Chapter 38 time, with Togau having run away from everyone after what happened in the battle against the monsters, what will await her out in the wild?
In a vast landscape of dirt and weedy grass, a lone creature was running as fast as it could, dust flew up behind it, and it's horse-like hooves impacted into a mud puddle, creating a hard splash around it. The creature soon came to a stop, trembling and gasping for air.
"Wonder... where I am... now...?"
Togau took a deep breath, sniffling and sobbing to herself. She had ran for what seemed like miles, clear out of Gerudo Canyon. After what happened in the battle against the Wolfos and Hinox, and what she had done to Saria, she couldn't take the horrified stares of everyone, and just ran away. She couldn't think of anything but just running.
"C-Can I ever face any of em after that...? I was trying to protect everyone, but Saria got hurt because of me... I just can't seem to do anything right anymore, not since I became this... this... thing...!" Togau shouted, punching her hand into her horse half.
She could barely even remember what happened back at the canyon, she had been struck so hard by the Hinox's attack she felt something stir up inside of her, an uncontrollable urge to fight back in order to survive against the monster, and she went all out on it, without even realizing what she had done until she snapped out of her trance.
But that wasn't the only thing that bothered her, there was something else, a nagging voice in the back of her mind was telling her something she wanted to shut out...
"I can't do my job as a ranch hand, the animals are afraid of me, the girls don't even look at me the same way... I... don't even feel like I fit in with anyone anymore..." Togau said, "And with a body like this there's no way Link could-"
She caught herself in that moment, realizing what she had just said. She took off her straw hat she was normally known to wear and held it to her chest.
"He... he could never love me like this, not like a monster... " she muttered, remembering what her resolve had been. She wanted to introduce her mother to a family of her own, her husband and her baby, just like her sister Murin did when she showed Talon and Malon to her all those years ago, something that would make her mother give off that unforgettable smile she had wanted to see again.
And she had come to realize overtime the one she wanted to have that family with was the man she had came to love, the one who taught her what truly mattered to her mother, and to herself; and she wanted that family with her future king and best friend, Link.
But she knew now that could never be a reality. While she didn't know much about Lynels themselves, she had enough knowledge about basic animal anatomy to get an idea of how their mating process worked, even more so now that she was half of one, and knew even if Link could being himself to ever love a creature like her, that there was no way she could ever give Link a daughter as she was now.
She then dropped her straw hat to the ground, not caring anymore about it at that point. Her body staggered left and right as she continued walking, not knowing where she was going, not even noticing a wooden sign she past by that read the words:
Now Entering High Gerudo Plains: Beware of Wild Monsters!
Togau continued to walk through the fields. She had finally stopped crying, and was instead deep in thought about everything that had happened, and unwittingly bumped into a tree. She looked up at it and around the area, there wasn't much to see around her, mostly just trees, bushes and dry grass. A gentle breeze blew through the area, it was quite cool, as afternoon was coming to an end and the sun would start to set soon.
"This place is kinda peaceful..." Togau whispered softly.
She paused, thinking back to the words Talon once told her. She took another deep breath, and put on a somewhat faint smile.
"Yeah... I just need to smile my cares and woes away, just like what Talon-bro always says!" Togau said, "Guess I'll just hang out around here for a little while before getting back on the road."
She reached behind her and removed the bags from her back that had managed to stay on her after the battle and all the running she had done. They contained food Togau had purchased at the diner back in Gerudo Town to surprise everyone with, but given her new situation, she figured she should probably use it for herself, especially since her bigger Lynel body need more food to sustain herself. They were probably a mess inside the containers after the intense fight with the Hinox to give them to her friends anyway.
"Better hide this..." she realized, putting the bags inside of a bush by the tree she had bumped into, "There, I'll just need to ration this food fer a while until I find some wild animals to hunt! For now though I better go track down a source of water..."
She took a glance around the area, trying to get a feel for the atmosphere, before trotting off in one direction to track down a lake or stream.
"Nuts, I searched for an hour and didn't find a thing." sighed Togau in defeat as she went walking back towards the tree and bush where she kept her food supply. As she walked, she heard her stomach gurgle a bit. "I better just eat a little of that food now before I go out searching again."
When she approached the bush where she had hidden the food though, she saw the plants rustling, which was odd since no wind was going by strong enough to make it shift like that. She curiously crept up to the bush, preparing herself for whatever it could be... it was then she saw a large wild boar walking out of it with a sandwich halfway in it's mouth.
"What th-?! You get away from there!" Togau exclaimed, seeing the boar gobble up the rest of the sandwich. The boar looked over to see a Lynel glaring at it in a fury, and freaked out. Togau quickly stomped up and scared off the boar who squealed out and ran off in a hurry.
"Darn that thing... well I better be more careful with what's lef-" she knelt down into the bush to retrieve her food, only to see it was completely gone, the bags had been completely cleaned out by the boar. Her features darkened, as she slowly turned to the wild boar, was nervously sweatdropping.
