Shadow: Finally got this out.
Time Stop: It's a little longer, so I hope y'all can forgive us.
Shadow: As usual, we don't own a thing.
Chapter 16: Gyorg
Turtles are known to be slow. And one would assume that a Giant Turtle would likewise be slow. This Giant Turtle was fast, and it crossed a dozen miles and more in far less time than it would have taken them to fly or even swim or use the boat. By mid-morning they were approaching a stormy part of the sea, far further west than they would have expected to go. Up ahead was a cyclone of wind and water and thunder. But the Giant Turtle didn't slow down or even allowed Link or Nadai a chance to retort.
Link changed from his Zora body to his Goron one, and he stood as stoically as possible against the wind. He gripped both trees in his huge fists and planted himself between them. Nadai gripped onto Link and wrapped herself around one of his legs. Tatl likewise hung onto dear life onto Nadai's hair.
One second they were against the wind, and the next second they were in the rush of the cyclone. Link struggled to stay upright, and he could feel Nadai threaten to let go. Taking a hand, he gripped onto her and held her tight to his chest. He could feel the wind start to lift him from the turtle. He held onto tight to both Nadai and the tree. He forced himself to get his feet back on the turtle's back.
Ten minutes later they were out of the cyclone and into the eye of the storm. Before them was a large, cavernous-like rocky formation with a singular entrance. It loomed above them for a good twenty feet, even as high up as they were on top of the Giant Turtle. However, if this temple was anything like the Water Temple back in Hyrule this was going to be a mess and a half when it came to figuring it out and the size of the monstrosity.
The Giant Turtle entered through a hole large enough for him to fit into, though he had to submerge himself to do so. Link changed into his Zora form, and Nadai and himself clung onto the trees on the turtle's back as he navigated a small tunnel underwater. The turtle reemerged from the water, and the heroes found themselves in a large, dock-esque room.
"This is as far as I can take you." The turtle rumbled. "I need to leave myself before I spend too much time here. The water, it isn't right."
"So you feel it too."
"This place isn't right. It used to be beloved by all the races all the time. But no one has come here in years, and even fewer have come here who aren't Zora." The Giant Turtle began to submerge itself. "It was nice coming back here for the first time in a decades. The best of luck to you."
There wasn't a chance to say goodbye. Instead, they focused on what they could do. A large torch illuminated the room from a door which was, of course, locked. From the light of the torch, they could make out the shadowy forms of torches unlit.
Without a word Nadai drew her bow, and sent and effort of will to each arrow as she fired them at the unlit torches. The arrows lit themselves mid-flight and the torches were lit. The door clicked, and the three of them turned to it.
"Ready?"
Tatl nodded. "I'm ready this time. I'll do my best to help."
Link opened the door, and followed Nadai inside. Inside this room, which was rather large and circular, was something that resembled the windmill back in Kakariko. It was a wheel of some sorts, with different colored pipes trailing between there and there. And, much as Link expected, half of the room was submerged with water.
"It's a water wheel." Tatl flew up to it. It wasn't activated, and the three pipes that ran to it weren't pushing out water. "We have to activate it."
"Hm?" Nadai looked about. "How?"
"These pipes, we have to get the water pushing through all three pipes to this water wheel. And that should open up the inner room."
"Inner room?" Link asked.
"This temple was more focused on the relationships of the different races and all." Tatl explained. "The Zoras had an inner room where they would worship, one that was only accessible to them. I think that Majora's General, whomever he is, is going to be in there."
"Because that follows the trends we've been seeing so far." Nadai caught on. "Odolwa and Goht did that. It would make sense that this creep did the same."
"So how?" Link's eyes was following one of the pipes as it ran out of the room. "We have yellow, red, and green. It probably has to be done in a certain order to be done right."
"Maybe." Tatl nodded. "My guess is that they were all just arbitrarily turned off, and we just have to turn them all on again."
"That would be almost too easy."
