The Legend of Zelda: Rings of Dualty

by FerreTrip

The Master Sword has -always- been carried by just Link. But when a threat so large, one alone is too little, comes, it's time to initiate a Plan B the goddesses made in three rings. Link must now share the legendary blade with...a lizalfos! This is gonna be different...A tale with dungeons original ones and other game mechanics woven into the plot. Please review if read!

4. The Empty Cavern

Samba grunted in pain as the swordsman struck him across his scaly swordarm, realizing he'd have to try harder. Instead of defaulting to his race's wait-for-an-opening-then-haymaker fashion that usually got them killed by skilled swordsmen, he decided to go the extra mile and do a wait-for-an-opening-then-strike-fast fashion of battle that the other one was using. They circled each other, waiting. Waiting. Then, without warning, both decided to just go for it. They raced to clash, swords raised. Suddenly, a female voice cried out in Hylian.

Samba gasped and opened his eyes, sweating. One thing came out of his whispering lips: "Vardi...!"

He jumped out of bed, still dressed in his clothes since he had been too tired to change out, and raced to Vardi's room. He noticed that it was still night.

BANGBANGBANG! "Vardi! Are you in there? VARDI!" he cried, scared for a reason his waking mind still had to grasp.

Nobody was there.

He gulped and took a look outside. It was still very dark, and not another light in the village was visible. He gaped as he realized why he was scared.

SLAM! He raced into Vardi's room. There was a bed and a crude dresser inside, as well as a rag doll of a lizalfos on the floor. No Vardi. There was a note, though, pinned to the doll. It was written in Hylian.

"I just don't feel right letting Rakeh and her mother go alone to try and feed her father. Don't worry or get mad, alright?" was all it said.

He stood, reading the note and holding the doll before it slowly dropped from his paw. "She...She..." He growled and swore, running to grab his practice sword, square buckler, belt, scabbard, bag of throwing pebbles, and side bag. "I canNOT believe it...she left anyway, the little liar!" he grumbled, worried sick and annoyed beyond belief simultaneously. He also thought about grabbing a torch, but decided not to, and let his night vision kick in for him. When at last he was ready, which meant grabbing a quick midnight snack of a loaf of bread, he stepped outside his house and into the dark village.

'Okay,' he thought, looking to his left and right as he walked to the walkway around the lake, 'where is that cavern...?' He then got an idea where, looking to the far end of the lake that ended in a subterranean river. The village stopped at a pretty sharp, high stone wall that had some flat areas, but not wide enough ones to build houses on. He nodded as he saw the crevace the river went through. 'In there somewhere...' He scampered off to the end of the village.

When he got there, he found he had to use his jumping and climbing skills to scale the myriad, randomly-placed flat areas of stone to the crevace. He managed it, though, and found that it entered about ten feet above the river. There were a few more "shelves" of rock jutting out to supply footing, so he was able to travel along.

As he went, his night vision reached full strength and he saw, just in time, some cave spiders jumping out at him. With a startled reptilian squeak, he raised his buckler in time and counterattacked. When the thing was about dead, he saw that there was another one a little away from him. With a sharp grin, he punted the weakened arachnid into the other one. Both collided and careened off the edge into the river below. "Die, you freaky bugs," Samba crowed quietly before continuing onwards. He had to jump across the river at some points, which frightened him a bit. Once, too, he had to reach some ivy hanging off a far edge. However, he saw there was a group of cave spiders spaced about the ivy. He took them each down with well-aimed bullet-like pebble throws.

At last, he began to see torchlight. "What...? Torches?" he wondered aloud softly, climbing a ledge. He continued on towards the light, which wasn't that much farther. He soon reached a long, broad ledge that led up to a single torch. It was by the entrance to an enormous cavern. Samba stopped in front of it and gulped as he felt a rumble as soon as he got near it. "The...The Empty Cavern," he whispered. He thought of Vardi. 'Mother trusted me to protect her...Nobody's gotten out of here alive...' He frowned determinedly and nodded. "...But I guess I'm going to have to try and make sure she's the first!" he declared, and with that, he charged into the cave.

.

As he entered, he discovered that the cavern wasn't empty, as the name implied. There were huge, purplish-blue, bioluminescent mushrooms along the brownish stone wall, providing light for the lizalfos. He saw that he was in a wide room with a few cave spiders crawling over to attack. He dispatched them easily, then found that there was a door of sorts in front of him. It was merely a circular slab of reddish-brown rock, it seemed, but when he pushed on it, it budged a little. He saw that there were enough protrusions on the side that he could roll it. He tried rolling it one way, but found it hit a wall soon inside, not providing much more than a foot-wide gap. The other way was difficult, since he saw it was a slight slope. So, rolling it the first way a ways, he grunted and thrust the stone the other way, rolling it up the slope easily. It cleared the space, and he dashed through before it came back, grabbing his tail moments before it was crushed.

He looked in front of him to the current room and gazed all around. It was huge, and had a bit of a gap separating him and a larger ledge, which had an ENORMOUS mushroom in its center. There was a ladder leading down to his broad ledge, which was a little higher up than the other one. He saw, with more huge mushrooms lighting the way, three doorways apart from the one he had just come through. One, down to his left in the gap, was locked, apparantly, since there was an X of iron chains holding a padlock in the middle. Another, to his left on the ledge he was on, was locked, too, or more barred; a few stalagmites obscured it. A third, dead ahead of him on the lower ledge, was perfectly clear of obstacles. He looked and saw that there were, indeed, torches, two of them; but they were unlit. Dry tinder lay within them, ready to be lit by nothing more than a spark. These were around the one that was blocked by rocks.

After pausing to wonder at this, he was alerted to the sound of skittering. He looked down at the bigger ledge below and saw something moving. Before jumping down, he glanced up and noticed that there was another level to this room. Above, room-wide rock shelves to his left and right were connected by two bridges of stone, BIG stones that laid across like fallen logs. He couldn't see much more than that, but he decided that he should make his way to the ledge below to see if someone was there. He jumped down and landed, looking around. "Hello? Is somone here? Vardi?" he called.

Suddenly, he was slammed by something to the side, sending him sailing down to the ground. He grunted and got up, looking at what it was that did it. It was a helmasaur, whose front end had met his thigh in a flying hello. "Oh, just one of you things," he growled, standing up. "Alright, then-c'mere," he coaxed, jumping back a little bit while wiggling his shield. "C'meeere!"

The helmasaur took a few steps back before, with a warsqueal, it charged at Samba. Samba sidestepped at the last second, shouting, "OLE!" before quickly turning around and leaping at the creature still running towards the wall. With a roar, he slammed a two-pawed sword strike into its flesh before attacking it normally. When he had finished it off, it let out a dying squeal as it fell to its side. Samba sighed and shook his head as he turned to the unlocked door. "Well, let's go," he said, and ran to it. He opened it the same way as before, dashing in and clutching his tail back before it got run over.

He found he was inside a corridor that curved off ahead. Instead of torches, there were, again, big mushrooms lining the walls. He was impressed at the wonders of nature as he walked along. He found that, as he went ahead and right around the bend, there was a crossroads. He could go left or right. To his right was a pile of rocks barring his way. Hoping that it wasn't recent, he turned left. He found a ladder going down, so he went down. As he slid down the sides, he found that it was broken at the bottom. Across from him when he reached the bottom was the broken-off piece. He jumped between the ladders and continued to slide down. He landed on the bottom eventually and found another door to the right of him.

