Chapter 48

After looking around a bit, the kids decided to check the chamber better, it was mostly empty except for two odd creatures or rather two mechanical objects, the girls didn't know what they were but Morgan thought they were neat because they shot lasers from their eye-like heads.

she decided to take them, so the little Stark put them inside her inventory, Link just deadpanned at this and wondered what Morgan was going to do with such things.

But he decided to ignore all of this and just investigate the chamber, eventually, they found a cracked wall on one side of the chamber, Morgan quickly punched it revealing a stone of sorts, the kids however ignored that and looked on the same side but deeper into the chamber.

There they find another cracked wall and once again, Morgan cheerfully punched it, revealing a hallway, Morgan smiled and skipped her way inside while being followed by Link and Hope.

That is until right in the middle of the hallway, some lizard-like monsters popped out of the ground and rushed towards Morgan, but she just stomped on them, killing them quickly.

Hope, however, was curious about these monsters "What are these? They looked like tadpoles but more lizard-like, plus they had quite a bit of magic too".

Navi, happily began to explain what the monsters that were being stomped by Morgan are "These small lizards are the offsprings of Dodongos.

They surface from underneath the ground and chase after you, trying to jump and nip at their targets if they get close.

If the target avoids them, they burrow back under, only to re-appear moments afterward, they are quite weak and will die quite easily, but be warned, as they explode shortly after being defeated".

Hope nodded "Oh, so that's why this cave is called Dodongo's caver- did you just say they explode when killed?!".

Navi didn't even get to answer as Morgan was suddenly engulfed by multiple explosions, she was unharmed of course, but the force generated by the explosions, sent Link flying back.

Hope quickly caught Link before he could crash against the rocky wall, Link sighed in relief and then smiled at Hope, the little Potter just smiled back at him as he put him down on the ground on his feet.

The explosions dissipated, revealing a soot-covered Morgan and cucco, Morgan's pet Cucco suddenly coughed a black smoke cloud and then shook its body to get rid of the soot.

Morgan did the same and then patted her clothes clean "Okay... definitely not doing that again".

Hope sighed, while Link just awkwardly laughed, the kids soon after kept going down the hallway until they found a door at the side, the trio walked to the door and it opened for them.

The kids then walked into a small chamber but only found a few keeses hanging from the ceiling, Hope quickly shot them down and cleared the room, with no more monster here, the kids walked back out to the hallway and kept heading down.

At the end of the hallway, they found a switch on the floor, two movable statues, and a door covered by metal bars, Link knew what this was, a puzzle that needed to be solved for the door to open, but Morgan just pulled the bars out of the way and punched the door open.

Link sweatdropped while Hope just laughed a little "Morgan is one of the most intelligent people I know, but she's so simple-minded at times, it's honestly hilarious to see her do things like this".

Link did not know what to say to that, so he kept silent and followed Morgan into the room, Hope just giggle in amusement at the fact that Link decided that silence was the safest choice to take.

It was, but it was funny seeing him hesitate for a bit, the door led to a small hallway, one with some keeses, but the kids quickly killed them and walked down the hallway to another door at the end.

The door opened for them and the kids walked inside the newfound chamber, the room was big and had multiple platforms floating on top of a pool of lava, there was even a waterfall of lava in this room.

Link, Morgan, and Hope stepped inside, only for them to jump away when a humanoid lizard monster jumped down towards them hoping to kill one of the kids by surprise.

Link rolled on the ground and quickly stood up while equipping his Hylian Shield and Kokiri Sword, meanwhile, another lizard humanoid monster pounced on the girls.

But Morgan jumped to meet it in mid-air and kicked it into the lava beneath the platform, the lizard monster screeched and thrashed around in pain, but thankfully for the monster, Hope shot it in the head with a mana bullet, killing it.

The girls then turned to watch Link battle with the other lizard humanoid monster.

-----

Link quickly blocked a sword strike from the lizard humanoid monster with his Hylian Shield, the monster's sword bounce off his shield throwing it off balance, Link immediately took advantage of the opening and slashed at the monster with his sword.

The young hero was awarded with a screech of pain as the lizard humanoid monster jumped back and glared at Link, while he held a cut on his side.