"That's it..." muttered Togau, standing up and gripping her hand ax, before shouting out and running at the boar, "Come here piggy, imma cook ya!"
The wild boar freaked out and ran for it's life, while Togau went in hot pursuit of it. The boar was surprisingly fast for it's size, but Togau was proving to be faster, slowly catching up to the boar. Togau was in such a angry rage at the food thief that she didn't notice when the boar suddenly turned a straight right to get out of the way as Togau rammed right into a large tree. She twitched slightly with her face embedded into the wood bark, slowly sliding down to the ground in a daze.
"Dang it dang it dang it..." Togau groaned, she forced herself up and leaned against the tree for support. She just laid there, trembling and sniffling, she was fed up with everything that had happened to her; she had no food, no water, and worst of all, no friends or family she could turn to anymore...
"So Talon-bro..." she muttered, looking up into the air, "Is this the point where I'm supposed to keep smiling? Cause, I just can't do it anymore..."
The wild boar just stood there, watching the female Lynel, wondering why it gave up so easily. The boar decided that would be a good time to leave, and it started to turn away, before seeing a new sight in front of it. The boar gulped as it saw a new pair of angry eyes looking down at it...
It was then Togau's lion-like ears heard a loud squealing, recognizing it to be the wild boar, she turned to see what was going on, and saw a shocking sight, a large creature that resembled her in many ways, but it had way more differences.
The creature was a Lynel like her, but with longer curled horns, a more monstrous and lion-like face, with a large golden-orange mane, in fact pretty much it's whole body was large and had a tint of gold to it, from it's hair to it's skin. It had powerful muscles all over, compared to Togau's slim athletic figure. It was also wielding a strange black and red ax weapon in it's hand.
"A Lynel..." Togau realized, "A real Lynel!" she gulped a bit, realizing she and her old hand ax didn't stand a chance against a creature like that if it saw her. She was about to get up and run off, but then looked back and saw what the Lynel was doing.
The Golden Lynel was holding the boar by it's tail as the animal was trying it's hardest to run away from the monster. Togau was tempted to just forget about it and escape, but she then saw the look in the boar's eyes using the enhanced depth perception of her new Lynel eyes, and saw the pig was crying in desperation of escaping. She paused, staring at the animal, before she closed her eyes and gritted her pointy teeth.
Meanwhile, the Golden Lynel had a large grin on it's face, it was pretty famished and eager to make the plump wild boar it's next meal. But before it could bring it's ax down on it's prey, out of nowhere a creature came at the Golden Lynel and headbutted it right into the side, knocking it away from the boar. The Golden Lynel didn't feel much pain from the blow, but it was still enough fo a force to make it back off, and turned to see what it was; a female Lynel glaring at it, banishing a hand ax of her own.
"Get away from that piggy ya bully!" shouted Togau.
The boar stood there in shock of what had happened, seeing the two Lynels start to stare each other down, it was a bit hesitant, but decided to run away at that moment.
The Golden Lynel shook off it's shock of being attacked, and stood upright. It had lost his meal, and had been attacked, and took that as a challenge by this other Lynel. The Golden Lynel then roared out and charged forward at Togau.
"Hooboy..." Togau muttered, "Think I bit off more then I could chew..." she quickly sidestepped to avoid the Lynel's charge attack. The Golden Lynel then turned and swung it's ax at Togau, who quickly brought up her own hand ax to protect herself. The Golden Lynel was quickly gaining an advantage in strength and a better weapon through, as it easily knocked Togau away.
"I gotta scam..." Togau said, turning and attempting to run away. The Golden Lynel wouldn't have that though, and took a deep breath, before erupting out of it's mouth a large fireball that went streaking through the air and blasting Togau from behind, causing her to shout out.
"Graaaoouuuh!"
Togau fell over to her knee, gasping out from the burning sensation on her back. It was then her lion ears could pick up the sound of the Golden Lynel coming at her, and she quickly spun around to attack with her hand ax, but the Lynel easily knocked her away. She tried to get up and run again, but the Lynel then brought back it's arm and threw it's ax at her.
Togau could hear the ax spinning through the air and instinctively ducked under it. The ax went flying off and completely missed hitting her. Togau then came to a stop and looked at the Lynel curiously, who simply stood there motionless.
"Why would it throw it's weapon and leave itself unguarded...?" she muttered. She contemplated attacking in that moment, only to hear the whooshing of the ax getting louder again, but it was too late. She got slashed across the back by the ax coming at her from behind, causing her to fall to the ground in intense pain.
"Gwaaaarrrr!" roared out Togau, "How... did it...?"
Her body still seemed pretty resistant like before against the Wolfos and the Hinox, but the Golden Lynel and it's attacks were too powerful for her to withstand too much of them. Curiously, she saw the ax return right back to the monster, who caught it.
