Note: The Legend of Zelda belongs to Nintendo. Shadow Echo and Emerald Moon belong to me, GlassSuicune. Again, this is based off what I did on the game, like last chapter. And while you can be teleported halfway through the temple, no one will teleport you all the way to Bellum. Wouldn't that be great, though? Any who, I hope you like this chapter.

Chapter 7: Bellum.

"Honestly, how many Phantom Knights are there in this dang temple?" Emerald complained after she and Shadow had downed yet another Phantom, "I'm running out of arrows here..." Shadow just shrugged.

Shadow and Emerald ran to the right and then turned to the right, and came upon a glowing carpet with a treasure chest on it. Shadow opened it and found a big golden triangle shape. "This it?" he asked.

"Yes. Now take it to its pedestal. With its power released into the temple, I can drain it easily."

Shadow and Emerald then pondered how they would transport it to wherever the pedestals were. It was unbelievably heavy, and these two weren't really strong enough to carry it all there -even with their combined efforts. Really, how did the voice expect them to carry this thing?

"Hey, I got an idea. Shad, ya think we can move this off the carpet at least?" Emerald suddenly asked. Shadow shrugged but lifted one end, while Emerald lifted the other. Almost immediately, they dropped it. "Definitely can't carry it." Shadow murmured.

Shadow and Emerald then attempted to push it -and ended up flipping it. "That'll work." Emerald commented, as the Force Gem was off the glowing carpet now, "Wait here Shadow." Emerald then ran forward down the hallway. Shadow sat down and stared at the ceiling.

"I'LL GET YOU!" cried a Phantom, as Emerald immediately came running back to the glowing carpet at breakneck speed. She jumped over the Force Gem and pounced on Shadow. "You're such a gentleman, catching me and all." Emerald said tauntingly.

"HUH? WHERE DID SHE GO?" the Phantom thought aloud, looking back and forth. It gave up, dropped the key it was carrying and picked up the Force Gem, in such a way one would wonder if it even knew it did so. It then walked back to whatever area it was patrolling.

"Was that the plan?" Shadow asked, wondering what the heck Emerald was thinking. "Yup. Now we find the pedestals, which are most likely what that Phantom is guarding. So all we have to do is stun the Phantom and move the Force Gem to the pedestal. And then rinse and repeat." Emerald explained.

"So you're having the Phantom carry it there, without it knowing?"

"Exactly."

"You're a genius Emma!"

"Yeah, I have my moments..."

They then ran down the hallway Emerald had run down before -Shadow picking up the key-, turned to the right, noticed a glow to their left and ran in that direction. They found all three pedestals on a large glowing carpet. They then walked up the stairs and waited for the Phantom to come.

As Emerald had thought, the Phantom came walking by, still carrying the Force Gem. Emerald shot an arrow at it and stunned it. It dropped the Force Gem and the teens hastily struggled to bring it up the stairs. Luckily, they succeeded before the Phantom snapped out of its dizziness.

Shadow and Emerald then struggled to lift it up and put it on the left pedestal. It sank into its pedestal and then the pedestal itself sank into the large, triangle-shaped stone floor that the carpet didn't touch. It shone brightly and then turned a solid gold colour.

"Excellent. Now I can collect its power. This may take awhile."

Shadow and Emerald decided that was a good opportunity to get another Force Gem. They ran to the left, jumped over the spikes, turned to the right, jumped over more spikes, and came to a glowing carpet with another treasure chest on it. Shadow opened it and found another Force Gem, which he and Emerald then flipped off the carpet.

"Okay, I'm off to find that Phantom again." said Emerald. "Are you sure you want to do that?" Shadow asked, worried.

"Sure I'm sure. I'm a much faster runner then you are."

"..........Okay.........."

Emerald then ran down the hallway, screaming, "COME AND GET ME!!!!" That definitely attracted the Phantom's attention. "COME BACK HERE!" it cried, pursuing her. She jumped over the Force Gem and landed perfectly on the glowing carpet.

The Phantom was dumb struck again, but picked up the Force Gem anyway. It then walked away and the teens ran back to the pedestals. The one they had filled previously had turned completely black, indicating the voice had drained its power.

After a minute the Phantom came walking by again, and the teens repeated the same frantic process. Then they placed the Force Gem on the right pedestal. It repeated the same process as the last one. The voice then started messing with it. Only one more Force Gem was left on the floor.

Shadow and Emerald ran forward to a currently unexplored hallway, ran to the left and found a locked door halfway. Shadow took out the key and unlocked it, finding a treasure chest with a -you guessed it- Force Gem in it. Shadow and Emerald then moved it off the glowing carpet and Emerald ran after the Phantom again.

The Phantom was absolutely dumb struck. Where was this female human coming from and why did she keep disappearing? And why were the Force Gems laying in the hallways out of their chests?! Sadly, the Phantom's tiny brain couldn't link the two things together and it picked up the Force Gem.

