Time for the second part of Togau's new story. Having been changed into a strange creature, what can be done for her, and can anything be done...?
"This is... I don't even know what to say..." Nabooru said, standing in shock as she, Link, Saria, Aviel, Nemisa and Kesuta, along with Korume, Sarami and Reirousa had all gathered, and stood to see Togau in her house, now in such a strange form. The Gerudo rancher has mysteriously become a creature with a human upper body, but with horns growing out of her head, the eyes and teeth of a lion, and even more oddly the lower body of a horse. Link and Saria had done what they could to help get her down onto the ground floor of her house, as shaken as she was, and helped her to get used to standing on her four legs before the others arrived.
"Togau, just what happened to you...?" Nemisa exclaimed.
"I don't know..." Togau said, looking down at her body, "I was just putting on a headdress thing I got a hold of a while back and the next thing I know I turned into this... lion.. horse... thing-a-ma-jigger!"
"From the looks of things, Togau has been transformed into some kind of Lynel." Nabooru realized after a careful observation.
"A Lyle-what now?" Aviel asked in confusion.
"A Lynel, it's a large beast creature; indigenous to locations like Death Mountain, as well as High Gerudo Plains." Nabooru explained, "They're natural born competitive warriors, but very dangerous. They tend to attack any other creature they see for either hunting or just a battle challenge."
"I've seen a few of them during my seven year journey." Link said, "But I generally avoided battling them. Didn't know they were in Hyrule as well."
"Hmm.." Sarami said, examining Togau's body over carefully, "Aside from the obvious changes, there doesn't seem to be anything physically wrong with you, you're quite healthy." she then took a second to lift up Togau's new tail and examine behind her.
"H-Hey, watch back it back there!" Togau exclaimed with a mortified look on her face.
"You seem quite healthy back here as well." Sarami nodded with a slight giggle.
"Hey, if it makes you feel any better, you look like you got a tough hide." Reirousa nodded with her arms folded, "You could probably take a spear to the stomach and not even flinch!"
"Uh thanks... I think?" Togau said sweatdropping.
"I'm definitely sensing a strange power coming from you..." whispered Korume, holding her hands out at Togau, reading her energy.
"Yeah, it seems there's a curse on you of some kind..." Kesuta said doing the same.
"You don't think that headdress works like my Roc's Wings do you?" Aviel asked the twins, holding up the feathered sleeves on her arms, "Maybe you can just change yourself back by concentrating really hard, Togau?"
"No, this power is something else," Korume clarified, "Something stranger... and yet somewhat familiar..."
"Togau, are you doing okay...?" Saria asked, walking up to Togau and placing a hand on her arm.
Togau looked down at Saria nervously, "I.. um... reckon course I'm fine! Na ha ha!" she said with a toothy grin, but showing her lion fangs in the process, startling some of the others. She quickly covered her mouth up upon realizing how weird it was. She took a long look at Link who was looking back at her back with concern in his eyes, making her feel even more embarrassed.
It was then Link realized something, "Togau, you said this happened when you put on a headdress?"
"Yeah, what about it?"
"How did it feel when you put it on?"
"Like it was pressing itself onto my head, it was pretty painful and horrifying..." she shivered.
"Try this then, reach behind your head and pull at where the headdress was."
"What, like this?" Togau asked, reaching back and grabbing behind her head.
"No no, hold on, like this." Link said, walking up to her and putting his hands behind her ears and grabbing at her skin.
"H-Hey, what are ya doin'?!" exclaimed Togau, turning bright red at Link being so close and grabbing at her head, she could feel his gentle breath as he was so close to her.
"Trying to see if I can take off the headdress..." Link said, staring at her intently.
His hands wandered around until they rubbed against the back of ears, making Togau shake a little in nervousness. She felt some strange urges going through her in that moment, she wasn't sure what it was, but it wasn't long until she couldn't take it anymore and impulsively swung her head down and up, smacking Link with her horns and sending him flying backwards across the room and bumping into Reirousa, who caught him in her arms.
"Ack, sorry Link! Are you okay?!" Togau exclaimed.
"Woah, nice one Togau, you got some distance there!" Reirousa said.
"That ain't something fer me to be proud of!" Togau shouted in frustration.
"So just what was it you were trying to do?" Nabooru asked Link.
