Emerald sat and listened to his story. His retelling of all he had learned from Ruby in the short time he's known her. The occasional question would come up, and answered soon after. Link included her colors, her attitude, and most importantly, her unnatural ability to control flames. Navi added her knowledge, if only to clarify Link's own facts.

"So..." Emmy started to reply, "she's an earth pony with fire magic. I see why you wanted to tell me about her."

"I won't tell you where she lives." Emmy chuckled. "Feeling any better about yourself now?" he asked. She nodded and smiled. "Good. Because we have to get moving again. With my new bombs, we should be able to move forward."

"There wasn't anything blocking our path anyway... was there?" Link shook his head and watched Navi return to his shoulder. "Then..."

"Then what? One of our tasks was retrieve the bag of ready bombs. Don't tell me you forgot..." Link started walking down to the lower floors. "Your short memory... it's almost funny."

Emmy shrugged and followed him quietly to the end of the third floor, and through several more creatures. There, they were faced with a decision to make.

Link looked to his left, then aaall the way to his right to the opposite wall. "There's two ways down, and this one's closer. Ruby and I faced a similar choice like this in the ice cavern."

"And how was that resolved?" Emerald asked. She looked to the right, then down the path in front of them. "Split?"

"Yes actually. But, I'm afraid that won't work this time, due to the circumstances being different." He placed a hand to his chin and looked down the hole. "We're sticking together for this one."

"How was it different? If you don't mind me asking." The three made their way down the path to the fourth floor.

"Well, for starters, she could burn anything with her fire. While you, cannot." Emmy looked down and frowned a little, not escaping Link's wandering eye. "Hey, I'm just looking out for you, alright?"

"I know..." she replied. "wait..." Emerald flew on ahead and got a closer look at the object near the bottom. "Link... You may want to see this."

Link jogged down and saw a scaled creature, about twice as large as himself, walk on two legs and a tail trailing behind it. "What ... that's a bigger one." The creature had its back turned to Link, and appeared focused on Emmy, who had flown in front of it. Its body was short in height, but long enough that its tail dragged behind it. "It might be deaf..."

"Well, it sees me," she said, seeing it open its mouth. "Is it gonna-"

The creature exhaled a torrent of flames at Emmy, who saw it coming a little too late. Quickly, she flew upward out of reach of its immediate spray. "Emmy!" he almost yelled.

"I'm alright. Just a little warm, is all."

Again, it turned to face her, even looked up at her before inhaling. With its mouth open, Link leapt onto its back, pulled out a bomb and crammed it down the beast's throat. With a jump, he caught Emerald, pulled her down to the ground and drew his shield to protect from the explosion. 5 seconds later, the walls shook from the bang of the bomb, assisted by the beast's natural explosive nature. The blast, bigger than expected, forced Emmy to hide with Link behind his small shield. Once the event ended, he looked over to see a crater where the creature stood before.

"Link..." Navi asked, "did you know that would happen?"

"The explosion as big as it was? No," he admitted, examining his shield. "Looks like it took the hit pretty well. Considering how close we were to it..."

Emmy leapt into the air. "That was awesome!" she cried. "I hope we find another so we can-"

"I hope we don't. But that might be too much to ask for. It's like we're invading their homeland, and they're defending themselves," Link interrupted. "I know they attacked first, but our entry into the cave could be seen as an attack. In that right, we're in the wrong."

Navi flew to Emerald. "Are you alright? It didn't burn you, did it?"

"I'm alright..." she replied. "You?"

"A little jumbled from the blast, but I'll be alright."

Link stood and looked around. "No sentries. I expect them to flock to a shock like that. Maybe they're deaf? Their only receptor so far is sight." He froze, staring down the hall to the end. There, looking straight at him, stood another sentry. Yet, it did not walk toward him. Merely turning in place. "Limited sight at that."

"Limited?" Emmy asked. "How so?" She walked over with Navi in her mane and looked down his sight. "Oh... We're too far away?"

He nodded in reply. "They can't see this far ahead of them."

"Or they learned to avoid you. I mean, you have beaten two of them so far." Navi returned to his shoulder. "I'd be surprised if any of them wanted to tangle with you now."

