Yes, yes, I live! This last year's been hell for me... But I won't bother you with that. Just know that I will continue to try and keep updating earlier. That's a promise. Thanks for sticking with me.
Also, you might wanna check my profile once in a while. I'll post there about my progress and stuff. Basically, it's just to reassure you that I'm not dead.
That is all. ENJOY.
Disclaimer: It is I, Shigeru Miyamoto! I am using this poor wench to channel my spirit so that I can write and post fanfiction instead of actually working on the next Zelda game! So yes, I own it, I own it all!! Muahahaha! –Is exorcised and sued-
Chapter 9: We Didn't Start The Fire
Dodongo's Cavern was more than just a simple cave. It was an immense maze deep inside the vast Death Mountain. Dark rooms connected by long, narrow tunnels, with monsters lurking behind every rock. We had come across a fair share of Tektites (big spider-like fiends who ate anything that moved), but they proved to be of little problem. Because they moved and caught their prey jumping, they had a distinct disadvantage in the narrow cave and had been easy to defeat. Navi flew a little in front of me, emitting as much light as she could, so that I could see the way forward. Not that we actually knew the right way. As a result, we had been going around in circles for hours. Which brings me to this question: aren't adventures supposed to be exciting?
At another in a long list of junctions, I went right. Simply because I had just thought up a theory that when I would go: left, right, left, right, and so on, we would be taking the right path. Logical, right?
"Wait a moment, kid. It's that way." Navi said wearily, pointing to the left tunnel.
We took the left tunnel three effin' times already. Look where it's brought us, pixie."Uh, I think maybe we should take the right one this time." I suggested.
My brilliant theory would never lie. Impossible! How could a plan that made no real sense fail?
"No, we are definitely going left." She said, and pulled my sleeve.
"We went there already, see?" I said, and pointed to a very familiar, round rock.
See? See how brilliant my plan is?
"That's... just another stone, silly." Navi said, looking a bit uncomfortable.
"It's definitely the same one, Navi. I'm sure of it." I said calmly.
"No, no! We haven't seen that one before!" She insisted.
"Navi..."
"I am telling you that I have never seen that stone before in my life! Honestly!" She sputtered.
"Navi-"
"I'M SURE OF IT!"
Suddenly, the entire cavern shook and I had to lean against the wall to keep my balance. The ground was shaking as the pebbles below my feet trembled and dust was falling from the ceiling. An immense growling rang through the cave.
"What's going on?!" Navi said, holding her arms above her head to protect herself from the small rocks that were starting to fall down. "I am not liking this! This place is falling apart!"
While Navi was worrying, I grabbed the opportunity and took off into the right tunnel. Even though I had no idea what would be waiting for me there. If I had known, maybe I would've taken the left tunnel.
"Hey, wait! Ooooh..." She grunted and followed me.
Rocks fell behind me, blocking my way back – I just hoped Navi was alright. But then I heard her swear in the distance and I was relieved. Just as quickly as it had started, the earthquake passed and the roaring had stopped. I slowed my pace, allowing Navi to catch up with me.
"Must you always leave me behind? It's getting old! I swear, one day- Phew! (She wiped her forehead with the back of her hand.) What's up with this place? It is boiling hot in here!"
At first I thought I was sweating and breathing so heavily because of the running, but the further we walked, the warmer it became. The air became thick and dry.
"I think my wings are melting." Navi panted and sat herself down on top of my head.
As the heat increased, we eventually came to a big space with a pit of lava down at the bottom. The only way across was this little, old, unsteady wooden bridge. It missed a few boards.
Oh, come on. You have got to be kidding me.
"Let's go! The quicker we get out of here, the better." Navi had already flown halfway across.
"Navi... I can't fly." I simply stated. "Remember?"
"Oh. Oh, yeah... Sucks to be you, huh?" She said sheepishly.
"This is just great..." I muttered.
I gently placed my foot on the first board, when- Nothing happened. So far, so good. I held onto the ropes so hard my knuckles turned white. Carefully, I took another step, and another. The boards creaked under my weight and the bridge was slightly trembling. Or was that me?
"There you go! It's not so bad- AH!" Navi screamed in surprise as the board I had stepped on broke in half and fell into the sizzling lava.
I had managed to hold on and tried to pull myself up, but it was too hard. I thanked the Goddesses that the ropes were strong enough to hold me... for now. My feet were dangling dangerously in the air, with the board dissolving into the lava beneath me.
"Link! Are you okay?!" Navi floated over to me.
Oh, yes. Just marvellous! How ever did you guess?
"Hang on!" Navi screamed. She tried to pull me up by my sleeve with all her might. She flapped her wings as fast as she could to lift me up, but unfortunately her efforts didn't help much.
My heart was racing. I looked straight down at the bubbling lava. If I fell, my death would not be swift... and certainly not painless. I gulped.
"I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die!" I yelled in panic. My fingers were starting to slip, despite how tightly I was gripping the ropes.
"Not helping!" Navi said sarcastically, still trying to help me. "Don't you dare give up, Link!"
