"If I would've known they had stairs I would've taken them in the first place..." the princess grumbled as they winded their way back up to the top. Link scoffed with a smile on his face. "What? Your way may have been faster but was completely dangerous!" He shrugged with a look of 'So?' on his face. Her eyes lowered at him. "Ok Mr. Suicidal Hero. Kill yourself but leave me out of it..." she sighed then looked to her wrist, where identical Goron bracelets had been slapped onto both of them by Darunia himself. "What are bomb flowers?"
Link blinked at her then glanced around seeing as they were on the second floor now. He tapped her, then pointed at a dark green plant. Upon her examination, it did in fact look like a bomb. She knelt down and picked it up, looking it over. What she didn't notice was the hissing it was making. The item was abruptly snatched from her as Link ran off to an opening and threw it, one explosion causing four more in the room that he'd thrown it in. As he shielded himself from flying debris she looked wide-eyed.
"Sorry! He didn't say they blow up once you pick them!" he gave an audible sigh, very close to a groan, and face-palmed. "Hey...Link...do you hear that?" he lifted his head, waiting for the ringing of the explosion to stop. Once it did he heard...music? "Isn't that the song you were playing earlier?" His eyes widened upon realization then they slightly grew melancholy. "What's...wrong?" he shook his head and walked away from the doorway. 'She's playing in the forest again...just like always...' his mind told him. "Umm...Link? You mind if we check that out sometime? You look like you want to..." she sort of mumbled as he walked past. He stopped, turned to her, his face genuinely surprised then it turned to a sad smile as he shrugged to her again, waving her forward then continued to walk up the last staircase. They finally reached the outward cave of the town, looking for the way to the cavern. The warrior pointed out a side road that lead off to somewhere close by. Figuring that a local was probably there they headed off. Upon finding that to be true, Zelda walked over to a sitting Goron while Link looked around off at the distance. "U-Um, hello. We were wondering where Dodongo's Cavern was?"
"Well..." the rock creature spoke slowly, "It's down there...but...it's blocked by a rock..."
"Oh..." she frowned, "Well, are there any other entrances?"
"Nope...only one..."
"Only...one..."
"Only one."
"...Got it. Thank you. Hey Link we-LINK!" she yelled, rushing the warrior. He looked at her confused and she ran toward him, the bomb plant in his hands flashing red. She shoved him, causing the bomb to fly over the fencing and hit the gigantic rock head on. A thundering roar or an explosion and a rock slide went off underneath their feet. Both Hylians leaned over the railing, looking at the nicely done damage before tilting their heads in a bit of astonishment. "Go figure..." she mumbled with a light chuckle. Then turning to him she simply asked: "Just what were you doing anyway?" Hey tapped his wrist a couple times before looking over the gap again. "...why are you looking down like that?" he gave her a dead-pan stare before stalking towards her. She stepped back slowly, quickly understanding that stare. "N...no...I don't want to do anymore jumps Link!" She turned to run but was snatched up before she had time to collect her bearings. He held her in front of him and jumped over with a running start. Of course, it wouldn't be unexpected that she started screaming...
Not too soon later, the newly opened cavern was entered by a smirking warrior and a fuming princess, the latter walking with her hands on her hips, clearly peeved at the little happiness that teasing her and scaring the living daylights out of her gave him. Walking the first hallway they ran into...a dead end.
"What?" she blinked. The green clad man walked up to the wall, sliding his hand down it before looking around. Of course...there would be bomb flowers around. He walked over to it, lifted it and promptly threw it at his previous location. It was only a couple of seconds before: "Link...it didn't go off...is it a dud?" he shook his head at her and held up his hand, lowering a finger with a mental countdown. Sure enough, it blew up right on time, revealing another room to be traversed. "Huh...so you were actually timing it earlier..." he threw an annoyed glance at her before walking ahead, her giggling in his wake. Now she saw why it was so funny...