"Let's not get carried away, here. There's still the matter of the main one at the end. Or bottom." He paused a moment. "Yeah, bottom's more accurate here." Link turned to the wall, and as expected, he found the floor's map. "Now let's see..."

The floor map revealed two entrances: one on the left, and another on the right. A vertical line divided the room in half. At the top part of that line, it broke from the end, signifying an opening. Just beyond that, there was another opening, likely leading to the next floor down. Each side of the floor, split by the rock wall down the middle, was split into four parts, noticeable by the paths that divided them.

"Looks simple enough," Emmy admitted. "Hey... have you noticed? Each floor down is bigger than the one above it."

Link looked over the map, then pulled out the ones before it. "You're right. Each one is bigger. Good eye, Emmy." He stowed away the previous three maps and looked over the fourth. "There's a sentry here..." he pointed at the end of the hall, and looked up at the sentry, who was still turning in place.

"There's this way we could go," Emmy suggested, pointing down the far left hall. "I don't see anything down there." Link nodded and walked along, following Emerald closely. "Hey, Link?"

"What is it?"

"Thanks. For the leg care, I mean." Emerald looked back at it and smiled. "It doesn't hurt much anymore."

Link also looked at it. "Just to be safe, I need to look again. Before we head out of here." He paused and peeked around the corner to the right. Seeing no opposition, he walked on. "I'd look now, but... we're a bit busy."

Emmy flew ahead, turned and sat with her leg extended. "I don't mind, really. They're deaf and mostly blind anyway."

With a sigh, he knelt in front of her. Carefully, he looked to one side, then the other. "Fine... But I find your behavior most suspicious." Slowly, he unwrapped her leg as she chuckled a bit. "What's so funny?"

"Just tickles a little."

"... Good news: you'll live. Better news: those things don't have poison in their scales."

"Do I need another wrap?" she asked. To which, Link shook his head. "That's good." He released her leg as she started to fly around a bit. "It felt a little restrictive. So glad to be free again."

They both walked to the end of the hall and heard rocks grinding together. The sentry was just on the other side of the wall. "It's just around this corner. I'm not too worried about you getting caught 'cause you can teleport." He turned back to the sentry around the corner and waited for it to turn its back. After several turns, Link rolled over the gap to the other side and stood up. Again, Emmy appeared at his side.

"And look!" Navi pointed. "There's the way down!"

"Navi. Get back on my shoulder now," Link said, demandingly. "Every floor must be treated with the utmost caution."

Emmy sighed. "He can be quite cautious..." She flew on ahead and waited for Link.

At the bottom of the path, Link saw Emmy just floating there. "What? What's wrong?" he asked. Then, he looked around.

The floor was decorated with craters and scorch marks. On the walls were much of the same. Half-standing columns of rock were toppled and broken.

"What happened here?" Emmy asked.

"Those creatures... I'm guessing the main sentry fought them... and won. But... why would they fight in the first place?"

"Might be so it could learn about the enemy," Navi offered.

Link nodded. Emmy flew out and looked them over. "No trace of the creatures here... Maybe it cleaned up after itself?"

"Possible..." he agreed, kneeling down to examine the crater. "Not likely. I'm thinking when the creature explodes, it goes through its whole body. Leaving no piece behind after detonation."

"Gruesome..." Emmy said, looking around. "Hey, the map's not on the wall, either."

Link looked and saw she was right. "Maybe there isn't one?" He stood and took another glance around. "I get the feeling the last sentry's here on this floor."

Emerald followed Link around in search of the sentry. In the center of the floor, it stood. A long wall in front of and behind it, with shorter walls to its sides. The corners were left open for navigation. Link looked around the corner and saw it standing there.

Larger than the others, equally strong looking. Still made of rock, but a bit smoother than the others. It stood motionless as Link looked at it. It looks peaceful... Calm... Here goes nothing... "Emmy..."

"Yeah?"

"I have a plan. But for it to work, you have to be on point with your timing. If you aren't, things could go very bad, very fast. Can I count on you?" She nodded. "Good."

After an explanation of what he wanted her to do and when, Link walked into the open, with his gear sheathed. The main sentry turned and saw him walk toward the wall, looking back at it.

