Aloy and Link now stand before the open doorway that the now dead Yiga was guarding. The corrupted Yiga had managed to kill two of its fellow Yiga before being struck down by the last Yiga. As that Yiga stood there staring down at the renegade Yiga, it was Link's turn to kill him with first an arrow through the chest, puncturing his heart, and another through the throat, puncturing through his windpipe all the way out through his nape to sever his vertebrae. This Yiga vanished in a flurry of notes as he remained lucid long enough to enact such a spell. Next, Link told Aloy that he wanted to check out to see what was up above in that room and went. He later returned by jumping down from above to tell her about the piles of bananas up there and a chest with a topaz in it.
Now, they enter the doorway and walk down a hallway and turn left, then enter another room. There are canvas platforms around the walls with lanterns above them. Some even have what look to be targets or possibly drums on them. At the back is a railing with a Duplex Bow lying there. But in the center is a raised platform with another smaller raised platform on top with a kneeling bench before it that has a chest upon that smaller platform. Inside it are more Mighty Bananas.
"Man, these guys are really hung up on bananas," Aloy chuckled.
Link agrees, then directs her attention to the half buried treasure chests around them. He takes out the Sheikah Slate and uses Magnesis to pull them out. Two of them contain a topaz and the other a ruby.
Aloy looks around the room while using her focus and ends up seeing a large purple square sparkling in a wall, along with purple sparkles in the air that are the telltale sign of human interaction.
"I found something," Aloy said, causing Link to walk over and inquiry. "I can see disturbances in the environment through my focus. And this wall looks funny too." She touches it. "It's metal."
Link tells her to stand back as he has the Sheikah Slate out once again. He uses Magnesis on it and moves the slate around in the attempt to manipulate the wall. It suddenly turns on a pivot so that one half is inside and the other half is outside. They can see past it that it leads to the outside.
The duo go outside and see that they are surrounded by canyon walls with rooves built into it that Aloy finds to look unusual. Ropes with pieces of red notes hang from them, fluttering in a breeze. In the center of the area is a huge perfectly round pit. Judging from the sky it is also close to sunset.
"Hey!" A man yelled in a rough baritone.
They look around and are startled by the sudden appearance of a Yiga. Although he is masked like the other Yiga, his attire includes a high white and yellow collar, and a mask with flames set around the edge. Moreover, his physique is not like the others either as he has a potbelly and disproportionately short stubby legs.
"Who the heck are you and what are you doing in my napping spot?!" The Yiga demanded.
"You're napping spot?" Aloy winced wryly as she does not know what to make of this particular Yiga in general since he seems almost . . . whimsical.
"Wait a minute," the Yiga exclaimed as he momentarily rubs his mask as if to see better while leaning toward them. "That thing on his hip . . . Is that . . . Could it be a Sheikah Slate? If it's a Sheikah Slate . . . Then that means . . . " He then gives a start and points ardently. "Yeah. It's you! You're that Link guy I've been looking for! And you, you're that girl with the freaky ears who's been helping him!"
"Where I come from, people recognize me for my hair," Aloy quipped.
"What luck!" The Yiga gloats as he spreads his arms wide. "My scouts are out in the field looking high and low, but you two just wander into my hideout!"
"That's because you took something that doesn't belong to you," Aloy retorted. "And who are you anyway? You're not like the other Yiga we encountered."
"Oh excuse me," the Yiga said apologetically. "I haven't introduced myself yet. I am the leader . . . Of the Yiga Clan!" He then starts doing poses. "The strong! The burly! The one! The only!" He then spins around and stops to take on a battle pose. "Master Kohga!" As his voice echoes off the cliffs. "Now, prepare yourselves."
He then levitates away from them while spinning.
"Is this guy for real?!" Aloy exclaimed with bewilderment as she takes her spear out.
Kohga puts up a blue forcefield, which next falls to pieces and disappears as he makes a spherical stone with a Yiga Eye on it appear above him. He then sends it flying toward them, causing Link and Aloy to jump away to opposite sides.
"Alright so we're going to be in for a bit of a fight, I get it," Aloy quipped.
Aloy tries to run toward Kohga, but he is too fast as he spins away from her and puts up another shield like before and creates another stone like before, but Link manages to hit him with an arrow to disorient Kohga, causing him to drop the stone upon himself so that he ends up burying himself headfirst into the ground.
