Return to Termina

Link, Zelda, Anju, and Kafei had gone back to Clock Town at the Stock Pot Inn. Fortunately, Kafei was less research on magic and he was now spending more time with Anju and his daughter. It did Link's heart good to see a man be the husband he should be.

"Uhh...Link?" Zelda asked.

"Yes?"

"What happened to my gown?" She asked, referring to the purple tights she now had on.

"Uh-oh...I think that those pirates took it. Well, it's too late to go back now." Link answered nervously, "But don't worry. I'm sure Anju will have one for you. I'm positive. How else could she have made me so many shirts?" Link added, seeing the frustrated look on Zelda's face.

Zelda's face brightened up and she immediately went to Anju's room for a new wardrobe.

"Finally, I can't be affected by that curse of Goldra's." Link thought to himself.

"And you'll need it, Link. The battle for the fate of Termina draws near..." A vibrating voice said.

Link had gone through this enough times to recognize the voices of all four guardians. This voice was Dracon's.

"Battle?" Link asked, "You mean there's more than just defeating Goldra?"

"Yes. Goldra may be powerful, but he's not stupid. He has a mind similar to that of a military general, so he's most likely got something planned in case he can't do it alone."

"So, that means...he wanted me to come to Termina. And he wanted me to kill the beast so that he could control me and I wouldn't get in the way of his plans. What he didn't count on was the Mind Pendant coming into Kafei's possession..."

There was the echo of clapping hands and Simeon's voice said, "Well done, hero. Well done."


"So, what do you think?"

The suddenness of Zelda's voice made Link jump. He was so deep in thought with Dracon and Simeon that he had forgotten to mind his surroundings.

Zelda was now wearing a deep green dress with a few brown markings swirled into it. It looked surprisingly plant-like and organic. She had left her tiara completely and now looked like a normal person.

"I said, 'what do you think'?" She repeated.

"Oh, sorry, Zelda. You look...well, beautiful." Link covered, scratching his head.

"Well, we don't have any clues on what to do next. What do you suggest we do?" Zelda asked, leaning closer to him.

Link thought hard on this. There were many things he wanted to see in Termina, but if he had to choose one, he had to choose...

"Why not go to Great Bay again. We won't be able to get your gown back, but we could spend time at the beach. What do you think?"

Zelda only smiled and nodded. The pair then walked out of Clock Town, hand-in-hand.

Great Bay was still very beautiful, now that the pirates had been taken care of. After a walk down the seashore, they found a place close to the exit, and sat down to look at the setting sun.

"Link?" Zelda said, "Why do you think Dracon has only reached out to you and not Kafei? I'm sure he would do him a lot more good with his intellect."

"I'm going to ignore the part about intellect. As for why Dracon contacted me, I think it was because I had saved several others before. Maybe they heard of how I saved the Giants here before." Link answered, "They knew I defeated Majora twice and probably want me to defeat Goldra..."

"What if this all fails?"

Link turned to see Zelda, staring at the ground. Her eyes were surprisingly dull and she looked like everyone forgot her birthday.

"What was that?" Link asked, one eyebrow cocked.

"What if the curse envelops you forever? And what if I can never see you again?" Zelda said, her voice soft, as though she were sick.

"Now why would you think that?" Link asked, putting a hand on Zelda's shoulder, "I have never let you down before and I never intend to. Sure there was the Charanatos incident, but I made a mistake. And like I promised, it won't happen again."

Zelda looked up, her eyes sparkling with tears.

"Promise?"

Link nodded as he said, "Promise." He stood up and held out his hand. "Now, how 'bout we go back to town? It's getting dark out."

Zelda took Link's hand and felt his strength pull her up.

Link and Zelda were about halfway to Clock Town when Link heard a SPLASH. He turned and saw a mysterious figure swimming through a river up ahead.

"Zelda, go on ahead. There's something here I have to take care of." Link said, trying not to make Zelda worry.

"Alright. I'll meet you at the Stock Pot Inn." Zelda said.

Link nodded and the two went their separate ways.


