Disclaimer: I don't own Legend of Zelda or any of the characters in the Zelda series (if I did, I wouldn't waste my time here). I'm not making any money of this and if I forgot anything else in this disclaimer I did or didn't do that as well.
Chapter 22 - Training at Romani Ranch
The wagon came to an abrupt stop and shook Link awake. Fuck, the second time he rode on that wagon and the second time he fell asleep. Okay, it was the third time he rode on a milk wagon but the first trip was just to Clocktown. Okay, so he had had a lot of "first" trips back then but you know what I... fuck you, stop bitching about it, okay? Anyway, Link jumped out of the wagon to see Romani hug her sister and Link sitting on the grass catching his breath.
"Well, Goro, ready for the next training?"
"Next... training?" he panted.
Link laughed and helped the Goron on his feet.
"Yep, now we eat." He said and looked at Cremia.
"I'll make you guys dinner."
"Rocks..." the Goron said, "Gorons... eat... rocks..."
Link closed his eyes and threw his head back. Fuck, that was right. And here on the ranch there weren't really a lot of stones.
"Sorry, Link," the Hero of Time apologised, "I forgot about that. Fuck, now what?"
"Is okay... I saw... good rocks... outside." He pointed to the entrance, where that... big boulder was, yes, that skullkid had to get that boulder from somewhere. And luckily, he got that boulder from some delicious rock! Or something, whatever, Link thought.
"Well, get those rocks." Link said as the Goron ran to the entrance.
Hm, you mention food and the kid has renewed strength. That was something Link would have to remember.
After a delicious meal Link went outside to see how the Goron was doing. He had just finished eating and was throwing his leftovers next to the barn where he had put the rest of the rocks he had gathered.
"Oh my, you carried all those big stones here in that short period?" Cremia gasped.
Link looked at the pile and shrugged his shoulders.
"That's nothing," the Goron said, "a lot of Gorons can carry those rocks."
"Gorons, yes, but we can't," Link stated, "well, I can, but, well, you know what I mean."
"You can't?"
Link looked at the Goron like he just had pulled the Triforce out of his ass.
"No, but this explains a lot."
"What do you mean?" the Goron asked.
"You're stronger than almost everyone else but you don't know it. When you see someone you think he's as strong as you, so when they are aggressive, you think you'll lose the fight. That's why you rely on your heroes instead of doing things yourself."
Goron thought about this for a second.
"So..." he said slowly, "we could have taken on Ganondorf's minions when he came to lock us up in the Firetemple?"
"You couldn't have taken on Ganondorf himself, but a lot of his minions, yes."
The Goron thought more about this and raised an eyebrow.
"Could I take on you?"
Link shrugged. The Goron got up and advanced on Link.
"Not now," Link stopped him, "first we'll train you a bit more."
"Okay, but can I ask you a question?"
"Sure."
"Why did you call me Goro back then?"
Link smiled.
"When I was in Clocktown about ten years ago, there was a Goron named Link who had a reservation in the Stockpot inn. I used the fact we had the same name to get a room in the inn and get my hands on a hundred rupees. Not very honorable of me, but hey, it wouldn't be the first time I took rupees that didn't belong to me. Anyway, that Goron ended each sentence with the word Goro, so if I was fast enough and I arrived before him at the inn, Anju would think his name was Linkgoro and she never made the link with my name. And since it's a bit strange to call somebody by your own name, I started to call him Goro."
"So, now you call me Goro."
"Hey, I can still call you Link if you don't like it."
"No, I like Goro, it sounds nice."
Link padded him on the back and looked around.
"Come on, let's run some laps around the ranch."
The Goron slowly started to move and rolled passed Link. Link swore and started to run. He had to speed up fast if he wanted to keep up with the rolling Goron. They always moved fast and especially now since the Goron moved into overdrive and spikes came out of his... back? Link stopped. Motherfucker, the kid has magic. Romani came outside and saw Link standing in front of the house, looking at the rolling Goron.
"Well Grasshopper? Falling back alrea..." Romani saw the spikes out of the kids back, "are those...? Fuck."
Link could just nod. The Goron came around and stopped before the couple.
"Well?" the Goron smiled.
"You didn't tell me you had magic." Link said.
"I got powers when I visited the Great Fairy." Goro said.
"You fucking should have told me!" Link shouted, "I'm supposed to train you, but if I don't know what you can do..."
"I'm sorry," the Goron whispered, "I didn't know."
Link sighed and looked at the kid in front of him and felt really uncomfortable.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to burst out like that. But I promised your father I would train you, so I need to know everything you can do, so I can train you to your best potential. Okay, so show me what else you can."
"That's it, I can roll but that's all."
"Can you pound?"
The Goron shook his head.
"Come on, Goro, I'll teach you."
Romani smiled as she watched the two Links leave to the middle of the ranch to practice. She was spooked a bit by his sudden outburst at the Goron, but she knew he felt like they fucked with him again and he really hated that. Maybe she should explain it to the Goron boy, so he wouldn't think it was personal. She watched how Link fought with the kid and gave out pointers. She turned around and entered the house, looking to get all of their stuff in the barn...
AN: I don't know, something isn't right in this chapter, but I can't put my finger on it. Guess it's the ending that's a bit forced. Anyway, I hope you still enjoy it and get ready as Link visits some people who never even met him as he returns things that aren't his. Also I would like to thank Jon Cook for comparing me with two masters of the genre (so to speak) but since Mr. E (unfortunately) left Fanfiction makes that me number 2, YEEHAA, hum ahum, yes, well thanks anyway. I hope I can live up to your expectations, of all my numerous (I hope) fans. So please if you could be so kind, leave something on the review page to know my efforts are appreciated.
