Author's Note: Heeey welcome back to a new chapter of Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess! So, we're finally done the Forest Temple and now we're going to see Link who will head to the Gorons. Hopefully he can cleanse them. ANDDD OH MY GAWWDDD! Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword FINALLY CAME YESTERDAY! EEEEKKKKKKKK! So yeah I played it til ten in the night…
Chapter 11: One step ahead of you
"Ah! No humans allowed! These lands ahead belong to the Goron Tribe! The elder said no humans may pass!" a Goron bellowed, angrily when it saw an intruder.
Mainly me.
The Goron quickly rolled itself into a rock and then it hurled itself towards me, rolling down the path. Without wasting any time, flashbacks of goats came into my mind, reminding me that this is just like the time when I had to stop a goat from entering the village.
So that being said, what made this any difference?
I planted my feet firmly on the ground, arms spread and when the time came, I placed my hands on a "latch" from the Goron. We struggled a bit but the Goron won, quickly ending the wrestling match by having me knocking all the way down to the bottom.
The wind was knocked out of me, having me slightly dazed for a minute while it was making for me to harder to breath.
"A weak spirit is no match for the might of the Gorons!" he shouted, looking down at me. "Do you understand me, human? Then away with you!"
Still having the triumph smile, the proud Goron walked away to its original spot.
"Stupid, stupid, stupid." Midna chanted.
"Oh yeah?" I snarled. "What would you do?"
"Speak with the shaman? I don't know." she disappeared, quickly before I could even respond with my remark.
Seeing that Midna actually had a valid point, I ran down the path to where I saw Renado who was at the entrance.
"Ah, how fortunate you are in one piece! I saw you heading up the mountain trail, so I was worried." the shaman breathed out a sigh of relief, easing his worries. "Are you trying to reach the Gorons of Death Mountain? It is far too dangerous, Link!"
"I know, Renado, I know." Link said, exasperated. "It's just that I really need to go there." I paused. "Something in my gut tells me to do so and I also want to cleanse them."
I couldn't tell that I'm looking for a dark power—the Fused Shadow. What would he think of me if I did told him?
"They recognize only strength! A normal person could never persuade them…" he told me. "But…I do know one person who was able to best them and earn their trust…"
My eyes lit up with excitement. "Really? Who?"
Renado smiled at my reaction. "His name is Bo. You may know him as the mayor of your hometown, Ordon."
My jaw dropped with surprise. "Really? No way!" I laughed. "That's so cool."
"Indeed. Go to him and while you are there, please let him know that the children are safe."
I nodded. "I will."
"Oh but getting them back would be best…but we could not keep them safe from the monsters on the road without a horse and cart." he reminded me. "Please…Return to Ordon and inform the parents that their children are free from harm. Give them my word."
I nodded. "Of course."
With that, I jogged down the path but a familiar pang of missing struck me. I missed Epona and Ilia.
Ilia…
Worry took over me as questions plagued my mind. Where was she? How come she wasn't with the kids? Is she alright? Is she safe?
I automatically knew that she was a spirit; I mean that's the only logical explanation.
A sudden neigh interrupted my chain of thoughts so I turned around, searching the path of where I trekked a few minutes ago. That neigh is so familiar…it came again but this time, I was able to spot the figure.
My eyes widened with relief and happiness when I realized that it was my horse. Epona.
I smiled so widely that my cheeks hurt. Looks like Epona was happy to see me. See? She's running so fast; I knew she missed me.
But, my smile suddenly vanished when I spotted that Epona wasn't stopping and I just figured it out that I was going to be trampled over. Gasping, I dived to the ground by doing a somersault just in time but when a person is in a faraway spot, they may think that I had been run over by Epona. However, that isn't the case: I was nearly ran over by an inch which was why there was a horse print on my sleeve…
Spotting that Epona came to a halt, I quickly took this chance to get on her, hoping to calm her down. What did those evil beasts do to her?! I swear: the next time I see them, I'm going to use their inner parts and use them as decorations.
