Hello folks, it's time for Chapter 66! While things are going pretty well for out heroes so far, we all know that doesn't last for long!
The Zora Grand Prix race eventually ended with Zopem winning, while Link barely won out against Ruto. After the three had all arrived on the shore, the Gerudo girls quickly gathered around and congratulated the three of them on their effort.
"Heh, sorry I couldn't win the race girls." Link said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.
"Nah, don't worry about it." Nabooru grinned, "This was better for our alliance then you winning, participation was more important then anything."
"Zahahaha! It was a fine race, Link!" Zopem said wearing a gold medal around his neck, he slapped the young Hylian across the back, causing him to almost stumble over, "I even saw you back there helping out Princess Ruto during it, thanks again for looking out for her!"
"Hmph, I didn't need saving or anything!" Ruto said, turning her head away and pouting, obviously still sore about falling so far behind in ranking, "And I won't lose next year, I'll have you both know!"
"That was pretty cool of you winning over King Link, Mr. Zopem." Ifemi said, twirling her finger in her hair and batting her eyes, "I was thinking maybe you and I could celebrate tonight by letting me treat you to some nice drinks and dinn-"
"No." Zopem said flatly, causing Ifemi to fall to the her hands and knees in defeat.
"Wow, shot down instantly." Nemisa said sweatdropping as she tried her best to comfort her friend.
Shortly after that, Link, Ruto, Nabooru, Aviel, Nemisa, and Zopem went on their way over to the large white brick shrine at the far end of the beach to see about the rite the zora princess was to take part in. Reirousa, Sovan and Ifemi had went to go check out the food stands while Togau went with Saria and Sarami went to see what the stores had stocked to discuss possible trading with Gerudo Valley.
"Hey, what's that going on over there?" Aviel asked, noticing a number of zora coming to the coastline. They were all carrying numerous boxes and setting up tent stands, "Are they opening more stores?"
"Hopefully not, we're both out of souvenir money already." Kesuta said, walking up to the group with Korume, the two of them holding numerous shopping bags. Korume was using a free arm to hold a large stuffed dolphin plushie she purchased.
"Kukuku, this is so cute..." Korume said, nuzzling against the plush, "I would have gotten you one too Nemisa, but this was the last one in stock."
"Oh it's okay, I got plenty of-" Nemisa cut herself off, "Wait, how do you know about that?!"
"Know about what Nemisa?" Aviel asked, the rest of the group aside from Link not being aware of Nemisa's love of plushies.
"N-Nothing!" Nemisa said blushing.
"That group of zoras must be the ones that'll be participating in the cooking competition later today." Zopem said.
Ruto just stared out at them and gulped a bit nervously.
"Neato, a cooking competition?!" said Aviel with a bit of drool hanging rom her mouth, "Think they'd let Sovan join it? She'd probably win easily!"
"I'm afraid not, as good as her cooking is, this competition this is for something a little more... important." Ruto said hesitantly, she took a moment to look out at the shrine they were close to approaching.
"Important how?" Link asked.
Ruto sighed, "Well, it's a competition to determine who's going to become the new head chef of my dietary needs once I become the Zora Queen. Daddy insisted we do this now so they can be ready for after I complete the rite. In fact, I'll be the one judging the cuisine myself."
"Oh is that so, you'll be taste testing all the food they prepare?" snickered Kesuta, "Just don't go too far with the judging or you might need a tailor to let out your new queen's robes!"
Ruto flinched and stopped in her tracks, looking to Kesuta in annoyance.
"Grrr... you watch your mouth before I have to wash it out!" Ruto shouted, spraying Keutsa lightly in the face with a water shot.
"Gack!" Kesuta said spitting out the water, then flicking her finger and conjuring a small flame, "You wanna try something Princess Caviar-Breath?!"
"Hraaah! You dare insult our Princess like that?!" Zopem boomed at Kesuta, towering over the fire mystic with a fierce look in his eyes.
"Aaah! Sister, save me!" sobbed Kesuta hugging her Korume.
"Oof, like I'm going to get you out of this mess you started." Korume said, pushing her away with one finger.
After Link and Nabooru calmed everyone down, the group eventually approached and entered the shrine. It was a rather large and spacious place, with statues of female zoras holding jugs that poured water into fountains, the walls were decorated with colored tiles that depicted various zora women, and at the very back of the shrine was a large pool of water with a small fountain in front of it.
"Oh wow, check this place out!" Aviel said stepping up ahead of the group.
"Halt! Just who are all of you to enter this sacred place?" a zora guard shouted, brandishing a spear at Aviel, who frantically held up her arms to surrender.
"It's okay, they're my family." Ruto assured the guard, making him bow and back off, "Welcome everyone to the Shrine of Lophela! This is one of the places besides the Water Temple where we worship our water goddess, and it's also where I'm going to be performing my rite of passage to become the illustrious Zora Queen!"
"Impressive!" Nabooru said, looking up at the tile pictures of the zoras, "So I take it these were the previous queens?"
"Yes, that one you're looking at is Queen Fuphana, she's the one who decided we should take up residence in the waterfall basin known as Zora's Domain." Ruto said, then started showing off the others, "And this the great Queen Atuvu, who first started the idea of the Zora allying with the Hylians..."
As Ruto ran off the various queens, Link took a glance at her and saw the serene look in her eyes. It seemed as though she had a great admiration for her ancestors.
"Oooh! Who's this one Ruto?" Aviel asked, looking at one particular picture. The zora was light blue colored with a slight purple and teal tint to her, "She kinda looks like you!"
"Y-Yes..." Ruto said with a bit of unease in her tone, "That's because she was my mother... Queen Louruta."
"Oh my, she was so beautiful..." Nemisa said softly, before looking to Ruto with a light smirk, "She must have been a fine mother for you to turn out the way you did Sister Ruto."
"Yeah... sure she was..." Ruto whispered, the others looked to the princess confusingly. Link was about to speak to her when someone else spoke up.
"Well, hello there Princess Ruto, I see your friends are here too!" spoke up a somewhat flamboyant voice. Everyone turned to see a new Zora approach them, it was a broad-chested male zora, with head fins that ran down his back, his scales a yellow and orange color, and he was wearing a blue robe.
"Pleased to meet you all, I'm Hemeron, head mystic of the zora royal family!"
Link and the others went ahead and gave their introductions. The Gerudo King took a glance at Zopem out of the corner of his eye and saw Ruto's personal bodyguard looking a little awkward at the mystic before them. But before he could inquire about it, Mystic Hemeron got right up into Link's face and gazed directly at him.
