Gray

"Mayor Bo!" Gray called, waving to the approaching carriage. The Ordonian kids cheered and Talo charged up to the large man with the odd mustache, waving a stick he'd picked up earlier while Beth followed not too far behind. The two danced around the cart as the mayor pulled up and stopped beside the rest of the roof. Slipping onto the ground, he hugged the kids joyfully before greeting the Links, Renado, and Luda.

"Though I read about it in your letter, it is still good to see the children alive and well," Bo told Renado, clapping a hand congenially on the man's arm. "But… is it true that there is still no sign of Ilia?"

"I'm afraid so," the dreadlocked man confirmed. The mayor bowed his head, heaving a sigh.

"I feared as much. I'm sorry for dampening the mood. I know she can take care of herself. It's just, after losing her mother…" he cut himself off, shaking his head as if to clear his thoughts, "Anyway, that is not what I came here for."

"You said that you had a way to get past the Gorons," Gray brought up, sensing the need to change the subject.

"Yes. I do have a way. It is quite failsafe as well, if you can manage to do it. All you need to do to gain the Gorons' respect is to sumo wrestle! Show that your strength rivals theirs!" the mayor got an evil glint in his eyes and thrust his fist into the palm of his hand excitedly. Gray took a step back nervously, dreading what was to come. Sure, working on a ranch and becoming a swordsman had left him in pretty good shape, but wrestling thick, heavy rock-people seemed a little out of his league. "I've beaten the Gorons myself!" Bo explained proudly, "…With a little secret that is. I can tell you that secret, but you must promise not to disclose it to anyone, alright?" Gray swallowed and had opened his mouth to answer when Blue interrupted.

"Hey! What about us? I want to fight too! I can wrestle!" the short hero shouted. The Ordonian mayor assessed him with a few fingers resting on his chin.

"Hmmm, no. You're too small," he decided.

"Huh? What?! I am not too small! And I'm plenty strong! I can show-"

"Blue…" Vio warned.

"I do not doubt you are strong-" the mayor started.

"Better not," Blue interrupted grumpily.

"-But it does not change the fact that your short stature makes you… oh, how should I say this… unable, to use the secret. There is nothing I can do." Blue looked as if he were about to burst a few brain cells, so Green tried to mediate.

"Look Blue, none of us can do it either. Mayor Bo? What if you just showed us the secret? I mean, we're traveling with Gray anyway. Chances are, we'd figure it out without him telling us in the first place."

"Hrmmmmm," Bo hummed unhappily, "I see your point. Alright, as long as you promise not to tell a soul, yeah? If I find out you've told anyone, I'd hate to see you all dead in a ditch somewhere, got that?"

"Yessir!" yelped Green a little too fast. Blue still looked unhappy about the arrangement, but he nodded his consent.

"Right," Bo nodded his head in satisfaction, "Now come on, you five, let's go find somewhere private to do this. Link- ah, Gray, take that crate will you?" Gray walked over to the back of the carriage, where sure enough, a wooden crate sat. He grunted as he lifted it, surprised at how heavy the thing was. What was in it?

Mayor Bo took them into a cave that led behind the short waterfall. Inside, it was well-lit from sunlight and fairly open, with just enough wall surface that the interior couldn't be seen from any of the houses a way's away. Bo found a stick and drew a large circle in the thin sand carpeting the floor. Then he scraped two short lines on the inside of the circle. Tossing the stick aside and dusting his hands off, the large man huffed with satisfaction and grinned at Gray.

"Right. Ready to have a go? If you beat me, I'll give you the secret."

Gray wasn't feeling too confident, but he nodded, determined to give his best shot. While he had watched it, he'd never actually sumo wrestled himself. It didn't help that his small, lean self was going up against the massive wall of meat that was his mayor… who was currently taking off his shirt and flexing his muscles with an eager glint in his eyes. The prospect was a bit daunting. Gray gulped and steeled his nerves. Bo hopped from foot to foot, each step sending puffs of sand flying. Yeah, he was going to die.

~/_\~

Gray was right. The first round was a complete failure. It had only lasted about thirty seconds. Gray had managed to shove the mayor back a step about two times before one shove from the larger man had sent him flying out of the ring. Now he sat in the sand, wincing at his sore rear and covered in sand. Red dusted the grains off of his back while Bo grinned at his victory.

"Hope I didn't hurt you too much! Are ya up for round two? That was just a warm-up!" he declared, dusting off his hands. He reached one out for Gray to grab, helping him up.

"Just give me a minute," Gray forced a grin, not looking forward to another wrestling match.

"Alright. Let me know when you're ready, yeah?" the large man went back to his side of the makeshift arena.

