When a Dodongo gives birth, Gorons hunger strike for meat shaped rocks.

It was a peaceful day, the kind one savors when relaxing on a hike. The clouds spat out light through seam-like gaps, flashing down on Billy's face. It wasn't a vacation for him. While he wanted it to be, this was really a murky outing after his last failed endeavor left droves of people aching to take his head. As if it wasn't bad enough Ganon's forces wanted to recruit the poor Mad Scrub, all it took was one drunk evening to get all the good guys against you as well.

Forgetting the evening was probably the best Hopkins could do at this point. But, his pity stroll would only bring him to worse problems. It was on this seemingly beautiful day that he would come to a revelation. Outside of the city life, there were many having problems as bad, or worse than his own. Billy came to a small cliff opening on his hike. The reddish stone made a wound-like crack in the yellowy cliff. Billy peeked into this opening to find a Goron sandwiched inside, in a trance-like hibernation. Seeing the hunger-diseased Goron brought to mind the many rumors Billy had heard. It seemed for generations the Dodongo; usually bred for war, would propagate on their own in the mountains long after the combat had ended. Every once in a while this rumor would tell of an encampment of Gorons brought to its knees by hunger. No matter the town, it seemed the nutrients a Goron could get from its diet were always tied to something specific like wood hearts or a savory stone rich with vitamins.

The Goron struggled to its feet and went to confirm this suspicion with the bare words that left his thinning lips.

"Starving. . ." he groaned in hushed whispers. ". . . the fire breather has blocked off the rock supply."

Billy wasn't sure what to believe. Did the cliffside he was on taste like dust? Maybe it wasn't the flavor, maybe it was just bland and happened to have the nutrition content of a burnt Marsh-Malo. Regardless of the problem, Billy thought it wrong to turn down a tribe with a problem much worse than his own. Aside from that, he was soon met with his answer.

"Why does your tribe rely on only that kind of rock?" Billy inquired.

"It's. . . pretty simple. . . Rock Sirloin is just soft enough to chew. If we. . . ate this stone. . . it would gravel our digestion. . . like a poison." the Goron answered honestly.

So that's why! Many Gorons must have died this way, Billy thought. There was only one thing to do. He would either have to face the Dodongo scourge, or at least find help to do so. Billy did consider that somebody might be trying to help already, so he may as well ask.

"Is anybody trying to do anything about this."

"Well, us Gorons . . . aren't fast enough on foot . . . to stop the burrowing Dodongo. But even if we killed them. . . on our own, we are like bait specks . . . to the towering adult Dodongo. Many expeditions end with us all being eaten." he struggled to say. A stern warning to any intentions the Mad Scrub had.

"So nobody is helping?" Billy continued to pry.

"There is. . . one. The revered captain. . . he does not stop. . . until he has won."

"Don't speak, I will scale this cliff to seek him out and end this! This is no game, sir!" Billy valiantly barked.

The Mad Scrub immediately began to climb the cliff face, where he should immediately find the one he wanted. His gnarly arms tore into the dense stone, lifting him vertically as he placed rope in key positions. But as his gaze peered over the ledge. . . a cluster of Dodongos met his sight.

Julius looked over the ridge of the mountain. It hadn't been much of struggle to climb this far; even with all of his gear, his newly enhanced strength made him feel like the strongest person around. It was all thanks to a strange bracer he'd found -- gold and white, with some kind of crest on it, though he couldn't tell who, or what, it belonged to. For all he knew, he could have been wearing some ancient, cursed artifact -- though, he doubted that theory, since they typically were supposed to have some kind of drawback. Of course, he felt no such thing.

It was such a good feeling. He looked around; a Goron tribe settling the area had encountered some troubles with an infestation of Dodongos. Julius had fought them before, and had some essential experience in fighting them -- it also helped that he wore their own hide, making him almost immune to their fiery breath. Of course, he didn't doubt that their breath could still sear his skin if he remained there long enough.

