Chapter 7

Pikachu and the four fairies stood at the base of Goron Mountain. A large ring of fire surrounded the top and Pikachu could feel the heat of the magma even at the base. Pikachu scaled the mountain, but the constant earthquakes and rockslides from the volcanic activity made it more difficult. For the sake of the fairies safety, she told Tatl and Tael to find the entrance to the volcano and tucked Navi and Verdo into her bag to keep them safe. As Pikachu climbed higher up the volcano, she heard Tatl and Tael ring in unison.

"You're almost there Pikachu!" Tael called.

"Don't mess up and fall!" Tatl added.

"Thanks!" Pikachu called back sarcastically.

She eventually met with Tatl and Tael at the entrance of a cave. She let Navi and Verdo come out of her bag as they walked through the cave. Eventually they came to a wide open space in the middle of the volcano. Pikachu slowly walked to the edge and peered down into the enormous space. There was nothing inside but burning boulders and a small hole was in the middle. It was a really long way down, she remembered the Great Deku Tree's words; one temple was inside a mountain of fire.

'I guess he really meant it' Pikachu thought grimly.

She looked at her four fairy friends and could tell that they weren't exactly okay with jumping into a volcano either; but it couldn't be helped, they had to go in and find that next slate. It would bring them closer to finding the Sacred Dais and closer to finding Link and Zelda.

Pikachu clenched one of her paws into a fist, 'Mark my words, I WILL find you Link and Zelda, I promise you and even at the cost of my life, I swear I'll protect you by any means necessary!' she vowed silently.

She turned to the four fairies; "Ready?" she asked them.

They all jumped, "What? You can't possibly be saying that we're going in there!" Tatl fretted.

"I'm with her on this one, there must be another way!" Navi agreed.

Pikachu frowned, "C'mon Navi, you and I both know that there is no other way," she said, "We're gonna have to jump."

Tael flew to his sister and nuzzled her closely with tears spouting out of his eyes like a fountain, "Waaaaaaaaah! Sis, I don't wanna die! Waaaaaaaah!" he wailed.

Verdo nuzzled Navi while crying as much as Tael, "Waaaaaaaaah! Navi, don't make us go! Please don't make us!" he cried.

The two female fairies nuzzled their brothers back, "I know Tael, I don't want to go either but…..," Tatl said before she immediately broke down sprouting tears just like her brother, "Waaaah! I'm sorry, but we have no choice! But I won't let you die, I swear!" she cried.

Navi broke down too, spouting tears with the rest of her friends, "Don't worry Verdo! I won't let anything happen to you! Waaaaah!"

Pikachu sweat-dropped and putting the fretting fairies into her bag. Even though they were safely inside, they wouldn't stop crying and holding each other.

"Would you guys stop already? You're getting my bag all wet!" she said firmly, getting irritated.

Pikachu stood at the edge of the crater and took a deep breath. She took a few steps back and ran toward the edge, and jumped. Four tiny screams could be heard inside her bag as she plummeted toward the hole. She managed to enter it without getting injured and continued to fall through the darkness.

Eventually, she saw a light below her, and soon, the ground rushing up to meet her. Pikachu braced herself and landed on the stone ground on all fours. Pikachu's eyes watered as the pain rushed up her limbs. She bit her lip to keep in her scream. After she pulled herself together, she looked into her bag to see how the fairies were doing. They were all deathly pale, and stiff as boards. Pikachu picked up Navi by one wing, but she didn't move; you could've mistaken her for a paper cutout of a fairy. Pikachu sweat-dropped as she placed the four petrified fairies on the ground to collect themselves; she began to look around, ignoring the fretting from the small creatures behind her of what they had just been through.

In front of them, was an enormous temple, which was just as big as the Temple of Farore. This temple had to be the Temple of Din. The four fairies hovered next to Pikachu as they all stared at the amazing temple. Pikachu nodded to the four fairies and they all walked inside.

