Legend Of Zelda Fan Fiction / Other Fan Fiction ❯ Back In Her Hands ❯ Fatal Attractions ( Chapter 12 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Grey Fox 
OK, let the dungeon-spelunking begin. Sounds like fun, right? Not for Link, it isn't.
Anime/Manga: Legend Of Zelda Fan Fiction / Other Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Drama / Adventure | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 04.11.2005 | Pages: 4 | Words: 6.4K | Visits: 548 | Status: Completed
OK, let the dungeon-spelunking begin. Sounds like fun, right? Not for Link, it isn't.
Anime/Manga: Legend Of Zelda Fan Fiction / Other Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Drama / Adventure | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 04.11.2005 | Pages: 4 | Words: 6.4K | Visits: 548 | Status: Completed
Back In Her Hands
a Legend of Zelda romance fic
Chapter 12: Fatal Attractions
4-11-2005
by Grey
Disclaimer: I don't own the Zelda series or any of its characters; Nintendo and the series' creator Shigeru Miyamoto do. So don't sue me or anything.
This fic is dedicated to CubedCinder128, for what I hope are obvious reasons.
******
Link didn't go very far down the narrow tunnel before it started to become pitch black. He reached for his quiver, planning to power up an arrow with his magic, but then he noticed a faint glimmer of light further down the tunnel. Link quickened his pace, heading for the light. Soon, he reached the other end of the tunnel, and was amazed by the sight that greeted him.
He had stepped out into a large circular room. Right in front of him was a long hallway that had a locked door at the end of it, and on both sides of the room was a doorway.
But what had really caught his attention was how the whole room was ablaze with bright light. It was so bright, it was beginning to make his eyes sting a bit. But the perplexing thing was that there were no torches, fires or any other light sources to be seen. It seemed to be coming from.... above.
Link looked up, and was immediately blinded by dazzling light. It forced him to immediately shut his eyes and turn his gaze back downward. Obviously, the room's light was coming down from the ceiling. *Amazing.... it's as if the rocks outside soak up the sunlight and filter it in here,* Link thought, marvelling at the ingenious engineering feat. *It reminds me.... of the temple of the Desert Colossus, with the way light always found its way in.*
Once Link was able to see clearly again, he took another look around the room, and was further reminded of the Spirit Temple. The color of the walls and floors, the masonry work of the sandstone block walls.... just about everything looked identical to what was found within Nabooru's temple. He had once thought the the Stone Tower Temple's inner workings had resembled it, but THIS place mimicked the Spirit Temple PERFECTLY!!
Link hoped that this sanctuary worked just like the Spirit Temple did as well. If it had light-based puzzles, he reasoned that they wouldn't be too hard, since all the rooms probably had sunlight coming in and he already had a Mirror Shield.
He contemplated all of this as he looked around, trying to decide where to go next. Going down the hallway was clearly out of the question, since he had yet to collect any keys. So, it was a choice of the door to his left, or the one to his right.
Link eventually picked to door on his right. When he went through it, though, he was greeted by something very different from what the first room was like.
It was a narrow passageway that had the same architecture as the first room. But sunlight did not come into this area; the only source of light in this room were two wall-mounted torches positioned at the sides of the door.
But the light they gave off was enough to let Link see that he was now standing on a small platform with a strange metallic pole in the center, and that platform was all that was keeping him from plummeting into a black, bottomless pit directly below.
However, some twenty feet ahead of him at the end of the corridor, there was another platform that was in front of a door. And that platform had the same type of metal pole sticking out of the middle of it.
It was obvious to Link that the metallic poles had some significance, but he had no idea just what they were for. He took out his hookshot, stood at the edge of his platform, and fired it off at the pole; but as he had expected, it had no effect. Link then took out his bow and shot a light arrow at it; but again, nothing happened.
Lastly, Link decided to try using the Lens of Truth, but again, his efforts yielded no results. The poles did not look any different through the lens, and no invisible platforms were revealed either. Obviously, if there was a means for Link to get to the other side of the corridor, it was not yet available to him.
Sighing in defeat, Link went back through the door and into the first room, then headed for the doorway straight across, the only remaining path available to him. But once he went through the door and shut it, he heard an all-too familiar sound; metal bars sliding down through stone. He turned his head and, sure enough, iron bars had slid down in front of the doorway, preventing him from leaving.
A sonorous grunting sound made Link turn his gaze back toward the room he had entered. It was another circular room with light being filtered in from above, though its diameter was smaller than the main room's. And standing in the center of it was a big, grey-armored Ironknuckle, standing at least ten feet tall. But instead of an axe, this one wielded a giant hammer....
And without warning, the Ironknuckle swung its hammer and struck the ground in front of it, creating a powerful energy shockwave that travelled along the ground and right toward Link.
*Oh great, just what I need,* Link thought dejectedly as he jumped to the side to avoid the shockwave. *The Moblin right in front of the Forest Temple did the same thing, and that was hard enough to beat....*
The Ironknuckle pounded the ground again, sending out another shockwave at Link. However, Link was once again able to jump aside in time. But then the creature began to move, making a loud stomping sound with each step it took.
Link knew that if it managed to get too close and corner him, it would flatten him with that giant hammer; this thing was obviously much more powerful than the Ironknuckles he fought in the past. Not only that, it seemed a bit speedier as well, despite its greater size; getting in close to use a sword on this one wasn't a very favorable option.
Realizing it was best to attack from a distance, Link pulled out a bomb and tossed it at the Ironknuckle's head. The bomb exploded upon impact and the Ironknuckle stopped advancing momentarily, but it did not look as if it had been hurt. Link then threw another bomb at its head. This time, he caused the Ironknuckle to slightly stagger backward, and it sounded as if he had damaged its armor.
But then, with surprising speed, the huge Ironknuckle did its hammer attack again. It had taken Link completely by surprise, and now it had gotten too close and he couldn't dive out of the way in time. The shockwave knocked Link off his feet and he flew backward, his backside smashing into the sandstone wall.
*OK, that hurt,* Link thought painfully as he slid down from the wall and fell to the floor. He forced himself to get back up just as the Ironknuckle had walked up to him, ready to bring its hammer down. Link did a forward roll between its legs to avoid getting squashed flat, and then slashed at its leg with his Great Fairy Sword.
The Ironknuckle howled in pain as it whirled around and raised its hammer, once again surprising Link with its speed. Link backflipped to avoid getting flattened, and then tossed another bomb at its head. He then tossed two more bombs, forcing the Ironknuckle to back up into the wall. But despite having now taken five bombs to the head, it still seemed unhurt, and started advancing on Link again.
*This is nuts!* Link thought angrily. *If only I could stun it so I could use my sword....* Then it hit him. He pulled out his bow and powered up a light arrow, shooting it at the creature's head. His aim was dead-on, and it let out a screech as it dropped its giant hammer, covering its face with its hands.
