I looked over at the large rock standing just feet away from us, walking up to it slowly. Link followed behind me as I inspected it, careful not to get too close to the heat.

"What is it..?" I ask no one in particular. A quiet chime-like noise sounded from behind me and a voice I didn't recognise spoke.

"Woah, this looks dangerous!" the feminine voice says and I turn around quickly to inspect the sound. From literally thin air, a floating imp looking girl had appeared to comment on the situation. She was nearly see through and had an irritating highness to her voice.

"Is this the traditional Death Mountain welcome? Eee Hee!" She says then turns to look at me. "Hey! Girlie! What are you staring at? Never seen a chosen hero before?" She asks the rolls her eyes with a shrug before disappearing into Link's shadow.

"... Well I see you've met Midna..." Link says awkwardly. Only then did I break my gaze from his shadow, where the imp had disappeared into.

"We'll talk about this later." I say and walk away from the hot rock and the blonde hero. He muttered something in agreement and we continued up the mountain, using the backs of Gorons to get up tall ledges. Each time, we would both climb on top of one and Link would hold me close to him in the air until we landed again.

The process was lengthy, but we made it nonetheless to the entrance of Goron Mines. Inside, six other Gorons were standing around talking before they noticed us. They all rolled up into balls and began rolling right at us until a voice boomed over the noise saying 'ENOUGH!'

Directly ahead of us, in front of the mine entry where two Gorons were guarding the way, the owner of the voice stepped out from behind them.

"Are these two humans such imposing enemies that you all must gang up on them? I think not, little brothers." The older Goron says. Link and I approached him cautiously as began talking again.

"I am a Goron elder, little humans. I am called Gor Coron. Because of certian...circumstances, I must lead the Goron tribe in place of Darbus, our tribal patriarch. Tell me, little humans, do you come from the village below? You have both done well to get this far. You are strong... for humans. However, the mines beyond here are sacred to my tribe. Outsiders are not allowed... unless..." He looked at Link and smiled. He most likely wanted a match in the ring, as most to all Gorons loved a good sumo fight. After all, it proved how abundant their strength was, something they took great pride in.

"I could make an exception, but you would have to beat me in a contest of power. Are you willing to try that, little human?" He asks. Link and I look at each other and I nod once to him. He nods back then turns to Gor Coron.

"I accept" He says. A few minutes were given to prepare for the upcoming match. Link turned the thing on his boots and they were covered in heavy metal that allowed him to effectively fight the Goron elder. I placed a hand on his shoulder before he entered the circle and wished him good luck. He smiled as he usually did and stepped up to the ring.

Gor Coron lifted his leg into an almost vertical position, then dropped it back down, readying himself into a fighting stance. Link mimicked his action, getting into a stance of his own and I couldn't help but chuckle at the ridiculousness of it all. On a Goron's que, the two opponents began their match. They went back and forth, taking advantage of one another, almost getting the other out of the ring, then losing their advantage and nearly getting pushed out themselves.

It wasn't long before Link once again had the upper hand in the fight with Gor Coron by the outer edge of the ring. All it would take is one last push and we would be granted access to the sacred mines. Suddenly, the Goron elder gained control of the fight and pushed the blonde hero out of the ring. I didn't hear what he said next as I ran over to where Link landed.

"Are you okay?" I ask him and he groans out a reply.

"Yeah." Link sits up and sighs, "I should have known these boots would only help so much." Was he only realizing that now?

"Well of course they did. Look, you're facing a class A knight with a body built for force —"

"What?"

"—So there isn't much space for a fair fight when you're both lighter and less experienced in the arts —"

"Are you calling me weak?"

"—And...what? Link look." I motioned around us at the many tall, strong Gorons. Each one looked invincible with their rock-coated skin.

"Think of them as people. The average Goron would be six foot five and over two hundred pounds. You're the average Hylian size which, compared to them, is tiny. But lucky for you, where they have strength, they lack in other places..." I trailed off, hoping he understood my reference to the Castle Town soldiers. Most of them were pretty average with the exception of a few that would fall into a human-goron catagory. They are the ones that took me a while to understand. Usually if I was lucky, I could just trick the other guards into giving up on trying to chase me by pushing barrels in their way. The bigger guards weren't as easily put down. Eventually though, I figured it out.

Where they had strength, I had speed. I used my size to my advantage to not only outrun them, but get to places they were too big to reach. And I believe Link can do the same. Link smiled slightly, thinking over what I said. He stood up, making his way back to the ring.

"Eh? What is it? Do you want to try again, little human?" Gor Coron asks. Link nods and steps up onto the elevated circle.

"You think you are tough, do you? Lets find out" He says and the second match begins. This time, Link moved fast to dodge the elder's first attack then went straight to pushing him towards the outer ring. Every time the Goron tried to take back control, Link would strike first, pushing him further. It wasn't long before Gor Coron was out of the ring and Link was the victor.

"Young warrior... you have a strong will... and sharp eyes.." the elder says, standing up. "Fine traits. Want to see how well you can use them?" Link exited the ring, twisting the clip on his boots to retract the heavy metal, and made his way to stand beside me.

"You have seen it, I would bet... the mountain, erupting without pause. When the mountain began to rage, all four of us elders and Darbus, our patriarch, went inside to investigate its anger. We have a tressure that was entrusted to us by the spirits, and we must protect it. Do you understand?"

"But when Darbus reached out and touched the treasure, everything went wrong. He collapsed and before our very eyes transformed into an unspeakable monster! He began to rage through the mines, trailing ruin behind him. And the eruptions grew more frequent and more severe."

"We used all our strength to seal him inside the mountain. It... grieved us to do this to our patriarch, but we had no other course of action. I ask this favor of you young warrior, go to the aid of Darbus. Make no mistake, the spirits guided you here. I, Gor Coron, need your help. On behalf of my entire clan, I ask for your aid."

"... You two! Let this warrior pass!" He says and the two Gorons guarding the mine entrance moved to the side. I looked between Link and the elder, knowing what was coming.

"Unfortunately, I cannot allow the girl to pass through. To risk any unnecessary deaths for Darbus would be unacceptable!" Gor Coron says, looking between us sadly. Link furrowed his brows, ready to protest, but stopped when he realized that the elder was probably right.

"Go back to the village and find Renado. You can stay with him until I get back." Link says. I bite my lip to hold back my resentment for this plan and just nodded instead.

"Take a few of my brothers with you. They can keep you safe in your decent down the mountain. Are you ready to go, young warrior?"

Link nodded at the elder and put a hand on the small of my back before leaving into the mine to save the patriarch and stop the eruptions of Death Mountain. And leaving me on my own once again.