Navi quickly explained what Link was fighting while the monster jumped to get some space "Link! that's a lizalfos they resemble bipedal lizards with a long tail and a green hue to their skin.

Their tongues are forked, and their mouths are filled with sharp teeth, they wear few, if any, clothes, usually only a metal loincloth and a few pieces of armor.

Lizalfos are remarkably nimble and swift, they attack in pairs and 'tag out' when one sustains enough damage.

They use their agility to dive over their target's head, hoping to get a surprise attack off, or just slashing and stabbing at at their prey.

They also occasionally parry attacks, lizalfos attacks can occasionally strike over a shield if a target gets too close to them".

Link nodded and got ready while enhancing his body with mana, just like Morgan and Hope taught him, the lizalfos pounced and tried to slash down at Link, but the young hero blur out of his sight.

The monster's attack missed completely and Link suddenly reappeared behind the lizalfos, the young hero then jumped and downwards slashed the lizalfos' open back.

The monster roared in pain and turned around to attack Link in retaliation for his surprise attack, but Link was already on the move, with one strong push of his leg, Link threw himself at the monster sword first.

The lizalfos didn't even get time to react before Link stabbed his sword into the monster's heart, the lizalfos just twitches once and growled in defeat, before exploding into blue flames as it died.

Link sighed and then put away his sword and shield away, he then quickly turned around to check on Morgan and Hope but relaxed when he saw them standing there and waving at him.

Link chuckled and then walked to them, Morgan smiled at her friend and gave him a nod "Looks like you're getting good with physical enhancement, you did good Link".

Hope nodded "We'll teach you how to channel mana into your sword next and maybe a skill or spell, but for now, we should get going".

Link smiled and nodded, he was certainly happy for the praises and the promise of learning new techniques, physical enhancement is already very useful as it is.

With the lizalfos dead, the kids were free to walk around a take a look around the room, they didn't find anything useful or interesting, other than a door, so the trio walked up to it and when it opened for them, they walked to a new hallway.

The kids walked down the hallway and along the way, Morgan noticed a cracked wall, she smiled and then quickly punched it, the stone wall crumbled revealing a door and the kids immediately walked up to it and headed inside the room behind the newly revealed door.

Inside the small room, they found a Deku, it tried to sell them Deku sticks, but Morgan noped that so hard and shook the Deku of all the Deku Sticks it had and then took them, leaving a dizzy and crying Deku behind.

Link didn't even bother saying or doing anything about what Morgan did, the Deku was a monster after all, and tried to trick them into buying something that is easily found everywhere.

Hope just smiled and let Morgan mug the Deku, it's what it gets for trying to swindle them out of their rupees with sticks!

The kids walked back to the hallway and continued on, following the hallway, they ended up at a wide and long chamber, where the kids watched a couple of lizard-like monsters stomping around.

Morgan tilted her head, which made her cucco tilt on her head as well, and asked a question out loud "Those look like the baby dodongos, so they must be adult dodongos right?".

Navi shook her body up and down and quickly answered Morgan's question "Dodongos are reptilian monsters usually found in caves and volcanic environments.

Dodongos have very tough hides, ribbed with green or sometimes yellow scales that serve as strong armor that protects them from any attack.

In the same vein, dodongos have very large mouths in proportion to their bodies, these grand cavities enable them to suck in air to blow streams of flames, which is their primary form of attack.

However, this also makes their mouths the species' primary vulnerable spot, a bomb can be thrown down their gaping mouths, and it will explode from within, heavily damaging the creature.

For this reason, dodongos are widely known for their weakness to bombs, another vulnerable site is the tip of its tail'.

Morgan nodded "Ah, so their insides are soft, well, you should keep that in mind Link, Hope and I can deal with them meanwhile".

Link nodded, Hope then took out her gauss pistol and aimed at one of the dodongos, and overcharged a mana bullet with Wind, the little Potter pulled the trigger and a drill of condensed wind shot forward toward the dodongo.

The wind drill crashed against the monster and tore it apart before exploding into a vortex of wind, that further destroyed the dodongo, Morgan just stepped towards her dodongo target.