After it walked a safe distance, Shadow and Emerald ran back to the pedestals and the frantic cycle happened all over again, only with a twist -Shadow and Emerald destroyed the Phantom. "It's served its purpose." said Emerald.

Once the third Force Gem was in place, the stone door attempted to open, but instead crumbled, possibly from the black Force Gems. The voice then began draining energy from the gem and it began graying, before finally turning black.

"This is enough power. I can take you to Bellum now."

Shadow and Emerald then felt as if they were glass and had been shattered. A couple seconds later they materialized and stood in front of a medium-sized, hollow dome structure. Inside the center of the structure and surrounding the stone was sickening green water.

Shadow and Emerald looked around the room warily. It was quiet...too quiet. They cautiously walked towards the staircase that almost circled the structure. Vibrations from underneath all the stone could felt, growing more and more intense.

A purple squid-like monster burst from the water and with the only eye on its head plus the creepy eyes on its tentacles, eyed the teens as if it wanted to devour them.

Bellum.

Shadow and Emerald's eyes widened and they stood there, immobilized by this creature's cold and blood-thirsty gaze. Bellum examined them further, and its eyes showed great interest, as if it sensed something special about these humans that stood before it.

Shadow and Emerald's expressions changed from terrified to confused. Why hadn't Bellum attacked them yet? Bellum gave an eerie cry and floated downwards, and circled the pool of water. "What's this about?" Emerald asked.

"Bellum is quite odd. If you were anyone other then who it thinks you are, it would've drained your life force by now."

"Does it still want our life force?"

"Yes. It just wants to fight you two before it does anything. It obviously senses something it wants to see for itself."

"Like what?"

"I know little about this realm and its ruler."

Shadow and Emerald then looked down at Bellum, who was still circling the pool like it was chasing its tentacles. Shadow unsheathed the Phantom Sword and Emerald got her bow and arrow ready.

Purple one-eyed monsters made of...something appeared around Shadow and Emerald, intent on smothering them. Shadow swung the sword almost clock-wise, careful not to hit Emerald, who was standing there knowing her weapon would do nothing against them.

Shadow destroyed the monsters and Bellum rose up to them, grabbing hold of the pillars with its tentacles.

"Bearers to be, do not disappoint me."

An odd voice said to Shadow and Emerald. It wasn't the voice that had led them through the temple. They couldn't tell if it was masculine or feminine, it seemed kinda neutral. Who was it coming from?

"Oh dear me, you can't see?"

Shadow and Emerald then noticed Bellum was bobbing up and down, staring at them.

"You see me don't you? I see you, too."

Realization finally struck the teens. It was Bellum! And it obviously liked rhyming a lot. And it did so badly.

"You're both a bore. Hanging here makes me sore."

Bellum looked very impatient. To make sure its 'playmates' were paying attention, Bellum summoned more of those monsters made of...something and sent them after Shadow and Emerald. Emerald ran from Shadow, leaving him to handle the monsters.

"Now, now, don't cower. I want to see your power."

Emerald nearly collided with Shadow after a couple seconds. She straightened herself and fired an arrow at the eye of one of Bellum's tentacles, making the creature close the eye. Emerald fired more arrows at the tentacles' eyes, and Bellum closed them all, obviously hurting.

Bellum then floated downwards again, and began circling the pool. Shadow and Emerald ran down the stairs, seeing a gray hourglass floating at the beginning of the stairs. Emerald grabbed the hourglass and examined the sandy floor. Shadow stood there, wondering what Emerald was doing.

Emerald ran on the sand and sent the hourglass into the air. As it hovered, Emerald ran on the sand in a such a way that her footprints formed an hourglass shape. The hourglass burst and the bright light stunned Bellum, whose large eye was wide-open.

"Quick Shadow! Attack the eye!" Emerald cried. Shadow ran to Bellum and slashed its eye with the Phantom Sword. Bellum screeched and broke free from the hourglass' spell, and floated upwards, attaching itself to the pillars again.

"My eye is burning, and you aren't turning."

Shadow and Emerald were puzzled at that and were attacked by more monsters. So that's what Bellum meant. Shadow fought with them while Emerald went to shoot Bellum's eyes. Bellum closed one of its eyes before Emerald's arrow could reach it.

"Would've been quite a blow if you weren't so slow."

Bellum then floated to the ground, and began circling the pool again. It summoned more monsters, which Shadow stared at for awhile before slicing to pieces. Emerald watched Bellum, actually thinking of fire.

Emerald noticed a glow on the palm of her left hand and examined it. It was glowing a fiery orange. Emerald then allowed herself to think of things burning to ashes, and the glow only got more intense. Her other hand started glowing as well.

