Hello folks, in this chapter Foluma has made her way back to the Pyramid of Power to get 'repaired', but can Link and his friendss ave ehr in time? Read and find out!
Sorry about the long delay since the last chapter folks. To make up for it, I decided to make this extra long one for you all.
"W-Why have you strapped me to this bed Ms. Meokuro? What are you going to do...?"
"Wiihihihiii... just lay back and relax false king, I just want to have a little fun with you!"
"Aaaahh... oooh... this is... it feels so good...! B-But what if she finds out...?"
"Don't worry, I'll see to it Mother Imono will never hurt you. From now on, you belong to me, Link. We'll spend so much time alone together..."
"V-Very well, if you'll have me... then..."
"Pardon my intrusion Sister Meokuro, but we have something important for you to see!" spoke a Gerudo guard of the Ebony Sisterhood, bursting in through the door of the rebel scientist's private living quarters in the Pyramid of Power.
"Damnit! I told you to knock before you come in!" Meokuro shouted, quickly covering herself with her sheets as she laid on something in her bed.
"I-I'm sorry, but I felt it was an emergency!" the guard stated, "I needed to inform you that MAGIS-01 has returned to us, and is in need of repairs!"
"WHAT?" Meokuro shouted as she sat up nude. She gulped and cleared her throat, "V-Very well, have her brought to my laboratory and I'll give her an examination immediately!"
"As you wish!" the guard bowed her head.
"Uh by the way, you didn't see anything did you...?" Meokuro asked, looking away with a heavy blush as she covered herself with her sheet.
"No Maam, I didn't see you playing with your pillow again!" the guard said before shutting the door.
"Uh, good." Meokuro muttered, looking down at the body pillow on her bed that had a replica of a nude depiction of Link sewed onto it. She ran a finger along the picture's jaw line, before she sighed and climbed out of bed to change into her engineer outfit.
As she pulled up her pants, she took a glance over at the mechanical arm band she typically wore when doing her engineering work or in combat. There was a small light on it that was flashing faintly, something it had been doing for about two months now, but she typically had a piece of tape over it to keep it from being noticed.
She took another sigh and whispered to herself, "You can really be pathetic sometimes Meokuro..."
"Four coming in!"
"Okay, I'm opening up!"
A Gerudo rebel activated a switch within the Pyramid of Power entrance and the front door opened. One of the rebel guards came in escorting three people all dressed in the Ebony Sisterhood's trademark black and gold clothing came in. They also wore veils that covered their nose and mouth.
"Here they are, safe and sound!" said the escort guard proudly.
"That's great you were able to recover them all! You girls okay? We heard you had it rough after the false king took back Gerudo Town!" said the door guard to three of them.
"We're fine, it feels good to be back home with our people!" said the tallest of the three, thrusting up her fist and sporting a wide grin from under her veil.
"Y-Yeah, it was real scary being imprisoned by that meanie false king!" said a shorter, younger one.
"..." one of them just glanced away shyly.
"Is she okay?" asked the door guard with concern.
"Yeah. She's just a little startled from what went on and needs some rest." said the taller one.
"I'll see these girls to one of the living quarters and make sure they're okay. " said the escort guard, "Do you know which one is unoccupied so they can have a little quiet time?"
Following the door guard's advice, they all went into one room with about six stone slab beds, but there was no one else inside. The guard shut the door behind her, and all four of them gave a sigh of relief.
"Alright, the infiltration plan worked," spoke the taller of them, removing her veil to show she was actually Nabooru, "Nice acting job there Aviel!"
"Thanks Nabooru, it was pretty scary for a while... but I'll do anything to save Foluma!" Aviel said removing her own veil.
"I still don't know how you talked me into this." groaned the 'shy' one with a strangely masculine voice, pulling off their veil to show it was Link, "When I saw you brought three rebel outfits with us for disguises, I thought it was going to be you, Aviel and Nemisa that were going to go undercover into the pyramid... not me!" he exclaimed in annoyance.
"Ha ha ha! Sorry about tricking you, but Nemisa needs to stay hidden outside with our backup!" Nabooru laughed, "Besides, you and Aviel are the ones closest to Foluma. If anyone can convince her to come back with us it will be the two of you!"
"I guess you're right..." Link sighed, "I really do want to help save her."
"Ooooh, you're so cute in that outfit!" exclaimed the guard, running over and planting a big kiss on Link's lips, "Thanks to Sister Nemisa's makeup work, you really do pass for a Gerudo!"
"H-Hey!" Link said blushing, "Don't do anything to blow our cover!"
"Eeheehee! Sa'sohi, but I can't help myself!" the guard apologized, her eyes giving off an eerie glow that spooked Aviel, "It feels so good to be able to kiss you in a physical body, my king!"
"It's fortunate you joined us when you did Sister Osena." Nabooru said with a smirk, "That body possession trick was perfect for taking over a rebel guard and getting us in here!"
"T-That's a really scary trick..." Aviel shivered, "You can just possess anyone at any time Osena?"
"Not exactly," Osena said, her spiritual form poking out from the guard who still seemed to be in a trance, "My possession trick only works on those who are either willing to let me, or weak-minded people like this guard here. If they have too much resistance or strong will I can't do anything to them."
"Otherwise I would just have her possess Imono and this whole war could be put to an end in seconds." Nabooru shrugged.
"And don't worry, it doesn't do any harm to the person or anything! In fact when I leave they don't even remember what happened!" Osena assured them.
"Well if that's the case I'm fine with it." Link said, trying to comfort Aviel as she was cowering from Osena's spirit body, "So now that we're in, what's the plan Nabooru?"
"On our way in, I noticed there aren't a whole lot of guards around here." Nabooru said, "There was a number of Beamos Walkers, but they don't seem to think of us as a threat since we have on these outfits. Looks like we should be able to sneak around without too much trouble. That said, we're not exactly in a position to fight the rebels, we just need to find Foluma and get the hell out of here."
"Sounds good." Link nodded, thinking about Foluma, "I just hope we're not too late."
Meanwhile in one room of the pyramid, there was a group of older Gerudo women dressed in robes as they hung their heads down, chanting something in a strange language.
"Amadabo... amadabo... shimeh... shimeh..."
They were sitting before a tall muscular Gerudo woman who was sitting with her legs folded in prayer. She was bald except for two long strands of hair that stuck out and hung downwards from a metal hair band. She had a chiseled chest and abs that had a strange black leather and steel brace wrapped around it, and wore a pair of shoulder pads with a large metal circle sticking out behind her. She had a long silk sash that went over her shoulders and hung down towards the ground.
This is the Elite Rebel Asaeku, formally the war brigadier of the Gerudo army back during Ganondorf's rule over the people. She had once looked up to Nabooru back when she was the Grand Colonel of the army, but felt betrayed when Nabooru later defected from Ganondorf and established her own society in Gerudo Town. Asaeku had once defeated Nabooru back during the invasion of Gerudo Town, but now she was focused on preparing for the war under Mother Imono's orders.
"Amadabo... amadabo... shimeh... shimeh..."
The mystic women before Asaeku were continuing their chanting, as the elite rebel herself was concentrating. She felt some twinges of pain, but held her breath and kept focusing. The steel brace she wore was giving off a powerful aura, and that aura was spreading out through Asaeku's body.
'It won't be long now...' Asaeku thought, thinking about how Nabooru battled against the monsters Imono attacked her with back in the Gerudo Fortress arena, 'She may have escaped once, but when that day finally comes, Lady Nabooru shall face true despair...'
"Graaaah!"
In another room of the pyramid, a lone muscular warrior clad in armor went sliding backwards and gasped out, as they confronted a giant levitating stone head monster with large stone hands known as a Ramrock. The monster brought back it's hands and groaned out, ready to continue battling.
"Heh... this monster Mother Imono provided me with is a worthy challenger..." chuckled the warrior.
Her red hair was slicked back wildly, she had piercing yellow eyes, and a long, pointed nose and chin. Her skin was tanned with a strangely greenish hue to it. She was clad in black and red heavy armor and was wielding a black jagged trident in her hand.
"Too bad it's going to end up being street gravel when I'm done with it!"
This was Princess Ghilmarelm, daughter of King Ganondorf. Her whole life she had thought she was a man due to the teachings of the Ebony Mother Imono. However just two months ago, during a battle she had with Link her true identity as a woman was exposed to the people. Even after her defeat, Ghilmarelm still retained her fighting prowess, and was currently engaged in training to make herself stronger for the war.
