…behind him. There was a heavy thud as something ran into the door behind them. Link pushed himself against the door, trying to keep it shut. Finally, the slamming stopped. Link eased away from the door and made his way further into the room. The water was still, and it concerned Link.
They had found the hull of the ship. Endeavor sunk down, searching around the many crates in the large cargo hold. She skimmed the labels on boxes, swimming rapidly from box to box, trying to locate one specific item in all this mess.
Link looked around, wondering where the threat was. He was waiting for something to show up. His eyes saw something familiar. Zeal’s shawl was draped over the top of a stack of boxes, moving slightly in the water.
Quickly, Link swam over towards the object. He started to pulled it free, only to watch it disappear. He gripped his sword, turning around. A shadow passed around the bottom of the hull. It was moving quickly, too quickly for Link’s comfort.
Zelda fired an arrow into the back of the ship. The light flashed, but the creature moved too fast to be hit.
Endeavor made some sound as she found the box she was searching for. Then, almost immediately after, the crates, and Endeavor, were thrown back. Endeavor hit the wall, floating up a bit, unconscious.
Link turned back around, and saw the beast rise from the shadows. The contorted form of a whale swam up, with something like a squid wrapped around it. Yellow eyes opened on the long tentacles of the beast.
Adjusting herself, Zelda launched another arrow at the creature. The projectile buried itself in the whale’s skin and the creature bellowed in pain. The whale’s eyes opened, blood-shot and agonizing. Suddenly, Link realized that this wasn’t one creature. It was a parasite feeding on another being.
Without a way to communicate this to the others, Link dove into the fray of tentacles. He swam over the whale’s eye. There was a look of recognition as Link passed the creature, but he didn’t have time. He kept swimming until he found the source of the black parasite clinging to the whale. One of its sickly yellow eyes roved around, watching Link as he approached.
A shadow appeared above him. Link dashed out of the way as an arm crashed into the whale’s side. Again, the whale bugled its pain, before it turned to face Link again. One of the long arms, came sweeping towards him. Link turned, and stabbed it out before it could complete its swing. The arm curled back, drawing back to nurse itself.
Zelda must have picked up on it by now, because she started to fire at the other tentacles. A few of the arms reeled back as well. With the new opening, Link swam in towards the parasitic squid again. He grabbed the head of it, trying to cut the thing off from the whale. While it took quite a beating, the monster refused to let go of its mount.
Behind them, Endeavor shook her head and woke back up. The tentacles stretched back out. Link saw the shadows, and dodged quickly before the attack landed. As Link swam back, Endeavor ducked in. She was angry about being thrown back. Between her and Yore, several more tentacles were cut. Those remained turned, their eyes gone wild, concentrating on the Drex.
Lynard gripped his blade a little tighter as the monster launched an attack. His sword dipping between Endeavor’s neck and shoulder, putting out the closest eye for good. Endeavor turned around to glance at the man, nodding at him, before returning to her fight.
With Endeavor and Lynard distracting the thing, Link swam back around to the back of the whale to try and remove the squid once more. As he approached, the beast blasted a cloud of ink. But, Link didn’t find himself hindered. He remembered the Shadow Medallion still in his Sage’s Rod, and figured that the magic was still in effect. He grabbed the parasite again, pulling it further back. His sword cut through the dark monster for several minutes, but it still refused to be removed.
Desperate to get Link away, it retracted its tentacles from battling the others. In a wide sweeping motion, it forced Link to swim away or take a hit. He chose to swim away.
The beast was losing this battle, and it knew it. Frantic, it began to swim around the hull, sending crates flying in all directions. Its long arms flailed about, not staying still long enough to target or hit.
Finally, the monster slowed down again, exhausted and worn. It was refusing to give up this fight though. But its attackers were determined. Lynard cut another one of its tentacles, yet another eye useless to the monster. Zelda kept the eyes stunned at a distance, always tracking the creature with her bow.
