Chapter 47

The odd-looking skulltula swung down from the ceiling and hung right in front of Morgan, Hope, and Link, once he was sure he wasn't going to get punched into oblivion by Morgan.

The skulltula then explained the situation to the kids, as it turned out, the skulltulas living in this house had been cursed to turn into a messed up version of the spider monsters known as skulltulas, but before he could even finish explaining what can be done to destroy the curse, the girls just snapped their fingers and broke it in an instant.

Which resulted in the now free-of-the-curse people to fall down from the ceiling while screaming until they slammed into the ground where they twitched in pain for a while.

The girls did not calculate that move very clearly it seems, which left Link feeling a little bad about the people, but at least they were free from the curse right?

The no longer cursed family soon recovered from their fall and quickly forgot about it in favor of celebrating, being free from the curse meant they can finally go back to their normal lives and just leave their lives as skulltulas behind.

Still, they definitely did not forget about Hope and Morgan's act of kindness and thus gave them a bunch of rewards in thanks for their help.

Unfortunately, all of the rewards they received were things they had no use for, like bigger wallets, a Heart Piece, and even some kind of mouse-like remote bombs named Bombchus, since they did have a use for these items, they handed them to Link who could use the items.

Though they did keep the rupees, having more money was always useful, plus they really liked the shiny gem-like currency of Hyrule, with that resolved, the kids decided to move on and make their way up to Death Mountain.

So after saying their goodbyes to the no longer cursed family, the kids left the still spider-web-filled house and headed towards the path leading to Death Mountain.

-----

It didn't take long for the kids to walk over to the path leading to Death Mountain, however, before they could actually step into the mountain itself, they found a gate blocking the path and a lone royal guard standing guard by the gate.

The royal guard soon noticed the kids walking over to the gate, so he quickly spoke to the kids to stop them from getting closer "The road is closed beyond this point! Can't you kids read the sign over there?

Eh? Oh, your just kids, you might not know how to read yet hahaha! Sorry about that kids, but it is my job not to let anyone go up to Death Mountain, it's very dangerous and there are monsters up there too".

Link frowned and crossed his arms while he thought about what to do now, Morgan was thinking about where to hide the royal guard's body after she knocked him out, while Hope was watching Morgan like a hawk to make sure she didn't do anything too extreme.

Link then remembered the letter Princess Zelda gave him, thinking it would help them in this situation, he quickly took it out of his tunic and handed it to the royal guard, the guard seemed surprised at the fact that a kid was handing him a letter.

But decided to humor the kid and took the letter, only to be surprised when he saw that it was a letter written by Princess Zelda "Oh, this is.. this is surely Princess Zelda's handwriting! Well, let's see what it says... hmm".

[This is Link, Morgan, and Hope, they are under my order to save Hyrule, signed Princess Zelda].

Morgan did not know what to say about the short and quite silly letter Zelda wrote "...".

Not even Hope had anything to say and just wondered how anyone would take this letter seriously "...".

Link was just hoping the castle guard wouldn't question this too much or something like that because he really did not know what he could say to explain the situation or why Princess Zelda had asked him to 'save Hyrule'.

But to everyone's shock, the castle guard began to laugh very loudly "Whahahahah! What kind of funny game has our Princess come up with?!

Okay, okay, you three can go on but do be careful on the mountain, as I said before, it's very dangerous, so watch out for falling rocks and the monsters".

With that said royal guard slammed the butt of his spear on the ground and the gate opened, Morgan, Hope, and Link had the same thought going through their minds right now.

{What a horrible Guard!}.

But the kids decided not to ignore this bout of odd but good luck and quickly ran up the path to Death Mountain while being worried for the future of Hyrule if its Royal Guards were so gullible.

-----

Death Mountain Trail, a long narrowed pathway surrounded by rocky cliffs and filled with some odd jumping monsters that, the kids quickly killed or ignored, then halfway up the path, they found a big boulder blocking some sort of cave.

But not wanting to waste too much time on the path, they ignore it and continued heading up the mountain path, along the way, they saw some odd shape boulders lying on the ground and some even rolling down the path.