Ghilmarelm dashed forward, her fist fueled with dark lightning energy, and punched the Ramrock backwards. The stone monster went flying back and crashing into the wall. Ghilmarelm came at it again, and the Ramrock brought up it's hands which took on a shield form. The princess' attack bashed into the shield, but it held firm. The Ramrock's eyes then glew as it managed to hit Ghilmarelm with a powerful blast of energy.
"Grk, I can't hold back..." Ghilmarelm scowled, "If I intend to free my people and save my father, I can't allow myself to lose to that boy again..."
With that, she shot right at the Ramrock to strike it again. The stone monster brought up it's shields again, but this time Ghilmarelm leaped gracefully over it, quickly turned and gave it a strong kick in the back, sending it flying forward and crashing into a wall. The Ramrock then got up and it's eyes gleamed, before it's stone hands crumbled to reveal a pair of iron balls on chains. The Ramrock swung out it's iron balls and bashed them both hard into Ghilmarelm.
"Get yer balls out of my face!" Ghilmarelm shouted out in fury, grabbing one between her hands as it came at her. Dark lightning flowed through her limbs as she managed to crush the iron ball between her hands. As the other ball came at her, she evaded it before running up and thrusting her trident into the center of the monster, the dark energy flowed into the Ramrock 's body until it gave off an explosion.
When the dust cleared, the Ramrock laid on the ground broken into pieces, and the pieces soon disintegrated after that. Ghilmarelm stood up straight and dusted off the shoulder of her armor.
"What's done is done." spoke Ghilmarelm, she put away her trident and took a breath. She looked down to her hands to feel the power within her growing further. For a brief moment, she could see that her hands take on a strange orange-scaled skin with clawed fingers for a brief moment.
"Greh heh heh... this training is doing the trick!" Ghilmarelm grinned, "Soon my true power that I inherited from Father will really be unleashed! Then it'll be time for my rematch with that man..."
Ghilmarelm paused, thinking about the 'false king' Link that had defeated her back in the arena of Gerudo Fortress. She couldn't deny he had been a strong capable fighter, and he had more than proven himself in her eye. But she was lately feeling strange things whenever she thought of him... Her lady 'friends' that she used to have as a personal harem had also started to distance themselves from her after finding out she wasn't a man, but she wasn't quite as bothered by it than she thought she would...
"It... it doesn't matter." Ghilmarelm shook her head, "I'll prove to them all how much of a true warrior I really am, by defeating the false king!"
In another room of the pyramid was Meokuro's laboratory. It had been her main lab for a while after the Ebony Sisterhood first started, but she moved to a more private underground lab after it had been set up for her. But after Link, Nabooru and the others had invaded the place, defeated her, and caused the lab to blow up, Meokuro was forced to return to the Pyramid of Power in order to continue her work.
Meokuro walked into the room, properly prepared to deal with her next project. The room was set up with an operating table and bench, a large control panel for various functions of the Pyramid of Power, as well as a couple of deactivated Beamos Walkers in the corner being recharged with energy crystals. She saw sitting on the operating bench was one of her greatest projects; 'MAGIS-01', also known by her true name Foluma.
Besides her helmet and arm devices, Meokuro also wore her patented Octo-Limb belt, which gave her eight strong metal tendril limbs to help her with tasks, as well as fight in battle. They proved so effective in the past that she was able to defeat Kesuta and Korume with them.
"H-Hey there Lady Meokuro, elite engineer of efficient enterprises!" Foluma said with a wave, unable to avoid giving lascivious praise to the scientist due to the programming she was given, "Glad to see you're doing well!"
"Oh, thanks MAGIS-01..." Meokuro spoke, a little surprised to see the formally monotone woman talking the way she was. Despite the side-effects the prose tic limbs taking away people's memories, MAGIS-01 was acting more 'normal' than before. The engineer put that out of her mind and started to carefully observe the damage to the automation maid's body,
"Hm, you've taken some minor damage, but you're holding up well." Meokuro said, "Can show me your scanning function working?"
"But of course." nodded Foluma, who came right up and groped at Meokuro's chest, surprising the scientist.
"What th-?! Hey!"
"Hmm, I think you've grown another few centimeters recently, not too bad..." Foluma observed, then tilted her head, "Wait a sec, are you wearing pads right now?"
"Where did that come from?" Meokuro exclaimed, swatting Foluma back with one of her Octo-limbs.
"Meh heh heh... sorry chief, couldn't help myself." Foluma said backing off, sporting a small grin, "I just... kinda wanted to do that one last time before... you know."
"...o-oh." Meokuro realized what she meant. The scientist was prepared to perform the final operation to 'MAGIS-01', which would completely make her into an fully functional automation, "N-Never mind, let me go call my assistant and get prepped for the surgery..."
"Understood." Foluma bowed. She sat back on the bench, and as she looked around the room, the cold interior of the pyramid started to bring back some unpleasant memories of her past...
Flashback – Eleven years ago
"I DON'T EVER WANT TO HEAR YOU SPEAK TO ME AGAIN!"
Foluma was in an absolute rage at her old friend Esolu. For the longest time, the two had been inseparable friends together, whether it be walking through the desert, riding the horses, training as warriors, or even days where they'd just hang out together and Esolu would spend countless hours drawing things. Foluma really loved her penguin pictures in particular.
One day the two even shared their first kiss together. At the time Foluma didn't really know why she asked Esolu to do that, but she didn't regret it. The next couple of months after that were some of the happiest she ever had, and she only felt closer to Esolu with each passing day. At one point Foluma had even got Esolu a small trinket that opened with a key as a special gift between the two of them. She had held onto that key so that it could only open if they were together.
But after finding out the truth that it was Esolu's loose lips that resulted in her and her mother being enslaved by Ganondorf and put through horrible amounts of pain, suffering and starvation, she was at a loss of what to think. But then Esolu came to them in Forsworn Village, only to end up killing Foluma's own mother. Whether or not it was an accident, she couldn't find it in her heart to forgive Esolu for taking so much from her...
"SKREEEEEEEEE!"
Just then, Foluma saw a horrified expression on Esolu's face, and she turned up just in time to see a giant Lanmola staring hungrily down at her. She couldn't even move her shaky legs as the monster lunged down and grabbed her with it's claws.
Even after all she had went through as a slave, the pain Foluma experienced in that moment was the worst she had ever felt in her life. Her body was clawed, bitten and ripped apart. Though the horrific pain Foluma endured, she knew that it would be her final moments. As she weakly gazed out to see Esolu, all she did was run out of the sandstorm far away from her.
She had lost everything due to Esolu; her home, her health, her mother, and now... her life.
But just when she was about to accept her fate, out of nowhere from the sandstorm came some hooks on chains that flew out and jabbed into the monster's body. The bug screeched out in pain, thrashing around as more hooks shot out and impaled into it. Soon she and the monster both fell to the sand with a heavy impact.
Foluma weakly looked up to see the Lanmola had been brought to the ground and impaled with hooks, spears and swords, and there was a group of Gerudo coming up to her. They were all wearing black and gold Gerudo outfits. Among them included one figure who wore a full-body black cloak, as well as a white featureless porcelain mask over their face. The one in the mask stared down at Foluma's horribly mutilated body.
"Oh my goddesses, this poor girl!" gasped one of the women.
"What should we do Mother Eclipsis?" asked another to the masked one, "Should we continue on?"
"No... thanks to those damn followers of Lady Nabooru the Forsworn are too wild and dangerous to try and bring into our group for now. Let's go back to the pyramid." spoke the masked one.
"What about this girl?" asked one of them.
As the intense pain going through Foluma's body was causing her to lose consciousness, she could hear the one called Mother Eclipsis speak to them,
"Take her with us... she shall be..."
"...look, I told her I don't know anything that could help enhance a person's physical strength! Mother is going to have to find a copy of that alchemy book, as well find someone who has the skill to-"
"Huh...?"
"Oh hey, check it out Meokuro. Looks like she's coming through after all."
"Wiihihihi! Yes, you did fine work Dr. Eifou!"
The next thing Foluma realized, she had woken up in a strange room with walls made of black obsidian stone and was laying back on a medical bench. She looked down to her body to see she was covered in bandages, and much to her horror she was missing most of her limbs. At that point she was a completely immobile stump of a woman.
