A/N: The start of the second dungeon! Yay! How will Link and Sora handle the horrors of the Dodongo's Cavern? We'll find out in this chapter and next chapter!

Table of Fonts:

Standard Text: Regular Dialogue/Storytelling

Italics: Emphasis, Sound Effects, thoughts

Bold: Navi's annoyingness, Boss Name

Bold Underline:Special Attacks (this is cried out)

Bold Italic: Deity speech

CAPS: Yelling

Underline: Flashback/History, name of location

Italic Underline: Dream

BOLD CAPS: Dungeon name

Chapter 8: Clear the Dodongo's Cavern! Obtaining the Bombs!

DUNGEON #2: DODONGO'S CAVERN

Link and Sora entered the Dodongo's Cavern. They saw a central platform, surrounded by four ledges. The northern ledge led to a giant skeleton of what the boys saw was a dinosaur-like creature. They were standing on the southern ledge. The western ledge led to a door, but it was elevated beyond their reach. On the eastern ledge was another door, but this one was locked, with metal bars running vertically across it. On the central platform, the eastern ledge, and the western ledge were four machine-like contraptions. They appeared to be made of all metal, and had rotating spheres with an eye carved on them. Navi came out when she noticed the contraptions.

"Look out! Those are Beamos! A Beamos is stationary, but it will shoot a laser beam out of the eye on the top sphere if it sees you! They don't like getting smoke in their eye, though…" Navi told them. After she disappeared under Link's hat, the boys looked around and saw another Bomb Flower.

"Well, let's see what we can do!" Link said. He picked up the Bomb Flower and threw it at the central platform. The explosive seed did not make it across, and exploded before the five-second fuse was up. Link and Sora looked down and saw that the gaps between the ledges were filled with lava. Sora then had an idea.

"Hey! Let's play some baseball!" he said excitedly, summoning the Keyblade. Link stared at him in confusion.

"What's baseball?" Link asked. Sora just shook his head.

"Nevermind. Just pick up another flower and toss it at me." Sora instructed, unable to believe that his friend had never heard of baseball. Link did as he was told, and Sora hit the Bomb Flower like a batter would in a baseball game. This time, the Bomb Flower sailed over and landed by the Beamos. After the fuse time was up, the explosive plant blew up. When the smoke cleared, the Beamos was gone. The two boys high-fived, then continued on. After leaping to the central platform, the two saw another Bomb Flower sprout up in the middle of the platform.

"That's convenient…" Link muttered. Sora nodded in agreement. The way forward was blocked by the skeletal head. To the east and the west were the other two Beamos. The only door they could reach was to the east. Link had an idea. Twice more the two boys repeated the exercise that destroyed the first Beamos, and they destroyed the other two. The door on the eastern ledge then became unlocked, the bars sliding up and allowing access. The two wasted no time leaping over to the door. Along the way, Sora shook his head.

"Very straightforward…" he muttered. Link could only nod in agreement. The two then made their way through the door. On the other side of the door was a tunnel. As the two walked along, they were ambushed by a pair of lizard-like creatures, which burrowed up from the ground. Navi came out again to explain what their newest attackers were.

"Hey! Those are Baby Dodongos! As you've seen, they pop up out of the ground without warning. They like to jump into the air to ram their foes. Be careful when defeating them! They have a tendency to explode when they are defeated." The two boys nodded as the fairy returned to her usual perch. When the Baby Dodongos got close, the two attacked, knocking the lizards back. After standing still for a few seconds, the two Baby Dodongos exploded with more force than the two boys anticipated. Link and Sora exchanged glances before resuming. While in the tunnel, they encountered three more Baby Dodongos, which were dispatched with relative ease. At the end of the tunnel, the two encountered a bat-like creature flying around erratically.

"3…2…1…" Link counted down out loud. As expected, Navi came out of Link's hat.

"Look out! Keese are very common in caves like this! They will swoop down and attack you if you're not careful! Also beware, as some of them may be adapted to the fire in here!" Navi warned. Sora decided to try a distance attack on the Keese.

Strike Raid!

The Keese's erratic flight caused Sora's attack to miss. Link tried next, pulling out his slingshot. The projectile hit its target, and the Keese dropped from its flight, its body disappearing before it hit the ground. The two then opened the door on the other side and went through. They emerged in a room that was empty except for several pillars. By looking up, the two could see that the pillars didn't reach the ceiling, which meant that they could jump across the tops of the pillars. Link noticed a large chest on top of one of the pillars. Sora took a step forward, but Link hastily pulled him back at the sound of a metallic sliding noise. Clang! Sora saw that he would have been turned to mincemeat by the two square-shaped traps, which had two spikes on each side.

