From the look and layout of the space around them, they were somewhere in the middle of Death Mountain. It reminded the Shadow of the inside of Koholit Rock on Eventide, but much larger. It also featured a large main ramp that dropped from where they were standing— beneath what appeared to be the head of an enormous dragon which lent an ominous feel to the atmosphere— to terminate on the other side of the cavernous room just above the gurgling lake of magma. Shooting off from the ramp at uneven intervals were thinner walkways leading to different areas of another ramp that ran in a spiral all around the tapered walls of the room and looked like it would be a huge pain in his ass at some point.
The Shadow had a sudden inkling of what awaited him here and was, therefore, only mildly surprised to learn he'd been deposited in the presence of the King of Thieves himself. The snooty bastard hadn't bothered to turn around, standing at ease in what looked to be full armor with his hands clasped behind his back. It struck the Shadow just how tall his former Master was, the curve of the lavishly-cloaked posterior sitting just below the Shadow's eye level, but he didn't feel intimidated in the least. Just the opposite, in fact; rage ignited in his gut.
It only intensified when Ganondorf spoke without turning. "I went to polish my sword the other day and it was not in its place. Return it to me."
"Oh, hell no." The Shadow suppressed the thrill that rocketed through him when the sword at his back finally— finally— stirred, jerking so violently he was amazed no one else seemed to notice. It wasn't whining this time, though; more like a nearly-inaudible growl. His confidence soared. "In fact, you can take your weird euphemisms and fuck right off."
"I beg your pardon?" Ganondorf' spun on his heel, his birdlike face— with its long, sharp nose typical of the Gerudo— showing a priceless look of genuine shock. His skin was a grayish-green that accentuated his flame-red hair, which was pulled back in thick rows held in place by an ornate golden headpiece that the Shadow surmised was supposed to be a crown but sat more like a halo at the back of the erstwhile Gerudo king's head. A fiery jewel set in a golden sun embedded in his forehead was connected to the headpiece by five matching delicate chains, each featuring a filigreed bauble sitting at the hairline. "What did you say to me?"
"You've got some fucking nerve leaving me to wander Hyrule with practically nothing."
The dour face betrayed a hint of confusion. "As to that, what are you still doing here?"
"It would appear that I'm bantering with one enormous jackass after getting abducted by another one and a giant hand that smelled worse than a Hinox's loincloth. Go ahead: ask me how I know."
"So crass." Ganondorf's mouth twisted into a disgusted moue.
The Shadow shrugged, unbothered. "You made me."
"Yes, and shouldn't you have," an oversized, gloved hand waved dismissively, "poofed out of existence or something by now?" That voice was exactly as the Shadow remembered from the moment of his creation: smooth and deep and almost (almost) pleasant but for the cold, detached undertone.
"How the fuck should I know? I've never done this before. While we're on the subject, you could start by thanking me— I did what you wanted. Link is dead."
The former king's face immediately relaxed into a smile tinged with cruelty. "Indeed. Splendid. Come along, then," he commanded. "We must be off. Much to do: Triforces to find, princesses to kill, a land to crush beneath my thumb at long last..."
A harsh laugh burst out of the Shadow's chest. "Ha! What the fuck makes you think I'm going with you?"
The smile froze on Ganondorf's face. "Excuse me?" Then his golden eyes caught on something that made them narrow and his fists clench. "I should have known," he ground out. "Those infernal, meddling Goddesses did this!"
"I said 'no', but you see how far that got me." The Shadow held up the back of his hand, face hard. "I didn't have a choice."
"But you do now, do you not?"
"Not really. Because you just said you want to destroy everything and I'd rather you didn't— see, I just got here and I'd like to enjoy it for a while. Hell, I haven't even seen it all yet. So, again, fuck off."
"You ungrateful knave. I made you. Just because you killed the Chosen Hero doesn't mean you get to take his place; that's not how this is supposed to work. You shouldn't even be here," Ganondorf thundered. "You should've ceased to exist once you'd slain the Hero!"
