Done with the next chapter!

Enjoy! ;)

Chapter 11: The Fire Temple

"So, where to next?" Link asked as they were galloping across the field.

"Well, I have written all the locations Sheik mentioned to us in my notebook." Toad said. "The next location she told us to go after the deep forest was a high mountain, which is obviously Death Mountain."

"Then we have our next destination!" Navi exclaimed. "To Death Mountain!"

With that, they galloped past Kakariko Village and into Death Mountain. Once they reached the entrance to Goron City, Link and Peach tied up Epona and Pearl respectively before they and the others went into the city.

However, just like Kokiri Forest, Goron City was nothing more of a ghost town… Or maybe a ghost cave? Anyway, unlike Kokiri Forest, there were no enemies in sight, so it was just empty.

"It's so quiet in here too…" Mario looked around. "Something bad must've happened."

"All of the races we've met back seven years… They're all being threatened by Ganondorf now…" Peach lamented.

"Hey, do you hear something?" Yoshi asked as he started to hear rolling noises.

"*gasp* Everyone, move!" Luigi gasped as he moved out of the way while pushing everyone else just in time as two small rolling Gorons moved past them.

"Hey! Hold up!" Link called out for the Gorons, but they didn't listen and kept rolling away.

"Well, at least we know that this city isn't completely empty." Toad stated.

"Yeah, but how are we going to get those Gorons to stop?"

"Maybe I can do that." Peach grinned before thrusting her hand forward. "Psych Bomb!"

Eventually, bombs magically rained down on the two Gorons, causing them to stop rolling once the bombs exploded. Link was astonished at what just happened.

"First she's able to pluck out bombs from the ground, and now she can summon a rain of bombs… Okay, then." he thought as the heroes ran after the two Gorons.

"How could you do this to us? You – you're Ganondorf's servants!" one of the Gorons hissed. "Hear our names, and tremble! I am Link!"

"And I am Mario!" the other Goron joined in. "And we're the Heroes of the Gorons!"

"Whoa, whoa! Take it easy, you two!" Link put his hands up in defense. Then he did a double take once he heard the names of the Gorons, "Wait a second… Did you two say that your names are Link and Mario?"

"That's right!" the Goron named Mario nodded.

"…But that's our names!" Link directed to him and Mario, who also had a surprised expression.

"What? Your names are also Link and Mario?" the Goron named Link said. "Then you and all of you must be the legendary Dodongo Busters and Heroes, Link, Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, and Toad!"

"Our dad is Darunia… Do you remember him?" the Goron named Mario asked. "Dad named each of us these names after you all, because you're so brave! They're cool names! We really like it!"

"Oh, it was nothing…" Luigi rubbed his head sheepishly.

"Wow, I can't believe there were Gorons named after us!" Yoshi beamed.

"I guess we're a legend in this city." Mario chuckled.

"You're all heroes to us Gorons! We're so glad to meet you!" the Goron named Link chimed.

"But where are the other Gorons named after us?" Toad asked while directing to him, Luigi, Peach and Yoshi. "And most importantly, where is Darunia?"

"Oh… This is where we require your help! Our dad, Darunia, went to the Fire Temple. A dragon is inside!"

"And that dragon, named Volvagia, was the one who ate the rest of the Gorons named after you!" the Goron named Mario added.

Luigi jawdropped. "Not cool…"

"If we don't hurry up, even our dad will be eaten by the dragon!"

"Don't worry, we're not going to let that happen. In fact, the Fire Temple is where we're heading next." Mario said.

"Is that so? You'll help us?" the Goron named Link asked.

"Absolutely! We'll put a stop to Volvagia."

"Yeah!" the rest of the heroes threw in.

"Thank you so much!" the Goron named Link thanked. "The temple is located at the mountain's crater. The heat in there is really hot, so I'm giving you this heat-resistant tunic, Link!" he hands Link the Goron Tunic.

"Do you guys need one as well?" the Goron named Mario asked the Mario cast.

"No, we don't mind the heat." Mario shook his head.

"Fair enough."

"Well, might as well try this on." Link said as the Mario cast turned around to give him privacy to switch his Kokiri Tunic to the Goron Tunic, which looked exactly like his original tunic, except it was colored red. "So, how do I look?" he asked once he finished changing.

"You know, red does look good on you." Navi answered.

With that, they waved the two Gorons goodbye and exited the city. Outside, they climbed up the mountain to reach the Death Mountain Crater.

"Geez, are you sure you guys didn't need a tunic like me?" Link questioned. "It's freaking hot in here!"

"We've been to a lot of hot places in our world, so heat doesn't bother us that much." Mario replied.

They made their way to the broken bridge up ahead, with Link using his hookshot to reach the other side while the Mario cast just jumped across, and at this moment, Sheik showed up in front of them once again.

