"So... do you know where we can find the map?" Link asked while they were walking along the searing hot corridor, slashing a few Fire Keese as they passed by.
Ryoga looked at the Hylian with a raised eyebrow. "How do you know there IS a map to this temple?" he finally asked.
"Simple..." Ukyo sighed. "Up to now, there has been a map for every temple, cavern or similar place we've been in."
"Yup," Tatl nodded. "And a compass, and a big key..."
Ryoga exchanged a confused look with Shampoo, who just shrugged. "Well, since you are so experienced, maybe you should lead the way," he said grimly.
Link shrugged. "Why not? Okay, let's, umm... go this way!"
And he gestured at the eastern wall.
Shampoo looked at him as if he had become crazy. "That is wall! Maybe green boy can go through walls, but Shampoo cannot."
"That's not really a wall," Link said with a sly grin.
"Maybe the heat has done something to his head..." Ryoga whispered into Ukyo's ear.
"Actually, I think he's right," Ukyo said and lifted her spatula. She then knocked against the wall. "Listen closely... this sounds hollow, doesn't it? So it's just a fake wall we have to get rid of. There has to be another way behind it."
"One bomb coming up," Link said with a grin and wanted to pull one of the explosives out of their Bomb Bag.
Ryoga looked at the two adventurers with new-found respect. "No need for that," he then grinned, just as Link wanted to lit the fuse. "Allow me..." And he pulled back his massive fist, smashing the thin wall into smithereens. A door became visible behind it.
"Lousy architecture..." he grumbled. "I didn't even have to use the Bakusai Tenketsu..."
Link gaped at this display of strength. Ukyo just shrugged. "Hey, if he can hurl the king of the Dodongos through the air, bashing through such a thin wall should be no problem for him, right?"
"You said it!" Ryoga smirked. "Now, after you, fearless leader!"
"Um... thanks, I guess..." Link murmured and walked through the door.
In the next room, they were faced with something slimy, and disgusting.
"What in the name of Din is THAT?" Ryoga gagged as he stared at the wriggling pile of slime that came crawling into their direction.
"Hey!" Navi shouted. "I know, that's a Like Like!"
"A... WHAT??" Ukyo nearly shouted.
"She's right," Tatl nodded. "It likes to eat armor, so make sure it doesn't swallow your tunics or shield."
"Now I've seen everything..." Ukyo murmured and pulled out a bomb. "Hey, you big pile of goo! If you're so hungry, why don't you eat THIS?" And she threw the bomb right into the gaping hole that was the Like Like's mouth.
A gulp and an explosion later, and the Like Like was history.
"Ewww..." Shampoo said as she wiped some of the yucky slime off her face. "Spatula be careful next time she blows up slime monster, okay?"
"I'm afraid there was no time for subtleties," Ukyo grimaced. "You might not have noticed, but the slime monster was gonna eat us."
"Hey!" an unknown voice suddenly shouted. "Is anybody there? Help!"
"I know that voice!" Ryoga said with surprise and walked over to the back of the room, where he saw a prison cell. And there was a Goron inside.
"Grinder!" Ryoga shouted. "Is that you?"
"Ryoga!" the other Goron said. "You came to rescue us? Great, but please, hurry, you never know when that Gerudo hag comes back."
"How do you open this?" Ryoga asked and shook the bars of the cell. "Is there a key?"
"You can't open this with a key," Grinder sighed. "And don't try to break it, I already tried. But I think there's a switch somewhere around here that should open it."
"Found it!" Link shouted from the other side of the room and stepped onto the switch. Creakily, the cell door opened and Grinders stepped out.
"Finally, I'm free to go!" he shouted with glee. "Listen, if you want to save the others, I have something to tell you: You have to find the ancient relic of the Gorons if you want to proceed. Darunia tried to find it before facing Volvagia, but he wasn't able to find it in time. By the way, you can have this. I found it in my cell."
"A key?" Ukyo frowned as she took it. "Why should they put a key into your cell?"
"Why not?" Ryoga asked. "Think about it, as long as you can't open the cell, neither the prisoner nor the key can be set free."
"Well, the switch for this cell was easy enough to find," Link commented.
"But there have to be more cells," Ryoga said. "Grinder, where did they bring the others?"
"There are other cells, further inside the temple," Grinder explained. "I would come with you, but I'm rather weak... I need some rock sirloin to gather my strength."
"Why didn't you just eat stones from the walls?" Navi wondered.
Grinder looked at the fairy sternly. "You're kidding, right? The walls are made of bricks. NOT natural stone! You wanna poison me or what?"
"Relax, Grinder, she didn't know it any better," Ryoga said to his friend. "Now hurry and leave, we'll find the others and Darunia."