"Gotcha!" Aloy yelled as she and Link run toward him and begin hacking and stabbing the leader of the Yiga.
But Kohga pulls his head out of the ground and twirls away from them.
"Wow, that guy's pretty tough!" Aloy marveled with begrudging respect. "I think it's his outfit that's protecting him. It felt like trying to rip a Longleg's bellows."
Once again, Kohga tries to pull the same technique on them and once again he gets hit with an arrow to fall headfirst into the ground to make him temporarily vulnerable to the duo's direct attacks.
After freeing himself, Kohga twirls away to hover over the pit and starts shaking his fists and stamping his feet in mid-air.
"So he's able to float in the air like that then!" Aloy marveled.
Kohga makes two Yiga stones appear on either side of him.
"Oh, yeah he's really angry now," Aloy quipped.
Kohga forms a blue forcefield around himself, then it falls away as he begins winding his arms around from top to bottom in a counterclockwise direction, causing those stones to move in that direction around him. Not wanting him to successfully launch those stones at them, Aloy releases an arrow into him just as one of those stones is almost above him. That stone falls onto him, causing Kohga to go flying toward them and get buried headfirst into the ground once again. And again, Link and Aloy hack and stab him. Only to no avail as his suit is just too tough to rupture. Link breaks an ancient spear on him. Kohga frees himself once more and tries that same dual Yiga stones once again, and once again his attempt gets broken, but by Link armed with a Duplex bow this time as he had been expecting that attack. And again, Kohga comes flying toward them to land head first into the ground for Link, now armed with an ancient short sword, and Aloy to attempt to hack and stab, despite his supertough outfit. That still did not stop them from being able to hurt him as each of their attacks left the Yiga master winded.
Kohga spins back to hover over the pit once again and this time his tantrum is even more dramatic.
"Get ready cause he's gonna do something else now," Aloy said as she has her sharpshot bow out this time, ready to let him have it with ice arrows.
Kohga forms a blue forcefield around himself. Unlike before, the forcefield remains up and from seemingly out of thin air like the those Yiga stones, an even larger sphere appears. This one of metal and with spikes on it.
"Wow, that looks like it could do a lot of damage," Aloy fretted as she puts her bow up, needing to move quickly for when that thing comes flying.
And fly towards the duo it does, causing them to jump aside in the opposite directions to narrowly avoid getting hit by that huge sphere. Upon crashing, the sphere is destroyed. No sooner was that destroyed than another one appears.
"Link, it's metal!" Aloy exclaimed.
Link is quick to take out the Sheikah Slate, bring up the Magnesis rune, and capture that sphere. Link hits Kohga with it, first destroying his blue forcefield and then hitting him with it so that the metal sphere ends up bursting and disappears, leaving Kohga stunned. But the Yiga Master remains afloat over the pit. Kohga tries that same technique once again, and once again Link uses that metal sphere against him.
This time, Kohga flies away from the pit and hits the ground. Slowly, painfully, he gets up while clasping his shoulder.
"Who would've thought," the Yiga Master gasped, "I'd be done in like this . . . And by this guy and girl, of all people."
He starts throwing a temper tantrum. "You think I'm just going to let this stand?! Do you?!" His bellowing echoing off the canyon walls.
"Pretty emotional isn't he?" Aloy quipped.
Kohga is quick to rein in his temper. "I almost lost my temper there."
"Ahm, almost?" Aloy said dryly. "I'd hate to see what you'd be like if you really did lose your temper."
Kohga rasps a sigh. "What a pain . . . I can't go out this way. What to do, what to do . . . ?"
"How about you just lie down and take a nap?" Aloy shot back.
"Shut up, round ears!" Kohga snapped, then gets a start of triumph. "Ha! I got it!" And starts to laugh maniacally.
"I wonder what he got?" Aloy mused to Link. "The punchline to a joke he was told earlier?"
Kohga calms himself and folds his arms in a superior manner. "I need to bust out my serious moves . . . A secret technique taught by my father's mother's father! It will . . . destroy you!"
"You're a pretty amusing guy, you know that, Kohga," Aloy quipped. "I wish the last guy I fought with back in my world was as amusing as you." As she thinks of Helis.