"Hmmm... HMMMMM..." Hemeron muttered, leaning forward and looking Link over, "So you're Princess Ruto's big strong husband-to-be she's spoken about? The Gerudo Kiiing?"
"Um... yes!" Link said, standing upright, "I intend to marry her when the time is right, but we all agreed that it won't be until my fiances are assembled and ready! I... uh, hope you can understand that Mystic Hemeron."
"Yes, yes, yes... I totally understand! A handsome man like yourself shouldn't just be held by just one woman!" Hemeron laughed.
"Uh huh..." Link said sweatdropping.
"But before you dooo marry our princess..." Hemeron muttered, looking Link over, "I think I need to judge you for myself. I've been training Princess Ruto with her water techniques for quite a while now, and with her being my young ward, I'm concerned for her well-being. So I need to make sure you're going to be a proooper man for her..."
Link put his guard up and nodded, "Fine, I'm ready to take on any challenge you present me with."
"Very well theeen." Hemeron nodded.
It was then the zora mystic's eyes gave off a gleam, as he suddenly stepped behind Link, reached downward and groped the Gerudo King's rear end.
"GACK!" Link exclaimed with his eyes as wide as dinner plates, "What the hell was that?"
"Hmmm... yes, nice and firm! You definitely pass as far as I'm concerned!" Hemeron said, sporting a big sharp toothy grin and a thumbs up.
Two seconds later, Hemeron was laying in the ground face-first with multiple bumps on his head, given to him by Nemisa.
"Touch my husband like that again and I'll crush you harder!" Nemisa shouted.
"Ouhohohoo... so sooorry..." Hemeron muttered from the sand.
Ruto let out a sigh, "I apologize Link, Hemeron is a skilled mystic and teacher, but he can be a bit... odd at times."
"I gathered." Link said in annoyance, rubbing his rear.
"He doesn't do that to the others, does he Mr. Zopem?" Aviel asked, looking up at Ruto's bodyguard, only to see he was completely paralyzed, with a distant look in his eyes.
"I... don't want... to talk about it..." Zopem muttered with a shudder.
"Alright, so you've seen how nice Link's butt is, I could have told you that. Now care to tell us what this whole rite is about? Ruto is our beloved sister, so we'd like to know what she's going to be doing in it." Nabooru spoke.
"Of cooourse, allow me to explain!" Mystic Hemeron said standing up again, squirting some water in his mouth to clear his throat, "Now then, the ceremony that Princess Ruto will be participating in is to enhance her magical abilities over water and light. It's something that all the females in her bloodline can potentially perform, it's one of the reasons why her family are the royals of our people!"
"Mystic Hemeron is the one who taught me the basic water techniques I know over the past years, it was to help prepare myself for this rite." Ruto explained.
"As for today, the rite involves Princess Ruto bathing in the sacred waters formed within that pool over there." Hemeron said, gesturing to the large pool at the end of the shrine.
"I see, and that will grant Ruto her abilities?" Nabooru asked.
"Yes, it's a tradition that dates back to the time of our earliest ancestors, founded by the Ancient Sage of Water." Hemeron said, "Me and my mystics will perform a prayer to the goddess Lophela to infuse Princess Ruto with a portion of her great power, making her into the lovely new Zora Queeeen!"
"Amazing, it's one thing for us Gerudo mystics to receive messages from our desert goddess, but to be blessed with a portion of her power sounds amazing." Korume gasped.
"So how does Ruto getting a new chef during that competition come into this then?" Link asked
Hemeron frowned a little, "Well that's where it gets a bit unusual, you see when the princess is given the power from the water goddess, it can be difficult for them to properly contain it from within. The power she gets from the rite requires a great amount of energy, and it has a significant effect on the princesses' metabolism and appetite. In order to sustain her power, she needs a large amount of specifically prepared food to fuel her body until her power is fully stabilized."
"Wow, that sounds kind of... difficult." Nabooru said.
"And that's what the winner of the competition is going to be for then? To prepare Ruto's new diet?" Link asked.
"That's correct sweetie!" Hemeron said clapping his hands together.
"Don't call me that." Link said narrowing his eyes.
"Heh, so that's what it's all about then?" Kesuta asked Ruto with a smug look, "You're going to get as big as your daddy then?"
Kesuta was hoping to get another flustered look on the zora princess' face, but instead she saw the pained, distant look on the zora princess instead. She didn't look angry at all, but rather was looking uneasy at Link without him noticing. Kesuta frowned a bit, but before she could say anything, she felt a murderous aura, and turned to see Zopem glaring down at her darkly.
"You just don't learn your lesson, do you maiden?" Zopem muttered, cracking his knuckles.
"EEP!" Kesuta squeaked out, hiding behind Nemisa.
"Hm, I think I see now why you're so insecure about your weight Ruto." Korume said sympathetically.
"..." Ruto didn't say a word in response, but Link went ahead and put an hand on her shoulder to try and comfort her.
"It's okay, it's not like what you think!" Hemeron said, "In order to contain her power, she must bathe in that pool with water purified with one of our people's greatest treasures, the Smooth Pearl. It releases magical water from that fountain there, and pours into the pool Ruto will be in, and will help stabilize her form!"
"So that's how it works? Interesting." Korume said, "And the diet she'll be put on will help in that as well?"
"Preciiiously!" nodded Mystic Hemeron, "Now Ruto, if you please, go along with the mystics so they can get you ready for the rite!"
"O-Okay..." Ruto nodded, "Zopem, can you please lend your aide to me during the preparations?"
"But of course my princess." Zopem nodded, following after the princess and the mystics.
When they had all left, Mystic Hemeron clapped his hands together again and smiled.
"Now while she's off doing that, anything I can help you folks wiiith?" he asked.
"There is something actually." Nabooru stepped up, taking a moment to look at the mural of Queen Louruta, "If you don't mind me asking, what exactly was it that happened to Ruto's mother? I've heard rumors on the grape vine that she was assassinated, but I haven't been able to get Ruto to tell us anything."
Everyone's eyes widened at this news, especially Link and Kesuta. Ruto had mentioned before to Link that her mother died long before the two of them met, but he had no idea that she was murdered.
He turned to see the giddy and flamboyant zora looking quite somber and serious all of a sudden as he spoke, "Well, that's correct. Our Queen was killed, back when sweet little Ruto was only eight..."
"That was about two years before I met her." Link said, rather alarmed by this news.
