Alaia Skyhawk: Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Gorons!

I don't own the Zelda series or anything associated with it. I do however own this story and any OCs, so please don't steal them.

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Chapter 11: Hot Potato

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"Stupid stubborn horse..."

Arkai continued to mutter under his breath as he had since leaving Kakariko yesterday. That morning, as he'd entered the tiny stable beside the inn, Anami had refused point blank to budge so much as an inch. No matter how much he'd tried to convince her, it became blatantly clear that she wasn't going to go anywhere near the road up Death Mountain. The innkeeper had come in shortly after that, after Arkai's swearing and pleading for her to move drew his attention. It was then that the potential Hero got his first kick from good old reality in quite a while, when the innkeeper told him one simple fact...

Horses, even Nayruans, don't like going up the sides of volcanoes... Even ones as tame as Death Mountain.

This was the result, Arkai trudging up the side of said mountain with the minimum of supplies to go up and back carried in a borrowed rucksack. He was understandably pissed off right now, since if she'd carried him he'd have made it up the trail in just a day... Effectively she'd forced him to camp on the side of the mountain last night, and would be forcing him to do so again on his way back down...

His expression looking like a week long thunderstorm, he rounded a bend in the trail where it passed by the now closed Dodongo's Cavern, a new cavern for mining the mineral rich rocks the Gorons ate having been opened some years ago further round the mountain; near to another of the various Goron settlements which could be reached via trails which forked off further down the mountain from the one he was on now. At least he was almost to the city now, going round just one last bend ahead before he finally saw the huge open ended cavern that formed its entrance. He couldn't see any of the Rock Folk moving around outside, but then if he weren't so high up right now it would have been barely light enough to see where he was going. It was late, and right now he just wanted to find a place to sleep and leave off worrying about going to the temple until morning.

He sighed as he walked the last hundred yards, hitching his heavy bag a little higher as he passed under the wooden arch that fronted the tunnel which bore into the side of the mountain from the back of the entrance cavern. The tunnel was dark, just the flicker of torchlight at the end for him to see by. The floor of it was flat though, with nothing lying around that he might trip on, and so he made it without mishap to the cavern beyond.

He stopped and stared in awe at the sight, just as he'd done back at Hylienalis. To say the cavern was immense was an understatement, it had to be at least a mile to the far side, and it went down easily half that in a series of terraces like concentric rings. The entrance was right on the top level, the roof of the cavern not all that far above him, and looking down into those depths and seeing the countless Gorons moving about caused the feeling of adventure to rise up in him again despite his still being annoyed with Anami.

"Oooo! A visitor! Welcome, welcome, welcome!" He turned as a Goron with a very wide happy grin on his face came charging over, reaching out and shaking the youth's hand so vigorously that Arkai was almost lifted off the floor by it. The Goron continued to smile. "Welcome to Goron City! Are you the one Big Brother Darunia is waiting for?"

Prying his hand free of the cheerful fellow's grip, Arkai winced a little in pain before nodding.

"Yeah, I'm Arkai. I've come here to visit the Fire Temple and receive an item from him." Before the Goron could offer anything he added. "Look, I'm really tired right now from hiking up the mountain, and it's really late besides. Is there somewhere I could sleep for tonight, and go to the temple tomorrow?"

The Goron nodded eagerly.

"Yes yes, come with me! We have a room ready for Big Brother's special guest!"

He turned and trotted away, glancing back and waving for Arkai to follow. The youth did so, a small smile tugging at his mouth; the Goron too cheerful for him to remain annoyed while in the happy fellow's presence.

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Frowning with concentration, hands holding a piece of slightly stale bread, Arkai kept his gaze fixed on it as he drew a thin thread of his new magic to his fingertips. As Impa had told him to, he'd been practicing in the two days since he'd awakened it but had decided on a more novel way of doing so than having the Lens of Truth give him a migraine. His frown vanished into a grin as he reached out with one of his hands for the lump of cheese he'd cut for himself from the block in his pack, leaning back comfortably against the back of the chair which besides a huge cushion for a bed and a small table was the only piece of furniture in the small cave he'd was in; it would go perfectly with the chunk of now toasted bread he held in the other.

He chuckled.

"Magic beats a campfire any day. Sure it's tiring, but then so is looking for firewood."

He continued to munch on his breakfast, in a considerably better mood than yesterday courtesy of a soft bed and the warm cave, unlike the cold windy mountainside and a sleeping bag of the night before. His meal finished, he donned his gear and stuffed another piece of bread into a pouch to hang from his belt. He'd been told by his guide the night before that once out of the city it was a four hour round trip to the temple, so taking something for a snack was probably a good idea.

He walked out of the cave, finding a Goron already waiting there for him to emerge. That Goron then, just as cheerfully as the one last night, led him down through a maze of tunnels, ramps, and stairs until they reached the very bottom of the city and the huge door that led to the cave where the leader of the Gorons made his home. The tunnel within was a short one, and soon Arkai found himself standing before the Chieftain of the Goron Tribe himself.

The chief inclined his head as the Hyllian youth entered, deep blue eyes thoughtful in that broad face as he stood before a large block of stone carved to resemble one of residents of this mountain city.

