It's time for chapter 69 now! It's a race to save Ruto from her fate, and it's all on Link and Kesuta to save her! How will he pull it off?
After their victory over the zola pirates and the recovery of the Smooth Pearl, Link and Kesuta arrived at Zora Coast that same night thanks to the speed of Kesuta's flying broom. Upon landing at the coast, the two took off straight for the Shrine of Lophela, where they saw Saria, Dr. Sarami, Korume, Sovan and the zora Mystic Hemeron, the latter of which now in the form of a female zora again, all standing outside and looking quite worried.
"Link...? Hey, Link's back!" Saria exclaimed, pointing him out as he rushed up to the group.
"My love, my sister, you both made it!" Korume said with relief, "Did you recover the pearl?"
"Yeah, we got it!" Link gasped out holding up the Smooth Pearl.
"Splendid sweetie, I could kiss you for this!" Heremon said happily, taking the pearl.
"Please don't." Link said flatly.
"I'll go get it set up for the princess immediately!" Heremon said, running back into the shrine with her fellow mystics to help Ruto.
"Link, just what happened to you?" Sarami exclaimed in panic as she looked over the cuts on his body, "Were you poisoned?!"
"Never mind... me, how's... Ruto doing...?" Link gasped out.
"She's not doing too well, but you arrived just in time!" Saria said, concerned for both Ruto and now Link as Sarami went to work examining him.
"Thank Aifet, I have just the medicine for this type of toxin." Sarami said, "And there isn't nearly as much poison as I would have expected from these cuts, so I should be able to treat this quickly."
Link silently thanked Jonas again for draining his wounds. Sarami worked on treating him of the remaining poison and his cuts, while Korume took to resting Link's head on her lap for comfort.
"Sorry to be a bother about this..." Link chuckled weakly.
"There there my love, rest yourself." Korume said with a small smile as she stroked her future husband's head lovingly, then glanced up to Kesuta. "Sister you did well, you saved both Ruto and Link."
"Y-Yeah, thanks sister." Kesuta said nodding.
After Sarami gave Link the proper treatment to rid his body of the poison, the group went into the shrine to meet with Ruto and the mystics. Upon entering though, Link and Kesuta's eyes widened in shock of what they saw.
Ruto was still in the ceremonial pool, only you probably would be forgiven for not realizing it right away. Her body had swollen so much that it was taking up almost the entirety of the pool. Her arms had even become so swollen into her body that she couldn't reach down to any of the food laying around the pool that Sovan had prepared. She had grown in height as well as width, looking almost fifteen feet tall at that point. Her torso was giving off a very bright glow, with a swift water aura spiraling around it. Some mystics tried to get close to Ruto to help her, but the aura actually repelled them backwards.
"Ruto..." Link whispered.
"Oh my goddess Aifet..." Kesuta gasped out in shock.
"WHOUP WHOUP!" shouted Ruto through her swollen face, not even seeming to notice that Link was back.
"King Link, we have a problem!" Heremon sobbed out.
"What's going on here? I thought the Smooth Pearl was supposed to help Ruto!" Link pointed out.
"That's the thing, we put the Smooth Pearl into the fountain, and it's magic is purifying the pool water, but it's not having any effect on the princess!" Heremon exclaimed in tears.
"I can feel it..." gasped Kesuta, "She surging with such great power right now, but it's getting really dangerous!"
"So why isn't the pearl working?!" Link shouted.
"It took me a while to figure out, but I think it's Ruto herself." sniffled Heremon, looking back at the zora princess, "She's supposed to be suppressing her power at this point, but she can't for whatever reason... something is holding her back!"
Link paused and looked up at Ruto, seeing her thrash around uncontrollably, making those strange loud sounds. Kesuta looked sadly up at her as well, gripping her broom tightly.
"The power and swelling is putting her into some kind of trance. She can't seem to hear us, and anyone who tries to do something for her just gets blasted away by her water power. I can't even come close using my ice magic..." Korume said sadly.
Link paused and clenched his fist, as he took a deep breath, and ran off towards Ruto.
"Link, wait! You shouldn't push yourself just after I treated you!" Sarami exclaimed.
Link just quickly ran at Ruto. Some spouts of water shot down at him, but he rolled and leaped around them. A few shots came at him from the sides, so he used Hotaig's Shield to block them off. Just as he was about to approach Ruto however he was knocked back by the watery aura surrounding her.