"I think that they didn't even expect us to get this far. Unlike the Deku Scrubs or the Gorons, this isn't used as much as theirs. I would argue even the Canyon Temple is used more often than this one, simple because this is so far away."
"But we beat two of the four already, wouldn't they expect something yet?"
"Maybe they're stupid." Link pointed out a yellow switch under the water, half hidden behind the water wheel's base. "Found a switch."
He dove into the water and swam to it. Entering the water, he could tell immediately that the poison within it was evident. But as a Zora, he should mostly be immune to it. But if he got cut, or switched to being a Hylian again, there would be problems. And that meant that things were even worse for Nadai. She didn't have some inert resistance to this poison like he did. She was only protected because of the suit she wore. If she didn't have that…
He shook his head to dispel the thoughts and worked on the switch. This one moved smoothly, as if it was used recently and repeatedly. He didn't know if he should be concerned or not. He finished moving the lever, and could feel the switch in water as the water began to slightly move around him. There was a current now, where the water before had been stagnant. Did that mean that there would be a stronger current once the water wheel was fully turned on?
To one side of the room a jet of water came out of water and rose into the air. Both Nadai and Link looked at it. Up above, just out of reach, was a catwalk with an opening leading to another room. They went for it. Nadai got to it first, and rode the water up skillfully. She landed on the catwalk and hurried to the next room. Link was sucked up, out of the water, and into the stream of water. He twisted in midair and managed to land on his feet, but his entrance to the jet of water was less than ideal.
He scrambled to his feet and followed Nadai. They came out into a circular room that sank low under the water. There was a definite current, as they could see that the whole of the body of water turn and turn and turn. Through the water they could see various small hallways of sorts, separate channels of if you will, from that central, circular room. Each offshoot had a distinct color around the entrance, making each one identifiable.
"Which one do you want to do first?"
Nadai pointed down to the yellow entrance. "It looks like we can't get into some of them until the current is reversed. And that one is the one on top, so we could always start with that one first."
Link nodded. "Let's go then."
The two of them dove into the water. Immediately they were pulled by the current. Having no choice, they followed along the outside of the room until they got to the yellow entrance. If Link didn't know any better, he would swear that there was a distinct pull downwards. He glanced below, and saw a large grate in the center of the floor far below them. They were in a giant whirlpool. If his judgment was right, those holes in the grate was large enough to suck away Nadai, and he would be trapped in them.
That wouldn't be good if they got too close to that.
Entering the yellow entrance, they followed the hallway into another room. As soon as they entered, a swarm of skeletal fish attacked them. Using his fins and using her daggers, they fought against the Skullfish as best as they could. But Nadai didn't have the same level of strength underwater, thanks to all the friction. Link was the one whom defeated all the monsters, leaving Nadai almost helpless against them.
Tatl swam about a lower part of the room, where a green entrance lay. "Over here!"
Just as the fairy spoke, a large hand grabbed her. Attached to a long, thin arm, they crept out of the green entrance and began to fight over the fairy. Link focused, and sped through them using his enhanced speed as a Zora. His fins cut the hands from the wrists, and they stopped moving. Nadai followed quickly behind, scooping up Tatl among the hands.
"I can't fight like this. I'm no good underwater."
"Then don't use the daggers then." Tatl said. "There has to be another weapon you could use instead."
Nadai's hands strayed to the Hookshot on her belt. The Longshot had worked wonders in the Water Temple back in Hyrule. Would this be the same?
In the next room she found Link battling it out against Deku Babas. Only, they were still underwater, and the Deku Baba heads were still moving even after Link had cut some of the stalks.
"What are these!"
"They're Bio Deku Babas!" Tatl shouted out. "Cutting the heads off won't work here, you have to destroy it completely!"
Nadai whipped out her Hookshot, and aimed at the heads. Between the two of them, they cleared out the underwater plants. Looking about the room, they was nowhere to go.
"Backtrack?" Link suggested.
She looked at one section of the wall. "Look, there's a key in the wall."
"What?"
