It was REVIEW ANSWERIN' time, with the pipe, in the library!
lilgreenfox: If you still wanna send me the art, feel free, though I'm not exactly going to do anything with it anymore. (well, except pimp it around on my profile and in forums, so...) Also, thanks for the comment, it makes me feel I have an actual standard to keep.
Trickster's Imagination: That's okay. I'm sure whatever you were doing was great. However, I'm not going to do much with it anymore, so don't exert yourself to get it to me.
u00dfrady: My first thought as I read your review... Ew. Only in crack can something like LinkxMedli work. Also, I thinkk you figured out my initial intention for this story. ZOoL was originally deviced to sound as close to a game as possible. Eventually, though, I branched off and took full advantage of the whole "written word" media, but that has not been fully forgotten. Hence, this chapter. In fact, If I could have my way, I would go to Nintendo right now and present them my idea of a 2-player coop Zelda just like this, complete with online multi, different character control, continuity nods, etcetera, etcetera. But, I'm dirt poor, and I don't think they'll listen to me, so here I am. (Oh, and about the turn of events... it was interesting to me too. Talk about writing by the seat of my pants with a hint of A:TLA for good measure.)
The Legend of Zelda
Overlord of the Land
Chapter 15:
Light Among The Darkness
"What manner of place is this?"
The pirates gaped in awe at the magnificently large island southwest from Waarheid. This island looked like a large mountain from its western side, but showed its hollow interior from its eastern side. Inside, there was nothing but a series of intricate ruins and a bridge that led nowhere, but there was nothing that really resembled a building nor a proper entrance. It was as though the island went out of its way to show it didn't feature anything of value within it.
"That, my dear comrade, is an island." Nudge explained to the still bewildered Mako.
"I know that!" Mako shot back. "What I want to know is what kind of purpose does this island serve us."
"Beats me." Senza interjected. "But it's Miss Tetra's orders. Link's in charge of the compass now, and he's supposed to lead us where we need to go."
"Well, fine place he led us to, then." Nudge added. "This island's about as interesting as the sole of Niko's boots."
"Hey!" Niko shouted, feeling offended. "I'll have you know that my boots now have a special comfort sole for those long treks. We'll see who has the most beaten-up feet by the time this adventure's over."
"Again I say... boring." Nudge repeated.
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say." Niko brushed Nudge's comments off. "However, I do trust Link with all my heart, and he would never steer us wrong."
"Well..." Nudge said, eying Niko mischievously. "If you love him so much, why don't ya marry him?" This last comment garnered myriad laughter from the pirates and flustered an angered Niko.
"Ha. ha." Niko said sarcastically.
"Ok, ok, guys. That's enough. Leave the swabbie alone." Gonzo interjected, enforcing his rank over the rest to stop the needless bickering. "Now while it's true that Link is now our chart man, while Miss Tetra is recovering I act in her behalf and any orders I give must be obeyed on the spot."
"Gonzo, calm down. You're not captain yet." Mako interrupted, deflating his ego on the way. "And it's not like Miss Tetra is unconscious or anything. She's just recovering and she can hear your bellowing just fine."
"What?" Gonzo suddenly panicked and started to look all around the ship for signs of his captain. "Where? WHERE?"
Niko took a good, hearty laugh out at Gonzo's expense, knowing full well that Tetra was nowhere above deck, but choosing to keep quiet to perpetuate the first mate's strain.
"Just know that I would never do anything without your permission, Miss Tetra!" Gonzo shouted, still unaware of where exactly Tetra could be. "Regardless... You should know Link is following on Miss Tetra's leads, which means that if it were our Captain giving us coordinates, chances are we would still end up here, and if it were our Captain you wouldn't go around talking trash, would you?"
"... Guess not." Mako reasoned.
"Well... all right." Nudge relented. "It's not like we didn't haven't done this sort of thing already. Remember that one time we beached on a small, flat island? It only had one mound of dirt in the middle... and it turns out it was hiding the biggest treasure we'd seen so far! We partied like nobody's business that night. Good times, good times."
"Link!" Gonzo called the green-garbed kid, which was on top of the crow's nest alongside Zuko to get a better look at the hollow-looking island. "We'll be getting ready up here. You go and call Miss Tetra, tell her we're here and see if she will join us."
Link nodded and promptly jumped from the crow's nest and grabbed onto the supporting ropes, sliding down to the deck and landing with a running start straight to the door that led to the lower decks. Once inside, he walked to the frame of Tetra's room and knocked on the wall nearby. While the way in was open and he could get in just fine, no crew member dared enter it without first announcing themselves.
"Come in." Tetra's voice rang from inside her room. When Link entered the room, he couldn't help but notice how eerily calm it all was. Everything looked like it was set: Tetra's bag was made up as usual, and her instruments and weapons were hung up on the wall ready to be equipped... but Tetra herself was looking anything but ready. She was sitting on a chair, her hair still drooping down, and she was staring at her reflection on the mirror as if her mind was somewhere outside of what they were set to do that day. Link decided to approach her carefully and try not to startle her as he tried to get her attention.
"Link." Tetra suddenly said, inadvertently deflating Link's lungs, as well as his attempt to tactfully address her. Her voice was subdued and lacking her usual fiery style. "Last time... you know, three days ago... when, you know, all that happened..." She hesitated to continue, knowing what she had to ask. "Was I... did I look... frightening? At all?" Tetra looked at Link almost sideways with an apprehensive, halfway scared look, waiting anxiously for an answer.
Link thought about the events of that day... Seeing Tetra suddenly transformed like that was astonishing, to say the least. He clearly remembered Captain Mendoza was visibly scared, though it was probably karma biting him back in that part. In the end, Link faced Tetra and with a small smile on his face he shook his head.
"I thought you'd think that way." Tetra continued, removing her gaze from Link and focusing more on her own fidgeting hands. "It's just... it felt scary to me. I was frightened I could lose control. If I ever lost control back there... I don't know what could've happened with me... or with you." Tetra fidgeted with her hands faster and faster as she became more nervous over the real perils they faced before, as
well as her near-uncontrollable power. Then, she covered her head with one hand in clear frustration, her composure on the brink of collapsing. "Only thinking about it... how could I live with myself if I were to do something unforgivable? Just the thought of losing myself and harming myself, or any of my crewmen, or even you... How could I... how could... I...?"
Tetra suddenly stopped. She removed her hand from her face to see with her own eyes what Link was doing. He had approached Tetra and decided to hold her free hand with both his hands, looking straight at Tetra with the most sincere, comforting, understanding, loving gaze in his eyes. In that moment, Tetra's gaze was locked onto Link, and Link's gaze was locked onto Tetra, and there was nothing else worthwhile to them. They were the only real thing in the world to each other. Unconsciously, they began to lean closer and closer to each other.
[KNOCK! KNOCK!]
"Miss Tetra..." Zuko called from the door frame. He took a peek inside and noticed that Link was still inside, helping Tetra get ready by rummaging through her chest (which was across the room from where she was sitting) for some important items, and Tetra herself was finishing up on her hair bun, her hair almost completely covering her face for the baggy-eyed pirate. "Link... Gonzo said we're ready. We're waiting for you."
"Ok, thanks." Tetra said hastily. "Link, go and, uh, make sure the compass is in your stuff. I'll, uh, be there in a sec, all right?"
With those quick words, Link rushed out of Tetra's room and towards the cabins' general direction, going past Zuko, who was still standing there stoically.
"Well... all right." Zuko confirmed. "I'll tell him... we'll wait for you..." And just as he appeared, he left for the top deck to join the rest of the pirates.
Fortunately for Tetra and Link, Zuko did not seem to notice their beet-red flustered faces.
It took a while to walk all the way up the bridge to reach the more level area of the island (climbing the steep walls were out of the question), but the Great Sea pirates were finally at the doorstep of their next adventure. Or, they would be if there was any sort of door within the ruins and pillars. They ran the entire perimeter of the island, but there was nothing close to an entrance, not even one of those "rat holes" around Waarheid.
"It's like the only thing in here is this large boulder-thing." Niko commented. "And I don't think we have enough bombs to blow it to pieces." He then took a long, thoughtful look at the humongous rock in the middle of the island and pondered on it. "Maybe... Yeah, I think cannonballs will work! Let me check... whoa!"
"Don't you dare waste our cannonballs on this." Gonzo reprimanded as he caught Niko's arm before the buck-toothed pirate could run off to the ship. "It's too huge for our stuff."
"Were you really following the compass, Link?" Tetra asked her partner with a hint of alarm and anger in her voice. "I wouldn't like this to be a worthless trip, you know." Upon this, Link quickly defended his position by showing her the Goddesses' Compass, which was going haywire right at that place, figuring that if there was something wrong, it had to be the compass and not him.