"Well, fuck you very much, too, pal." Movement in the corner of his eye drew the Shadow's attention. Without turning his head, he warned, "Hey, Germaine, if you don't leave him alone, I'm going to give you another dent in your chin."
Ghirahim, who had been flinging his magical daggers at Yunobo, trying to find a spot he could actually damage— and failing miserably due to what looked like an impenetrable red bubble that formed around the young Goron and carried the added benefit of irritating the self-styled Demon Lord— turned his head to snap, "Those were lucky shots you will not be repeating."
"One is luck, but by my count you've got three new dings, Sir Shithead." The way Lord Ghirahim huffed quietly and the grimace his face made were both incredibly satisfying. "And don't worry; I have other tricks up my sleeve," he smirked, thinking of the Light arrows in his quiver and emboldened by the activity of the dark sword resting against his spine.
Ganondorf's smooth drawl crawled down the Shadow's back. "Oh, and you brought a… friend," he sneered. "How nice."
Yunobo's face showed both horror and a little reluctant awe; the young prince had been too busy previously putting up with Ghirahim to notice Ganondorf, but now it was clear he hadn't expected to be faced with the infamous ex-ruler today.
Warning bells rang in the Shadow's head. "Leave him out of this. It's me you want."
"You forget your place," Ganondorf barked. "I will do exactly as I like. Give me my sword and begone. I tire of you." He held his hand out expectantly.
"No. It's mine; you gave it to me, and I'm keeping it."
"It's to be like that, is it? Off you go in pursuit of the Triforce of Power, just like the good Hero is destined to do," Ganondorf sneered, fluttering his fingers at the back of the Shadow's hand.
"Looks that way."
"So be it. You have brought this on yourself." Ganondorf snapped his long fingers commandingly and a long, glowing sword appeared in his hand from nowhere. It certainly couldn't have been pulled from any scabbard— the business end was half again as wide as the base and the blade stretched at least as long as the Shadow's own body.
The Dark Master Sword jumped insistently and he reached up to draw it, relief flooding him at the familiar and somehow comforting heft of it in his grip. Its strange glow was more intense than he'd ever seen it, the jewel swirling with the force of a hurricane— it was giving off these tiny sparks that didn't hurt him when they landed on his arm and rolled down like fizzy raindrops. "Let's go, asshole."
"You dare to wield my own sword against me?"
"You don't pay attention very well, do you? It's mine. You obviously don't really need it," the Shadow said, gesturing to Ganondorf's much longer sword, which was now pointed at the Dark Master Sword.
"I had that one made for me for a special purpose that has nothing to do with you."
"Oh, yeah? What's that?"
"Hm, I'll just spill all my secrets to you, shall I? No, I think not. You've chosen your side, and it is not at mine where you once belonged."
"Bullshit," the Shadow laughed mirthlessly. "I never belonged there; I was nothing more than a tool, a weapon for you to aim and fire."
"Fair enough. But now you've outlived your usefulness."
The atmosphere was suddenly oppressively heavy. It felt as though all the air had been sucked out of the Shadow's lungs, every hair on his body standing on end as it was drawn toward the magician whose giant fucking glowing sword grew substantially brighter as he brought it back for a strike, a large ball of energy forming at the end. When he swung, the ball came free and shot directly at the Shadow. He reacted on instinct, hand guided by the sword it grasped.
Just before the ball reached him, his arm moved as if to release a beam from the end as the blade had done against Zant, but instead simply batted the energy back at Ganondorf, beginning a deadly volley. It went several rounds before the sword in his hand shivered as he drew it back to swing and a burst of magenta energy added itself to the ball, electrifying it.
Sparking and zinging with a new vigor, the energy sped back to a wide-eyed Ganondorf, who swung at it defensively. Instead of connecting and sending the shot back, however, this time the obscenely-long blade absorbed it, sending a visible shockwave up the length of the weapon to meet the hands holding it.
Ganondorf's eyes widened and he convulsed for a moment before dropping to a knee, head bowed and breathing heavily. "Impossible."
Ghirahim's head whipped around to stare slack-jawed, Yunobo momentarily forgotten.
Which was a mistake.
The Goron had been ready; his sturdy weapon suddenly swung in a vicious arc.
