I originally thought of making the Ice Cavern a separate chapter, but that seemed too short, especially for a mini-dungeon. So I decided to include it here along with the Water Temple, though I'm leaving the Boss Fight for the next one.

Enjoy! ;)

Chapter 12: The Water Temple

The heroes were slowly riding along in Hyrule Field, towards Zora's River. After tying up Epona and Pearl near the river's entrance, they made their way there, and so far nothing has changed.

But that will soon not be the case because as they progressed further, the place started to become… colder than usual. Not to mention it started to snow. Wait, snow?

"Is it me, or is this place getting… colder?" Link awed, starting to shiver.

"Nope, you're not the only one." Mario replied.

"But still, why is it snowing in here?" Yoshi wondered.

"Hold on… I can feel an artic wind blowing from Zora's Domain…" Navi breathed. "Do you feel it too?"

"Now that you tell us, I can feel it as well." Toad said.

"Did something happen in the domain?" Luigi asked.

"We better check it out." Peach ushered.

They all agreed with her and immediately took off to Zora's Domain.

As soon as they got there, what everyone saw around them was nothing more than a winter wasteland: all of the water had been frozen and there were no sight of the Zoras either.

"Oh my goodness…" Peach breathed.

"The whole domain has been frozen!" Mario's eyes widened.

"Brr… A-And now it's very c-cold…" Luigi shivered.

"By going someplace to cool off after going into a volcano, I didn't mean that!" Link remarked.

"Yeah, we got your point, Link." Toad threw in.

"I just hope there aren't any Zoras trapped under the ice…" Yoshi whispered, earning a gasp from everyone else; if there were really Zoras underneath the frozen water, they could all die!

"Oh, I hope not!" Navi exclaimed. "But we should check on the king!"

Everyone followed Navi's advice and went to the throne room, and much to their surprise, they saw King Zora frozen in red ice.

"Oh my!" Navi flinched.

"No… He's been frozen too!" Peach exclaimed.

"But why is the ice he's trapped in red?" Toad wondered.

"No idea, but I'll try to get him out of there!" Mario then tosses a fireball at the red ice, but strangely enough, nothing happened. "What?"

"Let me try." Link offered. "Din's Fire!" he unleashed the Din's Fire spell… but he was met with the same results. "Seriously?!"

"Something's odd with this ice…" Yoshi suspected. "Let me check something." he flutter jumps towards the frozen king and cautiously touches the ice. Surprisingly enough, the ice felt hot instead of cold. "What in the…?"

"What did you find out, Yoshi?" Luigi asked.

"Guys, this ice isn't cold… It's hot."

"What?!" the rest of the group flinched.

"Hot ice… That's totally new!" Toad exclaimed.

"Then I guess that since this ice is hot, natural fire won't melt it." Mario guessed.

"So we need to find cold fire?" Luigi added. "WHERE in the world are we going to find that?!"

"Perhaps we should head to Zora's Fountain to look for clues." Navi suggested.

Everyone agreed with her and went to Zora's Fountain, where once again everything around them was frozen, with icy platforms floating above the cold water. But most importantly… Jabu-Jabu was nowhere to be found.

"Um, where is Jabu-Jabu?" Yoshi asked. "He was just here at that spot! And now he's… gone."

"Just like the Zoras…" Peach added. "I hope he's alright."

They then made across the icy platforms, where Link ended up slipping a few times but Mario and Yoshi grabbed him before he fell into the frigid water. Soon, they finally made it to the entrance of the Ice Cavern and went inside.

As soon as they stepped in, a few stalactites dropped down near them. Luckily, no one was hit, but now they knew that stalactites could drop at any moment, so they kept mindful of those. Up ahead, they were attacked by three Freezards, only for Link to get rid of them in an instant with Din's Fire.

In the next room, there were two giant spinning ice blades in the middle, and the heroes had to collect five Silver Rupees in order to progress further. Eventually, they reached the next room, where Yoshi caught sight of a blue flame on a pedestal:

"Ooh! Look at that beautiful blue fire!" he awed as the rest was taking care of the Ice Keese and Freezards, with Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Toad in their Fire forms.