"Maybe there's a secret to this place." Mako wondered as he was knocking on the boulder to see if he could find out some way to progress further. "Maybe a song will move it, or some special item has to be fitted somewhere, or perhaps one would need to..."
Suddenly, Mako cut his speech short. His eyes opened wide in shock, and he began gritting his teeth upon seeing what had just happened. "Guys... Guys!" He cried. When the rest of the crew turned to him, they also saw in shock how Mako's arm was stuck halfway into the boulder. Mako began to frantically pull his arm with all his strength, and soon Gonzo and Nudge grabbed hold of him and pulled as well. Their combined strength was fortunately enough to free Mako with his limb intact and with nothing more than a slight scrape from the fall back.
"Wh... what was that?" Niko yelped after witnessing the bizarre event.
"It tried to pull me in." Mako managed to say. "There's something about that boulder... or whatever's beyond it... that wanted me whole."
The pirate began murmuring amongst themselves, wondering if it had been a mistake to be there, at least at that moment. "Maybe this is some sort of trap." Senza wondered. "We're no strangers to being subject to those, after all. We know at least that someone is after us, so this could be one of their traps." Senza's reasoning made the pirates feel even more uneasy. Even Tetra, who would usually be gung-ho about entering the unknown, was looking rather nervous and uncertain about what to do in this situation.
Link was looking at his comrades, and he was getting increasingly confused and annoyed by their attitude. He sometimes wondered if they would have survived half of what he had faced in the past. A bee and a pack of wolves is one thing, but if they battled the likes of a giant ghost, or a two-headed dragon, they would have their work cut out for them. Sighing slightly, he moved in between the crew and faced the place where Mako's arm got stuck, and he swung his Grappling Hook towards it. As he predicted, the Grappling Hook went through the boulder... but when Link pulled to retrieve it, the hook was stuck firmly somewhere inside the boulder area. Link pulled with all his strengths, but the Grappling Hook did not budge even an inch. The pirates looked at him quizzically, and Tetra was staring rather confused, to which Link could only answer with an awkward shrug while rising what he was holding of his Grappling Hook. Suddenly, the hook was pulled from inside the boulder with great force, which dragged Link on the way, and in a flash, he had disappeared from the others' view.
"LINK!" Tetra shrieked as her eyes filled up in panic, and without thinking it over she rushed to the portion of the boulder where Link disappeared to, and with a running jump she disappeared in much the same way Link did.
"What?! Captain!" Gonzo yelled. He then turned to the rest of the crew. "We can't just stay here, guys! He have to go and rescue them!"
"Well, yeah. I know we must." Nudge commented. "But we can't just leave the ship unattended. Someone should stay behind and..."
"Already thought of that!" Niko interrupted, his resolve fired up again after seeing Link's disappearance. "The Chomps will take care of any intruders. Now I say let's go!" He declared, and ran triumphantly towards the invisible portal, dragging Nudge along.
"Wait, wait, WAIT!" Nudge managed to say before both he and Niko disappeared into the boulder. The remaining four stared at each other strangely for a moment, but eventually their resolve began to build up again and jumped into the boulder as well.
"Oof!"
Due to her entry speed, Tetra ended up falling nose first on the floor. It took her a short while to compose herself from the pain, but she eventually managed to sit up and finally take a good look at where she was. Right in front of her was Link, who seemed more interested in his Grappling Hook than her sudden appearance. He shook the rope portion a few times and let it limp down, apparently looking where or why did it stuck in the first place.
"Link!" Tetra exclaimed happily after noticing he was relatively unharmed. Her happiness was soon extinguished, however, when she remembered why were they in this predicament to begin with. "You stupid, hot-blooded, nearsighted, bumbling fool!" She began to insult the green-clothed hero in her fury. "What possessed you to do such a foolishly foolish foolishness? I can't believe you actually wanted to get inside... inside..." She stopped her berating for a moment to look more intently at the place where they were. "Where exactly are we, anyway?"
The area they were looked eerily like the ruins in the island they were just before, except the whole area was enclosed, the boulder in the middle was conspicuously missing, it had such dim lighting it made everything look darkened and tough to discern, though four brightly-colored doorways were easily distinguishable from the darkness and seemed to be unlocked. They had somehow traveled to the parallel dimension of the ruins. They were now inside...
The Dark Realm Chambers
"Well... this place really got the shaft when it came to decorating." Tetra commented. She began walking over to the pillars, where she noticed some sort of message carved in one. Due to the darkness, it was hard to read, but she somehow managed to understand most of it.
"Hmm... it says here: 'Four doors surround you, a challenge lies behind each. One is not impossible, the rest beyond your reach. Choose right, you pass, choose wrong, you'll pay. Enter if you dare, survive if you may.' And... the rest is too dark to read." She said, squinting as best as she could to try to read the message. "I get the gist of it, though. We have to find the right way, otherwise, we'll be stuck until we find it. It's just a matter of trial and error, then." She then decided to try one of the doorways and see what they had to face. The doors were nearly identical to each other, except for some carvings of faces of young men looking at different directions and roman numbers which labeled the doorways as 'I', 'II', 'III' and 'IV'. "I guess I'll start with number one, then." She said as she made to open doorway 'I' alone while Link stood behind trying to read the rest of the message.
No sooner had Tetra managed to lift the doorway that she felt a tug forward... then a much stronger tug backward that knocked her on her back. Link rushed over to her and removed the grappling hook off her vest with sort of a panicked look. "Link! What is wrong with...?" Before Tetra could finish, she saw it. As the door began to close, the room beyond was infested with nothing but Floormasters. Tetra must have counted at least 10 or 15 before the doorway closed completely, shutting them away from the disembodied hands. Link and Tetra probably sat on the floor staring at doorway 'I' for a full minute before their collective breaths calmed down enough to think cohesively. Tetra looked at Link with a rather shocked and frightened face, to which Link responded with a mixture of surprise and disbelief. Link motioned Tetra to follow him back to the writing in the pillar, and then he pulled his bow and arrow and, using his Magical Glove, he powered the arrow with fire, and he lighted the rest of the message using the flame's light.
"Uh... 'Adventurer beware.' Oh, now they tell us." Tetra commented, much to Link's annoyance, as she checked the rest of the message. "'Pick a door wisely, for you cannot turn back. Pay heed to the clue, And you'll be well on track.' Pay heed to the clue... What clue? there's no clue here." She then began looking around the pillar, helped by Link holding the flaming arrow, until she found a new message written near the bottom of a different pillar. "Could this be...? Let's see. 'Make sure you walk with your eyes on the floor before walking through your first door.' How do you make sure you see where you're walking?" Tetra asked Link.
Link wondered for a moment, thinking possible ways of effectively walk while looking at one's feet. He then took a few steps back and tried to demonstrate by tilting his head down enough to see his feet while he walked towards Tetra. "Yeah, that looks good. But how does that help us?" She wondered. When she started looking around for some other sort of clue, she looked at the doorways again, and noticed the roman numbering, as well as the faces again. Intrigued, she studied the faces carefully, taking special mention of where they were looking. The face in door 'I' was looking right back at her, while the face in door 'II' was showing its profile to her, and the face in door 'III' was looking downward, and finally the face in door 'IV', while facing down, was looking upwards. Tetra and Link looked carefully at the faces in doors 'III' and 'IV', and after a short deliberation, they decided in unison to go through door 'III'.
"Well, there's no going back." Tetra said as she put her hand on the door, ready to lift it open. "I hope this is the right door." Then, both of them opened the door, and while there wasn't anything immediately apparent about the room beyond, there was once again a strange force that pulled the pair into the room forcefully. Once inside, the doorway shut behind them, and strong iron bars emerged from the floor, effectively locking them inside. The room was way smaller than the previous one, and its floor was made of dirt. From the dirt floor, six long, lanky, misshapen, gray arms protruded, its hands appearing to want to reach the ceiling. Across the room was another door, tightly barred as the door behind them. It became obvious what they had to do to progress.
"We either have to give these hands something, or simply hack them to pieces." Tetra suggested. She pulled out a Deku Nut ("I can't believe we still have a bunch of these") and started to approach one of the arms with her hands outstretched. For a moment, the arm started to bend and carefully approach Tetra and her offering. "That's it. Don't be afraid. I'm just a ragtag pirate princess, is all." Then, in the blink of an eye, the arm grabbed the Deku Nut, threw it on the ground, stunning Tetra in place, and grabbed tightly to her head.
Link was quick to spring into action, but he was suddenly stopped when the ground below him shook and a large, gray creature emerged from it. It looked as ugly and misshapen as the arms in the room, with stumpy arms and a long neck stretched straight upwards. Link had just turned around in time to see the long neck lower towards him as the creature approached, and it didn't take long for him to be face to face with the creepy Dead Hand.