Ghirahim shifted at the last second and the blow landed on his shoulder, loudly breaking off a diamond-shaped chunk.
Everyone's attention snapped to the young prince, who looked both as surprised as anyone else and a shade proud. He gave a little self-congratulatory nod.
The Shadow felt his own swell of pride in Yunobo pull up one corner of his mouth.
"Impossible!" Ghirahim complained.
The Shadow rolled his eyes toward Ganondorf, who was just climbing back to his feet. "You two are perfect for each other."
"Enough!" Ganondorf boomed, then composed himself. "You are stronger than I anticipated. Stronger than I made you, certainly," he acknowledged of the Shadow. "I will give you one last chance. Join me; with your strength added to mine, we could be a force to be reckoned with, Shadow."
Shadow Link's eye twitched once— very slightly— at the casual shortening of his name, suddenly understanding Ghirahim's irritation much better. "I already am."
"What a waste. Very well. Ghirahim, conjure something for our companions to play with and let us be off to more important matters."
"We're not going to kill them now?" the pointy bastard pouted.
Ganondorf made a show of waving his hand nonchalantly. "Let him live out his little Hero fantasy for a while longer."
The Shadow rolled his eyes but didn't bother with a verbal response. It was abundantly clear that his former Master was rattled and was not confident in his ability to kill Shadow Link just then.
"As you wish," Ghirahim conceded sullenly as Ganondorf tapped the tip of his glowing sword on the ground and disappeared. The disgruntled lackey turned to Shadow Link and Yunobo with his hands on his hips. "Well, boys. I've got all this bottled-up anger smoldering inside me, and now I can release it. I hope you both enjoy agony, because knowing I've caused yours will brighten my day considerably! Ta-Ta!"
With a final, ghoulish smirk, Ghirahim raised his hand high above his head, snapped his fingers, and he, too, was gone.
Yunobo and the Shadow looked at each other, then around the room in alert confusion. There was a loud grating noise, as of stone against stone, and the mouth of the dragon's-head statue above them slowly dropped open.
"Great— more bullshit," the Shadow groused in an effort to prepare himself mentally for whatever onslaught he was sure was imminent.
"I think you might be right," Yunobo agreed. "Look." He pointed to where about a dozen small holes were opening in the wall along the spiral walkway all around the room. The walkway itself blocked their view of anything that might be emerging from the new portals.
"Fuck."
Over their heads, the now-gaping stone mouth spit out a huge ball that dropped right in front of them and rolled all the way down the ramp to crash into the wall at the far end. After a moment, it grew six spindly magma-legs that solidified within seconds and lifted the spherical body off the ground. The body itself had an outer shell made up of scores of individual chunks of organic rock that fused together and quickly solidified. A wide crack opened up horizontally all the way across what must be the front of it— this grew into a wide mouth featuring dozens of razor-sharp teeth grinning grotesquely up the ramp.
Then it lit itself on fire.
Flames engulfed the entirety of the bulbous body as it began scuttling in an awkwardly-horrifying manner back up the long ramp toward them.
"I've got this," the Shadow said confidently, grabbing his bow and a Light arrow and turning to take aim at the walking nightmare.
"Gohma!" Yunobo yelled, but before the Shadow could begin to parse out what that could possibly mean, a spider-like being, the body of which, not including the legs, was roughly Shadow Link's own size— though the whole front end was one huge, closed eye— was suddenly upon him, snapping the bow in his hand with a pincer on its foreleg.
Yunobo swung his club, knocking the gangly monster over the edge and into the simmering magma below.
The Shadow didn't have any time to mourn the loss of his bow beyond a muttered "Ah, shit." He heard an odd whoosh and instinctively jumped away from it, narrowly missing having his legs burned off at the knees by a horizontal stream of flame. He turned to find a person-sized lizard slithering on its belly and four stubby legs, its tail equal in length to its body and swishing menacingly behind. It was almost completely unlike the upright-walking Lizalfos he was used to seeing, this being much less anthropomorphic than its bipedal cousins.
