Sorry it took a while, but here it is!

Enjoy! ;)

Chapter 5: Dodongo's Cavern

After blowing down another wall of rocks, the heroes arrived into Dodongo's Cavern. Everything in this dangerous cavern seemed to glow an angry red, with the main chamber stretching back hundreds of meters. Hot steam shrouded everything, including the tall cracks that loomed every few feet and the blood-red lava that seeped through the floor at the center.

"Golly, I'm frying like an egg in here!" Luigi exclaimed, already starting to sweat.

"No kidding." Mario threw in. "Let's get rid of the monsters in this cave quickly so we can get the stone and the star."

"Speaking of which, where are the monsters?" Link asked. "I don't see any in here." he and the others jumped to the middle platform on the center, where a Beamos ended up spotting them.

"Look out!" Navi called out as the Beamos started charging its laser before firing it at them, but they avoided it.

"How do we get rid of this thing?" Toad asked.

"That's a Beamos. Only an explosion can destroy it."

"Explosion? In that case…" Yoshi took out an Egg Bomb. "Take this!" he tosses it at the Beamos, which destroyed it instantly.

"Where did you get that egg from?" Link asked. "Also, did it just explode?!"

"That was an Egg Bomb. I happen to carry a plenty of those with me. Just for an addition, I can also lay eggs when I swallow an enemy."

"That's interesting." Navi said as Peach went to the left and somehow pulled out a Bob-omb from the ground and used it to blow up a wall concealing a treasure chest. She opens it, obtaining the map of this dungeon.

"Guys, I found the map!" she called out.

"Good! That should make navigating this place much easier now." Mario said.

They then went to the right side, where Link blew up a wall with a Bomb Flower, leading them access to a corridor. Just then, Baby Dodongos suddenly popped out of the ground and attempted to slither after the group. The heroes took care of them easily, but their bodies suddenly began to flash red.

"Stay back!" Navi warned. Everyone did as told before the Baby Dodongos exploded.

"So these lizards are basically ticking-time bombs." Toad remarked.

"Correct. They were Baby Dodongos. I shudder to imagine what their mother or father would be like…"

"I bet it's humongous." Link blurted.

"Why do I have a feeling Link just jinxed it…?" the Mario cast thought before moving on.

Up ahead, Link just pushed one of the Armos statues onto a button on the floor to open the next door. On the other side, they found themselves standing in what seemed to be an arena-like place.

All of a sudden, they heard screeching as two Lizalfos dropped down into the arena.

"L-Lizard monsters?!" Luigi flinched.

"Lizalfos!" Navi exclaimed, as the group got ready.

Link ducked in order to let his Hylian Shield block a Lizalfos attacking him and then returned the favor with his sword, only for it to block the attack before swinging its tail at him, knocking him over. Mario quickly came over for backup and tossed a fireball at the Lizalfos' face, forcing it to jump away, but Luigi came in while doing an uppercut with his hammer, sending the Lizalfos into the air. While the Lizalfos was in the air, Yoshi Flutter Jumps to it and Yoshi Bombs it to the ground where Mario defeats it with a fiery punch.

Toad blocked the other Lizalfos' attack by casting a barrier of mushroom spores in front of him and then countered with a headbutt, but the Lizalfos retaliated and slashed him, only for Peach to use Peach Bomber at it before its attack could hit Toad to send it away.

Link recovered from the tail attack the other Lizalfos did to him just in time as the Lizalfos Peach and Toad were battling with to land right next to him. With a smirk, Link plants his sword into the Lizalfos' chest before it could even have a chance to recover to defeat it. However, there happened to be a scratch on his leg where the Lizalfos swung its tail.

"You okay?" Mario asked.

"Just a little scratch here, but nothing too serious." Link answered.

"A scratch? Can I see it?" Peach requested as Link shows it to her. "I can heal it for you, if that makes you feel better."

"…You can do that?"

"My Heart Power grants me healing powers. Now hold still." Peach places her hand on Link's scratch as it glowed pink. Once the glow faded, Peach removes her hand, and the scratch was completely gone.

"Wow…" Link was astonished. "Since when do you guys have all these unique powers?"

"You know, we actually have no idea." Toad shrugged. "Almost everyone in the Mushroom World are gifted with powers, that's all."

"You guys are just filled with surprises!" Navi exclaimed before they went into another door, taking them to a dark tunnel.

Feeling footsteps, the group pressed on, and it turns out that the source of these footsteps belonged to none other than a Dodongo.

"Watch out! That's a Dodongo!" Navi informed. "The only way to beat it is by hitting its tail, but careful of its fire breath!"

Speaking of that, the Dodongo instantly tried to breathe fire at them, but they just circled around it to avoid the breath and Link slashes its tail, making sure he and the others move away from this large lizard before the explosion it left behind would hit them.