I cringed when my body was kept on banging against her saddle. Really uncomfortable and I'm soooo gonna get a bruise. I steered left and right and sometimes I had almost crashed into nearby cliffs but unfortunately, I did a wrong turn and fell of my ride, causing Epona to rear up as she kicked her legs with fright.
"Epona!" I shouted. "Down girl down!"
I ran all over the place so that I could try and catch her again and when that time came again, I hopped myself back on the saddle (still uncomfortable). Finally, on the last and second try, I eased Epona since she responded to me at last as she realized that her owner was back.
Epona reared up, neighing since she welcomed back her true master. I patted her neck, smiling that I had finally got my sweet Epona back.
"Hmm…you're not too shabby a wrangler after all!" she smirked, eyes glinting with mischievous.
I shot her an annoyed look, causing her to smirk even wider.
"Won't thin make getting back to your town a lot easier? Now go finish your errand so we can get back! Get a move on!" she barked.
I glared at her, clearly not being happy that I want to take her orders. "Whatever."
I gave Epona a gentle nudge to indicate that she should start trotting. I closed my eyes, feeling the fresh breeze from which Hyrule Fields gave. It truly is refreshing.
(Midna's POV A/N" remember I'm not going to use I for Link)
Midna took a quick glance at the hero. He looked so peaceful in that state when he closed his eyes. He really did look like a carefree child, showing no worries that would so often be etched into his face. So why was she being so cruel to him?
She still didn't know.
Or maybe it's the fact that she wanted to get the Fused Shadow pieces as soon as possible so she can leave this forsaken place.
But a sudden gut feeling told her that she needed Link as well. The former princess didn't know why though. Midna could clearly tell that Link wanted answers…so many questions to be answered but yet she could not give the answers just yet.
It wasn't the fact that Midna didn't trust Link. It was the fact that it just wasn't the right time. Midna sighed as she also remembered the time when she got woken up by Link's scream. It really frightened her but only to find out that he was having a nightmare. However, she didn't know why there was a random feeling in her body. A feeling that wanted to comfort him, telling him that it's okay.
Another thing that surprised her (or maybe shocked her) was that he was also crying. He rarely does that.
The imp shook her heads. No stop. Why does she care? She shouldn't have any feelings towards the light dwellers.
"Midna, you might want to go back into my shadow since we're already here." Link said, annoyed.
"What?" she snapped as she didn't hear him.
"Hide back into my shadow since we're here." the boy repeated, being even more annoyed.
(A/N: switching back to Link)
"Hide back into my shadow since we're here." I repeated, being even more annoyed.
What had gotten her into? She was never the sort of person to daydream.
"Okay, I got it. No need to snap at me." she replied in her own rude tone.
I snorted. "Isn't that ironic?" I mumbled.
The minute I crossed the bridge that led to the Ranch, a yelling voice was called out.
"LINK?!" the familiar voice shouted.
I looked up ahead, plastering a smile when I saw Bo standing out of his house. He hadn't changed at all; sure he had worry in his face but that was it.
"Hey Bo. Long time no see." I greeted when Epona had slowed down into a trot.
"You can see that. What happened to you lad? Come in!" he gestured to the house.
I got off my horse, patting her quickly then went in.
"So what happened? Tell me." he urged me.
"Woah calm down." I chuckled.
"Sorry it's just that these things happened so suddenly. One thing everything was peaceful and the next chaos begun."
"I know." I felt my jaw clenched. My fault…
"So? Where are the kids? How are they? Are they save as well?" Bo bombarded me with questions.
"The kids are in Kakariko Village and they're good other than having nightmares because of what had happened. They are save and are in the hands of a good shaman named Renado. He also told me that you two are friends." I stated.
The mayor nodded. "That's right. Good times." he then stared at me intently as if he was waiting for something.
"What?" I asked, startled by the intense stare.
"Where's Ilia? Is she with them?"
Thick silence hung the air, instantly making me to be mute.
"Link…" Bo started, hoping that the answer isn't a dreadful one. "Link please. I need to know. She's my daughter." Bo pleaded.
