Fan Fiction ❯ Professional Hero ❯ Prisoner of war ( Chapter 27 )

Chapter 27 - Prisoner of War

The next night Jim told Goro and the other Zora's what exactly had happened in the seven years of the war. The few Gerudo that were left were hiding somewhere in the swamp themselves, being hunted by the forces of the Deku's. The Clocktown survivors, along with Cremia, had found refuge in the Deku palace where they helped the Deku's in their daily affairs (and where several men shared the bed of the Deku princess, which brought a chuckle to Goro). The Gorons themselves had mostly returned to Snowhead. Only a few patrols were still roaming Tempora field, after the rebels had killed several over the years and the Zora had fenced off all attacks they made on Great Bay. The promised reinforcements hadn't come or at least not enough of them, although rumour had it that Mashka himself refused the reinforcements, stating they didn't need involvement of other races and that the Gorons could take care of their own.

"Could be," Goro said, "when I met him ten years ago, he was racist like that. Couldn't bear the thought of a non-Goron interfering with their affairs."

"Uhm, excuse me to interrupt," one of the Zora soldiers spoke up, "but, if Gorons sink and drown in water, how can you walk around in the swamp?"

"First of all, the water's not deep enough to drown me, and second of all," he held up his fist, showing the dark-blue glove embedded with a small ruby and a small sapphire, "these prevent me from drowning. Courtesy of the Zora King."

"So you could have come with us to Zora Hall?" Mikau asked.

"I could have, but I didn't want to leave Terrani behind."

"Don't worry, man," Link-zora said, "I'm sure he's fine at the Gerudo fortress. He's accompanied by another Zora squad, so he's safe."

"I hope so. Hm, I came here to train him and instead I'm fighting a war."

"Ain't life a bitch." Mikau sighed.

In the morning they went to see the Deku king who had just set up a raid party to rid the swamp of the last Gerudo by driving them deeper in the swamp and drowning them. The Deku princess was pleased to see Goro again, but his mind was only set on the capture of the Gerudo. It was here Goro proved everyone that he was willing to fight as he killed an entire Gerudo outpost with the help of the two Zora brothers. The last Gerudo surrendered and were spared and transferred to the refuge camp the Deku had made for the people of Clocktown but were at all times under heavy surveillance. The Deku king agreed to attack Tempora field when they received word from Link-zora and Mikau and join with the Zora army. When Jim decided it was time to leave for Ikana, the Deku king send a team of ten Deku scrubs with a Hiploop to ride on. Also some of the Gerudo who surrendered wanted to come along and Jim chose three of them. After the team was set up, they left via the river to Ikana Canyon.

"Hey Jim, back already?" The guard smiled as he saw the group pass the river but his smile froze when he saw Goro, "what the fuck?"

"Stand down," Jim said, "he's with us. He's from Hyrule, here to fight the Snowheads."

"You sure?" The guard hesitated.

Goro held his hammer under the guards nose and grinned.

"If I wanted you dead, you'd be dead."

"Uhm, okay." He gulped.

"Goro, now's not the time to play," Mikau said, "we got a war to fight. Are your men ready?"

Jim nodded.

"We've been training for seven years on all sorts of covert operations in Tempora field, from releasing Bombchuu's to ambushing patrols."

"Ready to fight man to man?"

"No."

Everyone looked at Goro in surprise who stared over the river. Slowly he turned to face Jim and Mikau.

"Mikau, tell the Zora and Deku army to stand ready, but before they attack, we're gonna set a clear path with the help from Jims rebels and his Bombchuu's. First we weaken in letting Jim do what he does best and then the armies attack."

"Good thinking," Jim grinned, "I don't think our troops are up to a personal fight with the Goron since they're still about twice our size, but letting Bombchuu's loose on them, that's what they're more than willing to do."

"Well, guess that's a fucking plan," Mikau laughed, "I'll send out the word."

He released two Kees they had brought in a small cage and send one to Great Bay and the other to the swamp with the message to attack when the ruins of Clocktown exploded.

The camp just outside Ikana Canyon was a joke. Only three Gorons guarded it and they gave up when they saw the small army coming off the cliff. They were tied up and left with a few guards, ordered to shoot the Gorons if they tried to escape.

"Wait," Jim said as he looked at the road towards the graveyard, "I wanna try something. Maybe it's a waste of time, but I wanna check out an old legend."

"Old legends are sometimes true," Goro said, "we follow your lead."

Moments later they had passed the graveyard and stood before the large skeleton that lied next to the gravedigger's house. Jim read the inscription next to it and frowned.

"Wake him? But how?"

"Maybe we can help," one of the Deku scrubs jumped forward, "we know a song called Sonata of Awakening, maybe that will wake up the giant."

"It's worth a shot." Mikau shrugged.

The Deku took out his deku pipes and played the sonata. The giant skeleton shuddered and stood up.

"Who has awaken me?" he roared with a voice of a thousand tombstones, "who denies the rest of the brave soldiers who have fought in the war?"

"We have," Jim stepped forward, "we have waken you because we need your help. Another war is being fought."

