Fyras14: Sorry for the big delay, everyone! I got a little distracted for a while playing by Xbox that I recently got...but, now, I'm back...and unfortuantely, suffering from a small writer's block. So I will not be able to update my other stories that need to be updated. Anyway, because I made you wait so much, I will give you not only this chapter, but a second one as well! They are not that corrected like the past chapters, but they seemed okay to me when I reread them...I corrected a few things here and there...but if there are errors do correct me!

Also I took care of some parts of the dialogue, for those that remember how this chapter went!

Summary: After the attack on her castle, Zelda manages to escape, half dead. Found by Link in the wild, she is taken care of, but when fate plays its harsh hand once more, the princess must do everything in her power to aid the hero, recover her kingdom, and maybe fall in love. AU Twilight Princess.

Please read or review, or criticize, whichever comes first. Flames are not accepted, frowned upon, and possibly deleted.

Also remember, that this story is not a walkthrough, and that Zelda and its characters do not belong to me.

Anyone can give up; it's the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that's true strength.

-Unknown

-Chapter 8-

-Sumo Troubles-

Link's blood boiled as he chased after the evil creature, hearing the cries of the children, and the few remaining villagers after him. Shannon was crying out loud in the air, as she took after Link and Epona.

That moment, neither beast nor hero had time to waste, as they followed the troupe of Bulblins that had kidnapped Colin. Link took a deep breath, as Epona jumped over a different gate, going in the opposite direction and away from the village. The rocky lands soon disappeared to be replaced by green grass, and a horrible sight before Link's eyes. "COLIN!" Hero and Bulblin looked at each other, with an unconscious Colin tied around a large stick that the strange horned Bulblin was holding as he sat on the large boar. Link glared at the creature, as the evil one stifled a laugh, before gesturing to come closer, in a rather mischievous way. The hero took out his blade, muttering a curse under his breath.

Before he could order Epona to start walking towards the Bulblin, the same monster took out a strange horn and began blowing it. A strange and mysterious sound resonated in the air. Link was at first confused on what the Bulblin was doing, a war cry perhaps. A loud cry from above, however, forced Link to look up at his flying companion, who was looking worriedly at the field beyond them. The hero could barely keep a tight grip on his sword as he saw the group of creatures again. They had been the same creatures that had kidnapped them, and now, Link, finally knew. It was them! They were the once that kidnapped the kids and Ilia. Gulping a little, Link took after their leader who was soon making his way away from the hero.

As soon as he had began to follow the leader, his many allies began to shot flaming arrows his way. Link grimaced as an arrow barely missed his ear, but managed to glance behind him to see Shannon fearlessly knock out one of the Bulblins. He grinned despite the situation as he kicked Epona, sword up in the air, ready to slash the leader close by. The leader only glanced to face Link, only to receive a good slash on his armor. Link almost groaned. This guy had armor even in his underwear! If he wanted to save Colin he'll have to knock this guy out. The leader merely chuckled at Link's attempt, and kicked his boar to move ahead of Epona. The hero glared at the back of the Bulblin leader, as he kicked Epona again. "Hya!" Epona neighed, and galloped towards the leader.

"HEY! LOOK OUT, MR. HERO!" Hearing Midna's voice caught him by surprise, and he was able to dodge a pair of clubs that made their way towards his face. The other Bulblins had caught up to him.

Taking his attention away from the leader, Link began to hit the enemies around him with his sword. The two Bulblins quickly fell down, with two others following behind them before they could reach Link, courtesy of Shannon. "Thanks!" Link cried out, earning a nod from Shannon in the air, and hearing a yawn from Midna. Sometimes I wonder…Link thought as he kicked Epona once more, now, both of them were close to the leader, and his backup was nowhere in sight.

The leader cried out in surprise, as Link was now on his side, and he began to slash against the Bulblin's armor, getting a growl from the creature as the armor fell to the ground. The leader tried to punch Link in the face, but the hero was quicker and evaded the punches sent by the Bulblin. Slashing once more with his sword, the hero watched as the last piece of armor separated from his green skin. The leader almost fell from the boar that carried him, but quickly recovered kicking the boar hard, for it to go ahead of Epona. Link looked ahead of him, then, he began to notice that the green below him was disappearing, as the two riders were getting close to a bridge. The great bridge of Eldin…Link kicked Epona harder, as the Bulblin went ahead of them. "STOOOOPPPPP!" Link cried, as if the beast that held Colin hostage could understand him. The Bulblin only ignored him, as his boar broke the gate that was upon the entrance of the bridge.

