Legend Of Zelda Fan Fiction ❯ The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess ❯ Turbulence of Death Mountain and Kakariko ( Chapter 13 )

A.N.- None of these characters belong to me, they are the property of Nintento. Noticed a few spelling errors so I figued I better go through and fix that asap. Also if something seems weird with the page it could be because my vista program doesn’t like this site or something stupid like that. At any rate enjoy.

Back in Kakarko Beth and Talo were talking together in the street while Colin and Malo played safely by Renado’s front door. All of a sudden they heard an all-too familiar rumble of hoofbeats coming from the town’s entrance.
King Bulbin and his bulbin riders came thundering in, heading straight for where Beth and Talo stood. Beth stood frozen in fear while Talo ran out of the way.Colin turned to run away from the creature that had kidnapped him in the first place as well, then stopped short. His eyes flickered from Beth standing frozen in the street, to the sanctuary of Renado’s home. Clenching his fists tightly he thought of what Link and Illia would do and ran towards Beth.
Everything seemed to move in slow motion. Beth stood there staring while King Bulbin and his riders closed in on her. Then, just as she was about to be trampled, Colin ran over and pushed her out of harm’s way. With her safe he stood there glaring at King Bulbin for a fraction of a second.
Hearing the commotion Barnes came out of his shop to see what in the world was going on. And as if on cue King Bulbin came past his open door, carrying Colin’s unconsious body in his mammoth-sized fist. He flipped the visor on his helmet up and glared at Barnes as if he was daring him to do something. Scared beyond measure Barnes meakly pulled the welding mask down over his face and quietly stepped back into his shop, closing the door behind him.
King Bulbin chuckled evilly at the fear he could instil in creatures weaker than he was. His chuckling stopped when he heard hoofbeats coming from behind him. Turning around he saw Link astride Epona gallopping at full speed towards him.
“Agh!! You!” Link growled, urging Epona to go even faster and drawing his sword.
Laughing as he recognized his challenger King Bulbin raised Colin’s body above his head and waved.
“Colin!” Link shouted, enraged beyond belief now.
King Bulbin flipped his visor down and steered Lord Bulbo, his boar steed, towards the village’s north exit/entrance.
Link could see Renado and Luda stepping out of their home with Talo, Malo, and Beth who was in tears over the incident. Signaling them to stay there he charged after King Bulbin, meaning to save Colin and take him down.

Link stopped Epona short at the base of a hill in the field north of Kakariko Village where King Bulbin was waiting for him. Chuckling he waved his flag as him, which had Colin tied to its pole.
“Why, you…!!”
King Bulbin laughed at his anger and blew on a horn-like instrument. Out of the twilight to the north came his minions, one rider and one archer to each boar. They all came charging at Link, trying to confuse and outnumber him. Ignoring them and the arrows they were firing at him he headed straight for King Bulbin.
With Epona keeping up easily with Lord Bulbo Link was able to swing and slice at King Bulbin. Each strike severed a few of the cords holding his armor together and a piece woulf fall off; revealing a thin red line where Link’s sword had pierced his skin. Evey so often King Bulbin would reach over and attempt to shove Link out of the saddle, but Link would only tighten his legs around Epona’s stomach so that he could not be moved. It was druing one such attempt that one of the archers managed to score a hit on Link, burrying an arrow in his arm.
Link grimaced in pain, but did not attempt to remove the arrow. To do so at this point would certainly mean the end of him. So he bit back the fire creeping through his arm and continued his attack on King Bulbin until he no longer had any armor to protect him.
Nearly falling out of his own saddle King Bulbin steered his mount over to a stone bridge that had been built precariously over an endless drop of a gorge. He had Lord Bulbo jump the wooden barricade and cantered to the other side of the bridge with Colin still tied to the flagpole. Link had Epona jump over the barricade as well, but did not follow his opponent to the other end of the bridge. For the moment he had cleared the block archers at both ends of the bridge had set fire to their barricades, trapping the two combatants on the bridge.
Understanding what he had to do to win at once Link quickly took the opportunity to pull the arrow out of his arm. Then he turned to face King Bulbin who was in turn, staring down at him.