After he got over the initial shock, he realized a couple of things: first, that the fire-breath only extended about as far as the length of the lizard's own body, and second, while the heat was intense, it was still only a breath, which occurred to him when it suddenly ceased.
Hands still grasping the Light arrow and broken bow, the Shadow raced toward the loudly-inhaling beast. He saw the long snout open and leaped over the new stream of fire just before his legs were in scorching range, coming down arrow-first to obliterate the monster.
He took a second to store the broken bow away— keenly regretting leaving the Lynel bow at home (though that last word still sent a thrill through his body just thinking it)— and looked up to watch Yunobo launch his balled-up self at top speed down the ramp and into the leggy ball of fiery horror clomping toward them.
The young Goron hit with thunderous momentum, sending the monster flying back down the ramp to land with a crash at the far end. The fire covering its body was suddenly gone, as if it had been a conscious thing the monster had been doing and couldn't spare the brainpower required for it just then. The pyroclastic fiend shook itself for a few seconds to reignite the flames on its body before opening its mouth what appeared to be all the way, inhaling mightily before letting loose a fireball nearly its own size up the ramp at them and then enthusiastically restarting the ambling climb.
The huge fireball bounced harmlessly off the wall and into the seething magma below.
Yunobo frowned. "Well, that didn't really work," he said, looking around. "I wonder if bomb flowers grow in here. Could toss one in that big ol' mouth. I'm not going in there, ha ha!"
Even the strongest hides hide weak insides. "I think you might be onto something." It occurred to him that once the young prince had made his mind up to come along he'd shown almost no hesitation in engaging either Ghirahim or the monsters. Shadow Link felt another surge of pride in his companion, the little flame in his chest flaring briefly. "I have these— an unlimited supply, too," he said, and suddenly he was holding a remote bomb in his palm.
"Oh!" The young Goron's eyes lit up, then dimmed with worry. "Um, how long do we have?"
"Pretty much as long as I want. Or not at all," the Shadow said, dismissing it just as quickly as it had appeared.
"Neat!"
"And I still have several Light arrows, too, just no bow. You're familiar with these things?" the Shadow asked, gesturing to the new-to-him creatures.
"Not the big one, but the others used to be a huge problem when my dad was little, I guess; Bludo told me stories. The crab-spiders are Gohma; their eye is their weak point. And the quadrupeds are called Dodongos," Yunobo informed him with a wry look. "They don't have much of a weak point."
"Everything has one; just gotta find it." A moment later, he was holding a remote bomb. "Like you said a minute ago: I bet they'll choke on this well enough."
They didn't have time to chat further because they spotted another Dodongo making its way toward them. Unexpectedly, a Gohma landed in front of it and the lizard didn't even blink before opening its mouth and breathing out flames. The Gohma leaped backward and opened its eye to shoot its own beam of some sort at the lizard, which probably would've been completely fine if not for the fact that the hit carried enough energy to push it flailing over the ledge and into the magma.
"That's both interesting and terrifying," the Shadow remarked. Enemies under duress may devour each other. "We should be able to use it to our advantage, though."
"I see what you're saying!"
As the crab-spider hybrid jumped closer to them, the Shadow armed the hookshot. Once he saw the lids begin to part he let it fly, obliterating his target before it could get a shot away.
"Ooh, nice one!" Yunobo complimented, reaching behind himself. "I almost forgot I have this," he said, pulling out the Ice Rod. "Let's split up. Use your magic stuff on the big guy, little guy. I'll have a crack at the rest." And with a little salute, he was off.
The Shadow turned to face the sentient magma ball that was finally nearing the top of the ramp.
"Hey, you big bastard. I got somethin' for ya."
He tossed a bomb and watched it roll under the bulbous body, the detonation having the same effect Yunobo's attack had garnered, and he threw down his shield, jumping on and using it to slide to the bottom as quickly as possible. He was just in time to toss a bomb into the wide-open maw as it inhaled mightily.
The mouth closed and a second later, the bomb detonated and several chunks of hardened magma flew off, dissolving back into the lake. A lone eye was revealed, darting between the openings. Seeing him, it lit its body aflame and started barreling toward him.
