Trial of Keys

V 2.5b

By: (o'.')o pc_prettycool@email.com

Disclaimer:

Go Nintendo Go Nintendo Go! Go Nintendo Go Nintendo Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Zelda, Zelda RAP, Zelda Zelda RAP, Zelda Zelda RAP Go! Go Go Go! ( for anyone asking…Vanilla Ice from TMNT2)

Note from Author:

I've had a couple of tiffs against some Digimon and Pokémon authors…and others. I'm sorry, I'm kinda an emotional guy. I speak sometimes without speaking. To anyone I've offended, I really apologize. Look at this face…is this the face of a bad guy? (v^-^)

I've got something! See, while writing this, I've had a part of the middle plot missing in my head….I couldn't figure it out. Now I've got something. Believe me, it's gonna stray a bit from the Zelda Formula after the Trial of Keys has ended. I'm looking forward to it, hope you are too!

Last but not least, Thanks for your reviews. If you feel that I have some major problems that need to be addressed in my writing style [ Stardragon, I'm talking to you (v^-^) ], please, feel free to tell me. Email me too, at pc_prettycool@email.com. I draw some manga style, and I might make a website for Zelda fictions, with pictures of the characters in them. Okay then, enough outta me.

*********

Last Chapter:

Free of the Zoran Prison, things were looking up for our adventurers…except for Zelda who could really hold a grudge. However, after a chance run in by the Hot Tub in Kakkariko Village between Zelda and Link…things between the young elves got even more strained. This was compounded by the two deciding to go by themselves to visit King Goron the IX and his child Link to get the Fire Key. However, Small-Link had borrowed the Flame Key for a school trip, and had lost it when attacked by Dodongo's in their home cavern. Now Link is off to the Dodongo Cavern to procure the missing Key.

And now, on with the story.

************

The sunset looked particularly brilliant from Saria's view, high atop a slim tree that stood in the center square of the small village. Saria was always good at hiding up in trees, and even not being Kokiri anymore, she still sometimes to just climb up an old bark and wonder at the nature around her.

Saria was wondering at something more this evening. Her eyes were set upon the huge natural structure that was Death Mountain. She always hated that name. Though Lord Deku had told her in the past that death was as natural as the fish in the sea, or the birds in the ocean, she still had a problem with such a wonder as nature being named after something as cold an as harsh as the end of life.

Saria sighed to herself. Link…and Zelda, were on that wonder of nature right now. She wondered how far they had gone…what they were talking about, if anything. They had sure acted strangely before they had left…

She was wondering what on earth that could be about when Esea returned from her little trip. She had gone to 'scope out the area', and now that she was back, Saria could see she was deeply disturbed.

The fairy's long paper-thin legs landed gently on her shoulder, her heart-shaped face a cloud of worry. "I just spoke to the birds in Kakkariko." She said, her tone all sobriety.

"And?"

"And…" the Fairy pushed. "They're worried, really worried." She sighed and sat on Saria's shoulder. If she could feel the weight of the action, it was because she was imagining it. The fairy actually weighed nothing. "They feel a pall of evil resting on all of Hyrule."

Saria frowned. "It's not……"

"Ganondorf? No. As far as Lord Deku knows, he's still locked away in the prison of his own doing." Esea huffed and flexed her gossamer wings, microscopic beads of water falling off, evaporating immediately in the minute heat of the air. "The birds say it smells like him…but not quite."

"Someone else…" Saria said. Esea nodded and Saria faced Death Mountain once again. The thought that Ganondorf (or Ganon as he's referred to now in the Legends and in Children's Stories), wasn't involved in the unease of the world, brought Saria a little comfort. Just a little though. There was something evil stalking the lands of Hyrule. Its plans were unknown, and that made it all the more dangerous.

"Maybe we are in the Time of Trouble." Saria said, so quietly that even Esea could hardly hear her. She hated to see the girl so worried, now the fairy wished she had kept her yap shut. She could do nothing about it, only that boy she was so caught up with could help. That kid named Link.

Suddenly, Saria saw something that made her heart nearly skip. She skimmed down the tree with expert grace and ran towards the Inn, where Malon was staying outside. She was brushing Epona when Saria ran to her.

Before she could say a word, Saria gave her the news. "It's Zelda. She's back from the Gorons." She gasped. "She's alone."

Malon looked at her, stricken. She had an awful feeling in the pit of her stomach. All she could do now, was pray, and hope Link would return to her, alive and well.

Still…the feeling in her stomach persisted…..