By her side was two Gerudo women, one was wrapped in bandages of her own, with some rather poorly done stitching of her wounds. The other woman was wearing a bronze helmet with green goggles.
"What.. happened... who are you two?"
They introduced themselves as Eifou and Meokuro, the head doctor and mechanical engineer of a Gerudo rebellion group known as the Ebony Sisterhood. They were working with one called Mother Eclipsis to save their sisters from Lady Nabooru and free Ganondorf from his current imprisonment at Hyrule Castle.
"Hey, you're that woman who healed me back at the slave compound..." Foluma recognized Eifou.
"Did I? Huh, small world." Eifou spoke, "Whelp, unfortunately that Lanmola did a number on your body. I regret to say, as you are now you're never gonna walk again."
"O-Oh..." Foluma muttered, looking down to see even her hands were gone. Tears started to go down her face as she came to terms with all that she lost...
"Well with that said, the two of us have a little offer to make with you..." Meokuro spoke up, "Something that can help you walk again, as well as pay us back for saving your life..."
"...I'm listening."
End Flashback
"..." Foluma laid back on the operating table, taking a look over to Meokruo who was sterilizing her arms to start the medical procedure.
"Damnit, where the heck is that assistant anyway? She said she was going to help me with this!" Meokuro asked, looking around, "Well whatever, I'm going to have you shut down for a while first before we can begin anyway. Now where did I put that shutdown device...?"
Foluma laid back on the bench and looked up at the ceiling, thinking to herself.
After she agreed to the operation to have her limbs replaced with prosthetic ones, when she woke up, she found she couldn't remember literally anything. She didn't know how to move, eat, speak or even blink. The process of connecting the strange artificial limbs to her nerves so that they could function properly had the effect of robbing her of her thoughts and memories. She had to be properly 'reprogrammed' as Meokuro put it to be able to properly function.
She had no longer been Foluma, but the Meokuro Automated Gerudo Intelligence Servant model number one, or 'M.A.G.I.S.-01' for short.
'MAGIS-01' spent the next years of her life working as a servant for the Ebony Sisterhood. She found herself virtually incapable of pain, and needed very little food or rest to sustain herself. She was programmed and trained on maximum efficiency. With no burdensome memories or regrets, she could live to serve the rebels, especially their leader Mother Eclipsis who respected her adamant attitude and took her on as a right-hand servant. For saving her all that time ago she would devote her life to her.
But then after she was defeated by Nemisa and captured by King Link and his people. She had expected to be imprisoned forever or worse, executed. But they instead wanted MAGIS to remember the person she used to be. Due to the orders she received from Mother Eclipsis to guard Gerudo Palace, she couldn't leave, even if Lady Nabooru and the false king had reclaimed the palace in their name.
As MAGIS spent time with Link, Aviel and the others, the things she experienced and the stories she was told were causing her to slowly regain fragments of her lost memories, and she in turn was starting to open up more to them all. Link and Aviel in particular showed her true kindness and compassion, something she hadn't felt since she was torn from Esolu and she lost her mother.
Even before that, one thing that confused her was when Eclipsis had given her the order to have Link's child-bearers and the children they held eliminated... but for some strange reason she couldn't bring herself to obey that command. MAGIS had been confused for the longest time about what exactly held her back from going through with those orders...
But just a few hours ago; she, Link and Aviel had all gotten drunk at the Tumbleweeds Tavern, and she had stumbled upon something she never thought she'd see again, the very trinket she had bought Esolu. Suddenly a wave of memories came back to her. She fully remembered her true self, the way her mother treated her, and her deep friendship with Esolu... things she should have completely forgotten about had all came right back.
She realized why she didn't kill the child-bearers when she had told to; when she saw the mothers with their children, it brought back those comforting memories of when her mother protected her. That was the first step towards her remembering that past she had left behind, the past she didn't want to remember due to all the pain it caused her...
Meokuro spoke up, "Alright, until my assistant get around to showing herself I'm going to go ahead and put you on sleep mode." she put a hand to her forehead, "Ugh, it's gong to a pain in the ass having to reprogram those basic functions back into you again."
'That's right...' Foluma thought to herself, 'After this, I'll be fully reborn as an automation. I won't have to deal with those painful memories anymore... I can just remain an efficient servant to the Sisterhood forever... No more hunger, no more pain, no more sadness...'
"Oh by the way, did you still want to hang onto this?" Meokuro asked, holding up a small key, "I remember you asked me to install it into your new arm back when I first repaired you."
"..." Foluma stared at the key, it was the very one for the trinket she had given Esolu all those years ago. She didn't really understand why she had asked Meokuro to do something like that, as at that point she hated Esolu for what she had done, and wanted to forget, "I don't..."
But then in that moment, Esolu found herself recalling some things said by Aviel, Nemisa and Link...
"I can understand thinking about the present, but your past memories are important too! For years I had forgotten a really important time in my life, and I felt a big gaping hole in my head all that time!"
"While it's taken some time, I've finally put all that behind me. Rather than dwelling on the past or punishing myself anymore, I'm focusing on making things right for everyone."
"When I first took on the job of being Link's bodyguard, I always tried to dismiss protecting him as strictly just duty. But the truth of it was that I was lying to myself, the reality was that I wanted to protect Link because I cared about him."
"You made all this for us with our happiness in mind, that's something no machine could do. Despite what you claim, I think there's a lot more to yourself deep inside."
"...!" Foluma's eyes started to form small traces of tears, but she shook her head, "No... I have to go through with this... I don't' want to remember any of it again, I don't... I don't..."
"...MAGIS-01?" Meoukuro asked raising an eyebrow.
"N-Never mind, please proceed." Foluma spoke, closing her eyes tightly.
"I really hope Foluma is still herself..." Aviel whispered worriedly.
"Don't worry, we'll find her soon." Link assured her.
After having gained knowledge of Meokuro's laboratory from the guards, Link, Aviel, Nabooru and Osena were following the directions towards the room Occasionally they'd see a rebel who would find Link, Aviel and Nabooru unfamiliar and suspicious, but thanks to Osena possessing a guard she was able to vouch for them. Not even the Beamos Walkers were able to detect them as the enemy.
"Ugh, I haven't been in this place for a long time." Nabooru grimaced as she looked around, "Those weren't exactly pleasant times. I suppose in some ways I can understand why Foluma would want to forget her past."
"I can relate, I wish I had never tried to go find my old boyfriend..." Osena sighed, "Would had probably been better if I just remained in ignorant bliss of him..."
"Hey, that's no way to talk!" Aviel spun around and scolded Osena, not even seeming to be scared of her in that moment, "Some of my memories may be painful, but I would never give any of them up if it meant forgetting what makes me who I am!"
"O-Oh..." Osena said, looking downcast, "Sa'sohi, Sister Aviel... Link had already told me what you went through before with your parents and that dragon..."
"It's okay," Aviel said with a small smile, taking her hand, "Let's keep going!"
"Aviel really has a way of connecting with people." Nabooru said to Link with a smile as she watched the bird girl lead Osena down the hall.
"Yeah, I've known that since the day I met her." Link grinned, as they all continued on.
"Hey you all!" shouted a voice from behind suddenly, as the four of them all turned to see one of the guards, "That's a restricted area by order of Sister Meokuro, no troops are allowed in there without permission!"
"Oh great, what do we do Nabooru?" Link whispered.
"... …heh. Well, it's a good thing we aren't actually rebel troops then!" Nabooru called out to the guard with a grin, "Come on everyone, let's beat it!"
With that, Link, Aviel and Nabooru all charged down the hallway, shocking the guard at the brazen act.
"What?" shouted the guard, running up to the one still standing there, "Hurry! They must be enemy spies! We have to catch them!"
"Sa'sohi rebel vai, you can have your friend back!" Osena grinned, emerging out of the guard's body. The guard grew dizzy from her possession and collapsed on top of the other guard, and Osena went flying down the hall after Link, Nabooru and Aviel.
"What the hell?" exclaimed the guard trying to shove the other one off of her, "Get offa me!"
Soon some other rebels came running to the hall and saw one of the guards laying sleepily on top of another, their faces very close to one another.
"Uh... what are you two doing...?" asked one of the rebels with a raised eyebrow.
"This isn't what it looks like!" the guard shouted.
"Okay, think I got it set up now." Meokuro said, holding up a cylinder device with a latch on it, "Once I've plugged this into your cranial lobes, it will shut you down so we can begin the operation."
