Archive of Our Own

“Run! Just Run!”

There were loud crashes as rock met rock. Dust fell from the cave’s ceiling, making it hard to see even with several lanterns.

The cave was collapsing and the chain had no option other than to run and pray they find another exit now that the one they came through was blocked off.

A large rock broke off the ceiling and fell down, knocking down Four. Thankfully the smithy got up without another word and kept running. If they stood still for even a second they’d be pancakes.

A shout from the front. Warriors had spotted something. A large metal door was ahead. Wild immediately activated the magnesis rune on his slate and forced the door open. They didn’t even look at where the door led to. All that mattered was that it might save them from the collapsing cave.

The moment the last person passed through the door Wild closed it, preventing any dust and chaos from following them.

There were some tense moments as the room they found themselves in shook and rumbled. But nothing collapsed. After a couple of minutes the noise and shaking finally stopped. Sighs of relief filled the room. Finally they were safe.

Time quickly did a headcount, relieved to see everyone made it.

“Is everyone ok? Any injuries?”

Thankfully everyone got away with nothing but a few scrapes and bruises. Except for Four.

“Got knocked down by a boulder. Quite some pain in the right hip and leg. Was bleeding a bit too but that seems to have stopped by itself already.”

Warriors and Hyrule immediately rushed towards the smithy to check the injury. A dark bruise was already forming. The cuts and scrapes required a bit of cleaning  to prevent infection. But, though it hurt, Four was able to put weight on the leg and had already proved he could run just fine. So there likely wasn’t a break or fracture.

“Do you think you can wait for it to heal naturally? Or does it hurt too much?” Warriors asked.

Four shrugged.

“It’s fine. The pain is bearable and I’m sure I can fight and run if needed.”

“Ok, good. But I do advise you to take it slow when possible. Once we get out of this place I want you to rest properly.” Warriors said with a friendly pat on Four’s shoulder.

Hyrule nodded in agreement.

“I second that advice. But that does raise the question… What is this place?”

It was only now that the group properly looked at their surroundings.

The room was tall. Beautiful carved pillars were evenly spread about, holding up the ceiling. Images of serpents were carved into the marble walls. Glowing blue rocks, all carved to look like coiled up snakes, lit up the room with a soft blue light. At the other side of the room was a large door. Its handles were also made to look like serpents.

This place was pretty. Too pretty. And Time’s frown made everyone uneasy.

The old man headed for the door and opened it with a bit of force that told of annoyance. The room it led to was large. Large and filled with water.

Time looked so annoyed.

“Of course it had to be a water temple.” He murmured; pinching the bridge of his nose.

Warriors frowned.

“Something wrong with that? Are they particularly dangerous?”

Time sighed, annoyance clear.

“No, they’re not necessarily more dangerous unless you count drowning. They’re just the worst kind of temple. Confusing as can be.”

Warriors frowned as he looked at the water from a safe distance.

“We uhh… We don’t have to swim, right?”

Legend, who had been standing at a similar safe distance from the water, scoffed.

“What makes you think that you don’t have to swim in a water temple?” He hissed. But there was a lot of unease in the veteran’s voice. He was also glancing at the water with a worried glint in his eyes.

Warriors rubbed the back of his neck nervously, seeming a bit ashamed.

“I… I can’t really swim…” He admitted.

Wind gasped.

“How can you not swim?!” He shouted way too loud for Warriors’s comfort.

“I just never learned.” He murmured.

“Ah, don’t worry!” Hyrule said as he walked to Warriors’s side.

“I can’t swim either.”

“Can’t swim for long.” Wild said nonchalantly.

“I tend to run out of stamina pretty quickly. And I don’t do well when having my head submerged.”

Four, who was using the water to clean his wound, nodded in understanding.

“I can only swim when wearing some special flippers. And even then I’m not that good. But if possible I’d like to avoid swimming too much considering the hip wound.”

Legend, still glaring at the water as if it was going to jump out and kill him, sighed.

“It’s not fun to swim anyways. Better to avoid the water whenever possible.”

Wind frowned.

“You guys are the worst! Swimming is so much fun!”

“So you’re a good swimmer then?” Legend asked.

Wind nodded.

“I can swim just fine! …Even if I can’t swim for long...”

Legend rolled his eyes.

“Of course. This is the worst team for a water temple. We’re going to be stuck here!”

“We won’t.” Time interrupted. He seemed to have resigned himself to the idea of having to deal with this cursed place.

“I can dive just fine and have water breathing items. I know Twilight has too. The two of us should be able to find a way out for all of us. Maybe we can drain the temple or something. I don’t know.”

“I can dive too.” Sky said.

“I need air though but I see a lot of giant air bubbles forming under the water. They should be enough for me to replenish whenever I need any. And if not I’ll return to the surface.”

Time nodded.

“Alright. You’ll come along too. And all of you will wait here. Think you can do that without causing chaos?” He asked, glaring at everyone but mostly at Wild. Everyone murmured in less than convincing agreement. But it was all he was going to get.

With that said, Time and Twilight changed into their zora armor. Wild changed into his zora set too, just in case he had to swim for one reason or another. Sky was already wearing the water dragon’s scale around his neck so he just waited for the others to finish changing.

Time gave one last warning to the surface group to please not make a mess of things up here. And then he, Twilight and Sky dove in the water.

Sky led the group since he was the only one needing air. Swimming from air bubble to air bubble they noted every tunnel and path they could see.

There were three tunnels at various depths. Two were locked off by bars. The highest one was open. Sky made sure to replenish air one last time before they entered the tunnel. Blue serpents carved into the wall made sure the tunnel was lit up. There were no bubbles but there were air pockets every so often so Sky never ran out of air.

But it couldn’t stay easy for long. Soon they reached the first room. It was tall. The water filled only a third of it. Platforms led all the way to the top. Metal targets were on several Walls and pillars.

“Clawshots” Twilight and Sky said in chorus, both pulling out their respective clawshots. They looked at Time expectantly.

“I got a longshot but I have no idea what a clawshot is.” He said, pulling out the longshot he owned.

“There’s nothing wood to attach it to though so it’s not very useful here.”

Sky scanned the room they were in. Time was right, not a piece of wood to be found. All the walls were marble. The targets were metal and Time’s longshot would just bounce off.

“I can go up a bit and scan the area from higher up. Maybe there is no need for you to go up anyways.” He said. Time and Twilight nodded in agreement.

Sky aimed his clawshot at the nearest target and the moment it connected he was off, quickly aiming for the next target, and then the next. This target was over a platform so Sky stepped down, careful not to trip and fall.

Observing the area he saw two pressure plates. Both were behind a gap. One could be jumped over with a clawshot and the other could be jumped over with Sky’s whip. There was a locked door that no gap needed to be jumped for. Sky could see into the next room via some stone lattice on both sides of the door. A switch was standing within that room.

So two step on the pressure plates, The door opens, And they activate the switch. Easy.

“Twilight! Can you come up here for a second? I need someone to step on a pressure plate!”

“On my way!” Twilight called back. He was up faster than Sky was.

“So, step on a pressure plate?” He asked.

Sky nodded and pointed to the plate reached by clawshot.

“You take that one. I can reach the other one.” Pulling out his whip he swung it at the bar over the gap, swinging like it was a vine to get over it.

Twilight shot his clawshot to cross the other gap. Both stepped on the pressure plate and sure enough, the door opened.

“Easy.” Twilight said. But the moment he stepped off the pressure plate the door locked again.

The two of them looked at the door in silence. Twilight stepped back on the pressure plate and the door once again opened. Off and it locked again. They couldn’t shoot at the switch while on the pressure plates either.

Sky groaned.

“How are we going to get the old man up here? He’s wearing such heavy armor! No way we can carry him!”

“I’m pretty sure I could carry him if needed. Just not while also holding clawshots.”

“Well, that doesn’t help. Any other ideas?”

“Can your beetle thingy reach the switch?” Twilight asked.

Sky shrugged and pulled out the beetle and aimed for the door. But the moment the beetle crossed the threshold it malfunctioned and returned to Sky’s arm.

“Nope. Can’t reach it. We need the old man here. So, what do we do?”

Twilight scanned the room for other options but couldn’t find any. He scratched the back of his neck in thought, hand bumping against his Ordon shield. A wooden shield.

“I got a plan!” He said. He reached into his bag, grabbing his wooden shield. He’d rather not have a giant hook mark in his Ordon shield.

“Old man! We need you up here! How far can your longshot reach?”