"This is the end!" Kohga ranted as he points ardently at the duo, then clasps his hands together in prayer as he holds his forefingers up. A rumbling is heard, causing the duo to look around in concern.
"I got a bad feeling about this," Aloy fretted.
A metal spiked sphere appears up in the air between Kohga and the duo, but so much larger. It then drops, blocking off all view of Kohga.
"Ah, Link?! Sheikah Slate at the ready!"
Kohga laughs, only to stop with a sense of surprise. "Maybe it's just a tad too big. Are you still over there?"
"Yes we are!" Aloy called back as she feels a sense of both concern and humor.
"And pretty soon you'll both be gone!" Kohga exclaimed triumphantly. "And not just from my line of sight! Only the leader of the Yiga Clan can use this secret technique . . . it is . . . the ultimate-"
Only to stop as the sphere begins rolling toward the Yiga Master. The whole ridiculousness of the situation causes Aloy to start sputtering as she is on the verge of laughing. Kohga is heard screaming and the sphere steamrolls over him and into the pit behind him, taking him down with him. Aloy fights to contain the laughter wanting to burst out of her.
"Coward! I shall be remembered!" Kohga was heard yelling as his voice begins to rapidly grow distant. "The Yiga Clan will track you to the ends of Hyrule!"
A distant crash is heard from the pit below, to be instantly followed by the sound of gales of laughter echoing off the canyon walls as Aloy doubles over and falls to the ground while clutching at her belly. Tears stream down her distorted face as she lies there in a fetal position, shaking with each bellow of laughter.
"Wha-What . . . ?! Wha-What . . . was . . . that?!" She managed to exclaim breathily. "Wa-Was that . . . g-guy . . . f-for real?!"
She continues to bellow with laughter some more. Eventually, she calms and gets up on her knees while still bent over.
"Aaaah . . . ! My stomach . . . It hurt . . . It hurts to laugh . . . ! I . . . I think I . . . pissed myself!"
She notices Link standing over her with a deadpan expression while now holding a golden helmet in hand that has three rows of what look to be sapphire jewels.
"Oh come on!" Aloy rasped. "That . . . had to have been . . . the most ridiculous guy . . . we have ever . . . encountered!"
Link kneels down slight while extending his hand for Aloy to take. She grabs ahold of his hand and he pulls her up as she struggles to stand. She feels exhausted over that laughing spurt. She again snickers over what had just happened.
"H-Hey, Link," she finally sighed. "Let's go and see . . . if that Gerudo e-escaped. What was . . . her name again?"
Link tells her Barta.
"Oh yeah, that's right," Aloy sighed. "I . . . haven't laughed that hard since I was a kid." Then takes a deep breath and sighs. "So that's the Thunder Helm . . . Okay then," as she begins walking slowly toward where they came out of, "let's go and see if Barta got out."
Link follows after her. Aloy takes one last look back at the pit, then snickers and sputters and ends up giggling once again.
They return inside all the way back to where they first entered and meet Barta. Only to find the cell empty.
"I guess she really could take care of herself after all," Aloy mused. "Let's head back to Gerudo Town."
Link takes out the Sheikah Slate and let's Aloy hold one end of it, then selects the Dago Chisay Shrine and they warp to there. They can see that the sun is an hour away from setting over the seemingly infinite Gerudo Desert behind Gerudo Town. The watcher still stands there staring at the entrance.
"You're still here?" Aloy mused, startling the watcher.
"Yes, and I still am searching for that male who managed to get in there," he said intently.
"Well, good luck," Aloy quipped as she looks at Link. "We need to talk once we're away from here."
Once far away enough, Aloy says to Link, "I'll go first and enter the town. Then you walk past the entrance over to the other side and change so that you can return and enter. That way, you won't arouse suspicion."
Link agrees and Aloy leaves. She enters Gerudo Town and waits in the town square as she watches through her focus, Link walking along and finally passes the entrance and keeps going to the other side of the wall. She watches as the distant figure of him seen through the buildings changes into the Gerudo outfit. He comes walking and soon enters the town and Aloy shuts her focus off.
"Glad you could make it," Aloy said. "Now let's go see Riju."
The duo walk across the plaza and up the stairs into the palace. The throne is empty, but Buliara is still standing next to it.