The Dead Hand tilted his head slightly, curious about its green prey on the floor, and then he opened its mouth in a most unnatural and disturbing way, creating a gap that was way bigger that what any normal mouth could create. Before the Dead Hand took a bite at Link, though, the young hero managed to pull out an arrow and stabbed the creature with it, making it squirm and raise its head in pain and giving Link enough time to stand back up and pull out his sword to attack properly. The Dead Hand approached Link again to try gnawing at him again, but this time, Link was ready and slashed at the horrendous creature with his sword multiple times, making it squirm in pain and eventually relent on its pursuit and burrowing itself back below ground.
Link thought things were looking up when the ground shook up again. He jumped out of the way... but as it turned out, the Dead Hand did not emerge close to Link, but quite far from him. Furthermore, the creature's target had shifted from the green hero... to the young pirate that was trapped and frozen in one if its appendages. Link quickly tried to get the creature's attention, but no matter what, the Dead Hand would not lower its head for Link. Slashing it on the body didn't seem to have any effect, either. The only weak spot was the head, and Link knew when it was going to lower it. After thinking it through for a moment, he apologized preemptively to Tetra for what he was about to do.
The Dead Hand approached Tetra slowly but surely, and when it was close enough, the creature's neck bent, and its head faced Tetra's unmoving face. It tilted its head slightly, curious at the unflinching victim before it, but still, it could not help but proceed as it opened its mouth in a most unnatural manner. Just then, a fast, freezing arrow with trace amounts of blond hair lodged itself on the Dead Hand's face. Before the creature raised its head up in pain, it saw Link standing right behind Tetra with a bow in hand and outfitted with a green glove. The ice in the arrow expanded more and more through the Dead Hand's body, and its neck and face were eventually stuck in a writhing, painful mode, but just before it could be completely encased in ice, the creature managed to find the strength to burrow itself back under the ground.
"Yah!" Tetra yelled. Evidently, the Deku Nut's effect had run out and she was free to move, which she first used to slash the arm that was holding her and make it let go. "What was that thing? It was like it thought I was some sort of snack for 'im. And yes, I saw it all. I was frozen, not blind." She said as she checked herself to see if she was alright... and it was then that she noticed that her hair was undone from her usual bun. "This... when did this happen? Wait... How close did you throw that arrow?" Tetra asked Link, who in turn began to look around apologetically.
Before Tetra could say another word, though, the ground shook slightly, though there was nothing following the small quake. "Wait... don't tell me that thing's not done for yet." Tetra questioned as the ground shook slightly once more. The ground shook a third time, yet there was no indication of any action by Dead Hand. "What is it waiting for?" Tetra asked. Link looked around to see what could possibly trigger the creature's surfacing. Then, he noticed how the outstretched arms twitched around occasionally, and he wondered for the first time why were they there to begin with. He approached one slowly, and the arm began bending towards Link. Seeing this, Link rummaged through his bag and positioned himself to be grabbed by an arm. The arm grabbed, alright, but when it noticed there was no actual resistance, it tried to lift the victim up, only to find him too light. While the arm was trying to figure out what was wrong, Link was on the ground, taking a few steps back and waiting for the bomb the arm took as bait to blow up.
When the grand explosion happened and the hand became a mess of gray on the floor, the ground shook up greatly, and a halfway frozen Dead Hand emerged, approaching Link and Tetra. Link prepped his sword and elbowed Tetra to coordinate a dual attack... but Tetra looked at him rather strangely apprehensive, and actually took a step back. "Eh... well... you take 'im. You have this, I know." She said, her voice trembling slightly. Link stared at her for a moment almost incredulously, wondering where did she leave her courage and her will to fight. There was no time to ponder such questions, though, as the Dead hand was about to grab a bite of them, and Link needed to spring into action. He began hacking away at the Dead hand's head mercilessly, and the creature predictably stretched his neck upwards beyond Link's reach and made to retreat. Link, however, took out the Chained Lance and skewered the Dead Hand across its body as to prevent him from leaving this time. He then climbed the chains and the Dead Hand's body, reaching its head and giving it the final punishment.
The Dead Hand gave one final horrendous scream of pain before its neck limped down and its body fell as much as the Chained Lance allowed it to. Also, the remaining stretched arms writhed in pain before regressing into the ground for good. Afterwards, the door leading them further inside the area opened, but not so the initial door, as per the instructions warned. At this moment, Link faced Tetra with an astonishingly disappointment, expecting some sort of explanation. "Uh... What?" Tetra asked, trying to look innocent as she resorted to fix her hair in a ponytail. Link, feeling exasperated, threw his arms to where the Dead Hand was still being held up by the Chained Lance. "Oh, well, I... you know, it was just... the Deku nut. I was still reeling from it, that's all. I feel better now, though, so let's move forward." She finished, followed by hurriedly making her way to the opened doorway. Link, however, stood his ground, not really believing what she had just said.
Upon noticing that Link was not following her, Tetra turned around, with the utmost annoyed look on her face. "I said MOVE!" She yelled, making Link promptly run to her side as they went through the doorway.
The next room was identical to the original, with its pillars, its darkness, and its doors surrounding it. There were, however, five doors this time: one from where they entered, and four new ones labeled 'V', 'VI', 'VII' and 'VIII'. There were also distinguishable markings on the doors, only instead of faces, there was a flute on door 'V', a mask on door 'VI', a rod with four distinct circles on door 'VII' and a harp on door 'VIII'.
"Which way should we go?" a voice rang from the darkness. This alerted Link and Tetra, but they immediately recognized it as a familiar voice. They decided to walk towards the source of the voice, and as the darkness parted in front of them, the backs of Niko and Nudge came into view.
"I dunno, Niko." Nudge said. "I don't understand what it means with that clue. And you read it already, that if we choose wrong, we'd better kiss out booty goodbye."
"Not my booty!" Niko whined. "I like my booty. I mean, it's not much of a booty, but it's mine and I like it."
"Just like you to be thinking about treasure at a time like this." Tetra barged in on the conversation, startling the duo and making them take deep breaths to recover.
"Captain! Link!" Niko shouted happily. "I knew we'd find you." He then went to hug Tetra, but thought better of it and shifted tactics to shake Link's hand.
"So I gather this room's like the last one." Tetra said, considering what she heard them talking about. "four doors, three of them are traps, we have only one chance and a cryptic clue, right?"
"Right. Wait..." Nudge stopped when he noticed what his captain's words implied. "You mean there's more than one room like this?"
"Well, we've only been to one before this one." Tetra explained. "We're not sure how many are there, but I hope there aren't a lot. Last one was tough." She said while shuddering as she tried not to remember being so dangerously close to the Dead Hand's face. "So... what's the clue in this one?" She asked, willing to change the subject.
"Something about... eh... well..." Niko tried to remember, but was somehow unable to fully form the words. "Here, it's better if you read it yourself."
Niko let Link and Tetra to a pillar that had writings marked on it. Up first was the exact same explanation and warning from the other room. The clue, however, was very different from the first one. "Here we go." Tetra said as she began reading aloud. "Let's see... 'A time of past and future, and an instrument to use. A destructive rise to power, and a feisty kid's ruse. Think well and ask yourself what was done before. You blow a note too hard and you won't see more.'" Tetra stood back as Link inspected the clue on his own as she thought about what she just read. "Well, that certainly made no sense."
"It makes some, at least" Niko corrected. Tetra eyed him cautiously, but the buck-toothed pirate talked on. "You see, it talks about an instrument and notes, so I reckon it has to do with either the harp door or the flute door. The rise to power and the kid's ruse doesn't do anything for me, though." He commented.
Tetra had a lead, and this helped their chances, but she really did not want to leave anything to chance considering the risks involved. She looked back and forth between door 'V' and door 'VIII', between the markings of the flute and the harp, all while she recited the clue to herself over and over. "Past and future... a destructive... think well... what was done... Wait!" She called the others' attention so she could run her idea through them. "What was done before? That may be it. Do you know what was created first? Was it flutes, or was it the harp?"
"Beats me." Niko answered sincerely. This was corroborated by a simple shrug by Link.
"You'd be better off asking Mako about that one." Nudge said. "I don't know a lick about music. Only that you hit some with your hands, and you blow on those flute things, and of course there's the gong, and..."
"Wait..." Tetra interrupted Nudge as a new idea hatched on her brain. "That may be it. 'You blow a note too hard...' That was talking about the flute right there." She then walked to the front of door 'V', fully expecting the rest to follow. "Wat are you waiting for? This is our door."
"Are you... sure, Captain?" Niko wondered, still unsure of what door to pick himself.