*Gotcha,* Link thought triumphantly as he moved in with his Great Fairy Sword drawn. While it was stunned, he came at it with a jumping slash, following up with four slashes to its midsection, and culminated his assault with a spin attack to its shins.
This was finally enough to fell the Ironknuckle. Letting out one final howl of pain, it fell backward, the whole room shaking as its body impacted the floor. An instant later, its entire body exploded in a puff of silvery vapor.
Then, a small chest materialized in the center of the room. Link pried it open with his foot and, as he expected, it contained a small key.
*Phew, all that just for one key? This may be tougher than I thought,* mused Link as he snatched up the key and headed back out to the main room.
******
Zelda, who was sitting and leaning against the walls of the pit, once again looked down to stare at the entrance to the Giants' sanctuary. It had been about a half hour since Link had entered the dungeon, and she found herself wishing he didn't have to go in there alone. But, of course, there was no way she could even FIT inside.
Thus, she was forced to wait outside while Link went in to retrieve the first of the three remaining Giant's Masks. And after only half an hour, she was starting to get a little impatient.
*Oh, get a hold of yourself!* Zelda thought acidly, chiding herself. *You know these dungeons take him a long time to figure out. Stop being so impatient!*
But in truth, it wasn't really impatience she was feeling - it was worry. She was worried about how Link was facing unknown dangers yet again, and she had no idea how he was doing. It had been the same way whenever she watched him enter a Sage's temple, but now that the two of them had gotten so close, that sense of dread had intensifed.
Suddenly, an inspiration came to her. *I know, I'll talk to him telepathically!* she thought hopefully as she began to concentrate.
But the hope that had flourished from this idea soon faded as Zelda realized something: if the sheer force of her magic has increased with her size, then the power of her telepathy would have as well. If she tried to contact Link telepathically, she could end up frying his brain.
Sighing in defeat, she slouched against the pit walls, wondering if things could possibly make her more miserable.
As if to answer her thoughts, a crack of thunder cut through the anguished silence. Looking up, Zelda saw that the storm clouds that had hovered over Ikana Canyon had blown over the mountains. And a heavy deluge of raindrops came down a second later.
*Oh great,* Zelda thought dejectedly as she concentrated and used Nayru's Love to erect a diamond-shaped forcefield around her. *I'm stuck out here in the rain, and once again, Link gets to go dungeon-spelunking and have all the fun.*
******
"AAAAAUUUUUGGGHHH!!!!!"
For the third time in less than a minute, Link had barely avoided being burned to a crisp by a vicious, fire-breathing, three-headed dragon.
A minute ago, he had made his way into this square room after making his way through a series of rooms with light-triggered switches. And his efforts were now being rewarded by a fight with a bloodthristy dragon hell-bent on scorching him.
The right and center heads had just finished breathing a volley of fireballs, the volley that Link barely managed to avoid by backflipping away. Those two heads were gasping for breath, but the one on the left was rearing back. Link knew another volley would be coming his way, unless....
Link quickly took out his bow and readied an arrow. Just as the dragon's left head lurched forward to spew fireballs, Link fired an ice arrow into its open maw. The left head suddenly became covered in frost and it crashed to the ground, the other two heads screaming in pain. Wasting no time, Link rushed forward and sliced the head off with one downward swipe.
Now the center head swung down, trying to bite Link. But Link swung his sword at it when it got close, momentarily stunning it. He swiped at it two more times, and then it fell to the ground just as the left one had. One slash was all that was needed to slice off that head as well.
Now all that remained was the head on the right. Link turned to face it. He saw that it was preparing to breathe fire again, but he had ample time to backflip out of the way. He sheathed his sword and took out his bow again, hoping to stun it with an ice arrow the next time it breathed fire.
But out of the corner of his eye, he saw the two severed heads move again. A second later, they were floating in midair and turning to face Link. *Uh-oh, that can't be good,* he thought.
One of the heads sped toward Link, attempting to ram him. As it was closing in, Link shot his powered-up ice arrow at it, freezing it solid while still suspended in the air.
This gave Link an idea. He jumped up as the other head swooped down at him and climbed atop the frozen, floating one, then turned to face the last remaining dragon head that was still attached to its body. By standing on the suspended head, Link was now high enough to attack the dragon with a jumping slash.
And that's exactly what he did, splitting the last remaining head in two with a single downward slash, finally felling the beast. The other two heads vanished in swirls of purple smoke, and a second later, the same happened to the dragon's main body. Once it had vanished, a gate door was revealed to have been behind the dragon, and it slowly slid open, allowing passage into a small niche in the wall that contained two treasure chests.
"Whew," breathed Link, glad to have finally taken care of the three-headed dragon. "Now let's see what's in those chests," he said, eager to see what his rewards would be. He anxiously approached the chest on the left, and quickly opened it.
It was empty.
"What?!" Link exclaimed. Never before during any of his dungeon-spelunking exploits had he come across a treasure chest with its contents already taken.
*Oh forget it, let's see what's in the other one,* he thought as he walked over to the other chest. He tried to open it, but the lid would not budge. He tried again, putting more of his strength into it this time, but again he couldn't open the treasure chest. Then he reached into his supply bag, pulled out his Goron's Mask, and slapped it on.
With the strength of a Goron now at his command, he was finally able to pry to chest open and see what was inside. It contained a bronzed-colored gauntlet that went on his left hand, which looked similar to the Silver and Gold Gauntlets that had granted him enhanced strength. Link reverted to his human form and put on the gauntlet, but he felt no rush of power like when he had put on the Silver or Gold Gauntlets.
*I don't get it? What's this supposed to....* His thoughts trailed off as he noticed something odd about the gauntlet. On the back of the hand, there were two small, circular pads that looked like they could pushed in, like buttons. The pad on the left had a big N on it, and the one on the right had an S.
Curious, Link pushed in the N pad. At first, nothing happened. But after a while, Link began to notice something strange was happening to it. It looked as if the hand area was changing to a greyish color. But upon closer inspection, Link could see that some sort of dust was being pulled out of the air and becoming attached to the gauntlet. And it looked.... metallic.
*Metal particles in the air? But how....* Then it dawned upon him. It was a magnetic gauntlet.
*Wow, I wonder how I'll be using this,* Link thought as he took out the map he found earlier, trying to recall what was in the rooms he had already been in. He couldn't remember anything in them that seemed out of the ordinary, anything that seemed out of the way or any areas he couldn't reach. He hadn't come across any inaccessible areas, except....
Realizing where he had to go next, Link took out the Ocarina of Time and played the Song of Soaring. Within seconds, he was back at the entrance to the sanctuary. He ran to the door on the right and went through it, once again finding himself in a narrow hallway-like area with a twenty foot stretch of bottomless pit keeping him from reaching the other side.
But now, Link was confident that he had the means to cross the chasm. Looking closely at the metal pole on the other side of the passage, he could make out a small S engraved into it. Link reached out with his left arm and pushed in the N pad on the gauntlet.