"You, are really tough to get a hold of, way down here," Link said. With no reply, he stopped moving. "Not a talker? Me neither."

Wordless from that point on, He drew his shield and sword and took a ready stance. Faster than the others, but still somewhat slow, it walked toward him. Link charged forward and saw it swing its left arm at him, noticeably faster than the previous ones. Raising his shield, he took the impact. But, he couldn't take all of it. The force knocked him off his feet into the wall on his left.

Link got up on his feet in time to duck under the sentry's incoming punch. This thing's got speed and a lot of power. He rolled to the left quickly and regained his footing. It rounded a right kick, to try and keep him against the wall.

"Careful, Link!" Navi encouraged under his hat. Easily, Link saw it coming and jumped over the kick, landing on its leg, and leapt toward the middle of the room. "Don't get pinned on the wall, or you're in trouble." He nodded and shielded himself from the sentry's kick. This one, was the same leg used for the first one, but backward, and with more of a thrust than a swing. Navi felt the full impact of the sentry's forceful strikes. If he loses his shield, he might as well be done for...

With great ease, Link was launched closer to the middle, losing his sword in the process. The sentry saw this as an opportunity. Hastily, it walked over to the sword, while Link practically ran after it. Before the big chunk of rock brought its foot down on it, Link tucked and rolled under, grabbing his sword and stopped himself. He glanced back, then ran out the way he came in. Here we go. Around the wall, Link set out a bomb and began counting in his head down from 8. Then, he came back in from another corner, and paused to catch his breath. 6... Slowly, he began walking, jogging, then running toward the rock creature. The sentry had stood there, ready.

Just before Link got within range, the bomb appeared near its chest and detonated within split-seconds of appearing. The sentry's core was exposed, and better for Link, it couldn't see where he was. He leapt in the air, and jabbed his sword under the core and pulled down, trying to pry it free. What? No! Quickly, the sentry swatted him away, sword and all. Thankfully, he still had his shield out, reducing the strength of the strike. All the same, he was thrown to the middle.

"What's wrong? Why didn't it work?" Navi asked.

"The blast..." he replied, taking breaths, "was too shallow... The rock on this one's thicker than the others, and I didn't count on that..." He heard metal clang on his right, as a weight was lifted from his arm. Link looked in surprise to see... "And now my shield's gone... great..." With a scowl, he looked back at the sentry, who started walking toward him. The gears in his head started turning once more, as a plan began to form.

In slight anger, he tossed his strap and handle to the side and reached into his bag. He felt a familiar straw-like end of something. I can't take one hit from that thing directly, but now, I'm a bit more agile. if I can fall it...then... Link sheathed his sword and quickly tied a slipknot in the rope. His elbows are still thin. I'll start there. By then, the sentry was close enough to attack. And it did, with a side kick. Not what he was hoping for, he jumped over it and kicked off of it, higher into the air. Swing at me, come on!

True to his desire, it swung at him with its right. Quickly, Link turned and landed on it, throwing the loop around its stony limb. In quick reaction, the sentry swung back, flinging Link off and tightening the rope. He had enough momentum to go around its body, over the other arm, and stomp it in the face. No longer moving, he fell to the ground and ran around its left side, pulling its arms together behind it. For good measure, he roped them around a couple more times.

After that, he hopped down and ran between the sentry's legs. With some quick movement, he used more rope to bind its legs together. The more it moved, the tighter its binding became. Nearing the end of his rope, he slid in front of it, leapt up on the crater he left there from the first bomb, and went up and over, landing behind it pulling as hard as he could. Successfully, the rock sentry fell to the ground. When it hit, Link pulled out a second bomb, dropped it in the crater, and leapt off away from it. Out of range, it exploded, sending rock bits everywhere.

Emmy flew into sight and saw the pile of rubble. "I-Incredible!" She saw him hit the ground in exhaustion. "Hey, are you alright Link?"

He sat there a bit and saw the metal core roll to him. Carefully, he picked it up and looked at it. "I'm alright... I lost my shield... My rope's been blasted... and I'm a few bombs short of a bag." Link pocketed the core and rose to his feet. "But we have the core, and can check that off our list. Now t-"

The ground began to shake as a boulder fell from the ceiling. It landed heavily on the ground in the center of the room. Soon after, the three heard a roar from under their feet and hooves. "W-W-What was that?!" Emmy asked.

