Link pulled the lever on fast as always and they set off. Link looked at the rail map and saw that other trains had come back on the tracks. Link sighed at this.

"What is it, Link?" Zelda asked, noticing this.

"Looks, like I've got competition again." Link said. Zelda eyed the map and saw what Link was looking at

"Oh…well it's a good thing you brought the tracks back though! Now people can get on with their business." Zelda said as Link pulled the whistle to scare a skulltula. Neither was quite as afraid anymore after the Forest Temple.

"Yeah, I guess you're right…and anyway this map gives me an advantage." Link said. Zelda knew that he meant that he could see where the other trains were going and didn't need signals anymore. Link pulled the whistle again as he rounded a corner to scare another skulltula

"Say, Link…do you think…now the tracks are back…could you take another route other than the Lost Woods?" Zelda asked. Link laughed a bit and told her he would. "Thank you…this forest is ok, but the Lost Woods creeps me out." Link nodded and scared yet another skulltula and sighed.

"I wish I could get rid of these pesky things."
"Me too…" Zelda said as Link checked his map again; they were outside the forest now. Zelda gave an audible gasp.

"What is it?"
"Look at those trains!" Link looked and immediately saw what was wrong. On the map he saw purple fog engulf these trains and suddenly they reappeared as what looked like blue missiles with two holes in the front with flame coming out. They reminded Zelda of angry red eyes. The trains continued as if nothing happened. "Wh-what was THAT?" Zelda cried "I don't know what just happened, but it doesn't look good. Let's just stay away from those trains. I think that would be best." Link nodded and changed direction, but the thing was…it seemed as though the trains were after him. It seemed as though they wanted to hit Link. Luckily Link had an advantage over them with the map. Keeping one eye on the map, and the other on the tracks, Link scared off a moink with the whistle. Despite being in danger Link laughed.

"Those silly things need to learn to get off the tracks…" he did this in hope it would settle Zelda down, she looked nervous. Zelda also laughed but she wasn't distracted

"Be careful, OK?"
"Don't worry we're almost there, look!" Link said as they passed under another archway and pointed to the Tower of Spirits. Zelda gave a sigh of relief. Link scared off a snurgle and slowed down the train as they approached the tower. Link hopped off the train and approached Anjean who said
"Thanks to you two, the Forest Temple has been reenergized. And now the Tower of Spirits has plenty of energy too. Thank you."

"What temple should we head for next?" Zelda asked

"The next temple is deep in the mountains and closed off by snowstorms." Anjean responded. "But again, you must first obtain a rail map. Now that the energy from the forest is flowing into the tower again…you can go further up the tower to the level of the next rail map. Obtain it quickly, you two, for you must get to the next temple soon!"

"Got it! You can count on us! All right, let's go get the second rail map, Link!" Zelda said. Link nodded and headed to the tower staircase again. "Look, Link! The stairs go up higher than they did when we were here last time." Zelda pointed out. Link climbed the even longer staircase and skipped the first door and entered the second. A wave of heat passed over Link as he entered; there were jets of fire coming from statues on the wall and pools of lava. "Whew, it looks hot in here." Zelda said "Getting into one of those clanky suits of armor is the last thing I want to do….but I'll do it if you think it will help." Zelda added feeling she would do anything for someone as nice as Link. To her surprise Link said

"I don't blame you; it's OK if you don't want to." Zelda stared guiltily at Link and said

"That's nice of you to say, but I can't let you go it alone. I'll do it. I'll just pretend I'm unwinding in a spa sauna."

"Thank you, Zelda, I really appreciate it." Link said. Zelda gave Link a smile as he headed to his right looking around for Tears of Light. Link would occasionally pause to wait for a jet of fire to stop blasting from a statue and saw the first tear. It was on a pillar in the middle of a pool of lava. Link knew what to do and took out the whirlwind; however he put it away quickly when a Phantom came. To Link's horror the Phantom climbed into the lava as though it were water and waded towards them. Link ran to the side and quickly used the whirlwind here before heading right once more. Link spotted a chest and opened it, inside was a necklace. It was made of gold, rubies, and amethyst jewels. It was designed in rows of skulls linking to each other.

"Oooh! That's a Pirate's Necklace; they are only given to pirate leaders. They are pretty rare and worth a lot." Zelda exclaimed. Link nodded and put this in his bag along with the pearl necklace. Link headed to his right, then left and grabbed the tear he blew from the pillar. Link then turned around and once the coast was clear, took another tear which was just sitting nearby.

"Where do you reckon the last one is?" Link asked

"Hmm…you haven't been there, Link." Zelda said pointing. Link gulped, the area Zelda was pointing at was being guarded by one of the fire breathing statues, unlike the others this one never stopped. "You could use a Phantom to protect you." Zelda suggest upon seeing Link's worried face.

"I know you would do it, but I doubt these ones will be so willing."
"You could trick them, I suppose."
"Yes…I suppose." Link said. Link hid near the flame but out of sight from the Phantoms. Link made a clinking noise with his sword and one came to investigate immediately. It crossed the fire to check if Link was there; once it did Link darted past and immediately spotted the safe zone containing the Tear of Light. Link rushed here and grabbed it before the Phantom could get him. The sword glowed and Link attacked the Phantom once its back had turned. "Get him, Zelda!" Link said. Zelda nodded and floated into the Phantom. The same changes took place as last time.

"Hey, Look! Now that I'm a Phantom, I can walk through fire and lava. Hee hee hee! I'm like a walking, talking shield, Link!" Zelda exclaimed

"You aren't too hot, are you?" Link asked concerned.

"Actually it's not that bad…I think this armor protects me from feeling too much of the heat."
"Good…now could you stop those flames for me?" Link asked indicating the jet of flames.

