Link woke up with a shout, sweat dripping down his face despite the slight chill in the air. He instinctively reached for the Master Sword, but was unable to do so. He looked around him, as one of the candles was still alight. He had fallen in the armchair in Malon's room, as he normally did when he stayed at the ranch. They had been talking late into the night, chatting about where Link had been in the past year, and what had happened that day. Link had carefully avoided his new ability to teleport, as he wanted to shock Ghirahim, and didn't want any word to get around.

He let out a sigh and held his head in his hands. He had been having a terrible nightmare, about Ghirahim and Death Mountain's crater. He had seen Goron faces staring in fear, and Ghirahim's leering face, as well as a shadow engulfing them all.

Realising that it had probably a premonition, he hauled himself out of the air in hurry. However, as he was doing so, he smashed his knee into the end of Malon's bed, which caused her to stir. Cursing, as he wanted to get away without disturbing anyone, he hurried for the door. Too late.

"Link?" Malon asked sleepily. "Are you leaving?"

"Yeah." Link replied sheepishly, walking back over to her bed. "I had a premonition about Death Mountain. I need to get going."

"At least give me hug before going!" Malon whined, sitting up and stretching out her arms. Sighing, Link returned the hug, letting her head rest on his shoulder. "Just don't get hurt, please." She pleaded.

"Look who's talking…" Link commented, earning himself a punch in the chest. Chuckling, he hurried back to the door and down the stairs. He opened the door and closed it quickly, so that nobody could see what he was about to do. Checking in all directions that nobody was nearby, he closed his eyes and concentrated on the entrance to Goron city.

Meanwhile, Ghirahim materialised in Death Mountain's crater, unfazed by the scorching heat. His sudden appearance caused a huddle of baby dodongos to scurry. However one was unfortunate enough to get too close to Ghirahim, who simply summoned a wall of dark magic to trap it in its place. Squealing, it tried to burrow into the ground to escape. This attempt was also brought to a halt, as Ghirahim simply levitated the terrified creature out of its prison, and round to face him. Simultaneously, he summoned another black diamond, and fired it into the dodongo. As with the guay, the dodongo collapsed, but started to pulse. Ghirahim chuckled to himself, and looked up to the sky. "Well Hero, I fear you may go out in a bang today." He laughed at his own joke, and looked back around the crater. He noticed a large tunnel leading into the walls of the crater. "Maybe it shouldn't just be him who pays…"

Link felt solid ground beneath his feet, and opened his eyes. He was staring straight at the entrance to Goron City. He wasted no time in hurrying into the entrance, his eyes getting accustomed to the dark and dingy nature of the Goron's home. He jogged into the main hall, stopping before the original pedestal for the Goron's ruby, which had been sensibly moved from the hanging perch in the middle of the room. Link shook his head. He had been very careful getting there in the past, so how huge lumbering Gorons managed to get there, he had no idea. He was about to go down to Dariuna's room to get a Goron's tunic, but before he could move, a large heavy hand slapped down on his shoulder. "State your purpose, intruder!" came a loud gravelly voice.

"Visiting an old friend, Dariuna…" Link smiled, turning about.

"By the goddesses, BROTHER!" Dariuna shouted, pulling Link into an infamous vice-like hug. "Look at you; you've grown a bit since you were last here!"

"Thanks brother" Link replied, "It's been a while, hasn't it?"

Dariuna's smiled dimmed slightly. "Sorry about the abrupt greeting, but since last night, we had a bit of trouble last night, so we've upped security all the way up the mountain. The others were meant to tell me if anyone was coming up, how did you get past them?"

"Umm, can we talk about it later?" Link asked, avoiding the subject. "I need a Goron tunic to go into the crater"

"What?" Dariuna exclaimed. "Why do you need to go in?" He noticed Link surprised expression. "I have no problem with you going in, but why?"

"I fear it may be linked to your problems last night, depending on what they were…" Link replied, raising his eyebrows.

"Well, there was this tall thin character randomly appearing around the city last evening…" Dariuna began, but stopped as he noticed Link's paled expression.

"YOU STUPID IDIOT!" Link shouted, kicking the ground. He looked back up Dariuna. "Not you brother, me"

"Listen, a person suddenly appearing around the city is no reason for you to call yourself an idiot" Dariuna said soothingly.

"Just tell me one thing, was the person pale and wearing a cape?"

"According to one Goron, they were" Dariuna replied. "Why?"

"Because it means something absolutely terrible. An ancient demon has returned to Hyrule; Ghirahim. He's already caused me trouble twice, by cursing an enormous guay to attack LonLon. I dealt with it, but had to retrieve the Master Sword, after he terrified the royals in the castle. Even after I retrieved the blade, he trapped in there, until I thought I had killed him. But he just got up again, taunted me and teleported. He even warned me he would come here, but I collapsed at Lonlon for the night. I should have got here sooner!" Link spat, reprimanding himself.

"Brother, cal…" Dariuna tried, before an explosion brought their attention to Dariuna's room. His door had been blown down, and all that remained were small piles of stone.

"I'm going!" Link cried before Dariuna had a chance to speak. He was about to leap straight down to the door before Dariuna stopped him.

"Brother, don't beat yourself up. There is a tunic hanging up in my room. I fear you are going to need it…" Dariuna shouted.

"Dariuna, make sure the Gorons are moved away from here. Judging Ghirahim, anything could happen"

"I just fear that the volcano will erupt violently. It has been a bit volatile lately…

Those words brought his last encounter with Ghirahim swimming back to Link's head. "Something explosive…" came Ghirahim's words.

"SHIT!" Link shouted. "This is seriously bad. Get out of here". Before Dariuna could reply back, Link concentrated on the inside of Dariuna's room, and teleported. He saw the tunic hanging up, and changed quickly. Once done, he left his normal tunic on Dariuna's table. He noticed that the statue was blocking the hidden entrance to the crater, so Link pushed it out of the way. Unsheathing the Master Sword and his shield, he dashed into the crater.

Link emerged in the crater, ignoring the temperature rise. He scanned all around him, seeing nothing out of the normal. He looked ahead and saw the warp point for the Fire temple, and hurried across to it, using his hookshot to cross the broken wooden bridge. As he approached the symbol, he slowed down, again searching around him.

"Looking for someone?" came a sinister voice. Link spun around, and caught sight of Ghirahim, calmly sitting on top of the Fire Temple's entrance.

"You!" Link roared. "What…"

"I've already done what I promised I'd do…" Ghirahim shouted back. "You took your sweet time, making my job much easier." He started to smile, as he noticed Link's already infuriated expression get worse. "But I'm off now. Maybe to pay the Zoras a visit. Or maybe I should just stay here, and let my new pet deal with you…"

"What?" Link thought, before he turned to face the newly rumbling ground behind him. But instead of something emerging, the area of ground started to swell, and swell. Link backed up to the edge of the bridge, as the rumbling ground soon covered the entire island. It suddenly stopped, luring Link in to walk slightly forward. Ghirahim just smiled as the now Giant Dodongo leapt up from the earth, barely missing Link as he leapt backwards. The Dodongo roared several times, before setting its pulsing red eyes on Link. Dinner.

A/N: Another battle up next :) Until then!