It had been several hours since Link, Zelda, Holu and the members of the unofficial Resistance against Empress Ria had split up to find and free the respective Champion warriors of Hyrule. One party consisted of Link and the mysterious leader of the Resistance, the yellow-masked Keaton. Link had vowed to voyage to the home of the Argoroks and free the Goron Chief Darbus. However, Keaton decided to accompany Link, something Link remained rather curious about. “Hey Keaton? Trust me when I say this, I appreciate you wanting to accompany me. But you’ve said yourself that you are unable to use offensive spells. I don’t want you to be in danger. Besides, I am Hyrule’s Champion, I can take care of myself”. Given Keaton’s face was always covered with the yellow, fox-like mask, his expressions would be left to the imagination. But his response was sharp. “Back at the hideout, you already informed us of your near-fatal struggle against one Argorok. So venturing into their home is nothing short of a suicide mission. The fact that Ria took my ability to use offensive spells does not make me useless. My defensive spells have allowed me to keep the Resistance safe. To… to keep Sara safe. Rescuing your friend is a tall order, so my defensive spells would be of immense assistance to your cause”. Although some misgivings still remained, Link was, for the time being, satisfied with Keaton’s explanation. “Link, could you take out your sword for me?”, asked Keaton. As requested, Link unsheathed the Master Sword. Keaton stared long and hard at the blade. He then touched it and paused for a few moments. “How… how is it that you attained this blade?”. “The Master Sword was the weapon of my ancestor Farore, one of the founders of Hyrule and former leader of the Faron region”. Link then began to giggle. “Don’t get any ideas my friend, this sword is heavily bound to the Triforce of Courage, which would belong to yours truly. I know you can’t use offensive spells and all, but this sword can only be wielded by me”. After a little bit of silence, Keaton replied: “Your bond with this blade is truly admirable, however, you would be incorrect to believe that it can only be wielded by you. I sense that the Master Sword can be wielded by another, should the blade recognise that person to have the spirit of a true hero”. Link had developed feelings of possessiveness over the blade. Naturally, he gave off a little frown. “Well hopefully, the King doesn’t pass off the Champion title to someone else in the near future”. Suddenly, Link realised that the ground he was walking on was no longer green grass, but reddish rock. He looked ahead to see a canyon. But throughout the canyon, he could see several entrances. Keaton stepped forward. “It seems we have arrived”.
Link took one step forward before Keaton tapped his shoulder. First of all, what you currently wear is not suited to this environment. Let me fix that for you”. Keaton’s hand sparkled for a few seconds. Suddenly, Link’s turquoise blue Champion shirts immediately changed into a maroon red tunic. Other than the colour, the tunic was exactly the same as the clothes he was wearing during his time with the Kokiri. Even Ezlo’s hat had reappeared on his head, albeit in the same maroon red colour. “This tunic will protect you from extreme heat. So you need not worry about elixirs or anything of the sort”. Next, Keaton put his hand into the air. From this, a light blue barrier engulfed both Link and Keaton. “This is my invisibility spell. No Argorok will see us whilst we move through the Goron Caverns. Now, let’s go and save your friend”. Link gave a bright smile and nodded. Link and Keaton made their way towards the nearest cavern entrance. When getting close, both felt a gigantic figure fly past them. Link looked towards this figure. It was the all too familiar site of an Argorok. It looked exactly the same as the one whom almost defeated him and his friends. Bringing back some bad memories, Link tried his best to ignore and move on forward. Once they made it inside, Link’s PTSD only grew. In front of him stood three more Argoroks. “Lazy little rock brats. They were meant to bring our food ages ago. Where have they run off to?”, spoke one irritated Argorok. Another replied: “Pests! We’ve been all too kind to these low lives. I’m gonna teach these a lesson once they arrive, he he”. With that, two frightened-looking Goron entered with massive piles of freshly-mined rocks. They came and stood near the Argoroks when one of them quickly moved their head at their current slaves. “WHY ARE YOU VERMIN SO LATE!!!”, it screamed. Trembling in fear, one Goron replied: “Well… it’s just… we wanted to… find you… some good rocks to eat”. The Argorok then put one rock in his mouth. Immediately, he spat it out. He breathe out a fireball which landed just short of the quaking Gorons. “YOU CALL THIS NONSENSE FOOD!! DESPICABLE! GET US MORE NOW, OTHERWISE, YOU WILL BE ON THE MENU INSTEAD!!”. Both Goron began crying. Link was enraged at this scene. His left hand made a shaking fist and he gripped the handle of his sword with his right hand. “No Link. Now is no time to take out your anger. You’re no match for these Argoroks. We have to adhere to our original plan”, advised Keaton. Link reluctantly nodded. He then replied: “Fine. However, we should follow those Goron and at the right opportunity, ask them where we can find Darbus”.