He shook off the force, and looked around for any means to make it easier to approach Ruto. It was then he saw a statue near the ceiling overlooking the shrine. He pulled out his Longshot and fired it, attaching to the statue and sending him flying upwards over Ruto. He dropped down at his fiance and landed right on top of her chest area. He slipped a bit on her wet scaly form as he ran right up to her face and threw himself forward, wrapping his arms around what remained of Ruto's neck so he could be right by her head.
"Ruto!" Link shouted, in the hopes of getting through to her, "It's me, Link! Please snap out it!"
"WHOUP! WHOUP!" Ruto shouted through her puffy cheeks, continuing to thrash her body around to try and get what she in that moment perceived as an annoying little pest off her body.
"Ruto, please remember who you are!" Link shouted with his eyes tearing up as she tried to launch him off her body, "You're the princess of the zoras, as well as my fiance, and I'm here to save you!"
Ruto fired high pressured water into the air that came down and impacted on Link, presumably in some attempt to drown the 'pest;' on her body. Link endured the impact but cringed from his wounds. He just kept holding Ruto around her neck, burying his face in her shoulder. Eventually tears started to come out from his eyes and fell onto Ruto's body.
"Please get a hold of yourself Ruto..." Link sobbed out, "I DON'T WANT TO LOSE YOU AGAIN!"
"Again...?" Korume whispered to herself in confusion.
It was then in that moment the water started to slowly stop, Ruto's motions started to slow down, and her eyes flickered for a second in that moment, as she seemed to be faintly processing the words the 'pest' spoke to her. Everything stood still for a brief time, and everyone held their breath wondering what was going to happen to Ruto...
It was then that Ruto's dazed expression started to fade away, as her eyes blinked a few times. Link didn't notice, due to him burying his face into her shoulder, sobbing in fear of the idea of losing her. The watery aura surrounding Ruto died down, and she started breathing slower. Even the powerful glow started to fade a bit.
"...L-Link...?"
The Gerudo King's eyes lit up, recognizing the voice of Ruto, albeit deeper and with more an echo to it. He turned to see her face, and saw her eyes were turned to him, with tears starting to pour down her cheeks.
"Link... what... happened...?" she muttered.
"Ruto... it's you..." Link said, he hugged her tightly, "I'm so glad you heard me!"
"He got through to her!" Heremon said gleefully.
"Oh thank goodness..." Saria sighed out.
"Link... what's... happened to me...?" Ruto whispered, her eyes looking down at her humongous form, "W-What have I become...?"
"Don't worry Ruto, doesn't matter what you've become. You're still my beloved fiance," Link said grinning, wiping the tears from his eyes, "And you're okay now, that's what matters."
"Fiance..." Ruto whispered, she paused on those words, looking back down at herself. After a short while she sighed and spoke to him again, "Link-darling... I don't think I can do it, not anymore..."
"Huh? Why not?" Link asked.
"Because... I'm trying to suppress my power right now... but I can't... I'm not able to shrink back down to my old self..." Ruto sniffled, "I think at this point... I may be stuck like this... forever."
"Ruto, don't think like that!" Link scolded her, "Hemeron said he'd do whatever he could to help yo-"
"I'm serious! How could I possibly be a wife to you like this?! I'm as big as a whale now!" Ruto said in protest, "I look absolutely ugly, you can barely hug me, I don't even think I can move around normally!" she wiggled around in the pool to emphasize this, "I'm nothing but a huge burden the way I am now!"
"That's not tru-" Link spoke, but Ruto continued before he could say anything else.
"Not to mention..." Ruto muttered sadly, "Even if I could possibly have children, I could never be a proper mother for them as I am now..."
Link's eyes widened at Ruto, recalling what she had told him just before the rite, about how insecure she was about the fear of having to neglect her children much like how her mother had to neglect her. He was so focused on it that he didn't see the watery aura was starting to reform in that moment.
'I wonder... if she thought something like this might happen?' Link thought to himself.
Ruto then spoke again, choking out each word as she did, "I'm sorry Link... but I'm afraid the way I am now, we may have to postpone our marriage... indefinitely..."
Link just stared at her, those words she spoke brought back painful memories from a long time ago, and he hung his head down. The whole room remained silent, before Link spoke to her...
"Ruto, just shut the hell up. That's not the way for you to think at all!"
Ruto's eyes widened from hearing that, before narrowing her eyes coldly, as pools of water started to form around her.