Morgan and Hope were curious about them since they could sense a strong life force within the boulders, but getting the next stone was more important, so they pushed their curiosity aside for now.

So the kids continued on up the path until they found a cave and thinking that this is where they were supposed to go, the trio immediately headed inside the cave.

-----

To their surprise, what awaited the kids inside the cave, was an underground city of sorts, it was here the girls found out what the odd boulders they were curious about were, as it turned out, those boulders were actually living rock creatures known as Gorons and they had arrived into their underground city.

Goron City is just a big chamber underground with tunnels heading down into multiple floors within the city, it was certainly a lively place despite its cave-like appearance, it was not even dark or creepy like one would expect and the Gorons themselves were odd and interesting individuals.

Though Morgan did end up punting a Goron that had been rolling around all over the place, the poor Goron made the mistake of getting too close to Morgan and out of reflex, she reacted by kicking him away like a soccer ball.

The Goron was sent flying and bouncing all over the place, he even shattered a vase that was high above Goron City and on the lower floor, which revealed heart pieces and other things.

Though Hope did have to bring the Goron back to life, the poor guy bounced around one too many times, but other than that, the kids had a little fun walking around Goron City and speaking with the Gorons.

Morgan eventually came across a weird-looking plant, it was a big black ball with leaves on the top, it was something Morgan had never seen before, so out of curiosity, she pulled on it and jumped back when it began to flash red before violently exploding.

Most people would have been scared or cautious about such dangerous plants, Morgan thought, she scooped out the ground around them and picked up a few of these explosive plants, and put them on her boosted gear inventory to replant back home.

After that, she went back to exploring with an excited look on her face, eventually, the kids found some kind of stone door in one of the rooms on the bottom floor of Goron City.

However, Hope noticed a small triforce carved out on the stone door, having seen this before, she knew what to do "Hm... Link, try playing Zelda's Lullaby here, maybe something might happen".

Link nodded and immediately did what Hope requested, soon Zelda's beautiful lullaby filled Goron City and when Link finished playing the song, the stone door opened for him.

Link smiled and put his ocarina away, he quickly turned his head towards the girls and gave them a nod, the girls quickly returned it, and together they walked inside.

After a long hallway, the kids arrived into a chamber and there they found a Goron, one that looked and seemed different than the other Gorons, most Gorons the girls and Link met, looked friendly and a bit dopey.

But this one Goron looked fierce and strong, he was even frowning, something the kids hadn't seen a Goron do, however, the kids weren't intimidated and just walked up to the Goron.

The Goron actually glared at the kids the moment they walked up to him "What? Who the heck are you kids? When I heard the song of the royal family I expected their messenger had arrived, but... you're all just little kids!.

Has Darunia, the big boss of the Gorons, really lost so much status to be treated like this by his sworn brothers, the king?

Now I'm really angry! Get out of my face!".

The kids frowned at being told off like this, Morgan actually growled and said "What crawled up your butt and died old man!?".

Darunia scoffed not taking Morgan's words seriously "I take it that, that's a very rude way to ask why I'm in a such bad mood right now... well ancient creatures have infested Dodongo's cavern! We've had a poor harvest of our special crop, Bomb Flowers!".

Morgan sweatdropped, because she had taken some of these bomb flowers, but didn't say anything as Darunia continued on "Starvation and hunger because of rock shortage! But... this is a Goron problem! We don't need any help from strangers!".

Morgan now felt bad for being rude to Darunia, the guy really had quite a lot of problems, so she wanted to help, but Darunia didn't look ready to listen, so the kids walked out of his chamber to have a little talk.

Once outside Darunia's chamber, Morgan sighed and scratched the back of her head "Okay... now I feel bad... I shouldn't have been so rude to Darunia".

Hope smiled at Morgan, she was glad she felt bad for acting like that, but she didn't know, so it wasn't really her fault "It's alright Morgan, you didn't know and you were just reacting to someone yelling at us out of nowhere".

Link nodded and offered Morgan a smile, he himself hadn't liked how Darunia yelled at them, so he can't blame Morgan for getting angry and feeling attacked, Morgan smiled at her friends and nodded "We should help him".

