I'll Trade My Wood For Your Fire (Eevachu, Guy, Will) [Lavaclaw]

Boris looked up from his shield, watching as Sienna pushed the Aeralfos away from him, crashing into him like a titan. He took a moment to look over to where she'd run over from, saw the corpses of the other Aeralfos sprawled on the ground. Goddesses, she's terrifying! Boris thought to himself. If ever there was a goddess of war, surely her name was Sienna. Boris had to shake his head of the terror that coursed through it, as he watched he feet crash into his former opponent. She looked to him, with that terrifying visage, and spoke.

All he could manage was a nod. Turning away silently, he looked over at the four ChuChu made of magma, and saw that his friend was in a relatively dire situation. The slimes were slow moving, though, so he doubted that Rika was really in any danger at all. Still, Sienna had told him to help with them, and he wasn't about to go against her orders, lest her glaive find itself sticking through his body. He unstrapped his shield-book once again, though he let it slide to the floor; he did not have the time to replace it on his back. Instead, he reached at the large canteen at his side.

He was not strong, nor was he particularly clever. But he did pride himself on being prepared, as a doctor. Unscrewing the top with a single hand, using his long and dextrous fingers, he ran towards his Kokiri friend. Waving the bottle, he splashed a stream of the liquid out horizontally to the front of him, the water colliding with the fiery ChuChus. With a loud hiss and much steam, a crude line of hardened magma had formed across the surface of the two closest ChuChu to him. If they were in pain, they said nothing. Using their slow reaction to his advantage, he slammed his mace into the stoned-lava of the ChuChu to his right, the quartz head hitting the rock and cracking it, removing a large gouge. Unable to maintain its form, due to now missing such a large part of itself, the ChuChu melted into a puddle of rapidly cooling lava.

The heat was unbearably suffocating. The lava ChuChu exuded extremely hot temperatures from their bodies, so having four surround Rika was not a pleasant experience, even with the magical protection he had. The four ChuChu slowly inched closer, but Rika wasn't especially worried. Though they had caught him offguard, they were merely ChuChu. They were not threats unless they actually succeeded in attacking you, which was fairly unlike for one as agile as himself due to how slowly they operated. To make matters even easier, Sienna rushed by the ChuChu, causing two of the ones to his right to attempt to claim their own dinner, leaping somewhat depressingly onto the ground she had just been. Their gooey bodies mushed against the ground as they landed, having nothing to hold their frame, before slowly standing back up and reforming.

Though it was a little pathetic to see, it made things a lot easier on Rika, he didn't have to worry nearly as much about a back attack now. These ChuChu were rather strange, as despite their high temperatures and lava-like makeup, their bodies still seemed to be similar to the sticky gelatin that made up most other ChuChu.

However, that wasn't to say they weren't still extremely hot. Prolonged exposure would damage even the sturdiest of metals. Although his options were rather limited, there was one spell Rika could use, one which would probably be his greatest adversary in this particular fight.

Holding his palm forward, the increased temperatures brought by the ChuChu seemed to drop as cold ice formed at his hand, launching forward and slamming into the right ChuChu. The ChuChu's face quickly froze over as the gelatin seemed to react very poorly to the spell. It wobbled slightly before collapsing to the ground, a large chunk of ice now resting over its body and melting into water at a very rapid rate. Quickly moving to face all three remaining ChuChu so he didn't get jumped from behind, the remaining ChuChu on his left leaped at him, its body stretching as it jumped.

Rika had to react quick unless he wanted to be cooked, a burst of wind launching from his mouth, as the only real way he could react quickly. The spinning vortex of wind collided with the pudding creature, sending it flying back and tearing apart its body as it did, splashing red goo along the path as it flew back, just like spaghetti sauce. Rika turned to look around and see what had happened to the remaining ChuChu, noticing Boris right by a ChuChu and the remains of a ChuChu. In his hands seemed to be a small canteen, though why a Deku would need a canteen is far beyond me, can they even drink out of it normally? I mean their snouts are kind of weird shaped, maybe they make special Deku canteen or-

However, he seemed to make quick work of the two with the use of his canteen. Looking over to the Aeralfos' body, the ChuChu had seemed to rest on it in its entirety, completely overtaking it. Capable of casting it again, Rika tossed a small crystal orb at the creature, which exploded and send water everywhere, tearing into its body and turning it to stone almost entirely.