That wasn't likely to happen, though; soon, he spotted a group of the creatures, bringing an end to his internal monologue. Now, it was time to test his new found strength. Without much effort, he climbed down the rocks, onto a flatter plateau of stone. It was time to slay the beasts.

He drew his blade remarkably quickly; it weight felt like it was nothing in his hands. He circled around one of the creatures slightly before executing a Helm Splitter; leaping over the beast and slashing at its tail. Thankfully, their tails were relatively unarmored; unlike their faces, which had a rock-hard durability.

Then, in a feat of herculean strength, he abruptly grabbed it by its tail, swung the several hundred pound creature into the air, and clobbered another of the creatures with its possible sibling. Again, he swung the Dodongo. It was a most impressive feat of strength; that much was sure. More importantly, the two were incapacitated -- likely dead. That left the third, which had noticed Julius by now. It let out a stream of fire -- but this one was smaller. A child, most likely. That means that the two he had just clobbered were likely its... parents? Julius was no expert on Dodongo mating habits, and simply left it at that.

Either way, its minuscule flames had little effect on Julius. It was hot, sure -- but nothing he couldn't withstand with some effort. Had it not been a child, it would have been likely for to have taken more than the superficial damage he had. But, it was still a child. Julius leapt over the beast in a motion, before bringing his blade into the center of the creature's tail, slicing it almost clean off. The creature was done for.

He sheathed his blade, before resuming his surveillance of the surrounding areas. There was a cavern around here, but he had neglected to ask for directions. Perhaps Julius shouldn't have been so spurred on by his incredible strength.

However, he soon noticed the Mad Scrub standing near him. He didn't feel any malicious intent from the Scrub -- and decided to speak to it. "Hello. I'm Julius Surgate, Captain of the Hyrule Guard. How long have you been standing there?"

Billy let out an exasperated wheeze. This non-vocal answer to the guard's question was followed by his actual response.

"I just. . . climbed up here. . . on the cliff face. . ."

Billy thought to himself. Maybe just going up on the trail would have saved his energy? But maybe he also would have missed his chance to catch the tough guardsman. It was a bit of a coin-toss there.

". . . which may not have been necessary. But I'm here. I have some kind of offer for you."

Billy wasn't sure what he was offering. The guard seemed to be doing the work on his own, and Billy didn't exactly have much to add to the situation. Not even a shave or haircut would help, as this guy had both of those fronts sorted out. Well, Billy did have better vision in the dark. If that was even a boon here? It probably wouldn't be helping much. Maybe they'd be fighting for so long, that Julius would grow a beard!

"My offer, er, hasn't much to do with me even. The problems here barely have anything to do with me, so it's more like a game. I want to play a game. The Dodongos are the mice, and we are the cats. I want to help you, soldier. We should chase the monsters from this hunting ground and seek out their main breeding cave. If you'd humor me, I want to go into the cavern and seek out the source. I mean, it would help a tad if I had some kind of monster encyclopedia so I could know what they do to secure their nest and breed. But I don't think I've ever met anyone with books on those subjects. We're just gonna have to wing it and hope we win!" Billy driveled through his mouth-snout.

The Mad Scrub did have a point. It would be effective to use some kind of tracking tactic to work their way to the core of the problem. Sure, it was fun to watch this guy kill piles of Dodongos right here. Top quality entertainment, even. But Billy genuinely felt bad about the Gorons and figured Julius must as well. There was only one final solution to this problem. Enter Dodongo's cavern and exterminate the Dodongos.

"Ah, I have, er, a bit of prior obligation. Perhaps we can help each other, however; near here are a tribe of Gorons, and it seems a Dodongo Patriarch has made their home in their caverns, meaning we must either slay the Patriarch or relocate the Gorons. Having dealt with the Slums in Castle Town, I'd much rather simply slay the Patriarch," Julius explained, looking towards a cave some place in the distance. "Of course, I'm not necessarily sure where that cave is. I've been searching all day, but I haven't been able to find it. Perhaps two pairs of feet will allow us a better search," he said as he regarded the Mad Scrub. He was... a little unconventional. What was he going to do with that noose? Why did his sword so heavily resemble half of a pair of scissors?