“Let me check!” Time shouted back, aiming for the highest target. The longshot reached just a bit too short but could easily make it to the platform.

Twilight stood closer to the spot the hookshot could reach with the wooden shield in front of him.

“Aim for this shield! Then you can pull yourself up!”

“I’m pretty sure I’ll pull you off the platform if I did that!” Time responded.

Twilight shrugged.

“I’m pretty sure you won’t but if I do fall there’s water beneath us. I’ll be fine.”

Time frowned. For a second he wondered if Twilight really was his descendant. Then he remembered some of the stupid things he did when he was younger and decided that, yes, Twilight is his descendant.

“Alright, fine. Get ready.” He warned before shooting the longshot at the shield. Twilight grunted as the sudden weight pulled his arm but stood his ground. Time was quickly pulled in by the longshot, reaching the top within seconds. And though Twilight was ready for the force of the hook pulling Time in, he wasn’t prepared for Time bumping into him and was barely able to stop himself from falling off.

But now all three of them were up on the platform.

“welcome!” Sky said cheerily.

“Hi.” Time responded.

“What do I need to do?”

“Simple.” Twilight responded, pointing to the door.

“We open the door and you go through and activate the switch.”

“A door with nothing more than a switch behind it?” Time asked. Twilight and Sky nodded. Time sighed.

“Have you two noticed we haven’t seen a single monster yet?”

“Yeah.”

“Yup.”

“Who wants to bet that the moment I activate the switch the door locks behind me and monsters appear?”

“That’s not a bet.”

“It’ll definitely happen.”

Time let out another sigh and grabbed his sword.

“Alright. Here goes nothing.”

The door opened, Time went through and hit the switch. Sure enough the door locked behind him and an unusually large armored lizalfos appeared behind him.

Twilight and Sky cursed as two large lizalfos appeared on their side too. All grabbed their swords, knowing this wouldn’t be the last fight of the day.

- - - - - - - - - -

“Come oooonn!” Wind whined.

“Warriors won’t let me borrow his cards and I know you have some!”

Legend scowled as he pushed the sailor away.

“I don’t want my card to be ruined by the water either! And you’re going to cheat at whatever game we play anyways! Now scram!”

“Scram? Where to? We’re stuck here!” Wind huffed, trying to reach for Legend’s bag.

“Scram to here!” Legend shouted, Grabbing Wind and tossing him in the water.

“Hey!” Wind shouted before splashing into the water, surfacing with a scowl.

“Legend!” Warriors shouted.

“That was unnecessary!”

“The brat should learn to take ‘no’ for an answer!” Legend hissed, Turning sharply to Wind who was about to splash him with water.

“I will drown you if you do that!”

Wind pouted angrily.

“You won’t.” Then he splashed Legend.

“You little-!” Legend hissed, stepping towards Wind as Warriors started stepping towards him.

“CUT IT OUT!” Four shouted, clearly having a headache from all the arguing. Everyone stopped to look at him.

“Didn’t we promise Time not to make a mess of things?”

“He was looking at Wild as he said that.” Legend replied.

Four rolled his eyes.

“He was talking to all of us. Now quit acting like little kids because of a bit of boredom.”

Legend huffed, stepping away from the water to lean against a wall.

Then he fell through the wall that turned out to be fake.

“FUCK’S SAKE!” He shouted as his back hit the stone ground.

Hyrule’s head popped through the fake wall, looking around.

“Oh, hey! You found a boat!” He said as he pointed to a wooden sailboat with a lot of snake carvings on it.

“Great…” Legend murmured. Could this day get worse?

They pulled the boat out of its hiding spot and pushed it into the water.

Wind immediately jumped into the little boat, inspecting it.

“I guess we can explore the area a bit now.” He said cheerily, the argument from earlier seemingly forgotten. Or at least pushed back until he could put spiders in Legend’s bedroll.

Wild and Hyrule boarded the boat, running their hand along the snake carvings.

“Shouldn’t we wait for Time’s group to get back before we move location?” Wild asked.

Hyrule looked at him confused.

“You’re worried about that?”

“Nah.” Wild replied with a grin. The two burst out in chuckles.

Legend crossed his arms and sat on the marble ground..

“You all can go. I’m staying on land.” He huffed.

Warriors sat down too.

“I’m not getting on that boat either.”

…

…

…

Legend got up and boarded the boat.

“Let’s go before pretty boy changes his mind”

“Hey!”

“Don’t argue.” Four murmured as he boarded the ship, clutching his head in annoyance.

“Just get on. Or stay behind, I don’t care. I just don’t want any shouting.”

Warriors hesitated a bit before boarding the boat. Four leveled Legend with a glare before the veteran could decide to leave again.

“So.” Wild said.

“How do we sail? There are no oars and there is no wind.”

“Uhm, hellooo.”  Wind said.

“Hero of winds? I’ll just call upon some wind.”

Legend scoffed.

“I don’t need to smell that.”

Wind glared daggers at Legend.

“I’ll put scorpions in your bedroll.” He muttered quietly.

Wild looked at Wind with curiosity.

“You can summon enough wind to sail with? I mean I know your korok leaf is way more effective than mine but I’m not sure that’ll be enough to sail all of us around. This boat is larger than a raft.”

“One, It’s a deku leaf from the Great Deku tree. Two, I don’t use that. Observe.” Wind responded, pulling out the wind waker.

“So, East, South, or West? Or somewhere in-between?” He asked.

Hyrule observed the room, noticing an area that seemed to continue beyond their sight.

“South-West!” He said.

Wind nodded. He Warned the others to get ready and started conducting the wind. Up, Left, Right.

For a second nothing happened. Then, just when Legend was about to make some snarky remark, the wind picked up. The sail filled and the boat started moving with a jolt, surprising everyone but Wind, who was used to the baton’s power.

Wind immediately took to steering the boat while the others got their sea legs. Hyrule had spotted correctly, the path continued past a corner.

They sailed for a bit, observing the beautiful temple. But the fact that drawings and sculptures of snakes were everywhere didn’t escape their notice. There were snakes on the boat, on the walls, on the ceiling, the lights were snakes. Snakes everywhere.

Legend watched as they sailed past another beautifully carved snake statue wrapped around a pillar.

“The boss of this temple is definitely going to be some kind of snake, isn’t it?” He said. General murmurs of agreement came from the others.

Wild hummed thoughtfully as he scanned the clear waters below them.

“I wonder if this temple will even have a boss. I mean, we haven’t even seen a single normal monster. I can’t see any in the water below us either. Why would an empty temple have a boss?”

“It is deep in a cave.” Four said.

“Maybe the temple has been abandoned. It would explain the lack of enemies.”

Warriors didn’t seem too convinced. His eyes followed yet another snake statue they sailed past.

“This place seems too well-maintained to be abandoned. Surely there is something going on?”

Hyrule shrugged.

“Not necessarily. These places are covered in magic. If the magic is strong enough the temple can stay standing and pristine for years after being abandoned.”

“Great.” Wind said, calmly steering the boat around the pillars and statues.

“A temple without monsters should be easy. We’ll get out of here in no time!”

“Yeah, sure.” Legend responded with a roll of the eyes.

“We don’t have luck like that. The moment the universe remembers that we’re Links we’ll be attacked. Just you wait.”

“Relax, Vet.” Four responded with a smile.

“It’s been fine thus far. What? You think we’ll be attacked if I were to shout; Hey! I’m Link! Come and get me!” He joked.

Before Legend could respond several large snake statues opened their mouths. A stream of water flowed from them, carrying various monsters that immediately took to the depths. But three giant lizalfos that emerged from the nearest statue turned to the small boat. hissing, they readjusted their grips on their tridents and started swimming towards the group.

“You just had to say that, didn’t you?” Legend snarled, hand reaching for his sword. The others reached for their weapons as well. Wild and Wind grabbed their bows, shooting at the approaching lizalfos.

Hyrule and Warriors were nervous. They were both really poor swimmers and this boat was too small for a proper fight. It was going to be easy to be knocked off.

But the lizalfos weren’t going to wait for them to reach solid ground. A fight was going to happen, whether they liked it or not.

One of the lizalfos reached the boat. It grabbed the side to pull itself up. The boat started to tip under its weight. The beast was far larger than any lizalfos they’d ever seen.

Thankfully (sort of) another lizalfos reached the other side of the boat, also pulling itself onto the small vessel. With two lizalfos the boat straightened again. The third lizalfos circled the boat, waiting for an unfortunate victim to fall into the water.

