It's time for Chapter 79! With Meokuro defeated, our heroes just need to make it out in one piece, but will that be possible...?
"Hiiyaaah!"
With a war cry, Nabooru took down a Beamos Walker that tried to attack her and the others in the storage room of the rebel laboratory, as they were rushing to the elevator in order to escape. The Gerudo guards she had positioned at the lift were anxiously motioning for everyone to get on board it.
Link destroying the Beamos Walkers in Meokuro's manufacturing room was more dangerous then he had anticipated, as the lab was starting to blow up all around them. Another explosion went off, causing some debris to fall from the ceiling and the boxes around the storage area to shake. Nabooru looked around and called out to the others.
"This whole place is going down!" Nabooru shouted, "We need to clear out immediately!"
"Hang on, this wolfos is huge!" shouted a rebel, pushing the wounded Lady Sheeva on Granny's wheelchair. Granny herself was sitting on Togau's horse half with Sarami holding her to ensure she didn't fall off.
"Hmph, that wolf better be grateful for this!" Granny said in annoyance, as well as some embarrassment as she was resting against Sarami's large breasts.
Nabooru, Aviel, Nemisa, Togau, Sarami, Professor Bradson, Granny Truttlo, the rebels carrying Lady Sheeva all boarded onto the platform. Thankfully the elevator was built to transport heavy objects like the boxes in the storage area, so it could accommodate all of their weight.
"Wait, what about Link?" Aviel asked, looking around left and right.
"Hang on, I'm coming!" Link shouted out, using his Longshot to grapple through the air and run across the tops of the storage boxes, carrying an unconscious Engineer Meokuro on his back. He jumped off one box just as a pillar came down and smashed it. When he was over the elevator, he dropped Meokuro down so the rebels could catch her, and Link landed into Togau's arms.
"Hey lover-boy!" Togau grinned widely, giving him an affectionate kiss on the cheek, "Nice of ya ta drop in!"
"Good work Link! Alright, if that's everyone, let's go!" Nabooru said.
With the elevator activated, it rose everyone all up to the ground level. When they reached the top and into the elevator room where they had entered from however, they found out the entire jungle area was now on fire.
"What?!" exclaimed Nemisa looking out the window, "How did this happen?"
"It must have been the compost pipes this whippersnapper set up to fertilize the plants!" Granny said, referring to Meokuro, "There was too much methane in it and it's reacting to all the explosions!"
"Gee, I'm glad I was so accurate destroying those things when we came in..." Aviel muttered with a grim look in her eyes.
That was when another explosion went off underground, and the building shook a bit.
"Well we can't just hide out in here, we need to run!" Nabooru shouted.
The group all managed to run out of the building just before it collapsed in on itself. They all hurried down the path they came into the jungle from. The fire was burning the foliage everywhere; some of the mushroom monsters like the ones that had attacked them before were all screeching out and falling over into smoldering heaps, while the large plants were starting to fall down to the ground and make greater bursts of flames.
"I wasn't quite expecting something like this today!" Bradson said as Aviel was helping to escort him through the inferno.
Link gasped out, a little banged up from the battles he had against Sheeva and Meokuro earlier, and stumbled a bit, before Nemisa and Nabooru both caught him and helped him on his way.
"Thank girls..." Link groaned.
"Don't worry, we'll support you Link." Nemisa said smiling, recalling Link saying very similar words to her once a long time ago.
But then as the group kept going, a mushroom monster leaped out in front of Togau, startling her and causing Sarami and Granny to both fall off of her. Togau quickly pulled out her ax and slashed the monster to pieces, but then at the same time a large plant came falling down. The group cleared out of the way just before it impacted on the ground, causing a large line of fire in the middle of the path behind everyone.
"Whew, we made it." Nabooru said.
"Wait, where's Granny?" Sarami exclaimed, looking left and right.
"And where's Lady Sheeva?" Togau asked.