"That ax... returned to the monster like a boomerang?!" Togau exclaimed, rubbing her back.
The Golden Lynel then charged at her once more to bring down his ax on her. Togau brought her own hand ax up to block it again, but the Lynel slammed down on her with such force it broke Togau's ax into pieces.
"NO!" exclaimed Togau, she tried to turn and run away again, but before she could make enough distance she tripped over and fell forward on the face, her horse half standing up on it's back legs.
"Ugh.. gotta get up..." she muttered, trying to push herself up to her feet, but she was too weak. She then heard a clomping sound on the ground, and turned to see the Golden Lynel slowly approaching her. It was looking at Togau with a big grin his face. Togau then took one look at the Lynel's lower half and realized what was going on between it's back legs, as her own Lynel instincts going through her mind...
It was a male Golden Lynel, it had claimed victory and dominance over her... and now it desired to mate.
"Not on your life, ya bastard!" shouted Togau, trying to get up again, only to fall back down. She quickly tried to think about what to do in this situation, but she had nothing. Even worse, it felt more and more like the Lynel soul within her was reacting to the male one walking up to them, and a deep desire starting to form. Togau found her back legs fidgeting, as a heat rose from her...
"No... I can't let this happen... never..." Togau cried out.
But despite her words to herself, her mind was starting to be filled with strange thoughts; she started to think about her failures back at Gerudo Town, what she had done to Saria, and having nothing as she was now... She was close to being killed by such a powerful and dangerous monster, but it seemed he was willing to spare her for this instead... The instincts of a Lynel were flowing through her body, and she panted out a bit as her legs fidgeted more, it seemed increasingly obvious that there was something inside her trying to tell her she wanted this just as much as the golden male one did...
'Maybe..." she muttered with a light growl, as her legs fidgeted, "Maybe I should just let it happen, I'm nothing more then a wild animal now anyway... I outta just live like one... I have nothing else... nowhere to go..." She closed her eyes, preparing to lose the last traces of her humanity...
"...and no one to care about me..."
It was then in that moment she felt something brush against her face. She opened an eye and saw a white flower growing on the ground in front of her, it was a familiar looking one, but couldn't think of where she saw it...
That's when it hit her, this was the same kind of flower as the one that had been in her straw hat long ago; the very type of flower that Link had given to her, and she found her thoughts drifting to that time months ago...
Flashback
"I think you're a little hard on yourself. Like, you said before you're not very feminine but..." Link said at the campsite they had set up on the caravan trip to trade supplies, as he looked Togau over, "I think you look just fine to me..."
"Huh?" Togau exclaimed.
"I'm sure you'll have a good chance tomorrow." Link said firmly, referring to her old plan to meet a man at the trade site and have him impregnate her, "Frankly I think anyone who doesn't find you pretty is a fool, Togau."
"Ya... think I'm pretty?" Togau paused, her face flushed red.
"Y-Yeah, I... oh! I actually have something for you." Link realized. He reached into his travel pack and pulled out the white flower.
"A flower? Where'd you find that 'round these parts?" Togau asked in surprise.
"Found it while we were at the oasis. Hold on, let me see your hat for a second.." Link then reached up to Togau's straw hat and after working with it, he stuck the flower into the hat's strap, "There, maybe this will give you a little more confidence about yourself."
"T-Thanks..." she reached up and stroked the flower a little, then looked to Link himself and stared gently into his eyes, "Yer just full of surprises, ya know that?"
"Well..." Link started, a little nervous about the way she looked at him, "If I end up choosing to be king after all I need to think about my people, right?"
"Honestly, I think it's takes a lot more then just being a king to say things like you just did..." Togau smiled warmly
Togau's eyes were filled with tears as those memories went through her mind, she could hear the Golden Lynel getting closer, and her own Lynel instincts were begging to mate with the male behind her. Her body shook nervously, and her eyes shut tightly.
"Link..."
In that moment, in her mind's eye, she saw a young Hylian male with blond hair, a valiant swordsman that was soon to be King of the Gerudo, turning to show his gentle blue eyes and sporting his big goofy grin. It was in that moment she realized what she needed to do.
"No... I can't let this happen..." Togau muttered, snapping back to reality. She was snarling and clenching her pointy teeth, "I don't care what anyone thinks of me now, I don't care what he thinks of me now, the only male I ever wanna be with is... him!"
With that, as the male Golden Lynel was about to get into a mating position with Togau, she brought up her hind legs and bashed the Lynel right between it's own legs with her hooves.
The Golden Lynel stood there blankly, with it's jaw lowered in shock, as it felt a sharp pain in it's loins, then let out a loud and painful roar across the High Gerudo Plains.
Togau managed to recover back to her feet and turned to see the Golden Lynel whimpering loudly in pain as it backed up. Togau clenched her fists, snarling angerly at the monster.