The two Goron scurried away as fast as possible from the Argoroks. “HA HA HA, LITTLE FOOLS!! CAN’T WAIT UNTIL KING VOLVAGIA CHOOSES THE NEXT SET OF GORONS TO BE OUR WEEKLY MEAL!!”. This prompted Link to begin running after the two Goron, with Keaton in close pursuit. Link and Keaton caught up to the Gorons relatively quickly, however, they switched to merely walking behind them. They were waiting for the Gorons to reach an area where no Argoroks could be seen. Fortunately, they needn’t wait for long, as the Goron entered a 10-foot opening, presumably leading towards the mines where they would collect rocks of the Argorok to eat. After walking several yards, both Goron stopped. They turned to look at one another, put their hands on one another’s shoulders and began to sob. “A HUH HUH HUH, ever since those nasty Argoroks appeared, our lives are a living hell. And… and I think… we’re never getting out of it, A HUH HUH HUH HUH!!”. At this point, Link looked at Keaton and put his right thumb up. “C’mon guys, forever is a rather long time to spend in a place like hell. I can’t wear this red tunic forever!”, stated Link. Startled, the two Goron turned to look towards Link and Keaton. Both their mouths opened wide. “L…L….Link? Champion Link? CHAMPION LINK!!”. With tears flooding down their cheeks, both Goron charged towards Link and jumped on him. “CHAMPION LINK!! CHAMPION LINK!! WHERE DID YA GO???”. Link could hardly breath. “OK, OK, I know you missed me, but please, can you get off of me, otherwise I’m gonna suffocate!”. The two Goron quickly got off. They had the brightest smiles on their faces. Link also returned their smiles. “I know you guys are glad to see me, but we have no time for a tearful reunion. I need to know what has happened here”. One Goron began to frown. “Well ya see, a little while after you, the Princess and Master Darbus disappeared, some sort of witch came, turned the Hylians and Rito against the King of Hyrule, leading to his execution. After this, that witch, who calls herself Ria, took over leadership of Hyrule and intended to enslave us all. However, these Argorok’s began to revive, one by one. The first one to revive was their King, Volvagia. Instead, we became his slaves. And this is how it’s been, for the last 10 winters”. Nodding his head, Link replied: “OK, so the only thing new I’ve learnt is that Darbus still hasn’t been seen here. But haven’t you Goron tried to escape?”. The other Goron shook his head. “There’s no way we could escape the sight of the Argoroks. For years, we were attempting to create an opening deep in the mines. However, that chance was taken from us a few days back. Volvagia created a new monster to live in the caverns and strike fear in us to do our duty properly. It’s a giant creature that stands near the entrance. The Argoroks call it Fyrus. With that monster there, we have no chance of escape. It will kill us should we try anything other than mine for rocks”. At this, Link smiled. He looked at Keaton and enthusiastically stated: “Well then, before we resume our search for Darbus, I’m gonna go and kick this Fyrus monster’s butt. That will set our plan of helping the Goron escape in motion”. Keaton gave a simple nod. With a hint of a smile, one of the Goron asked: “You just mentioned finding Darbus… you think the Master is somewhere in these caverns?”. Link smiled and replied: “Do I think? I know Darbus is around here! And I’m gonna find that big lug!”. With that, Link, Keaton and the two Goron continued walking towards the mines.