"Did you just say… blue fire?" Fire Mario asked. "Where?"

"Up there!"

Everyone went up the platform where the Blue Fire was and stared at it in fascination.

"Intriguing…" Link inspected. "Could this be the cold fire we're looking for?" he reached his hand to touch it, only to pull it back immediately after feeling a chill from the fire. "Whoa, it IS cold fire!"

"Awesome! Just what we needed!" Fire Toad cheered as Link stored some Blue Fire into bottles.

"There could be more things waiting for us deeper in this cavern, though." Fire Peach stated.

"You're right." Link agreed. "Let's keep moving."

Some hours later…

They eventually reached the final room of this mini-dungeon, where they were confronted by a White Wolfos. The Fire Mario cast plus Yoshi's Power Flower ability weakened the beast with fire, while Link delivered sword strikes at it. They repeated the same strategy until it was defeated, and the fire power-ups on the Mario cast wore off.

A treasure chest appeared shortly after the White Wolfos's defeat. Link walked up to it and opened it up, revealing a pair of Iron Boots. When the heroes turned around, to their surprise, Sheik was standing in front of the door.

"We meet again…" she spoke as the heroes walked closer to her. "If you came here to meet the Zoras, you wasted your time… This is all there is… With one exception, the Zoras are now sealed under this thick ice sheet…"

"No…" the heroes thought. Apparently, the Zoras were indeed under the frozen water, so they had little time to save them before they could die.

"I managed to rescue the Zora princess from under the ice, but…she left to head for the Water Temple…"

"Well, at least Ruto is safe…"

"This ice is created by an evil curse… The monster in the Water Temple is the source of the curse. Unless you shut off the source, this ice will never melt… If you have courage enough to confront the danger and save the Zoras, I will teach you the melody that leads to the temple. Time passes, people move… Like a river's flow, it never ends… A childish mind will turn to noble ambition… Young love will become deep affection… The clear water's surface reflects growth… Now listen to the Serenade of Water to reflect upon yourself…"

Sheik then teaches Link the Serenade of Water, the fourth warp song.

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

After that, the heroes decided to first free King Zora before heading off to the Water Temple. Therefore, they made their way back to Zora's Domain and Link thawed King Zora out of his hot ice prison.

"Oh –I've come back to life!" he beamed. "Was it you who saved me? Don't be nervous!"

"Yes, it was us." Link nodded.

"Wonderful! Thank you so much!" King Zora then looks at Link, "Hmm, it looks like you have a hard time breathing underwater. As an expression of my gratitude, I grant you this tunic. With this, you won't choke underwater." he hands Link the Zora Tunic. "Please, I count on you to save my daughter!"

"We'll do it, your majesty." Peach assured as Link went off to somewhere in the domain to change into the Zora Tunic, which just like the Goron Tunic, it was an exact replica of his normal tunic, except it was blue.

Once Link finished changing, he played the Serenade of Water on his ocarina to warp him and the Mario cast to Lake Hylia. There, they spotted an underwater entrance under the lone island, so Link equipped the Iron Boots to sink underwater and used the hookshot on a switch to open the temple's entrance before they all swam inside.

The Water Temple is a deep, damp temple used as a place of worship for the Zora tribe. There were many fountains shaped like dragon heads and reliefs of the tribe's crest decorating the walls and floors. Most of the chambers were flooded with water, with small sea creatures lurking in the depths.

"Okay, this shouldn't be so horrible, right?" Yoshi asked while looking around. "It's just a bunch of water, after all."

"Here's hoping." Link said, equipping the iron boots again as he sunk to the very bottom of the temple as the Mario cast swam down after him. "By the way, I find it really weird that I can breathe underwater just by wearing this tunic." he remarked.

"And we can understand each other while underwater." Navi added. "How is that possible?"

"I have no idea, but this isn't too weird for us." Mario replied. "This also happens to us all the time back in our world."