"It is something that grows over time… a true friendship. A feeling in the heart that becomes even stronger over time…" she spoke. "The passion of friendship will soon blossom into a righteous power, and through it, you will know which way to go… This song is dedicated to the power of the heart… Listen to the Bolero of Fire…"

Sheik then teaches Link another warp song, the Bolero of Fire, allowing him to warp back to this area anytime he wanted.

"Everyone… I'll see you again…" she disappears again.

After that, the heroes made their way to the Fire Temple's entrance.

The Fire Temple used to be a shrine to honor the Hero of the Gorons. There was a legend about a ferocious dragon, who turns out to be Volvagia, living in the depths of Death Mountain whose main delicacy consisted of Gorons, but the Hero of the Gorons, wielding a legendary hammer called the Megaton Hammer, put a stop to this beast and defeated it. Unfortunately, Ganondorf has revived Volvagia, so he was able to roam free again. It is said that according to the Gorons, Darunia is the descendant of that Hero.

The interior of this temple was very hot like the crater itself. Torches lit the rooms and hallways, narrow walkways loomed over deep lava pits, and the walls of the temple bore carvings of dancing Gorons and fire-breathing dragons, likely to represent Volvagia.

At the entrance, the heroes got rid of some pesky Fire Keese flying around. Since the door on the right was locked, they went to the door on the left.

To their surprise, they saw none other than Darunia on the other side of the room!

"Is that… Darunia?!" Navi asked in surprise.

"Who's there? Is that you, guys…?" Darunia blinked. "Oh! Brothers! Sister! It's good to see you again! I want to have a talk with you, but now's not the time."

"Why not?" Link asked.

"Ganondorf is causing trouble on Death Mountain again! He has revived the evil, ancient dragon Volvagia! On top of that, he is going to feed my people to that evil dragon as a warning to other races who might resist him… AND his comrade. If that fire-breathing dragon escapes from the mountain, all of Hyrule will become a burning wasteland!"

"Oh, god…" the heroes thought.

"I will go on ahead to try to seal up the evil dragon… I'm concerned, though, because I don't have the legendary hammer, the Megaton Hammer… But I have no choice. Everyone…I'm asking you to do this as my Sworn Brothers and Sister… While I'm trying to deal with the dragon, please save my people! The prisoners' cells are in the opposite direction. I'm counting on you all!"

"Okay, we'll do it." Peach replied. "Please be safe, Darunia…"

With that, Darunia somehow goes through the Boss Door before it shuts tight again.

Following Darunia's advice, the heroes freed the first Goron at the left side of the room, and once he left, they opened a chest inside the prison that contained a Small Key. With this key in hand, they went back to the temple's entrance and unlocked the door on the right.

It led them to a large room with three different paths to choose from, so the heroes decided to split up: Link, Mario, and Luigi went to the left, while Peach, Yoshi, and Toad went to the right.

Both teams freed a Goron and got each a Small Key in the chest inside the prison. However, with Link and the Mario Bros, in addition to getting a key, they also spotted a Time Block above the door they just went through, so Link played the Song of Time to move it magically down to the lower level, allowing them to climb on it to reach another door.

On the other side, they were attacked by flying floor tiles in which Link destroyed them by blocking with his shield. But then, a Like Like came next as they tried to attack it, but it wasn't doing any good. And to top it off… the Like Like ends up swallowing Luigi.

"HEEELP!" Luigi screamed before the Like Like swallowed him whole.

"LUIGI!" Mario yelled.

"What the heck is that disgusting thing?!" Link asked.

"That's a Like Like!" Navi informed. "It'll eat anything in its path!"

Angered, Mario absorbs a Fire Flower to turn into Fire Mario and readies a large fireball on his palm.

"Give me back my brother, you ugly slimy thing!" he hissed before tossing the fireball at the Like Like, causing it to melt away, revealing Luigi in the middle.

"Mama mia…" he groaned. "I thought I was a goner!"

"Whew, glad you're okay, Luigi." Link sighed in relief. "But what was that flower you just pulled out, Mario?"

"That was a Fire Flower." Fire Mario replied. "It can grant anyone the ability to shoot fire. But since I already have fire powers, the Fire Flower improves my fire abilities, so they're a lot stronger than before. Same goes with Luigi."

"That's right." Luigi nodded.

"Intriguing!" Navi beamed.

Soon, the two teams reunited and progressed more through the temple together.

Later…

They were now at the third floor of the dungeon after they just passed by some more rooms: a maze with rolling boulders where they freed two more captive Gorons, a narrow path that had the Dungeon Map somewhere around, and a room with metal grating platforms… and a wall of fire chasing after them.

They were now in a maze consisting of fire pillars as the maze's walls. They rescued another captive Goron and found the Compass in a secret room before going through a door.

Once they got inside the new room, they were suddenly locked in and a Flare Dancer emerged out of the fire pillar at the center. The Flare Dancer spun in place to create red and blue flames to attack the heroes. They avoided the flames and then Mario and Luigi, who were now under the effects of the Ice Flower this time, doused the red flames with ice while Peach, under the effects of the Fire Flower, and Yoshi, who absorbed a Power Flower, doused the blue flames with fire.