After around five minutes of walking, Link, Keaton and the two Gorons arrived into the mines. Platforms were intermittently situated in a lake of lava, with lava waterfalls at each side of the main chamber. Link, despite wearing the red, heat-protecting tunic, was still feeling the heat. Although years had passed, and the circumstances had changed, the scent was still familiar. It still smelt the same as back when Link came to Death Mountain to recruit Gorons in the vain attempt at protecting Hyrule Castle from Ganondorf’s successful usurping of the Kingdom. He took a moment to survey his surroundings. He could see Gorons all over the mines, working tirelessly in their efforts to mine rocks for their malign overlords. The Gorons Link and Keaton were accompanying suddenly clamoured: “HEY EVERYONE, LOOK WHO’S HERE!!!”. All the Gorons immediately dropped their mining endeavours and turned around. Immediately, their frowns turned into massive smiles. “CHAMPION LINK!!!”. The Gorons were all on the verge of charging towards Link until suddenly, an elder Goron put up his hands and exclaimed: “STOP!! I KNOW IT’S GREAT LINK HAS RETURNED. BUT… WE CANNOT CEASE OUR MINING OPERATIONS. THIS WILL AROUSE SUSPICION FROM THE DREADED FYRUS MONSTER… AND HE WILL KILL US ALL!!”. All the Goron became serious again. Just before they were about to recommence mining, Link stated with a loud tone: “I know all of you are terrified and tired by the tyranny of these giant lizards, but you need not feel this way any longer! This Fyrus is about to get a piece of my mind, and when he does, we are gonna escape this mine, and those dumb dragons together!”. With that, the Gorons gave a moderate cheer, both trying to portray their hope in Link, but refraining from arousing suspicion. Link turned to one of the Gorons and giggled: “Wow, I was never one to give motivational speeches to a crowd. Looks like Zelda’s rubbing off on me. Anyway, all this talk of Fyrus, where exactly is the monster?”. One of the Gorons replied: “Basically, there’s a small chamber further ahead. That was where we were trying to dig an opening, the only possible place in this mine where we could do so. But now, Fyrus is there most of the time. Mainly to block off that escape route. But, if there’s any hint of something other than mining going on, he comes in here and… OH NO!!”. The Goron was abruptly cut off by the sound of a roar. At the end of the mines was an opening. Stood in front of the opening was a figure. It was almost twice the size of a regular Goron. However, the figure was engulfed in what looked like prominent black flames. This was contrasted by what appeared to be some sort of silver helmet. Terrified, and almost in tears, the elder Goron shouted: “WE… WE ARE SO SORRY FOR THIS COMMOTION, FYRUS!! PLEASE FORGIVE US!”. The beastly figure stared down the elder for a few moments. It then charged at the elder Goron and landed a right hook, sending him flying to the other side of the mines. Fyrus roared again and turned around, walking back through the entrance. One or two Gorons ran to the elder, who was immobile on the floor. “Elder, elder… are you OK?!”. The elder slowly opened his eyes. He was gingerly trying to get to his feet when suddenly, a hand came out and picked him up. The elder looked up to see Link. With a stern face and rage in his eyes, Link uttered: “So… this Fyrus likes to intimidate, elicit fear and bully huh? Well I’ve got news for him”. Link turned around and began walking towards the entrance Fyrus had come out of. Gripping the handle of the Master Sword on his back, he stated: “That giant flame mole’s days are coming to a swift end. He’s gonna pay… by the hand of the Champion”. Keaton took a few steps forward, but Link put out his hand. “Not this time Keaton, Fyrus is all mine”. Keaton stopped and simply nodded. Linked strolled through the entrance. It led to a small chamber. In front of him was a slope downwards. But to the side of the slope, the main chamber housed the scourge of the mines and tormentor of the Gorons. Link slowly made his way down the slope, turned left and looked up. There it was. Fyrus. Face-to-face with the Champion. It stared at the Champion and gave a slight roar. Link unsheathed his blade, stared back at the monster. With a smile, Link simply said: “Like striking defenceless Gorons do you? Well then, let’s se you do the same to me?”.