Emerald held both hands near each other and the glowing 'discs' connected, forming a fiery sphere. Shadow turned and noticed Emerald's eyes had taken on an unnatural orange hue. Bellum began floating up again.

Emerald carefully moved her hands as if she was forming a snowball. In a way, she was, only it was a fireball. Satisfied it was complete, Emerald held her hands to her left side, and the fireball began spinning, and spinning, and spinning. Bellum attached itself to the pillars.

"GREAT BALL OF FLAME! BURN!"

It was Emerald. She thrust the fireball forwards, slamming Bellum with incredible force. Parts of its skin were black, while other parts were still burning. Bellum screeched and dove into the water. Emerald turned to Shadow, her eyes back to their green colour.

After a couple seconds Bellum resurfaced and began circling the pool of water AGAIN. More monsters were summoned.

"Fire for hire, no?"

Shadow and Emerald ignored Bellum. It was an absolute nut-job. While Shadow hacked n' slashed the monsters, Emerald looked at her hands, which though feeling very hot, were unharmed. She wondered where that power came from, and what else she could do with it.

"Go on. Experiment. Bellum knows it can't win no matter what happens. This I know to be true."

It was the helpful voice again. Emerald thought of fire again, actually envisioning scorching the entire room -clearly Shadow was of no concern right now. Emerald felt flames surround her body, with tiny fireballs circling her.

Meanwhile Shadow had a watery blue glow on his hands. He saw Emerald about to most likely blow the place up and wondered what on earth he could do to keep from getting burned to a crisp. Shadow wondered if it was possible to cloak himself in the water.

Emerald was still covered in flames, feeling like a dragon about to totally destroy the poor knights who had come to slay her. Bellum attached itself to the pillars again, summoning more monsters. They burned up upon approaching Emerald.

Shadow allowed the watery discs to merge, then he imagined a large blue sphere surrounding him. Sure enough, the aquaball grew larger and surrounded him. Shadow held his breath, but soon realized he didn't need to. The sphere was almost like a tent. It covered him, but didn't smother him.

Emerald closed her eyes and held her head down, growing unable to contain the explosive energy building up inside her. Finally, she cried, "GREAT POWER OF FIRE AND MAGMA! CONSUME!" She then released the attack, covering Bellum in flames but passing harmlessly over Shadow's water shield.

Emerald opened her eyes and saw the stone structure smoldering, and magma was everywhere. Shadow was still covered by his shield, but looked as if he had just seen an atomic explosion the minute he turned his head back. His eyes were absolutely huge.

And Bellum was still standing, but terribly injured.

The squid then dove into the pool of water again, then a couple seconds later resurfaced. Emerald's attack had destroyed some of the pillars, so Bellum couldn't get a good a grip. Emerald pulled out her bow and arrow.

More of those annoying monsters appeared and Shadow's magic shield diminished as he cried, "Aw c'mon Bellum! Where's your creativity?!" He then proceeded to wreck the monsters for the millionth time.

Emerald felt like she would melt but held strong. One by one she shot Bellum's eyes, making it close them again. When they were all closed, Bellum began circling the pool again. Another gray hourglass appeared at the foot of the stairs.

Emerald ran down, grabbed the hourglass, sent it hovering, and then ran on the sand creating another hourglass shape. The hourglass burst and Bellum was stunned. "Attack it Shadow!" Emerald screamed. Shadow ran towards and slashed its eye again.

Bellum screeched and disappeared, obviously through with this fight. A purple hourglass filled with golden sand appeared where the monster was once.

"Take the Phantom Hourglass and the Darkness will pass."

It was Bellum again. Shadow carefully walked to the hourglass, then snatched it very quickly. He then walked back to Emerald, who looked exhausted. The helpful voice spoke again.

"Now I see what Bellum sensed. It sensed you were the ones who could defeat it and therefore wield the Phantom Hourglass. You're lucky, Bellum isn't always this benevolent. As a matter of fact, it never is, so I've heard."

"How comforting..." Emerald groaned. The same cold and hot sensation came over her and Shadow and they were returned to their room. Shadow found the Phantom Hourglass in his pouch. Heck, he even had the Phantom Sword in its own sheathe. Shadow immediately hid it under the bed. He then looked at the clock.

12:10.

"We were only there for ten minutes?!" Emerald screeched, "But I thought we were there for HOURS!" Shadow nodded then said, "Remind me never to doubt the different time-flow between worlds shown in 'The Chronicles of Narnia' again."

Note: Ta-da! There's Chapter 7! Review please? I actually haven't battled Bellum yet, but I read on a FAQ how you fight him, so I just used what I remembered and added my own spin ( there were no fiery explosions, from what I remember). And yes, I'm aware Bellum is referred to as a male, but I think it's anyone's guess. And I made it communicate with the teens 'cause I thought it made it even weirder. Any who, I'll update next week. To-da loo!