"We're back here!" shouted Granny from behind the giant flaming plant. She was laying on her side due to her legs being paralyzed, while Lady Sheeva was still sitting in the wheelchair, in too much of a daze from her battle with Link and the effects of the power tonic FZ-501 still inside her.
"Granny, don't worry, we'll save you!" Sarami shouted, rummaging through her chu jelly potions to find her cooling gel mixture to put out as much of the fire as she could.
"Don't worry about me! Save yourselves!" Granny shouted back, she let out a sigh as she felt the heat around her intensify, and sported a solemn expression on her face, "This is fine... this is probably the goddess Nayru's punishment for what I've done here... it's fitting I should go up with this place." she muttered, then shouted out to them, "Now go on and get!"
"NO!" Sarami shouted, "I won't leave you behind Granny!"
"She's right! Screw what your goddesses think, we're saving you!" Nabooru said.
But more flaming plants started to fall down around the area as the fire got more intense, and more debris started falling on the path making the flaming blockade bigger.
"I'll try to help Granny!" Aviel said, taking to the sky with her wings, but the flames around her got too intense, and embers fell on her feathers, forcing her to land back down, "Owie owie owie!"
"Steady yourself Aviel!" Bradson said, using one of his books to smack at her wings to put out the embers on them, "You'll burn your wings if you try to fly over there!"
"Let me do it!" Link groaned, struggling with Nabooru and Nemisa, "I can vault over and... ugh..."
"Not when you're in this condition!" Nemisa shouted, holding him close.
As Granny started to close her eyes and accept her fate, that was when a large shadow loomed over her. Granny looked up to see the figure scoop her up and put on the wheelchair, before lifting her up into air.
"Wha- you?" Granny exclaimed, sitting in her wheelchair as she was being lifted up by Sheeva.
"Hold on tight." Lady Sheeva said, carrying Granny towards the flaming plants in front of them.
"Hey, what's Lady Sheeva doing?!" Togau asked.
Lady Sheeva narrowed her eyes, and ran right into the flames, standing as tall as she could and holding Granny just high enough that the flames didn't touch her. Sheeva groaned out from the heat all around her as she went as fast as she could through the flaming plants.
"Sheeva!" Link shouted, struggling with Nemisa to help her, but his bodyguard held him back.
"Graaaawwrr!" Sheeva growled out, her eyes turning blood red, as she carried Granny over the fire. Despite the anger from the pain she was feeling in that moment, she saw Link and Sarami and held herself back, still walking forward. When Sheeva finally got to the other side where the others were, she slowly set Granny and her wheelchair down, before collapsing onto the ground.
"Granny, are you okay?" Sarami exclaimed, running over and hugging her.
"I-I'm fine..." Granny stammered, looking over to Sheeva, "Thanks to that creature..."
"Sheeva, are you alright?" Link asked desperately.
"Hylian male... I-" the wolfos coughed out, before she was lifted up partially by Nabooru.
"We need to get out of here immediately!" Nabooru shouted to everyone. With the aide of her guards, they lifted up Sheeva, and everyone hurried out from the flaming jungle as the fires grew more.
When everyone were certain they were far enough away from the jungle area, they all turned and watched the rebel laboratory and the jungle used to conceal it exploding and burning down. Besides the rebels, they were also joined by the two desert wolfos who had been captured in the kennel as test subjects, but had escaped before the fire had broke out. From what they saw, the rest of the monsters they freed from the kennel had evacuated as well and went off to parts unknown.
"Guess that's it for the rebel's operation here." Nabooru said, her arms folded as she gazed out at the inferno, "Is everyone okay?"
"Well, I've been better." Togau said coughing out smoke.
"Sorry guys, I think this was my fault." Link groaned, "I didn't think destroying the Beamos Walkers would cause that much destruction."
"Heh, don't worry Link, if anyone's responsible it's this one here for building them to begin with." Nabooru said with a smirk, taking a moment to glare down at the unconscious Meokuro, "If anything, this just delivered a strong blow to the rebel's plans!"
