The first thing Spike noticed as he opened the door was the heat. He'd thought that outside had been hot, but it was nothing compared to this one room! In fact, the heat was so intense that it forced both Nuha and Hamzah to retreat from the door's vicinity.
Spike raised an eyebrow. "You two okay?"
Hamzah nodded. "Yeah, but I don't think we can follow you in; we're not used to so much heat."
"What?!" They'd been so helpful up until that point that Spike was frightened at the prospect that they'd be apart, even for so little.
"But don't worry; we'll be here at the door, ready to shout any advice!" Nuha reassured him. Spike calmed down a little, but was still nervous as he made his way into the dark, smoke-filled room.
And then the door closed behind him.
Spike jumped, then rushed back to the door. "Hamzah? Nuha?! What happened?" No response. "Guys!" He tried to pry the door open, but not even the Silver Gauntlets made him strong enough. And the communication gem was still with the fairies, so he couldn't even talk to Twilight.
He was truly on his own.
He froze there, leaning on the door, unsure of what to do. Should he wait for them in case they found a way to open it? It seemed likely that the door would open if he continued forward like the Temple wanted him to, but fear was rooting him to the spot.
Then he recalled what Hamzah had said back at Hyrule Castle. "Courage isn't a lack of fear; courage is about not letting your fears control you."
Steeling himself, he turned around and made his way through the smoke.
His eyes quickly started adjusting to the dim light. The room was large enough to fit five Buckball courts and then some. He could see Goron busts carved around four pillars that surrounded a central reservoir of lava, which was being fed by suspended stone canals protruding from the east and west walls. The canals weren't active at the moment, but Spike could certainly picture how impressive it would be if they were. There was also a large stone mass covered in flowers on the other side of the pool from him, though he couldn't make out any details from where he was. Those flowers also grew throughout the room, although many of them still had yet to bloom. There was also a slightly raised portion of floor that rimmed the entire room.
Then a large, booming thud reverberated around the room, nearly toppling Spike over. It was closely followed by another, and another, and Spike suddenly realized that the rock mass was approaching him. A hatch in the center of the roof slowly opened, allowing most of the smoke to escape and illuminating the room. The newfound light was enough for Spike to realize that it was actually a massive skeletal beast wearing a large mass of stone on its back as protective armor.
Skeletal Dinosaur King:
UNDEAD DODONGO
The beast stared at Spike with its sunken, lifeless eye sockets, before it lowered into a crouching position. Spike had to sprint to the side in order to avoid it lunging across the room, and even then, he only just managed to evade it.
As the beast recovered, Spike surveyed it for any weaknesses. The flowers on its back were dark green bulbs with yellow and red fronds on their tops (which vaguely resembled a cartoonish depiction of a bomb), growing out of four-leaf sprouts in the stone. There were also markings on the stone itself, seemingly paintings made before this beast repurposed the rock they were painted on. He couldn't make them all out, but three of them (the ones further up the mass, where the rock was more worn from time) resembled primitive targets.
Spike made the connection instantly. He pulled out his hookshot, then sprinted to the side again as the beast turned and swiped its claws. This time, he did get grazed on the foot, causing him to spin midair and land roughly on he stone floor, though he was quickly back up (albeit with a slight limp). He quickly aimed the hookshot and fired, piercing the rock. The device reeled him in, dragging him through the air and up onto the rock, where he was able to find a foothold and cling on as the beast got back up.
He clambered his way up to one of the plants, and quickly plucked it from its stem. As soon as he did, the fronds on top ignited and began to burn like fuses. In a panic, he tried tossing the bulb at a random spot on the rock, but it bounced straight back towards him, blowing up halfway and knocking him away. Spike managed to barely hold onto the rock before he could fall off, but the blast had done a number on him, and he didn't know if he had the strength to win.
Then he thought about Nuha and Hamzah, and how they believed in him. He thought of all the Gorons who were all counting on him. He thought of Princess Zelda, and how ecstatic she was when he agreed to help.
He thought of Twilight.
Gathering his strength, Spike began to pull himself back up the rock's surface. The beast tried to shake him off, but Spike was determined to win. He managed to climb back up to the nearest flower, and pulled up a bulb. Prepared for the fuse this time, he actually aimed for one of the markings and threw the bomb. While it wasn't a perfect throw, it was still accurate enough to work. When the bomb exploded, it blew away that part of the shell, even cracking the bones underneath. Unfortunately, it also destroyed the plant he'd used, leaving two others remaining on the beast's back.
Undead Dodongo screamed like a wounded manticore, then thrashed about violently, managing to throw Spike off. But with some quick thinking, he managed to pull out the hookshot and latch onto one of the nearby statues' arms, catching himself before he could hit the ground. Converting the momentum of his fall into a swing, he let go just in time to dodge another one of the beast's lunges. Undead Dodongo was stunned from hitting the statue long enough for Spike to reel in the hookshot and refire it, bringing himself back onto the beast's back.
Spike located another bulb and its nearest target, then plucked and threw. This time, he hit it square on the mark, blowing off a larger chunk of rock that included the portion he was standing on. Using the hookshot again, he latched onto a different statue, and stopped in order to anticipate the beast's next move.