The monster noticed her right away and immediately breathed a gout of flames at Morgan, but the little Stark just kept walking forwards completely unaffected by the flames.

Eventually, Morgan reached the dodongo and then spun kicked it on the side of the head as hard as she could, there was a loud crack coming from inside the dodongo and then the monster's body exploded into a fine red mist.

Morgan deadpanned as she got drenched in blood, her Cucco also deadpanned since her white plumage, was now red as well.

Morgan sighed and shook her head "I did not think that through...".

Hope giggled and snapped her fingers at Morgan, the blood drenching both Morgan and her cucco vanished leaving them both squeaky clean, Morgan smiled at Hope in thanks after that.

The kids then kept going down the chamber and found a door, however, it was blocked by steel rods, but Morgan just pulled them away and punched the door open.

With that done, the kids walked through the new opening and ended up back in the entrance chamber, in a small and long hallway, at the end of the hallway, there was a switch waiting for everyone.

The kids walked over to the switch and Link quickly step on it, there was a click, and a door on the other side of the chamber opened, the kids quickly ran over to the door, before going through the door.

The kids found another cracked wall and Morgan quickly punched it, the wall crumbled revealing a big chest on the other side of the wall, Link smiled and walked over to the chest.

He quickly opened it and took out a map from inside and held it above his head in victory, the girls giggle at their friend's antics and then the trio headed to the newly opened door on this side of the chamber.

The door automatically opened for them and the kids quickly headed inside, a long hallway and a chamber awaited the kids on the other side.

The trio walked down the hallway and into the chamber, there was some kind of pillar inside the chamber, one surrounded by bomb flowers, there was also a cracked wall and Morgan wasted no time in punching it apart.

Once the wall crumbled, the kids walked down a small hallway and through a door, they ended up inside a small chamber and inside there was a chest surrounded by three statues.

Link approached the chest to see how to get to it when one of the statues came to life and attacked him, Link, however, jumped away in time, Morgan launched herself at the monster and backhanded it away from Link.

The statue exploded as soon as Morgan's strike hit it, but Morgan was unaffected, though her cucco did fly off her head so it wouldn't get hit, that cucco was good at avoiding explosions now and whatnot.

Hope walked over and waved a hand to dissipate the smoke and dust from the explosion, Morgan shook her head and sighed "Okay, that was actually a good trap".

Hope nodded "Yeah, good thing Link has good reflexes".

Link walked up to the girls and Morgan turned her head towards him "You okay Link? That thing didn't hit you right?".

Link nodded and smiled at Morgan to let her know that he was okay, Morgan smiled back and Navi suddenly began to explain what the monster actually was "That was an armos and they're usually rounded monstrous statues with a pair of orange curved horns and a smaller pair of short black horns on their head, a pair of red eyes, a wide nose and a patch of grey stone with a zigzag-esque pattern running through on its face, a grey, segmented column-like body and a pair of hands wielding a sword and an orange shield.

If you see a statue like that, be careful when approaching them, it might be an armos waiting to catch you off guard!

They sit completely still until a victim touches them, at which point they come to life and start chasing that very same victim.

If not defeated fast enough, they will return to their original position and revert into a statue, and upon defeat, they will flash red and jump around before exploding".

Morgan hummed "So they self-destruct, sheesh, what a nasty monster".

Hope and Link nodded in agreement, Link then walked over to the chest, this time more carefully, since he was suspicious of the other two statues around the chest, but none of them came to life so he quickly opened the chest.

He then took out a compass from inside and once again held the item he found above his head, Morgan and Hope smiled, and then walked over to Link as he took out the map and began to check it over with the compass.

Since Link seemed to know what he was doing, the girls let him do his thing and waited, Morgan's pet cucco jumped back on her head and she gently petted her cucco's chest.

Link soon put away the map and compass and nodded to the girls, with that done, the kids then walked out of the small chamber and back to the room with the pillar surrounded by bomb flowers

The kids stared at the pillar, it was pretty obvious what they needed to do, so Morgan raised an open hand towards an empty spot around the pillar and fired a small KI blast.

The KI blast crashed against the empty spot and exploded, which set off a chain of events in which every bomb flower around the pillar exploded consecutively.

