Howdy-do folks, it's time for Chapter 53! I admit this arc has been a bit of trouble for me as I was trying to tie another plot point into it, but I decided to wait on that for later and keep the story simpler. This time the group investigates into the troubles Darunia and his Gorons are facing...
"So this is the place, huh?" Nabooru asked.
Link, Nabooru, Aviel, Nemisa, and Darunia all stood before a large passage in the lower depths of Goron City. It was a long hallway that seems to stretch as far as thy could see. The path was lined with wood planks to support the ceiling and prevent cave-ins. There were also steel tracks that lead all the way in. Various mining equipment like pickaxes were laid about carelessly around the entrance.
The others in their group were busy with other matters; Togau was meeting with the stores in the city, Sarami was doing more research on the Gorons themselves to learn of their unusual body structures and dietary needs, Reirousa was aiding a group of Gorons with some supply lifting, while Saria was playing her song to a group of the younger Gorons.
"Yep, this is the Goron Mines, one of the most important methods we have to establish relations with the other tribes." Darunia nodded, "Originally we were just gathering things like iron ore for improving our home and building weapons, but we started finding more and more of these stranger rocks, and for some reason travelers absolutely loved these things and were willing to trade top rupee for them..."
Darunia then reached into a bag strapped to his waist and pulled out some ruby, emerald and sapphire jewels, which instantly got the attention of the others, especially Nabooru, whose eyes were as wide as dinner plates.
"They call them jewels, and I don't know why they want them so much, they taste absolutely awful!" Darunia said sticking his tongue out in disgust.
"I... see..." Nabooru said, almost licking her lips at the sight of the jewels in Darunia's hand, before he closed it up and put them away.
"I mean the Goron's Ruby is a great treasure to our people, but we'd never put a price on it. I only gave it to Link as a sign of our brotherhood!" he grinned, slapping Link on the back, almost knocking him over as well.
"Is that anything like how Ruto gave Link the Zora's Sapphire as an engagement gift?" Aviel asked.
"Um, it means something way different then Ruto's, that's for sure..." Link clarified, rubbing his back.
"So you've been trading with travelers, and that eventually led to you doing business with Hyrule Castle as well?" Nabooru asked.
"Ugh, yeah..." Darunia sighed, "At first things were going pretty well, we were trading the ore and jewels we'd mine for rupees that we could use to help improve our city and upgrade the hot springs, but recently the Parliament's been trying to reduce the usual payment we'd receive for everything, claiming it's because of trade-tax-this and import-tax-that, like we somehow owe them for doing this!"
"Sounds like them." Nabooru said rolling her eyes, "Back in the past we went through a similar situation with the border guards disrupting trade with our caravan acquaintances and we had to risk our people's lives to trek through a dangerous area of the valley to avoid them."
"Yes, and it turned out it was a bunch of rogue knight mongrels who were extorting and even killing some of our sisters!" Nemisa snapped angerly, punching a fist into her palm.
"Man, that's terrible." muttered Darunia, "When we all get to meet those Parliament guys I'm going to give them all a big Goron earful!"
"Heh, I'm looking forward to seeing that!" snickered Link.
"I'm glad we could come to an agreement on this alliance then." Nabooru nodded, "Perhaps the Hylian Parliament would be more eager to give you a fairer trade for your materials if they knew you had more potential buyers." she added with a smirk.
"Ha ha ha! I like the way you think!" Darunia laughed, "That'd honestly help us a lot, since actually looking for the materials in the Goron Mines has been tougher lately, what with the things my brothers have been going through."
"Huh?"
It was then they all heard a loud shout from the inside of the mines, and Darunia's eyes widened.
"Everyone step out of way quick!"
The group did as they were told, as a stampede of Gorons came running or rolling out of the mines while shouting in terror. Everyone stood there in surprise at the stampede, as one last smaller Goron came stumbling out. Link grabbed the Goron by the travel pack it was wearing to halt it in it's tracks.
"Hey, what's going on here?" Link inquired.
"It's... it's the ghost!" shouted the Goron desperately, "The ghost of the mines is back! Run for your lives!" the Goron broke free of Link's grip, curled into a ball shape and went rolling off.
"G-Ghost?!" exclaimed Aviel, her hair standing on end, as she clung to Nabooru.
"Oh no, don't start that again Aviel." Nemisa said rolling her eyes.
"A ghost in the mines...?" Link asked.
