So, we're doing this again. Get ready for MQ Dodongo's Cavern. This'll be fun.

RRRP:

Ann, both of whose reviews are responded to here: Link doesn't want to open the Temple of Time. Yeah, he's sort of caught in limbo between being an adult and a child, but… yeah, he's basically a young teenager at this point, mentally. There's a lot of stuff Adult Link wasn't exposed to, so saying that he's a fully-fledged adult at this point isn't quite right.

The best place to hide something is a place where nobody will ever look. The off chance that they'd be stolen from him is too much to risk, so he's not going to flee the country or anything. His hiding spot is pretty smart, though, if I do say so myself.

ChangelingRin: Ivan was designed to be an anti-Navi, in a sense. Navi's a bit tactless, and definitely a social butterfly (as far as I can see, anyway), and so Ivan is a tad more reserved and empathetic. While Navi offers more in the way of sage advice, like opening doors that don't have handles, Ivan prefers to help out more directly. That being said, he's still taking the place of Navi, and so he does lose his patience every once in a while. And I agree that Zelda remembering would take away from the narrative. Thanks so much for the continued support!

DISCLAIMER: Contrary to popular belief, I do not own The Legend of Zelda. I do, however, own a version of Pong that I coded in Visual Basic. Now there's an accomplishment. Not to brag or anything.

Chapter IV: Caverns for Cravens

The cracked wall exploded into a shower of rock shards, shaking the cavern and causing silt to come loose from the walls. Beyond the wall was the main hub of the Goron quarry, complete with a massive Dodongo skull staring at the entrance. It overlooked a pool of lava, in which three ascending and descending pillars sat, constantly raising and lowering. To each side were a vast array of cracked walls and entryways deeper into the dungeon.

Given that the interior of the Great Deku Tree was vastly different from the first time Link had gone through it, Link figured it was safe to assume that the Cavern would be similarly different. For one, there were no Beamos patrolling the room like there were last time, nor were there burning Keese flapping noisily overhead. The entire room was an eerie quiet, save the grinding noise of the pillars in the center of the room.

"Do not fall in that magma, leetle man," Ivan suggested, referring to the great pit of lava. "It's hot enough to melt your bones into soup."

Link rolled his eyes, but continued anyway, leaping onto a pillar and then off of it onto the small plateau. There was a Bomb Flower on it, which Link plucked a few seconds later. Immediately, the child sprinted towards the left raised area, aiming to blow up a cracked section of wall. However, the plan blew up in his face - quite literally - when the Bomb Flower exploded, throwing Link onto his backside. After a brief scolding from Ivan, Link picked himself up and realized that he couldn't get the Bomb Flower to that area in time. He then tried to climb up into another corridor, where a large chest sat, but he simply couldn't reach it with his tiny child arms. What he wouldn't give to be an adult again. Turning away, Link stalked back towards the main platform, picked another Bomb Flower, and once again dashed to his left, instead opting to destroy a different section of wall that was within reach. Inside the small inlet was a large chest, which contained a detailed map of the dungeon. So helpful.

"Maybe you can't do anything with the left side just yet," Ivan said. "Try the cracked walls on the right, maybe?"

Shrugging, Link waited until the column of rock was once again at the optimal height before grabbing the Bomb Flower and darting over to the right side, blowing up a section of wall to reveal… a Gossip Stone. Well, that was worthless.

"Well, there goes that idea," Link lamented.

"Hm… Ivan is not sure of what to do. There's a bombable wall out of reach and a locked door."

"We can't do anything about the wall, so we have to open that door, I guess," Link reasoned. "But how do we do that?"

Link started pacing around the platform, scanning the room for any eye switches that may be present. There weren't any, but Link did take note of two Business Scrubs nestled in the back corner of the main room, as well as two boulders. The large rocks were within the range of the Bomb Flower, and he did need to blow off some steam. Link picked the Bomb Flower and chucked it at the boulder to his right. The boulder exploded with the shrub, doing wonders for Link's stress levels but not helping at all with solving the dungeon. The other boulder yielded a gilded floor button, prompting Link to leap over to it and step on it, expecting the door to open.

It didn't. Instead, the pillar nearest to him suddenly shot upwards towards the upper echelons of the cavern with a loud grinding noise.

"Doesn't that invalidate the entirety of the dungeon?" Link thought aloud.