Wind, Wild and Four were at the back of the boat while the others were at the front.

One of the lizalfos let out a shriek-like roar, causing several to wince at the grating noise.

The monster charged, the entire boat shuddering under its weight. Wild, who had switched to a spear, stabbed his weapon towards the monster. The lizalfos barely dodged the attack, being too large to move effectively on the tiny, crowded boat, and was unable to dodge Wind as the young sailor dashed forwards and stabbed it in the gut. Black blood flowed from the wound.

“Of course it has black blood!” Legend yelled from where he had stabbed the other lizalfos. Said lizalfos lifted its trident, stabbing down at the veteran. Legend dodged but winced when the trident imbedded itself in the floor of the boat. Thankfully no leak was formed but they’d have to be careful.

Warriors slashed his sword at the lizalfos, hitting with ease. The beast snarled as it realized how inconvenient the battle location was. But it also realized this was also the case for its target.

It started swinging its trident around wildly, forcing Legend, Hyrule and Warriors to pull up their shields as dodging was no option. And the monster was strong, each hit landing with significant force.

The other lizalfos, realizing its teammate’s tactic was effective, copied the behavior. Now all heroes were stuck with shields up.

To make things worse, the third lizalfos decided to swim under the boat, slamming its tail against the bottom. The boat shook and several Links stumbled.

Wind got a nasty cut on his shoulder and let out some even nastier curses, Warriors managed to grab the side of the boat to steady himself and barely managed to pull his shield up in time to block the next flurry of attacks, Four was small enough that the sides of the boat were tall enough that he didn’t fall, and Wild managed to stay steady and block incoming attacks.

Hyrule, however, stumbled backward too far. He desperately tried to steady himself as he leaned too far over the water. The third lizalfos approached, trident at the ready.

If Hyrule fell in he’d sink like a rock. Easy prey for the monster. He really didn’t want that. But gravity won the battle and he fell backwards.

He closed his eyes, waiting to feel water followed by a trident piercing through his body. But instead he felt a hand grab his wrist with force, just in time to stop him from hitting the water.

Opening his eyes again he saw Legend. The man was holding the traveler’s wrist with a white-knuckled grip, his other hand reaching for the other wrist.

Hyrule was hanging dangerously over the water. If it wasn’t for Legend he’d be drowning already. So he quickly reached for Legend’s free hand and allowed himself to be pulled up. Just in time to avoid the lizalfos’s trident shooting up from the water.

And Warriors had been blocking every blow that would’ve hit them. The man was clearly tiring, each heavy blow taking a chunk of stamina, but goddesses be damned if he were to let any attack past.

Hyrule was about to grab his shield and help block attacks when he realized it wouldn’t help. All it would do is get him stuck blocking as well, any attempt to stop and move away again opening him up for attacks. Now he had the chance to actually do something.

There was one location the lizalfos weren’t attacking. Right behind them. If Hyrule could just get behind them he could attack. But there wasn’t enough space for him to use his jump spell. Unless…

“Legend. I need you to give me a boost.” Hyrule said.

Legend frowned, looking at the lizalfos swinging its weapon around wildly, and then back at Hyrule.

“What? You going to jump over them?”

“Yes.”

“…If you say so.” Legend knelt down so Hyrule could step on his cupped hands and he could toss him up.

“Ready.”

Hyrule nodded.

“I’ll jump higher than you think. Don’t be surprised.” He said, hopping on Legend’s hands. The moment Legend tossed him upwards he cast the jump spell. With the small but extra boost from Legend he jumped higher than even he expected but he didn’t let that break his focus.

As he started descending he pulled his sword, pointing it downwards at the neck of the lizalfos that was attacking Wind, Wild and Four. With a sickening sound the blade cut through the beast’s vertebrae. It’s black blood couldn’t save it.

The other lizalfos let out a surprised noise at the sound, turning its head slightly to look behind it. Its reptilian eyes widening upon realizing its teammate had been killed. Its attack faltered for only a second. But it was enough for Warriors and Legend to stab it in the chest and gut. The monster fell over the side of the boat, whisps of black blood leaving its corpse as it sank to the depths of the temple.

The third lizalfos wasn’t happy. It hissed and rushed towards the boat, it once again hit the bottom of the boat, attempting to toss someone in the water. It rushed back and forth in the water, hitting the boat every time it passed under it. It moved too fast for anyone to hit it with a sword. But Wild didn’t need a sword.

He once again grabbed a bow, a savage lynel one this time.

“Someone give me a boost!” he said as he readied three shock arrows. Warriors immediately got into position, allowing Wild to hop on his hands.

The moment Wild was in the air time seemed to slow for him. He aimed at the water, watching as the lizalfos slowly came into range. Then he released the arrows and time returned to normal.

The lizalfos roared in agony as three arrows hit their mark. Electricity crackled in the water and through the monsters body. Then everything went silent as the monster’s corpse sank just like the other one.

Legend looked over the edge. The water was clear enough that he could watch the monster’s body hit the bottom of the temple.

“Well that was a bitch.” He grumbled.

“Everyone ok?”

“The bastard cut me!” Wind complained as he tried to look at his shoulder. It was a pretty deep cut but it wouldn’t need a whole potion to fix it. They didn’t have a lot of potions anyways, there was a reason they asked if Four could let his injury heal naturally.

Because of this fact Wind also only drank enough potion for the cut to partially heal. Just enough for him to use his arm effectively.

With that handled they continued sailing. They had to be a lot more careful now that monsters swam around. Luckily a lot of monsters were deeper in the water so could just be sailed over without them attacking. And though they had a few more fights they were able to sail on without further injury.

Eventually they noticed familiar voices. In the distance they could see a stone lattice wall. Shapes were moving behind it and the colors of those shapes told them they were the other team.

“They sound annoyed.” Warriors pointed out.

Four walked to the front of the boat to get a better look.

“Probably because they can’t figure out how to solve a puzzle.” He said, pointing at a switch above the lattice wall, out of sight of the group on the other side.

They could hear two switches being activated. The switch above the wall started glowing for a few seconds before dimming again.

“This is impossible.” They heard Twilight murmur.

“Surely there is a solution?” Sky responded.

“What use is a puzzle that can’t be solved?”

“It can annoy us for one.” Time answered. He sounded tired. Apparently his annoyance of being in a  water temple hadn’t faded yet.

Well, this was fun. But maybe they should help. Wind sucked in a breath and shouted.

“Over here!” He waved his arms as the boat slowly sailed towards the wall. The group behind it immediately started looking through the lattice, calling out greetings.

Sky looked at the others confused.

“Where did you guys get the boat?” He asked.

“Legend found it!” Hyrule said cheerily. Happily wrapping an arm around Legend’s neck and pulling him to his side. The veteran grumbled something about stupid fake walls.

Four smiled as he saw how annoyed Time was.

“You should know we won’t stay still for long, old man. Might be a good thing too. You won’t solve this puzzle otherwise.”

That made Time look at him.

“You know the solution?” He asked. His voice betrayed how much he wanted to be done with this place.

Four nodded.

“There is a switch on this side. It lights up when you guys activate the switches on that side.”

A sigh of relief left the old man.
“Finally a solution.” He murmured.

Twilight chuckled.

“The old man has not been enjoying this temple. And then the first puzzle threw monsters at us. Some weird lizalfos. And now there are monsters everywhere!”

Legend scowled.

“So it was you guys who released those damned things!” He shouted.

“We had to sail carefully to avoid all the damned monsters that suddenly appeared!”

Another tired sigh from Time.

“Great. Now we have an invested water temple. I knew that switch would do no good.”

Sky gave Time’s shoulder a cheerful push, not cheering the tired man up at all.

“It’s fine. We can handle some monsters. Why are you so annoyed anyways?”

Time glared at Sky, causing the man to quickly take a step back.

“I already told you they are the worst.” He said sharply, not elaborating any further. Sky decided not to push.

Twilight rolled his eyes.

“Unbelievable…” He murmured.

“Anyways. You said there is a switch there. Let’s just try to solve this puzzle.”

“Yeah.” Wild said, readying a bow.

“Before Time kills both of you and then us.”

Twilight and Time aimed their bows to the switches on their side. Time fired first, his switch being lit already. The moment the arrow made contact the switch Twilight aimed at started glowing. He fired and hit his mark, making the switch Wild aimed at glow. He fired at it and the moment the arrow made contact all three switches lit up. A familiar tune played from the switches, signaling a completed puzzle.

“Finally.” Time sighed.

“Now, what did it do?”

