Link and Link both slipped behind Darunia's throne, with Link in the flame red tunic that had been given to him by Link.

This is already confusing me!

Link looked at a cracked part of the wall that lay behind the throne. Little splits rose up as tall as the throne itself, branching off into different patterns like a spider's web. He reached into his bag to find any bombs he may need to blow the hole apart but the second he pulled one out, Link the Goron quickly seized his arm. "Stop!" he exclaimed as he began trembling like a dog at a fireworks festival. "You can't use that in here! If you let that rip then you'll destroy not only the wall but also the entire throne room!"

"Is there any better way to get in, though?" Link asked his namesake. Being as slow as he could so as not to set the bomb off, he slipped it back into his bag.

"Just step aside and I'll handle this."

Link did so as Link the Goron cracked his knuckles and grunted.

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGH!"

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Link covered his face as Navi took refuge inside his hat. As Link the Goron punched the broken wall, sharp pieces of stone went everywhere. It was like a bomb had just gone off inside the wall but without the destruction of the entire throne room. Wheezing from the dust storm, Link took his shield off his back and waved it like a fan to clear the air a little and, when he could see what had happened, the Goron had busted a hole in the wall.

Suddenly, the air got much hotter. And I mean MUCH hotter. It overwhelmed Link instantly, despite him wearing what was meant to be a heat resistant tunic, he felt like all the fluids in his body had been sucked out of him. He dreaded to think of what would happen if he'd forgotten to change first!

"There we are! Much safer!" Link the Goron blew on his steaming fist to cool it off and then shook it about.

"With that crater ahead of us, I don't really think that 'safe' is the word!" replied Link, only half joking. "You'd better stay here and keep hidden. I'll go and help all of your friends."

"I was… honestly hoping you would say that. Thank you. And good luck."

The Goron bowed to Link before he turned and left the throne room, leaving Link to take the heat.

Smoke swarmed the cavern and blurred the air around Link like massive candles on a giant birthday cake. He swore that he was going crazy because he could actually hear deep screaming ahead of him. It might have just been the giant, swirling pit of lava below him, but… he could even make out words!

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH..."

"Immmmmmmprisonnnnnnned..."

"Draaaaaagonnnnnnnnn..."

Link's cap twitched slightly.

"Is it safe to come out yet?" chirped Navi from inside. Link pinched the end of his hat.

"No, I don't think so. If you come out of this hat, you'd probably bake!"

"Oh! Well, just pretend I never said that, then! I'm a fairy, not a fairy cake!"

Link's boots rolled on the loose pieces of volcanic rock below him. Bubbles popped in the witch's cauldron below him and smoke hissed up out of the giant hole and into the night sky. Wiping sweat from his hair, he looked down at his red tunic. If he hadn't put it on he probably would have evaporated in seconds.

Link went around a turn and, surprisingly, the floor smoothed out a bit. Instead of scattered volcano rock, the ground was neatly paved into separate, smooth bricks. Volcanic ash dusted the floor like icing sugar on a cake and, as if an insect had been crawling over it, Link could see rows and rows of footprints tiredly slumping in straight, single file lines. Some were big, some were small. Joining them all were lines from where chains had been scraping across the floor. Link's eyes traced them all the way over to where they disappeared from sight.

A temple. Not just any temple, the Fire Temple. It looked like it was built for the intent of worship, bearing proud carvings of praying Gorons. Two statues, each depicting a thin, long dragon with narrowed, red eyes, stood facing each other on either side of the temple entrance.

"If I were to guess..." mused Link, "I'd say that those statues are of Volvagia."

"I can't see them under here and I.. don't really want to, to be perfectly honest." replied Navi, turning yellow under Link's hat.

Crack…

Suddenly, a piece of rock fell from above, almost hitting Link directly on the head. A split second later, he heard a scratching noise and felt a knife against his neck.

TSSSCHOW! VUMMMM!

Link very nearly took off his assailant's head with a quick swing of the Master Sword but recognition froze his hand.