After running through it, he found that he was precariously nearby a pit of stalagmite spikes. He was on a ledge inside a carved hole in the wall and found himself inside a fairly large room covered with stalagmites on the bottom. He also found a few flat rocks hanging from the ceiling at different levels by thick chains. "Who would build these and why?" he muttered. "Nobody's going in here..." He stepped to the edge and looked around to see if there was any way he could get across. He saw a strange, silver, eye-like thing embedded in the wall. It was so peculiar, he decided to see what would happen if he threw a pebble at it. As soon as it hit, the eye shut itself and a click was heard.

Suddenly, a stone platform that was hanging from the ceiling right above him lowered down to him. Raising his eyeridges, he jumped onto it. It was a little wobbly, but he could stay on. He then noticed that a platform that was out of reach for his jumping ability to his right was now nearer to the ceiling, underneath a ledge that it hung from. He looked at his platform and it before he nodded. He aimed at the silver eye and threw another pebble. It hit and he heard another click while the eye opened. The two platforms moved-his and the one to his right. He waited until the platform he was on stopped, hoping he wasn't about to get crushed. He didn't, though, and he found that there was no way for him to jump down to the platform that had just lowered, since the ledge it hung from-which had four holes in it to allow the chains that disappeared into the darkness above to go through-was right over where it was and was level with his platform while it was raised. He put a paw on his chin. "It's a puzzle," he muttered. "Vardi could figure this one out, but how she would have the means to fire an arrow or something into that eye, I don't know..." He decided to try something.

He hit the eye switch again and turned to the right while his platform began to lower again. While it lowered, he jumped over to the raising platform as soon as he had cleared the ledge. He grunted as he landed on it from a bit high. He looked up and saw there was no entrance above him on the wall he was nearby. He gulped as the ledge came closer and closer. "Oh, crap, no, NO!" He hit the deck and squeezed his eyes shut.

Suddenly, the platform stopped rising. He opened his eyes and looked around. He had standing room. He wasn't in any danger of being crushed. "I can't take any risks, though," he muttered as he stood and fired at the switch again. He went down, the first platform went up, and he saw a hole open from below as he went down, making him smile. "Finally, after four pebbles," he said, stepping off. He opened the door and ran in.

After the door shut behind him, he jumped back as the floor below him rumbled. He jumped back just in time, too, as some thin stalagmites shot up from the floor and blocked the door. "Shit!" He turned and looked at the room he was inside. It was cylindrical and appeared to go up with a spiraling ledge. The ledge was broken, though, as some parts of the spiral were higher up. In fact, every half circle was higher up than the other. He could jump up to them from the bottom of each, he estimated, using his powerful legs. He looked in the center of the spiral. There was a plant there, of all places.

"Huh?" he muttered as he walked over to it. Suddenly, it sprang up and grabbed him in its teeth. He grunted and fought to escape. He managed to push the deku baba's head away and execute a good combo on it. The third attack in his combo, a kick, stunned it straight up and the fourth "decapitated" it. As the monster withered away, he noticed that there were more on the ledges. "I'll have to make my way up this room, destroying the deku babas, to see how I can get out," he realized. With a nod, he ran to the beginning of the spiralling ramp.

He faced another baba at the middle of the ramp. He stopped before it snapped out at him and blocked it with his buckler. He blocked it again when it snapped at him and immediately executed another combo. As soon as its head was separated from its stalk, he continued on. He jumped and grabbed the edge above him when he reached the end of the ramp, pulling himself up and onto it before continuing.

He had to repeat this process four more times before he got to the top. With five ledges behind him now, he found the final baba and defeated it, watching its head fly down, down, down the center of the spiral. He hooded his eyes with his left paw and whistled. "That's a LOOOOONG way down," he muttered. "I'd better not fall..." He heard a crumbling sound from the direction of the door. "I think I did it!" he said joyfully. He looked to see if there was anything at the top ledge here. He saw that there was: A large niche to his left was in the middle of the ledge, in the wall (the ramps had wound upwards in a clockwise direction), held a large chest.

He approached it and, finding no lock, decided to see what's inside. He lifted the lid, a flash of light emitting from inside as he did. He shied away from the light for a moment, holding a paw up to his eyes while it glared, waiting for it to fade. It did, and he pushed the lid up the rest of the way. Leaning inside, he picked up whatever was inside with both paws, tail lashing as he wondered what it would be. He stood straight again, smiling at what he had gotten in his paws before turning around and holding it up.

"A MAP!" he cried in joy. "Now I can find out just where the heck I am in this place...I think..."

Quick note: Hey! Listen! I've got the map of this dungeon for your viewing pleasure! (Well, a pretty basic version, but it's better than nothing!) You can find it at (spaces and final period ignored): ferretrip . deviantart . com / # / d2vin9p . Read the two lists of notes there, and remember to hit "download" to pull up the actual pic in full view. It's mighty huge. I hope this makes the dungeon easier!

He studied the map and found that there were four floors to this dungeon. Right now, he was on 1F. Below him, at the bottom of the spiral, was BF1. He was about to continue back downstairs when he noticed something else in the niche. A lunchbox-sized rectangular right prism-shaped stone stood on a pedestal in a part that was hidden behind the wall of the main room. He tilted his head in curiosity as he went to it. After looking around and determining that there couldn't be any traps, he took the block. He tilted it around in his paws and found that it was pretty normal. "...Wait," he muttered as he was about to put it back. He looked again. "These edges are worn." The stone wasn't exactly a regular polyhedron-it was deeper than it was tall and shallower than it was wide when Samba looked at it from the biggest side that faced out when he had taken it from the pedestal. The edges around the part that formed the depth were the worn ones.

'This must be for another puzzle,' he thought. He took it with him, carrying it over his head for some reason as he went on. Maybe he felt more macho that way-who knows. He made his way-going, "Whee! Whee! Whee!" as he jumped from level to level-back down the spiral until he reached the bottom. He found no slot for the block when he went to the door, which had been, indeed, unlocked, he wrapped his tail around it to hold while he opened the door and ran through. He got to the ledge and found the platform was still lowered. He jumped on, set the block down, flipped the switch, and picked the block up again. He jumped over to the one that went down and noticed that, in the distance ahead of him, another platform lowered down as well. He also noticed another, higher-up eye switch to the left of the one he'd been using. A rock jutted from the wall to its left when he faced it from the room's first entrance. He kept these in mind. After hitting the first switch, he looked onto the ledge and found what he'd thought he'd seen before.

Three holes were in the wall: A rectangular one, a triangular one, and a hexagonagal one. He jumped over to it and decided to put his rock inside its appropriate slot. It slid in and fit perfectly. He smiled and turned around. "I think I've got a puzzle on my paws," he said. "I don't know what for, but I need to do it, since I don't think there's any other way to go on..." He got back on the one that was raised and looked around at the platforms and looked at his map. There were two floors to the room he currently inhabited: 1F and B1F. After orienting himself, he found he was on 1F and that there was a door on the same wall as he had originally entered the room from alllll the way at the far end of the room, the top on the map. He wondered if that was north, but he wasn't quite sure down here. 'I need a compass or something,' he thought.

He decided to try and hit the second eye switch first. This one was on 1F, the second on B1F. He hit it and observed three platforms in the left-paw side of the room to him moved. The closest platform to him (looking down on the map, which showed the platforms on both levels) moved up to 1F, the second-closest stayed, the second-farthest moved down to B1F, and the farthest-which was in front of a door-moved up to 1F. "How the hell they have done this all is beyond me," he muttered, crossing his scaly arms before he heard flapping. He looked up and saw that four keese, which had been hanging from the bottom of the farthest platform and had been disturbed, were screeching towards him. He grumbled and fought them. He had a little trouble, though, since one went behind him while he dealt with another. It rammed him and pushed him towards the edge of his platform.