"I recall the bartender yesterday mentioned something like that." Nabooru muttered as she tried to comfort Aviel..
"The miners are claiming they see a dragon of some kind, but that doesn't make sense since I struck down Volvagia, and there shouldn't be any other dragons around here." Darunia groaned, "And even the hot springs occasionally loses it's heat at odd moments of the night. I just received a complaint that the water was freezing cold this morning."
"How odd, it was just fine when we went in..." Nemisa pondered.
"There's even talk that because I killed Volvagia that it's spirit is trying to get revenge on us by haunting the mines and stealing the heat from the hot springs. I swear if nothing's done, then we're going to be in big trouble. We need rupees from the ore mining to help keep the hot springs resort active. We also have a number of reservations we may have to cancel if we can't get some cash rolling in, and that'll make us look real bad to the Parliament!" Darunia sighed.
Link paused and saw the helpless look on Darunia's face, before he patted his sworn brother on the back.
"Don't worry then Darunia, we'll go find out what this 'ghost' is together." Link assured him.
"You will...?" Darunia asked.
"We will?!" exclaimed Aviel in a panic.
"Of course, we're allies now right? It only seems fitting we should lend a hand to you!" Nabooru nodded.
"Heh... ahahahaha!" Darunia laughed, "You all are the best! Thank you so much!"
"So you're going mine-spelunking for a ghost? Would you like if I joined you?"
Everyone looked around in confusion of who spoke, then Link glanced up and saw Impa standing sideways on the cave wall with her arms folded and with a smirk on her face.
"Huh? How's that lady doing that?" Darunia asked, rubbing the back of his head in confusion.
"You sure about helping us Impa? What about that thing you had to do?" Link asked, referring to her mission.
"I won't be seeing my client here until tomorrow." shrugged Impa, leaping down to the ground, "So would you like some extra help in this mission then? We Shiekah have plenty of experience in dealing with the shadows of the undead."
"Why not?" Link nodded with a big grin, "I'd love to work with my master again."
"Heh, very well then." Impa chuckled, "Lead the way my young protegee."
"Okay, have fun with the g-ghosts you guys!" everyone looked to see Aviel call out from a far distance, waving her bird wing, "I'll be... uh, over here guarding Reirousa!"
"Guarding me...?" Reirousa asked in confusion, holding five wooden crates of supplies effortlessly.
"Get back here, you coward!" shouted Nemisa, stretching her arm out and grabbing Aviel, dragging her by her shorts, as she followed everyone else into the mine.
"Nooo!" sobbed Aviel as she dug her fingers into the ground in a failed attempt to stay behind.
Link, Nabooru, Aviel, Nemisa, Darunia and Impa all walked slowly down the tunnel of the mine shaft, taking time to look over the area. There was pure silence as they went deeper in. At one point Nemisa bumped a small rock aside, causing a loud echo through the cave that startled Aviel so much she screamed out and quickly clung to Link.
"Eeep!" Aviel squealed as she held Link tightly, "I'm all scared now thanks to what those Gorons said..."
"It's alright Aviel. If you like, you can stay close to me and I'll protect you." Link said reassuringly, patting her on the back.
"Thanks Link..." she sniffled with a faint blush on her face, as she thought about what she and Saria talked about last night. She leaned against him smiling lightly, "Heeeeeeee..."
Impa meanwhile said nothing, but took a glance at Link comforting Aviel, seeing the peaceful smile and reassuring words he was giving her, and how it seemed to be calming the girl down. She was becoming more and more impressed at how much her student had matured over the years...
"Hey, aren't you supposed to be the one protecting him?!" Nemisa pointed out to her fellow bodyguard.
"Uh... oh right!" Aviel said, snapping out of her comfort with Link, pulling out her crossbow and holding it on her shoulder, "I have a duty to my king, ghost or no ghost!"
"Heh, I still think you really are going to make a great father someday Link." snickered Nabooru, speaking in Impa's direction as she did to make sure the Shiekah woman could hear.
"Really now? Link's going to become a father himself?" Darunia asked, "I can't wait for my son to play with him!"
"Her you mean." Nabooru clarified, "We Gerudo can only give birth to females. The exception is the rare male one born every one hundred years, and it's going to be a while before that happens."
"Is that so? How odd, from what the Hylians at Kakariko Village tell us they have both boys and girls." Darunia said in confusion, "Why are Gerudo only female?"
