"Dammit! You guys just don't know when to give up do you?!" Ganondorf ducked and dodged as a sword cleaved through the space where his head had been moments before. He was honestly surprised and impressed. The 'Goose Chase Brigade' had finally figured out that he'd slipped past them and doubled back. They had showed up in the trade town once more, and quickly actually chased him out of town. The chase had now lasted almost a week, Ganondorf had managed to stay ahead of them, but he was starting to get tired. And now a group of scouts had actually caught up to him at the base of the eastern mountains before he could lose them in the rocky terrain.

So, he now found himself dodging and weaving through a squad of a dozen surprisingly well trained scouts as they vented their anger over the two and a half week chase he'd led them on, on top of the seven years of wasted time that some of them had endured. Ganondorf quietly thanked the Goddesses that Aunt Shiek had taught him a few spells to hold back exhaustion, because without them, he would have died at least three times now. "Come on guys," He entreated his attackers, "How about we just stop all this idiocy, and I buy you all a drink instead? Anyone? No? Ugh, fine."

Murmuring another spell, he reinforced the armor of his gauntlets, using them to block and turn away the soldier's sword blows. Then he cast a second spell to enhance his already impressive strength, and began to strike back. Dodging several slashes, he moved forward, catching a sword with one gauntlet, and quickly delivered a brutal punch into the owner's stomach, before throwing himself to the side, away from a final slash. Coming up in a crouch, he lunged forward, grabbing a soldier by the head, and pulled. The soldier flailed uselessly as Ganondorf hurled him into three of his fellows, bowling them all over.

Ganondorf then lashed out with a kick, knocking another soldier down and out of the fight. Taking the brief moment he had bought himself to catch his breath, he looked down the hill, seeing the rest of the Brigade hurrying towards the fight. Snarling in frustration, he turned and leapt up the steep rock face of the mountainside, using his magically enhanced strength to gain extra distance from the jump.

However, the scouts were experts in this sort of terrain, and were quickly following him up the mountain. An hour later, they once again had him surrounded on a small plateau far up the mountain's face. Ganondorf breathed heavily, his strength sapped from dozens of small cuts that his opponents had managed to land, his legs shook from exhaustion as the magic that sustained him began to wear off as well.

"I don't suppose I can convince you guys to let me have a break eh?" He joked weakly as the last of his strength finally left him and he collapsed, his vision going black.

The scouts all began to close in on him, blades drawn, and murder in their eyes. However, before they could move more than a few steps, a flicker of red detached itself from the nearby rocks. A blurred figure darted through the line of scouts, grabbed their prey, and lunged past them, rushing for a small path along the mountainside. "Sorry fellas, but I have business with this big lug." A feminine voice called out, "I'll just leave you this as a 'thank you'."

A small black bomb rolled down the path back towards the scouts, it's fuse burning quickly. The scouts took one look at the bomb, and lunged away from it, leaping down the hill as the blast went off. The explosion ripped a solid chunk from the steep mountainside, destroying the path, and knocking dozens of large boulders loose to tumble down the hill after the scouts and into the unfortunate soldiers who were still climbing.

Ganondorf groaned in pain as he rolled to his side, awakening to a body that hurt all over. "Son of a bitch..." He swore as he quickly realized just how sore he really was. He then also realized that he was no longer outside, and that there was a small fire crackling next to him. "Great... now what?"

"Well good morning to you too." Nobooru grinned at him from across the fire, a small animal roasting on a spit in front of her. "And you're welcome for saving your life."

Ganondorf slowly looked around, taking stock of the situation. He was in a small cave, the entrance covered by some kind of screen. He was laid on a small bed of surprisingly soft straw and fur, with bandages covering his chest and arms. "So... I really did collapse in the middle of a fight..." He chuckled weakly, covering his face with one of his hands, "Auntie Shiek would never let me hear the end of it..."

Nobooru blinked down at him, absently pulling the cooked meat from the fire and biting a piece from it. "Who's 'Auntie Shiek'?" She asked curiously.