He looked closer. Sure enough there was a key handle sticking out of the wall. He gripped it, and pulled with all of his strength. The key gave way, and he held it in his hands. At the same time, the wall gave way and crumbled. A current started, and they were flushed away this new tunnel.
They came out a little lower back in the central room where they had started from. The current was much stronger here, and it took everything Link had not to be sucked downward. Nadai wasn't so fortunate, and she was sucked down.
With no choice, Link followed her. He caught up to her before she got too low, and he searched for an exit. Their options were becoming more and more limited. He reached out and pulled them into a red entranced tunnel. Once they were inside the tunnel they could face off against the current.
They were in one of the lowest, if not the lowest, tunnel that they could have gone before being sucked into that grate. With not much choice in the matter, they went forward. There was air in this next room, with a large red pipe climbing out of the water to a locked door. They climbed up the red pipe, where they were immediately beset on by Octoroks and one lone Bombchu.
Things were a lot easier for Nadai now that she was on land. The Bombchu fell into the water without another thought. However, taking out the Octoroks were another matter altogether. They're hard outer shell couldn't be pierced by Nadai's arrows without her being stronger and older. And the Hookshot would only bring them closer to them, which wouldn't do anything there anyways since they would only escape and swim back away from Link and Nadai's close ranged attacks.
Link was going to switch back into a Hylian when Nadai put her hand on his arm. "Don't bother. Let's just go through this next room."
"Hm?"
"I…I have a good feeling about this, alright?"
Tatl nodded. "I'm feeling something real nasty behind that door. Be careful, guys."
Link turned to the locked door. "That's fine with me."
Dodging the stones shot at them, they went to the locked door and unlocked it and headed inside.
Once inside the room, the door closed and locked behind them. From the ceiling dropped a giant eyeball covered in translucent bubbles. The eyeball blinked at them, before rolling at them far faster than they expected.
They dodged out of the way, both of them raising their weapons to bare. "Nadai, focus on the eye! Link, worry about the bubbles." Tatl instructed. "This thing's a parasite called Wart! Be careful!"
As if they had rehearsed it, they went into action immediately. Nadai took aim at the eyeball's eyeball, and fired several shots in rapid succession. As the monster rolled out of the way to dodge the attack, Link was there. With his arm fins he attacked, forcing the monster to roll away. However, Link struck against a patch of bubbles, popping them.
The bubbles reorganized themselves, blocking the eyelid as it homed its sight on Nadai. Its path was blocked when Link attacked again, clearing out the bubbles on the eye. Nadai's arrow found its mark a second later, and the monster roared in pain despite not having a mouth.
The monster rolled away blindly attacking them, forcing Link and Nadai to focus on dodging and defending themselves. The bubbles flew off the eyeball, and they flew at them through the air. Link took up position in front of Nadai and defended against the bubbles as she took aim once more.
He cut down the last of the bubbles as the arrow found Wart once more. The monster roared in pain and rolled at them. Thinking quickly, Link took off the Zora Mask and put on his Goron Mask. Instantly his body grew larger and heavier. With his feet solidly planted, he punched the eyeball, stopping it in its tracks. With one last shot, Nadai put an arrow up to its feathers into the monster's pupil.
The thing disappeared in a cloud of ashy smoke as Link returned back to his Zora form. A chest appeared in its wake. Nadai opened it and nothing was inside. She was about to speak when power coursed through her body. She closed her eyes. This was so familiar, yet so foreign to her. It was like something in her head finally understood something, and everything clicked together.
Taking her bow, she notched an arrow and concentrated. Instead of fire, an aura of blue came out of the tip. She fired and an icy cold emitted from the arrow as it flew.
"Ice Arrows?" Link asked. "What's next, Light Arrows?"
"Maybe." Nadai shrugged. "So, what do we do with this?"
"Uh, you two know that you can freeze water and enemies with that, right?"
She turned to Tatl. "So we can freeze enemies. What does that have to do with anything?"
"On the other side of the Octoroks, wasn't there a platform just out of reach?"
Link shrugged. "Was there?"