With a frightened "REEH!", Samba grabbed the edge of the platform with his left paw before he slid off, digging his claws in as much as he could (and wincing at the feeling of scratching stone). He quickly hoisted himself up onto the platform, which had tipped a little on his side. He pulled himself up chin-up style because he's macho like that and slashed the keese who had hit him, the one he SWORE was laughing at him. "I think I know why nobody's made it out of here alive, now," he muttered. He dealt with the remaining two before he decided to get across the newly-raised path for him.

He had to jump a bit precariously, since the chains on the corners of the platforms made it a bit of a squeeze, but he was able to make it to the first platform. He had to jump a bit farther than he thought he should because of the corner chains making a quick step between that platform and then next impossible. He made it, though, and found the next jump a simple one with lots of clearance. He hopped over to the niche to his left and opened the door.

He entered a corridor facing a wall. He turned left and found trouble in the form of, of all things, bokoblins. "What the-?" Samba muttered before he walked carefully over to one. "What are you guys doing here?" he asked.

Sadly, Blinese, a language spoken by both bokoblins and moblins, was a very different language than Lizalfos. The bokoblin raised its head as it heard the strange, threatening-sounding language and turned to look at Samba with its beady eyes. It shouted something as it raised its club, probably a warcry, and it scampered over to Samba.

Samba raised his eyeridges at this before narrowing them and getting into stance. "Well, I'm sorry, but I'm in a hurry," he said. "We may both be monstrous, but I guess one can't avoid opposition all the time..." The two did combat for a few moments, Samba's swordsmanship, big feet, and strong tail getting the better of the beast. He shook his head after he defeated it and was about to sheathe his sword when he found that there were two others. He dealt with first one, then both of them. After the corridor was cleared, he found it wasn't a corridor anymore.

He was still on a stout path as wide as the corridor, but he was now on the second half. He discovered a big room in front of him. Facing the southern(?) end, he found that the ledge ended a bit away from protruding, rounded, smooth rock that, according to his map, roofed another room that went below this one. He heard deep grunting below and couldn't help gulping. "I'll deal with that one later," he muttered. He looked to the long edge of the rectangular ledge. His eyeridges went up again as he saw a series of small, tall pillars of stone. They were rounded and resembled tall stepping stones. They were all over the room. The first set, the one in front of him, was of only three in a straight line, spaced moderately from each other. He noticed there was a stone ledge below them that led back to his ledge, complete with a ladder. 'Good, if I'm rusty, I'll have a bit of a safety net,' he thought.

The stepping stones led to a big, square stone that rose from the darkness below, from which all of the other stone stepping stones came. 'Who knows how deep that pit is?' Samba gulped. He shook his head. 'I have to keep looking for Vardi. She's in here somewhere...I haven't heard her or smelled her yet, though...' He shook his head and went the only way he could: forwards. After jumping off of the edge, he landed one footpaw on the stepping stone. He didn't have long to stay, though, or else his balance would fail him from his momentum. So, quickly, just about as soon as he had landed, he jumped again to the next stone, landing on his other footpaw. He hopped along the path, using his race's knack for jumping, especially for hopping from one foot to the other.

He, like other lizalfos, tended to make short, quick hops ahead in a dash when he found some prey, though this drained him a little bit if he dashed too much. He also tended to hop between his footpaws when in a combative stance. With so much hopping from one foot to the other, it's not difficult to understand that lizalfos are excellent at hopping across small stepping stones quickly. In fact, the only normal entrance to the village was a cave that bore a deep pool, over which were more of the stepping stone pillars like he saw now. This was the only way across. If one fell into the pool, not only was it unpleasant, it was also impossible to get up on the side of the village. (They had carved a ladder into the wall of the exit's ledge, though. This was done after many people coming in and out complained about the stench and cries of the people, dead or alive, who had fallen in.)

Right now, though, he faced a challenge. He discovered that there were four more platforms to go, three around the perimeter of the room and one in the center, which had a wall facing him and the right wall, directly across from the platform that he went do next after hopping across a curving set of stones. He had to hop right to the side at the end to reach this next platform. He noticed that there was a strange white crystal sculpture embedded in the floor that reached up to half his height. It was carved into the shape of a flame, and appeared to be filled with light grey...something. He tilted his head curiously. 'I think I remember Ko saying something about there being some crystal sculptures scattered about Hyrule that activated something when you hit them,' he thought. 'I wonder...' He struck it with his practice sword. It bounced off, but the light or whatever inside lit up blue for a moment before turning back to grey. He looked around. Nothing. He shrugged and looked at the next set of stones ahead of him.

Six stones, arranged in a backwards Z, stretched from his platform to the next. They were more irregularly spaced, and he had to deal with the risk of falling if he didn't react in time. He had only at most a second to react before it was too late and his momentum carried him ahead. He made it to the platform, though, finding that there was a helmasaur for him to deal with. He dodged just in time to avoid being knocked off right after he landed on the ledge. The helmasaur tried to brake after finding it had missed its target, but as it did, it slid off the edge and into the depths. Samba couldn't help but laugh in surprise and humor at how the creature, probably surprised, itself, made no sound as it disappeared off of the ledge. He sighed and continued on to the next platform, nestled in a corner of the room and holding the entrance to another room. The door was barred by stalagmites, though, and he wondered if the switch opened it. He shrugged and hopped across the straight path with only one kink in it.

He found that he had one more path to go across before he reached the platform. It went from the corner of his square ledge into a double 90-degree "S"-like arrangement of four stones spaced far apart from each other. He could hop them easily, though, and he cheered as he made it, pumping his arms. "That was WAY more fun than anything around the village!" he shouted. He then remembered he's supposed to be looking for Vardi and sighed. "Well, at least this place isn't ALL that bad, I guess." He looked at the platform he was on and found that there was one thing taking up all of the space on this ledge: another pedestal carrying a shaped rock. This time, it was a long triangular prism-shaped rock. "A keystone!" he declared triumphantly.

He put his sword away and picked it up off of the pedestal, holding it over his head. He noticed that this time, as he took the keystone, the pedestal began to slowly lower into the platform. He squeaked and ran to the stepping stones. He was able to jump across them even while holding a big rock over his head. (His holding position helped keep his balance here, since the extra weight was centered.) As soon as he reached the next platform, he turned to see what would happen to him.

The pedestal finished sinking into the platform with an echoing THUD. He gasped as he watched a chest suddenly materialize on the spot the pedestal had been. He blinked a moment before setting down the keystone on the platform he was on, since he had no real room on the one in the middle, and hopping back to the other platform. He was too busy to hear the flapping sounds that had begun around him.

After opening the chest, he smiled and pulled out a compass. "This ought to help," he said. He gasped as, suddenly, the map and compass he found glowed breifly. When it faded, he discovered that there were now special markings on the map. There was now a compass drawn onto the map, and, indeed, the wall from which the sloped roof rock he saw before was the southern wall. He smirked and put the items away in his side bag. 'Gotta love magic,' he mused. Then, he noticed that there was a keese right in front of him. "YIPE!" He raised his buckler before it charged and watched, blinking, as it suddenly fell, fluttering feebly, down below. "I think I know why they call this place the 'Empty' Cavern," he muttered as he looked up again, seeing that this was his chance to get to the other platform and taking it. "That's what everyone's heads are in here!" He chuckled a moment before getting back to fighting.

He had to fight off waves of five keese, the waves separated by the platforms, but he eventually made it to the end with his keystone. Scampering down the corridor, he put the stone prism in his tail and opened the door, dashing out before the final wave came at him. He breathed a sigh of relief, out of the annoyance that is keese. He jumped back onto the hanging platform and made his way back to the keystone slots. With a triumphant grunt, he shoved the stone into its slot. He then turned and referred back to his map.

