2. A Risky Decision
Kawachi internally freaked out.
Sure, he had muscle on him and could wield a couple weapons. He wasn't the greatest at combat like Kai, but he wasn't entirely hopeless, despite what Kai kept badgering him about while training back at Hyrule Castle. At least he hadn't fallen into a river at some point during the Blood Moon!
But surviving an undead assault was one thing.
Infiltrating a Bokoblin camp properly this time was another.
He looked left and right through the few bushes in the area around the Domain, noticing the Zora all assembling carefully, either through the waterways or
Initially, when Ganon was defeated, the Bokoblin camps vanished entirely. A couple weeks or so later, there were more Bokoblins and creatures, but they weren't hard to repel.
Things were different, now, and much more dangerous.
At this point, they built a literal fortress of wood; high platforms connected by hidden ladders or ramps one could tie up with rope so no one could climb up as easily. On top of that, there were bigger creatures than the Bokoblins; the Moblins.
Kawachi vaguely recalled seeing one or two during the Blood Moon assault.
Here, there were at least seven of them.
"How are we supposed to take them out again?" Kawachi breathed, looking towards Mipha. Because Kawachi knew he was likely to get hurt more than Kai, considering he was acting as the distraction, Mipha volunteered to stick with Kawachi's side.
Mipha took a deep breath, before quickly explaining. "We'll attack one side of the fortress first as an initial distraction, and then pull back while the rest of the Zora soldiers, Sidon, and Kai all launch their main assault on them."
Even if they didn't kill the Bokoblin camp entirely, if they could at least destroy the fortress it would certainly stop the Bokoblins from regrouping as easily. At least, that was the hopeful outcome.
"Right." Kawachi looked towards the Bokoblin camp, then the Moblins, and then looked towards Mipha. "I know this is going to sound reckless, but what if I got all the Moblins' attention just long enough?"
"Are you sure?" Mipha frowned. "It sounds like you're taking a page out of Shachioko's book."
"But I can run really fast!" Kawachi pointed out, beaming. "Why not have me distract?"
She gave him a look. "Can you outrun ten Moblins at once?"
"Er…probably?"
She frowned, looking towards the Moblins, and then towards Kawachi. "Well…I trust you to run as fast as you can." She managed. "Good luck."
Kawachi took a deep breath, and started running.
Kai knew that he was in charge of helping Sidon and the main chunk of the Zora soldiers with them to assault the Bokoblin camp. They had a plan, didn't they? He was sure it would work, but…
Honestly, he couldn't help but resist the urge to facepalm as Kawachi attracted the attention of every Moblin the way he did. How Kawachi was still alive made Kai wonder at times. He must be extremely lucky. That had to be it.
As one Kawachi Kyosuke ran across the main clearing, screaming his ass off as all of the Moblins chased him, Kai watched Sidon blow the whisltle he had.
Several Zora archers shot arrows at the Bokoblins at the top of the fortress, killing them all with gruesome headshots. As they fell, the rest of their Bokoblin allies turned to see them as Sidon called out.
"Now! Charge!" Kai heard Sidon scream, and all the Zora leapt out from their hiding places – the trees, the rivers, from behind fallen boulders and other rock formations – before charging at the Moblins and Bokoblins alike with their spears.
One Moblin in particular had an electric sword; Kai noticed the monster swinging it from the corner of his eye.
"Stay back from this one." The swordsman warned Sidon. "He's got an electric weapon!"
Zora were weak to electricity, correct? And yet it was electric arrows used to appease Vah Ruta at the time…huh. Kai found that odd, in his opinion. Why was that? Did they get Link's help for that reason?
That was something to ponder for another time.
Right now, he had to face this Moblin and win. He dodged the Moblin's first swing, stabbing it in the gut, but he knew, as he pulled the blade out, that it wouldn't be enough to chip it down.
Cutting down a person was nothing compared to a Moblin. Moblins were thicker-skinned, durable, ready for combat.
And to be honest? Kai was itching for a good fight. Sure, the Champions did a great job of challenging him during their training at Hyrule Castle, and some of the others did a better job than he expected (like Kuroyanagi and Meister for example), but actually fighting monsters was different.
He thought briefly of Monica. Did she have to face Bokoblins out in Gerudo Desert right now? He hoped that she made it through, and Daruk's hopeful words about her came back to his mind.
She'll be fine, Kai told himself. But right now, he had to make sure he was fine.