With all the lava ChuChu defeated, probably- how you actually defeat a ChuChu is weird- it seemed as if Sienna had finished off the final Aeralfos around then. A glowing circle formed in the center of the room, a large wooden chest slowly materializing out of nothing. Strangely, the chest did not seem to burn up at all, despite that being the logical result in such an area. Instead, the glowing came to a slow halt, dissipating. Other than a chest magically appearing out of nowhere, there didn't seem to be anything special about it. I mean, it was a chest. For Rika, this was what he came here for; Treasure. He quickly ran over to the chest to examine it and check the contents within.

Boris jumped back as the second ChuChu lurched towards him, Rika preoccupied with the remaining other two. He had much difficulty against stronger opponents, but that was not the only reason he found it more difficult to do combat with them. They were too much like him; oh, they were not Deku, nor were they in any way composed of wood, usually. But they had hands and feet, eyes and a nose, aspirations, fears, dreams. That made it hard. Against enemies such as a ChuChu, though, he had no qualms. Fighting them was like fighting any other animal, not another person. He stepped back out of the way of another swing. He struck at the solidified part of the ChuChu a single time, then again, and a third, finally felling it.

By now, both his arms were aching, so as the last ChuChu fell, he let his mace slip to the ground, falling to his back to look up at the ceiling. How did the other two do it? They had so much energy. At least, Sienna seemed to, from the horrifying noises he heard. He tried his best to shut them from his mind; what could he do to stop her? She'd saved him from dying to that same Aeralfos, yet he found himself pitying the wretched creature. He'd met with a terrible fate, having done battle with that Deku.

Boris looked over from the ground, watching as the energetic Kokiri ran over to a newly appeared chest. It was rather strange, but he supposed that more odd things had happened before. Ending his brief respite, he pushed himself from the ground and collected his things, before walking over behind Rika. "What did you find?" he asked, peering over the mage's shoulder.

Rika joyfully skipped over to the chest, a sparkle of excitement in his eyes. "Treasure, Treasure, Treasure~" There was some torturous screeching in the background, but Rika didn't care, he had treasure to investigate. He thought to himself as he got to the chest, examining it. The chest itself was probably a treasure in itself, as the bark that made it up didn't seem to suffer at all from the considerable heats that would cause a normal wooden chest to ignite almost instantly. However, it seemed far too large for them to efficiently take with them, plus although Rika didn't attempt to do so, upon attempting to push or move the chest, they would find it was attached to the ground by some strange, unmovable force. Of course, Rika didn't care as much about the chest as what was inside it.

Rika ignored the logistics of a magical chest appearing in the middle of a room out of nowhere. While not extremely common, it wasn't the first time it had occurred for him. Where did it come from though? Was Valoo rewarding them, saying "Good job, thanks a lot for murdering those Aeralfos and ChuChu for me, they were taking up my basement space and hadn't paid rent in over five months!" Not likely though. Perhaps it was the volcano itself, rewarding any victorious idiots adventurers who plunge in? More likely, it was some sort of deity who gains joy from granting rewards to skilled combatants. Whatever the reason for its existence may be, however, it was there and it was treasure, so why not investigate?

A multitude of different treasures could reside in here. Oh, or maybe it was some sort of trap, that would have a powerful enemy waiting inside, that'd be fun too! Although that line of thinking did sound fun, Rika would more prefer treasure now, as that was his only intention for coming here. . . partially. Not the main one, though! . . . Probably. Either way, without any further hesitation, Rika slowly reached down towards the latch, pulling it upward and lifting the gaping jaws of the chest open.

From Boris' perspective, Rika's excitement seemed to come to a freeze as Rika froze in place. "What did you find?" As he approached Rika and peered over the Kokiri's shoulder, he would see a large, steel gauntlet, a little bit larger than the Kokiri's hands, gripped within his palms. It seemed almost brand new, too, as not a single scratch or smudge blemished the smooth steel. On the backhand wrist side of the gauntlet seemed to rest a small device embedded slightly within the metal, though it seemed like it was very sturdily within the device. Two other gauntlets rest within the chest, but it seemed to otherwise be completely empty.