Sheik was back and this time he was wearing a flame red sneaking suit with some spots of black in areas.

"Couldn't you have warned me you were going to do that?"

"Then what would be the point of testing how fast your reactions are?"

"Oh. That's a… good point. And well made."

Sheik sheathed his weapon. "Speaking of which… since the last time they were put to the test, they have improved by one second precisely. I commend you for that. Now, tell me. What did you come here for?"

"What?" Link tilted his head and furrowed his brow. "You told me to come here, didn't you? I'm going to find the sage of this place and awaken them."

"And what for?" Sheik questioned, about as expressive as stone. To answer his question, Link thought of Darunia. He thought of how he became sworn brothers and how he had gone through Dodongo's Cavern for him. Finally, he was able to think of a good word to answer with.

"Friendship."

"A true friendship… is something that grows overtime. That feeling in the heart that becomes even stronger over time... The passion of friendship will soon blossom into a righteous power and through it, you will know which way to go..."

With that, Sheik readied his harp, which had undergone a bit of a makeover. It was now made of red stained glass and the top was fashioned to look like a raging inferno. Just as he had done in the forest, Link subconsciously bought out the Ocarina of Time.

"Learn the Bolero of Fire and play it in front of the Goron's worship monument. Din shall bless you with her fire."

"What?" whispered Navi to Link from inside his cap, but Sheik started plucking the strings. Like he was under a spell, Link joined in. This song was much easier to play than the Minuet of the Forest and it sort of sounded like something that would be played in a marching band. Navi didn't dare come out to dance at risk of becoming a fried friend, but she strobed positive colours in Link's cap.

When the duo finally stopped performing, Sheik strapped his harp back to his back. "Link… the crater brings a piercingly hot wind. Therefore, I shall see you later."

Déjà vu all over again. Sheik reached down into a little pouch on his side and pulled out a brown nut, holding it between his index and ring fingers and under his middle finger. Realising what was about to happen, Link ran towards him. "Wait!" he yelled as Sheik prepared to throw the nut, "I still have more- Argh!"

Link was stopped like a train against buffers by a wall of heat shooting out of the tiles like spikes. Sheik's image began to wobble from the hot air as he raised his arm into the air and hurled the Deku Nut to the floor.

PAF! FOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The white flash produced by the Deku Nut suddenly caught ablaze, hiding Sheik in it. As quickly as it appeared, it dissipated and left the area empty.

Link shrugged. "Well, I was about to ask him where all the Gorons are but I suppose I could have told him not to play with fire because he almost turned me into toast!"

Temperature? Well, my thermometer is malfunctioning so that must mean it's pretty blasted high!

Area? From the fact that all the Gorons except from Darunia and his son are trapped in a big cell, this must be deep in the depths of the Fire Temple!

His red karate slippers scuffing the floor as he went, Nekketsu marched back and forth in front of the one cell, making sure that no Goron escaped. Ganondorf had given the monster that job while he went around the Fire Temple to look for Darunia. He was the only Goron who managed to evade capture and he was also the strongest of them all, so it was imperative to the dark king that he was locked up at once.

Every Goron in the city was in one single cell, meaning that there was no one who wasn't at least brushing against one other cellmate with every move. It was horrible. Baby Gorons were crying loudly as their fathers tried to quieten them in case it set Nekketsu off, even some of the adults were crying silently, but the kids were all at the back of the cell so that Nekketsu couldn't hear them, conspiring against him and Ganondorf. Two of which were Wengen and Mürren.

"Maybe… we can dig ourselves out of the cell and escape?" Wengen whispered, sneaking a glance at their guard to make sure he wasn't interested.

Mürren shook her… I mean, his head. "Not with Karate Sid over there watching our every move! He'd notice if there was suddenly a loud scratching noise coming from the back of the cell! If he finds us… he'll use that explosion attack again for sure!"

Another Goron raised his hand. "Maybe we could knock him out and then just bend the bars open."

