Chapter 15: The Lakebed Temple Part 1
Link and company quickly donned their suits of Zora Armor and leapt into the river after the Zora guard that offered to lead them to where the Lakebed Temple lied.
"We shouldn't be too far from the temple, just be patient," commented the Zora guard.
"Wow, this armor is amazing! Look at how fluid we can swim with these things on!" exclaimed Chun-Li.
"Yeah, this is pretty damn cool," added Alex.
After a few minutes of swimming down the channels of the river, Link and his crew soon came across a large temple sitting at the bottom of the river, a boulder blocked the entranceway however.
"Well this is the temple, but looks like we have a roadblock in front of us," said Zelda.
"Hey look at that jet stream coming from that crevice, maybe we could throw a Water Bomb there and it'll float up to the boulder and blow it up," suggested Ken.
"It's worth a shot," chimed in Link as he pulled out a water bomb and did exactly what Ken said. Indeed the bomb did destroy the boulder allowing the heroes access into the temple.
"Good luck to you all, come out safely," said the Zora guard.
"Thank you friend, you take care as well," replied Ryu as he followed the others into the temple.
Upon entering the temple the heroes saw themselves in a large waterway with numerous electric jellyfish swimming around.
"Just swim past the Bari, we don't have anything in our inventory that can do any damage to them yet," called out Link.
With that, the group continued to swim up to the surface and saw a barred doorway and a bar hanging down from the ceiling. Link quickly ran up the stairs and leapt off the plateau grabbing onto the hanging bar making it drop down and lifting the bars from the door. As the six warriors went through the door they saw a small armored monster squeal out in rage and charge at the heroes who all barely dodged being tackled by the little beast.
"Ah the Helmasaur, always a pain, just strike it from behind," stated Zelda.
Alex rushed at the Helmasaur with a Slash Elbow striking the monster on its exposed backside making it squeal out in pain as Link followed with a sword slash making the Helmasaur expire.
Upon further surveillance of the room, they saw a bunch of hanging rocks on the ceiling. Link shot them down with bomb arrows allowing him and his crew to use them as stepping stones to get up to the next door leading further into the temple. The heroes ignored all the Helmasaurs in the room and spotted a treasure chest nearby; Link opened it to reveal the map to the dungeon.
"Good thing we found this early," commented Link.
The others continued to scale the rocks until they came to the doorway and promptly entered the door. A long hallway to another door was all they saw with one lone Helmasaur. Ignoring the little beast, the six heroes ran across the hall and into the door to see a long winding room with numerous staircases and hanging bars littered all around. At the bottom of the room was a small pool with a large seashell shaped room that had a locked door sitting on a platform in the middle of the room.
"What kind of crazy architecture do we have going on here?" inquired Alex.
"We pull those bars, the stairs rotate allowing us to explore the dungeon more," answered Zelda.
"I feel like a rat in a maze," remarked Chun-Li.
"You and me both friend," added Ken.
Link and the others ran up the staircase to find a treasure chest and a blue Tekite leaping towards them, Link quickly dispatched of the spider with a few quick sword slashes. They then opened the chest to find a small key inside.
"Ok, now to find the locked door this goes to," chimed in Ryu.
Off to the right was another hanging bar that the heroes could latch onto. Link ran and leapt of the platform and grabbed onto the bar which made the stairs rotate 180 degrees allowing the six to access another part of the spiraling room. Link let go of the bar and rejoined his comrades as they ran up the stairs. A Dynalfos ran them brandishing his sword; however, the lone lizard was easily outnumbered and dispatched of in a quick manner. Link and the others then unlocked the door that was in front of them.
"Lovely, more swimming," grumbled Alex as they came across another flooded room that they would have to spend time navigating around.
"Let's get it over with then," suggested Zelda as she dove into the water, the others followed and began to swim about before being attacked by a bevy of clam like monsters that were resting at the bottom of the flooded room.
"Shell Blades, wait for them to open their big mouths then attack!" gurgled Link.
And they all did just that, after the Shell Blades tried to ram the heroes they turned around after barely missing to try tackling them again. A Shell Blade opened its mouth and Chun-Li nailed hers with a Hyakuretsu Kyaku sending it up in a puff of smoke. Alex saw the Shell Blade facing him do the same thing and nailed his with a Flash Chop.
"All right, I'm in the mood for steamed clams," commented Ken as he fried his Shell Blade with a Shoryuken upon seeing it expose its soft innards. Ryu also mimicked Ken's action in disposing of the Shell Blade attacking him. Zelda fired a magical blast at hers promptly dispatching of one and Link finished his off with his Spin Attack. After all the Shell Blades were taken care of, the heroes resumed searching the submerged room for clues as to where to go next. Chun-Li eventually found a crack in the wall and pointed it out to the others.
"I found a spot we can use our Water Bombs in!" gurgled Chun-Li.
Link quickly swam over and pulled out a Water Bomb and placed it down then quickly swam away with the others. The bomb detonated and blew a hole in the wall allowing the heroes to swim through to the other side of the room where a couple of Skull Fish were swimming about and swam at Link's crew in an attempt to bite them. Link let off a Spin Attack underwater defeating all the Skull Fish that surrounded them as they swam up to the surface and saw another door guarded by a few Helmasaurs. The little beasts wasted no time charging at the group only to have them sidestep the charge and the Helmasaurs fell in the water and went up in smoke due to them being unable to swim.