However, upon looking at Rika's face, Boris would find a completely different reaction from the one that had just previously happened. Gone were the sparkly eyes and joyful leaps, replaced instead by a face of pure disappointment. That was all that raced through Rika's mind upon opening the chests. ". . . Gauntlets. I. . . I found gauntlets. . . " He muttered quietly to Boris as he stared blankly at the gauntlet. This was supposed to be the treasure? It's. . . a gauntlet! He can probably barely even use it!

Well, it seemed to be in good condition, so perhaps he could get a decent sack of rupees for it. Or, wait, magical chests don't just appear out of nowhere after murdering a bunch of lizard people minding their own business only to contain ordinary steel gauntlets. There had to be -something- special about these. Perhaps they released a torrent of flames when you punched someone while wielding the gauntlet, or gave the one geared with the item magnified physical strength. Usually special items like that have something distinctive though, these just looked rather ordinary. . .

However, Rika quickly noticed the small object embedded within the gauntlet. Bringing his curiosity rushing back towards the gauntlet, Rika quickly attempted to pull the object out. However, it didn't seem to budge in the slightest. With nothing else left to do, he'd just have to put it on. Sliding the metal gauntlet onto his right hand, Rika spun his hand from front to back a few times, examining to see if there were any changes to it. It still looked the same to him. The object still didn't budge by pulling it. Maybe some sort of magic would work?

Sticking his hand a little ways away in case it decided to explode or something, Rika channeled magic through the gauntlet, thinking about the object moving, about it leaving the gauntlet, about it coming out and turning into a giant robot bikini monster or SOMETHING. Okay maybe not that. Regardless, it did something. The mechanism launched from the device and attached to the chest not even a couple feet in front of Rika. Instantly he was pulled towards the chest, slamming into the partially open upper half of the chest and then falling inside of the chest. Dazed, Rika kicked his legs furiously as he tried to throw himself back out of the chest, eventually managing to fall completely in the chest. However, that was good for him, as the chest was large enough to contain him in his entirety, so he was easily able to stand back upright after falling in. Rubbing his right shoulder in pain, Rika looked down at the device once again.

"So it's like a magical hookshot?" He said aloud to himself, examining it once more. He noticed something strange though; The device was embedded back within the gauntlet, seemingly magically returning to it once he had slammed into the chest. Excitement seemed to return to Rika's face as he looked down at Boris, exclaiming joyfully, "It's not useless!" Despite him saying this though, he would still likely try to sell it later for a lot of rupees.

--

Wollo watched Sienna from the corner. So, you know how he was overreacting before? None of it is overreacting anymore.

"OhNayru." was all Boris managed to blurt out, as he flew around an imaginary point in space. Had he the capability to vomit, he would have. Instead, a few Deku Nuts dribbled from his maw, bouncing off the stone floor. Abruptly, it ended. He found himself on his hands and knees, head spinning with dizziness. Completely unprepared for the movement, Boris had been thrown horrendously off balance, so it was no surprise that he stumbled about as he stood up. He crawled his way back over to the chest, spitting a stream of Deku Nuts into it.

His retching complete, he looked over at Sienna balefully. Perhaps this was punishment for not being able to take down an Aeralfos. Boris felt like this was an appropriate reaction for her to have. "Tickles? My stomach, maybe." he replied, looking down at the third, and presumably his, gauntlet. Peering over the side of the chest, he wondered if he should take it, but only briefly; after all, it had been presented to them, so he found it likely that surviving in the rest of the tunnels would require use of it. He slid his hand into the metal fist carefully, as if it might bite him.

It was oddly comfortable. And clearly magical, from what Sienna and Rika had just demonstrated. Moreover, they had all appeared the same size at first, yet had imperceptibly changed sizes to fit the hand of their owner. His fit like a glove. He turned it over, looking at the back of his hand and at the strange device. By now, the light from the ember seeds had faded away, but his eyes had adjusted some to the darkness. He could, at the very least, tell that there was something inscribed on the back of his gauntlet, perhaps a name or a phrase. His eyes couldn't make it out, though.

He looked over at Sienna again. "Thank you for saving me, earlier. I, uhm... am not terribly good with handling myself in a fight." Boris would have bet every rupee he had on him, that she wouldn't look at it as saving him, but more as the opportunity to kill something else.