What it did next surprised him. After howling with pain again, it slammed its skeletal tail against the north wall. There was a rumble for a moment, before lava began to pour down the canals and into the pool in the middle of the room. The pool, having been full already, quickly overflowed, covering the room's floor in lava (apart from the raised portion) before the canals dried up. Spike himself may have been fire proof, but his gear sure wasn't, so he'd have to be extra careful not to touch the ground; the beast, as a result of the dark forces that reanimated it, was completely immune, and thus had no such compunctions with walking through it. Although, thanks to the thickness of the lava, its movements were drastically slowed.
Spike readied himself when he saw the beast crouch down, then began to reel in the hookshot when it charged. As a result, he was higher than the beast when it crashed into the statue. Unfortunately, this statue wasn't as stable as the other one, and it fractured at the impact, causing the hookshot to detach and drop Spike roughly onto the beast's back. He managed to roll out of the way of the statue's debris, but the fall, combined with his previous injuries, had dislocated his hip. He nearly lost himself in the pain, but he knew that he only had a small window of opportunity before Undead Dodongo was back on its feet, so he had to power past the pain and crawled to the last bomb plant. He plucked it, and tossed it at the final target.
It was a little low, thanks to his proximity to the ground, but it still worked; the rest of the shell crumbled away as the beast screamed, then collapsed into the remains of the statue. The quick succession of impacts was enough to break the pillar it supported, causing that corner of the roof to collapse and bury the beast.
A moment of silence hung in the air, before Spike pushed himself out of the rubble, coughing up dust. He was battered and bruised, but he'd emerged victorious. "That was intense..." Spike hoarsely remarked to himself, looking around the room.
Floating nearby was another heart-shaped object. It was much bigger than the small ones that'd dropped from the Stalkoblins earlier, and a lot more ornately decorated as well. Spike crawled his way up to it and touched it, absorbing it. Not only did it completely heal him, but he even felt a little healthier than he did before he'd even arrived in this world.
As soon as the heart was gone, the room began to rumble. On the north side of the room, a part of the wall moved to reveal a small room with a large chest; and on the south side, the entrance door opened and, thanks to the large hole venting enough of the room's heat, Hamzah and Nuha rushed in.
"Spike! Spike, are you—?" They stopped when they saw Spike atop the rubble, then zipped up and 'hugged' him (which was more similar to simply landing on him than what he knew as a hug).
"Oh, thank Hylia you're safe!" Hamzah exclaimed in a rare moment of outward caring. "You went in, and then the door closed before we could follow; we didn't know what to do!"
"You were able to beat the boss?! Oh, I'm so proud of you!" Nuha nuzzled him.
"It wasn't easy," Spike admitted.
"Are you hurt at all?" Nuha began to check over him, but Spike stopped her.
"It's okay; I got healed by another one of those hearts."
Hamzah stopped the hug. "Was it big and ornate?" When Spike nodded, Hamzah chuckled a bit. "That wasn't just another heart; you got a Heart Container!"
"Your life force has been increased!" Nuha concurred.
Spike blinked, several questions in his head, but shrugged that aside. "Come on, we still have a job to do."
Since the lava wasn't covering the raised portion of the floor, he was able to work his way around and enter the chest room. As soon as they entered, they were hit with a blast of cooler air, and the fairies sighed in relief.
Five statues surrounded the chest — a Goron, a bird-person, what looked like a female Hylian, a fish person, and a Hylian in a tunic similar to Spike's. There was also a bronze pipe with a valve on the eastern side of the room, but Spike's focus was on the center statue.
That tunic.... "Is that....?"
"Link," Hamzah confirmed. "The Hero of Time."
"We never met him, but our great grandmother did," Nuha revealed, "so we've heard a story or two."
Spike nodded absently, captivated by the statue. Instead of the strapping young man Spike had pictured, it instead depicted a young kid, maybe even younger than Spike. Spike momentarily wondered how a kid could have accomplished so much, but then he remembered where he was and what he'd just done, and he suddenly felt a little more confident in himself.
Finally, he made his way up to the chest. Bracing himself, he opened it and found...
"A map....?" Spike pulled it out and looked over it. It depicted both Death Mountain and the Lanayru region, with a triangle symbol placed near Zora's Dominion.
"A map that leads to the Triforce piece!" Nuha exclaimed.
"Looks like it's in the Ocean Temple," Hamzah commented.
Spike didn't know whether to be mad or just exasperated. They'd come all this way and done so much, just to find out that their Triforce Piece was in another Temple?!
He took a deep breath. At least they knew where to look now. And besides, they were helping the Gorons while they were here.
Speaking of which...
Spike pocketed the map and turned his attention to the valve. Above it was a sign that Spike couldn't translate. "What's that say?"
"It says 'drain'," Nuha translated.
Spike glanced back into the boss chamber, which was still flooded with lava, and suddenly realized something. "Wait a second... This place takes in lava from the surrounding volcano, right?" When the fairies nodded, he continued: "Maybe that's why the outside is getting colder! Because of that creature, nobody could come in and drain the pool, which was using up some of the lava!"
"How much lava woud it even need to use in order for that to happen?" Hamzah asked.
As it turned out, a lot.
Once Spike turned the valve (made easier with the help of the Silver Gauntlets), the lava in the boss chamber began to drain, revealing that the pool was much deeper than any of them had expected.
"Why is the pool so deep?" Spike asked, still shocked.
Nuha replied, unsure of it herself, "I guess Gorons really like swimming?"