Author's Notes: Hey, thanks to everyone who reviewed in the past week.
xbluxmoonx: Hey, just trying to make sure everyone understands what's going on here. Thanks for your encouragement, and I hope it continues.
Infernal Flame Zero: Hey, I did my research, although I think I made up quite a few things about the Zora later on that simply aren't correct. I'll explain when we get to that point what I mean. The conversation part is just my style of writing. And thanks for reminding me about the Han Solo reference; I completely forgot about it.
Well, here it is. My last update before I heard back to college. I will continue to update this story as well as work on the Harry Potter fanfic as much as my free time permits me to.
Chapter 9: Through the Fire and the Flames
Jonathan entered the first room of the Fire Temple and saw a huge staircase in front of him. On either side of the staircase was a statue standing against the back wall of the staircase. Jonathan also saw what appeared to be birds that were on fire flying around the room. He decided not to bother with them as he ran up the staircase. He then saw a door to his right and his left. The door to his right had chains stretched across it with a padlock in the center of the door. Jonathan made a dash for the door and tried to open it. The doorknob turned just fine, but the door would not budge.
"Damn! I'm going to need a key for this thing!" Jonathan exclaimed through gritted teeth as he turned around and ran through the other door just as those flaming birds were about the reach his location.
In the next room, Jonathan was on top of one of several platforms that were elevated above the lava in the bottom of the room. Across the room, Jonathan saw a large door that was also chained up by a large and extremely elaborate padlock in the middle of the door. He looked to his left and saw what appeared to be a jail cell of some kind with a floor switch right in front of it. Jonathan jumped from his platform to the one to his left and stepped on the switch, causing the cell to open for him. He shook his head amusingly as he walked into the cell and opened a small brown chest inside and found a simple key of some sort. He then looked back at the locked door in the room.
"It's too small for that door," he said to himself, "But maybe it'll open the other padlock I saw." He then returned to the platform he started out on and went back into the staircase room. He then ran to the locked door and unlocked the chains using the key, which broke upon use. "Why am I not surprised?" Jonathan asked rhetorically as he went into the room he had just opened.
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Meanwhile, in a castle to the west of Death Mountain, a man clothed in black robes sat on a throne and looked at the message he had just received. It was from an ally he considered worthless; Darnuia, chieftain of the Gorons. To King Ganondorf, an "ally" who couldn't fight was really just deadweight. However, he read that Darnuia was offering the Goron's Ruby to whoever could rescue Darnuia's son or retrieve his remains from the Fire Temple. Normally, Ganondorf would not be interested in such a reward. However, he realized that King Alazon had one of the three Sacred Stones in his possession already. If he got the other two, he could get his hands on the Master Sword and could unleash the Hero of Time to fight against Ganondorf once again. And that would be a major distraction, to say the least, to his plans.
"Why did it take you so long to get this message to me?" Ganondorf asked impatiently.
"Sir, with all due respect, I didn't think you would care about a matter such as this," the courier, a young Gerudo woman who was on her right knee, replied to her leader.
"Under normal circumstances, you would be right," Ganondorf said, "However, we are not under normal circumstances anymore. King Alazon is almost certainly looking for those Sacred Stones. He needs them to unlock the Hero of Time from his slumber."
"I take full responsibility for not getting this message to you more promptly, my Lord," the Gerudo woman said. She looked down to the ground, waiting for her punishment.
"You will not be disciplined for this," Ganondorf said, "However, in the future, remember to make sure to get any message to me quickly, just in case I really need to see it."
"You are most merciful my Lord," the Gerudo woman said as she got on her feet again.
Ganondorf stood from the throne he was sitting on. "Tell my men to get my horse ready. I am going to Goron's City," Ganondorf ordered.
The Gerudo woman stood up straight. "Yes, my Lord," she responded as she hurried out of the room.
Ganondorf sat down again and smiled. "Once I have just one of those Sacred Stones in my possession, Alazon will never be able to unlock the Master Sword. And then, Zelda will be the only threat to me," he mused, "And I will eventually find her. This time, Princess, you will not survive."
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"You know, Ganondorf might decide to come here at any moment," Impa suddenly realized, "Perhaps I should get you to a safer place."
