Chapter 12: Dragon Roost Cavern Part 2
After obtaining the grappling hook and re-entering the cavern, Link and company entered a room with a rickety wooden bridge suspended over a large pool of lava. As the sextet cross the bridge they came across a dead end where a lone Bulblin lunged at them with a sword. Link parried the strike with his shield and quickly struck down the green skinned monster with a few quick slashes.
"A dead end, there has to be some way out of here though," pondered Ryu.
Everyone started looking for a way to proceed when Zelda spotted a stretch of land below them right in the middle of the lava pool.
"We're going to have to get down there somehow," remarked Zelda.
"Looks like the only way down is to cut the ropes suspending the bridge," chimed in Link.
"Great, nothing like another long fall," commented Ken sarcastically.
And with that, the six warriors all got onto the bridge as Link started to cut the ropes with his sword. Eventually, the bridge collapsed and the heroes landed squarely on the strip of land, in front of them was a treasure chest and on the other end, a door.
"Hmm, it would be stupid of us to pass up a treasure," piped up Alex as he opened the chest to find some bombs to replenish the ones they used in the battle against King Dodongo.
After pocketing the bombs in their bomb bag, Link and company ran through the door and found themselves overlooking the central room of the cavern where they saw an open cage with the floor to it being suspended by ropes.
"I'm guessing we're in for another drop zone," said Chun-Li.
"I see no other way down. So you assume correctly," replied Link.
The six ran over to the caged area and all stood firmly on the inside as a lava prominence made the floor rock about as Link did a spin attack to cut the ropes keeping the floor suspended. As the lava prominence subsided, the floor fell with it leading Link and the others to a doorway that they all quickly hopped through. They then saw a couple of platforms being held up by chains over the lava which all six quickly bounded across to the next doorway where they saw a door that was barred shut and began to search for a way to get it open. Soon, they found an overhanging switch that looked like it could be grappled on to.
"Good thing we got this earlier," said Link as he pulled out the Grappling Hook from his satchel and swung it onto the switch as Link swung around, his weight activated the switch and the bars from the door vanished. Link leapt backwards and back onto the ledge to rejoin the others. A couple of Keese flew at the heroes, but Ryu and Ken sent them up in smoke with Hadokens. After ridding themselves of the bats, the six heroes entered the door where they saw a chasm filled with lava but there was something for them to swing off of with the grappling hook. Link swung across first and then threw it over to the others and they continued the relay until they all got across. The six heroes then entered another door into a mostly empty room with a treasure chest surrounded by fire. Also in the room was a large steel cage suspended from the ceiling with three Rito people inside of it. One was an adult male with his white feathers done up like a spiky hairdo and he was wearing a brown tunic with white pants. Another was an adolescent male Rito in a red tunic but the same white pants that the older male had. The third was a female with red hair and was dressed in a dark blue dress.
"Hey, are you guys here to save us?" asked the adult male Rito.
"That and to calm down that big dragon sitting on this volcano," answered Ken.
"There's a large monster doing things to Valoo, so we're glad you're here to put a stop to that as well," said the younger male.
"I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that the chest in the fire has the key to that monster," replied Alex.
"You are correct. You better be careful though, the guardian of the key should be around here somewhere," piped up the female Rito.
At the moment the female finished her sentence a large figure came crashing to the ground. He was nearly eight feet tall and had black hair done in an afro like hairstyle. He was clothed in a pink tank top with black polka dots on it in addition to pink pants and pink boots. He also had a weird looking crystal on his forehead.
"Hugo, don't tell he's under mind control too," gasped Chun-Li.
"He most likely is, he has that mind control crystal planted on his head," replied Ken.
"Then all we have to do is destroy it and he should come to his senses," commented Link.
"That'll be easier said than done," stated Ryu as he ducked under Hugo's huge fist.
Chun-Li and Ken leapt at Hugo kicking the large grappler in the stomach in unison; he staggered a bit but grabbed the both of them and threw them into Zelda knocking her over. At that moment Alex hit Hugo with a Flash Chop and then slammed the bigger man to the ground with a suplex as Ryu fired forth a Hadoken in an attempt to destroy the mind control crystal but Hugo moved out of the way and grabbed Ryu before leaping into the air and slamming his bulk down on the Japanese warrior with his Moonsault Press.
"This giant is posing some big problems," grumbled Ryu as he slowly got back up.
"Yes but you know the old saying though," started Zelda as she fired a Din's Fire towards Hugo stunning him for a brief moment.
"The bigger they are, the harder they fall," finished Ken as he nailed Hugo with a three hit flaming Shoryuken then knocked Hugo off of his feet. Link then ran up and hit the crystal with the hilt of his sword causing it to crack, but not break.
"Another good hit should be enough to crack it!" called out Link as Hugo stood back up even more angry as he clotheslined Link who then rolled out of the way of a stomp from the angry wrestler and then smacked him in the gut with his shield.
"Spinning Bird Kick!" yelled Chun-Li as she spun towards Hugo hitting him repeatedly with her powerful legs knocking him into Alex who grabbed Hugo and Power Bombed him shortly afterwards. Ryu and Ken each fired a Hadoken at Hugo's head and both the projectiles nailed the crystal directly making it shatter. Hugo held his head in pain for a while before coming to his senses and gazing at his surroundings.
"What happened to me, where am I?" asked Hugo.
"You were under mind control, you're inside a volcano on a remote island, sorry we had to rough you up a bit there," answered Link.
"That's no problem, but that explains why I don't remember after the fusion of the two worlds," commented Hugo.
"Now we gotta get that cage down, we can't leave those guys up there," said Alex.