"The next stone's in a big...uh...woah..." He saw a room that spanned all four floors: B1F, 1F, 2F, and 3F, where it had the esteemed honor of being the only room on that floor. It contained a meandering path that confused his eyes as he followed its route up, down, and around the floors. At the end of it, on the fourth floor in the southeastern corner, was the hexagon keystone. He grumbled and shook his head. "I'll get to that later," he said, putting the map away. "I don't have time to get all confused like that."

He decided to hop back to the platform he started on and lower it to get to the room below, desiring to explore the area. He tossed a pebble at the second switch after he got around to a spot where he could hit it because of the stone jutting out on its left side (the northern side). He held onto a chain as the elevator lowered him down. He saw the entrance to the room he was reluctant to enter across from him when he reached the basement floor again. He ignored it and turned to face his new challange.

Upon reentering the room he had just left two minutes ago from a different location, he found another corridor like before. He turned left and found nobody around, and that torches lit the path instead of the large mushrooms he had become used to. Puzzled, he cautiously continued onwards. The floor, he found, was made of marble, for some reason. It was different to feel smooth marble instead of the tannish rocks he had become used to seeing all over the place. (Well, alright, the hanging platforms were grey, but what's the difference? They're all normal, everyday rocks, to him.)

Upon rounding a corner, he found a curving balcony with white pillars supporting the stone ceiling above him. He widened his eyes at all of this abrupt change in architecture. 'Really, why is this called the Empty Cavern? It's...It's so far from empty...' He narrowed his eyes suspiciously, frowning. 'I think the elder's got something up his snout...' He looked at his map and found that there was another, shorter curved wall opposite of the balcony edge he faced at the northwest. There appeared to be a chest past that. 'Chests are always good,' he thought. 'The more rooms I can explore, the sooner I can get to Vardi.' He was getting worried that she was still nowhere to be seen yet.

Putting the map away, he continued to the balcony. He paused and looked around, getting a bad feeling. Suddenly, the openings behind him and to the south (between the normal stone wall and the end of the curved one he had seen before) were sealed by a sudden spike in stalagmites, like the ones that barred doors sometimes. He looked behind him. 'What the-?'

A deep growling was heard behind him. He turned and slowly looked up at a crack in the ceiling, jaw dropping as he heard a loud pounding sound from it. The crack grew and grew until a beast, vaguely humanoid in shape and covered with rocks, fell down amidst a shower of rubble as it escaped from its prison. Samba gasped at it. It looked...It looked almost like a lizalfos! "What the-? A lizalfos?" he muttered, raising his buckler. He drew his sword, though, and got into stance as the stone beast pounded its chest.

The battle began when the beast, growling madly, stomped towards him at a remarkable speed given how heavy it must have been. Samba waited, ready to roll to the side to avoid its attack. It reached him and raised its arm to swing. Samba rolled aside and dodged the slam that caused a small crater in the floor where he had been. He found a patch on its back that wasn't rocky and gasped as he saw green scales and lizalfos clothing peeking out. "What HAPPENED to you?" he cried in astonishment.

The stony lizalfos didn't care, though. It swung around in a circle, flailing its arms and tail as it struck poor Samba away. With a roar of agony, Samba slammed into the pillars of the balcony. He was extremely relieved that they had stopped him for a moment before he saw an angry stoney lizalfos running at him, trying its best to hop along. Samba squeaked and rolled aside just as it came. WHAM! It slammed into the pillars and appeared to be stuck, since its head wasn't coming back out from between them right away.

Samba saw that he had a chance to attack and, reluctantly, took it. He landed a good combo on the exposed back, making it emit reptilian cries of pain. When he was finished with his four-hit attack, Samba hopped back as the beast pulled its head out, finally, and turned to look at him. Some rocks crumbled away from its body as it jerked itself free. Its body was a bit more exposed now. However, it was also faster. Samba tried blocking a quick hit, but was knocked off balance and given a sore arm from the blow. He ended up getting hit with a left hook, slamming him into the wall. He got up and ran away before it came at him again. 'How can I lure it to charge at me again by the pillars WITHOUT getting broken bones?' he wondered.

He was at the pillars again, and he evaded in time to avoid the charge and fake out the stoney lizalfos again. He landed another combo and stepped back again. More rocks tumbled down when it pulled free of the pillars. An eye became visible as one of the rocks that tumbled away from his head freed it. Samba saw it was bright red and glowing. 'He's possessed!' Samba realized.

The stony lizalfos was now, quite frankly, pretty pissed at Samba. It roared and hopped over to him, making loud BRAM sounds as it hit the ground with each step. When it got over, it immediately reeled back to hit him. Samba dodged and rolled aside again, but this time, he crouched and raised his buckler. He avoided the spinning arms and blocked the tail, though it set him off balance and sliding a few feet backwards. He scampered to the side at the pillars. "C'mon!" he beckoned, waving his arm.

The beast ran at him, roaring as it charged onwards. Samba was just barely able to avoid getting sandwiched between it and a pillar in time. With determination, he set to his final combo. Slash, stab, slash, spin attack! He stepped back again as the stoney lizalfos roared in agony. It fought to free its face again. With each tug, more stones fell. After the third one, it freed so many stones that its head was cleared entirely, save for its face. It stumbled back, dropping stones as it put its paws to its face, groaning in agony.

Samba gulped, a cold feeling in his chest. "A...Are you okay?" he asked, approaching it and raising a paw.

The beast suddenly thrashed around, roaring as it slammed its arms into the wall, beat its tail against the pillars behind it, stamped its feet against the floor, and shook its body from side to side, especially its head. Samba hid behind his buckler as rocks flew off of it. Soon, it had created holes all over the place and had broken a pillar. When Samba no longer felt or heard rocks flying out, he peeked out and gasped. Before him was a HUGE lizalfos, with the biggest arms, tail, body, EVERYTHING he had ever seen. A tattered leather loincloth adorned his waist and a black, torn vest hung from his shoulders. His face was still covered in a mask of rocks, though, except for the eye revealed before. He flailed around more, though slowing down. He started to punch himself in the face a few times.

Samba grimaced and ran over. "STOOOP!" he cried. He grabbed an arm and hung on with all his might. The lizalfos stopped and panted a moment, looking at Samba, before falling to his knees and then to his side. Samba gaped in horror as one of his fellow beings fell for what might be the final time...and it was because of him. He never wanted to kill any of his fellow lizalfos. Never. He crouched down to the hard-breathing face, setting his sword down. "Come on, we'll get this off," he said, grabbing a rock and pulling. It wouldn't budge. He also found that the rocks had suddenly turned red. He backed away, picking up his sword again, after more failed attempts. The lizalfos lay there, panting beneath his mask. He hadn't disappeared yet, like the other enemies Samba had defeated before. "He's still alive..." he muttered. He didn't know if he could do anything, though, so he turned to the only entrance open for him right now, the one to the other part of the room.

He entered and found inside a large chest. He opened it and found, to his surprise, a scroll. He brought it out and held it up. The parchment it was made of some sort of monster's hide, he didn't know what, and tied with a red ribbon. He walked back out to the balcony, where he had better light from the torches, before he opened the scroll.

