GDL: Sorry I haven't been around. My hard drive had to be replaced, and then we had to get a new internet card. So, it's been a mess. I MISSED YOU ALL!
Disclaimer: I don't own the legend of Zelda. I never will. I don't own Jade or Kado either. I also don't own any other cartoons or franchises mentioned in this fanfiction.
Chapter 11: Can't Stand The Heat? Get Out of The Kitchen
-Cat's POV-
I felt like Mighty Max.(a/n: I don't own this. XD) Every time he fell out of a portal, he flew into something face first.
Jade fell right next to me, but she fell on her butt. She cursed about how much it hurt, but I just tuned it out. It appeared as if Link didn't care, as he was just standing there tapping his foot. Before we could do anything though, 2 fairies flew straight into our faces.
Jade yelled, "WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG? YOU COULD HAVE BEEN A HUGE HELP IN THE FOREST TEMPLE!"
I agreed, "YEAH, WHERE WERE YOU?"
They both chimed, "Uh...sleeping! Yeah..."
Jade and I sighed, "You guys are hopeless."
With that, we all finally went into the new version of the fire temple. We didn't know what to expect, yet fear was in our hearts, since we all knew how terrible the normal version of the fire temple was.
The new version of the fire temple was much larger than I remembered. Also, it was filled with fire keese and many torches. It was just an ominous message, showing that we'd have a lot to deal with in this temple.
Jade yelled, "Well, are you just going to stand there, or are you going to come and help us get through this hell hole?"
I mumbled, "Uh, sorry. I'll come in a second!"
I ran after Jade and Link to the best of my ability. Though, it was hard since I've always sucked at running.
Link asked, "What took you so long?"
Léra chimed in, "She's the worst runner in the history of the world."
I grabbed her by the wings and threw her behind me in annoyance. She flew up again fuming, but we continued on anyway.
The temple, with rock walls that glowed an angry red and a ceiling farther than the eye could see with stalactites dripping low to the ground, sharp and glinting maniacally, was a place I never would want to see again after this. The heat of fire brewing around us seemed to gurgle from below, sending the ground trembling every few seconds.
"I don't like it here," I stated bluntly, finding it hard to move an inch in this place, as if the walls would crumble around me, "Can we get out…now?"
Jade's anxious expression betrayed her own words, "Don't worry, Cat, we'll be fine… I'm sure of it…"
"Really?" I prodded, glancing up at her wary wide eyes.
She nodded rigidly, "Yup… What's the worst that could happen?"
Key sentence… I slapped her arm.
"Ow!" She winced, grabbing her arm, "What was that for?"
"What you just said!" I continued, "You could have just jinxed us!"
She smiled sheepishly, glancing at Link for help. "Sorry?"
Link grinned wryly, "Nice one, Jade."
"Shut up!" She scowled, pushing him.
"Well," I smiled, feeling much, much better, "I feel great. Let's hurry and finish the place before it collapses on us…"
"…W-what?" Jade's eyes widened in shock, skin growing a slight pale.
"Just kidding," I added quickly, laughing nervously. "Okay, seriously. Time to go."
So we stepped inside the first dungeon- where lava ruled overall and keese on fire squawked in our ears and singed our hair. See what I meant? We were so totally jinxed.
Jade's POV
Maybe Cat was right. I just jinxed us all.
"Link!" I screamed, having to dodge another one of his arrows as he aimed for this stupid keese that I swore hated us with a vengeance. Its ugly, salivating teeth bared at us as it swooped down over my head again, screeching evilly loud- enough to deafen me for a few seconds.
"Sorry!" He remarked, grabbing another arrow to aim at the keese.
"You're going to run out of arrows, you moron!" I snapped at him, "Stop trying to kill the stupid keese, or we'll never get out of here!"
"Yeah," Cat interjected, knees bended into a fighting stance as she eyed her surroundings for the evil keese. Her footing frightened me, as she balanced herself rightly on one of the many rickety, wooden bridges in the large dungeon. With lava bubbling up from below, we had to watch even more carefully where we stepped, which made it harder to focus on who or what we were fighting against.
"Watch where you swing that!" Link suddenly screeched.
"What?" I blinked, dropping my sword to the side for a quick second to glare at him. "I wasn't doing anything!"
"Yes you were," He snapped, pointing at his arm- more like his torn sleeve where I had been inches away from cutting his skin.
"Oops…" I smiled guiltily before sticking my tongue out at him.
"Watch out!" And I was thrown to the hard ground, somebody's elbow digging into my back and a knee pinning my leg to the ground while a sharp rock jabbed my side.
"Geh…ophh!" I croaked, spitting out dirt that gritted when I had ground my teeth and my tongue together.
"Sorry!" Cat squeaked, getting up.
"Ahh," I moaned, tasting blood on my tongue.
