"Oh my gosh!" Kasumi clasped her hands together in front of her mouth in shock. "Are you serious, Nabiki?"
Her sister nodded. "Definitely! Kuno told me himself: The guy who told him to steal the Ocarina was none other than Ganondorf, the Gerudo king."
"Oh my..." Kasumi murmured. "But why? He clearly assured the king that his intentions were purely peaceful."
"Well, if what I fear is true, then all of that was just a big, fat lie, nothing else!"
"But why didn't you tell mother about this?" Kasumi asked curiously.
Nabiki sighed. "Because... Well, I wasn't too sure at the moment if I should tell her. I mean, perhaps Kuno is a delusional fool and imagined everything, but... What if not? What if there IS an army waiting out there, to invade our kingdom?"
"Now you're making no sense, Nabiki," the oldest Tendo sister said. "The Zora are peaceful. Why, I even came along with mother when she and Princess Zelda had once visited their kingdom. The queen was the nicest hostess you could imagine..."
"I don't mean the Zora, sis," Nabiki interrupted. "I mean the Gerudo! You know that they are known as a tribe of thieves and brigands, right? I always wondered why they suddenly wanted to swear loyalty to the king..."
"Well, if what you say is true, then you should tell mother immediately," Kasumi exclaimed.
"Yeah, I know," Nabiki nodded. "I just wanted to talk to you, you know? I was afraid that I would just cause unnecessary panic."
She nodded to herself and stood up from the stool she was sitting on. "I'll go and tell her right away."
"No need," their mother's calm voice came seemingly out of nowhere. "I already know..."
And then, their mother dropped down from the ceiling.
"Mother!" Kasumi gasped. "You startled me! What did you do that for?"
Impa smirked. "Just training, my dear!"
Nabiki looked down at the floor. "So... you heard everything?"
Impa nodded. "Yes. And I must say, it doesn't surprise me in the least. Princess Zelda has always suspected that Ganondorf would plan something, ever since she had that dream..." The Sheikah warrior sighed. "That's why Akane and Ryoga joined those two kids from the forest on their quest to gather the Spiritual Stones."
"The... the Spiritual Stones?" Nabiki gasped. "Mom, you don't believe that..."
"Oh yes, I do," Impa nodded. "What for would Ganondorf need the Ocarina of Time, if not for that? And from what the forest children told us, he has already attacked the woods for the Kokiri Emerald. Luckily they were able to protect it. And now Princess Kodachi is missing as well... I'm fearing the worst."
"Oh dear..." Kasumi was shuddering nervously. "Whatever shall we do if the Gerudo attack the castle, mother?"
"No worries, dear!" her mother replied. "If I inform the king now, he still has enough time to give his soldiers the necessary instructions. And maybe we can send some couriers to the Zora and Gorons, to ask them for assistance. I'll go talk with the king right away. Nabiki, go back on your post in the treasure rooms! We can't let the Ocarina of Time fall into their hands!"
"Got it, Mom!" Nabiki saluted and ran out of the room.
Now Impa looked at her oldest daughter. "Kasumi..."
"Y-yes, mother?" she asked nervously.
Impa put a hand on her daughter's shoulder. "Please pack a few things for the three of us... and the princess."
"Mother, why...?"
"I don't know..." Impa sighed. "I just... want to be prepared, you know? There's still the slight chance that the castle... may fall, when the Gerudo attack."
Kasumi gasped. "You can't mean..."
Impa nodded. "Yes. In that case, we have to take and flee with Princess Zelda... and the Ocarina of Time! We can't let them lay their hands on the heir of the throne or the most powerful artifact of the royal family. You know what the Ocarina is used for, right?"
"O-of course, mother..." Kasumi replied. "I'll prepare everything right away..."
Impa smiled at her. "Good girl! Let's just hope it never comes to this..." she added darkly.
----
Ruto struggled against the tentacle bonds that tied her to the organic walls in Lord Jabu-Jabu's skull chamber. "Release me at once!" she yelled. "You can't do this to me!"
A sparkle of light illuminated the darkness below the whale guardian's brain for a short while. "You are quite a peculiar creature..." a gentle voice exclaimed. "And your extensive head... beautiful. I suppose you must have quite an interesting brain."