"Did you not see how he caused a massive explosion with one attack?" hissed Mürren. "If he does that again, Ganondorf will hear, come back and feed us all to that dragon at once! He's already sacrificed twelve of us and I'm afraid that might just be enough to bring Volvagia back to life!"

This silenced all of the children. Nekketsu continued pacing outside, occasionally letting out a twisted chuckle.

It was going to be a long night.

To seek shelter from the flames, Link went through the entrance to the Fire Temple and, feeling dazed from the humid heat, he reached into his pouch once more and pulled out his wooden flask, having filled it up with water back at the river. It was cooler in the temple than in the crater, but not by much.

"What are you doing?" asked Navi, turning grey. Link lightly lifted his cap up.

"It's gotten a bit cooler in here. Do you think you'll be able to stand this temperature?"

Like a mouse about to come out of its cage, Navi slowly inched out of Link's hat. Since it, along with the tunic it came with, was heat resistant, Navi had been protected by it as she hid. When she emerged, she very nearly passed out but she fought through the heat and kept awake.

"Would you like some water?" Link offered, "I filled it up at the river earlier."

"Yes please." Navi replied hoarsely. Like she did in Dodongo's cavern, she daintily perched on the lip of the flask and flattened her wings. "Thank you." With that, she began to sip from the cup. When she was done, Link took a drink himself.

"So then… Where do we look first?" he hummed to himself. Wiping waterfalls of sweat from his countenance. Did I mention that this place was hot?

Eek! Eek, eek! Eek! Flappaflappaflappaflappaflappa…

"Oh, bats!" Link groaned in exasperation as he scratched the Master Sword out of its sheathe and into action. He had seen them before in the Royal Family's Tomb and they were back for more. Keese. Not just Keese, Fire Keese.

They flapped through the air like paper planes that had just gone through a Bunsen burner and, having seen Link, they all flew down at once. Not really focusing and rather annoyed, Link swished the Master Sword at them as Navi rapidly targeted Keese after Keese. Despite the Master Sword's range, he could not hit a single Keese as they were all too fast.

"There's too many of them!" Link continued slashing at as many of the Keese as he could, but he only swatted a total of three away within three quarters of a minute. Sneaking a glance up a wobbly flight of steps, Link saw a padlocked, metal door at the front. The padlock was held in the mouth of a scary statue of a skull, who had blazing fire in its eyes. "Navi, run with me!"

Taking his sword into both hands, Link turned and ran up the stairs, almost tripping as he went. As the Keese swarmed after him and heated him up, Link slashed the padlock clean in two before chucking up the door, dashing through and letting it slam shut behind him. Upon inspecting himself, he only had a few burns. Could be better, but could be worse.

Oh, and he also let the door slam on at least five of the Keese but that's besides the point.

"That was too close!" Link said to Navi, watching the Keese poof into dark energy under the door. "I hope we don't come across anything stronger than that in here! I kind of doubt it, but-

"SUCH AS ME?"

Link jumped and looked ahead of him. A spiky-haired blob stood in the steam that rose out of the lava ahead of him. He stood on a platform opposite Link, swinging his biceps around in circles creating loud cracking noises.

It was the 'big-bellied, bulky ball of blubber' himself. With an almighty inhale, his belly inflated and with an even bigger exhale, he blasted all the steam away. There he stood, grey hair, old tattoos, a wrinkled face and a gentle complexion.

"Darunia?" Navi's voice cracked up and down like a siren at the sight of the Goron. He looked much different that when Link was a child. Maybe Gorons aged quickly once they reached a certain age.

"Yes! It's me! DARUNIA! What's shaking, brother?"

"Me! This place is infested with bats and I think we are all melting in here!"

"Right! It wasn't that hot before Volvagia got revived! Now it's too hot for even us Gorons! I was just going in that door behind me to take her out again!"

Link's smile on meeting his old friend faded when he realised the truth of this. If Volvagia had been revived then that must have meant…

Oh, dear!