All links shrugged. But then the sound of stone scraping on stone could be heard in the distance, likely from the main room. And the water suddenly got a strong current, pulling the boat away from the wall and rapidly back through the halls.

Time, Twilight and Sky called out in alarm as they watched the little boat be pulled away, unable to assist.

Wind rushed to steer the boat.

“Everyone hang on!” He shouted as he did his best to keep the boat from tipping. The powerful current didn’t care about walls, slamming the boat against them before pulling it further back down the hall.

While hanging on for dear life Legend noted that the water was getting lower. The temple was draining at least somewhat.

He dared to look at where they were going and noticed they were rapidly approaching another wall. The current didn’t slow.

“Brace yourself!” He called out in warning. The boat hit this wall with more force than the previous one, getting dangerously close to tipping over.

Wind, Wild and Hyrule managed to shift their weight to the lifted part of the boat, preventing it from tipping fully. Legend was in the center holding on to the mast. But Warriors wasn’t able to hang on to anything.

He shouted in alarm as gravity won the battle and he fell over the edge of the boat. By the time he hit the water the current had already pulled the boat further along. The same current that tossed him around in the water, making sure he couldn’t tell up from down.

“Captain!” Wind, Four, Hyrule and Wild called out in chorus when they watched Warriors fall and disappear.

“Ah, fuck.” Legend huffed, shaky voice betraying that he was worried.

“I’ll get him! You guys hang on!” Before the others could reply he jumped into the water. Shouts of alarm were cut off by the sound of water rushing into his ears. Usually he’d let himself drift for a second, letting the next part wash over him. But there was no time for that.

Despite the pain coursing through his body he forced his eyes open. A frustrated snarl left him as he tried to spot Warriors through the bubbles. He decided swimming down was his best option. He started swimming as best as he could, still slow since his legs were still painfully merging together. Bones forcefully rearranging beneath skin and muscle to turn his legs into a fish tail. His neck burned as gills started forming. His ears felt like they were being pierced as fin-like structures formed around them. His nails getting longer and more like claws.

It hurt. It always hurt. But he had to find Warriors. He kept swimming, relief washing over him when the tail formed enough for him to get some actual speed, when the gills were able to allow him to breathe. Soon after the pain started to fade as the transformation was complete.

Fighting the current he finally spotted the captain. He was still awake, desperately kicking the water in an attempt to reach the surface. He was doing a pretty shitty job of it. Sinking deeper still.

Legend swam as fast as he could, hoping Warriors was able to hold his breath long enough for him to reach him.

He rushed past monsters who were thankfully too busy fighting the current themselves to focus on fighting him. Legend reached out a clawed hand at the captain, grabbing his upper arm. Warriors spooked and kicked Legend in the chest. Legend winced but didn’t stop dragging the captain towards the surface.

Finally they reached air. Warriors gasped, desperate to fill empty lungs. Legend struggled to keep the captain above water.

“Quit kicking, you idiot! You’re not helping!”

“Legend?!” Warriors shouted confused, eyes meeting the veteran’s.

“What are you doing?! We’ll both drown!”

“I won’t drown.” Legend replied.

“Now quit kicking or I’ll drown you!”

Wisely, Warriors did stop kicking, allowing Legend to finally swim properly. That’s when Warriors looked down and all color left his face.

“Legend.”

“No.”

“No, listen, Legend!”

“Believe me when I say that I don’t want to hear it.”

“Legend, something is following us!” Warriors shouted.

Legend stopped and stared at the water, spotting nothing. Not a single monster headed their way.

“How long were you out of air for? There’s nothing there.”

Warriors didn’t calm down.

“I think it’s attacking your legs! Can you feel your legs? I think it’s eating them!” He shouted, still panicked.

Legend stared at the captain for a moment. Then he looked down at his tail. Pink and glittering with gold. Then back at the captain who was looking at him still.

“…That’s my tail.” Legend replied dryly.

“...what?” Warriors looked down at the ‘monster’ again. Realizing that it was, indeed, Legends tail. Looking up he now also noticed the slits on the sides of Legend’s neck and the fins around his ears, the same color as the tail.

“What?” He said again.

Legend sighed, starting to swim along with the current again.

“Cursed item I picked up when I was younger. Look, I don’t want to hear anything about this.” He replied, clearly sick of this already. It was bad enough to turn into a mer. But why did it have to be a pink tail?!

Warriors frowned. Now that he wasn’t as panicked he noticed that Legend’s hands were a lot more like claws. His tail and fins and claws were a pink hue shimmering with golden specks. Then he remembered Legend’s pink streak in his hair, and the time it turned completely pink.

“Why are you pink though?”

“SHUT. THE FUCK. UP!”

- - - - - - - - - -

They could do nothing but watch as the boat slammed into the wall and turned the corner. Thankfully they didn’t see anyone fall out.

Sky let out a nervous chuckle.

“Well, old man, you were right about draining the temple. Goddess, I hope they’ll be ok.”

Twilight wore a worried expression on his face, nervously tapping his arm.

“Wild and Wind can swim if needed. So can Four. If anyone does fall I’m sure they’ll be able to help.”

“Still.” Time said as he turned to where they came from.

“We best return to the center hall and make sure no one is hurt.”

Sky and Twilight nodded In agreement. The three of them quickly rushed back, passing the various puzzles they had to solve, until they eventually reached the tall room they came from.

And of course there had to be another issue.

“You guys don’t have a sailcloth, do you?” Sky asked as he looked down. Where once was water was now nothing but marble floor. And with no staircase down any fall would result in a bloody splat on the ground.

Time sighed.

“Right. Drained the temple. Now what?”

Twilight scanned the area, quickly noticing something different.

“That wasn’t turning before, was it?” He said as he pointed to a pillar that was, in fact, slowly turning.

“I’m willing to bet there’s a passage behind it.”

“We have a familiar issue, though.” Time said as he observed the turning pillar. He pointed to the metal targets on it. A clawshot could hang on with ease. His longshot couldn’t.

Sky smiled and shook his head.

“That’s not an issue. We need only one claw shot to hang on. You can borrow one and get to the other side.”

Time frowned, unsure if this was a good idea. What if they needed a second clawshot to get off the pillar on the other side? Before he could voice his concerns Twilight already shoved a clawshot in his hands.

“I’ll check the other side of the pillar first.” The rancher said. He aimed his clawshot and fired, hanging on to the pillar and waiting as it slowly turned to the other side.

Time and Sky waited, finally watching as Twilight, still hanging on to the pillar, reappeared.

“You can just step down on the other side!” He shouted.

“Great!” Sky replied. Then he aimed at a target on the pillar and fired, letting himself be pulled towards it.

“Try to keep up, old man!” A sentence which was not fitting as Sky hung on a very slowly turning pillar, allowing Time to just stare at him unimpressed for a full minute before Sky got out of view.

Time aimed the clawshot at a target and fired. Thankfully it worked a lot like his longshot. Hanging on to the target the other side of the pillar slowly came into view.

“There he is!” Twilight said with a smile.

“That pillar is almost as slow as you are!”

Time stepped down with a sigh.

“What is it with the many ‘old man’ jokes today? I’m not that old.”

Sky gave his shoulder a friendly push as he chuckled.

“You’ve been acting like a grumpy old man ever since we entered this temple.”

“I have?” Time asked with a frown. Sky and Twilight both nodded. He genuinely hadn’t noticed. Though memories of his first ever water temple did fill his mind ever since they entered this place.

“I apologize. I didn’t realize my mood had changed.” He said, slightly ashamed.

Twilight shrugged, taking the clawshot Time handed back to him.

“It’s fine. Water temples are annoying. And with most of the team being poor swimmers it’s even worse.”

“And you seem to have some bad experiences with them.” Sky added.

“I get it. The amount of times I had to redo a lot of parkour after I fell in the water, or the puzzles where I had to fill or drain parts of the temple… It took forever. And then the boss…” Sky shuddered at the thought.

“Way too many arms.”

“Spider?” Twilight asked. Sky shook his head.

“Ancient Automaton. Six arms and six massive swords. Stealing those swords and swinging them around was pretty fun though.”

Time chuckled.

“Stealing the swords? Who are you? Wild?”

“No. Unlike him I didn’t break the swords immediately.” Sky shot back with a grin.

Twilight cringed as he remembered Wild breaking several weapons in a single fight. How did he even do that?

“We should continue.” He finally said.

“We’re still not sure if the others are ok. We best get going.”