The effects were instantaneous. Link was propelled across the chasm, heading straight for the metal pole. He quickly pushed the button again to deactivate it before he slammed into the pole; his body was aching enough as it was without crashing into a metal pole at top speed.
There were some clay pots right outside the door. Link took out his sword and smashed them open. Inside were extra bombs and a big magic jar; exactly what he needed after fighting the huge Ironknuckle and the three-headed dragon. He quickly gathered up the goodies, then went through the door.
From his map, Link knew that it was another circular room, about the same diameter as the first one. But of course, it didn't tell him what was in it.
Now he knew. This room had no floor, just another bottomless pit, and a small platform extending beyond the door was all that kept him from falling into it. And in this room, no light was streaming in from above; torches along the walls were once again the only light source.
Looking up, Link could make out what appeared to be a stone ceiling, with light peering in through three lines that converged at the center. It was as if the ceiling was divided into three parts.
Looking toward the center of the room again, Link could see that there was another metal pole with an S engraved into it. Only this one was floating in midair, and it seemed to be rotating. Link also noticed that, once again, there was a door directly ahead, and a door to his left and right, but this time all of them were locked. Thankfully, he still had one small key.
*Oh, the things I get myself into,* Link thought nervously, realizing what he had to do next. He reached out and pushed in the N pad on his gauntlet again, and he flew directly toward the hovering metal pole. Soon, Link's left hand was stuck to it, and that was all that was keeping him from falling into the black abyss below.
Now that he had attached himself to the floating pole, he noticed that the pole was indeed slowly rotating, in a clockwise direction. Breathing heavily, he looked over his shoulder and patiently waited for the pole to position him in front of the door that had been on his left. The sooner he got out of this unnerving position, the better. Who'd want to be attached to a floating piece of metal hovering over a bottomless pit?
Soon, Link could see he was positioned directly across from the desired door. He then pushed in the S button to repel himself away from the pole and over to the door. Once he was safely over the platform, he hit the S button again to deactivate the gauntlet for good. *Whew, back on solid ground,* Link thought, breathing a sigh of relief as he unlocked the door. He certainly didn't relish having to do that again.
The next room turned out to be another long, wide hallway with a new, unpleasant obstacle. A series of wall-mounted flamethrowers lined the left wall. spewing forth intense flames that barred passage through the hallway. Even as a Goron, Link would be reduced to cinders if he tried passing through. *Argh, I wasted my key! I can't get through this! Now what....*
Then Link noticed something strange on the other side of the hallway; it looked like a huge metal sphere. Squinting to get a better look, Link could make out a big N engraved onto the sphere.
*Oh I get it now!* Link thought triumphantly as he reached out and hit the S pad on the magnetic gauntlet. The ball immediately began rolling toward Link, and soon became attached to his hand. Not only that, he found that the magnetic gauntlet also granted the strength to lift heavy, magnetic objects attached to it.
Then Link proceeded to cross the hallway, the sphere positioned between him and the flamethrowers. As Link had hoped, the sphere was protecting him from the fire. Still, Link could feel the super-intense heat from the flamethrowers enveloping him as he slowly made his way across him. It wasn't long before his clothes became drenched with sweat.
Thankfully, it didn't take too long to get by the flamethrowers. Once he was safely at the other side of the hallway, Link was perplexed by what had awaited him: just a small treasure chest and a floor switch. He pulled out the Lens of Truth to see if anything else was hidden, but that was it. All the Lens revealed was that a small key was in the chest.
Deciding that the switch must have some significance if it was blocked off by flamethrowers, he stood on it to press it down. At that instant, the fire from the flamethrowers ceased. Furthermore, Link heard a faint rumbling sound that he was certain came from the last room. He quickly retrieved the key and headed back down the hallway, eager to see what the switch had triggered.
Back in the bottomless pit room, light was now coming down from above. Looking up, Link could see that a third of the ceiling that had been blocking the incoming light was now gone.
Now Link understood what was going on: the switch he had just triggered had made part of the ceiling recede and allowed light to flow into the room. He reasoned that beyond the other two locked doors, he would find switches that would make the rest of the ceiling plates recede into the wall. Once that was done, light would shine fully into the room.
Link wasn't sure what that would accomplish, but his instincts told him that whatever it was, it would lead him to one of the masks he was after. *Well, better get to those other two switches,* he thought as he hit the N pad to attract himself to the hovering metal pole. *I'd better finish this as soon as I can. Don't want Zelda worrying about me.*
******
Outside of the Giant's sanctuary, Princess Zelda still sat awaiting Link's return, feeling gloomier than ever. The rain was coming down in sheets, and the raindrops clattered noisily against her force barrier. The non-stop noise was beginning to drive her insane, but not so much as the fact that after almost two hours, Link still hadn't exited the sanctuary.
*Oh, what could be keeping him?!* Zelda thought with a mixture of impatience and dread. She tried to remember if the Sage's temples ever took Link this long, but she found it hard to concentrate with the rain's incessant noise resounding loudly in her ears.
*Oh, what am I worried about? Link's proven himself THE master at this sort of thing,* Zelda reasoned. *He probably has everything under control.*
******
"YEEOOOWWW!!!"
The Beamos' laser struck Link on the leg, and Link reflexively jumped out of the way. Had the laser stayed in contact with his leg, it would have probably sliced it off. As it was, it merely left a nasty burn.
"Eat this!" Link yelled as he tossed a bomb at the Beamos, angry at how he had been taken unawares. The explosion shattered the central body and the laser-shooting eye went flying into the air, crashing to the ground a few feet away.
However, to his right, Link heard the sound of another Beamos preparing to fire off a laser. He quickly ran back into where the last Beamos had been, safely out of range.
Once that Beamos had turned its eye away, Link ran past it, careful to avoid the areas where he knew there were invisible iron spikes. Eventually he reached his goal: a long ladder that led to a ledge up above. Atop that ledge was what he sought: the third and final floor switch, along with a blue treasure chest that had gold platings, which Link knew contained the boss key.
Link looked back down at the room below as he nursed his aching burn. The process to get to the other two switches had been far more complex and challenging, and this last room had been downright evil. Beamoses everywhere, along with invisible spikes and rotating scythes that could only be revealed with the Lens of Truth.
But Link smiled to himself, feeling a sense of pride after managing to get past all that. After taking the boss key, he stepped on the final switch, and he heard that familiar rumbling a second later.
After all the trouble this trap-infested room had given him, Link didn't want to go through all the Beamoses and invisible traps again. So he played the Song of Soaring instead, once again warping himself to the entrance. He made his way back to the room with the retractable ceiling as quickly as he could, anxious to see what effect he had triggered.
As was to be expected, the whole room was flooded with blinding, white light now that all three stone plates had receded into the wall. At first, Link didn't notice anything different besides that obvious fact, but after a while, something strange caught his eye.
The rotating metal pole in the center of the room had changed color. No longer was it a flat, dull metallic grey.... now, in the resplendent light, it gave off a bright, orange-yellow glow.