Rika's face lit up in surprise as Sienna's gauntlet lifted herself and Boris into the air, the two rotating in a direct circle. It really, really wasn't useless! In fact, it was more than just useful, it was actually cool. However, what caused the different reactions between what Rika and Sienna had done? She didn't seem to do it any differently than he did, so it would have to do with the chests. A lightweight Deku and an ingrained chest. . . Perhaps it has to do with the fact that the chest is planted firmly in the ground and immovable, while Boris is quite the opposite? Different thoughts raced through Rika's mind as he considered the different possibilities. He'd have plenty of time to toy around with his new device in the dungeon, though.

His train of thinking was quickly broken, however, and the conversation the two Deku Scrubs were having seemed to come to an end. Sienna pointed out that there seemed to be various passages dotting the ceilingtops. Rika stared upward at the darkness for a moment, before shrugging and casually responding, "Nope, can't see a thing. It makes a lot of sense though, that must be where the ChuChu came from." He stared intently at the blackness making up the ceiling and general vicinity for him, straining his eyes in pursuit of any sort of hole. Nope, still nothing. Holes were dumb anyway.

Rika would probably already have known the passages were there if he just tried slightly at all, but where's the fun in that? He's probably missing out on a Heart Piece.

Sienna would be wrong about that; the less recklessly part, anyways. Boris' ascent was filled with no small amount of arm-flapping and general disarray. His second flight due to the gauntlet was no less stomach upsetting, either. His Deku Nut reserves emptied, he was able to do nothing bu dry wretch as he soared upwards in similar fashion. One would think he would be used to air-borne movement, considering his use of the Deku Leaf, but the two were really unlike each other. One was slow, peaceful, and relaxing. The other, not so much. So, as Sienna emerged from a pile of rubble, Boris crashed to the ground nearby, landing square upon his face.

Boris watched, terrified, as a great gout of flame crashed into Sienna, tossing her aside easily. The flames hadn't cooked her, which was likely thanks to Veran's spell and whatever other protection Sienna wore, but she seemed badly hurt as she stood up. Despite being frightened by the other Deku, Boris nevertheless felt a twinge of worry. It was clear from the way she stood that a leg was injured, perhaps more. That was his primary concern at the moment. He had to move quickly, before her movement made the injury worse.

"Do we have time to bind your wounds, and to make a splint for your leg?" Boris asked, looking over where her eyes were scanning. He was already moving before she answered, though, pulling out streams of bandages from his pack, along with a few Deku Sticks to form a splint.

With all of the enemies slain, the party quickly made their way out of the room, down the cliffs, and across the lava. Though Wollo still had to be thrown, it was far easier this time due to their newly acquired hookshot-like items. Wonder if it had a name?

Returning to the main entrance, Sienna was quick to take the path of least resistance, taking the upward tunnel with the gauntlet. However, Rika was not so quick to follow. Having returned to the main entrance, Rika had to investigate the boulder. Especially coupled with the fact that he could sense what was behind it, and he didn't sense. . . anything. It had to be something massive behind it. What could even be behind it? The curiosity was just killing him, as if it was the only thing he had to worry about doing such a thing. He couldn't wait any longer, he had to find out.

Boris quickly followed Sienna, but Rika headed into the right tunnel to further investigate. The two of them would be fine without him for a few moments, he'd be right behind them, right? Just as they had seen before, large fissures and cracks decorated the complexion of the large slab of stone, though despite the cracks it still appeared to be rather sturdy. "Well, nothing an Aqua Grenade or two won't fix. . . " Rika quickly muttered to himself, backing up as the ball of water formed in his hand. Tossing it at the stone, it exploded on impact, sending water and stone everywhere as it destroyed bits and pieces of it. However, when the water had fallen, it seemed as if the stone was not completely destroyed. Small holes had formed from some of the deeper cracks, but the passageway was still impassable as it was currently. "Damn it, one isn't enough? Guess I'll have to wait. . ." He said, moving closer to examine the newly formed holes.

Strangely, there seemed to be some sort of illumination coming from behind the holes, along with an incredibly strong and discomforting wave of heat. Magma? Maybe, though it seemed rather strong for just that. As he went to examine closer and look in the hole, Rika's ears caught the attention of sounds of combat. She started fighting without him? Well, he couldn't really blame her, but he still didn't want to be left out. "Just wait here for now Wollo, I'll return shortly. I wanna investigate the right passageway in detail, anyway." He waved to the Octorock before pointing the gauntlet upwards, firing up into the tunnel.