"I trust you slept well and aren't hungry. We'd have gotten food for you from Kakariko if we'd had more notice of your coming, but Lord Darunia only spoke to us of you the day before yesterday. I'm a little disappointed in him that he said nothing until it was too late, since we Gorons place great importance in the proper welcoming and care of guests."

Arkai smiled, finding in this first proper encounter with the Rock Folk that he liked them a great deal. Before now he'd only ever seen them at a distance during visits to Castle Town.

"It's ok, I came prepared with food anyway, although I doubt what I had is as nice as what you would have had prepared. Maybe Lord Darunia held off telling you about me so that I'd have to make do with what I had. Heroes are supposed to be able to deal with hardship anyway, and that's what my being here is about, to learn if I really have what it takes to be one."

The chieftain smiled and nodded.

"What you suggest is likely true, and the journey to the Fire Temple will certainly test your nerve." He brought a hand to his chin and tapped his fingers against the length of rock-like beard there thoughtfully. "You strike me as being still rather unsure of yourself, but you're learning many lessons from your journey. Serious lessons, true, as your mission is an important one... but perhaps you need as yet to learn to enjoy the trials you face a little more. Trials are not a burden to be shouldered for a time and then cast aside once complete, they are a challenge that should be relished and thought back on once you have overcome them. He who sees the hardships ahead as something to be detested is an individual who will never truly learn the lessons that trial would have taught to him. See them as a challenge, and you will grow stronger for having overcome them."

Arkai stood there as the words sunk in, mulling them over.

"Perhaps you're right. Up until now I've been facing trials and thinking about how I could be too weak to pass them, instead of thinking about what strengths I already have and how I can use them. It's something for me to remember."

The chieftain walked over to a low table to one side, lifting a bundle of dark red cloth from it.

"And it's a wise man, or at least a sensible one, that will acknowledge that." He tossed Arkai the bundle. "That's what has long since been nicknamed a Fire Tunic; it's made of Drake Gorse fibres woven as cloth, and will ward off most of the heat within the crater. Time I think for you to go make that visit you're here for." He turned and grabbed the statue that had been behind him, hauling it forward by a couple of feet. He then gestured to the tunnel revealed to be behind it. "That passage will take you into the crater itself, and I will leave it open until you return. There are Magic Bean plants which will carry you to the temple, simply step onto the one in each pair that is closest to your destination and you will get there just fine."

Arkai unfolded the tunic and pulled in on over his clothing after removing his belt and other gear before fastening everything on again over the top of the garment. He then gave the chieftain a nod of thanks before heading into the small passage behind the statue.

It was dark in the tunnel, so dark he couldn't see his hand in front of his face. Instead he trailed his fingers along the wall to keep his bearings, and kept moving for what seemed like an eternity until a rectangle of red light appeared in the distance. He must have walked for a couple of miles in the darkness before he emerged into the crater, the sheer size taking his breath away as surely as he heat would have if he'd not been wearing the Fire Tunic.

He walked towards the edge of the ledge he was on, just able to make out one of the two peaks which he knew from stories of this place stood in the centre of the crater either side of the plateau where the entrance to the Fire Temple lay. Between him and that distant mountain-within-a-mountain was almost thirty miles of bubbling lava and jagged columns of rock jutting up from the fiery lake below.

He looked around, soon spotting a patch of green which certainly wasn't normal for such a place. Sure enough it was the plant he'd been told to look for, growing within a sheltering ring of twiggy bushes with tiny red leaves. Arkai stepped onto it, dropping to a crouch with surprise and grabbing on to the broad rigid leaves poking through a rough net of rope like his tunic as the whole plant rose up from the ground and began to glide through the air over the lava below.

Holding on for dear life as the speed it was moving at made hot wind blow against his face, Arkai did everything he could not to panic and imagine what would happen to him should he fall off the thing. After about ten minutes he realised it was heading for one of the rock columns he'd seen, a ring of Drake Gorse growing around its perimeter sheltering a pair of the same plants as what he rode on now. It slowed down to a walking pace, gliding over the top of the pillar allowing him to drop off. The chief hadn't been joking when he'd said getting to the temple would test his nerve. Arkai was just about to step with dread onto the new plant closest to the middle of the crater when something else the chief had said came back to mind.

He frowned.

"Hmm, I could ride on these things and pretty much crap myself all the way to the temple... or I could look at the fun side of it and actually enjoy myself." He turned to look towards the barely visible peak, which as yet didn't seem to have gotten any closer. "Hmm, I could look at it as flying over lava with certain death should I fall, or look at it as flying which is something Hyllians never experience unless they get a ride from a Rito."

He stepped onto the next plant, crouching down to grip the leaves as he had last time, but this time grinning as it picked up speed and the hot wind stirred his clothing once more.

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It was a whoop that signalled the final Magic Bean's descent towards the plateau between the two peaks, a certain Hyllian actually half stood up on top of it with his arms out to the sides for balance. With a wide grin he jumped from it as it glided low enough to the rock for him to do so, and it was then that he ran over to the nearby consecration stone with such a feeling of sheer elation and adrenaline that he didn't give a damn what the Sage of Fire might throw at him. He was too amped up for it to bother him in the slightest.