Inside the new room they saw a bridge that led right before a gap. The middle of the room showing a rather large platform. Around those being stands of rock some how lowering and raising themselves as they were surrounded by molten lava. They walked to the end of the bridge, Zelda looking down in a cause of paranoia.
"...why would he send us here?" she turned to Link to see him crouched down with his back towards her. Her face could've turned blue. "You...you want me to get on your back?" he nodded. "What are about to do?" he looked towards the large rock stand then back to her. "...you're kidding right?" there's that dead-pan stare again... "Don't you dare drop me..." she climbed unto his back, as (silently) ordered and he stood, adjusting accordingly before he waited for the platforms to lower. As he jumped, she held on tighter, clinching her eyes shut until she felt the jostle of him landing. She opened them to be met with blue eyes, checking if she was okay. Seeing as she didn't like jumps and from what he'd seen of this room, she was going to hate this place. Not to mention it would do a toll on his legs... he ran and jumped again, this time releasing the support on her and grabbing the ledge. She nearly panicked, feeling the heat sear underneath her now dangling feet but she calmed herself, just holding as tightly as she could. He climbed up with her, just to be met by a beamos. He stood quickly and hopped across another of the platforms to the right, dodging the ray and reaching the other side of the room. Placing her down, he decided to scan for more dangers. He spotted another beamos whose eye apparently hadn't spotted them yet. He turned to see Zelda picking up a bomb and tossing it to him. He caught it and tossed it again, hitting with a bulls-eye on the monster. She laughed as he clapped for her jokingly. Then signaled for another, which she gave him, and he threw at a wall which promptly exploded, leading to another entryway. "So...walls like that are meant to explode, huh?" he simply shrugged again, tilting his head to the side as they both walked into the corridor.
It was quiet to say the least. His eyes shifted in the dimly lit room, widening as he stopped the girl and pushing her back. Before she could ask, a little grean lizard, legless as it were, burrowed out of the ground and towards them. With a quick slash the beast was done only to have momentarily blown up in an explosion, blasting the two back, Link taking most of the blow.
"Uh-um...Link? You okay?" she asked after quickly sitting up but seeing he didn't do the same. She shook him, relieved that he'd opened his eyes before shutting them, groaning audibly, sitting up and rubbing the back of his now hat-less head. He stood, all of a sudden standing at attention in a battle stance. She stood shortly, picking up his dropped item and finally looked at what he was looking at. "...those are a lot of them..." A little horde of baby dodongos stared them down before one of them leaped, followed by the others. Link smashed one of them off with his shield before grabbing her arm and running for the far side of the room, shield smacking whatever decided to lunge at them. He slung her over a small step leading to the rest of the room then turned to finish heading up the miniature beasts. Figuring not to bother him, she took the initiative to find a way out. She ran to find a door with bars over it and a switch on the floor. She tried standing on it but then saw that she wasn't heavy enough. She glanced around, seeing a statue like boulder nearby. She pushed it, finding it relatively easy, and got it to the destination. As she thought, the bars raised and she climbed atop the higher floor in front of the metal door. "Link! Hurry!"
He turned, glancing back to her figure waving him in from the doorway she was halfway through. Slashing three dodongos, he hopped the height before taking off to avoid the explosion and joined Zelda quickly in the next room. The warrior leaned against the door panting as she leaned over to check him. He hadn't gotten hurt through all of that, surprising to her, causing her to smile as she placed his hat back on his head. He looked over at her through one eye, he himself smiled at her before placing a hand on her head. She accepted the gesture, knowing what it meant because her father used to do it alot. He then stood, noticing two bat like creatures in the room. He killed the keese effortlessly then they proceeded into the next room. As soon as the door shut, bars covered them, both teens looking back at the sudden clang. Two Lizalfos sprang from the ceiling in a battle cry. With a huff, Link stepped forward, signifying that he was their opponent. She sighed.
