Chapter 32: The wrong temple

Arriving inside the Temple, Link and the Sages were startled as the entrance gate closed behind them, before looking forward as suddenly a wave of intense heat reached them. Upon investigating, they discovered that they were standing in the main room which had lava all across the floor, with a stone path to the right, a bridge and what appeared to be a very brittle door ahead.
"Good grief! The heat is almost unbearable here!" Ruto said, moaning.
"It would be unbearable if we didn't wear these tunics. Remind me to give a royal gift to whoever made this out of gratitude." Zelda said.
Link got an arrow out as he spotted another Fire Keese, missing the shot the first time, but getting a lucky shot the second time as the fire bat went down. Saria noticed a face in the wall to their right that was spouting a stream of fire over the path to their right at regular intervals, meaning the group had to be careful when going over that path.
"Looks like we need to take turns when it comes to going over that path to our right." Link said, timing the intervals between each time the face was spouting fire over the path.
"And there's a second one further up ahead, just at the beginning of the bridge." Nabooru said.
"Let's hope that nothing freaky will happen…" Saria said, seeing Link making his move towards some platforms, hopping over them to reach the path to the right after the fire spouts had ceased for the time being, timing the things herself to know when it was her cue to make her move.
At the same moment, Link managed to stand on the center of the bridge and tossed a bomb towards the door, blowing it apart, before spotting a Bomb Flower to his left. Ignoring it, he moved onward in the new room where he waited for the others, who soon joined him one after another, before Link used an arrow to shoot at a stalactite in the wall, which moved as it was hit in a brittle part. He shot at it again, making it break off and fall into the lava as a makeshift platform for the group to cross over to the other side, the path leading to another lava filled room with another stalactite, another Fire Spouting Face in the wall. There were also several Fire Keeses and Torch Slugs around that had to be dealt with.
"Well, they sure wanted to make it hard enough for us." Link said as Saria and Zelda took out the Fire Keeses, while Ruto used her Dual Boomerangs to stun the Torch Slugs in the direct vicinity to extinguish their flames and make them try to flee, while Link and Nabooru brought down the Stalactite so the group could pass over to the apparent broken bridge along the way, taking care of not to be hit by the Flame Spouting Statue's attack.
"I agree, Brother; the Fire Temple looks tame compared to this." Darunia said as they safely crossed the path in turns.

Standing on the edge of the end of the path, Link stopped, seeing two pillars that were standing upright up ahead. He also saw two Crystal Switches around, that obviously begged to be shot one way or another. Lining up an arrow to the first one, Link fired at it, making it strike the switch and causing the pillar to fall down in front of them, creating a path across its length. Saria aided him by shooting a Deku Seed at the second switch, making the second pillar fall over as well, creating a path with a 90 degree turn to the right, heading towards a lava tunnel. Spotting a third crystal switch, Zelda hit it with an arrow, which caused a pathway to rise up from the lava and connecting it with a stairway at the far side of the lava tunnel, making it in effect a slope. Once it was fully raised, Link hopped on and slid down onto the staircase, with Zelda, Saria, Ruto and Nabooru following, making room for Impa, Darunia and Rauru to join them. No sooner had the last three joined the stairway or the slope sunk back into the lava and directly ahead up the staircase was another fire spouting stature present, but this time it was continuously spouting fire.
"Great, how do we get over this one?" Darunia said.
"Where there is a will there is a way." Link said, before spotting a hookshot target on the ceiling, using his Hookshot to hit it and pull himself safely on the other side of the stairs, before turning around and spotting a cracked part at the ceiling area at the exit of the lava slope tunnel.
Link then carefully stepped to the left stopping as if he was calculating something.
"What are you doing?" Zelda asked.
"I've spotted a crack in the stone ceiling right at the exit of the tunnel behind you. You may want to stand aside; I'll try to reach it with a Bombchu." Link replied.
The Sages nodded, stepping aside while ensuring they wouldn't fall in the lava, before Link unleashed the Bombchu, which scaled up the wall at an angle, going upwards towards the crack before it detonated, destroying the part of the wall and revealing yet another crystal switch. Link struck it with an arrow, which activated the switch… and turned the fire spout off, allowing the others to move up on the stairs to where Link was.