As the Moblin swung its blade at him, Kai sidestepped it before rushing in for another stab attack. The Moblin didn't stand a chance as Kai pierced its abdomen, before he tried to drag the blade through the flesh to cut it open.
It was hard to straight-up rip it apart the way he did, but Kai managed to at least widen the wound. As he pulled his blade out and ducked down to avoid another swing from the Moblin, he noticed it bleeding freely. At some point, it had to die.
Besides, Moblins and Bokoblins couldn't heal themselves, right? At least there was an advantage to fighting them when weakened.
Kai barely dodged the next swing, and he stabbed again, trying to cut open the wound wider like he did with the previous one. He succeeded this time, and only moments later, the Moblin collapsed entirely with a groan.
Two arrows shot at him from his left, but he dived down. He heard the buzz of electricity fly above his head, thankfully not hitting any Zoar, but Kai looked to his left to see something else; a four-legged, furry beast with a torso and arms like a human, but with a non-humanoid head.
"Is this…" He breathed. A Lynel?
He hadn't seen it at the camp earlier. Was it just the one stumbling upon the camp, or…?
As the Lynel took out a horn and blew it, Kai immediately noticed three other Lynels enter the area.
"Dammit!" Kawachi heard one of the Zora soldiers curse. "They anticipated us!"
"Fall back!" Sidon was heard yelling, and several soldiers immediately went on the defensive, holding up shields as electric arrows flew at them. Kawachi ducked past a few arrows, watchinga s the other Zora indeed retreated, but Kawachi knew this:
He wasn't a Zora. He (hopefully) wouldn't be as weak as a Zora when it came to electric arrows.
What if he could get the Lynels away like what he did with distracting the Moblins? Kawachi kenw it was risky, probably really reckless, but right now, they needed help.
And it there was something Kawachi knew he was good at, through al his time at Pantasia and so on, it was causing a huge enough ruckus to distract everyone from the main things going on.
"HEY!" Kawachi yelled, before whistling. All the Lynels snapped their gazes towards him, and he suppressed a swallow, before yelling, "OVER HERE!"
"Kawachi!?" He heard Mipha yelp, but he looked towards her, offering her a sheepish grin.
"Leave the distracting to me! I can do this! You focus on taking down the Bokoblin camp!"
"Just be careful!"
That was when all the Lynels charged at Kawachi, and Kawachi broke into what was, most likely, the fastest he ran in his entire life.
Kawachi wasn't sure how much he ran at this point, but his legs screamed for him to stop running.
He couldn't. He had to keep running, even as arrows whizzed past his ears and the sounds of hooves refused to relent. Damn those Lynels! Why couldn't I eat a bread where I could have an extra pair of legs beforehand? Or something edible, at least?
Surely they could have tried doing that here in Hyrule, right?
Then again, it wasn't like anyone had any odd reactions to eating things while in Hyrule so far. Kawachi wished he had strange reactions to eating things again. Maybe it could've been useful.
He tripped, and he tumbled forwards, but he caught himself with both hands, about to move forwards again–
And that was then that he realized that he was the edge of a high cliff, just above one of the highest waterfalls at Zora's Domain.
He swallowed, but before he could retreat, he saw the Lynels approaching, snarling.
Uh oh.
How was he supposed to get away now?
At least I got them away from the other Zora, right? Kawachi thought, wracking his mind for ideas to get past the Lynel. All the Lynel had their eyes on him, starting to prepare their bows and arrows, and he decided to do another stupid thing:
Provoke them.
"Are you seriously just going to throw a bunch of arrows at me?" He glared at them as best as he could, despite how breathless he was. "Why don't you just come over here and cut me down!? Are you really that cowardly!?"
One of the Lynels faltered, before roaring back at him. It took out a club, and Kawachi noticed the others take out handheld weapons, before they all rushed at him at once.
Kawachi decided to do the unthinkable: Jump off the cliff.
A scream left him as he fell, and too many thoughts flashed through his mind; his coworkers back at Pantasia, Azuma, the others –
Would they be okay?
At least I…tried…to do something right…sorry, Azuma…
And that was the last thing he thought before all vision blackened out.
Kawachi woke up to the soft murmurs of Zora talking, and even Kai.
Wait, Kai?
"Is he awake?" Suwabara stood not too far from Kawachi's bedside, staring at him, before looking towards Mipha.
"He is now." The Zora Champion replied. A soft smile appeared on her face as she looked towards Kawachi. "Glad to see you back."