"Ivan doesn't know. You're the one who's done all of this before, leetle man," Ivan said wryly before adopting a pensive stance. "Wait. Ivan is taking the time to process all of the implications… you know everything that's going to happen before it does. How old are you again?"

"Ten… right?" He honestly didn't know anymore.

"No. You're seventeen. You are leetle man- adult mind in teeny body. You've seen the future! That explains everything! That explains why you're so obsessed with people 'remembering'! That's why you have all of these brilliant ideas! That's why you always seem to know exactly where you're going!"

"Yeah, but there's a lot different, too," Link said humbly. "Like, I didn't have a Stalfos hand when I first went on this quest. The entirety of the world is… mirrored, so what was left in my first adventure is right now, and vice versa. That, and the dungeons are completely different from when I first remembered them. They're much more complex and intricate than I remember them being."

"So… when it comes to temples, don't trust Link's memory. Noted," Ivan said.

"Shut up, Ivan," Link said affectionately, climbing onto the pillar as it ascended to the second floor of the dungeon.

!0*0!

To Link's dismay, a number of boulders stood between the small overhang and the rest of the dungeon, preventing the Hylian from progressing further. Not seeing anywhere else to go, Link carefully crossed a rickety wooden bridge, with two conveniently placed holes where the Dodongo skull's eyes were. On the other side of the bridge was another golden button, which Link stepped on until it was pressed down. He didn't hear or see anything happen, but something must have. Jumping down onto the dead Dodongo, Link noted that the sealed door was now unsealed, and there was a lit torch next to it. Descending onto the right cliffside, Link opened the door and stepped through it.

There was a great staircase flanked by a large number of Bomb Flowers, of which Link could only see part. He walked forwards out of the small hallway - and almost got his face burnt off by a Beamos. Link backpedaled out of the robot's range and grabbed an explosive flora from the base of the stairs before flinging it at the metal monstrosity, destroying it instantly. He then used another bomb to destroy a cracked wall, yielding another Bomb Flower, a Deku Baba, and a door. He couldn't grab the Flower because it was growing on the wall, just out of reach. Walking through the door revealed that the entire room was filled with Blocks of Time, which were immovable without the Song of Time, which Link couldn't remember.

Stalking back out of the small room, Link blew up the Beamos' again, only to realize that the second Beamos in the room had a Silver Rupee hiding under it. Back in his last adventure, he never saw a Silver Rupee until the Ice Cavern, so this was coming out of left field. Rolling into a wooden crate also revealed a Silver Rupee, maxing out Link's wallet at ninety-nine Rupees. But he couldn't do anything with those Rupees until he got up to the second level, which infuriated the boy. It was then that he noticed a lit torch, but that wouldn't help him… would it?

"Hm…" Ivan said thoughtfully. "Ivan thinks that if we blow up all of these Bomb Flowers at the same time, the supports on this structure will weaken to the point that it will start collapsing under its own weight, allowing leetle man to climb up to the next level."

"Yeah, I know," Link said mournfully, "but I can't blow them all up because I'd need another bomb, and I can't get any."

"There's a bomb flower on the wall," Ivan suggested.

"It's too high up," Link lamented. "Maybe I could use a Deku Stick as a lever of some kind…"

Needless to say, that didn't work.

"Try… poking it with a Deku Stick… that's on fire," Ivan said. "The fire will ignite the flower's fuse, forcing it to disconnect from the roots."

"That could work."

Link touched the stick to the lit torch long enough for it to catch fire before returning to the flower and poking it. Ivan's plan worked wonderfully, and the bomb detached itself and fell to the floor. Link picked it up and flung it onto the pedestal, where it exploded. The resulting blast set off a chain reaction that brought the stairs down.

"Ivan has the greatest ideas!" the sprite proclaimed.

Link rolled his eyes affectionately before slowly ascending the stairs. Some time later, he arrived at the very top and climbed onto a small darker stone. His balance was thrown off when the platform rose ten feet into the air and was met with a Business Scrub, which emerged from its flower and shot a Deku Seed at him. Link summoned his shield and reflected the shot, causing his magic to drop just a little bit more.

The Scrub was selling a Deku Shield for fifty Rupees. Link opened his wallet, remembering that he had maxed out his Rupees, and decided to buy it so that he could still use magic if need be. It might be useful.