Ruto shivered. "S-stop talking like that! You're giving me the creeps..."
The creature that was hiding in the darkness chuckled. "Oh yes, very interesting... and especially tasty, I'm sure!"
"EEEEEEK!" the Zora princess screamed. "HELP! ANYONE!"
"WE'RE HERE!" a loud voice shouted, as two figures came bursting through the chamber's entrance.
Ruto smiled when she realized the two persons. "Link! Akane!"
"Ruto, are you all right?" Akane asked in worry.
"GAH!" Link shouted. "What's THAT?"
A loud crackle made Akane jump in surprise. A sparkling stream of electricity suddenly illuminated the whole room and revealed the disgusting creature that was attached to Jabu-Jabu's brain with several slimy tentacles.
It looked like a giant version of the floating jellyfishes they had encountered on their way. But it wasn't floating, but stuck to the ground. While some of the monster's tentacles were sucking energy out of the brain (and controlled it at the same time), other ones were twitching through the air, as if they were searching for some invisible prey.
"Living prey..." the monstrous parasite said with its mental voice. "How delicious... I can't wait to suck out your brains!"
Akane grimaced. "That's... easily the most disgusting thing I've ever seen in my life!"
"Gross!" Link groaned.
The monster seemed to smirk, even if it had no face. "Why, thank you!"
"This creature..." Navi gasped. "It must be Barinade! The oldest of the electrical jellyfish monsters! It must have been him who controlled Lord Jabu-Jabu by manipulating his brain waves."
"Clever little fairy!" Barinade replied. "But this knowledge won't help you, little kids... Not at all!"
"Watch out!" Link cried, when suddenly, six big jellyfish appeared out of nowhere. Dancing electricity connected their bodies with their master's, and then, the Bari started spinning all around Barinade's main body.
"They are trying to protect him!" Navi realized. "Find a way through them!"
"I'm trying," Link winced. He tried blocking the rapidly spinning monsters with his shield, but every time they hit him, he got thrown back.
"Well, what now?" he grumbled. "Shall I attack them all separately, with my Deku Sticks?"
"Don't worry!" Akane shouted, as she pulled out her boomerang. "Let me handle this!"
She aimed carefully and let her spinning weapon fly. It zipped right through two of the flashing jellyfish and struck Barinade's bulky main stem.
"Ooofff..." the parasite mentally groaned. "What a dirty trick..."
Because he was distracted by the pain in his abdomen, he couldn't maintain his connection to his servants, so they started floating around freely.
Link grinned as he drew two Deku Sticks at once! "Now you're gonna get it!"
And with stick strikes and boomerang throws, the two children eliminated the forces of the brain parasite.
Link grinned as he fell the final Bari with a powerful swipe. "There, wasn't that easy?" he smirked and threw the useless splinters of his stick aside.
"LINK!" he suddenly heard Ruto's scream of panic. "BEHIND YOU!"
Link looked around in confusion. "Huh? What?"
"Now I'm gonna BRAIN you!" Barinade yelled, as one of his tentacles shot forth and zapped the young hero with a beam of electricity.
"YAAAAARRRRRGGH!" Link screamed in pain, as the volts jolted through his body. Twitching uncontrollably, he fell down to the ground.
"Link!" Akane shouted in surprise, but as she turned around to face her fallen comrade, she didn't pay attention to what was happening behind her. A tentacle came shooting out of the cavern wall, snatched the boomerang out of her hand and snapped the weapon in two. Next, the tentacles pulled her to the wall and wrapped her up just like they did with the young Zora princess.
"Oh no!" Navi shouted in fear. "Akane! Link!"
Barinade chuckled gleefully. "Now isn't that cute?" he cackled. "Two young pups are trying to kill me? Nice try, but you really have to do better than that." He mentally licked his non-existent lips. "Hmmmm, your brains are still young and fresh... they're gonna taste delicious!"
"No..." Link groaned, as he tried reaching for his sword. "Have to... keep trying... can't let him kill us... and that whale... not like the Deku Tree..."
Things were really looking dim for our two heroes...
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(Posted Sun, 28 Jan 2007 22:36)
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