Chapter 5: Boiling HOT
Link, Zelda, and Saria knew where they had to go. If they wanted to see Darunia, they had to go to Death Mountain. They had to stop for supplies first. They made a quick stop at Lon-Lon Ranch for food and transportation. If they wanted to go far, they needed something faster than their simple feet. When they arrived, Malon greeted her friends cheerfully.
"Hey, Link! Who are these?" She asked as she looked at Saria. She had only seen one person with green hair.
"It's a long story." Link said as he scratched the back of his head.
It took five minutes, but Link finally gave Malon the whole story.
"Ganondorf's BACK?! I thought you said you got rid of him!" She asked in a half-shout.
"Well, he did it. And this time, it's double trouble." Link answered.
Malon nodded in determination to help in any way and led them to the stables immediately.
"I'll let you borrow these horses." The farm girl said as she led two other horses toward them.
Surprisingly, There was a horse with green fur. Saria guessed this was hers, but one question plagued her mind.
"Excuse me, Malon? What exactly happened to this horse?" She asked as she pointed at it.
"Oh, Him?" She explained, "He wandered into the Lost Woods and came back this way. He was only a foal when it happened and it still hasn't worn off."
Saria blinked a few times and said, "Well, that explains why I heard a whinny a few years ago."
After they got their horses, they were off to the mountain.
At Goron City, the Gorons easily recognized Link. They knew what they had to do for the friendly rock people. After Link talked them out of a goron hug, they entered Darunia's chamber and the ground seemed to shake. When they tried figuring it out, they saw Darunia sprinting at Link at top speed. Link couldn't get the out of the way in time and felt his spine bend and his eyeballs bulge.
"Link! I missed you so much! How can I repay you for taking down that dragon?" The Goron boss asked.
"Stop trying to break me in half." Link strained as he was close to passing out.
"Deal." Darunia answered, and with that, he dropped Link. The impact of the fall only seemed to increase the pain.
"Hmm? Am I seeing things or is Saria all grown up?" Darunia asked as he furrowed his eyebrow. Saria rolled her eyes at the same question being asked again.
"I'll explain later." Link said as he put his vertebrae back into place.
He then pulled out the Light Medallion and pointed it at the big goron boss. Darunia looked puzzled when he saw the medallion. He only had enough time to say, "Wait a second…" before a beam of light aimed right for his forehead and Darunia went into a trance.
He was right in the Realm of Sages in front of a red sword. It too had egg-sized gemstones embedded in it, but instead of emeralds, they were bright red rubies. Its blade was wide and had bright orange metal. It also had a kind of dragon head down the center with wings that spread out. The blade of the sword appeared to be resting above the wings and the head. Darunia looked at the other swords and saw the forest one was missing.
"Darunia, I want you to pull this sword out of the pedestal. If you do, you will be able to fight the Evil that plagues the land alongside with Link." A voice said.
"Well, whatever you say." Darunia replied with a shrug, and with one hand, pulled the sword out. A swirl of red light and he was back in Goron City.
Darunia woke up to find the other three circled around him. He groggily got up and put a hand on his head.
"Link, I had the most peculiar dream. I dreamt I pulled a sword of the fire temple out of a pedestal." Darunia said as he rubbed his eyes.
"Um…Darunia? That was no dream. It was real." Link explained.
Darunia felt his back and, sure enough, pulled out a sword that was a little too small for him.
"Uh, Link? I might be able to make a sewing needle with this, but..."
Darunia was interrupted by a flash of red light and, right before his eyes, it grew to the size of the Giant's Knife.
"Whoa! How'd that happen?" Darunia asked as he inspected the sword in his hand.
"Magic. What else?" Saria answered.
Then, in a strange turn of events, Ganondorf/Majora spoke again.
"So, you beat my forest giant?"
The two suddenly appeared in a mixture of colored smoke and flame. Darunia saw it as a threat and popped his knuckles.
"Ganondorf." He said through gritted teeth. This almost made the evil pair laugh.
"Ah, The sage of Fire. How good to see you. I think you'll find my next servant as your fiery grave and demise!" Ganondorf/Majora taunted.
As they watched, the rock underneath cracked, revealing lava, which melted the rock like an ice cube. Suddenly the lava took form and turned into a giant, reptilian creature. Its lava skin was hot and in every color of the rainbow. It had Majora's sign on its helmeted forehead, glowing red eyes, four arms ending in claws as big as steak knives, and razor-sharp teeth.
"Meet Majora's Malevolence!" Ganondorf/Majora shouted before the creature let out a screech similar to Volvagia's.
Saria noticed the temperature in here was rising and it was almost as hot as the Death Mountain crater. She was a kokiri and not used to such extreme heat.
"It's too HOT! I can't take it!" Saria shouted.
She turned to Link and shouted in the same tone, "Sorry, Link. I can't help you now. You're on your own."
With that, Saria ran out of the mountain and decided to wait for them.
Meanwhile, Malevolence was slowly closing in on Link like a stalking leopard. Link was in a tight spot alright, Zelda could produce light magic, but Saria was gone.
"How am I going to fight this monster without light arrows?" Link asked, frustrated.
