FicWad

The feast, though not as organized as before, was incredible. I certainly got my fill, but I couldn’t stop to let my stomach digest. Link and I needed to get on our way and help the Zoras, which I hadn’t told him about quite yet, but I was extremely worried. From what I had heard, the Zora Domain was completely frozen. I didn’t want to see it all empty and without the life it once held.
Though I would have been alright with staying at the Goron Village a bit longer, I knew we needed to keep moving, so I told Link we needed to leave and we gathered up Lux and Zucchini. I had a Goron dress some of my wounds, though they weren’t too drastic. Link was a bit bruised and in a lot worse shape than I was. He was not only treated for his wounds, but also given a potion to treat the ever flowing poison that still plagued his body.
I considered him staying behind for a while, so I could figure out what was going on with the Zoras, so I asked him to stay in Goron Village.
“No,” Link said with a serious expression. “I can’t let you go by yourself. We have no idea what’s going on over there and I don’t want you to run into Leon again by yourself.”
“Eh, I can handle Leon,” I said with a smile, but Link didn’t smile back; he kept on his stern face.
“We need to go together,” he said quietly and began to head for the exit of the village. I followed behind with Lux and Zucchini.
When we reach the village, it was extremely dark. It was nighttime in Hyrule, but the dark clouds that rested above the village added more darkness to the night. I looked up at Death Mountain as we walked through and could barely see the top. There was no longer a ring of fire orbiting at the peak, so that made me feel a bit better. I also noticed that the atmosphere of Kokiri Forest changed after we released Saria. That meant that Link and I had some unfinished business to attend to in Kakariko Village.
We exited the village to see our horses still tied to the tree that we left them by. They had eaten most of the grass around them and I felt a bit guilty. Link and I were so busy that we couldn’t come down and take care of them. Someone had actually left a huge bowl with water in it for them, so we just left them there. Zora’s Domain was right by Kakariko Village, so it wouldn’t be that long of a journey.
We walked beside the Zora River before entering the valley and I jumped down into the river, which wasn’t really a river anymore. The bed of the river still had a small stream, but it wasn’t much of a stream. The sides of the bed were completely dry and it was a little depressing. I wasn’t sure if this was because the domain was frozen or if it was because of the flood I caused years ago. Still, I felt guilty for all of it.
We got to the valley, which felt like a wasteland. The grass was still there, but it was all completely brown. It crunched beneath my feet and seemed to hurt Lux’s and Zucchini’s for they kept looking at the bottom of their feet and whined a little.
Link took a Pokeball from his belt and asked Zucchini to return and I patted my shoulder for Lux to jump onto. I would have stayed in the riverbed but it wasn’t the easiest path to travel on, so I jumped out of it and joined Link.
Once we reach the bridge, things got a little nerve-wracking. The bridge was very dry and I was afraid that the wood of the bridge would break if someone stepped in it. I wasn’t sure if anyone had actually used the bridge in seven years, but it must have been built shortly after the flood because there was no way that the small bridge that was there before would have survived that flood.
Link turned around and looked at me and said, “So, who’s going to go first?”
We just stared at each other for a second, but not in that loving way, just in the way that we hoped the other would say: “Sure, I’ll go across the bridge.”
That didn’t happen, unfortunately, but I got a little bored so I said, “How about we play Rock, Paper, Scissors?”
“What’s that?”
I sighed and said, “Fine, I’ll go.” I had Lux jump off my shoulder so I didn’t have any extra weight on me and took a huge breath in front of the bridge. I wasn’t really worried about falling, but it would still piss me off. The fall wasn’t that far, but I would rather walk and be safe than fall on my ass.
I took my first step with my right leg and barely put any weight on the board and heard a small squeak. My heart began to pound. I wasn’t scared of the fall, as I said before, but it was the anticipation that was killing me. I wouldn’t be ready for the fall, and as my palms began to sweat, my heart started to pound faster.
I put all my weight on the first board and smiled, but now it was time for the second foot. I put my left foot on the second floor and heard nothing. I felt a bit more at ease and started to walk forward, but rather slow. The bridge wasn’t very long, so I walked forward as usual and made it to the other side in no time. Link followed, along with Lux, and they both made it across with no issues.
Once across, we walked forward to the area where the Sleepless Waterfall use to be, but alas reader, it was now a small, pencil thin stream, if you could even call it that. Link and I weren’t showered by the mists of the waterfall as we were before and the serenity of the area was completely gone. I looked over at Link who looked devastated.
