notaname: I have about five minutes to get the guest reviews done, so I'm sorry if this reply isn't as in depth as usual! Life can be rough, can't it? But on the bright side... it could ALWAYS be worse. *may or may not be skipping over a few lines (I still read them, though)* I am NOT a pyromaniac! How dare you suggest such a thing! It's not like I spent an hour on Saturday burning things for my own personal enjoyment! NO! LIES! Instant jaw dislocation and relocation (or whatever word should be there), eh? I only have double jointed elbows. I think that being able to dislocate your jaw like that would get better reactions out of people, though. And... Zelda can also... uh... she can probably fly to Mars/whatever-the-equivalent-of-Mars-is-in-the-Zelda-universe. She don't need no oxygen! Honestly, Purah, just set it on fire! That's the best way to destroy anything! And the most fun, of course. Uh, uh, uh, in Alaska, it's illegal to shove a moose out of an airplane. BEAT THAT, CALIFORNIA! Britain's laws take the cake though. I don't really laugh out loud very often, either. Mr. Beast's YouTube videos manage to get it out of me, though. Hmm... I dunno about the maid idea. I haven't ever done much with maids in Before. I should probably do maids. Oh! So does the horse riding theme! The one at night is more calm, while the one during the day sometimes make me think a guardian is chasing me and makes me wish guardians were flammable. So... there's that. OH YEAH! I forgot about that review! But yeah, I chose to rewrite it because the old one sucked. Simple enough. It feels like people do stuff with duct tape a lot in elementary school. "Here, buy this duct tape wallet for... uh... let's say $8! I definitely didn't get the duct tape at the Dollar Store!" I've taken to carrying around not only a ridiculous amount of pencils and erasers in my sweatshirt pocket, but also at least three folded up doodle sheets. I need SOMETHING to do while I'm being bored in my math classes! I am never taking two math classes ever again. I don't get the reference. I live under a rock (XD).

Chapter 15: Hylian Enigmas

Princess Zelda stepped onto the Divine Beast Rudania with an awed expression. Link followed, keeping his own face blank, but silently admiring it all the same. It was incredible how this large hunk of rock had been created to navigate easily on Death Mountain.

"You said you were having difficulties, yes?" The princess asked Daruk, clearly trying to hide her excitement.

Daruk scratched the back of his head. "Yeah. I want it to stop, it goes. I want it to turn left, it turns right. It's like it doesn't want to do what I want it to do."

Link attempted to withhold a chuckle. That sounds just like Epona.

It seemed, however, that a bit of the chuckle slipped out. The princess sent him a sharp glare. Link quickly wiped his face completely clean of emotion. Though the princess gave him a suspicious look, she looked away a moment later. Link heaved a silent sigh.

"Perhaps there's a bug in the system," the princess said thoughtfully. "Can you show me to the main control unit?"

Link doubted there could be a bug in the system. If he remembered right, Purah had purged the system for anything like that before the champions were chosen. Purah, if anything, was thorough when it came to Sheikah technology.

"Over here, Princess," Daruk said, leading them towards the center of the top platform. The main control unit was a large, bud-like construction with orange and blue veins, which gave off an eerie glow.

The princess went for the pedestal at the front of the control unit, immediately going to her tinkering about. "Hmm… nothing obvious on the surface. Perhaps if I check the more inner works… there may have been a miscalculation in the way that things were connected..."

Though Link was fascinated by everything the princess was saying, he knew that she would start asking questions if he was listening a little too intently.

"So, Little Guy," Daruk said, bringing Link's attention to the Goron Champion. "Do you have any suggestions?"

Link felt surprise slip through his mask. Someone asking me for advice on a Divine Beast?

"Um…"

"I know that you don't really have a Divine Beast," Daruk continued, as if he hadn't noticed Link's expression (he probably hadn't), "but you usually have the best advice. What do you think?"

Link glanced at the princess out of the corner of his eye. She was still muttering to herself as she dug through the gears, oblivious to the conversation happening behind her.