"What? But how?" the giant asked, "We killed every one in Ikana. Have their spirits returned somehow?"

"The war is not in Ikana, but in Tempora field."

"But Clocktown…"

"Clocktown has fallen, seven years ago. The Snowhead Gorons have driven us to the swamps and Ikana canyon. We must take our land back."

"Are you the general?"

"No," Jim shook his head and laid his hand on Goro's shoulder, "this man is."

The giant appeared to frown.

"But you said…"

"I am Link, hero of the Death Mountain Gorons, and I am here to fight the Gorons of Snowhead. What they have done is wrong and they must pay for it."

"Very well, if the rest of the troops are following you, then so am I, my general."

The giant stepped over Goro's troops and made his way to the graveyard.

"Rise and shine, ladies!" he yelled over the empty field, "time to do what you were trained to do, fight a war!"

Several hundred skeletons dug their way out of their grave and stood to full attention to their captain.

"The battle field is Tempora field this time, and our enemies are the Snowhead Gorons. Any questions? Good. Now greet our new general, Link of the Death Mountain Gorons."

"But I thought we were to fight the Gorons." Somebody said.

"Were you born stupid or did somebody hit you on the head when you died? I said we fight the Snowhead Gorons, he's Death Mountain! Any more questions?"

"Yes," somebody else said, "when do we attack?"

"The moment Clocktown explodes." Goro grinned.

As the Zora squadron had suspected the previous day, there weren't that many Gorons on Tempora field. They made their way to Clocktown with ease and placed the explosives. Jim, Mikau, Link-zora and Goro used the time to dig a grave and retrieve the corpse of Anju's son from the wall and bury him with the proper respect. When everything was in place the troop left to Mushroom Field, leaving a Zora archer to set off the explosives when he was given the signal. The others reached the field where they saw a large camp of Gorons, defending the passage. Jim and his rebels' set the Bombchuu's loose and watch them run into the camp.

"There, that were explosions!"

"Yes, your highness, but we were said to wait until the remnants of Clocktown exploded, those seemed to be at the other side, at Mushroom Field if I'm not mistake-"

A large explosion, much closer, interrupted the Deku general.

"Hah," the Deku king laughed, "now THAT was Clocktown."

The Gorons ran around the destroyed camp, not knowing what exactly was going on, when the first rain of arrows came down on them. They looked up to the ledge near Clocktown and saw the Zora and rebel archers shooting off another batch of arrows. The Gorons regrouped and tried to counter the attack when the Deku scrubs attacked on their Hiploops. Suddenly the ranks of the Gorons opened up to reveal a huge Dodonge, ridden by a large Goron wielding an axe. The Deku scrubs could barely jump out of the way of his fiery breath and two of them burned to death. Goro jumped down, swinging the megaton hammer and landed in front of the Dodongo. With a loud battle cry he let the hammer come down on the massive head of the monster and cracked his skull in one blow.

"Wow," Jim whistled, "that was impressive, I'm glad he's on our side."

"Yeah, but I wonder how he's gonna handle it now since he doesn't kill Gorons." Mikau responded.

Goro jumped out of the way of the huge axe when the large Goron jumped off the corpse of the Dodongo. Goro smashed him in the face with his fist and send him flying back to the Dodongo. As the Goron tried to get up, the stomach fluids of the dead Dodongo had mixed and resulted in the explosive cocktail used to breath fire. The Dodongo exploded, taking out several Gorons.

"Well, technically it wasn't him that killed those Gorons." Link-zora shrugged.

From behind them the Deku army appeared all riding on Hiploops, backed up with Dragonflies in the air. From the left came the Zora army while the Skeleton army from Ikana graveyard attacked from the right. Within moments the rest of the Gorons were slaughtered and the armies were ready to invade Snowhead.

"Mikau, there's something you need to know." One of the Zora captains called Mikau closer and whispered something in his ear.

"Oh man, this isn't good, not good at all," Mikau frowned, "don't let this get out, or we're fucking doomed, you hear me?"

The Zora captain nodded and ordered his squadron to follow the army in the pass.

The Gorons in the meadow were completely surprised by the massive force that invaded their conquered land. Most of them were able to escape to their home at the Goron shrine to warn Mashka of the invasion. Much to no avail since the vast army overwhelmed any opposition they might encounter. The only problem they found on their path was a giant Goron who took out many Deku and Zora before dying at the hands of the giant skeleton.

"Alright!" Mikau cheered, "you did it!"

"I did, but…" the giant seemed to be out of balance and sat down, "I don't feel to good."

He fell down and turned his head to Goro.

"I'm sorry sir, I've let you down."

"You haven't, captain, you fought a great fight and because of it, we will win the battle. You did great."

"Really? Thank you sir, it was a pleasure serving…"

With that the skeleton crumbled to dust and the captain of the undead army was no more.

"Now let's find Mashka." Goro grumbled.

"I bet he's hiding somewhere in the palace." Mikau said.

"Then let's go search him there." Goro smashed the gate with his hammer.