"V-Very well.." Foluma said, looking away.
"You sure you're alright with doing this MAGIS-01? You look uneasy." Meokuro asked.
"..." Foluma said nothing, but then they both heard the door open.
"Hello Master Meokuro." spoke a voice in a cold whispered tone.
Meokuro and Foluma both turned to see a Gerudo girl with pale white skin, as well as long disheveled white hair with red highlights. She bore an expressionless face, with her lips were painted black, and as opposed to the golden eyes of typical Gerudo she had deadpan red-tinted eyes. She wore a black lab coat over a white blouse and black skirt, and had on long black boots. On her right arm was a strange gauntlet with a tube that ran up to a metal shoulder plate, with a black crow perched on top of it.
"Dr. Yissa, there you are!" Meokuro said in annoyance, "I'm trying to do a speed run here for Mother Imono's orders, and here you come in exactly twenty three minutes and fifty one seconds late!"
"Huh? Who's that? I don't recognize her in my rebel database..." Foluma muttered.
The girl known as Dr. Yissa shook her head, "I apologize Master Meokuro. I had other business to perform." she scratched the chin of the crow on her shoulder, "My little birdie Rarth here needed his din-dins... a fresh desert mouse." she looked upwards a bit, "He was so happy to devour it... and it was quite a healthy specimen, Rarth was able to tear it's intestines out quite easily."
"Uh, right..." Meokuro said sweatdropping, "I need your help with the operation of MAGIS-01."
"So this is the thing you mentioned." Yissa said walking up and staring down at Foluma, "I wish I could have been here for the initial surgery. Your reports mentioned how much damage she had taken whee she was mauled by that Lanmola... that would had been fascinating to observe."
"Grk..." Foluma looked away, recalling those terrible memories.
"But before we begin, there's something I must do." Yissa said, taking one of the antennae attached to Foluma's head and using a small screwdriver to undo it.
"Hey, what are you doing with that?" Meokuro asked.
"Just needed it for further information by Mother Imono's request." Yissa said, inserting it into a compartment of her gauntlet, "Now shall we begin the procedure?"
"A-Alright, here we go then..." Meokuro spoke somewhat hesitantly, moving the shutdown device towards Foluma's head.
'This is it I guess..." Foluma thought closing her eyes tightly, 'It's time to forget about the past... and focus on the efficient future...'
But then she heard the crow on Yissa's shoulder caw out and flap it's wings a little, which made her go back to thinking about Aviel again... back to her happy time with the young bird girl and Link. She recalled the times they would go out into town to meet the locals, eat all the tasty food they had... going to various activities like the training grounds, that time they visited Kesuta and Korume's 'haunted' tent, attending Sarami's birthday party, meeting with the child-bearers and their children...
"While some of those memories were really painful for me to get back, it hurt even worse for me to forget them."
She shifted a but as she recalled the times Aviel would embrace her with her bird wings... and then that time Link held her hand on the roof...
"I hope it helps bring back more memories deep inside you. I love learning more about you Foluma. The more I do, the more fascinated I get, cause each new memory is a part of your true self."
And the happy memories she once shared with Esolu, including their first kiss...
"They say you can never forget your first kiss, and I think I want it to be with my best friend, so we never forget each other!"
"But I don't think you have to worry too much. No matter what, we'll always be best friends."
"Good bye... everyone..."
As Foluma tried to block out those past memories she was suppressing, she found herself thinking of one last thing Aviel once told her,
"You should never want to forget your past, because it's part of who you were, and why you're the person you are now!"
"..." Foluma opened her eyes with a loud gasp, breaking out into a cold sweat, as she looked over and saw Meokuro's device about to enter her ear device to shut her down.
"...n-n-nnnNOOOOO!" Foluma screamed out, smacking the device out of Meokuro's hand.
"Huh?" Meokuro exclaimed as the device clanged to the floor.
"I-I don't want to do it!" Foluma gasped out, sitting up and clutching her head, "I... don't want to give up those memories, I don't want to forget any of them!"
"What?!" exclaimed Meokuro, "You're serious? You actually remember things about yourself?"
"Yes, I do..." Foluma said, grabbing and holding the trinket key in her hands, "For the longest time I thought I wanted to forget, but no, I can't... I can't give it all up, not now!"
"..." Yissa said nothing, but looked down at her gauntlet, and a small light blinking on it.
"This is amazing, a breakthrough in the prosthetic limb project!" Meokuro said, quickly jolting down notes on a pad, "We should go report this to Mother Imono and-!"
"No..." spoke up Yissa, "We must go through with the operation immediately. MAGIS-01 is still suffering from her defects."
"But she's remembering things now! With this, we may be able to power up and heal our sisters with prosthetic automation parts and still have them retain their sense of selves!" Meokuro said excitedly.
"She is defective, and must be fixed as we originally planned." Yissa said, picking up the 'shutdown' device Meokuro had dropped, "We must put an end to this overemotional state she's in."
"N-No!" Foluma said, backing off from Yissa, "I refuse to go through with it! I want to keep my memories! Yeah, some of them are painful... but I have plenty of great memories as well!"
"Too bad, you don't have a choice." Yissa spoke dryly, "Whether those who use the prosthetic limbs lose their memories or not doesn't matter, as long as they perform their purpose. All that's important is winning the war, slaughtering the Hylians, and saving King Ganondorf. That is the way of the Ebony Sitserhood."
"Link and Lady Nabooru are doing everything they can to stop that from happening!" Foluma spoke.
"And soon they shall be dead. Perhaps sooner thanks to the information I've gained from your observations of them over your absence. With this, I can now detect the perfect course of action to eliminate them and their town." Yissa spoke, pointing to the antennae she pulled from Foluma.
Foluma gasped out in shock, realizing what she meant. During the course of the last two months she had been watching over the palace and meeting the people of Gerudo Town. It seemed this girl had figured out a way to copy those memories from her internal memory programming.
A cold drop of sweat ran down Foluma's head, as she recalled how angry she was before at Esolu for speaking to Rairiku that resulted in her and her mother becoming enslaved,
"Just shut up! I don't want to hear what you have to say anymore! It's because you couldn't keep your damn mouth shut that me and mom ended up as slaves! It's your fault we went through all of that hell!"
"No..." Foluma stared out in shock of this revelation, she had unwittingly revealed the secrets of Link and Lady Nabooru to the rebels...
"And now with that, let's start shutting you down." Yissa said, holding up the shutdown device, "This is the duty you choose when you accepted the operation MAGIS-01, now submit to it."
"I..." Foluma took a step back nervously. She couldn't even fight Yissa if she wanted to thanks to her combat programming being disabled... but then she had an idea, and lunged out at Yissa, grabbing at her shoulders.
"...?" Yissa looked down curiously at Foluma's hands.
"I'll just have to massage you into submission!" Foluma said, starting to rub down her shoulders, "Meokuro programmed me numerous techniques that'll make you feel so good you won't move!"
"...that is enough." spoke Yissa without even seeming to care about the massage, as she held up her strange gauntlet. The fingers of the gauntlet started to spark, and Foluma suddenly felt her arms retract from the young doctor back to her against her will.
"What?!" Foluma exclaimed, finding herself unable to move her limbs, "How are you doing that?"
"This is my special prototype, the Magnetic Gauntlets." Yissa spoke, "With these I can control Master Meokuro's technology to my every whim, including you MAGIS-01."
"Grk... can't... move...!" Foluma groaned.
"What?!" Meokuro exclaimed, "Hold on a second, I never approved that! There's a lot of testing to be done before I can allow you use something that dangerous!"
"Time is of the essence, Master Meokuro." Yissa spoke, "And we need to eliminate any unnecessary resources that are proving themselves to be inefficient." she turned and stared at Meokuro with deadpan eyes, "Including yourself."
"What?" Meokuro exclaimed.
Just then the door to the lab opened, and walking into the room was the Ebony Sisterhood's leader, Mother Imono.
"Greetings Sister Meokuro." Imono spoke, the broken mask showing the sharp glare she was giving the scientist. She turned to see Foluma, "And it's a pleasure to see you once again Sister MAGIS."
"Mother Eclipsis..." whispered Foluma, "She really was the War Commander Imono...!"
"What's going on?" Meokuro asked in a panic, looking between her leader and her apprentice, "What do you mean 'including myself'?"
"You seem to have not been quite so honest with us before Meokuro." Imono spoke with a cold tone, "Your young apprentice here has been monitoring your technology as of late."