"You wanna piece of this..." Togau shouted, "Yer gonna have ta kill me first!"
The Golden Lynel growled and roared out, wielding it's ax, it charged right at Togau, who stood her ground, ready to battle with her bare fists if she needed to, even knowing it was futile against such a powerful opponent.
"I won't give myself to you or anyone else, except fer one person, the one who treated me right, the one who taught me what's important in life, and the one who I want to love and have a family with..." Togau shouted, seconds before the Golden Lynel swung up his ax to deliver a powerful strike to Togau, as she closed her eyes and shouted out.
"LINK!"
But it was then the Golden Lynel was stopped by a new figure leaping through the air and slashing the monster across it's chest with a sword, causing it to shout out in more pain and back up again. The Golden Lynel felt the blood from it's chest and looked up to see who it was that attacked him.
"Y-You?!" exclaimed Togau, seeing who it was that saved her.
"Togau... I finally found you!" Link shouted, he quickly stood between Togau and the Golden Lynel with his sword and shield out, "Are you okay?"
"I think so, but how did ya find me?!" Togau asked, in a combination of shock and relief.
"I followed the petals from your flower down the path of the canyon, and when I got to fields I followed your deep footprints from your running," Link explained, clearly gasping out from his running, "Then I saw you dropped your straw hat at the sign that was leading into High Gerudo Plains... I had trouble at that point since your hoof prints weren't as deep, but then a certain someone showed up and lead me to here!"
"Lead you here...?" Togau asked, she then saw off in the distance a familiar looking wild boar who stood watching, before it turned and walked off.
Togau paused, realizing what had happened, and gave a faint smile of gratitude in that moment, but it was cut off by the Golden Lynel roaring out, ready to battle the one who would get in the way of it's new mate, assuming the Hylian wanted to take her for himself.
"Togau, stay back and let me handle this." Link said, gripping his sword.
"Can ya handle somethin' like this thing here...?" Togau asked worriedly for him.
"I've fought a few Lynels in my travels, but never a golden one..." Link said, but sported a grin, "Not that this has ever stopped me before."
The Lynel roared out and charged at Link, swinging up his ax, but Link countered by swinging his sword, deflecting the attack. The two of them clashed with repeated swings of their weapons, neither side seemingly able to fend off the other. Link then brought up his shield to block the ax attack before slashing the Lynel again with his sword. The Lynel leaped back and growled, before roaring out and taking a deep breath.
"Link, look out! I think it's gonna shoot fire at ya!" Togau shouted.
"Fire?!" exclaimed Link,quickly dodging out of the way as a powerful fireball shot out of the Golden Lynel's mouth and across the field, barely missing Link.
Before the Hylian could recover though, the Lynel rushed forward and bashed into Link, sending him flying back. Link quickly pulled out his Fairy Bow and started firing shots of arrows at the Lynel which deflected them with it's ax, but Link managed to shot one into his forehead, causing the Lynel to stagger back, before Link gave him another series of slashes and then following up with a spin attack, sending the Golden Lynel backwards.
"Way to go Link!" shouted Togau with wide eyes.
The Golden Lynel forced himself up and growled, it threw out it's ax at Link and sent it spinning at him. Link quickly ducked and rolled under the ax, then stood ready to battle once more.
"Link, it's gonna come back your way!" Togau warned him with a shout.
Link realized what she meant quickly and turned to block the ax, sure enough it deflected off his Hylian shield, but the Lynel took that chance to rush forward and bash into Link from behind, before reclaiming and wielding it's ax and slashing Link with it.
"Gaaah!" Link shouted, falling forward.
"No... that thing's too powerful... and he must he worn out from fighting the Hinox and those Wolfos... then runnin' all this way to find me..." Togau said. She paused, looking down at herself, then to Link. She then nodded to herself, realizing what she had to do.
Before the Golden Lynel could deliver another blow to Link, Togau stepped up in front of her friend.
"T-Togau?" Link exclaimed, "Get away before it attacks you!"
Togau however took a deep breath, as her desire to protect Link surged through her, and it seemed in that moment the soul of the Lynel responded to it, and Togau could feel a new sensation. Before the Golden Lynel could strike at her, she opened her mouth and let out a powerful roar, one so strong it actually released a wave of sound out of her mouth and pounded right into the Golden Lynel, the monster reacted in shock as it was repelled backwards by the attack.
"Wha- what was that?!" Link exclaimed with his jaw dropped.
Togau gasped, not used to using an attack like that, and put a hand to her chest.
"I... think was called... the Lynel's Roar..." she explained, "A blast... so powerful it's like having a stampede of Lynels charge right into ya, least that's what I think the lady Lynel inside me said..."
Link was stunned that Togau was able to communicate with the soul inside of her, it almost reminded him of...
"Either way, nice work!" Link nodded.
