Fan Fiction ❯ Professional Hero ❯ On the road to Termina ( Chapter 10 )

Chapter 10 - On the road to Termina

Link sat at the back of the milk wagon as they rode next to the Lost Woods, looking at the Goron trying to keep up.

"Come on, Link, a bit faster!" he shouted.

"I... I don't see you... running... here..." the poor boy panted.

"I don't need the exercise anymoah..."

The Goron could just jump away as Link fell on the road. He jumped up and saw Romani smiling on the wagon.

"You could use the exercise, Grasshopper, Romani thinks your condition is dropping a bit."

Link grumbled and started to run. It was a long trip to Termina but he knew that there would be a stop soon... in a few hours.

The two Links sat next to the campfire, catching their breath. The driver was really uncomfortably looking around and suspicious of everything in the woods.

"What's the matter?" Link asked.

"They say these woods are haunted," the driver said quietly, afraid the ghosts may hear him, "you can hear luring music sometime which lure people in the woods."

"Luring music does that sometimes," Darunia's son said, mockingly, "always lures people away, real problem that luring music."

The kid, only ten and already a smartmouth, reminded Link of himself when he was young.

"That's not a joke," the driver hissed, "don't joke about things you don't know about..."

He stopped as he heard the melody drift through the air.

"That's it..." he whispered.

Link's hand went instinctively towards his ocarina as he saw Darunia's son nod his head to the music.

"No," the driver said to the Goron, "don't listen to it. That's the..."

He came silent again when he heard the melody right next to him. He looked over in terror and saw Link playing the ocarina. The music in the woods had stopped as Link continued to play. Several Skull kids came out from under the trees and came closer to the campfire, searching for the one playing their song.

"How do you know that?" one of them said.

The driver looked terrified and pale, ready to flee at any time.

"Saria taught me." Link said with a smile.

"Wow Saria! Saria taught him! He knows Saria? Saria! He knows the Sage! Saria? Wow, Saria!" the gang of Skull kids were definitely in awe because of this news.

The first Skull kid came closer again.

"How do you know Saria?"

"I grew up in Kokiri forest."

"Wow Kokiri forest! That's next to the Lost Woods! Kokiri forest? Wow, that's were the Deku tree lives! He grew up in Kokiri forest!"

Link couldn't help but laugh at the kids. Just like the Kokiri, the Skull kids remained children and always acted like children. They were lost kids in the Lost Woods, Saria once told him. Hylian kids that wandered off in the woods became Skull kids. Others became Stalfos, the words of Sinkia, the yellowhaired Kokiri girl he met when he was grown up, came back to him. It was true that Saria's song had a enchanting effect but the woods would never take anyone it didn't want, did it? A small itch just on his collarbone reminded him of the fact how Skull kids disliked grown-ups, so there wasn't really a chance someone would stay in the woods too long. Although, the son of the carpenter boss...

"What are you thinking of?"

Romani brought him back to reality.

"Oh, nothing, just some things I don't know but aren't really important right now."

He looked back at the Skull kids who were playing and dancing around the campfire. Now he had done it, now they would never get some sleep, all because he wanted to make a fool out of that driver. How was he gonna get away from this without trouble? Hmm, maybe the hardest puzzle yet. Luckily, it were the Skull kids that gave the answer. More of them looked back at the woods and started to move in that direction.

"We have to go." One of them said while he jumped towards the woods.

"We can't leave the forest..." a voice echoed between the trees while the melody started again.

Link sighed. They were kids also under the protection of the Deku tree. The others were scared away or just died without help of the forest. That kid was very depressed and knew life had no more meaning to him. It was either the Lost woods or the sword of one of Ganondorf's minions. At least now he had a pleasant death, Link thought. Suddenly he heard a rooster crow in the woods. Or maybe, just maybe...

"Are...are they gone?" the driver asked, shivering.

"Yes, they are, and they do no harm." The Goron said.

"They do, but only to those that intrude the woods." Link said quietly. "Let's sleep."

A little later the travellers slept, except for one person who kept on feeding the fire, just to make sure the shadows stayed in the woods.

Link ran over the pad, trying to do his best not to be out of breath. If he kept this pace up, he could go one for miles, but if he went just a little faster he would crash within the hour.

"Come on, faster!"

Great, he just knew it. Link sighed and sped up, hoping he wouldn't crash. Oh, how his heart had rejoiced when the great Goron Hero had to run besides him, but after the hike, he wasn't tired at all. He had ran all over Hyrule field without stopping when he was ten, he had said at the campfire, testing his limits. Now it was Link's turn to test his limits. He would make it, well, at least he hoped he would. He tripped over a boulder he didn't see and fell on his face. He crawled up and look at the wagon riding on. He rolled up in a boulder and started to move. He stopped abruptly when an explosion threw him off course.

"No rolling! Just running!"

Fuck. He started to run again, completely out of breath because of that bomb. He could do this. He had to.

On the milkwagon the Hero of Time looked at the young Goron and grinned. This was good, the kid had lots of potential, he would make a great hero...

