A/N: Alright! Sorry I'm late, but now it's time for the second boss battle!

Chapter 17: Subterranean Lava Dragon: Volvagia

Link:

"So brother," Darunia said, "you want to talk about what just happened?"

"Not especially."

Darunia sighed, "You won't be able to travel with him if you keep this up."

I chose not to comment as I made my way through the volcano.

The Fire Temple was located deep within Death Mountain. Luckily for us, the path to the temple was better maintained than in the alternate timeline (the bridge was not out). It was very inconvenient to get to for most of the races in Hyrule (you need special gear, like the Goron Tunic, in order to even survive the temperatures within the volcano). Gorons did not really have an issue with the heat (they could survive very high temperatures), and I recalled how I could actually wade into lava in my Goron form while I traveled through Termina.

We made it to the Temple without any trouble. The rooms of the temple looked to be carved out of the mountain itself. Up ahead were three statues at the top of a set of stairs. The statues were of laughing faces (rather creepy ones at that) with flames spouting from their mouths.

Like in the Forest Temple, there was a complete lack of monsters in the temple.

Darunia led the way, taking the left-upper door into the room right before Volvagia's Lair. We stood in the entrance of the room looking at the door leading to the Volvagia's lair across the room. There was a problem though…

The room was covered with lava, and there was no easy way to get across. The last time I had gone through the Fire Temple, I had to go above the room and knock a pillar down into this room in order to cross over to Volvagia's Lair. I knew that Darunia had gotten across in the other timeline without doing that, but…

"So Darunia," I said, "How do we get acro-"

I was interrupted as I felt myself getting hoisted unceremoniously up into the air, and, before I could tell him to stop, I was thrown at the door across the pit of lava.

I hit the platform in front of the big door and rolled. I did not stop rolling until I hit the door.

"Darunia," I muttered, lying on the ground, "I might have to kill you later…"

I felt the platform tremble as what I assumed to be Darunia landed next to me. Before I could turn my head to look, I was lifted once again and placed back on my feet. Once I regained my bearings, I turned and glared at the goron.

"Sorry brother," he said sheepishly, "but it was the fastest way of getting across."

There were several things I wanted to say to them (none of them pleasant). Instead, I sighed, "Just open the door please…"

Darunia nodded and pulled out a big key (where did he keep that thing!) and walked up to the door. He unlocked the large lock and it fell to the floor with a loud clang. After that, Darunia pushed the door opened and looked back at me with a grin, "After you brother."

Accepting the invitation, I walked through the door, Darunia following after me.

The room we entered was a large, circular cavern. There was a raised island in the middle of a pool of magma. The island had several holes, which were also filled with magma. I did not know for certain, but it was likely that the island was hollow, and Volvagia slept underneath the island.

"Okay," I said, looking around. "What are we looking for exactly?"

Darunia shrugged, "I don't know."

"Please tell me you're joking."

"I'm sorry brother, but this Sage stuff was never my forte."

"You were the one that led us here!" I exclaimed.

"Alright, alright," Darunia said, holding up his arms defensively. "I'll see what I can feel… or something."

"Do it."

Darunia put his hands together, closed his eyes and started concentrating. As he was doing this, I started glancing around the cavern. "I'm starting to get a bad feeling about this place."

Darunia started to glow with a red light. As the glow started to fade from the goron, a rumble filled the cavern. On the opposite side of the room, a pathway rose out of the lava, connecting the island with the back wall of the cavern. At the point where the walkway connected, the wall started to lower into the ground, revealing a secret room. Inside the room was a statue on a pedestal (like the one Malon had told me Cody had found). This time the statue was of a dragon, and the Orb of Fire was resting in its mouth…

And standing in front of the statue was Malgum.

I quickly drew my sword and shield and assumed a defensive stance.

Darunia stood behind me, looking confused. "I take it he's not a friend…"

Malgum grinned at me from in front of the pedestal, "Link! How wonderful it is of you to join me!"

"Malgum," I said, scowling, "Let me guess. You're here to stop me."

"In a manner of speaking," he said as he stepped onto the pathway. "To be precise, I won't be the one stopping you."

At his words, the cavern started to quake. I took an involuntary step back to steady myself. Darunia looked around, looking tense, "I have a really bad feeling about this brother."

Malgum laughed as the shaking in the cavern caused stalactites to rain down from above, "It's been fun, but I need to pay a visit to Goron City now."

I felt the blood drain from my face.

Zelda.

"No!" I shouted, "I won't let you!"

Malgum laughed as he started to fade to shadows, "I think you have more important things to deal with, Hero of Time." His laugh could still be heard as he faded away into the shadows.

I swore loudly and started running for the entrance to the cavern, Darunia right behind me. We almost made it…

With a loud roar, Volvagia burst out of one of the lava pits.

"We have a problem, brother," Darunia said.

"I'm aware," I said tensely.

"We don't have the Megaton Hammer!"

"Again… I'm aware!"

Volvagia turned towards us, and then started spewing fire. I rolled out of the way while Darunia covered his eyes and took the hit. I sprang back to my feet and saw that Volvagia was diving at Darunia. Darunia was only just recovering from the attack and would not be able to do anything about it.