"She's the one who raised me." He said, groaning as he forced himself to sit up and face the woman who had saved him. "We aren't really related, but we've almost always been together. Until a few years ago when she decided to see if I could survive on my own." He chuckled again, groaning in pain as he did, "Guess my current state answers that..." He glanced up at the young woman, "Thank you for saving me." He flashed her a small, handsome smile.

Nobooru paused, her cheeks suddenly matching her hair color. "Oh... uh..." She coughed a little bit, "Yeah. No problem." She tossed him the spit of cooked meat, and busied herself setting up a second one.

"Of course that begs the question," Ganondorf frowned suspiciously, "What were you doing out here in the first place? Also, how did a pickpocket and thief like you manage to get me away from a dozen well trained Hylian soldiers?"

"Hey! First off, for your information, my family lives up in these mountains." Her eyes flashed dangerously, "And second, I'm not just a thief. I've got plenty of tricks up my sleeves."

"What sleeves?" He joked lightly. When her eyes flashed again, he held up his hands in surrender. "It was a joke. I'm sorry. I'm sure you are very talented. You must be, for me to be here instead of bled out on that mountainside. So, I'll believe you."

"Good." She said with a smirk, "Otherwise I'd kick your ass out onto the path, and let those soldiers find you." She casually turned the spit over the fire, "Most of the time, men aren't allowed in these mountains," She explained, "My family chases any men away if they come too close. The only times any men are allowed up here is if we decide to find a boyfriend, or if that man has proven himself to one of my family." She paused, considering him for a moment, "No offense, but at the moment, you aren't exactly boyfriend material. But anyone who can piss off an entire Hylian brigade, and survive for as long as you did, that person is defiantly worth letting in."

Ganondorf smiled, "Uh, thanks? I guess?" As he spoke, he delved into his memories that had been awakening over the last seven years. There were thousands of years worth, but he had learned quickly how to sift through them efficiently, and he soon found the memories he had been looking for. "You're Gerudo." He said with a sudden knowing smile.

"Yeah." Nobooru answered, an impressed expression on her face, "Although I'm actually surprised you know the name. Nobody's called us that in almost as long as I've been alive."

"Apparently my Aunt Shiek used to be friends with a Gerudo woman. So she told me a bit about their culture." It was certainly true, Shiek had indeed taught him a bit about the Gerudo, but most of his knowledge, (which he suspected, was probably even more than Nobouru knew,) came from his memories. "Not much though, every time she talks about the Gerudo, she always get's this really depressed look in her eye, and changes the subject as quickly as she can."

Nobooru nodded, "Yeah, my mom's a similar way. Apparently King Link's soldier's tried to wipe us out about twenty one years ago. They attacked us during a festival of some kind, and nearly killed us all. I don't actually know the full story, none of the women who were there that night talk about it. And I was born a few months later, so mom say's I was blessed." She forced herself to smile brightly, "But on the bright side, most people these days think that the Gerudo are all dead, so they never suspect any of us until it's too late."

Ganondorf laughed, "Hahahah, ow son of a bitch. Don't make me laugh again please. I'm in enough pain as it is." He took a bite of the cooked meat that Nobouru had given him. "Well that certainly explains how you were able to save me. Especially if the Gerudo are still even half as fierce warriors as my aunt described them as."

"You bet your ass we are." She said with a grin, "We're the best there is. And some day, King Link is going to learn that first hand."

"I think I'd like to meet the Gerudos. If I could that is." Ganondorf grinned, "As you've already seen, I'm not exactly the most popular man in Hyrule, and I think I could learn a lot from your people."

Nobooru pondered for a few moments, pulling her, now cooked, meat from the fire and biting into it as she did. "I don't see why not. You've already got my permission for that chase you led the 'Wild Goose Chase Brigade' on. And I bet that my sisters will be fine with you once I explain it to them." She tore another chunk of meat from the spit and munched on if for a few moments, "Get some rest," She then said. "You've had a long couple of days, and you've earned it."

Ganondorf smiled gratefully, before collapsing back down. He was asleep before his head hit the bedding.