Kawachi slowly tried to sit up in bed, trying to ignore the aching in his back and the rest of his muscles. "Th-thanks…."
That was when Suwabara lunged forwards, grabbing Kawachi by the collar. Kawachi flinched, struggling, but Kai held fast.
"What the hell were you thinking!?" Suwabara snapped, right in his face. "You could've gotten yourself killed!"
"Please unhand him, Suwabara." Mipha spoke, and Kai froze, looking towards her. Mipha wasn't quite glaring at him, but Kawachi had a feeling she might do so soon if Kai didn't let him go. "It won't do well for him to go deaf after all he's done for us."
"It is true." Sidon admitted, and Kawachi noticed him look between Kai and Mipha quietly. "If it wasn't for Kawachi's risky attempt, all the Lynels would still be present and difficult to deal with."
"Wait, what?" Kawachi tried to stay sitting up after Kai let him go, but failed, lying back down in bed instead. He winced at how the soreness in his back spread all over his body, a sigh leaving his lungs before he asked, "Wh-what happened after I fell?"
Mipha inhaled deeply before explaining, looking him in the eyes. "You fell down the waterfall, but all the Lynels followed you off the cliff. You were the only one out of them all that survived."
"Mipha saved you from straight-up drowning when you lost consciousness." Kai muttered, and though his glare barely ceased, at least his voice was softer now. "You should thank her."
"Er…thanks." Kawachi offered Mipha a sheepish grin, and then winced at his muscles searing again, with pain. "Oof…"
"You're still sore?" Mipha held a hand up above him, and white light glowed. Kawachi felt the soreness in his body ease, and a soft, relieved sigh left his lungs.
"Thanks again." He managed.
She offered him a soft smile. "Just get some rest, okay? You'll need plenty of it for the next few days."
He frowned at that, trying to sit up again. "What about getting the ingredients to Hyrule Castle?"
She pushed him back down, but gently. "My father and Sidon are already arranging ways to transport some of the supplies we have from Marot Mart to Hyrule Castle," She managed, "and determining the amount of it. Right now, just focus on resting. It's thanks to you that we finished taking down the Bokoblin camp."
Kawachi couldn't help but grin as he laid back in bed, and after the others left him to rest, he closed his eyes. At least he'd done something right, this time. He was content with that.
Kai was glad that no one among the Zoras, or Kawachi or himself, died. It would be bad if they did. He held the Shiekah Slate in his hands, before looking up towards the balcony. He was grateful for the guest room he had, and the privacy needed to rest and recollect himself, but now that fighting the Moblins, Bokoblins and more were over, he knew he had a few messages to send.
He already saw one or two messages from the others about their progress, but he was mostly concerned about Monica. And so, he sent a message.
Monica, if you're reading this, this is Kai writing. All of us warded off Bokoblin camps just earlier. Dorephan agreed to let us take as many ingredients as needed from Marot Mart before we went back to Hyrule Castle, as thanks. Might be a couple days before we head back, though. Kawachi needs to rest.
Only seconds later did Monica reply.
WHAT!? Kai imagined Monica screeching aloud as he read her message. What do you mean, he's in bedrest!? Is he okay? Did he fall ill?
No, He messaged back. He got injured. He led all the Lynel down a cliff as part of a distraction. Almost drowned. Mipha saved him and healed him as best as she could but he still needs rest.
I'm glad to hear that he's safe, She wrote back, but what about you? Are you hurt?
Sometimes Kai had to pause and remember that there were others that did look out for him. Monica was one of those people. He appreciated that. He smiled lightly, but quickly messaged back.
I had a few cuts and bruises, but it's nothing compared to the Baldy. We'll be okay. He paused, then messaged back, What about you, Meister, Riju and Urbosa?
Not too many injuries. Mainly bruises. Monica wrote back. To be fair, we had a lot of help from the Gerudo soldiers in fighting a bunch of Moldugas. We plan to head back in two or three days from now after we make sure the ingredients are procured, so we should be fine.
That's good. He was glad to hear that Monica and Meister, as well as the Gerudo, were well. We'll be back as soon as we can.
Same with us! I love you.
Kai knew Monica told him "I love you" quite a few times. It was another thing to see it written down like this. He paused, smiling lightly, before typing in one more message.
I love you, too.
With that, Kai bid goodnight to Monica, put the Shiekah Slate, and got some much-needed sleep.