As if on signal they both started charging strait towards each other at the exact same time. Link waited until mere seconds before he and Bulbin would’ve collided before he steered Epona off slightly to the right and sliced at his arm. King Bulbin howled in pain as the sword bit deep inot his arm, cutting down to the bone.
Enraged his turned his mount around as Link did the same and charged again. Thinking that Link would strike at his wounded side he braced himself to strike from that direction. This time, however, Link attacked from the left. The force of his strike was so strong that King Bulbin was thrown from the saddle and into the abbyss below.
Confused from it’s lack of a rider Lord Bulbo stopped dead in its tracks which enabled Link to untie Colin from the flagpole. When he was safe Link slapped the gaint pig’s backside with the flat of his sword causing it to run off, snorting into the twilight.
Sensing that they had won Epona reared up and whinnied as Link raised his bloody sword in victory.

Hurrying back to Kakariko with his precious cargo Link headed straight for the spirit’s spring. He remembered that all spirit springs held healing qualities and thought that it might help Colin. Renado looked at Link’s arm concernedly, but was only slightly more worried about the still unconsious Colin.
Link carried him in his arms and waded out into the spring feeling the effects only increase as he went further in. He could feel his arm healing, but had no way of knowing if the water was doing anything for poor Colin. When he had felt that it had done all that it could he waded back out and kneeled by the water’s edge while everyone crowded around.
At first he thought that he had been too late to save him; then he opened his eyes halfway and looked around him.
“Link…Is everyone…OK?” he asked, looking around at those gathered and sighing when he saw that they were all fine, “…Good.” He closed his eyes for a moment and took a few deep breaths before addressing Beth. “Beth…I’m sorry.”
“For what silly?”
“You know…for shoving you,” he said, “Are you mad?”
Talo looked over at Beth who just shook her head; too moved by Colin’s bravery to speak at the moment.
“I…I think I finally understand,” he said, addressing Link now.
“Understand what Colin?” Link asked, desperatly hoping that Colin wasn’t saying his last words.
“I understand what my dad meant when he told me I needed to be stronger, like you, Link…” he said, putting all his effort into reaching his hand up towards the sky as Link followed its movement with his eyes, “He wasn’t talking about strength, like lifting stuff. He was talking about being brave…” He clenched it tightly in a fist before letting it fall to his side. Colin then looked Link in the eye and smiled. “Link…You saved me, didn’t you?”
“Of course I did,” Link said, smiling and nodding, “I couldn’t let that monster take you away from us like that.”
“You…You can do anything,” Colin said, admiringly, “You can do something to help the Gorons in the mines too, can’t you, Link?”
The other kids looked at Link in confusion, but he had eyes only for Colin at the moment.
“I think I can Colin,” he said, nodding.
Satisfied, Colin smiled one last time and passed out from exhaustion.
“Colin!” Talo, Beth, and Luda cried out, concerned.
Wanting to help somehow Talo took hold of Colin’s arm and attempted to pull him up on his back, meaning to carry him to someplace where he could rest comfortably. Renado stepped over instead and easily picked Colin up in his arms as Link stood up from his kneeling position. Seeing the look that Link was giving him Renado nodded towards Death Mountain.
“Go,” he said, “Colin will be here when you get back.”
“Right,” Link said, turning his attention towards Death mountain.
As he was heading past the closed down general store he head Malo call to him from inside. Curious about what he might want Link went in and found that the store had been cleaned up and some merchandise had been put on the shelves.
“Wow, Malo,” he said, impressed, “Did you do all of this yourself?”
“Yeah. I got to thinkin’ about how I could help out. I can’t do big heroic stuff like you Link, but I figured I could still help people with heroic prices,” Malo said, puffing up his little chest proudly, “And I think I’ve got something here that could help you out.”
“Realy what’s that?”
“This,” he said, pointing to a metal shield emblazoned with the crest or the kingdom of Hyrule and and the triforce, “I found it collecting dust in the back and thought I’d polish it up a bit. I’ve got it marked at 150 rupees if you want it.”