I ran at Volvagia, charging energy into my sword as I moved. Volvagia was almost upon Darunia. The goron was only just realizing the predicament he was in…

I moved in front of Darunia just in time and unleashed the energy from my sword at the dragon. Volvagia tried to avoid the attack, but was grazed on his side. He roared angrily as he retreated back to the sky.

"Thanks brother," said Darunia, sounding relieved.

"We need to come up with a plan," I said, watching the angry dragon circle overhead.

"But we don't have the Megaton Hammer!"

"We don't have the time to go looking for it!"

Volvagia turned towards us once again and started breathing out fire once more. I rolled out of the way once again. Darunia ran in the opposite direction, trying to keep his head out of the fire (he was not going risk taking his eyes off Volvagia a second time). However, Volvagia kept coming after me, shooting fire the entire time. I was forced to keep moving.

Darunia was running after us in an attempt to help me, but he was not going to be able to get to me anytime soon. Volvagia was not giving me much of a chance to attack. He was keeping out of range while at the same time keeping me on the move with his fire. Though the Goron Tunic protected me from the worst of the heat, it would not do much good if I took a direct hit.

I ran away from the dragon for a few minutes, feeling kind of like an idiot, when I noticed that Darunia was no longer following. As I ran, I scanned the room looking for the goron. I spotted him setting himself up in the middle of the island.

"Lead him to me brother!" he shouted at me.

I was not sure what his plan was, but since I had nothing…

During one of Volvagia's breaks during his fire breathing, I stopped, put away my sword and shield, and gathered energy. He turned towards me and was about to unleash another torrent of fire…

And at the same time, I activated Naryu's Love.

I was surrounded by a crystal-like energy shield. The fire from Volvagia's attack connected with the shield and started to flow around me. Not wasting anymore time, I began to run through the fire and towards Darunia. Volvagia roared in anger and started to chase after me. Darunia was crouching and had his arms spread wide. What was he thinking…?

"Get ready to duck!" he yelled at me.

I was almost to him. The shield was already starting to flicker.

"Now, DUCK!"

The shield died as I dove to the ground. Volvagia flew over me, not expecting me to drop so suddenly. He crashed straight into Darunia, and the two began to grapple.

I rolled out of the way of Volvagia's thrashing tail and sprang to my feet once again. I stood in awe of Darunia's great strength as he single handedly fought Volvagia with his bare hands. Volvagia was constantly breathing fire, but Darunia took the flames without flinching. I was beginning to think that Darunia could possibly take Volvagia out by himself…

Until Volvagia tossed him up into the air. Darunia landed on Volvagia's back, and the enraged dragon started flying around the room, thrashing about.

"Help!" Darunia yelled from atop the angry dragon.

"What do you want me to do!" I yelled from below.

"Anything! Just get me down!"

I swore once again as I tried to formulate a new plan. Volvagia had temporarily forgotten about me as he flew around the cavern so I had a moment to breathe and think. It was highly unlikely that Volvagia would come down and fight me one on one after I had attacked him with my sword. That left only one course of action.

I pulled out my bow and felt my quiver materialize on my back. I pulled out an arrow and notched it. Like during the fight with Aviosis, I concentrated magic into the arrow. However, I tried a different approach.

A cold, blue light surrounded the arrowhead as I aimed at Volvagia, careful to aim well away from Darunia, and let the Ice Arrow loose.

The arrow struck Volvagia in his side, encasing his side in ice. Volvagia let out a roar of surprise and crashed into the ground, throwing Darunia from his back.

The goron landed several yards away, looking a little disoriented. "Never, ever, let me do that again…"

"It's not over yet," I said.

Right after Volvagia had hit the ground, he had started breathing fire on the parts of his body encased in ice. He was just now finishing up, and he looked even angrier than before, if that was even possible. He turned and glared at me. Darunia pulled himself to his feet as I notched another arrow, the arrowhead already glowing with a blue light.

Darunia was shouting something at me, but I could no longer hear. All sounds were drowned out as I waited for the perfect moment to unleash my arrow. Volvagia opened his mouth. I could see fire building in the back of his throat as he prepared to unleash more fire…

I let the arrow fly…

The arrow sailed from my bow straight for the back of Volvagia's throat.

The fire may have canceled out the effects of the ice magic, but the arrow was protected until it made contact. Volvagia started to thrash about in agony. I drew my sword and raced forward at the same time Darunia ran forward. With a loud yell, Darunia swung his fist forward and punched Volvagia with all the power force he could muster. Volvagia crashed to the ground as I reached him and swung with my sword…

The sword cut clean through. Volvagia's body continued thrashing about for a minute before it became still.

"We did it brother!" Darunia cheered happily.

He turned to give me a friendly slap on the back (one that probably would have sent me through the island), except I was already gone, making a mad dash for the Orb of Fire. I collected the orb and started running back to the entrance of the cavern.

"We have to hurry!" I yelled back at Darunia.

He nodded and proceeded to follow me at top speed.

My heart was hammering in my chest as I ran. Malgum had destroyed Kakariko. What was he going to do to Goron City?

And what was going to happen to Zelda?

I pushed myself even harder and sent a desperate prayer to the goddesses, praying that I would get there in time…

A/N: Link has claimed the Fire Orb and now the group has three of the orbs. Unfortunately, Goron City is about to be attacked by Malgum.

With the impending attack on Goron City, will Link be able to make it in time? And what about Cody?

Stay tuned.