GOS: Wow, two real chapters in like... how long? Chapter 13 is on it's way very, very, very soon. Meaning today if we don't get distracted by something stupid like Soul Cal III.

Shrimpy: Well, it's short...cry me a river, build me a bridge, and then get over it! We're giving you twice the romance per chapter...and hey, maybe you could do me a favor and review each chapter of this super-duper-three-chapter-update sepratly? Pretty please? ...pwease?

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Chapter 12:

Crouching Hero, Hidden...

Silence.

Well, not precisely Silence, but an Ominous gurgling filled the air...the slow bubbling of Magma sifting over the protrusions and gullies of the walls. Flowing endlessly downward from the ceiling, puddling 'round the edges of the rounded dais at the center of the enclosure. The very center of Death Mountain, the Dragon's Lair.

The heart of the Temple.

Zelda and link stumbled awkwardly into the room, Zelda still chattering, then stopped, impressed into silence by the overbearing presence of the room, the fire-song and quiet...Link shifted quietly into battle-stance, Hammer already in hand, shield strapped firmly to his back.

A series of shallow lava-pits...or at least they seemed to be shallow burbled peacefully in front of them. Quiet continued, tense and impatient, just waiting for some trigger to bring about certain doom.

"Where's the Dragon?" Shiek wondered aloud, and Link put out a warning hand to silence her, then went back to tensely staring at the lava.

A moment more of tense quiet, then suddenly the Magma exploded in a shower of sparks and gobbets of molten rock.

"SCREEEEE-AAAAAAAAHH!"

At first the creature was indiscernible from it's fiery home. Then, as it rose, screeching it's fury, the flames of it's body separated from the flames of it's home. It was a frightening monster, all horns-of-flame and furious, glowing eyes. It's face shone black, a mask of obsidian stone. It circled once through the heat-seared air of the chamber, claws held wide in clear challenge, then dove again into the lava from whence it had come, screaming a ferocious battle-cry.

"Well, at least we know where the dragon is...right?" Link whispered, sweating both from the rising heat and the nearness of the inevitable fight.

Shiek nodded tersely, peering nervously around the chamber. "Link, behind you!"

Link whirled, the lava behind him bubbling and bulging, then bursting forth, all angry dragon and flying bits of flame. The dragon roared and made a swipe at the hero, who was knocked to his knees. He stood, quickly, and made a sluggish effort at striking it with the hammer. The dragon arced heatedly over his head and into another of the lava-pits, unscathed.

"Link! He was right there!" Zelda cried, outraged. "How could you miss?"

"Hey! This thing is heavier than it looks," Link shouted back. "My timing's off!"

"Well, fix it...here it comes again!"

The dragon's roar echoed from the magma-encased walls again, rushing in a blurred moment to strike at Link with flame-lit jaws held wide.

"Link!" Shiek shouted, desperately pitching a needle-like blade at the beast...Link would very quickly be missing a vital portion of his torso if those teeth sank into him, and there was no chance of him dodging in time. Luck, or skill, was with her and the needle struck the only vulnerable part it could have; the eye. Link let out a battle-cry of his own, bringing the hammer 'round in a ponderous-seeming side-swipe that knocked the dragon to his right. It screeched in pain and reared up, spouting fire from it's jaws in a wide plume. Fire touched his skin, and Link shouted in pain, half-running, half-falling backwards out of the beasts range.

Crouching warily, he took a moment to breath and kill the fire smoldering on his sleeve, then looked at Shiek. "Thanks...that was pretty smart."

"You're burned!"

"Don't worry about that now!" Link tensed as the Dragon sent another spout of flame licking towards him, unsuccessfully. Chagrined, the monster screeched again, then began moving, serpentine-style, towards one of the ever-menacing pits. "How can we beat it if it keeps going into the Lava?"

The beast snorted another flame, then slipped menacingly into the magma below. Quiet resumed, tense and dangerous; there was no telling when nor where it might return. Shiek thought for a moment, knowing that it would attack Link and ignore her, infuriated by him as it now was. Knowing, too, that it was unlikely that he could survive such an attack without help, burdened by the slowing weight of the hammer as he was.

"Link, I have an idea," She cried. "You just hit it when it comes close, leave the rest to me!"

"Whatever you say!" The hero returned, ready to take any suggestion that didn't end with him dead.