“Agreed.” Time and Sky said in chorus. They quickly walked through the next door, Being greeted by a hall with a staircase going pretty far down. There was a line where the water level used to be but further down was still water. So the temple hadn’t drained completely.

Twilight went in first, checking if there were air pockets for Sky. He returned and gave a thumbs up. Sky once again led the group, stopping for air whenever necessary just like before.

The hall was fine at first. Just a few turns and it was well lit by the glowing snake statues. But that soon changed as the hall started to split in several directions.

And of course the first turn they took was a dead end. The second turn they took did the same. The third split into even more directions. And to make things worse the glowing statues became less common, making the halls a lot darker. It was an underwater maze. And Time was trying really hard not to be in a bad mood again.

At first they were able to keep track of where they had been. But as the amount of optional paths increased they started to forget what paths they had already taken. The fact that most halls looked very similar in the dim light didn’t help at all.

A map would have made this a lot easier. But at least there were no monsters in this maze.

Or, at least, that’s what they thought. But Sky froze suddenly, signaling the others to swim back and hide. They quickly swam behind a wall and peeked into the hall, spotting something swimming further ahead. They couldn’t get a proper look at it in the darkness. Only getting glimpses of its tail shimmering in the dim light. Once it swam into one of the halls the three quickly swam into another hall.

They had to be careful now. They weren’t sure if it was only one monster but it didn’t look familiar to any of them. And a new monster combined with possible black blood in dim underwater halls didn’t sound like a fun fight.

They navigated through the maze with caution. Occasionally they’d spot whatever it was in the distance. It seemed to be searching for something as well. But they never could get a proper view of it without risking exposing themselves.

Soon another issue became apparent. Pockets of air became less common the further they went into the maze. They ended up swimming slower so Sky could swim further without running out. Occasionally they were forced to backtrack so Sky could replenish air, risking bumping into the creature.

And soon their luck ran out.

They had swam further into the maze. The creature was nearby, forcing them to swim into halls without looking at which hall they went through or where they came from. And Sky started to run out of air.

They desperately searched for an air pocket but no matter where they went they couldn’t find any. Backtracking didn’t work since they had no idea where they came from. Sky started to struggle.

Bubbles escaped from the skyloftian’s mouth.

And the creature had spotted them.

It rushed towards them with incredible speed, not allowing them to get a proper look at it as it grabbed Sky and pulled him along with it, disappearing in the maze. Time and Twilight tried to follow but by the time they turned the corner Sky and the monster were gone. A horrified expression was etched on the face of the two related heroes.

Meanwhile Sky was panicking. He would fight the monster if he wasn’t trying his best to stay alive I the first place. The pain of the clawed hands digging into his arm was frowned out by the burning agony in his chest. His vision darkened and he was sure this was the end for him, drowning somewhere in a temple in another timeline while being dragged around by a monster. His eyes started to close, his body giving up.

Then, to his surprise, he was pushed up into an air pocket. He gasped and coughed, lungs desperate for the air that was offered. The grip on his arm loosened and whatever dragged him here started holding him in a manner that helped him stay above water with more ease.

He coughed some more, blurry vision finally clearing as his lungs finally got enough air in them.

Then, a voice that made him pause.

“Are you alright?”

Sky looked at the creature holding him. Its teeth were sharp. There were fins around its ears. And the hands keeping him above water were clawed. But that face was very familiar.

“Legend?”

- - - - - - - - - -

Legend was pissed. Of all colors why did he have to be all pretty and pink?! Pink hair, Pink rabbit, Pink fishtail. It didn’t suit him at all, Fable, thank you very much.

He had hoped this was a curse he’d never have to reveal to his brothers but he should have known better. The luck of the Links is both incredibly good and incredibly bad at the same time.

Thankfully Warriors had decided to shut his mouth after Legend got mad at him for mentioning the pink color scheme. And even better was that the others hadn’t fallen out of the boat while legend was away. He spotted them in the center of the main room, arguing and panicking over their lost brethren.

Four spotted them first. He was leaned over the boat, seeming a bit pale. The wild ride probably didn’t do wonders for the little smithy. He gasped when he saw Legend and Warriors approach.

“You’re alive!” He shouted, getting everyone’s attention. All but Wind immediately rushed to the same side of the boat to look. Wind scolded them for almost tipping the boat.

“No thanks to this idiot.” Legend grumbled as he pulled Warriors to the boat.

“He can’t swim but he can kick like a mule.” He helped Warriors to the side of the boat. Wild and Hyrule immediately rushed to help Warriors up.

But Wind was more focused on Legend. Staring as Legend’s tail moved back and forth in the water.

“Hey… Why do you have a pink fish tail?”

“Why is the color so important?!” Legend shouted annoyed,

“Just say fish tail! It’s bad enough!”

Now everyone was looking at Legend. The veteran allowed himself to sink so just his eyes poked above the water, glaring at everyone.

“Is that real?” Wild said, uncaring of Legend’s deadly glare.

“It’s pretty!”

“I’m going to drown you.” Legend answered. Though it was barely heard as his mouth was still below water.

Four frowned.

“I thought you said you couldn’t swim?” He pointed out.

Legend shook his head, finally deciding to lean his arms and chin on the side of the boat.

“I said swimming wasn’t fun and should be avoided. I can swim just fine, as you can sadly see.” He answered. Then he swiped at Wild who was trying to look at his hands.

“These look sharp. Do they do damage? Do they break often?” Wild asked, still completely unaware of how annoyed Legend was.

Before Wild could ask another question Wind piped up.

“Is this why you don’t wear pants?” Legend wasted no second using his tail to splash Wind with water. Wind sent him a deadly glare.

“Venomous snakes in your bedroll.” He murmured quietly.

“I’m not in the mood for questions.” Legend hissed. Wild pouted but stopped asking.

Warriors, who was trying to wring water out of his scarf, piped up next.

“Can I at least ask what the plan is? Clearly these puzzles need to be solved from both sides. But we have no idea where the others are in this temple.”

Four nodded, looking around in thought. The gate the others had gone through was now locked. Another gate underwater was now open.

“If only we had a map and compass. We’d be able to get through this place a lot easier.”

Wind sighed, sitting down in the boat with a frown.

“The others are probably worried too. We got dragged away quite quickly.”

Legend drummed his fingers against the boat in thought. As much as he hated this cursed mermaid tail most of the chain knew he had it now. What’s three more?

“I can go through the new gate and see if I can find them. I’ll let them know you guys are ok.”

Warriors looked at him surprised.

“They’ll know about the tail though.”

Legend shrugged.

“Most of you know about it now. And it’s better than having them die of worry anyways.”

Warriors nodded.

“Alright. It’s best if we don’t stay still either. I can see the monsters in deeper waters eyeing the boat.”

Wild hummed in agreement.

“There is also a new hall we can sail through now that the water is lower.” He said, pointing at a new passage.

“Maybe we’ll meet up later.”

“Alright.” Legend said with a sigh.

“Guess I’ll go look for the others then. Stay safe.” With one final wave he dove down to the opened gate.

The hall it led through was brightly lit at first but as the lights became dinner and the hall became more confusing it became clear that it was a maze. Which was just a-maze-ing. He groaned at his own pun.

He swam for a while, going deeper and deeper. He made sure to take note of a few air pockets. Though he could breathe fine with his gills he knew Sky needed air so it was good to remember where these pockets were. And thankfully years of adventuring made him pretty good at navigating even without a map.

This was especially good when he finally spotted the others, just in time to see bubbles leave Sky’s mouth. The man was drowning.

No time for greetings, he rushed towards the skyloftian and grabbed him by the arm, pulling him along. Sky gave a few weak kicks but no more than that, worrying Legend.

But he remembered a nearby air pocket and swam towards it as fast as he could, shoving the skyloftian towards it immediately.

Sky hacked and coughed. Thankfully it seemed he had been able to mostly keep the water out of his lungs. Legend switched his hold to better support Sky as he regained his breath.

“Are you alright?” He asked. Sky turned to look at him. A surprised expression on his face as he studied the veteran.

“Legend?” Sky asked, shoulders tense as he looked at Legend’s teeth, claws and tail.

“Surprise?” Legend said, The awkward grin that showed his too sharp teeth not helping the tension.

“What the...” Sky cut off his curse and looked at him dumbfounded. Legend shied away under his gaze.

“Cursed item. I don’t like talking about it.” Legend replied simply, knowing Sky wouldn’t push.