"Okay then," Grinder nodded as he left. "And be careful, there are many traps around here!"
"They are already here, you know?" Koume asked the giant dragon as she hovered above his head, on her broomstick.
Volvagia lazily cleaned his teeth with a stalactite. "Should that bother me?" he yawned. "They'll never find all of the hidden keys... and even if they did, I'm not afraid of them." He laughed. "I will roast their flesh and enjoy their cries of agony..."
"Do not underestimate them," the witch scolded the undead dragon. "They already beat Phantom Ganon, you know that."
"Bah! That old fool!" Volvagia huffed. "I've been around a long time before Ganondorf, I know of plenty more tricks than he could imagine."
"Careful, dragon!" Koume grumbled. "You do not want to invoke his wrath, do you?"
"Of course not!" Volvagia was quick to say. "Still, he can trust in me. I'm not gonna lose to a bunch of two-leggers. Let them come... By the time I'm finished with all those hard Gorons, I will enjoy their tender meat."
"That reminds me, when do you plan on recapturing their leader?"
The dragon waved his paw through the air. "He won't come far, I already ordered those Flare Dancers to catch him. Relax, I've got everything under control!"
"Be warned," Koume hissed. "Veran was only spared of His Lordship's punishment because she is one of his closest servants. You do not have that advantage, dragon!"
And in a twirl of flames, she vanished.
"Cranky old hag..." the dragon grumbled. "I don't know why I keep up with her... I don't need any servants! In my times, I've been a force of nature that everyone was terrified of. NO ONE was brave enough to oppose me... except for that pesky Goron with his sacred weapon... Well, this time, I'll make sure that there are no Gorons left that can use that weapon against me!"
And his roaring laughter filled the cavern.
"Thank you!" the Goron muttered as he ran to the exit.
"How many are left, Ryoga?" Ukyo sighed as she leaned against the wall. "If this goes on like this, I'll need a rest..."
"We can't take a rest now," Ryoga replied impatiently. "There are only two left... Darunia himself, and my buddy, Coro!"
"Well, we've already ventured deep into the temple," Navi said. "I doubt there are many rooms left we haven't seen yet..."
"She's right," Link said after looking at the dungeon map. "We already found both the map and the compass, so the only things left are the Master Key and the dungeon's treasure."
"Green boy stop with this treasure hunting nonsense already!" Shampoo groaned. "Makes Shampoo head hurt..."
Ukyo looked over Link's shoulder. "Well, according to this map, there's a circular room next to the big, squarish one we've been in earlier."
"You mean the one with the flame wall traps?" Link asked.
"Don't remind me..." Tatl whined. "They nearly scorched my wings..."
"Yeah, there was another locked door in there," Ukyo said. "With the key we found in this cell, we should be able to go further."
"Well then, what are we waiting for?" Link asked.
Darunia huffed as he ran through the corridor. It was hot all around him, but as his race was especially sensitive to temperature differences, he could sense the flames of his pursuers. They were slowly catching up with him. And in his weakened state, he didn't know if he could stand up against two of them at once.
He reached the end of the corridor, entered a small, circular room... and groaned when he realized that the only exit was another locked door.
"Dammit!" he shouted as his massive fists pounded against the door. "OPEN UP!!"
Then he heard the hissing voices behind him. Recognizing the creatures that had entered the room behind him, he turned around with a growl.
The Flare Dancers almost looked like fiery scarecrows, with long, spindly arms and legs made of fire. They hovered around the big pedestal in the middle of the room, each one coming from another direction. Darunia was trapped.
He raised his fists. "Well, then, you monsters!" he grumbled. "Let me show you that a Goron never goes down without a fight!"
The Flare Dancers seemed to snicker at that, but they did not reply. Maybe they weren't even able to talk. They were just mindless beasts, after all, summoned by that Gerudo Witch from whatever hell pit they spawned from.
The Flare Dancers raised their flaming arms and Darunia prepared himself for their attack... when suddenly, the door behind him opened up, and he was faced with a blonde boy wearing a green cap.
Darunia frowned. What the hell? Who was that Hylian?
"Um, hello?" Link asked hesitantly. "Are you Darunia?"
"Yes..." Darunia replied carefully. "And who are you, boy?"
Link grinned. "I'm Link! Hey, Ryoga, I found him!"
"Ryoga?" the Goron elder said with surprise, then he sighed in relief when he recognized the younger Goron appearing behind Link. He was accompanied by two fairies, a female Hylian that looked somewhat familiar and a... Gerudo?
"Watch out!" Shampoo yelled and somersaulted over Darunia's head, blocking the Flare Dancer's attack with her two scimitars. Only her Goron Tunic protected her from the immense heat the creature was giving off.
