A massive, guttural coughing blew pitterances of charred, acrid breath beyond the reaches of the billowing cloud of grey soot that enveloped the entirety of the Akkalan lighthouse. The source of the massive plume of sickening exhaust remained consumed by the smoke, but the owner of that putrid cough stumbled into view, an old Sheikah man waving his hand in front of his face as he escaped the black cloud.

"Hack hack!" he coughed up, covering his face with the collar of his white jacket, "C'mon now, Dolly! For once, could you work properly?"

He took a step closer, hoping to stop the endless plumage of fumes, but almost in response to his bitter demand, a loud CRACK burst through the cloud, sending the man skittering back toward the wall.

"O-Okay! Message received! I'll just, eh- wait outside, until you calm down, alright, Dolly?"

Pawing at the wall until finding the door to the lighthouse, Robbie managed to escape out into the fresh Akkalan air, muttering frankly to himself as he stumbled along the dirt road ahead of him, turning around only after pulling his goggles to his shirt to have its lenses cleaned off.

"Golly," he muttered to himself, nary a hint of cynicism as he concluded, "Must'a been the torque on the springs were set too tight. Yep. You knew that, didn't you?"

He sighed in worrisome thought as the cloud of thick smoke began ejecting through the top of the lighthouse, now floating up into the sky, "Purah isn't gonna like that. Another welfare check will be in order, I s'pose."

"No matter," he immediately retaliated, grabbing a nearby twig and starting on new plans, digging lines into the dirt beneath him to begin blue-printing his next course of action, "Remove some torque from the springs. Eh, that'll affect the coils; gotta set those up differently, then. The whole mechanism's gonna need a once over, I suppose. All the better; measure thrice, mess up once. Impa. Page 82. Notes for Robbie."

He sighed, "Oh, how understanding she is."

The short, Sheikah man was still lost in his thoughts, both toward his colleagues as well as his current work, when a rampaging stampede of steps approached him from behind; the stranger's presence, and even their words, wholly concealed behind his attentive concerns of his inner thoughts, now tumultuous as they were, though as if a switch were pulled, Robbie suddenly perked up in rabid shock, spinning around and throwing his hands into an assertive posture, only to find Princess Zelda hustling toward him with an elated wave of her hand.

"Robbie!" she cried warmly.

Eyes drawn into slants, Robbie carefully examined the rapidly approaching figure for a brief moment before throwing up his hands in fright, "H- Hold up! You'll trample my notes!"

Skidding to a stop, Zelda tossed her body to the side, wiggling her balance to and fro as she delicately avoided the dirt in front of her, somehow intuitively knowing that the Sheikah man had, indeed, inferred that his 'notes' were etched into the ground. Such tales, regaled by Zelda's "Aunt Purah" prepared her for such habits of Robbie.

"Sorry! I didn't get any of them, did I?" Zelda wondered warily, taking a glance over her shoulder.

Robbie flatly noted aloud, "No. No. You were a good few meters out."

Frowning, Zelda pushed her fists into her hips, "You made it sound like I was about to kill somebody."

"My apologies, child," Robbie assured, running a hand nervously through his thick tuft of hair, "This entire area has become my sketchpad as of late. Whenever I'm having trouble with Dolly, I get sent out here to complete my thoughts."

"Oh!" Zelda spoke up gleefully, "You're married?!"

Robbie eyed her, noticing his faux pas, before muttering briefly, "No."

Zelda's eyes narrowed in an instant with fierce confusion, though Robbie was quick to cover his own tracks, pressing on in conversation, "Heavens, child, you're all the way out here with nary an escort?! Surely you know the Yiga are increasingly present out here!"

Quickly reassuring the man with a smile, Zelda stepped to the side to point out the assorted mix of bodies following her up the road, "That's why I have all of them!"

"By the goddess!" Robbie mused with interest.

"I know!" Zelda exclaimed proudly, "Quite the amazing bunch of Champions, ri-?!"

"No, no!" Robbie interrupted, quickly skipping along the trail toward the Company, "That one there! The Goron!"

Zelda watched in confusion, even while Robbie trampled his dirt-strewn notation, the Sheikah man rushing toward the group with a loud declaration, "You! Protectors of the Princess!"

Link groaned, turning to Urbosa, "I told you not to let her run along."

Shrugging, Urbosa noted, "I didn't figure he'd be so heated about a few yards."

Robbie's face spun in furious intrigue, leaving Link to argue as he approached, "Look, we're trying to keep her safe, but you should know she isn't one to easily be restrained."