Hemeron explained, "One day, our people were approached by a religious group from a faraway land who wanted the late queen's assistance in their goals. Apparently they had gained knowledge of how the Zora Queen is infused with the power of the goddess Lophela and they wanted to learn more about the process. Of course, since the rite is sacred, we would never disclose it to people we didn't trust."
"Just... who were these people...?" Nabooru asked raising an eyebrow.
"They called themselves... The Order of Reyahm." Mystic Hemeron said, looking downwards and narrowing his eyes.
"Reyahm? Where have I heard that name before...?" Korume muttered in thought.
Link's eyes widened, "Ah, that's the group the rebel Nilonu taught us about back when me and Saria were trapped in that schoolhouse! The ones the prince of Fargent defeated!"
Hemeron nodded, "Good thing he did too. That group believed the gods of our world are unfit for their positions, and their goal was to destroy them and replace them with new gods and goddesses."
"That's insane!" Nemisa gasped, "And they tried to get Ruto's mother involved in this?"
"Yes, they wanted Queen Louruta to replace the water goddess Lophela since she had mastered the power she obtained. The queen naturally refused, but that didn't stop the Order from attacking our people to get the secret of our rite. We placed Queen Louruta, King Zora and Ruto under protection by our most elite knights and went into battle. While we were able to drive them back; in all the dreadful chaos, the queen was fatally injured by a surprise attack that had poisoned her." Hemeron sighed.
"That's awful..." Aviel said sadly.
"Normally we Zora are pretty resistant to poisons, but this particular one was enough that not even our great queen could withstand it, even with her divine power..." Hemeron said sadly.
"It's okay, we'll take it from here Hemeron," spoke up a familiar voice, as everyone turned to see Ruto and Zopem standing there.
Princess Ruto was now done up in a beautiful loose purple and white silk robe, with sashes hanging off her wrists, and jewelry around her forehead and neck. Link's jaw practically dropped to the ground at the sight of his future zora wife.
"Wow Ruto..." Aviel smiled widely and her eyes sparkled, "You look so pretty in that gown!"
"Ohohohoho! But of course I do! I look great in just about anything, don't I?" Ruto laughed out.
"Ah... princess, forgive me for stepping out of liiine!" Hemeron spoke frantically.
"It's fine Hemeron, they're my family, and they deserve to know what happened as well." Ruto nodded.
"I was just a teenager back when it happened, but that tragedy affected us all greatly, especially Sir Titas." Zopem said.
"Sir Titas? Who's that?" Link asked.
"He was the captain of the royal guard at the time. He had been put on guard duty for the royal zora family during the battle against the Order of Reyahm, but they still managed to get in a sneak attack. Titas was so devastated by his failure to protect the queen that he left our kingdom out of disgrace." the zora bodyguard sighed sadly, "I looked up to that man; he was the one who inspired me to become a soldier before I ended up becoming Princess Ruto's bodyguard."
"I barely even remember all the details of that myself, I was just too scared." Ruto spoke sadly, "Nothing could be done for Mother, and when she was on her death bed, she gave me her treasure, the Zora's Sapphire, and asked me to give it to a great man that I would choose to marry." she took a look at Link and smiled warmly, "A man who was both courageous and kind, and someone who would protect me no matter what."
Link blushed lightly, now having more of an understanding behind how devoted she was to him, and how much of a fool he was to treat her the way he did before. Back when he was younger he was always weirded out by Ruto's flirtiness towards him, as she was a half-fish creature and he was a Hylian, and a relationship between them could never work out, but during his time traveling and being with the Gerudo, his eyes opened up much more to the world, and when they reunited back at Lake Hylia, he found himself falling for his old friend after all.
"Thank you for telling us all of this." Nabooru said bowing, "I know it must be hard to reminisce on a past like that."
"Not a problem, Nabooru." Ruto smiled, "It actually feels good to get that off my chest to you all."
"Heh... yes..." Nabooru nodded, seeming to be lost in thought herself.
"Well then, it's time to cheer up now, and move on to the next part of the rite!" spoke up a new unfamiliar voice. Everyone turned to see where Mystic Hemeron was a second ago, but instead there was a zora who was very different. While resembling Hemeron in many ways, this zora had a slightly more daintier figure, with large breasts and hips, and full lips. She also wore the exact same robe that Hemeron was wearing.
"Huh, who is this?" Link asked, looking around, "Where did Mystic Hemeron go...?"
"Oh sweetie, you're that worried about little ol' meee?" the zora asked in amusement.
"...WHAT?" everyone aside from Ruto and Zopem shouted.
"Wait a minute, what's going on here? Who are you?" Nabooru asked.
"Hee hee, I'm Mystic Hemeron of course!" the woman said doing a curtsy, "This is just my other self!"
"Huh?! What the hell are you talking about?" Link exclaimed.
"Allow me to explain." sighed Ruto, "Mystic Hemeron is a subspecies of zora known as a striped clown zora. Clown fish have a natural ability to adjust their gender and reproductive traits to suit their population. Hemeron just tends to randomly change back and forth."
"That's so weird." Aviel said. She looked back over to Zopem who was burying his face in his hands, looking incredibly traumatized.
"It's part of what makes me, meee!" giggled Hemeron, now hugging Link around his arm, making sure his arm was squeezed behind her breasts.
"I don't care if you're a man or woman, I'll crush you again if you don't let go of him!" Nemisa shouted clenching her fist, making Hemeron back up from Link.
"Sorry sorry sorry!" Hemeron said frantically.
Zopem at that moment couldn't help but have an admiration for Nemisa being so defensive of her husband.
Hemeron and the mystics had final preparations to make before the rite, so they made everyone leave until it would officially start. While the others went to go do some shopping and get some food, Link just decided to hang out outside the shrine to await for the mystics to allow them back in. He looked out at the beach to the zora tourists enjoying themselves, then out to the tranquil waters of the ocean, and he took a sigh of bliss, thinking about the day he and Ruto would soon marry... that is of course if he could earn the proper respect of King Zora...
After some time though, he heard a voice speak out to him.
"Oh good, you're still here Link... listen, can we talk...?" spoke up Ruto, still clad in her rite robes, walking up to her husband-to-be.
"Is it okay for you to be out here?" Link asked.
"It's fine, I just wanted to chat a little before we start the rite." Ruto said.
"Okay, I have to admit I'm glad to know where you got that power of yours now. Remember back when we were involved in that one incident along with Darunia?" Link said, "You were really a big help."