At the other side of the stairway, there was another platform which was already floating in the Lava, which Link hopped on after the others had safely passed the staircase itself, in time as behind them the fire spout reactivated. Once he stood on the platform, Link wiped some sweat from his forehead while Saria and Zelda joined him, shortly followed by Ruto, Nabooru, Impa and Rauru. Once Darunia stood on it, the platform began to move, taking the group downstream to another room further into the temple. They didn't have the time to relax however as there were several Fire Keeses up ahead, which Link, Zelda, Saria and Ruto all shot down before they could inflict any harm on the group. The Platform eventually came to a stop in front of a pathway leading to a way up to a higher floor.
"This place feels linear; there is no map of the place around, yet so far we seem to be making progress…" Link said, scratching his head.
"Yeah, I wonder if we're actually supposed to be here." Zelda said.
"I guess we'll find out one way or another." Saria said as the group got ready to progress, only to see several Red Bubbles jumping from the lava to and fro, meaning that they had to watch their step to avoid being hit.
"YIKES!" Ruto said, narrowly avoiding being hit by one of them.
Nabooru grunted as she managed to hit one of the Red Bubbles, defeating it instantly, before moving on after the others, although Link stopped at the second highest platform to take out a Skulltula that was blocking his path to the highest floor with his Hookshot to conserve arrows, before moving on into a room where he took out two more Skulltulas along the way. Once he felt he was safe, he stopped to take a breather, sitting down even, while waiting for the others, whom fortunately enough joined him soon.

"Whew, that's quite the hot run…" Ruto said, trying to cool herself down.
Link aided her by giving her a bottle of Spring Water he took along with him, having snatched the water from the Southern Swamp, knowing that its fresh and clean appearance would do wonders. Ruto smiled at this gesture, taking the bottle with glee and taking a few gulps of it, wanting to conserve as much water as possible, sharing it with the others.
"Thank you." Nabooru said with a smile, taking a sip of the water.
"I wonder what is actually being held here; the place looks solid yet it feels rather empty, save for the enemies that dwell here." Link said.
"I guess we'll find out sooner or later…" Saria said, shrugging.
"Indeed. It'd better be something useful to us…" Zelda said.
"We all hope that…" Impa said, smiling as she patted Zelda's shoulder.
Darunia looked around, sitting down for a moment as well.
"I have to admit that things really went hot out here…" He said.
"And for some reason I believe that this is only the beginning." Zelda said.
"What makes you say that?" Nabooru inquired.
"Well, this place must be hiding something or else we wouldn't have gone to check it out. There is obviously something that is of importance out here… if it isn't in this temple, then maybe it's somewhere else around these parts."
"Zelda has a point. This place looks way too suspicious too." Impa said.
"I guess we will find out what is hiding in here soon…" Link said as he prepared to go once more, looking around at the other side of the room on a higher path, seeing another path between gaps that had to be crossed over.
He startled for a moment as Saria and Zelda came up from behind him, standing next to him.
"Sorry." Both Saria and Zelda said as they saw Link startled for a moment.
"It's alright, I was a bit too focused on figuring out how to cross it without falling in the lava." He said.
"Like judging your jumps in advance?" Nabooru asked.
"Yeah, like that." He said with a smile.
"The gap looks a bit too wide to cross it over and land with both feet on the platforms along the way…" Ruto said.
"Not necessarily. In a normal jump, it would be a bit too large with the risk of getting hit, but perhaps with enough speed, we should be able to jump a bit further ahead." Link said, taking a few steps back as if he was going to build up a run to get enough speed in.
Interested, the others went to see what Link was up to, just as he boldly began to run forward towards the gap. Right before he reached the edge, Link rolled forward, giving him a little extra speed and an additional boost as he then jumped off the edge, landing with a roll on the platform in between before following it up with a second jump, landing safely on the platform he was supposed to reach, the Red Bubble that came up from the side simply missed him and vanished as quick as it came. Link then moved to the side to wait for the others, seeing Zelda moving up to follow Link's example, safely making it to the other side as well. Saria was the third one and Ruto the fourth one. Nabooru was of course an adult and in general was able to cross jumps a bit farther than the children, but still made sure she had enough speed along the way as well, while the children made room for the adults to arrive at their position.