The Golden Lynel rubbed it's head, frustrated to see the female Lynel it had wanted for a mate release such a powerful attack. It vowed to kill the human and prove it's superiority to win over the female Lynel though, and started to force itself up to it's hooves.
"Looks like he's getting ready for round two..." Link said, but looked to see Togau had turned her side to him, "Togau?"
"Link get on my back!" Togau said, patting her horse half's back, "We'll fight em together!"
Link was a bit hesitant,"You sure about that?"
"You said you rode horses like Epona before, right?" Togau asked, "Well I'm practically one now, so hop on quick!"
"O-Okay!" Link said, climbing up onto Togau's back as he did when he rode Epona. She didn't have a saddle like most horses he rode, but they had to make due with what they had.
In that moment, Togau felt a strange sensation through her body as Link straddled her horse half. His legs were strong and she could feel them press against her body. Her face flushed a little red in that moment, and the Lynel soul within her felt like it was begging out for something, but she shook it off.
'Now's not the time...' Togau thought to the soul inside her, then shouted to Link, "Come on, we got a monster ta fight!"
"Alright, then let's go!" Link said.
"Neeeighh!" Togau shouted, charging at the Golden Lynel, who looked up to see the two rushing at it as Link gave the monster a slash across it's chest. The Lynel was about to hit him with it's ax, but Togau quickly rode out of the way of the attack.
"You know, you didn't have to neigh." Link pointed out.
"Na ha ha, couldn't help myself, right now I'm yer trusty steed!" laughed Togau.
Link couldn't help but smile in that moment, glad to see Togau was back to her old self, even in this situation.
The Golden Lynel swung it's ax again, but Link blocked it with his shield and Togau ran off once more. The Lynel shot off some fireballs, but Togau's developing instincts were making it easier to run, and she was easily evading each attack, her small, agile body made her a difficult target for the monster to hit. Meanwhile Link brought up his Fairy Bow and with his experience in Gerudo Horseback Archery from the dark future, fired off arrow after arrow at the Golden Lynel. The monster couldn't even react in time and started getting struck by the arrows coming at it.
As Link and Togau charged at the Golden Lynel for another attack, the creature brought up his ax to throw again, but this time Link was ready and shot an arrow at the Lynel's forehead, causing it to drop his ax and growl out in pain, allowing Link to slash it with another sword swing. Togau quickly got away before the Lynel could swung at them again, but the creature decided to try something else, an started sucking in air to prepare another more powerful fireball.
"That thing's hide is too tough, we need a bit more force..." :Link muttered, when an idea occurred to him, "Togau listen, run at the thing and then launch me off your back!"
"You serious?" Togau exclaimed.
"I have a plan, just follow my lead!" Link said.
"Reckon course!" Togau said with a nod, sprinting at the Golden Lynel before coming to a stop, kneeling her legs down and closing her eyes to concentrate, trusting in Link's plan that they would be safe from the attack.
'Come on ya lady Lynel...' Togau thought to the soul deep within her, 'Help me out here and lead me your strength!'
She then opened her eyes, full of determination, and thrust her legs up, sending Link flying upwards into the air. The Lynel looked up and was about to blast Link out of midair with it's fireball, but Link quickly puled out his Longshot and fired it, sending a hook flying through the air and jamming itself into the Golden Lynel's shoulder, causing it to gag and roar out in pain. Link then used the Longshot to pull himself directly towards the Lynel at high speed with his sword out. The Lynel was about to release the fireball, but Togau charged up and bashed it in the stomach with her horns, stunning it just long enough for Link to thrust his sword forward and impale the Golden Lynel through it's tough hide and into it's chest.
The Golden Lynel stood there as Link forcefully jammed his blade into the creature, and it let out last roar before it fell to it's knees and collapsed dead, before exploding into purple mist as monsters in Hyrule usually do.
Link let out a heavy and relieved sigh, spinning his sword in his hand before sheathing it.
"We did it..." Link said.
"Link, that was awesome!" shouted Togau, coming up and hugging Link tightly, "You took down that thing like it was just a little Octorok!"
"Ha ha, couldn't have done it without you Togau." Link chuckled, a little embarrassed at Togau holding him like that, "I'm glad you're okay... but... um... could you..." he trailed off.
"What the matter?" Togau asked in curiosity.
"Well... it's just that you're..." Link trailed off, as Togau took a look down at herself and realized at some point her vest had been torn off, and her somewhat womanly chest was exposed to the world.
"Gack!" Togau blushed bright red, covering her bare chest with her arms, "S-Sorry..."
"No biggie..." Link said, thinking for a moment, before removing his own red vest and handing it to her, "Here, this should hopefully fit a little."
"Y-Yeah..." Togau said, a little red faced at Link now being shirtless, as she put the vest on over her. It was a little awkward between the two in that moment, neither knowing what to say.