Link turned back and rolled into more crates, revealing two more Silver Rupees. The last Silver Rupee was on a climbable vine wall, guarded by two Giant Skulltulas. They were easy enough to kill, and the instant the boy touched the last Rupee, the door opened.

!0*0!

The door shut behind him, and Link was greeted by three Dodongos stalking around a pillar. Dodongos had a thick hide, but they had a mental capacity vastly outshined by a dead Keese being cooked over a spit. Link approached slowly, his blade thrown out behind him, ready to attack. As he crept up on the bipedal lizard, he failed to notice that the room went dark, his Kokiri Sword lighting up the room with some ethereal light, first blue, then orange, until he felt the magical drain. Link turned and stared at his glowing blade, part in wonder, part in terror.

On the one hand, it meant with absolute certainty that the events of the last quest were real.

On the other hand, it meant with absolute certainty that the events of the last quest were real.

Struggling to ignore the ramifications, Link released the pent-up energy in his blade with a mighty roar, twirling in place as his sword spun about. The Dodongo that fell victim to the slash floundered about for a bit, flashing red periodically, before violently exploding, taking its two brethren with it. Goddesses, Dodongos were dumb.

As soon as the lizards had died, formerly locked doors opened again. Link's attention turned to the large chest that suddenly appeared in the back of the room. Hope surged through his being; maybe it was the absolutely necessary bomb bag!

Leveraging the chest open shattered Link's dreams, as it yielded only a Compass. Perfect. In his anger, Link shoved the chest onto its side, where it hung open pathetically. The Hylian turned in disgust and walked out the now open door, resisting the urge to take a sip of Lon Lon Milk.

Link was now back in the main room, on the second level. He crossed the rickety wooden bridge, leaping over the obnoxiously placed hole, and swiftly got to the other side. The room pulsed with heat, forcing sweat to drip down Link's nose. He took a moment to wipe it off before continuing.

Pushing forwards yielded a mazelike array of corridors and a lit torch on a platform. Climbing down a ladder revealed that there were three unlit torches stuck to the wall, out of reach of Link's Deku Stick.

Link also noted several cube-shaped stone blocks hidden in the hallways beyond. Perhaps if he put them below the torches, he could light a Deku Stick and transfer that flame to them, which would surely trigger something. Continuing onwards, Link grabbed a block and yanked it forwards, back to the leftmost torch. The other two blocks followed in a similar fashion, and soon, the torches were all situated underneath something.

Lighting the torches, Link heard the scraping noise of a door unlocking. Ascending onto a raised patch of earth, Link noticed that there wasn't a large chest on the other side like he remembered, but the door was now unlocked. He walked through the door, only for it to shut and lock behind him. There were six crates haphazardly strewn about the room, but Ivan fluttered up to the roof of the room for some reason. Following his movements proved to be important, as there were five Gohma Eggs attached to the ceiling.

"Damn, they're here too?" Link muttered, pulling out his slingshot and sniping the eggs before they could hatch while ignoring Ivan's subsequent chastising.

Anticlimactically, the door behind him reopened, but Link refused to leave before he destroyed all of the crates inside. He got a Golden Skulltula out of it, though, so it wasn't all bad.

!0*0!

Link exited the room and regressed back into the maze, pulling another stone cube out of the wall before climbing on top of it, reaching upwards towards a ladder that would lead him farther into the dungeon. Progressing forwards revealed two unlit torches, a giant Skulltula, and a large web that rendered the hall unpassable.

Stumped, Link turned around, only to notice that there was a lit torch on a raised platform. Grinning, the Hero pulled out a Deku Stick and ran towards the torch. He lit the stick on fire, ran back into the corridor, and ignited both torches and the web before chucking the Stick at the Skulltula, causing it to erupt in flames. Link stared at the burning corpse as some sort of sadistic glee bubbled up inside of him before shoving it back down, ashamed at the feeling.

The room beyond had a massive stone pillar situated on the raised platform that Link knew he had to jump on to get across the room. Surely there must be some way to remove the stone. Link was about to jump down to investigate, only to notice three Baby Dodongos shuffle out of the earth and wriggle around a bit before burrowing back into the ground of the Goron quarry. Link knew there was nothing he could do just standing here, so he jumped down, expecting a fight. The Dodongo children didn't resurface, though, so Link wandered around the bottom of the pit for a solid minute before noticing that he was an idiot.