Sure enough as soon as he's set foot on it the resident Sage appeared, the large and proud looking Goron striding over carrying a rather hefty looking hammer.

He raised a rocky eyebrow.

"You looked like you were enjoying yourself... Not many people would think flying over a lake of lava was a good thing."

Arkai chuckled, blushing a little as he scratched the back of his head.

"So did I when I used the first one, but then I figured I should look at the positive side of it. After all flying is flying, and not many Hyllians get to do that."

Darunia smiled.

"And so the cautious youth who set out on his journey has learned to be a little more bold. Very well, time for me to find out how you can handle this." He held out the hammer. "This is the Megaton Hammer, a treasure of my people and once wielded by the Hero of Time. It's heavy but not impossibly so, so you shouldn't have too much trouble swinging it in the meantime before you go and see Sage of Spirit." Arkai accepted the hammer, eyes widening a little as he had to brace himself to keep hold of it. Darunia then backed up. "Now let's see if you can figure out how best to use it in this situation."

He curled up into a ball and rolled away at breakneck speed, Arkai leaving the consecration stone to stand some distance away on the flat rock of the plateau. He wasn't about to fight using the hammer in a place where one wrong step off the edge of the stone could cause a fall or a sprained ankle. Hazel eyes then began to track the Sage's movements, as he headed for one of the two peaks only to turn sharply just before hitting it and head straight for the Hyllian.

Arkai jumped to the side and rolled clear, swiftly getting to his feet as he began watching Darunia again. Again the Goron made a sharp turn just before his course would have him strike rock, and again he came right at Arkai. This time after dodging, the Hyllian swung the hammer up, over, and then down to pound the ground. The shockwave swept outwards, causing the rolling Goron to lift off the ground for a moment before landing again.

He turned again, making another attacking charge, Arkai smiling to himself as he put together the pieces of the puzzle. He dodged again and waited, waited for the Sage to come at him one more time. This time he didn't roll clear, instead sidestepping just enough for him to swing the hammer down, under, and then up with every ounce of strength he could muster.

It hit the Sage dead on, sending him soaring through the air and straight at the left of the two peaks. He uncurled mid air, staring down at Arkai in shock as he rubbed at the back of his head.

"That wasn't what you were supposed to do!"

Arkai grinned up at him.

"I know, you wanted me to make you fail on one of your turns so you'd hit the base of one of the peaks... I just decided to be a little more 'direct' in my approach to solving the problem."

Darunia blinked for several seconds before bursting out into laughter.

"Now that's a good one! Hahaha! I don't care that you didn't do what I wanted, a bold move like that deserves a reward. You pass, take the hammer with you."

Still cracking up with laughter Darunia vanished in a flare of red light, leaving Arkai holding his prize. He turned it over in his hands, mulling over where to put it until he saw the small twisted wire loop just where the grip stopped and the rest of the short handle began. A little bit of modification later, by using his magic to permanently fuse one of the removable clips from his belt to a point on his sword sheath just to the right to the larger hook that held his shield, and he had the hammer hanging with it's head down-over down the middle of his back underneath the defensive tool.

Feeling the whole set up shift a little unsteadily as he headed for the Magic Bean just a short way away, he frowned a little and made a mental note to ask the Gorons if they could make something a bit more substantial.

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Arkai turned the new sheath and belt over in his hands, examining the metal chain fastenings that held the sheath to the belt in no fewer than five places along the cover's length; keeping it secure at its angle but still giving the strap the flexibility for him to move. He also paid special attention to the trio of clasps placed so they would be spread in a horizontal line when the sheath was at an angle across his back. The middle one was the largest, extending out far enough to protrude past the handle of the hammer when he had it hanging from the hook on the right. The one left of the shield hook he'd asked for to hang the bow he'd be getting next from, and all three were like the clips on his belt, which wouldn't release that which was hung from them unless it were lifted in the right way... With all the dodging he suspected he might end up doing, a little precaution to prevent him losing things in the process was a smart thing to do.

Smiling in approval he put the sheath on, sliding his sword into it and then hanging both shield and hammer from the intended clasps. With everything in place he grabbed the handle of the hammer where it protruded just to the right of his neck above his shield, and without too much effort was able to unhook and slide it out without the shield getting in the way.

He turned to the pair of Goron craftsmen that had obliged to his request for a little help.

"It's great; I'll have no trouble getting to everything with this thing on. Thanks for your help."

Both of them beamed at him with the typical broad grin of their race.

"No problem!"

"It was an honour!"

It was a short while later that he walked out of the city and set off down the mountain, in a good enough mood that camping outside on the way down or not, he wasn't going to be that annoyed with Anami once he got back to Kakariko.

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Alaia Skyhawk: (Swings Megaton Hammer like a golf club) FOUR!! ...Hehehehehee. As for what Arkai had done to his sword sheath and belt, I have actually come up with a way all the weapons and tools he'll get can be carried on his person but still be easy to get at in a pinch. I'll post a pic of it once I've got something a bit better than a rough sketch.