"Is it just me or is this place full of monsters for no good reason..." she heard a chuckle before the blond ran off for battle. She sat there, sort of surprised that he'd actually laughed before just looking at him fight. Following the two lizards had him halfway across the room and she saw that he'd already slain the first. Then the hylian was knocked back by an accidental swing of it's tail. Before the other could approach and attack again it was shot in the face by a few deku seeds, seeing as Link pulled out his slingshot. She inwardly laughed at the beast's comically surprised expression before it was quickly apprehended and laid to rest. The bars then lifted and she stood, hopping causally over the gaps in the flooring that led to lava. He stood next to the door of the next room waiting for her as she hopped the last bit of distance. They opened the door to a dimly lit corridor which seemed to take the color of cerulean and they looked around cautiously. "Hey Link..." he glanced towards her, a questioning look on his face. "Can I see that? The slingshot." He raised a brow at her. "What? I'm a great marksman, believe me. I just don't...want to drag you down so much..." he just stared at her, genuinely surprised for a moment and taken back a bit before handing her the item along with its ammunition. He then nudged his head towards their destination and they proceeded on. They stopped once noticing a large bulky lizard crawling along the ground. "If we go fast enough, they can't catch us..." she mumbled. He looked at her again, raising a brow. "Dodongo's are horribly slow, mentally and physically. We're fast enough to avoid them. If we can't though, avoid the fire breath and their tails are their weak spots." he nodded as they proceeded on. They sprinted across the room, just to find bars barring their exit again.
"Oh dear goddesses, honestly..." she looked around the room and noticed that a few torches weren't lit. She looked around again, seeing a few sticks in the corner of the room. "Hey...I'm gonna go light these...it'll help us see if we missed something..." they dodged their way back to the front of the room and set the stick on fire, quickly doing the same for the rest of the oil filled lamps. Suddenly, the door bars ascended, letting them into the next room. "...I have a feeling...I'm going to hate this place..." Link sighed as they opened the last door, walking down a hall to another switch in the floor. Link stepped on it absently, causing a barred door to open off in the distance from the hall. They could see the door but something annoyed Link about it. As they walked on, his face crumpled in irritation, as he now knew why that door bothered him. It wasn't the door per-say but where it was located. He hopped down, helping her to join him and then she looked around, growing evermore confused. "Uh...isn't this where we started?"
Of course she'd noticed too and was highly confused. Something told her from that day on, he'd be going through alot of this. Not that he hadn't done anything like it before but he still hadn't found a way to ignore the anger at going in a circle just for a damn switch to another door that most likely led to yet another circle or a dead end for something else completely stupid to him. He ran his fingers through his bangs before walking to then edge and jumping off. She just stared at the empty space before she saw his cap rising from the emptiness. He was on the platform, waving for her to jump. She swallowed before jumping down to him as the platform raised. Easily catching onto her, he ran and jumped again, her soon to follow. Unfortunately for her, she got caught in the vision of the patrolling eye of the beamos. She backed away quickly just to see the blue light continue to pursue her and right as the beam was coming at her and she was nearing the edge-
It was cut off with a resounding "BING". She looked up quickly noting the creature was on it's side now, grunting at an irritated hylian sitting atop it with his foot digging its eye into the dirt. An annoyed hiss escaped the man as he stomped the head, silencing the creature momentarily. He then stood, kicking the creature, sending it rolling into the lava pit. Turning back to the girl he sighed.
"Heh heh heh...my bad..." she nervously giggled, fiddling with her ponytail. Beckoning her with a hand motion he jumped over to the other side, her following fluidly this time, shown to her by a satisfied look on his face when she landed on non-moving ground. Then they both looked to the door. "Let's go, shall we?"
.-+Z.e.L.D.A+-.
"No...more...jumping...please!" Zelda panted, hands on her knees and laboured breathing. What the hell was with this place? Jumps over gaps, jumps across bridges that COULD have been put together, jumping on and off FALLING platforms (which almost got her if it weren't for a blond with quick reflexes). Then they had to run from those goddess forsaken baby dodongos again! Not to mention another room with those freaking Lizalfos. But on the good side, she proved her marksmanship abilities with the shooting of switches and distracting a lizard when Link needed it. She looked to the man in front of her. "How can you do this without even looking remotely tired?"
