Authors note: This chapter took a bit longer to write because I don't really connect with the Gorons or Rito that much. So it will probably be my shortest chapter in this story. I still hope you enjoy it though and I've forgot to mention this in past chapters but any feedback on what I could do better is always appreciated.
Enjoy.
"So it's settled Link will go to the Lost Woods to retrieve the Master Sword while Zelda finds a way to transfer some sort of light magic into our weapons. The rest of you will go to your towns and villages accompanied by one of my squad to alert them of the threat and train them." Bastilan had no idea what to think. The person he was supposed to go with was a giant talking rock.
"Right then, your name is Yunobo correct."
"Y-yes goro.*" This was just greeeat not only was Yunobo a giant rock he was also super nervous. This was just perfect."
"So you live in a volcano?"
"Yes goro.*"
"And you eat rocks?"
"Yea."
"You ever been in a fight?"
"Yes."
"You win?"
"Yea."
"Was Link with you?"
"Yea."
"Have you ever fought alone."
"No."
"Have your soldiers ever been to war?"
"Not in over 100 years."
"What can your people do?"
"We're miners goro.*
"So you're durable?"
"I guess so goro.*"
"Are you fast learners?"
"I think so."
"You'd better be cause I'm not a slow teacher."
This back and forth went on for the entire way up Death Mountain and into Goron City. Bastilan did not want to do this but if they were gonna beat the Demon King they needed soldiers that could tank hits and take down the big monsters.
Unlike Nero, Bastilan went straight down to business and told the Goron people what was going to happen when it was going to happen and what they were going to do. Elder Bludo however didn't like this idea at all.
"You can't just take my people and send them off to war. You're in no place to do that."
"Well then you'll be pleased to know I don't want to be here. I'm here on orders of the rulers of your nations to make you people into soldiers before the Demon King gets here. Also I'm not asking for your permission to do this, I'm telling you that you'll fight for me or you'll be slaughtered by the Demon King."
Not a single Goron spoke up after this they saw the anger in Bastilan's eyes and they knew he was dead serious when he said this.
Bastilan meant it to he would leave if they annoyed him too much and if that caused the end of the world, Hell he wouldn't give two craps.
Bastilan spent the day training every Goron man, woman and child how to fight. He was not easy on them either, if they so much as breathed wrong he would hit them.
That was another thing that Bastilan learned when training them. Gorons were very tanky and not even the kids would feel much of anything when he, a genetically modified human wearing power armor, punched them.
'At least they're good for something. I just hope that the others are doing better than I am.'
Earlier that day...
"So Priamus, last night Grimaldus called you the Emperor's Champion is that like some important status or something. I mean you didn't seem much more important than the others in your squad. Well I guess you have that fancy black sword but that's it. Ooh and why do the weapons have energy, and what's your favorite food and-"
"Bloody Hell mate, do you ever shut up. You just said more in a hour than Bastilans said in his life." Tulin just gave him a blank stare.
"Sooo are you vegetarian or do you like meat?" Priamus just laughed. This kid might talk a lot but damn he knew how to get what he wanted.
"Alright kid I'll answer your questions. As Emperor's Champion I used to help command the Black Templars but after the Emperor died I gave complete power to Grimaldus. The sword is called the Black Sword and it's a relic weapon. That means that it's been around for millennia and has been blessed by multiple magics. The reason energy flows around our blades is because they have been blessed with magic that when activated makes the blade crackle with energy. Also my favorite food is skirt steak cooked medium rare with a proper martini as my drink."
"Cool, why, epic, equally epic, and what the hell is a martini." Priamus had a feeling he was going to like Tulin.
"I gave total power to Grimaldus because he is a much better commander than I am. A martini is an alcoholic drink, should we get the chance I'll make one for you."
"Wait so why is Grimaldus the Reclusiarch, whatever that is, and why are you the Emperor's Champion, whatever that is?"