*********

The heat of the Dodongo Cavern was sweltering. If Link actually had to fight monsters in this place, he'd probably die of a stroke first. Link counted his blessings as he fared the massive cavern. For a place named 'the Dodongo's Cavern' he expected something a little more threatening. Instead, the only Dodongo's he met were as tall as his shin. He thought that they were more afraid of him than he was of them.

He thought that this was why small-Link and his friends thought it would be safe here. He made that mistake, and that's why big-Link was here now. He didn't forget that, and even though the cave wasn't threatening yet, he stayed on guard.

Finally, he reached a large open cut out in the rock of the Cavern. The room was strange in that it seemed artificially made, and was surrounded with rows of strange looking plants along the rim of the room. He walked up to a plant and looked closely. "A Bomb-plant." He saw immediately.

These plants were notorious for having a deadly natural defense mechanism. Pull it out of the ground, and it'd gather heat until the dormant chemicals in its roots exploded. "Kinda like Talon" Link thought smiling. "Pull him out of bed too early, and he's likely to blow up."

He turned away from the plants and faced the North End of the room. He saw a stone structure that looked artificially made standing several meters away. "The altar…" Link thought, and started moving towards it.

He froze suddenly, an overwhelming sense of wrong vibrating throughout his body. His hand flew to his sword-handle, and he immediately took battle-stance, looking in all directions.

Link found nothing. He relaxed, only slightly. Shivers went up and down his spine. He had always had this extra sense around him, always able to know when there was a certain type of danger about. Link had learned to trust this instinct, which was why he had survived the previous few battles he had engaged in.

Still wary, Link took another step towards the altar. The feeling came again, and Link jumped into readiness. A huge shadow descended upon him, and he was barley able to skip back before the form crashed into the floor.

The Dodongo peered at him with tiny, blood-filled eyes. Link gulped inwardly. It was about 10 feet tall, and twice as long. It's ugly maw grinned at him, baring rows upon rows of razor sharp teeth. The lizard took one step at Link, then another, quickly snapping its teeth at him.

He jumped back again, sword drawn and pointed at the beast. He was thinking desperately of a strategy, when the creature bounded at him with terrific speed.

Link bounded out of the way, but was hit hard by the shoulder of the creature. Link flew spinning and landed hard only a few feet away from the West Wall. He got up quickly, favoring his left shoulder, facing the creature dead on.

Without warning, the ground shook as a massive crashed into it. Link was barely able to turn before he was slammed several feel through the air by a massive tail.

The young elf took the fall, rolling several times and bounded up to his feet. He stared at his attacker, another Dodongo, just as big, if not a little bigger, as the other one. Link smiled to himself.

"Yeah…that's right. You boys better call reinforcements." He thought sarcastically. "Battle's still not even yet." He took a step forward, when the smaller Dodongo leapt at Link once again.

Again, Link was surprised by the huge creature's speed. Link stood back, and blocked the attack with one of his own, sweeping his sword at the creature, his left hand back against the dull-side of his blade for more leverage.

His sword met strong muscle, and he ground his feet into the ground as he slashed a deep rent into the left leg of the lizard. It screamed in agony and stepped back.

Link bounded away from the creature, spinning his sword around for a piercing attack, when the other Dodongo opened it's jaw wide. Intense heat coalesced between it's jaws, and the monster sent a vicious sphere of flame towards the young elf.

He only had time to take a small step back, which happened to be just enough. The flame impacted on the floor immediately in front of Link, blasting rocks dust and bits of dirt into his eyes. Link brushed away at the cloud of debris angrily, a move which turned out to be a bit mistake.

The giant Dodongo was in front of him in a second, and it brought it's deadly teeth down on the boy. Link brought his right arm up to block, and the monster took to it, renting a bloody foot-long rent down his arm.

Again, Link jumped back, gasping heavily. Acute pain blasted through his body and pushed tears to his eyes. Blood was pouring heavily down his arm. He switched his sword to his left hand, as the Dodongo opened wide to finish its attack.

Link threw his left arm up, jamming the tip of his blade into the roof of the creatures mouth, before backing quickly away, into the wall of the room. The Dodongo screamed in rage, shaking it's head back and forth in an effort to dislodge the offending sword.

Now he stood back against the wall as the lizards slowly stalked towards him. He knew the Dodongo's were viscous and cruel creatures, liking to prolong the suffering of their prey until finishing off. The lizards would walk towards him slowly, torturously, until they decided to attack.