There was a smaller stone block just sitting in the corner. Link jogged lightly over to it and pulled it forwards, always ready to let go and draw his blade in case the Baby Dodongos came back. They never did, and Link was able to drag the block all the way to the other side of the room. He jumped up on it and to the other side. Killing the two Giant Skulltulas and the small party of Keese that populated the hallway was no challenge now that Link knew he could use his Spin Attack. Lighting a Deku Stick on fire, Link ignited a Bomb Flower and blew up a cracked section of wall, yielding a door that he walked through.

The next room consisted of a multitude of tiny square platforms situated over a river of lava. For some reason, there were four pots scattered around the room, a wall of boulders that prevented Link from ignoring this section of the dungeon, and two Lizalfos that just dropped down from the ceiling. Slaughtering the foolish lizards was as easy as waiting for them to come to him and then proceeding to slice them into ribbons, although there was one point where the towering Lizalfos got too close and managed to get around his shield. Once the two were dead, the door forwards opened. Before continuing on, Link was sure to smash all the pots in the room, greedily consuming the tiny Green Potions that he received from them.

Continuing onwards revealed two platforms, each consumed by a column of fire. Climbing onto them would subject Link to serious burns, and he didn't feel like losing his new Deku Shield. He pondered what to do.

"There's a boulder in that corner and a switch in the other," Ivan noted, pointing to his left and then to his right.

"Ah. Thanks, Ivan", the Hylian said, taking out his slingshot and sniping the diamond-shaped switch. It activated with a resounding twang, and the first pillar of fire dissipated.

Jumping onto the column and turning to his left revealed absolutely nothing. For an instant, Link was confused, before remembering that left was right and right was left. He turned one hundred and eighty degrees, seeing a small inlet with a bomb flower and a Keese. Shooting the Keese with a Deku Seed, Link leapt into the little hole, plucked the bomb flower, and then hopped back into the main room, chucking it at the boulder and forcing it to explode. Under the rubble was a pristine golden switch. Stepping on it caused the second flame pillar to disappear, only for the first to reappear as the diamond switch expired.

Link climbed back up to the top of the room, activated the switch again, and then dashed over to the other side. Continuing down the hallway revealed that he was back in the maze room again, but this time on a higher platform. According to the compass, there was a chest to his right, but it only contained a small health potion. Rolling his eyes exasperatedly, Link crossed the room and sat down heavily, exhausted from the day's ordeal. If Ivan objected, he said nothing, merely watching as Link pulled out his ocarina and played Saria's Song.

!0*0!

The set of three boulders exploded with the Bomb Flower, leading Link back to the main hub of Dodongo's Cavern.

"What the hell? All of that was for nothing?" Link exclaimed furiously.

"We must have missed something," Ivan declared.

"Impossible," the Hylian refuted, seething. "What could we have missed?"

"Maybe there was something back in that room filled with magma. There was a section blocked off by boulders."

"I don't know. My intuition is telling me that it would be redundant."

"Well, what does leetle man suggest? You're the one who's done this all before," the fairy stated.

"For the last time, Ivan, the dungeons are way different this time around," Link drawled, approaching the plaque and sitting down, feet dangling over the edge. Even from here, the heat of the magma pool was enough to send rivulets of sweat cascading down Link's childish face.

Then he noticed something.

He was awfully close to that cracked wall…

"Oh. I'm the idiot," Link grumbled, running back and picking up the bomb flower. Ignoring Ivan's questioning remarks, Link ran to the edge of the parapet and chucked the explosive flora as hard as he could. Unfortunately, it bounced off of one of the white stone protrusions in the wall - were those ribs? - and nearly collided with Ivan, who barely dodged the following blast. Apologizing to his fairy companion in advance, Link plucked the bomb again before leaping off of the ledge, ignoring the pain in his legs as he flung the bomb right towards the wall. The following explosion decimated the cracked wall, revealing a new passageway.

"One of these days, you're going to break your legs," Ivan grumbled.

"I'll be fine," Link placated, continuing forwards.

The area he had stumbled into was more wooded than previous areas; it was supported by various beams and scaffolding. There were also two oddly placed stone pillars. Stepping on one of them made a sound, but didn't cause anything else to happen. The other, however, rose several feet into the air when stepped on, leading to a Bomb Flower. Link picked the Bomb Flower from its roots, jumped off of the small ledge, and set it down gingerly next to a boulder before rolling out of range of the ensuing explosion. Underneath the rock was… another Bomb Flower. How helpful.

