Disclaimer: I don't own Zelda nor do I own Nintendo Power so don't sue me.

CHAPTER 4- THE FIRE TEMPLE

Death Mountain Crater

Deep within Death Mountain boiled a lava-filled crater. The volcanic core generated sweltering heat that few, other than the thick- skinned Gorons, could withstand. Beyond the fire and brimstone smoldered the Fire Temple, a shrine the Gorons revered until Ganondorf transformed it into a hotbed of chaos and evil.

"Well, at least we're going to my favorite temple, it's the least scariest." Shannon commented as they made their way to Goron City.

"Shannon, first we have to get something to help shelter us from the heat." Sarah informed her. "Though I doubt we'll have enough rupees for that."

Jeff nodded. "Those stupid Goron Tunics cost a lot."

Together, the nine of them entered the city. It surprised Jacque and Robbie, and most of all Link. He took a step back. "What happened?" he gasped.

"Ganondorf. That should be plenty obvious." Jessica murmured. She looked down a level. "There he is. Link, you have to use a bomb to stop Link from rolling around like that." From the Hero of Time's confused look, she explained, "Darunia named his son after the 'Great Hero Who Defeated Dodongo.'" Link nodded.

Quickly, the hero threw a bomb at the rolling Goron after he jumped down while everyone else took the stairs. Link the Goron stopped and looked around. When he saw the teenager he ran over to him. "Is- is it really you?" the young Goron asked. "It is you! I'm Link too! My dad named me after you before he... he... he..." The Goron sniffled.

"He what?" Link asked. By this time, everyone else had come up behind the two Links.

"Before Darunia left to save the other Gorons." Sarah said. The two of them looked at her.

"Ye- yessss...." Link cried. The Hylian Link just looked puzzled so Jeff explained.

"You see, Darunia left to free the Gorons after Ganondorf reawakened Volvagia, the fire serpent."

"Dragon." Sarah and Jessica said at the same time.

"Whatever," Jeff rolled his eyes. "Well, anyway, Volvagia's back and the dragon was always feared for it often ate Gorons." He put an extra emphasis on dragon. "Darunia did the only thing he could, try and save his people."

"Which was rather stupid." Glen pointed out. Goron Link rounded on him.

"No! It was brave, and- and what he did was..." he broke out in tears again.

"Good going." Jacque muttered. Glen rolled his eyes.

"Well, then we'll save him!" Link sounded as though he was rallying an army, which was quite odd seeing as which they never expected the great hero to bellow so.

"Okay, then take this." The Goron sure got over his tears quickly and handed over a Goron Tunic.

"Sure, that'll help Link, but what about us?" Zack asked.

"You're going with him?" Goron Link looked at them. "Surely it'll be dangerous. But, if you're really going, go to the shop and tell them Link Darunia sent you to borrow some tunics. Good day, I must return to my rolling. It's like I'm wallowing in self pity." And with that, the little Goron sped off.

"I don't remember that ever happening." Sarah remarked. Jeff, Jessica and Zack shook their heads as Glen burst out laughing.

"That was so weird!" Glen gasped. And everyone else just stared at him.

*

After learning the Bolero of Fire during their meeting with Sheik and watching helplessly while Darunia went into the lair of the dragon, they continued on to free a Goron and find a key. They traveled through the next door and slowly made their way across the lava through yet another door and found themselves in a room in which you could only reach the other side by sliding down a wooden plank. Link led the way to where they stopped by a huge flaming geyser. "Now what?" Link asked desperately.

"See that huge block up there?" Jeff pointed. At the confirming nod, he continued. "Push it off into the geyser and jump on the block." Then he laughed. "My sister had the hardest time with that."

"Nuh- uh." Sarah denied. Jeff smiled.

They did as they were told and flew up to the next level. Seeing what needed to be done, Link moved the block so he could reach a wall that he could easily scale. Link then launched a bomb that deactivated the switch enabling them to climb the wall. Shannon hesitated. "Now what?" Glen asked aggravated.

In a small voice Shannon said, "I'm afraid of heights."

"No problem," Link said. He walked over to her, held her around her waist and climbed the wall with one hand.