Link peered at them through pained, light gray eyes. His arm had gone completely numb, and blood was trailing freely down his right hand. All Link wanted to do now, was kill these monsters. His mind was all rage.

His foot bumped against the hard plant stuck in the ground. Without looking at it, Link uprooted it with his left hand. Immediately, he began to feel the Bomb-plant heat up with every second.

The Dodongo's came at him, slowly and meticulously, side by side, shoulder to shoulder. The larger one still had Link's sword stuck in it's mouth. That was his target.

The plant grew hotter and hotter. A miscalculation would mean Link's quest would end right there, but still, Link took it to the final second. The heat of the Bomb-plant radiated through the room as the lizards came closer and even closer.

The larger Dodongo finally screamed and started forward. Link hauled back with his left hand, and flinged the plant into it's mouth.

The plant rested in its giant maw for only a second before it exploded. The concussion of the blast knocked even the other Dodongo off its feet. Link flew back, slamming hard against the wall of the room, sending another wave of pain down his arm.

Black guts, teeth, and brain matter flew in every direction of the room, and the blood flew throughout like a crimson fountain. At the same time, Link's blade spun through the air, landing near the altar. When all the dust cleared, the headless Dodongo took an automated step towards the elf, before slamming into the ground.

Link stood weakly against the wall, his right arm hanging lifelessly against his side. He walked cautiously towards the other Dodongo, thinking he'd have to sneak by it. When he got close, however, he realized it wasn't breathing. The concussion must have killed it on impact.

He let out a ragged breath, an act that sent another wave of acute pain shooting up his arm. He still considered himself lucky…if the other Dodongo had survived, it would have surely killed Link without hesitation.

The wounded Hero paced slowly towards the altar, picking up his blade and sheathing it on the way. He leaned against the stone piece, breathing heavily. He'd take care of the arm when he got out of the cavern….maybe Zelda even knew some healing magic. All he had to do was spin the altar around to reveal….

…the Fire Key….

..it wasn't there.

Before Link could react, a pillar of light formed around his body. Having killed the guardian of the Fire Key, it was removing him from the scene. Link yelled in a mix of pain, rage and despair as he was carried out from the Dodongo's Cavern.

***********

He had wandered, aimlessly, through the sparse forest for what seemed like hours. The moon was up and full, casting a light upon everything in the area. Link could see clearly. He could even see how black and bloody his right arm had become.

Again, he didn't feel anything from the wound. He took this as a blessing from the Goddesses, as he continued through the woods. He didn't know where he was…or maybe he just didn't remember. His mind was strangely clouded. Link found this very peculiar, he usually had a good sense of direction, but now he felt like he was walking in circles. Heck, he felt like he was walking on a cloud.

Link stepped up towards a partially steep hill, making it sluggishly to the top. When he reached the peak, he found he had a good view over the tree-line. To his chagrin, he saw Death Mountain, and Kakkariko. It was quite a distance away, maybe a good full day. Link sighed ( or did he shudder. ) He'd make it…but it'd take a while.

He looked down the hill, spying on the small stream that flowed between the trees. He saw a figure and took another light step to get a better look.

At the stream was a girl of maybe 14. Her scarlet colored hair was tied up straight back in a tail that fell to the top of her ribcage. She was slim and maybe just about as tall as Link was. Her skin was a light brown, due to genetics and not to tanning. She wore a two piece outfit, a simple sleeveless red top that ended below her breasts, an white, baggy pants starting right below her bellybutton…ending with the sandals on her feet.

She had a large curved wooden staff strapped to her back, and she was bent over the river, washing her face. Link saw that it was obvious from the girls features that she was Gerudo.

Link stepped silently, trying for a better look. The girl looked up with her slightly slanted eyes and whipped out the staff that was on her back. A small cord of vine shot out from one end of the staff, and wrapped around the other end. The girl whipped out a thin arrow, and shot it at the spying elf.

The arrow embedded itself deeply into the ground at his feet. The elf froze, looking at the projectile, then at the girl who shot it.

"That was a warning shot." She said with a lilting accent.

Link put his good arm up into the air. "I'm harmless." He said, grinning weakly.

"The way you snuck up on me says otherwise." The girl retorted. Putting her bow away, she returned to grooming herself.

Patiently, Link put his arm down and waited for her to be finished. After she dried, she packed her belongings, the bow and a small pouch, and left the area, not glancing back at the boy.

The elf tsked and skidded down the hill. He hit the bottom rather hard, feeling unusually clumsy. Dusting himself off with his good arm, he moved towards the stream. Link's clumsiness got worse, losing his balance twice on the way.