"You!" Robbie demanded, ignoring all else as he pointed up toward the mountain of a man, literally, that was Daruk, "How dare you toy around with that instrument in your hand!"

Daruk watched with surprised eyes, examining the small object he had picked from the ground, tossing it as he strode along to entertain himself, "This rock?"

"Rock?!" Robbie sputtered as he began climbing up Daruk, reaching for the Goron's hands, "That's-! a-! sacred artifact!"

Quickly hoping to discourage the ofd scene from playing out any further, Daruk grabbed at Robbie's collar to pull him away, planting him back on the ground before handing him the tiny object, "Sorry, I suppose. I didn't know."

"Of course you wouldn't- This is ancient technology!" Robbie explained heatedly, throwing on his goggles before their inner pools of glass telescoped from his face in zoom.

Daruk's brow coiled in concern, turning toward the others, "If I couldn't have known, why is it my fault?"

He received only a few shruggish glances as Zelda caught up, a frown upon her as she spoke up, "Well, this was quite the greeting."

"No kidding," Daruk complained as he brushed off where Robbie's boots had slammed against his torso in his haste.

Robbie scrutinized the rugged piece in his hand, nodding to himself before scoffing, "Pah. It is a rock."

Suddenly pointing to himself, aghast at the whole of Robbie's behavior up to this point, Daruk's mouth fell open, leaving Urbosa to quip, "Dude. Goron. Sort of an expert."

Robbie sneered up toward her as his goggles retracted back toward his face, "Well I'm as agog as you all are! I've scoured these lands thrice over trying to dig up all that I could!"

He flung the piece of rock away before spinning around, dropping his shoulders, "Ou-heww… and my notes! Bah…"

"Don't worry," Zelda assured happily, "Auntie Purah always said that your mind was not one to be deterred so easily! I'm sure you'll work your way through this."

Robbie grumbled, "They weren't my notes. Ugh."

Her eyes narrowing in inquiry, Zelda watched carefully as Robbie sauntered off, mumbling to himself, "Dolly's gonna kill me…"

"Um," Zelda piped up curiously, "Who's Dolly?"

Lost in his thoughts, Robbie replied without filter, pointing up the hill toward the smoking lighthouse, "She's burning down my workspace at the moment."

"Robbie!" Zelda shouted, terrified both by the plumes of smoke as well as the scientist's indifference.

She turned to the others, demanding, "Guys! That wasn't a campfire- That's Robbie's home burning down!"

The group's demeanor turning sour, even while Robbie pitter-pattered along mumbling to himself, with Daruk immediately taking off toward the building with the others in tow.

"Anything you need out of there?!" Zelda asked in a panic, though Robbie's silence was all that answered her, leaving her to shouting to Daruk as he gained distance, "Just-! I don't know; stop the fire!"

Daruk pumped a fist into the air in reply, Zelda's words finally yanking Robbie from his reverie, his eyes sprouting wide as he stammered in shock, "W- Wait! Don't-!"

"Don't worry, Mr. Robbie; Daruk's got it," Mipha assured as she glided past the scientists' stubby feet.

He shook his head," No! He mustn't-! GAH!"

Up ahead, Robbie caught the sight of Daruk running pell-mell through the shut door, slamming through its wooden frame with a SMASH, sending a thickeningly large plume of smoke from its entrance. Robbie's eyes sunk repeatedly as he broke his stride, now sauntering toward his workshop with a frown, rubbing his face ashamedly as he slowly came to the others, all if whom had now collected in front of the building.

"Fire doesn't hurt Gorons, does it?" Mipha inquired.

"Nah, he's fine," Urbosa nodded, "Unless there's a lava machine in there."

She began to snicker at such a humorously impossible invention, turning to Zelda with a chuckle, "Right?"

Zelda's eyes bore upon her with concern before turning toward Robbie incredulously, leaving Urbosa with a shocking turn of emotion, "Wait, what?!"

"No, no; it's a 'lava machine'," Robbie grumbled, "Doctor 0urah warded me from such things long ago."

Zelda gave a relieved sigh.

"She said nothing about magma machines, though," Robbie muttered notably to himself, curling his finger along his chin all while Zelda and Urbosa watched him with worry.

At that moment, Daruk's silhouette appeared in the doorway for but a flash as he stepped out from the smoky building, a strange looking machine cradled in his arms, a vent from the object's side pouring the thickly black substance into the air.