"Ohohohohoh, of course! I'll never forget that!" Ruto laughed, "I was so happy to see you again, we met so many great friends during all that, and I got to go all-out with my abilities!"
"Heh, yeah." Link grinned, "Darunia said something similar when I met with him a few months back."
"What about that power you held?" Ruto then asked with concern, "Were you ever able to find out what happened to it...?"
"No, I didn't." Link frowned, "At least I don't think so..."
"I see..." Ruto sighed.
"Something else on your mind?" Link asked.
"Well... I suppose it's about that whole thing with me becoming the future queen..." Ruto said, "Back when I was growing up I was rather lonely. Mother wasn't really able to make much time for me, as she was busy with her work as the Zora Queen, namely working on forging a proper alliance with the king of Hyrule. I tried to make friends with the zora children, but they always kept their distance because of my status as the princess."
"Huh, I never knew that..." Link said.
"One day I wandered out to Lord Jabu Jabu's lake, just when he was eating a fish snack, and I was sucked into his mouth. It was scary at first, but during the time I was in there I took a liking to it, and playing in his belly gave me an outlet for my loneliness, I felt like he was the only one I could consider a true friend."
"That explains a lot about why you like doing that so much." Link realized.
"After Mother died though, I started isolating myself more and more... wondering if I had anything to look forward to in the future..." she then smiled lightly, "But then I met you Link. At first I thought you were just some annoying bratty commoner, but then you demonstrated just how brave and kind you were... And for the first time, my heart skipped a beat, and I knew you were the man I would want to marry as mother wanted me to."
Link blushed lightly at Ruto as she continued to speak to him,
"I understand Mother was straddled with a lot of responsibility as queen, and I don't blame her for not having much time for me... but that's what's bothering me more then anything. When I complete this rite and become the queen, and you and I eventually have children together... I'm wondering if I'll be able to become a proper mother for them, or if I'll have to neglect them as my own mother did to me, all of them feeling like I was as a child..."
"So that's it..." Link frowned, he had a feeling this sort of thing was bothering her for some time, as he recalled when she was distraught over trying to hold Maifeki's baby back during his birthday party months ago.
"Listen Ruto, I-" Link stated, but was cut off.
"There you are Princess!" spoke out a loud voice, turning out to be the currently female Mystic Hemeron, "I told you not to leave the shrine! Now hurry-hurry, it's time for the riiite!" she turned to Link and said, "You all can come in and watch, but don't interfere, okay sweeeetie?"
"Sorry Link, we can continue this later!" Ruto said as she was pulled in.
"Sure, okay." Link muttered. After she was taken inside, he sighed and went off to go gather everyone else.
Link, Nabooru, Aviel, Nemisa, Saria, Zopem and the rest of their friends had all gathered into the shrine to watch Ruto's rite of passage. The zora princess stood before Mystic Hemeron, who read off a scripture from a book. Ruto took one last look at everyone, especially to Link, before she stepped into the shallow pool and knelled down in it. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes and started going into prayer. Hemeron and the other mystics started reciting prayers of their own while pouring sacred oils into the pool around Ruto.
"So this is the rite, interesting..." Nabooru whispered.
"Kinda looks more like she's getting a spa bath then anything." Reirousa muttered.
Link said nothing, but just stared at Ruto, dwelling on the words she spoke to him just before she was hurried inside...
Mystic Hemeron then clapped her hands together, as a bright burst of light came up from the waters of the pool and engulfed Ruto. Link and the group stood in awe as her body began to glow. The light reflected off the pool water, illuminating Ruto's body. Everyone could see new glowing spots on her body lit up, and yet despite all this going on, Ruto managed to retain her poise, still in prayer as the energy flowed around her.
"It's so pretty...!" Aviel gasped out.
"Wow, this power I'm feeling is so strong." Kesuta said with wide eyes.
Link just gazed at his wife-to-be, the light shining on her brought out her beauty even more then normal. For just a moment it sort of reminded him of a certain time in the dark future when he saw Ruto in a fountain room... but rather then the strange uneasy sense of sadness he felt back then, he felt nothing but uplifted now, as she would soon return to his arms as the enw queen, and he would become her husband...
But that was when a loud sound went off outside the shrine, and the group could hear screaming and yelling.
"What was that?" Nabooru asked.
Ruto seemed to flinch for a second at the sound of the explosion, but continued to concentrate.
"Mystic Hemeron, we have bad news!" shouted a Zora guard running up to the shrine, "The coast is being attacked by pirates!"
"Pirates?" Link exclaimed.
"Wha- pirates?! Here and now?" Hemeron panicked, "This is no good! No good! The rite is nowhere near complete, and we can't just cancel it right nooow!"
The group all ran out to go confirm the guard's report. Sure enough, they saw a large wooden ship in the distance, and it was firing cannonballs that exploded as soon as they hit the shore. The tourists were running around wildly in terror of the explosive attacks.
"What the hell, an actual prate attack here?" Nemisa exclaimed.
One zora was fleeing an explosion, before he tripped to the ground face-first. He got himself up a bit, only to see a large figure standing before him. It was some sort of fish creature like the zora, but with a larger bulkier body covered in rough dark green scales. It had creepy yellow eyes, and pink-ish fins sticking out from his head. The creature grinned as he swiped at the zora with razor sharp claws, but he managed to get up and run away in time. The creature was soon accompanied by many more of his kind, all jumping out from the pirate ship and quickly swimming up to the shoreline.
"Yarrharhar! We've come fer yer wares you weak guppies!" shouted one bigger fish person, who wore a large black pointed hat and with mini-cannons strapped to his back, "Alright boys, get to pillaging, and strike down anyone who gets in yer way, in the name of our leader, show em how fish-cious you all are!"
He then thrust his shoulders back, causing two cannonballs to fire out of the mini cannons he wore, which exploding into food stand. The other strange fish creatures all cheered out and ran out to attack the tourists, while the royal zora guards went to battling the pirates to protect them.
"Just what the bahooty are those things?!" Togau asked.
"They're the Zola!" Luva shouted, "They're a subspecies of ours, only stronger, totally ruthless... and like, way uglier!" she stuck her tongue out to emphasize her option on them.
"In the past we used to try and integrate them into our society, but their barbaric nature has made them too difficult to tolerate and so we banished them from our domain. They all left and formed this sort of rogue pirate army, and have been attacking us from time to time." Zopem said angerly, "I've seen that one with the cannons on his back, he calls himself Tokir the Rimfire, and is second-in-command of these fiends."