The wagon came to an abrupt stop and shook Link awake. Fuck, the second time he rode on that wagon and the second time he fell asleep. Okay, it was the third time he rode on a milk wagon but the first trip was just to Clocktown. Okay, so he had had a lot of "first" trips back then but you know what I... fuck you, stop bitching about it, okay? Anyway, Link jumped out of the wagon to see Romani hug her sister and Link sitting on the grass catching his breath.

"Well, Goro, ready for the next training?"

"Next... training?" he panted.

Link laughed and helped the Goron on his feet.

"Yep, now we eat." He said and looked at Cremia.

"I'll make you guys dinner."

"Rocks..." the Goron said, "Gorons... eat... rocks..."

Link closed his eyes and threw his head back. Fuck, that was right. And here on the ranch there weren't really a lot of stones.

"Sorry, Link," the Hero of Time apologised, "I forgot about that. Fuck, now what?"

"Is okay... I saw... good rocks... outside." He pointed to the entrance, where that... big boulder was, yes, that skullkid had to get that boulder from somewhere. And luckily, he got that boulder from some delicious rock! Or something, whatever, Link thought.

"Well, get those rocks." Link said as the Goron ran to the entrance.

Hm, you mention food and the kid has renewed strength. That was something Link would have to remember.

After a delicious meal Link went outside to see how the Goron was doing. He had just finished eating and was throwing his leftovers next to the barn where he had put the rest of the rocks he had gathered.

"Oh my, you carried all those big stones here in that short period?" Cremia gasped.

Link looked at the pile and shrugged his shoulders.

"That's nothing," the Goron said, "a lot of Gorons can carry those rocks."

"Gorons, yes, but we can't," Link stated, "well, I can, but, well, you know what I mean."

"You can't?"

Link looked at the Goron like he just had pulled the Triforce out of his ass.

"No, but this explains a lot."

"What do you mean?" the Goron asked.

"You're stronger than almost everyone else but you don't know it. When you see someone you think he's as strong as you, so when they are aggressive, you think you'll lose the fight. That's why you rely on your heroes instead of doing things yourself."

Goron thought about this for a second.

"So..." he said slowly, "we could have taken on Ganondorf's minions when he came to lock us up in the Firetemple?"

"You couldn't have taken on Ganondorf himself, but a lot of his minions, yes."

The Goron thought more about this and raised an eyebrow.

"Could I take on you?"

Link shrugged. The Goron got up and advanced on Link.

"Not now," Link stopped him, "first we'll train you a bit more."

"Okay, but can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"Why did you call me Goro back then?"

Link smiled.

"When I was in Clocktown about ten years ago, there was a Goron named Link who had a reservation in the Stockpot inn. I used the fact we had the same name to get a room in the inn and get my hands on a hundred rupees. Not very honorable of me, but hey, it wouldn't be the first time I took rupees that didn't belong to me. Anyway, that Goron ended each sentence with the word Goro, so if I was fast enough and I arrived before him at the inn, Anju would think his name was Linkgoro and she never made the link with my name. And since it's a bit strange to call somebody by your own name, I started to call him Goro."

"So, now you call me Goro."

"Hey, I can still call you Link if you don't like it."

"No, I like Goro, it sounds nice."

Link padded him on the back and looked around.

"Come on, let's run some laps around the ranch."

The Goron slowly started to move and rolled passed Link. Link swore and started to run. He had to speed up fast if he wanted to keep up with the rolling Goron. They always moved fast and especially now since the Goron moved into overdrive and spikes came out of his... back? Link stopped. Motherfucker, the kid has magic. Romani came outside and saw Link standing in front of the house, looking at the rolling Goron.

"Well Grasshopper? Falling back alrea..." Romani saw the spikes out of the kids back, "are those...? Fuck."

Link could just nod. The Goron came around and stopped before the couple.

"Well?" the Goron smiled.

"You didn't tell me you had magic." Link said.

"I got powers when I visited the Great Fairy." Goro said.

"You fucking should have told me!" Link shouted, "I'm supposed to train you, but if I don't know what you can do..."

"I'm sorry," the Goron whispered, "I didn't know."

Link sighed and looked at the kid in front of him and felt really uncomfortable.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to burst out like that. But I promised your father I would train you, so I need to know everything you can do, so I can train you to your best potential. Okay, so show me what else you can."

"That's it, I can roll but that's all."

"Can you pound?"

The Goron shook his head.

"Come on, Goro, I'll teach you."

Romani smiled as she watched the two Links leave to the middle of the ranch to practice. She was spooked a bit by his sudden outburst at the Goron, but she knew he felt like they fucked with him again and he really hated that. Maybe she should explain it to the Goron boy, so he wouldn't think it was personal. She watched how Link fought with the kid and gave out pointers. She turned around and entered the house, looking to get all of their stuff in the barn...

AN: I don't know, something isn't right in this chapter, but I can't put my finger on it. Guess it's the ending that's a bit forced. Anyway, I hope you still enjoy it and get ready as Link visits some people who never even met him as he returns things that aren't his.