With Light arrow in hand, he simply knelt and let the cycloptic monster walk right over him, flames nearly brushing his hair, and he silently thanked Mija for the strength of the charm she put on him. A quick jab and a bright flourish left both his fist and the ramp empty.
Exhaling in momentary relief, he turned to check on Yunobo. His companion had used the Ice Rod on the fireball and then utilized his other weapon to hit it at a Gohma to great effect. Yunobo let out a surprised chuckle before his attention was diverted by something.
"Oh! I didn't even see those! What luck!" he exclaimed, and rolled himself over to the wall. He came away with a pulsating red bomb, expertly tossing it into the nearest Dodongo's mouth just as it was beginning to open. The jaw snapped shut, both eyes widened comically, and a second later it was gone in a puff. Yunobo gave a "Whoop!" and disappeared from sight.
Intending to head up the ramp and take on his share of the fuckery, Shadow Link had barely taken a step when the floor beneath him shook ominously. "Knew that was too easy," he griped to himself, catching movement out of the corner of his eye and turning his head to find the fiery lake churning hyperactively in one particular spot to his left. "Shit. That can't be good."
The long, slender form of a dragon emerged, but this was nothing like the Spirit of Lightning he'd seen at Lakeside Stable. This one was only maybe a third the size of Farosh, so instinct told him it was not the Spirit of Fire, Dinraal. It also had just two legs toward its front, and while the body did seem to glow orange from within along its belly, the only actual physical flames came from the back of its head like a long mane of blazing hair.
Well, except for what it breathed from its mouth, that is.
"Is it normal that I'm annoyed that I was right?"
The jingle from behind his ear held both affirmation and amusement.
He heard a shout and turned to see Yunobo hanging from the next level up by his fingertips, dangling over the roiling magma.
Arming the hookshot, Shadow Link embedded it without hesitation in the wall above the Goron, and in a few seconds he was grabbing Yunobo's enormous wrist and forearm and helping him to safety.
"Whoa! Thanks! Hey, wow— you're really strong!"
"Yeah. You all right?"
"Oh, yeah. Got distracted by Volvagia and learned a lesson about the Dodongos' tails— they're almost as dangerous as the other end, ha ha!"
The Shadow had had enough similar such incidents in his short life to consider himself lucky to not have had to learn that particular lesson the hard way. He nodded, feeling a corner of his mouth tilt up, then asked, "Volvagia?"
"Well, I've never actually seen it before, of course, but it's gotta be," Yunobo answered, eyeing the fiery lindwyrm. "Volvagia was an ancient dragon that was basically the spirit of Death Mountain, it lived in the depths. But it was corrupted; the Evil One would feed Gorons to it as an example to the other Hyruleans. Legends say that an ancient Goron Hero defeated it, but I guess Ganondorf or the pointy guy revived it."
"Fantastic. Any idea how it was defeated?"
"With the Megaton Hammer, but that's been lost to time."
"Of course it has." They watched the dragon twist with elegant danger in midair for a moment. On the downturn, it breathed a bolt of flame at them, but that was easily dodged and the dragon dipped back into the magma. After a moment, it popped up in a different spot and the cycle repeated itself.
At the apex of its aerial turn, Volvagia came in close proximity to the upper levels and the ghost of a plan began forming in Shadow Link's head.
It would have to wait for a moment, however, as there were still several obstacles in their path; their brief respite ended when a Gohma leapt into his peripheral vision and began to open its eye. The Shadow readied his shield while Yunobo surrounded himself with his protective red aura. The beam rebounded toward a second Gohma, which leapt backward and quickly unleashed its own shot. Tilting his shield just a bit, Shadow Link directed the blast into the side of the first Gohma, pushing it over the edge.
He shot the second Gohma with the Stasis rune, allowing Yunobo to hit it until the effect wore off and it screamed into the magma, as well. The prince gave an excited "Whoop!" and held out his huge knuckles for Shadow Link to bump. "Hey, that was pretty neat! I bet that would work on Volvagia, too!"
"Did you see how close it came to that walkway up there?" Shadow Link asked, pointing.