Meanwhile, Link tried to shoot an arrow at the Flare Dancer's head, but it did nothing.

"Try using the hookshot, Link!" Navi suggested.

Link did as he was told and used the hookshot instead. Doing that actually removed the head from the Flare Dancer and its body disappeared. With that, Link did a single sword strike at it, causing it to explode. The rest of the flames vanished as well and Yoshi's Power Flower effect wore off.

The pillar of fire in the middle also vanished, so the heroes climbed on top of it, which it turned out to be an elevator. That's when they found the Megaton Hammer in a certain room.

Some time later…

With Link wielding the Megaton Hammer, he and the others made their way around the temple some more until they eventually found the Boss Key right after saving the last imprisoned Goron. Now that they had the Boss Key, they could finally reach the Boss Room where Darunia went.

Inside the Boss Room, however, they found no trace of Darunia and instead was just an empty room with a circular platform with magma holes up ahead. The moment they jumped on it, the whole place started to rumble, catching the heroes by surprise.

The platform they used to get to the arena sinks back into the lava before a giant, serpentine-like red dragon emerged out of the central magma hole. That was Volvagia, the Subterranean Lava Dragon.

"That must be Volvagia!" Navi exclaimed. "Oh, look out!" she saw that Volvagia was opening his mouth in order to breathe fire at the heroes.

Thanks to Navi's warning, the heroes avoided the fiery breath, but unfortunately, a tiny bit of Fire Peach's dress was caught by the fire, and the Power-Up's effect on her wore off.

"My dress!" she yelped as she quickly doused the small flame on her dress before everyone watched Volvagia dive into another hole.

"What's this, Whack-a-Mole? Ugh…" Link groaned.

"Yeah, except it's Whack-a-Dragon." Yoshi spoke in amusement.

"Still not funny…"

Just then, Volvagia emerged out from a hole that's not too far away from where Link was standing so he made his way to it. However, Volvagia breathed fire at him, only for Ice Mario and Ice Luigi to counter the fire by shooting a blast of ice. Part of the icy blast went into Volvagia's mouth, causing him to roar in pain, giving Link the chance to whack his head with the Megaton Hammer and deliver a few hits on his head, removing bits of his mask.

Roaring furiously, Volvagia flew all the way up at the ceiling in order to knock loose several large boulders at the heroes. Link quickly shielded his head with the shield while the Mario cast was running around, making sure to avoid the shadows on the floor since those were where the boulders would land.

Then, before Volvagia could fly into another hole, the Ice Mario Bros acted quickly and fired another icy blast at him, which forced him down on the ground, allowing Link to whack his head with the hammer to break apart the rest of his helmet and finished him off by stabbing his sword right into the dragon's forehead.

Volvagia roared in pain as his body began to incinerate, and all of his flesh was gone, now reduced to bones with only his head remaining. The heroes watched the bones and the head falling back down before the latter exploded while the Power-Up effect on Mario and Luigi wore off.

A blue light showed up on the floor so the heroes walked over to it, transporting them back to the Chamber of the Sages. The red platform started to glow, and Darunia himself emerged out, revealing that he was the Sage of Fire all along.

"Darunia!" Link exclaimed.

"Thank you, Brothers and Sister! I really appreciate what you did." Darunia smiled. "I thank you on behalf of the entire Goron race! You turned out to be real men and woman, just as I thought you would! By the way, I, the wild Darunia, turned out to be the great Sage of Fire… Isn't that funny? Well, this must be what they call destiny. Nothing has made me happier than helping you seal the evil here!"

"You're welcome, Darunia." Peach replied with a smile.

"I appreciate it, Sister. Now, take these with you!"

Darunia rose his hands into the air as a red Medallion and a red Grand Star rained down towards the heroes. Link took the Medallion while the Mario cast took the Grand Star.

"These are the Fire Medallion and the Grand Star of Fire. They both contain the power of the fire spirits – and my friendship." Darunia said.

Everything went white for our heroes as Darunia said his final words to them:

"Don't forget… Now you and I are true Brothers and Sister!"

They were sent back to the Death Mountain Crater, and once they walked out of this place, they started a conversation:

"We have awakened two Sages so far." Peach said.

"Just three more left!" Yoshi added.

"What's our next destination now?" Luigi asked.

"According to my notebook, the next location is under a vast lake." Toad informed.

"Vast lake… Lake Hylia!" Navi piped up.

"Guess we're off to see the Zoras next!" Mario smiled.

"Good timing too, because I really want to go someplace to cool off after this intense heat!" Link exclaimed.

With no time to waste, they first decided to head to Zora's Domain just to check on the Zoras.

To be continued…

Personally, I wasn't that satisfied with this chapter because the Fire Temple in the game was a bit boring in my opinion, so it was hard to write this one. Of course, that doesn't even compare to the next major temple...

Well, until the next chapter! Please review!