New Disclaimer: I also don't own the show "Blue's Clues"...Please don't ask; you'll see when you read.

Krista: Thanks to Kon Hoshi, lilBlondi, and Masterful Foxboy for the reviews; I greatly appreciate them. And now for the long-awaited arrival of chapter seven!

Chapter Seven: Cave of No Return: Part One

"Whoa, it's dark in here!"

"Really, Hope? I didn't think the rest of us realized that we're walking around in a pitch black room," Faith said sarcastically. Hope glared at her, although no one saw because, like Faith said, it was pitch black.

"It's too dark. I don't like this. I'm scared!" Patience wailed.

"Are you the thing that's clinging to my arm?"

"Oh, is that you, Link? I didn't know who the heck I was holding! What am I touching now?"

"Hey, don't knock my hat off!"

"Oops. Sorry, Link." Suddenly, the room became lighter, because Hope found a lamp and lit the two torches in the room. The door at the other end of the room opened. However, the girls didn't notice because they were too busy laughing at Link.

"(hee, hee) Link has (hee, hee) HAT HAIR! HA, HA, HA, HA!" Patience laughed along with her sisters. Link grabbed his hat and put it back on his head.

"Shut up," he said, practically growling at them, as he led the way into the next room. That room was also dark except for a little light from Hope's lamp and a circle of flames blocking a treasure chest in the center of the room. The flames were surrounded by a low wall.

"Oooo, fire!" A huge grin appeared on Patience's face.

"Does she have problems or something?" Link asked.

"No, she just likes fire," Hope answered calmly, as she lit the torches and collected the force gems that fell from the ceiling. Faith went a little ahead and got a big green force gem from a treasure chest that was outside the low wall. Then she called to the others.

"You guys going to help me get the other treasure chest or what?" She was now in the center of the room, next to the wall of flames. The others hurried to where she was. When they were all facing the fire, Hope spoke next.

"So, how do we get rid of the fire?" There were four stone blocks near the corners of the low wall, and when Link leaned against one, it slid all the way into the corner. While Link fell, the girls heard a clicky sound. It was a sound that basically said, 'Alright, you figured out the first part! Now go do the rest!' The girls obliged by pushing the remaining stones into their respective corners. The fire went out, revealing the treasure chest unharmed.

"My treasure!" Patience shouted. She opened it and found, "A key?! Why couldn't it have been a big, fat, purple force gem?" Hope snatched the key from her younger sister's hand.

"I'll take this," she said. "You'll probably just lose it anyway." Patience stuck out her tongue while her eldest sister unlocked the door. They came in a room that had a maze-like structure, with various medium-sized stones blocking different pathways. Suddenly, a squeak came from the darkness.

"I just heard a rat," Link pointed out.

"Don't worry," Patience said, "I'll get rid of it with my handy-dandy--"

"Notebook!" Hope finished. Everyone turned to her with puzzled looks, Link perhaps being the most confused of all. She shrugged. "Sorry, I work in a preschool."

"O-kay, anyway," Patience responded. "As I was saying, I'll get rid of it with my handy-dandy fire--hey, where'd my fire rod go?"

"You got a fire rod here?" Faith asked.

"Not here, behind the old lady's house," Patience answered her, while lifting different rocks, looking for her weapon.

"Didn't you realize your fire rod and my boomerang disappear after we hit the barrier of darkness?" Hope asked.

"WHAT?!" Patience jumped up, her eyes wide.

"Apparently not," Faith muttered as an answer. Patience looked teary-eyed.

"It's gone? NOOO!!" After she screamed "no" for a few minutes, Faith tapped her on the shoulder.

"There's a small red force gem after we get through this room," she said.

"Okay!" Patience became all perky and bright.

"So can we get going now?" Link asked impatiently.

"Sure, why not?" Hope answered, bored. So, the four set to work, getting in the box formation and pushing the stone blocks. They occasionally killed a few evil rats that tried to take their force gems. Eventually, they found a key and were about to unlock the door when Patience started complaining.

"Wait, I didn't get the force gem! Where is it?"

"I think I saw a treasure chest back there." Hope pointed in back of her.

"We can't go back and get it now," Link said. "We have to keep going so we can save Zelda."

"No!" Patience protested. "We have to get the force gem! Otherwise, our swords won't power up!"

"You don't really care about that," Faith accused. "You just want to get it because they're like money!" Patience shrugged.

"But she's right," Hope said. "If the swords aren't powered up, then we can't break the barriers or defeat Vaati."

"And if we can't defeat Vaati, then Zelda, the maidens, and all of Hyrule is screwed!" Faith finished, agreeing with her sisters' points. She received a glare from Hope for her language. Link sighed.

"Alright, I didn't want a huge explanation!" They started to backtrack.

"Didn't Kaepora Gaebora tell you about how the force gems power up the swords?" Hope asked him.

"Uh...well...," Link started to say, looking a bit sheepish, "I think I remember him saying something about it but I wasn't really listening." Hope shook her head in dismay.

"Does anyone really listen to that bird-brain?" Faith asked to no one in particular.

"You should," Hope said. "He tells you a lot of important stuff!"

"Yeah, and most of the important stuff you already know!" Faith retorted. The four finally found the other treasure chest.

"Bum badda da ba!" sang Patience as she took the red force gem from the chest and held it over her head like the game Link does in many of the video games. Suddenly, a rat leaped, grabbed the gem, and ran off.

"Hey, get back here, you little thief!" Patience yelled, as she raced after it, swinging her sword in all directions.

Krista: So, how was it? R&R!