He must be some kind of jackass, but I'm not going to turn him down. Even Julius knew that a Dodongo Patriarch was no joke -- usually, the removal of a Patriarch required nothing short of a small army to exterminate. Julius wasn't sure the two of them would be able to take it out by themselves, but... they could try, at least. The worst that might come of the endeavor would be needing to relocate the Gorons, at least. It was worth a shot.

"Alright. Follow me." Julius began to lead the Deku into the distance, as he closed in on the cavern he eyed earlier -- before feeling a slight burst of heat as they neared. Yeah, this was the place. "Alright, listen here: I've hunted Dodongo before. They prefer rather hot places, with an emphasis on hot. They tend to nest near -- or in, as I've heard before -- magma. The temperatures they can endure are pretty impressive," Julius looked the Scrub up and down. "I'd recommend having some form of fire protection -- especially since you're a Deku," Julius finished. He looked into the cave. It seemed... somewhat clear. Still, they needed to be wary.

"Er, I don't think that's a problem sir." Billy responded to the tall humanoid.

The Scrub nodded his head to the incline at the side of the road.

"If what you're wearing is the trademark Goron's Knit. . . it looks like this customer has it as well."

Strewn to the wayside was a Goron, toting not a single sign of life. His clothing consisted of a maroon undershirt which was not more than an accessory to his shoulder armor and knight's helmet. The poor guy was probably trying to be a hero. The cause of death was evident, his whole body was heavily charred. Two to four holes were drilled deep into his torso. Barring any outside influence, this was the work of a King Dodongo's maw. Their speed paired with their massive teeth defined one of the few weaknesses to Goron-kind. It was no surprise either, as many legends told of flying dragons being the Gorons' mortal enemy. Billy shuddered to think of what manner of teeth could pierce the stony hide of a Goron. While he thought this, he found himself removing the dressings of the corpse.

"If he's not using it anymore, better safe than sorry I s'pose." Billy murmured as he cast aside the heavy steel plating.

The loose ruddy undershirt was still vastly too big for Billy. He went out of his way to tie a few knots on the ends so that it would stick to his small body. His long set of Cheval Ropes served to tighten it further. What would he do without his ropes? With the belt secured, he was prepared to enter the cavern.

"We ought to get in there, I don't feel comfortable with what I just did. The patriarch should be guarding the breeding grounds, so I guess he's our target." Billy trailed off, shivering in the wrappings of a casualty despite the overwhelming heat.

"Yeah," Julius said in a bit of a monotone voice. He thought back to his journey to the mines so many months ago -- had it been months, really? He supposed it had... It had been a long, long time since then. He still regretted what he did. He thought about it at least once a day; often times, much more often than that. He would likely never get over it, in fact.

But that was enough of that. It was time to right his wrongs -- even if no one knew of it but him. It was time to hunt themselves a Patriarch.

He looked towards Billy, his outfit being drawn together with the length of rope he possessed. Considering he used it to tie together a Goron Tunic, he supposed it wasn't ordinary rope -- likely Cheval, since it was extremely durable. Either way, he moved into the caves, blade at the ready.

The duo moved past the remnants of the destroyed tents -- they'd been burned and set to flame, and the source was quite obvious. It was quite evident that the Gorons had done some rather extensive work; there were many paths which lead every which way. It was a little overwhelming. He stopped, just ahead of a path. "Alright, Billy, be careful. I'm not sure what's ahead." That was a little bit of a lie. He knew there were a few creatures up ahead -- but he was hard-pressed to specify what exactly they were. The best he could do was offer a warning.

They were at the edge of his Senses and quickly moved away from it. Their speed suggested something... serpentine, perhaps? Perhaps it was a Lizalfols. He knew they were frequently found where Dodongos settled, in his experience. He gestured for Billy to follow behind him. Whatever was up ahead, he knew Billy would likely have a hard time dealing with it -- had the Scrub ever even fought? That was perhaps the most pertinent question on Julius' mind...