Two days later, Ganondorf was back on his feet, thanks to some Gerudo medicinal remedies and some old Shiekah healing meditations. He stepped from the cave he and Nobouru had been hiding in, and blinked in the sunlight to adjust his sight. Then, looking around, found himself only a few hundred yards from where he and the scouts had battled. "That cover screen for the cave entrance must be really good if the 'Goose Chase' didn't find us at all." He said, a hint of duly impressed wonder in his voice.

"Nobody's better at hiding and moving through this desert than we are." Nobooru proudly announced, stepping into the daylight alongside the large man. "Plus, our shamans put a little spirit magic in all of our hiding screens. Help's to throw predators and hunters off the trail."

Ganondorf nodded, "My aunt taught me how to hide like that. It's how I gave the 'Goose Chase' the slip that first night we met."

Nobooru suddenly snapped her fingers, "Oh that's right!" She smiled sweetly, "There was something I was meaning to do, when I first saved you from the 'Goose Chase'." Then, without missing a beat, she turned and drove a brutal punch into Ganondorf's stomach, and followed up with another punch to his cheek that layed him out flat on his back. "That's for pulling that little disappearing trick on me that night." She explained, flexing her hand that had struck his jaw. "Now we're even."

Ganondorf rubbed his jaw, looking up at the beautiful woman standing over him, impressed by the amount of power she had put behind those two punches. "I suppose I may have deserved that. But you can't say that you didn't come out ahead from our little exchange that night. I gave you a gold rupee for the trouble."

"Eh, you may be right." She said, chuckling lightly and offering him a hand up. "Still, it's not very gentlemanly to play tricks on a beautiful lady like that."

He burst into a hearty laugh at that. "And since when have I ever made claims of being a gentleman? I'm a thief who was raised in the desert alone by his, possibly crazy, aunt."

The two shared another laugh together as they began to make their way up the mountain trail. Their path took them deep into the mountains, over the course of several nights. Each night, the two of them would spar, both as a method to stave off boredom in the otherwise empty traveling, and as a way to speed up Ganondorf's full recovery.

Ganondorf quickly came to appreciate just how fast and lethally strong his traveling companion was. He had always been a strong and, (thanks to the specialized training from Shiek,) extremely fast fighter, but Nobooru was easily able to keep up with his best and match him blow for blow. On the fourth night of their trek, they finally decided to see who was the better between them. By the end of the fourth strait hour of fighting, neither could actually claim victory, and the both collapsed from exhaustion in a laughing heap.

Then, finally on the fifth day, their destination appeared in sight. The trail they were on took them into a valley, ringed on all sides by steep, sheer cliffs. And nestled into the base of the cliffs, running nearly the length of the valley, was a massive stone fortress carved out of the cliff-side itself. From their vantage point at the top of the opposite cliff, their trail leading down a steep, switch-backing path cut into the cliff-side, Ganondorf could see dozens of figures, tiny with distance, paroling along the tiered roofs of the stone fortress below. He could also see a small canyon that led to a smaller valley behind the fortress, and while he couldn't see through the cliff wall to see what the second valley contained, he could see the telltale dust clouds of running horses rising up over the mountains.

"Welcome to the Gerudo Valley, Dragmire." Nobooru said, grinning at his stunned expression.

"This place is incredible!" He said, gazing down at the fortress, and recalling all of his past live's memories of it. It seemed to have grown larger since his last incarnation. "Shiek told me that the Gerudo's fortress home was impressive. But her stories hardly does the real thing justice."

Nobooru laughed, beginning to pick her way carefully down the switchback trail towards the valley floor. "Yeah, there really is no other place as defendable as this valley. Even if an enemy sets up on the cliffs, the fortress itself is strong enough to withstand a meteor strike apparently. And we have secret tunnels all throughout these cliffs."