"Not really sure to be honest." Nabooru shrugged, "It's been like that for as long as our people can remember. In order to reproduce we have to go seeking Hylian men to conceive a child."
"It can be a real pain, especially with the banishment law in effect." sighed Nemisa, "Before I met Link I tried to do something like that, and it ended badly..."
Link frowned at seeing Nemisa lament about her dark past, and he took to holding her close to him. Nemisa sighed blissfully as she laid her head against him.
"Jees, you guys sound like you have it tough. Not us Goron though, we just eat special types of rocks until our young bud off of our backsides!" laughed Darunia, smacking his stone-like back.
Link and the group all stopped in their tracks at those words as Darunia walked on ahead, all of their faces a pale white.
"That... was something I wish I never heard..." Impa muttered, her eye twitching a bit.
"So... it's agreed we never speak of that again then...?" Link asked with a blank stare.
"Agreed." said the others.
And with that they continued walking on.
The group went further and deeper into the mines, investigating the tunnels for the supposed ghost scaring off the Gorons. Upon exiting one tunnel they found themselves in a much more spacious area. There were mine carts and bags full of ore left laying around.
"This must be where the Goron miners were before they saw our ghost." Nabooru said, picking up one of the bags to examine the ore in it, "I must say, your people do good work with their mining, Chief Darunia."
"Yeah, we better settle this situation so they can get back to work and we can get to talking about trade with each other." Darunia nodded.
"Hey, did that rock move just now?" Impa asked, looking at one particular oval-shaped rock on the ground.
"T-That one did too..." Aviel said, looking at another rock that looked just like it.
Everyone looked around the area and saw multiple rocks just like those two everywhere, and they were all starting to shift a bit.
"Is... there a small earthquake going on or something?" Nemisa asked looking around.
"Uh oh..." Darunia said, pulling out his Megaton Hammer, "We better prepare ourselves."
Link was about to ask Darunia what it was, but then he saw the rocks started to rise up onto small stubby legs of sorts, and add longer limbs made from smaller rocks. They all started shifting towards the group, surrounding them.
"What's going on here?" Aviel exclaimed, looking left and right frantically, "Is this the ghosts?!"
"These are Stone Pebblits," Darunia said, "Rock monsters that populate mountains and crags."
"Do you deal with these often?" Nemisa asked, crackling her knuckles to prepare for battle.
"Yeah, they aren't much a threat, but can be troublesome in large numbers, and they're immune to fire." Darunia said.
"Well either way, we're in for a fight." grinned Nabooru, unsheathing her twin scimitars.
"Alright, let's lay into em!" Link said with his sword and shield at the ready.
"I'll assist as well then." Impa nodded, pulling out some kunai.
The Pebblits all then lunged at the group, who charged right into battle against them.
A Pebblit bounced up and tried to smack it's fist into Link, but he blocked it with his shield before shoving it backwards into a wall. Another tried to punch him from a low point, but he stepped backwards and swung his sword to strike it down.
Nemisa flipped through the air and performed a sweeping kick to shatter one Pebblit, before turning and punching a hole through another. Another charged at her, but she simply punted it into the air with her foot, sending it flying and smashing down on top of another one.
Aviel aimed her crossbow and fired off several shots at the Pebblits coming at her, but the arrows bounced harmlessly off their rocky bodies. She then instead ran at them and struck them with her crossbow, though it didn't do much. Thankfully Darunia jumped down and smacked the Pebblits all away with his hammer.
"You alright there, little lady?" Darunia asked.
"Y-Yeah... sorry, but my weapon isn't really built for enemies like these..." Aviel said sadly.
"Bwahaha! No worry about that, just let us handle it!" Darunia laughed. He spotted ten Pebblits all rushing at the two in a type of triangle shaped formation, but he quickly curled into a ball and rolled right into them, making a loud impact and sending them to the ground shattered to pieces.
"Ha, I really bowled them over!" Darunia boasted after unrolling from his ball form,, before going back into battle.
Impa swiftly kicked away a Pebblit that came at her, then leaped up and landed on top of one. Another Pebblit tried to leap at and strike her, but she jumped away at the last minute, causing it to strike down it's own ally. She then turned around and threw a bunch of kunai at three of the Pebblits, impaling into the joints of their rocky bodies but didn't hurt them. It was then some small objects attached to the kunai lit up and exploded, blowing the Pebblits up into dust particles.
