What Timmy saw next was unlike anything he had seen before. The land, well, it was practically nonexistent. Most of the scenery in front of him was water. There were a few pathways that he could climb up, but other than that, it looked like he had to swim everywhere. Filling the water were blue-skinned merpeople with beautiful tails and fins on their arms. Some of them had long blue fins on their heads as well, while others had what appeared to be more like human hair. Timmy was trying to take all of this in when Stella perched on his nose. "Stop staring! We need to find that last Zora and get the Seerical Stone! Are you even paying attention to me?" she barked. Timmy brushed her off of his face and slowly ascended the walkway until he reached what appeared to be a throne room. Sitting atop a ledge across from him were two regal-looking merpeople. "It's probably the king and the queen," Stella whispered to Timmy.
"Are you the messenger from the royal family?" the king asked. Timmy nodded. "Then they must have heard our calls of distress," the king mused.
The queen sadly spoke, "Our niece, Princess Aisha of the Zoras, has gone missing." She couldn't help but sob at the thought of never seeing her niece again. "Neptune, what are we to do?"
"Calm down, Ligea," King Neptune comforted his wife. "We have the representative from the royal family here to help."
"Now wait just a darn minute!" Stella interjected and flew between the two rulers. "You're saying that you don't even know where the Zora kid is? And you expect us to find her?" Timmy waved his arms around, trying to get Stella to come back to him.
The king gravely spoke, "We have our people searching throughout Zora's Domain and Lake Hylia already. If we don't find her soon, she could die, and the Zora lineage will go completely extinct."
Timmy beaned Stella with the slingshot, and she fell into the water. "Please, will you help us?" Queen Ligea asked the small boy. Timmy nodded. "We are forever in debt to the royal family," she told him before waving him off.
Picking up the fallen Stella, he trudged through the water until he found a small waterfall with a young, pink-haired merman sitting at its top. He looked over at Timmy and smiled. "You're the messenger from the royal family that just came, right? Are you going to save my cousin?" he asked. Timmy nodded, and the merman extended his hand, "I'm Nereus, King Neptune and Queen Ligea's son." He held out something with his other hand. "Since you're a human, you won't be able to swim very deep like we can. This is a scale from my tail. It has powers that will help you explore the depths of Zora's Domain and Lake Hylia. You will need it if you are to find Aisha." Timmy took the scale and slid it into his pouch next to the Spiritual Stones before smiling as a means of thanking him.
"Try it out!" Stella urged as she pushed Timmy off of the falls. He landed in the water next to a young red-headed mermaid wearing a necklace with what looked like a tooth on it. She was startled at first, but quickly relaxed when she saw who it was.
"You're a human! You must be the messenger from the royal family," she noticed. Apparently, everyone knew who Timmy was. "Are you traveling to Lake Hylia?" Timmy nodded. "You can take this passageway," she motioned to an underwater tunnel. "It leads right to the lake! My brother is already there looking for my cousin."
"Your brother?" Stella flew out and asked. "Who are you exactly?"
Timmy swatted at Stella for being so rude, but the mermaid smiled and cheerfully answered, "I'm Tressa, princess of Zora's Domain!"
Stella grimaced, "Why is a member of royalty wearing a disgusting tooth around her neck?"
Tressa laughed, "It's a tooth from our guardian deity, the Devourer! The Zoras used to call him Lord Jabu-Jabu, but we thought that the Devourer was a more appropriate name after we heard how he gobbled up every fish offering my cousin gave him!" She sighed at the thought of her missing cousin. "I hope you'll be able to find her," she trailed off. Taking that as his cue to go, Timmy took a huge breath and swam towards the underwater passageway leading to the lake.
When Timmy emerged, he took in the completely different location. The scenery was beautiful, with lush grass growing around the lake, crystal clear water, and a large island with a tree on it resting in the middle. "Wow!" Stella gushed. "This place is pretty! We should come here more often!"
Remembering his reason for coming, Timmy glanced around the lake, but the young Zora he was looking for was nowhere to be seen. The only life form besides him in the lake was another young merman with purple hair. Timmy swam over to him, hoping to learn a bit more about whom he was searching for, and he tapped him on the shoulder. The merman turned around and scowled, "Who are you? And what do you want?" Timmy was a bit taken aback by his harsh response, but he said nothing.
Stella, on the other hand, had plenty to say. Like, "How dare you be rude to Timmy!" and, "He's searching for Aisha!"
"I don't care about my cousin," the merman said before turning away. This must be the brother that Tressa was talking about. He did share some uncanny resemblances to Nereus. "She's just another obstacle in my way to becoming king of Zora's Domain," he grumbled.
"King?" Stella asked.
"Yes," the merman sighed, "my parents want my brother Nereus to be king, just because they like him better. They spoil Tressa since she's their only daughter, and they give Aisha extra attention because she's a Zora. She's not even their kid! They don't care about me," he said, balling his hands into fists. "But they'll pay. Very soon," he finished ominously.
Stella whispered in Timmy's ear, "I don't think he's going to be any help." Timmy nodded in agreement before swimming back over to the passageway. Suddenly, something caught his eye. He swam to the bottom of the lakebed and retrieved what looked like a letter in a bottle. He swam over to shore, and Stella read what it said.
"To whom it may concern:
Please deliver this message to Uncle Neptune and Aunt Ligea.
If you are looking for me, I am inside the Devourer, but don't worry. I can handle myself in here. I will be out before you know it.
-Princess Aisha"
Timmy read over the letter again. The last surviving Zora princess was in the Devourer, a deity known for its insatiable appetite and its love of fish. This did not sound good at all. "We need to get her out of there!" Stella exclaimed, dragging Timmy back to the water. "You need to take this note to the king and queen! They'll know what to do!"
Timmy made his way back to the throne room where King Neptune and Queen Ligea read the note that Aisha sent. "This is very grave news," King Neptune stated. "We cannot leave her in there! She will be devoured!"
"But whatever are we to do?" Queen Ligea asked hopelessly. "Princess Aisha is the only one who can walk to Zora's Fountain! We are all constrained to the Domain because of our tails!" Both rulers turned and looked at Timmy.
"Messenger of the Royal Family," King Neptune began, "Even as we are indebted to you, we ask one more favor: will you travel to Zora's Fountain to make an offering to the Devourer and see if the princess is there?" Timmy nodded. King Neptune handed the boy a fish to give to the Devourer, and sent him off.
Timmy trudged up the wet path until he saw the giant fish perched on a wooden deck. He carefully stepped up, standing face-to-mouth with the Devourer himself. Taking a nervous gulp, Timmy dropped the fish on the ground. At first, the Devourer didn't move, but after a few seconds, its mouth opened up, and it started to suck the fish in. A huge air current quickly swept up the unsuspecting fish, but it didn't stop there. The current picked up speed and power, and Timmy turned to try to escape it, but he was too late. He was devoured by the Devourer.
A/N: This is going to be the section with the most heavy season 5 references. I wasn't too big a fan of this season, but the characters fit perfectly into this scenario, so I had to use them! We'll take care of the dungeon next, in a very fun way! I'm really excited for the time skip coming up, because that's where the story starts to veer off from the original Ocarina of Time and begins to take a specifically Winx Club feel. Feel free to leave a review! Daisy out!