Meanwhile everyone looked over to Sarami and Granny, who were both seeing to Lady Sheeva's burns from the fire. They all came up to them and saw Sheeva was laying on the desert sand shaking in pain.
"How is she...?" Link asked with concern.
"Sheeva's not doing good at all, she has third degree burns all over her body." Sarami observed sadly as she applied her cooling gel onto Sheeva's body as much as she could.
"And she's suffering from the side effects of the power tonic, her body is at it's limit." Granny said with some concern of her own.
"Ugh..." Sheeva groaned out, opening her eyes weakly, she coughed a bit and heavy amounts of yellow mist emerged from her mouth.
"This is bad," Granny said with her eyes widened, "That mist she's breathing out is her own blood!"
"What do you mean her blood?" Nemisa asked.
Granny explained to everyone, "One of the power tonic's effects is that it enters your blood stream and accelerates the flow of it, and some of the blood gets vaporized into this yellow mist when you exert yourself too much. At the rate she's breathing it out it might be too late for her..."
"So that's what that mist was this whole time..." Nabooru said.
"No, Sheeva, please hang in there!" Sarami said pleadingly, "I'll save you!"
"Yeah, don't do dyin' on us!" Togau said, recalling what happened with Mobbles the Moblin earlier, "Just get up on my back and I'll get ya to our hospital in Gerudo Town!"
"No, I... " Sheeva gasped, "I think this is it for me... I can't go on. I'm sorry all of you, for everything I've done..."
"No, don't talk like that!" Link shouted, "You have to get back to your pack! You're their leader!"
The two wolfos both gathered around their leader, whimpering out loudly for her.
"Sheeva..." Nabooru whispered.
"It's okay..." Sheeva whispered, "I'm satisfied now... I think it's time for me to join my true mate... in the world of spirits..."
With that, Lady Sheeva of the Desert Wolfos tribe closed her eyes and lay motionless.
Everyone hung their heads down sadly; Aviel broke down in tears and hugged Nemisa, who hugged her back. Togau removed her straw hat and held it to her chest. Even the rebels were torn up by this.
"The poor thing." Bradson spoke, not being familiar at all with Sheeva himself, he did admire her for saving Granny earlier. He gripped at a compass attached to his suit and squeezed it.
"No... Sheeva..." Sarami whispered as Link just held her tightly.
"She saved me..." Granny muttered, "Even after what me and Meokuro did to her..."
As everyone grieved for the wolfos leader, Nabooru gazed down at Sheeva's motionless form, even she found herself feeling sympathetic for her despite trying to take Link from them.
But it was then she noticed something odd was going on with Sheeva's body.
"Hey, what's happening to her?" Nabooru asked.
Everyone looked curiously as Sheeva's body was giving off a strange glow. Her body soon became engulfed in light, and when the light finally faded, everyone stood in awe of her.
Rather then the wolf creature she was before, Sheeva had undergone a massive transformation. Her body was now more that of a human, though just as tall as when she was a wolfos. She had long white hair with white wolf ears sticking out from her head. She had soft white fur lined around her neck that slightly came down to cover a large pair of breasts. Her arms and legs were still that of a wolfos' limbs, and she still had her tail. As an added bonus, it seemed her intense burns marks and injuries were all gone, and she seemed to no longer breathing out the yellow blood mist.
"What the heck? Sheeva?!" exclaimed Togau.
"She's become a Hylian again?" Link spoke with his jaw dropped.
"Ugh..." Sheeva groaned out, slowly sitting up and putting a large paw to her human forehead, "My head feels so strange..." she moved her paw to her face and realized her snout was gone. Realizing this, she patted at her face and felt around her body, realizing how human she was now, she even reached to her chest and felt the two large soft orbs under the fur lining her neck, "W-What happened to me?!"
"By the desert goddess, she's okay!" Sarami exclaimed with shock.
"Amazing..." Granny gasped out.
"Yaaay, what a relief!" Aviel cheered out happily, as she and Togau both ran forward and hugged Sheeva tightly.