"Woah..." Aviel said with wide eyes at Impa's technique.
Nabooru meanwhile charged forward, swinging her scimitars with great strength and bashing through the stone monsters. A big one tried to swing it's fist at her, but she cut off it's arm, surprising it, before she sliced it in half. She bought up both swords to block a bigger one's punch, allowing her to then quickly jump over the monster's body, fly over it and strike it rapidly across it's back, destroying it.
"Enjoying yourself Nabooru?" Link called out to her.
"I will when the tougher guys show up!" grinned Nabooru, smacking away another Pebblit.
It was then, as if on cue, the ground started to rumble more, and out from the ground emerged another rock monster like the Pebblit, only this one was much, much bigger. It easily towered over the group in size, and it sported not two powerful limbs made from rock around it. It's body color had more of a reddish tint to it then the Pebblits, while it's forearms were a white color. It flexed it's limbs and made some kind of loud grunting sound.
"It's a Stone Talus!" Darunia exclaimed, "A much more powerful species of the Pebblits!"
"Tough enough for you now, Nabooru?" Link asked.
"Maybe if it had four or five more limbs." Nabooru smirked confidently.
"So what's the plan for this one?" Nemisa asked, "Should we have Impa blow off it's limbs first or...?"
"Wait... that... that mineral..." Darunia muttered.
Everyone turned to see Darunia standing there with his eyes closed, and seemed to be sniffing at the air. They could see some drool also starting to hang out from his mouth.
"Uh... Darunia...?" Link spoke up.
"What's he doing...?" Impa asked.
"I recognize that rich, zesty smell anywhere..." Darunia said, before opening his eyes and shouting out in enthusiasm...
"This is a TOP!"
"SIRLOIN!"
"ROCK!"
The creature, now identified as a Top Sirloin Rock Talus, saw the hungry look in the Goron's eyes, and sweatdropped, realizing what was to happen. It didn't stand a chance as Darunia lunged at it. The Talus grunted it's last grunt, as Darunia tore into the monster with his mighty rock-eating Goron teeth.
What Link and the others saw could only be described as something that would be truly horrific and gruesome had the creature not been only made out of rock. They watched as pebbles and stones went flying as Darunia gobbled and munched recklessly at the monster.
Within minutes, any resemblance of life in the Top Sirloin Talus was long gone, as Darunia laid back picking his teeth, before letting out a loud belch.
"Bwahahaha! What a feast!" Darunia laughed.
"I... feel like I never want to eat again." Nemisa said blankly.
"What a glutton... no wonder you two get along so well." Nabooru snickered to Link.
"Sure saved us some trouble at least." shrugged Link.
"Yeah, looks like that was the last of them..." Impa said, checking around.
"D-Dad?" then spoke up a new voice, getting everyone's attention, especially Darunia's, as they looked to see a small Goron creeping out from behind a rock, holding what appeared to be a smooth round rock in his hands, and bearing a timid look on his face.
"Son?" Darunia exclaimed, getting and running over to his kid, "What are you doing here in the mines?! I thought I told you not to go in here!" he scolded his kid in a fit of fury.
"I'm sorry Dad!" Link-Goron trembled, "You've been having such a hard time dealing with everything bad going on, so I thought I'd come here to try and stop the ghost was that was scaring everyone!"
Darunia's eyes widened at those words, and his stern and upset expression softened a little, as he pat his son on the shoulder.
"Ah... I'm sorry Link...I was just worried about you. I suppose I let my anger over the state of affairs get the best of me, and I end up ignoring the things that matter..."
With that, the Goron father hugged his son with everyone watching with admiration.
"That's real sweet." smiled Nabooru, "You know, I suppose I now know more why you respect Darunia so much Link, he's a good man."
"Yeah." Link nodded with a grin.
It was then Aviel went up to Link the Goron and smiled widely.
"Hey, I'm Aviel, what did your dad say your name was?" she asked cheerfully.
"Hi, good to meet you! I'm Link!" the Goron said proudly.
"You're Link? That can't be right, he's Link." Aviel said pointing to Link the Hylian.
"Well, I'm Link too!" the Goron said.
"He's Link... you're Link..." Aviel muttered, clutching at her head as her eyes turned dizzy, "...then who is Link when he's Link in the Link to the past Link..."
"Is she okay?" Link-Goron asked.
"Yeah, she's just being Aviel." Nemisa sighed.
"Uh, so how about we all take a break before continuing?" Impa suggested.
