GOS: Sorry it took FOREVER for a new chapter to come, but you're wait is up! Chapter 11 is here! You can all rejoice!
Shrimpy: Except the real question is: Will it be a cliffhanger? Will we even get to the boss battle! Or, will we just hint at romance and string you along until the end of the chapter. And then give you nothing gratifying mwoohoohoohahahahaaaa!
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Chapter 11:
Hammer Time!
(do, do-do do, do-do, do-do)
Hello?" Link called into the great emptiness of the Goron city. There was no reply but the soulless echoes of his own voice, bouncing uselessly from the empty warren-like maze of corridors and stairwells, swallowed into the great wide bowl of the center-ground of the city, vibrated the fire-sconces on the bottom level and was gone. Link suddenly felt small and alone among the living stone of the underground city.
"Uh, Link?" Zelda put in from behind him. "It's just a big, empty cavern...who are you yelling for?"
"The...The Gorons...they live here," Link told her dejectedly. "They used to, at least. I saved 'em a long time ago, and they always were real nice to me."
"Let me get this straight; A country-bumpkin k-" Zelda began, but quickly corrected herself at Link's warning glare. "...Kid...saved an entire race of people? Riiiight..." The disguised princess glanced at Navi. "Is he for real?"
The little blue fairy, for once in her life, supported her partner. "You better believe it, girly. He's not much to look at..." Navi smirked at the still-glaring Link over her tiny shoulder. "...But this kid's been places and seen things you couldn't imagine."
"Okay," Link said decisively, annoyed at the turn of conversation. "Let's just...er...split up or something...and look for signs of life. Something happened here and I'm not-ow! " Link tripped, falling flat on his nose...over a rolling, tumbling round little boulder, that continued moving well after it had bowled Link into the dusty rock floor.
"What in the world..." Zelda-as-Shiek wondered, staring dumbfounded at the self-rolling boulder. "That rock is alive!"
"What?" Link yelped, scrambling to his feet, eyes fixed unerringly on the retreating roundlet of the young Goron. "It's...a Goron! Hey! Hey, you...uh...brother, wait!" The hero took off running before he was even all the way standing, using his hands on the wall to give him an extra boost.
It wasn't too terribly long before the little Goron heard him...and sped up. Link redoubled his efforts to catch the young one, and managed to get him trapped in one of the many odd corners and dead-ends that the maze of a city contained. The youth bounced loudly off the wall, rolled to a stop...seemed to consider his options, then unrolled into a child's version of a fighting stance. His little brown arms were up in front of his face, and he was trembling in fear...not to mention that his feet were all wrong. Link grinned down at the kid and bent to bring his face closer. The young Goron responded by taking a small step backward and snarling cutely.
"Hey, there...don't be scared," Link began, reaching towards the child, but the little one cut him off angrily.
"Get out of here! You're not taking me away too! I'm the son of Chief Darunia, and my dad'll smash you into little pieces!" He growled a gravely little growl at Link, as Zelda came up behind the hero, smiling reassuringly at the youth.
"It's okay, don't be afraid. We're not going to hurt you." Sheik told the Goron soothingly.
"I already said that," Link told her, offhandedly. Sheik ignored him, too busy trying to win over the Goron to spare him an insult.
The little one, for his part, was staring up at Sheik with an expression that was a mix of hero-worship and fanboy-ism. "You...Wow! You're a Shiekah, just like in the stories! That's so awesome! I can tell," He told Sheik knowledgeably. "'Cause you're wearing the symbol of the Eye of Truth!"
"That's right...you're pretty smart!" Sheik kneeled in front of the little Goron. "Have you heard of the Legend of the Hero of Time?"
"Yeah!" The Goron cried enthusiastically, leaning towards Sheik. Link sighed and leaned against the wall, unhappily; another legend buff! Unheeding, the little Goron-kid continued. "It's my favorite one, where the Hero takes the Master Sword and slays the evil darkness and saves the whole world! "
"Yeah!" Sheik grinned, becoming as suddenly engrossed in her favorite topic as any nerd ever was. "And he has to travel to all the different lands and find all the sages..."
"Ah-hem!" Link coughed, impolitely from his seat against the wall. "This is all very fascinating, but...I still need know what happened to all the Gorons."
