Fight of the Champions

Chapter Six - Darmar

"Get him brother!" someone shouted in the crowd.

Darmar faced the poor sucker who got dragged into sumo wrestling against him.

He smiled kindly at him, "Don't worry, I'll go easy on you," he said.

The young Goron brightened up considerably. Someone in the crowd booed.

The designated announcer shouted to get ready, and Darmar crouched down into his stance, and then he shouted to fight.

The other Goron tried to attack first, but Darmar sidestepped, and he stumbled forward, Darmar took his chance and beat up across the face. The Goron was stunned and Darmar started shoving him back... and just like that he was done, thrown out of the ring. Everyone cheered for him.

The young Goron turned to him, "I thought you were gonna go easy,"

"That was me going easy," he laughed.

He sat down along the wall with the rest of his Goron brothers as two others took up the ring. He cheered, he laughed, he booed, it was a blast. It was his favorite time of the week, and for a hardworking miner like he was, he was one of the few times he got to sit back and relax... other than when they went to the hot springs in the middle of the week, now that was relaxing.

They were still watching the wrestling when two large Gerudo women walked in. The older one came in smiling and watching the Wrestling.

Once the match was over, one of Darmar's friends shouted out to them.

"If you want to watch the matches, come get yourselves a better seat!" he said, his loud booming voice echoing in the walls of the building, he hit the ground beside him.

The older one smiled, but didn't accept, "Actually, we're here to recruit your best warrior for a cause," she said, her voice somehow just as loud, "The leader of Goron City said we could find him here?"

Everyone's eyes turned to Darmar. Yes, it was true, he was always the best whenever he trained as a warrior, and he was the best at sumo (they had frequent competitions that he always won) but it almost felt unfair. Maybe someone else was better than he was, how could he know? Maybe Ragnar would win this time?

"We can have a wrestling tournament," he suggested, "Everyone will have a fair chance of winning,"

They all turned to each other and cheered their approval.

First, they decided who of all 15 of the Gorons in the room wanted to try to win, only 6 stepped forward, including Darmar and his biggest competitor: Ragnar.

They had three matches, he and Ragnar were in different matches, everyone wanted to save their fight for the end. Darmar won with ease, the other guy was pushed out of the ring after only two hits. He always felt a little bad whenever he hit one of his brothers like this. Afterward, he patted the other Goron on the back

"I hope you get to go, Darmar," his opponent said as he went to the sidelines.

After that, the winners of the other two matches wrestled against each other, and then whoever won would face Darmar, he being the reigning champion. Of course, it was Ragnar. It looked a little more difficult though, Ragnar was really struggling to push him out of the ring.

The tension was thick in the air as Darmar stepped onto the ring again, everyone watched them in anticipation. Who was going to win? Was Darmar going to emerge victorious once again?

He rolled his arms back and popped his neck. Ragnar, with his reddish skin, did the same. Darmar looked around, everyone had their eyes tied onto him and Ragnar. The Gerudo Women, one of whom was officiating the matches, both looked in awe at this show of true strength.

"Get Ready!" the woman said, even her voice was tense.

They leaned forward and stared each other in the eye.

"Fight!" she shouted.

Ragnar came at him first — Darmar always let his opponent come first — but he moved much more swiftly than in their previous fights. Darmar failed to sidestep before Ragnar hit him. It was a powerful blow, and his jaw was sore from it, but he braced the blow and shoved his knuckles into Ragnar's stomach. He could see his eyes pop a little. Darmar started shoving him back, and then Ragnar got to his senses and went to hit him, but Darmar sidestepped and hit him again. It wasn't as powerful this time, though, and he couldn't quite get him to the edge of the ring.

Ragnar hit him across the face again, and Darmar got scarily close to the edge of the ring. He sidestepped, hit Ragnar, got him, and with one extra powerful shove, threw him out of the ring onto the floor. Instantly, everyone cheered and yelled.

He helped Ragnar to his feet, "That was a good fight, brother," he smiled,

"Man, I really wanted to go," Ragnar said downbeat.

"Next time, brother, next time," he patted his back.

The Gerudo Woman from earlier walked up to him, "That was a spectacular performance," she grinned, "I've never seen anything like it,"

"Thank you," he said, feeling a little bit more awkward to be talking to someone who wasn't a Goron, "So, uh, what exactly do you need me for?"

He had to get back to mining, after all, he didn't exactly know if the boss would be okay with it.

"The Gerudo are gathering a force of warriors from all across Hyrule to prevent the situation from getting any worse," she said, "I don't know much else. Only that some sort of Usurper was the one behind the incident with the King and Queen and he has more in store,"

"So we're gonna stop that guy?"

"That's the plan,"

"Great, that's, er," Darmar scratched the back of his head, "how long do you think I'll be gone?"

"I have no idea," She said, shrugging her shoulders, "it might be months, might be longer,"

"And you've let the Boss know I'm leavin'?"

"All taken care of,"

Darmar nodded his head and looked around at all of his fellow Gorons, all watching him and the Gerudo lady.

"Do you mind if I do something first?"

Within 30 minutes, every single Goron who had crammed themselves into that building was now lounging out by the Hot Springs. It was amazingly soothing. Every sore and bruise he got from wrestling were being massaged away by the water. The best part: spending the night with all of the Gorons he had known and worked next to and wrestled with for years. Who knew what was going to happen? He didn't know when he'd return.

The Gerudo had both left Goron City and returned to the Gerudo Desert, where he was expected to arrive within the next week.

But at the moment none of that mattered.

His buddy next to him leaned over, "I'm really gonna miss you, brother," he said, leaning onto his shoulder, "Wrestling nights just won't be the same,"

"Not to mention Hot Spring nights," another Goron said,

"And training nights," Ragnar piped up.

Darmar smiled, "I'll try to remember all that I'm missing out when I'm in the desert,"

They all laughed together. God was he gonna miss these guys.