Chapter 09: the temple of swimming earth

Author's note: this chapter will be even shorter than the normal ones devoted to temples. However, you'll finally get to know what Shadow Link has been up to!

Despite his distracted thoughts, Red was still able to maneuver the hot air balloon towards what he knew to be their next generation, a hill near Lake Hylia. The clear blue lake sparkled invitingly at the heroes, but they had a temple to finish off, one that, knowing Blue, would be extremely difficult. He was pure power, though admittedly seemed less intelligent than the others sometimes. If Link could venture a guess as to what the temple would be like, he guessed that this one would include very few puzzles, but difficult monsters in exchange.

And was he right! As usual, Red disappeared the minute they entered the temple, but not before grabbing the dungeon map. Link examined to discover the rooms had an eerily simple design, as though they were designed for particularly hard fights.

"YESS! Welcome to my temple!" Blue cried triumphantly. He admired the statue of himself holding the Ocarina of time while Link snickered to himself. The expression on the statue's face didn't fit with the Ocarina at all. Blue seemed to like it, though. For the first time in all of their temples, Link wondered where Red was. he always seemed to disappear early on in the temple. However, then he realized that there was a ghoma practically on top of him.

"AAAAHHHH!" both heroic boys screamed and began waving their swords at it in a very terrified manner. Thankfully, the monster was confused by both swords and was a cinch to kill.

"When a chest appears, I bet ten rupees that it's a small key!" he declared. "That's usually how dungeons start!"

Blue flipped open the chest that appeared when they defeated it to discover nothing more than a yellow rupee.

"Oh, the irony!" he fumed and handed it to Link, who smirked.

As a matter of fact, Blue lost a lot of money in the temple. None of the chests (except the boss key and the compass ones) contained anything other than yellow rupees. Blue, however, couldn't keep any. He had to give them all to Link through bets. Otherwise, he was in his element. The enemies in this temple were particularly thrilling to fight, particularly the stalfos, lizalfos, and the like. Blue smashed through them all easily, then smirked his characteristic smirk when done.

"Boy is that fun!" he called to Link. A chest then appeared, similar to the one that they either found or appeared after defeating the enemies in a room.

"Bet you ten rupees that it's that small key that no dungeon in Hyrule is complete without!" Blue shouted, later giving a cry of anger when, once again, he was met with a yellow rupee.

"Haha," Link smiled. "It appears this one isn't a complete temple or something, then."

"DON'T SLAM MY TEMPLE!" Blue screamed.

"Have you seen a psychiatrist about your temper yet?" Link asked.
"I've existed as a separate being for less than a day!"

"Oh, yeah. I'd forgotten," Link replied sarcastically as the two faced the miniboss, death sword. However, this time it was harder, because no matter how many songs Blue played, they couldn't see death sword. Blue just charged blindly at him for awhile until Link had an idea. He grabbed his boomerang, aimed it at a nearby plant, and let it return its powdery pollen to him. Thankfully, his idea worked and the pollen partially stuck to death sword, making it easier to see him.

The rest of the dungeon was either painfully easy or grueling, depending on which Link was thinking about it. Monster after monster came at them, but the heroes bested them all. After they defeated a few darknuts in back-to-back form, Link realized something.

"I can't believe this, but I think we're becoming a better team," he told Blue.

"Duh," he replied.

Red, meanwhile, pulling his usual trick, bypassed most of the dungeon and made it to the entrance to the boss chamber. Unlike most of the tunnel networks he'd used thus far, this one was full of cobwebs, forcing him to use his flame wand (which was what he called it) on them. When he got to the entrance of the boss chamber, he discovered the usual carvings, but this time, he managed to get a good look at the boy in purple. This time, there was also the name of each of their temples underneath them. Red saw that the name of the purple one's temple was 'the temple of flying light.'

Just then, he was met with the other two.

"Where have you been?" Link asked.

"I found the name of our next destination," Red exclaimed happily.

"Later. How do we get this door open?" Blue asked. Link came over and kicked it, but there was no response. Blue tried the handle and walked through easily, much to Link's consternation.

"Remember my temple?" Red asked reassuringly. Link smiled, remembering. Red sure knew how to make him feel better.

Blue, meanwhile, found himself face-to-face with a bright green monster. It had a huge yellow eye and was surrounded by purple goo, not the handsomest thing, but certainly one with a lot of pure power, particularly when it slapped the ground. He realized that this must be Phytops, barbed menace.

Blue could see that its tentacles were covered in painful barbs. However, he was as daring as he was powerful, and on a sudden whim, ripped out one of the barbs and threw it at the eye. His aim was, fortunately, very accurate.

By the end of the battle, Blue even found that he'd enjoyed it.

The boss then burst into a thousand pieces, before, suddenly, slamming back together to create the largest hammer Blue had ever seen.

"Amazing!" he cried happily. The other two both patted him on the back before Red conducted the wind once more.

"What? We have another temple?" Link asked.

"The temple of flying light, high in the clouds," Red replied. "I just want to see something."

"It had better be worth it," growled Blue, swinging his large hammer threateningly.

Little did they know that it wouldn't only be 'worth it', it would also change the course of their adventure.

Shadow Link smirked.

How naïve Red was! He talked to himself, and Shadow Link had heard every word of his musings about the temple of flying light. Realizing that that was his destination as well, Shadow Link prepared to teleport.

He wasn't scared of a confrontation with the Links. Rather, he'd welcome it.