Goro, Mikau and Link-zora entered the castle that seemed abandoned since all Goron soldiers were outside fighting. All but one. In the throne room they found Mashka with two bodyguards. Before they could react, Mikau and Link-zora threw their fins and decapitated the two bodyguards.

"I'm sure you're ready to give up now." Mashka grinned.

"Give up?" Goro laughed, "it's you who should give up. Your bodyguards are dead and your soldiers are losing the war. There's nothing that can save you."

"Oh yes there is, you see? I work for your ruler. You can't touch me, and if that's not enough, there's still this insurance."

Mashka set a step sideways and revealed the throne and who was sitting there.

"Terrani." Goro whispered as his eyes grew wider.

"Fuck." Mikau hissed.

"We were able to capture him just before the invasion," Mashka kept on grinning, "you will stand down and call back your army or I will kill him."

"No you won't." Goro set a step forward.

"Stand down or he gets it."

Mashka grabbed the little boy that was bound and gagged on the throne by the neck.

"One more step and I'll snap his neck."

"No you won't," Goro made another step, "because…"

A short cracking sound gonged through the empty palace.

"Gorons… don't… kill…" Goro went speechless as he watched his brothers body slide on the floor.

"You fool, is this war more important than your family?" Mashka shrieked.

Goro let out a cry that froze the blood of the two Zora brothers. He threw his hammer towards Mashka. Mashka ducked the hammer only to find Goro right in front of him. The Goron hero started to hit the Snowhead leader. Mashka didn't even had a chance to defend himself as Goro pounded on him. It was hard to tell afterwards, but Mikau and Link-zora swore the first blow already killed him. Goro kept on bashing Mashka for fifteen minutes while crying out loud, until his blue gloves were dark brown with Mashka's blood.

"Dude," Mikau cautiously laid his hand on Goro's shoulder when he stopped hitting, "it's over."

Goro turned and took his dead brother in his arms.

"Oh Terrani, my brother," he started to cry, "I have failed you. I brought you here to train you and I killed you. I was unable to protect you from this madman. I killed a Goron and I caused my brothers dead."

"You couldn't know, man," Mikau tried to comfort him, "this is… this is our fault as well. Maybe if we had stood up sooner against him this could have been averted, or maybe…"

"No," Goro interrupted him, "you're right, no dwelling on things that have happened, Mashka has killed my brother and I have killed him. I may not have been able to protect my brother, but I have avenged his death. Let's go home."

Goro stood up and walked towards the exit. Mikau walked to the throne and grabbed the megaton hammer. His arm jerked a second time and he glanced to his brother.

"Well, don't just stand there, fishface, and help me. This thing is fucking heavy."

Carrying his brother, Goro stepped outside. Suddenly everyone stopped fighting when they saw him, somehow realising what had happened. Goro walked towards the highest point of the Goron city and held his brother high.

"Mashka," he shouted, "the killer of my brother is dead! I killed him and by the ancient right of the Death Mountain Gorons I declare myself the new ruler of the Snowhead Gorons! All fighting stops now! Does anyone object to this?"

One of the Gorons stepped forward.

"We will never accept an outsider to be leader of our clan, especially somebody who fights with the Deku's and Zora's."

"They always seem to forget us," Jim whispered to his lieutenant who stood next to him.

"I think that's a good thing," came the reply.

Goro laid his brother down with care and took the megaton hammer from Mikau and Link-zora. With a speed that surprised everybody he jumped down, landing the hammer on the head of the Goron who objected, driving his skull deep in his ribcage.

"Anyone else?" He looked around menacingly.

All Gorons stepped back and gave their new leader room.

"Thought so." He grumbled.

"Man, I can't repeat enough how sorry I… WE are for your brothers death." Mikau said.

"You didn't kill him, Mashka did." Goro replied.

"Yeah, but anyway, what do you think Mashka meant when he said he worked for your ruler? You don't think your father is behind this?"

Goro shook his head.

"Darunia would never do anything like this. He likes life too much, any life. No, I have an idea of who he might have meant, but I don't like it. We'll know when we liberate Romani ranch.

After Goron shrine the last of the Goron army at Romani ranch were a piece of cake for the allied army. In a matter of moments the battle was fought as many Gorons surrendered after they learned of Mashka's death (which wasn't too hard since his head, or what was left of it, was pinned on a Zora standard). The foreign soldiers however fought to the death but to no avail. Luckily for Romani, none of the cows had any casualties. Goro stepped to one of the fallen soldiers and took his shield. He wiped off the dirt and the golden triforce symbol became visible in the white and blue field.

"Zelda!"

AN: This conforms your suspicion of the true identity of the cloaked figure that leads the Gerudo in Hyrule. Yes, Zelda has turned evil (I'm sure all you Zelda haters just spontaneously had an orgasm). Will she ever explain why? What has she done with Alexis? How will the other sages react to this news? And now with the sages knowing of Zelda's true motives, how will Zelda react to this? How are Links kids doing anyway? And will Link ever return to normal? And why am I asking you? I'm the one writing this after all. Well, since you're all curious about Links kids (you should be!), let's bring them back next chapter.