Link wasn't sure what it meant, but since that seemed to be the only obvious change, he decided to go with that. He pressed the N on his magnetic gauntlet to attract himself to the magnetic pole.
As soon as his left hand made contact with the metal pole, it began to float upwards, with Link still attached to it. This took Link upwards into the dazzling filtered light, and soon it got so unbearably bright that he was forced to tightly shut his eyes and cover his face with his free arm.
At one point, Link could feel the upward movement stop. The pole hovered in midair for a split second, then it began moving sideways. Eventually, the movement ceased again, and the pole stayed motionless. Link dared to open his eyes, and saw that wherever he was, it wasn't flooded with blinding light.
Taking a good look around him, Link could see that the pole had taken him to the end of a hallway, evidently located far above the room with the doors that led to the floor switches. And at the end of this hallway was a door with ornate designs, and a gold lock and chains in front of it, barring the way through.
*OK, whatever's in here must be guarding the other Giant's Mask!* Link thought excitedly as he took out the boss key. Finally, the first step in the process of curing Zelda was almost done.
Link quickly unlocked the door and dashed through. He was immediately forced to cover his eyes again; even the boss room had light filtering into it. However, his eyes soon adjusted again, and he could clearly see what had awaited him.
In the middle of this huge, wide-open area he had entered, there was what looked like an exact duplicate of the Desert Colossus statue that sat within the Spirit Temple. Just like that temple's statue, this one was almost as huge as Zelda was. *What the.... obviously, this place is more like the Spirit Temple than I thought,* Link thought to himself as he slowly approached the statue. *Uh-oh, please don't tell me this means I have to fight....*
As if to answer his thoughts, the giant statue began to slowly stand up. All around Link, there echoed the sounds of metal and stone parts moving, vaguely similar to the sounds inside Clock Town's clock tower.
As soon as the statue was standing upright, it lifted up its left arm, its hand outstrecthed. Then Link heard the sound of crackling energy, and saw there was a sapphire-like jewel embedded in the palm of the hand.... and it was glowing brighter by the second.
Having a good idea what was going to happen next, Link hastily slapped on his Goron's Mask and rolled away from the hulking statue at top speed. Somewhere behind him, it sounded as if a huge bolt of lightning had struck the floor.
Link unrolled himself and peeked behind him. Sure enough, a few dozen feet behind him was a spot on the floor that was black, charred and had a crater. Moreover, the statue was now moving toward him, advancing several yards with each broad, giant step. And now its right hand was outstretched, gathering power.
"Oh lovely," Link hissed exasperatedly as he curled up again and rolled forward, aiming to slip underneath her. He had moved just in time; he heard another bolt strike the ground a few feet behind him, right where he had been standing.
*How am I supposed to fight this thing?!* Link thought panickingly as he rolled away from the giant statue. Once he was confident he was far enough away, Link unrolled himself again and turned to take a good look at the statue. Every temple master he ever fought had some sort of weakness he could exploit - he just had to be smart enough to figure it out.
It was then that Link finally noticed something different about the Desert Colossus replica: the forearms looked metallic. And the treasure he found in the sanctuary just happened to affect metal....
Just as Link realized this, the Desert Colossus copy reached out with its left hand, drawing in power once more. Hoping he called it right, Link reverted to his human self and reached out with own left hand, hitting the N pad.
Nothing happened, and it looked as if the statue was about ready to fire an energy bolt. Realizing it was too late to avoid the attack, Link pressed in the S pad, praying that the south polarity would have some effect.
It did. The instant he pushed the button, the energy the statue had drawn in dissipated as if by magic. Not only that, its left forearm was slowly coming apart from its main body and began creeping toward Link. After a few seconds, its speed picked up, edging closer and closer toward Link.
"OK, that had some effect, but now how do...." Link began to think out loud, the forearm now hovering only a few yards away from him. Then he noticed the Desert Colossus was readying a blast with its right hand. "Whoa!" he exclaimed as he hit the S pad again, preparing to run of harm's way.
Once Link released his magnetic hold on the statue's forearm, it rocketed back toward the main body, as if propelled by a gigantic slingshot. Instead of merely reattaching itself to the left arm, however, it struck it with such incredible force that it knocked the statue backwards several steps. Link could also hear a sound like that of rocks being crushed, and could see small cracks forming on its main body.
*Oh, so that's it!* Link thought jubilantly, now realizing the method in which he could beat the guardian. As the statue reached out with its right hand again, Link hit the N pad on his magnetic gauntlet, reasoning that this arm would be attracted by the north polarity. He called it right, and the right forearm slowly crept towards Link.
And so, the process went on: Link pulling one of the statue's forearms towards him with his magnetic gauntlet and releasing it just as it was preparing a blast with the other.
It took five high-speed impacts with each forearm to do cause enough damage to its body. After the tenth blow, Link had dealt it enough damage to cause its body to crumble to pieces. The whole room echoed with the sound of its debris clattering to the floor. This also kicked up a cloud of dirt and bits of rock that spread outward, forcing Link to cover his face with his hands as it rushed past him.
Once the derbis cloud has passed him and he uncovered his face, though, Link saw something most unexpected.... and unwelcome. The head of the Desert Colossus copy was now hovering above the wreckage of its main body. Obviously, the battle wasn't over yet.
Without warning, it swooped toward Link. Not only that, its mouth was now open, and he could see flames billowing within it. Link leaped to the side as it passed over him, barely avoiding the fireballs it spewed.
*Oh great, how do I finish off the head?* Link thought as it made another pass, once again barely dodging the fireballs in time. Then Link remembered something about the original statue's head: when sunlight was reflected onto its face, it crumbled away. And the room he was in had sunlight streaming in from everywhere....
Seeing that the head was turning again, ready to do another fly-by, Link crouched and took out his Mirror Shield. As he had hoped, a super-bright stream of light issued forth from his shield's surface. Link quickly aimed it at the statue's head as it was barreling toward him....
As soon as the reflected light struck the head, it stopped in midair, as if it had been stunned. *Well, at least I know how to stop it for a while, but how do I....*
Then, out of the corner of his eye, Link noticed the statue's right forearm lying on the floor, a few yards away from the pile of debris. This gave Link an idea. Pushing the N pad to attract it toward him and attach it to his gauntlet, he lifted it up and aimed it at the giant floating head. Then he hit the S pad to repel it away from him at an extreme velocity.
The results were predictable. The metal forearm smashed through the floating head like a sword striking a clay pot. The remains of the head crashed noisily to the floor, and the forearm smashed into the wall a few hundred yards away.
A second later, all the remains of the Desert Colossus replica evaporated in wisps of white mist. And where the debris from the head had fallen, a pillar of white light now rose out of the ground. Squinting to get a better look, Link could see that some small object was lying in the middle of the light pillar.
Having a good idea what it was, Link ran to the pillar as fast as he could. He cautiously stepped into the pillar and picked up the object.
It was something shaped exactly like the Giant's Mask, only instead of metal, this one was composed of sandstone.