" Come on, think about it." Tetra reasoned. "We're talking about musical instruments, so that leaves out the mask and the rod. You blow on a flute to play it, and there's a mention of it in the clue, and obviously five is before eight." She finished, pointing to the roman number 'V' to prove her point.
"Well, she does make a convincing case there." Nudge concurred with his captain and walked over to where Tetra was standing. Link also took a space near Tetra after finding little to debate about.
"Oh, fine! Be that way!" Niko suddenly and inexplicably exploded. "Go on and leave me behind. I don't care. I'll figure out this thing all on my own, and I will become the sole survivor! Me, Niko, the great adventurer! I'll be the greatest pirate the whole world has ever known and that day you will regret not following me! You will see!"
"Come along, Niko." Nudge called, sounding a bit annoyed.
"Uh... coming." Niko suddenly said, his fury gone as quickly as it arrived.
The next room was small and square, the ceiling was low and among the solid stone floor were mounds of dirt placed apparently without rhyme or reason for being. The group of four began looking around for any way to open the door beyond, focusing on locating any secret switches on the walls. It was Niko, eventually, that decided to explore the mounds of dirt for any hidden clues, when a sickly blue arm emerged suddenly, passing within inches from Niko's head. The small pirate jumped out of the way in shock, his squeal being an alarm to his comrades who turned just in time to see the arm become two, and the two arms prop an equally sickly blue body up. The other mounds of dirt produced similar bodies, sickly blue and zombie-like, with glazed over, beady-eyed faces which sported large piercings in their oversized ears. As the bodies began to walk towards the pirates, they emitted a shrill scream high enough to freeze the average person in pure fear.
"Oh, no." Nudge whimpered, his eyes turning large from his fear. "Not redeads." Link nodded solemnly, sharing the man's sentiments toward the situation. Link's seen his share of redeads in the past, but no matter how many times he's successfully fought them, they're never a comfortable thing to face. The redeads inched closer and closer to the pirates, and thus Link, Nudge and Niko resigned themselves to a forced fight and drew their blades. Tetra, however, took a step back for every step the redeads took forward.
"Eh... you guys take them." Tetra explained, not sounding exactly forceful, but not wanting to cooperate either. Link stared at her incredulously, wondering if she really was about to pull that stunt again. "No, no." Tetra continued, trying to sound innocent and calm. "I'm not feeling well. I... I think I shouldn't have eaten that extra biscuit last night. I'll just hamper you here. Go on without me." She promptly excused herself and stepped back into the shadows. Shaking his head in exasperation, Link turned back around and faced the redeads with Niko and Nudge.
Nudge stepped back some to avoid getting frozen by the redeads, dragging Niko along. Link, on his part, pulled his bow and shot a couple of fire-powered arrows, which helped stun the blue bodies for a moment. Nudge took this opportunity and launched Niko towards the redeads sabre-first, and the short pirate let out a screeching battle cry of his own before landing and dealing a few nasty swipes at one of the enemies. Nudge himself rushed over to another one and gave him a good what-for, while Link decided to use his Skull Hammer to rapidly dispose of the other two redeads. Before long, the trio managed to finish their work, and the redeads returned to the earth from whence it emerged.
"Well, at least that wasn't too hard." Nudge commented, cleaning his sabre and sheathing it. As soon as he did so, however, a lanky arm dressed entirely in white and brown wraps burst out of the dirt mounds, startling him silly and making him stagger as he drew out his blade again. Three other mounds also produced wrapped arms, and eventually, four bodies crawled out of the dirt and got to their feet. Similar in shape to the redeads, these bodies were completely wrapped in the white and brown dressings, making it incapable for anybody to see any eyes or mouths or any other distinguishing features. Far from calming, this feature made them even more unsettling than the redeads themselves.
"Oh, don't tell me." Nudge began again. "I've heard of these things before, but never thought they existed."
"What are they?" Niko asked.
"They're Gibidos." Nudge answered. "They're worse than redeads. Much tougher. Or so I heard. I haven't faced one of these until now."
"So..." Tetra interjected, mostly due to her desire to get out of that room as fast as possible. "Any suggestions, mister Nudge?"
Nudge thought about it for a few seconds, but his inexperience did not do him any favors. In the end, he simply suggested one thing. "Clobber them?"
"That's as good a strategy as we'll hear. Get 'em, boys!" Tetra ordered, retreating once again to the back row.
Despite his enduring annoyance, Link had to forget about Tetra's uncooperative attitude for a moment and concentrate on the Gibidos. He pulled out his Chained Lance and aimed to capture all four creatures in the same way he cleaved the Dead Hand. Unfortunately, he only grabbed one, while he barely grazed two more and missed the last one by a wide margin. Still, he took this in stride and left the trapped Gibido alone while he tackled a free monster and Niko and Nudge did their best to fend off the other two. Niko began running and jumping wildly around the room, decided to avoid being frozen by the Gibido's scream and slashing at them every chance he got. His agility and nigh-eternal energy really showed up when he jumped from each of the four Gibidos' heads to the walls and all over again without touching the floor for even a second. Nudge began using his bombs and launching them at the Gibidos, and while the flying wrappigs proved he was indeed hitting the bulls-eye, the creatures barely flinched, and still walked towards them, hands outstretched.
At one point, Link had to raise his shield to avoid being gnawed at by a Gibido. This, however, gave him the great opportunity to slice its feet clean off and force it to drop the the ground with no chance at restoring himself. Niko took advantage of this and provided two well-placed slashes across the Gibido's head, which ultimately made the creature stop moving. After Nudge saw this, he whistled for Niko, and when the small pirate rushed to him, Nudge launched him blade-first at another Gibido's head with pinpoint precision. When Niko retrieved his sabre from the Gibido's head, the monster was not moving anymore. Link saw this, and proceeded to jump on the captive Gibido and slice its head for all it was worth, and when the final Gibido was getting too close as he finished the job, he swung his sword to the full extent of his reach and cracked its melon.
When all was said and done, the Gibidos were absorbed back into the dirt mounds and the door that progressed further on was unlocked. "There you go." Tetra said, clapping slowly. "There's nothing you cannot do with the power of teamwork!" Her rather upbeat comment was met by confused stares from Niko and Nudge, and a quietly angered Link. Link in particular was finding less and less reason to feel comfortable around such an environment where he felt he was pulling unneeded weight, and Tetra's obviously shoddy excuses were not helping matters here.
"... What?" Tetra asked calmly, as if there was nothing wrong happening. "Look, if you're confused or angry because I took a back seat to the action just now, don't be. You guys are more muscle that I can be anyway. Even Niko." At this, Niko beamed and showcased his wimpy muscles around. "Well, maybe not Niko, but..." This made Niko pout. "anyway, we could talk about this, or we could spend our time finishing this place, and as for me, I say let's move."
"I still say it's this one."
"I beg to differ, but everything points to this one."
"This one..."
"No, no, listen to me. This one's the right one."
"Look, there's the rest!" Niko exclaimed excitedly.
"Sounds like they're arguing." Tetra inferred from the guys' banter. "I'd wager the can't agree which door to take."
"More doors?" Nudge whined as he saw the same design as the previous room. "Who designed this place? I'll bet they're sadistic, have owl eyes and own a door business!"
Tetra and her group walked over to where Gonzo, Senza, Mako and Zuko stood looking around the area. "So what's the status, Gonzo?" Tetra asked as a way of greeting them.
"Oh? Ah, Miss Tetra!" Gonzo said as soon as he recognized Tetra and the others amongst the darkness. "I almost didn't recognize you, what with that hairstyle and all. What happened to your bun, anyway?"
At this, Tetra began fidgeting uncomfortably with her hair while Link opted to look far, far away. "You know... I thought this could be a good new look for me. What do you think?"
Now it was Gonzo's turn to look awkward and being incapable of finding a proper place to look at. "Well, anyway, we're at a standstill here. We just can't get ourselves to choose."
"Which door to choose?" Nudge asked. "I know, we've seen this before." He went ahead and took a look at the four new doors on the room. These doors were marked 'IX', 'X', 'XI' and 'XII' and had markings of four identical swords, a large leaf, a bunch of different-shaped triangles, and a jar, respectively. "This is just my guess, but I say we go with the triangles."
"See?" Mako said, pulling out a small kitchen knife and a sandwich. "I told you the triangle was the one to go. It makes for the perfect finger snack shape, too." He then began cutting the sandwich in four equally-shaped triangles.
"Wait... WHAT?!" Tetra shouted upon seeing this. "All that bickering... it was about food?"
"It IS lunch time." Senza reasoned, and pulled another sandwich. "We saved you guys this one."