Suddenly, as his eyes looked at it, he was hit with a burst of light from the parchment. An image filled his mind as it did. He saw a pebble being held in his claws. Suddenly, the pebble set itself ablaze. He saw himself throw it at a particularly dry-looking unlit torch. It sparked as it struck, igniting the torch and illuminating himself back to staring at the scroll. He blinked a bit before he realized that he'd been shown a vision. Shaking his head, he read the scroll. To his surprise, as he read the instructions for something, he realized that he was getting the feeling that you get when you're rereading something and you think you're wasting time, like when you're in the middle of going over the same sentence you just read again. He raised his eyeridges in amazement. "I learned...I learned a spell!" he whispered. He looked to see if there was any more useful information on the scroll.

"'The Fire Pebble Spell. This spell allows you to ignite any small rock you hold in your grasp with the intent of throwing it. When you hit something with the flaming stone, it will cause a great spark that will set ablaze things that are particularly dry, as well as harm foes much more than a simple pebble would. There are also special stones and crystals in this world that react in unique ways when a large spark is set upon them. Keep in mind that one's magical energy will deplete when casting the spell,'" he read. After a moment, he rolled up the scroll, tied it shut again, and put it in his bag, growling thoughtfully. "What does it mean, I wonder? What kind of stones?" He looked at the lizalfos still lying on the floor and raised his eyeridges. "Maybe...glowing red ones?"

He fished for a pebble in his bag, finding out he was running a bit low on them. He looked at the mask, seeing it was a relatively still target. "Well," he muttered, tossing the stone up and down in his paw, "it can't hurt if I hit a rock on his face, could it?" He held the stone in his claws and silently cast the spell, using little more than a thought to make it work. 'I've got a knack for this, don't I?' He aimed and fired with usual precision.

SNAP! A large, loud, bright spark erupted from the point of contact, just as the scroll described. The red stone he had hit glowed bright white. The ones around it glowed one after the other, and soon, the whole mask was ablaze with white light. The lizalfos wearing it roared and shut his eye as the mask glowed. Samba wondered if he'd hurt him. Then, as he raised his face upwards and let out a final roar, clenching a fist, the stone mask exploded apart, sending stones flying straight off all over the place. Samba blocked one before it hit his nose.

"RRRROOOAAAAAAAAUUUUGGHH!" The lizalfos' voice became less beastlike and more lizalfos-like as soon as the mask came off. After the roar ended, he moaned and slowly fell back again, eyes shut.

"NO!" Samba ran over and shook him, a look of horror on his face. "Hey! Are you alright? Please tell me you're okay! Please!"

Slowly, with a groan, the lizalfos opened an eye. A normal slitted pupil surrounded by a green iris looked back up at Samba. "Urrrghgrrr...Y...You..." he muttered before closing his eye and hissing inwardly. "Graaaaaugh...Ow...my body...feels so...sore..."

Samba frowned sympathetically. "I'm sorry, but you were some big rock monster and you attacked me," he explained. "I had to defend myself...I'm sorry..."

The lizalfos grunted as he held his head. "My head...my back...Everything hurts...My muscles are screaming at me..." He panted heavily.

"Come on, let's sit you up," Samba said, getting him up into a sitting position carefully (with difficulty-the guy still felt like he was made of rocks).

"Th...Thank you..." the lizalfos said, opening his eyes a bit while he leaned against the wall. He panted for a moment while he looked at Samba. "...You...A...Are you...Samba...?" he asked. Samba nodded. "Why are you...you here? The Empty...Cavern is dangerous...Urrrgh..." He winced at the pain he felt.

Samba frowned worriedly and looked to see if he had ANYTHING in his bag that could help the poor guy. He raised his eyeridges as he saw a glass bottle he had with him. "That's right! I've got blue potion!" he muttered, pulling it out. "Nobody from the village of Jgk'hry leaves without a bottle of this stuff if they can help it at all." He uncorked it and held it to the lizalfos. "Here, drink this, it's blue potion," he said softly.

The lizalfos widened his eyes. "You're giving me...something this valuable...in a vile place...like here?" he asked.

"Listen to yourself-you can barely talk right," Samba said. "I'm afraid I just about killed you; I don't want that to be true. Drink it, please. NOW."

The lizafos smiled thankfully up at him. "Thank you..." He took the bottle and downed it in one gulp. He gave the bottle back to Samba, licking his lips. "Ugh, this is awful...but I'm used to it, working around...the vats...Phew, wow, this is kicking in great, though!" he chuckled. Color began returning to his skin and his tounge, which had been turning a frightening shade of purple, was turning back to a healthy pink. "Aaaaahh..." He closed his eyes as his strength returned and the pain vanished. "Mmmmmmm...Hey, don't tell anyone, but I sometimes sneak a drink of this stuff because this feels so good...Pure relief and energy pounding its way through your veins in moments? I don't care if it tastes like shit!" He laughed as he sat up more, stretching his legs.

Samba breathed an enormous sigh of relief. "HRRROO! Oh, my gosh, I was scared shitless I'd taken the life of one of my own," he said breathlessly. He smiled, heart calming down again while he wiped the rim of his bottle on his shirt before corking it and putting it away again. "There. I'm sure that I can keep my strength up through those weird hearts I've been finding in some rocks around this place, so don't worry," he told him. He wasn't quite certain he could last with just hearts, though. He remembered that this place contained a beast known as the Leviathan of Stone. 'Vardi, don't be inside there, please...' he thought.

The lizalfos nodded. "Thanks, Samba," he said. He stood up, towering above Samba, and stretched his arms. "OOOooohmm, yeah, I feel like a million ruppees, and just seconds ago, I was sure I was a goner!" he described. He put a claw in his hip while he looked down at Samba as he stood. "So, what're you in for?" he asked.

Samba raised his eyeridges. "I'm not in for anything," he said. "That is, well, to find my little sister, Vardi..." He looked down in worry. "I still haven't even caught her scent yet..."

The lizalfos widened his eyes. "What the hell's she doing down here?" he asked. "I got exiled here, but..."

Samba raised his head sharply. "Wait, did you say you're..." he began before he narrowed his eyes. "I think I know who's the reason here...Tell me, did you come here just recently because of a fight at the vats?" he asked.

"Hmm? Yeah, I came here just yesterday, in fact, and because I started a fight at the vats," the lizalfos said, surprised look on his face. "How'd you know?" he asked.

"Because your daughter, Rakeh, came home tonight...or last night, I dunno if it's morning yet or what...and cried about how her father was getting thrown in here," Samba answered, pointing at him. "She and your wife came down here to bring you food and I'm sure Vardi went after them to help them out because her heart's too big for her brain to handle, sometimes. You're essentially the whole cause of this, but I'm not going to blame you for such a weird, harsh punishment for socking someone when they carelessly dumped potion over your footpaw," he said.

Rakeh's father gasped in horror, stepping back and raising his arms. "N...No..." he whispered. "My family..." He gritted his teeth in worry. "Oh, my...Samba! Wait! You..." He pointed at him. "I remember seeing you holding a scroll. Where'd you get it?" he asked. "If I can get it to the chief, he might-"

"I got it in the other part of the room over there," Samba said, pointing. "I doubt that he's going to bring you back up now that I have it, let alone send someone down to find the girls. I'm sorry, but...I'm going with Ko on this one. I ain't giving it to the cheif." He clenched a fist and looked determined.

"Ko? Shit..." Rakeh's father looked worried again as he looked away. "I hope he doesn't get in trouble, either...he's a great teacher for Rakeh and a friend of mine..." He gripped his head with his big paws as if it were about to explode. "My family...your sister...and now Ko are in danger...I'm so sorry!" he said. He looked up and beat a fist into his palm, looking determined as well. "I'm going to help you. Come on." He turned to the stalagmites and reeled his fist back. "Rargon..." He thrust it forwards and blew away the rocks entirely, as if they were nothing but styrofoam. "...PUUUUUNCH!"