He also noticed a bombable section of wall to his left, but that wasn't important. After all, his Compass wasn't registering anything at all inside of that room, so there weren't any Bomb Bags. Instead, Link took note of the string of Bomb Flowers that grew up the wall and towards a boulder. He also noticed a pair of burning Keese patrolling the next area, which the boy shot down with his Slingshot after a few failed attempts. Then he picked the Bomb Flower and lobbed it over to just underneath the chain of flowers. The explosion set off a chain reaction that caused the boulder to disintegrate, revealing an eye switch that Link shot. A door off in the distance unlocked, and Link strolled over and walked through it.

He ended up in a tiny corridor with a door at the end of it. There was literally nothing inside. How boring. Link walked forwards, disregarding the Baby Dodongos that erupted from the ground as he walked by, and darted out of the corridor.

Now he was back in the magma room with the two Lizalfos, except he was on the bottom level this time. The air was stale and dry, and Link coughed to get the ash out of his lungs as the bipedal lizard warriors hopped over to him, swords gleaming. Fortunately, the armored lizards were no match for Link's admittedly rather dinky little dagger. Once the two were dead, the doors unlocked. The Hylian and his fairy wasted no time in getting out of that room, pushing ever deeper into the Goron mines.

The hallway he now found himself in was dark in comparison to the browns and reds of the rest of the dungeon. To his left, down another hallway, a locked door sat. How convenient. Further into the room, there were two chains of Bomb Flowers extending up into the ceiling, but they were awkwardly cut off by… graves attached to the walls, completely defying the laws of physics by just sitting there.

If Ivan was disconcerted by entering graves, imagine how angry he would be if Link blew one up! Pondering the dilemma, Link not only noticed another wall grave with a string of Bomb Flowers leading to it, but several floating lanterns that signified a Poe strewn about the cold, dank room.

"Ivan, please don't hate me," Link pleaded, picking a conspicuously placed Bomb Flower and lobbing it at the bottom of the chain. Its explosion caused a chain reaction, and the gravestone exploded. Behind Link, the door from earlier unlocked. But there wasn't anything inside, according to the Compass, so the child ignored it. The fairy, surprisingly, said nothing about this ridiculous chain of events.

Link returned to the beginning of the room to pick a Bomb Flower, only for it to explode in his face when he couldn't make it to the end of the hallway in time. He tried it again, but faster, only to have the same result. Grumbling, Link explored the room further, hoping to find something to aid him in blowing up poorly placed headstones.

Fortunately for the boy's sanity, another Bomb Flower was hiding underneath a Poe Lantern. Killing the Poe was simple enough, and soon the other gravestone blew up. This explosion also heralded the unlocking of the final door, allowing Link to continue pressing onwards.

Finally, Link was back in the central hallway. In front of him was a large chest that had to have contained the Bomb Bag. With bated breath, he shoved the chest open, hopped over the edge of the container, and pulled out a Dodongo's stomach filled with twenty high-ordnance explosives. The Hylian smiled. He was going to have fun with these.

!0*0!

After doing a little jig at his success, Link ascended the quarry and dropped two bombs into the Dodongo Skull's eye sockets. The explosions turned the eyes red, and when both were glowing a sinister crimson, the jaw of the beast swung downwards with a resounding boom, revealing a door etched into the skull's throat. Taking the pillar down at Ivan's behest, Link victoriously strolled into the head. He was mentally exhausted from his ordeal, but he refused to give up.

Having a Deku Shield back on his back felt so good. It was a return to form for the Hero of Time, and normalcy was something he desperately needed, no matter how infinitesimal the difference may have been.

Speaking of differences, there was no blue button in the small divot in the floor anymore. Instead, there was a gravestone situated smack-dab where the stone block had been last time and another passageway to his left. Since it was the only way to go, Link took the left hallway and ventured forth.

He was in a small, cramped corridor filled with soot and ash. Link sneezed before continuing onwards, grateful when the hallway opened up into a large room. On the floor below him were several Baby Dodongos, which writhed around like a bunch of degenerate worms. Slaughtering them was no issue. In the next part of the room, there were some gravestones and a Lizalfos that fell from the ceiling and tried to hack Link to bits. The Lizalfos, needless to say, got hacked to bits, although it did manage to leave a dent in Link's Deku Shield.