Tetra was about to counter and say that they were not in any position to stop, but in reality her stomach was starting to grumble, so she decided to take a small break and enjoy the snack like the rest did. After the break, it became time to get serious about the situation again.
"Here's the clue, Captain." Niko pointed out from an almost completely obscured place in a pillar. "I just need some light and... Thanks, Link. You're a real buddy." He thanked when Link arrived with an arrow lighted on fire to let him see better. "Let's see... 'A new beginning, a change of winds. Friendships made of wood and wings. Convention's lost to creative things. To soaring the skies on gusted rings.' Gusted rings?"
"I can't make heads or tails of this one." Tetra lamented, rubbing her forehead and trying to think a plausible explanation. "New beginning... winds... friendships of wood and wings... What does it all mean?"
"Creative things..." Zuko pondered on the clue as well. "We could try thinking creatively..."
While this conversation was happening, Link became transfixed in the marking of door 'X'. Somehow, he had seen the leaf depicted in the door before, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Then again, with the stuff that's happened lately, he hasn't been thinking right a lot lately. But still, he had this nagging feeling there was something about this leaf that had special significance. After all, you could find thousands of leafs in a single tree alone.
And then, it hit him: The tree, the leaf, the gusts of wind... It all made sense to him. Link turned back to see the same befuddled faces as before, trying to figure out the clue or just simply shooting off random suggestions. To catch their attention, Link whistled in a most sharp manner, effectively interrupting every single train of thought at the same time, and when the pirates were looking at him, he simply pointed towards door 'X'.
"Are you suggesting this is it?" Tetra asked, inching closer to where Link stood right by the door. "How can you be cer... hey, that looks like your Deku Leaf, doesn't it?" She commented when she noticed the uncanny resemblance, to which Link nodded. "Wait, I get it. Your Deku Leaf can make you float in the air, ride gusts of wind, and you got it that time with that little wooden creature -who, by the way, I met not too long ago and sent you his best wishes- so that means the clue is most definitely about this door."
"But wait a minute..." Mako stopped the progress for a moment. "If this door is about your Deku Leaf, and the clue was trying to describe Link and the leaf... then what do these other doors mean, exactly?"
Link began wondering about this and began to extensively look at the rest of the markings. Though none of them seemed familiar to him, perhaps there was something about them that could trigger his memories and remind him of something he may be missing...
"That..." Tetra began. "...is a very nice question, and such a nice question requires careful thinking, which requires time... which we don't have." She thus brushed off Mako's intent to dig deeper into the subject and walked right to door 'X'. "Now, if we all agree this is our next door, let's all jump in and tackle the next challenge."
This next room was perfectly square, and it had three wide stretches of land that ran across to the other side of the room and had pits on either side of the land bridges. Tetra's group was already looking around cautiously, fully expecting something to come out and battle them, while Gonzo's group was talking about which path should they cross.
"Something tells me there's only one right path." Mako said. "Just like there was only one right door, there's bound to be one true path."
"But how should we know which one's the right one?" Gonzo asked.
"Well... we could always try sending Niko first." Gonzo suggested.
"Hey! I heard that!" Niko protested, fully aware of both sides of the discussion. He then returned to the discussion on Tetra's group. "So anyway, there's been a disgusting zombie thing with arms coming out of the dirt trying to eat you, and then we faced the disgusting redeads and Gibidos that were trying to eat us."
"Yeah, that's pretty much it." Tetra confirmed the story.
"So whatever's coming out of that pit, it's bound to be disgusting and will try to eat us." Nudge inferred from what he gathered. "Just to let you know, and I don't mean to criticize, but you pick some of the strangest places to go spelunking, Captain."
"Thanks, Nudge." Tetra shot back with a bit of sarcasm in her voice.
"I volunteer..." Zuko spoke out, unraveling a long stretch of rope and tying himself up. "Hold on to the end... If anything happens... pull." He then gave the rope's end to Gonzo, who motioned for Senza to help him. Zuko then decided to try the center road and walked it slowly but surely, looking everywhere for signs of any foul play. Suddenly, a large shadow began enveloping Zuko completely and it grew larger and larger.
"Zuko, watch out!" Mako yelled as he pointed upwards to an indescribable mass that fell rapidly. Gonzo and Senza reacted quickly to the warning and pulled Zuko back with all their strength, which saved him from being crushed by the object. As the thing fell, however, it didn't look rock-solid. Rather, it looked more squishy and fluid than what they expected. "Is that..." Mako's question was answered when the thing bent forward, exposing its large circular mouth framed with razor-sharp teeth. "That's a Like-Like."
Link sighed in frustration and shuddered. He did not want to deal with any more Like-Likes, considering the last time he tried to battle one, he was stripped of his shield, his ammo, and his green clothes. Now there was an enormous version of the disgusting monster right in front of them, anxious to take in some unsuspecting victims. Thankfully, there were two other clean roads which they could take.
"Oh, no. Is that...?" Mako said with a sense of alarm. "Yeah, it is. More of them."
Before anybody could test the other roads, two more gargantuan Like-Likes fell from the ceiling and fell right in the middle of both roads and rendered them useless. As a trio, the Like-Likes began spinning around lazily, occasionally bending towards the pirates and exposing their sharply-toothed mouths to them.
"Yeah, this is bad." Nudge expressed, shaking his head in defeat. "If we even try to get close to them to fight them, they'll only suck us in and take out weapons, and that's if we're lucky." He then simply leaned on the wall and proceeded to stare gloomily at the disgusting trio. "I hate it when I'm right."
"So what are we supposed to do?" Senza asked, going through his inventory of items. "The closest thing we have for ranged weaponry are bombs, and they could simply eat them." He decided to try his theory and threw the bombs close to a Link-Like. True to what he said, the Like-Like ate the bomb like it was nobody's business... but after a few seconds, a muffled explosion was heard, and a small line of smoke emerged from the Like-Like's mouth. "Well, what do you know? They work. Come on, men! Unload your bombs on them!"
Thus, the pirates began throwing as many bombs as they could to the Like-Likes. The bombs that were not swallowed by the wobbly creatures merely exploded by them, causing extra external damage. This explosion extravaganza, however, only managed to make the Like-Likes angrier, and they began shifting towards the pirates, apparently undeterred by the myriad bombs assaulting them.
"What do we do now?" Niko asked, still busy trying to give the Like-Likes a heaping helping of explosions. "If they get any closer, we'll be in the explosion's range. There's gotta be another way."
Link thought quickly and whipped out his bow and arrow and began throwing fire-powered arrows at the Like-Likes. While the creatures were burning up nicely, they still moved forward without delay, only now they posed a bigger threat as bombs exploded on impact. Link switched tactics and shot ice-powered arrows to the Like-Likes, and while this did good to slow them down, as soon as a single bomb exploded, the ice shattered and the Like-Likes were good to go on their way. There was nothing in his repertoire that could stop them (he even left his boomerang at the ship), but he thought there had to be something else they could do.
And then he remembered Tetra, standing by in a corner.
"What? Me?" Tetra asked when Link suddenly pushed his bow to her hands. She took nervous looks at the weapon and began talking in a trembling, fearful tone. "Look, I don't know what you want, but I cannot fight now. It's... well... I'm not sure if I..." Before Tetra could say more, Link gave her the bow and a couple of arrows and pointed right to her light-blue glove. "B... but I... oh, you know I don't know magic. How magic can I be? Well, I'm as magic as a plain old set of beans, that's how." At this petty excuse, Link could only look at Tetra with an annoyed gaze. "You don't buy that, either? I don't blame you."
Hesitantly, she armed an arrow into the bow and aimed it at one of the Like-Likes. At this point, the pirates were beginning to hug the wall to avoid getting singed by the bomb explosions, and she recognized that time was running out. However, she sincerely doubted what she could do that Link couldn't. "But what can a simple arrow I throw be different than your arrows, Link?" She aimed, still doubting the real impact of a simple arrow, when...
"Think light."
"Light?" Tetra whispered, not sure where that came from. As soon as she did, however, the arrow powered up with a bright yellow light, a light so strong it lit up the whole room, exposing every crevice and imperfection on its walls and floor. Tetra became massively afraid of the arrow and let it fly without thinking. Fortunately, the arrow was already properly aimed at the Like-Likes, and thanks to the arrow's light-infused power, it cleaved right through the three Like-Likes, leaving traces of its light inside the creatures. Suddenly, the Like-Likes stopped suddenly, and as sudden as they entered the fray, they began dissolving as if they were liquid, with the bulk of their remains falling down the pits below.
"All right, Li... What?" Niko wondered as Link just shook his head and pointed at Tetra. "Captain? You did that? Well... I didn't know you had it in you!"