"Yes, like those devices you wear on your wrists." Yissa spoke, "All this time since MAGIS-01 rebooted, I learned that you've had the ability to re-enable her combat systems this whole time, even back when she was held captive by the false king and Lady Nabooru... yet you never did."
"What...?" Foluma exclaimed, looking over to Meokuro who was now breaking out in a cold sweat.
"I... had my reasons..." Meokuro said shaking slightly, "I needed to make sure... she wasn't in a dangerous state to harm anyone other than the false king. Letting her loose in Gerudo Town would had resulted in numerous causalities and a waste of resources!"
"Have you forgotten our creed Meokuro? Besides saving King Ganondorf and destroying the Hylians, the death of the false king is one of our top priorities" Imono spoke, "You had the chance to use MAGIS-01 to destroy him but didn't. I wonder what led you do such a thing..."
"I-I..." Meokuro stammered.
"I think it's fairly obvious at this point." Dr. Yissa spoke, scratching at her crow's chin, "The great exalted engineer of the Ebony Sisterhood has gotten soft on the false king, and is doubting the way of King Ganondorf."
"T-That's a lie! I've been loyal the Sisterhood for years!" Meokuro spoke, her body shaking, "And what are you doing anyway Yissa? You're supposed to be my new apprentice!"
Imono shook her head, "No Meokuro, Yissa has only been with us for two months, yet has fully grasped the concepts of the technology that you've spent many years and wasted countless resources to put together. I dare say she's surpassed you in just about every way that we require."
"What?" Meokuro exclaimed, "Just... who are you exactly Yissa?"
"If you must know, very well." Yissa started to explain, "Before I joined the Sisterhood, I was part of a certain religious organization that had made dealings in the past with the Ebony Sisterhood. In exchange for a sample of your power tonic 'FZ-501', they supplied the Sisterhood with a substantial amount of funding. But unfortunately they ended up using it in ways that almost brought about a war that the Sisterhood was not yet prepared for."
"A religious organization..." Meokuro spoke, "Wait, you were part of the Order of Reyahm?!"
"Yes, Sister Yissa here is a half-Gerudo and half-Sheikah." Imono nodded, "Her father is a skilled scientist for the Order, and is the one who made the deal with me to purchase the power tonic. Though had I known they were going to use it on the false king like that I would never had allowed it."
"My father taught me a great deal of his work as I grew up with him in the Order, and while he still aligns with them, I decided to defect and join the Ebony Sisterhood as a true Gerudo." Yissa explained, "Mother Imono saw my skills with technology and biochemistry, so she had me temporarily work under you."
Imono narrowed her eyes, "You see Meokuro-dear, you've failed me one too many times as of late, allowing the underground laboratory to be destroyed, failing to stop the false king during his rampage, and now I find out you've been protecting the false king by keeping MAGIS-01 passive."
The Ebony Mother then pulled open her robe and showed she was holding the all-powerful Soulbinder sword, which was starting to be engulfed in red energy.
"I didn't introduce you to Dr. Yissa to be your apprentice, she's here to be your replacement."
Meokuro's eyes widened, her shaky legs started to back up from Imono and Yissa. She noted the Soulbinder sword by Imono's side and recalled what she heard before about the beast tamer 'Big G' Jousak being killed by that very sword as punishment for her own failures...
The scientist gulped nervously, looking over at Foluma who was looking to her worriedly as well. They were both in a very difficult situation; Foluma has owed everything to Meokuro for fixing her back when she had been crippled by the Lanmola, and she could understand what it felt like to be betrayed by others... Meokuro herself meanwhile was fascinated that Foluma was regaining her memories and wanted to learn more about it. The scientist had to admit she wasn't surprised that it was Link who managed to bring out her true self...
Meokuro turned to Imono and Yissa, realizing her time with the Sisterhood was at an end.
"Hmph, if that's how you're going to be..." Meokuro's goggles gave off a gleam as she snapped her fingers, causing the two Beamos Walkers in the room to activate, stand themselves up, and aim their laser sights directly on Mother Imono and Yissa, "Attack!"
"Useless." Yissa whispered, she as brought up her Magnet Gauntlet, giving off more magnetic waves that stopped the walkers in their place, and instead turned to set their sights on Meokuro herself, "My magnet technology allows me to take control of all of your creations."
"N-No... not my babies too!" Meokuro spoke, breaking out into a cold sweat.
"And once my work on these gauntlets are complete, I'll use them to take control of all your Walkers at once, and command them in the great war." Yissa spoke with an eerie gaze, "The false king, Lady Nabooru, the Hylians... we will spill their crimson blood onto Hyrule Field."
"This is insane..." Meokuro gulped.
"Now, as thanks for your hard work up until now..." Imono spoke, holding out the Soulbinder, "I shall give you a swift and painless death. You should be honored to be slain by the Gerudo King's weapon."
"And don't think you can just reactivate MAGIS-01's combat systems. My gauntlet will block that signal as well." Yissa spoke, leaning her head forward, "I'm looking forward to this. I've always wanted an in-depth examination of your insides, Master Meokuro."
"..." Meokuro stared down at the Soulbinder Imono was holding, then over to the Magnetic Gauntlet Yissa had on, then over to the two Beamos Walkers that Yissa had taken control of. While she had her Octo-Limb belt, Yissa could probably take control of that as well. It seemed like a hopeless situation...
...but then the scientist sported a grin, "Wiihiihihiii, well if you're as gifted of a scientist as you say Yissa, then you'll know one weakness magnets have..."
"...?" Yissa tilted her head.
Meokuro then took a magnetic bar from a nearby table and held it up to Yissa's gauntlet, and after a brief moment, the magnetic force that was holding Foluma in place suddenly went away.
"What?!" Foliuma exclaimed, looking down at herself, "Woah, I can move again?!"
Meokuro grinned, "When two equal magnetic poles repel each other, it disturbs the parallel alignment of the molecular magnets in the other. In turn, it cancels them both out!"
"Annoying..." Yissa said narrowing her eyes, "I'll have to fix that later."
"Now Foluma, get out of here!" Meokuro shouted to the girl.
"But... why are you helping me?" Foluma asked.
Meokuro paused as she recalled the day she fought King Link, and when the laboratory was blowing up, he had gone through the trouble to save her from dying in the destruction.
"...because you need my help." Meokuro spoke, "Being able to fix you was one my greatest accomplishments in science, but seeing you regain your lost memories was nothing short of a miracle. I won't allow you to lose yourself again. Now use your Run command and go find King Link, I know more than anyone that he can help protect you from these damn rebels!"
"A-Affirmative elite master of automation geniusness! And thank you!" Foluma said. Using her limbs, she managed to leap over Imono and Yissa and dash out of the lab room.
"Hmph, this is troublesome..." Imono spoke walking towards Meokuro, "To think the false king could even misled our dear loyal maid Sister MAGIS..." she glared at Meokuro angerly, "...but being a traitor to us will only result in her death, just as it will you right now."
"..." Meokuro said nothing, bur slowly moved away from Imono until her back was against the large control panel of the laboratory, and her hand discreetly moved towards a small valve on it.
"Now, it's time that you face your fate." Imono said bringing back the Soulbinder, ready to cut her up.
"Sorry Imono..." Meokuro grinned, "But as a scientist, I don't believe in fate!"
Suddenly she twisted the valve, causing a great amount of hot steam to shoot out from a nearby pipe and engulf the room. Imono and Yissa looked around in confusion as they heard something slide open and shut. Soon after that the heavy steam started to disappear, and the two of them saw Meokuro was gone! Yissa looked around and noted one part of the lab's wall that had a small open gap in it.
"So she installed an escape hatch in here, I've heard what a slippery woman she could be." spoke Yissa, "I apologize for not foreseeing this Mother Imono."
"No matter, she shall die soon enough." Imono spoke, "Now, is your little experiment ready?"
"Yes Mother Imono." nodded Yissa, "I'll start preparing it for the secret mission immediately."
"Very good, Gerudo Town will never see it coming." chuckled Imono, as she went on her way.
Foluma rushed down the halls of the Pyramid of Power. A loud alarm started going off throughout the place, and her remaining functional antennae could sense guards rushing around everywhere.
'I hated having to leave behind the supreme engineer Meokuro, but I have to find a way out!' Foluma thought, 'I can't fight at all, and if that Yissa woman finds me again I'll be stuck under her control!'