None of the three graves had anything underneath them, unfortunately, which was a problem, because there were several massive columns of fire blocking the way to the next path. Jumping over it wouldn't work; Link had tried that in the alternate timeline and only got a few burns for it. There weren't any eye switches in the room, either.

"Hey, Ivan?"

"Da?"

"Can you fly around and find anything that could turn off that fire?" Link asked.

"Easy. There is a diamond switch just behind the flames," Ivan revealed smugly. Indeed, there was such a switch where Ivan had indicated.

"Perfect!" Link exclaimed, climbing onto the nearest gravestone and attempting to shoot the switch with his slingshot. He wasted about seven bullets before realizing that he simply couldn't get the angle needed to hit the switch. So he tried a bomb instead. That did the trick, and with a resounding clang, the wall of fire disappeared. Reveling in his good luck, Link clambered on top of a small wall, jumped off, and rounded the corner to see an entire platoon of stone Armos guarding an entryway. All he had to do was push and pull the statues out of the way, such that he could slip by and get through the opening. Link confidently walked up to the stone statues, and grabbed at the first one he came to.

The statue suddenly shook and turned a brown matching the walls of the dungeon, startling Link into dropping his shield. In hindsight, he probably should have seen that coming. The live Armos took several hops towards the Hylian, making sure to crush his wooden shield into tiny, irreparable fragments.

"I spent fifty Rupees on that, you dumb fuck!" Link screeched, drawing a bomb from his bag and hurling it at the Armos' face. It blew up on contact, and the statue in question started spinning around like a top before exploding.

"Leetle man really needs to stop swearing before it becomes a habit," Ivan grumbled.

"Bit too late for that, Ivan," Link said dryly. "But if it makes you feel any better, I'm trying."

"That's all I can ask for," Ivan said reassuringly, perching himself on Link's shoulder and acting as an extra set of eyes. He was helpful in spotting the array of Bomb Flowers that approached the ceiling. Link chucked another bomb at the array, catching several Armos in the ensuing blast. The Armos then blew up, causing other Armos to awaken and blow up, which started its very own chain reaction that ended with all the statues exploding into smithereens.

Goddesses, that was satisfying.

If only he hadn't lost his shield on the way.

A set of ethereal stairs appeared in front of the passageway, allowing Link to press forwards. After collecting a Golden Skulltula hiding on top of a stone partition and catching a fairy in a bottle, Link pressed forwards to find himself in back in that room he had just left earlier, but on the upper section. He pulled back the gravestone, revealing a gilded button. Pressing the button caused the door to the Boss Room to unlock.

The Hero of Time let out a sigh of relief, happy that this was almost at an end. He leapt down into the area and through the door, as he was embraced by a stifling heat. Opening his canteen led to an explosion of water vapor in Link's face; evidently, his drinking water had all been boiled by the high heat of the room. Regardless, the boy downed what remained and bombed a cracked section of the floor. After raiding a small chest and refilling his Bombs, Link rappelled down the new hole in the floor until he couldn't anymore, dropping into the magma-filled final chamber.

!0*0!

A resounding boom emanated through the room, causing Link to jump. Another boom vibrated the floor itself, and Link turned to see a massive Dodongo - King Dodongo - rear up and roar right in Link's ears, accompanied by a blast of disgusting heat.

Link did the logical thing and ran like Farore from the primordial dragon, turning around after he had grabbed a Bomb Flower. The lizard opened its great maw as a massive fireball filled its mouth, begging to be released. Seeing an opportunity, Link threw the Bomb Flower into the Dodongo's mouth, which it stupidly swallowed before collapsing. The boy only managed to get one slice in before the dragon reared up again, curling into a ball and nearly squashing Link. The Hylian was able to avoid it by getting uncomfortably close to the lava, and as soon as the Dodongo rolled past, Link charged back towards the Bomb Flower, picking it and repeating the process. Once again, the moronic being ate the Bomb Flower, and fell to the floor, stunned. Link slashed at the dragon's head, but instead of diving out of the way of the following roll, he leapt onto King Dodongo's head, stabbing it through the eye with his Kokiri blade. The primordial dragon roared in agony, thrashing wildly in an effort to get the irritating fly off of its head, but in the process stumbled into the pool of magma in the center of the room. It sank deep into the molten rock, scales morphing into a charred black as King Dodongo breathed its last. Its death also conveniently drained the pool of magma, allowing Link to descend from the beast's skull and onto the not-scorched earth. Limbs shaking slightly, the Hero of Time stepped into the glowing blue circle and was transported to just outside the cavern.