"There was, you two were too busy fighting and dodging stones to notice them." Tatl nodded empathetically. "And on that platform was a red switch."
"A what?" Link cocked his head to one side. "There was?"
Tatl sighed. "Listen. This place can't just be done by fighting all nilly willy. We have to think about this first. I don't fight, so I can think about what we can do next. Haven't you guys been noticing the pipes?"
"Like the red one outside this room?" Nadai asked.
"Exactly. That same one was found in that upper yellow room we visited first. I bet a thousand rupees that we have to turn on this switch, and backtrack up to that other room to further activate that switch."
"So we can turn on all the water for that water wheel."
"Exactly!"
"But we need to tackle that whirlpool too. That'll be nigh impossible."
"Not for a Zora." Tatl argued. "You hold onto Nadai and you can quite literally swim faster than the current."
"…I find that highly unbelieveable."
"Oh just try it out." Nadai smirked. "I trust her and I trust you. Now let's get that switch activated."
She left the room, and Link had little choice but to resign himself to follow. Nadai raised her bow and fired in quick succession. The arrows shot out, hitting the Octoroks. Since they were covered in water, they froze to the arrows and became blocks of ice.
"Be careful, they won't last long."
Link nodded. He ran and jumped at the water's edge. He landed on the first Octorok and used the slippery momentum to continue jumping to the next Octorok and the next one after that. He got to the switch. He heaved, and this one moved far easier than the first switch he had activated.
The Octoroks unfroze, dying in the process. He swam back to Nadai. She looked up at him. "Don't drop me, 'kay?"
"Like I would drop you."
He held her from behind, wrapping his arms around her midsection. Any other time and he might had felt something. But he was a Zora, and it felt more to him like he was an adult picking up a child. Definitely not something for him to feel at the moment.
They jumped into the water. It took a second for him to fight against the current leading inside the room, but he slowly began to move forward. He shot out at super-sonic speed as he hit the whirlpool. It was hard for him to maneuver without his arms, but he was able to swim and resist the downward spiral for the most part. He angled his body and made a wide loop for the upper yellow entrance. Sure enough there was a red pipe leading into it.
How the hell hadn't he noticed it before?
They went into the yellow entranced tunnel, and followed the red pipe to the first room. This time there was an air pocket at the top. They went for it, and clambered onto the red pipe once more. Across the room was a doorway, but it was impossible to get to from their current position.
"Now what?"
"We freeze the water." Tatl simply said. "Those Ice Arrows should freeze the water long enough for us to get across."
Nadai nodded, and notched her bow. Taking her time she fired off five arrows, making five icy patches in the water. Each one had an arrow stuck out of it in the middle. One at a time they jumped from icy patch to icy patch to get to the door.
Opening the door, a mob of multicolored jellies swarmed them. Link was grabbed by the monsters, while Nadai climbed onto his shoulders. They came in reds and yellows and blues and greens, and each one was stickier than anything Link had come across before.
"What are these things?" Link tried to move, but his arms were effectively bound by his sides.
"They're called Chus." Tatl said. "They're harmless for the most part, but enough of them can swarm and drown a man with their jelly bodies."
"Great." Link tried to move again but nothing could be done against the jelly bodies. He glanced about the room. "What can we do?"
"They are basically water." Tatl shrugged. "We could melt them or freeze them."
Nadai shifted on Link's shoulders; it was getting dangerously close to falling off. She aimed her bow and fired an arrow at a Chu away from the group closest to Link and herself. The Chu hit froze in place. Nadai fired again and again into the crowd. She jumped off of Link and bounced from frozen block to frozen block.
With Link drawing all off the aggression, Nadai fired arrow after arrow into the swarm of Chus. Link struggled to move, and it wasn't until the Chus were frozen around him that he could move at all. As soon as they were frozen it took only the slightest bit of pressure from Link to snap and crack the monsters into little pieces. Soon he was standing with her in front of a large swarm of frozen Chus and a lot of broken bits and pieces.