Said male was climbing up to the next level of flooring and all but suddenly flopped down, leaning against something brown and thick. He held his head down, breathing heavier than usual. She blinked at him silently before tiredly climbing up and crawling (only for lack of energy. Princesses do not crawl for no reason she'll have you know) next to him, sitting back and bringing her knees up to her chest.
"So...you are tired..." he managed a light chuckle through his breathing. They just sat there in silence for a while, glad to find a place with no traps, no monsters, just...quiet. For once the girl appreciated the silence. Then she ended up getting nudged by the swordsman. "What? ...what are you...?" she figured out the nudge was by accident once she saw him looking through his bag. He then pulled out and started drinking a red liquid. At half the jar, he stopped, licking the beverage from his lips then making a disgusted face. She had to laugh at that, being the most child like thing she'd seen him do. It was ended soon when he held the bottle out to her. She took it slowly, wary of the contents and she sniffed the aura that wafted from it. "Red potion? Ick! No wonder you made that face..." He quirked a brow at her, shook his head, then waved his hand in a circle, clearly meaning 'Come on...hurry up...' She frowned at him, and even harder at the bottle. "Guess it can't be helped..."
She exhaled, bringing the bottle up to her lips and taking down the beverage as quick as possible to avoid its bitter taste. She had managed to, until the after taste came. A physical shudder pasted through her as she held out her tongue in distaste. Another round of applause from the swordsman that she soon saw was grinning. After the teasing was over, he stood, pulling her up as she went to walk to the next door.
"What's taking you so long-" but she had to look at him strange. He was halfway inside an overly large chest, apparently what they were leaning against and he pulled out...a satchel? "What's in there?" he thought for a second then pointed to the gold band on his wrist. "...bomb flowers?" he shook his head, wiggling his hand, saying that she was close. "Regular bombs?" he nodded, joining her as he strapped the bag to his waist. He sighed and opened the door.
As they stepped out they found...another switch... Zelda slightly snorted at the look on the male's face. "I saw this coming..." she stepped on it and walked on and, of course, they were back in the main room. A high reaching platform raised from the molten liquid, up to the height that they were now. He sent Zelda off across it and as she was lowered, he headed to the bridge, investigating the odd gaps in it. Standing in the middle of the clearing she noticed something. "OOOY! Link!" The man startled at the abrupt yell, crouched to balance the bridge again from his sudden jolt. He looked her with a confused and surprised face. He could hear her giggling. "Sorry but try dropping bombs into the eyes or something. It looks perfect with the breaks in the bridge like that!" He looked to the gaps and noted it was true. Quickly filing her request, the bombs exploded in each eye, lighting them up with ominous red. Suddenly, the mouth to the beast lowered itself, revealing another room.
She looked surprised that that had actually worked but he looked indifferent to it as he took as odd way down. Lowering himself from the bridge to the dino's head and sliding down, joining her in seconds. They then proceeded towalk through the door, the room they stepped into being a little more heated than the previous room. Hearing flapping, the princess quickly whipped out the slingshot, taking care of the two fire keese in the room. He looked to her, surprised by her reaction time.
"Piece of cake..." she shrugged, walking down the corridor. Into the next room, Zelda seemed to have to use more of her specialty. Taking out the flaming bats were no problem and with her handling them, Link had time to figure out the next little "puzzle". She attempted to follow him until she lost sight of him. She sat there, slightly annoyed at that but then was surprised when he emerged from another side of the room. "Wha?" He waved her over, she quickly complied finding...they were back in the first room of the corridor. "I think this is starting to piss me off as much as it's doing you." She grumbled, rubbing the back of her head. Although she couldn't see it due to him sliding a block over, he was smiling. A click resounded as it was put into place and the bars raised off the final doorway. They looked to each other, Zelda warily and Link regaining seriousness, and stepped through the door.