Link didn't even have to use the moon jewel this time. The right half of the moon was missing and Link instantly jumped into the water instinctively. It looked like instinct was the right thing to do this time. Link’s skin turned a deep shade of bluish-green mixed with black and he grew a foot in height not to mention scales. The scales on his back were harder than the others and formed something like chainmail. His jaws lengthened until they were about long and slender. His teeth almost tripled in number and became like nails for digging into prey. His jaw muscles increased until they were ten times stronger than his original, and he grew a long, paddle-like tail. Link opened his yellowish-green eyes and looked at his new body. He was a large, humanoid crocodile with black, claw-like nails.

Link was easily moving as fast as he did when he wore the Zora Mask. His massive tail was paddling him at speeds he had never imagined. He no longer had to kick or paddle with his arms; just let the tail do all the work. Link also noticed he didn't have to surface as often as he did before.

Then suddenly, he spotted the figure. It was swimming swiftly, but not as quick as he was. Several yards separated Link and the creature, but with a great swish of his tail, he caught up to it with relative ease. Link opened his new jaws and clamped his peglike teeth into the creature’s leg with the force of a truck parking on its leg. The creature opened its mouth as a stream of bubbles, otherwise a scream of pain, issued from its mouth. The critter whirled around to see what hit (or bit) him and revealed its true self. It had a fishlike head and teeth like a piranha. It saw Link holding onto its leg and whipped out a dagger. It bent over Link's head and attempted to stab him in the back. However, the knife bounced off the armor and, upon further inspection, the knife was broken in two. The creature dropped the knife and sank its sharp little teeth into the crocodilian’s nose. It didn’t hurt much, but it was enough to tip Link over the edge. Link still held onto the fishlike creature with his jaws and simply bit down harder. The creature then batted Link near the eyes and that hurt him a bit. It was apparent that this creature had better things to do than get mauled by a crocodile.

Link then had the urge to do something that he had never done before. Crocodile instinct took over and he held onto the creature’s leg as he began to spin very quickly. He was spinning at two or three rotations per second with bone-wrenching force. The creature was getting spun around like a corkscrew and would have screamed its lungs out when its right leg came off in Link's mouth. (This action is common in all crocodiles. People call it the ‘deathroll.’) Link crossed his eyes to see the leg in his mouth, but quickly spat it out. The fish-like creature tried to swim to the surface, but Link proved quicker and caught him in one of his muscular arms and heaved him out of the water. Link surfaced to see the creature trying to get back up, but stumbled when Link swept the ground with his massive tail. He then seized it around the neck and lifted it clean off the ground.

“Let me go, you overgrown lizard!” The creature spat.

Link opened his new pair of bone-crushing jaws and a bone-chilling bellow vibrated through both him and the creature, scaring it witless.

“Who are you?” Link asked sternly.

“You could poke knives into my eyes and I still won’t tell you.” The creature said.

Link narrowed his catlike eyes and said, “I'm still in the mood for seafood. Care to talk NOW?" Link asked, starting to get slightly irritated.

“Alright! I am the aquatic servant of the great Goldra.” The fishlike thing said, but then a familiar black mist began to flow into the area.

Within seconds, Goldra was back, just as Link remembered him. Link dropped it, painfully, onto the ground and hissed at the warlock. The dark one then glared at the fish and raised a hand.

“You pathetic piece of shark bait. You’ll never keep that mouth shut, BEGONE!” Goldra shouted.

He clenched his hand into a fist and a dark bolt of lightning came out of his hand. A scream echoed through the air as Link shielded his eyes from the light. When the light cleared, the one-legged fish creature was on the ground-lifeless.

“Why’d you do that to him?!” Link growled as he advanced on Goldra.

Link opened his mouth and clamped them down on Goldra's thigh. Goldra growled in pain, but aimed a blast of yellow energy at Link and hit him right in the forehead. Link released Goldra and shook his head in pain, trying to shake the cobwebs out of his head. His eyes then widened as he saw the flesh where his teeth had injured Goldra started to heal over.

“Brave of you, boy. No wonder they made YOU the hero of time. But there's no time to play, now. Farewell.” Goldra said calmly.

A flash of lightning struck him and the dark wizard vanished. Link stared at the spot with a look of anger on his face. He was going to track down Goldra, battle him, and kill him in any way he could.

Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

© Ahmed El-Khuffash and David Butler. All Rights Reserved.