"So what? Fight a bunch of jelly blobs and run into a…" Link trailed off as his eyes fell on a platform out of reach. "There we go."
"How do we get up?"
Link glanced at the frozen monsters. "Well, we do have couple blocks of ice here."
It took some maneuvering, and the Goron Mask, but they were able construct a rough stairway to the platform. Upon it was a red switch.
"This must be it." Nadai said. "Activate it and we should return to the waterwheel?"
"Sounds good. We can go out the way we did before, where that key was."
"Sounds good to me."
They backtracked past the Chus and past where the fallen Octoroks lay. They dove into the water and went forward through the tunnel and the following room. This time, instead of having the room filled with water it was half full, revealing a series of platforms.
Nadai pointed up and swam to them. Link followed, and the two of them clambered onto a platform. There was a door at the far end, but it was blocked by a large block of ice. "Check it out?" Link asked.
She nodded. She fired a fire arrow at it and melted the ice. She then fired ice arrows at the water to make a path for them to walk to.
As they neared it Nadai slowed down. "There's something wrong in there."
"What?"
"I…It's not one of Majora's Generals." She said. "Something else is in there."
"Probably some other monster." Link said. "We got this."
He opened the door and went inside. Nadai went in on his heels, and immediately stiffened. There definitely was something wrong in here. From the ceiling a large lizard creature resembling a gecko roared out a challenge. It spreads its front legs in a welcoming gesture, dropping tiny specks of light. As the light fell towards them, it grew and grew until they were the size of horses. Then the light coalesced into something resembling jellyfish.
"Ah. That would explain it." Link said.
The jellyfish attacked, and they had to separate to avoid being hit.
"Isn't that the same gecko we fought back in the swamp?" Nadai asked.
"No, that was a frog. This is more of a gecko." Link swatted at the closest jellyfish, and the thing rebounded from him. It didn't seem like it did any damage. "Invulnerable enemies?"
"Maybe." Nadai pulled out her bow and fired an ice arrow at the closest jellyfish. "That was pointless." The arrow had gone right through the thing without freezing it.
"Aim for that gecko!"
Just as Tatl shouted to them the thing came down and attacked. It was far stronger than Link had expected, and he was knocked into a group of jellyfish. He was stuck tight, and he couldn't move.
"What's with this place and not being able to move!" He struggled with marginal success.
The gecko attacked, and the long claws raked at Link's body. He roared in pain and struggled to move. Thinking fast, Nadai aimed her bow and fired an ice arrow at the monster. The gecko howled in pain as the arrow dug deep into its back. The jellyfish released their hold around Link long enough for him to escape. The gecko retreated, eyeing Nadai with hot eyes.
The gecko growled at them, its tongue flicking out. The jellyfish changed directions, and went at Nadai.
"Link, protect Nadai! Nadai, shoot that thing down!" Tatl shouted.
Link was already on it. He jumped in the way, his fins darting about. The jellyfish were knocked back and the path was clear. Nadai shot again, but this time the gecko was ready for it. It moved out of the way and she was forced to shoot again.
"Why does it seem that we're switching roles here?"
"What do you mean?"
"I don't know. You seem more… sensitive? And I feel like I'm taking a more protective role."
"You might have something to that," she said. She aimed her bow and fired again, but the Gecko was a bit too fast.
"I don't know, I feel…different?"
"Maybe the two of you are growing up?" Tatl suggested.
"How so?"
"I don't know, the two of you seem, well, more mature ever since the Gerudos."
"I guess?" Link shrugged, deflecting more of the jellyfish.
"Maybe telling each other your secrets helped that." Tatl suggested. "That certainly had something to do with that. I think."
"Maybe. Maybe we are growing up to whom we are supposed to be."
"Hm?" Link glanced at her. "How?"
"Well, if I'm right, then maybe we are supposed to have gone through all this."
"What?"
Nadai aimed another arrow, tracking the gecko with her eye. "Don't you remember? When we first met Lost and Wanderer didn't we think that they were familiar?"