“What happened?” he whispered and I felt a sudden chill as I watched a snowflake land on Link’s nose.
“Well, I would have to guess either the waterfall quit running because of the flood seven years ago,” I said a bit quietly, “or because Zora’s Domain is completely frozen over.”
“What did you say!” Link shouted. “What do you mean frozen. You never said anything about frozen.”
“Uh, well…”I said and trailed off. “Maybe I should’ve mentioned that beforehand.”
Link frowned and walked off, which broke my heart a little. Leave it to me to ruin everything, I thought to myself and I followed him. Lux followed us both.
There was no need to play the ocarina and stop the Sleepless Waterfall since there wasn’t much left of it. Link jumped right over and went straight into the domain without Lux and I. Lux looked up at me with an upset face and I just shrugged my shoulders and we continued behind Link.
As soon as I entered the domain, I noticed an extreme change in temperature. It suddenly became as cold as huge freezer, like the kinds they had back at home. My tunic wasn’t exactly warm, so I was freezing. Link, who seemed a little tense, showed no discomfort at all but his face was in complete awe.
“Link?” I said quietly and I put my arm on his shoulder.
I looked forward to see what Link was seeing and saw the domain. The big waterfall that Zoras used to hold their jumping games was now completely frozen; it was a big mass of ice. The swimming area was also completely frozen and without the serene, blue color of the water, this place just seemed like a cave. There was absolutely no life left.
“Are they dead?” Link asked.
“I think so,” I said quietly. Though we didn’t really spend much time with the Zoras, it still hurt that they were all gone. A whole race was wiped out by cold weather and ice.
“Well,” Link sighed, “let’s get moving and see who were need to reawaken.”
Link and I walked forward in the domain, not expecting to find anyone left alive. It was a little depressing when we got to the staircase because Reginald, the Royal Zora assistant from seven years ago, wasn’t standing there anymore and the red rope that he used to keep others from going up the stairs was gone. It was probably lost in the flood.
The staircase was now a bit corroded, rather than the regal look and the red rug being spread on it. I walked carefully, skipping some steps that didn’t have a reliable looking platform. The stairs hadn’t been used for a while, so chunks of the steps came right off, which made our climb a bit difficult.
At the top of the stairs, I was met with a shock that broke my heart. I would have to say that I was relieved to see that King Zora was on his throne, however I wasn’t relieved by King Zora’s state. King Zora was stuck in a mass of red ice that reminded me of Jell-O.
I was shocked, so I just stood there and watched, but Link had different plans. He ran up to the throne, his sword unsheathed, and began to hack away at the Jell-O ice. He was really going at that thing and tired out after a while. Once he stopped, I was amazed to see that the mass of ice had absolutely no cuts or scratches in it.
“What the hell,” Link said and he seemed a bit stressed.
I looked down at Lux, who immediately hopped up to the throne and he tried to shock the mass, which did absolutely nothing. I went around and walked up the small staircase that led up to the throne itself. I walked passed Link who just stood there looking at the ground, and I touched the Jell-O ice.
“It’s not cold at all,” I said. “That’s weird.” I knocked on the ice and heard a sound coming from the inside, like it was hollow or something. “This isn’t ice…”
“Then what is it?” Link asked and there was a hint of aggression in his voice. Something was bothering him.
“You and I need to figure that out,” I said and looked at him. I flashed a quick smile, but he looked away quickly. “What we need to do first is figure out where to go from here.” I put my hand up to my face and thought for a second, but before too long, something shot in the air and flung around like a disc. It hit Link a couple of times and just spun in the air.
The thing came after me, but I knew better and ducked. It was a quick thing, so I was on my toes, jumping away as soon as it was a millisecond from me. It then decided to go back to smacking Link. I looked around quickly to find some way to stop this thing and I saw Lux, who had small sparks coming from the pouches on his cheeks.
“Lux, use some thunder or something on that thing,” I shouted and Lux let out a huge bolt of lightning. This thing fell straight to the ground and landed on the hard ice. Link, who was on the ground with a bloody nose, didn’t move, so I went down the small staircase and came to see what the hell that thing was.
The disc that was flying in the air was actually a star shaped creature. It was a light tan color and had a red jewel in the middle of its body. Lux really let the thing have it as its skin was darker in some spots from the burn of his lightning. I touched the creature and it said, “Staryu,” very faintly.