Link couldn't help but glance up in the sky, to see Shannon nearby, flying just a few inches away from him and the bridge. As Link made his way towards the broken gate, he barely took time to notice that the remains of the bridge were set aflame by a nearby Bulblin archer. Before the archer could place an arrow on Link, however, Shannon tackled the beast, sending it to the pit below. Link mentally thanked Shannon, before the hero turned to stare back at the leader of the Bulblins. The other side of the gate, too, was in flames, and the leader was staring at him, on top of his monstrous boar. The boar roared a bit, before the Bulblin hit him hard, making him charge towards the hero. Link repeated the same movement, and the two were charging against each other. "I hope you know what you're doing!" His shadow cried. "That's a big risk you're taking!"

"I don't have time to think about it!" Link yelled, as he got closer to the Bulblin and Colin. Before any of the two could crash against each other, they dodged in time. Link forced Epona to turn and the cycle began again, with the Bulblin roaring his war cry. Link did manage to strike the Bulblin by the side, and the latter almost fell, but held on, bringing the stick that held Colin closer. The hero had to move quick or else the evil creature would kill Colin. Forcing Epona to turn again, and offering a small apology for pushing the horse too hard, Link and the leader of the Bulblins faced each other again. They began to go against each other, and Link took a deep breath, Shannon's shadow was nearby, watching the fight from the sky. Taking a deep breath, Link charged Epona again, sword up, ready to strike. They passed by, then, the strike came, getting the leader by surprise. He fell of the boar, and off the bridge, the stick that held Colin in tow. Link barely had time to register what was happening, before he got off of Epona, and looked down below.

Shannon, with all the strength a hawk could master, had her talons buried upon Colin's shirt, the boy had been freed from his bonds when he fell along with the leader of the Bulblins. Link sighed in relief, and took Colin away from Shannon when the hawk finally made it to the bridge, thanking her from the bottom of his heart for saving his friend.

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Link smiled back at the shaman, as he took Colin away from him, assuring him that he would take good care of him, along with the other kids. Just after saving Colin, Link and the two animals, with Shannon busy on top of his sword's hilt, had made their way back as soon as possible to Kakariko, to take Colin with the shaman that was to heal his injuries. Saying a small good bye to the children, and promising to return in one piece, Link and the two animals made their way towards the mountain, with Epona staying behind, as she wouldn't be able to go past the Gorons, anyway.

As soon as he was out of sight, Link took a deep breath, and took out the Iron Boots that Bo had given to him. Shannon and Midna, in the form of his shadow, watched on as he put the iron boots on top of his own. He walked around a bit, taking heavy steps and making holes on the fragile ground. "Well, they are heavy…" Link murmured as he began to climb up the ropes to get to the place where he had first met that grouchy Goron, although the climbing was rather difficult thanks to the boots. Once Link reached the top, he was greeted by a that same Goron, who was smirking, with his arms across his large chest. Shannon flew nearby, making sure to watch out for Link on the air.

"Ho!" The Goron cried, facing Link with a smug look on his face. "You are back again, eh, human? You will never pass! A weakling like you can't hope to win against the might of the Goron tribe!" Link prepared himself at what was to come up next, and stood his ground, the iron boots holding him up and straight. The Goron quickly turned into a ball, and rolled on its place, before it launched itself towards Link. Once close enough, Link grabbed the Goron, and stopped him from rolling. He could hear the yelp of surprise from the Goron, as Link began to lift him up a little, and then Link threw him down below, from where he had come from.

"You were saying?" Link yelled, as the Goron began to roll away, it seems that he had been so surprise to stop and uncurl himself. Link grinned to himself, and felt that familiar weight of Shannon's among the sword's hilt. "Well, that turned out better than before, huh?"

"Well, at least this time you weren't a complete idiot," came Midna's reply.