I sighed, staring at the ground. "She…she…" my throat went dry. "I…she isn't with the kids." I finally spilled. "I don't know where she is." I admitted.
I was too scared to look at Bo's face but I knew what it was. Scared, shocked and filled with endless worries.
"I'm so sorry, Bo. I really don't know where she is." I spoke.
"I…Ilia…" he murmured.
"I'm sorry." I apologized, sincerely. "But I promise you that I would do everything in my power to find her and bring her back home."
Bo looked at me, hope being in his eyes. "Could you really do that?" he whispered.
I nodded.
"Thank you, Link. Thank you." he thanked me. "Is there anything I could do? Anything at all?"
Without thinking, I answered. "Do you know the rock-eating creatures? The Gorons?" he nodded. "Well lately they have been changed. They even refuse to let Renado into their mines. They had once been each other's friends and I was hoping that you could teach me how to get pass them. Renado told me that you had earned their trust." I explained.
He nodded, clearly understanding the situation. "So I see. Yes it is true that I had earned their trust. But with a secret." he winked. "I can teach you the secret…but can you promise me that you absolutely, positively will not disclose it to anyone?"
I grinned. "Of course."
"Great. Follow me then." I followed Bo which had lead us to another room. A battling arena of some sort.
"Take of your shirt." he said.
"Excuse me?" I asked, appalled.
He chuckled. "Look: the Gorons only recognize in strength right? So that being said, the only way to defeat them is by doing sumo wrestling. In sumo wrestling, it is tradition that we or other races—mainly Gorons—that we wear their sumo wrestling outfit. Since I don't have an extra one, you have to take off your shirt." he explained.
"Oh…"
"Now I'm going to get changed so that way we can practice the basics." he vanished into a room to change into the sumo wrestling clothes…whatever the heck.
I sighed before taking off my tunic which consisted a green shirt that was already on top, followed by an ivory shirt, a chainmail and another shirt. Sheesh, how many layers does this tunic have?
Sooner or later, the mayor explained the basics from head to toe so in the end, I was victorious since I had knocked over Bo out of the ring. The mayor then told me that I wasn't too bad and told me to go ahead and take the item that laid in the chest.
I went towards the chest to pick up the item only to fall back with an 'oomph!' The mayor chuckled when he saw this and he went towards me to pick me up with ease. The item that made me to fall down were none other than the iron boots. They were completely made out of iron with silver and gold linings here and there.
After that, I decided to visit everyone to see how they were doing and in return, I also told them about the kids. In the end, Midna got very impatient which made me to reluctantly give in and went out of the village.
However, I frowned when I had noticed that something in the air wasn't right. An air that held evil and it was close. With that in mind, I quickly urged Epona to go faster.
Goddesses, I love this horse.
It felt like she understood me. If I had to go fast, she understands since she had sensed my urgency.
"What's the rush?" Midna asked, puzzled. As far she knew, I wasn't the type of person who enjoyed working other people's dirty work.
"Can't you feel it?" I asked. "Something's going to happen. I can just feel it." I answered.
Before we knew it, we entered Kakariko Village but as soon as we did, my anger went tenfold when I realized that there was the same beast that caused chaos in Ordon. That beast happened to hold Colin since he lifted it up as if he was almost taunting me to come and get it.
Angered and determined, I urged Epona to go even faster so that I could chase after that monster. We soon reached on the other side of Hyrule Fields where thunder and lightning boomed and flashed as well as rain. The hooves from the horse thundered below, splashing into puddles here and there.
The sound from an angry mob came from behind, indicating that the brute had summoned his pests. I served Epona sharply to avoid a flying flaming arrow.
"Come girl! Faster! Hyah!" I whooped.
How dare that beast steal Colin! He had absolutely no right to do such thing! Midna stared in fascination at my sudden urge of defeating that thing.
She had never seen anything like this. She always thought that I was the calm person. Well, she was wrong.
