... sir...?"
Tatl's concerned call, so anxious and yet so hesitant, went unheeded as the nameless young Zoran marched forward, his steps so laborious and marked with the strenuous gasps of a dying man. Link watched him carefully, his eyes narrowing from memory of witnessing the traumatic sights of dying men and women from his adventures across Hyrule.
He's definitely bought the big one, whatever he's been up to, the young Hylian thought to himself.
Surely there's something I can do for him?
"Gurgh...!"
TSH-THUD
First, his knees and then his whole body; in two movements the poor young Zoran found his energy failing him, resulting in a pained and agonising drop onto the sandy beached surface below. In an awkward frown, Link found himself exchanging his clumsy grimace with the floating Tatl next to him, unsure of what to say. As a result he stepped forward to the fallen Zoran's left side, just off-side of a laying canoe a few yards from their position and knelt down to his level.
The youth lay out one of his palms on the sandy floor ahead, eyebrow raised and all. "Need a hand...?"
The man, as pained as it seemed to, shook his head upon the sandy ground regardless and opened his mouth to respond.
"I'm...," he began before abruptly and violently coughing; a misery marked by the sudden onset of his dark-coated life-juices, effectively staining the otherwise beautiful peach beneath them. "I'm finished...," the nameless man managed out, breathing in deeply and painfully as he did. "Th-Thank you f-for helping me..."
Link could only laugh and shook his blonde-haired head back, nervous and all. "Don't... don't mention it."
"M-My name... it's... Mikau."
The listening Link narrowed his eyes and furrowed his brow, somehow recognising the name.
Did Tatl mention that name before, he wondered.
Or was it that Zora in Clock Town?
"L-Lulu..."
The former Kokiri's brow realigned to fit the softer frown that adorned on his face as he listened to the young man mumble in what seemed to be concern.
"Her eggs...," Mikau gasped, his slim body shaking, presumably from the life-threatening wounds he endured. "I-I tried to save them b-but I-"
"Don't talk," the firmly-frowning Link shook his head in response, turning his hands down to reach into his inventory. "Maybe I've got some Red Potion somewhere around-"
"G-G-"
Mikau's stammering and pained gasping made him swing his straw-haired head back 'round to face the older male.
"Gerudo pirates...," he finished his sentence, a hateful curse on the end of his words. "Th-They stole her... her eggs and I-"
In another painful hacking cough Mikau painted the beach deep-sea blue, eliciting an arduous wince from the watching Link. Mikau shook his head, a similar shut-eyed cringe to his expression as he re-opened his mouth to continue.
"I can't...," he gasped on. "I-I'm gonna haunt this place if I die here..."
At last the quiet youth listening exchanged one final look with the nodding Tatl before producing forward his princess' lifeline.
The Ocarina of Time.
"W-What are you-?"
"Shh...," Link began, his soft frown coating the rest of his similarly comfortable final words, as he placed a single hand comforting hand down on the man's bruised and beaten shoulder. "You don't gotta hold on anymore," he spoke, an uncharacteristically delicate tone to his quiet tenor matching the new smile he adopted. "I can help."
Mikau, so surprised and shocked, could only tear up as he re-opened his own eyes to stare back at the youth's caring form over him. Even the watching Tatl had been astonished into respectful silence; she could only cast her frown downwards as the smiling Hero of Time reshut his eyes and rose his instrument to his lips, ready to play the last gift that the mask salesman had given him.
The Song of Healing.
Floating...
Floating...
Floating...
Am I finally dead? Can I rest?
It was only when odd flying-like buoyancy took Mikau into the range of another figure, strangely standing, that he re-opened his eyes into a surprised gasp.
Where am I, he thought.
When the spotlight suddenly shone in on the second Zoran form, so familiar, his eyebrows rose up in realisation.
"L-Lulu..."
As he spoke, a second light filled his own figure, at last allowing his levitating form to descend down to the woman's own level. Sure enough, there she was; dressed ever in her familiar dark-blue dress, she cast him a recognising smile, somehow reading the very inward thoughts that he once kept so private from her.