“Staryu, huh?” I said and I assumed that this was another Pokemon. What I also assumed was that this Pokemon would be vital to helping Link and I figure out how to help the Zoras…or at least what was left of them.
“Don’t touch that thing,” Link said. “It seems wild.”
“Eh, whatever,” I said with a smile, “I think this thing can help us out, you know?”
“But it attacked us Ashley, it’s no good,” Link said. “Just leave it there.”
I looked down at the star shaped Pokemon and picked it up. I held it under my arm pit and carried it around like it was a textbook or something.
“I think I’m going to give this guy a chance,” I said. “It seems he was just scared. Anyways, this thing is the only sign of life in this giant refrigerator, so let’s be thankful.”
“What’s a refrigerator?” Link asked.
I was a bit speechless, but I realized that I was in Hyrule, so I explained by saying this: “A refrigerator, or fridge for short, is a big, rectangular box that they had back at home, my home. Anyway, in this box were cooling vent things and it froze food to keep it fresh. Sometimes, it even dispenses ice cubes, but my family was never wealthy enough to get one of those buggers.”
I began to walk back up to the throne and became intrigued with what was behind the throne. There seemed to be a path leading outside that I didn’t notice seven years ago. Link saw me looking down the path and said, “That leads to the Zora’s Fountain. I went there when we split up seven years ago.”
“Well, I’m intrigued,” I said. “We should definitely go check that out.” I started to walk down the path and heard Link and Lux following me. It was a bit bright outside because of the snow, but once I got outside, I saw that some of the fountain was actually liquid.
In reality, the Zora’s Fountain wasn’t really much of a fountain, but a huge area with a lot of water. I noticed that the water was only frozen if it was shallow. There was a platform in the middle of this place and a big sign that said: RIP Lord Jabu-Jabu.
“Well, someone died,” I said to Link, who walked over to the sign. “Who was this guy?”
“Lord Jabu-Jabu was this huge fish thing,” Link said. “I actually entered his stomach for a short time to see if Princess Ruto was in there. Silly, right?”
Not silly, disgusting, I thought to myself, but I just nodded. I soon noticed that the Staryu under my arm was trying to break free. Of course, since I had scrawny arms, the Staryu did in fact break through my grasp and took off like a Frisbee.
“God dammit,” I cursed and watched where the Staryu went. I chased after, going right up the platform and stopped. In front of me were ice blocks that seemed sturdy to me, so I jumped on it. I slipped and became extremely scared, so I tried to regain my balance while yelling a ton of cuss words. The ice was bitter on my skin and I regretted jumping on it. I was at least able to lay down to watch the Staryu and I saw it fly to the right and go into a cave. The problem was, there were actually two caves in this area, one to my right and one to my left.
Like the bitch he was, Link jumped on the ice block and landed with grace. There was no slipping or cursing, just him standing at my nose, looking down at me with a smug face. “You okay there?” he asked with a teasing tone.
“Oh, shut up,” I snapped and I tried to get up, but became too scared and remained on my stomach. The ice was beginning to burn my arms.
“So, which way should we go?” he asked and held his hand down to help me up. I grabbed it and was amazed at how quickly he pulled me up. I slid a bit, but he grabbed my waist and helped me stand straight. And thus, my reader, the awkward silence and eye staring began.
He smiled at me with his blue eyes looking gently down at mine. They were soft and as blue as an ocean, which totally brought me back to what we were actually supposed to be doing.
“Uh, how about this,” I said and I took his hands off my waist. “You take that left cave over there and I’ll track down that Staryu. We should meet here when we’re done.”
Link rolled his eyes, which made me swear that he was bipolar. He jumped to the next block of ice towards the other cave and gave me a wave, which I didn’t see for very long because the ice block I was on tilted and made me slip into the cold water. I heard Lux jumped on the ice beside me and immediately he jumped into the water and began to swim.
It wasn’t that much of a swim to the cave I was going to, but damn it was extremely cold. I hated cold more than heat. The cold was just so bitter and seemed to make me act that way as well. It was so uncomfortable swimming in that water and I wasn’t relieved when I got out. It was still terribly cold. I tried to hug my body to get some friction on my skin, but it wasn’t working. Lux seemed fine and smiled up at me with that cute face of his.
When we walked into the cave, I soon realized that this wasn’t just a cave. This was a Great Fairy’s Fountain. I think Max knew it was too, because he came shooting out of my floppy hat and went straight to the middle of the fountain.