When I was close to the green fiend, I attacked him viciously and a part of his armor fell down to the ground so that a part of him was left vulnerable. But of course, I got slowed down from the mindless puppets that kept on attacking me. I cried out in pain when one of the arrows struck at the back of my left arm.
I fought the urge to remove the arrow so being in the group of those mindless fiends, I took out my sword and created a spin attack that mostly took them out.
"Go girl go!"
Epona ran faster as she obeyed her Master's command. When I reached up to him yet again, the stupid brute tricked me by steering to his right when I wanted to attack him.
Ugh.
I kept on pushing Epona to go faster while apologizing to her every now and then but some things needed to be done. Finally, on the last strike, the king of Bulbin gave out a strangled yell as he grossly leaned sideways; his boar riding almost aimlessly and jumped over a wooden fence to cross the bridge.
Or so I thought.
I was hot on his trail as I mimicked the same movements. Without a warning, both fences were lit up from the flaming arrows which caused Epona to rear up with sudden fright. I calmed her before I set my eyes to see the green-face monster. There he was, standing tall or rather sitting tall on his boar as if he wasn't harmed in any way. He gave out a low evil chuckle since what he found before him was deeply amusing.
"Didn't your parents tell you that chasing trouble will be your downfall?" the beast asked, grinning evilly.
I scoffed, rolling my eyes. "If you can't say anything nice at all, don't say anything."
He chuckled, deeply finding this very amusing. "How can a kid like you be the Hero when you, yourself, can't even accept that? That is so amusing. Oh so amusing."
I sneered. "There were many heroes before me. Each of them served the same purpose. Do you know what that purpose is?"
He threw his head back, laughing. "Touching kid. Really. But I'm not interested in the fairytale. I'm only interested to kill the last of its kind. The Last Hero!" he boomed before his boar reared up as it was eager to start finally start the action.
"We will see."
Epona too reared up before she charged at the boar. The wind whipped at my face, blowing any loose hair that would sometimes fall into my face away. I was about to strike him but the stupid creature dodged it by ducking down which obviously caused me to miss it. I cursed once that happened, forcing Epona to halt and to make her to turn around.
Once again, we both charged at each other and this time, I was able to hit him at his sides which made him to let out a howl of pain. Chuckling darkly, I served Epona again who stomped her hooves on the ground while shaking her head.
Just as I was about to hit him again, the monster painfully rammed its fist into my gut, creating me to grunt with pain.
Damnit! That hurts so bad…
Trying to ignoring it, I did the same process which was turning Epona around so that I could face the fiend. However, the foe started to play dirty (not that it had) and playing dirty I meant he actually took my sword out of my grasp and threw it. I panicked, seeing the sword flying to the other side and landed with a THUNK.
And then, the enemy painfully rammed at my side, causing me to fall off Epona because I didn't had enough time to save myself. I gave out an unexpected yell but just luckily, I had just managed to grab the edges from the bridge.
Epona gave out a startled neigh as she sensed that her Master was in trouble. I felt my heart leap out of its place while I watched a few small rocks tumbled down into the endless abyss below. The opponent's boar tried to get my fingers off the bridge but it wasn't successful since Epona was angrily shooing it away from me by using her dangerous hooves.
The boar suddenly gave out a howl of pain, forcing me to look at it. It thrashed its head violently and all I heard were the commands from the King.
Taking this chance, Epona realized that she was in her Master's way so she moved out of the way and started to watch me as I moved side to side and it was then that I was back on the top of the bridge.
Trust me; I'm still shaken up from falling to my doom. I would have if it wasn't for Epona.
"Thanks girl. You saved my life and I can't thank you enough." I whispered. Epona neighed in response. "You're getting a treat. You hear that?" I patted before swinging myself back on.
"So the Hero managed to escape from his doom. How unfortunate." the beast replied.
"Tough if you can't defeat a mere child." I taunted, snickering at the monster's reddened face with anger. "You know…if you keep your face the way it is, it's gonna be glued like that." I clucked my tongue.
He growled, dangerously. "The only thing that's going to be deformed is you, you impudent brat!"
"Touché."
