Chapter 4 is here! It'll be a while before the next chapter comes up, so I apologize in advance.
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Chapter 4: The Fire Temple
The Fire Temple was an ancient temple built at the heart of the Death Mountain volcano. The Gorons, the rock people, built it in honor of the hero of their tribe, who according to legend defeated a mighty dragon.
The temple itself was very hot. Torches lit the rooms and hallways. Narrow walkways loomed over lava pits. The walls of the temple bore reliefs of Gorons and fire-breathing dragons. There was no dragon like the one described in the legend, but there were smaller dragons that stalked the floors (Link referred to these as "Dodongos").
Sonic and Tails were sweating as they explored the temple. "This place is too hot!" Sonic panted.
Tails pulled out a small gadget and looked at the screen. "The temperature here is incredible!" Tails stated. "This is almost at subterranean level!"
"Well, we are in a volcano, aren't we?" Link retorted. "Besides, I feel just fine."
"Says the one wearing the heat-resistant tunic," Sonic said back. "Do you have a spare?"
"No," Link responded. "But even if I did, I doubt it would fit someone like you!"
"Are you calling me short?!" Sonic snapped.
"Not at all," Link said angrily. "Just skinny."
The two were about to get into a fight, but Tails stepped in and pushed them apart. "Stop it, guys!" he cried. Link and Sonic stopped arguing. "Let's not fight over something not worth fighting over!"
The two huffed at each other.
Navi popped up. "You two need to learn to work together," she piped. "Bickering will get us nowhere."
"Stay out of this, Navi," Link grumbled, annoyed.
"She's right, guys," Tails said. "There's something strange going on here, and we need to find out what. Let's just keep going."
"We don't need you both to remind us," Sonic pointed out. He and Link huffed at the same time.
"And we shouldn't have to," Navi piped.
"I said to be quiet, Navi," Link said. He looked at Sonic. "See what I mean when I said she's annoying?"
"I guess so," Sonic said.
As they continued their way through the temple, Sonic had more questions to ask. "Link, remind me why we're going through these temples?"
"It's part of the quest," Link answered. "We have to break the curses on all of the temples and then defeat Ganondorf at his castle and save the princess Zelda."
"You know this stuff pretty well!" Tails commented.
"Like I said before," Link said, "this kind of stuff runs in my family."
"What about your fairy friend, Navi?" Tails asked. "What's her story?"
"I was once the Hero of Time's travel companion," Navi answered. "When his journey ended, I left him because I felt he didn't need my help anymore. Now I'm helping this Link, the Hero of Time's descendent, on his journey."
"You knew the Hero of Time?" Sonic asked.
"Of course!" she squeaked. "When I heard he became Hyrule's greatest hero-"
Link stopped her. "That's enough, Navi. I think we've answered enough questions for now. We have to get back to the fight, so let's go."
"Aye aye, sir," Sonic said rather sarcastically.
Link and Sonic fought many enemies together, with Navi and Tails supporting them. They fought skeletons, lizards with daggers, and bats (Link dubbed these as Stalfos, Lizafos, and Kesse, respectively), along with robotic oversized insects (Sonic knew these as Motobugs, Buzz bombers, and Caterkillers). The two of them still wondered how this was happening, and why the two armies were working together.
Eventually they came to a large room with a big pool of lava in the center. There were strange-looking orb-shaped plants growing in the corners of the room. These plants caught Sonic's attention. He and Tails walked up to one of them. "What is this?" he wondered.
"That's a Bomb Flower," Link answered. "They're a special kind of flower that grow on Death Mountain."
"They're flowers?" Sonic pondered. He plucked the Bomb Flower from its roots. The flower started making a hissing sound.
Tails's eyes widened. "Sonic!" he warned. "I think it's going to-"
BOOM! The flower suddenly exploded on Sonic, leaving him covered in soot.
"...explode."
"You could've said that sooner, y'know," Sonic huffed, dusting himself off.
"They aren't called 'Bomb' Flowers for nothing," Link retorted.
Suddenly they heard footsteps. Something huge was coming their way. The footsteps became louder and closer with each stomp. When the stomping ceased, the trio became face-to-face with a giant reptilian monster. The monster opened its gaping maw and let out a roar!
Infernal Dinosaur: King Dodongo
"That's one huge Dodongo!" Sonic shouted.
King Dodongo inhaled deeply. Its belly began glowing fire-orange.
"Watch out!" Link cried. He grabbed Sonic and Tails by the hand, and they ducked. The giant lizard then shot out fire from its mouth, nearly burning them. The beast slowly stomped toward the trio.
"Quite the slowpoke, isn't he?" Tails commented.
Then King Dodongo curled up into a ball and started rolling at them. Link, Sonic, and Tails immediately started running from the rolling behemoth.
"Geez!" Sonic sneered. "Is everyone stealing my style now?!"
They duck into a corner of the room, King Dodongo barely missing them.
"How do we stop this monster?" Sonic wondered.
"Throw those bomb flowers into his mouth!" Navi squeaked out.
"Can it, Navi!" Link said to the little fairy.
"That's brilliant!" Tails cheered. "Sonic, grab that Bomb Flower next to you!"
"Got it!" Sonic responded. He plucked the flower and ran up to the beast. "Hey, big guy!" he taunted. "You hungry?"
King Dodongo growled. It opened its jaws and inhaled deeply. Sonic jumped up and tossed the bomb into the lizard's mouth, shouting, "Eat this!" The lizard inhaled the bomb and swallowed it whole. The bomb exploded inside King Dodongo's stomach. Upon the explosion, the trio made an unbelievable discovery.
"It's a robot?!"
The explosion had blown off King Dodongo's "skin", revealing its robotic structure. It was indeed built to look and behave like a Dodongo, but this was not a real Dodongo at all. Sonic immediately thought of Dr. Eggman, since he was more likely to have built it. But if Eggman built it, how did he know what a Dodongo was?
The Robo-Dodongo made a mechanical growling sound. It slowly stomped over to Link and Tails. It opened its robotic jaws and inhaled deeply with a now-visible vacuum. Thinking fast, Tails plucked a Bomb Flower and tossed it at the vacuum. The vacuum sucked up the bomb, but the bomb was so big that it blocked the tube.
The bomb exploded, completely destroying Robo-Dodongo. Its pieces scattered all across the room. A cloud of smoke from the explosion remained where the mechanical monster once stood. When the smoke cleared, something shiny and red appeared. Sonic knew immediately knew what it was: another Chaos Emerald. He picked up the jewel.
"Is that another Emerald?" Link asked.
"How curious," Tails pondered. "So that monster was hiding an emerald? Why here?"
"I still don't know," Sonic answered. "We found one at the Forest Temple earlier."
"That could only mean," Link said, "that there are emeralds hiding in the temples."
"Well, that's convenient!" Sonic said, agreeing with Link's theory. "Now let's get out of here."
"Report, Shadow the Hedgehog!", came a voice from a wrist communicator.
A black and red hedgehog that looked much like Sonic answered the call. "This is Shadow reporting. What is it now, Doctor?"
"We've received reports from our minions that Link and Sonic have just cleared the Fire Temple and found another Chaos Emerald."
"So what do you want me to do about it?"
"Simple: Get to the Water Temple in Lake Hylia. Surely there's an emerald in there. Retrieve it before they do. Understood?"
"Understood," Shadow replied. He hung up. This ought to be interesting, he thought to himself. Two heroes at once? I think I can handle that.
Dun-dun-duuuuun!