"Like where?" Zelda asked. She didn't want to just abandon Jonathan.
"Marlu is currently in Zora's Domain," Impa said, "And we can get you there in just a few minutes."
Zelda paused for a moment. She didn't want to leave Jonathan hanging in case he ran into a problem inside the Fire Temple. "What if Jonathan calls for help?" Zelda asked.
"I will come back here after leaving you in Marlu's care," Impa answered, "Besides; I don't think Jonathan will need our help on this one."
Zelda again thought for a few moments, then decided that Jonathan would agree with Impa that Zelda must get out of danger as quickly as possible. "Okay, let's get going," Zelda said.
"Follow me," Impa ordered as they hurried to the secret passage to the Lost Woods.
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Jonathan entered a new room in the Fire Temple. He immediately noticed that there was some fencing just ahead of him that he could climb up. But as he started to walk forward, he tripped over his feet. He failed to notice the steep incline that was right in front of him that led down to the next part of the room. He tumbled down the slope until he finally stopped… mere feet away from a square-shaped hole in the floor. Jonathan stood up and brushed himself off. "Damn ramps," he muttered as he looked into the hole. The square opening was carved all the way through the rock so that he could see a red substance below. "Lava," he remarked, "Good thing I wasn't running. Otherwise, I'd be frying."
Jonathan took another look around the room. He now saw that the fencing was elevated about 10 feet above him. There was no way to grab it by jumping. He then heard a sound like a jet of flame being shot out of a flamethrower from behind him. He turned around quickly and saw a huge pillar of lava shooting upwards out of the hole in the floor. The sight was so amazing that Jonathan could barely speak. "I need to go up," he said after the jet of lava went back down, "But how?" He then decided that the answer may be on the top of the fencing. He pulled out his hookshot, aimed it at the fencing, and fired.
The hooks on the end of the hookshot were folded in, so that the tip passed right through the fence. But when the hookshot ran out of chain, the hooks were released so that it could hang onto something. And as the chain retracted into the hookshot, the hooks got caught on the fence. The hookshot then reeled Jonathan up and onto the fence. Once he got his footing secure, he unhooked the hookshot from the fence and then put it back on his hip. That done, he climbed to the top of the fence and got onto a chain-link platform that was there.
The first thing Jonathan saw on the platform was two dark shapes. He realized that these shapes were resting birds, and that they would attack him. He pulled out his sword and quickly hacked the two birds to pieces. After sheathing his sword, Jonathan noticed a stone platform beneath him with a large stone block on it. The block appeared to be the same size as the hole in the floor. Jonathan jumped down to that platform and the first thing he realized about this particular stone block was that it was made of a material which could withstand the heat of molten rock. Suddenly, an idea popped into Jonathan's head. What if I plugged that hole in the floor with this block? he asked himself. As he asked, the jet of lava came again. Jonathan watched as the jet went up and up and through a hole in the ceiling that was the same size as the block which Jonathan was standing next to. I could be shot up into that room up there! Jonathan realized as he grabbed the block and began pushing it toward the edge of the platform. Jonathan then checked to make sure the block would fall into the hole. After making sure, he pushed the block over the edge. It fell right into the hole just as another lava jet came up, pushing the block back up to Jonathan. "Yes!" he exclaimed as he jumped onto the rising block and was raised into the next room.
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"Is my horse ready?" Ganondorf asked as he arrived in the Hyrule Castle stables.
"Almost, my Lord," a servant said.
Ganondorf turned around and faced the messenger from earlier. "Get your horse ready as well," Ganondorf ordered, "For you are coming with me."
"Yes, my Lord," the Gerudo woman said as she readied her horse in another stall.
"Time is of the essence now," Ganondorf proclaimed loudly, "If we can get this Spiritual Stone, our enemies will not be able to hold out against us forever!"
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"What are you two doing here?" Marlu asked Zelda and Impa upon their arrival at the water-filled cavern known as Zora's Domain.
"Ganondorf may come to Goron's City at any moment, so I decided to get Princess Zelda out of danger," Impa explained.
"I see," Marlu said as a smile began to cross his old face, "Well, I haven't been a babysitter in a long time, but I'll take care of the Princess for now."