Samba blinked at this for a second before shaking his head and scampering over as who must have been the biggest lizalfos in the village started off, his footfalls making very quiet slamming sounds. "Rargon, is it, then?" he asked, getting beside him.

"Yeah." Rargon got to the door and was about to hit it, too, but Samba ran over and opened it. He looked as Samba looked back, showing that there was a simple way for things, sometimes, and put a paw on the back of his neck. "I'm getting a bit anxious, I'm sorry," he apologized. "I'll hold that thing open, don't worry. Let's go."

Samba and Rargon came out to the platform. They jumped on and Samba gulped as the weight settled on the chains. "I hope this thing doesn't break..." he muttered. He aimed and fired a normal pebble at the second switch again. "I've got an idea. You go do what you want, but I'm going to go back and see if I can get somewhere new." He turned around to go through the door to the top level of the room he'd left.

Rargon crossed his beefy arms to think for a moment. He then jumped over, opened the door with a roll, and, holding the stone back with his arms, ducked in. "I'm way too big...I think I've been drinking too much blue potion...It does a body WAY too much good..." He turned and jogged after Samba. "Wait for-me?" He skidded as he saw Samba jump so lightly across the stepping stones. He sweatdropped. "Crud. I AM way too big...I'd break those if I tried hopping across!" He sighed in defeat, hanging his arms and ironically chuckling. "And I doubt I can jump across that far...Not enough room for a running start...Oh, guys WANT to be big, but they don't know the half of the trouble it causes..." He continued lamenting the downfalls of being twice as big as other adult lizalfos.

Meanwhile, Samba was on the platform with the crystal switch. He cast Fire Pebble and hit it. As he had hoped, the flame-shaped crystal lit red and a click was heard, then a grinding. He turned and watched a whopping FIFTEEN stepping stones rise from the pit. They were colored oddly-more colorful than natural for rocks. He raised his eyeridges as he realized what they were, smiling. "Tone stones!" he said. He smiled as they stopped in front of him. "Fifteen...let's see if I can make it..." He jumped on the first one. When his footpaw touched the stone, it hummed a low musical note.

He jumped from each one to another, going forward first, then making a little square "C", then zig-zagging a bit as he went by the walled platform's eastern wall, then, going west now, straight a bit before zigging once more and going a bit curved before landing on the platform. As he did, he made one last note. As he went, he slowly played a familiar melody that he couldn't quite place, but sounded appropriate inside a cave.

After he had landed on the platform, the door right to his left became unbarred, the stalagmites sinking back into the ground and leaving no trace behind. Samba wondered at this for a moment before he turned and shouted. "STAY THERE!" he instructed the adult. "I'LL BE BACK IN A BIT, I HOPE!" He then turned and went through the door.

He faced a stone staircase going up. He trotted up, finding a few small rocks that left behind perfectly-sized pebbles for him to pick up, and some that left some strange green bottles. He raised an eyeridge as he looked at one's contents. "It's a little bit of green potion," he determined after taking a sniff. He shrugged and drank any he found. At the top, he turned right and then left, finding some strange enemies that appeared to be winged skull-shaped rocks, but they floated around in the air and tried to ram him. He blocked with his buckler, and they turned red and fell to the ground, where they bounced around helplessly after a few seconds. He couldn't aim well while they bounced so erratically, so he disposed of them with a Fire Pebble as soon as he'd blocked them. They broke apart after touching the spark.

"So THAT'S how you beat gargoyle bubbles!"

Samba turned and found Rargon climing up the last step. He had an impressed look on his face. "I thought I told you to wait," Samba said.

"I'm a grown-up, I can handle looking for my own family," grumbled the great reptilian, crossing his arms. "Now let's get going."

Samba nodded and ran ahead to the door on the left he found ahead. He opened it, ran through, and heard a CRUNK! as Rargon stopped it with his arms while he climbed through. Sweatdropping, Samba commented, "Yeah, you're WAY too big." He turned back around and saw he was back, of all places, in the first real room he'd entered. "Well, I'll be damned, I'm back here again after an hour," he muttered. He examined his surroundings. "Those bridges DO look like fallen stone trees..."

"That's 'cuz they are," Rargon said, gently stomping over and patting the pillar in front of him with a smile. "It's petrified wood."

The two had gotten to 2F, and were currently on the northern half of the western shelf of the two Samba had seen when entering the dungeon. Indeed, two huge bridges of stone stretched across the two shelves like fallen logs, because, as Rargon had said, they were giant petrified tree trunks. "They must be made of Invincelm," Rargon commented, knocking his knuckles on the round bridge's end. "I think most petrified wood wouldn't make a good bridge this big."

Samba shrugged and leaped up onto the bridge. He went out to the middle and found it was all alright. "For me, at least," he said. "There's no door ahead, only a small chest. You might wanna stay there or wait until I'm across."

There was a door on the other side, though-just it was on the other side of a stone partician (that how it's spelled?) on the shelf's middle, just like on the shelf that Samba had just left behind. He got to the chest that was at the other end of the bridge and opened it quickly. No light came from it as he did, to his relief. He came up and held up a small key. "It's a small key," he stated the obvious. "Any idea where to?"

Rargon had been balancing across the bridge, which was letting a few gravel-sized bits down threateningly. He looked up and at the key. "Oh, those things are usually pretty universal in these dungeons," he said. "You can use it on any locked door."

"You know this...how?" asked Samba, eyeing the locked door at the southwestern end of the floor below.

"I did a bit of dungeon-crawling when I was younger," Rargon answered. He followed his gaze and raised his eyebrows. "That looks as good a place as any," he said. He looked down at the ginormous mushroom below in the center of the room. He smirked and hopped down onto it. He landed on it and bounced off, the thing surprisingly holding up to his weight. He landed on the ground and beckoned. "Come on, it's fun!" he coaxed.

Samba nodded and hopped to the bridge. He jumped off of the center and bounced off of the fungus to safety. "That's helpful," he said, dusting himself off.

"I probably could've survived if I just jumped off normally, though," muttered Rargon, looking up at the bridge. "We could have avoided hurting the thing..." He felt a thump at his footpaw and looked down. "Hello, there!" he said brightly to the helmasaur that had bounced back from an unsuccessful ram. "I met one of your buddies when I was jumping like I've never jumped before back in that stepping stone room!" he told it, smiling at it.

Samba tilted his head as he watched what was going to happen.

"He was just as happy to see me, too!" Rargon continued, crouching down and putting his paws on his knees as he looked at the stupid beast with a scary-happy face. The helmasaur blinked, sweatdropping. "You wanna know what I did?" the lizalfos asked it energetically. Then, he rose and punted the thing clear across the room, defeating it as soon as it slammed into the wall ten feet above the floor. Rargon stood again, putting a fist on his hip and opening his jaw in smiling surprise. "Well, what do you know! He was just as thrilled, too!" he said.

Samba burst out laughing, shaking his head while holding his knees. "I'm glad you've still got a bit of a sense of humor despite things," he said after a moment.

Rargon took a bow. "I try my best to use my size properly," he said as he got up. He sighed and nodded, face turning serious again. "Let's go use that key."

Samba nodded and scampered over to the pit. He jumped down, Rargon sitting on the ledge before falling the remaining distance of his toes' height to the floor, as the monsters returned to B1F. Samba stuck the key in the door and turned it. It stuck fast, but as soon as the padlock sprang open, the chains snaked back into the wall and out of sight. He beckoned and opened the door.

A hallway of beautiful, white, polished marble met his eyes, lit by stone scones (I think that's what they're called) in the wall lining it. Broad steps led down a little ways, making a U-turn and disappearing behind the right wall. Samba dropped his jaw. "What the...What's with the screwed-up architecture?" he muttered.