Sky sighed and nodded. He wasn’t going to upset the guy who saved his ass. Speaking of…

“Thank you for making sure I didn’t drown.” Sky said with an awkward chuckle. Legend just shrugged.

“We uhm… should probably look for Time and Twilight. We kind of thought you were a monster and they’re probably panicking right now.” Sky said, scratching the back of his neck.

Legend frowned at that but nodded. He didn’t look that different, did he?

“I memorized some air pockets. Deep breath. I’ll take you to the next one.” He said quietly. Sky nodded, took a deep breath, and both of them dove down again.

They didn’t have to look for the other two for long. On their way to the next air pocket they bumped into Time and Twilight having an underwater argument, rapid signing telling that they were clearly worried sick about Sky.

Time noticed them first and Sky pushed himself in front of Legend to avoid accidental attacks. It was difficult to make out what Legend looked like in the dim light.

Legend peeked over Sky’s shoulder nervously. Time and Twilight frowned at first but then their eyes widened when they realized it was Legend. But Sky tapped Legend’s arm, signing that he needed air. Legend nodded and motioned for everyone to follow, soon arriving at another air pocket.

As Sky took deep breaths of air Twilight wiped the water from his eyes and then looked at Legend.

“Legend, what the fuck?”

“Shut it, mutt.” Legend hissed.

“Wolf. Not a mutt.” Twilight answered with a glare.

Sky opened his mouth with a smile but Legend cut him off.

“Mention the color of my tail and you’re dead.” He hissed. Sky lifted his hands in surrender, both he and Twilight chuckling slightly.

“Boys!” Time said strictly. Then he took a deep breath, calming himself.

“Legend, I thought you said you couldn’t swim.”

Legend rolled his eyes. This question again.

“No, I said I didn’t like swimming. And I’m sure you can see why.” He said, raising the end of his tail above the water for emphasis.

“The transformation hurts like hell too.”

Twilight frowned.

“Transforming never hurts for me. Why does it hurt you?”

“Ooh listen to the lucky bastard. One, You use a different type of magic. Two, This is a curse, not a spell. They don’t tend to treat you kindly. No, old man, I didn’t get this curse recently. I had it before I met all of you. No, it can’t be cured. I tried. Anyone still have questions?”

Time nodded.

“Yes, I do have more questions. Why, if you don’t like swimming and transforming hurts, are you in the water?”

Legend let out an annoyed groan as he thought of Warriors.

“The idiot of a pretty boy didn’t heed my warning when I told us to brace for impact. He got tossed overboard and I had to get his ass. He’s fine. So are the others. That’s why I’m here anyways. To make sure you guys don’t die of worry.”

Time gave a grateful nod. That was one less thing on his mind. But he knew one thing about the others.

“I assume they didn’t stay in a safe location and instead just went on to explore the temple again?” He asked. Legend nodded with a shrug.

“Ok. I guess we best keep exploring then too. We won’t be able to leave this place until we find an exit anyways. What will you do, Legend? Are you staying with us or returning to the others?”

Legend thought for a moment. On the one hand, Staying here meant he wouldn’t have to be around Warriors. On the other hand, Hyrule was with them too and he couldn’t swim. Legend didn’t want to imagine his successor falling in the monster invested waters.

“I’ll return to the others. I recommend one of you two-” He said, staring at Time and Twilight.

“-Explore to find a water pocket before dragging featherhead along. They’re getting difficult to find in this area. And I have enhanced underwater vision!”

The three other heroes agreed to the plan. Legend gave one last wave before diving down. He remembered the tunnels well and quickly returned to the main hall. There were a few minor fights with monsters along the way. The weird big fish with an X on their head were easy enough to stun with a well-timed swipe of the tail. Bomb fishes just needed to be avoided until they went boom. The Biri were annoying but could be avoided easily enough (Just make extra space when they emit an electric shock.) Lizalfos were the worst. Damned things would chase after him and try to stab him with tridents. Luckily Legend was a faster swimmer than them so if the fight got too risky he’d simply flee.

But now that he was in the main hall avoiding monsters became both easier and harder. Easier because he had so much space to maneuver and get around monsters. Harder because monsters would spot him faster. Deciding that this was very annoying, he quickly swam towards the hall the others sailed through.

It was fine until he spotted some iron bars blocking his path. On the other side was a dead end and a massive pillar of water. No boat in sight. Thankfully no bodies either.

Legend ran a hand down his face.

“Oh, great. They got blasted to the heavens…”

- - - - - - - - - -

Sailing was going fine. Yes, Warriors now had a white-knuckled grip on the boat. But sailing was going smoothly.

They had faced a few minor foes. But they hadn’t been teamed up on like before. A single black-blooded lizalfos is way easier to take down than three. But now there was an issue.

Wind scowled as he looked at the wall. A dead end. And to make things worse, an iron gate had appeared behind them, locking them in.

“Any luck with the magnesis rune, Champion?” He asked.

Wild shook his head. He appeared completely unbothered.

“Nope. Whatever mechanism closed this door has a lock. I guess we’re in boat jail.”

“Boo!” Hyrule said, seeming bored.

“I don’t wanna be in boat jail! Boat jail is boring!”

Warriors, still with a firm grip on the boat, gave a hum in reply.

“I think boat jail is fine. It’s calm.” He was booed by most of the group.

Four, however, was scanning the area. No dungeon has inescapable rooms. Something must allow them a path forwards. He scanned his eyes over every wall and corner. One large brick was missing, seemingly on purpose. But there was no button, no switch, no nothing.

But he was observant. The brick below the hole seemed to have been moved at some point. It wasn’t connected to the walls at least. But it was too high for them to reach even if they were to climb the mast of the boat.

He wondered. And an idea popped in his head.

He dug into his bag, pulling out the cane of Pacci. He stood, biting back a curse as his hip gave a painful sting, and aimed the staff at the loose brick.

He fired. And the moment the magic hit the brick it was lifted up, revealing a switch. The brick neatly turned upside down and landed. The switch in full view.

“Found a switch!” He called back, pretty proud of himself.

Wild turned, looked at the switch, said “Ooh!”, and fired an arrow at it before anyone could protest. The water rumbled beneath the boat. Everyone immediately braced. It went on for a few seconds and then quieted. A minute passed and just when everyone’s shoulders relaxed a bit a massive pillar of water formed beneath them, shooting them up to a new level of the temple.

“Cool!” Wild shouted joyfully. Hyrule and Wind agreed. Four was indifferent, and Warriors probably shat himself he looked so scared.

When they reached the top they were met with another water-filled hallway. A water filled bridge carved to look like snakes wrapping around each other reached close enough to the watery pillar that the boat could sail over the gap. The water within the bridge seemed to be magically stopped from falling down.

Wind shrugged and sailed the boat over the bridge and into the new hall. It looked very similar to the other halls. Except the eyes of the snakes carved and painted into the walls and pillars followed them.

Hyrule looked at the snakes with hands on his hips. Eyes of the carvings never leaving the boat.

“Well that’s ominous.” The others murmured in agreement. The snakes never stopped watching them but they didn’t stop watching the snakes either.

Eventually they reached a round room. There were three identical levers on the wall. No symbols, colors, or numbers telling them anything about the levers. Just a carving of a snake with eyes watching them. Which lever to pull?

“Middle one?” Wind suggested.

Four hummed in agreement.

“It’s never left to right or right to left. So middle one is the safest bet I‘d say.”

Warriors frowned, not wanting another puzzle to threaten to toss him overboard. Wild and Hyrule just wanted to see what the switch did.

Sailing over, Hyrule reached out to pull the switch. Almost immediately a bunch of miniblins fell out of a hole in the ceiling, landing on the boat and immediately going for the ankles.

Wind cursed and kicked a miniblin in the face.

“I hate these tiny fuckers! Kill em!”

“We’re trying!” Warriors replied as he grabbed a miniblin by the scruff of its neck and tossed it overboard. Though they can  sail a boat, they’re terrible swimmers.

Taking note of this, the rest quickly followed Warriors’s example and just threw the little bastards overboard instead of trying to stab them. Some got bit in the progress but the fight was over relatively quickly.

Wild hummed as he rubbed his wrist. A tiny bite mark on it.

“Well, that was the wrong lever. Maybe the left one?” Trial and error it is.

- - - - - - - - - -

It took some time to explore the maze while keeping Sky from drowning. But soon they reached another area that was lit up better. The room was circular. They swam towards the top, finding a platform they could stand on.

There were three levers on the wall. Above it was a carving of a snake. It’s eyes following the group’s every move.

“So?” Sky started with a clap of his hands.