Ganondorf nodded silently, his memories casting back to one of his previous lives, when he had ordered the fortress to be made stronger. He had discovered, (And then stolen,) a massive amount of Goddess Steel, and ordered his servants to smelt it down and reconstruct the fortress around it. It had made the structure all but indestructible, unfortunately, it did nothing to slow down the Hero of Time on foot. But all of that was now thousands of years in the past. His mind snapping back to the present, Ganondorf smiled, "I look forward to seeing it up close."

They were halfway down the cliff when an arrow buried itself into the cliff face, barely three inches in front of Ganondorf's nose. "Who enters the sacred home of the true rulers of the desert?" The challenge was called out, as several Gerudo women seemed to materialize out of nowhere, appearing on the path both ahead of them, and behind them.

"I am Nobooru. Daughter of Risha. And if you aim that arrow at me again Nialla, I'm going to come down there and shove it down your throat!" Nobooru grinned as she answered, the threat clearly a running joke to her. "I bring with me a man of skill, and more importantly, an enemy of the Mad King of the East."

Ganondorf glanced at the guards that now blocked their path, and then smiled. Gerudo respected skill more than almost anything else in life. Reaching up in a flash of motion, he grabbed the arrow now sticking out of the cliff wall and pulled it out. Then, turning in a single fluid motion, he raised and hurled the arrow like a small javeline. The missile cleaved through the air, hurtling into the stone between the feet of the woman who had fired it, the torn front half of her shirt pinned beneath it. "I figured I should return that to you." He announced confidently, calling down to the now shirtless, and scarlet blushing woman.

Nobooru burst out laughing. "Hahaha, Never-mind Nialla." She said, wiping tears from her eyes, "You look like you've suffered enough for one day." Several of the other Gerudo that surrounded them also began chuckling.

One of the guards approached, "Welcome home sister." She said, pulling Nobooru into a hug, "We were slightly worried when we saw signs of Hylian troops in the area."

"Yeah, that's kinda his fault." Nobooru said, still chuckling. "Missan, I'd like to introduce you to Dragmire, the living breathing flesh and blood target of the 'Wild Goose Chase Brigade'. He's also a thief, a card cheat, a bit of a magician, and a hell of a fighter."

Missan stepped past her and gazed at Ganondorf searchingly, sizing him up. He stood tall and confident, meeting her strong piercing eyes with his own burnished golden bronze gaze, a small smirk on his face. After a few seconds, she nodded smiling, "Welcome Dragmire," She said, extending a hand in greeting, "I am Missan, Captain of the Valley Guard, and older sister to your insane travelling companion over there. I had heard that the 'Goose Chase Brigade's' target was nothing more than a myth, but here you are... Not what I expected I admit."

Ganondorf grinned, shaking Missan's hand in a firm grip. "A pleasure to meet you Missan. And no, I'm not exactly the monster that most people expect when they hear about me." He chuckled at his own inside joke, thinking of the real reason that the Brigade was hunting him. "And thank you for giving your crazy sister the chance to introduce me before gutting me."

Missan blinked for a moment, and then burst out laughing. "Oh you are funny. Nobooru dear," She turned to her sister, "You'd better pounce on this one quick or he'll get stolen away from you." Her tone was teasing, but something in her eyes made Ganondorf very sure that she was planning on doing the stealing herself.

Nobooru also caught the implication and quickly turned a deep red. "Sh-shut up sis." She said, turning around and crossing her arms, "You would be significantly less enamored with him if you had needed to save his life, and THEN nurse him back to health."

"Ooh you nursed him did you?" Missan's arms coiled around her sister's belly, causing Nobooru to squeak in surprise. "Maybe I should see what about him made you want to nurse him."

"Agh! I hate you so MUCH!" Nobooru whirled on her sister and tried to tackle her, however Missan had already flipped herself up and over her head, her hand pushing against the back of her head, and sending her stumbling and spilling into Ganondorf. The others gathered around them all laughed at the sibling squable and began to disperse once more, leaving the three of them alone on the cliff-side trail.

"Nobooru," Ganondorf said, chuckling as he worked to hold the young woman in his arms back, "Maybe we wait until we get down closer to the valley floor to kill your sibling." With that, he casually picked her up and began to carry her as he continued down the trail.