"I think Ganondorf and Urien's minions need some swimming lessons," remarked Alex.
"Hey, it makes it easier for us if the minions can't swim," replied Ken.
"That's for sure," added Chun-Li.
"Let's not worry about that right now, we still have a Secret Text to find," stated Link.
With that, they went through the door and saw a large rock formation in the middle of a circular room with some geysers shooting up from the floor. There were also numerous Tekites hopping around the room.
"I say we play exterminator first before go hiking up that platform," suggested Ken.
"I do enjoy squashing bugs," commented Chun-Li as she ran at a Tekite and laid into it with a series of kicks sending it into oblivion while Ken burned another to death with his flaming Shoryuken. After the heroes defeated the remaining Tekites in the room, they began to climb up the platform to get a better look around the room to see where to go next.
"Hmm, this is quite confusing, which way to go next," pondered Ryu.
"Seeing as how the door to our left is locked and we have no key to get there yet, let's go to the right," said Link upon observing the doors.
Link then pulled out his Bomb Arrows and fired one up at a stalactite sending it crashing down onto one of the geysers creating a makeshift platform that shot up temporarily each time the geyser erupted.
"That's one rinky-dink elevator," remarked Alex as they all took turns riding the geyser up to the ledge where the unlocked door was. After going through the door, they found a room with numerous rotating platforms providing a bridge across to the other side of the room. Large amounts of Keese were also flying around the room making the jaunt across a little more dangerous.
"Don't be too hasty across these, those bats would love nothing more than to see us fall into the abyss," warned Zelda.
All six leapt onto one of the platforms as it made its rotation around the room; all six warriors took a ready pose for any Keese that may have flown into their vicinity. A couple of the bats flew towards them and Zelda fried them both with some magic sparks from her palms and the heroes then jumped onto the next rotating platform as another group of Keese flew towards them, Link threw out his Gale Boomerang making quick work of the flying menaces.
"Persistent little nuisances these things are," commented Ryu.
The heroes then leapt across another platform and Link threw out his Gale Boomerang at the remaining Keese in the room dispatching of them all. Link and company then continued to go across the room uninterrupted and found a cracked wall to the left of them; Link laid a bomb down blowing the wall open. The heroes found a treasure chest and upon opening it, they found the compass to the dungeon.
"Excellent, we got most of the obligatory items, aside from the boss key of course," remarked Ken.
"True, hopefully we'll find it soon," added Chun-Li.
"Let's keep moving," said Link as him and others then went through the next door. The group then found themselves overlooking a split path, one path on land, and the other underwater.
"Let's split up and tackle both paths," suggested Zelda.
"That's a good idea Zelda. Ryu and Alex come with me and we'll tackle the dry land path. Ken and Chun-Li, you guys are the better swimmers so you take the underwater path with Zelda," ordered Link to the others.
The others nodded to show they understood what Link said. Link along with Alex and Ryu ran down the dry hallway whereas Zelda along with Ken and Chun-Li dove into the water to take the submerged path. Link, Ryu, and Alex ran across a few Helmasaurs along the way but just ignored the little beasts as they continued down the hallway before coming across another door.
"Be on guard! I have a feeling we're going to come across something big here," warned Link to Ryu and Alex before the trio entered the door. Meanwhile, Zelda, Ken, and Chun-Li continued to swim through their aquatic chamber which was littered with Shell Blades in addition to handful of Bari. The trio dispatched of any Shell Blades that came into their path but ignored the Bari and eventually came across a cracked wall after swimming through the trenches for a while. Zelda pulled out a Water Bomb and placed it down before swimming away from the explosive. After the bomb blew up, a strong suction started to pull Zelda, Ken, and Chun-Li towards it and sucked them into another room with what appeared to be nothing but water everywhere.
"I have a feeling we're not alone, watch yourselves," said Zelda.
In the meantime, Link, Ryu, and Alex entered a room with a large circular platform overlooking a watery area, but nothing else was visible in the room leaving the three scratching their heads in wonder as to where they were.
"Great, so is this a dead end, that's lovely," groaned Alex.
"I don't think so, something's in hiding, I can feel it," commented Ryu.
At the moment Ryu was finished speaking, the ground began to shake making Link, Ryu, and Alex look around as to what could have been causing the shaking. Just then, a giant hermit crab leapt out of the water and displayed its claws menacingly at Link and company.
"Looks like Crayk has come to put us in a pinch," said Link.
"Well then, let's boil this supersized shellfish!" exclaimed Alex.
In the underwater area where Zelda, Ken, and Chun-Li were at, the trio gazed about the watery depths to see if anything out of the ordinary was in the room with them. Soon, Chun-Li felt something swim by her.
"What was that?" asked Chun-Li.
A giant fish with a large lantern on its forehead swam up to the trio and gurgled angrily at the three as it glared at them.
"It's the Angler Fish! Careful, he's going to try and make us his next meal!" called out Zelda.