“What lever do we pull?”

Twilight looked around the area. There was nothing that hinted to a solution. Just the levers and the ominous snake carving.

“I don’t know. Usually there’s some kind of hint but I see none.”

Sky thought, pulled the master sword, and lifted it high before spinning it in circles. He frowned when the snake’s eyes didn’t follow the blade.

“Guess it’s a different puzzle than the ones I’m used to.” He said with a shrug. He turned to see Time and twilight look at him confused.

“Make the eyes dizzy.” He said, not elaborating further.

Time let out a breath through his nose as he looked at the levers.

“I guess we just pull a lever and see what happens?” He suggested. Twilight and Sky hummed and shrugged unenthusiastically.

So Time walked to a lever, the one on the right, and pulled. Immediately a hole opened above them and a massive moblin landed. Appearance-wise it had the dog-like features of the one’s from Time’s era but shape-wise it looked like Sky’s moblins. It even had a shield and spear. And what was up with the nipple piercings?!

Sky grabbed his sword and shield, rushing at the monster.

“Attack its back while I distract it!” he called. Time and twilight nodded, moving so their locations formed a triangle.

Sky slashed at the monster. It put up its shield and blocked with ease. Twilight quickly rushed at its back while it was distracted. But, to his surprise, the monster started charging backwards. Running him over with ease.

It started running forwards again. Time quickly pulled Twilight out of the way. Sky had his shield ready, parrying the moment the spear collided with it. The beast stumbled back. Time quickly rushed in and sliced it across its back with the biggoron sword.

It roared. Not in pain but in anger. It started swinging its spear like it was a sword, turning surprisingly fast for a beast so big.

They couldn’t get past the spear so Sky decided to just get rid of the damned thing. He grabbed his whip and hit towards the spear. The end of the whip coiled around the spear and with one firm tug the monster was disarmed.

Realizing it had lost its weapon it quickly put up the shield, charging at Time. But Time stayed in place, weapon ready.

Twilight had grabbed his clawshots. He aimed to the shield and shot. But instead of letting himself be pulled in by the clawshots he stood his ground. The clawshots forced the shield out of the moblin’s arms and the moment it lost its defense Time sliced at its belly with his sword. Blood sprayed and the monster fell to the ground, still as a corpse.

They took a moment to catch their breath.

“Ok, what now?” Twilight asked. Then he flinched as he noticed the snake’s eyes. They weren’t following them anymore. Instead they were looking at the middle lever, then at them, and back down at the lever.

“Huh.” Time said as he observed the carving.

“I guess the middle lever?”

Sky shrugged, approaching the lever.

“Seems like it. Weapons ready!” He pulled the lever and…

- - - - - - - - - -

Legend didn’t really know what to do. He couldn’t get past the bars to follow the others. He didn’t feel like swimming all the way back through the maze either. Those three could handle themselves. So he decided to dive down, doing his best to avoid monsters but getting grazed by a spear, and soon he found a hole just big enough for him to swim through.

The hall was dark, no glowing snake carvings to light up the way, but it didn’t split in multiple directions. So just swimming forwards he reached a new room. It was round and completely filled to the top with water.

There were two snake statues, their mouths wide open. Both mouths held an orb. Through the left orb Legend could see the boat group in a round room with three levers. They were fighting a group of miniblins. By how quickly they won Legend guessed that this wasn’t the first miniblin fight they had. The right orb showed Time, Twilight and Sky arriving in a similar round room. He couldn’t hear them but saw Time pull a lever. A moblin appeared and the three started fighting it.

Legend continued observing the room he was in. He swam up, noticing snake carvings at various heights. Three above the left snake statue and three above the right. Their heights were all different and not in order. He swam back down, observed the rooms he could see through the orbs, and swam back up to look at the carvings. Repeating this a few times.

The boat group was done fighting the miniblins. They seemed to argue for a bit before pulling the lever on the right. Looking up, Legend could see the right snake carving above the left snake statue glow red. And through the orb he saw monsters appear by the boat group.

Legend thought. This carving was the second lowest carving. All carvings pointed up so he bet he had to start with the lever connected to the lowest carving and then pull each lever one snake up.

He once again swam up, memorized the pattern, and swam down. The first lever had to be the middle one on the swimming team’s side. But how to communicate it?

He looked around some more, finally noticing that there were two more orbs below the snake statues. These were stone. Legend touched the orb, and he realized he could roll it in place. Looking at the orb in the right snake’s mouth he realized he was controlling the eyes of the snake carved into the wall above the levers.

He saw Twilight flinch as the man spotted it. Legend took his chance and started repeatedly aiming the carving’s eyes at the middle lever and back again. And Sky walked forwards and pulled that exact lever.

The group seemed tense, hands on their weapons, but no monster appeared. Through the orb Legend could see their shoulders sag in relief.

He looked up, seeing the lowest snake carving above him glow a calm blue. This was working!

He was about to swim to the left orb to try and inform the other team what to do when the faint blue glow above him disappeared. Looking through the left snake’s orb he saw that they had pulled another lever again and their mistake reset the puzzle. Legend groaned in annoyance. He had to get them to stop pulling levers randomly.

To make things worse, the other team seemed to have thought that defeating the monster had given them a hint so they approached a lever again. This was going terrible!

Acting quickly, Legend used the orb of the right snake to shake the eyes left and right rapidly as if shaking his head. Then, before the others could pull another lever after having quickly defeated the miniblin army, Legend did the same on their side. And thank the three both teams stopped in their tracks and didn’t pull a lever!

Legend sighed in relief and guided the first team to pull the middle lever again. They did, the lowest carving emitted a blue glow, and now Legend could guide the other team.

Just like he did to the first team he pointed the carving’s eyes towards the right lever. The team seemed to be discussing whether they should comply but eventually they pulled the lever. The second carving started glowing blue.

The next was on the first team’s side again. He was able to guide them to the right lever, returned to the other team just in time to stop them from randomly pulling another lever, guided them to the right one, back to the first team, correct, second team, last lever pulled.

Once again the familiar tune played and stone could be heard scraping on stone. Legend saw the water in the room he was in start to drain but when he looked at the boat team he was relieved to see that the water wasn’t draining and creating currents at their location. The others were fine as well even though the water was draining where they were.

Deciding that his job was done he started swimming back to the central room.

The water was draining quickly so Legend made haste. He didn’t know how low the water would get and if he couldn’t swim or walk he wouldn’t be able to get away from monsters. Best to get to a safe spot before he couldn’t anymore.

- - - - - - - - - -

Once again the water had drained too far for them to jump down. They didn’t want to jump in while it was draining either. They had seen how hard the boat was smashed against the walls before. But Time, Twilight and Sky just looked around until they spotted a newly opened passageway. And yes, one opened up, allowing them to continue on foot.

They walked for a bit until they reached an exit. Walking out they realized they just walked out of a snake carving’s mouth. And before they could comment on it they saw a familiar boat approach.

Sky’s eyes lit up immediately.

“Hey! It’s the others! Guys! Over here!” They could see everyone’s heads turn towards them. They also seemed happy to see them.

The boat slowed to a crawl next to them so they too could hop on. It was a bit crowded but the boat stayed afloat just fine.

Time chuckled as he noticed the captain’s white-knuckled grip on the boat.

“You good, cap? I heard you forgot that you couldn’t swim.” He teased lightly.

Warriors rolled his eyes.

“I bet I could swim just fine if I didn’t have to worry about drowning, Mr. zora tunic.”

“I’m sure you could.” Time said with a smile.

“But seriously, I’m glad you are ok. All of you. We got quite a scare when you were pulled away so suddenly.”

“Yeah.” Wild said while looking at the water.

“It’s a good thing Legend has a fish tail.”

Warriors shuddered.

“And gills. It’s kind of creepy, seeing him with slices in his neck like that.”

Twilight paused, realizing Legend wasn’t actually here.

“Where is the veteran anyways? I thought he was swimming back to you guys.”

Wind hummed while steering the boat to where they came from.

“I thought he was with you guys. But our path back got blocked earlier so maybe he couldn’t pass?”

Four shrugged, calmly leaned against the side of the boat with eyes closed.

“He’ll probably be waiting in the main room then. He’s lucky he avoided that annoying puzzle.”

“Annoying puzzle?” Sky asked. Wind nodded.

“Yeah. There were three levers and whenever we pulled one a group of miniblins would appear. Eventually some snake carving’s eyes moved to the right levers. No idea what triggered it.” The sailor said annoyed, a scowl on his face.