After a few moments, Fyrus aimed a powerful straight punch towards Link. Subsequently, Link brought out his shield to block the blow. Fyrus then aimed a left hook, leading Link to perform a rapid backflip. Fyrus gave out a loud roar and started running towards Link. Link in turn began charging at Fyrus and once he came near, brought out his sword and aimed a horizontal slash at Fyrus’ torso. However, the slash had no effect whatsoever. This left Link completely vulnerable to Fyrus, who connected with a punch to Link’s stomach, sending him flying backwards and crashing into the wall of the chamber. As Link slowly brought himself up from the ground, something was feeling odd. A monster such as Fyrus should have caused a lot more damage to him with that sort of attack. But strangely, it felt like the monster was, in a way, pulling his punch. However, Link had to put such thoughts to the back of his mind and focus on the battle. “Well Fyrus, you got in a lucky shot. No matter, the victor is still yours truly!”. Link again began to charge at Fyrus, who was now picking up stray boulders, using its bodily flame to set them alight, and hurling them at Link. Link was running and dodging the boulders simultaneously. Clenching the fist with which he held his blade, he harnessed his Triforce power and once close enough, launched multiple slashes at Fyrus. But again, the slashes were having minimal effect. Becoming more irate, Fyrus let out another roar. He then grabbed the Champion, lifted him into the air and slammed him into the ground. Again, Link was baffled. The attack should have almost crippled his body. However, it again felt as if Fyrus wasn’t putting in the effort to seriously harm Link. In deep thought, Link pondered over this. He also reflected upon the attacks Fyrus was using to devise a pragmatic strategy. But during these thoughts, something clicked in Link’s mind. He looked at Fyrus dead in the eyes for several seconds. He then smiled and exclaimed: “Ah Hah! I know what’s going on here. And, I know how to take you down”. He then quickly stood up and again backflipped to dodge another attack. He looked up towards the ceiling and saw a soft rock. Quickly, he brought out his hookshot, and fired towards the soft rock. Fyrus began looking around in great haste. Looking downwards, Link again smiled. “This strategy helped me in this exact situation before, let’s see if it brings me the desired result once again”. With that, Link brought out the Megaton Hammer and released the hookshot. He was falling directly on top of Fyrus. Moments before he would land, he shouted: “HEY FYRUS, TIME TO END THIS CHARADE!!!”. Fyrus quickly looked up towards a falling Link, who again clenched his fist to harness his Triforce power. He aimed a powerful blow right at the silver mask Fyrus was wearing. He then landed roughly on the ground. Cracks began to appear on the silver mask. They got larger and larger, until, the helmet completely shattered. Fyrus gave out a loud scream whilst covering its face. All of the Gorons were quickly making their way inside the chamber to see what was transpiring. The black flames began to disappear. Fyrus fell face down to the ground. The flames had completely vanished to reveal the body of the monster. The body had a very familiar look and shade of brown. That shell on the back and shape of head. After a few moments, the figure began to bring itself up off of the floor. Link confidently walked up to the defeated monster. Grinning, he stated: “I think you can stop your crazy episode of sleepwalking, Darbus the Ventripotent!”. The figure lifted his head from the ground. The Gorons all gave out a collective gasp.