"They like, say they work for some bodaciously powerful zola named Admiral Krehaul, a ruthless killer and plunderer!" Luva said, "Didn't think they'd try to attack us today!"
Two zora were fleeing from a big group of pirates, when one of the zola inhaled air, and spat out a powerful stream of water, impacting into a male zora and sending him crashing to the ground. Another zola pirate came up and grabbed at the arm of the lady zora, but two guards came up to fight off the pirates while the civilians escaped.
"This is awful..." Saria gasped out.
"Listen King Link, Lady Nabooru, everyone!" Ambassador Oton said hurrying up to the group along with King Zora, "Please come with us to the king's side cabana quarters. You'll be safe from harm there!"
"But what about you guys?" Aviel asked worriedly.
"And what about Ruto?" Link asked desperately.
"Don't worry about us here in the shrine, sweetie!" Hemeron said, "We'll keep the princess safe!"
"Yeah and like, don't worry about us, we can totally fight!" Luva said going into a battle poise.
"Mm-hmm, yes. You all are our honored guests, and this isn't your battle." King Zora said, "We're the ones who banished these zola, and it's our duty to deal with them!"
"Go now your Gerudo highness!" Zopem shouted to Link.
"What do you think Nabooru?" Link whispered, "I want to help everyone, but I don't want to overstep our boundaries with King Zora."
Nabooru just stared out at the zola pirates and narrowed her eyes. She saw the cannonballs rain down, and the savage nature of the pirates, attacking and stealing without mercy.
"No... we're not going to stay out of this." Nabooru said, getting the attention of King Zora, Oron, Zopem and Luva, "This is just like what we Gerudo used to do as thieves... looting and attacking the innocent... causing the people of Hyrule so much pain... Ganondorf may have been the main cause of it, but our old ways are what truly led to our banishment."
In that moment Nabooru thought about a time when she was on her hands and knees in a destroyed town, tears running down her face as she looked up to see a powerful being standing over her.
Nabooru clenched her fist, before unsheathing one of her scimitars and pointing it outward, "Everyone, ready your weapons, we're all going to fight the pirates as well!"
"But we don't want you all to get hurt Lady Nabooru!" Oton shouted frantically.
"Fear not, you're our allies now, and because of that, your enemies are ours." Nabooru said with a smile.
"That's right!" Link shouted, pulling out his Hero's Sword and Hotaig's Shield, "You heard her girls, we need to protect our friends and allies, and allow our sister Ruto to complete her rite! Everyone attack!"
"Yeah!" the others shouted out, as Aviel spread her wings and flew into battle with her crossbow, Nemisa cracked her knuckles and charged in with her fists, Saria took out her Deku Staff and ran at the zola herself, Togau brought up her fists and shouted out, transforming into her Lynel form and running at the pirates brandishing her hand ax. Reirousa pulled out her warhammer and stomped into battle, while Kesutaa and Korume got on their brooms and flew at the pirates, conjuring their respective fire whip and ice spears to attack them. Ifemi unsheathed her sword, while Sovan jumped onto her Spinner device and pulled out her chain whip.
"Please escort me to your medial facility here so that I can aide your doctors!" Sarami told Oton, replacing her sunglasses with her normal eyeglasses, "I'll well versed in zora health care!"
Oton was stunned, but then turned to some guards, "Y-You heard her, give her a hand!"
"Are... you sure about this King Link?" King Zora asked.
"Of course! Like Nabooru said, we're your allies now, and we Gerudo never turn our backs on any of our people or our friends!" Link said with determination, "Now get to safety and we'll protect all of the zora, and Ruto!"
King Zora's eyes widened, before he nodded and was escorted off by his guards to his private quarters.
With that, Link, Nabooru and the Gerudo all charged into battle against the zola pirates. Just as one zola was about to cut down a zora girl,he screamed out in pain and fell to the ground from Link slashing him across the back, while Nabooru flipped through the air and slashed through another with her twin blades.
"Wha- who the halibut are you guys?!" asked one zola.
"I'm King Link of the Gerudo," Link introduced himself, "And you're not hurting anymore of our allies!"
"Surrender now or we'll strike you down like your little friends!" Nabooru said coldly, standing alongside Link.
"Oh my cod, they cut down Gilson!" exclaimed a zola.
"That's it, ready your weapons and krill them all!" shouted another.
Link paused for a second at he strange puns the pirates said, before shaking it off and bringing up Hotaig's Shield to block off the two pirates' attacks. He then brought back his sword and pulled off a spin attack to slash away the two. A large zola came at him with a club, but Link quickly side-flipped out of the way and punched him in the side with his shield, before slashing at him with his sword.
Nabooru blocked a claw attack by one zola, forcing the pirate backwards before slicing him across the chest. Two zola attacked her from different angles, but she ducked down so they missed with their attacks, and she swung up her swords, slashing them both away.
Aviel took to the sky and fired her arrows down on the pirates. Some tried shooting water at her, but she quickly swooped out of the way, then switching to her bomb arrows and firing them at the sand around the pirates, and the explosions sent them all flying.
Sovan rode in on her Spinner, creating dust clouds in the sand, the zola were blinded by the blast of sand grains in their eyes, as she swung out her chain, wrapping around the neck of one and sending him bashing into another.
Nemisa meanwhile leaped through the air, jumping off the head of a pirate and landing down into the center of a group of the zolas. They all charged at her, one lunging at her with a spear, but she kicked the weapon away and punched the pirate in the face. One zola lunged at her with it's sharp teeth and bit down on her wrist, but the steel band she was wearing held firm, allowing her to punch the zola in the face, shattering it's teeth and knocking it over.
"Aaah!" What's a Lynel doing here of all places?!" exclaimed a panicked pirate.
"Take that ya fishie freaks!" Togau said, charging into battle in her Lynel form, thrusting her horns forward and sending a group of pirates flying. She blocked an attack by one zola, before slashing them down with her ax. Another tried shooting a water blast at her, but she shouted out a Lynel's Roar, the sound wave blasted the water away and impacted into the pirate and his allies and sending them flying.
Zopem meanwhile charged in with his battle staff, decking one pirate before jabbing another one with a thrust attack. Another bulkier one came up from the side and he blocked it's attack. The two struggled to try and overpower each other, but the zola then gagged out in pain before falling over dead, as Ifemi had just impaled him in the back with her sword.
"Nice work miss!" grinned Zopem.