"I didn't see any fire," Daruk noted, careful not to come too close to the others, "But this weird thing seems to be the source of-"

"Weird?!" Robbie exclaimed, trudging quickly toward Daruk, "My Dolly is not weird, you tower of stone!"

The Goron watched with confusion as Robbie approached through the cloud of soot, reaching up to caress the machine's facing, "She might have quite the attitude, but she most certainly is not weird! Her ferocity merely adds to her mystique, I'll have you know!"

Daruk's brow furrowed with unwavering concern as Robbie began pulling at the mechanism, "Now give it!"

He acquiesced in an instant, allowing Robbie to pull the box-like to the ground before opening up a thin sheet of metal from its side, "I suppose as long as she's outside, I can- Let's see-"

Robbie began his tinkering, even despise the plumes still being ejected from within the machine, the entire event causing Urbosa to turn to Zelda with a spinning forefinger around her ear.

"And here I thought you had gone and taken the craziest people for this Company," she muttered disenchantingly.

Zelda sighed, "Look, Purah said- Well, she never said much about his personality, but Doctor Robbie is supposed to be the preeminent mind when it comes to Guardian technology."

"Uh huh," Link nodded, "And how do we get that machine of his, Dolly, on our side to convince him to help us?"

Smirking in appreciation of his snide comment, Urbosa joined in, "I don't know; she seems pretty hard headed to me."

"Guys, look, okay?" Zelda groaned, shoulders lowering faintly in defeat, "Just be nice. We need him to help us."

Link turned his head over his shoulder, muttering to Revali, "And you thought I was bad."

The Rito's eyes had already gone narrow in critique of the tiny man scurrying about, replying with a low, yet nary teasing in his voice, "Not exactly a scale you'd like to find yourself on at all, Hylian."

Their attention immediately turned to Robbie's shrieking as Daruk attempted to help, the helpful pebble-paddler being intensely refused as Robbie cried, "H- Hey! Don't! Just-"

His arms flew furiously, almost humorously , against the Goron ten times his size, Robbie interjecting, "Shoo! This is my Dolly!"

Daruk groaned before simply admitting defeat, trudging toward the group with a defeated frown, shaking his head as he shrugged, "You know, it isn't easy always trying to be polite."

"No kidding," Urbosa muttered crossly, "I'm still waiting on Zelda's plan to take effect."

Zelda rolled her eyes, "I'm thinking, alright? I mean, he's clearly distressed over his mailbox.

"Please, Hylian, the thimble man has clearly given the object a name," Revali spoke up sternly, "Best you respect Dolly."

Urbosa and Link both hid chuckles raising from the Rito's apparent credulity, though Revali immediately caught on, muttering further in explanation, "He's assigned respect to that object. If you wish to curry his favor, you might want to emulate him instead of treating this situation as one brute strength will win."

Daruk sighed in disappointment.

"Hmm," Zelda wondered aloud curiously, "You might have a point."

Revali glared toward her, "When haven't I?"

Failing to notice the bravado, Zelda had already begun watching Robbie with a furtive glance, examining the man working with a furious pace, as if he were working to resuscitate a fellow living being who had gone unconscious. Her eyes shone in curiosity, understanding, truly, how much Robbie admired the object that was continuing to spurt out smoke, obviously in contrast to his intentions.

Quickly, Zelda approached the Sheikah doctor and, instead of blindly offering aid, spoke up quietly as she bent down low toward Robbie, speaking carefully, "Is there anything we can do to help Dolly?"

Robbie paused his meticulously feral movements for a brief moment, as if sincerely pondering the question, before speaking in rushed tones, "My tools. From inside the lighthouse."

With a hastiness, Zelda's head went a flurry with nods before rising to quickly sprint toward the out of place lighthouse further up the hill, stopping with a skid as Robbie shouted, "You'll need two of you!"

"W- What?!" Zelda shouted, spun around in terror.

Urbosa threw the toolbox over her shoulder to better manage the weight, groaning intensely as she complained, "Goddess! This thing's a thousand pounds!"

"Four hundred eighty-seven and sixty-two point seven two nine pounds," Robbie corrected, plodding around with Dolly in his caring arms.

"Still too much," Urbosa shot out in distress, "How do you get it anywhere?"

Robbie eyed her, "I'm a Sheikah. I have my methods."

"Well that's cryptic," Urbosa muttered in conclusion, even as the group approached his workshop.

The doctor shook his head, "Not cryptic; merely resourceful. Easy to confuse the two. Perhaps why the stereotypes that surround us do."