Darbus was now standing. Looking around in a complete daze, he slowly muttered: “Where… am I? What’s going on?”. All the Goron began to cheer and collectively clamoured: “CHIEF DARBUS!! YOU’RE BACK”. Following this, they all ran up to mob him. Some Gorons were in tears, others were grinning cheek-to-cheek. Darbus tolerated this for a few moments, after which his stamina had reached its limit. “OK, OK, I GET YOU’RE ALL HAPPY TO SEE ME!! NOW GET OFF WILL Y’ALL!”. All the Goron quickly complied with their Chief’s order. Darbus looked towards Link. “Well, y’ready to explain what the hell is going on? Last I saw ya was when we were all chasing that masked punk in the woods”. Link replied: “I’ll give you the finer details in due time, but in short, we’ve been sent 10 winters into the future. After we all fell down that hole, what do you remember after that point?”. “Hmmm… it’s hazy, but all I remember is some figure, who’s face was mostly covered, place a strange helmet on my face and then I blanked out. Now I’m standing here”. Clenching his fist, Link replied: “Face covered? That has to be Ria. It seems she turned you into Fyrus and with some twisted logic, made you prevent your own brethren from escaping these stupid Argoroks. But luckily, I’ve broken this curse”. Keaton stepped forward. “I recall you Gorons saying that this small chamber was where you were plotting an escape route. Now that Fyrus has gone, we can recommence that plan”. The Goron Elder pointed to the wall that Fyrus had been guarding. “For a while, we’ve been trying to break through that wall. The Argorok had sealed it off…”, before the elder could finish, Link walked up to the wall. He again brought out the Megaton Hammer, clenched his fist to reveal the Triforce and dealt a powerful blow to the wall. It immediately shattered upon impact. This revealed a long, underground tunnel. With a large grin, Link pointed to the tunnel. “There y’all go. Ticket out from this lizard den!”. The Goron began to cheer again. One-by-one, they started making their way past the broken wall and into the tunnel. Link and Keaton merely stood by. Last to walk past was Darbus. He stopped and turned towards Link. “Little guy… this may sound corny from my end… but thank you for saving by brothers. I owe ya big time”. Link smiled and replied: “What sort of Champion would I be if I couldn’t save my own friends? But we can trade our soft words later. For now, we need to get out of here”. Darbus smiled and continued to make his way into the tunnel. Once all the Goron were in the tunnel, Link and Keaton looked at one another and nodded. They had began to make their way into the tunnel, when suddenly, the ground beneath them began to shudder. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a giant dragon’s claw appeared and grabbed Link. “LIIINNNKKKK!!!”, bellowed Keaton. The claw then rapidly retracted, pulling Link with it. Link, in the grip of a dragon’s claw, felt himself moving upwards. Whatever had grabbed him was crashing through multiple ceilings until they made it outside. After a few moments, he began to fall. After he landed on the ground, he quickly picked himself up. He looked around and noticed that he had been dropped onto a platform which was surrounded by lava. He then took a look into the sky and saw a gigantic figure. The figure began to slowly descend closer to where Link was stood. This was no mere Argorok. This was a dragon with a scaly, red and yellow serpent-like body and two claws. The head of the dragon was obscured with what appeared like a silver skull-like helmet. The power emanating from this dragon was far beyond Link’s comprehension. His mere sight made Link tremble. With a fearful voice, Link stated to the dragon: You’re… you’re no ordinary dragon… are you?”. After a few moments, the dragon nodded: “Indeed! I am no ordinary dragon. I am, in fact, the King of Argoroks. Volvagia!”.