We both started to race towards each other and this time, I at last put him to his end. With a mighty swing, the brute fell off its boar and down into the abyss below. The boar aimlessly ran off towards the opposite direction until it tripped clumsily, sliding to a halt.
Being the victorious, Epona reared up while I raised my sword in the air to indicate the winner as the twilight was behind us making this scene an epic one.
Yeah, I just had to do it.
I quickly spotted Colin while also realizing that the flames had died down during our long battle. I felt that the boy was out cold, making me to clench my fists in anger. I carefully placed Colin in front of me so that I could him steady while we rode down the path that reached Kakariko Village.
By the time we did, Colin moaned causing me to slow Epona down to a gentle trot. He would occasionally stir but that was basically it. Once I got off the horse and carried Colin which was to the Eldin's Spring.
I splashed some of the water onto him so that the water could heal him. I had heard of the water's ability. It was said that these types of springs have healing abilities. So if you're wounded, it would heal you.
"Colin!" a voice exclaimed. I looked up to see Beth, Talo and Malo (though he looked uninterested as always) running towards the fallen boy.
She gasped at the sight then with fearful eyes she looked at me.
"He's only sleeping. He will be fine."
She breathed out a sigh of relief while she was busy studying the peaceful features on Colin's face. She frowned.
"Where did that cut on his lip come from?" she asked.
"What?" I asked with such ferocity that it had scared Beth. I peered down and indeed there was a small cut on his lip and that had definitely caused me to clench my fists with anger. My whole body shook with anger.
How dare he! The next time I see him (which I highly doubt) I swear I will tear him to pieces.
"Like I said, he will be fine." I replied through my gritted teeth. "What happened while I was gone?"
"Um well…" Beth started but Talo beat to her first.
He was just a kid that has a big mouth.
"When you were gone, those ugly things came in on their boars. Beth and I were on the road talking, unaware of what was going to happen. Colin was somewhere with Malo. And then, we felt the ground shaking and soon those ugly beasts came in. I started to run away but Beth was too paralyzed with fear and then Colin saw this so he took the heroic act and pushed Beth out of the way and um yeah…" Talo trailed off as he suddenly had a fearful expression on his face.
I probably looked like I wanted to murder someone.
And I did.
"Link…?" a timid voice came out.
That snapped me out my murdering state and breathed out a sigh of relief when I saw Colin opening his eyes.
"Colin!" the two kids exclaimed.
He smiled, softly. "Is everyone…ok?"
Colin took a glance at everyone.
I nodded while being unaware that Renado and Luda came in.
"Good." he then looked at Beth. "Beth…I'm sorry. You know…for shoving you. Are you mad?"
Talo looked at Beth who instantly shook her head.
"I…I think I finally understand. I understand what my dad meant when he told me I needed to be stronger, like you, Link…"
"Really? What's that?" I asked, softly.
He raised his arm up as if he was reaching for the sky. "He wasn't talking about strength, like lifting stuff. He was talking about being brave…" his arm dropped down. "Link…You saved me, didn't you?"
"Of course I did."
"You…You can do anything. You can do something to help the Gorons in the mine too, can't you, Link?"
"Yes. I'll do anything to get them back to their normal state." I answered, earning a smile.
All of a sudden, Colin closed his eyes again. I felt him being loose and I feared the worst but I sincerely hoped that he was just exhausted. The kids gasped at the sudden scene; Talo went towards Colin and went on his knees as he tried to help him up but he couldn't. He was just too heavy for him.
Renado came and picked Colin with ease as he was much bigger and stronger than Talo. The shaman then looked at me while I immediately understood what he was saying. He didn't need the words.
What he was saying…well…I'm sure you can figure it out. I turned around and stared at the tall proud Mountain that is known by many people.
That Mountain is called Death Mountain.
Author's Note: Bam bam bammmm! Yeah, I already you guys know the name of the Mountain but I felt I had to put it there. Anyways, what DID Renado say to Link in the silent way? Cookies to the people who guess it! Damnn this took longer than I thought…