"Oh, right..." Sheik looked at Link, then back at the kid. "What's your name, huh?"
The Goron blinked up at the disguised princess, then grinned in a very bad imitation of a crafty grin. "...tell me yours first."
Link piped up immediately; anything to get things moving a little more quickly. "This is...er...Sheik...And my name is Link." Link placed one hand flat on his chest, to indicate himself.
The kid stared up at Link, frozen. When he did speak, it was in a soft, awe-filled tone. "You're Link?"
"Yeah..." Link looked down at the kid oddly.
Then, the Goron seemed to shake himself out of his trance by force of will. "You're lying! You're name's not really Link!"
Zelda grinned, "You know, that's exactly what I said."
"Yes," Link told him defensively, glaring back at Zelda, "It is."
"Nu-uh! I know everything about the real Link! He saved my people seven years ago!"
Link glared at the short little know-it-all with increasing annoyance. "Yeah." He deadpanned. "That, was me."
"Fine, then, what's the Hero-Link's shield look like?" The little one cried, certain of his victory.
Wordlessly, Link pulled his shield into view, smirked, then pointed at the Hylian crest emblazoned there.
The little Goron seemed taken aback by this, but nevertheless continued boldly. "...Well...What about the fairy? Link always had a..." The child trailed off uncertainly as Link pointed at Navi, flittering brightly over his head, as always. "Uh..."
Link smiled warmly at the kid...it was only natural to doubt these sorts of things. "...Yeah. I wear a green tunic, I have a fairy, I wield a sword that he," Link nudged his head in Sheik's direction. "Keeps telling me is the 'Master Sword.' I don't know a whole lot about being a 'Hero of Time' or whatever...but I did come here seven years ago...and I did save your people. Darunia is my friend...my...Brother, y'know?" Link grinned, remembering the frighteningly friendly Goron leader that had been so grateful for his help.
The little Goron swallowed reflexively, then nodded. "You really are him, aren't you?"
Link sighed, took off his hat, and ran one hand through his hair. 'Isn't that what I just said?' But then, he lifted his face to smile at the kid. "Yep!"
"...My dad said he named me after you," The little Goron said, suddenly shy. "My name's Link, too..."
"...What?" Sheik said into the awkward silence. "His name is 'Link?' "
"I told you it wasn't a stupid name," Link told Sheik proudly.
"Whatever," Sheik huffed, standing up fully and crossing her...uh...his arms thoughtfully. "Look...er...'Link,' What happened here?"
"Yeah," Link agreed, turning again to his younger Goron counterpart. "Why's everything empty, what happened to everyone?"
---------------------
After the explanation, which was, in Link's opinion, far too long, little Link had escorted the two heros to the entrance of the throne-room of his father, that held the secret entrance to the Fire Temple. They, meaning Link, had levered aside the heavy stone chair to reveal the long, sloping tunnel behind. It was dark there, but a dull, reddish light was coming from somewhere ahead.
"So, basically," Link told his younger counterpart "The dragon-thingy stole everyone so that he could eat them."
"That's what I've been telling you for the past hour!" Goron-Link cried, throwing his hands into the air in exasperation.
"Dragons aren't thingies!" Sheik called back from her position ahead of the two boys. "And hurry up!"
"Uh," Link replied "You really don't wanna do that..."
But, it was too late, Shiek had already stepped outside the tunnel's end, right into the fiery inferno of the temple proper. Undisturbed by the stunned looks and screams of the two Links, the disguised princess glared back at them annoyedly. "What are you two so excited about? It's just a little heat."
Link opened his mouth, shut it, then opened it again. "Your sleeve..."
Sheik blinked, glanced down at her sleeve, unconcerned, then back at Link. Then, she did a double-take and screeched in alarm. "Great Goddesses, I'm on fire!"
Link did his best not to burst into giggles and Sheik fled screaming into the cool darkness of the cave. The Sheikah threw her...himself to the floor and rolled around desperately. "Stop drop and roll! Stop drop and roll!"
"I probably should have said this before," The little Goron spoke up "I have some special gifts for you!"
Link wiped a little tear away from his eye, and turned to little Link with a grin. "Great! What d'ya got?"