As the rest of the pirates began to realize what had happened, their looks changed from shocked to pleasantly surprised, and began congratulating their captain in unison. Tetra, however, did not seem to like any of their honest compliments, instead looking as if she had just stepped on a sharp rock. After a quick dismissal, the pirates began walking towards the now-opened door first, and she trailed behind them all.
"Link..." Tetra called her partner. "Look... if you must know, I just don't feel like I want to do this anymore." Link looked absolutely stunned by this. He had sincerely thought she was way past that point by now. "It's just... when it happened what happened back then, I was truly scared afterwards. I feel like if I even get the least fired up for a fight, I'm going to turn back and unleash on everything in my path. I hate that. I hate feeling like I can't control myself. I hate having these thoughts that any moment I could just mistake you or Gonzo or any of the others for an enemy and... Wham! Just like that." Tetra dropped her gaze to the floor, unwilling to look at Link's face anymore.
Link looked at Tetra with the utmost sincerity in his eyes, and wondered what he could do to help her get over this. There were no pages he could give, nor any brownies, nor anything proper that could calm her. However, he remembered there may be one thing he could show her that could show her that she was not, in fact, just about to lose control from her newfound powers. He put his hand under Tetra's chin and lifted her face, and then he pointed at himself.
"What do you mean? Look at you? Yes, you're here, but what does..." Tetra stopped herself mid-sentence, and slowly but surely began to realize what he was trying to explain to her. "You're here. You were there. You felt the massive power I unleashed back then, and I remember looking at you intently as well. But you're here. You didn't vanish or anything. I even recognized that scumbag Mendoza and let him live." As she realized these things, Link began nodding solemnly, and began leaning towards her. He then reached and grabbed her left hand, covered by the light-blue glove, with his right gloved hand, and raised them up, evoking a small, warm light from the point where the gloves met.
"These gloves... I've been wondering what they did." Tetra began reminiscing about the moment they found the pair of mismatched gloves in a dusty chest on the Abandoned Castle. "I had seen you use it already with your arrows, so I suspected you would figure out the entirety of their mystery." She took a good look at the glowing hands as the words of the message that was alongside the gloves returned to her as if she had just read it. "Together, their power will increase tenfold. However, a person alone cannot realize their full potential. Heh, It seems you did it." She finished, producing a small but profoundly sincere smile. "All right. I'll try to remember. I shan't go out of control if I don't let myself. But I want to ask you something, ok, Link? Please promise me to never leave my side. At least, until this is done."
Tetra reached into the clasped gloved hands with her right hand and grabbed hold of Link's hand. Link responded in kind, putting his left hand above hers, all while looking straight at her and nodding. After what seemed like a long time, Link shifted his gaze to the door they had yet to cross and pointed at it to Tetra. "*Ahem* Yeah, we've got to finish this thing first." Tetra remembered. Their hands hesitantly parted, with Link quickly putting them behind his back as if searching for his weapons, and they crossed the path together.
"Captain... problem..." Zuko called as soon as he saw Tetra and Link emerge from the darkness. "The clue... none of us can figure it out. And the doors..." He then pointed to the four new doors marked 'XIII', 'XIV', 'XV' and 'XVI' and had drawings of a clouded moon over a wolf in a hill, a ravaging tornado on a sea, a bright sun over criss-crossing paths that led to certain specific places, and a rising sun over a crossroads, respectively.
"Well, what's the clue?" Tetra demanded to know what was the commotion all about. "Mako, can you tell me?"
"Well..." Mako scratched his head as he tried to remember the whole clue by memory. "It said 'The future is what you do, what you make of what you have, too. The night won't distract you, nor a storm will destroy your progress. Though there are many paths in the way, only one will allow you success. Do not fear anymore, for all paths will only return you up, but only one will lead you to the one thing you have fought and sought.' Well... more or less."
"So, in other words, we can just choose any door, and they won't be any instant-death traps on them..." Gonzo explained in simple words. "But we'll get booted out and will probably have to do the whole thing all over again."
"Ok... that just went from fun into straight-up aggravating." Niko commented when he caught what his superior was saying. "I don't want to be stuck doing this until we figure out the door we have to take."
"Don't worry, Niko. We'll figure this out." Tetra comforted the buck-toothed pirate and began working of what the clue wanted to tell them. "There was a part about the future, right? Now, we don't know the future, but we can make the future into whatever we can, right?"
"Right." Senza concurred. "The future is not set in stone... wait... it's not set in stone." He then went back to inspect the door markings. "Look -- look, guys, we have a cloudy moon and a howling wolf. That's pretty much real, right? And... and here we have a storm raging over the seas. We've seen our share of those to know this happens already. Here's a bright day with loads of paths, but they all lead somewhere. That's set in stone. So that leaves us... this." He then pointed to the last door. "This one has a rising sun, a new beginning, and has two roads with an undefined goal. It's like telling us that whichever those roads leads, they're uncharted territory and whatnot." He stopped only to see the rather bored reaction of his comrades. "Eh... anyway, I think this is the door. What do you say, Miss Tetra."
"Huh? Well..." Tetra was taken slightly aback by being forced to answer, but upon analyzing Senza's explanation, she saw not much room for error. At least, they could take it easy this time, and if they missed, they could just jump back another day after they resupplied. "Why not? Let's go in, everybody."
Thus, with no particular opposition from the rest of the pirates, everybody decided to enter through Door 'XVI', the door to the future.
The room inside was enormous and perfectly cylindrical. At the center, there was a hill with what looked like a large hole in its middle. This room, unlike the rest, was more brightly illuminated than the rest, and it didn't seem to have any other doors other than the one they entered, which was immediately barred as soon as the last pirate entered the place. Apart from the hill, there was nothing of particular interest in the room, so the pirates began climbing the hill and decided to inspect the hole.
"So, what do you think?" Nudge asked the rest. "Do you think we should throw in a bomb?"
"What? No!" Tetra reprimanded the outspoken pirate. "Think, man. If the treasure's down there, you'd just wreck it. No bombs, guys."
"Well, how about a Deku Nut?" Senza suggested. "There no risk in destroying the treasure, and the bright flash can help us see what's down there."
Tetra though about it for a moment. She then decided to retreat a few paces before addressing them again. "I guess there's no harm in that. Go on, throw one and tell me what you see."
Senza promptly threw one of his Deku Nuts straight down the hole and watched as the nut got lost in the darkness. After a few seconds of waiting, a bright flash was seen way down the chute, exposing something unusual inside. "Could.. could that be the treasure?" Senza asked.
"Quick, throw another." Gonzo ordered, curious to see what was really down there. Senza obliged, throwing another Deku Nut in the same way as before. This time, it took less time for the Deku Nut to explode in a bright flash and show what was inside the hole. This time, the object looked bigger and more imposing. "Another!" Gonzo prompted, and Senza threw another nut. This one flashed much sooner than the previous one, and made the object inside look quite close and large.
"Is that thing... growing?" Senza asked. "Or is it... moving up?"
Gonzo realized what Senza's words could mean, and his face became drawn with panic. "Quick! Everyone, get away from the hole!" Gonzo shouted, alarming everybody and making them jump out of the way. Just then, a large, tall and dark creature emerged from the hole. It extended its long, wing-like arms sideways, and immediately shot a mystical bolt from its hands that cracked the bottom of the floor part, allowing an acidic substance to seep through the cracks, and trapping the lot into the center hill. The creature then showcased its mystical abilities by producing a large, purple dome that enveloped its entire body. When it was all done, the creature finally opened its beady, crimson-red eyes and looked at its "guests" with the most devious of looks. The pirates were beginning to look scared, and nobody would blame them, as they were looking back at:
Master Magician from the Darkness
Wizzrobe King
Niko felt like he was about to faint, but he managed to stay on his feet long enough to try doing the first move. He took out his sabre and, through his agility, he did a couple of jumps and somersaults to reach the the tall monster's head. However, as soon as his sabre hit the dome, the blade began melting away, and when Niko managed to free himself from the dome's magnetism, he held in his hand what amounted to a glorified toothpick. "Eh... I guess this will be cut from my share." He said with a silly yet sad smile on his face.
The other guys tried all the ranged weapons they could: bombs, Deku Nuts, arrows... nothing was working to get to the Wizzrobe King. Link even tried a few bombchus and his ice and fire arrows, but they only disintegrated as soon as they came in contact with the dome. The large creature just stood there covering the hole in the middle and looking at the pirates curiously, as if he thought their efforts amusing. After the pirates looked tired from chucking stuff at the enemy, the Wizzrobe King extended its arms towards them, and a large surge of energy began forming in its hands.
"Everyone! Move away!" Gonzo shouted, prompting everyone to run somewhere else on the hill before the Wizzrobe King could complete its attack. Just as they moved, the creature launched a firewall that began burning on the floor and fortunately stood in place as it crackled away.