The group took that time to set up a temporary camp to rest from their investigation and the Pebblit battle. They drank water from their canteens while eating some food rations they had brought along. Link in particular took out a small box full of sauce-covered balls that looked familiar to Impa. He took a chopstick and started eating them piece by piece.
"What do you have there? More takoyaki?" Impa asked.
"Yeah, they were really good last night and I thought I'd bring some with me on this trip." Link said, eating one whole. He then held one up on the stick he had been using to eat them to Impa. "Want one?"
"Um..." Impa paused as she looked at the dough covered octopus piece. They did sound good, but the problem was more that Link's own lips had been touching that stick he was using to eat them. She found her face blushing lightly at that, and she was a little bewildered at how childish she was thinking in that moment... maybe it was because she was seeing the young, well-built and admittingly handsome Gerudo King Link smiling softly at her as he was offering her a piece...
This didn't escape the attention of Nabooru who snickered under her breath as she saw her king offering his friend a treat... and an unknowing indirect kiss to boot.
"O...Okay." Impa said, deciding to just stop dwelling on it. She slowly opened her mouth and bit down over the takoyaki, trying to avoid her lips brushing against the stick, but the taste instantly hit her mouth, and she found herself putting her lips on it anyway. She jerked back a bit too suddenly and her face was a bright red.
"T-Thank you Link." Impa said, looking away as she ate the takoyaki slowly.
Link couldn't help but blush a little himself at the sight of Impa's shy expression, while he wasn't aware of the indirect kiss he had just given her, he couldn't help but think her expression was pretty cute. He could tell she was bothered though and decided to change the conversation.
"So, what were those kunai that blew up when you threw them at those Pebblits earlier?" Link asked Impa.
"Oh, those were bombling kunai." Impa said, regaining her senses, and thankful Link took attention off the takoyaki thing, "They explode seconds after they impact into their target."
"Woah." Aviel said with wide eyes, "Ca n you teach me how to do that with my arrows?!"
"Sure, why not?" Impa nodded with a smile, "It's just a simple matter of attaching the bomblings to the front of your arrows. I'll show you how when we get back to the inn where I keep my extras."
"Thanks Ms. Grima!" Aviel cheered out, hugging Impa with her bird wings.
"Erm, it's Impa, and you're... you're welcome." the Shiekah was thrown off by the display of affection by Aviel, as well as her unusual bird wings and her odd mispronouncing of her name, but after a second found herself hugging Aviel back slightly.
As Link was drinking some water to cool off, he took that moment to glance at Impa, and saw the look on her face as she held Aviel. The soft smile on her lips reminded him of how she'd dote over Zelda back when he was spending time with them as a kid, and he caught himself blushing at how serene and at peace she looked...
After Aviel broke from the hug to go over and talk more with Link-Goron, Impa then turned to Link to speak with him.
"Does she do that hugging thing often?" Impa asked.
"Often is an understatement." snickered Link, "She's been hugging me like that since the day we met. I think her hugging you is a sign she's starting to care a lot for you."
"She's sweet." chuckled Impa, "I can see why you get along with her then."
Impa then got up herself to go try and recover some of the kunai she had used in the battle earlier, as Link thought to himself on the words she told him. He looked to see Link-Goron over by Aviel and Nemisa and the three were chatting it up.
"So what's that thing you have there?" Aviel asked Link-Goron.
"Oh this? Just a rock I found here in the mines." Link-Goron said, holding up a hard round object in his hands, "Looked delicious and I was going to eat it, but I couldn't bite through it at all. It's even got this big cracked hole on the side of it, and I could see it was hollow. It's such a weird rock!"
"Honestly I'm still trying to work my head around you thinking this thing looked delicious." Nemisa said.
Link chuckled a little at seeing the three get along, then looked over to Darunia, who was eating away at the remains of the top sirloin rock monster they fought. He thought about how Darunia comforted his son just a while ago. The young king got up and walked over to Darunia's side, sitting down beside the Goron.
"Hey Darunia, I was just wondering... what was it like when Link was born?" Link asked, referring to Darunia's son.
"Hmm? Whatdaya mean?" Darunia asked with crumbs of rock falling from his half-full mouth.
"Like... how did you feel about it? Were you scared or worried at all about what you were going to do as a father?"
