"I suddenly remember why I hate climbing this mountain." Ben grumbled under his breath, rolling out of the path of a falling boulder.

Only two minutes into navigating his way up the mountain when it unexpectedly decided it was a good moment to 'erupt.' Dozens of flaming meteors crashed through the air in a blazing fury.

Crashes and fiery explosions ripped through the air, sending rocks and ash flying as fire and smoke trailed along the meteor's path. Dodging another flying rock that got a little too close, the hero sighed in relief when the rumbling finally stopped, signaling the end of the deadly storm.

"What the hell was that?!" Kevin growled, a little behind where Ben was, covered in ash and dust as most of them were. Only Gwen was spared and that was because of her mana shields, which Oradon and Nebula were hiding behind.

"Welcome to Death Mountain." Damian deadpanned, voice flat, but Ben could see the mischievous look in his red eyes.

"That was not natural." Gwen stated, observing the calm, once raging volcano in the distance.

"And welcome to Hyrule, where physics doesn't exist and logic goes out the window."

Gwen simply looked at Damian, possibly a glare, hard to tell.

"That was not an experience I wanted to relive." Nebula sighed. Oradon was trembling, to which Nebula looked at him concerned.

"HOOOOOLLY CRAP THAT WAS COOL!" Oradon shouted, grinning as best as a dog's snout would allow him. "Can we do that again!"

"Probably," Damian answered, to the confusion of Gwen and Kevin. Ben took a moment to translate the conversation. "The volcano erupts like that every 5 minutes or so." He added with a smirked on his face.

"SWEET!"

Gwen and Kevin stared at Damian. "Are you serious?" Kevin growled, "It does that every 5 minutes?"

"Like clockwork."

Gwen sighed, "I honestly don't know how that is possible."

Ben snorted, "That's how is goes around here. It's easier to accept it and move on."

As the group started up the mountain, pausing a few times under some sturdy shelter placed here and there whenever the volcano spat out more flaming projectiles, they gradually made their way up the mountain side.

Coming across an unfamiliar section of the mountain, Ben stopped to examine it. "Geese, I swear this place changes every time I come to it." He sighed, eyes wondering around the thick,metal grating seemingly nailed to the cliff side.

Damian agreed, "How a mountain is capable of changing so much I'll never know."

Gwen raised an eyebrow, "You do realize that the terrain can change as time passes right?"

"Ooooh, but not like this." Damian stated, looking over the differences himself, "It changes way too much in every possible way."

"Wasn't it an island at one point?" Ben asked.

"I don't think that counts? There weren't any gorons there and there wasn't a constant danger of being crushed to a million pieces by flying molten rocks."

Kevin groaned, "Oh great. Gorons? What the hell are those? More people from you 'past life,' Benji."

Damian snickered while Ben just averted his eyes, scratching the back of his head nervously. "Sort of." He said. Ben wasn't worried about Gwen and Kevin's reaction to the rock tribe, seeing as they have dealt with a multitude of aliens much stranger. It was more or worrying if they somehow remembered him and he'd have to suffer through a goron crushing of brotherhood they called hugs. (1)

The green-eyed hero noticed Damian near the back with the two dogs, strategically and subtly placing him (also out of view of anyone they may encounter, he noticed, sneaky bastard.) behind Kevin. He sweat-dropped, 'Looks like he's just as worried about that as me.'

Well, might as well explain, since they didn't get the chance when they first got here. He smiled fondly, thinking of his past encounters with them. "A goron-"

A innocently-placed boulder to everyone's left suddenly jolted, arms molded from rock uncurled themselves from the ball of stone as a tall figure made of rock stood up. Two eyes blinked as a surprisingly human face stared back at them. He looked at each of them, from the two dogs, one snarling while the other was calm, to the four humans. Gwen's eyes glowed pink as mana swirled around her. Kevin dropped into a defensive stance as he absorbed the rock below them.

Ben jumped in front of them, waving his arms frantically, "Whoa whoa whoa! Relax, geese! That's a goron!"

The pink light slowly faded from around Gwen as Kevin reverted back to his human composition.

Kevin watched the rock man now identified as a goron as he in turned observed him.

"Interesting." he said, "Never have I seen humans with such strange abilities-goro."

The goron turned to each of them, eyes lingering on Damian and Ben before it spoke again, "Might I ask what a group of humans are doing here-goro? I had thought we lost all contact with your kind after Hyrule fell-goro."

Damian took over, noting the slightly anxious look on his light's face, "Myself and this idiot over here, "he pointed to Ben who glared back, "Have previous connections to Hyrule and wanted to determine the status of the land and every species that used to live there. "

If he had eyebrows, the goron would have raised them, "Previous connection you say?" He turned his eyes towards Ben, closely examining him further, "You do look familiar somehow."

Ben looked a little uneasy, which Gwen noticed as she briefly wondered why. "You probably know me from my former life as Link."

At the mere mention of the name the Goron's eyes widened. Suddenly he grinned and Ben felt trouble was afoot. With speed that one would think impossible for a rock, he practically collided with the hero in a near crushing hug.

"Hahaahha! I thought I recognized you!" The goron exclaimed, dropping a blue-faced Ben as his cousin ran up to him with Damian and Kevin laughing in the background. "The last time I saw you, you were a small, little thing!" He grinned, roughly patting Ben's back and successfully knocking him over again.

Kevin grinned, "Really Benji? Sounds like you were a short little guy. And how do you know him anyway."

The goron laughed, "Oh what I could tell you! This kid rescued all of us from starvation a long time ago. In fact, if it wasn't for him, I'm afraid we Gorons would be extinct!" Ben blushed, his old, modest self peaking through.

Both Kevin and Gwen rolled their eyes, "Why am I not surprised."

"Come come!" The goron urged, "Darunia would surely like to see you as your new self."

Ben's eyes widened, Damian looked a bit shocked himself, "Darunia's alive?"

"Whose Darunia?"

Once again, the two, (Gwen and Kevin) watched as Ben smiled that smile which seemed so ancient, they nearly forgot just who they were looking at; the alien-shaping shifting hero Ben or the Hero of Time, Link. Some days it was hard to tell and grew more difficult as time passed.

"Lead the way."

Omg, when was the last time I updated! Geese, I let myself get too lazy. Ugh, the urge to read more fans is so strong! I think this is longer than my other chapters, it's hard to tell since I don't have the original files anymore. I've been wanting to do a Death Mountain scene since the last chapter I posted for this story but I could never figure out how I wanted to write it. Not anymore!

I need to post this and go to sleep, it's midnight now and sleep is calling.

(1) Has it ever been stated how long a goron can live? I don't think it does, so I have the gorons living a much longer life then humans. Being rock and all, I don't think that unless something happens, they can live pretty long, though it's hard to tell. Sworn Brothers Link! You need a sworn brother hug! (That scene was so funny.)

Thanks to omnicron for giving me the names for Damian and Ben's dogs.