FicWad

Chapter 8
The Gorons

Link had actually waited for me at the ranch’s entrance, which really didn’t surprise me. He had ‘impressed’ Malon, but he knew that if he left me, I would kill him. Link was still on his horse and he greeted me with a smile.
“Wasn’t that cool?” he asked.
“It was pretty stupid if you ask me,” I snapped. “Not only did you leave me behind, you also left Scyther behind as well. That was a dumbass move, sir.”
“I bet I impressed Malon,” Link mumbled.
“You know, for a fairy boy who’s been locked up in a forest your whole life, you sure do know how to woo your women,” I said. “It’s pathetic.”
Link frowned and started to trot forward on Epona. He went towards Death Mountain, so I followed close behind. Zucchini followed Link while Lux stayed on my shoulder. He was enjoying the ride, Lux, and he loved to feel some wind breeze back his ears. We made it to the entrance of a place, which had a sign beside it.
“Kakariko Village,” I read aloud. “It sounds peaceful, I guess.”
I had Lightning move forward, but he became distressed. He turned around automatically.
“Here, Epona is not a wimp,” Link said with a nasty little smirk on his face. He kicked her sides to make her go forward, but she too would not go up the entrance.
I dismounted Lightning and noticed that the way to get into Kakariko Village was by walking up a set of stairs. Since I discovered this, I said: “It seems that the horses are afraid of stairs.”
Link dismounted Epona and walked beside me. He shook his head, “Why did the ranch give us pansy horses?”
“Aw, shut your mouth. They’re only afraid of stairs.” I looked over and saw a tree. “Let’s just tie them up on that tree and they should be fine.”
Link and I tied up our horses and went towards the stairs to the village. Lux and Zucchini followed right behind us. When we got all the way up to the stairs, we saw the front of the village.
Kakariko was a tiny looking village. We passed the entrance and saw a bunch of workers running around, some with tools and planks of wood. There was some old guy in front of a tree who kept yelling for some reason. He talked to himself, saying that his son was really lazy and would never make something out of himself. Link and I just decided to ignore that man.
We walked around for a bit, but there wasn’t really anything exciting. There was a lot of construction going on around the village. Kakariko must’ve just been a village in progress. The people seemed really nice there, but most of them were old people. There were three guards in this village and there was one blocking the Death Mountain path.
Link stopped me before we got any closer to the Death Mountain gate.
“Do you think we should try and talk to that guy?” he asked.
“Well yeah, why?” I asked.
“He just looks really, well, mean,” Link said.
“Aw, hell, they are all suppose to look like that, Link. Otherwise people would take them for granted or something.”
I walked up to the guy confidently and he just stood there. The gate was wide open, so I started to walk through it.
“’Ey!” the sharp voice of the guard said. “Who the heck do you think you are? Get back ‘ere.”
I walked backwards rather sly and he continued, “You needa stay outta that mountain. It’s dangerous, ya know?”
“Well, I need to go there and help the, um, Goron tribe up there,” I said. I used my best professional voice and hand gesture to make him know that I meant business. I wanted to look and sound like I knew what I was doing.
“I can’t let ya do that, missy,” the guard said.
“Why not?” I asked and I asked a bit harsh, actually.
“Because, only certain people are allowed up there. Otherwise they’ll needa consent from the Royal Family, or at least some sort of document that lets me know that yer a friend of the Royal Family.”
Link and I were at a dilemma at that one, but it was getting late and I didn’t want to go back into the castle just to get a measly letter. I knew I had to have something that was signed by someone of the Royal Family. I started to dig in my pockets to see if there was anything I could use, when I started to hear a noise coming from Link’s direction.
Link started to play the lullaby that Impa taught us. It sounded really pretty when Link played it and the song actually made me a bit tired. I suddenly wished that I could play one of those potato things because, if they were played right, they actually sounded beautiful.
The guard looked amazed, or well, I guess his mouth did since that was the only part of his face that I could see.
“Well muh boy,” the guard said, “that song there tells me that you two are friends of the Royal Family. I’ll let cha two go.”
The guard let us pass him without yelling at us and we started up this mountain. As we got farther from the village, the grass started to disappear and more dirt began to show up. I knew that this would be an uncomfortable place for me because I didn’t like hiking, nor did I like tons of dirt. All I hoped was that Death Mountain wasn’t an active volcano, because it had an opening right at the top of the thing.