"Link..." Togau spoke up, "Thanks so much fer comin' to save me..."
"It's no problem, I'd do anything for you." Link nodded, "Now let's head back home before anything else happens."
She was about to say okay, but she saddened, remembering what had happened back at the warp temple with Saria.
"N-No, I can't..." Togau stammered, "I... don't think I can go back... not after what I've done..."
"Huh?"
"I really appreciate what you did for me, but... I just don't belong in Gerudo Town anymore..." Togau said sadly, getting down to her knees to rest, "I'm stuck in this dang Lynel body and it sucks... I can't do my chores properly, I scare the other girls and spook the animals, I have to eat too much, I keep breaking stuff, and..." she gulped nervously as tears formed in her lion-like eyes as she hung her head down, "I can't even be a bodyguard fer you guys... I try to help and all I did was hurt Saria... I hurt that poor little sweetheart while she was trying to help you..."
She gulped and sobbed as Link stood there, patiently listening to what she had to say.
"I can't do anything anymore... can't work... can't fight... and I definitely can't even have a family to show off to Ma..." she cried out, "And... and... I..." she gulped, her emotions in that moment making her speak out something she had been suppressing for so long from him.
"...I can never expect you love a monster like me..."
Link's face flushed in that moment at her confession. He had always had some kind of feelings towards Togau, but he never said anything, feeling as if she wasn't quite ready for it. But even now as she was crying out in misery she had managed to confess to him, and he felt his heart skip a beat. Link decided then in that moment that he had some things to say to her himself.
"Togau..." Link said, "First of all, don't worry about what happened with Saria."
"Huh...?"
"She's a lot stronger then she looks, she spent years training with her Deku Staff to protect the Kokiri before she came here." Link said, "In fact, almost immediately after you ran off, she got right back up and helped us fight off the rest of the Wolfos, and she pleaded for me to go find you."
"She did...?"
"Of course, I mean I was going to do it anyway, but she was as worried about you as I was." Link said.
"Saria..." whispered Togau.
"But more importantly Togau, you're not a monster in the slightest, you're still the girl I've always known you as; the kind, hard-working, lively woman that I met after an incident with a cow pie, and no curse is going to change that." Link said smiling, "And I don't think you always have to force yourself to smile to try and hide your true feelings."'
"Link..." Togau muttered, realizing that Link caught on to what she had been doing all this time.
"I know how much this whole thing has been affecting you, and I'm sorry for not talking to you about it sooner... but now I want you to be honest with me and how you feel. If you want to cry, then go ahead and cry, I'll be here for you no matter what." Link said, he paused a bit, then blushed and smiled deeply gazing into her eyes as he spoke.
"After all, I'd do the same for any of the other women I love..."
Togau's eyes widened, realizing that Link had finally accepted her as his next marriage candidate. New tears were starting to form in her eyes, and her body started to tremble, "Link.. you... you can't be serious... I... I can't be your..." Togau took a gulp.
"I mean every bit of it." Link said nodding, "I'd like you to marry me and become my next wife... I want to give you that family you wanted... And I want you by my side, forever..."
Togau was in shock of Link's words, and her tears were falling from her eyes faster then ever, as she took a moment to look down at herself.
"But, aren't I too weird for you to marry? I mean, I got these horns, and these teeth and... and..." Togau paused, "I got a horse fer a butt!"
"Togau, I'm a reckless forest swordsman about to be king of the desert, and I'm engaged to a fish woman, a pair of elemental twins that fuse together, and a martial arts exotic dancer, what exactly about our family is considered 'normal'?" Link asked with a cheeky grin.
"You're... you're really serious about this...?" Togau asked as tears ran down her cheeks, "You'd take me as yer wife, even as I am now...?"
"Of course." Link nodded once again.
With that, Togau wrapped her arms around Link and held him tightly, as Link returned the hug back.
"D-Dangit... I... I can't believe this, why'd ya have to go and say somethin' like that?! I was just fine being yer friend! Why's my heart dancin' around like this? Why do I love you so gosh dang much?!" Togau shouted, she cried out uncontrollable tears of happiness as she held Link tightly.
"It's okay Togau, go ahead and just let it out." Link said in a calm voice and with a gentle smile.
As her tears started to die down a bit, he remembered something. "Oh right! Here, I found this." Link said.
Link went and took out Togau's straw hat that she had left by the sign earlier and put it on her head, adjusting it behind her horns. "Hmm... still needs something..." he then said, taking a glance down and seeing the white flower Togau had found earlier. He plucked it from the ground and placed it into the strap on Togau's hat.
"There we go, perfect!" Link nodded.
"Link..." Togau whispered, bringing her hand up and gently stroking the flower in her straw hat "Thank you..."
The two of them went back to the hug, and held it for some time, before looking at each other eye-to-eye. Togau was entrapped in his gentle blue eyes, and he was captivated by her exotic golden cat-like ones, and then the two drew their lips towards each other...