"Clothes!" The little Goron held up two soft bundles. "A red tunic for you, Link-the-hero...and this Sheikah outfit I made...because I was bored." Link took the red tunic, gratefully. "I never really expected to get them to be used..."
"Wow," Link exclaimed, slipping the red tunic over his regular green one. "It fits!"
"Plus, they keep you from catching on fire!" The Goron added, happily.
Sheik, a bit singed and rather shaken, rolled into one of several cave-puddles made from dripping water from the ceiling, and by that putting herself out. "You might have..." Sheik broke off for a moment, panting heavily. "...told us before this..."
"He means 'thank you' " Link told the little Goron, tossing the dry outfit to Sheik, who slipped it on happily. It was an interesting thing, identical to Sheiks original uniform in all ways...except that it was red where Sheik's former color scheme had been blue.
"Yes..." Sheik stood, ruffling the outfit to make it fit a little more comfortably...it really was cut for a man, and no matter what Sheik looked like, he was still a woman under all that magic, and all the...body-shape that implied. "...Thank You."
So, fully equipped in flame-retardant material, Link and Zelda-as-Sheik made their way into the burning cavern of the Fire Temple. All was quiet, save the slow roar of the churning lava. As for lava, there was a lot of it. The fire temple was mostly rock-ledges suspended over a deep chasm...the very crater of the active volcano that was Death Mountain.
"I'm hot." Link mentioned, conversationally to Sheik.
"What..." Sheik looked at him, confused. "...Where in the heck did that come from! I'm mean sure, you're not ugly, but...that was incredibly random!"
"...Uh...No. I meant hot, like the temperature? Y'know...the gigantic flaming pits of flames we're walking over?" Link told his companion cheerfully.
"Oh, right." Sheik blushed self-consciously, grateful for the scarf-like bit that covered her face. "I knew that."
They came to a long bridge, it looked rickety and unstable, but there was no other way to continue, so Link just kept walking...until about midway...where the bridge's unsteady surface gave way to...nothing. The middle of the bridge was open, and Link peered over the edge thoughtfully. "How in the hell are we gonna get over this?"
"Don't be such a baby," Sheik sniffed an arrogant little sniff and leapt for the first of several horizontally-suspended bars, Link hadn't seen before. She caught it deftly in her hands, pulling her legs up under the pole in a way that screamed 'gymnastic confidence,' swung and pulled her legs up above the bar and pushed, flipping her body to next bar, then the next. It was all very smooth, and Link sighed at the lithe gyrations with only a twinge of jealousy. Sheik lit, almost birdlike on the final bar, then dropped into a short roll and a graceful, crouching stop, not on the bridge, but on the platform beyond it. She looked back in a way that was...very feminine, given her current male appearance, and Link seethed, glaring. Still stolid-faced, he lifted one hand, fired the long-shot and was pulled to Sheik's side in a much faster, if less acrobatic fashion. Swiftly tucking his long-shot away, Link muttered something along the lines of 'showoff.' Sheik only rolled her eyes and turned down the stone path. Link grumbled and followed, not even thinking about the last time he'd been here.
...At least, he forgot right up until the Fire-Keese reminded him by nearly setting his red Goron hat on fire. "Ah, Shit!" Link whipped out his sword, neatly slicing the pest in two pieces. "Stupid...things..." And then they were surrounded by the fiery little buggers, like a cloud of gnats around Link's head. He swung at them, taking down one at each swing, but there was always another bat-like creature to replace each one he killed. Smoothly, Sheik whipped her wrist spearing a Keese neatly on one of the hitherto-unseen kunai hidden in her bandaged sleeves. Before long, the creatures were all gasping out their last breaths on the rocks below.
"What kind of weird animals were those things?" Sheik wondered, aloud.
"Keese," Link told her, matter-of-factly.
"Those," Sheik protested. "Were not normal Keese. They were on fire!"
"They were Fire-Keese, actually," Link grinned. "Makes perfect sense. They only like to live in places like this."
"...Thanks for the nature lesson, but aren't we supposed to be saving someone?" Sheik motioned down the path, and the two began walking again.
A moment of lava-filled silence and Link spoke again. "So...where do those knife-thingies come from?"
"You mean my Kunai? They've always been there. A princess like me needs a little 'protection,' " Sheik stated primly. "What if Bandits kidnap me and try to have their wicked way with me?"