"Good," Impa responded with a straight face as Zelda walked to Marlu's side.
"By the way," Marlu remembered, "When Jonathan finishes his work in the Fire Temple, bring him here. There is a bit of a situation that he must help with."
"Okay, I'll bring him here," Impa responded as she left Zora's Domain.
"What kind of situation, Marlu?" Zelda asked after Impa was gone.
"You can hear it from King Zora XVI himself," Marlu responded, "But I can tell you that it involves another princess."
"Ruto?" Zelda asked.
"Yes, it involves Princess Ruto," Marlu replied.
Zelda sighed. "She's probably just gone out for an extended swim in Lake Hylia again," she stated.
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Jonathan used another of his small keys to enter yet another room filled with lava. In this large room, there was a chain-link fence above the river of lava below. Jonathan jumped down onto the fence. As he began to walk forward, however, he heard a strange noise from behind him. He turned around. "Oh shit!" he exclaimed.
A wall of fire had popped up behind him and was now approaching him, going around the room. Jonathan quickly turned away from the fire and began to run as quickly as he could from the wall. He was just able to reach the other side of the room and turned around to find that the wall of flames was just reaching the point halfway between the entrance of the room and where Jonathan stood now.
"That… is… just about…" Jonathan panted, "The worst… trap… ever. Who came up with these pathetic things?" He then climbed up a few platforms on that side of the room and found another locked door. He pulled out another small key and used it on the padlock to open the door. Just as he closed the door behind him, the wall of fire reached the other side the room and dissipated.
Jonathan now found himself above the maze room that he had to work his way through earlier. "A maze is always much easier to get through when you look at it from above," Jonathan said as he examined the platform in front of him. He saw another one of those gray creatures moving around on the floor. They also happened to be on fire. Jonathan dubbed them "fire slugs" and they were more of an annoyance than anything else. Jonathan also saw that the platform ahead of him seemed to have cracks on it. This gave Jonathan an idea. He pulled out a bomb from his bag and lit its fuse. He then tossed it onto the platform with the fire slug. "Bull's-eye!" Jonathan exclaimed quietly.
BOOM! The bomb exploded, completely destroying the fire slug instantly. The explosion also caused the middle of the platform to collapse, revealing a way down into a cell that Jonathan saw earlier. He jumped over to the platform and dropped down into the opening. When he landed on the floor 40 feet below, he cringed at the pain in his legs, but he was still able to walk. Jonathan walked over to the chest in the cell and opened it to find yet another small key.
Jonathan then sat down, resting his legs for a minute, before using the chain-link fencing around him to climb back out of the cell and back into the maze room.
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Ganondorf mounted his black stallion. "I shall be back before nightfall," he told his servants as he left the stables with the Gerudo woman who had brought him the message from Darnuia. She would be riding a white horse which was a bit smaller than Ganondorf's stallion. "Are you ready to go?" he asked the messenger.
"I am, my Lord," she answered as she too left the stables.
"Then let us be off!" Ganondorf exclaimed as he led the way away from Hyrule Castle, through Hyrule Castle Town, and out onto Hyrule Field. From there, the two proceeded to the southeast, heading toward Kakariko Village.
Jonathan was running out of time.
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Impa returned to Darnuia's chamber in Goron's City. "Has Jonathan returned yet?" she asked Darnuia.
"No, not yet," Darnuia answered, "Should it be taking him this long?"
"Probably," Impa replied, "So don't get worried just yet."
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Jonathan now found himself in a gigantic room at the top of the Fire Temple. The room was absolutely huge. In front of Jonathan was a floor switch, along with an ever-narrowing spiral that ascended around to a platform in the middle of the room. At the top of the platform was a large chest, but it was surrounded by flames. How do I get what's in that chest? Jonathan wondered as he stepped on the floor switch. That caused the wall of flames around the chest to disappear.
"That's probably only temporary," Jonathan mused as he quickly made his way up to the platform via the spiral path. He had to be a bit more careful near the end of the path, with the path now being so narrow. However, Jonathan made it to the chest in time and opened it. Inside, he found a large, heavy hammer that was about four feet long and weighed about 25 pounds. It took the strength of both of Jonathan's arms to swing it around fast enough to do damage. Jonathan noticed that when he slammed the hammer into the ground, it made something like a shock wave go through the ground near him.