The kids nodded in agreement, things seem harsh for the Gorons right now so they wanted to help, Navi suddenly piped in "But Darunia won't listen to us anymore, he's pretty angry and frustrated right now, I doubt he'll explain the situation to us at the moment, not until he's calmer".

Hope nodded "Navi is right, we know the gist of the problem, but we need more details and Darunia being the boss of the Gorons, might be the only one that knows the full details.

We need to get him to explain the situation better, but with his current mood I doubt he'll listen... what to do?".

The three kids tilted their heads and crossed their arms as they began to ponder on what to do about this situation, Morgan suddenly clapped and smiled "Well, how about we ask around and see if we can find some way to cheer Darunia up?

One of the Gorons here has to know of a way to do so, we just need to ask the right question and see what we find out".

Hope nodded "Good idea, let's split up and ask around, well meet outside of Goron City in half an hour and talk about what we find out".

The kids nodded and then split up to speak with the Gorons around the city, in hopes of finding a way to cheer up Darunia.

-----

About an hour later, Morgan stepped out of the city and joined up with Hope and Link who were already waiting for her, Morgan had her cucco in her arms and looked worried which Hope noticed right away "Morgan?".

Morgan looked up at Hope and looked a bit down "The situation is really bad guys, the Gorons really are starving, I found some of them passed out around the city...".

Hope nodded and looked sad as well "Me too...".

Link looked down and seemed worried, he himself had found some dizzy and very weak Gorons while walking around the city and it had made him feel very concerned about them.

Navi looked worried at the kids, things weren't good but at least, Link and she found some good information, so wanting to cheer the kids up a bit, she decided to inform them of what they had found out "Guys, Link and I talked to a Goron who was listening to a very familiar tune in a tunnel of the city, according to that Goron, Darunia really likes that song.

Link recognized it and knows where we can learn that song, maybe it will cheer Darunia!].

The girls turned towards Link, who smiled and said one word to them "Saria...".

The girls immediately understood what Link was telling them, Morgan even fist pumped now, a bit better and yelled "So back to Kokiri Village we go!".

-----

Not wanting to waste any time, the girls teleported themselves and Link back to Kokiri forest, Link immediately walked everyone to Saria's house but she wasn't there, so they asked a few of the Kokiri about where she could be.

The Kokiri told them that Saria had gotten up early in the morning and walked into the Lost Woods and hadn't come back since, Link wasn't worried though, this wasn't the first time Saria has done this, in fact, she goes into the Lost Woods often.

So Link decided to take the girls through the Lost Woods and to Saria's usual hang-out, Morgan and Hope weren't affected by the Lost Wood's magic but didn't know the forest as well as Link did.

So they let him lead, along the way, the kids found some very peculiar beings, like a friendly Deku who challenged Link to a shooting target challenge, which Link won easily, he was rewarded with a bigger deku seed bag, which means even more ammo for his fairy slingshot.

They also met some weird-looking kids, Navi called them skullkids, these beings wanted to play with Link and his ocarina, so they spent some time playing music with the skullkids.

Meanwhile, Morgan and Hope just played with Morgan's pet cucco until Link and the skullkids finished jamming with their Instruments, he received some rupees and a heart piece from the skullkids in thanks for playing with them.

With that done, the kids then said their goodbyes to the Skullkids who waved at them goodbye and then vanished into thin air, after that, Link then guided the girls deeper into the Lost Woods.

When they were walking through the forest a familiar voice called out to them from up in the trees "Hey, over here! hoo hoo!

Link... good to see you again! Listen to this hoot hoot... after going through the Lost Woods, you will come upon the Sacred Forest Meadow.

That is a sacred place where few people have ever walked, shhh... what's that? I can hear a mysterious tune... you should listen for that tune too... hoo hoo hoo!

If you're courageous, I'm sure you will make it there, plus you're not alone! Just follow your ears and listen to the sounds coming from the forest! Hoot hoot!".

Having said his piece the owl flew away, Link and the girls listened closely and the three of them could hear a very fun and cheerful melody coming from deeper into the forest, Link smiled recognizing the melody.

He nodded to the girls and then took off running following the melody, Morgan and Hope smiled at each other and then took off after Link.

