Chapter 28: The God of Keys Must Hate Us

Last time, our heroes had all entered their respective tests. Matt, Luigi, Link, & Tails are starting to explore the Water Temple, Sonic, Knuckles, the Doctor, & Megaman have entered the Goron Mines, & the group of Mario, Blaze, & Rose have entered Skull Woods. Let's focus on good old H2O, shall we?

Date: August 22, 2011, Time: 1:40 pm, Location: Headache City

"Geez. What's with this temple? Locked doors everywhere!" Luigi complained into the earpiece Tails made.

"Why do you think Link's grandpa hated this place?! Oh hey unlocked door… & it's empty. Wait, I'm barred in. Are those stalfos? OH CRAP, LIKE-LIKES TOO! IT WASN'T THIS BAD IN MASTER-" The transmission cut off there.

"Matt? Oh boy. I hope he's okay. What are stalfos?"

"They're skeletons possessed by the souls of legendary swordsman. Very tough. At least he's not up against Iron Knuckles. You met them back at the bridge." Link explained. "Still, stalfos & like-likes combined are bad news. Oh, a chest. Let's see what's inside… a green rupee. Great… I definitely needed one rupee more."

"I'm guessing that's this world's currency." Tails noted.

"Yeah. I was hoping for a key. Oh well."

"…Guys."

"Matt! Your reception is back." Luigi said.

"Yeah. That was a tough fight, but worth it. I found a chest with 5 keys in it!"

"So that's where they were."

"Yep. Time to start unlocking doors." As Matt unlocked doors in the center tower, Luigi found some keys & made headway on the southern path. Tails & Link ended up meeting Matt due to the temple's structure. They stood in front of a weirdly marked door. Luigi then showed up with some devices. "I found these after beating up some monsters."

"Longshots, those should be useful. Now we can get across gaps where there is grip."

"Nice find Luigi. Now this is the only door we've seen that we've yet to open. Ready to go in?" Once they entered the door, they found themselves in an interesting room. They saw another door across from them, behind a small leafless tree, & the floor & walls were completely reflective & covered in water. "This is trippy." Luigi noted.

"Agreed."

"Let's leave this room. I found a compass & map earlier & there's a chest in the other room." The door had different ideas. As soon as they approached the door, metal bars slammed over it, preventing access. Matt felt a presence & turned around. Standing there was the winner for Most Annoying Foe, alongside silhouette versions of everyone else. "Dark Matt?! How do you keep showing up where I am?"

"Easy. I was created from your shadow. Thus, I have the ability to sense you."

"Okay. I call bull."

"I put a magic tracker on your back the first time we fought."

"Oh."

"Now. Time to-" Dark Matt didn't finish his sentence, mostly thanks to getting hit by a blast of fire. It also hit the other clones, prompting them to go into battle mode. "When could you do that?" Matt asked Link.

"I learned Din's Fire the same day I became a soldier. It proved useful in a torch puzzle earlier."

"Oh. Well, it looks like we're fighting clones of us all, again."

"Yeah. At least they're not robots."

"True. Anyways, charge!" As if on cue, all 4 of them rushed their clones.

To be continued...