"You aren't going to get anywhere with brute force," Vio spoke up when he was out of hearing distance, "You've got to keep sidestepping and get him when he's not expecting it. Slowly inch him out." Gray nodded in agreement. Stepping back into the circle, he narrowed his eyes at the mustached man.

"I'm ready."

Vio's plan worked. Gray still didn't quite know how he managed it, but he beat the mayor. Tired out, Gray sat down, wiping sweat off of his face. Bo grinned at him.

"Well, you beat me lad. I suppose you're worthy enough to have my secret," he said, "But mind you, nobody's to know! 'Specially Renado, got it?" Prying the crate open, he pulled out a pair of massive metal boots. "These boots're made of iron, if you can't already tell. Whoever wears 'em won't get pushed around that easily, not even by Gorons. Take good care of them, yeah? And remember, you can't tell anyone about these boots! Not a soul!"

"Got it!" Gray replied, taking the boots. The things were heavy. "How am I supposed to walk in these?" he wondered.

"Ya don't. At least, not very much. Ah, you'll figure it out, I'm sure. I've done what I came here to do, so I really should be going now. Can't leave my village unattended for too long!" he laughed, before taking on a more somber note, "Oh, Gray, lad? I'm sure I don't need to ask you to do this, but could you please keep an eye out for Ilia?"

"Of course!" he answered. The mayor was right: he would have done so anyway. "Could you say hi to everyone for me?"

"Sure thing. I'll let 'em know how you and the kids are doing. Come on, I need to say goodbye to everyone else. I've gotta get going." After saying their farewells, Mayor Bo finally left in the late afternoon. All of the Links went inside to eat a really late lunch while Talo, Beth, and Colin went outside to play. Just as Gray was finishing his stew, his head shot up when he heard terrified screaming coming from outside.

"The kids!" Green shouted, shooting up from his chair and racing for the door. Gray dropped his spoon and followed swiftly with the rest of them. Outside, Beth and Talo were on the ground screaming and covered with dirt. Gray's eyes soon found the problem. There, in the middle of the road was a gigantic armored bullbo, and atop that, the largest, meanest looking bulblin he had ever seen. The ugly beast grunted in satisfaction, holding up something in victory. Gray realized with dread that it was an unconscious Colin, hanging limply like a piece of clothing hung up to dry. Something inside of him snapped. There was no way he was letting anyone get kidnapped again. Not under his watch.

"HEY!" he yelled, pulling his sword out and charging the beast. The bulblin grunted and stared at him, huffing before he wheeled his bullbo around and raced out of the village, Colin in hand. Gray went for his horse, vaulting onto her back as fast as he could and starting her off with a loud "HIYAH!"

He was going to get Colin back, no matter what it took.

A/N: Hello, I am not dead. My sincere apologies for disappearing off of the face of the planet. Due to school and circumstances, I was unable to update until recently. Please know that I have absolutely NO intentions of abandoning this fanfiction and plan on updating much more frequently now that I have the time. Thank you SO much for being patient, and I hope you enjoyed and will continue to read!

I have posted a SEPARATE, you read right, SEPARATE fanfic off of this one just for extras add-ins and could-have-been's for this story. So, like this and want more? Go! Read that!

Guest reviewers! I choose you!

Guest (7/17/14)- Well, your wish has been granted! Read it to your heart's content!

Ashlee S- Shhhhhh! Congratulations, you just kind of predicted something that I was already going to do... um, um, SPOILERS! All I can tell you is, they don't decide to look for the Links, because they are already looking for the Links, which is a totally useless reply. They may not know how the harp works yet, but I do... As far as anime goes, I have now seen up to episode 5 of Hetalia and Fullmetal Alchemist is still my favorite. :) I miss youuuuuuuuu!

Guest (3/31/15)- I'm assuming you reviewed all of chaps 14, 19, & 21. Here's the chapter you asked for :) I should be updating a little more frequently from now on since I've got much more free time.

There are several reasons I believe Hyrule doesn't have Christmas (mostly because of the holiday's origins- the situations surrounding Christmas did not happen in Hyrule- and the holiday was also never approached in anything canon that I've seen). Who knows, they may, they may not. It's a matter of personal opinion. I'm not against Christmas in Hyrule, but as far as my head-logic goes, it does not exist. Not to say that there are no holidays in that world, I think they just have different ones than us. And yes, I am fully aware of and following along with the Zelda timeline. A major part of my plot actually surrounds it, and you will see that more as the story progresses.

Yes, I agree that Hylians do have better hearing than humans. Rabbits and wolves have better hearing than Hylians. All the same, there is a point when it is too hard to hear things no matter what kind of ears you have. I hope that cleared things up a bit.