"No time for flirting, we got pirates to fight!" Ifemi laughed, as the two went back into battle.
In another area, Sarami and the medical staff were tending to the injuries of the zora they had saved from the pirates in a medical tent. Sarami took a second to wipe her brow, before going back to work on her patient.
"There they are! Go for the injured ones and cut them down!" she then heard some pirates shout, and turned to see a bunch of them charging at the tent.
"Aaahh!" exclaimed a zora doctor, "The pirates are coming!"
Dr Sarami just narrowed her eyes coldly, and quickly chucked out some bottles of green chu jelly potion out at the zola, spilling out the contents onto the ground. As the zola ran over the jelly, it instantly bound their feet to the ground, leaving them all immobile by the sticky substance
"Huh? What's this?" asked a pirate, trying to pull his legs out from the goop, but it clung to them firmly.
"Fu-fu-fufufu... I'll leave them to you, sweetie." Sarami giggled darkly as she adjusted her glasses.
The zola looked at each other in confusion about what she meant, then noticed a shadow looming over them, and they looked up to see Reirousa staring down at the pirates.
"Sup?" Reirousa said, holding her warhammer.
The pirates were downright terrified of her intimidating look as Reirousa brought down her weapon and started bashing and smashing them all around.
"Back off you monsters!" Saria shouted at a zola, before bashing it away with her staff. She was protecting a small group of zora children who had been separated from their parents during the panic. The Kokiri pulled up her staff to block a sword swing by a pirate, then decking him in the face. She then shot out some vines to bind the pirate's arms and made it drop the sword. More pirates came at her, but she spun her staff to produce spiked deku nuts and bash them all away.
"T-This is a-trout-cious, we can't fight these guys!" a zola exclaimed as he helplessly watched his comrades getting pulverized.
"Yeah, even their children have powerful magic!" said another zola gesturing to Saria.
"I'm not a child!" Saria shouted at the zola in frustration as she was fending off another one.
"We got them beat in numbers, let's just ambush em!" shouted a pirate, running out to attack Saria, before he was blasted by a surge of fire, causing him to fall backwards into a smoldering heap.
"Keeheehee! That won't be happening you cowardly little fishies!" Kesuta said flying in on her broom, sending a barrage of fireballs down on the zola, making them run away. She then heard a scream and turned to see a pirate attacking two zora.
"Greheheh, now I got you!" the zola said, lumbering up a zora lady who was defending her boyfriend that had been attacked by the pirate. He brought up his claws, and swung them down at the zora woman, but that was when something stopped him in his tracks.
"Huh?" the zora lady and her boyfriend both looked up to see something blue and solid sticking out from the pirate's neck.
"Grk...!" the zola pirate gagged out, having been impaled through the neck by what turned out to be a spear made of pure ice. The Zola then fell to the ground lifelessly, surprising the young couple, but they quickly took the opportunity to escape.
"What the heck? Who did tha-" exclaimed another zola pirate, who was then suddenly killed by a spear flying right into his head. The others quickly looked up to see a blue clothed Gerudo on a broomstick holding spears like what killed their allies.
"Die you accursed bottom feeders." Korume said coldly, firing more ice spears at the Zola pirates, forcing them to all flee or get skewered.
"Sir, we're getting our basses kicked by these Gerudo women!" said a zola pirate to Tokir the Rimfire.
"We've only had experience fighting the zora, but these people are way too much!" said another, "I don't have a good eel-ing about this!"
"Grrr... damn these Gerudo wenches!" Tokir scowled, before turning to the ocean and shouting out, "Hey! We need yer help now!"
"..." the ocean water seemed to shift a bit.
"Do it or you know what will happen!" Tokir said angerly.
"...ugh, okay already! Such a bossy little man!" said a rather large feminine voice, alerting everyone.
"What was that...?" Link asked, looking out at the sea.
Everyone stopped and watched as the water shifted, and emerging out from the ocean was what appeared to be a giant pink round Octorok. It was wearing a green and white striped bandanna on her head, and it's snout had deep red lipstick on it.
"Yeah! Big Momma Octo is here!" cheered a zola.
"Gesososo!" giggled the large Octorok, "You little ones stay back, and let Big Momma handle this!"
With that, Big Momma Octo started spitting our blasts of black ink down at the Gerudo, forcing them to back off. One blast of ink managed to get on a Gerudo guard. It didn't seem to hurt her, but she found her movements were severely slowed down.
"Wha-what?" the guard exclaimed, before being knocked away by the Octo's tentacle. Saria used her Deku Staff to lasso the guard up and pull her to safety before Mama Octo could hit her again.
"The heck? I've never seen a Octorok that huge, or use attacks like that!" Link said.
"I've heard of them, that's a Big Octo. They only hang out in ocean waters, and are quite rare. Their ink supposedly can hamper it's target's ability to move their bodies." Nabooru said, "The question though is why is this one helping the zola...?"
"Either way we gotta fight her!" Togau said, scraping her hoof against the sand and charging forward.
The group charged into battle against Big Momma Octo, who brought her tentacles up into the air and started smashing them down on the beach, forcing everyone to instead scatter. One impact sent Nemisa flying, but Aviel caught her in midair and the two landed down by Link and Nabooru.
"This thing's really tough!" Aviel gasped.
"I'll make that damn thing into sushi!" Nemisa said snarling, smashing her fist into her palm, as she broke from Aviel's grip and charged back into battle against the Octo. Nemisa leaped over a tentacle swipe, before flipping and kicking Big Momma Octo across the face.
"Oh you naughty child, Momma's gonna give you a spanking!" Big Momma Octo said, as she started spinning with her tentacles out, moving so fast she started hovering in the air, before shooting right at the group, bashing into them and sending them all flying.
"Jees, she packs a wallop." Reirousa groaned, rubbing her head.
"Geeeesososo! Momma sure showed all of you!" laughed the Big Momma Octo.
"That's it, I'm gonna roast her!" Kesuta shouted, igniting her hands with fire and taking to the sky on her broom, bringing down a barrage of fireballs on their opponent.
"Yeow! Yeeoow! Hot hot hot!" Big Momma Octo screamed out, flailing around on fire. She tried to crush the group with a tentacle, but Togau leaped up and slashed it off with her hand ax, "Yeooowch! You're lucky those grow back!"
Big Momma Octo inhaled air to fire another blast of ink at the group, but Aviel flew into the air and fired off a barrage of bomb arrows down on the Octo, exploding all around her.