We walked a bit farther and then these red spider things started to jump out of no where. They just kept jumping on us and it got really annoying real quick. I pulled out my sword and chased after it, but it kept jumping around. It was attracted to Link’s head for some reason and kept jumping right on his head. Thankfully, Zucchini was fast enough to slice the thing in half.
Right when we turned the corner however, one of those spiders jumped at us again. I just shouted at Link to run because we had no time to chase the little jumper. After awhile, I noticed that the spider would stop and turn around and around. It made these annoying scratching sounds too, but that wasn’t quite as annoying as it was having the thing jump on your head.
However, our misfortune wasn’t over just yet. As soon as we turned the corner again, a huge ball came rolling down. It looked like a rock of some sort, but Link didn’t see it at all. I had to jump into him as Lux and Zucchini jumped out of the way themselves. While I pinned Link on the ground, I heard the rock roll by us and a small explosion a second later.
“What the heck?” I said and I got up as quick as I could. The rock stretched out or something and revealed to me that it really wasn’t a rock at all. It was a rather fat, human looking thing, but it had a garlic kind of shaped head and was build rather strong. On its back were rocks, which is why I mistaken it for such. I rushed over to it, assuming that it was a Goron.
“Dang,” I heard the thing mumbled. He had a rather nasally voice for a well built guy. “I can’t believe I didn’t make it.”
“Didn’t make it where?” I asked and I looked back at Link for a second and he was a bit confused.
“Well, I was trying to get one of these bomb plants down to that big rock,” the guy said. “Anyway, the big rock is covering the way to Dodongo’s Cavern.”
I remembered what Impa had said and I listened to what this guy had to say.
“The brothers in the city dared me to first blow up that rock and then go inside and defeat the King Dodongo. I’m known to be the coward of all the Goron brothers here, but I figured I’d give the dare a shot. It would be cool to be a hero and all.”
“Where is your city, by any chance?” I asked.
“It’s all the way up there,” the Goron said. “But if you’re a tourist, I just have to tell you that the Goron’s Ruby isn’t in its usual spot right now.”
“Well, where is it?”
“Darunia, our leader brother, became angry when the cavern was blocked, so he grabbed the ruby and shut himself in his throne room. He said that he was going to eat the ruby if no one would bow up the rock. That ruby has been the pride of the Goron’s tribe for centuries. It would be a shame to see it eaten.”
“Well, thank you,” I said gratefully. “I need to go now. Good luck with that boulder thing and blowing it up.”
I walked away and joined Link who was on the ground holding his head. Lux and Zucchini were with him. I helped him up and brushed him off.
“What happened?” he asked.
“Nothing, I just saved your life, now let’s go,” I said.
I grabbed Link’s wrist and led him the rest of the way up the mountain. There was an entrance and a sign that said Goron City. We walked inside and I was amazed.
Goron City wasn’t really much of a city. Back at home, a city to me was a concrete jungle with huge skyscrapers, a lot of people, and a Starbucks on every corner. In Goron City it was basically a huge hollowed out spot in the mountain with four floors. It was rather round and you could basically jump down to whichever floor you wanted to be on, even though it could hurt a bit.
In the middle of this city, there was a pedestal and you could only reach it by walking on a fairly thin rope. Being ambitious as I always was, I decided to walk across this rope. It was a really thin rope and I had to be extremely careful. While walking, Lux decided to walk too, so to get passed me, he jumped right on my head and then continued forward while I tried to regain my composure.
I reach the other side and got a better look at the pedestal. A Goron was standing there, licking his lips for some reason. The pedestal said something about the Goron’s Ruby but, as the Goron did say outside, the leader, Darunia, had snatched it away. I didn’t know where I could find this Darunia guy, so I asked the Goron beside me where he was.
“He locked himself in his throne room,” the Goron said.
“But where’s the throne room?” I asked.
“It’s on the first floor, but not just anyone can get into it. You have to have the melody of a Royal Family messenger.”
Zelda’s Lullaby, I thought. I thanked the Goron and had Lux get on my shoulder so we could walk across the rope together that time. We made it across and went back to Link, who was waiting for us with Zucchini.
“You should definitely get that potato thing out again,” I said, “because we’re going to need it to play that damn lullaby again.”
“You mean the ocarina?” Link asked. He was getting really annoyed when I called the ocarina a potato…and I loved it.
“Yeah, whatever,” I said and I actually jumped off the top floor and onto the third. “Are you coming?”