With that one sentence, it seemed as if Link’s worst nightmares had come to fruition. The entire attempt to rescue Darbus and the Gorons was under the condition of carrying it out without arousing suspicion from any Argorok. Now, forget an ordinary Argorok, Link had been detected by the King himself. Truly, the worst case scenario possible. However, Volvagia’s next words would be a clear indication that their attempt of orchestrating a stealthy mission was doomed from the start. “That friend of yours in the yellow mask. He is indeed a skilled mage to be able to cast a spell capable of evading my subordinates”. Volvagia briefly moved across the sky before continuing: “Skilled indeed, but, he was as foolish as he was skilled. He believed the spell would be enough to evade me. Little did he, or you for that matter, realise that I have known of your presence since you set foot in my territory”. If Link wasn’t terrified enough in that moment, those words sent a shiver down his spine. Finally building up the courage to speak, Link replied: “Well… if you knew of our presence here all along… why did you let us incur so deeply into it? Why did you let us reach the Gorons, take out Fyrus and allow the Gorons and Darbus to begin their escape?”. With a slight snarl, Volvagia replied: “True, that spell wasn’t nearly powerful enough to allow you to escape my notice. However, many ants and fleas have incurred into this place. However, I let them come and go as they please. Why? Because, they are no threat to me. Up until you took out that beast, I saw you as nothing different as the ants that come and go from here. However, your victory over the beast peaked my interest. Interest that maybe… maybe you would be the one… the one to give me what I have wanted for so long. A meaningful battle. Which is why, I could no longer ignore you”. Volvagia started to move around again, but began to surround Link with his snake-like body. Suddenly, he opened his mouth and breathed out a strong flame. Link quickly jumped backwards in evasion. Volvagia started slowly flying upwards in a straight line. He stopped for a few moments, after which, he began descending downwards. “Do you have what it takes to humour me, child?”, taunted the Dragon King. In that moment, traumatic memories of Link’s encounter with the Argorok back in the past flooded his mind. However, he had absolutely no choice but to put these to the back of his mind. He brought out his sword and shield and defiantly bellowed: “Dragon King Volvagia, do your worst!!”. Volvagia descended into one of several potholes in the ground.
Link looked around as he wondered where Volvagia had gone. After going down one of the potholes, he hadn’t resurfaced. Had he inexplicably retreated? Had he gone to look for reinforcements? After such bombastic rhetoric, surely not, Link thought to himself? Suddenly, the ground beneath him began to quake. Then, out of one of the potholes, Volvagia suddenly reappeared. He stared Link dead in the eyes. Instinctually, Link charged at the Dragon King. But when he got close, Volvagia opened his mouth to breathe out more flames. Link covered his face and body with his shield. Despite this, Link’s arm still felt as if it would melt off at any moment, such was the ferocity of the heat. Once the flames had stopped, Volvagia’s head went back down through the pothole. What sort of battle strategy was this, Link pondered? With that, a thought quickly came to Link’s mind. He would need all his might to deal a robust blow to the dragon’s head. So immediately, he brought out the Megaton Hammer and clenched his fist to once again harness his Triforce power. Suddenly, Volvagia’s head came out of another pothole. But this time, Link sprinted with all his energy towards him. He then leaped forward and aimed a vertical hit with the hammer. It connected with precision. Volvagia gave out a loud groan. His body started frantically making its way out of the pothole. Once the whole body was visible, the Dragon King was writhing around in what appeared to be agony. Link was flabbergasted. Was this it? One blow? The King of the Argoroks was meant to be unstoppable. But with one blow of his Megaton Hammer, Volvagia looked beat. The only explanation must be that Volvagia being a King was some sort of deception. He may have somehow manipulated the Argorok, fooled Ria and built a false reputation of being a fearsome force of nature, whilst in reality, a complete chump. Volvagia’s body then curled up into a ball and became motionless. “Well, that was the mother of disappointments. But, I ain’t taking any chances. Once the Argoroks learn the reality of what happened here, they’re gonna lose all their morale, surrender, and who knows, I could sweet talk