Link thought back to what Daruk had said about the Divine Beast. It really does sound like a stubborn horse. Are these things alive?

"Would you say that the Divine Beast is like an animal?" Link asked Daruk slowly.

Daruk looked thoughtful. "I guess you could say that. It's like it has a mind of its own."

Link nodded, processing this information. Okay then. How would I get a stubborn horse to get along with its rider? Then an idea came to him. "How much have you looked around the Divine Beast?"

Daruk shrugged. "I've looked around the top floor a bit, but I decided I'd look around more after I figure out how it works."

Link hesitated slightly as he thought of what he should say, before he decided to come off as confident. "Then let's explore it right now while the princess works."

Daruk looked confused. "How will that-?"

Link grabbed the Goron's hand and somehow managed to tug Daruk a few feet towards the ramp downwards. "You'll see. Besides, it'll be interesting, right?"

Zelda, despite her tinkering, heard every word of the two champions' conversation quite clearly, thank you very much.

She wondered why Daruk asked Sir Link's advice. She was even more surprised when the silent knight responded - and in such a confusing way. He had first asked if the Divine Beast had a likeness to an animal, and then had switched topic to ask how much Daruk had seen of the Divine Beast.

How in Hylia's name are those two questions connected? Zelda thought with a huff as she hooked the Sheikah Slate to the control unit. She had never heard the knight speak so openly, either - to her, he spoke with an emotionless drone to match his expression. But when he spoke to Daruk, he spoke with the slightest emotion - not enough to truly tell what, but it was there.

She set the Sheikah Slate to scan the Divine Beast. So far, not a single thing she had seen would have any effect on Daruk's ability to control Rudania. Everything was perfectly in place.

Maybe there's something even deeper in the system?

"Any luck, Princess?" Daruk asked when they came back up.

The princess stood up from the control unit, looking frustrated. "I can't seem to find anything out of the ordinary in the system. I am going to check the terminals - perhaps there is something outside of the main unit causing you difficulty."

Daruk didn't understand a lot of what she said, but it made enough sense for him to get the gist of it. "Alright then, Princess. I'll just talk with the little guy and try moving it around again, if that's okay with you."

"Not a problem," the princess said as she walked away, clearing distracted. "Come get me if anything improves."

And with that, the princess disappeared inside the Divine Beast.

Daruk turned to Link. "What do you think I should do now?"

"Go for it," was the little guy's simple response.

Daruk, though confused, decided that Link probably knew what he was talking about. "If you say so."

The Goron focussed his senses, as the little Sheikah woman had told him to do. Before, he hadn't understood what she had meant by "connection," but now he did.

He opened his eyes, and the Divine Beast was moving forward, slowly but steadily - just as Daruk had wanted it to.

"Well, would you look at that!" Daruk exclaimed. "It's working!" He looked down at the small Hylian standing beside him. "Looks like your advice did the trick! Thanks, Little Guy!" And with that, Daruk clapped the Hylian Champion heartily on the back, oblivious to the fact that the poor boy was thrown forward.

"It's only moved forward a bit," Link said, groaning slightly as he rubbed his back. "Try something more complicated before you thank me."

Daruk practiced moving the Divine Beast around more, the mechanical creature obeying his every wish. After a mere fifteen minutes or so, he had managed to bring Rudania high up in the peaks.

"Yeah! I think I'm finally getting the hang of controlling this Divine Beast!" After bringing the mechanical marvel to a stop, Daruk stretched his arms above his head, popping the joints. "I tell you what - it sure is a blast piloting a toy like this around."

Daruk popped his neck slightly before turning to the little guy. "Let those other champions know that they'd better eat their gravel if they want to keep up with Daruk."

Daruk turned to face the red mountains before them.

"Speaking of which, can you believe this view? Just look at all those delectable rocks sprinkled on those mountains…" Daruk felt his stomach rumbling at the thought. "Mighty tasty!"