"Ah yes," Revali retold, speaking up knowledgeably, "Even amongst us Rito, you Sheikah hold a rather untenable position. At least the Hylians, we know who to hold animosity toward. You Sheikah remain hidden and secretive."

"Some of us," Robbie bit back, "Others like myself- we pride ourselves in our abilities to remain secluded, yet serviceable. to the right people, that is."

"Cryptiiic~" Urbosa whispered under her breath in a sing song tone.

Robbie complained, seemingly moving his mind from the topic at hand, "I thought my work with Dolly had- That is to say, my work with my new mailbox. I had hoped I was close to completing it, but this entire debacle has proven quite the opposite.

"A mailbox?!" Zelda sputtered incredulously, "That thing?! It was like a coal mine a moment ago!"

Robbie shone with a frown as he argued, "Such narrow minded ideas. It's not a mailbox for paper. It's a guardian mailbox. It's supposed to store all of the little bits I collect from all the guardians and, were I able to, spit them out to me from across the room, if need be."

"Uh huh," Urbosa nodded pithily, "Sounds practical…"

Catching her sarcasm, Robbie retorted, "It's not about practicality, Gerudo. It's about extending the boundaries of your knowledge! Pushing the limit! Why do you think Doctor Purah had me come all the way out here, to the middle of nowhere, to continue my work? because my work was all totally safe for being undertaken just above Hateno? Pah!"

While a wary look leapt from Mipha to Urbosa, Zelda spoke up in sudden excitement, "Then I was right! You are the right person to ask about our dilemma!"

"Ah ha," Robbie nodded, "So that explains your arrival. You have a task only the Great, Eccentric Doctor Robbie can overcome, eh? You know, they say nobody can succeed like Doctor Robert, sic."

Zelda's eyes peered aimlessly across the horizon for a moment in consideration before shaking his odd diction from her mind, "Then perhaps you'll already have a good idea for us! See, we're trying to reach the top of Death Mountain, but we have Princess Mipha here, a Zora, so-"

"Can't be done," Robbie glibly interrupted.

Link released a heavy, relieved sigh.

Zelda's eyes focused with determination, "What can't be done?"

"A Zora on top of Death Mountain. Are you insane?" Robbie asserted with a biting tone.

Revali scoffed, turning his head away in disgust, "Good to know these last few days were a waste…"

"As much as I hate to agree with him, it seems that way to me as well," Urbosa relented with a sigh, asking quickly enough, "So you're saying there's not even a point in trying?"

"Pfft, there's always a reason for attempting the impossible. Haven't you ever examined the very world around you that you inhabit?" Robbie asked, much to Urbosa's alarm.

"I suppose you do have a point," Urbosa frowned.

Mipha listened intently, wanting so desperately to inquire further, to keep herself included, but she only thought of Link's objection. Her lips curled intently as she listened further, hoping not to bring any distress to Link by her insistence, though, like clockwork, Zelda took to the fore.

"So we could try something?"

"Of course! I haven't a clue what you might-" Robbie interceded, though came to a halt, rubbing his mouth with his hand, "You know, I haven't ever thought much about it to be honest."

He spun around, looking so much more tiny with the large 'mailbox' in his arms, glancing inquisitively at Mipha while the others looked on in awkwardly.

"It's settled, then," Robbie suddenly nodded.

Urbosa's eyes shrank, "Literally nothing was settled…"

"I'm always up for a challenge. Doll- My mailbox, here, is a prime example. I was, perhaps, a bit hasty in my assessment a moment ago," he grumbled under his breath, scooting the guardian mailbox up his body so he could push his glasses up his nose, "You did catch me at a good time, or place, rather. Doctor Purah wouldn't dare allow her student's mind to wander where she might not allow, but allow it I must!"

"Now," he nodded as he approached the lighthouse, carefully sliding the mailbox object onto the ground just nearby, "What is your plan?"

"For ascending the Eldin Mountains?" Zelda clarified before offering, "Well, Daruk mentioned something of ventilation shafts dug into the mountain. He surmised that they might be cooler than ascending the cliffs."

Robbie nodded, "So there is a plan to mitigate the heating effects. Uh huh, uh huh. That ought to help the parameters I'm to strive for. How long will you all be up there?"

Clearing his throat, wavering under the tiny being's glare, Daruk stumbled to answer, "If, uh, all things go well, perhaps three days? The vents are far easier to traverse than the mountains' outer shell."