"Let's go!" Yunobo's enthusiasm, once triggered, rivaled Sidon's.
As they began to make their way up to the top level the monsters seemed determined to swarm toward them on the narrow path, but the windcleaver tossed some of them over the edge without too much fuss. Yunobo had turned, putting his back to Shadow Link's and walking backward as they went, using the waning power of the Ice Rod and his steadfast Boulder Breaker and flashing his protective red shield as needed— a periodically-soothing, icy-smooth sensation against the Shadow's back.
When the Ice Rod finally failed to cast its magic, Yunobo chucked the whole thing in the opening mouth of a Dodongo. Surprisingly, it still had enough power to freeze the beast in its tracks, and it slid over the edge when Shadow Link swung the windcleaver.
Eventually, the number of Gohma and Dodongos dwindled— so, naturally, that's when a Guardian Stalker shot at them from one of the walkways connecting their current level to the main ramp in the center of the room. The shot was right on target but rebounded off the shield on the Shadow's back and directly into the head of Volvagia, knocking it onto the landing.
"Wow, that was lucky!" Yunobo cheered.
"Well, you know, I'm a lucky guy," Shadow Link quipped, turning with shield in hand to face the oncoming Guardian. Below, Volvagia shook itself and dove back into the magma, coming up on the other side to continue its route of ambient malice. The Guardian's next shot again hit the shield and right back to its own eye, pushing it off-balance enough to flail madly into the bubbling goo.
"As annoyed as I am by being trapped inside another damned mountain, the magma makes disposing of enemies pretty easy," the Shadow thought out loud.
"'Another'? How many mountains have you been stuck in?"
"This is my second, but my limit was zero."
"Well, then come on, little guy. The sooner we take care of Volvagia, the sooner we can get out of this one!" Yunobo cheered, racing up the last incline to the top level, Shadow Link on his heels.
When they reached the spot they'd been heading for, the dragon was just coming up to their level and immediately opened its mouth to breathe fire at them.
Yunobo was immediately encased in his protective bubble while the Shadow reflexively yelled, "Oh, shit!" and jumped back, bringing up his own shield as quickly as he could. He was able to cover most of his body, but his legs and the top of his head were left exposed and he felt the flames licking at his skin and clothing.
Amazingly, though he could feel the blast of heat, there was no pain, and nothing burned or ended up singed. After a few moments, the flames ceased and Volvagia continued on its path, turning back down to dip into the burning pool below.
Yunobo's jaw was at his ankles when he let his magic aura drop. "Whoa, you weren't kidding! You're actually fireproof, just like if you were wearing the Flamebreaker Armor!"
"Damn good thing, too," Shadow Link agreed, "or I'd be pretty crispy right about now." Saying it reminded him that he hadn't eaten since the previous evening, and his stomach rumbled angrily.
"You know, if it keeps to the same pattern we'll probably have a few minutes before it comes close to us again; have you got anything on you to snack on?" Yunobo asked, picking up a few pebbles and tossing them into his mouth to chomp one at a time.
Seeing the dragon's head emerge on the other side of the mountain, Shadow Link reached into his pack for an apple, hearing it hiss and watching the exposed white insides turn brown immediately in the overheated atmosphere as he ate.
"Can you just eat any old rocks?"
"Well, no, we usually keep to certain kinds, but this mountain is full of 'em. Easy enough to pick out if you know what to look for."
Shadow Link nodded and tossed the core into the natural incinerator below just as Volvagia was returning to it across the way, so he readied himself for the next confrontation.
Watching over the edge, as soon as the dragon was within range, the Shadow hit it with the Stasis rune and froze it in place. Quickly, Yunobo jumped over to its snout and began to smash it in the head repeatedly with his Boulder Breaker while Shadow Link attacked from the walkway using his only remaining long-range weapon, the hookshot. When the rune began to signal it was wearing off, Yunobo grabbed onto the hookshot and let it bring him back to the Shadow's side.
They watched together as Volvagia roared back into the magma, driven with astounding vigor by the accumulated force of the hits delivered under the effect of the rune. The boiling semi-liquid splashed violently in every direction, high enough to make them step back and protect themselves.