Daruk paused. "I may not know a whole lot about this 'Calamity Ganon' thing… but mark my words," he said turning towards Link, his eyes determined. "I'll protect this land of ours to the death! Daruk clapped the Hylian Champion on the back, once again oblivious to the strength of it. "Right, Little Guy?"

Link nodded a little weakly, rubbing his back.

"Hey, by the way," Daruk said, changing the subject. "Congrats on becoming the princess's appointed knight. That's a really big deal! Protecting the king's daughter..." he chuckled, placing a hand on Link's shoulder. "No pressure!"

Link smiled weakly.

"Seriously, though," Daruk continued. "The princess is a strong personality!" Daruk scratched his head. "So strong that she can't quite see the range for the peaks. Remember that, and you'll be fine."

Link nodded. Daruk hoped that the little guy found his advice useful.

It was then that the ground began to quake. Link rearranged his feet to a more stable stance, his limbs trembling. Daruk couldn't blame him - this quake was strong.

Then a gigantic boulder broke free from the mountainside, tumbling towards them. Daruk glared at it as if it had offended him, and as it came, he summoned his shield, surrounding himself and Link. The boulder shattered upon impact, scattering the dust and rocky debris around them.

When the dust settled, Daruk removed his barrier. "Right, what was I saying…?" Daruk frowned at the rocks scattered around the Divine Beast. "That was a little strange. As far as I know, Death Mountain has been quiet for decades!" He turned his gaze to the mountainside. "But if the mountain is shivering enough to send down a bunch of boulders that size, then…" Daruk trailed off and shook his head. "Nevermind. Forget I said anything."

"Daruk!"

The voice drew Daruk's eyes to the entrance to the inside of the Divine Beast. The princess emerged, coughing. "What was that?"

Daruk glanced momentarily at the cliff again, before turning back to the princess and shaking his head. "Just a small quake. They happen every now and then."

"Really?" the princess asked. "Perhaps I should do some research on it. I'm sure there are theories as to why it occurs." The princess paused. "How did the Divine Beast get up here? Have you done better in controlling it?"

Daruk nodded with a grin. "The little guy seemed to know the trick! I'm still not quite sure what he did," he admitted, scratching his head, "but it worked!"

The princess glanced towards Link. "Really, now? Perhaps he can explain what he did to help? I'm certain that it would be of interest to the Sheikah scientists."

Daruk looked at the little guy. He was back to being all stiff faced. "I didn't do anything in particular, Princess," Link said quietly. "Lord Daruk is simply exaggerating."

The princess raised an eyebrow at Link, as if she didn't believe his words. "Is that so?"

Link merely nodded.

When both pairs of Hylian eyes landed on Daruk, he scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "I can't really exaggerate when I'm not sure what happened."

Princess Zelda shot a glare at Link, who remained emotionless. Daruk, though unsure of their reasoning for the way they acted, was sure of one thing:

I will never understand Hylians.

Heyo. I was really lacking in motivation with this particular chapter - it's not the most exciting stuff I've written, and I was really just cramming words onto the page in hopes that it would turn out 7+ pages. I got up at six in the morning so that I would have time to get all this into the doc manager, though, so there's that.

I sincerely apologize if there are any reviews that I haven't replied to! I tried to get them all, but trying to get them all doesn't necessarily work very well when you're bleary eyed and about to fall asleep sitting up.

SPEAKING OF REVIEWS, please do so! I was really lazy with this chapter because I hate it (no offense, chapter)! That means that I didn't bother going back to fix anything! WOOO! Oh, and motivation is nice. It's like coffee, except it's words that are written on a computer and, rather than providing energy, it provides motivation towards the continuation of this story... and I also like reviews, unlike coffee.

SECRET REVIEW PHRASE IS... *drumroll, please*... lava! (I really need to come up with better secret review phrases)

Sincerely (eh, it being six in the morning, I'm probably half asleep, so you can't be certain),

Ari