"Hmm," Robbie nodded with crossed arms, "Three days- Perhaps a few hundred degrees centigrade- Hmm, yes; I'll see what I can do for you, Princess Zelda."

Her eyes widened in amazement, "Really?! Th- Thank y-!"

"No promises!" Robbie suddenly scolded, "I'm all for utilizing guardian technology to play hopscotch with the boundaries of nature- But some things just aren't meant to be in our reality. Zoras on Death Mountain are one of them."

A crestfallen expressed came upon Mipha's face as Robbie's coarse words ground along her ears, leaving her hands clutching the straps of her rucksack ever harder.

"You!" Robbie shouted in a burst of energy, causing Mipha to jolt herself back to reality.

"Y- Yes?!"

He waved her over, "Well, come along then! I must know what I'm working with!"

She turned to Link with a worried expression, though he merely shrugged before tilting his head as if to deflect blame. Indeed, it was Zelda who happily brushed up against Mipha to pat her shoulder.

"This is amazing! We may yet be stepping into a new era for Hyrule in more ways than one!" Zelda exclaimed in untoward speculation, "Just think of the insane possibilities!"

Robbie gave a thumbs up alongside a smirk, "Now that's the adventurer's spirit! Now, already, my mind is all aswirl with potential ideas, so we best begin before I start losing them to the neth-"

He frowned.

"Oop. Well, there went one."

Zelda suddenly took hold of Mipha's shoulders, charging her toward the lighthouse, despite it still lingering with smoke, the Princess crying out, "Go! Go! Go!"

"Z- Zelda?!" Mipha exclaimed in fright, but before any help could even hope to help her, Zelda and Robbie had rushed the workshop with a zealous stride, leaving the other Champions alone in an awkward air.

Urbosa's eyes were left squinting as she spoke in a hushed tone, "Did- that just happen?"

"I do believe so," Link frowned before loosening his rucksack, allowing him to unsling it from over his shoulder, "Well, for now, anyway, I suppose we'll be staying here. Might as well get acclimated."

He dropped his rucksack against the side of the lighthouse, musing toward Revali as he slid the Master Sword beside his pack, "You can complain now."

Shrugging, Revali's eyes coursed, "Joke's on you, Hylian; I find this environment rather pleasant. Far more enjoyable than the other locations we've been forced to traverse."

"Well that's a first," Link smirked to himself, shaking his head, turning his attention to Daruk as he planted his fists atop his waist, "Daruk? You okay?"

The Goron had been noticeably frigid since their arrival to Robbie's, a result of the fretful results of his helpful nature, though at Link's question, Daruk only sighed before letting loose a weak smile, "Just peachy, Brother."

Leaning toward Revali, Urbosa muttered lowly, "Do all Gorons lie so poorly?"

"His emotionally charged tone leaves little to be deduced," Revali grumpily noted, as if disappointed in Daruk's inept attempt at lying.

Daruk threw his hands up in defeat, though still asserted, "So what? A Goron can't mull around?"

"Can they?" Urbosa wondered sincerely, having never encountered such a thing in her years.

Now frowning, Daruk turned toward Link, "Peachy."

Link nodded to him, deciding not to upset him further by continuing the topic, instead speaking up as he dug through his rucksack, "Well, if any of you would like- So long as we're here, I'd like to visit a lake nearby. If any of you are up for tagging along and seeing the sights-"

"You? Leaving?" Urbosa mused, "Leaving the Princess?"

Link eyed her, "I've heard the stories that come from Kakariko. Evil itself isn't stupid enough to try and confront whatever Robbie has concocted."

Chuckling mutedly, Urbosa half-shrug, "I suppose you have a point. He some seem to inhabit a space between sanity and- Well, you know. Just the individual to solve our dilemma, I suppose."

Link's eyes went blank as he peered into his bag, thinking of the possibility of Robbie actually solving the impossibility he has off-handedly spoke up. The scientist's words had immediately comforted him, yet his zeal at attempting the task left Link with a wary heart, thinking of Mipha, even now, being lured to such terrors that even she, with all her fighting prowess, was ill-equipped to manage.

With Daruk's sour mood, coupled with Revali's usual disquieting attitude, left the air with some tinge of finality, leaving Urbosa to clap her hands with a simple, "Welp. So long as it's break time, I'm gonna go check out the view. I've never had the chance to see 'the cube' up here."

A wry smile left her as she glance at Revali, "No chance you could fly me over to it, huh?"

His eyes winced in disgust, "Not for all the rupees in Hyrule…"