A/N: All right, welcome to chapter four! First boss battle, coming right up! As usual, much thanks to i-wish-a7x, Dea Letum, and LittlePidgey! And... Yay, more people are starting to read this! Disclaimer: I don't own LoZ, Nintendo does. I do own my plot, made-up weapons, items, etc., and any OCs that may appear, as well as my made-up boss monsters, though.
Weapons (other than their swords and shields, of course!)
-Red has an ice rod, a fire rod, and a slingshot!
-Green has a boomerang, and he's pretty good with it.
-Blue has a hammer, of course, which suits his personality perfectly!
-Vio has a bow & arrows, and of course, his ever-present book.
-Shadow has... well, his weird shadow abilities, I guess? mimicking? He also has the Dark Mirror Shield now.
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Chapter 4: The First Boss
Back at the cave system within Death Mountain, Shadow has just reached the entrance of a large cavern deep within the caverns, in the rocky core of Death mountain. Fortunately, there is no lava in sight. Stalactites hang down from the ceiling while stalagmites stab upward from the floor, looking like an endless set of vicious fangs... The cavern is also fairly well-lit by the luminous fungi growing all over... Shadow walks into the cavern, looking around. His sword is in his hand, with his shield strapped to his back.
"(Shadow) ...A dead end? Maybe there's a hidden passage, or I missed something...?"
*RUMBLE...*
Shadow starts in surprise as a rock slab shoot down to block off the passage he just came through, and the room shakes violently. A giant snake bursts from the ground right in front of the startled Hylian, coiling itself around his body and beginning to squeeze, with its huge head in front of and facing Shadow. The monster seems to be made entirely of dark, slightly grayish purple boulders of various sizes with pale gray moss growing on them. Its eyes are milky white, with no pupil or iris. They look dead and soulless, seeming to stare into Shadow's red eyes without really seeing them... The snake is curled around Shadow's body with the tip of its tail near the boy's sword hand. There is a strange, crystal-like growth on said tip...
"(Shadow) Ugh... Agh..."
'D-dammit...! That cocky jerk even warned me about there being a strong monster here, but it caught me completely off guard anyway! Augh, I'm such an idiot! ...I have to get free, quick. All this pressure... A minute or two more and my ribs'll break... Ugh, those eyes are seriously eerie... And it won't stop staring at me... ...Huh...? That thing on its tail looks odd... And when it comes to monsters, weird things usually mean weak spots! I might as well give it a shot, since it's my only choice at the moment anyway...'
Shadow desperately swings at the crystal, just barely managing to hit it due to his arms being squeezed. The snake lets out a pained hiss and its grip on Shadow loosens slightly, easing the pressure a bit.
'Ha! I was right, it is a weak spot!'
Encouraged by this, Shadow strikes the crystal again, swinging harder this time. A louder, agony-filled hiss comes from the snake and Shadow drops to the ground, quickly establishing some distance between himself and the monster, taking his shield off his back and warily facing his attacker with his shield held in his right hand. The snake begins to thrash wildly, seemingly driven insane by its pain...
*RUMBLE... ROOOAAAAAAAR...*
The cavern quakes violently as stalagmites begin to fall over, crushing anything in their path, and stalactites shoot down from the ceiling like spears. Shadow rushes around, dodging, ducking, rolling, and pretty much doing everything he can to avoid being crushed or skewered.
"(Shadow) Why must monsters always make things fall on people when they're mad?! Whoa!!"
Shadow quickly rolls out of the way of a falling stalactite, whose point shatters into the hard floor right where he was standing just a split second earlier.
"(Shadow) By Farore, that was waaaay too close for comfort..."
'I have to stop that crazy thing before this whole place collapses!'
Shadow rushes at the snake, dodging falling stone as he does so. When he manages to get close enough, he finds an area in which all the nearby stalactites and stalagmites have already fallen. He then takes a deep breath and gets ready, waiting for the snake's wild movements to bring the tip of its tail close enough for him to launch an attack. He nearly gets smacked into a wall a few times, but the strange crystal-like growth finally comes into the range of Shadow's blade...
'Here it is! My opening!'
"(Shadow) Take this! Kaitengiri!!!"
Shadow unleashes a vicious spin attack, hitting the rock snake's weak spot right on target. A bright light flashes and the crystal shatters as the monster lets out a hiss that definitely translates into a scream of overwhelming pain in Snake-Talk and thrashes one final time, then stills, seemingly dead, or at least unconscious. Shadow stares at the creature from a safe distance, having backed up immediately after executing his spin attack.
"(Shadow) Whew... That was exhausting... ...Huh...?"
'Wait, why hasn't it exploded into black smoke and disappeared yet? Something's not right here... I'd better take a closer look, there may be something important that I didn't notice before...'
Shadow slowly approaches the fallen snake, his sword sheathed and his shield strapped to his back, though he's fully prepared to jump backwards if it attacks him. The snake lays sprawled motionlessly on the cavern floor as Shadow cautiously approaches its head, which is almost twice as large as Shadow himself. To Shadow's immense relief, its unnerving white eyes are shut, and it does not react to his presence at all...
"(Shadow) ...?!"
The upper right-hand fragment of the Triforce of Courage begins to pulse with a faint purple glow in the rhythm of a heartbeat, and Shadow feels a strong tug in his left hand as the startled boy is pulled towards the snake by his hand. The fragment's glow brightens and its color deepens the closer Shadow gets to the defeated monster. He is now standing right by its huge head, close enough to reach out and touch it...
'Owwwww!!!!! Vio's piece... it really, REALLY wants out! I'd better release it before it decides I'm taking too long and tries to yank my arm off again! Augh, what in Farore's name is going on here?!'
The Triforce fragment in question shoots out of Shadow's hand the moment he releases it, floating over to hover in front of one of the boulder snake's huge eyes... Said eye flickers about a third of the way open, and the snake lets out a weak, confused-sounding hiss as Shadow starts in shock, staring wide-eyed at the light that has begun to swirl around the beast's long body...
'No... It can't be... ...Or could it...? Could it be that this rock monster isn't guarding Vio, but-? No, that can't be! It just can't! I refuse to believe such a ridiculous idea! Vio would never succumb to evil like that! Ever! This snake must just be holding some kind of key or clue inside it, or some kind of special power, is all! It CAN'T be Vio, it just CAN'T!!'
As if in reaction to Shadow's unspoken thoughts, a rock slab that Shadow hadn't noticed before due to the fact that it blends into the surrounding wall slides upwards, opening up a new passage. Shadow goes to investigate, leaving the Triforce fragment alone with the now-docile snake for the moment...
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A/N: Kaitengiri means "spinning slash," apparently. It's what Link says when he uses the spin attack in chapter one of the Minish Cap manga, so I used it because I felt like having Shadow do a battlecry for some reason. Alright everybody, please review! And to all you Vio fans out there... please, please, pleeeeaaaase don't kill me!! He'll be back soon!! And, I refuse to spoil whether or not the snake is Vio. You'll find out next chapter! Bye bye! *waves*