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The way towards Death Mountain had been very treacherous, with Gorons rolling towards Link and Shannon every two seconds of the time. At least no one got hurt, neither he nor the hawk, nor any of the Gorons that rolled his way. Link's arms ached from throwing Gorons behind him, who in turn yelped and kept on rolling, leaving Link to cross the path to their home alone.

As the travelers got closer to their goal, Link caught sight of another of those Twilight portals on the air. "What the…?" Before he could go to inspect said portal, however, Link was almost killed by a fire arrow aimed at his way. Some Bulblins were guarding the area nearby. Link was about to take out the slingshot, but then, watched with amusement as Shannon took care of all the Bulblins nearby, making them fall off the cliff from which they hid, down below to their deaths. Once the Bulblins were taken care of, Link went on to examine the portal.

"Don't worry too much about it," Midna told him from his shadow.

"Are you sure?" Link asked her, not tearing his eyes away from the portal above. "What if those creatures show up again?"

"Hmm….I doubt it. They would have down so by now…" Link only nodded, before he continued to go deeper into the path of Death Mountain, Shannon flying not too far away.

Link only groaned, when the path before him began to get a little dangerous. There were no Gorons nearby, but the gas that the ground released was enough to make him worry, not counting the pieces of flaming rocks that almost hit him. That could only mean one thing, he was getting closer to the mountain, or even better, the volcano. He had to take a few steps down, and he was damn lucky he didn't get a twisted ankle when he landed wrong. Link could hear Midna snicker at his incompetence, but he thought nothing of it. Soon, Shannon joined him down below, sitting on top of his sword's hilt once again, as they inspected the view before them. More pieces of flaming rock fell from the sky, as Link and Shannon looked down below, at the group of Gorons that guarded the place, all were grumbling, but none took notice of Link.

The hero continued to look around, and was surprised to see two Gorons on the top of a cliff looking at him. They muttered something towards each other, before one of the Gorons helped his other friend, get towards another cliff nearby, and then, that Goron rolled away. Link quickly took his chance, seeing an entrance to the mountain not too far away. Going to meet the other unfriendly Gorons, Link and Shannon had to evade pieces of burning rock, only to hear cries of surprise. Looking up, Link had barely time to dodge a huge rock of fire that almost crushed him. "Oh, oh!" cried Midna, as she came out of Link's shadow. "This sure looks dangerous…a Death Mountain welcome, perhaps? Eee hee!"

"Not the least bit funny…" Link told her, shaking some dirt off the tunic. Shannon nodded in agreement from the air, as she dodged more flaming rocks. And just then, he heard the loud cry of a Goron, who was ready to charge at Link.

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If Zelda had been in human form at that moment, she would have applauded Link's unique form to climb up the mountain, with the help of the unwilling Goron race. He had taken a few hits from the rock dwellers near the end of his trek, but managed to finally reach the entrance of their home, with some of the Gorons groaning in disbelief. Link put his weapons away, sighing in relief. Zelda took her place on top of the hilt, before the young man began to walk deep towards the mountain. "Hopefully, I won't get to meet any more…friendly Gorons…" he told her sarcastically, making her nod, as he entered the entrance.

Everything was in darkness at first, and when Link saw the light, he gasped at the many number of Gorons that stood in front of him. Zelda gave a mental gasp as well, when the Gorons curled up into a ball, and rolled in their place, ready to kill the hero. Whatever is wrong with them? Zelda thought as she watched them pick up dirt. This is taking it to the extreme…Link only gulped, as he braced himself to take the hit of the group of rolling Gorons in front of him. They began to move towards them, when a voice suddenly boomed in the room.

"ENOUGH!" The group of Gorons were quick to uncurl themselves, and looked behind them. Link and Zelda looked on to, to see the an old Goron approaching the scene.

That was close…thank goodness…Zelda thought, as she caught sight of the Goron that was walking towards them. He was older than the other Gorons, and had painted on his boulder skin, a different colored tattoo than what the other Gorons wore. He must be one of the elders…the hawk princess thought, as the Goron made his way to the center of the room, with Link and the Gorons watching him. He turned his head to face the other Gorons, before he shook his head at them. "Is this young one such an imposing enemy that you must all gang up on him? I think not, Little Brothers." The Goron turned to face Link, his face fixed in the best glare he could manage. Link challenged his stare, but said nothing. "I am a Goron elder, little human. I am called Gor Coron…" he explained, not taking his eyes of Link. "Because of certain…" Coron trailed of, making Zelda worry about his sudden pause; something was definitely wrong here. "…circumstances, I must lead the Goron tribe in the place of Darbus, our tribal patriarch…tell me, little human, do you come from the village below?"