When she turned her form left however, the spotlight that surrounded her followed and lit up the similarly intimate shapes of their bandmates and life companions. Japas, Tijo and Evan all stood in their own greeting smiles, watching him with a comparable acknowledgement that matched their interactions.
This is real, Mikau thought.
I'm really going to die.
When he felt Lulu's soft hand slip into his own he found himself slowly turning his daydreaming-like frown on hers, the words he wanted to speak with floating up just out of reach.
"You don't have to be afraid."
She spoke to him, in great spite to the fact her mouth remained closed, and yet she smiled.
It was the kind of smile that told him she knew everything about him somehow.
"If you're holding on... if you're afraid to die... then they'll look like devils to you... tearing your life away."
Almost as if to prove her very spoken words, the worried-expressed Mikau turned his head back to his lit-up companions only to find them replaced by horrific visions of ghosts and otherworldly creatures.
Things no man should see.
"But... if you've made your peace..."
Surprised again, Mikau couldn't help but regain a blink to his frown as he swung his head back 'round to face the silent-talking Lulu once more.
"Then those same devils... are really angels," she spoke to him again, a hopeful smile on her face. "Freeing you from the earth."
His sea-blue eyes widened and, for some reason he couldn't fathom, he found a tear building up; surprised again he turned his vision down on the droplet as he wiped it away with his other free hand.
Somehow in spite of all the doubt and fear of the unknown, and the great anxiety that came with it, Mikau knew she was telling the truth. He raised up his head to face her one last time before, shakily, he smiled and nodded in response.
A final acqueisce and surrender.
He dropped the skeleton-like guitar that he once held so close to his heart before taking Lulu's hand in his own and smiling a second time and turning.
Together, they walked toward the light.
3
FWIP-FWIP
The sound of a mask dropping onto the creamy and similarly delicate suface of the sand beneath Mikau's now missing body made the frowning Link re-open his cobalt-blue eyes. Below lay what appeared to be the only remaining reminder of the Zoran's existence; his face. As handsome as he had been in life it was truly a sight to behold but, for the watching Hero of Time, it was somewhat eerie and unsettling.
"That's the second time that's happened..."
Tatl's quiet-voiced interjection, although calm and peaceful enough, was enough to pull the youth out of his hardened stare. He turned his frown on hers before swiftly regaining his usual charismatic grin.
"Third time, actually."
Curious, she rose an eyebrow as she swung her own small bulbous body 'round in response to his tenor. "Third?" She parroted back.
He folded his left arm under his raised right one by the elbow, turning his grin up on her as he similarly shot up his fingers as if to assist him with. "Clock Town...," he initially counted in a rise of his index finger, as if to indicate the number 'one'. "Weybour...," he grinned, another finger counting 'two'. "And now Great Bay!" The youth chuckled in a final third finger, unfolding his arms to place one ever at his familiar left hip. "You forgot when Skull Kid Deku-fied me."
"Oh," Tatl frowned back distastefully, as if she were remembering an unpleasant memory. "Yeah... how can I forget." She said, more as a statement than a question.
He chuckled again in response before edging his thumb and his green-hatted head back the way they came. "Come on," he urged, turning 'round to march toward some unnamed area. "We gotta bury him."
"But- there's no body and-"
"It ain't right just leavin' him like this," he interrupted her in a simple smirk as he rose up the new Zora Mask he had obtained with his right hand, his straw-haired head halfway facing her. "So, come on."
Having laid the only remaining worldly possession that Mikau once had reign over at the grave he built for him, his skeletal-like guitar, Link paid his final respects and marched on to the next destination. In following through investigation of the steel platform's building, the aptly named 'Marine Research Lab', he came face-to-face with what appeared to be a familiar form indeed. The man operating it and, indeed the professor of the facility; a man called 'Dr. Mizumi'.
Although he possessed a different name to the lake scientist that Link recalled from his adventures in Hyrule's Lake Hylia, just like with many others in Termina, he looked his exact double.
In chatting with the elderly man, Tatl and Link soon discover that the late Mikau's words were not without accuracy; when examining the nearby sophisticated equipment, the old man explained to them a very similar story that Mikau had eluciated earlier. A Zoran woman, seemingly by the name of 'Lulu', had previously laid a group of seven eggs. Eggs which had been stolen by the nearby-plundering group of Gerudo pirates; a gang of bandits, similar in essence to the Hyrulean brand of desert criminals.