Navi was right. I had to pull myself together. Panic was not gonna save me. I had to save myself. With every ounce of strength I had in me, I pulled myself up slowly.
"That's it! Come on, just a bit further!"
I was able to put my knee on one of the (few) boards of the bridge and eventually crawled back on it – and immediately sprinted back to solid ground.
"Are you...okay?" Navi panted.
My arms were shaking a little from the effort and felt like they were ready to fall off any moment. It was like I had just run a mile. I was beat.
"I'm glad you were able to pull yourself back up there. Phew! For a moment... I was kinda beginning to fear you... weren't gonna make it." Navi mumbled the last sentence.
"Wha... Whadyousay?" I panted.
"Nothing, nothing! Just saying how you were lucky to have me! Seems like I don't even know my own strength."
Or, you know, it was actually the adrenaline that helped me.
"Yeah, thanks, Navi." I smiled softly.
"Thank me when we make it out of here alive, kid. You still gotta get over the bridge."
NOOOOOOO.
"R-right." I said with a tremble in my voice. I knew I had to cross that damn bridge by whatever means possible. The road back was as good as blocked and besides, we had taken the left path multiple times before, so that wasn't really an option.
After a deep breath, I once again stepped on the bridge. Very cautious and very slowly, I managed to get across without any more accidents. We trotted onwards and were soon in a narrow tunnel once more. Then, suddenly, the entire cave shook as the roaring commenced again.
"Okay, seriously! What is that?" Navi said above the noise.
"I don't know!" I simply said in all honesty. I clung to the wall to avoid the falling rocks.
"Well, I have a nasty feeling we're gonna find out... whether we like it or not!" She said grimly.
It stopped, and we headed deeper into the cave. As we went on, the roaring came and went a couple of times again. We could tell that it was getting louder. After hours of walking in semi-total darkness (slaying a fair number of Tektites along the way), we came to... a wall. Just that. A solid wall of rocks.
Fabulous. The whole 'near death' experience had been for nothing.
"Don't tell me we gotta go back!" Navi complained. "I can't believe this! Ugh!"
I was agitated too. We had been going around in this cave for hours and all we had found was a pit of lava and fiends. I plopped down next to a peculiar big black rock and supported my chin with my hands.
With every breath we took, the Gorons were getting hungrier. We were their only hope and we knew we couldn't give up. We had to kill the monster called 'King Dodongo'. If only we could find it.
"Let's just take a break for now." I suggested.
"Yeah... Alright." Navi agreed and sighed. "Stupid cave..." She angrily muttered and sat down next to me on the round, black rock, crossing her arms. However, she slipped off the rock, which had – apparently – a very smooth surface.
"Ouch! Oooh! That's it! I have had it with this damn cavern!" She snapped and kicked the rock, but only stubbed her toe. She yelped and held her foot.
"Navi, that doesn't look like an ordinary rock..." I said, seeing how the rock was suddenly turning from black into crimson red.
Her face turned white and her eyes widened as she stared at the now red rock. "That's no rock! That's a-"
Without warning, a small explosion knocked both Navi and me against the wall. Navi let out a scream of surprise as she hit the wall and fell to the ground. I had some bruises and had cut my lip, but outside of that, I was fine. Navi was looking a bit out of it, though.
"Navi! You okay?" I picked her up.
"Uh... I should've known..." She was in a bit of a daze, but – luckily - she didn't seem to be hurt badly and slowly sat up in my handpalm. "That was... a bombflower. Ow, my head is pounding..." She moaned, rubbing the back of her head.
"A what?" I asked, one eyebrow lifted in a look of confusion.
"A bombflower. It's a plant that explodes seconds after you touch it, as we just witnessed." She stood up and began to fly, though still a bit shakily.
The dust was slowly clearing and I realised there was now a large gap in the wall of rocks. Curiosity got the best of me and I crawled through the hole. I saw something peculiar in the distance...
"Well, at least we don't gotta go back!" Navi said happily as she once again was flying by my side, as good as recovered, lighting a bit of the way. "Guess it was a good thing that bombflower almost blew us up after all!"
But the hairs on my neck rose as I saw creatures in the distance about at least four metres long. They mostly resembled grey lizards, but their heads were very big in comparison to their bodies and somewhat rounder than a lizard's. Some had spikes on the tip of their long tails. Fortunately, they hadn't spotted us yet.
"Come on, let's go!" Navi said loudly. She obviously hadn't seen what was ahead.
"Shh!" I hissed.
"What?" She bit at me.
At a loss for words, I simply pointed ahead. "The... there..." I managed to get out pathetically.
Navi flew further into the tunnel to take a closer look. "What 'there'? There's nothing here but rocks and- HOLY MOLEY!" Navi exclaimed as she saw she was hovering dangerously close to one of the sleeping fiends. Realising her mistake, she covered her mouth.
For a moment, we stopped breathing as some of the monsters stirred, but remained fast asleep. We sighed in relief.
"Maybe we can get by them if we're really quiet." She whispered.