Link turned, walking backwards in front of Zelda. "...Seriously? That's the dumbest thing I ever heard. Who'd want to-" Link slapped him hands over his mouth, realizing what he was saying just little to late to stop himself. "Uh...I mean..."
"Oh, well..." Sheik cracked her knuckles threateningly. "I didn't realize I was so repulsive to you!"
"No!" Link cried, "That's not what I meant! I mean...c'mon, you're totally a guy right now...why would they-oof!"
Link tripped over a slightly raised portion of stone, falling onto his back with a 'crack' of skull-meeting-floor. "...owww..."
"You deserved that," Zelda told him, stepping easily over the protrusion that had tripped Link. It was, in fact, the round Triforce-stone for the Temple, and it directly preceded the entrance to the inner sanctum; the true Fire Temple.
"Stu..." Link began, then stopped. "Er...hey, look...the Triforce! Yipee?"
Zelda face-palmed with a sigh. "Let's just keep moving, alright?"
And so, they set off into the Fire Temple. It was a Labyrinthine lava-filled cavern, filled with many enemies and booby traps of all kinds. Most of them seemed to involve large boulders meant to crush the unwary explorer. It was a long time before they took a break from simply trying to survive.
"Why is this place filled with GIANT ROLLING ROCKS!" Zelda cried, exasperated.
Link, less tired than Zelda if slightly more bedraggled sighed at her. "Stop whining! We're almost there...probably."
"Well, I'm glad to have your expert opinion on..." Sheik snapped as they rounded a corner, into a room filled with...cages. "Oh, my..."
"The Gorons!" Link cried happily, rushing to try the locks on the nearest cage.
The Gorons, who had seemed as unresponsive as the stones they ate suddenly stirred at the sight of their village's greatest hero. One of them spoke up. "It's Link! The great hero! We're saved! Everybody DANCE!"
And they might have, if Link hadn't held up his arms to stop them. "No, don't do that! You aren't out...yet..."
Sheik came up behind him. "Don't worry, we'll get you out...we promise!"
"Right," Link gritted, becoming frustrated.
"You know, I could just-" Zelda-as-Sheik began, then Link raised his sword and struck the stubborn lock with the pommel of his sword, breaking the lock forcefully from the door. "...pick the lock. Or that works, I guess...men..."
"I'd point out the irony, " Link sighed, helping a goron out of the cramped cage, "But I won't."
Zelda would have snapped a come-back at him, except that, at that moment, an Elderly Goron carrying a large, wrapped, something came up to Link.
"Hero," She said. "I am Dorin, the wife of Chief Darunia. I wish to give you this gift, an ancient Goron weapon...our greatest treasure. I think that you will need it, in your battles ahead." With that, she handed him the package. It was large, and though she held it as if it weighed nothing, it was s heavy that Link, not expecting it, staggered for a moment.
"...Thank you. It's an honor to be trusted by your people." He bowed as well as he could carrying such a heavy object, then pointed in the direction that he and Shiek had come. "You ought to be safe on your way out. We cleared the Temple of danger on our way in. Stay together and it will be alright."
The Goron nodded and set off with the rest of her clan. "Good Luck, hero." Link waved at her gratefully.
"Okay...Let's see what we got..." Link pulled away the cloth covering from the gift. "Oh, wow...it really is the treasure of the Gorons! Dude!" Link held out a gigantic metal Hammer for Shiek to see. One end of the head was wide and flat, the other protruding into a rounded point, the whole thing half as tall as Link and very heavy. It gleamed brightly even in the dim red glow of the ever-present magma flow.
"Ooh..." Navy Jingled appreciatively. "It's shiny."
"What was that?" Zelda asked Link. "That was almost heroic back there..."
"Eh, whatever..." Link sighed, blushing slightly. "Let's keep moving."
"Wait!" Zelda cried, chasing after him as he walked quickly towards the far end of the cavern...the entrance to the 'Dragon's Lair,' the innermost part of the Fire Temple. "You can't get away with that! Why is your face red, huh? Get back here!"
And so, they both made their way, unknowingly, into the fiery jaws of Fate.
------------To Be Continued-----------
GOS: Ha! I bet you didn't think that we were going to put those quotes in it, huh? But we did so HAHAHA!