"You could say that…" Link told him, exchanging glances with Zelda behind him. Coron nodded in approval, as if amazed by Link's bravery to get this far.

"You have done well to come this far…you are strong…even for a human. However…the mines beyond here are sacred to my tribe. Outsiders are not allowed in." Coron stood silent for a couple of minutes, before he spoke again. "Unless…" Coron began, before a smile formed on his lips, surprising the man and beast before him. "I could make an exception…but you would have to beat me in a contest of power. Are you willing to try, little human?" He sent a pointed look at a nearby circle arena in the middle of the room.

"…sure…" He gave a look to Zelda, that said, 'This is going to hurt'. Link looked down at his feet, and noticed that he hadn't removed the iron boots from his feet. He probably had a chance. Link nodded back at Coron, as he prepared himself at the middle of the circle to fight against Link. Zelda dropped to the floor, and watched as Link prepared to fight, wishing him good luck, before the sumo match began, hearing a few chuckles from the Gorons nearby.

"There's no way he'll beat the elder!"

"Yep, no way!"

"He's just a weak human! He doesn't stand a chance!"

Zelda mentally laughed. If only they knew…She thought as the fight took place. Everything was slow at first, and then, ended, quite quickly for everyone else in the Coron only blinked once, before Link got him out of the circle, causing many other Gorons to cry out in disbelief. Even the old Goron himself found it hard to believe. He got up from the floor, and grinned at Link, who nodded, and helped him stand up.

"Young warrior…you have a strong will…and sharp eyes. And a very strong arm…" Coron chuckled as he said this, making Link smile. Zelda soon flew back to her place on the sword's hilt, to listen to whatever the elder wanted to tell Link. Coron waved his hand, asking for some privacy from the open-mouthed Gorons that stood nearby, as he took Link aside. "…you have seen it, have you not?" Coron asked him once they were out of earshot. Before Link could answer back, Coron went on. "The mountain, erupting without pause…" The elder sighed, shaking his head. "That's when all our troubles began…"

"Your troubles?" Link asked him, and the Goron nodded.

"When the mountain began to rage, all four of us elders, and Darbus, our patriarch, went inside to investigate its anger." Coron explained, sighing sadly. "We have a treasure that was entrusted to us by the spirits, you see," Zelda glanced down at Link's shadow, it was moving a bit. Midna knew, then, what Coron was talking about. "We went to see if the treasure was still well, you see…but then…that's when everything turned bad. The moment Darbus reached out and touched the treasure…he collapsed…and before our very eyes transformed into an unspeakable monster!"

"A monster?" Coron nodded.

"He began to rage through the mines, trailing ruin behind him…and the eruptions grew more frequent and more severe….we used all of our strength to seal him deep inside the mountain…" Coron turned away from Link, closing his small eyes. "It…grieved us to do this to our patriarch, but we had no choice. I ask you this favor, you warrior…" Coron turned to face Link. "Go to aid our patriarch! I, Gor Coron, need your help! On behalf of my entire clan, I ask for your aid!" Link nodded.

"Don't worry, I'll help him."

"Thank you, young warrior…" Coron smiled at him for one last time, before he turned to two Gorons that guarded the way inside the mines. "…You two! Let the young one pass through!" The two Gorons glanced at each other, and calmly left their spots guarding the entrance to the mines. Coron turned towards Link, and nodded. "The mines are full of traps," he informed him, glancing a bit at Zelda as he spoke. "all placed to protect the treasure from any thieves that dare to come around here….but, when the eruptions began, foul creatures of all shapes and sizes settled into every corner of the mines…getting to our patriarch's location will not be easy, young warrior…" Coron said. "…the elders have the pieces of the key needed to enter the chamber were Darbus is located… please, look out for them…and be careful…"

"I will." As Link walked towards the mines, he heard a chuckled below his feet.

"Yeah, because you were so careful when you blew up that house, huh?" Midna whispered back. Link glared at his shadow, while Zelda sighed. This was going to be a long trip.