Time hummed.

“We had the exact same puzzle. Only some weird moblin appeared when we pulled a lever. Thankfully the carving on our side moved immediately after that so we didn’t pull another wrong lever.”

“Lucky.” Wind murmured.

The group sailed on, talking about their side of the dungeon. Soon they reached the water pillar and the moment they sailed on it, it slowly went lower, placing them neatly I the water at the bottom.

As they had suspected the water was a lot lower now. Time could walk in it if he wanted. The bars that had blocked the boat’s path before were gone now too. And so were most monsters. The water housed creatures likely fled when the water drained.

It made sailing towards the main room a lot easier. But as they got close they heard a lot of cursing and shouting.

As they turned the corner they saw a large herd of lizalfos chasing Legend. The veteran was fast but the lizalfos were many. Before anyone could assist the veteran Wild stopped them.

In the center of the room was the drain. It was closed but there was a metal handle on it that was previously unreachable by the magnesis rune. But now Wild could reach.

A plan quickly formed. Sky whistled, getting Legend’s attention. Legend swam towards the boat and reached out a hand. Sky grabbed his whip and swung it at the veteran, catching his wrist. Legend grabbed onto the whip with both hands.

Time stabbed the biggoron sword into the ground, anchoring the boat in place.

Wild quickly opened the drain. A strong current formed. The lizalfos got pulled in but the boat and Legend stayed in place. The moment the last lizalfos disappeared into the drain with a shriek Wild released magnesis’s hold and the drain closed again. A collective sigh of relief could be heard.

Legend swam towards the boat, scowl on his face.

“Well that sucked.”

“You’re welcome.” Sky said with a smile as he coiled the whip back up. Legend quietly grumbled a thanks.

Time looked around and noticed that the last tunnel had opened. It was big enough for the boat to fit through.

“Legend. Are you going to swim or are you going to join us on the boat?” he asked.

Legend shook his head, seeming a bit nervous.

“Like I said earlier, transforming hurts. I’d rather stay in the water until I’m sure I can stay on land.”

“Alright. Let’s go then.” Time said. Wind started steering the boat towards the tunnel.

It didn’t take long for them to see the massive door at the end of the tunnel. It was white with a golden snake’s open maw painted on it. No lock was seen but as the boat approached the door opened by itself.

Everyone was tense as they sailed through the open door. The circular room was high. It reached far above them, letting in sunlight, and deep below them, disappearing into the darkness. Platforms were on the walls at various levels but the tops were covered in spikes. There were several massive tunnels as well but they were all closed.

Legend dove down for a second but quickly swam back up, clinging to the side of the boat.

“Brace yourselves!” He shouted panicked. Barely a second after everyone managed to grab onto something a massive snake shot up from the water. It didn’t hiss, it roared. It bashed its way through one of the closed tunnels and disappeared. Now open, the tunnel let out a lot of water, raising the water level rapidly.

They heard something break beneath them. The serpent had smashed its way through a wall below them and was swimming up straight at them. Its maw open wide.

Thinking quick, Wind called upon a gust of wind, getting them out of the way just in time.

The snake bashed its way through several platforms, unharmed as the spikes were at the top and not the bottom, and opened yet another tunnel. More water filled the room and they rose higher, the water becoming wilder.

The snake appeared again but this time Four had a plan. Twilight got them out of the way of the snake’s grasp this time, spotting a place he could connect the clawshot to he pulled the boat to the side, with Legend still hanging on for dear life.

The snake shot out of the water again. But Four grabbed the cane of  Pacci and turned as many platforms above the snake around as he could. The beast roared as it hit the spiked platforms. Specks of blood flying down. It quickly disappeared through a tunnel again. More water filled the room.

This had worked well but all spiked platforms were now below them. But This time Wild spotted something. Red barres higher up with white skulls. Explosives!

Sky noticed a handle he could connect the whip to. With Warriors and Time keeping him in place he let the whip connect, pulling the boat out of the way of the snake’s path.

The snake passed the barrels and Wild shot a bomb arrow. A loud boom echoed through the room as the snake got hit by the explosion. It didn’t go through a tunnel this time, instead it was knocked down and fell. Sky tried to use the whip to get them out of the way again and, although the boat was safe, Legend got grabbed by the tip of his tail and dragged to the depths with a shout.

Panick flared through his heart as he was pulled down. The snake let go so it could bite back down in an attempt to get a proper grasp on the veteran, likely trying to swallow him whole.

Legend managed to get out of the way just in time with a powerful swipe of his tail. The serpent decided that he was its prey now and instead of aiming for the boat again it followed him. Legend could use that.

He swam back down and through one of the openings the snake had created earlier. The snake followed, Its maw opening and closing as it attempted to bite down on the veteran.

Legend swam up the tunnel as fast as he could. He knew it wasn’t filled to the top. But he had a plan.

Right as the snake was about to shoot up out of the water and grab him he swam down and behind the snake, digging his claws into the beast’s back. The monster shot up the tunnel, legend hanging on for dear life. Now that he was out of the water he felt the transformation happen. As his tail started tearing itself apart he hoped his claws would stay long enough for him to hang on.

The serpent exited the tunnel far above the others, its head bashing into the wall from its momentum. Its head got stuck in said wall and the beats thrashed as it tried to escape.

Legends claws disappeared and he couldn’t hold on to the snake any longer. With a curse he started falling. He’d focus on trying to catch his fall but the pain of his singular tail turning into two legs demanded all his attention. The pain barely allowed him to gasp for air, the fact that his gills were disappearing wasn’t making it easier, and he just couldn’t focus on anything else.

Below him, Wind ordered the wind to blow the boat below Legend. Warriors reached out his arms and, by some luck, he managed to catch Legend, both heroes crashing to the floor of the boat.

“Caught the princess…” Warriors muttered with a thumbs up. But he frowned when he heard legend gasp like a fish out of water. He sat up and was worried when he saw Legend curled up tightly and hugging himself, gasping and shuddering. Then he looked at his legs and was shocked to see exposed muscle where the tail had split. Skin was rapidly growing around it again but it was far from a pleasant sight.

He helped Legend sit up leaned against his chest and was surprised when the pricky veteran curled into the captain’s arms more. A half sob escaping him.

“It’s almost done, vet. Just a bit longer.” Warriors reassured as he rubbed the veteran’s back. The flesh was almost done mending itself. Legend would be fine.

They heard a loud crack. The giant snake had managed to pull its head free, pieces of metal stuck within its head. A pull from Sky’s clawshot barely saved them from being squished by the beast.

It roared, angrier than before. It started coiling around them, not giving them any space to move.

Hyrule watched and waited. The snake coiled and coiled. Then it lifted its head high, maw open, ready to strike.

And Hyrule lifted his hand up, ready to strike as well.

He snapped his fingers. And before anyone could ask why or scream several bolts of lightning struck down from the heavens, hitting the shrapnel in the snake’s head. A high-pitched roar escaped the beast as it writhed in pain. In pain, it bashed its head backwards and into the wall, shoving the metal deeper into its skull. It toppled over, barely missing the boat, and sank into the depths.

There was tense silence for a few seconds. Even Legend was quiet. Then they heard stone shift on stone. Slits opened up at the top of the tower, creating a wall of waterfalls and raising the water level surprisingly calmly.

In the boat Hyrule was fussing over Legend. The veteran returned to his usual snark almost the moment the transformation back was complete, not liking the worried expressions pointed his way.

“I said it’s fine!”

“You could barely breathe!” Hyrule shouted.

“That’s normal!”

“You were crying!”

“…Also normal.” Legend admitted quietly, making sure to look as annoyed as possible.

Hyrule kept fussing over him all the way to the top of the room.

When they reached the top they were able to sail a bit to a dock. An open gate leading to the exit a bit further beyond. The group approached the gate and a magical light fell from the heavens, making a chest appear.

Time waited for someone to open it, or at least for the others to fight over it, but instead everyone looked at him.

“What?”

Legend looked at him unimpressed.

“Open it.”

“Why me?”

“Because.” Twilight started.

“You hate water temples.”

Sky nodded in agreement.

“Least we could do is let you open the only chest we found.” The others also murmured in agreement. Wind gave Time a push towards the chest.

“Alright, alright. I’ll open it.” Time chuckled.

He grabbed the edges of the lid. It clicked open. Everyone leaned over to see what it was and it was…

A map.

…

…

…

“WHO PLACES A DUNGEON MAP AT THE END OF A DUNGEON?!”