"Yes!! One down, two to go!!" Link exclaimed triumphantly as the light pillar carried him upward to be transported back outside.
******
Well, there you have it, my first attempt at writing about a Zelda dungeon in a fic. Sure, it was a bit simplistic, but then again, the first dungeon in a Zelda game always is.
By the way, this chapter had all sorts of references to the non-N64 games; some were obvious, some were really subtle. Can you spot them all? :)
So long,
Grey
a Legend of Zelda romance fic
Chapter 12: Fatal Attractions
4-11-2005
by Grey
Disclaimer: I don't own the Zelda series or any of its characters; Nintendo and the series' creator Shigeru Miyamoto do. So don't sue me or anything.
This fic is dedicated to CubedCinder128, for what I hope are obvious reasons.
******
Link didn't go very far down the narrow tunnel before it started to become pitch black. He reached for his quiver, planning to power up an arrow with his magic, but then he noticed a faint glimmer of light further down the tunnel. Link quickened his pace, heading for the light. Soon, he reached the other end of the tunnel, and was amazed by the sight that greeted him.
He had stepped out into a large circular room. Right in front of him was a long hallway that had a locked door at the end of it, and on both sides of the room was a doorway.
But what had really caught his attention was how the whole room was ablaze with bright light. It was so bright, it was beginning to make his eyes sting a bit. But the perplexing thing was that there were no torches, fires or any other light sources to be seen. It seemed to be coming from.... above.
Link looked up, and was immediately blinded by dazzling light. It forced him to immediately shut his eyes and turn his gaze back downward. Obviously, the room's light was coming down from the ceiling. *Amazing.... it's as if the rocks outside soak up the sunlight and filter it in here,* Link thought, marvelling at the ingenious engineering feat. *It reminds me.... of the temple of the Desert Colossus, with the way light always found its way in.*
Once Link was able to see clearly again, he took another look around the room, and was further reminded of the Spirit Temple. The color of the walls and floors, the masonry work of the sandstone block walls.... just about everything looked identical to what was found within Nabooru's temple. He had once thought the the Stone Tower Temple's inner workings had resembled it, but THIS place mimicked the Spirit Temple PERFECTLY!!
Link hoped that this sanctuary worked just like the Spirit Temple did as well. If it had light-based puzzles, he reasoned that they wouldn't be too hard, since all the rooms probably had sunlight coming in and he already had a Mirror Shield.
He contemplated all of this as he looked around, trying to decide where to go next. Going down the hallway was clearly out of the question, since he had yet to collect any keys. So, it was a choice of the door to his left, or the one to his right.
Link eventually picked to door on his right. When he went through it, though, he was greeted by something very different from what the first room was like.
It was a narrow passageway that had the same architecture as the first room. But sunlight did not come into this area; the only source of light in this room were two wall-mounted torches positioned at the sides of the door.
But the light they gave off was enough to let Link see that he was now standing on a small platform with a strange metallic pole in the center, and that platform was all that was keeping him from plummeting into a black, bottomless pit directly below.
However, some twenty feet ahead of him at the end of the corridor, there was another platform that was in front of a door. And that platform had the same type of metal pole sticking out of the middle of it.
It was obvious to Link that the metallic poles had some significance, but he had no idea just what they were for. He took out his hookshot, stood at the edge of his platform, and fired it off at the pole; but as he had expected, it had no effect. Link then took out his bow and shot a light arrow at it; but again, nothing happened.
Lastly, Link decided to try using the Lens of Truth, but again, his efforts yielded no results. The poles did not look any different through the lens, and no invisible platforms were revealed either. Obviously, if there was a means for Link to get to the other side of the corridor, it was not yet available to him.
Sighing in defeat, Link went back through the door and into the first room, then headed for the doorway straight across, the only remaining path available to him. But once he went through the door and shut it, he heard an all-too familiar sound; metal bars sliding down through stone. He turned his head and, sure enough, iron bars had slid down in front of the doorway, preventing him from leaving.
A sonorous grunting sound made Link turn his gaze back toward the room he had entered. It was another circular room with light being filtered in from above, though its diameter was smaller than the main room's. And standing in the center of it was a big, grey-armored Ironknuckle, standing at least ten feet tall. But instead of an axe, this one wielded a giant hammer....
And without warning, the Ironknuckle swung its hammer and struck the ground in front of it, creating a powerful energy shockwave that travelled along the ground and right toward Link.
*Oh great, just what I need,* Link thought dejectedly as he jumped to the side to avoid the shockwave. *The Moblin right in front of the Forest Temple did the same thing, and that was hard enough to beat....*
The Ironknuckle pounded the ground again, sending out another shockwave at Link. However, Link was once again able to jump aside in time. But then the creature began to move, making a loud stomping sound with each step it took.
Link knew that if it managed to get too close and corner him, it would flatten him with that giant hammer; this thing was obviously much more powerful than the Ironknuckles he fought in the past. Not only that, it seemed a bit speedier as well, despite its greater size; getting in close to use a sword on this one wasn't a very favorable option.
Realizing it was best to attack from a distance, Link pulled out a bomb and tossed it at the Ironknuckle's head. The bomb exploded upon impact and the Ironknuckle stopped advancing momentarily, but it did not look as if it had been hurt. Link then threw another bomb at its head. This time, he caused the Ironknuckle to slightly stagger backward, and it sounded as if he had damaged its armor.
But then, with surprising speed, the huge Ironknuckle did its hammer attack again. It had taken Link completely by surprise, and now it had gotten too close and he couldn't dive out of the way in time. The shockwave knocked Link off his feet and he flew backward, his backside smashing into the sandstone wall.
*OK, that hurt,* Link thought painfully as he slid down from the wall and fell to the floor. He forced himself to get back up just as the Ironknuckle had walked up to him, ready to bring its hammer down. Link did a forward roll between its legs to avoid getting squashed flat, and then slashed at its leg with his Great Fairy Sword.
The Ironknuckle howled in pain as it whirled around and raised its hammer, once again surprising Link with its speed. Link backflipped to avoid getting flattened, and then tossed another bomb at its head. He then tossed two more bombs, forcing the Ironknuckle to back up into the wall. But despite having now taken five bombs to the head, it still seemed unhurt, and started advancing on Link again.
*This is nuts!* Link thought angrily. *If only I could stun it so I could use my sword....* Then it hit him. He pulled out his bow and powered up a light arrow, shooting it at the creature's head. His aim was dead-on, and it let out a screech as it dropped its giant hammer, covering its face with its hands.
*Gotcha,* Link thought triumphantly as he moved in with his Great Fairy Sword drawn. While it was stunned, he came at it with a jumping slash, following up with four slashes to its midsection, and culminated his assault with a spin attack to its shins.
This was finally enough to fell the Ironknuckle. Letting out one final howl of pain, it fell backward, the whole room shaking as its body impacted the floor. An instant later, its entire body exploded in a puff of silvery vapor.
Then, a small chest materialized in the center of the room. Link pried it open with his foot and, as he expected, it contained a small key.