"I can't think of anything." Mako confessed, looking rather defeated. "Is there anything we could do that could destroy that dark dome?" He asked. Just then, the realization hit him rather quickly, and it seemed like it did to the other pirates as well, as they all began turning their heads in unison towards their captain.
"Me?" Tetra questioned their insistence on recreating the move she had just made not too long ago. "You want me to do another arrow like that?" Tetra began looking at the bow she had subconsciously pulled out apprehensively. "Do you think it'll work out?"
"Of course!" Nudge exclaimed. "You made mincemeat of those Like-Likes, and I'm sure that you'll at least put a dent on that thing's shield strong enough for us to act."
Considering the large amounts of encouragement she was receiving, the least Tetra could do is try it, she though. She armed the bow with an arrow and aimed it at the Wizzrobe King. "Flank me." Tetra ordered as she tried to recreate the circumstances of last time. "Let's see now..." She whispered to herself. "I was aiming at the creature, and I wanted to get it good... and then I heard something like a whisper telling me to think light. Think light..." Just then, the arrow began to power up. The power of light had been infused into the arrow, and its light began shining all over the room. When this happened, Tetra was looking amazed, though not nearly as afraid as she was before, so she managed to control her aim enough to point at the creature as she let go of the arrow.
The large, otherworldly shriek was almost like music to the ears of the pirates, who saw the large dome dissipate and the Wizzrobe King being cleaved by the Light Arrow, and took this opportunity to climb up and slash at whatever they could take from the dark monster. Before long, however, the Wizzrobe King managed to react and threw the pirates away with a large wave. It then extended its arms sideways and a large, sustained flame began to erupt from his hands, cutting the fighting field in half. While this happened, the dark dome was reformed and any ranged weaponry the pirates were planning to use became worthless once again.
"Oh, great. Now what." Nudge asked. It did not take long for the answer to arrive, as the Wizzrobe King began spinning in place, its flames still shooting out from its hands, and forcing the pirates to run in circles to avoid the incoming flames.
"You know, Nudge..." Niko began, trying to speak in between breaths as they ran. "You should really learn when to shut up, you know."
Meanwhile, on the other side of the flames, Link and Tetra were running as well, and Tetra was having a particularly tough time arming the bow with the arrow, not to mention trying to aim it. "Just how am I supposed to concentrate while we're running?" She told her partner. "If only I had just enough time to stand still to... WHOA!" Suddenly, Link grabbed hold of Tetra and lifted her above his head, all while running from the flames. "HEY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING, LINK! STOP! LET ME DOWN, YOU..." she then tilted her head backwards, and managed to catch a glimpse of the flames roaring right toward them. "AAAAAH! DON'T YOU DARE TO STOP RUNNING, LINK! I WON'T FORGIVE YOU IF I GET SINGED BY THOSE FLAMES!" She then decided to make the best of it and tried to aim at the Wizzrobe King. Her aim was spotty at best, but at least it was better than trying to aim while running. She then managed to power up another arrow with the power of light, and quickly shot it at the monster. While the arrow missed the Wizzrobe, the dome was shattered by and it became distracted enough to stop the flame walls. This gave Link and the pirates enough time to draw their blades and go at the Wizzrobe with reckless abandon.
Suddenly, the Wizzrobe managed to throw the pirates away with another wave. This time however, the Wizzrobe King did not look good at all, but rather, it looked quite defeated. However, it still managed to form another dark dome, and then it raised one arm and shot a bolt to the ceiling, making a hole in it that began to spur more acid into the room. The situation had suddenly changed, and the lot had a very limited time to defeat their enemy and somehow find a way to escape. "Miss Tetra, quick! Fire another arrow to it!" Gonzo said to his captain with the utmost urgency. Tetra tried to concentrate, but the pressure of the time constrain, magnified by the sound of the rushing acid entering the room made her shake her hands uncontrollably. Even as she managed to power another arrow with light, she just couldn't aim properly. Then, from her left side, Link grabbed hold of her unsteady hand with his right gloved hand. This allowed the arrow's power to intensify and become completely enveloped in light. Link helped Tetra steady her aim, and she managed to throw the Light Arrow straight at the Wizzrobe King just in time.
Thus, with an excessive amount of writhing about, the Wizzrobe King succumbed to the power of the light arrows as it finally disintegrated and disappeared from everyone's view. This, however, did not stop the acid flow from trying to flood the room. "Oh, for the love of... Everybody, into the hole!" Tetra commanded, to which the pirates obeyed hesitantly but certainly. Everybody did their best to try and not freefall in, but eventually, the circular walls ended and they couldn't hang on to anything anymore, forcing them to fall down to the floor underneath. As soon as they landed, though, they ran or rolled out of the way to avoid getting stomped on by the upcoming pirate. Link was last from the group, and when he noticed that there was nowhere for the acid to go, he quickly tied a bomb to and arrow and blew up a hole in the ground. The hole was surprisingly deep, and when the acid began spilling over to the room where they were, it just flowed past them and into the hole below.
"Crisis averted." Nudge sighed in relief, wiping his brow clean.
"And of course, there's our reward for a tough day of work." Senza pointed out, walking over to a well-disguised chest in a corner of the room. He and the rest of the pirates suddenly perked up and ran over to the chest, eager to see what kind of goodies there were.
"Hey... HEY!" Tetra shouted to call her subordinates' attention. "You know the rules. We split the whole thing even, so don't you dare take anything before the split or you get nothing. Now..." She began walking over to the chest alongside Link. "That which I am most interested in. Where are the pages we're looking for?"
"Let me see." Gonzo said as he began looking into the treasure-filled chest. They were not immediately apparent, but in a corner of the chest were a couple of pages hastily crumpled in. "My, somebody doesn't know how to take care of these... Here, Miss Tetra. I think these are it."
Tetra inspected the pages, and though they looked somewhat mistreated, they were definitely of the same design as the rest of the missing pages. "Well, you did good for a chart man, Link. Now let's see... one, two, three... three?" Tetra was strangely surprised by the count of pages. She counted them again, but there was no mistaking: she had only three of the four final pages in her possession. "Wait... there should be four. This is most likely the last place, so the final four should be here. There must be some mistake. Go on, check again."
The pirates began to resort to throwing some of the treasure on the floor to try and check every nook and cranny of the chest and see if there could be something they missed out the first time through. However, no matter how much they tried, there were no more pages inside the chest. "Sorry, captain. There's only treasure in here." Niko broke the news.
"But... but..." Tetra tried to form her thoughts coherently as she tried to grasp the reality of it all as well. "This was supposed to be it. This was supposed to be the end. Now... oh, man, don't tell me we're gonna have to do another one of these dungeon things to grab the last measly page from the book." She sighed deeply as she wiped her face with her hand. "Seriously, guys, I'm done with this place. Let's go back to the ship."
That night, The pirate ship had set sail for the deep seas, and the pirates were starting to return to the cabins for a good night sleep. After inspecting that everything was in place, and after entrusting Mako with the night guard, Tetra left the upper deck and retreated to her room. She sat right in front of her mirror, and for a few solid seconds, she stared at the odd ponytail she had hastily propped up after that event inside the latest dungeon. In truth, the ponytail made her look quite different... more feminine than she's looked recently, anyway. Still, it was quitting time, and no matter how much she stared at her new look, she had to untie it and prepare herself for sleep.
"You know, the bun thing Venus said wasn't to be taken literally."
"AAAAAAH!" Tetra screamed when the sudden voice spoke to her. She turned around quickly only to see that Din, Nayru and Farore had instantly teleported themselves into her room. "Oh, it's you. You almost gave me a heart attack."
"Oh, don't worry about that." Nayru said in her usual cheerful voice. "If you happened to die because of us, we'll just give you life again, just like that."
"Wow, that's comforting." Tetra spat out, deadpan. "So, what do I owe the honor of yet another late-night visit from you?"
"Yes, well, we do have a rather bad habit of visiting at night. You'll have to excuse us there." Din confessed. She walked in front of the other two Goddesses and addressed Tetra with a bit more authority now. "Now, princess, listen well to our words, the words of the great Goddesses, creators of the land of Hyrule and protectors of the Law of Life. You have done well in your trials, and you have matured since the last time we addressed you. Now, it is time."
"Time?" Tetra asked, though she knew full well what she meant with that statement. "You mean, time to finish this? To claim Waarheid... er... Hyrule?"
"Yes. That is what we mean." Din continued. "You have managed to finalize everything that we had expected from you, and I can see success in the rest of your journey. You must now guide your followers and lead them through to the end."
"Wait, wait... wait a minute." Tetra stopped Din from continuing her speech. "But I'm not ready. I... I don't even have the last page of the Hyrulian Book. I don't know if I overlooked it somewhere, but I just don't have it."