I took out my ocarina for I knew I would have to play it. I was feeling a bit confident with my playing, seeing as I was able to successfully call Lightning with that Epona Song thing. I put the ocarina up to my lips and began to play Zelda’s Lullaby, which was a bit better than the last time I played it before the flood.
Once I finished playing the song, the Great Fairy popped right out of the middle of the fountain; her boobs flying in the air. Max was getting in on the action. The Great Fairy wasn’t the only one that came out of the fountain, however. Out came that Staryu that had gotten away from me.
“Oh, child,” the Great Fairy said. “Where is your companion?”
“The boy?” I said. “We split up to figure out what we both need to do.”
“Well, where did he go?” she asked.
“Uh, there was a cave somewhere to the left of here,” I explained. “He went to investigate and see what was in there. I came here to get that Staryu.”
“For what?”
“Well, to reawaken the six sages, I need to evolve certain Pokemon with a stone. I was guessing that this Staryu here was my next target to awaken the water sage.”
“You have a good eye, I suppose,” the Great Fairy said, “which is why the gods must have chosen you to aid Link. This Staryu is needed to reawaken the next sage.”
Then a light bulb popped in my head. If she knew that Staryu was important, then she must have known who the next sage would be. So, I asked her this: “So, since you know all of this, can you tell me who the water sage is?”
“Why won’t you just go and figure that out yourself?” she said smartly.
“Because your help will make this job a lot easier,” I said. “And besides, the fate of this land lies on my shoulders, so maybe you should be a bit considerate of me.”
“You are right, I suppose,” she said and the expression on her face was a thinking expression. “I guess I’ll go ahead and tell you. That water sage is Princess Ruto.”
That makes sense, I thought and I said, “So is she dead yet?”
“Actually, she survived. She has been trying to figure out what happened down at Lake Hylia with a scientist.”
“Alright then,” I said. “Thanks for the information; Link and I could really use it.” And I was getting ready to step back and leave, but King Zora suddenly hit my mind. I needed to figure out how to melt the Jell-O ice. “Oh, and I have another question.”
“Yes?” she said and I swear she rolled her eyes.
“King Zora is engulfed in red ice,” I said. “How do we thaw that?”
“You need fire,” she said, “but the flames of this fire must be blue.”
“Well, where the hell do I get that?”
“I can help you with that. Do you have a small, fire type Pokemon?”
“I have Coffee Bean.”
“What?”
“I mean, I have a Houndour,” I said, a little embarrassed by the nickname I had given her. I put my hand on her Pokeball and unlatched it. I pressed the small button in the middle and let the ball extend my palm. “Go, Coffee Bean,” I said, but quietly.
“If you could please step off the Triforce and let Coffee Bean stand on it,” the Great Fairy said with a smile.
“What are you going to do to her?” I asked. I was a bit curious.
“I’m going to teach her the move Will-O Wisp,” she said. “This move produces cool but hot blue flames. She can help you.”
I didn’t know what she meant by moves, but I didn’t care. We needed to unfreeze King Zora and figure out what the hell needed to be done. Maybe he would have answers.
I watched as the Great Fairy held out her arms and a beam of light came down on Coffee Bean. She began to float which made her freak out a bit. She began to shake her legs and whine. It was over rather quickly however, as a bright light suddenly exploded. That light began to go back down to the ground as the Great Fairy smiled.
Once the light fled from Coffee Bean’s body, I realized that she had changed. She was now bigger and much slimmer. She had horns now and a long tail with a point at the end.
“Well, would you look at that,” the Great Fairy said enthusiastically. “It looks like Coffee Bean was ready to evolve, too.”
“Houndoom,” she said and she looked back at me and started to run. She jumped up to me and started to lick my face; her heavy body on top of mine.
“Coffee Bean!” I yelled. Her tongue had a lot of saliva on it.
“Just tell her to use Will-O Wisp when you’re around any type of red ice,” I heard the Great Fairy say. I then heard her whisper something to Staryu and then she just left. The Staryu floated over to us and landed right by my face.
I pushed Coffee Bean off of me gently and stood up. I looked down at Staryu to try and guess its emotion, but it had no face, so that was difficult to do.
“Alright you guys,” I said to the Pokemon around me, “it’s time to go unfreeze King Zora and figure out what the heck is going on.”
They followed me as I walked out of the Fairy Fountain and, to my surprise; Link was just making it back out; trying to jump from ice block to ice block. He looked up and spotted me, waving two pairs of boots in the air with one hand and in the other hand; he propped up two blue items. “Hey, I found these!” he shouted to me. “I found two pairs of boots with iron on the bottom and two blue tunics.”