"What's wrong?" She asked.
"I bih mah hongue…" I answered, wiping my mouth after rolling onto my back.
"Haha," Link snorted, "That's what you get for nearly ripping me to shreds."
I thought twice about sticking my tongue out at him, and instead gave him the finger. "Hah!" But he had no clue what it meant, so I sighed and banged my head on the ground. "Ow…"
Link snickered, re-aiming his silver arrow at the swooping keese, as it screeched with delight, its orange eyes flickering maniacally. I would so have to kill that thing soon.
Catherine's POV
Reckless we were, stupid we were, slow we were, and clumsy…we were. This temple had us suffocating for air, groping for a way out. It new our weaknesses: our inability to co-operate with each other and multitask a billion hundred other things. We would kill ourselves if we were together for any longer. With Jade swiping like a madwoman any bitty bat that came flying through the air and nearly cutting Link's head off, and Link "unintentionally" aiming for Jade's head with his bow and arrows, and I nearly falling off every rickety bridge we came across…well, we would need a plan…and soon.
"Guys!" I hollered over at the two as we ran past a shooting skull engulfed in flames. It snapped its teeth at me, red eyes gleaming like a maniac's. Yuck.
"What?" Jade replied, her voice hoarse from the exertion. Definitely out of the three of us, she was beginning to lag. But I wasn't sure if it was her I wanted to…
"What, Cat!" Link suddenly remarked, shooting the skull until it lost its flame and began to do this hopping dance on the ground. Jade suddenly wielded her sword a bit clumsily, but swift enough to shatter the skull into pieces and create two, little red embers for us to run through. She stepped on one, and Link waited for me impatiently. He didn't look too tired, I tried to reason, and stepped on the last ember.
I felt re-energized, as an electric current pulsated through me, sending my adrenaline rushing and re-focusing my tired brain. Yeah, I was awake, now.
"I was thinking," I said, inhaling deeply with relief, "Maybe we should split up."
"What?" Jade said first, sheathing her sword before wiping her brow with the back of her hand. She didn't look as well as I felt, and I wondered suddenly how I looked to all of them.
"Well, yeah," I continued hurriedly, "I think we'll get much more done if we split up, and if one of us needs help we can send one of the…" I searched above my head for one of the fairies. "Léra! Yo, Léra!"
And then she flew out from my shoulder bag, her glow a faint red. "What?!"
"You better stay awake this time, lazy ass," I warned her, "You and your other uh- buddy. So, when one of us needs help you'll be there."
She bobbed up and down, red glow fading away ever slightly back to her normal hue. "Fine," she sighed, and then, "Véra! Wake up…! Lazy ass…" And then she disappeared in my shoulder bag again.
"Maybe Navi will have more luck," Jade joked; "Okay, we'll split up." Her eye alighted, and I could see she was a little more enthusiastic than I had thought she would be.
No worries, right?
"Okay," Link finally agreed, "Triple split or double?"
I raised my eyebrows innocently, "How many ways can we go from here?"
Jade turned her back to us, eyeing the highly hidden, nearly unidentifiable doors in the large, cave-like lava room. A few seconds later, she turned back to us.
"I count two others- not including the one we came from," she stated, "There's a locked door the way we came from, and all the other rooms we entered there didn't have any keys- well, there was one but we used that to get here. So, assuming the next dungeon key is in one of these next rooms, it'd be faster to split two-way."
"And then meet back here?" I suggested.
Jade nodded; "Sounds about right."
"Okay," I matched her excited expression with a little too highly excited tone. "So, who and who?"
"I…" Link began, but suddenly Jade interrupted with her own "suggestion."
"You two go together," she said quickly, walking backward- toward one of the rock encompassed doors, "I'll be fine on my own, okay? Véra, let's go! Bye!"
The fairy popped out of my shoulder bag, groaned an annoying, high-pitched tone, and then flew after Jade.
"Well," Link said with a small smile on his lips, "Ready to finish this temple?"
I returned the smile nervously, "Hell, yes."
Jade's POV
"You did a stupid thing, Jade," Véra squeaked into my ear, as she perched herself on my shoulder, as if someone had placed a piece of cotton ball there.
"What do you mean?" I remarked, glancing at her suspiciously.
"Well," she began with a tinkle of her noisy laugh, "You and Link weren't acting at all like a couple out there. Cat is going to get suspicious."
"What?" I laughed, "You're being ridiculous. Besides, I'm sure Link will hit base one in this temple."
"Huh?" She voiced.
"Nothing," I sighed, just as we reached our destination. "Ready to have the time of your life?"
"It better be what you say it is," she said, as I pushed the heavy, rock door to the side.
Cat's POV
"You think she'll be all right?" Link asked suddenly, as we stared at the horribly rickety-looking bridge in front of us.
"Why wouldn't she be?" I remarked, glancing at him suspiciously.