Billy judged his surroundings. Was there something dangerous off yonder? Maybe because of the layout of these tunnels, it would be helpful to scout a separate one while whatever guard lay down the main path was dealt with by this gritty armor type creature standing above himself. Thinking this over again to double-check left Billy at the conclusion that this was a good idea. Not many steps inward he took it upon himself to ask.

"Seeing as you've got this down, it might help for me to scout the non-populated paths instead while you sort this miscreant out." Billy informed Julius before swaying off the path and into the darkness of a separate one. He was better at seeing in the dark after all.

At the raw disinterest of Julius' response, he made his way swiftly down into the tunnel. After all, this guy wasn't even close to being a likely customer for him. Why listen to a man who didn't have any roop to throw at chopping off his weird human head-growth or trimming his face scrapers? Maybe he was up for a dye though, his graying hair could use a healthy tinge of green! Billy made sure to offer this service to the man after this scouting business was over. Boy, would he be happy to hear that. Most Hylian-types liked their hair dyed anyway. Billy took this as a universal fact.

On his way, he scoped the darkness for clues. He didn't hear footsteps but he felt like he wasn't alone. A sweep of the dimly lit area brought his attention to the tip of something long and sharp. It came from above, so his gaze tilted ever upward. It seemed to be the leg of a spider? No, it was a Skulltula of course as the thing was gigantic. Billy chewed on his finger. This was probably by far the most dangerous creature he had ever encountered. On second thought, he figured, it would be better to go hang out with that armored sword monster after all. Billy ran his way back to whatever Julius was doing.

Julius continued forward after Billy had decided to go do... whatever it was he was going to do. He was too preoccupied with whatever was just ahead of him to care about whatever the Deku Scrub was doing. Maybe he was scouting other paths, but as an arrow whizzed past Julius, he forgot about Billy entirely.

He readied his shield, holding the guard in front of him as the Lizalfos dropped its bow. It soon swapped to a shoddily made flamberge, attempting to strike around Julius' shield; however, its efforts were in vain, as soon it would be met with a Spin Attack, easily piercing its hide. It wasn't as trained as many of the other enemies Julius had face before -- of all the Dinolfols, spirits, and Darknuts Julius had slain, this one may as well have been a skulltula. After finishing ihs rather wounding Spin Attack, Julius brought the guard of his blade to the beast's face, bashing it to the left with his more than ample strength. The Lizalfos flew literal feet to Julius' left, before landing with a dull thud, its weapon clattering into the distance. With heavy steps, Julius approached the fallen enemy. He held his blade down at the creature's neck, clearly having no time for any of its tricks.

Its consciousness faded as the great colossus struck it in the side of the head. He felt himself fly for an instant, before losing all feeling in his body. He was... at peace, for a moment. And the next thing it knew, the same colossus was towering over it, its blade (in sharp contrast to its armor) being pointed down at its throat. He tried to back away in terror for an instant, before feeling the pressure on its neck increase. It spat tribal-speak at the creature, obviously horrified and fearful for its life -- but soon, it spoke the language of the knife-ears to him, and he understood.

"Where is the patriarch?" Julius asked, his eyes trained on the Lizalfos' body. If it moved an inch further, he would end it.

"I.. In tunnel." It motioned behind itself. "I go?" Fear was seeded deep into its eyes.

Julius with drew his blade, backing away from the creature. "There will be a Deku Scrub on your way out, and presumably some Gorons around here somewhere. If any harm comes to them, it will be your head," Julius spoke to the creature, as it clambered up from the ground and promptly exited the Caverns. It would simply have to find somewhere else to nest.

Julius turned around, finding Billy. "Ah.. hello there. Tell me, Deku, what is your name?"

"Oh, I'm Hopkins, Billy Hopkins. Owner and operator of Billy's Miracle Barber service. If you're in need of a cut and color, there's no better scrub for the job! Satisfaction guaranteed." he responded. During the plug he was unsure why he hadn't introduced himself properly before.