The dragon took that moment to erupt from the magma at the far end of the room. It soared vertically, looping toward Link through the air, far beyond his reach. It meant to kill him from above, never coming to where it was in danger. Shiek swiftly unwound the bandages from her sleeves, letting them fall into a lengthy rope pooled at her feet. A flick of the wrist and a burst of magic, and the bandages were no longer cloth, but chains of steel, which the disguised princess whirled expertly in both hands, then sent flying towards the fierce visage of the monster speeding towards them.

A hit! The chains wrapped snugly around the dragons horns and neck, melted only slightly by the heat from within the beast. Two steps to the right, and a fierce tug...and the dragons was forced by the taut pressure of the chain into an unwilling arc, like a horse being broken to saddle, or a fish caught on a line. It swooped down, surprised yet resistant to Zelda's attack, right into Link's striking range. Link lifted the hammer above his head, the brought it down onto the head of the dragon with all his weight behind it.

Zelda released her magic, and her chains snapped back into place, as bandages on her arms, with an elastic sort of sound. Halfway across the cavern, Link stood over the cracked skull of the unconscious menace, dropped the hammer beside him and unsheathed his master sword. Framed by the glow of the magma in front of him, he seemed a black silhouette to Zelda. Quickly he removed the Dragons head, and was rewarded when it melted into nothing more than black-burned bones and quickly-congealing molten rock.

He sighed and stood, sword in hand...suddenly heroic like that, shadowed by the light as she watched him. He turned to look at her, and his eyes were calm and unafraid...he might as have just been chopping wood for all the fear he showed. A shiver of awe slid up Sheik's spine as she thought. 'He's so...amazing, sometimes. I wish...'

But her line of thought was cut off, as Link let out a low grunt and fell to one knee, sword clattering noisily to the rocky floor. "...Gah...hurts..." He clutched at his left leg, which was not only burnt but bleeding...a strange and frightening combination of red and coal-black that made the wound seem even worse than it was. His left arm and side were burned as well, blackened from hip to ribs and wrist to elbow, but it didn't seem to be as painful. "Damn...I forgot how much being burned hurts..."

Zelda rushed to his side, putting her arm around him supportingly, under his good shoulder. "Lean on me..."

Link nodded, gritting his teeth, too distracted by his pain to realize just how close that simple motion brought their faces together. "...Sword..." He muttered. "...Hammer. Don't leave them..."

Zelda nodded, setting him down. Quickly, she sheathed the Master-sword in Link's scabbard, and stared at the Hammer, at a loss with what to do about the heavy weapon.

"You could always shrink it, y'know," Navi jingled, emerging from her hiding place.

"Where...were you...when I was...ow...getting hurt?" Link grumbled painfully.

"Hiding!" Navi shouted, fluttering right into Link's face. "Or maybe I can just kill the dragon with my 'magic fairy-lasers!' Geez!"

Link glared with gritted teeth at the Fairy, but it was Shiek, not he, who spoke up. "Leave him alone! He just killed a Dragon and got severely hurt, so just shut up!" Link stared at her, then grinned a one-sided grin.

Navi fell silent, fluttering in annoyed circles around Link's head. Shiek nodded, then opened glowing palms in preparation to transform into her natural, feminine form. A flash of light, a fresh breeze and a bright burst of magic later, Zelda the woman stood in front of them, dressed in the red version of the Sheikah outfit. It had not been a part of the magic of the original transformation, and so had not reverted when she had canceled that magic. It was...rather tight, and showed off her...anatomy...impressively. Link bit his lip to keep from saying something that would get him punched on top of everything else.

Quickly, Zelda pulled a blue gem from some hidden pocket or another and concentrated her magic within it. Chanting a complicated verse that, though unintelligible, was very melodic to Link's ears, she pressed the gem to the shining surface of the hammer. Another flash of magic and the gem was set in the dense metal as if it had been forged that way. A touch and a word and the hammer shrunk, like Zelda's spell-book, into a size that was easy to carry. She pocketed it, and with another dazzling display of magic became Sheik again.

"...Cool..." Link commented. "But...why'd you..." He hissed softly as she helped him to his feet again, limping towards the now-visible vortex that had formed upon the dragon's death. "...turn inta...a girl?"

"It's hard to do two kinds of magic at once...especially when one of them is really complex, like changing the way I look. Besides, that permanent shrinking-magic is dangerous. I don't want to make a mistake and end up hurting myself, especially when I have to take care of you."

Navi made a disgusted jingling noise as they entered the vortex and were lifted to the Chamber of Sages.

----------To Be Continued----------