*Phew, all that just for one key? This may be tougher than I thought,* mused Link as he snatched up the key and headed back out to the main room.
******
Zelda, who was sitting and leaning against the walls of the pit, once again looked down to stare at the entrance to the Giants' sanctuary. It had been about a half hour since Link had entered the dungeon, and she found herself wishing he didn't have to go in there alone. But, of course, there was no way she could even FIT inside.
Thus, she was forced to wait outside while Link went in to retrieve the first of the three remaining Giant's Masks. And after only half an hour, she was starting to get a little impatient.
*Oh, get a hold of yourself!* Zelda thought acidly, chiding herself. *You know these dungeons take him a long time to figure out. Stop being so impatient!*
But in truth, it wasn't really impatience she was feeling - it was worry. She was worried about how Link was facing unknown dangers yet again, and she had no idea how he was doing. It had been the same way whenever she watched him enter a Sage's temple, but now that the two of them had gotten so close, that sense of dread had intensifed.
Suddenly, an inspiration came to her. *I know, I'll talk to him telepathically!* she thought hopefully as she began to concentrate.
But the hope that had flourished from this idea soon faded as Zelda realized something: if the sheer force of her magic has increased with her size, then the power of her telepathy would have as well. If she tried to contact Link telepathically, she could end up frying his brain.
Sighing in defeat, she slouched against the pit walls, wondering if things could possibly make her more miserable.
As if to answer her thoughts, a crack of thunder cut through the anguished silence. Looking up, Zelda saw that the storm clouds that had hovered over Ikana Canyon had blown over the mountains. And a heavy deluge of raindrops came down a second later.
*Oh great,* Zelda thought dejectedly as she concentrated and used Nayru's Love to erect a diamond-shaped forcefield around her. *I'm stuck out here in the rain, and once again, Link gets to go dungeon-spelunking and have all the fun.*
******
"AAAAAUUUUUGGGHHH!!!!!"
For the third time in less than a minute, Link had barely avoided being burned to a crisp by a vicious, fire-breathing, three-headed dragon.
A minute ago, he had made his way into this square room after making his way through a series of rooms with light-triggered switches. And his efforts were now being rewarded by a fight with a bloodthristy dragon hell-bent on scorching him.
The right and center heads had just finished breathing a volley of fireballs, the volley that Link barely managed to avoid by backflipping away. Those two heads were gasping for breath, but the one on the left was rearing back. Link knew another volley would be coming his way, unless....
Link quickly took out his bow and readied an arrow. Just as the dragon's left head lurched forward to spew fireballs, Link fired an ice arrow into its open maw. The left head suddenly became covered in frost and it crashed to the ground, the other two heads screaming in pain. Wasting no time, Link rushed forward and sliced the head off with one downward swipe.
Now the center head swung down, trying to bite Link. But Link swung his sword at it when it got close, momentarily stunning it. He swiped at it two more times, and then it fell to the ground just as the left one had. One slash was all that was needed to slice off that head as well.
Now all that remained was the head on the right. Link turned to face it. He saw that it was preparing to breathe fire again, but he had ample time to backflip out of the way. He sheathed his sword and took out his bow again, hoping to stun it with an ice arrow the next time it breathed fire.
But out of the corner of his eye, he saw the two severed heads move again. A second later, they were floating in midair and turning to face Link. *Uh-oh, that can't be good,* he thought.
One of the heads sped toward Link, attempting to ram him. As it was closing in, Link shot his powered-up ice arrow at it, freezing it solid while still suspended in the air.
This gave Link an idea. He jumped up as the other head swooped down at him and climbed atop the frozen, floating one, then turned to face the last remaining dragon head that was still attached to its body. By standing on the suspended head, Link was now high enough to attack the dragon with a jumping slash.
And that's exactly what he did, splitting the last remaining head in two with a single downward slash, finally felling the beast. The other two heads vanished in swirls of purple smoke, and a second later, the same happened to the dragon's main body. Once it had vanished, a gate door was revealed to have been behind the dragon, and it slowly slid open, allowing passage into a small niche in the wall that contained two treasure chests.
"Whew," breathed Link, glad to have finally taken care of the three-headed dragon. "Now let's see what's in those chests," he said, eager to see what his rewards would be. He anxiously approached the chest on the left, and quickly opened it.
It was empty.
"What?!" Link exclaimed. Never before during any of his dungeon-spelunking exploits had he come across a treasure chest with its contents already taken.
*Oh forget it, let's see what's in the other one,* he thought as he walked over to the other chest. He tried to open it, but the lid would not budge. He tried again, putting more of his strength into it this time, but again he couldn't open the treasure chest. Then he reached into his supply bag, pulled out his Goron's Mask, and slapped it on.
With the strength of a Goron now at his command, he was finally able to pry to chest open and see what was inside. It contained a bronzed-colored gauntlet that went on his left hand, which looked similar to the Silver and Gold Gauntlets that had granted him enhanced strength. Link reverted to his human form and put on the gauntlet, but he felt no rush of power like when he had put on the Silver or Gold Gauntlets.
*I don't get it? What's this supposed to....* His thoughts trailed off as he noticed something odd about the gauntlet. On the back of the hand, there were two small, circular pads that looked like they could pushed in, like buttons. The pad on the left had a big N on it, and the one on the right had an S.
Curious, Link pushed in the N pad. At first, nothing happened. But after a while, Link began to notice something strange was happening to it. It looked as if the hand area was changing to a greyish color. But upon closer inspection, Link could see that some sort of dust was being pulled out of the air and becoming attached to the gauntlet. And it looked.... metallic.
*Metal particles in the air? But how....* Then it dawned upon him. It was a magnetic gauntlet.
*Wow, I wonder how I'll be using this,* Link thought as he took out the map he found earlier, trying to recall what was in the rooms he had already been in. He couldn't remember anything in them that seemed out of the ordinary, anything that seemed out of the way or any areas he couldn't reach. He hadn't come across any inaccessible areas, except....
Realizing where he had to go next, Link took out the Ocarina of Time and played the Song of Soaring. Within seconds, he was back at the entrance to the sanctuary. He ran to the door on the right and went through it, once again finding himself in a narrow hallway-like area with a twenty foot stretch of bottomless pit keeping him from reaching the other side.
But now, Link was confident that he had the means to cross the chasm. Looking closely at the metal pole on the other side of the passage, he could make out a small S engraved into it. Link reached out with his left arm and pushed in the N pad on the gauntlet.
The effects were instantaneous. Link was propelled across the chasm, heading straight for the metal pole. He quickly pushed the button again to deactivate it before he slammed into the pole; his body was aching enough as it was without crashing into a metal pole at top speed.
There were some clay pots right outside the door. Link took out his sword and smashed them open. Inside were extra bombs and a big magic jar; exactly what he needed after fighting the huge Ironknuckle and the three-headed dragon. He quickly gathered up the goodies, then went through the door.
