"Really?" giggled Ruto.
"Yeah," Ranko snorted. "And then I said to that Stalfos: 'Hey, I got a BONE to pick with ya! Get it? Bone!"
The water tunnel echoed with the laughter of the two Zora girls.
For a while, Ranma forgot that he was walking through a wet tunnel, and through flowing water that came up to his ankles. He also didn't mind that he was a girl and a Zora... He just enjoyed a few moments of fun, together with his new-found sister.
Nodoka, who was walking behind them, couldn't suppress a smile. "See, Genma?" she asked. "I knew it would be a great idea letting Ranma meet my little daughter..."
'Well, okay, he looks happy...' the winged bear signed with a frown. 'But I hope the boy doesn't start to forget about his training, that would be a fine kettle of fish...'
"Genma, spare me your lame puns..." the queen groaned.
They stepped out of the water tunnel and reached Zora's Spring, the source of all water within Hyrule.
In front of them, behind a small stone platform, was a massive pool of water, enclosed by a towering ring of stone walls.
And within that pool, Lord Jabu-Jabu was lying, the protector of the Zora race.
He looked like a cross between a giant fish and a small whale, with many ornaments that decorated his backside, and a massive mouth that was pointing in their direction. As soon as the sacred beast saw his 'visitors', he squinted his big, azure eyes and began thrashing around in the water.
"Please, Your Lordship, compose yourself!" Ruto tried calming the leviathan of the sea. But it was to no avail.
"See, Ranko?" Ruto said in a hopeless tone of voice. "No matter what I do, he just won't stop flailing. Only when he's eating will he stop."
"Well, I don't have to be an expert on whales to see that sumthin' is seriously wrong with that guy..." Ranko murmured. "Still, I don't know what I could do about it... I am a fighter, and no healer!"
"Ho ho ho ho ho ho!" a cackling voice echoed over the pool. "No one will be able to help this beast, my girl... Not you or anyone else!"
"Who's there?" Ranma shouted and they all looked up at the sky, where the voice was coming from.
An ancient hag dressed in decorated robes was floating above the flailing Jabu-Jabu, mounted on a flying broomstick. On her head, she was wearing a turban, with a red gem in the middle. She was also very ugly.
"The mighty Ganondorf's curse will slowly drive Jabu-Jabu insane, and then there's no one that will protect your tribe from his wrath. The water in all of Hyrule will dry up, until it will be as dry as our home desert..."
"A Gerudo witch!" Nodoka gasped. "That must be one of the elders of the desert tribe!"
"Exactly!" the hag cackled. "And you better hand over that Zora Sapphire very soon if you value your precious water."
"Fat chance!" Ranko snarled. "Just tell me something, granny: What will stop me from giving you a swift kick?"
Koume giggled. That child was very funny. "Oh, I surely won't stop you, my dear..."
Ranko smirked. She already gave up? Way too easy!
"But I'm afraid THEY will do it."
And with a wave of her hand, a large number of ugly heads rose out of the pond's waters. They looked like a cross of men and fish, but they didn't have the regal elegance of the Zora, but instead looked more like an ugly bunch of ruffians.
"Aqualfos!" Ruto gasped. "The deadly enemies of the Zoras!"
"Aqualfos?" Ranko asked. "Never heard of 'em, but they certainly don't look friendly."
"The Hylians often call them River Zora, but that's a mistake. In their own language, they call themselves Zola. But to set them apart from their own noble race, the Zoras have developed their own name for them: Aqualfos, because we think that they have more in common with the barbarian lizard tribe of the Lizalfos than with us."
"Well, I only know that this old ghoul seems to have some sort of control over them."
"Who's an old ghoul?" Koume yelled. "Hear me, my servants: Kill them!"
A few of the Aqualfos came out of the water and raised their hands, which were adorned with deadly claws. The other half stayed behind in the water and began shooting fireballs that came flying out of their mouths.
"Ruto, Mom! Stay back!" Ranko yelled and began jumping towards the submerged fishmen, while Genma tangled with the other ones in close combat.
Ranko bounced from head to head, dodging fireballs and occasionally dove under the surface, just to leap out of the water again, graceful like a dolphin. She attacked the Aqualfos with dive-kicks, underwater tackles and by throwing her elbow fins like boomerangs (a trick she had learned while traveling along the Zora River). In no time, all the enemies were defeated.
Ranko landed next to her old man, who just smashed the last Aqualfos with his mighty, um... behind.
"What now, old ghoul?" Ranko sneered. "Out of henchmen, out of tricks? Now why don't you just take whatever curse you put on that fish off him, and you can leave in one piece."
"Arrogant little brat," Koume cursed. "You're no match for a true sorceress of the Gerudo tribe!"
"You wanna hustle?" the young Zora asked. "Bring it on!"
Koume grabbed her broomstick, began floating in the air by herself and raised the broom like a scepter. "You... take this! KYYYAAAAAAHH!"
Ranko watched in surprise when the witch's turban suddenly turned into a blazing mane of fire, and out of her broom, a scorching lance of heat came flying in her direction.
'I have to get into the water, or I'm done for...' she thought and dove into the pond.
As the flaming beam hit the surface of the water, the pool instantly turned into a cauldron of hot-boiling soup. Ranma felt an intense pain like never before and came shooting out of the boiling water.
"YAAAAAH!" the pig-tailed boy in the loincloth screamed while bouncing around. "HOT! HOT! HOT!"
Ruto blinked. Where was Ranko?
"What is this foolishness?" the old witch grumbled. "How did you... wait a minute!" Out of her sleeve, she produced a glittering artifact that somehow resembled a magnifying glass, with a blue and purple shimmering surface.
She looked through it... and began laughing. "You..." she snorted. "You aren't a Zora after all. Bwahahahahah! You're just a little boy! So, Jusenkyo got to you, eh? Well, I guess you must have looked just like a wet fish after coming out of that cursed pool. Bwahahahaha-URK!"
Her laughing stopped abruptly, as Ranma came soaring through the air, and his right foot got embedded within her stomach. The massive force of the impact made her lose her grasp on her magical item, and both she and the Lens of Truth flew away from the scene, until they vanished out of their sights.
"Stupid old witch..." Ranma growled.
"R-ranko...?" a scared voice came from behind him. Ranma gasped, looked down at himself and then, turned around to look into Ruto's disbelieving face.
"I-Is that you?" the princess of the Zora tribe asked her brother with a shaking voice.
Ranma felt sorrow and despair building up upon his head. "Oh no..." he whispered. "No, no, no..." It just had been too good to be true.
Clenching his teeth, he looked away from the small Zora girl in front of him. "I'm sorry, Ruto..." he muttered. "But I guess we're just too different from each other..." And with an enormous leap, he jumped out of the stone ring.
"No!" Ruto shouted after him. "Ranko! Please wait!"
----
Meanwhile, in Kakariko village, Akari Unryu was just tending to her Cuccos, when suddenly, she heard a big splash.
She turned around. "Huh? Did something just fall into the old well? Or was it my imagination...?
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(Posted Mon, 18 Dec 2006 18:12)
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