Nobooru thrashed and flailed in his arms, spitting curses and oaths of vengeance as he laughed and continued unslowed. Missan meanwhile fell into step behind them, her eyes glinting evilly. "Oooh, jealous." She laughed, "Nobooru you minx, you brought home a keeper." She laughed, wrapping her arms up around Ganondorf's neck and purred into his ear, "Promise you'll carry me next time?"

He didn't get a chance to answer as his cargo lunged at her, clawing at the empty air where her head had been a heartbeat before. "Missan I swear I'm going to kill you this time!" Nobooru snarled as her sister and Ganondorf laughed.

The fortress was abuzz with chatter and gossip. Lussana looked up, roused from her thoughts by the sounds of a pair of passing guards talking eagerly. Standing up, she called to them, "What the hell is all this racket about? You guards are gossiping like city teenagers."

The guards both blushed furiously, snapping to salute in front of their senior. "Apologies Mistress Lussana. Nobooru brought a man to the valley. They say he's the one that the 'Goose Chase Brigade' has been hunting all these years."

Lussana crooked an eyebrow, "Really? He's real? And Nobooru brought him? What do we know about him?"

"He's big, pure muscle and strength. He's also fast, and a scary good shot." At Lussana's questioning glance, the guard explained, "When we confronted him and Nobooru on the cliff trail, Nialla fired off a warning shot, just to let him know we meant business, he pulled the arrow out of the rock, and threw it back at her. Hard enough that it tore her shirt off as it passed between her boobs. And not a scratch on her otherwise."

Lussana let out an impressed whistle. "Ok. Yeah, that's a good shot."

One of the guards grinned mischievously, "I hope I get a chance to meet him before Missan get's her claws in him. His name's apparently Dragmire, and he's actually pretty hand...some... Mistress Lussana? Are you...alright?"

The color had drained from Lussana's face, and a shocked expression had claimed her features. "W-what did you say his name was?" She asked as she finally found her voice once more.

"Dragmire." The guards glanced nervously between each other, "What's the matter?"

"He's a young man?" At the guard's nod, Lussana sweapt between them, rushing out of the fortress and frantically looking around, the shocked guards rushing after her. Finally her eyes locked on the large figure just stepping off the cliff trail, the still flailing form of Nobooru in his arms, and Missan dancing teasingly around them, just out of her reach. Lussana rushed forward, the figure of the man coming fully into focus, she stopped dead in her tracks a few paces from him, her eyes locked with his.

Nobooru and Missan both quieted the instant they saw Lussana coming, Nobooru climbed down from Ganondorf's hold. She was one of the Gerudo's most senior and respected members, and her stride and expression instantly put them on edge.

"It... can't be..." Lussana gazed at the large man before her, looking as if she had seen a ghost. "You... y-... Ganondorf?" Her voice was almost a whisper now, "Ganondorf Dragmire?"

Ganondorf's eye's widened in both shock and alarm, and he slowly shifted into a combat stance. "How do you know my full name?"

Nobooru and Missan both glanced between the two, confused, "You're full name?" Nobooru asked. "What's going on here?"

"It really is you..." Lussana said, small tears appearing in her eyes. "You're alive... after all these years... Oh, Mistress Nazhia..." She collapsed to her knees, the strength in her legs seeming to give out, "He survived. He's alive."

Everyone present blinked in surprise at the sudden shift in emotion. Ganondorf was confused, and the Gerudo's were shocked that the demanding and always serious Lussana was crying over the appearance of a man of all things. "Um..." Missan cleared her throat, "Mistress Lussana... what is going on here?"

"A miracle, Missan." Lussana said, drying her eyes and picking herself back up. "This young man is Ganondorf Dragmire. Only Son of Mistress Nazhia Draginil. He was born to the Gerudo Tribe twenty one years ago, the first and only male Gerudo child in more than a century." She fixed him with a strong gaze. "All Hail the return of Ganondorf." She announced in a strong, clear voice that seemed to carry itself to every nook and cranny of the Valley, "All hail the return of our KING"