He knelt at the river and took a sip of its clean water. For some reason, he couldn't feel a 'taste' from it. Link thought that was rather strange. He took another sip…and found that he was without an appetite for the stuff. "It's too warm for water" Link thought. Too warm…in the middle of the night. He laughed at the contradiction.

He got back up to his feet, falling back down immediately. He tried to get up, but couldn't find the strength. "Maybe….." he thought groggily. "Maybe I'll just take a rest here."

Gradually, Link's eyes closed shut, as he thought that maybe there was a small chance he would never awake from this little nap.

********

He awoke later that night, the moon staring him right in the face. He tried to move, but a hand brought him back down to his lying position.

"Don't move again, or this time, I'll let you die here."

Link tuned and found himself staring straight into the face of the girl he saw earlier. He was lying in her lap as she was working on his arm. He looked at it in amazement, the bandage was almost finished, the arm had been sewn up and thoroughly cleaned.

He looked up at the girl again. The girl caught the look in her large red-brown eyes. "What are you looking at?" she said harshly.

"The most beautiful sight I've ever seen." Link whispered weakly.

The girl smiled in spite of herself. "You're delirious." She said.

"Maybe." Link agreed. The Gerudo handed him some water and he drank, his taste for water suddenly renewed.

The girl glanced at him, then returned to her work on his arm. "This was one brutal wound. You're lucky I got to it in time." She said, nearly to herself. "What were you doing?"

"Battling Dodongo's."

The girl scoffed. "At least I had enough sense to run."

Link laughed. "So…someone was there ahead of me." He looked her in the eye. "What were you looking for?"

"The same thing you were."

"The Fire Key."

The girl nodded. "Did you find it?" Link asked.

"No." she said, shaking her head. "Someone beat me to it. I was following him when you came along."

Link tried to get up again, but the girl pushed him down once more. "I'm serious. Do that again, and they'll never find your body."

He grinned at the threat. "I have to have that Key, you know…"

The Gerudo nodded again. "Let's catch up to it first, then we'll argue some more about it."

"Fair enough." he said, grinning further. "I'm…uh..Link." he said finally.

The girl peered at him again, before finishing the bandage on his arm. "Nabooru."

"Nabooru." Link repeated. He nodded slowly, drifting mentally. He wondered what a Gerudo was doing here so far out of the valley, and what she could possible want with the Fire Key. His body, however, decided that these were questions best left to another time, and Link fell back into a deep sleep.

*********

Early morning, while the rest of the world was waking up, Nabooru and Link were following the stranger with the Fire Key. Apparently he was headed back to Kakkariko himself. Link thought this was too much of a coincidence for it to be healthy.

The two finally broke through the forest, and stopped for a breakfast of wild berries and such from the surroundings. The young elf sat down cross-legged, and began tearing into his little meal.

"That's a neat weapon." Link said between gulps, pointing to the girls bow. The girl glanced behind her and faced Link again.

"It was my mothers." She said simply. Link gulped down some water …not thinking of going any further.

Instead he asked, "What do you want with the Key anyway?"

Nabooru shrugged. "It's treasure. It's very important. That's all you need to know."

"Oh come on…." he grinned. "I'll tell you my secret if you tell me yours."

Nabooru smiled. "I doubt you've got any secrets I'd want to know about."

Link laughed at the dig. "Yeah, well you don't know me very well, do you?"

The Gerudo shrugged. Link went back to his meal. "I wonder what this other guy wants with the Key." He asked quietly.

Nabooru was about to answer, when she froze, a chill moving down her spine. The same chill whipped through Link, who got up quickly, his hand on his sword handle. How the guy had gotten this close to them without the two young warriors being warned earlier made no logical sense to him. The only thing that mattered was that he was there.

Standing on a rock, hunched over, with his arm resting on his bent knee, stood someone draped in black cloths. He wore a long black Tuke over his head, and his mouth and nose were completely covered by a dark shawl. His right gauntlet loosely held a small, double bladed staff-like weapon., and his left gauntlet bore the mark of a single bright golden triangle.

Link was finally face to face with the one who had attacked Malon, the one who the Sage had warned him about.

The dark-clad figure grinned at the two through his dark shoal, staring at them with blood red eyes.

"Hero…."

NEXT: Who is he? Is he Ganondorf reborn? Something more, something less? And will Link be able to defeat him with the wound to his arm? The end of the Trail of Keys draws near! See ya soon! (o'.')o