them into joining our fight, he he”. Link then began to walk up to Volvagia’s “balled-up” body with the intention to destroy it with one big blow. Suddenly, the ball began to rotate. This made Link stop. With that, the ball became engulfed in flames. Link put his hammer back and brought out his sword and shield once again. “Hmm, looks like this fraud isn’t done just yet. Let’s humiliate him once ag…”, but suddenly, Link felt something. He immediately began to shiver. “What… what is this ridiculous force I feel? I… I can barely move”. He looked onwards towards the flames engulfing the ball. There was an air of malevolence to the flames. A rage, a menace. But when Link looked closer, the ball that was Volvagia’s body seemed to have disappeared. Instead, he could see a silhouette. A silhouette of a person, standing tall and boisterously. But, as quickly as the flames had come, they abruptly vanished. Link’s eyes looked in utter astonishment at what stood in front of him. It was a human male, approximately twice his size. He was wearing flame red and black armour all over his body. Of what was visible of his face, it was fair-skinned, with a blondish beard. He had green eyes, although the skin around his eyes was black. Most shockingly though, was that the top half of his head was covered by the same silver skull-like helmet that was worn by Volvagia. Link felt nothing but terror when looking at this figure. “Who… who are you?”. With a smirk, the figure replied: “Well done. I must commend you. You landed a satisfactory blow to my head. It gave me hope. Hope that you may turn out to be an entertaining adversary. I felt some slight pain. Mind you, had I felt no pain at all, my dragon form would have been sufficient to finish you without any trouble”. It then hit Link like the blow of a Megaton Hammer. “So you’re saying…”, but before he could finish, he was interrupted: “Yes, you would be correct child. I and that dragon you just fought, we are one and the same. However, my true name is Volga. Volga the Dragon King Knight. And my true form is that of a human. All this time, I have ruled over these repugnant dragons. But in that time, I’ve never been challenged by a worthy foe. My wait could now be over. Now prepare for battle!”. Volga then lifted the staff he was holding in his right hand. He spun it around in his hand for several seconds and then slammed it into the ground. He then let out a massive roar.
This was it. Link knew he had to go all-out right from the beginning. Anything less would spell inevitable doom for Hyrule’s Champion. Immediately, he got out his sword and shield and harnessed his Triforce power. He took an extra few moments to harness all the power he could, to the extent that his body was glowing a slight green. When he was ready, he charged up to the new form of the Dragon King and unleashed a powerful vertical strike. Volga quickly gripped his staff with both hands and blocked the strike. But Link could see that the strike had caused Volga to slide backwards several centimetres. Seeing this, Link then unleashed a barrage of continuous strikes, horizontal, vertical and diagonal. Volga kept on blocking whilst still sliding backwards. Link jumped upwards and readied a strike at Volga’s head. Volga was preparing to block the skyward strike, but Link landed on Volga’s staff. In a split second, he backflipped off of the staff and whilst upside down in mid-air, hit Volga’s abdomen with a horizontal strike. “Ugh!”, groaned Volga, whilst slightly bending downwards. Link then jumped backwards. Volga was clearly startled by the strike. It was a small opening, but Link had managed to exploit it and break Volga’s defence. But Volga once again stood upright and gave a stoic look towards Link. An idea suddenly came to Link. “You call yourself the King of Dragons? Yeah right! With all that blocking, you’re more like the King of Cowards, he he!”. If he could get under Volga’s skin, this may disturb the stoic exterior of the Dragon King, giving him more openings in the process. However, Volga was unmoved. Link proceeded to run up to his opponent, but instead of attacking head-on, he jumped leftwards, rolled around Volga and jumped up to slash him in the back. Volga slightly groaned again and stumbled forwards. But Link knew he had to carry this momentum forward. He aimed two slashed at Volga’s legs, causing him to slightly stumble. “Got you now, coward. Time to die!”, Link shouted excitedly as he jumped in for what he thought could be the killing blow. However, Volga blocked the strike with relative ease. He then pushed Link back with one hand. “It seems I’ve had enough time to take a look at you and your strength, child. However, it’s time you prepare for enduring my own might”.