"Your world must be something, then." Navi commented. "Nothing we find weird is the same to you all."

"And if that isn't weird enough, did you know that we can also shoot fire underwater?" Toad said, which made Link and Navi nearly tumble down after hearing that.

"Yeah, this is too weird…" Link groaned as they wandered into a flooded hallway. At the very end of it, there was Princess Ruto! Just like with Link, she was also grown up.

"Hey, isn't that…?" Peach breathed as Ruto heard them and turned around.

"Oh…you… If I'm right…Link?!" Ruto was of course, more focused on Link. "You're Link, aren't you?"

"…What about us?" the Mario cast thought.

"It's me, your fiancée, Ruto! Princess of the Zoras!" Ruto squealed.

"Wait, YOUR WHAT?!" Link yelled. "She was actually serious?!" he thought, as the Mario cast also thought the same thing.

"I never forgot the vows we made to each other seven years ago! You're a terrible man to have kept me waiting for these seven long years… But now is not the time to talk about love… I'm sure you've already seen it! Zora's Domain – totally frozen! A young woman named Sheik saved me from under the ice… But my father and the other Zoras have not…yet…"

"Well, we actually just saved him…" the heroes thought.

"I want to save them all! I want to save Zora's Domain! You! You have to help me! This is a request from me, the woman who is going to be your wife! Link, you have to help me destroy the evil monster in the temple, OK?!"

"O-Okay…" Link replied a bit flabbergasted.

"Good! Inside the Water Temple, there are three places where you can change the water level. I'll lead the way. Follow me, quickly!" she then swam upwards.

"I can't believe we were chopped liver back there…" Toad groaned as they began to swim up to where Ruto went.

"Well, she did say back seven years ago that we were just a little cooler compared to Link…" Mario pointed out. "That doesn't mean I wasn't offended by her comment, of course."

"We all thought the same thing, bro." Luigi told him.

Everyone came out of the water and looked around for Ruto, but for some strange reason, the Zora Princess seemed to have mysteriously disappeared.

Link then spotted a Triforce symbol on the wall, so he played Zelda's Lullaby on his ocarina, causing the water from where they came from to drain.

But that was just the beginning of this freaking dungeon, because this is the moment where things start to become more tedious for our heroes.

As they proceeded to go about the Water Temple, because of the water level change mechanic, it started to get a bit confusing for the heroes to navigate around, since all hallways looked exactly the same, even after obtaining the Dungeon Map. Not to mention the fact that it was easy for them to miss a Small Key, and if they miss one, then they'll have to take a long turn back to find it, and that of course wasn't very fun.

And don't forget: iron boots on, iron boots off, iron boots on, iron boots off, iron boots on, iron boots off… Argh!

I scream, you scream, we ALL scream in frustration in the Water Temple!

It came to the point where Link and the Mario cast ALMOST screamed in frustration of how tedious this temple was, with Yoshi regretting what he said at the very beginning of the dungeon.

"I swear, if we have to change the water level ONE MORE FREAKING TIME…" Toad growled.

"We are so with you there." Link nodded, mirroring Toad's expression before using his hookshot to get across a gap filled with spikes after Mario and Luigi got rid of the Like Like blocking the door that Link was about to enter.

Because of the frustration that took over him throughout the temple, Link did not wait for the others and instead went into the next room nigh immediately, which was… NOT a good idea, since he was locked in, and the Mario cast was left behind.

"Link?!" they exclaimed as they glanced at the barred door.

At the other side, Link swore under his breath that he was locked in. This was just not his day, wasn't it? However, when he took a good look at his surroundings, something about this room seemed… off. There were no walls at all so everything appeared to stretch as far as the eye could see, the floor was shallow water, there was a lone dry tree at the very middle, and the doors were just standing on structures that appear to be supported by nothing.

"This room looks way different than the others… I wonder why?" Link thought as he made his way towards the door on the opposite side, unaware of his reflection in the water mysteriously vanishing.