They decided to dispatch the remaining two Dodongos in this tunnel and then Link took out a Deku Stick to light the other torches. Doing so removed the bars blocking a door and they went inside, only to go back to the same main chamber.

"You know, I was wondering if we were going in one huge circle again just like back in the Deku Tree." Yoshi remarked while looking at the Dungeon Map as Link stepped on a button to open up a new door at the chamber and they went through it.

At the other side, there was a bunch of Bomb Flowers placed next to each other in the middle of the room, but there was also a cracked wall on the left side. The Mario cast decided to check out what's behind the wall while Link plucked out a Bomb Flower and tossed it at the row of Bomb Flowers, causing a lot of explosions that blocked the sound of another bomb explosion, which happened to be Peach tossing a Bob-omb at the cracked wall.

With all the Bomb Flowers exploding, platforms fell down that made steps up the upper floor of the dungeon.

"Awesome." Link grinned and then saw the Mario cast coming back with a compass being held by Toad. "Oh, you guys found a compass behind that wall?"

"Yeah… but it was guarded by a statue that suddenly came alive and I even freaked out about it." Luigi murmured.

"Thankfully, Yoshi took care of it with an Egg Bomb and we had to run away from it since it was also a ticking-time bomb." Mario added.

"And during that, I reached for the chest and got the compass." Toad finished.

"This place sure has a lot of ticking-time bomb monsters…" Navi remarked.

"…You guys were attacked by a statue coming alive? I'll believe you when I see it." Link said as they went up the stairs to go inside another room.

In the next room, Link took out the Fire Keese with his slingshot and, noticing a button above the platform in the middle, he went towards one of the Armos statue… only for it to come to life.

"What the?!" Link flinched.

"An Armos!" Navi shouted.

"Now you believe us?!" Luigi inquired as Yoshi tossed an Egg Bomb at the statue before they all ran away from it until it exploded.

"Yes… I totally believe you now!" Link replied, still trying to comprehend that a statue that he once pushed just tried to kill them hadn't Yoshi acted. They then pushed the button and went on through.

The door took them back again at the main chamber, only that they were now standing on a wooden bridge. They crossed it as Link was taking care of the Fire Keese, and up ahead, they found themselves in a room filled with Blade Traps, but they didn't spot those just yet.

"I can see a cracked wall over there." Peach pointed out. "It should lead us to where we're going to." she looks at the map.

"Be careful in this room, everyone." Navi warned. "You never know what will be around the corner in these narrow paths…"

"The corner?" Luigi tilted his head before deciding to peek at one of the corners to see a Blade Trap at the end of the narrow path. "Uh, guys…? What's that?" everyone peeked there as well to see the Blade Trap.

"I knew it… A Blade Trap." Navi said. "Careful not to get hit by it!"

There was a block right in front of them a few feet away, so they quickly sprinted forward in order to avoid the Blade Trap and pulled the block back before climbing on it to reach a pillar. While Link was opening a small chest nearby to get a Red Rupee from it, Peach tossed a Bob-omb at the cracked wall to blow it up and they went on through.

Later…

The heroes went through a couple more doors, eventually going in a full circle just to reach a treasure chest in the same maze-like room they were before the time-skip above. The chest had a Bomb Bag inside.

"Cool! Now I can store up bombs as much as I like!" Link exclaimed.

"Yeah! What a lucky guy you are, Link!" Navi beamed as Link gave a thumbs up to her.

They then went back to the main chamber, where they spotted a stone tablet near the huge Dodongo skull.

"Giant dead Dodongo… When it sees red, a new way to go will be open." Mario read. "What does that mean?"

Link took a good look at the Dodongo skull and at the gap on the wooden bridge; that gave him an idea.

"I have an idea." he said as he walked to the gap and dropped a bomb there, letting it fall into the Dodongo skull's eye. Once the bomb exploded, the eye turned red. "Aha!"

"Oh, so that's what it meant." Toad said as Link dropped a bomb on the other gap to turn the other eye red. Eventually, the Dodongo skull's jaw opens up, revealing a doorway inside.

They went down and entered the doorway, noticing a barred door on the left side and a route that led to a block. The heroes went into the route and reached the block and, noticing a hole on the ground in the middle of the room, they pushed the block into it, unlocking the barred door.

On the other side, the room was completely empty, but there was a breakable patch on the floor, so Link placed a bomb there to create a hole and they all jumped in it, landing in another arena surrounded by lava in the center, but there was a platform over the lava as well.

Suddenly, the whole place begins to rumble followed by loud footsteps from behind them as they braced themselves cautiously. They turned around to see a humongous Dodongo standing there before roaring loudly at them. They just encountered King Dodongo, the Infernal Dinosaur.

"I-It's huge!" Luigi flinched.

"How are we supposed to combat that?!" Link questioned.