With that, Volga slightly smirked. He slightly moved his neck backwards. A second later, he suddenly jolted his head forwards and breathed a stream of flames at Link. This forced the Champion to block with his shield. However, a mere few seconds later, Volga charged at Link and began a fierce set of strikes with his staff. Link was being pegged back at an alarming rate. Despite using his shield to block, his arm was feeling as if it was on the verge of breaking, such was the pain. Volga then kicked Link in the right knee, staggering him and struck him in the chest. This caused Link to fall to the ground. But having no time to process the crushing pain that blow gave him, he had to roll sideways to avoid Volga’s stab towards him. He barely managed to get up when Volga again had charged right at his face and started aiming more strikes. Link was having no opportunity whatsoever to find any opening to attack. Such was the speed of Volga. And the attacks were non-stop. Volga was now jumping in the air while spinning his staff. It was taking all of Link’s strength and more just to block this onslaught. Suddenly, a set of wings appeared on Volga’s back. He flew several meters into the air and again breathed more flames at Link. He barely managed to dodge. However, Volga quickly flew at Link and with his head, struck Link to the ground. That head-on attack felt as if all of Link’s strength had left him. His body had never taken such a hefty blow. Neither by Ganondorf, nor Demise. Sure, they’d impaled him, but this was sheer brute strength. Volga then stabbed Link’s right hand. “AAAHHHHHH!!”, screamed Link. His hand felt as if it would be incinerated, such was the searing pain he felt. There was no way he could lift his shield. Volga lifted his spear out of Link’s hand and readied another stab. With every ounce of little strength he had left, Link rolled to his right to barely avoid the attack. He slowly got to his knees and tried to lift his sword, however, Volga walked up and powerfully struck the Master Sword out of his left hand. Link now had no sword to attack and no shield to defend with. His body could no longer move to evade any attack from the Dragon King. Where did he get such phenomenal strength and stamina, Link thought to himself?”. Volga took a few steps backwards. “I must give you credit, child. Those four strikes you landed on me… no warrior has managed to do this before. That makes you the strongest fighter I have ever faced in combat. Which is why… I shall grant you an honourable death”. Link could not even respond. His energy was completely drained. All he could do was lower his head. There was never a chance he could ever hope to counter such absolute strength, he thought. Perhaps… no one alive had a chance to do so. Maybe this was as far as he could go. His time as Hyrule’s Champion, surely finished, along with his life. Volga lifted his staff into the air. This was followed by a ring of fire formimg around the two. Volga opened his mouth. A ball of fire materialised inside of his mouth. After a few moments, Volga shot the fireball at Link. Slowly, Link closed his eyes. Going out in a blaze, just not a blaze of glory, he thought to himself. He felt the heat become more and more intense as the fireball drew closer. Suddenly, he felt something land right in front of him. This caused him to look up and see a red, blue and silver triton. It rapidly emanated a circular barrier made of water, which melted the fireball destined to end Link’s life. With that, the barrier disappeared. “What’s going on!”, Link exclaimed. In the next moment, he saw a figure rapidly descending down towards Volga from the sky. Volga had only barely began looking up when the figure, before touching the ground, unleashed a powerful backhanded strike at Volga’s face with a similar triton to the one that saved Link. To Link’s shock, the strike caused Volga to violently fall several meters backwards and further roll another few meters. The figure was very familiar. That red and white skin, muscular body, shining pieces of armour and eccentric landing. It was none other than the Zora Prince, Sidon. “NO!! I WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO TAKE OUR CHAMPION!!”, he shouted. “Sidon!?”, Link exclaimed. Sidon immediately turned around. With his characteristic trademark smile, he flexed his right bicep. “You’ve held him off for long enough, Champion. What a sterling job! Now, if I may, let me take care of the rest”. Volga slowly got to his feet. With a hint of a smile on his face, Volga stated: “It’s… it’s been so long… since I’ve felt pain. Real, measurable pain. Man of the sea… are you… are you the one… to challenge me?”. Sidon slowly walked up to the Dragon King. They squared up to one another. Sidon calmy replied: “Challenge you? No, I’m going to end you”.
End of Part 5