Pikachu definitely preferred the Temple of Farore over this temple. It was so hot; Pikachu thought she would pass out from a heat stroke if she stayed in one room too long. She had to watch her step almost everywhere she went; one wrong move would probably mean a one-way trip to the lava pits below her. Pikachu was starting to get annoyed by all the minions in the temple. Giant carnivorous plants were one thing, but small, irritating bats that were on fire were even worse.

The one up-side about this temple was the lack of puzzles needing to be solved. Pikachu had to rely more on her fighting skills rather than her mind in order to make from room to room.

After a while, Pikachu finally found the boss key and started to make her way to the boss's lair. Soon she found herself in front of a large door with the familiar giant golden padlock on it. Pikachu slipped the key in, opened the door, and walked inside.

The room was large and round, very much like the boss room in the last temple. The only difference was the scorching ground, and the red hot walls of magma. Pikachu walked around the room slowly, when she heard a rattling sound. She looked around, but nothing was in sight. She heard it again, but it seemed closer.

Finally, the ground began to shake, and something began to emerge from the ground. To Pikachu's horror, it was a giant cobra. It was bright red like fire, and small flames emanated from its tongue and mouth.

"Navi, Tatl, who is that?" Pikachu asked.

"The Flamed Cobra of Magma: Helcano." Navi answered.

The monster hissed and shot large flames from its mouth. Pikachu jumped out of the way just in time, but the snake simply turned and struck. Pikachu narrowly missed its large and probably poisonous fangs. Helcano was too fast and skinny to try to hit with Thunderbolt, so Pikachu decided to try Discharge. She waited for Helcano to get closer and launched the attack, but Helcano easily went underground to avoid it.

Pikachu waited for the cobra to show itself and felt the ground under her begin to heave. Before she could even move, Helcano emerged from the ground and threw Pikachu. She hit the burning wall and slammed to the ground. A portion of her fur was coal black and the smell of burning hair filled the room. Pikachu pulled herself together and got up, she was going to have to use a strategy if she wanted to kill this thing.

Helcano slithered toward her, baring its fangs, ready to strike again, but Pikachu was ready this time. She unleashed her Double Team, creating multiple clones throughout the room. Helcano attacked one of the clones which immediately disappeared on contact. Helcano became even more confused and attacked blindly. At that moment, Pikachu launched her Thunder attack and landed a direct hit. Helcano cried out and fell to the ground, stunned from the electric blast. Pikachu made the clones disappear and ran toward the snake; she had to find its weak spot and fast!

She looked down the long thin body until she noticed the end of its tail which looked like a rattlesnake tail. It was shaking and was a different color than the rest of the snake's body. Helcano began to stir, and Pikachu had to act now.

She launched her Thunder attack again, but with full power, landing it directly on the end of the snake's tail. Helcano sprang up and cried in pain. It let flames loose from its mouth as it writhed in absolute pain. Finally, flames erupted from Helcano's body, burning the snake alive. Eventually, the fire burned out and Helcano had turned stiff and black. There was a cracking noise and a large puff of smoke, and the snake was gone.

The heat from the room died down and the walls and floor turned black and cool as an orb of light came down from above. Pikachu held out her paws and caught the orb, which faded to reveal a triangular slate that looked just like the Slate of Courage, but this slate was bright red and an aura of power emanated from it.

"Alright! We got the Slate of Power!" Verdo exclaimed.

"We just need to find one more, and we'll find the Sacred Dais the Great Deku Tree was talking about!" Tael said excitedly.

Pikachu nodded and carefully put the second slate into her bag. "The Great Deku Tree said the last temple was beneath a lake, do you guys have any idea where that might be?" she asked.

Navi and Tatl looked at each other, "The only lake around here is Lake Hylia," Tatl said,

"The last temple, the Temple of Nayru, has to be there somewhere," Navi agreed.

"Okay," Pikachu said, "Then we're off to Lake Hylia!"