"Search me," Rargon said, shrugging. He started down the steps, finding the hall wide enough for him. "This whole place is huge...C'mon!" he beckoned, and the two went down. They found a big, fat-bottomed fat "L"-shaped room FULL of miniblins. A giant, pink marble door was on the top of the seat of the "L", with an intricate series of marble gears visible in the wall by it connected to an "X" of marble chains. A great marble padlock hung in the center, shaped into an octagon in a way resembling Pokémon's Boulder Badge from Pewter City Gym a bit. Rargon gasped. "The Leviathan's chamber!" he cried. For some reason, he looked scared. Shaking, he took a step back.

Samba raised an eyeridge at him before stepping inside the room and alerting the tiny miniblins. "DANEH!" they squeaked as they hopped over with their pitchforks.

Samba was about to attack when he heard the entrance to the room become barred by stalagmites again, adding a bit of contrast to the room with their plain, rough appearance. He gritted his teeth and set to work on one of the most annoying races of monster in Hyrule history. He used a few spin attacks along with his combat skills to defeat all fifteen of them. As soon as the last one went down, the stalagmites cracked and turned brittle. "Rargon! Come on!" Samba said, beckoning.

Rargon was a bit hesitant, but with a gulp, he nodded resolutely and smashed the stones to bits with his Rargon Punch. Samba ducked behind his sheild again to avoid debris, looking to the right while he did. He noticed a small chest materializing in the top of the "L". He ran over and opened it, getting another small key. Shrugging, he put it in his bag and ran back over to Rargon. "What's wrong?" Samba asked. "You look kinda scared...?"

Rargon nodded, pressed to the wall opposite the chest. "The Leviathan of Stone was the one who possessed me," he explained. "When they dumped me here, I was scared to go in, understandably, and stayed in the foyer. At some point, I backed up against a wall and felt rocks grab me. I heard a hissing voice say, 'You'll do nicely,' and I was sucked into the wall...I was subjected to such pain as the rocks stuck to my face like that and possessed me..." He shuddered, hugging himself. "I'm afraid to face him. I'm sorry, I am. YOU try going through what he did..."

Samba nodded sympathetically. He turned and looked around, suddenly, sniffing the stale air of the dungeon. He gasped.

"What?" Rargon asked, walking over. He took a few sniffs, his sounding like someone sucking in air quickly through a circular opening in their lips. He gasped. "My family's scent!" He sniffed like a dog, turning his head around and taking steps forwards as he followed it, Samba following his example as he caught hold of his sister's scent. The two stopped in front of the door. "Beyond the boss door, of course," Rargon said wearilly. He shook his head and held up a fist. "I'm not giving up that easily, though!" he said, and went to the beautiful marble door. He raised a fist back. "Rargon..."

He stopped, though, frozen. Samba raised his eyeridges. "Rargon? You alright?" he asked.

"...Eeeerrrrr...This is...uh...quite a beautiful...door...uhm...It'd, uhm...be a shame t-to break it down, actually," said Rargon shakilly. Samba saw beads of sweat appearing on his head.

Samba growled aggrivatedly. "Gee, thanks!" he said sarcastically. He shook his head and turned. "I'm going to find the key, then," he said. "Bye." As he thought, Rargon was by his side in an instant.

"That wasn't very fruitful," muttered Samba, arms crossed as he stepped through the door back into the roughness of the mushroomlit cavern. He looked at his map. "Hey, that door..." He looked up at the ladder to his right. "I remember there were some unlit torches..."

Sure enough, the stalagmites retracted as soon as he'd fired a pair of Fire Pebbles at the torches, lighting them. He turned around to look down at his companion. "I'll go through here alone. You can handle yourself, I'm sure. Please, don't try and come up here, seriously," he added, holding his paws out and sweatdropping. "I don't think this ledge'd be able to hold you up..."

Rargon sighed and nodded. "Alright," he said, jumping up onto the ledge and taking a seat. "I'll wait here, then. Have fun!"

"Yeah," grumbled Samba, turning and heading through the door. He found a set of stairs leading downwards and jogged on down to B1F again. He took a left as the stairs curved into an end and saw a wide hallway full of enemies: two gargoyle bubbles, two bokoblins, two helmasaurs, and four keese. He also saw a set of raised stalagmites. Groaning, he raised his buckler and charged in. "OVER HERE, IDIOTS!" he taunted, getting everyone's attention.

The keese attacked first, and he slashed two of them away with his sword before blocking a gargoyle bubble. He quickly fired a Fire Pebble at it, blocked the other one, and finished the bubbles off. He felt a slash at his scruff and looked around at the keese, mouth wide open as it screeched at him. He plugged it shut with a Fire Pebble and blocked the fourth. It bounced along on the ground, somehow, as if in a fit. Samba punted it into a bokoblin's face, knocking it back and into its cohort. He sidestepped the charges of the twin helmasaurs, turned, and comboed them simultaneously before whipping around and comboing the bokoblin who had come over to say hi. Reverse hook kicking it at the end of the combo, Samba launched it back into its buddy, right on top of it before leaping, sword pointing straight down, onto them and executing a finishing blow. He backflipped off and watched as the final enemies fell, defeated. He slashed the air a couple times before bringing his sword, blade forward, up to his nose, flicking it sideways, and slashing down to his side before finally flipping it down underhand and slamming it back in his sheath.

After that, he broke a few rocks, restored his magic and hearts, and jogged along the loooong hallway. After ten full seconds of running along, he reached the end. The stalagmites had vanished, thankfully. "Good, I don't need him after all," he muttered, running up the stairs there.

He ran up the stairs and ran up the stairs...he climbed up them all the way to 2F, according to his map, before finally reaching a flat surface. He took a breather at the top for a few seconds before jogging to the end of the hall. He found no enemies, thankfully, but did find a locked door. Using his small key, he opened it and went through.

He was at the same door that he couldn't get to from the northwestern part of the main room's second floor. Rargon was still sitting there, kicking his feet a little while leaning back on his paws. He heard the door slam and looked up. He waved up at Samba, who waved back. 'I want out of this place,' he thought wearilly. 'I hope I don't have to do much after I find that key...' After getting up on the bridge, he saw a big chest at the other end that was different from the others. Instead of wood, as he'd become accustomed to, it was made of stone. Marble, to be exact. It was more angular than normal, more box-like and sharper-cornered, but it was pretty pretty, regardless.

Excited, he dashed over there and opened it up. He grinned and jumped for joy as he brought out a large key of marble, the handle of which was shaped like the padlock it belonged to. "RAAAHAAAH! That was quick!" he commented.

"You found it?" asked Rargon quickly. He watched Samba jump down to the big mushroom before he ran over to him.

"Yeah, c'mon, let's go save our family members, already!" Samba said, jumping down to the door.

They were met with another problem, however. The key went into the lock and turned, but although a grinding was heard, nothing happened. Rargon looked at the exposed marble gears in the wall to the right of the door. "There's a gear missing," he said, paw to mouth. "I'm afraid that we're SOL unless we can find it."

"Or you can quit being a baby and bust that thing down, already," Samba grumbled under his breath, taking his key back and stomping off up the stairs again.

He recalled that he still had one room to visit left. So, leaving Rargon in the main room again, he went allll the way back to the spike pit room with the platforms. He hit the switch to lower the platform, got on, and raised it again. He made his way to the farthest platform to the north, hit the second switch, and jumped to the raising platform. To his further aggrivation, the big rock to the left of the eye switch prevented him from hitting the second switch from that height. He jumped back over to the one that was aligned with the elevator to the balcony and stepping stone rooms in the final jump from the main elevator he used to the other one described above. (Sorry if that was confusing, I'm trying to hurry and finish this up.)