Its grip was failing. The whale began to take control again. It stopped itself, giving Link the moment he needed to swim into the crumbled heap of long arms. His sword dove into the squid’s sides. Finally, it conceded, and let go of the whale. It needed a weaker host, and it needed one fast. It dawned on the creature that it was being held by an incredible power source. Its once dead arms sprung back to life. It turned and open the threatening mouth that had once snared the whale towards Link.
Something smacked the creature from Link’s hand. Surprisingly, it didn’t knock Link back as the whale fin sent the squid towards the side of the ship. Without anything to restore itself, the beast shriveled up, and began floating towards the surface. It vanished before it even reached the top of the ship.
Link turned back to the massive whale in front of him. With the squid gone, color began to return to the white skin of the whale. It became a dark blue, and the pain vanished from its eyes. In ancient Hylian is spoke to Link, and unlike when Azerian threatened him, Link understand this creature, “Oh, Hero of the Goddesses, returned to us at last. Long have my fathers kept watch over the waters of Hyrule, but never did I believe that such a dark spirit of the past could return. The fiend who captured me was the demon known as Bellum, and only from the darkness of the Returned One could he emerge again to these waters.”
As the whale went on, Endeavor, Lynard, and Zelda swam over, “I am the Guardian of the Ocean, Jashu, Lord of the Great Whales, and descendent of the Ocean King. Thanks to your noble actions, I can return to protecting these waters, and restoring the Fire Temple as it was before these pirates came along.”
Lynard began to wave his hands, trying to get Jashu’s attention. The whale turned, and asked, “What is it?” Lynard sighed and glanced at the others, before back at the whale. Jashu nodded. “Oh, of course.” A light appeared above the whale’s head as a lantern formed. A large pocket of air formed around them. They fell a bit, bouncing on the round edge of the bubble. Jashu implored, “Now, what is it that you wish to say?”
Lynard stood himself up, careful not to poke the bubble. He said, “The Fire Sage is the leader of these pirates, and she has not chosen what side to fight for yet, last we spoke. To doom her men would only send her further into the arms of our enemies rather than rallying her to our cause.”
“Then what would ask me do? I must protect Hyrule’s waters, it is my sacred purpose,” Jashu replied.
Endeavor said, “Lord Jashu, we mean to try and convince this Sage to fight for us and Hyrule, but her men are not the only forces in the ocean. Drive out the dark evils swimming here that the Demon Lord has created, but leaving the humans to us. But if we should fail, then we will ask you to purge the waters entirely.”
“Very well,” the whale stated. The bubble began to vanish. Endeavor nodded and took a deep breath, before diving back down towards the base of the ship.
With that, Jashu vanished back into the ocean. His whale song echoed through the waters as light filtered through the ship’s wreckage once more.
Zelda squeezed Link’s arm. He turned back and saw that her protective spell was gone. His eyes widened, then suddenly he realized Endeavor was still down there. Lynard swam in, and grabbed Zelda’s hand. He glanced at Link, before he began pulling Zelda towards the surface.
Link dove down towards the bottom of the ship where Endeavor was rapidly searching for something in the wreckage of the crates. Bubbles streamed from her lips as she struggled to hold her breath. Finally, she found what she was looking for, but ran out of breath before she could reach it.
Grabbing Endeavor around the waist, Link scooped up the object before he began forcing himself towards the surface. He quickly tightened his grip around Endeavor before he worried about the object. He'd rather have to go back and search for it than lose Endeavor to the ocean. He hardly looked at the object, but he caught a glimpse of it. It looked liked a small cannon.
“You got the Port Key. This weapon may look small, but it has the strength of the ten full cannons behind it. Aim well.”
Tucking the object against his chest, Link continued to pull Endeavor towards the surface. He saw Lynard and Zelda pulled out of the water above them. Swimming as fast as he could, Link made his way to the surface and pulled them up out of the water…