Zoran eggs are unfortunately known for their extreme sensitivity to the climate they are exposed to and, seeing as the majority of them now rest within the stronghold of the Gerudian pirates, there is a very likely chance in their impending death.
With all this in mind Link and Tatl, with Mikau's ascended spirit possessing his new Zora Mask, opt to turn their investigation toward the Pirates' Fortress in the north after having gained information in 'Zora Cape'; the Zoran city centre within Great Bay and a metropolis unto itself. With assistance from Mikau's Zoran form, the sly Hero of Time managed to pull valuable intelligence from the late Zoran's bandmates Tijo, Japas and Evan; a fact that made even the ever-criticising Tatl bend in surprise.
"There's so many of them...!"
The little guardian fairy's whisper, so anxious and so worried, could only make the ever confident-faced Link cast his excited grin down on the group of four Gerudo women below them.
"Glad we bought another map from Tingle?" He threw over his new Zoran shoulder, a chuckle on his lips.
"For once... yeah," Tatl answered, growing a similar smirk to her soprano. "Being aware of those four at all times is definitely a good thing."
Just as she spoke Link couldn't help but agree, watching the four sentries pass by. When enough distance between their blind spot had gained he dove down and grinned on as he swung his Zoran head in his new surroundings. In avoiding not only the ever-vigilant eyes of the Gerudo pirates up above but the patrolling nuisances that were Great Bay's Skullfish, Link managed to weave through their fields of vision expertly and moved on to infiltrating the pirates' stronghold similarly stealthily.
As the two heroes stepped through one of the many doors that the rampart's interior contained, they soon found themselves inside what seemed to be an inward jail.
A prison within a prison.
SPLASH
As the lightly-smiling Link stepped out of the bed of water behind him, still coated in his Zoran form, he turned his aquatic-eyed gaze around the area to drink it in. Resting straight ahead appeared to be the penitentiary itself that the Gerudo must have used, presumably for either enemy combatants that they themselves captured and turncoats.
It was, however, the sight within the lockup that made the smiling Link double-take and drop his expression in favour of a surprised frown to gaze upon.
A young girl, perhaps around his own age, sat inside the cell and swung her hot-haired head up to exchange her wide-eyed shock with his. The two couldn't help but stare at one another in shared and fixated bewilderment.
Like her comrades she wore the revealing and yet baggy clothing of the Gerudo as well as the beautufully-tanned skin that complimented her so well. Upon examining her fire-shaded hair, a messy entanglement of red that was styled similar to his own, he narrowed his eyes back at her curiously and suspiciously.
What the hell is a Gerudo doing locked up inside their own stronghold, he wondered silently.
Maybe she's being punished for something?
"Um... she's watching you... Link..."
"Well obviously..." The frowning Link batted back in a dismissive roll of his eyes, briefly eyeing the guardian fairy before he stepped forward to the cell's locked door. As he towered his Zoran shadow over her silent and sitting form, she gazed back into the pools of his own aquatic-blue before at last opening her mouth to address him.
"How the hell did a Zora get by the security?"
He flashed her a knowing grin in response, ever the joker. "How the hell did a Gerudo end up caged in her own hole?"
Her own curiously flaming-red eyebrow soon lowered as she pouted and turned her head away from his, perhaps unable to find an answer in response.
He chuckled in satisfaction.
"Link... we should get going."
"Yeah," he replied over his shoulder, giving the nameless young Gerudo a final look before turning on his heel to heed. "I'm comin'."
"W-Wait!"
Again he swung his Zoran-shaped head 'round to raise an eyebrow and face her with, curious and all. Seemingly having previously been fiddling with something attached to her neck, she used one of her hands to reach out through the bars almost as if to take his hand with. She faltered as he faced her, but only a little.
"U-Um...," she began, her golden irises lowering from the questioning gaze of his own. "You're not gonna just... leave me in here... are you?"
The young Hero of Time, surprised as before, could only exchange an unsure frown with the similarly listening and quizzical Tatl.