Seeing the path moving down a bit, Link walked down it, before hopping down the edge and landing on a stone path below, waiting for the others as he saw Saria hopping down the path, followed by Zelda, Ruto and then Nabooru, before Impa, Rauru and Darunia arrived safely on the path. Only when the group wanted to move forward, a Lizalfos tried to stop them as he landed in front of them. Link used the Mortal Draw on it to defeat it right away, only for a second Lizalfos to come in. Zelda took care of it using the Helm Splitter, before the group moved on, spotting another large platform floating in the lava ahead. But there were also two Flame Spouts along the way and two Stalactites as well. Link and Saria shot each stalactite one time each, the Stalactites vibrating, but remaining in place. Link then proceeded to hop on the platform, waiting for the others once again. Once the sages had joined him, the platform began to move onward towards a staircase at the far side of the lava room. Link then shot a second arrow at the first stalactite, making it fall in the lava to make a makeshift platform which he hopped on, using this to avoid the Fire Spout to the right, before hopping back to the main platform, with the Sages following his every move. This maneuver was repeated with the second Stalactite, allowing the group to reach the staircase unharmed. At the Staircase, Link and Zelda intercepted two Keeses which had settled on a nearby wall, before noticing that the stairway went in a t-junction.
"Well, the entrance to the left is barred with debris, so we can't go through there…" Link said.
"Yep. The right one is the only option." Zelda said with a nod, before the group proceeded onward on the staircase, entering a room that had three brittle doors ahead.

Once the group was inside the room, a gate closed behind them, preventing them from going back. Darunia tried to move the gate, but it wouldn't budge.
"Great, locked in." Darunia said.
"Looks like those three doors are our only option." Rauru said.
Link however gasped as he once again noticed his shadow growing, rolling forward to avoid the incoming Wallmaster, which was taken out by Zelda using a jump attack. But before Link could thank Zelda, he was unceremoniously clocked to the nearest wall with a *THUD*, grunting as he landed. Zelda tried to help him, only to receive a similar treatment a mere second later, making her land on top of Link, both holding their heads in pain. Just then, Saria screamed as she was being picked up by a second Wallmaster, but Nabooru intercepted the creature before it could take Saria away, freeing the Forest Sage in the process who looked like she was about to have a heart attack. Both Link and Zelda tried to get up, only to be hit in the face together, causing them to hit the wall again, dazing them a bit, right before Nabooru, Saria and Princess Ruto also received such a treatment. Using the Lens of Truth that Link gave her, looked around right away and saw what was attacking them: not one, but TWO Floormasters, both invisible to the naked eye and had to be spotted with the eye that could see the truth!
"What keeps hitting me?!" Zelda asked, grunting as she got up.
"There's two Invisible Floormasters here! They're- OOF!" Impa said as she too was being hit by a Floormaster, causing her to bump into Rauru.
Darunia on the other hand rolled up and forward, before leaping into the air and smashing the ground with a powerful Goron Pound, instantly defeating the Floormasters… but the sound of rolling/trotting fingers was heard still. Recovering quick, Impa used the Lens of Truth again and noticed that each of the Floormasters had split into three smaller ones. However, having caught on to this as he had fought them before, Link moved more to the center and used Din's Fire, encasing himself in an expanding dome of fire that left the Seven Sages alone, but was successful in incinerating the smaller Floormasters in turn. This brought a sense of relief for the group, especially Link and Zelda.
"Now I understand how you two felt when you were being attacked by a Wallmaster…" Saria said.
Both Link and Zelda chuckled.
"You know, of all the mooks that Ganondorf and Majora sent after us, we hate the Floormasters and Wallmasters the most, simply because of what they're capable of…" Link said.
Zelda nodded in agreement.
"But the Floormaster can be worse when it's invisible, like the one whom tackled us." Zelda said.
"Indeed… hey, your nose is bleeding, Zelda." Link said, noticing blood moving down the princess' nose.
"It is?" Zelda asked, touching the area, only to yelp and wince in pain as it hurt badly and indeed noticing blood on her hand from the area.
"Your nose is bleeding too, Link," Impa said as she got some handkerchiefs to nurse the injuries of the two, both wincing in pain, "that Floormaster nailed the both of you pretty bad."
Both Link and Zelda grunted as they held the cloths against their noses to nurse it, muttering curses against the already slain, offending creature under their breaths. Impa patted their shoulders to comfort them, to which they thanked her for it with a smile.