From his map, Link knew that it was another circular room, about the same diameter as the first one. But of course, it didn't tell him what was in it.
Now he knew. This room had no floor, just another bottomless pit, and a small platform extending beyond the door was all that kept him from falling into it. And in this room, no light was streaming in from above; torches along the walls were once again the only light source.
Looking up, Link could make out what appeared to be a stone ceiling, with light peering in through three lines that converged at the center. It was as if the ceiling was divided into three parts.
Looking toward the center of the room again, Link could see that there was another metal pole with an S engraved into it. Only this one was floating in midair, and it seemed to be rotating. Link also noticed that, once again, there was a door directly ahead, and a door to his left and right, but this time all of them were locked. Thankfully, he still had one small key.
*Oh, the things I get myself into,* Link thought nervously, realizing what he had to do next. He reached out and pushed in the N pad on his gauntlet again, and he flew directly toward the hovering metal pole. Soon, Link's left hand was stuck to it, and that was all that was keeping him from falling into the black abyss below.
Now that he had attached himself to the floating pole, he noticed that the pole was indeed slowly rotating, in a clockwise direction. Breathing heavily, he looked over his shoulder and patiently waited for the pole to position him in front of the door that had been on his left. The sooner he got out of this unnerving position, the better. Who'd want to be attached to a floating piece of metal hovering over a bottomless pit?
Soon, Link could see he was positioned directly across from the desired door. He then pushed in the S button to repel himself away from the pole and over to the door. Once he was safely over the platform, he hit the S button again to deactivate the gauntlet for good. *Whew, back on solid ground,* Link thought, breathing a sigh of relief as he unlocked the door. He certainly didn't relish having to do that again.
The next room turned out to be another long, wide hallway with a new, unpleasant obstacle. A series of wall-mounted flamethrowers lined the left wall. spewing forth intense flames that barred passage through the hallway. Even as a Goron, Link would be reduced to cinders if he tried passing through. *Argh, I wasted my key! I can't get through this! Now what....*
Then Link noticed something strange on the other side of the hallway; it looked like a huge metal sphere. Squinting to get a better look, Link could make out a big N engraved onto the sphere.
*Oh I get it now!* Link thought triumphantly as he reached out and hit the S pad on the magnetic gauntlet. The ball immediately began rolling toward Link, and soon became attached to his hand. Not only that, he found that the magnetic gauntlet also granted the strength to lift heavy, magnetic objects attached to it.
Then Link proceeded to cross the hallway, the sphere positioned between him and the flamethrowers. As Link had hoped, the sphere was protecting him from the fire. Still, Link could feel the super-intense heat from the flamethrowers enveloping him as he slowly made his way across him. It wasn't long before his clothes became drenched with sweat.
Thankfully, it didn't take too long to get by the flamethrowers. Once he was safely at the other side of the hallway, Link was perplexed by what had awaited him: just a small treasure chest and a floor switch. He pulled out the Lens of Truth to see if anything else was hidden, but that was it. All the Lens revealed was that a small key was in the chest.
Deciding that the switch must have some significance if it was blocked off by flamethrowers, he stood on it to press it down. At that instant, the fire from the flamethrowers ceased. Furthermore, Link heard a faint rumbling sound that he was certain came from the last room. He quickly retrieved the key and headed back down the hallway, eager to see what the switch had triggered.
Back in the bottomless pit room, light was now coming down from above. Looking up, Link could see that a third of the ceiling that had been blocking the incoming light was now gone.
Now Link understood what was going on: the switch he had just triggered had made part of the ceiling recede and allowed light to flow into the room. He reasoned that beyond the other two locked doors, he would find switches that would make the rest of the ceiling plates recede into the wall. Once that was done, light would shine fully into the room.
Link wasn't sure what that would accomplish, but his instincts told him that whatever it was, it would lead him to one of the masks he was after. *Well, better get to those other two switches,* he thought as he hit the N pad to attract himself to the hovering metal pole. *I'd better finish this as soon as I can. Don't want Zelda worrying about me.*
******
Outside of the Giant's sanctuary, Princess Zelda still sat awaiting Link's return, feeling gloomier than ever. The rain was coming down in sheets, and the raindrops clattered noisily against her force barrier. The non-stop noise was beginning to drive her insane, but not so much as the fact that after almost two hours, Link still hadn't exited the sanctuary.
*Oh, what could be keeping him?!* Zelda thought with a mixture of impatience and dread. She tried to remember if the Sage's temples ever took Link this long, but she found it hard to concentrate with the rain's incessant noise resounding loudly in her ears.
*Oh, what am I worried about? Link's proven himself THE master at this sort of thing,* Zelda reasoned. *He probably has everything under control.*
******
"YEEOOOWWW!!!"
The Beamos' laser struck Link on the leg, and Link reflexively jumped out of the way. Had the laser stayed in contact with his leg, it would have probably sliced it off. As it was, it merely left a nasty burn.
"Eat this!" Link yelled as he tossed a bomb at the Beamos, angry at how he had been taken unawares. The explosion shattered the central body and the laser-shooting eye went flying into the air, crashing to the ground a few feet away.
However, to his right, Link heard the sound of another Beamos preparing to fire off a laser. He quickly ran back into where the last Beamos had been, safely out of range.
Once that Beamos had turned its eye away, Link ran past it, careful to avoid the areas where he knew there were invisible iron spikes. Eventually he reached his goal: a long ladder that led to a ledge up above. Atop that ledge was what he sought: the third and final floor switch, along with a blue treasure chest that had gold platings, which Link knew contained the boss key.
Link looked back down at the room below as he nursed his aching burn. The process to get to the other two switches had been far more complex and challenging, and this last room had been downright evil. Beamoses everywhere, along with invisible spikes and rotating scythes that could only be revealed with the Lens of Truth.
But Link smiled to himself, feeling a sense of pride after managing to get past all that. After taking the boss key, he stepped on the final switch, and he heard that familiar rumbling a second later.
After all the trouble this trap-infested room had given him, Link didn't want to go through all the Beamoses and invisible traps again. So he played the Song of Soaring instead, once again warping himself to the entrance. He made his way back to the room with the retractable ceiling as quickly as he could, anxious to see what effect he had triggered.
As was to be expected, the whole room was flooded with blinding, white light now that all three stone plates had receded into the wall. At first, Link didn't notice anything different besides that obvious fact, but after a while, something strange caught his eye.
The rotating metal pole in the center of the room had changed color. No longer was it a flat, dull metallic grey.... now, in the resplendent light, it gave off a bright, orange-yellow glow.
Link wasn't sure what it meant, but since that seemed to be the only obvious change, he decided to go with that. He pressed the N on his magnetic gauntlet to attract himself to the magnetic pole.
As soon as his left hand made contact with the metal pole, it began to float upwards, with Link still attached to it. This took Link upwards into the dazzling filtered light, and soon it got so unbearably bright that he was forced to tightly shut his eyes and cover his face with his free arm.
