He found himself in a room that had two paths. One led straight ahead to another door, while another went left. The left path ended at a chest, which had a key in it. So the only way forward was through the door, then.
Or, so he thought, at least. When he walked through the door, however, he was greeted by a gate closed in front of him. There were some pots, they had some more Rupees inside. But he couldn't see any way to open the gate. So the way forward had to be the other door. He sighed.
That second door, as it turned out, led to a locked door. So at least taking the path he had hadn't been a complete waste of time. Behind the locked door, a cave curled down into the water. He shivered as he stepped into the water. Cold as well. He would need to take some time to rest in the hot springs at Death Mountain once this was over.
The water tunnel wound around several times. Thankfully, there was some light in this tunnel, allowing him to see the jelly-like creatures that crackled at him as he passed. Finally, the tunnel opened into a large room. His relief at being in open air again quickly dissipated, however, as he looked around the room and then up.
A frighteningly large frog - no, toad - was clinging to one of the stalactites. Thankfully, it hadn't seemed to notice him. He climbed out of the tunnel, keeping his motions as slow and quiet as he could.
Which, apparently, he shouldn't have bothered with. As soon as he was out of the tunnel, a metal grate slid into place on top of it with a harsh scraping sound that echoed in the room. And a moment later, the impossibly large toad dropped down from the ceiling. By the horns of Ordona.
Thankfully, the fall seemed to daze the creature. Its tongue lolled out of its mouth as it lay on the ground. Well. That was as good a target as any.
After a few slashes the toad shrieked, the sudden piercing wail causing Link to jump back, wincing in pain. It kicked off its hind legs, sloppily dashing at him and slamming into the wall, missing its target. He brought his sword down on the disgusting hide of the overgrown toad-
and staggered back as it bounced off. Well, that was new.
A stab neatly pierced its flesh, digging down most of the blade, which didn't seem to have much effect on the creature either. Trying to pull it out though, proved more of a challenge. His sword was stuck. Oh no.
The toad rose again, hopping towards the middle of the room, the panic on its face mirrored on Link's own. How would he take down this creature without his sword? Arrows wouldn't do anything if the sword didn't, and bombs would just bounce off like the side swing had.
Or at least, it would bounce off the outside. The panicked toad looked back at him again, and leapt into the air. As quickly as it had, a dark shadow fell on Link. He scrambled out of the way just in time to avoid it landing on top of him, the toad recovering more quickly as he pulled out a bomb - one of Barnes' first ones, that fragmented spotty shell might help a bit, who knows?
The toad went for another scream, but he was ready this time. Trying to ignore the ringing in his ears, he dashed forward, lighting the bomb and chucking it in the toad's gaping maw. One explosion later, and the wail was cut off with a rather meaty yelp. It was still moving, but its mouth was hanging partly open. Easier to add another bomb, then.
Another blast, and the toad tipped over, its stomach ripped open. Thankfully his sword was easy to grab, and now that the creature wasn't moving, it was just a matter of working the blade free.
"Well... That's one way to do it."
Link huffed. 'My sword didn't work, so I had to try something else.' What did she expect him to do?
As he reclaimed his blade, he noticed something large buried in the pool of innards and goo, slipped from the edge of the toad's wound. This something was dripping and oozing, until suddenly he could see a chest underneath all of the flesh and grime. Ew. He was pretty sure he could hear Midna gag as well. Eventually, all the flesh and Ordona knows what else slipped off of the chest, laying in a disgusting heap under the chest.
He tentatively stepped closer to the chest, careful to avoid stepping in the puddle of that. He ignored the foul, rancid smells too. He ignored the fact that the treasure chest was still a little slimy. Midna had already gagged at the sight of that. Link didn't want to add to her disgust.
Inside the chest was a strange device. The base seemed to be made of metal and leather, with a metal handle inside. Sticking out of the base was something that looked like a metal claw. What could this thing be? What did it do? Only one way to find out. Carefully lifting from around the base, he stepped away from the pool of ick, and slipped his hand into the device.
To his surprise, the handle had two parts. One seemed to just be for holding the device. But the other-
The instant he'd grabbed the second part of the handle, the claw shot out from the base, clanging off of the floor. He was so surprised that he released the entire device, sending the clattering to the floor as the claw reeled back in. He stood there for a few moments, just staring down at it. Well, now he knew what it did. How was it supposed to be used?
He carefully picked it back up, slipping his hand back into the opening in the base. He took a bit to steady his breathing, to steady his racing heart. Then, he pointed the device at one of the walls, and grabbed at the second handle again.
The claw flew off towards the wall, but didn't quite reach. Then it reeled back on its own. Interesting. He stepped closer to the wall, and did it again. This time the claw bounced off of the wall. So it couldn't do anything with the floor, or with the walls. What did this thing do, then?