"I can't see..." the princess muttered and was answered by a scoffing noise. "L...Link...where are you... seriously?" no answer. "...Link-AAH!" she involuntarily screamed at something grabbing her wrist. That something sighed, bringing his face closer. Just as planned, she could soon make out the details of his face. "S-Sorry...you scared me.." even in the current darkness she could read that face as 'Ya think?' He pulled her forward, heading toward the light of fire. They found themselves in...a closed off room? They both sighed, the warrior letting go of the girl and examining the room. Zelda, slightly observant, slightly curious, stepped on a soft rock on the ground and figured, like those walls 'meant-to-go-boom'. this was no different. She also noticed a little chest in the room. Opening it, she found it to be bombs. She took most of them and handed them to the male. He looked at her sceptically before looking around more. She still held one of the bombs and placed it on the floor, blowing up the hole and leading to another room. He stared at her wide-eyed as she knelt down next to the hole.
"What?" suddenly more of the floor began to crumble away. He ran towards her, pushing her back but got caught up into the downfall. "LINK!" After she hit the wall, she saw nothing of him, just the yell of him descending, then nothing with the sound of the rubble falling. She quickly stood at the edge, seeing the hylian under a small layer of debris and she sighed in relief as he began to sit up. Both pairs of blue eyes widened at the sight of a gigantic Dodongo, scuffling its way to him, roaring in all its glory. That cry seemed to awaken the adrenaline inside the male because he quickly stood, sword and shield at the ready. It roared again before curling up and barreling at him. Link barely dodged, not expecting that from such a large creature. It howled out again and then the princess noticed something.
"Link! Throw a bomb in his mouth when he does it again! See if he'll swallow it!" Link didn't care for a method so he yanked out a bomb and threw it down the hatch. The big dino, taking the chance to eat whatever was given to it, regretted that because it fell over after the explosion inside its belly. Link took the opening and slashed away at the big beast until it got angry, rearing up and rolling into a ball again. Link dodged again, barely avoiding the lava, as it turned towards him again. Right as its mouth opened it got another bomb lodged down it's throat, the beast swallowing to breathe. It collapsed again, Link charging quickly, hacking away at the beast. The beast grew angrier, bounding toward the swordsman, actually hitting the target this time, a leg that didn't have time to retract. The hylian stifled a cry then glared at the beast. He didn't have time to recover and the beast roared at him again.
"Get up Link!" both he and the beast looked towards the yell to see a girl holding a bomb coming down from the ceiling. She tossed the bomb into its mouth, gravity doing the work for them and it closed its mouth again. The beast collapsed one last time as the male, even with his injuries, leapt to catch the girl. She hopped up quickly, taking a bomb from Link and throwing it under the lizard's chin. The fire of it burned into all the other wounds Link had applied onto it before and it rolled into a scaley sphere yet again, aiming for two targets this time. Zelda yanked Link out of the way, already standing on the sideline herself and as it passed them, Link kick with his better leg, unbalancing the creature, sending it bounding off the wall and into the lava pit. It writhed and yelled before its body was consumed by liquid fire. The lava all but suddenly cooled into hard black stone, the head of the creature standing out of it but was immobile, signaling his demise.
They stared as a pillar of blue light emerged from the center of the hardened lava. The man stood, being quickly supported by the princess and they stepped into it to be lifted and teleported back to the outside, right before the entrance to the cavern. Zelda looked baffled, wondering what type of magic that was. Link just huffed, wanting his leg to stop throbbing and somewhere to rest for a bit. It was then that she noticed a nearby Goron.
"H-hey! Could you help me with him? His leg is hurt and I don't think we can make it up the mountain with me alone..."
"Huh? Oh...Sure I guess..." And with that, the Goron rolled up the mountain.
"...what? Did...did I miss something?" she asked, looking to Link. He pointed up the trail to see the same Goron barreling down with a cart with him.
"You can get on here..." He picked up the hylian male with ease, placing him in the wagon as well as the princess. The scooted away from the edge and held onto the railings. "You might want to hold on...it could get bumpy..." he mumbled, rolling over the beam to the pulley.