"What are those things?" Link shouted as he drew his blade.
"Flare Dancers..." Darunia said grimly. "Creatures of hell, summoned by a witch..."
"I'll take care of them!" shouted the girl who looked so familiar to Darunia. She swung around her weapon... which also looked familiar...
"OW!!" she screamed as her weapon clattered to the ground. "What the... my spatula got hot all of a sudden!"
"What else do you expect when you hit fire with a metal weapon?" Ryoga grumbled. "Let me take care of them!" And he met the Flare Dancers with his rocky fists.
"We have to help him!" Link shouted. "He can't take on two of them by himself."
"But how?" Ukyo asked, as she tried to pick up her spatula. It was still too hot, though.
"The ancient relic of the Gorons..." Darunia murmured. "You have to use it..."
"But where is it?" Shampoo asked.
Darunia raised his right arm weakly and pointed at the eastern wall. "Hidden in there... is an alcove... use... the Goron's Special Crop..."
"Special Crop?" Link wondered. "What's that?"
"I have an idea," Ukyo said as she pulled another bomb from its bag. "Take cover, everyone!"
She threw the bomb, and the explosion tore a hole into the wall. Behind it, they could see a small alcove with a big treasure chest.
"The dungeon's treasure!" Link shouted in excitement and run up to the chest.
"Hurry up, Link!" Ukyo shouted and tried again to pick up her spatula. This time, it had cooled down enough. She looked over to Ryoga and the Flare Dancers. The rock skin of the Goron protected him from any burns, but he still had a hard time to fend off the two creatures' blows by himself.
"I got it!" Link shouted as he opened the chest. "It's a... it's a... what is it?" he wondered as he pulled a metal hammer out of the chest. "Farore, that's heavy!"
"That is the Megaton Hammer," Darunia explained. "The ancient relic my ancestor used to defeat the evil dragon, Volvagia... use it!"
Link nodded. "All right... still, it's so heavy... I'll have to use both hands to carry it." And he quickly put his shield behind his back, so he could use both hands.
He ran over to Ryoga's side. "Need a hand?" he asked.
"Anytime!" the Goron warrior panted. "Although I could have done it by myself, you know?"
Link grinned. "Yeah, sure..." And then, he swung his new weapon at the monsters in front of him.
The Megaton Hammer missed its target... and instead crashed down onto the floor. But the impact created shockwaves that almost made him lose his grip on his weapon. Ryoga, who was standing right next to him, was heavy enough not to be knocked off his feet.
The Flare Dancers were not so fortunate, though... the shockwave came bursting right through the fiery aura... and extinguished it completely! Now that the fire that made of their long limbs was gone, a pair of comically dwarfish creatures fell down to the ground in front of them.
Shampoo bursted out giggling. "Those are the horrible Flare Dancers Elder Koume told me about? They not even big enough to scare a Cucco!"
The angry Flare Dancers growled at them, but they realized that their enemies were now bigger than them and turned around to flee.
"Not so fast!" Ryoga shouted and rolled his body up into a rock. Rolling past them, he quickly stood up again before they could escape the room. Link quickly came running up to them from behind.
"Now, Ryoga!" he shouted and jumped up into the air, raising the Master Sword high above his head, while Ryoga wound up a powerful punch.
And then the sharp blade came plunging down on one Flare Dancer, while the Goron's massive fist crashed into the second one.
Letting out strangled squeaks, the Flare Dancers stumbled backwards, fell down to the ground... and suddenly started to inflate.
"Oh no!" Navi shouted. "Look out... they're going to blow up!"
Link quickly raised his Hylian Shield and Ryoga curled up into a ball, so they were both protected when their two opponents exploded in a twin ball of fire.
Ukyo put her weapon back with a sigh. "Well, that takes care of that." She then turned around to the elderly Goron and smiled. "Hi, Darunia! Long time no see!"
It was then that Darunia finally recognized her. "Ukyo?" He then grinned. "Well I'll be! You just couldn't wait for a better moment to return, could you? And look at how grown up you are!" He then sighed. "I just wish we would meet under different circumstances..."
"Don't worry, Ryoga already told me everything," Ukyo said as she helped her old friend get back to his feet. "And we already managed to save most of the other Gorons."
"Yes, sensei!" Ryoga nodded as he and Link came back to the others. "Only Coro's still missing. We only have to find him, then everything's fine!"
"Not entirely, I'm afraid..." Darunia murmured. "Volvagia... he must be destroyed... or our race will never be able to live in peace again. He thirsts for revenge... and only the wielder of the Megaton Hammer will be able to vanquish him!" The Goron Leader sternly looked at Link. "You must do it, brave youngster! You must slay the dragon!"
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(Posted Sun, 02 Dec 2007 14:15)
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