"Dangit ya big mutt, ya had us all worried!" Togau shouted with tears running down her face.
"It's a miracle..." Nemisa said with awe.
"Lady Sheeva, how are you feeling?" Link asked kneeling down to her.
"I'm... actually feeling quite well." Sheeva admitted with surprise, "But... I've changed back to a Hylian?"
"Sort of, looks like you're still particularly a wolfos." Nabooru pointed out her ears, arms, legs and tail.
"How do you suppose this happened?" Link asked.
"Well it's a bit of a wild guess on my part..." Bradson said, adjusting his glasses as he observed Sheeva, "Lady Sheeva here became a wolfos by being cursed by the Gerudo Beast Goddess Uvooru, right?"
"Yes, I attempted to steal a relic of hers and I was turned into a wolfos as a result, why?" Sheeva asked.
"Well, I've been researching Gerudo relics during my extended stay at Ms. Meokuro's lab. Based on what I've learned about them and the goddesses who created them, there's a distinct possibility that Uvooru might have deemed you worthy of a second chance, and removed at least a portion of the curse on you."
"But why would she do that, after all I've done to the Gerudo?" Sheeva asked in confusion.
"...I think it very well may be because you proved yourself today." Nabooru said with a knowing smirk, "You demonstrated selflessness to Uvooru's beasts by protecting and caring for them as their leader. And you've demonstrated that same selflessness to humans today when you saved Granny, and Uvooru recognized that."
"I... I see..." Sheeva stammered looking down at herself. She looked over at the two wolfos who just stared back at her, before they barked to each other and ran off in the direction of their town Grinder's Ridge.
"What's wrong? Aren't you happy?" Aviel asked tilting her head.
"I'm... not sure." Sheeva spoke, "I'm glad to be alive, but... can I show myself to my pack like this?"
Sarami stared out at Sheeva, before she stepped up and placed a hand on Sheeva's shoulder, surprising her.
"Come on, you need to meet your people again." Sarami said smiling.
Some time later, the group had set off back to Sheeva's home at the old western town of Grinder's Ridge.
"A town of wolfos you say? I must ask, is this safe?" Professor Bradson asked.
"No problem, the wolfos aren't all that bad." Nemisa said, "Besides, if they try anything, we'll put them back in line."
"Ha ha, I admire your confidence." Bradson chuckled, "Honestly I'd love to study a few of them up close."
"Hey, has anyone seen Lady Sheeva?" Aviel asked looking around.
"Not again!" Nemisa said in frustration, "Where are you?"
Everyone looked behind them to see Sheeva was peeking out from behind a large rock. Her ears were flattened against her head and her tail was curled between her legs. She stepped back and leaned against the rock as Link and Togau came up to her.
"Hey, come on Sheeva." Link said, "Don't you want to go greet your pack?"
"I... still don't know if I can show myself to them..." Sheeva muttered, "I'm no longer a full wolfos like I used to be after all..."
"Come on, enough with the melancholy." Nemisa called out, "Move that tail of yours already!"
"Wait, a collie? I thought she was a wolf." Aviel said, causing the others to fault over.
"But..." Sheeva spoke, "You saw those two from my pack go running off earlier, I don't know if they would even recognize me..."
"Don't worry, they might have been a little caught off guard, but I think they'll accept you just fine." Link said.
"Reckon course, just like how my sisters accepted me after what I went through!" Togau nodded.
"Just like you...?" Sheeva asked curiously.
"Yup, it's why I have that Lynel power of mine. I was cursed once too, and was turned into a Lynel. Back then I couldn't change back, and for the longest time I didn't think I had a home ta go back to, but everyone accepted me, especially my lover-boy here!" Togau said gesturing to Link, "And we're all one big happy family!"
Sheeva stared up at Link and Togau in surprise at those words. But the wolfos woman still seemed a bit skeptic.
"Come on Sheeva, we'll back you up on this." Link nodded, taking her paw in his hand.