It was then that King Dodongo curls up its body, ready to roll into the group.

"Watch out! It's about to roll over you guys!" Navi warned.

"RUN!" Toad yelled as everyone began to run away from the rolling King Dodongo. After it stopped rolling, it then opens up its huge mouth to breathe fire at them.

"It's going to breathe fire at us!" Peach shouted horrified.

"Quick! To the platform!" Mario hollered as the group leapt to the platform over the lava just in time as King Dodongo unleashed its fiery breath, but it turned out to be more of a long flamethrower than what anyone would expect. Thank the goddesses that the heroes opted for jumping on the platform.

"Fire breather…" Link whispered as they saw King Dodongo roaring at them, but not even trying to go after them since they were out of its reach.

"He might be huge, but not very smart…" Yoshi speculated. "Link, do you have any of your weapons that might work against it?"

"Well, the only weapons I have are a sword, shield, slingshot, and bombs." Link answered. "I highly doubt my first three weapons will work-…" then it hit him. "Wait… That's it! Maybe bombs might work! Yoshi, you're a genius!"

"…I am?"

"Hey, Navi! Do you have an idea about how I should use bombs against it?" Link asked his fairy companion.

"Well… I have one, but it might be dangerous." Navi said. "Try to get him to eat it. Think you can do that?"

"Yeah, I think I can manage that. Thanks, Navi."

"Be careful, Link!"

"Uh, guys?" Luigi trailed. "I think it's about to breathe another flamethrower at us!"

King Dodongo, who was starting to lose patience about our heroes just standing still on the lonely platform on the lava, decided to once again open up its mouth to breathe fire at them. Link saw this as an opportunity and quickly pulled out a bomb and leapt towards the huge dinosaur.

"Hey, you big salamander, let's see how you like… a mouthful of THIS!" Link yelled while tossing the bomb right into King Dodongo's mouth. It swallowed it, of course, but the moment the bomb exploded, so did King Dodongo as well as it let out a roar of agony before all of its flesh flew all over the place. "Score!" Link exclaimed while fist pumping.

"Link, you did it!" Peach chimed.

"And nice shot, by the way!" Toad added.

"It was nothing." Link smiled.

A blue light then showed up and the heroes wasted no time in getting out of this dreadful heat. The light took them back at Death Mountain, right in front of the cavern's entrance.

"Thank goodness we're out. I was sure dying in there!" Luigi exclaimed in relief.

"So, what now?" Yoshi asked… and at this exact moment, Darunia suddenly landed hard on the ground from right behind them, making them jump.

"Whoa! Where'd you come from?!" Toad flinched.

"Well done, all of you!" Darunia praised and gave all of them a pat on their shoulders… but given that he's a Goron, that pat ended up knocking our heroes to the ground. "Thanks to you, we can once again eat the delicious rocks from Dodongo's Cavern until our stomachs burst!"

"You're welcome…" Mario groaned as he and the others were still trying to recover from that strong pat they just received.

"What a wild adventure! It will make an incredible story… I can't believe the Dodongos suddenly appeared in such great numbers! And that big rock blocking the cave… All this trouble must have been caused by that Gerudo thief, Ganondorf!"

"So he was here before?" Link asked as he and his friends got up.

"Indeed. He said, 'Give me the Spiritual Stone and the Platinum Star! Only then will I open the cave for you!'"

"Oh my…" Peach breathed.

"You, on the other hand, risked your lives for us… I like that! How's about you all and I become Sworn Sister and Brothers?!"

"Sister?!" Peach blinked.

"BROTHERS?!" Link, Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, and Toad yelled.

"No, there's no big ceremony involved! Just take these as tokens of our friendship!" Darunia grinned before raising his arms as a red glow and a white glow appeared before they flew towards the heroes, taking the form of the Goron's Ruby and the second Platinum Star respectively. Now they only have one more of these to find.

"Thanks a lot, Darunia!" Yoshi chirped.

"No problem!" Darunia smiled. "Brothers! Sister! You'll keep brushing up on your skills as you travel, won't you? You should go see the Great Fairy on top of Death Mountain! She will power you up!"

"Alright, thanks for your suggestion." Mario replied.

"Hey, everybody! Let's see off our brothers and sister!"

"Wait, WHAT?!" Link yelled as two Gorons landed from out of nowhere near Darunia.

"You did great!" one of them exclaimed as the two got up and started walking towards the heroes with their arms stretched… You probably know where this is going, right?

"How 'bout a big Goron hug?!" the other one spoke.

"Uh… I-I…" Link stammered while backing off before yelling, "SORRY, I HAVE TO GO!" he ran off… but was caught off guard when a third Goron landed in front of him before also going for a hug. "G-Get away! I'M OUT OF HERE!"

"Link, wait for us!" Toad called out as the Mario cast ran after Link as Darunia laughed at that scene.