-----

The kids ran through the forest while following the melody and eventually, they reached the Sacred Forest Meadow, however, the way was blocked by a tall fence, something that confused Link quite a bit.

He had been here with Saria before and there was never a fence here, so he walked up to it to inspect it, suddenly a white humanoid wolf pounced at Link from a tree nearby.

Link was barely able to put his Hylian Shield in front of him and blocked a swiped from the monster's claws, but the attack was strong enough to send Link sliding back as sparks flew everywhere from the collision between the white humanoid wolf's claw and Link's Hylian Shield.

The monster was about to lash out with a bite, but Morgan blurred in front of Link and backhanded the monster away from Link, the white humanoid wolf slammed against a tree but soon recovered and pushed itself off the tree and towards Morgan.

But Hope shot it in the head with a mana bullet from her gauss pistol, which blasted its head off killing it, though it did surprise the kids when the monster's body suddenly exploded in blue flames and disappeared.

Morgan frowned and glared towards where the monster's body lay before disappearing "What was that? A werewolf?".

Hope shook her head "Now that thing felt different, plus it was tough too... it seems to have been created with very dark magic as well".

Navi piped in and began to explain what the monster was "That was a Wolfos, they sport shaggy brown fur coats and glowing, pale, yellow eyes.

They can also be identified by the loud howling sounds they let out as they attack, they are very adept at blocking and dodging.

Wolfos attack by circling their prey at a distance, then charging in to attack with the claws on their front feet, they are very agile, backflipping over some attacks, but they can also block attacks by hiding their head behind their forelegs.

To take down a Wolfos, you must either block or avoid its attack, and hit it before it recovers, striking a Wolfos on its tail requires accurate timing, but it will hurt them a lot if you do".

Morgan nodded to Navi "I see, a Wolfos huh? They act and attack similarly to werewolves".

Link tilted his head, knowing that he was curious about what Morgan just said, Hope decided to explain "Werewolves are a cursed race of humans who are forced to change into a wolf-like monster under the full moon.

They're very strong and magic resistant, but what makes them very dangerous, is their bite, if you get bitten then you also become a werewolf".

Link frowned and seemed worried, but Morgan smiled at him and then said, "Don't worry Link, Uncle Harry, Big Sis Asia, and Granny Tsunade can cure the werewolf curse, in Neo Kyoto we also have methods for someone to take control of their wolf form as well".

Link nodded and seems relieved, with that said the kids then continued on, when the Wolfos died, the fence that was blocking the rest of the Sacred Forest Meadow disappeared so the kids were able to continue.

Though the Meadow was infested with Dekus, but the kids quickly took them all out, the plant monster didn't last long to Link's fairy slingshot, Morgan's punches, and Hope's mana bullets.

Eventually, they made it to a long set of stairs but the cheerful and fun melody seemed louder, so the kids knew that that's where Saria was, so they didn't doubt to climb the stairs as quickly as possible.

Once they reached the top, they found Saria sitting on a cut log and playing her ocarina, Link smiled and walked over to her, meanwhile, Morgan and Hope looked around in awe at this place.

Where they are, it was a place filled with the purest mana they have ever felt and it had left them surprised, Link reached Saria and she stopped playing her Ocarina to speak with him "I've been waiting for you, Link!

This is the Sacred Forest Meadow, it's my secret place, but you knew that right?... I feel this place will be important for both of us someday, or at least I think so, lately, that feeling has been changing.

Would you... would play the Ocarina with me? I can teach you to talk with the spirits in the forest if you do".

Link smiled at her friend and gave her a nod, Saria brightly smiled as Morgan and Hope walked over, Saria smiled at the girls and waved at them, though she did raise an eyebrow at the cucco on Morgan's head.

But she chose to ignore that in favor of playing the Ocarina with Link "Okay, try to follow me with your ocarina Link".

Link nodded and took out his Ocarina, Saria then put hers into her mouth and began to play the same happy and cheerful song the kids had been listening to all this time while running around the forest.

Link had been listening to this song all his life, so he quickly learned how to play it by following Saria's lead and soon enough the Sacred Forest Meadow was filled with the duo's song.

