((Sorry about that little hiatus I took. I spent too much time on my NaNoWriMo novel. Anyway, back to it.))
Chapter 21: Zora Mask.
Romani opened her eyes slowly. She looked around, her eyes adjusting to the dim light. Fire crackled in the corner of the dimly lit rock cave she found herself in. As she sat up, she gasped in surprise when she spotted an enormous Goron staring down at her. He smiled in a friendly way, resting on his stomach with his arms folded underneath. Romani pulled herself up to her feet and dusted herself off. Every muscle in her body ached, and she noticed that her arms were covered in bruises. An innocent-looking frog hopped out from underneath the Goron and up to her. She stared at it, bewildered.
"Good, you're awake," it ribbited, "I was barely able to carry you out of there. Are you injured?"
Romani rubbed her shoulder, "I'll manage. You're... Don Corneo, right?"
The frog nodded, "That's what they call me around here, anyway. You took out that monster posing as the Patriarch, right?"
"I got lucky," Romani replied, "Why am I here, exactly?"
The frog gulped nervously, "Well, let's just say that the Gorons didn't take too kindly to a strange girl dropping a chandelier on their sworn leader; monster or no."
The big Goron spoke up, "Oh, you're the ranch girl's sister, right? Cremia talked a lot about her red-haired sister."
Romani nodded, "Yeah, that's me. Does she come here often?"
"She brings us supplies," Don Corneo said, "I usually need milk for my potions. Anyway, my big friend here says he can get you at least as far as Clock Town. He's got a big shipment of Powder Kegs that he's sending there today."
Romani nodded, "Sounds like a deal. Do I need to pay anything in return?"
The big Goron shook his head, "Nope. You put down that fake Patriarch. That's more than enough, little one. Come, I'll lead you to the wagon that you'll be taking."
Link stared down the Milk Road that led to Romani Ranch. He gripped the strap of his sheath in anguish. A Zora rushed past him, briefly apologizing. The Zora ran towards the ranch with a hookshot in hand. Arching an eyebrow, Link followed the Zora. The Zora got as far as the gate before he noticed Link behind him.
"Listen," he put his hands up, "I don't want any trouble, okay."
Link pointed at the hookshot, "What's that for?"
The Zora swallowed hard, "There's a really powerful mercenary who lives here. Last time he helped us, he demanded a hookshot. I figured that he wouldn't help us again without another one."
Link narrowed his eyes, "What's going on?"
"It's some sort of monster. I mean, it's the craziest thing. It looks like one of us, fights like one of us, but it's... different. Like there's nobody home," the Zora tried his best to explain, "
"I see," Link rubbed his chin in thought, "I'll deal with it. Go somewhere safe."
Before the Zora could respond, Link pulled out a tan ocarina and played a song. White wings enveloped him, and he disappeared. The Zora, bewildered, headed towards the ranch house that housed Zak and Cremia.
Once Link arrived at the Great Bay, he spotted nothing out of the ordinary. He stepped off of the observatory dock, plunging into the water. While swimming to shore, he heard the sounds of someone screaming. Link dragged himself onto shore and rushed over to the other side of the beach, where a large spiny Zora had several innocent Zoras cornered. Without hesitation, Link fired several shots at the monster. It turned around to face him, which allowed the Zoras time to escape into the water. As it moved to follow them, Link fired an ice arrow, freezing a chunk of the water in front of it. The monster recoiled. It roared, several more spikes shooting up out of its back. Link put his bow away and grabbed both his sword and his shield off of his back.
Zak coughed, spitting out black sludge. Cremia carefully ladled out some thick blue liquid into a bottle from a large pot. After his coughing fit subsided, Zak pinched his nose and drank all of the blue goo in one gulp. He fought the urge to vomit out the terribly smelling stuff.
"Ugh," he wiped the tears from his face, careful not to touch his red eyes, "Nasty. Anyway, where was I?"
Cremia took the bottle from him and went into the next room to set it on the kitchen table. She returned and sat down on the wooden chair next to his bed. "You mentioned a Princess before you started coughing," she said.
"Oh. Right," Zak cleared his throat, "Princess Zelda is her name. Long ago, in a brutal fight against an evil king from another nation, she met my father, Daku. I'm not sure of the exact circumstances, but he ended up saving her life. Zelda and my father became close friends from then on. He was allowed to come and go as he pleased into the castle, something the evil king admired about my father. My father was trained by Zelda's bodyguard, Impa, until well into adulthood. The princess felt that there was a need for an elite unit of soldiers to help protect Hyrule, so she, my father, and Impa devised a strict training regimen for young Hylians that encompassed all of the skills of every allied race. Specifically, the Zora, the Goron, and the Sacred Forest."