Link took the shield down from the shelf and looked it over. It was in good shape and would certianly hold up to the heat of an active volcano better than his wooden Ordan-crafted shield would. Besides the fact 150 was a steal compared to the regular selling price of over 400 ruppees.
“I think I’ll take it,” Link said, handing Malo the money who in turn put it in a box for safe keeping, “What are you going to do with all the money you earn Malo?”
“I dunno, yet, but I figure I can do something good with it.”
Outside Link took the wooden shield off his back and replaced it with the metal one. Leaving his old sheild by the shop front he noticed Talo standing out in the road, waiting for him.
“Link,” he said, “I…I wanna help too.Anything you need just say it!”
“You know what you and, Beth, and even Luda can do for me while I’m helping the Gorons?”
“What?”
“If you could wash Epona down in the spirt’s spring and give her a good rest it would really help,” he said, “She’s had a rough time, and she hasn’t had a break since I found her again.”
“Right!” Talo said, punching the air, “We’ll get her all fixed up for you by the time you get back!”
He ran over to where Epona was standing by Renado’s house and led her into the spring. Happy that eveything would be fine for the time being Link hurried on to his destination.

Before trying to climb the wire netting again Link put the iron boots Bo had given him on. He didn’t know exactly what kind of properties the boots had, but it was as if he were wearing his regular leather boots. Shrugging he put his leather boots in his item pouch and climbed.
Just like last time the Goron sentry was waiting for him.
“Ho! You are back again, human?” he cried out, “You will never pass! You can’t hope to match our brute force!”
Like before the Goron curled into a ball and charged at him. Link braced himself for another trip through the air. He did not however, he caught the Goron easily and threw him like he would a goat; sending him tumbling down the trail.
“Bo wasn’t joking,” Link mused, watching the Goron’s descent.
Now that he knew he could safely take on the Gorons without having to worry about being thrown Link carried on up the trail. He followed the same path he had when he had hunted dark insects tossing rolling Gorons out of his way as he went. Until finally he arrived at the very base of Death Mountain itself.
Shouting from a platform high above him caused him to look up. Two Goron sentries had noticed him and were talking amongst themselves about what should be done. Seeming to reach an agreement one motioned for the other to climb up on his back while he was curled up into a ball. He then launched him to the next higher platform.
Link made a mental not that if that was how the Gorons had to get around their own mountain he would likely have to do the same. He hopped down the stone platues shaped like steps for a Goron and was greeted once again by the mountain spewing molten rock down at him.
Watching the shadows on how to avoid them Link dodged them until they were finished. He relazed for just a moment when an exceptionally large chadow began to form around him. He looked up and rolled out of the way just in the nick of time. A chunk of scalding rock easily as tall as Renado’s home had landed smack where he had been standing just a moment before.
“Whoa…” Midna said, admiring the size of the rock, “This looks dangerous….”
“You think?” Link mumbled sarcastically.
“Is this the traditional Death Mountain welcome? Eee hee!”
Shaking his head at Midna’s ever-warped sense of amusement he warily approached the nearest Goron. This one, unlike the sentry, didn’t even bother to try and speak to him before it started attacking. Link fought back only half-heartedly because he didn’t want to seriously hurt the Goron. But he needen’t have worried about that because every time he lunged at the creature it easily deflected his sword with its rock-like arms.
Remembering the tecinique the hero’s shade had taught him Link thrust his sheild at the Goron and poked his sword at it like he meant to seriously hurt it. Immediately the Goron curled up into a ball in order to defend itself. Hoping that it wouldn’t notice what he was doing Link climbed up onto its back and waited for it to spring back into a standing position.
When it did he was easily flung up to the next level. Heading towards his right Link encountered another Goron and proceeded with the same strategy as with the last one. This one luckily enough not only launched him up to the next level but also managed to get him right in front of the next Goron he needed to proceed.
He continued like this until he reached the Goron who had spotted him in the first place. The Goron grunted in recognition and moved to attack. By now Link had perfected his anti-Goron strategy and was soon standing in front of the entrance to the Goron village. Taking a deep breath to prepare for the worst he headed on in.