"I... um..." Sheeva blushed at the feeling of Link holding her paw, "O-Okay..."
The two of them guided Sheeva with the group until they arrived at Grinder's Ridge, where the beastly residents of the village all peeked out from the town buildings to see who arrived. The two wolfos the group had rescued earlier were at the entrance, seeming to be barking and yapping at the others about something.
"Na ha ha, they seem pretty happy ta be home!" Togau laughed, glad to have been able to free them back at the kennel.
Sarami meanwhile looked to Sheeva who was still hanging her head down in uncertainty while Link was trying to console her. Sarami walked forward and took Sheeva's free paw, "Are you ready then Lady Sheeva?"
"Um... I suppose." Sheeva nodded nervously. She took a deep breath and slowly walked ahead of the group. She stood as tall as she could and cleared her throat, before letting out an unusual howl out to the town.
The ears of the wolfos all perked up at the familiar call of their leader, as they all came running out to greet her, only to instead see an unfamiliar human woman with what appeared to be wolf arms and legs. They hesitated for a second, recalling what had happened to the alpha male of their pack by the hands of the Hinox, wondering if this woman had done the same to their leader Lady Sheeva.
"E-Everyone it is I, Lady Sheeva, I have returned!" Sheeva stated, trying to maintain a strong demeanor before her pack, "The vile forces that made our people sick has been dealt with thanks to the aide of Lady Nabooru and King Link, and our previous leader has been avenged!"
She gulped a little and continued, "You may find me a bit strange now, but I have something I need to confess to you. Before I came to join your pack, I was once a human that was cursed by the goddess of beasts Uvooru. I've been partially cured of that curse as of today, but I vow to remain as your leader in the name of our noble and beloved alpha male!"
The wolfos did nothing, but continued to stare at her. Sheeva let out a small whimper and looked to the side. In that moment, she almost wondered if Bradson and Nabooru were wrong, and that the beast goddess Uvooru had actually punished her for her crimes further by turning her into this form. As she was now, she felt she couldn't fit into neither wolfos or Hylian society...
But that was when she felt someone nudge her paw slightly, and she looked down to see a young wolfos before her, bumping his nose into her paw for attention. Her eyes widened, it was her youngest son that she had with her mate before his passing. She knelled down before him and the eager pup practically jumped at her. He nuzzled her affectionately, happy to see his mother return home, not even bothered by the human look she had now.
This inspired the other wolfos to start coming over and sniffing Sheeva, before displaying their own affection to her, giving her licks and nuzzles. Tears started to form and spill down the wolfos leader's eyes as she hugged as many of them as she could.
"Thank you..." she whispered to them all.
"Awww... that's so cute!" Sarami squealed, putting a hand to her cheek to keep herself from smiling too much from the sight of Sheeva reuniting with her pack.
"Looks like they accepted her after all." Link grinned, recalling back when he made a confession to the Gerudo about his hand in imprisoning Ganondorf, and how they all accepted him as their king regardless.
"So these are the ones who were affected by FZ-501?" Granny spoke. She was in her wheelchair at the Grinder's Ridge jail, seeing the four wolfos who was suffering from the effects of the power tonic. Along with her and Lady Sheeva were Sarami and Link.
"Yes, we've lost a number of them before. Some we had to put down when they got too aggressive, and the rest just died to the illness." Sheeva explained.
"The poor dears..." Granny muttered, gazing at them, "I'm not sure what can be done for them."
"I wish I could do something about it myself," sighed Sarami, "I was able to cure the hypno candy effects, but I'm still having trouble with working out the components of the power tonic itself..."
"Wait, just how did you cure the hypnotic trance of the confectionery anyway?" Granny asked Sarami.
"Um, I used one of my chu jelly mixtures." Sarami said, holding one capsule to her mentor, "Though it was kind of an accident, as I made it for something else."
"Well a wise man once said 'science is made up of accidents, but they are accidents which are useful to make, because they lead little by little to the answers we seek'." Granny stated staring at the capsule, "What did you create this for originally then?"