!0*0!

Link took a deep breath, reveling in the fresh air finally filling his lungs. It was early morning, and a week and a half before Summer's Day. The birds were chirping joyously, as if to recognize his achievement. He turned around and noticed a swiftly growing shadow just inches in front of him. Reacting on instinct, Link summoned his Stalfos Shield and set his hand on his sheathed blade, only to relax when the shadow's owner turned out to be none other than Darunia.

"It's me, Darunia! Well done!" the Goron congratulated, beating his chest. He then proceeded to ruffle Link's hair incredibly forcefully as a terrifying grin formed on his stone features.

Oh, god. Link remembered this. Darunia was about to pat Link's head - and in the process, nearly crack his skull wide open. Days after the incident last time, Link had still been nursing a migraine, and having to carry Princess Ruto around did not help matters.

As soon as the warm rock hand left the top of Link's head, the youth moved. Resummoning his shield, Link threw up his shielded Stalfos hand in an effort to protect his cranium as the Goron's hand swung downwards.

At contact, Link's shield burst into a shower of pitch black diamonds, which soon dissipated completely. His magical energies had been completely drained by the shattering shield! Ridiculous!

Because his magic was gone, Link couldn't form another shield, and Darunia's next slap to the head drove the child about two feet into the ground. Head pounding viciously, Link dragged himself to his feet, clutching his skull in agony.

"Thanks to you, we can once again eat the delicious rocks from Dodongo's Cavern until our- hey, kid, you all right?"

"I'll be fine," Link assured. "I'll just have a headache."

"No, I'm not talking about that," Darunia clarified, mood swinging from ecstatic to worried in an instant. "I was talking about your hand - or… rather, ah… your lack of one."

Link froze, peeling his hand away from his temples and staring at the pathetic remains of his gloves. It was easy to see that his left hand had no skin on it and was comprised solely of bone.

"What happened? I've never seen anything like that," Darunia continued.

"You're also not from the forest," Link reminded. "The forest defends itself by draining the life out of anyone who isn't a Kokiri, turning them into these things called Stalfos. Basically, imagine a skeleton in armor with a giant sword and shield. I'm like… this… because I'm not actually a Kokiri, just a Hylian raised as one of them-"

"Chto?" Ivan interrupted, scandalized.

"Let me finish, okay?" Link commanded. "The only reason I haven't been completely Stalfosized is because I had the blessing of the Great Deku Tree. But when I turned ten, I guess that blessing expired, and I ended up with this. I was able to stop it from spreading, but there's no way to reverse it. So yeah, I've been like this for a while. Don't worry about it."

"You're telling me that even with all that, you still risked your life for us? Kid, I like you! You're nothing like that Gerudo thief, Ganondorf! He said, 'Give me the Spiritual Stone of Fire! Only then will I open the cave for you!' He probably caused the Dodongos to appear in such great numbers, too!"

"Probably," Link agreed.

"How about you and I become Sworn Brothers?" Darunia asked. "No, there's no big ceremony involved. Just take this as a sign of our friendship!"

The Goron spread his arms as a great red light appeared. After a bit of time, the light dispersed to reveal the Goron Ruby, which slowly descended into Link's outstretched arms. He pocketed the Ruby, vowing to keep it safe.

"You'll keep brushing up on your skills as you travel, won't you?" Darunia asked.

"Of course," Link assured.

"You should visit the Great Fairy on top of Death Mountain, then! She will power you up! Hey, everybody! Let's see off our Brother!"

Before Link could react, two other Gorons dropped from the sky before uncurling, arms outstretched.

"You did great!" one chorused.

"How about a big Goron Hug, brother?" the other chirped.

Link stood for a second in indecisiveness before turning and sprinting up Death Mountain, hoarsely hollering for mercy.

!0*0!

Well, there's that! Dodongo's Cavern down, just Jabu Jabu left to do! And dear god, I cannot WAIT for Jabu Jabu's Belly! For anyone who's played MQ, you know why.

Also, Jesus Christ, I'm just now realizing how much Link is swearing. I'll try to dial it down, I promise.

Love it? Hate it? Want to feed me to King Dodongo? Tell me in a review!