"Well jees, I dunno..." Darunia muttered, rubbing the back of his head, "I guess I was a little nervous when he was born. Sometimes I'd worry if I'd teach him the right things or not... or if I'd hurt him somehow..."
Darunia then looked to see Link-Goron happily talking with Aviel and Nemisa, and he sported a grin.
"But I think being a parent isn't something you know how to do right away. It's an instinct that grows and develops over time, just like a child itself. You're never going to be perfect at it, but you can at least do your best with what you know."
Link's eyes widened as he looked to Darunia wordlessly, seeing the wisdom in the rock man's eyes.
"Does that make sense at all to you, Brother?" Darunia asked.
"No, no it makes a lot of sense." Link said smiling, "I'll take that to thought, thanks Darunia."
"Ha ha, anything for my brother!" Darunia laughed, smacking Link across the back so hard the Hylian went flying across the room, "Uh, whoops."
"You okay there Link?" Nabooru asked, pulling Link out of a mine cart filled with ore that he wound up stuck in.
"I think if anything, Darunia needs to learn to know his own strength..." Link said with spiraling eyes.
It was then the peaceful rest was shattered when they all suddenly heard a loud roar go off, the cave causing it to echo through the area.
"W-What was that?" Link-Goron asked frantically.
The group looked around as they heard another loud roar. Aviel pulled her goggles up to scope around the area, until she saw a mysterious shadow on a high-up cliffside.
"It's up there!" Aviel shouted, she pulled out her crossbow and aimed it at the shadowy being, "Show yourself, whoever you are!"
It was then the shadowy being slowly emerged out from the shadows, making everyone gasp out in shock.
It was a somewhat large reddish-orange reptilian creature with long armored wings. It's head, from it's snout to it's forehead was covered in gray scales that made it look like a helmet of some kind, and it had short curved horns sticking out in front. The dragon stared down at the group with eerie green eyes, as a small flame started to rise up from a part of it's forehead.
"It's... a dragon?!" gasped Impa.
"Could that be... Volvagia?" Nabooru asked.
"But that can't be! Dad killed that bad dragon, didn't you Dad?" Link-Goron asked.
"Yes, I destroyed that fiend with my own hands!" Darunia stated with a nod.
"Maybe then the Gorons were right... maybe it is the ghost of that dragon after all?" Nemisa pondered.
Link paused as he stared up at the dragon, something about it bothered him, but couldn't quite put his finger on it. It looked a little too familiar, but not from the dark future where he battled Volvagia in the Fire Temple. It felt more like... something else...
"Just what is that thing..." Link muttered, then spoke out to his bodyguard, "Hey Aviel, can you use your goggles to get a better look at that-"
It was then Link turned to see Aviel, and his eyes widened at the sight of her. For some reason, Aviel was standing there with her eyes sunken in, her face a pale white and her body was shivering.
"A-Aviel...?"
"I... I..." Aviel stammered.
"Aviel, what's wrong?" Impa asked.
"I... don't know..." whispered Aviel, clutching at her head as she shivered, "I don't think that's a ghost... but... something else about it is really bothering me... and I don't know why! I... I..."
Link stared down at the look of horror in her Aviel's eyes. He turned to Darunai's son and spoke out.
"Link, please watch over Aviel." Link told him, "We'll all handle this thing."
"Right away Uncle Link!" Link-Goron said, running over to stay by Aviel's side.
With that, Link, Nabooru, Nemisa, Darunia and Impa all stood with their weapons drawn and ready to fight as the dragon loomed down over them. It screeched out as the small flame on it's head burst out and ignited. It spread it's wings and swooped down at the group, ready to battle.
"Everyone get ready and fight!" Nabooru shouted, and the five went into battle against the dragon as it landed down into a fighting stance.
Nabooru went in swinging out her scimitars, the dragon rose it's head up to avoid the strike and lunged down to bite at her, but she backflipped away and struck at the dragon across it's face, causing to screech out. It then swung one of it's wings down at Nabooru, so she jumped to the side avoid it, but was knocked away by the dragon's other wing.
"So it uses it's wings for battle too? Interesting." Nabooru said.
Impa quickly flipped into the air and clung to the side of the cavern wall, she deployed her kunai net trick, and threw down a bunch of the small daggers around the dragon, trapping it under the net like she did with Togau the other day. However, the dragon burst out from them and roared out.
"Tsk..." Impa narrowed her eyes and leaped off the wall, throwing down a barrage of bombling kunai. As soon as they hit the dragon they exploded, but the creature didn't seem phased, and breathed fire out at Impa, forcing her to land to the ground and keep her distance.