Navi flew to where the boulder landed and looked down. "Uhh... You two may want to see this."

Link and Emmy walked over and looked down as well. Under the boulder, through the ground, he saw a crack. Through it, he saw a pit of magma. Then, a roar. "Something big's down there..."

"Could be the creatures' leader..." Emmy offered. "Awful scary if you ask me. From the roar alone, it's gotta be several times bigger than the last ones..." Link nodded and set yet another bomb. "What what are you d-"

"Might want to move." Navi quickly returned to his hat while Link and Emmy got out of range. The explosion was great enough to open the hole wide enough to fall down. "It's really hot down there..." he said, looking over the edge.

"I'll carry you down there," Emmy suggested. Link looked at her with questioning eyes. "You think you can survive the fall? You're out of your mind."

"True..." he agreed. "Don't you dare drop me then." He held his arms up and grabbed onto Emmy's legs.

Emmy picked him up slowly. "Wouldn't dream of it." She flew him over the hole and began lowering herself.

The room below was square, with a pool of magma in a smaller square centered. Rock lined the walls, enough to support the width of a giant, horned, scaly, four-legged beast.

Link's jaw dropped at the size of it. "Set me behind it if you can."

"Can't... go on..." She fell faster than before, and landed harder than intended in front of it. "My bad, heh heh..."

Link landed and rolled to lessen the impact. He got to his feet and looked at the giant before him. It roared, having seen him. He and Emmy clamped their hands and hooves over their ears. "So... Loud!" he complained, clenching his eyes closed as well. Easily, the biggest creature he had ever seen.

Once it fell silent, it curled its head under its belly and leaned forward into a roll. The two of them got out of the way and watched it roll around the corner, then break itself open on the next. "Can it even see us when it does that?" Link shrugged. He watched as it repeated its previous action. It rounded the corner, then stopped at the one it stared in.

There, it opened its mouth and began inhaling. "no... RUN!" Both of them ran away from it toward the corner it first turned. Getting closer, the creature released its fire breath at them. A large funnel of flames shot from the creature's maw. It chased them to the corner, and just before they were caught in it, Link pulled Emmy around the corner out of the way. The flame splattered over the wall, leaving a huge burn mark. "I shouldn't be surprised it can breathe fire..."

"Like the smaller ones?" Emmy asked. Link nodded. "Oh, here it comes again..." Once more, it rolled to their corner and unrolled, facing them.

The beast opened up again, and this time, let out a roar, deafening like the first. It pushed the two away with ease. Again, it inhaled. "Get to the side!" Link ordered. The two huddled in the crack where the wall met the floor, evading the following blaze.

The massive creature turned its head and saw their hiding spot. Easily, it reared up and landed heavily, shaking the ground and sending magma balls into the air.

Link saw the spray and dodged between them while the creature inhaled once more. He looked over at it and noticed the embers fizzled against the creature's hide. "I do have a plan, but it doesn't involve you. Get up and out of here. It's dangerous for you."

"Like Tartarus! You don't have your shield! Can't we just hide by the wall?" Emmy flew over the firespray, and Link ducked into the corner, quickly getting directly in front of it. It lurched forward and tried to bite him, missing as Link back-pedaled away.

A few feel back, he drew his sword and lashed at its nose. In pain, it recoiled and roared once more. "Just go! I got this!" He didn't even watch as she flew out of the arena.

All alone, with just him, Navi, and the enemy, Link could finally concentrate. Loud roars, thick hide, but still weak on its face. Never bashes into anything head on. Rolls to chase. Fire breathing. Link dodged several swipes of its sharp claws. Claws, teeth, and fire. Eyes to the side. Panoramic view. Big face... Can it see below? He dashed underneath its head and saw it get on its hindlegs again.

Link ran to the side and up the wall, leaping off of it and landing on the creature's head after the impact. Sword drawn, he stabbed the creature in its right eye. Blood splattered against his hand and clothes. Then, he quickly stabbed the other one for good measure. His other hand and his pants were also covered in the thick blood from the beast's wounds. The beast howled in great pain and got on his hindlegs again, trying to shake him of. Link leapt forward and hit the ground hard. It opened up and started inhaling. Link turned and threw bomb after bomb into the maw. Once closed, he turned and waited.