Link promptly pulled out his bow and attached a bomb to it and fired the bomb arrow at the chain holding the cage up. The bomb exploded on impact causing the chain to shatter and Hugo grabbed the cage out of midair and ripped it open allowing the three Rito people to fly out safely.
"Thank you for helping us out up there, I'm Komali, the Rito chieftain's son," said the young male Rito.
"I am Quill," chimed in the older male Rito.
"And I'm Medli, I act as a liaison to Valoo as I can understand the ancient Hylian language he speaks," piped up the female Rito.
"So how did you guys get trapped in here?" asked Zelda.
"After we saw Valoo acting strange, we decided to come and see what was going on here, but then we got abducted by this guy that was mind controlled and locked in that cage," answered Komali.
"But luckily you guys came along to help us out of our predicament and possibly calm Valoo down," added Quill.
"No problem, we'll stop whatever monster is agitating him," affirmed Chun-Li.
"Not to mention stop those monsters from attacking you guys again," added Ken.
"I'll make sure these guys get out of the cavern safely, you go on and fight the monster," boomed Hugo.
"Will do," affirmed Ryu as he opened the chest containing the boss key.
"Here, take this warp jar, it will lead you to the room where the boss door is located," called out Medli pointing to a jar in a corner near the chest where the boss key was.
"Hey thanks, and you guys be careful getting out of here!" called out Link as him and company leapt into the warp jar.
"Same to you!" replied Komali, Quill, and Medli in unison.
When Link and company came out of the warp jar, they found themselves in the room where the boss door was, but some lava was obscuring the path.
"Time to use the grappling hook again," remarked Ryu.
Link nodded in agreement and found a spot to latch the grappling hook to and then swung to the other side where the boss door was and once again the six heroes did a relay with the grappling hook until all six were finally across. They broke some nearby pots and found a fairy in one of them which healed their wounds from traversing the dungeon and afterwards, the six then entered the door to the boss's lair.
"Things are really gonna heat up here," commented Alex as they entered the lair.
The six heroes found themselves in a large room with a circular lava pool right in the middle of the room. Up on the ceiling they saw a hole with what appeared to be a tail sticking through it.
"That tail has to belong to Valoo, so the monster is doing something to his tail. That has to be what's pissing it off," remarked Ken.
Just then, the lava began to bubble and Link and company took a ready pose knowing the monster was ready to make its entrance. From out of the lava a large scorpion like monster with one large blue eye appeared out of the lava gnashing its large pincers menacingly at the six.
"It's Gohma, we're gonna have to find some way to crack that hard shell of his," informed Link.
Gohma lunged forward trying to grab the heroes with its pincers but they all dove away just in time. Link then swung the grappling hook towards Valoo's tail and latched onto it swinging to the other side of Gohma. However upon releasing the grappling hook, the land mass that covered the ceiling fell downwards and crashed onto Gohma stunning it and putting a few cracks in its hard outer shell.
"That seemed to do the trick!" exclaimed Link.
When Gohma recovered from being stunned it pushed the land mass back onto the ceiling and targeted Link slamming into him, but it was unable to snatch him with its claws. Link tossed the grappling hook to Zelda who was nearby she ran with for a while before Gohma swiped into her jarring it loose from her hands. Chun-Li ran up and grabbed the grappling hook off of the floor and swung it up onto Valoo's tail again and promptly swung from the dragon's tail onto the other side of the room making the land mass fall onto Gohma again putting even bigger cracks into the scorpion's shell.
"We should almost have this nut cracked now!" called out Alex.
Gohma once again pinned the land mass to the ceiling and furiously breathed fire at Chun-Li who was knocked back by it, Alex took the grappling hook from her and pulled out of the way of a follow up attack from Gohma. He tossed the grappling hook to Ryu who leapt over Gohma's claws and threw the hook to Ken who then latched onto Valoo's tail with it and let out a Tarzan yell while swinging from the hook onto the other side of the room. The land mass toppled onto Gohma yet again, this time Gohma destroyed the large slab of rock but its hard outer shell also shattered too leaving its entire body vulnerable to attack.
"Everyone, don't hold back, go all out with him!" announced Zelda.
Gohma began to get wilder with its attacks. It spun around in a circle breathing fire and the six heroes ran fast to avoid the fire. Link took the grappling hook and launched it right into Gohma's eye stunning it. Zelda fired an arrow into its eye as Chun-Li hit it with her Hyakuretsu Kyaku, Alex with a Flash Chop, and Ryu and Ken each with a Shoryuken. Gohma got up and was still angry it slammed its claw down in an attempt to squash the six and then lunged forward trying to snatch someone with its pincers but all six dove out of the way again. Once more Link stunned the scorpion by latching the grappling hook to its eye.
"Shinkuu Hadoken!" shouted Ryu letting loose a supercharged Hadoken right into Gohma's eye.
Gohma cried out in pain and began to writhe around in the lava. The lava pool then cooled and Gohma's body began to turn black and then disintegrated into ash in a matter of seconds. The six heroes then found a document floating in the middle of the lava pool.
"Perfect, it's the second Secret Text," said Chun-Li.
"That's good, we're one step closer to getting them in safe hands," stated Link.
"Now how about we get out of here and get somewhere that's more of a normal temperature," suggested Ken.
"Agreed, let's not waste any more time here," piped up Zelda as she pointed towards a large blue light glowing on the ground near the second Secret Text.
Link pocketed the Secret Text and along with the others stepped into the blue light. The light shone brightly over the sextet and they found themselves soon being teleported out of the cavern.
Author's Note: Well there we go, another dungeon done and another Secret Text in Link and company's possession. On a side note, I recently bought the Link to the Past manga and it's pretty damn good. I might have one of the original characters to that manga make an appearance in a later chapter as well. Anyways I'm off to go work on that next chapter so until then, please read and review. Looks like it's time to oil up!