"I'm assuming that everyone else can climb?" Sarah asked, her eyebrows raised in a smile. Everyone nodded and they continued on just before the fire came back.

*

After many rescues of Gorons and locked doors later, they found themselves in a room that had metal grates suspended above lava. "Be careful." Sarah warned, "Once we step on the metal, a huge fire wall will come right after us." She laughed. "I always remembered this place 'cause of the stupid song they played at the beginning of a Reboot movie. I hate Reboot."

They jumped onto the platform and the fire wall sprung up. They dashed across the grate and came to a door in which they quickly ran inside. "This room's tricky." Jeff stated. "I don't remember the exact way to get through here, but it starts off by going left." Jeff led the way, when he walked up to a wall that spewed fire, he jumped back so as not to be scathed. He did this the rest of the way and everyone else followed his lead.

When they entered the door they came to, it had nothing but a raging pit of fire in it. "Uh- oh." Robbie murmured. They all looked up to see what he spotted.

"No!" Shannon screamed. "Not this thing!"

"A flare dancer." Sarah muttered. She turned to Link. "Use your hookshot to pull it's body close. It will scurry around trying to avoid you. We'll corner it and slash it." Link nodded and pulled out his hookshot. But before he could use it, the dancer started firing fire balls at them.

"Look out!" Jacque screamed while diving to the ground along with Robbie, Jessica, and Shannon. The others were already far enough away to be missed. "Now's your chance!"

Link did as he was told and released his hookshot, hitting the thing in it's torso. The body was pulled to him but it ran off as soon as it hit the ground. Sarah, Jeff, Glen and Zack split up and cornered the ball, and with their four swords, dispatched of it almost immediately. Everyone ran around and joined them. "That wasn't too hard." Robbie stated.

They entered a room with what seemed to be a winding staircase that led to a chest surrounded by a ring of fire. "There it is, the Megaturd Hammer." Jeff said.

Sarah and Jessica laughed. "It's Megaton." they said at the same time.

"Lemme guess." Jacque said. "Link will go up to the fire wall and well hit the switch so we can claim the prize."

"Seems good enough to me." Sarah said. They did exactly that and the Megaton Hammer was theirs. By hammering every rust switch and faced platforms, they managed to drop a pillar that would allow them to cross into the dragon's lair. Eventually they met up with the second flare dancer and disposed of it in the same way. Finally, they reached the door that would lead them to Volvagia.

"We won't be much help to you in their I'm afraid." Jessica said.

"More of a nuisance actually." Sarah pointed out. "But nevertheless, we'll be coming along." They opened the door and walked inside.

This was definitely the core of the volcano. Enormous as it was, there was a small platform in the middle and an even smaller one that they could use to reach the other side. "The trick to this boss battle is to hit the thing in the head with the Hammer." Jeff stated. "That's all there is to it."

They jumped across to the other side, taking a long amount of time to get Shannon across, they didn't leave her because she wanted to see the fight. As was expected, the smaller of the platforms sank into the lava and disappeared. Out of one of the many holes in the floor sprung Volvagia, the fire serpent.

Doing as he was told, Link brandished the Megaton Hammer and swung at the serpent as it stuck its head out of the hole. Hitting it again sent it back into the lava only to spring out another hole. This continued for while then the dragon zoomed around their heads and knocked numerous rocks downward. This sent Jeff, Sarah, Jessica, Glen, Zack, Shannon, Robbie, Jacque and Link all running for their lives. Finally it made its way into the hole again. Continuing his former attack, the dragon was then finished after five more rounds of getting pummeled by the legendary Hammer.

Volvagia disappeared in a cloud of smoke leaving the exit portal and the way to the Sacred Realm where they met up with Darunia. "Welcome, Link. I have expected you to join me rather shortly." He sighed. "As you can tell, I am the Sage of Fire. Take this Medallion, it shows that I've added my power to yours." The Medallion swooped down and landed in Link's palm. He then placed it in his pocket and looked back at his friend. "Farewell, brother." And with that final remark from the great leader of the Gorons, they were whisked away, back to Goron City.