After all the bomb flowers exploded, the pillar began to drop, revealing a set of stairs that the kids wasted no time going up to.

They arrived at a wooden platform and walked over it towards a door on the second floor of this chamber, the door opened for them and the kids walked through it.

-----

The trio then arrived in a big chamber, one with statues and fire keese, Hope and Link shot down the fire keeses with ease, each with the gauss pistol and the fairy slingshot.

Meanwhile, Morgan walked over to the statues and checked each one to see if they were armos, but none came to life and so Morgan jumped over them and onto the platform they were standing around at, right on the platform, Morgan found a switch and she quickly stepped on it.

The was a loud click and the door unlocked for them "Well, that was easy, though I rather like punching the doors open".

Morgan quickly jumped down the platform and joined her friends as they walked through the new door, there was a long hallway waiting for them and they quickly walked down the hallway into the entrance chamber once again.

This time however, they were on the second floor, there was also a high and narrow wooden bridge leading to the other side, but the girls didn't trust it and instead flew to the other side with Link being held by his arms by his friends.

Once on the other side, they let Link down, who smiled and nodded at them in thanks, the girls returned the smile and then the trio headed down an entrance.

Into a long dark hallway, once they arrived on the other side of the hallway, they found a chamber with high pillars and sliding metal spikes, Morgan destroyed the sliding metal spikes with a couple of punches, while Link and Hope headed towards a wooden ladder in the other side of the chamber.

Both climbed the ladder and found a cracked wall, Link turned his head towards Hope and raised an eyebrow at her, Hope just sweatdropped and then sighed "Fine...".

Reluctantly, Hope punched the cracked wall and destroyed it as Morgan would do, Link smiled and gave Hope a thumbs up, meanwhile Hope just awkwardly laughed.

She didn't feel comfortable with blatant shows of strength, but at least this was done to help her friend, Morgan joined them soon after and the trio walked down the newly revealed hallway.

On the other side of the new hallway, they found a platform with flames on it, Hope raised an eyebrow at the trap meant to stop anyone from heading deeper inside the dungeon and then shrugged.

With a wave of her hand, she took control of the flames and put them out with ease, with that done, everyone then jumped towards the other side of this small chamber and then headed down another long hallway.

This one however curved halfway in, but it wasn't a big deal for the kids, though a few baby dodongos did jump out of the ground and tried to take a bite out of the trio.

But they quickly killed the monsters and avoided the explosions, after they continued on until they found a door at the end of the hallway, the door automatically opened for them and the trio then walked through the doorway.

They arrived at a big chamber filled with glowing red lava and platforms, the kids looked around and Morgan narrowed her eyes when she sensed something "Watch out guys, there's something watching us".

Link and Hope nodded and stepped deeper into the chamber, just like Morgan warned them about, two lizalfos dropped from out of nowhere and immediately pounced at the kids.

Link immediately took out his shield and parried a jumping slash from one of the lizalfos, Hope just shot the other one in the chest in mid-air, with a mana bullet from her gauss pistol.

The lizalfos roared in pain and dropped dead onto a platform below it, the dead monster's body, bounced off the ground on the platform and into the lava below.

The girls watched as the dead monster's body was consumed by the molten rock and then moved their attention towards Link's fight, just in case their friend needed help.

Having already fought a lizalfos before and having heard Navi's advice on how to fight one, made his current battles easier, when the Lizalfos' jump slash failed, it quickly began to jump around Link, hoping to see an opening.

But Link was on him and did not let the monster out of his sight, instead, he took out a deku nut and threw it at the ground in front of the lizalfos, the monster was flash banged and unable to see instantly.

Link seeing that the monster was disoriented, immediately went on the attack and slashed at the lizalfos, the monster screeched in pain and jumped back trying to get away from Link.

But Link reinforced his legs with mana and jumped toward the lizalfos, the monster never expected Link to do this and was unable to react when the young hero hit it with a downward slash.

The lizalfos screeched in pain as the Kokiri Sword cut into its body and was sent flying down onto a platform, but the monster didn't even have time to even grunt, as Link drop right on top of the lizalfos' body sword first.