I nodded stiffly, clenching my jaws so my teeth wouldn't clatter. We tiptoed carefully across them, controlling every muscle, every breath we took, to make as less sound as we could. After passing a few, I stepped on something soft – like a lizard's tail. The monster screamed in pain, waking the others in the process. They all turned their large heads in our direction in a flash, their empty black eyes staring at us. The one I had stepped on opened his mouth and seemed to be trying to inhale as much air as he could.
"Bad news! RUN!" Was all Navi had time to say, before she took off, as fast as her wings could fly her.
Without questioning her, I sprinted after her, looking over my shoulder at the monsters. My eyes widened in surprise as the monster exhaled and flames burst from its mouth. I fastened my pace greatly, catching up to Navi and eventually running past her. Others were awakening too, as we ran past them. There must've been hundreds in the entire cavern. I became tired, but the adrenaline kept me running. They all tried to roast us, but - thankfully - these monsters had to take a deep breath before they could breathe their fire, by which we were gone. But only just.
"I think-" Navi panted. "We're almost safe!" She shouted and pointed up ahead.
She was right. The number of giant lizard slowly but steadily decreased. By some sort of lucky coincidence, they were too slow or too tired to come after us. We turned a corner at the far end of the tunnel and seemed to have lost them.
"That... was close!" Navi panted as she was trying to catch her breath, leaning against the wall in mid-air.
After a few minutes of rest, we went on. We approached what seemed to be the end of the tunnel, as we could see there was a big room in the distance.
"We must be deep inside the cave now. Which begs the question: how will we ever get back out of here?" Navi asked, looking at me with one lifted eyebrow, as if I got us into this mess. Which I guess I kinda did.
I said nothing but walked on steadily, letting her ramble on.
"I'm just saying, seeing as this gigantic cavern-" Navi abruptly stopped as she took in the room. Her eyes widened significantly and her mouth hung open slightly – as did mine.
An enormous creature stood before us. Like the fiends we had encountered before, it resembled a lizard, but this one was black and, frankly put, gargantuan (and that's an understatement). Of course, this specimen came with extra long, pointy spikes on the tip of its tail. It towered above us threateningly, taking slow steps towards us. It was five, no, at least ten metres tall. I figured this must have been the 'King Dodongo' Darunia mentioned.
"I knew we should've gone left." Navi gulped.
King Dodongo roared, and the cavern shook harder than it ever had before.
"THIS MUST BE WHY THE CAVE WAS SHAKING ALL THE TIME!" Navi yelled above the noise, covering her ears.
Really? Who would've thought?!
The warmth of King Dodongo's breath was insufferable and I tried to cover my eyes with my arms, blinking rapidly, my eyes watering from the sheer heat blown right into my face.
But I knew that was just the preview. Because, indeed, the Dodongo took a deep breath and blazing fire came out of its mouth – much quicker than expected. I rolled away just in time to avoid getting the full load in my face.
"Just remember that we're doing it for the Gorons, kid!" Navi said, trying to keep my spirits up.
Yes, that's why we were here. We promised to help the Gorons. But if I couldn't even beat the small Dodongo's, how could I ever conquer this thing?
King Dodongo lashed out with its long tail and before I could react, it threw me metres away, where I landed on my side.
"Link!" Navi yelled, worried.
Though the spikes on its tail had left a rather large gash in my stomach, it was – fortunately – not a mortally deep wound. Blood colored my tunic red, but I had no time to dwell on the pain. I quickly got up and evaded another sweep of its tail.
"You can do this! You did it before, remember?!"
That's right. I had fought and defeated a monster as this before. But I couldn't even use my shield in this battle: seeing as it was made of wood, it would burn to a crisp. But this was not the time to contemplate, for King Dodongo was taking another breath.
I nodded to Navi, determined to give it my all, and she nodded back encouragingly. I took out my sword and charged at King Dodongo (evading the fire) and slashed at its paw, but I hardly made a cut in its leathery skin. My failed attempt only enraged King Dodongo more.
"Now what?!" I shouted.
"I'm trying to think!" Navi closed her eyes, muttering to herself, trying to come up with a plan. "Come on, come on... What do I know about Dodongo's?"
King Dodongo used its tail to strike me again and I evaded it successfully, but was caught by surprise when it breathed fire once more, and I couldn't avoid it fully. Blistering pain went through my legs. I tried to stand up, but my legs couldn't fully support me yet. That's when I noticed a round, black stone laying just a few metres away from me – a bombflower.
Without thinking it over, I limped towards it - ignoring the pain in my legs – and threw it at King Dodongo. The beast had been unlucky enough to be taking a deep breath in preparation of another fire attack, as I threw the bombflower – and accidentally, he swallowed it. The bombflower exploded in its stomach, and King Dodongo roared in pain as it collapsed.
Another chapter finished! I had doubts about the 'bridge over lava' part, but I decided to leave it. Hope the big fight wasn't too bad. I feared it was a bit too unrealistic, but I didn't wanna leave the bombflowers out. Action scenes are hard... I try not to make them look too much alike - or make them too boring. But Link gets better with each battle, so I think I'll manage. He'll get to fight with cool weapons in the future, too.
So... want a bucket of ice cream? With a bathtub full of chocolate sauce? Then review! (-cough- While supplies last –cough-)