"It's children's asthma medicine, why?" Sarami asked.
Granny paused, and took the capsule into her hand, looking at it for what seemed like the longest time. Everyone watched as Granny moved her wheelchair over to a table and started examining it more thoroughly with a micro lens.
"Sarami..." Granny muttered, "This combination of herbs you used... I've never seen anything like this before, where did you obtain plants like these?"
"I had some help from a Kokiri friend of mine supplying me with the ingredients." Sarami explained referring to Saria, "What about them?"
"I've been researching various aspects of using forest plants for healing, including the rare Odd Mushroom." Granny said, "But due to how difficult it is to access Kokiri Forest, I haven't been able to gather much materials. What you have here though is amazing..."
"Do you think you can do something with it?" Link asked hopefully, recalling it was an Odd Mushroom he had Granny use to prepare the medicine he needed from the dark future.
"Hm... just give me a second here..." Granny spoke, "Sarami, do you have any of the herbs you used to make these capsules?"
"Oh yes, here!" Sarami said, reaching into her pouch and handing them to her.
Everyone watched as Granny immediately got to work on grinding up the herbs in a mortal and pestle she had on her. She then took one of the teal chu jelly capsules Sarami made and started mixing them together, then added some potion she had brought over from the rebel lab. Her hands were shaky but masterful in the work she was doing.
"... ...hmm... there we go..." Granny muttered, she then turned to Sheeva and handed her a plate of four of the asthma chu jelly capsules, now colored pink rather then teal, "Give one of these to each of the wolves there."
"One for each..." Sheeva muttered. Her ears folded back as she narrowed her eyes, though she didn't look as intimidating as she was back when she was a full wolfos, "Are you certain about this?"
"Absolutely." Granny said without a moment of hesitation, "I know it might not mean much, but I stake what honor as a doctor I have left on it."
Sheeva stared into the old woman's eyes for a while, before she nodded. Sheeva then worked to place a chu jelly capsule into the mouths of each of the wolfos suffering from the tonic's effects and by suggestion of Sarami, nudged their throats to make them swallow.
Everyone stood and watched as the wolfos laid there, still gasping out and panting. Granny in particular narrowed her eyes, waiting for her guess to be correct, "Come on..."
It was then they all saw the four wolfos start to cough and whine out. Sheeva felt an uncertainty of what would happen, but it was then the four of them all breathed out a small amount of the yellow mist from before, and their red eyes went back to their original color.
"It's working?!" Link exclaimed.
The wolfos each sat themselves up and looked around in confusion at what had happened. They then saw the food bowls they had neglected due to their condition, and they all started eating at the meat left for them ravenously.
"Oh thank goddess Aifet, they seem so much better now!" Sarami said, taking her mentor by her shoulders and shaking her enthusiastically, "Granny you did it!"
"Amazing." Sheeva spoke with awe.
"Listen, Lady Sheeva is it?" Granny then turned to the wolfos, "Meokuro may have been the head of the power enhancement project, but I still played a large involvement in all this mess. I don't think I can apologize enough for what it's done to your people."
Sheeva was caught off guard by Granny's apologetic manner; all this time she had thought of her to be a cold, malicious monster who made her people sick, but instead saw a frail, sad woman in a wheelchair, and found herself unable to stay angry much longer. Could this had been that same feeling she had that compelled her to save her back in the jungle as it was burning down...?
The wolfos woman took a deep breath and nodded to Granny, "Thank you for that. With the laboratory destroyed and the culprit behind all this defeated, I think my mate can rest easily now. Perhaps that alone is enough for me."
Link and Sarami both had relieved smiled on their faces, seeing Sheeva and Granny set aside their differences. But that was when they heard a voice shout out.
"Link, we have bad news!" Nemisa shouted running into the jail, "That damn engineer woman escaped!"
"What?!" Link exclaimed.