Link's sword sank into the lizalfos' chest with great force, which forced the monster to grunt and then explode into blue flames and ash upon its death.

Link stood up and pulled his sword off the ground, the young hero smiled at having been able to once again fight a lizalfos and win by himself, he quickly turned around and watched as both Morgan and Hope sent him a thumbs up on victory.

After the fight, there was a loud chime in the chamber and a door was unlocked, the kids already knowing how this works, quickly went towards the now-open door and went through it once it opened for them.

Another room with flames flaring from two platforms awaited the trio, but Hope once again manipulated the flames and put them out, the kids then quickly hopped from platform to platform until they reached the other side and continue forward.

The kids quickly arrived at a new chamber, in this one, a half-destroyed bridge and a big chest were found, the trio easily and quickly jumped over to the other side of the destroyed bridge and Link quickly ran to the big chest.

The girls watched as Link opened the big chest and then reached inside for the item inside the big chest, the young hero soon took it out and held it above his head in victory.

The girls just smiled in amusement, while Navi suddenly began to speak about the item Link just acquired "Oh! It's a bomb bag! This magical bag was made from a dodongo's stomach and can hold a lot of bombs! Nice find Link!".

Link smiled and checked inside the bomb bag, he found twenty bombs inside the bag, which made him cheer, he looked around and noticed a cracked wall below the broken bridge.

He quickly took out a bomb, ignited it, and then threw it towards the cracked wall, but the bomb hit the wall awkwardly and bounced off it, falling away from the wall.

The bomb soon exploded, away from the wall, which made the kids sweatdropped at the horrible aim made, Morgan scratched her head and frowned "Hmm... what did Aunty Valerie call it?... Right! Let it cook a bit and then throw it Link!".

Link deadpanned at Morgan having no clue what she meant by letting the bomb cook, Hope giggled and shook her head as she began to explain "It's an expression Link, it means, wait a bit and then throw it".

Link nodded and understood now, so he took out another bomb and then waited a couple of seconds before throwing it toward the cracked wall, this time the bomb exploded right in front of the wall and destroyed it.

This revealed a door and the kids wasted no time in walking towards it, the door opened for them and the trio stepped inside a small chamber, they were attacked by two dekus, but Link shot them with deku seeds and Morgan then mugged them when they tried to sell them stuff.

The poor dekus were left crying and without merchandise, but the kids didn't care and just went back to the prior room, once there they looked around for a bit and then found a ladder.

They looked up to see what was up the ladder only to find an opening, so the kids ignored the ladder and just jumped up there with ease, finding a hallway, they didn't even hesitate to follow it back to the entrance chamber.

On the way they also found a switch and Hope stepped on it, there was a loud click and a stone platform rose from the lava all the way up to the second floor.

Seeing that they now had a way to reach the second floor without having to go all the way around, the kids began to look around, soon they found a small monument with a plaque not to far away from where they found the switch.

The kids quickly read it and realized that it was a clue, one that would open a new path, what the clue told them was to drop a bomb into the eyesockets of the big monster's skull right there in the middle of the entrance chamber.

Link gave Morgan and Hope a bomb each, the girls then flew to each eyesocket and lit the bombs, they quickly dropped them next and flew away, the bombs soon exploded making the eyesockets glow red.

There was a loud chime next and the giant monster skull's jaws opened revealing a door, the kids quickly jumped down to the first floor, Hope made Link land softly with a bit of telekinesis, while Morgan and herself landed on their feet without issue.

After that, they walked over to the newly revealed door inside the skull's jaws and went inside the new room, which happened to be an intersection.

Seeing this, the kids looked around and noticed a big gray block at the top of a high-up hallway, Link then looked down and noticed a square hole with a switch at the bottom.

Realizing the purpose of the hole and block, Link pointed at it Hope noticed and nodded "I know, but Morgan has it already".

The little Potter knew what the puzzle entailed, but with someone like Morgan in the party, some puzzles didn't even need to be acknowledged something Morgan proved by once again walking to the blocked door and ripping out the metal bars blocking it and then punching the door open.

Link just smiled and scratched his head, he was starting to feel bad for whoever had created this dungeon's traps and puzzles, cause Morgan was downright mocking them by just destroying the doors.