As she went down one hallway though, she felt a strange sensation.
"Wait a minute... my paranormal sensors are picking up something...?" Foluma muttered, her eyes widened, "Could it be her?"
Foluma looked left and right, before she went running down one hallway, focusing on the sensor. Some rebels saw her run past, but they weren't aware she was against them now and thought she was assisting in the search for the intruders.
"It's Lady Nabooru, kill her!" shouted some rebels, running towards Nabooru, Link and Aviel.
"Heh, just try it girls." Nabooru grinned, unsheathing her swords and slashing through both rebels' blades. They stared at their severed weapons for a second before Nabooru quickly kicked them both in the face, sending them falling to the ground out cold.
"So much for being discrete!" Link said blocking off a rebel's blade with a halberd he had obtained from a guard, then driving her backwards, "What's the plan now?"
"Just what we were going to do from the beginning, save Foluma and get the hell out of here!" Nabooru said, doing a jump kick to knock down a muscular rebel who had been wielding a mallet.
"Best plan I've heard all day!" Osena said, possessing the body of the muscular rebel and using her mallet to knock away the other opponents.
"But where could she be?" Aviel asked, popping out from behind the corner of a wall and shooting a Beamos Walker in the eye with a bomb arrow, causing it to explode and make the rebels near it back off, "Foluna, where are you?"
But then more Beamos Walkers burst through the smoke to go after Aviel. One focused on the group and started to charge up it's laser. They were about to run, but then they heard a voice shout out,
"Mistress Aviel, stay still!"
Suddenly a long extended limb went flying out and grabbed the Beamos Walker's head. The limb quickly gave it's head a twist which caused the laser to go off and blast the other walkers. That gave Link and Nabooru the chance to destroy it. They all then turned to see the extended limb belonged to a very familiar person.
"F-Foluma!" cried out Aviel, running up and hugging the maid with her bird wings, "I'm so happy to see yooooou!"
"Same here Mistress Aviel." Foluma said, smiling softly as she held her, "I'm so sorry about before."
"Foluma, long time no see!." Nabooru said with a smirk.
"It's you, Mistress Nabooru and..." she looked over at one strange person in rebel clothes. Her head tilted a bit as her antennae shifted, "Is... that you Master Link?"
"Hey Foluma." Link said sporting a sheepish grin and rubbing the back of his head, "I know this looks weird but-"
"Wait, hold on a sec." Foluma said, reaching up and groping at Link's top.
"Uh, what are you doing?" Link asked sweatdropping.
"Oh, they are fake." Foluma realized, "My bad."
Nabooru, Aviel and Osena all paused for a moment before they all faulted over.
"Eh, no big deal." Link said smiling, he brought a hand up to her cheek, "I'm just happy to see we got to you before you lost yourself Foluma."
There were small tears forming in Foluma's eyes as she smiled, "Believe me Master Link, I won't give my true self up for anything anymore... I understand that now."
"I'm glad everyone is a big happy family, but we gotta skedaddle!" Osena exclaimed, pointing out at some more walkers, "Here comes more of those Beamos things!"
"Right, let's retreat!" Nabooru said, as she, Link, Aviel, Osena and Foluma all ran off down the hallway before the Beamos Walkers could launch an attack.
It took some more fighting of both rebels and walkers, but the five soon managed to arrive at the main entrance of the Pyramid of Power. The door guard tried to intervene but was knocked out, allowing them all to get outside.
Nabooru took a deep breath of fresh air with relief, "Finally, now that we're out we can-"
"Uh, Nabooru?" Link spoke up, "We got company."
They saw the bridge to the other mountain that led back down to the desert was now blocked off by a bunch of rebels and a number of Lizalfos, the latter of which had on mind control helmets like what Meokuro once used to put Sheeva under her command.
At the front of the group though was a sight familiar to both Link and Nabooru, the tall black-armored Gerudo warrior they had meet in the Gerudo Fortress arena, Princess Ghilmarelm.
"Heh heh heh, end of the line for you all." Ghilmarelm spoke, folding her arms with a smirk.
"Uh oh, it's her again!" Link said. They turned back to the pyramid, only to see standing at the door was even more rebel Gerudo, along with the Elite Rebel Asaeku sporting a serious scowl, and standing beside her was the Ebony Mother Imono Dragmire herself.
"And her again." Nabooru spoke, looking to Asaeku, and recalling how she lost to her back in the attack on Gerudo Town which had resulted in her capture.
"Good to see you, former Grand Colonel." spoke Asaeku with a sinister smirk, "It seems you haven't learned from our last encounter."
"Yes, you all made a foolish decision to come here. All to save an empty husk of a woman." spoke Imono, looking to Foluma, "But this shall be the last decision you ever make."
"It's never a foolish decision to help our sisters." Nabooru said narrowing her eyes at Imono, "Foluma is one of us now, and we shall not lose her to the likes of you Imono!"
"...very well, then I shall take her back myself." Imono turned to Foluma, "MAGIS-01, as your supreme leader, I command you to come back to me. Your place is with the Ebony Sisterhood."
"I..." Foluma stammered, she wante to run, but a sensation deep inside was stopping her. She clutched at her head with a strained stare.
"I said, come to me MAGIS-01, this is a command from your master." Imono spoke.
"Foluma, don't listen to her!" Aviel pleaded.
"I..." Foluma paused, and stared up at Imono with deadpan eyes, "As you wish Mother Eclipsis."
"Wait Foluma snap out of it!" Osena said.
"Yeah, we didn't come all this way just to let you go back to this woman!" Nabooru snapped.
"I... no..." Foluma stammered, she could feel an instinct deep inside urging her to go to Imono's side. It was her programming from when Meokuro originally repaired her body. It wasn't too different in technology from the mind control helmets the monsters were wearing, and even now it was trying to force her to comply, "I can't... I must... error error error error error..."
"Foluma please, don't do it!" Aviel spoke desperately.
"Stop this and come back to my side MAGIS-01. You are an Elite Rebel, and you serve me and the Ebony Sisterhood." Imono spoke, "Don't forger what I did to save you."
"I..." Foluma spoke clutching at her head, unsure of who to listen to. She found herself turning to Link."M-Master Link, what... do I do...?"
Link stood silently, before shaking his head, "I'm not going to try and force you to do what I say, not again... All I want from you is to make the choice you truly think is right."
Foluma closed her eyes, as Link, Nabooru, Aviel and Osena all looked to her. She thought about the happy times she shared with them all, as well as the other people of Gerudo Town. She then reached into her pocket and griped at the key to the trinket she gave Esolu... There was a heavy silence in the area aside from the wind blowing past the gap between the mountains.
The maid then opened her eyes and spoke out to Imono,
"No... no I won't comply with your commands... not any longer!" she shouted out to Imono, "My place isn't with you anymore, it's with King Link, Aviel, Lady Nabooru and Es..." she paused, "...and my sisters!"
Aviel's eyes lit up at Foluma's response, while Link and Nabooru both turned to each other and grinned,. The rebels were all astonished at the surprising amount of emotion the maid servant had now. Everyone was so distracted by this that no one noticed even Ghilmarelm herself sported a light smirk at Foluma's words.
"After all I went through I wanted to run away from my past... to forget it all and never feel that pain again, even if it meant becoming an emotionless, obedient servant to you." Foluma spoke, "But the more time I've spent with Link, Aviel and the others, it's made me open up more and remember who I am. While it did bring back all those painful memories, those memories are all a part of me... and I don't want to forget them ever again!"
"That's the way to talk!" Aviel smiled brightly, she was especially happy to see she wasn't even calling them 'Master or Mistress' anymore.
"...are you forgetting what I did for you all those years ago?" Imono spoke, "I saved your life, and poured our resources into making it so you could function again. Without me, you would have been devoured by that Lanmola. Without me, you'd just be a helpless immobile stump of a woman. Without me, you'd be nothing!"
"...no..." Foluma muttered, clenching her fists, "The ones who fixed me back then was Dr. Eifou and the supreme engineer of awesomeness Meokuro. They're the ones who put their hard work into helping me live again. All you did was see me as a useful tool to your own ends! You didn't save me, you used me as a weapon to hurt my sisters!"
Some of the rebels all looked to each other, muttering in low voices at how Foluma had been used. For some of them, it felt similar to experiences they themselves went through...