Before he could answer, a jet of rainbow-colored flame shot out of Malevolence's mouth and nearly burned Link to cinders. Link dodged it just when heat grazed his toes. Just when he hit ground, a tentacle came up to meet him and tripped the hero, burning him in the process. Link hadn't fought an opponent with this much heat since Volvagia, but the dragon was nothing compared to this. It wasn't just going to spew flames, but use tentacles like fiery chains and shoot lava and fire.
Suddenly, something bright hit Malevolence in the head. Link looked up just in time to see it happen again. Zelda was producing a light spell from her sword while Darunia put his fist in the light, jumped into the air, and slammed his knuckles into Malevolence.
However, the punches were only stunning Malevolence like the light arrows did with Gigas. Link thought for a while and remembered his fight with Volvagia. His opponent had a helmeted head and so did Volvagia. He would have to smash it if he wanted to get rid of it.
"Darunia! I need the Megaton Hammer!" Link demanded.
Darunia nodded, took out the heavy hammer, and tossed it to Link. Link caught it and almost fell to the ground. After a minute of getting up, Link gave the signal that he was ready. Darunia gave Malevolence another "Light Fist" and when the beast was stunned, Link smashed the beast's head with the Megaton Hammer. The creature shrieked in pain and clutched its head. Link noticed that the helmet was cracked and wasted no time in smashing it with the hammer again. The creature turned to whip Link away, but the Hylian proved too quick. When Link hit the lava monster two more times, Malevolence decided to take things into his own hands.
Link was about to jump again, but when he was close, Malevolence caught him in the midsection with his claws. Link ended up with four gashes in his chest and fell back. Link knew that Malevolence wasn't going to let him get anywhere close to his lava body. So Link pulled the hammer back and chucked it at the creation's helmet. The mask-like protection was smashed off and shattered like glass. Its face was dragon-like and had a glowing rainbow sphere right where the nostrils should have been.
"Whoa. No wonder he keeps that on. He needs to see if he can get a makeover." Zelda muttered to herself as a look of disgust spread across her face.
Link could hardly blame her.
Malevolence's attacks were becoming more voracious. It was spewing rainbow fireballs all over the arena, restricting Link's movement. The hero of time had to keep moving in order to prevent himself from getting scorched. Just when Link moved away from another fireball, a wall of fire surrounded him and began to close in.
"Oh no! I'm trapped!" Link said in a hoarse whisper.
Suddenly, someone shouted, "Link! Use this!"
Someone tossed something through the flames toward him. It was a goron tunic. And Link wasted no time in slipping it on. He went through the flames as though they weren't there. He felt like he got sunburn, but nothing worse. It was Darunia who saved him.
"Brother, I have a plan. I'll lead his attention away from you and you can hit him with your sword. If you can get that sphere on his snout, you can win." Darunia demanded.
Link understood and nodded. Soon their plan was in action. Darunia got in front of Malevolence with his fire sword in his hand. He was striking him to no avail, because his fire sword couldn't affect a fire creature. The creature batted the goron boss away like a baseball and Darunia ended up with a bleeding lip. Zelda tried her luck, but Malevolence was on to her. A spew of rainbow fire forced Zelda to defend with her light sword. Link then noticed the way Zelda was holding her sword, pointing right at Darunia. Link noticed a few arrows on the floor right where Saria was standing before she left. Link picked them up and thought of who did it.
"Saria. Thank you." He thought.
He then turned to Zelda and asked, "Zelda, I need you to keep that pose with your sword. Think you can hold it?"
Zelda nodded in approval and then Link turned to Darunia.
"Darunia, hold your sword and tilt it toward the orb!"
Darunia slowly got to his feet and held his sword up toward Volvagia. They both held their pose and awaited what Link was waiting for. Link whipped out his Fairy Bow, took careful aim, and fired an arrow at Zelda's sword. If it was off by one inch, the arrow would only hit its eye and he'd have to start all over again.
It ricocheted off Zelda's sword, bounced off Darunia's sword, and pierced Malevolence's orb. The magma beast howled in pain and clutched its nose. The arrow was sticking out of the rainbow sphere and was as painful to the creature as a large splinter is to you and me. Link didn't hesitate for a minute. He ran over to the creature's front and stuck his sword into his sphere. This one went all the way into the sphere. Malevolence screeched in agony as his body stiffened into a rainbow-colored rock. After he was completely petrified, he disintegrated into powder.
"NO! This hero is going to destroy us one at a time at this rate!" Ganondorf/Majora shouted as they watched the battle.
Luckily, Ganondorf remembered the Sage of Water all-too-well.
"Relax, Majora. I've already sent in your next servant." He assured.
Majora came back in control and said in a hiss, "I hope you're right."
In Lake Hylia, a creature was under its depths like a crocodile and silent as a ghost.
Three sages down and three more to go, the group couldn't stop now.
"Next stop is the Sage of Water." Link informed.
"Sorry, Link, I gotta sit this one out." Darunia said sheepishly.
"Huh? What're you talking about?" Saria asked as she shrugged with one arm.
"I swim like a stone." Darunia replied as he kicked the dirt.
Link nodded in acceptance and said, "Very well. You can wait in Goron city for us to return. We'll pick you up when we deliver the water sword."
Darunia shook Link's hand and nearly broke it. After Link put his knuckles and fingers in their rightful place, they were on their way. Soon it would be time to get wet and take the plunge.
Whoa. That was HOT!