"The Reclusiarch is the head Chaplin of the Black Templar passed down in order of Chaplins, when Mordrid died Grimaldus took his place. The Emperor's Champion is not as easy of a position to aquire. When an Emperor's Champion dies a tournament is held to find his successor. It is a series of tests one thousand times more difficult than the trials to become a Templar which themselves are near impossible. Only the greatest warriors may partake in the tournament. Many Templar have died in the tournament so very few try in the first place. At the end of the test whoever is left are placed in an arena for a fight to the near death. I won the tournament 80 years ago when the last Emperor's Champion, Bayard, was killed in battle."
"Wait 80 years ago I thought that only Grimaldus had stopped aging?"
"Yes he no longer ages but every Black Templar has been genetically modified to extend our life, prevent us from falling ill and we no longer become hungry or thirsty."
"Wait so you don't eat or drink?"
"I never said anything of the sort, I said that it's not required for us to eat or drink."
"So do you just not piss when you go like months without eating or drinking?"
"Ya pretty much and then the next time I do it's really dark orange."
"Ewww dude that's freakin disgusting, you're wild bro."
"Ya well at least I don't have to worry about crapping on someone's head every time I take a dump."
"Ooookay buddy so that's how it is at least I don't have to walk anywhere."
"Are you serious right now dude I literally have hands you don't."
"I have claws on my feet."
"I'm taller than you."
"I don't get cold."
"Neither do I."
"I have better vision."
"I'm better with a bow."
"No chance in Hell."
"Wanna bet?"
"All freakin day dude."
"You're going down."
"I'm going kick your ass."
"Why cause you can't punch it."
"Alright that's it, you me flight range 5 minutes."
"Deal."
Of all the things that the two warriors had in common a competitive spirit was the thing that they shared the most.
"Tulin's told me that you challenged him to a shooting competition. All I can say is be careful, that kid will go until he wins."
"Teba if he goes till he wins we'll have to tell Ganondorf to hold off his invasion." Teba had decided that it was best for the two warriors to do this now because it was bound to happen at some point, and better now than when Ganondorf arrives.
By the time Priamus got to flight range Tulin was already waiting there. The two decided that the competition would consist of 5 rounds each round the target will be further away.
To make things more interesting if they don't hit a bullseye it wouldn't count. They would both have to use a basic bow not the one their own to make things even.
"You're nothing without your special bow, this'll be easy." Tulin for the first time ever didn't respond and just went up to shoot.
No surprise both of them made it through the first three rounds without any trouble at all. Hoping to speed things up, Tulin gave Priamus a paraglider and the last two rounds would be shot while free falling.
Round four was close but both warriors managed to hit the bullseye. Though Tulin barely hit it because he wasn't used to shooting while in a straight free fall.
"Oh you almost missed, is someone getting worried." Priamus' taunting was getting a bit out of hand at this point, and Tulin had enough of it.
"You know what, next round we shoot blindfolded." Of all the things Priamus was expecting being blindfolded was the last thing he expected.
"Alright deal, whoever misses first loses."
Either by skill or most likely dumb luck this went on for 58 rounds until finally the two decided to end in a temporary draw.
Back in Goron City things had gone from bad to worse. Bastilan wasn't happy with how slowly the Goron's training had gone. So he decided that running suicides up and down Death Mountain was the best way to get them in faster.
"PICK UP THE DAMN PACE YOU SLOW ASSES. GANONDORF ISNT GONNA WAIT FOR YOU AND NEITHER WILL I. THE LAST TEN OF YOU BACK TO THE CITY DO THIS AGAIN LETS MOVE!"
Even though the only reason they were doing this was because he was pissed, Bastilan knew the Gorons needed to work as a unit.
If they were going to beat Ganondorf they needed to work together as one fight, defend and die as one. And there's no better way to unite people than to give them a common enemy.
"You ten your last get to the bottom of the mountain and start again. Everybody else, archery lessons, with bomb arrows."
"Sorry I think I miss heard you goro* did you say, bomb arrows?"