Link, Sarami, Sheeva and Granny all followed Nemisa to the town hall were they were holding the rebels in locked rooms. When they arrived at the room Meokuro was being held in, they saw Togau and Nabooru examining it over. There was a gaping hole in the wall where the window for the room was, despite it having been boarded up by the Gerudo to keep Meokuro captive in there.
"So what happened here?" Link asked.
"It seemed Meokuro managed to break out of the ropes we restrained her in and got through the window." Nabooru said.
"Dang, she's stronger then we thought." Togau said, looking down at the ropes, seeing they were all torn to pieces.
"Or perhaps she had some hidden tools we didn't find when we searched her." Nabooru said scowling.
"Don't wanna think about where she could have hid them." Togau said with a slightly disturbed look on her face.
"What about the other rebels?" Sarami asked.
"They're all still here." Nabooru said, "Some have even pledged to defect from the rebellion. Seems they now understand the gravity of this situation."
She then gestured to another room where some of the rebels were playing with some of the younger wolfos pups.
"Oh hi King Link!" waved one of the former rebels.
"And hi Ms. Sheeva, your doggies are just precious!" said a rebel nurse, who was patching up a wound on a wolfos before it responded by giving her a affectionate lick.
"You Gerudo are sure about turning against your rebellion...?" Sheeva asked, somewhat concerned about them being around her pack, but softened a bit when she saw they were all getting along so well.
One of the rebels sported a pained look as she pet one of the wolfos, "Lady Nabooru made us see just how far Sister Meokuro was going with her experiments, and the lives she was hurting." she thought back to what happened to Mobbles the Moblin, "We just got fed up with all that's happened, and we're willing to side with King Link and Lady Nabooru to put an end to it."
"A few of our sisters still side with Mother Eclipsis, but we hope someday they'll see things differently!" said another.
"Well put, then I'll put my faith in you all to properly rehabilitate yourselves." Nabooru nodded with a smile.
"Should we be worried now that Meokuro's escaped though?" Togau asked, "What if she starts goin' back to makin' those things with the laser blastin' eyes?"
"Well her laboratory has been completely destroyed, I don't think she's going to have much to work with." Link said, "For all we know she might just retreat back to Gerudo Fortress where the rebels are."
"Hmph, that woman is stubborn as a mule." Granny said, "She's a genius, but it's wasted on that rebellion. She could be doing so much more with the skills she has."
"Speaking of which, you worked with her to develop the power tonic, right?" Nabooru asked stepping up to her.
"...FZ-501, that's correct." nodded Granny, feeling a bit nervous before who was recognized as the Gerudo leader, "I understand I've caused not just those wolfos, but your own people a great deal of trouble from it..."
"Indeed you have, we've lost a number of our own to that tonic's effects. And if the rebels still have more of it, it will only bring us more trouble in the future." nodded Nabooru. The others looked a bit uneasy of Nabooru's intimidating look, "Lady Sheeva may be content to forgive you what you've done, but I have not."
Link and Togau looked to each other nervously, they both knew how badly Nabooru was taking the rebellion's actions and the effects it was having on the Gerudo.
"Wait Lady Nabooru!" Aviel then protested, but Nabooru cut her off.
"On the other hand, Sarami's told me a lot about you, namely that you saved her life after she was exiled. You made her into the woman she is today, and she's gone on to save the lives of many of our people, including that of my dear friend and the new king of our people, Link." Nabooru spoke.
"Saved him a little too much if you ask me." Nemisa said with a smarmy grin at Link.
"Oh like you're one to talk." Link retorted, poking her on the cheek.
"And that's why I think if you truly want to make up for what you've done, you'll work with us as our ally, to help Sarami find the cure for the power tonic to save our people." Nabooru said, now sporting a light smirk.
Granny sat in stunned silence at Nabooru's words. She was indeed far different then the rumors she heard, and what she experienced with Meokuro and the other rebels.