"Hmph... so you truly are a lost cause." spoke Imono, "Then I shall simply do to you what that Lanmola would done..." she shouted out, "Rebels, attack!"
The rebels shouted out war cries as they and the monsters all charged at the five with their weapons.
"Lady Nabooru, Link... I'm sorry I put you all through this." Foluma said worriedly.
"Fear not Foluma, you did well to come to that decision." Nabooru said to the maid with a grin, "And we'll see to it you never have to live in that women's shadow again." the Gerudo leader then shouted out, "Everyone, now!"
Some shouting could be heard as the rebels all turned to see a group of Nabooru's soldiers coming up the mountain path at them. They all went into battle against the rebellion, with loud clashes of steel echoing across the two mountains.
Standing out from the soldiers was Nemisa, who leaped out and flipped through the air, delivering a flying kick into a Lizalfos and knocking it to the ground. A Moblin tried to grab at her, but she quickly backflipped over the monster and gave it a strong kick that sent it flying off the bridge to it's demise.
"Fight with all your might for our dear sister!" Nemisa shouted to the soldiers, before doing a rolling kick into a rebel. A huge hulking rebel tried to bash Nemisa with a battleaxe, but she split herself into two with her Four Bracelet, allowing her to knock the rebel down with the combined power of herself and Gemisa.
"You didn't think it was just us did you?" Nabooru smirked to Imono and Asaeku as the soldiers and rebels battled, "I always have a back-up plan."
"Hmph, Asaeku, deal with her." spoke Imono.
"Yes, it shall be a pleasure, Mother." Asaeku grinned, walking forward.
"Brigadier Aseaku..." Nabooru narrowed her eyes and gripped at her scimitars, prepared to fight Asaeku, "This has been a long time coming."
"Indeed, but this will be the day you finally fall, traitor." Asaeku spoke.
Meanwhile a solider ran right up to Link and handed him his equipment, which he took and equipped himself, "Aviel, Osena, keep Foluma safe for now." Link said, "I'll take on the Gerudo princess."
"Good luck Link!" Aviel nodded, whipping out her crossbow.
"Okay Princess Ghilmarelm," Link stepped up to the daughter of Ganondorf, "I'll be your opponent."
"Who are, wait... that shield..." Ghilmarelm spoke, looking at him closely, "Ah, so you are King Link!"
"Yeah, that's right." Link nodded, pulling off the Gerudo hood and veil he had been wearing, making the rebels all gasp out in surprise.
"Hm, it's a little odd to see you wearing women's clothing..." Ghilmarelm muttered scratching her chin.
"I don't wanna hear that from someone who thought they were a man their whole life!" Link exclaimed.
"Heh, very well. I've been looking forward to a rematch with you after our battle in the arena. I even have a new little trick in store for you." she grinned, pulling out the Trident of Darkness, "This outta be lots of fun!"
"Bring it then." Link said with a slight grin, as the two charged into battle.
Nabooru meanwhile stood before Asaeku with her twin scimitars drawn, ready to fight the Elite Rebel.
"So you still dare to try and fight me after last time?" Asaeku asked, "You've truly a fool Nabooru."
With that, Asaeku brought up her arms and thrust them out, and in a powerful surge of force, her body underwent an unusual change. Out from her sides grew four new muscular limbs. Each of the six arms now held a different majestic looking weapon; a silver broadsword, a golden scimitar, a long spear, a powerful battleaxe, a heavy iron mace, and a spike-covered shield. Each weapon was engulfed in a strange aura.
Asaeku then opened her eyes, showing them to now be silhouetted with an eerie golden gleam from the pupils. She thrust out all six limbs and let out a powerful war cry.
"With this, the Brace of Hotaig, I had obtained the power of the Gerudo goddess of war, and with it the six sacred weapons she wielded eons ago." Asaeku said, "Now bow Lady Nabooru, before one of the elite Gerudo goddesses that shall rule over Hyrule!"
Nabooru ignored her words and looked to the metal brace her opponent was wearing, "Listen Asaeku, that power you hold, you don't know what could happen if you try to misuse it! Believe me, I've seen from others what can happen!"
Asaeku grinned, "I am not afraid. I've been training here in this place, participating in rituals to break the control Hotaig has over the power of the six-armed warrioress. Now behold as I once again use it to crush you!"
'This is bad,' Nabooru thought, 'I didn't stand a chance against her during the fight in Gerudo Town before...' she took a breath and went into a fighting stance, 'But I shall not let myself fall again!'
With that, Nabooru charged at Asaeku, and brought her scimitars down at her. Asaeku countered with her spear, before coming at Nabooru with all six of her weapons swinging. Nabooru quickly used her twin blades to block off each swing that came at her, but it was clear Asaeku had the advantage in sheer strength and extra weapons.
Nabooru avoided a swipe of the ax and quickly dived and slid under Asaeku's legs, bring up her blades to slash her across the back, but Asaeku turned and repelled Nabooru back with her spiked shield. Nabooru recovered quickly, but was quickly put on the defensive, focusing on dodging each mighty swipe of Asaeku's war weapons.
Meanwhile, Link struck his sword at Ghilmarelm, who blocked it with her trident. Dark lightning that she inherited from Ganondorf surged out from her hands as she drove Link back with a swing. Link stepped back and fired off shock arrows from his bow to stun the Gerudo princess, but she side-stepped and knocked away each one that came at her.
Ghilmarelm swung up her hand and slammed it to the ground, causing a wave of lighting to come right at Link, but he brought up the Quake Medallion and slammed it to the ground, causing a shockwave of his own that repelled the attack.
"You're doing pretty well." Ghilamrelm smirked, she then noted the sword Link was holding, "That blade seems different from the one you fought me with before. What happened to the other one?"
Link gazed down, "It was destroyed when I tried to fight Imono back in the arena."
"A shame, it was a fine blade." Ghilmarelm said, lunging at Link with her trident, but he blocked her off with his shield, "Was it something important to you?"
"Yeah, it was a keepsake from someone who was like a mother to me." Link said, thinking about Kaira from the Era of Warriors, "I have no regrets though, as it helped me protect Nabooru back then."
"..,heh, that's the way to talk." smirked Ghilmarelm, as the two clashed against each other with their weapons, "You may be the false king, but I can't help but respect you." she looked to Foluma, "You even would risk your life to help protect that woman."
"You're wrong about that. It's not a risk, cause I'm not going to lose my life here." Link grinned, driving back Ghilmarelm and slashing at her, "I still got way more to do with my time so the Gerudo and Hyrule can have the peace and happiness I feel they deserve!"
"Alright then, prove that to me Link!" Ghilmarelm spoke, firing off energy into the air that sent dark lighting bolts down at Link. The young king quickly ducked and dodged each blast before coming at her again and clashing their weapons.
As they fought, Ghilmarelm started to feel a sensation within her, and Link noticed the dark aura that she was exerting.
"Greh heh heh... looks like it's finally kicking in." Ghilmarelm smirked, "The true force of the dark power my father passed down to me."
"What?" Link spoke, dodging a powerful swipe of Ghilmarelm's trident and taking a step back to see what she was going to do now.
"Behold Link, my newest and greatest power..." Ghilmarelm spoke, bringing up a hand engulfed in dark energy, "The one that'll finally defeat you!"
Suddenly, a dark bolt of lightning came down and struck Ghilmarelm, causing her body to be completely engulfed in an ominous cloud of black and purple energy. Link stood in a fighting pose, wondering what this was going to be...
It was then a large dark orange colored leg stomped out of the energy cloud, a clawed hand emerged out and clenched it's fingers, and the cloud soon blew away after, revealing what had become of Princess Ghilmarelm,
She now resembled that of a giant bipedal crocodile with orange and black scales. Even though she was slouching, the Gerudo princess towered over Link at a massive fifteen feet, with arms and legs that bore sharp claws at the end. Her long crocodile snout was lined with dozens of razor sharp teeth, and her eyes were a piercing blank yellow. She had two sets of horns curling out from the sides of her head, with long and wild red hair flowing out behind her. She also had a long reptilian tail behind her that lashed out left and right. She wore a gold, jewel-decorated chest plate top as well as a matching gold belt around her waist, with a sash hanging down the front of it.
'What the hell?' Link thought to himself in shock, 'Ghilmarelm has a demon beast form like Ganon?!'