"Wha- h-how dare you speak like that to me! Now release me before I make you!" Ruto shouted.
It was then the watery aura around her body fully formed and surged out again, spouts of water started to shoot out everywhere as her waist started to glow again.
"Oh no, her emotions are causing her powers to start going out of control again!" Heremon said in a panic.
"Ruto stop!" Link shouted, gripping onto Ruto.
"Not until you let go and forget about me!" Ruto shouted back with tears flowing down her cheeks.
"Oh no, she's trying to drive Link away from her! We have to do something!" Saria exclaimed. She lashed out some vines from her Deku Staff to try and bind Ruto, but the water just blasted it backwards.
Kesuta meanwhile looked up at Ruto's form, she gulped a bit and took a deep breath, before getting on her broomstick and taking off into the air towards the zora princess.
"Sister wait! You won't stand a chance against Ruto at this point!" Korume shouted.
Kesuta just ignored her sister and flew high into the air, dodging water spouts that shot up from the floor, until one blast came up from below and smacked into her, sending the mystic flying into the air and landing down on Ruto's body.
"K-Kesuta?!" Link exclaimed, "Are you okay?!"
Kesuta just narrowed her eyes, scrambling up to Link's side and came face-to-face with Ruto.
"Ruto, please listen to him!" the fire mystic shouted.
"K-Kesuta?" Ruto exclaimed, snapping out of her rage due to the sudden concern about the mystic taking a direct water attack like that, "N-No, I-I don't want to listen to him, I said I can't marry Link like I am now, I look just dreadful, and I can never be a proper queen, or a mother like this!"
"Grrr... forget the whole queen thing, do you really think Link is that freaking shallow? You think he cares that much about what you look like that he'd leave you for this?! He accepted you even though the two of you are completely different species, he took you as his first wife even though all of us gorgeous girls were practically throwing ourselves at him for months! You two have a close bond together, and that counts more then anything!"
"Kesuta..." Ruto whispered with wide eyes.
"And don't you dare think we're gonna just let you call off your wedding, you're important to all the Gerudo! We told you before that you're family to us, and nothing that happens will ever change that! I and everyone love you Ruto!"
It was then in that moment Kesuta lunged forward and kissed Ruto right on her lips.
The zora princess' eyes widened, with a heavy red blush on her cheeks. Link knelt there with wide eyes of his own seeing two of his future wives kissing. The others all watching were just as shocked.
"O-Oh my..." Sarami gasped.
"I wasn't expecting that." Saria said with a wide stare.
"Kukuku..." Korume just giggled softly at how bold Kesuta was.
Kesuta then broke the kiss and panted out, staring into Ruto's eyes, as tears were running down her cheeks as well now. "Doesn't matter if you can change back or not... we'll never turn our backs on our sister... and me and Link will always love you..."
"She's right Ruto, do you remember that day you and I spoke together at the diner... on the day of the Festival of the Desert Goddess?" Link asked, now finally having an opportunity to speak to her.
"Huh...?" Ruto muttered, she closed her eyes and thought of that wonderful day, when Link battled Zopem to prove his worth to her bodyguard, when she and Link made love for the first time, when he bought her that lovely silver and sapphire necklace...
And it was then she finally remembered what he had said to her at the diner...
Flashback
"Aaah...!" Ruto opened her mouth, motioning for Link to get a taste of the food he had ordered for himself. Before the meal arrived, she had a strict talk with him about taking his time eating so he could savor his meal, though he was pretty sure the main reason was so she could do this. He didn't really mind though, as he lifted a fork of his meal and fed it to her.
"Mmm, very nice." Ruto swooned, "I've always wanted to do this with you!"
"I'm glad you're enjoying it." Link smiled, he didn't really get her desire to be fed by him, but she seemed to enjoy it so much he just went along with it.
"Yes, but I need to be careful with the quality of the food here." Ruto said, cutting a piece of meat from her plate and eating it."If I get carried away I could end up as big as my daddy!" she half-joked.
"Considering that overly vain attitude of yours, I doubt you'd let something that ever happen." teased Link, "But even if it did, I'd still love you the same."
"T-Thank you..." Ruto said with a light blush, then a second later realized what he said, "Hey, who are you calling overly vain?!" Link just laughed in response, causing her to huff out in annoyance.
Snapping back to reality, Ruto's lip quivered, as tears were forming back in her eyes.