"It wha-AAAH!" she held onto the headboard of the contraption and the rock creature traversed them up the trail at a breakneck speed. As he made a sharp turn, Link was flung into Zelda, both hitting the side railing. He looked at her before with another turn they were flung to the other side, Zelda into Link that time. "...even I guess..." she chuckled, holding onto the side railing and her back as she held the head board. The Goron stopped once he reached the city.
"Do you want me to take you down?"
"S...Sure...just...no more rolling, please?"
"Um...okay..." and that he walked around the city with them, traversing the stairs and taking his time. The slower pace allowed The hylians to actually relax and sit up rather than duck down. As they got to the door, they climbed out to be greeted by no less than Darunia.
"It's me! Darunia! Well done!" he beamed, drumming his chest with happiness. They both stared at him wondering if he was a monkey mixed with the mental and physical aspects of a rock... "Thanks to you, we can once again eat the delicious rocks from the Dodongo's Cavern until our stomachs burst!" he exclaimed happily, roughly patting Link (which, due to his strength, hurt terribly and knocked him down) and beating his chest with more happiness. Zelda knelt down to a coughing Link, checking him over for any new injuries before they both looked up at the Goron king. "What a wild adventure! It will make an incredible story...I can't believe enemies came in such high numbers! And that huge rock blocking the cave...It must've been caused by that Gerudo thief! You risked your life for us... Kid, I like you! How's about you and I become Sworn Brothers?" Link blinked at him, stupefied at the request. "There's no ceremony needed! Just come here and give your big brother a hug!" At this time, Zelda chose to back away, leaving a fearful Link to be scooped up by the king and bear hugged the life out of. As he was placed down they looked to the princess. "And you can be our Sworn Sister! Come here!"
"N-NOOO!"
.-+Z.e.L.d.A+-.
Link sat on the ground with a pained Zelda, having a 'That's what you get for abandoning me...' expression. She clenched her stomach, nearly curling up due to the pain of her sides. The rock-man looked at them both questionably before booming.
"What's wrong with you two? You don't look so well. I've got an idea! I'll let you two stay the night! You can even use my room, just don't be messing with my things. Off to bed you two!" he ordered, yanking them up to their feet. He was about to take them off before-
"WAIT!" the princess screamed. Both males looked at her with questionable glances. "One, you didn't tell us where the Fire temple is. Two, Link hurt his leg and we need to get that checked out and three, I can't sleep in a room with him!" both males looked at her blankly for the third reason.
"I'll tell you where it is in the morning. And as for our brother here..." he examined the torn cloth of the white pants and the actual flesh underneath. "Oh...he just needs to stay off it. It wasn't crushed, just grazed and cut a bit. The wounds will heal with short time but he should walk fine by tomorrow. Come now..." he motioned to Zelda, picking up (an agitated) Link and walking off to find Zelda still standing where she was.
"Number three?"
"There is nothing wrong with a male and female sleeping in the same room. And I'm very sure he has enough respect not to touch you wrongly..."
"WHA-" she blushed furiously but even she was cut off.
"This one here is a warrior and warriors go by honor. A sensible man let alone a warrior would never molest a lady-"
"I'LL JUST GO TO SLEEP OKAY?" she couldn't see it but the Goron king was grinning from ear to ear.
"Sure, let's get you two settled in then..." and with that, they all headed to the Chief's room.
A/N: THE STORY IS ALIVE AGAIN! Lol didn't think I'd work on this for a while as well as "You Belong to Me" my Shugo Chara story, but since I have too much free time, here you go. Hope those of you who were actually looking forward to it liked it ^^ and as I say in most of my stories, don't be afraid to tell me what you want to see! Whether it's gory deaths or fluff between charas, I want to know. Oh, and since I really don't like Ganon (at all) he is not in this story. And as you see, Navi is non-existent. You'll be seeing a familiar character next chapter though, bet you can guess who. Review and see you later!
~Ruru out