Easily, the beast swatted him away down the path.

Link went flying. Then, in the silence before the blast, he said one word. "Boom".

The creature detonated violently, jerking to one side then the other, before exploding fully, sending blood splatters in all directions. Link was pushed back with the force of the blast, and getting hit in the entirety of the front of himself with all that blood sent him hurtling toward the wall. He landed on it with his feet, pushing his knees up to his chin, before allowing gravity to take over. Link landed, and rolled forward, catching his breath.

Emmy flew down and greeted him. "That... was... AWESOME!!!" she cheered. She tried to pat him but he swatted her hoof away. "Huh?"

"I just got blasted a hundred feet. Let me get myself assessed before you praise me." He got up and looked himself over. "Wow... I reek. Gotta do laundry when I get back to the town." He looked up to the opening in the ceiling. "Hey, can you teleport more than one thing at a time?"

"Absolutely. Hold on tight. You might be dizzy afterward." Link grabbed onto her foreleg and waited. A minute. Then a minute more...

"False start?" he asked.

"I don't understand... We should be up there by now. What's going on?!" She escaped his grip and tried again. "I don't understand!"

Link tried to calm her down. "Hey now... There's a perfectly good explanation for this... There has to be." She looked over at him. "Wish I knew what it was..."

"Oh you're mean."

"But, I have seen this before... The ice cavern I was in, the last room with the big bad, prevented the use of magic. So here's an idea: fly up there normally and see if there's anything you can use. Spare rope, a really long ladder, metal spikes, anything."

Emmy did as requested, and stopped near the top. "Uhh..." she uttered. "Link?"

"What is it now?" he replied. "More bombable creatures?"

"Kind of. It's the remaining sentries we missed. There's..." She counted them quickly, "five up there. But I see the rope you used from before."

It's still intact? I must thank that shopmare. "Can you get to it?"

"Shouldn't be that hard." She vanished and reappeared over the hole with the rope. "Got it. Hey watch out!"

Link looked up and watched as two sentries fell down the hole. He backed up a ways and turned his back, getting hit by some stray rocks that broke away on impact. "Emmy... Pull two of the others down here. I have another plan." Again, two more fell, pulling the rope with them. They too, shattered on the ground below. Link found their cores and reduced them to rubble.

"Sorry about that!" She flew down, picked up the rope and started to fly up.

"Hold it," Link requested. "That rope is very durable." He took the rope, loosened the knot he'd made, and handed it back. "Put this around its arm or leg. It should be able to support my weight."

"Got it." She flew up and set a trap for the last remaining sentry. It wandered into it and Emmy laughed as she pulled the rope tight. "It's hooked!"

"Great! Toss the rest!" Down came the other end. It hit with about a dozen feet remaining. Quickly, he climbed up, using the wall for support. Just one easy journey... Is that too much to ask for? All I want is to go somewhere, ask for the thing, get it, and go home. Not all this, 'Go here, do this, help them, get this, get that, help some more, blow stuff up, pull stuff around, do more stuff, beat a buncha things...' ugh... once was once too many. He got to the top and readied a bomb. Carelessly, he lobbed it and watched it blow up the sentry from behind. Then, he ran it through with his drawn blade. "Just once, can't it be easy?" Quickly, he sheathed his sword, and pocketed the rope.

"Lamenting?" Link shook his head. "Good. Because I do believe that was our third thing." Link then nodded. "Let's go, yeah?"

"Yeah..."

The two walked up, layer by layer, to the outside of the mines. It took about half an hour's walk, but once there, who should be standing in wait but Heavy Swing himself. Along with two of his employees, as they were.

How long has he been standing here? Emmy thought.

This one took a while. Real life got in the way of it. Sorry about that.
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So... that happened. Emmy couldn't teleport. Kinda like... Nah. I haven't explained that one yet.
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Questions? The usual. I buck up any tenses? Point 'em out. I was tired when I uploaded this and I know I missed a few.

EDIT: I redid the dodongo fight... I saw in the game he had side facing eyes, so he wouldn't have the blind spot he exploited the first time.