"What, that?" Nayru spoke casually. "Do not worry for that. You will find that page soon enough if that is your wish. And believe me, even if you couldn't, you ARE ready."
"Really?" Tetra asked.
"Definitely!" Farore spoke out, rather excited at that, and approached Tetra rather closely. "When you managed to unleash all your powers and show your true colors back in that ship, we were so proud of you! Well, I was really proud of you, anyway. Nayru was relieved you pulled it off and Din had that 'about time' look on her face. And today, you overcame the last of your fears and accepted yourself completely. Your heritage, your abilities, your future... everything. You have truly come to grips with the true you." She then wrapped a hand around Tetra's neck and waved the other around, starry-gazed. "Oh, I can see it now. Hyrule, big and bustling, and you on the throne, ruling over the land with a fair and just rule. Princess Zelda Tetrilynn Hyrule, the first ruler of the reborn kingdom of Hyrule. You'll go down in history, girl."
"Farore, would you be so kind as to not overbear her? She has enough on her plate already." Nayru reprimanded the green Goddess.
"Sorry." Farore excused herself and stepped back from Tetra, but not without giving her a quick thumbs up and a wink.
"So... I should begin the final strike soon, right?" Tetra asked them.
"We'd prefer if you didn't resort to violence against the people currently inhabiting the land." Din explained. "If you can, use diplomacy, use your abilities... anything to avoid meaningless bloodshed. If worse comes to worst, however, we'll understand."
"All right." Tetra said, nodding in understanding. "We shall resupply and then we'll go inside the land once more. It shouldn't take more than a week to prepare..."
"Tomorrow." Din proclaimed.
"Tomorrow?" Tetra questioned. "Why?"
"We cannot afford to delay this anymore." Nayru explained. "You must manage with whatever there is on your ship, and start everything tomorrow. You will know why we cannot delay when you arrive."
"But... there's no way..." Tetra tried to think ways of circumventing what they expected from her, but she could not think of any solid things. "Do you really think I can do it, just like that?"
"We do." Farore said. "Do you?" At this, Tetra began to think introspectively, trying to find out if she could be ready to tackle the big challenge in such short notice. "Look, we want you to succeed, but that is only going to happen if you believe that you can do it. Believe, princess, and we can guarantee you that Hyrule shall be given to you."
"I just gotta believe." Tetra said, trying to set herself in the proper mood to rise to the occasion. "Tomorrow, then. I'm gonna have to wake everybody up to tell them, but I guess we can manage."
"That's the spirit." Din encouraged Tetra. "I want to see you there tomorrow morning, because I want to see you transform this place into a beautiful realm."
"We'll be watching over you." Nayru said." Remember, if you believe, you will not fail."
"I'll be rooting for you." Farore said. "So long as you believe you will never truly be alone."
"And by the way..." Din wondered, looking around like something was missing. "Where is that boy we assigned to be your companion? Link?"
"Link? He's probably sleeping." Tetra said.
"Be sure to tell him these things we have told you." Din continued. "He must not be excluded from this no matter what. His companionship to you may mean the difference between success and failure. Do not leave his side, and do not let him leave yours."
Tetra nodded. "He'll be the first to know."
"Good." Nayru said, feeling satisfied. "We have to leave now, but we'll be watching over you. I know you won't disappoint us."
"Farewell, princess." Din finished.
"Remember, you will never be truly alone." Farore finished as well.
And with those words, the three Goddesses turned a golden hue and began floating about in the room. Then, they began spinning rapidly until they disappeared in midair, leaving Tetra alone once more in her room.
"Tomorrow..." Tetra repeated to herself. She could barely believe it, but what started as a simple spelunking mission at a random cave has turned out as this grand, incredible, back-breaking, and oftentimes stressing and heart-wrenching adventure. Moreover, she could not believe she was at the cusp of the final act, that as soon as the sun was to appear the following morning, things were to be put into motion to claim the land that was selected by the Goddesses themselves as the new Hyrule. As soon as tomorrow, she was to say goodbye to all that she had known for fifteen long years. She was to trade her ship and the vast seas for a castle and a throne. She was to exchange the high-adrenaline battles and treasure hunts for diplomatic discussions and jewelry at her fingertips. Her sabre was going to be replaced for a ceremonial sword for knighting. Her ragtag yet comfortable clothes were leaving in favor of frou-frou dresses and who-knows how many layers are supposed to go underneath it. Her room, which has gone through many transformations itself from the time her mother was captain of the ship, quaint but homely and surprisingly well kept, would be but a memory, displaced by what will most likely be a large room in a tower, complete with a bed too big for her and a view of everything around her.
Before doing what was to be done, she took one final, silent walk around all parts of the small ship she had called home ever since she had memory.
The cargo hold... she remembered playing hide and seek with the others when she was a child, and nobody could find her because she was always hiding inside one of the crates. When she became captain, she had way too much fun thrusting new swabbies through the ship's famous test, which she made more and more rigorous for them. She remembered how, after months of nearly endless trying, Niko finally managed to finish her jumping trial, shocking even the hardiest of them.
The mess hall... If there was a place that could best show how this band of pirates was more like a family than anything else, this was it. So many birthday parties were celebrated in there. Gonzo's last party, in particular, was so over the top that they almost ran out of supplies on that day alone. Everyone made a point to eat in the mess hall and talk to others cheerfully, and everybody lent a hand on kitchen duty, which sometimes meant that food wasn't always the best quality, but it was always from the heart.
The cabins... Ever since she's been captain, she hasn't been to the cabins much. She could see how messy the place had become, partially because seven men were all living in the same large room. Still, when she was younger, she always went in and bothered the other guys, or planned surprises for the others, including her mother and Pami. This had become a sanctuary for her crewmen, just like her own room was untouchable by them, and she was more than happy to let them be when they were in there, just as they were now, calmly sleeping after a long day. She knew she had to wake them, but for now, she let them sleep.
The cannons... She was never adept at loading a cannon, but she still remembered the first time she had managed to fire one. It was loud, and the cannon moved back a lot, and it certainly made everybody run amok to find out what had happened. These days, the cannons weren't being used much, but she still made it a point to make sure they work properly and that they have enough ammo available.
The upper deck... There were just too many memories above deck to even reminisce through them all. The discoveries that were made at the Crow's Nest, the guys playing their rough games on the middle ground, she could even visualize Gonzo or Senza working at the bridge, navigating the ship like the experts they were. She knew she had made a wise choice in keeping them as crew members when she became captain. And the catapult, she remembered fondly. Sure, there was the time they launched Link right into a wall a long time ago on the northwestern seas of the Great Sea, but she had experienced that before, when she launched herself with it to try a super dive to the water. She fell back-first to the water. Tetra winced and chuckled at the same time as she remembered that event.
Her room... She had always been in this room, ever since she was born. Her mother had adapted the room to make space for two beds, and being here almost guaranteed Tetra that she would be able to see her mother every day. Even when she looked tired, Tetra's mother would sit by her, caress her head and listen to whatever stories she could come up with, or inversely, she would tell Tetra of all that had happened on the day. At one moment, Tetra thought if there was some sort of weird spell that turned her mother strict and straight to the point during the day, but absolutely caring and lovable during the night. Despite her apparent attitude during the day, however, she grew to understand her mother and her motives, and she loved her for it.
Tetra took a moment to look at her mother's portrait in her room. There she was, as steely-eyed as she normally was during the day. The portrait alone evoked the feeling of authority, something Madam Jacques was well known for. Underneath it, however, Tetra was capable of discerning her mother's more tender, warmer, more beautiful aspects. It was almost as if through that painting, Tetra's mother was watching over her, wanting to touch her, to have her in her arms once more, and if she could speak, she would tell her so many things. Her mother definitely knew basically everything she knows now of her heritage, and perhaps in due time, Jacques was planning to pass that knowledge along to her.
Tetra could not handle it anymore. The nostalgia trip was overwhelming. The memories flooded her mind. The good times and the bad, and everything that she lived inside the ship. This had been her home for fifteen years, and it certainly meant more to her than whatever you could sell such a small ship for. Eventually, she fell to her knees, and covering her face with her eyes, she couldn't help but silently cry.
Tetra was not afraid. Do not make the mistake of assuming that for a second. She was not afraid of leaving her past behind. She wasn't afraid of starting anew, to forgo her current name and her current life to live the life most girls would be infinitely envious to have, for she knew what kind of future there was right in front of her. However, she couldn't help but feel sad about it. She couldn't help giving that which she knew all her life one final, heartfelt farewell.
**To Be Continued**
A/N: If you'd like, go and read the music that inspired ZOoL on my profile. Maybe they'll help you set the mood.