"You really did give that Lizalfos a good spook! We should have these tunnels clean in a snap. Speaking of, if you don't mind I found a Skulltula guarding the other tunnel. While I can knock it down, I might not be equipped to handle its armored back. Do we know which way to go?" Billy finally asked as he scanned the far part of the room with his careful eyes.

There wasn't much to find in the dim light and the twisting tunnel system without going further in. Billy figured Julius was interested in the Skulltula, as they stopped their procession down that direction as Billy explained. Maybe he wasn't interested and was just a good listener? Billy waited for his response as he preemptively prepared for a fight by equipping his blade. In his other hand he loaded a Deku Nut to begin his assault. Billy was excited to finally be putting his dexterity to good use.

"Well, I'm sure you'd be in for fright too if a wall of steel suddenly slammed into you and flung you through the air," Julius explained, chuckling at his own joke. "Ah hell, if it's just a Skulltula I think I can deal with it," Julius said, scanning around the caverns one last time. There were so many tents around here, all of them destroyed in some fashion -- maybe it was the Patriarch. Even a swarm of Dodongos wouldn't be coordinated enough to cause this much damage.

He looked as Billy lead him into the tunnel, following close behind. It was harder for Julius to see here, so he let the little Deku Scrub do the navigating. Pretty soon, he heard the familiar skittering -- and could feel its presence all the same. "Billy -- get back!" He hollered, immediately drawing his blade and running at the Skulltula. He had no doubt that Billy saw it before he felt it -- but there was little time to wait. A Skulltula bite was a nasty one, and with no access to a healer, they had to be careful. He tried to look for Billy -- he regretted the shortcomings of his senses, now, especially since he could not see in the dark. He knew the Scrub had a Deku Nut, but he did not know where Billy intended to strike from -- and that could be bad, especially since it could stun Julius as well.

Julius could hardly see the Skulltula; its carapace blended in with the darkness of the cavern too well. He loosed a Spin Attack, feeling the creature close in; as the vortex of energy extended from his blade, he could feel it slice into the plating on his legs. Now was, perhaps, the most opportune time for Billy to strike.

Billy shuddered as the guardian followed him into the dim tunnel. The air was heavy and webs crawled out of the corners in threatening positions. Billy stumbled over, as a spinning Julius flung himself headlong into the monstrous arthropod. The thing was resistant to the heavy assault, toting thick plates all over. Having not fought one up close before, seeing the Skulltula live up to its namesake by boning through attacks was horrifying. Billy had little choice than to pull out the big guns at the first chance.

The stone floor snapped Billy's Deku Nut. His well-timed throw sent the distracted monster for a loop. The Skulltula flew back into the cave wall, grasping at webs for stability. Its underbelly had been exposed! Billy jumped up and took a swing at it with his blade. A single cut was not enough to stop the creature, so he backed off for Julius to deal another hit.

Julius was blinded by the sudden impact of the Deku Nut -- being unable to see, or respond, he hadn't managed to strike the spider as surely as he'd hoped. He staggered back a bit -- it had been a while since he'd experienced anything like this, and it was a bit too much for his aged senses.

His blade still sat in his hand as he overcame the effects of the flash-bang, not having noticed his sword clattering to the floor a distance away from him. Forced to confront the spider-thing with only his fists and newfound strength, he grabbed its two dagger-like mandibles and slowly began to tear it apart -- like something Sienna would do, now that he thought about it. Had she done this before? Maybe he could suggest it to her, whenever they next met.

The Skulltula's carapace gave with a sickening noise as it was literally torn in twain by Julius. Good Din, how am I so strong, Julius thought to himself as the Skulltula's halves hit the stone floor. He looked for Billy in the dim light. "Are you ready to move on, now? After I find my blade, at least."

It was time. He had finally found adventure. Mind you, adventure wasn't exactly why he was here; no, he was here to slay a Dodongo Partriarch. But... the easiest way there had just been blocked off. Maybe there was something of note in the other passage; maybe it would, instead, allow them to sneak upon the patriarch.