"This may come in handy," Jonathan said as he made his way back down to the door. Near the floor switch he saw a block with a face on the floor. "That block has got to be some sort of clue," Jonathan said as he stood on top of the block. Nothing happened. Then Jonathan tried hitting the block with the hammer he now had.
The floor around Jonathan collapsed, sending Jonathan falling…
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"Take good care of these steeds," Ganondorf told the villager who ran the stables in Kakariko Village.
"I will, sir," the man responded.
Ganondorf then gave the man a handful of small gems. "Fifty rupees, correct?" Ganondorf asked.
"That is correct, sir," the man answered as he closed his hand around the gems.
Ganondorf then left the stables and led the Gerudo woman up to the path ascending Death Mountain. "Remember to let me do the talking to the Gorons," Ganondorf reminded.
"Yes, my Lord," the woman answered as she followed her king.
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"He should have been back by now," Darnuia said as he paced in his chamber, "He must be dead."
"If he doesn't come back in another few minutes, I'll try to contact him through my Stone of Voices," Impa stated.
"Fine, I'll wait a little longer," Darnuia said.
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"YEARGH!" Jonathan screamed as he slammed his hammer onto the small, annoying creature that had managed to escape from him earlier in the Fire Temple. Jonathan heard a satisfying crunching sound come from the hammer. As he looked where the creature once was, he saw nothing but a puddle of fluids and small, crushed bones.
"Serves you right, maggot," Jonathan growled as he left the room through the now open door. This door led to a hallway with a cell and a switch in front of the cell. Inside this cell, Jonathan could see a very large chest, encrusted with rubies, gold, diamonds, and other precious gems. He also saw a small, tan-colored rock inside as well. Jonathan stepped on the switch, causing the cell to open up.
Suddenly, the "rock" began to move and Jonathan realized it was actually a small Goron. "Who are you?" Jonathan asked.
"Please don't hurt me!" the five-feet-tall Goron cried as he shuddered in fear.
"I'm a friend. I was sent here by Darnuia," Jonathan assured.
"Dad?" the Goron asked.
"Are you Link?" Jonathan inquired.
"Yes, that's my name," the young Goron responded, "I am the son of Darnuia."
"Your father sent me to look for you," Jonathan explained, "He thought you were in a bit of trouble."
"I was," Link said, "I was captured by Volvagia."
"Volvagia?" Jonathan asked, "Who's that?"
"He's a lava dragon who loves to eat us Gorons. He'll eat us all!" Link cried.
"Hey, you're going to be all right now," Jonathan tried to assure Link.
Link then looked at what Jonathan was carrying and gasped. "That's the Megaton Hammer!" he exclaimed.
"Huh? Oh, this?" Jonathan asked, referring to the hammer, "I just found this at the top of the temple."
"You can use that weapon to kill Volvagia!" Link explained.
"Where is this Volvagia?" Jonathan asked.
"You know the door with the huge lock on it?" Link asked, "Well he's behind that door. Use the key in this chest here to open that door." He gestured to the ornate chest next to him.
"Okay, I will," Jonathan replied, "Now, get out of here."
"Thanks a lot," Link said as he left the cell as Jonathan opened the chest and took out a very large, ornate key.
"This has got to be what he was talking about," Jonathan said as he left the cell as well and entered the first room in the Fire Temple. He then ran up the stairs and into the room with the ornate lock on it. He jumped over to the platform with the door and was about to open the door when he got a call on his Stone of Voices.
"Jonathan, what are you doing in there?" he heard Impa ask.
"Link should be coming to you shortly. I need to kill something he calls Volvagia in this temple," Jonathan explained, "Where's Princess Zelda?"
"She's in a place of safety," Impa replied, "Get back here as soon as you finish off Volvagia."
"I will," Jonathan answered as he put his stone back and opened the ornate door.
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"Son!" Darnuia shouted as he embraced Link.
"I'm sorry to interrupt," Impa said after a few moments, "But I believe you owe us something, Darnuia."
"Why, yes, I do," Darnuia said as he retrieved the Goron's Ruby and gave it to Impa. "There you go."
"Thank you," Impa said, "But now I ought to get out of here."