"Blade Traps…" Link muttered. "I've heard stories of these… didn't think I'd actually run into any." As the traps retreated, Link and Sora quickly rushed forward. The two saw a ladder leading up to a ledge with another door. Link stepped forward, and quickly lept back as two more Blade Traps rushed forward. After they started to retreat, Link and Sora climbed up the ladder. After looking around, the two could see now way to open the door. Link then inspected the door closely, seeing that it was covered in very fine, spider web-like cracks. "Hey, Navi!" Link called out. The fairy emerged from Link's hat. "Could we blow this door up?" Link asked. Navi started at him in confusion before answering.

"I don't see why not… it looks like a concussive force like an explosion would open the way…" she replied. Link nodded, and the fairy took that as her dismissal, disappearing back under the green hat she was accustomed to residing in. Link lept over to one of the pillars, and Sora followed. After leaping across a few pillars, they reached the chest Link had seen. Before he could open the chest, Link heard a hissing noise behind him. Turning around, Link saw a bipedal lizard holding a sword. Navi came out again as the lizard continued to hiss in challenge. "Hey! That's a Lizalfos! They're very agile, and tend to attack in pairs!" Navi warned, disappearing back under Link's hat, mainly to avoid the risk of losing a wing to the swords that were about to be swinging through the air. Link drew his sword and shield as the Lizalfos charged at him. At the last second, the Lizalfos lept over Link, swinging for Sora. The Keyblader lept off of the ledge, but misjudged the jump and landed in the maze formed by the pillars. Where he landed, he saw another Lizalfos.

"Found the second one…" he muttered, summoning the Keyblade.

The Lizalfos that had attacked Sora turned its attention to Link upon seeing its partner facing down Sora. Again the Lizalfos jumped at Link, swinging at the Kokiri boy. Link blocked the Jump Attack with his shield. Link deflected blow after blow from his more skilled opponent, not noticing that small pieces of his shield were being chipped away. Finally, Link found an opening and slashed at his foe with a horizontal blow. The Lizalfos jumped back, screeching in pain. It lept away to a different pillar, with Link following. After jumping pillars for a few seconds, the Lizalfos turned back, slashing at Link with its sword. Link jumped to the side, barely managing to dodge the strike. The Kokiri boy was placed on the defensive again as the Lizalfos rushed him with another barrage of blows. Again, Link managed to find an opening, his horizontal blow decapitating his opponent, whose body disappeared. Link then stared jumping back across the pillars, making his way to the large chest he'd seen.

The Lizalfos that Sora was facing off against rushed forward exactly as its partner had. Sora rolled forward, then struck with the Keyblade. The Lizalfos blocked the blow, but its sword got caught in the teeth of the Keyblade. Sora jerked the Keyblade, sending his opponent's sword flying away. The Keybearer then followed with a second swing, striking the bipedal lizard. Like its partner, this Lizalfos lept away, jumping off the walls of the pillars as it went. Sora finally managed to catch up to it, only to see that his foe had recovered its sword. The two clashed blades over and over again, the clanging of their blades reverberating through the chamber. Finally, Sora managed to disarm his opponent again. With his follow up strike, he put all his strength into the blow, crushing the lizard's skull. Like its partner, its body disappeared. Sora wearily made his way back to the ladder, dispelling the Keyblade along the way. After tripping the Blade Traps, Sora climbed up the ladder. When he got to the top, he saw Link was opening the large chest. As Link stood, he pulled out a brown sack.

"YES!" Link shouted. Sora stared.

"Dude… it's just a bag…" he muttered. Link facepalmed, the pulled something from out of the bag.

"This isn't any ordinary bag." Link told him, showing him what he'd pulled out. Sora saw it was a bomb. "This is a Bomb Bag!" Link announced. Sora perked up.

"Bombs? We don't have to use those plants anymore? Awesome!" Sora said. The two then turned to the door that was in their way. Sora and Link exchanged glances.

"I'm going to enjoy this…" Link said. Sora stared, then got the idea.

"Are you thinking what I think you're thinking?" Sora asked. Link nodded in response.

"We're gonna blow that door wide open!" he said.

Notes on the Chapter:

1. I figured Sora would be used to the sport of baseball... and Link would be just clueless about it. This is one of Sora's brilliant moments, and it gets used a lot later...

2. Link's getting too used to Navi, don't you think?

3. The two Lizalfos fights here happen simultaneously.