"I suggest we show this fish the proper order of the food chain then!" remarked Ken.
Back on dry land, as Link, Ryu, and Alex turned to face Crayk, the giant crab disappeared leaving the others confused.
"Where the hell did he go now?" asked Alex.
As the three looked around for where Crayk could have disappeared, Ryu felt something grab him and squeeze tightly. Link and Alex looked around to see Crayk carrying Ryu in one of his claws as the Japanese fighter grunted in pain; Alex grabbed the monster by his claw and slammed him down onto the ground making him release Ryu. Link shot an arrow into the crab's eye as Ryu kicked him in the face; Crayk then sprang up and disappeared again.
"Be on guard, who knows when he'll show up again," called out Link.
Back with the Angler Fish, the fish swam forward with great speed ramming Zelda, Ken, and Chun-Li sending them in different directions. After recovering, they all swam back towards each other and the Angler Fish darted forward in an attempt to ram them again. The trio split and barely dodged the tackle attempt by the Angler Fish. At that moment, the giant fish opened its large mouth and tried to suck the trio in.
"Zelda, give him a spicy treat he won't like!" called out Ken.
Zelda nodded in agreement as she pulled a Water Bomb out and threw it into the suction as it went inside the Angler Fish's mouth, it exploded stunning the Angler Fish for a while. Chun shot forward and smacked the fish with her Spinning Bird Kick while Ken quickly followed suit with a Shoryuken nailing the Angler Fish head on. It soon recovered and went back on the offense again.
Back at the fight with Crayk, Link and the others were still keeping an eye out for when the crab would appear again.
"Give me some room you guys," said Link to Ryu and Alex.
The two warriors stepped away from Link and right as they did, Link let loose a Spin Attack and Crayk appeared staggering back showing that the Spin Attack did hit him. Ryu fired a Hadoken at the crab while it was stunned making it stagger back further and Alex grabbed Crayk yet again and decked him with a Power Bomb shattering its hard shell. The spooked crab shot a stream of water at the trio knocking them down and tried to run away from Link and company.
"Oh no you don't!" yelled Link as he threw forward the Gale Boomerang pulling Crayk back towards the trio. Alex Flash Chopped the beast and Ryu knocked it onto its back with his Shoryuken. Link then leapt into the air and drove his sword into Crayk. The crab let out a loud shriek and started thrashing about before once again falling to the ground and disappearing in a puff of smoke.
"That was an annoying beast," said Ryu.
"Still, I wonder how Zelda and the others are doing," pondered Link.
At the fight with the Angler Fish, Zelda and her group continued to dodge the Angler Fish's attacks. Feeling bold, the Angler Fish once again tried to suck Zelda, Ken, and Chun-Li into him. Zelda threw another Water Bomb into its mouth and upon stunning it, Chun-Li and Ken attacked again. As the Angler Fish recovered, he darted towards Zelda mouth wide open and the princess barely dodged the fish's attack.
"That's a big mistake on your part," commented Zelda.
The Angler Fish then turned itself around and targeted Zelda once again, this time she threw another Water Bomb at the Fish and it wound up catching it in its mouth as it exploded once again stunning it. Ken and Chun-Li repeated their attacks and Angler Fish then gurgled in pain and flipped to a belly up position and started to float towards the surface and then went up in a puff of smoke.
"We filleted that giant fish," remarked Chun-Li.
"Yeah, now let's get back to Link and the others," suggested Ken.
"Let's see where those vines lead us," suggested Zelda pointing to some overhanging vines near the middle of the room. The three then swam over to the vines and began climbing them
"Hey guys, something else is coming out of the water!" exclaimed Alex.
Link and Ryu turned around to see what was coming out and saw Zelda, Ken, and Chun-Li arise from the water and climb onto the platform.
"Good to see you guys are ok, boy did we have a rough fight just now," stated Ryu.
"Hey, we had to fight to not be fish food just now," replied Ken.
Just then, a treasure chest materialized on the platform, Link walked over to the chest and opened it. Inside was an apparatus with a claw attached to a chain.
"The Clawshot, this is a great find!" cheered Link.
"What does it do exactly?" asked Chun-Li.
"It'll allow us to latch to certain walls and reach areas we normally couldn't," answered Link.
"Sounds handy, now I'm sure I speak for all of us but let's get out of this room and find some place we can put our new tool to use," suggested Ken.
The others all nodded and left the room with their new Clawshot in tow ready to explore the remainder of the watery depths of the Lakebed Temple.
Author's Note: Well, both Zelda and Street Fighter fans have a lot to look forward to game wise. For Zelda fans, we got an Ocarina of Time remake for the upcoming 3DS, and for the Wii we got Skyward Sword. That will be a day one purchase for me; it looks great from what I've seen. For Street Fighter fans, Super Street Fighter IV in arcades with more characters, I hope Alex is one of them, plus Street Fighter III: Third Strike will be online, Marvel vs. Capcom 3, and Street Fighter x Tekken! It's a good time to be a fan of either series. Anyways, next chapter I will finish up the exploration of the Lakebed Temple. I'm off to go plan that so until then, please read and review.