If asked, Shadow Link would've said he'd expected the dragon to alter course at least a little bit after their attack, but after a moment it popped up on the other side of the mountain as if nothing had happened. When it finally reached them a short while later, it reared its head back as if to whip its flaming hair at them, but the Shadow hit it with Stasis and they repeated their actions of the first round, then again when it returned to them on its unending circuit.
The next time it came near, it had altered course slightly, coming up close to the middle of the mountain and wending its way all the way up above their heads. There, it began whipping its tail ferociously, knocking loose stalactites to fall everywhere, including right on them. The first ones bounced off or broke on their respective shields, but the next one that came close met the end of Yunobo's Boulder Breaker as he swung it, sending it right at the dragon.
It was a direct hit to the head, sending Volvagia down to splash into the magma. Leading by its nose, it popped up a few moments later in the same spot it had disappeared, heading directly back to the ceiling to drop more rocks on them.
But they were ready this time, and when Yunobo landed a good hit and sent the dragon tumbling down, the Shadow decided they could do better and used the Stasis rune on it when it was at their level. They climbed aboard and landed as many blows as powerfully as they could before leaping back to relative safety and watching Volvagia plummet like a thunderbolt.
Laid out as it was, its back broke one of the walkways and in its writhing twisted and belly-flopped like a spicy, wet noodle, its head striking the solid ground.
The dragon's eyes rolled back and its tongue lolled out the side of its mouth, and the legs curled and drew in close to the body, and then it disappeared in a huge puff of purple and black.
"All right! We did it!" Yunobo cheered, raising his fist and leaping in the air while the Shadow finally allowed himself to relax and take a calming breath, fists resting on his hips.
Silent darkness fell abruptly, feeling eerie and familiar at once. Shadow Link blinked and saw no discernible difference.
And then Farore's disembodied voice echoed in his ears.
"Shadow Link, you have vanquished the evil inhabiting this mountain and affirmed your place as Hero of Hyrule. Take this as a token of gratitude."
A softly-glowing Heart Container materialized in the nothingness before him and he reached out to touch it, feeling his weariness slough off his skin like water, leaving him refreshed and stronger than ever, nerve endings positively singing.
"Darkness holds the Key to the Power of the Light," Farore's voice intoned, repeating her words from after he'd defeated Zant. "Four Trials await in Earth, Air, Fire, and Water to unlock Wisdom, Courage, and Power. In vanquishing the interlopers from Death Mountain and allowing the sun to shine upon it once more, you have passed the Trial of Fire and earned this Key."
A glowing red triangle appeared and spun slowly in front of him. In the same manner as the blue one he'd received after Eventide, it gave off a pleasant hum until he touched it and sang as it disappeared into the left corner of the dark center of the Mark on the back of his hand.
"Go now, and bring peace to Hyrule."
Shadow Link rejoined normality with a jolt that only he felt, Yunobo completing his holler and going for another… which was cut short when the Goron noticed that they were no longer inside the mountain.
They'd been spared having to find their way out of the hellish pit they'd been deposited in by Ghirahim's extra-creepy, abductive ghost hands, finding themselves in what Yunobo immediately recognized as the Isle of Rabac. A mine cart track sat directly in front of them, two carts upturned off to one side.
Yunobo trotted over to grab a cart and plunk it on the track; Shadow Link followed somewhat absently, mind working as he rubbed the back of his hand, barely able to tell the difference in the skin of the two spots that had absorbed Farore's Keys.
Darkness holds the Key to the Power of the Light. It seemed so superficially simple, but neither of the Keys now embedded in the back of his hand had been dark in any way so while the connection was there on the surface, the ends didn't seem to be anchored to anything solid. What 'darkness'?
"All set, little guy! Toss one o' your bombs in that hole right there, and hang on!"
Shadow Link did as directed and squatted to lower his center of gravity. He detonated the bomb and the world blurred around him like he'd been launched out of a cannon, leaving his stomach back in the tiny, crab-shaped island cave in the middle of the lake of lava.