Inside there was a gathering of at least seven Gorons standing around a sumo ring waiting for him. Among them the other of the two who had originally spotted him; it was likely he that had alerted the others. They all looked up as he came in, curling into balls and spinning in place, ready to attack in unison. Link drew his sword and shield and braced himself for the inevetiable charge. Just as they were about to attack him however a voice called out from the tunnel beyond.
“ENOUGH!!”
The Gorons instantly stopped spinning and uncurled, turning to face the owner of the voice with respect. Link looked up too, curious to see who had likely saved him from being crushed. The two guards standing in front of the tunnel entrance scooted aside to allow a much older Goron to pass.
This Goron was smaller than the others. His stone hair was receeding and his cerimonial tattoos were red instead of cream. He had a wise face and looked at Link with great interest.
“Is this young one such an imposing enemy that you must all gang up on him?” he asked, motioning Link to come stand before him, “I think not, Little Brothers.”
The other Gorons hung their heads and kept quiet respectivly as Link approached the elder Goron.
“I am a Goron elder, little human,” he said, “I am called Gor Coron. Because of certain…circumstances, I must lead the Goron tribe in place of Darbus, our tribal patriarch.”
“It’s an honor,” Link said respectivly, bowing slightly, “I am Link.”
“Tell me, little human, do you come from the village below?”
“I do not. I come from the village of Ordon in the south. Certain…events have led me to your mountain.”
“You have done well to come this far. You are strong…for a human,” Gor Coron said, just a tiny hint of how impressed he was edging his voice, “ However…The mines beyond here are sacred to my tribe. Outsiders are not allowed. Unless…”
Link knew that he wanted him to prove himself in a sumo match so he nodded and gave him his best determined stare. Gor Coron seemed to like this and gave him a little half-smile.
“I could make an exception…but you would have to beat me in a contest of power. Are you willing to try that, little human?”
“I am,” Link said, fairly certain that he would be able to do it. Mayor Bo had faith in him after all.
The two of them stepped into the ring and crouched down on their lines waiting for the signal to start. The Gorons around the ring were rooting for their leader with none truly in favor of Ink passing the test. A gong was struck and the match began.
It went on for quite a while longer than the one between Link and Mayor Bo, with neither combatant showing a clear lead on the other. There were several close calls where either Link or Gor Coron was about to be thrown out of the ring, but at the last second they would regain their balance and throw the other off. They went back and forth like this a few more times before Link finally shoved the Goron out of the ring and the match was over.
“Young warrior…You have a strong will…and sharp eyes,” he said, pushing himself up off the ground, “Fine traits…Want to see how well you can use them?”
“What do you have in mind?” Link asked, thinking that it had something to do with the mines.
Nodding in approval at Link’s response he motioned for him to come stand next to him at the steps leading to the tunnel he had been standing in earlier.
“You have seen it, I would bet…The mountain, erupting without pause…When the mountain began to rage all four of us elders and Darbus, our patriarch, went inside to investigate its anger. We have a treasure that was entrusted to us by the spirit and we must protect it. Do you understand?”
“I do actually. So, did something happen when you reached the treasure?”
“Yes, the moment Darbus reached out and touched the treasure…everthing went wrong. He collapsed…and before our very eyes transformed into an unspeakable monster! He began to rage through the mines, trailing ruin behind him…and the eruptions grew more frewuent and more severe.”
“That’s where he is now, isn’t it? Inside the mines I mean.”
“We used allof our strength to seal him deep inside the mountain….”Gor Coron said, nodding sadly, “It…grieved us to do this to our patriarch…but we had no other course of action. I ask this favor of you, young warrior...Go to the aid of Darbus!”
There were cries and shouts of agreement from the other Gorons assembled in the room. It was only then that Link noticed that a few of them looked very tired. They must be worried sick about the fate of their patriarch.
“Make no mistake, the spirits have guided you here,” he continued when the racket had died down, “I, Gor Coron, need your help. On behalf of my entire clan, I ask you for your aid!”
“I’ll do it,” Link said, nodding confidently to the Goron elder.
“…You two! Let the young warrior pass,” he shouted over the cheers to the guards.
Silently and without a word the guards shuffled out of the way to allow Link passage into their tribes sacred mines.