Link was standing in front of the mirror looking at himself, he was already wearing his red tunic paired with light gray trousers and boots. His tousled mid-length hair made him look rugged, but still effortlessly stylish.
Chacha had done a good job with his hair, short enough that he could not properly tie it, but longer strands that fell framing his face. Link lifted his eyebrows suddenly remembering he had to pack 2 red tunics for his brothers.
He entered his closet, opened a chest and grabbed a waist bag where he stored the tunics. Once out of his room he saw Zelda standing by the stairs, waiting for him.
ZELDA POV
"Link… I read about the Fire temple. Its 250 °C in there, hot enough for human combustion to happen in seconds" The Princess said terrified, her eyes watering at the idea.
Link closed his eyes smirking "We are going to be fine; there are measures to counter that. Besides, you know 2 people who have perfectly survived it, King Derrick and me"
Zelda pulls on his arm "You… have already been there? When? I don't believe it" the Princess states but deep down, she what Link said was true.
Link smiles haughtily "You have no idea of all the places I have visited… the Fire temple is a just walk in the park"
"So… am I supposed to just trust you and stay here hoping for the best?" Zelda states in resignation.
Ziel slowly pats her in the head "Like any woman worthy of being called virtuous would"
He didn't just fucking say that.
Zelda batted his hand away furiously. Then she thought about pushing him off the railing, but Link noticed her vengeful intent. He just smiled when she used all of her strength to shove him. The Hero toppled over the railing, but his instincts kicked in. He turned midair, rotating his torso with practiced precision, guiding his legs beneath him as the ground rushed up hard and fast. His left foot hit first, then the right knee and hand absorbing the final jolt of the fall. He stood looking up at Zelda smirking.
Turning around he noticed Chacha staring at him wide eyed, she was holding a broom and a duster. Link quickly raised his eyebrows and smiled at her, then headed for the castle's entrance whistling as he put both hands on the nape of his neck.
The maid coming back from the sudden jolt, rushed up to her Princess.
"PRINCESS, did you push my Prince down the stairs?"
"OF COURSE NOT, I don't want him dead… I just pushed him over the rail"
"And… that is better how my Princess?" Chacha sighs "Listen girl, Raziel is a man, and not any man… if he ever chooses to retaliate, you are going to lose"
Zelda rolls her eyes "I fucking know that… I am usually a lot better managing my emotions, and even better around him. But this time he pressed all my buttons, and he knew what he was doing, I just had to make him pay for it"
"Of course he has to pay, but not like this. This is his territory, you will never beat him here… you need to force him into other types of battlefields"
Zelda ponders about what her maid told her "I need to battle him on my territory… and where would that be exactly?"
"I don't know, I am just a maid, you are the Princess. It's YOU who can manipulate the law as if it were a weapon"
Zelda remembers something she had been plotting for a while now and starts to smile. Chacha notices and immediately adds.
"Princess, please remember who you are fighting with here. The Prince is physically capable, but that is not his only attribute… his mind is also a weapon. Whatever you are plotting may work, but only once. So, make it worth it and don't tell me anything in case he asks me, ok?"
"Of course, thank you"
I think is time to start acting on my plan… I need to talk with King Derrick and other expert on defense tactics.
The castle guards already have proper discipline and exercise, but that doesn't necessarily make them useful. We need to train them to move and think like criminals, so they can always be one step ahead. Raziel Link Nohansen can perfectly train them like that.
I don't care how Link chooses to retaliate after I do this, but if I just get this one punch right, he won't be leaving Hyrule for long periods of time ever again, since he will now have a duty to the Kingdom.
LINK POV
The Hero was trying to suppress the laughter he was getting from staring at his brothers, Robert looked shocked and Zidane kind of scared of the Goron patriarch. Darunia just laughed loudly and called Link in for a hug.
"I see that all of you are already wearing the Goron red tunic, very well. Let's start with the show then, please follow me" Darunia moves a statue to reveal a secret passage.
"WHAIT" screams a child voice.
Seconds later, little Link comes rolling inside the chamber.
The Goron child stands up, looks at the three Hylians and approaches them touching their red tunic.
"Just making sure you are wearing the right tunic; some merchant has been selling fake red tunics." Goron-Link says.
The Prince looks at Darunia irate "Why haven't you told my King about this?"
"There was no need since we caught them" the Goron patriarch turns to stare angrily at his son "And Link, what did I say about bringing this topic up?"
The Goron child whimpers "But… I just had to, my cousin needs to know, we caught a few but what if there are more"
-------Rob and Zid speak at the same time----
Robert mouths ¨The goron kid's name is Link?¨
Zid asks ¨cousin?¨
-------------------------------------------------
The Hero whispers to his brothers "I will tell you later"
Meanwhile, Darunia rubs his temples and sighs "And the Prince would have been informed later, I just wanted him to perform the Goron ritual stress free"
The time Hero starts laughing "Don't be angry with little Link, he just knows that keeping important information from me is a very bad idea" Link bluntly says.