"Hey, Link… I'm sensing something…dark in here…" Navi trailed.

"What do you mean, Navi?" Link asked as he finally reached the other door, except that it was also locked with bars.

Navi turned around, and saw a strange figure standing under the tree. Then, to her surprise, the figure started moving, revealing to be a dark copy of Link himself!

"AAAH!" she screamed, catching Link's attention. "Link! Behind you!"

Link turned around, and was shocked to see his dark doppelganger rushing to him with his sword and shield aloft and quickly blocked his attack with his shield.

"What the heck?!" he flinched. "A dark copy of me?!"

Indeed, this copy looked exactly like Link, only that his entire body was shadowy, his voice was deeper, and his eyes were glowing red. That, ladies and gentleman, was Dark Link.

"Don't let that fake get you!" Navi hollered.

Link immediately swings his sword at Dark Link, only for him to clash his sword with the other at the same time. Link still kept swinging, but his dark copy kept doing the same thing.

"He's copying my moves!" Link exclaimed. "Hey! Don't copy me!" he does a sword thrust while saying that, but to his surprise, Dark Link leapt onto the blade before swinging his sword down at him, but he managed to block it with his shield.

Dark Link was thrown back a bit by this blocking, so that gave Link the chance to deliver his first strike at him, causing him to vanish into the water. Link wondered where he went, and suddenly, Dark Link came from behind him and tried to slash at him, but he once again blocked with his shield, but since that was a surprise attack, Link was taken aback a bit.

Dark Link then does a jump slash at Link, but he back flipped out of the way before he kept a hard glare at his doppelganger, who stopped for a bit to recover.

"Quick! Conquer yourself!" Navi demanded.

"What?" Link asked.

"Do what you do if you wanted to, er… outsmart yourself…?" at this moment, Dark Link was getting up. "S-Sorry, Link… This is new! I've never seen something like this before!"

After a long moment of silence, with Dark Link mirroring Link's gestures, they started sword clashing again. This went for a while before Dark Link manages to kick Link to the ground. But when Link stood up, Dark Link sunk into the water again.

"Oh, where did he go now?!" he looked around. Unknown to him, Dark Link was silently sneaking underwater right below Link, ready to leap up to him.

Luckily, Link looked down just in time to avoid a strike from Dark Link once he jumped out of the water. Then, Dark Link did a series of blade spam attacks, which were thankfully blocked by Link keeping his shield raised in front of him. But when Link tried to slash at Dark Link once he stopped spamming his sword attacks, he blocked with his sword once again as the two now found themselves engaging in a close-range sword struggle.

But then, Link had an idea as a smirk appeared on his face; he suddenly rolls behind his doppelganger and whacks him on the head with the megaton hammer. This knocked Dark Link to the ground, and when he tried to get up, it was too late for him: Link stabs his back with his sword.

With that, Dark Link screamed in agony before vanishing for good. The room then changes into a hallway to match the Water Temple's rooms as both doors were unlocked and then the Mario cast ran in.

"Link!" they exclaimed as they ran up to him.

"What in the world happened in here?" Peach asked. "We were so worried!"

"Don't worry too much about it, Peach." Link smiled. "What matters is that I'm perfectly fine."

They nodded in understanding as they all went into the next room together, which held a treasure chest. Link opened it, pulling out the Longshot.

"Another hookshot?" he wondered. "But this one seems to reach further than the previous one. I think I'll use this." he said and then they went their merry way through the rest of the Water Temple.

To be continued…

The first time I've been to the Water Temple, as you all might expect, I was confused as hell when navigating through it and I finally learned why people said that this temple is so frustrating. The fact that you have to pause the game just to switch between boots does not help the slightest. Thankfully, the 3DS remake fixed a lot of the issues the Water Temple had, so it's no longer my least favorite temple in the series since I can just play through the 3DS version without getting frustrated. Hey, but at least the fight against Dark Link sort of makes up for it, right?

The heroes are about to battle Morpha and venture through the Bottom of the Well in the next chapter... Until then! Please review!