"A little, yeah."
"Who?" Tatl asked.
"They are a couple from Termina, who help us out in the future." Link quickly explained. "And yeah, I can see that," he reiterated, "it makes sense a little. Lost was a lot more sensitive to things."
"And Wanderer was wiser than we gave him credit for."
"I've noticed that he was also more of a protector. And, well, I think I've been more of a damsel in distress or someone on the defense instead of something like the hothead I was before."
"You do have a lot more living done more than others at our age."
"So do you."
"Yeah, and maybe that's why I feel more sensitive."
"You did know that something was behind this door."
"And Lost could fight better than anyone else I know, but she took a more passive, support role."
"She was a mother."
"And she valued life more. I think. I don't know. Killing that Gerudo boss back in their fortress really messed with me, I'm not going to lie. I don't know how open I am to fighting and killing anymore."
"It had to do with the inner demon inside of you." Link said. "After facing something like that it's hard to keep on doing it without succumbing to it."
"I guess."
"Believe me, I'd rather not do any of this myself."
"Then why do you do it?"
"What, and leave you all the fun?" He joked. "I mean, someone has to do it. And I'm already in this deep. I can't just back out now. I need to face those demons so others can rest easy."
"Isn't that why we have the triforce of courage?"
"Maybe."
"So who really are these people?"
"I think they're us in the future." Nadai said. "They're the us that grew up over seven years instead of being in a stasis for seven years."
"Right…the whole time traveling thing." Tatl sighed. "I keep on forgetting that you two kids are really, well, not kids."
"At least not in the conventional sense." Nadai smiled. "You aren't either anymore."
"What?"
"Welcome to the club Tatl," Link grunted in exertion. "We time travel and save the world."
"Oh dear."
"I mean," Nadai explained as she fired another arrow. This one hit, and the gecko froze in place. "Instead of freaking out, you've been really helpful. And you've been talking to us this whole fight. Before you would have freaked out and would have been in the way."
"Extremely in the way." Link said. "But you have been helpful. You might not know everything about Termina like we, –"
"Link," Nadai warned him.
" – like we would like," Link finished. "But you are extremely observant."
He stopped talking to attack the gecko as it hit the ground, its legs frozen from Nadai's arrow. It seemed that the gecko had been controlling the jellyfish mentally, and without its master the jellyfish wandered aimlessly. Nadai was free to attack.
They made short work of the gecko, and retrieved a key from it.
"And there's the boss key."
"Let's go back to that waterwheel room." Tatl said. "We can go from there."
Using the same technique from before, Link took Nadai and swam them back. The poison inherently in the water hurt, and he could feel the sting as the water touched his blood on his chest. He ignored it the best he could, and got them back to the catwalk above the water.
They returned to the water wheel room, where they found that the red switch had been activated, and there was a jet of water flowing from the red pipe.
"Trying turning off the yellow pipe for now."
"Didn't you say that we needed all the pipes on for us to find the boss?" Link asked.
Tatl nodded. "Yes. But look at the water. Red and yellow are directly in conflict. If we turn off the yellow pipe, wouldn't the water be in reverse?"
"So?"
"And what if we changed the direction then for that central room?" Tatl continued. "The green pipes were in there, we need to go that way anyway."
"I… right. Let's try it out." Link said dejectedly. He had missed the red pipes before, and now these green pipes? He needed to work on his observation skills.
He turned off the yellow switch, and they went back to the central chamber. Looking down, they could see that the water inside had indeed switched directions. Now that he was actively searching for it, he could see a lone green pipe entrance midway down below him.
"See it?" Nadai asked.
"Yeah." He jumped down, and led the way to the green pipe.
The green entrance made its way to a room with a large air pocket, with a waterfall at one side. The green pipe went up past the waterfall.
"Where too? Cause I don't think we can swim up the waterfall."
"I could try freezing it?" Nadai suggested.
"I'm ready to try anything."