"Sure." Zelda said standing in front of it. She didn't look the least bit uncomfortable. Link and Zelda walked over to the lake of lava separating one half of the room from the other. Zelda walked in casually and turned to Link

"This armor can withstand any heat, so feel free to hitch a ride on my shield! You can jump off the platform to get on."

"Err….are you sure that's OK?" Link asked finding the idea of asking the princess to carry him weird and awkward.

"Of course it's ok, now c'mon!" Zelda said. Link nodded and carefully jumped on Zelda's shield. She walked slowly to the other side of the room and Link jumped off to the floor. They headed up the staircase here. There was another pool of lava here. Zelda got in and Link hitched another ride. There were fiery flying things all over the place, after awhile Link realized that these things were keese…but they were on fire!

"Zelda…look at those…" Link said as Zelda crossed the lava

"Oh yeah… I forgot to mention keese are resistant to any temperature. I suggest you blow them off with the whirlwind so they don't knock you in." Zelda said. Link nodded and pulled the whirlwind out. The keese were fast and hard to hit, but after awhile Link got lucky and soon there were none left. Zelda took Link to a small platform with a chest. "Here you go, Link." Zelda said opening the chest for him. It contained a big rupee worth a hundred rupees.

"Thanks, Zelda." Link said as he blew into a nearby windmill platform. "I think there's another over there, mind carrying me there?"
"Sure." Zelda said as Link climbed on her back once more. Once a tornado caught the next windmill a door opened. This led to a hall with two paths. One of which was closed off by a locked door. Link headed to the other path and found a room with several walls in it. Here was a spinut with a key tied around his neck. Link knew this was what they were after and charged at the spinut, the spinut however was very fast and Link couldn't catch him.

"Grr…" Link continued chasing until he stopped and looked at Zelda. "We need to work together for this; you focusing on closing him off and I will focus on attacking as I'm faster than you." Zelda nodded and headed the monster off on the other side. The monster desperately tried to escape and Link and Zelda swung at it. Eventually Link got it and it fell to the floor. Link took the key and headed back to the locked door and opened it. There was a small pool of lava blocking them from the staircase. Without being told, Zelda walked into the lava and took Link to the other side. Link jumped off and they walked up the stairs. The next room they were in was large and square, the door on the other side was closed, and as soon as they walked in the door closed behind them. A creature appeared before them, it looked a bit like a fish and a lizard. It had two feet, and was green, yet the green looked like fish scales and its head looked like that of a fish. It was burly looking with a big sword and shield not too much unlike the ones Zelda was wielding now and it had red eyes. It gave a roar at the sight of them.

"Eeeeeek! What is that disgusting monster?" Zelda cried.

"I think it's a geozard…it looks like the creature Alfonzo told me about anyway." Link said.

"Phantoms are terrifying but they're not as revolting as that thing! Let's fight him together, Link!" Link smiled and nodded. The pair began slashing and hacking at the geozard but its size did not in any way diminish its speed. It blocked all their strikes.

"You fight him; I'll go for the rear when he's distracted!" Link yelled. Zelda nodded and sent her big heavy Phantom swings at the creature. The geozard blocked these easily but got hit from behind by Link. The creature gave a roar of fury and jumped several feet away from the two. Zelda went on the offensive again and Link slashed it a few more times. With a final roar the creature fell at their feet. Once it was gone, both door opened.

"We did it!" Zelda said "When we work together, nothing out there can stop us! Right Link?" There was something about this sentence that made Link smile

"Right! You did a great job, Zelda!"

"Thanks, you too, Link." Zelda said. Both feeling very accomplished, the two set off through the newly opened door down a hallway taking a right then left turn. In the next room was a small creature on a strange statue jumping up and down trying to sink the statues spikes into Link. Zelda stood still near a pillar of flame and allowed Link to pass muttering "Miniblin…usually they're pirates." The next area had a perch on it, Zelda stood below and Link climbed on her shield. Using the new height to his advantage, Link blew the miniblin off the statue with the whirlwind. Once it fell and was defenseless, Link leapt off Zelda and slashed at it with his sword. One hit destroyed the miniblin. They continued past the perch, Zelda stopped the flames for Link every now and then. They reach a pillar with a key on it. "I have a feeling we will need this…but you can't get it can you?" Zelda said. They both understood what was needed and backtracked to the perch and Link jumped on Zelda's shield once more. Zelda carried him back to the key, stopping before the middle fire statue which was higher than the others and could get Link. Once it momentarily stopped, Zelda carried Link past it and to the key. Link blew this off with the whirlwind and leapt off of Zelda's shield. Link grabbed it and with Zelda's help went back through the flame statues. The two headed to their right and avoid the miniblins here, they weren't worth killing. Link unlocked the door up ahead and went up another staircase. Once again they were in the rail map room. Zelda gave a sigh of relief and left the Phantom. Link's sword meanwhile lost its light. Link smiled and grabbed the Snow Realm rail map. It glowed and Link saw several new tracks appear. A light came from the Forest Realm map as well, also showing some new tracks. Suddenly the two connected to make one rail map. The blue light appeared once more and Link stepped inside it. He was back at the lobby once more.

"Ah, so you retrieved the second rail map. Then your next task is clear." Anjean said when she saw Link. "You must go to the Snow Realm and restore energy to the tower. Find the Snow Sanctuary where the Lokomo Steem resides and talk to him. He'll help you open the way to the temple."
"Alright, let's go!" Link said.

"Very well. Be careful!" Anjean warned Link as he climbed on the train. Link nodded and set a course for the next realm.

Short chapter I know…I promise the next one will be three times as long!