Darunia went in with a mighty swing of his Megaton Hammer at the dragon, but it spread it's wings and leaped backwards to avoid the impact, before breathing out a stream of fire at Darunia. The Goron however brought up his arms and allowed the fire to impact directly into him. When the flames went away, Darunia lunged out and slammed his Megaton Hammer into the monster.
"Ha, those weak flames won't work on a Goron like myself!" Darunia grinned.
"Woah, Dad's such a cool fighter!" Link-Goron said with sparkling eyes.
Nemisa ducked under one swing of it's bladed wing, jumped over a low swing of the other wing, before kicking the dragon across the face. It tried a tail attack, but she leaped up into a flip, then attempting to perform a flying kick on the dragon's back, but the dragon retaliated by swinging up it's wings to blow air upwards and repel her away.
"Hmph, such a stubborn lizard." Nemisa said landing to the ground.
Link ran in with his sword, smacking at the dragon, who then swung it's powerful tail at Link. The new Gerudo king however blocked it with his shield. The tail impact caused Link to get pushed back, but he then leaped forward, flipping over the dragon's tail and smacking it again with his sword.
As the others started to approach the monster for another attack, the dragon then breathed in air, then fired it down on the ground, causing a flaming wave around it that sent everyone backwards. Link gazed up at the ceiling and saw some wood planks set to support the room's foundation. He pulled out his Longshot and used it to grapple up into the air, then coming straight down on the dragon's back, giving it a solid smack of his sword, causing the dragon to roar out in pain.
"Did that do it?" Nabooru asked.
It was then the dragon did a powerful thrust of it's back upwards, sending Link flying off it, and allowing the dragon to take to the sky with it's wings. It breathed fire down around the room, forcing everyone to scatter. It then looked down and saw Link-Goron and Aviel in the back. The dragon swooped down and was about to grab at Aviel, who was still in a blank trance, but Link-Goron stepped out to protect her and the dragon snatched him instead. The dragon decided to just go with it and turn, flying off upwards towards the cliffside it had been on before.
"Daaad!" shouted Link-Goron as he was taken away by the monster.
"SON!" shouted Darunia.
"Not on your life dragon!" Link shouted firing off arrows with his Fairy Bow, but the dragon evaded the shots and flew off into the deeper darkness of the mines.
Everyone stood in shock at what had just happened, while Darunia was trembling miserably. Nemisa took one look at Darunia's pain, before snarling and looking to Aviel.
"Aviel you damn birdbrain!" Nemisa shouted in fury, running at and grabbing at the girl, shaking her in fury, "How could you let that thing take the chief's son?!"
"I... it took... that..." Aviel muttered.
"Hey come on Nemisa, lay off of her!" Link told his fiance.
"No! She calls herself your bodyguard, but look at her, she's cowering in fear like a child!" Nemisa shouted.
Aviel then snapped out of her daze at the words of Nemisa, and looked sadly up at her.
"I-I... let him... no... I..." Aviel stammered incoherently.
"Well it's not like you haven't done the same thing in the past!" Link retorted to Nemisa.
That caught Nemisa off guard, and she realized what he meant. She looked down at the pained look in Aviel's eyes, and it reminded her of her own past trauma with the slaver Jayde. It made Nemisa wonder in that moment what exactly it was about the dragon that scared Aviel the way it did...
"Look, now's not the time to be fighting with each other, we have more important things to worry about!" Link said, gesturing to Darunia.
"Son! SON!" wailed Darunia, before his body surged with flames and he flexed his arms, "Graaah! I'm so angry I'm about to burst like the volcano of Death Mountain itself! I have to save him!"
"Y-You're right, I apologize Link." Nemisa said softly to her fiance.
"Don't worry Chief Darunia, we'll do whatever we can to help!" Nabooru assured the rock man.
"I'll assist you all as well, that dragon won't get away with this." Impa nodded.
"Thank you everyone..." sniffled Darunia in gratitude.
"Alright then, let's go!" Link shouted.
With that, the group all hurried deeper into the mines to track down the dragon and save Darunia's son.
So that ends this chapter. Just when things have gone from trouble to just plain bad. Can our heroes save Link-Goron before he becomes premium dragon chow? (nah, they're actually just going to go back to the hot spring and get drunk /s) Find out next time!
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