Using an ice arrow, Nadai froze the waterfall. Behind it was a lone ladder that ran all the way up. They climbed the ladder and came up just as the waterfall resumed itself. There was a green switch there, and they activated it. They followed the ladder up to the next room.
Inside that next room was a pair of see saws, with waterfalls coming from the ceiling that fell on different sides of the see saws. On the far side of the room, on the other side of the see saws, was the last green switch.
"So we activate the see saws to make a stairway up to the green switch. And in order to do that, we need to use the waterfalls to our advantage."
"You go to that side," Nadai pointed to what would be the lowest position, "I'll get you up there."
Using the fire and the ice arrows, Nadai froze and unfroze the waterfalls. This allowed Link's natural weight and the force of the water to move the see saw sides in the right position. It took some doing, but soon enough Link was standing at the top of platform moving the last green switch.
He was panting, and tried not to show it. The poison in the water was affecting more than he originally thought. He hid it well as he followed Nadai back out to the central chamber. He took hold of her and swam back out of the whirlpool and they returned to the water wheel.
They restarted the yellow switch, and now all three pipes were flowing water.
"So now what?"
"We go back to the central chamber and find Majora's General." Tatl said.
"And where's that?"
"Dunno."
They went back to the central chamber and looked down. The water was clear and calm. With all three currents flowing, the whirlpool was no more and they could look all the way down. It was only when they could see all the way down the vast expanse that they could see that there was a small entrance the size of a person by the grate.
"It has to be down there." Tatl said.
"We would never have been able to see it with that whirlpool in the way." Link nodded. "Ready?"
"Are you?"
"Of course."
"The poison in the water is affecting you, isn't it?"
"Of course not."
"Don't lie to me."
"…Just a little."
"We should get you healed up first."
"I'm fine."
"Sit."
"I'm fine."
"I said sit."
Link was about to protest, but Nadai was already digging around in her pack. She came out with a bottle and bandages.
"Don't bother with the bandages, they'll just restrict my movement,"
"The salve won't stick then." She pressed down on his chest, easing him to sit down on the catwalk above the water. "I used this stuff on you already, its fine."
"And where did you get that?"
"It was the Gerudo boat. I used it when you were unconscious before I started rowing us back."
"Oh."
They were quiet as she applied the salve and the bandages. It stung against his chest, and he didn't wince. He had worse pains over the years, this was nothing in comparison. She finished tying off the bandage behind his back and repackaged her bag.
"You are getting more like Lost everyday." He said. "She could heal too."
"If I'm becoming more like Lost, then you should be more like Wanderer."
"And how's that?"
"Listen to me more."
He laughed, which was harder now that he was bandaged. "Maybe," he smiled. "Now, let's go."
They dived into the water, and the two of them aimed for the grate. They went in one at a time into the small tunnel. They came up in a small room with an air pocket and a door. Nadai slipped the key in the lock, and they entered the room.
Like the other two temples they had been in, this too was the inner chamber for worshipping the giants. A series of platforms just far enough for someone to jump across was strewn about haphazardly around the room. Water stretched far below them, and they could see a giant fish rivalling Jabu-Jabu below.
The monster came up, destroying the platform below them. Link and Nadai twisted in midair and landed on separate platforms. The fish turned to them. It was black with purple veins. A large pair of eyes dominated the face, over an equally large mouth filled with teeth the size of swords. A loose mask that didn't seem to move sat over the eyes.
"Yep, that's definitely the general." Link nodded. "Ideas?"
"Distract it!" Tatl called out. "Nadai, hit the mask!"
"What, I'm just a sideshow?" Link feigned pain at the instructions.
The monster came at him, and he jumped onto another platform at the last second. He grinned. He kept his gaze on the monster. It moved fast enough that it would be hard to dodge it if he was in the water. Or maybe not if he went super-fast. Of course why would he do that when whenever the monster hit a platform, and destroyed it, it would slow down?
Nadai aimed her bow. "Fire or ice?"
"I don't know," Tatl answered. "Up to you. Just hit that mask!"