At one point, Link could feel the upward movement stop. The pole hovered in midair for a split second, then it began moving sideways. Eventually, the movement ceased again, and the pole stayed motionless. Link dared to open his eyes, and saw that wherever he was, it wasn't flooded with blinding light.
Taking a good look around him, Link could see that the pole had taken him to the end of a hallway, evidently located far above the room with the doors that led to the floor switches. And at the end of this hallway was a door with ornate designs, and a gold lock and chains in front of it, barring the way through.
*OK, whatever's in here must be guarding the other Giant's Mask!* Link thought excitedly as he took out the boss key. Finally, the first step in the process of curing Zelda was almost done.
Link quickly unlocked the door and dashed through. He was immediately forced to cover his eyes again; even the boss room had light filtering into it. However, his eyes soon adjusted again, and he could clearly see what had awaited him.
In the middle of this huge, wide-open area he had entered, there was what looked like an exact duplicate of the Desert Colossus statue that sat within the Spirit Temple. Just like that temple's statue, this one was almost as huge as Zelda was. *What the.... obviously, this place is more like the Spirit Temple than I thought,* Link thought to himself as he slowly approached the statue. *Uh-oh, please don't tell me this means I have to fight....*
As if to answer his thoughts, the giant statue began to slowly stand up. All around Link, there echoed the sounds of metal and stone parts moving, vaguely similar to the sounds inside Clock Town's clock tower.
As soon as the statue was standing upright, it lifted up its left arm, its hand outstrecthed. Then Link heard the sound of crackling energy, and saw there was a sapphire-like jewel embedded in the palm of the hand.... and it was glowing brighter by the second.
Having a good idea what was going to happen next, Link hastily slapped on his Goron's Mask and rolled away from the hulking statue at top speed. Somewhere behind him, it sounded as if a huge bolt of lightning had struck the floor.
Link unrolled himself and peeked behind him. Sure enough, a few dozen feet behind him was a spot on the floor that was black, charred and had a crater. Moreover, the statue was now moving toward him, advancing several yards with each broad, giant step. And now its right hand was outstretched, gathering power.
"Oh lovely," Link hissed exasperatedly as he curled up again and rolled forward, aiming to slip underneath her. He had moved just in time; he heard another bolt strike the ground a few feet behind him, right where he had been standing.
*How am I supposed to fight this thing?!* Link thought panickingly as he rolled away from the giant statue. Once he was confident he was far enough away, Link unrolled himself again and turned to take a good look at the statue. Every temple master he ever fought had some sort of weakness he could exploit - he just had to be smart enough to figure it out.
It was then that Link finally noticed something different about the Desert Colossus replica: the forearms looked metallic. And the treasure he found in the sanctuary just happened to affect metal....
Just as Link realized this, the Desert Colossus copy reached out with its left hand, drawing in power once more. Hoping he called it right, Link reverted to his human self and reached out with own left hand, hitting the N pad.
Nothing happened, and it looked as if the statue was about ready to fire an energy bolt. Realizing it was too late to avoid the attack, Link pressed in the S pad, praying that the south polarity would have some effect.
It did. The instant he pushed the button, the energy the statue had drawn in dissipated as if by magic. Not only that, its left forearm was slowly coming apart from its main body and began creeping toward Link. After a few seconds, its speed picked up, edging closer and closer toward Link.
"OK, that had some effect, but now how do...." Link began to think out loud, the forearm now hovering only a few yards away from him. Then he noticed the Desert Colossus was readying a blast with its right hand. "Whoa!" he exclaimed as he hit the S pad again, preparing to run of harm's way.
Once Link released his magnetic hold on the statue's forearm, it rocketed back toward the main body, as if propelled by a gigantic slingshot. Instead of merely reattaching itself to the left arm, however, it struck it with such incredible force that it knocked the statue backwards several steps. Link could also hear a sound like that of rocks being crushed, and could see small cracks forming on its main body.
*Oh, so that's it!* Link thought jubilantly, now realizing the method in which he could beat the guardian. As the statue reached out with its right hand again, Link hit the N pad on his magnetic gauntlet, reasoning that this arm would be attracted by the north polarity. He called it right, and the right forearm slowly crept towards Link.
And so, the process went on: Link pulling one of the statue's forearms towards him with his magnetic gauntlet and releasing it just as it was preparing a blast with the other.
It took five high-speed impacts with each forearm to do cause enough damage to its body. After the tenth blow, Link had dealt it enough damage to cause its body to crumble to pieces. The whole room echoed with the sound of its debris clattering to the floor. This also kicked up a cloud of dirt and bits of rock that spread outward, forcing Link to cover his face with his hands as it rushed past him.
Once the derbis cloud has passed him and he uncovered his face, though, Link saw something most unexpected.... and unwelcome. The head of the Desert Colossus copy was now hovering above the wreckage of its main body. Obviously, the battle wasn't over yet.
Without warning, it swooped toward Link. Not only that, its mouth was now open, and he could see flames billowing within it. Link leaped to the side as it passed over him, barely avoiding the fireballs it spewed.
*Oh great, how do I finish off the head?* Link thought as it made another pass, once again barely dodging the fireballs in time. Then Link remembered something about the original statue's head: when sunlight was reflected onto its face, it crumbled away. And the room he was in had sunlight streaming in from everywhere....
Seeing that the head was turning again, ready to do another fly-by, Link crouched and took out his Mirror Shield. As he had hoped, a super-bright stream of light issued forth from his shield's surface. Link quickly aimed it at the statue's head as it was barreling toward him....
As soon as the reflected light struck the head, it stopped in midair, as if it had been stunned. *Well, at least I know how to stop it for a while, but how do I....*
Then, out of the corner of his eye, Link noticed the statue's right forearm lying on the floor, a few yards away from the pile of debris. This gave Link an idea. Pushing the N pad to attract it toward him and attach it to his gauntlet, he lifted it up and aimed it at the giant floating head. Then he hit the S pad to repel it away from him at an extreme velocity.
The results were predictable. The metal forearm smashed through the floating head like a sword striking a clay pot. The remains of the head crashed noisily to the floor, and the forearm smashed into the wall a few hundred yards away.
A second later, all the remains of the Desert Colossus replica evaporated in wisps of white mist. And where the debris from the head had fallen, a pillar of white light now rose out of the ground. Squinting to get a better look, Link could see that some small object was lying in the middle of the light pillar.
Having a good idea what it was, Link ran to the pillar as fast as he could. He cautiously stepped into the pillar and picked up the object.
It was something shaped exactly like the Giant's Mask, only instead of metal, this one was composed of sandstone.
"Yes!! One down, two to go!!" Link exclaimed triumphantly as the light pillar carried him upward to be transported back outside.
******
Well, there you have it, my first attempt at writing about a Zelda dungeon in a fic. Sure, it was a bit simplistic, but then again, the first dungeon in a Zelda game always is.
By the way, this chapter had all sorts of references to the non-N64 games; some were obvious, some were really subtle. Can you spot them all? :)
So long,
Grey