Meanwhile, Wollo looked around, confused by what Rika meant, and finally noticed there was another tunnel directly right to the one they had already been in. When did that get there, did Rika just make that? He stared at it quite confusedly. He'd never understand the sort of things Rika did.

"Uhm." Boris grunted out as he stepped carefully over to her. He was concentrating more on the objects within his hands, rather than where his feet were moving, but he still made it over safely enough. Though he'd never been on the battlefield, he worked as quickly as, or perhaps even more so, than most battle medics could. His experience guided his hands, the spindly fingers of which allowed him to work the bandages and sticks with great dexterity. The makeshift splint was already finished by the time he was close enough to apply it to her leg. Still, there was more to be done.

Kneeling, a mortar and pestle appeared in his hands, which darted through his bag which he'd set upon the floor. He had no need to look inside it; everything was meticulously organized. Only two other items came out; a small flask of water, and a tiny sachet of dried herbs. It was a prepared mixture, but had to be crushed just prior to mixing, lest its effectiveness be lessened. Emptying the tiny bag's contents into the stone bowl, he twisted the pestle with a few practiced motions before pouring a meager amount of water. It coagulated into a thick paste in moments.

"Hold yourself up for a few moments." he commanded. At the moment, he didn't make the connection between his patient and the terrifying female he'd observed before. She had to be treated. Eyeing the wound just a second, he wrapped his hand around the stone shard gingerly, carefully making sure it did not cut deeper, before yanking it out in a single, fluid motion. He tossed it to the ground without a second thought, already working on getting the armor off from her injured leg. That took a bit, as he was unfamiliar with the armor, but still no more than a few breaths.

Armor removed, he grabbed a fistful of the herbal concoction and slathered it on the wound. It would sting, but Boris doubted Sienna would care. "This will help close the wound and keep it from bleeding further, while keeping it safe from infection. It won't take away the pain, but that means you'll still have relatively decent use of the leg." He picked up the splint from the floor, then wrapped it tightly around her leg, before wrapping it further with separate bandages. He had the armor back on her leg before he finished speaking, the tight splint still able to fit beneath it.

As Rika was launched into the tunnel above, he was met by a rather dim room. He could make out the form of two Deku, presumably his allies, but that was about it. As he landed to his feet, Sienna sent info in his direction, quickly informing him of the current situation. "This much trouble for Torch Slugs. . .?" Rika confusedly asked himself, looking into the darkness. While it was true that they were almost completely undetectable, Rika assumed someone of Sienna's strength would still have no trouble dispatching them, as they had very low mobility and defenses, and their offensive power still left something to be desired.

Regardless, Rika quickly drew his scythe, watching intently for a sign of a Torch Slug. Out of the corner of his eye, Rika saw a small flick of flame, quickly turning. However, it was too late, as a Torch Slug collided with the Kokiri, knocking him to the ground. Though Rika had his scythe in front of him, the creature's long and mold-like body wrapped around it, slamming into the Kokiri's body. He let out a loud scream of pain as he fell to the ground, the Torch Slug on top of him.

Luckily, the protection granted by Veran prevented the severe burns he would have contracted normally from direct contact to the Torch Slug. However, the searing pain still remained as he cried out, rolling to throw the creature off of him to the side. Lifting his scythe up, he stabbed downward with the pointed end, piercing through the glowing red creature, it letting out a cry of pain as its body exploded into black smoke. Rika brought himself to his feet, now fairly angry.

Glancing to his side to Boris, he spoke very curtly and swift. "Boris, your water. If it hits these piles of shit it will reveal their locations." There was even a tint of frustration in his voice. Although Rika and likely Sienna had been injured physically, there was something that far more damaging that happened to them this fight; the blow on their pride. The struggle against such a fragile enemy, the fact that it actually injured them. This was not something Rika would get over easily.

Boris meekly stepped out of Sienna's way, as she commanded him to move. She was right, though; even against "weaker" enemies such as these, he would be of no use. The best he could do was not get himself killed. Thankfully, Rika quickly made his entrance. But even the Kokiri seemed to be having trouble.

Boris nodded his head. "I thought it might help, myself. I don't have much left, though." He felt around in his pack. There was only four full flasks left, confirming his fears. It was infuriating to think they were on an island, yet desperately needed more water. He pulled one out with each hand, tossing one to Sienna and the other to Rika.

"Let's hope that will be all we need."