But before anything else could happen, they heard a loud roar in the distance, the two of them pulled back and looked around to see what it was.
They saw Lynels, a lot of them, all approaching the two from a distance. Some of them were red haired, some blue and all brandishing weapons like swords and axes. They were all looking around and seeing what had happened in the area before spotting the two of them.
"Uh oh, what are they doin' here...?" Togau asked nervously.
"They must have overheard the battle and came to investigate." Link said carefully surveying the monsters, "These ones are way weaker then the Golden Lynel we just fought, but there's a lot of them..."
Togau paused on that note and looked down to see the black and red ax that the Golden Lynel had dropped earlier. She reached down and picked it up, holding it up into the air and gazing at it.
"Togau?" Link asked.
Togau then swung the ax down, to the side and then threw it, causing the ax to spin through the air and come back to her like a boomerang, and she caught it easily.
"Woah!" Link exclaimed, shocked at how quickly she had gotten down how the ax worked.
"Looks like the female Lynel's soul saw how the ax worked and sent the message to me." Togau grinned, "This'll come in handy!"
The two of them stood beside each other, staring out at the Lynels all slowly approaching them.
"So what's the plan then?" Togau asked, gripping her new ax.
"There's too many of them for the two of us to fight alone, but if we can take down one or two, we could probably escape through the confusion..." Link observed.
"Well I ain't gonna let anything happen to either of us after we made our vows, let's do what we can and escape together!" Togau said with determination.
"Right!" Link nodded.
The two of them stood ready to battle, as the Lynels all roared out and charged forward, but before any fighting could actually start...
"Aaand... FIRE!"
It was then a bunch of arrows suddenly came down from the sky and impacted into some of the Lynels, causing them to back off. Link and Togau both turned in the direction of where the arrows were launched to see Aviel and her archery master Folura, along with multiple other Gerudo archers, all wielding bows and fighting arrow rains down on the Lynels.
"Link, Togau, we finally found you!" Aviel shouted in relief.
"Aviel?" Link exclaimed, seeing his bodyguard in the distance, "Nice timing!"
"Hee hee, we're not the only ones here!" grinned Aviel, as more Gerudo started to run in and show up.
Among the crowd; Nemisa, Dr. Sarami, Reirousa with Sovan and the Sandstorm Viper gang, Kesuta and Korume, Saria and of course Nabooru were all there, along with many soldiers, guards, and even oddly enough four of the Desert Wolfos from the canyon battle as well.
"The reinforcements I went to get for the Hinox all agreed to come help get back Togau!" Aviel stated.
"Gerudo, defend our king, and our sister from these monsters!" Nabooru shouted out.
Togau laid there in stunned silence as those words ran through her mind, and her eyes teared up slightly at that.
The Gerudo army all shouted out and charged into battle against the pack of Lynel, clashing against them. Despite the great strength the Lynel were known for, the Gerudo had an easy edge over them in numbers, strength, equipment and skill and started cutting them down.
Meanwhile Sarami hurried over to Link and Togau's side to help them with medical treatment, while Saria joined them to help protect the two with her Deku Staff.
"S-Saria...?" Togau asked, seeing the forest child standing no worse for wear. Togau saw the hoof print on her tunic, of which was now ripped quite a bit from the battling before.
A Lynel came at them with it's sword, but Saria lashed out some vines from her Deku Staff to bind it's legs to a halt, allowing some Gerudo soldiers to run in and impale it with their swords to destroy it.
"I'm glad to see you're alright Togau, and great work helping her Link!" Saria said, looking to the two with a smile, "Just let me protect you two now!"
"Of course, thanks Saria." Link said.
"O...Okay!" Togau nodded.
The Gerudo were quickly making short work of the Lynel during the time the two of them were being treated. Aviel and the archers kept their distance, stunning the Lynels with carefully shot arrows, while Nemisa and Reirousa used their strength to beat them down. Kesuta and Korume fused together into Dualsera and cast down fire and ice onto the battlefield, burning and freezing the Lynels and allowing their fellow Gerudo to finish them off with their weapons.
Meanwhile, the Desert Wolfos that had been standing beside the Gerudo before were all looking to each other, whimpering a bit at the sight of the fearsome strength of the Gerudo army.
"The four of you fight as well." Nabooru said, pulling out her twin scimitars, "Our king was generous enough to ask that we spare you since you were just under the control of that mad Hinox, so you have a debt to protect him now."
The Wolfos all looked to each other, confused about how the blond Hylian spared them like that. They looked out into the battlefield and saw that very man holding the female Lynel from before, and realized how strong and compassionate he was to her, it reminded them very much of their previous leader before he was slain by the Hinox...
"Arwwwooo!" the Wolfos all then howled out, as they ran in and joined the Gerudo in battle.