"If you are looking for Lady Riju," she said, "she's on the second floor. Normally, people aren't allowed into her sleeping quarters, but she has given the both of you permission it seems . . . Be on your best manners." As she taps the floor fiercely with her sword. "If she deems you both to be a disturbance to her, it will not end well for either of you."
"Understood," Aloy said, then turns to the stairs and turns on her focus and looks up to see someone directly above her. "Is her sleeping quarters up there?"
"Yes," Buliara answered.
Aloy and Link walk toward the stairs, with Aloy taking one set and Link taking the other. They arrive at the top near a guard and they go outside onto a balcony that has stairs leading upward at an opposite diagonal to another balcony where Riju stands looking out over the town. They go up to her from either side and meet up. Behind her is her bedroom where a queen bed is in the center with curtains to pull around it and streams of water flowing throughout the room.
"I've been waiting for you," Riju said. "Oh, neither of you needn't say a word. As the chief of the Gerudo, I can sense the power of the heirloom, especially from Link since he has possession of it. I know you've both succeeded! I am, as you have no doubt noticed, still but a child."
"Yeah, you are pretty small for a Gerudo," Aloy quipped.
Riju takes on a pondering stance. "The people look on me with nothing but warmth in their eyes, but even this brings me some pain, I must admit . . . I've tried so hard to be worthy of their love, to be a worthy chief . . . and to prove to myself that I was worthy, too. When my family heirloom was stolen, I felt as though a shadow had fallen over me . . ."
"Riju, what was your mother like?" Aloy asked.
"She was a strong chief. And yet she was kind. The Gerudo loved and respected her. When she died, most Gerudo wept openly while the rest fought back their tears, like myself. They claimed that they felt as if they had lost their mother."
"If it makes you feel any better, Riju," Aloy began empathetically, "Back in my world, there is a tribe called the Carja. Their capital is called Meridian and they are ruled over by a Sun-king. The previous Sun-king had my people and others captured and thrown into a placed called the Sun-ring where machines brutally killed innocent people in the belief that it would appease the machines. This didn't work though, but that never stopped him from continuing his atrocities. He even had his eldest son killed for questioning his practice. His other son, Avad, escaped and raised a rebellion that saw the successful overthrow and death of his father. Avad was crowned their Sun-king and he began a policy to reverse all of what his father had done. He still feels that he must always have to prove his worth to his people to show that he is a good Sun-king. Now compare Sun-king Avad's situation to your own: your mother was loved and the only reason you replaced her was that she simply died."
"That is indeed a grim story, Aloy," Riju said thoughtfully. "That makes my burden seem almost trivial . . . Yes, your arrival in the midst of all this must be the work of Lady Urbosa . . . Now, please give me the helmet."
Link hands Riju the Thunder Helm. She examines it for a moment, then puts it on. The helmet proves somewhat big as it ends up covering most of her face so that only her mouth is to be seen.
"Um. How do I look?" Riju inquired.
The duo are silent as they glance between themselves for a moment. That is when Aloy notices that Link has taken on that faraway look once again.
He's remembered something! Aloy noted inwardly.
"What's wrong?" Riju asked. "You're just staring . . . Anyway, what matters now is . . . How . . . How is it?! Do I look all right?"
"It's a tad big," Aloy winced whimsically.
Riju stands there silently. "You don't say," she finally answered dryly as she adjusts the Thunder Helm, then more seriously. "The threat Divine Beast Vah Naboris poses has only grown since we began searching for the heirloom. I believe that Gerudo Town itself may be in danger before too long . . . As chief, and as Gerudo, I must find some way to stop that thing before it threatens my people. Will you two help me?"
Link exclaims of course.
"As will I," Aloy added. "After all, we did say that we want to get aboard Naboris."
Riju chuckles. "Who would have thought that, just before such a momentus battle . . . hearing a simple, confident pledge of support from you two would be what puts me at ease? I'll head out now. Let's meet up at the lookout post south of town. There's only one way to get close to Naboris, and that's with the help of a sand seal. The lookout post isn't too far from town, but you should take a sand seal there. You can get some practice in that way. I'll be waiting for you with my favorite sand seal, Patricia." Then adjusts the Thunder Helm. "Still . . . It really is a little big."