Meanwhile…

"Hmph, so they actually destroyed King Dodongo…" Ganondorf grumbled. "You were right; these ones with that little boy are no such pushovers."

"Haven't I told you? I'm actually quite surprised that even the princess is capable of helping at all." a large figure spoke from the shadows behind Ganondorf, so we're not able to see him yet. "What shall we do, Gerudo thief? Should we begin our attack now?"

"Not yet. Let's wait a little bit longer. My plan is going well, just so you wait…"

Back with the heroes…

"*huff* *puff*" Link panted heavily after running the hell away from the Gorons. "A Goron hug? As if I would accept! If Darunia knocked me and my friends down with just a pat, imagine what a hug would be!"

"Link!" the Mario cast called out as they finally caught up to him.

"Couldn't you have slowed down just a bit?" Luigi asked while panting a little.

"Sorry about that." Link apologized. "Anyway, let's just make our way to the top of the mountain to meet this Great Fairy."

They pressed on, passing by a shower of molten lava rocks falling down (Link's Hylian Shield proved to be useful here) and once they reached the top, Link blew up a wall, leading them to the Great Fairy's Fountain. Inside, Link played Zelda's Lullaby while standing on a Triforce symbol, and then the Great Fairy sprung out of her spring while letting out a hearty laugh.

"Welcome! I am the Great Fairy of Magic!" she spoke. "I will give you a magic spell. Please take it." she then creates a red glow with her arms and hands Link Din's Fire. "You can use Din's Fire not only to attack but also to burn things!"

"That sounds nice!" Link grinned.

"Hey! You're messengers of the Royal Family, aren't you? You should visit my friends who live across the land. They'll surely grant you other powers. When battle has made you weary, please come back to see me." she lets out another laugh as she dives back into the pool.

Satisfied with this new power they received, they exited the Fountain and at this exact moment…

"Hoo hoot!" an owl noise suddenly came in as an actual brown owl came flying down and landed on top of a sign. "Well, it looks like you've grown up a little from the Great Fairy's power…"

"Either we're going crazy or an owl is actually talking to us…" the heroes thought.

"But you still don't really look like the heroes who will save Hyrule. At least not yet!"

"Wait, who are you?" Yoshi asked.

"My name is Kaepora Gaebora. I've been watching you on your journey ever since the beginning. The Great Deku Tree was an old, old friend of mine."

"Really?!" Link exclaimed.

"Yes, indeed, my boy! If you are all going back down the mountain, I can lend you a wing. Come here and grab my talons! Except that I can only carry one of you…"

"Don't worry, we have these." Mario pulled out some Cape Feathers while handing Magic Wings to Yoshi. "These Power-Ups shall help us fly and keep up with you."

"Ah, the Power-Ups. Of course, hoo hoot!"

"Oh, you're going to show us one of your Power-Ups?" Navi asked. "About time!"

By absorbing the Cape Feathers and Magic Wings, Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Toad gained a yellow cape while Yoshi gained wings from his back.

"Cool!" Link exclaimed.

"Alright, you ready?" Kaepora Gaebora asked. Everyone nodded. "Good. Grab onto my talons, Link! And hold on tight! Hoo hooooooot!"

With that, Link grabs onto Kaepora Gaebora's talons before he took off flying and the Mario cast followed suit, using their flight Power-Ups to follow him down the mountain while at the same time enjoying the view.

After Kaepora Gaebora dropped Link down before leaving, the Mario cast landed next to him as their Power-Ups deactivated.

"Golly, what a journey we're having!" Luigi exclaimed with a smile.

"No kidding." Link replied before taking out the two collected Spiritual Stones. "The Kokiri's Emerald. The Goron's Ruby. And two Platinum Stars. Only one of each left!"

"Yes!" Peach nodded. "Zelda is counting on us!"

"But where are the last ones?" Toad asked. "We haven't gotten any information about them."

"Oh yeah, this could be a problem…" Mario pondered. "And even worse, it's almost sunset…"

"Maybe we can head back to Hyrule Field and find some clues?" Yoshi suggested.

"We can do that." Link shrugged. "But we also have to find a place to rest as well."

As the heroes were leaving Kakariko Village, Kaepora Gaebora was flying nearby and watching them.

"I could guide them to the last Spiritual Stone and Platinum Star, but I think I'm gonna let them rest for now and leave that for tomorrow. They deserve it." he spoke before flying away.

To be continued…

The Great Fairy who grants Link Din's Fire is actually located at Hyrule Castle in the original game rather than Death Mountain, which just granted him the Spin Attack technique that's not that hard to learn so I decided to make this one on Death Mountain grant him the spell since I didn't fell like writing about the heroes going back to Hyrule Castle just for that.

...Who could that mysterious figure with Ganondorf be? If you payed attention to his dialogue, you might know who it is. Until the next chapter! Please review!