She took aim, and started firing arrows in rapid succession at the mask. Each little hit on the mask didn't do much damage, but a lot of it managed to distract the monster from Link. Just as the general turned to Nadai, Link jumped at the monster's side and struck with his fins. Restricted as he was with the bandage, he couldn't deliver as painful a hit to it as he would like to. But a hit was a hit and the monster definitely felt the pain.
The fish turned and Link was thrown back. He landed on a platform and darted away, distracting the fish with his body. Nadai kept up her stream of arrows, pausing every so often to charge one up with ice or fire. The added elements didn't do much more damage, at least from what Nadai could tell.
They continued in this game for quite some time, until Link fell into the water. There wasn't any more platforms he could jump too. There were some things on the edge of the room, and where Nadai was, but it was far too far away for him to get to. He sped up, and swam away. The fish monster was on his heels. With its larger size, one would expect that it would be slower than normal. It was in fact faster than either Link or Nadai expected.
However, Zoras are faster than that.
Even with the fish moving faster than expected, Nadai aimed properly with the bow. She had a lifetime of experience using one, being trained by the Gerudos at a young age, and having used one from the beginning of her adult life. With that experience under her belt, it allowed her to keep on hitting the mask.
There was definite damage to the mask, though it was something miniscule. She needed something stronger and heavier to cause real damage to the miniscule cracks in the mask. The monster roared under the water, causing a ripple of bubbles that masked everything from view. When the bubbles cleared, Nadai could see again.
Link had retreated far below the water and the fish had followed. And if Nadai wasn't mistaken, there were a lot of tiny little fishes following him. She frowned as she saw Link grimace. The bandage she had put on him was slipping, due to her inexperience. The salve was going to be washed away, and the poison would be hurting him even more.
She had to finish this quickly, before he succumbed to his wounds or his exhaustion. But the boss was far below the water now, and her arrows has no hope hitting the mask at that depth. She watched in frustration until Link came out of the water. He landed on a platform a long ways away from her.
"Fuck!"
"What is it?"
"The thing brought piranhas to the party." Several bite marks leaked red blood even visible despite the business.
"What!"
"Just hurry it up, I don't know how long I can distract this thing."
The water around the platform rippled as the piranhas came to surface. Then the platform rose from the water and broke as the giant fish hit it and rose out of the water. Link flew forward.
"I need something stronger to hit it!"
"Use the Hookshot, you dummy!" Link shouted back.
Nadai could feel the blush rising to her cheeks. How could she forget about their new weapon? She unhooked it from her belt and took aim at the fish as it fell at Link, still in midair. Link hit the water and swam as fast as he could despite his injuries. She adjusted her aim for the Hookshot's speed, and fired.
The metal end of the Hookshot stabbed the mask with frightening accuracy, and the monster roared as a large crack appeared in the mask. Link practically flew through the water to Nadai. She reeled in the Hookshot, and fired again. It hit again, making another large crack.
"One more!" Tatl shouted. "One more!"
Nadai fired again. This time, a piranha cloud blocked the shot. She retracted the Hookshot. "I need them out of my way!"
"You need more weight!" Tatl shouted back. "Use that last button!"
Link jumped out of the water and landed next to her. "I ain't moving no more." He panted. "Ouch."
Nadai planted her feet, and aimed at the mask. It was fifty feet away and closing fast. She fired, and pressed the third button. Angry looking spikes came out of the chain. With the added weight of the chains, and the damaging effect they had, they tore through the cloud of piranhas blocking Majora's General.
The final shot slammed into the mask, destroying it as it pierced an eye of the fish. The fish howled in pain, and the room shook. Nadai retracted the thing, careful to keep the chain as far from Link as possible with the spikes like it was.
"There's that blue circle!" Tatl pointed next to Link. "Let's get out of here before it hits us!"
Just as Nadai moved to Link to help him to the circle she fell and blacked out.
Wang: Yay! They are so cute!
Static: I wouldn't use that word to describe them.
Wang: Cute!
Static: ...
Wang: Please Review!