Link rolled his eyes and jumped down beside me. He wasn’t as graceful as I was at the whole ledge jumping thing, but that might have been because, back at home, I would jump off the equipment during recess. I would do it every day just for no reason, but it came in handy here in Hyrule.
Link and I walked around the third floor and found an opening which had stairs in it. One the second floor, there was a path, but it had some rocks in front of it. I could faintly hear an ocarina sound, but I ignored it. It was probably nothing out of the ordinary.
We found the stairs to the first floor and in the middle of this floor was a huge vase with the face of a Goron on it. It was spinning around on its own, which confused the heck out of me. But anyway, on the other side was a nice rug and a wall that was shut extremely tight. Navi and Max started to shine around this rug.
“What’s up, guys?” I asked.
“This rug is a gift to the Gorons from the Royal Family,” Navi said. “I think if Link plays Zelda’s Lullaby, the doors will open. I think it will prove that you two are messengers of the Royal Family.”
“Alright Link, play that thang,” I said.
Link got out his ocarina and he played the lullaby for the thousandth time. The door opened suddenly and Link stopped playing. He had a satisfied look on his face.
“Good job, kid,” I said, “now let’s go meet this Darunia guy.”
We walked into the throne room. There was a little hallway and after a few steps we saw Darunia. He looked different than the other Gorons. He had side burn things and some wild hair. He also looked extremely stronger, even stronger than all the Gorons I had seen. I would bet that he was stronger than Ganondorf, too, minus the magic powers of course.
Darunia stood proud and tall and said, “What brings you here, messengers of the King? Has my Sworn Brother decided to apologize, or will he let my people and I suffer more? We’re starving because he decided to bring a green guy here and he blocked the Dodongo’s Cavern because I wouldn’t give up the Goron’s Ruby.”
“Oh, we’re looking-“ I started but Link nudged me. I shouldn’t have said anything about looking for the stone because then Darunia would have thought Link and I were going attempt to take it, like Ganondorf did.
“We’re here as the messenger from the Royal Family,” Link said.
“Yes, we are,” I added enthusiastically.
“Is what you’re telling me the truth, children?” Darunia asked.
“Well, yeah, we played that lullaby at your door, sir,” I said.
Darunia then looked angry and said, “So my Sworn Brother, the King of Hyrule, sent me some puny boy and a loud mouthed girl to take care of my problem? What has he been thinking?”
I got angry and said, “Hey dude, we’re just here to help and if you want to run your mouth and insult us, go ahead, but we’re here to help you and we will help you.”
“How will you blow up the rock at Dodongo’s Cavern, my dear?” Darunia asked.
“Um, with a bomb, duh,” I said.
“Well that’s funny, because the Gorons have eaten all the bombs were had stored here and guess what? We are the leading supplier of bombs in Hyrule, so I don’t think you’ll find any bombs.”
I then remembered the Goron outside that tried to roll a bomb down the mountain and on the rock blocking the cavern. He said he had tried to use bomb plants, but they seemed to explode too fast for him to actually reach the cavern.
“How about those bomb plants?” I asked. I had actually never seen one, but it was just a guess.
“You couldn’t possibly pull one of those bombs, you silly girl,” Darunia said. “You would need the Goron secret treasure to lift those bombs.”
“Where can we get the treasure,” Link asked.
“From me, you fool,” Darunia said. “But, I will tell you what, if you can play me a song that will make me relax and be rather happy, the Goron’s treasure shall be yours.”
“Alright, we’ll find it,” I said. “C’mon Link.” I grabbed his wrist and had him follow. I led him out of the throne room and the door shut behind us. The problem was, we couldn’t find Lux or Zucchini.
Link and I looked around the city, but they were no where to be found. There was a huge dance party or something going on with the Gorons, so I went to see what was going on.
A huge group of Gorons had gathered around this hallway and were dancing wildly. I had to see what was going on, so I sifted through the crowd. At the front of this crowd was Lux and Zucchini. They were dancing with the Gorons. I stood and watched, amazed at this huge group and shortly after, Link made his was through the crowd.
“What’s going on?” Link asked.
“I have no idea,” I said.
Link listened for a second and then said, “They’re dancing to Saria’s Song.”
“Saria’s Song?” I said. “That girl in the forest?”
“Yeah,” Link said. “Ashley, we need to go see her! We need to go right now.”
“But Link, it’s getting late,” I whined, but he grabbed my wrist and took me through the crowd.
“Lux, Zucchini, we have to go!” I shouted to the two and they snapped back to reality and chased after Link.