"Billy," Julius said, looking for the Deku Scrub. He eventually found the red eyes in the darkness of the room. "Billy, there you are." Hopefully the Scrub remembered that Julius couldn't see as easily in the dark as he. "Which path do you think we should take?"

"I was thinking the Dodongos are probably lower in the cavern rather than higher... but it couldn't hurt to search up there, could it?" Billy posed out loud.

He slumped onto his shear. It was too soon to even know if anything was up there. He squinted a bit, and it occurred to him. This really was up to himself, as he had the darkvision here. He loosened himself back up and began up the stones.

"Best if I scout ahead. You shouldn't be bothered trying to drudge through the darkness on your own. I'll try to be brave like you." Billy enunciated down to Julius. He made sure to make his position clear to the guy as he moved.

However, as Billy hiked up the slightly uneven rocks he noticed his visibility decrease. It seemed like there was a bent hall before the entry to whatever this was. Billy's flower perked up as if to adapt to how nervous he was. His eyes, like small embers, gazed down the path as if to scan it for danger. His hand stroked the metallic surface of his shear to keep the blade close to himself. He might have needed it to defend, after all. The air grew silent as he slowed down his breaths. This could very well have been the first time he was forging ahead alone in a place this enclosed and dark. It was like being a child awake from a bad sleep, almost lost in their own home. He braced his nerves for what was ahead.

Billy took a big whiff with his snout. That smell... smoke? Oh no.

Billy grabbed at his floppy leaves as he spotted a gaggle of cheerfully ablaze keese round the corner toward himself. He knew deep down, with his every twitch that if he could slice one or two of them it couldn't matter. The rest of the keese would dive at him and set him to ashes. Without this interest to set ashes to ash, Billy reacted wildly to jump out of the way. The leap went pretty far with the help of Roc's Feather. He got his body to roll up the cave wall and out of the swift path of the blazing keese.

A skidding of Billy's feet grinded down the wall as he tried to contain his footing. With a twist he landed, though it strained his ankle to dismount the stone. He kept his blade handy as the keese brushed around the tunnel. They scattered a bit, some of them noticing Juilius, and a few of them slowly bending their path back toward Billy. As one of them fully turned back, Billy hopped forward and swatted it with the coarse shear. For a creature of its stature, it was blown away.

"Julius! Watch out!" he squawked down the tunnel, though he'd likely already noticed during that moment. It was best to be polite and be the one to warn him.

It was... smoke. Dodongos disliked smoke, for whatever reason. He knew that from experience; it pacified them to an extent. Smoking them out was even the Guard's primary method for removing Dodongo population that settled in old mines.

But enough about an irrelevant information dump. The flaming Keese caused a fair amount of light amidst the darkness of the cavern -- but, they were Keese, and with Julius' near-immunity to fire, they were hardly a problem. He heard Billy shout in the distance, but he was already aware of them -- before Billy was, in fact. Probably.

Julius took his sword into his hands, running at the Keese, before abruptly launching himself into the air, a wave of slicing energy spiraling around his body as he propelled a few more feet into the air. Presumably, he'd slice into the creatures and be done with the affair; but, that remained to be seen.

"I was thinking there would be more . . . threats, in this cavern," Julius remarked off-handedly. They hadn't even seen that many Dodongos yet -- surely, Goron tribesmen could handle something such as this on their own. Effortlessly, he cut down the final few Keese that flew in their direction.

"This is almost . . . suspicious," Julius added, looking by the dying light of the remains of the Keese. "Billy, how much do you know about the Gorons and their tribes?" Without waiting for a response, he continued, "This is a little fishy to me. For one thing, if all that's in here are Keese..." Julius didn't keep up that line of thinking for long. Surely, the Gorons that seemed to so desperately need their help, wouldn't lead them into a trap. Or would they?

It mattered little to Julius, however, as he continued on to wherever the Keese had come from, a trail of blazing footsteps being left in his wake. What would he find there? Maybe more Lizalfos, or more Dodongos, or... Well, there was any number of things they could encounter, certainly, but Julius would at least be prepared... for most things.