"Your instincts are good, though they appear to have grown dull with time," a deep, familiar voice said from behind Impa.
Impa's eyes went wide as she slowly began to turn around to face the source of the voice that sent a chill up her spine. "You," she stated with a snarl.
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Jonathan walked into the center of the room, where there were nine large holes in the floor that showed the lava beneath the floor. As he reached the center of the room, he felt the cavern shake. "Oh God! The volcano's going to blow!" he exclaimed as he looked around and saw a large lava dragon above him, flying around the cavern. "That must be Volvagia!"
Almost as if on a cue, the dragon dove down at Jonathan and spewed fire from its mouth at him. Jonathan was barely able to get out of its way. The dragon then rose back into the air and then dived into one of the holes in the middle of the room.
Jonathan turned to see the door that led into the room, but the shaking of the cavern caused part of the floor to collapse into the lava, including the part which led from where Jonathan was back to the door out of the room. "Not that I was going to run away," Jonathan said, "Not yet, anyway." He pulled out the Megaton Hammer and moved near the nine holes in the floor. "Come on out! Face me!" he yelled.
From behind him, Volvagia quietly rose out of a hole in the floor and prepared to burn Jonathan to a crisp. However, Jonathan was able to feel the intense heat of the fire inside Volvagia's mouth on his back and rolled to the side, avoiding a fiery death. He then rushed at Volvagia and swung down on his head with the Megaton Hammer.
Volvagia screamed in pain, while Jonathan kept swinging the hammer at him again and again. "DIE! DAMN YOU! DIE!" Jonathan shouted like a man possessed. His eyes burned with a passion to kill that would have made Ganondorf himself proud.
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"Last time I checked, you were supposed to be guarding Princess Zelda," Ganondorf said to Impa, "Where is she?"
"And what makes you think I'll actually tell you that information?" Impa inquired as she kept her eyes focused on her enemy, "And even if I did tell you, I seriously doubt you'd let me live."
"I am not here to fight you necessarily," Ganondorf told Impa, "I'm just here for the Spiritual Stone. Give it to me, and I will let you out of here with your life, along with Princess Zelda's."
"What do you need it for?" Impa asked.
"Why, to keep it away from you, of course," Ganondorf explained simply, "Now, give it to me. Or, I can just pry it out of your cold, dead fingers. It really doesn't matter to me." He then pulled out a long, black sword. The blade was straight and was about four-and-a-half feet long.
"I'm not going to die here," Impa stated as she activated a device in her wristbands. Suddenly, two claws with three sharp, foot-long claws shot out from wide wrist bands. She raised them in front of her face in a defensive posture.
"Prepare to die!" Ganondorf exclaimed as he swung his sword sideways at Impa. Impa stopped the sword with her claws and pushed the sword back at Ganondorf. She then quickly attempted to impale Ganondorf on the claws of her right arm. However, Ganondorf was able to get out of range in time.
"Like I said, I'm not going to die here," Impa said as she raised her claws again.
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Volvagia dived back into the floor after having flown through the air trying to hit Jonathan with its fire breath. Jonathan had clearly done a number on Volvagia, but the dragon was not ready to die just yet.
Jonathan kept looking around, waiting for his enemy to rise out of the ground again. This time, Volvagia rose out of the hole in the center of the holes (the nine holes were arranged in a 3x3 square) and prepared to burn Jonathan. However, Jonathan slammed the Megaton Hammer onto the dragon's head, mortally wounding it. Volvagia flew out of the hole. He was screaming, trying to find some last reserve of life energy within his body, but not finding any. Then, in midair, Volvagia exploded and was destroyed. Jonathan had ended the threat to the existence of the Gorons.
Then, Jonathan saw a blue circle appear on the ground nearby. He stepped into it and the next thing he knew, he was standing on the Triforce platform just outside of the Fire Temple.
"Time to collect what's ours," he said as he made his way back to Darnuia's chamber, unaware of who was now there.
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Author's Notes: Don't worry, the writing in this story will get better as it goes along (I hope). And yes, the title is a bit of a reference to DragonForce (awesome music).
New chapter next Friday (hopefully, college won't occupy too much of my time by then). Until then, read and review everyone.