"You're damn right I said bomb arrows but if you're not ready for that you can join the circus and run the mountain again." No response every Goron just stood there.
"That's what I thought, now listen up. When you're in the heat of battle you don't have time to think about drawing your bow. That's why you're gonna learn with bomb arrows. You have to draw it fast here or it'll explode in your face and as much as I would love to see that, I still need soldiers so to start we're going to use smoke bomb arrows. Same explosion time but it's not lethal. Consider this your one and only gift from me."
They did this for next 4 hours and the whole time not a single Goron was able to fire an arrow. One got close but still was not able to do it.
"Today was terrible, you should all be ashamed of yourselves. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. For now we're moving onto swordsmanship.
Meanwhile in the snowy mountains of Hebra things are going much better for Priamus. Besides the fact that he was still tied with Tulin he was feeling great about the progress he'd made with the Rito.
Of all the Templar Priamus was probably the most fun to be around. Artarion was definitely made the most jokes and took almost nothing seriously, but Priamus is like the cool older brother that always hangs out with you.
He took the best approach with the Rito and didn't command them at all. Actually he just made Teba give them all the bad news. The only thing Priamus did was train them by challenging each one individually to a fight.
This way he could see which warriors were at what level while still staying sharp himself, and it didn't make him seem like a bossy asshole.
Despite being a prideful species the Rito welcomed Priamus quickly and respected him. This made training them so much easier than he thought it would be.
Most of the day he just has them shooting to get repetition in so that when the time came their form was flawless. He also taught them how to use a sword because whether they like it or not they're gonna need to use one at some point.
"You know Priamus you're not so bad after all."
"Tulin I could say the same about you and hey you may even be as good an archer as me someday."
"Woah hold on the way I remember it we ended in a tie." Priamus just laughed. It's been more than 70 years since he'd had a little brother. It was nice to have that feeling again.
'I hope Bastilan's having a good time. I heard the Gorons are the nicest people in Hyrule. I bet he's made so many friends already. They may even bring him out of his shell.' Priamus could not have been more wrong.
"YOU CALL THAT SWORD FIGHTING? I'VE SEEN MY DEAD GRANDMA FIGHT BETTER THAN THIS! YOUR ALL EMBRACING, HOW THE HELL ARW WE GONNA BEAT GANONDORF WHEN YOU LAZY ASSES CAN'T EVEN SPAR."
Bastilan couldn't believe his eyes. There were one maybe two decent fighters in this whole group. He even thought about leaving when he saw this.
'There's no hope for these jack offs I'd be impressed if even one of them survives. If only they were as good at fighting as they were at mining.'
That's when it hit him. The Gorons are miners and he's trying to teach them how to use a sword. The answer was simple give them picks and bomb flowers instead of swords and bows.
"EVERYONE STOP!" Every Goron looked scared for their life.
"You guys can't fight with swords ands bows you're just terrible at it. I don't think I've ever seen a worse batch of soldiers, but you're miners not soldiers. From now on your only to use bomb flowers and picks in your training. With these you can become the deadliest fighting force in the world. You will be able to tank attacks and take down the big guys but do you know what else you can do?"
No response, they were all too frightened.
"You can tunnel and you're damn good at it too. You'll tunnel under the enemy so we can surprise them and attack from below. I can't believe I didn't think of it earlier."
"So are we still gonna have to run the mountain." A stray voice came from the crowd.
"You want to run the mountain? That's an excellent idea. Everyone follow him to the bottom of the mountain, we're doing suicides again. This time I'll go with you and whoever beats me doesn't have to do the mountain for the rest of the week.
Somehow in a matter of minutes Bastilan went from a stricter to a commander. The Goron's still respected him and followed his orders without question but now it wasn't out of fear.
Perhaps training the Gorons wouldn't turn out to be so bad after all.
2/21/24
Final notes: Thanks for reading. I know I rambled a lot in this chapter but I had a harder time writing the Gorons and didn't want to make this a really short chapter. I hope you have a wonderful day and God bless.