Then he noticed another of the strange red markings, up on a raised platform jutting out from the wall. Maybe? He stepped closer, pointed the device at it, and grabbed the second handle piece. The claw shot through the air towards the marking, but instead of bouncing off of it, it seemed to grab onto it- pulling Link through the air very suddenly. He couldn't help it, he yelped as it yanked him towards the marking. Before he knew it, he was hanging from the marking on the ceiling, his heart threatening to tear itself out of his chest if he surprised it like that again. Well. Now he knew what it did, and what those markings meant. Maybe next time it wouldn't scare him half to death.
The ground wasn't far below him, so he felt comfortable just dropping down. The question was... how would he do that? Was releasing the second handle piece enough?
As it turned out, that was the answer. He landed on the ground, safely on his slightly-shaking feet. Once his breath steadied, he raised his hand to look at the strange device.
"First experience with a Clawshot, huh?" Midna's voice almost startled him further. Almost.
He sighed as he turned to her. "Is... that what this thing is called?"
Midna nodded. "Yeah. It's a pretty old model, though that's not surprising since this place has been abandoned for so long. If it's anything like some of the older models we have back home, there should be a gear inside that lets you pull yourself towards or away from whatever you've latched onto."
Link wasn't sure what question he wanted to ask first. Home? Gear? Asking about this 'Clawshot' was probably the safer place to start. "What's a gear?"
Midna scoffed. "You haven't seen those big metal wheels all over the place? Those are gears."
"Oh. I thought those were... big, metal, water wheels."
Midna sighed. "Well, some of them are." She was quiet for a moment. "Anyway, feel around in the Clawshot, see if you can feel a gear in there. Wouldn't surprise me if there isn't one, since it's so old, but you never know."
He felt around in the Clawshot, for something that might feel like how the 'gears' looked. Huh. How had he missed that? If he stretched out his longest finger while holding the handles, he could just reach the gear. It didn't move, however. He looked up at the red marking on the ceiling, and latched onto it with the Clawshot again.
This time, while he was hanging from the ceiling, he reached for the gear inside the Clawshot, and found that he could make it move. One direction brought him further from the marking, the other closer.
Midna made a sound, almost like a hmph. "Well, there's a surprise. I guess even back then, they had those gears in them." She put a hand to her chin, her expression thoughtful. "I wonder when that started, then. The very first models definitely didn't have those." She was quiet again, then shrugged. "Anyway, now that you know how to use it, you should be able to find the way to get out of this place." With that, she disappeared back into his shadow.
Did he want to ask about her home? If she was anything like him, she was probably beginning to miss home. On the other hand... Their time together was almost over, wasn't it? They were about to find the last Fused Shadow, and then they would go their separate ways. She would probably use the Fused Shadows to fight Zant, and Hyrule would be safe so Link could go home.
Home. Ordona's horns, how long had it been since he'd been in Ordon Village? How long had it been since life had been normal, since the biggest worries had been Fado losing the goats or Ilia stealing Epona or Talo being a reckless little kid?
What... did his bed feel like, again?
"Hey. Is something... wrong?" Midna had come back out of his shadow. When Link looked at her and tilted his head, raising an eyebrow, she shrugged. "You looked like something was upsetting you. Figured... I'd ask about it."
Link sighed. "You... mentioned home, earlier. I wasn't sure if I should ask about it, since this whole..." he gestured around himself, then between the two of them, "thing will be over soon."
Midna didn't say anything, at first, just staring at Link with an expression he couldn't quite read. Then she smirked, laughed. "Aw, is Mr. Important Hero getting homesick? Not to worry, once you find that last Fused Shadow I'll be out of your hair and you can go back home!"
Link tilted his head to the side again. "Midna... What about you?"
She didn't answer. Just disappeared back into his shadow.
He sighed. So much for that.
How was he going to get back down to the floor, though? There were no stairs, no convenient tunnels. There was only the way he'd gotten up here in the first place, with that red marking above his head.
Wait. If it got him up here, would the Clawshot be able to get him back down? It wouldn't be like how he had gotten up here. Something more like climbing down vines, maybe.
It was worth a try. Better than standing around, and probably better than trying to jump down to the ground.
Probably.
Out went the claws of the Clawshot again, latching onto the marking and pulling Link up into the air again. He slowly lowered himself until he was standing again, but this time he didn't release the second bar of the handle. Instead, he slowly walked towards the end of the ledge. Good. That worked so far.
When he reached the end of the ledge, however, his heart sprinted from his chest into his throat. Would it work? Would he get down safely? What if the chain snapped? Nobody was nearby like with the Gorons' mines, if something happened to him then Midna wouldn't be able to get help.
Focus. What if he stayed up here forever and didn't get the last Fused Shadow for Midna? What if he wasn't able to get the kids to safety back in Ordon? He had to at least try.
He pulled slightly on the Clawshot, moving the gear as if he were lowering himself from the ceiling still. Would it work? Would it allow him to make his way down?
The chain still made no complaints, easily clinking as he pulled it away from the marking. It would probably work.
It had to work.
With his heart in his throat, Link took a step off of the ledge, his hand still tightly gripping the handles of the Clawshot.
And he fell.