Hope just sighed and shook her head, Morgan was just a cheat, and with her involved any dungeon not being from the Natural Dungeon was just child's play.

Morgan didn't notice the looks Link and Hope were sending her way and just stepped through the doorway she created, Link and Hope just followed behind her without saying a word.

-----

Once in the newly revealed chamber, the kids found a cracked floor and a small chest, Link quickly ran towards the chest and opened it, he found some bombs and smiled as he put them inside his bomb bag.

Meanwhile, the girls walked over to the cracked floor and frowned, Hope then said "I sense some very dark energy on the other side of this cracked floor".

Morgan nodded "And I smell something scaly and big, very big... I think we're right on top of the boss room".

Link walked over to the girls and having heard them, he nodded at them to let them know he was ready, Morgan and Hope nodded back, the little Stark them stomp on the ground and the floor immediately crumbled.

The kids then quickly dropped down, but they softly landed on the floor below, Link thanks to Hope's telekinesis and the girls because they can fly, the kids took a quick look around and noticed they were inside a massive chamber, one with a giant lake of lava in the middle of the chamber itself.

But soon they heard something stomping and out of nowhere, a massive beige-scaled dodongo roared at them, Morgan raised an eyebrow at the monster "That's a big dodongo!".

Navi gasped and quickly exclaimed in surprise "That's a King Dodongo! Ready to attack, King Dodongo will release a blast of damaging flame if allowed to inhale completely.

During this time, someone can toss a bomb or a nearby bomb flower, into its mouth, If successful, the bomb will explode inside, causing King Dodongo to collapse.

Then it's time to attack! Hits its head as many times as you can and do not let up until it's down for good!".

Morgan grinned "Alright! I'll open its mouth, you guys dump all the bombs inside!".

Hope and Link sweatdropped at Morgan's idea but before they could say anything to her, Morgan dropped on all fours and took off running at high speed, the dodongo didn't even see her get to him.

Much less react when Morgan suddenly kicked its head to the side, the dodongo roared in pain, only to shut up when his head whipped to the side and then crashed against the chamber's wall to its side.

Morgan jumped and rolled at high speed above the dodongo, only to suddenly stop and then smash both of her fists on top of the King Dodongo's head, this caused the boss monster's head to slam against the floor with a loud crash and thud.

Morgan quickly landed in front of King Dodongo and then yelled "Open wide!".

Morgan then uppercut the top jaw of King Dodongo, the monster boss roared in pain as its jaws was forced open by Morgan's attack, Link saw this and quickly took out his bomb bag and emptied it in front of him.

Hope smiled and used her telekinesis, to throw all the bombs toward King Dodongo's opened jaw, Morgan grinned as she saw the bombs fly to her side and then activated her sacred gear which loudly began to say "Boost, Boost!".

The bombs glowed red moments before they went inside King Dodongo's mouth-opened jaw, Morgan jumped back and then cheerful smiled at the monster boss before saying "Boom!".

As if on queue, the bombs inside King Dodongo exploded with a loud and powerful boom, Hope quickly raised a barrier around Link as the monster's body inflated from the force behind the explosions.

Both Hope and Morgan jumped inside the barrier just in time, as King Dodongo's inflated body burst into many pieces that rained down all over the Chamber.

Blood and entrails splattered everywhere, but luckily for the kids they were inside a barrier, so they didn't get monster chunks on them, King Dodongo's pieces suddenly combusted into blue flames and then turned into ashes that soon disappeared.

The only thing left behind where King Dodongo once stood, is a heart container and a teleportation circle, Morgan fist pumped and laughed "Perfect victory!".

Hope just sighed at her sister in all but blood, but soon fondly smiled, sure, that was a bit over the top, but that's just how Morgan is, Link just laughed a bit and shook his head in amusement, he was already getting used to all of this craziness and he didn't know if that was a good thing or not.

Deciding that he didn't care, Link instead walked towards the heart container and picked it up, like everything else he finds, he lifted it up above his head in victory and cheered.

With that done the kids then walked over to the teleportation circle and jumped in with a smile on their faces, the blue teleportation circle glowed blue, and then the kids were gone from the dungeon.