He debated getting hurt and jumping all the way down to the lowered elevator and decided that slow and steady wins the race. So, he fired a pebble at the second switch, waited until the platforms stopped moving, and hit it again. He immediately ran to the one in front of him, landing on it as it began to lower. He tapped his big footpaw impatiently as it went down, waiting for it to finish. Finally, he fired at the second one again, hitting it and sending them up again. He jumped from the rising platform to the lowering one, this time, and wiped his brow after the tedious task was finished. He opened the (mercifully unlocked and unblocked) door and entered the room he'd been avoiding.

He entered the square room looking at what looked like an honest-to-God maze. He found a dead end after going left and taking a right, and saw another looking south from the entrance that contained a square thing in the floor. He stepped on it curiously and yelped as a slab wall came slamming up behind him, boxing him in. He stepped off the floor switch and it sprang down again. He tilted his head curiously, wondering what purpose that could serve as he stepped out. He also noticed that this room was laid out in equal-sized square spaces, like from some sort of game board-another strange thing.

He shrugged and took a look at his map. If he went forwards from the door and followed the path, he figured out, he would end up right at the keystone, ready for him to take. Not just that, but he didn't hear anything else in the room for him to fight. So, he went to the door, put his back to it, and took a breath.

Starting all the way down on B1F, he went forwards a space, turned right and went up a straight set of stairs to 1F. He continued found a wall and went left, switching back around down to a set of stairs again. Back on B1F, he took a right, two lefts, and climbed the stairs to 1F again, grumbling at the meanderingness. He found a straight space ahead before he had to turn at the corner of the room straight to a set of stairs heading for 2F. This was shortlived, however; as soon as he reached the top of those, he found the top step of that stairway was the same as the top step of the one right in front of him. Going back down to 1F a third time, he continued down to find a 90-degree turning staircase going down and left, since it was at the corner of the room again. He got behind the stairways up to 1F whene he went through two stright spaces of hallway when he strolled along B1F for the last time.

He found another 90-degree-turn staircase at the corner, going up it to 1F, continuing up the straight stairs to 2F. Thankfully, the path didn't dip back down again to 1F (though it could have), and instead went straight one space, turned left at the corner, straight another space, turned left and greeted Samba with the only staircase up to 3F, a floor consisting only of the pathway he found. After turning right while going up the 90-degree staircase, he turned right twice, went forward one space, turned right, left, right twice, forward one, and left twice. He stopped to take a moment to shout in annoyance, "WHOEVER DESIGNED THIS ROOM HAS A REALLY TWISTED SENSE OF HUMOR!" before realizing he'd made a pun on accident, slapping his muzzle. He finished the course by going forward one space and getting to the pedestal holding the hexagonagal prism of stone.

He grabbed the keystone and raised it victoriously over his head. He then noticed that the pedestal began to sink into the floor. He blinked. "I don't remember a chest being here," he muttered before the pedestal finished sinking. The CLUNK he heard was louder than he had expected. He looked up and found that his map lied. There were FIVE floors, with a 4F above him that he couldn't get to normally. All it had was a huge, round boulder that dropped right onto the spot the pedestal was on, anyway, so he wasn't missing much.

"HOLY-!" he screeched before turning and running like hell back down, holding the keystone above his head and looking like an idiot. He then noticed that the floor was slightly sloped downwards, helping the rock get rolling. As he rounded the turn again, taking two rights this time, the boulder slammed into the wall of the platform (all platforms had walls at their sides to prevent any skipping) before it started rolling down again. Deciding it better not to look behind him, Samba decided to go down the path he had just come as fast as he could.

Starting from the two right turns I mentioned, he went straight, left, left, right, left, straight, left, left, and left-downstairs, finding that if he doesn't keep a good distance ahead of time, the boulder would catch him on the stairs. (He also noticed a convienently rounded hole around the top of the stairs that would prevent the boulder from catching.)

On 2F again, he ran right, straight, right, straight, down to 1F, and right-downstairs to B1F. Then, hearing the boulder starting to pick up speed behind him, he poured on the speed as he ran straight, straight, right-upstairs to 1F, and upstairs again to 2F. Here, he stopped to take a breath. "There's no way that thing has enough speed to continue on after this sharp and long a climb," he panted. He looked behind him as he heard the boulder coming at him from where he'd just come. It slowed...slowed...slowed...He held his breath as it sluggishly came to the top of the stairs on 2F. There, it sat, right at the top, for a few seconds before Samba realized it was slowly, ever so slowly, tipping forwards. No sooner had he squeaked and taken off again then the boulder fell forwards, barreling down after him.

Back down on 1F, he hung the hardest right in his right, grabbing his tail just before it got crushed, and zoomed down the stairs to the basement again. Then, he whipped around the two rights and one left with painful force, shouting in fright as he faced stairs going up to 1F again. He was almost there, though! He hung a pair of rights, dashed down the stairs, went left, and, remembering the wall he'd triggered, zipped one last left and stomping on the floor switch.

No sooner had the wall shot up then he heard the boulder slam right into it. It barrelled down away from him and went down the dead end before slamming into the wall with an almighty BRRRAAAMM! Heart pounding, Samba took a few breaths inside the safety of the box before he let out a loud roar.

"THAT! WAS! AWESOME!" he cheered, pumping an arm up while holding the stone in one paw. He laughed and fell back against the wall, letting go of the switch and putting his free paw on his chest to feel his heart pumping at full throttle. "Whew...Wow...Talk about an adrenaline rush..." He pushed himself off and walked over, holding the stone over his head, to examine the damage. He found chunks of rock everywhere, but the other rock he found caught him by surprise.

A Piece of Heart sat there, slowly rotating while balanced on its tip perfectly. He walked over and blinked as he bent down to pick it up, putting the Keystone in his tail. The Piece of Heart hovered above his paws as he gazed at it for a second, a grin slowly coming across his face. "Thank you," he said, absorbing the item into him and feeling himself revitalized. Then, turning on his heel, he went and exited the room.

After surviving the world's most action-packed hedge maze-style labyrinth, he found another, more puzzling puzzle in front of him. He was lowered down and couldn't hit the switch to rise again. He also couldn't get across to the platform across to his his left if it was lowered, anyway, without having to drop the keystone to save himself. Although he had enjoied the thrilling room behind him, he'd rather not waste time going through it again. He set the keystone on the platform as he thought for a moment.

Setting down the keystone on one of its flat and most-secure ends (a hexagon-shaped end) gave him an idea. He got to the edge and found that he could hit the first eye switch. He did and lowered the platform I was talking about. He jumped to it, grabbing the edge and climbing up. Then, he raised the one he was on, raised the one he'd just left, and, after a "One, two, THREE!", threw a pebble at the second switch and dashed to the newly-raised platform. He got on as it began lowering, grabbed the keystone, and jumped off immediately to get to the platform rising up closeby and in jumping range before he missed it. He barely got on in time. He crowed triumphantly as he rose up.

After that, it was only a matter of jumping across the raised platforms to the ledge with the other keystones. Excited and hopeful, he put the keystone inside its slot. After it fell in entirely, three clicks sounded at once. He heard something else and turned around to see a big chest materialize. It looked exactly like the one with the boss key. Chest fluttering, he raced to open it as soon as it had finished materializing. Looking inside, a tear of joy escaped his eye as he greedily snatched up the marble boss door gear and raised it high in victory.

"I'M COMING, VARDI, YOU IDIOT!" he cried, jumping up and down. He smiled at the gear before putting it away in his bag. "I'm coming."