Hope and Morgan enjoyed the song and dance a bit where they stood, it really was a very lively song, Saria stopped playing her Ocarina after some time and clapped at Link as he stopped playing the song as well "Great! Great! Please don't forget this song, do you promise?.

When you want to hear my voice, play Saria's Song, you can talk with me anytime...".

Link nodded and gave Saria a smile that told her that Link would never forget this song, Saria then turned her head towards Morgan and Hope "I know you have to go, you're all probably very busy.

But please, keep helping Link, I'm sure he's going to need all the help he can get".

Morgan and Hope nodded and then smiled at Saria, Morgan then gave her a thumbs up and told her "Don't worry! We'll make sure Link comes back home!".

Saria smiled and nodded to Morgan, fully trusting her to fulfill her promise, with that done, Link said his goodbye to Saria and gave her a hug, the kids then left the Sacred Forest Meadow and went back to the Lost Wood.

On their way back to Kokiri forest, they found another skullkid, this one wanted to hear the Song of the Forest, so Link played Saria's Song, which made the skullkid very happy.

As a reward the skullkid gave Link a heart piece and after that the kids went back to Village, once there, Morgan and Hope teleported themselves and Link back to Goron City

-----

The kids wasted no time in immediately heading to Darunia's chamber, they did startle a few Gorons though because the trio jumped from the top floor to the bottom one from really high up.

But to the the Gorons' relief, the kids landed softly on their feet with ease and walked away unharmed, which made the Gorons sigh happily that the kids were okay but at the same time, they were confused as well.

The trio arrived in Darunia's chamber and Link walked up to him, Darunia raised an eyebrow at Link and wondered what the kid was going to do now, only to look curious when Link took his ocarina out and began to play a very familiar song.

One Darunia had heard before and quite liked, in fact, Darunia liked Saria's Song so much that he began to cheerfully dance, Hope sweatdropped as she saw the big and grumpy Goron dance around so happy.

Morgan though, was clapping and cheering for Darunia "Wow! He has some good moves!".

Link had to actually stop playing his ocarina to see Darunia dance, cause even he had to admit that the big and heavy Goron was a very good dancer, Darunia stopped dancing and cheerfully smiled at Link "Heeey! what a nice tune!

Just like that, my depression is all gone! Something just came over me! I suddenly wanted to dance like crazy!

I am Darunia! I'm the big boss of the Gorons! Was there something you wanted to ask me about?".

Link smiled and turned to look at Hope and Morgan, Hope knew that Link doesn't really speak so he was asking them to explain so she did so "We were hoping to get the Spiritual Stone of Fire, Princess Zelda asked us to collect all three spiritual stones".

Darunia crossed his arms and nodded in understanding "So you want the stone as well? The Spiritual Stone of Fire, also known as the Goro's Ruby, it's our race's hidden treasure... but hold on- I'm not going to give it to you that easily if you want it so badly...

Why don't you destroy the monster inside Dodongo's Cavern and prove you're real men? That way, everybody will be happy again! If you guys do it, I will give you anything you want, even the Spiritual Stone!".

Hope and Morgan sweatdropped though, Morgan even raised her hand which Darunia saw, and nodded to her so she can speak her piece "But Hope and I are girls... Link is the only boy in our group".

Link nodded at Darunia, but the Goron just gave the kids a bellyful laugh "Hahaha! Doesn't matter that your girls! Gender has nothing to do about being a real man!".

Darunia flexed his muscles which made the kids sweatdrop again, the girls then decided to just not mind the craziness they just heard and just nod at Darunia.

The Goron boss grinned at the girls, he was messing with them of course, but they didn't need to know that though, instead he turned his head towards Link and said "I have something for you, I'm not really giving you this in return for anything, but take it anyway.

If you wear this you'll become as strong as a Goron! and can even pull up Bomb Flowers!".

Darunia then handed a bracelet to Link and the young Hero lifted it above his head in victory, which made Darunia chuckle, and Morgan and Hope smile in amusement.

Navi inspected the bracelet and then explained "This is a Goron Bracelet! A magical accessory that increases the wearer's arm strength, allowing them to pick up heavy objects, there is a limit though so keep that in mind!".

Link nodded to Navi and quickly equipped the Goron's Bracelet, Darunia then explained to the kids to pull out a Bomb Flower and throw it to Dodongo's cavern entrance to blow up the boulder blocking the way.

With that information, the kids said their goodbyes to Darunia and left to exterminate all the monsters in Dodongo's cavern and help the Gorons with their current problems.

-----

The kids eventually reached the entrance to Goron's City and stepped out, following Darunia's instructions, Link pulled out a bomb flower and then threw it down the cliff they were on top of down and right in front of the giant boulder blocking Dodongo's cavern.

Morgan looked down and noticed a heart piece right on top of the cavern's entrance and jumped down to get it for Link, meanwhile, Hope grabbed Link and then flew down with him to the entrance of Dodongo's cavern.

Morgan soon joined them and gave Link the heart piece she collected and then turned towards the entrance to the cavern "Huh? We passed by here on our way up and I didn't even notice this cavern was here".

Hope nodded "Well, we weren't looking for the cavern to begin with, we were more concerned about finding Goron City and getting the Spiritual Stone of Fire".

Morgan nodded and then said "True".

Navi suddenly piped in "Let's go, guys! There are monsters to defeat and a bunch of Gorons to help! If we don't do this soon they'll starve!".

The kids nodded and then walked inside Dodongo's Cavern, ready to do some monster killing and clearing the cave for the Gorons.

-----

Once inside they found a small chamber and nothing else, the kids frowned not seeing any monsters but they knew this couldn't be it, Morgan suddenly heard some noise and walked up to a wall in front of them.

She saw some cracks on it and being curious about the wall, she walked up to it and knocked on it a few times, she heard some echo on the other side so she smiled and then punched the wall breaking it apart and making an entrance.

Link sweatdropped and felt a bit bad for the wall, cause sheesh, Morgan is really strong, Hope just sighed and shook her head, Morgan's tendency to punch things always gets her worried for her sister in all but blood.

Morgan just smiled and looked mighty happy right now, she walked inside the entrance she just made and looked around the chamber she just revealed.

It was a big chamber, with some giant skull in the middle and a big lava pool at the bottom of the chamber, Morgan hummed as she walked inside the chamber "Lava huh? Well Death Mountain did look like a volcano, hopefully, it's not active".

Hope walked behind Morgan and nodded "It's not active at the moment, I can feel it, so we don't have to worry about it right now".

Both Link and Morgan nodded, Link was glad Death Mountain wasn't about to erupt, caused unlike his friends he's not resistant to melting, Navi then said "Guys, be careful of the lava pools, I don't think it wouldn't be pleasant to fall into one, even for you Hope and Morgan".

Morgan shrugged "It wouldn't really do anything to me, I'm a dragon, even less to Hope, she's a phoenix dragon! So we'll be okay, but let's keep an eye on Link".

Hope nodded "Yeah, let's try to avoid having him become fried Link".

Link deadpanned at the girls, as if he was stupid enough to get that close to a pool of lava, even getting close to one would boil him alive.

Morgan and Hope laughed at the face Link was giving them, but soon stopped, Hope then waved her hand over Link, and the young hero's body glowed red for a second before going back to normal".

Link felt the magic Hope just used on him settle down in his skin but didn't really understand what she did, so he tilted his head towards Hope.

The little Potter knew that Link was curious about what she did so she quickly explained "I just cast a few protective spells on you, anti-fire, anti-heat, auto-hydration, and overall, protection from all kinds of damage.

You're not as durable as me and Morgan, this place is very dangerous and we will be fighting monsters, who knows what could happen? So I decided to keep you protected like this while we're here".

Link nodded and gave Hope a thankful smile, being cautious was always a good thing and she was right, you never know what could happen when your fighting, so might as well be prepared.

Morgan grinned and then fist pumped "Alright! Then let's do some good old dungeon clearing!".

Hope and Link smiled and soon joined Morgan with a fist pump of their own, it might be a bit dangerous inside Dodongo's Cavern but adventure was calling to the kids and they were more than happy to answer its call.