"Well then, I'll provide as much help to you as possible. I think I've hit a new breakthrough in counteracting the tonic thanks to Sarami. I was able to make something for Lady Sheeva's wolves, but curing the rebel Gerudo will require a little more work. I'll need some more time to get it just right..." Granny then turned to Sarami and smiled warmly, "And of course I'll need the help of my star pupil."
"Granny..." Sarami whispered, relieved to see that spark in her eyes once again.
Granny turned to Nabooru and continued, "I'd like to tell you more about what the Ebony Sisterhood have planned, but unfortunately Meokuro kept me as in the dark as possible about her projects. She doesn't seem to trust people very well at all."
"I understand, the rebels we've captured in the past were in a similar situation." Nabooru said thinking back to Maukai and Nilonu, "I just wonder who that Mother Eclipsis is, and just what she thinks she can achieve with her hap-hazard methods. She almost reminds me of..." Nabooru paused on that note, before shaking her head, "Well never mind for now, thank you for lending us your support, Granny Truttlo."
With that, the two of them shook hands, much to everyone 's relief. Sheeva in particular took in Nabooru's words to deep thought.
The next morning, Link, Nabooru, Sarami, Aviel, Nemisa, Togau, Professor Bradson, Granny Truttlo, and the Gerudo guards and rebels were all standing outside the town of Grinder Ridge. Lady Sheeva and her pack were there to see the group off.
"Thank you all again for what you've done for us." Sheeva said with a bow, "You saved my people, and have made me see things in a new light. I may be part human again and not a full wolfos, but everyone has still accepted me here, so I'll continue to lead them all as I always have."
"Honestly I think that human side of you has always been there." Link pointed out, "You moved your pack from a cave and out to this town because you wanted to make their lives better then before, and you were willing to negotiate with us on the release of Sister Marata. It's just that your human self is much more on the outside now."
"Hm, perhaps you're right." Sheeva chuckled, "As far as I'm concerned, you're all members of our pack, and you're free to come by whenever you wish."
"We appreciate it Lady Sheeva. It'll take some time, but I hope we can form a strong alliance to protect our desert land together." Nabooru nodded.
Sheeva nodded back to the Gerudo leader. As someone who she once distrusted so much, it was strange to think of her as an ally now, but she managed to win her over by both her words and their battle. It was clear she was a born leader.
Sheeva then looked to Link, "As for you, Gerudo King Link..."
"Yeah?" Link asked.
It was then Sheeva grabbed Link by his shoulder and pulled him forward, pulling him into a deep mouth-to-mouth kiss. Everyone was caught off guard by this, Link in particular's eyes widened as Sheeva pulled away, giving his lips a small lick before standing upright and smiling.
"I'll say one good perk to being human again, it's nice to feel the sensation of a true kiss." Sheeva said softly, licking her own lips.
"That... was really nice." Link admitted with a stunned expression.
"It's a shame I couldn't take you as the alpha male of our pack, though I understand now who your family is and how devoted to them you are." Sheeva said, "I ask that you continue to lead them with that will of yours."
"You can count on that." Link nodded with a smile.
It was then Sheeva looked to Sarami, "And one last thing... I just wanted to apologize to you again for what I did before doctor... I was enraged by what happened to my people, but I had no right to take it out on you."
"It's no trouble." Sarami said smiling, "I'm just happy you and your pack are okay!"
"Thanks to you." Sheeva then glanced to Link and smirked lightly, "And I hope Link makes a fine mate for you, Dr. Sarami."
Link practically faulted over in surprise from that remark as everyone laughed out loud. Sarami just blushed deeply and adjusted her glasses.
"Ha ha, your king is quite a playboy, isn't he?" Bradson chuckled.
"You don't know the half of it, Brad." Aviel grinned.
And that ends Chapter 79, with everyone saved and Meokuro on the run, ur heroes can now finally rest for a bit. But what could possibly become of the relationship between Link and Sarami? Find out next week!
Thanks always for your likes, follows and comments, they're a great motivation to help me see this through to the end! Drop me a line if you have any questions or concerns about my writing as well!