He noticed my pensive gaze and shrugged dismissively, "No reason. I'm sure she'll be able to handle it. But…she seemed…"
"Link," I patted his shoulder lightly, hoping to mask my impatience with him, "She'll be fine, I promise. Now stop worrying, okay?"
He sighed, "Okay… Ready to go?"
I nodded unsurely, "Sure." And then I glared at the ugly bridge, and then at the lava spewing under it dangerously.
Link walked off, sheathing his sword and then beckoning for me to follow.
"Okay…" I inhaled deeply, murmuring, "I can do this…I can do this…Ugh…"
"What's the matter?" Link suddenly asked, and I whipped my head up to look at him.
"I'm sick of bridges," I whined, stepping an inch closer to him and it, "I was lucky I didn't fall off the last one, and I don't think I'll come back if I fall down there."
He cocked an eyebrow, a small smile gracing his lips, "Come on; don't be scared. I'll help you."
I clicked my tongue in thought, wrestling with evil thoughts of plunging downward, before slowly nodding my head in assent. "Okay…" I watched in bewilderment as he reached out to take my hand.
He smiled reassuringly, as if holding my hand was absolutely nothing to him. I mean, what would Jade think?
"Trust me?" He asked, tugging my hand for me to follow.
"Of course," I said, heart fluttering inside my chest, "Why wouldn't I?"
Oh, screw Jade… and Kado.
Jade's POV
"Okay," I breathed in the sweet smell of sweat, igneous rock, and lilacs. Yeah, my fairy smelled like lilacs whenever she whirled around me. And I swore that that was the only reason I wanted her flying around my head every ten seconds.
"There's this ugly lizard to your right, and a skulltula up on the ceiling to your left," Véra said, as she scoped out the mini, oval-shaped dungeon with a perfectly squared out hole in the very middle.
"All right, ugly lizard," I muttered, unsheathing my sword and turning to the six-foot tall green lizard giving me the eye. It held a sai in each hand, and as he jumped, he twirled them around. They glinted a coppery gold, and then I realized blood had dried on the blade, covering most of the sheen of the blade itself.
I gritted my teeth, just as it let out a deafening shriek, its pink tongue lolling from side to side over its sharp, canine-like teeth. It was disturbing to say the least, so I turned my attention to the flimsy armor it wore. It was mostly leather twined with pieces of broken and bent metal along its pear-shaped form. His weak spot would most likely be his back- even if I hadn't seen it yet. It was my best shot, anyway, and I devised a plan as flimsy as the rusting armor on his chest.
When he lashed out at me with his first, hard-earned swipe of the sai, I dodged, meticulously keeping track of what he did and when he did it. I had to stand some place a while for him to strike, which meant I'd have to evade not only that but get around him to have a stab at his back.
So I did just that, as he swiped and struck, I evaded and ran behind him. It took a few tries, a few missteps- nearly falling into the square hole and down into the dark abyss. But my first strike at him seemed almost unbelievable. It had merely been a graze of his back- a cut of a string to his armor, but one step closer to killing the thing and cutting of its ear-blasting shrieks.
Another swipe- and I had grown too careless. Blood dripped down my arm from where he had sliced my skin and not to mention- my shirt.
"Son of a b-…!"
"Watch out!" Véra squealed.
I ducked down just in time, as the swooshing sound of the lizard's sai swiped where my head had been moments before.
"Thanks!" I said, ducking past the furious lizard and blindly swiping at it. It shrieked suddenly, and I smiled triumphantly.
My arms ached with every strike of the sword, as my muscles suddenly went on overdrive. But it was worth it, I guess. After about twenty more swiped and double the dodging, the lizard fell to the floor, voiceless and still, pink tongue lolling to the side of its mouth.
"Finally," I gasped, glancing at the bloody blade of my sword before sheathing it.
"That was fun," Véra said sardonically, swirling my head.
"Yep," I muttered, feeling my heart race.
The lizard lay dead on the floor, body and armor slowly disintegrating into the ground, leaving two, sharp sais in its stead. Cautiously, I approached the weapons- once the lizard's body had finally disappeared.
"A little treasure for me?" I said happily, picking up the sais. Their blades shone a golden hue, as my emblem of the star and sun engraved into the hilt. I placed them both through my belt and walked toward where I thought I had seen the violet-hued fairy go.
"Hey," her voice echoed in the room, and I glanced around me as I walked, searching for her; "Where are you going?! Stop!"
But it was too little too late. Something as big as my head with hairy legs and flaming red eyes dived to the ground mere inches away from me. Its ugly legs twitched, its big, beady eyes glaring. And before I could move an inch, it did a little three-sixty jig and smacked me down into the deep, dark abyss below.
GDL: Jade did 97 of this chapter. I'm going to do 97 of the next chappie in return.