"You're my fiance Ruto, and I'll love you no matter what. And don't worry about the children, you and I will figure out a way to make it happen... and when it does, we'll all help you get a chance to be a fine mother for them." Link said smiling warmly, "I swear it."
With that, Link leaned forward and kissed Ruto himself. She practically melted at his warm lips touching her own cold wet ones, she closed her eyes and moaned out a little, as she felt a faint tingling sensation in a place deep down inside the pool. Her body fidgeted with desire for the blonde man laying on her. Link then broke the kiss and the two panted out a little, with a deep blush on both their faces. He reached up and ran a gentle hand across her cheek.
"I'll do whatever I can to help you, and even if you can never change back, I'll take you as my lovely wife just the same." Link repeated to assure her of his words.
"Link.." Ruto whispered, and in that moment her body started to give off a strange glow.
Nobody knew what to think of what was happening to Ruto at first, until Link and Kesuta realized they were starting to slip off her body. It turned out Ruto's body starting to shrink down. Link took Kesuta in his arms and the two slid down the zora princess' body until they landed to the ground in front of her. Link turned with Kesuta still held in his arms as they all watched Ruto's shape change.
Ruto's eyes were closed as she seemed to be focusing; her whole body was giving off a blue glow as the pool water gave off an illuminate shine by the power of the Smooth Pearl's energy going from the fountain and pouring into it. Ruto's body continued to shrink down more and more, and her body was changing in more ways then just becoming slim again...
When the glowing finally ended, Ruto landed to the ground on her toes, as everyone took in the sight of how she looked now;
Ruto now stood about a foot taller then she used to be before the rite, and her pale blue scales had taken on a much lighter and vibrant blue then before. There were also darker blue scales that lined the sides of her arms, legs, the back of her neck down to her waist.
Her head was always known for it's bulbous shape, thought now it was slimmed down quite a bit, with a new fish fin that extended out from the back of her head down to her waist From her forehead down to the end of the head fin was a stripe of shining light blue. She also had long thin fin extensions that hung down the sides of her head down to her chest with a light green and purple tint to the ends.
Her slim arms led down to her webbed fingers, and the fan-like fins on her wrists were now longer and wider then before with shades of light green and purple on the ends that waved gently in the air. Her front chest down to her loins was now colored white which contrasted with her blue skin.
Speaking of her chest, her breasts had grown quite larger then before, and bobbed up and down as she breathed delicately. Her waist was slim once again, but her hips had widened a little bit from before, with two long lovely fins hanging and waving at both sides of her waist. Her legs were long and shapely as usual, with delicate webbed toes.
She then opened her lovely eyes, which gave off a bright purple shine to them, as she sported a beautiful smile with her lips a deep luscious blue, which make her white pointy teeth all the more noticeable.
"Princess Ruto..." gasped Mystic Heremon, "She's taken in the goddess Lophela's gift to her... and evolved into a Zora Queen!"
"She looks amazing..." Saria said softly.
"Ruto..." Link whispered, awestruck by her new beauty. As attractive as he had come to find her since the day he realized his love for her, she was even more beautiful now, and he took in every bit of her.
"I can feel the power flowing through Ruto... she's become so strong." Korume gasped out.
"Yeah, but..." Kesuta said, somewhat uneasy, "Some say a gift from the divine ones can change a person. She's so beautiful and powerful, but is it still Ruto...?"
Ruto took that moment to look down at herself, then raising a hand up into the air and gazing at her hand without so much as a emotional reaction, before she then slowly pointed out her finger...
...and squirt Link right in the face.
"Ack! What th-" Link gagged and spit out the water.
"Ohohohoho! Gotcha Link-darling!" Ruto laughed out with her hand below her chin, "I can see you're all speechless to see me as I am now, but it's only natural you'd be! As strong and pretty as I've always been, it was fitting only the power of a goddess could take it a step further!"
Everyone there promptly faulted over.
"Yep, it's still Ruto." Saria said with relief.
"Link... Kesuta..." Ruto then said smiling, as water formed around her feet and carried her right over to the two of them, and she embraced them both in her arms, "Thank you so much... I was so scared of what would happen to me, and what you would think of me... but you both helped me work up the courage to accept myself and change into what I am now..."
Link nodded and hugged her back, along with Kesuta, "All we did was offer our support Ruto, you did magnificently, just as I think you'll do magnificently as the zora queen and the mother of our children."
"Just remember something Pri- I mean, Queen Ruto, we're all here for you." Kesuta said, "And someday our future children will play and work together as true sisters!"