After a couple of minutes, the bleeding finally stopped, showing that the wounds were only limited to a bruise, nothing broken so far fortunately.
"Well, at least the doors are still here…" Ruto said, nursing her arm.
Rauru then tossed a bomb to the right-most door, destroying it as the bomb detonated, revealing a single, small room. However, Link and Zelda's eyes went wide as they looked inside.
"Are you frigging kidding me?!" They said in unison, right before Link grabbed Zelda and tossed himself to the side, taking Zelda with him, but rolling over so he took the brunt of the impact on the ground, just as a THIRD Floormaster, this time being visible for everyone, dashed past them in its green color, missing its target, hitting nothing in turn. Darunia made short work of the creature with a single Goron Punch, before using a Goron Pound to eliminate the three smaller versions before they could properly spread and try to siphon off any of the group's life force so they could grow back to full size.
"Thanks, Darunia." Link said, smiling.
"No problem." Darunia said, smiling.
As Link helped Zelda up, the princess did something Link didn't expect; she gave him a soft peck on his cheek.
"What was that for?" Link asked blushing.
"For pulling me out of harm's way," Zelda said, before coming closer, whispering the next part into his ear, "and in return for that kiss you gave me back in the forest outpost."
Link grinned sheepishly, scratching the back of his head while Zelda smiled sweetly, after which they went to check out the room where the Floormaster came from, discovering a few chests and pots, including a big chest. Opening the smaller chests and breaking the pots earned the group some rupees and additional ammunition of arrows, bombs and Bombchus, while Link went to check out the big chest…
"What's this?" He asked, picking out an item that looked similar to his Hookshot, but instead of hook on the end of the chain to snatch the items, hit switches or kill certain weak enemies with, there was a set of three claws placed on the end of the chain.
"Hm? That's different from the Hookshot we already have…" Zelda said as she got one herself.
"How many of these are there?" Saria asked.
"At any case enough for any of us…" Link replied.
"We'd better take them with us, who knows what use they may have…" Impa said, taking one herself.