"Ow! Ow! Stop! I need to cool off a bit!" Big Momma Octo shouted, attempting to retreat to the ocean, only to find herself immobilized due to her back tentacles being frozen in ice, "Huh?"
"Kukuku... if it's too hot for you, how abut some ice to chill down then?" Korume giggled, having frozen Big Momma Octo's tentacles with her ice powers. This allowed Link, Nabooru and the others to charge in and fight the creature directly.
"Clam it! Ranged attackers, deal with those witches!" Tokir shouted to a group of zola who saluted and started firing a barrage of water shots at Kesuta and Korume. The two witches tried to avoid the attacks, but Kesuta was shot down by a stray blast of ink from Big Mama Octo, leaving her covered in octopus ink and found she was unable to cast her fire magic very well.
"Ugh... I knew going to the ocean was a bad idea..." Kesuta groaned.
Korume was trying to turn the water shots being fired at her into ice with her magic and repel them back, but the salt in the water being shot was making it harder for her. She then turned to see Kesuta had fallen and was immobilized, by ink. Korume tried to dive down to help her sister, but more water shots came her way, forcing her to go on the defensive.
Link and the others meanwhile were having their hands full fighting Big Momma Octo and the other pirates joining in, the former having broken free of the ice and was now back to attacking them at full force. As Link struck down another pirate, he then heard a shout and turned to see one zola pirate running at Kesuta with a large clever sword.
"Kesuta!" Link shouted, he was about to run to help her, only to be blasted by a spray of ink from Big Momma Octo, knocking him back and slowing down his movement forcing him to focus on defending himself, while the others continued to attack fiercely against both the pirates and the Octo.
"Damnit..." Kesuta groaned, too weak and slow from the ink attack to properly ignite her body, as she looked up at the zola about to hit her with his sword, she closed her eyes tightly to prepare for the attack...
...but that was when a powerful shot of water whizzed through the air and impacted into the zola, causing him to go flying into the sky and impact into the ship's mast, knocking it down into the water with him.
"What the shell?" exclaimed Tokir with wide round eyes, "Who did an attack like that?!"
Everyone stopped fighting and turned in the direction of the water shot that had been fired, it had come from someone standing over at the entrance to the Shrine of Lophela.
"Hey, it's Ruto!" Aviel said, pointing over to the zora princess.
Ruto was sure enough standing outside the shrine in a battle poise. Her body was giving off a brilliant light blue glow from the great power flowing through her, and numerous parts of her body were giving off a deeper blue glow.
"I won't allow you fiends to hurt my people, or my family!" Ruto shouted in anger.
"Ruto..." whispered Kesuta.
"It's the princess, cut her down!" the zola pirates shouted, all rushing right at her.
Ruto however waved her arms in a loop, conjuring water from the air around her, and then fired off a powerful blast forward, impacting into one zola and sending it flying. Another tried to pierce her with his spear, but she simply built up energy in her hand and fired off a burst of light from her hand.
The zola pirate fell to the ground... and the upper half of it's body fell many yards away.
"Oh... my.. goddess..." gasped Nemisa with a hand over her mouth, "Ruto's become so powerful...!"
"Yes, this energy I'm sensing from her... it's simply astonishing..." Korume said with a gasp, "It's almost as if she's truly inherited power from a goddess!"
"T-Then it's just like he warned us..." Tokir muttered to himself with sweat running down his head.
"This ain't good..." muttered a fellow pirate as they saw Ruto slowly walking toward them. Any zola that tried to attack her was quickly blasted away by her strength, winding up either severely wounded or worse, "We're getting schooled here!"
"No problem little ones, Momma will deal with her!" Big Momma Octo shouted, raising her tentacles into the air to crush Ruto, only for a stray beam of light to shoot through a loose strand of her bandanna, leaving a clean hole in it.
Big Momma Octo stood motionless at this, as a huge sweatdrop ran down her head, "O-Oh dear... oh my... I think I've grown ill all of a sudden, little Tokir..."
"Uh... yeah... m-maybe we should scaleback!" Tokir the Rimfire exclaimed, "Retreat!"
With that, Big Momma Octo and all the Zola hightailed it into the ocean, and the pirates all piling onto the ship. The giant octo then spun the ship about-face, and she started pushing it off over the horizon of the ocean quickly until they were out of sight.
"They're gone! We're saved!" exclaimed a relieved Zora.
"All thanks to Princess Ruto, as well as the Gerudo people and their king!" said another.
The people were cheering out wildly for the heroes of the day, with King Zora standing in awe at Ruto's amazing new strength, and how well Link and the Gerudo all fought to protect the people.
"Amazing..." gasped King Zora, "Those Gerudo are so strong... and they all fought to help our people..."
"You see Hauvir?" Oton chuckled, "They're our allies."
"Hm, yes..." King Zora muttered, before suddenly shouting out happily, "But did you all see that? That was my daughter who crushed those zola! I wish I had brought my Pictobox to take pictures!" he turned to one zora servant, "Go fetch us a master artist to draw Ruto in that battle poise! I want to display it in my throne room!"
"Yes, yes, Hauvir, now come on, let's get back to the cabana while your daughter continues her rite." Oton sighed, escorting the raving king back to his cabana so he could calm down.
"Whew, what a rush!" Ruto said triumphantly, looking down at her hand and clenching it, "I feel so much stronger now then ever before!"
"That was amazing Ruto!" Link said, running up to his fiance to embrace her, only to be repealed a bit backwards by her aura, "Uh, guess we can hug after your rite."
"Y-Yes..." Ruto said blushing, "Thank you Link..."
"Princess!" shouted Hemeron, now back to his male self and practically in tears as he ran up to Ruto, "You need to be careful as you are right now, you shouldn't have left the rite just yet!"
"Sorry Mystic Hemeron, but I was not about to let my people or my beloved family get hurt anymore!" Ruto said.
Kesuta ran up to see Ruto, in awe of how she looked in that moment, that she could barely get any words out, "Um, R-Ruto, I... um..." but she lost herself in her words while the others all went to congratulate the princess.
Ruto then spoke out to her servants, "Now with that done, let's get back to the rite! Prepare the Smooth Pearl so I can properly stabilize this power!"
The servants however, were all busy talking to each other worriedly, one was eventually bumped to the front by his comrades, who gulped and meekly spoke to Ruto, "Um... actually there's a... um... problem..."
"And just what is the problem, sweeeetie?" Hemeron asked.
"It's just that... um..." the servant muttered, "The... Smooth Pearl... is currently missing..."