"Your son told me about… Volvagia." Link said blankly. "He said that one of your ancestors hit it with some hammer and it went into the sun. Do you have that hammer?"

"Unfortunately not. I did have it but Ganondorf confiscated it and hid it somewhere in this temple."

"You can't go in there without that hammer!" exclaimed Link. Darunia raised an eyebrow. "Don't you need it to beat her?"

"I really don't want to… but I have to. If that dragon is left alive for any longer, she'll eat my entire species!" With that, Darunia pitched a rolled-up piece of paper across the lake to Link. "That's a map of this place. Just follow it and you should find the cell where all my people are being held captive."

"Yes, sworn brother. I shall do that."

With nothing else to stall him, Darunia turned and was about to smash the wall in behind him but Link called him at the last moment. "Wait!"

"Yes?"

"Keep yourself safe. I'll be back with all the Gorons free and that hammer."

"Jawohl, Bruder. See you later, all right?" Darunia turned around, reeled his fist open and punched the wall with a massive BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

When all the dust cleared, he had disappeared through the hole he had created.

"Come on, Navi. We should be going."

Darunia burst through the wall and, after three seconds of aimless charging through rock and earth, he emerged in Volvagia's nest.

A single, round platform floating in a pool of lava, peppered with little holes full of lava.

The Goron King pulled himself up and looked around the room. There he was, alone in Volvagia's room without the hammer needed to smash her to pieces.

No! What am I saying! His fists were powerful enough by far!

"Great Ganondorf..."

A high, scratchy voice snaked through the air. "You have bought me another sacrifice! I hope this one is big and full of rock because I am starving!"

Darunia cracked his fist to prepare for battle. This was Volvagia. She was throwing her voice around the room, making it hard to pinpoint where she was. Her voice was cold and hoarse, a sharp contrast from the climate of the temple itself.

As Darunia watched, one of the little pools of lava on the platform began to hiss with bubbles like boiling water on a hob. Like a tortoise coming out of its shell, the most hideous face Darunia had seen all week began to rise from that pit of lava. As it saw him, its eyes narrowed.

"You're no sacrifice!" hissed the dragon.

"You're right. I'm not a sacrifice. I am here to sacrifice YOU."

"I'd like to see you try!"

Much faster than it had appeared, Volvagia submerged into her lava pit and, like a streamer popper, shot out of it, flying into the air in a mesmerising spiral before aiming herself straight at Darunia, her mouth bent open and her stained fangs gleaming with the bright lava. As she spun, Darunia pulled back his fist and sent it flying forwards. With one loud hiss, Volvagia flew through the air and smashed straight into the wall. Darunia had punched her so hard that she left a crater where she landed. Her green eyes reddening, the dragon took off and flew at Darunia once more.

That was when things took a turn. Volvagia flew around to Darunia's back before quickly swerving around, hitting him with her axe of a tail. Shouting out, Darunia sank to the floor but not before grabbing Volvagia by the tail as she tried to escape. The sharp point started filing away at his hand, but he stood up and swung her round and round like a hammer. She hissed and spat until she was red in the face as the force from Darunia's spinning kept her unable to turn and bite him to free herself. She was clearly trying to but she couldn't bend herself at all. Finally, Darunia let go and threw her up.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The whole cavern shook as Volvagia hit the ceiling. Darunia wobbled a little as the earth shook but he quickly lowered onto all fours, allowing him to keep his bearings.

All was quiet.

Had he just beaten her already? Could he join Link and free his people?

Rummmmmmmmmmmmble…

Darunia's eyes suddenly widened. Volvagia was cunning. There was no way she had been defeated already. She must have been pretending. Whenever you could hear silence from her, she was up to something, just like a toddler. The Great Goron's suspicions were proven right when he saw giant boulders raining down from the ceiling, Volvagia drifting down with them. She had thin eyes and a smug grin as if she knew she had just got her sibling into trouble.

All Darunia could do was roll himself up and pray that the damage was minimal.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Quote of the Day:

"Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter."