DISCLAIMER: I don't own neither of Nier: Automata nor The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time characters, because both Nintendo and Square Enix own them respectfully.

CHAPTER 8 – Retrieve the Second Stone! II

DODONGO'S CAVERN

At the lava zone, Link and Andrea encountered the same reptiles they battled few moments ago, and right now both elves charged towards them again for the same purposes until they finally put them down in order to keep going with the mission.

They headed through to the other door that just had opened to enter to a room filled with the same platforms under flames. They repeated the same process by taking the eyes that were hanging around the room, and then, they went back to the spike-filled room finding out a treasure chest to their left.

"I wonder what this chest will have…" Link was getting closer along with his protectress.

"I have no idea, let's open it." Said Andrea not knowing what item would find inside that chest.

They opened the treasure chest and what they found were a bombs bag for the both elves, they had no urgency to grab a bomb flower any longer. Because they now had normal bombs to use when necessary.

"Now we won't depend on the bomb flowers anymore." Link acknowledged it putting his bag away.

"I can give you some of mine of you run out of them." Andrea stated giving him a warm, but a playful smile.

"Th-Thank you." Link blushed shrugging his shoulders upon seeing her friend's expression.

Both elves got past the hallway to return to the upper part of the main room, Navi suggested them to enter through that Dodongo's head, but they had questions about it.

"But how are we going to get in? It's just a replica." Andrea questioned intrigued.

"It says that if a wick explodes in those black eyes, these will come alive and will open its mouth that leads to the deepest place of the cave." The fairy told them a little story, giving a little clue about the dodongo's head.

"If those eyes come alive… That means…" Link was thinking about the possibility.

"Exactly… we have to throw a bomb on each one of these eyes in order to keep going." Andrea advised coinciding with him and the fairy.

The elves headed to a bridge that had two holes in the middle of the road, just above the replica's eyes, Link opted for the left one, while Andrea went for the right one, they succeeded in putting the bombs right on the corresponding eyes and when they exploded, the eyes glowed in red just like Navi foretold.

As they had guessed, the mouth of the dragon opened its mouth revealing a door which they had to go through.

Link and Andrea went down towards the head and thus the circular platform to reach that said door.

They entered to a room which had a cage-filled door to the left side, a hole with a blue-colored switch to the center, a high-grounded hallway to the front and lastly, another hallway which was not that high to the right.

"Link…I will bring the block down here, I will come back quickly." Said Andrea heading to the hallway.

"We'll wait for you." Link replied watching her protectress going ahead.

Andrea entered to a room filled with three blocks but she ignored them while avoiding the flaming bats, and it was how she returned to the room finding the block in the front of her eyes.

"Link! I'll bring down the block! Get ready!" Andrea let him know to push it.

"Yeah! Do it!"

It was then that Andrea brought the block down with a lot of effort, given that it was too heavy for her.

"It's too heavy, let`s move the block slowly." The silver-haired woman told him getting tired.

"Really heavy?" the child asked her upon hearing the statement, which she nodded yes.

"Are you ready? 1, 2, 3…" Andrea counted to three while she was moving the block alongside her protégé right to the hole.

After moving lots of steps, the elves put the block into the said place making the bars lift and open the door.

"It seems we have been given a free pass." Link said this fainting after making efforts.

"I think that right behind that door, there will be a great battle." Andrea acknowledged having a feeling about it.

Link and Andrea took a few minutes to recover their energies, when they did so, they went through the door to get to the last room, which the lava noises resounded throughout the area.

They soon noticed a crack on the floor, thus something was telling them that something really bigger was about to happen down there.

"I don't know if you think the same as me, but I think we will meet a visitor down there." Andrea opined about it.

"That's right, there's somebody waiting for us in that place. Are you ready?" Navi was making sure they were prepared for their incoming fight.

"Yes, Navi, we are." Link declared making up his mind.

The child then put a bomb over the torn zone, by the time it made an explosion, they soon found out a hole that would lead them to a last area.

The elves decided to fall through the hole reaching to the said room, only to find out a lava-filled zone and the weather was more than 100 grades Fahrenheit, it was really like they were in an oven.

"It's very hot Andrea…" Link expressed sweating.

"I don't think it was a good idea to come here, we better retre-." The girl was about to speak when a sudden huge and strong noise resounded throughout the room. "What was that?"

"Andrea… Look…" said Link visibly alarmed about what he was looking.

It was then that the two encountered a giant dinosaur named King Dodongo.

"What the hell? It's huge." Andrea muttered astonished for the monster's size, besides looking how the big thing opened its mouth with a sole intention, overwhelm them by spiting fire. "Run!"

The two soon ran fast as they could to avoid being overwhelmed by the big dodongo's fire, suddenly, Navi came up with a strategy to deal with the monster.

"You guys have to throw a bomb when he opens his mouth, so he will be stunned for a few seconds!"

"Do you think this is going to work?" Link asked the fairy upon hearing her plan.

"We won't know unless we try it, do it now!"

"OK, let's go, Link!" Andrea agreed with the fairy to follow the plan to counterattack the monster.

The two elves worked on the fairy's plan, Link waited for the monster to open its mouth, then, he threw the bomb inside, it was then that King Dodongo felt an explosion in the stomach that left him stunned, just as Navi had predicted.

Andrea ran towards the monster and gave a coup of grace right through the head, but the round was not over yet, the monster stood up and started to roll up with intentions of crushing them.

However, the two were able to escape the overwhelming movement and keep fighting the giant dodongo.

"Link, I will throw a bomb to this monster's mouth while you give the blow. Got it?" Andrea instructed him.

"As you say, Andrea." Link agreed.

They repeated the process for a fair amount of times, until they finally gave the dodongo a double deathblow, thus making him roll awkwardly until he reached the lava and sank to death.

Not only that, the lava was starting to get dried and the weather turned back to normal.

"Is he dead?" Link asked staring at the lifeless monster.

"I think so." Andrea nodded yes upon seeing it as well.

In this moment, a blue portal appeared at the front of their eyes, but the question was: How could the two reach it across the lava?

"Come on, step it at the lava, it won't hurt." Navi encouraged them.

"But Navi, we could get burned." Link said reluctantly but he felt a hand of her protectress holding his, for his surprise. "A-Andrea?!"

"Look, Link, everything is OK now. Come on." She cheered him up doing the said action taking him to the dried lava.

Link did not feel burned at all as Navi had predicted and it was how they left the area by stepping in the blue portal.

/

DEATH MOUNTAIN TRAIL

Link and Andrea re-appeared outside the cave, they were set to head for the Goron City to tell Darunia that they had accomplished their mission but…

"Link, look out!" Andrea exclaimed shoving him away while the patriarch almost crushed them falling from nowhere.

"It's me, guys! Well done!" Darunia spoke happily.

"What's wrong with you? Do you get us killed?!" the girl complained angrily for his reckless behavior.

"Sorry, I just exceeded myself." Darunia apologized in his funny tone. "Thanks to you guys, we can once again eat the delicious rocks from Dodongo's Cavern until our stomachs burst!"

"Oh god… He's a tough man." Andrea thought annoyed for his behavior.

"At least that monster won't mess with them anymore." Link laughed slightly injured while being helped by Andrea to stand on his feet.

"What a wild adventure, guys! It will make an incredible story…" Darunia gave them a motivational speech. "I can't believe the Dodongos suddenly appeared in such great numbers! And that big rock blocking the cave… All this trouble must have been caused by that Gerudo Thief, Ganondorf!"

"This man… He doesn't give up his evil ways…" Andrea agreed with the patriarch, Ganondorf was really going too far with his misdemeanors.

"He said, 'Give me the Spiritual Stone! Only then I will open the cave for you!' You two, on the other hand, risked your lives for us… Andrea, Link, I like you guys!"

"Th-Thank you, Darunia." Link thanked him while scratching the back of his head besides of being praised, just like her protectress.

"How's about you guys and I become Sworn Brothers?!" Darunia proposed them in a nice gesture.

"What is it about?" Andrea lifted a brow asking him. "Is that a ceremony or something?"

"No, there's no big ceremony involved! Just take this as a token of our friendship!" Darunia explained this invoking a red light and thus, the stone the elves were looking for, the Goron Ruby.

"Is that… The second stone we were looking for?" Andrea questioned astonished upon seemingly staring at the object.

"Yep, this is the stone that symbolizes our friendship as us Gorons of our heart, my warriors." Darunia stated in a happy mood. "Brothers! You'll keep brushing up on your skills as you travel, won't you?"

"Of course, we want to defeat Ganondorf in one way of another." Link told him with determination.

"We will do whatever it takes to bring down." Seconded Andrea in the same mood.

"Then you two should go see the Great Fairy on top of the Death Mountain! She will power you guys up! Hey, everybody! Let's see off our brothers!"

Suddenly, two gorons fell off the nowhere with the intentions of hug them tightly, they were coming closer as it creeped the elves out.

"A-Andrea… I think they don't wanna let us go…" Link mumbled getting nervous with these gorons, all he wanted is to run away.

"Yeah… All we can do is… RUUUUUUN!" Andrea yelled as they ran away as fast as they could to get away from the gorons, leaving Darunia and the gorons to laugh at the duo.

"AAAAAAAH!" Link screamed running for his life in a funny fashion alongside his friend.

After running away from the gorons, the elves went to climb up the upper part of the mountain while avoiding the falling and flaming rocks as they could until they finally reached to the top of the volcanic mountain.

They soon encountered the same owl that were waiting for them, for some reason, Andrea wasn't liking him at all but they had to listen to the owl.

"There is a crack in the wall, shall me blow it?" proposed Link.

"I can feel the presence behind that torn wall, so yes." Navi gave him green light to blow it up.

Little they did know was that there was somebody who could give them what they need to survive every single battle they encountered.

END OF THE CHAPTER 8