There was silence in that moment, before everyone shouted out a collective "WHAAAT?!"
"What in Lophela's name are you talking about?!" Zopem shouted, grabbing the zora by his arms and shaking him, "What happened?!"
"It-it was during the pirate attack!" shouted the zora, "We were ambushed during the battle and they stole the pearl!"
Ruto's face was heavily paled from this news, and she put her hand to her head, shaking slightly, "N-No..."
"You've got to be kidding me!" Nabooru exclaimed.
"This is bad... really bad!" Hemeron said gulping, "If we don't get that pearl back... Ruto could... could..."
"Uuugh... Link.. I... won't..." Ruto moaned out, as the aura around faded, allowing Link to catch her and did his best to hold her up, everyone looked to see her reacting oddly; her body was shaking and she started making strange noises, "I... feel so... w... wo-up-woup... woup..."
That was when she shouted a loud "WOUP!" as her body's midsection suddenly swelled out ever-so-slightly, with a powerful glow forming within the area.
"Oh goddess Lophela no!" Hemeron exclaimed, "Without the Smooth Pearl to help her control her power, it's starting to get backed up, and making her physically swell!"
"Ruto!" Link shouted with tears in his eyes, as he saw the swelling start to increase, and it wasn't long before Link lost his grip of her and she fell back.
Zopem quickly grabbed Ruto by her arms and carried her into the rite pool. Submerged in the water, Ruto seemed to be in a blank daze. As everyone watched with concern, Ruto slowly looked over to a table displayed a platter of fish cuisine that had been prepared for later. She rose her hand up, firing a burst of water that collapsed the table and sent the food flying upwards and down to the side of the pool, where she started gobbling it up as fast as possible.
"WOUP WOUP WOUP!" Ruto shouted as she ate with no sense of manners whatsoever.
"What's going on?" Kesuta exclaimed, "What is she doing?"
"Her metabolism is being affected by her new power!" Hemeron said in a panic, "She's instinctively trying to sustain herself so she doesn't weaken and...!"
Ruto gulped down a significant portion of the food she had gathered, and it was then her body swelled up a little more, shocking everyone as she went back to eating.
"Without the Smooth Pearl, she'll keep eating, and swelling... if nothing is done then her power could... could... could..." Hemeron said sobbing.
"What? What will happen?" Nabooru shouted.
Hemeron simply spoke, "...could cause our Princess Ruto to explode."
"WHAT?" Link exclaimed, he ran over to Ruto who was still eating, "Ruto please, snap out of it!"
Ruto didn't even seem to hear him, she practically shoved Link out of the way with a burst of water and continued to eat, and every so often her body would swell up just a little more.
"No... Ruto..." Kesuta gasped.
"Damnit, we have to get the pearl back then!" Nabooru shouted, grabbing the zora servant who gave them the bad news, "Where's the pirate's hideout?!"
"I-It's just beyond the beach, out in the old marine base!" the zora said in panic.
"Marine base...?" Nabooru asked.
"Long ago, the royal army of Hyrule had a navel army base far out in the ocean to handle wars overseas. It was abandoned by the Hylians centuries ago, but the Zola pirates have apparently taken it over." Oton said shuffling in a hurry into the shrine.
"Can't your men handle this by simply swimming there?" Nemisa asked.
"We've tried to launch sneak attacks on the base in the past, but the waters around there are filled with Jelectrics; dangerous sea creatures that release powerful electric shocks that are too much for our people!" Oton said. He looked over to Ruto who swelled up a little more, "Oooh.. we can't let King Zora find out about this or he'll go into shock!"
"Well we gotta do something, we have to hurry and help Ruto!" said Aviel in tears.
"Don't worry, we're going to go after those damn pirates and get the Smooth Pearl back!" Link said, then looking to Oton, "Do you have a boat we can use?"
"A boat? Well yes, it would work for getting past the Jelectrics, but we're nowhere near the strength needed to launch a direct attack on the base in the short time we have!" Oton said.
"Then we'll handle it!" Nabooru said, wielding her scimitars, "Gerudo, prepare to sail off and battle against the fiends who did this to our beloved sister!"
The girls all shouted out together with their weapons drawn.
"I'll stay here and see what I can do for Princess Ruto!" Sarami said, running over to Ruto and going through her chu jelly potions to figure out a potential way to help her. She tried applying some cooling gel to Ruto's body as she was too distracting eating.
"I'll do what I can to help Sarami, I'll contact you using my song if anything comes up!" Saria said with her ocarina out.
"As a fellow mystic myself, I'll lead my assistance to whatever you need!" Koume said to Hemeron.
"Get me some of that food that was being made for the competition!" Sovan said to Oton, whipping out her spatula and knife, "I'll cook Ruto up a five-star feast to sustain her!"
"Good, we'll all head out then!" Nabooru said alongside Link, Aviel, Nemisa, Togau, Ifemi, and a few guards, as they along with Zopem all hurried out to where the boat was as Oton instructed.
Kesuta meanwhile, took a worried look at Ruto, and the pain in her eyes as she was suppressing the power inside her, constantly feeding her face, and swelling more and more, the beautiful robe she had been wearing was straining itself, and starting to tear apart.
The mystic looked downcast, thinking back to all the times she would get into petty squabbles with Ruto in the past, namely making fun of her weight...
"Oh is that so, you'll be taste testing all the food they prepare? Just don't go too far with the judging or they might have to let out your queen's robes!"
Kesuta grimaced at her own words, then looked back to see Link and Nabooru rushing off to the boat, before she nodded to herself and took off following after them, "Hey, wait up everyone!"
"Where's Kesuta going?" Saria asked seeing her running off.
Korume turned and looked to see Kesuta, she stared for a second and nodded, before going back to trying to cool down Ruto's body along with Sarami using her ice magic.
"...she's going to help save our dear Sister Ruto."
See? Told you.
Now our heroes are off to the pirates island to reclaim the Smooth Pearl and save Ruto! The question is, what will await them at that cutthroat island, and what will they have to do to save the zora princess...? Find out in Chapter 67 next week!
In case you're curious, the whole concept of Ruto's situation is loosely inspired by the zora queen's situation from Link Between Worlds. I also know in that game the green creatures are refered to as Zora, but I gave them the name 'Zola' to seperate them from the sleek blue ones in Ocarina of Time, and as a reference to their mistranslated name from LoZ1.
Thank you everyone for your continued support and comments! Feel free to leave likes, follows and comments at your leisure!