“Well, I found this,” I said and pointed down to Staryu. “Oh, and I also met the Great Fairy and her big jugs again.”
He smiled at me and I flashed one back as I jumped into the cold water. Lux grabbed onto my shoulders so he didn’t have to swim and Staryu just floated above me. Coffee Bean and I were the ones who received the short end of the stick.
I met Link over by the platform and he asked, “Wow, what happened to Coffee Bean? She’s huge now.”
“The Great Fairy gave her a move and she just evolved all of the sudden. I don’t know why that happened, but I guess she’s even stronger now.”
“Cool. Now, what did the Great Fairy give Coffee Bean?”
“A move,” I said. “It’s called Will-O Wisp. I guess it has her blow out blue flames which are the only thing that can melt red ice.”
“You mean, like the ice around King Zora?”
“Heck yes. Let’s quit wasting time though, we need to hurry.” So, Link and I ran into Zora’s Domain, the splatter of water hitting the back of our legs.
The throne room hadn’t changed much since then, which was expected since it was frozen. I looked down at Coffee Bean who looked up at me with a smile.
“Go thaw that thing,” I said and smiled back.
I watched as Coffee Bean ran up to the Jell-O ice and used Will-O Wisp. The blue flames magically engulfed the ice and steam filled the air as the ice disappeared. During this time, I heard coughing which I assumed came from King Zora.
“What’s going on here?” I heard him say. “And what happened to my domain?”
“Uh, King Zora,” I said. Link and I were still behind the throne. The King turned his neck to see me and in doing so, his neck cracked.
“Wait, are you…” he began to say, but he trailed off.
“Ashley and Link?” Link said. “Why yes, we are.”
King Zora smiled and said, “Well I’ll be. How about you two come down to the platform where I can see you and we can talk face to face.”
I began to walk down along with Link and the rest of the Pokemon. Link and I walked on the platform so we could talk to King Zora like we use to seven years ago.
“My have you two grown,” the King said. “Last time I saw you, you two were kids. How have you been? Are you two married yet?”
“No,” I said quickly. “Anyway, we can’t really chat right now. If you haven’t noticed, your domain is frozen and there are no more Zoras.”
“Oh, well, I haven’t quite noticed that yet…” the King said. “Well, I mean, I knew about the frozen part…”
“Not only that, but Hyrule is completely empty of water,” I said. “The lake is dry because the water is blocked up in Zora Fountain. Something needs to be done, but there are no Zoras to help move the rocks that block the path.”
“Really now?” the King said. “So are you saying that the water is shallow in Hyrule?”
“Yes,” I said.
“Well, that is a great thing,” the King said and I tilted my head. I assumed he was being sarcastic. “Since the water is shallow, I can call ‘ol Darunia and he can lend us some Gorons to move the rocks.”
“Um, well,” Link said, so I continued for him by saying: “Darunia’s dead.”
“My goodness,” the King said. “Then who’s running the village?”
“His son, Link,” Link stated. “We helped him a day or so ago. The village was under the control of a dragon named Volvagia. That dragon killed Darunia.”
“Are the Gorons alright?”
“Yeah,” I said. “Do you think you could call Link to lend us some Gorons? Just tell him we’re here.”
“Yes, I can do that,” King Zora said and he reach for a shell beside him. It seemed that he dialed a number. After he dialed, he put the shell up to his ear and began speaking to someone. “Oh, hello,” he said. “Is this Link, Darunia’s son? Yes, well, I’m here with Ashley and Link. I suppose you have met them? Good, good. Now, we are in need of some help. See, the Zora River has stopped running because there are rocks blocking the flow. Could you-wait, pardon? Oh, I’ve just be frozen for seven years is all. Anyway, could you send some Gorons to help us move the rocks? You can? Splendid. I’ll tell the kids here and we’ll prepare. Thank you. Yes, goodbye.”
“So, I guess he said yes,” I said.
“Pretty much,” the King replied. “He said that a group will be over soon, so get ready for them outside. I don’t really have any tools for you two to use, so maybe just kick at the rocks a little. Oh, and can you find my daughter…if she’s still alive, that is.”
“Oh, she’s alive,” I said with a smile. “We’ll find her for you once this whole river mess is cleaned up.”
“Thank you,” the King said. “Please, don’t let me down.”
“We won’t,” I said and I smiled at Link. Maybe things would go smoothly for once.