IT'S CHAPTER 3!!!!!!.for all of you who have been reviewing, thanks. Also, I got better reviews on chapter 2, so I'll continue on in that vein- but Link may or may not sound a bit stupid, who knows. Why? Because I said so. Not to mention that I am the almighty author, and.ok. Anywho, the name Erin was not just completely random- 'tis my own name, I couldn't think of any other ones because of my occasional episodes of writer's block. ^_^;; So, on with the story.

I looked over at Link, then over to the ledge to our right. "What.in Din's name.is THAT?!" I pointed toward a particularly malicious-looking creature about 100 yards away. It opened its one huge eye, blinked at us, and began shooting laser beams from its one disgusting orifice.

Frightened, I grabbed Link's arm. "RUN!!!!" I screamed, a look of immense terror on my face, and run we did. We sprinted into another nearby room, closed the door, and breathlessly collapsed onto the dirt floor.

"What.was.that?" I asked, gasping for breath. I looked up at a raised spot in the area, noticed another one-eyed creep atop it, and whispered to Link, "We've got company."

Startled, Link jumped off of the muddy terrain and yanked his sword from its sheath. "Erin," he shouted, "GO!!!!" With a determined look on his face, he darted toward the great ugly brute and began furiously slashing at it with his blade. This was not helpful, however. The creature became irritated, and blasted Link with its horrible death ray. He limped away, barely alive, with a pained and anguished look on his face, saying, "Forget.it.Erin.you'll.never.beat.it." I watched in horror as my best friend crumpled to the floor.

"NO!!!!" I screamed in rage. "You'll pay for this, you nauseating piece of rubbish!!!" I noticed a Bomb flower planted near the door, so I heaved it out of the ground and hurled it toward the evil beast, which promptly exploded and left nothing save a small pile of debris where it had once stood.

I rushed to the side of my severely injured companion, a worried expression traversing my young, freckled face. I brushed his short blond hair out of his slightly opened azure eyes, and said, "Link, are you alright?" Not hearing a reply, I grew quickly more upset. I shook his shoulders gently and spoke again. "Link, please speak to me if you're awake."

He opened his sparkling sapphire eyes a little more and replied, "I'm fine, just a little beaten up. And you?" He sat up and leaned against the wall, blinking a few times. "I see you've beaten it," he added, a small smile crossing his thin, chapped lips.

"Yep, seems that way, doesn't it," I told him, grinning broadly. "Can you stand up?" Seeing that he couldn't do that on his own, I helped him to his feet and let him lean on me until he was able to walk alone again. Once that had happened, we each were able to get hold of a Bomb Bag, and additionally were able to get into the boss room without much further harm.

Once inside the boss room, Link and I took a look at our surroundings. We noticed a huge, gray-green dinosaur marching toward us, and we both prepared for battle. Link looked at me, this time with nothing but courage shining in his bright blue eyes, and asked, "You ready?"

"Whenever you are," I said in reply, a half-smile creeping over my dirty, battle-weary visage.

We moved quickly toward the enemy, swords and shields armed and at the ready. The great, horrendous creature looked at us with beady black eyes and let out a deafening roar. "Here we go," I said, yanking a bomb out of my bag. When the creature inhaled, I tossed the now-glowing explosive into its mouth and then hacked at the injured beast with my sword.

It stopped moving for a second, then let out another earsplitting growl and rolled right over me. I yelped in pain, shot a furious look of anguish toward the horrible brute, yelled for Link to watch out, and moved to a corner of the room so I could recuperate from the assault.

Link fought the creature bravely, a determined look on his pale face, following my lead but never once being hurt by the massive beast. Once he had successfully beaten the unsightly monster, he pulled me to my feet. "You.saved me," I said, leaning on his shoulder. "You were.really brave. That's great.what with the happenings in the Great Deku Tree," I added, nudging him playfully. "You really came through. I'm very glad you are here with me." I embraced him, grinning widely.

"Don't mention it. It truly was nothing, you've been great. You really deserved to be saved, because you sure saved my scaredy arse back there in the Deku Tree," he told me, returning the hug with an even bigger smile plastered across his own face. "Now," he added, "we should probably go into that blue light thingy again, and maybe this Darunia guy will give us the Spiritual Stone." He hoisted me onto his back and carried me over to the portal after collecting the Heart Container, which restored his life force.

We stepped into the portal excitedly, since we were now one step closer to saving Hyrule. Instantaneously, we were teleported to the front of Dodongo's Cavern, where we saw Darunia again, this time with an immensely delighted, wide smile plastered across his broad face.

Darunia continued grinning, saying, "So, I guess you two lovebirds--" I glared at him- "Er.I mean, you two little heroes came through after all. I guess I have to reward you now." He held up his massive hands and suddenly, a miniscule ball of dazzling white light appeared in them. "With this," he said, looking back and forth from the glittering ball to the two of us, "you two become my Sworn Brother and Sworn Sister." He tossed the radiant, glowing sphere to us, and the light abruptly disappeared.

Link stared at me in shock at what he saw. "Oh, my goddesses." he said, amazed. "This.this is." He stopped abruptly, a stunned look on his face.

"It's the.the Spiritual Stone of Fire!!!" I shouted, overjoyed. He handed it to me, still stunned, and I pocketed it. "We finally got it!!!"

"Let's go see that Fairy person on top of the mountain now," Link said, beginning to recover from the astonishment of actually seeing the beautiful stone. "Hopefully, she's not a fat-lipped freak like that attendant of Zelda's."

"Link, be nice." I said, playfully shoving him and rolling my eyes amusedly. "Speaking of Zelda, we've got to go see her, too, so let's get a move on." We profusely thanked Darunia several times, larger-than-life looks of extreme gratitude and amazement glued to our childish features.

Well, that ish all for now. Did y'all like that one? I didn't make him sound stupid this time, but I'll be back.MUAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAH!!!!!! *grins evilly* Cheers, ~*Princess Ryoko*~