Nabooru simply smirked as she saw the wolf beasts all charge off to help her people in battle as well. A Lynel tried to strike down a Gerudo solider from behind, but the Wolfos all lunged out and bit into the Lynel, causing it to roar out while the soldier impaled the Lynel through it's forehead to destroy it, and the five of them went off to take on more opponents.
"That strength and influence you have is truly awe-inspiring Link..." Nabooru whispered to herself. She saw one Lynel try to come at her, but she struck at the beast with a rapid wave of slashes before dealing a killing blow, then running off to aide the group.
Meanwhile, three more Lynel charged at Link, Togau, Saria and Sarami, but the doctor took a glance over at them. She took out a potion bottle of orange jelly with a small explosive device attached to it called a Bombling and threw it into the air. While in midair the Bombing went off and burst, causing the bottle to explode as well and cover the Lynel in a gooey orange substance. The three Lynels all come to a stop and look the goo over, confused by what it was.
"What's that?" Saria asked in confusion.
"Fu-fu-fufufu..." Sarami said, adjusting her glasses as they gave off a gleam, "Orange chu jelly, harmless by itself, but when preserved correctly it's very flammable, even with the slightest spark of flame..."
It was then Dualsera flew up and grinned sadistically, before flicking a single ember of fire down on the Lynels, who all stared as the small flame came down and touched the orange goo, causing a massive explosion of fire in front of everyone, the Lynels all shouted out in unison until they were all reduced to a pile of charred corpses.
Everyone stood in shock at the power of Sarami's potion as Dualsera landed down in front of them. The fused mystic stood still for a moment, and seemed to gulp a little, before turning to Togau. She looked a little meek about something, then spoke up with a single voice.
"Togau... are you okay?" she asked.
Togau laid wide-eyed at Dualsera, recognizing Kesuta's voice from her. Despite her anger towards the fire mystic from the other day, she just found herself not able to stay mad at her any longer.
"Course reckon!" Togau shouted, grinning widely, "And thank you!"
"I think she forgives you now, dear sister." Korume said quietly to Kesuta.
"Yeah..." Kesuta said with a light smile, seeing that her friend and Link were holding hands at that moment. It was clear something had happened between them, and they quickly assessed that the half-Gerudo half-Lynel would be joining them at the wedding with their husband someday...
It wasn't long after that Reirousa brought down her hammer down on one last Lynel, making it fall to the ground and explode into purple mist, and with that the entire gang of Lynels had been taken down, with various remains and weapons left laying around form their defeat.
"We did it!" cheered out Aviel, raising her crossbow into the air, "The Lynels are no more!"
The entire group of Gerudo all cheered out raising their weapons as well in victory, even the Wolfos after a moment of hesitation, all collectively howled out with them.
As everyone celebrated, Nabooru walked over to Link and Togau, brought up her fingers, and lightly smacked her on the forehead between her horns.
"Hey, what the-" Toagu said, but was cut off.
"Honestly Togau, what were you thinking running off like that, especially into High Gerudo Plains?" she sighed.
"Na ha ha... sorry bout that..." Toagu said sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head.
"It's no problem, just don't go taking after Nemisa's habits." the Gerudo leader nodded.
"Hey!" Nemisa shouted in annoyance that Nabooru was bringing up the incident with the Wyvern Keepers again.
Nabooru then cleared her throat before speaking out, "Sisters, stand tall and proud for our accomplishments today!" she stated to the Gerudo, "This day shall be remembered for more then just the opening of the trade route, and our dominance over the Lynel, for our king seems to have selected his next wife as well!" she added with a smile.
The Gerudo all gasped out as they looked to Link and Togau, seeing them finally standing up and holding hands together, some of the Gerudo took a close look at how Link was currently shirtless and got a good view of his bare chest. Togau seemed a little meek about it with the strange form she was in, but soon the Gerudo all collectively gathered around and congratulated the two. Even Dualsera split back into her two selves and Kesuta ran up to hug Togau affectionately along with Saria.
"I'm so happy for the two of you!" Saria said happily.
"Nice work Togau." smirked Nemisa, trying not to look at Link being shirtless, "I look forward to having you as our sister in matrimony with Link."
"Thanks everyone..." Togau said, her eyes tearing up as she hugged Saria back.
Link smiled lightly as everyone were crowded around them. No one was even the slightest bit unnerved by Togau's appearance anymore it seemed, even the two guards that had chased her down the night before were there to congratulate her on becoming his newest fiance.
"See Togau? Nothing's changed." Link said.
"Yeah, yer right..." she paused, "Well, maybe just one important thing has really changed..." she said lightly, squeezing his hand.
And that ends the chapter. With Togau now a part of Link's harem of wives, what does their future possibly hold together? One thing's for sure, she's no longer alone. Next time, Togau has her old life to get back to, as well as some new experiences...
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