Once they had taken and stashed their items, the group went on to the door in the center, which was also easily taken care of with a Bomb. Inside the room there was another big chest, while a Business Scrub was present in front of it. Darunia delivered another Goron Pound to eject the Scrub from its hiding place with a squeak, before Impa confronted it.
"I give up! If you let me be, I'll sell you some Red Potion, but it'll cost 40 Rupees." It said.
Sighing, Impa handed over the money.
"Thank you very much. Here's the potion." The Scrub said, presenting a full bottle of Red Potion her, which Impa accepted before the Scrub left.
Impa then returned to the group, handing the Potion over to Link.
"Here, share some with Zelda. It should help in healing your noses faster." She said with a smile.
"Thank you." Link said, before he took a few gulps of the Red Potion, before giving it to Zelda, who also took a few sips of it.
The remainder of the potion was divided between Saria, Ruto and Nabooru, before Rauru opened the big chest.
"Oh, here's more of those golden-plated gloves that Great Fairy gave us earlier." He said.
"Sweet, that should restore our power-charged gloves then." Ruto said, smiling as the group took the items, before turning to the third door. This time, Impa blasted the door apart with a Bomb, only for the group to be greeted with the sight of a Big Skulltula, which Saria took out with her Fairy Slingshot. But the group couldn't exactly progress; as they made a turn to the left, they were greeted with the sight of another enemy which they hated; an Iron Knuckle!

Pulling back into the main room, the Sages waited while Link used Bombs and Bombchus to lure the Iron Knuckle into the room with success, making it appear in the room, right before one more bomb took out the outer armor, allowing the group to pelt it with arrows and Deku Seeds as it charged at them, once again taking it out from a safe distance, bringing relief to the group.
"Let's hope we can actually move on now…" Saria said.
"You said it." Link said, laying a hand on her left shoulder.
As Saria turned to Link, she noticed he was smiling at her, something which made her smile and also blush a little too, before the group moved on, down the path the Iron Knuckle stood on, entering a new path where they saw the path now going down in a curve, but broken up by patches of nettles which didn't look too healthy to step over…
"Oh dear, what now?" Ruto asked.
"This is going to be tougher than I thought… but there must be a way to cross this…" Link said as he moved forward, trying to look for where the path would go, noticing it went away with another curve to the right, but he was unable to pass over the nettles. Disappointed, Link returned to the others, only to spot something nearby.
"What the-?!" He asked, moving closer.
"What is it? Did you find something?" Saria asked.
"I think so, I'm not sure what it is…" Link replied as he moved towards the beginning of a path, seeing something behind the group even.
As the others turned around, they saw that there was something… sleeping right behind them.
"What in the name of Hyrule is that?" Ruto asked.
"It looks like a bigger and sentient version of the Bombchu which also has legs…" Saria said.
"It looks surprisingly tame…" Nabooru said, scratching her head.
"It's so big that one or two people could even sit on it." Rauru said.
Cautiously, Link approached it and carefully sat on the sleeping Bombchu, with Saria following close behind him as she climbed up carefully as well. But no sooner had the two mounted it, or the Bombchu suddenly reared up, letting out a metallic squeak reminiscent of the Real Bombchus, before taking off… taking Link and Saria with it! Saria screamed as she held Link tightly at the waist, while Link himself had a firm grip on the Bombchu, holding onto it for dear life. Link blinked as it ran over the nettles with no problem, although doing his best to steer it along the path, before coming across a gap, which he forced the Bombchu to jump over, before making another turn to the left… headed straight for a looping.
"Oh no!" Saria said.
"Hang on tight, Saria!" Link said, just as the Bombchu made it through the looping safely!
Making a jump across two more gaps, the Bombchu made another turn to the left and then to the right, crossing a stone pillar that acted like a bridge over a lava pit, before it went over a patch of lava that didn't move, headed for a final gap and straight towards a door. Jumping over the gap, Link saw his chance and jumped off the Bombchu, taking Saria along with him, while the Bombchu collided with the door, destroying it and itself in the process.
"I… I think we have had enough jump scares for the day…" Link said as he held his childhood friend while leaning against the wall.
"I think so too…" Saria said, shivering.
Just then, the terrifying screams of Zelda and Ruto were heard, coming closer.
"Oh, crap!" both Link and Saria said, fleeing into the dark area that the door had revealed for them… only for them to suddenly trip as they slid down a chasm… taking them outside on the ground above the Temple's entrance, landing on the grass with a loud *THUD*, knocking the both of them out for a moment as both made a perfect faceplant onto the ground.