"Yes, thank you both..." Ruto whispered blissfully.
Everyone watched on as the three held the hug. Mystic Heremon was sobbing out of happiness and pride for Ruto passing her rite, and Saria, Korume, Sarami and Sovan all looked on with satisfied smiles, they couldn't wait for Nabooru and the others to get back so they could find out the good news themselves...
"So it's come to be... my daughter has received Lophela's gift." a new older voice spoke up, as everyone turned to see King Zora waddling in alongside Ambassador Oton.
"Oh, Daddy!" gasped out Ruto, looking to the side sheepishly, "Um, how long have you been there...?"
"We were watching since King Link first arrived. I tried to keep Hauvir at his cabana, but he insisted on coming after you. The guards had to do everything possible to hold him back when he saw what had happened to you thanks to the pearl being missing." said Oton.
"I was terrified of what would had happened to you Ruto, that I could had lost you, but you saw through it, just like your mother did all that time ago," King Zora said, he then looked down to Link standing beside her, "And you Gerudo King Link, you proved yourself today by recovering the Smooth Pearl from those pirates and saving my daughter for the second time in her life. I can never forget what you've done for us."
"Pleasure's all mine, your highness." Link said, bowing his head to King Zora, "We're not quite ready for marriage or children just yet, but I assure you that I'll see to Ruto's happiness, and help her with her duties as the Zora Queen, including helping her bear fine healthy children who will someday rule over the future generations of your people."
"Very good." nodded King Zora with a smile, "When Lady Nabooru returns, we should gather again for the next alliance meeting. Though I'm pretty certain at this point I've made up my mind on where I stand about it. Have a good time, all of you."
With that, King Zora turned slowly sound, making slight 'maweep' sounds as he shifted himself forward, causing everyone to do their best to hold in their laughter.
"I hope Lady Nabooru and everyone get back soon, we're all going to have to celebrate this!" Saria said.
"Good, because I'm starving!" Ruto said eagerly.
"Even after all that food Sovan prepared for you?" Kesuta exclaimed.
"Just hope they all didn't get held up for too long." Link said.
"Urp... I don't feel so good..." Reirousa groaned out.
"Oh suck it up Reirousa, we're almost to shore." Nemisa sighed.
Nabooru, Aviel, Nemisa, Togau, Reirousa, Ifemi, Zopem and their backup guards were all sitting on top of Big Momma Octo, who was swimming across the ocean towards Zora Coast. While everyone else was just fine, Reirousa and her motion sickness was making it hard for her to hang onto the giant octo's bandanna.
"Hey, no heaving on my head or you'll have to be held by one of my tentacles missy!" Momma scolded Reirousa.
"I'll shut up." Rerousa groaned.
"Thanks again for helping us get back to the shoreline Big Momma Octo, we didn't think the pirates would be able to sink our ship during our attack on the base." Nabooru said.
"Gesosososo! I should be thanking you and your mystic for saving my little pudding!" Momma Octo laughed, as her octo child was riding in Aviel's lap. The bird girl heard a squealing sound and looked down to the octorok in her arms.
"Hey Momma? I think Lil' Octo is hungry!" Aviel shouted out to her.
"Oh, that sounds like a good idea, are you kids all hungry too? Momma knows this great undersea restaurant that serves a delicious kelp burger!" the giant octo said.
"Urp..." Reirousa muttered hearing the mention of food.
"Eh... no thanks, I doubt we could hold our breath for that long." Nabooru said sweatdropping.
"Oh you sure? It's delicious with extra algae and a side of chum!" Momma said.
"URK...!" Reirousa groaned out.
"I think I know the place she's talking about, it's especially good with fried roe." Zopem said.
"What's roe?" Reirousa asked with her face a pale green.
"They're fish eggs." Zopem answered.
Reirousa's cheeks bulged out as she tried her hardest to hold herself back, but...
"BLAAARRGGHHH!"
"Oh you little brat! Momma will give you a spanking for that!" Momma Octo shouted in a fit.
"Stop with that at once Ms. Reirousa!" Zopem shouted trying to keep his balance.
"Yer the one who egged it on!" Togau shouted the zora.
"GWWAAAARGHHH!" Reirousa spewed out again at another mention of eggs.
And that ends the chapter for this week, still one chapter to go for this story arc! Next time everyone celebrates their victory, while Ruto and Kesuta get more of an understanding of each other...
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