"How young?" Cremia asked.
"Ten years old," Zak replied, "It came as a shock to me, but my father forced me to be the first child to undergo this training. I'm not sure why he chose me, honestly. Anyway, I was sent to the Gorons first. They taught me how to deal with their special crop, how to take a punch, how to handle scorching temperatures, and how to navigate around in caverns." He started coughing again, but not as furiously. Cremia moved to head back towards the potion, but Zak's coughing subsided.
"After that, I was sent to the Zora's Domain," he continued, wincing, "There, I learned how to swim, how to fight with a spear, how to hold my breath for a long time, how to dive, how to survive in the freezing cold, and how to fish. I spent a long time there."
"Wow," Cremia blinked, "That's so cool. I would love the chance to explore the cultures of everyone around here."
Zak smiled, "I must be making it sound easy and fun. Anyway, after that I headed to the Sacred Forest. I learned how to survive on little to no food, how to look past illusions, how to fight the undead, how to commune with nature, and how to deal with horrible situations."
Cremia wrinkled her nose, "Okay, never mind."
"Which, of course, brings me to training with the Hylians. I learned swordsmanship from my father, how to play an instrument from Impa, and how to handle a shield from Zelda," he wheezed.
"Why would the Princess show you how to use a shield?" Cremia asked. Someone knocked on the front door. She headed over and opened it to find a startled-looking Zora. He swallowed, asking to be let inside. Cremia awkwardly obliged, leading him into Zak's room.
"Oh, thank the Goddess!" the Zora exclaimed, "You're alive! Something terrible has happened! Please, come with me to the Great Bay!"
Zak rolled his eyes, "Hold on, now. I'm not going anywhere. Can't you see I'm bedridden?"
The Zora bit his lip nervously, "Come along. I don't know how much longer the green-tunic wearing man can hold out against such a vile beast."
Zak's eyes widened infinitesimally, "A green tunic, you say? Blond hair, blue eyes, armed to the teeth?"
"Yes, that's him," the Zora nodded.
"And did you say that you're here to ask my help with a Zora-looking monster?" Zak asked.
He nodded, "Why, yes. I am. Did I say that?"
Zak pushed himself up out of bed and grabbed his tunic. Cremia rushed over to stop him, but was easily brushed off by his strong arms. He outfitted himself with his sword, shield, and spear. Zak grabbed both of his hookshots before relieving the Zora of his own.
"The guy who is taking care of your monster will be fine," Zak said sternly, "What he'll need help with is what's coming next. Mind waiting in the barn outside? Me and the miss here need to talk." Bewildered, the Zora walked out and headed towards the barn. Zak fastened the shield to his back.
"Care to tell me what's going on?" Cremia asked, not expecting an answer.
Zak sighed, "The green tunic wearing guy is... he's an acquaintance of mine. He's usually not this early, though."
"Usually?"
"Can't talk," Zak said over his shoulder while dipping three bottles into Cremia's blue goo concoction, "I've got to run."
Link jumped back as several spikes stabbed into the sand where he had been standing. He managed to block a few more that the monster had fired like boomerangs at him head on. A few more flew around in wide arcs, forcing Link to use a quick spin attack with his sword to bat them away. The monster let out a horrifying screech and charged at him. Link launched several bombs around it, forcing it to jump at him. He rolled forward, leaving several bombs in his place. As it came crashing down, the bombs exploded, sending it airborne. Link backflipped, narrowly avoiding his own bombs, and aimed a careful arrow at the monster. It fired another barrage of fins at him, and he fired straight through them. The monster fell to the sand in a big block of ice. Link hid behind his shield, using it to deflect the monster's last attack.
As he headed for the ice block, the monster erupted out of it, firing spines all over the place. Standing too far away, Link wasn't hit by any of the spines. He pulled out a bomb and fastened it to one of his arrows. The monster charged at him, and he took careful aim. It pounced right as he fired the bomb arrow at it. The monster's body was flung into the far rock wall, crashing down in a heap. Link pulled out his ocarina and played Zak's Song. Its body faded away, revealing a spirit that drifted up skywards. The light took the form of a tattooed Zora.
"Hey, it's you," the Zora said with a smile, "The kid who helped me out of the water. I never thought I'd see you again. Hey, thanks for everything. Goodbye, kid." The Zora's spirit turned into a shimmering white ball of light that drifted skywards before fading away. Link put his ocarina to his lips and played another song. White wings erupted out of his back and he disappeared, reappearing in front of the ranch house right as Zak left it.
The two of them stared at one another for a little while, unblinking. Zak swallowed nervously. Link furrowed his brow.
"Zak?"