"Hey… I was not hiding anything from you Prince, I had already taken care of things and this is more important. If there are more as my kid suspects, I will notify the castle immediately"
Link chuckles "I believe you Darunia… let's start this then"
The group says goodbye to the Goron child and enter the passage Darunia had opened by moving a statue inside the Goron's throne room. Once they enter, the first thing that happens was that Zidane got dizzy and fell to his knees.
*Breathe in Link, this was expected. He is the Wind Waker, this version of you knows his way traversing oceans, not volcanos*
True, of the three of us, he is the one who can get affected the most by this intense heat. But Zid still is me; he will get accustomed soon enough.
"Sorry guys… I am ok; I just underestimated the heat in here"
Li rolls his eyes "Dude, we are inside a volcano, just be thankful that you have not fainted yet"
As they continued walking a thunderous roar that shook the ground is heard. Rob and Zid got into battle stand immediately and tried to pull Link with them. But the Prince kept walking while he chuckled.
The wind shifted. A low thrum filled the air, deep and pulsing like the world itself was drawing breath. The Hero of time looked up smiling, expecting to see his old friend.
And from above, it came. Volvagia, Death Mountain's fire breathing dragon. Its massive wings beat slowly, each movement sending gusts of wind. Scales like molten bronze flashing gold and crimson. It landed with a grace that defied its size. The ground shook as it landed and easily stood twice the height of the Hero. Claws, thick as spears, sank into the soil. A growl rolled from its throat, not loud but impossibly deep, like a warning. Smoke curled from its nostrils. Its eyes, glowing like forge embers, locked on the impostors unblinking.
*Intervene right now, or Volvagia is going to burn them to crisps*
"Hello Vagia" Link said but the next thing that happened was that the dragon pushed him to the ground on its back. The overgrown lizard sniffed him and walked over him straight towards Li and Zid.
""WHO ARE YOU? RETREAT OR I WILL KILL YOU"" Volvagia said.
Both the Pirate and the Engineer stared at the dragon in shock and a little of fear since it appeared that the dragon spoke.
Link screamed from under the Dragon "THE DRAGON SPEAKS INTO YOUR MIND, I AM FINE, JUST ANSWER HIM"
Robert shakes his arms and shoulder a little before answering "My name is Robert" he points at Zid "he is Zidane, we come here to perform the Goron ritual with Link"
Volvagia gets closer to smell them, then speaks to Darunia ""Are these people the reason why we cleared this area of monsters?""
The Goron patriarch nods "I am actually impressed… you immediately knew they were not Link, even though they look and smell alike"
""They may look a little similar, but the difference is obvious. And they definitely do not smell alike""
"We don't?" asks Zid as he was helping Link stand up avoiding the dragon's tail.
Volvagia slowly turns ""You, smell like sea breeze. And the other one smells odd, metallic like iron but not exactly. More like ozone""
Fuck, Volvagia just confirmed that Zid is the hero of winds. And that Rob is the hero of spirits. I understand the smell of sea breeze in Zid, since he had to become a pirate to complete his quest. But do ghosts smell like ozone?
"I was told we all had a distinctive wood smell" Link says smiling.
The dragon puffs some smoke ""That is just your superficial smell, that one is similar but is not your smell""
Link raises an eyebrow and asks "Would you care telling me what I smell like?"
""Petrichor and a tint of woodsmoke""
*So that is how a dragon describes the smell of time… interesting*
"Thanks pal" The Hero of time says approaching the dragon to hug its head.
ZIDANE POV
Volvagia starts wagging its tail, making the other heroes chuckle in laughter as they avoided getting hit by the massive appendage.
Well, the image is cute as fuck, but I got to get out of here. If that tail hits me, I will break something.
The Pirate retreats to give Link and the dragon space… then approaches Darunia and asks
"Hey big cheese, would you tell me how this happened?" he says referring to the relationship between Link and the dragon.
"Link bought it. Then brought it here" Darunia states.
"He bought… are dragons cheap or something? I may want one"
Darunia laughs "The seller thought it was something else, so Link got it for an extremely cheap price… We are delaying the ritual by the way, let's get a move on"
The rockman said Link got the dragon for a cheap price… damn, how lucky is this motherfucker. Well let's get a move on.
The Pirate whistles loudly and waves for them to keep walking. Li immediately follows still chuckling at Volvagia's tantrum for having been left alone for 2 years.
The Dragon takes flight and the Prince rushes to catch up with Darunia and his brothers.