Chapter 16: The Goron Calvary
When the shadowy figures jumped down from the ledge and landed down below on both feet. Their toffee faces were round with slits for noses, wide mouths and small black opal eyes. The calvary glared at the tektites, who turned their attention to the large beasts. One of the calvary members cracked their knuckles while balling both hands into fists.
"Alright brothas," said the creature, who had long black hair tied into a ponytail. "These freaks asked for trouble!"
"Let's take care of dem quick!" Another calvary member with coal colored dreadlocks squared up. "There might be more of dem tektites around de place!"
"I doubt it," said a third creature with glossy goggles. "I think we're seeing what we're going to get."
"All the better," said the long-haired brute. "Let's just win!"
The calvary charged. They drove their fists into the tektites. Each blow broke the creatures into pieces oozing green blood. Trevor's stomach sloshed around when he saw the tektites getting sliced apart. Bad smells filled his nose and the sight of tektites getting torn apart was hard to erase from his memory.
Link was made to join the fight. He ran into the scuffle, slashing at more tektites, shouting at the top of his lungs and adding to the count of fallen foes. His Kokiri Sword reduced the fiendish creatures to heaps.
That is gross, Trevor thought. But I'm glad we're winning.
The skin on Trevor's neck crawled. He heard Sheila gasp before she let out a yelp. Trevor turned to see another tektite behind them, leaping in the air. Its sole eye brimmed with menace.
Trevor stood between the predator and Sheila, lifting the shield in front of his face. The baby cucco strapped to his chest trembled and Trevor was sure fear rushed through it. He waited for heavy impact. He heard a strange splat instead, followed by an odd gurgle. When Trevor opened his eyes, he looked down at an upside down tektite, writhing while a knife stuck out from the center of its eye.
A boy gently nudged his way past Trevor and Sheila. He pulled the knife from the tektite's eye, wiping the blood from it with the hem of his sackcloth toga. The boy had brown skin and an afro of curly black hair tied into a ponytail. He was strangely calm and powerfully quiet. When he turned around to look at Trevor and Sheila, the two both froze in place. Their friend Jerome Bailey stood before them.
"Are you two alright?" Jerome asked.
Trevor barely held back his tears. "Yeah," he said. "Thanks a lot, bro."
"You're welcome."
Trevor didn't know if he wanted to dab Jerome up or go straight for a hug. He decided to do the second, wrapping his arms around Jerome and finally allowing a few tears to fall. After all, everything was coming together. One last friend was missing and the way things were going, Rebecca was bound to be nearby. Hyrule couldn't possibly be that large a place. When Jerome didn't return the embrace, the tears dried. Trevor finally looked up at his best friend's face. His expression was frozen, as if Jerome never had any feelings.
Trevor took a closer look at the boy in front of him. He was sure the kid in front of him was the boy from South Chicago he'd known for two whole school years. He matched the description. Big brown eyes. A black afro with curls. He even had the curious look, the look full of wonder that wanted to know more about what he was seeing. Jerome had the same look now, but it was mixed with so much confusion.
"We're so glad to see you!"
Sheila didn't seem to know what was happening until Trevor backed away. As Trevor stared at Jerome, Sheila shifted her eyes between the two of them, maybe because she wondered why they weren't more joyful. She kept her focus on Jerome, eventually, leaning in as if it were hard to see him.
"Jerome…?" she said. "Are you…?"
The boy who stood before them narrowed his eyes. "…Who's Jerome?" he asked.
"You're Jerome," said Trevor. "You. Quit joking around." Trevor tried to forget that Jerome was never one for joking.
"Don't you recognize us?" Sheila asked.
The boy who stood before them shook his head. He looked sad in the face, looking down at the trail's rocky surface with glistened eyes.
"I…I don't." He looked back up at them and Trevor hoped he was trying hard, really hard, to remember who his friends were. "I'm sorry, I think you have the wrong person. I've never met you in my life. My name is Maruka and the Gorons are the only people I know."