He thought about when he confronted Ganondorf in the dark future, and when he had turned into a giant minotaur-like boar in the final battle at his castle. Link had been so overwhelmed by the monster's strength he had briefly lost the Master Sword. And then there was when he was in the Era of Warriors and had seen that Ganondorf become a much more beast-like monster that required the effort of everyone to take down.
"Heh heh heh..." Ghilmarelm chuckled, bringing up her clawed hands which were engulfed in dark lightning, "Yes! My training has paid off, I'm rockin' this new bod! We'll see how you fare against me now!"
"Whoo! Go Prince Ghilmarelm!" cheered out the rebels, "Stick it to that false king!"
"By the goddesses..." Aviel gasped out in shock, huddling close to Foluma.
"..." but as Link stared up silently at Ghilmarelm, he couldn't help but notice one odd thing; namely the chest plate. Maybe he was just seeing things, but it seemed as though it was holding two very round objects inside them.
"What is it, intimidated by my new form?" Ghilmarelm smirked.
"Well it is pretty intimidating..." Link admitted, then pointed up at her chest, "But why do you have... those?"
"Those? What the heck are you- HUH?" Ghilmarelm exclaimed, looking down at her chest to see the two large mounds encased tightly within the metal top. She reached up and grabbed at them, alarmed by how soft they were to touch, "W-Why do I have these all of a sudden?!"
"That's a really good question considering crocodiles don't produce milk." Nabooru said sweatdropping, "You sure that form of yours is complete Princess...?"
"This can't be, I've spent years researching my father's notes on how to become my demon beast form!" Ghilmarelm stated, she poked at her right breast and gasped out a little, making a bizarrely high-pitched yelp from the sensitivity of it, "Kyaa!"
"That was oddly cute." Link said sweatdropping.
Ghilmarelm looked over to the rebels who all looked oddly at her new form, all of them whispered to each other,
"So the rumors are true, the prince is a woman!"
"Was Mother Imono lying to us all this time?"
"That kinda takes away from how menacing she looks..."
"How'd she get such big ones?"
The large reptilian woman shook her head, "N-No matter, this form shall be more than enough to defeat you!" Ghilmarelm stated, quickly turning to Link and causing her chest to wobble a bit. She snarled and bared her claws, "Face me, boy!"
"Well breasts on a reptile monster or not..." Link muttered, shaking his head and going into a fighting stance, "Let's see how tough you are!"
Ghilmarelm rushed at Link who brought his sword at her, and the demon beast swung her reptilian claws to clash against the sword. This was reminding Link way too much of his fight with Ganon in the dark future, bringing back some of those painful memories of everything he had taken from Link. But the young king gritted his teeth and fought back against her.
"Hyaaaa!" Link shouted out and blocked off one of the claw swipes, before swinging his sword to hit Ghilmarelm on her arm, but his sword only bounced off of it, "Huh?"
"Heh, this scaled body is harder than any armor. You can't hope to hurt me!" Ghilmarelm smirked as she drove Link back with a swing of her lightning-infused claw, before summoning dark energy into her tail and bashing into Link with it, sending him flying back.
"Ugh... as weird as she looks, this power of hers is no joke." Link groaned, rushing forward once again.
"Link..." Foluma whispered as she watched the young king struggle to fight Ghilmarelm and her new power, "He's really doing all of this for me...?"
"That's right." Aviel nodded, nimbly using her crossbow to attack any rebels that came at the two of them, "He cares about you Foluma, and wants you to find your true happiness someday!"
"Yes, I think I'm starting to fall for him more now!" giggled Osena, quickly flying through an attacking rebel to give her chills, before Aviel bashed her across the face to knock her down.
"..." Foluma stood silently, thinking deeply to herself.
"Aaargh!" Nabooru shouted out as she skidded backwards to the ground by another swing of Asaeku's battleaxe. The Gerudo leader gasped as she glared out at Asaeku wielding all six of Hotaig's weapons with a wide grin.
"I'll give you credit Nabooru, you've lasted longer than any monster I've fought with this power." Asaeku said, "Good thing, as I intend to draw out your suffering as long as possible."
"I'm telling you Asaeku..." Nabooru spoke, going back into a fighting stance, "Hotaig sealed that brace away for a reason. If you keep going down this path there will be consequences for you!"
Asaeku didn't listen and lunged out, attacking Nabooru with her six weapons. Nabooru charged forward and darted through her rapid attacks, dodging and ducking each swing. As the spear came down at her, Nabooru was able to duck down to avoid it before slashing the rebel across the side, but then Asaeku grinned and bashed Nabooru to the ground with her iron mace.
"That only applies to those who are too weak to wield Hotaig's power." Asaeku said, "Just like that fool Runesa who couldn't properly control the Sand Rod."
"Hmph, I had a feeling it was you damned rebels who were behind the Sand Rod's destruction." Nabooru said, "I don't want to even think of what horrible fate that poor woman endured, but if you keep going this way things will be even worse for you Asaeku!"
"All this is futile Lady Nabooru." Imono spoke up, "You're only wasting your time trying to save that traitorous maid. And soon your people shall be the ones who pay the price for it."
"What do you mean?" Nabooru gasped out.
Link was then knocked backwards by another of Ghilmarelm's attacks. He backed up by Nabooru, Aviel, Foluma and Osena's side and gasped. The large reptilian woman was approaching him as Asaeku was coming from the other side. The five of them stood with uncertainly of what to do...
But just then, Link could both hear a voice coming from his ocarina.
"Link... Link... this is Saria, can you hear me?"
"Saria?" Link spoke, "Wait Ghilmarealm, time out!" he held up his hand to the demon beast woman, who stopped in her movements. She stood upright and folded her arms patiently. Seeing the princess was giving him an opportunity to speak, Link held up his ocarina, "Saria, what's going on?"
"We just got a report from some patrolwomen that a whole gang of monsters are coming right to Gerudo Town!" Saria said, "The guards said they look dangerous!"
"What?!" Link exclaimed, "Nabooru, we gotta get out of here and help them!"
"Damnit, you're right." Nabooru said, she called out to the soldiers, "Everyone, retreat! Back to Gerudo Town immediately!"
The soldiers all nodded without hesitation, fending off their opponents and started to cross the bridge to run away.
"You all shall not escape. Hold them back!" Imono commanded to the rebels.
"Right, we won't let them get away!" a rebel guard stated.
She and the others all tried to block Link and the others off at the end of the bridge, but the scaly arm of Ghilmarelm came up in front of them.
"Stand down, all of you!" the giant demon beast spoke out to the rebels.
"What? But they're the enemy and-" spoke up a guard, but was quickly silenced by Ghilmarelm scowling down at her with menacing reptilian eyes.
"I said stand down." she growled.
The rebel guards were alarmed by this, but complied and stood still as Link, Nabooru, Aviel, Nemisa, Osena, Foluma and the soldiers all ran past them and back down the mountain path to get to Gerudo Town. Link stopped for a brief moment to look back at Ghilmarelm, before nodding and running off down the road with the others.
"Damn that woman..." scowled Imono as she watched Ghilmarelm walk across the bridge to the Pyramid of Power. The Gerudo princess' body started to give off a dark glow as she changed back into a normal Gerudo human once again.
Imono shouted out to her "What do you think you're doing?! We had both the false king and Nabooru in our grasp and you let them get away!"
"Because they're going to save the town from your cowardly assault!" Ghilmarelm stated angerly, "I told you before, I will not condone you attacking the weak!"
"You fool. You're supposed to be the champion of our people who will lead them to saving our true king and ruling over all Hyrule, but you keep giving our enemies the chance to survive!" Imono spoke, "You're only delaying the inevitable, soon theor blood will be spilled, and we will rule a new world where only the strong survive!"
"There's no shame in being weak Mother Imono." Ghilmarelm said, "Not all are fit or desire to be hardened warriors, and even they all deserve a chance at life."
"...hmph, it seems that woman was more of an influence on you than I thought." Imono scowled, "Well no matter. When they witness what Dr. Yissa has prepared for them, all of their lives will be forfeit." she turned and walked into the pyramid, "Come troops, we have further preparations to make for that day."
"..." Ghilmarelm narrowed her eyes down at Imono, before following after her into the Pyramid of Power along with the guards.
And that ends this chapter. While the group has saved Foluma, it seems a new crisis is coming to Gerudo Town. What kind of threat is it, and what will someone have to do to put a stop to it? Find out next time!
Thank you all for your continued support! Please leave a like, follow, comment or just send a PM if you're shy or have more questions, your feedback is always encouraged!