"From the way she described the sensation, it was pretty similar to my own masks." Link said, getting down from Reirousa's arms, "I was trying to remove the headdress from Togau like I used to."
"Wait, your... own masks?" Nemisa asked, "You mean you used to own something like Togau's headdress?"
"It was during my seven-year journey." Link said, "I had fallen through a secret passage and was pulled into a strange world called Termina."
"Termina... now where have I heard that name before...?" Nabooru muttered to herself in thought.
"While I was there, I was cursed by..." he paused, "...a misguided person, and was transformed into a Deku Scrub."
Needless to say, Saria and the Gerudo were in shock again by what Link said.
"A Deku Scrub? You mean like the ones from Kokiri Forest?" Saria exclaimed.
"Yeah, I admit I was pretty horrified about it originally, but it came with some interesting skills I couldn't do as a Hylian. I eventually got the hang of it and worked on finding a way to change back." Link said, "In fact, let me try something."
With that, he pulled out his Fairy Ocarina and put it to his lips, and started playing a soft and soothing melody. It was a very familiar sensation to Aviel, Nemisa, Reirousa and Togau.
"Hey... I remember this song..." Aviel said with a relaxed look in her eyes, while Nemisa was unable to help herself and slowly started dancing around the room to the music.
"Hey, that song sounds nice..." Saria said smiling, "What is it exactly...?"
"This is the Song of Healing, it's what I used to soothe the souls of others." Link said, as he continued the song.
As the melody played, Nabooru found herself closing her eyes, absorbing the melody in her ears as she thought of memories of her past, namely someone walking away from her as she reached out to them. She then took a heavy sigh and shook off those thoughts, focusing on what was going on at that very moment with Togau.
Togau meanwhile had her eyes closed, listening to the music as she herself thought of past memories; ones like her father's death, then her sister Murin marrying Talon and having Malon, her sister then showing off her family to her mother, and the beautiful smile her mother made in reaction. Then her thoughts went to her sister's own death after that, and her mind wandered back to something Talon once told her some time after her sister's passing...
Flashback
"Hey Togau, what's got you mopin' around here fer?" Talon of Lon Lon Ranch asked, walking up to a young Togau who was sitting back against a barn, pulling absentmindedly at the grass.
"Oh uh, sorry bro... guess I was just thinkin' bout sis..."
"Ah yeah, Murin was such a sweetheart, goddesses rest her soul." he said, pausing on that thought for a second, "Listen, I know it's gotcha down, but there's no need to take it out on the grass!" he chuckled.
"So how come you aren't sad? Don't you miss her at all?" Togau asked.
"Course I miss her, but I can't let that drag me down forever. She wouldn't want me going around mopin' like that!" Talon nodded.
"I guess..." Togau muttered.
Talon could tell she was taking her sister's death badly, but had a way to cheer his little sister-in-law up.
"Tell ya what Togau, remember that smile your Ma made when Murin showed Malon off to her?" he asked her.
"Course reckon I did!" Togau nodded, thinking back to that time she saw her mother's smile, "It was the first time I ever saw her smile like that, I'll never forget it..."
"Well, maybe you outta try smiling like that too! Even in the bad times when life's got you feeling down, it'll perk you right up! I'm sure Murin would like to see you smiling as she's lookin' down at ya from above!" Talon suggested.
Togau paused, looking up at her brother-in-law, then up to the sky, seeing some clouds overhead. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before speaking again.
"Y-Yeah... yer right bro... in fact you're really right!" Togau said, looking to him and sporting a big grin,"I need ta stop sulkin' and get on with my life!"
"That's my sis!" snickered Talon with a big smile of his own, "Now come on, let's go check on Malon!"
"Alright!" Togau nodded, getting up and following after him.
Togau couldn't help but smile back in reality after thinking of those happy times. She then looked down at herself and saw she was still a Lynel. She wasn't sure what she expected to happen, but instead continued to think about what Talon had told her...
"Hmm, it didn't work..." Link muttered.
"So what were you trying to do just now?" Nabooru asked Link.
"I was trying to to see if I could remove a cursed spirit from inside her." Link said.
Everyone gasped out in unison at Link's words, Aviel in particular yelped out and hugged Sarami with her bird wings.
"A-A spirit?!" Aviel exclaimed, recalling her past trauma from when the palace had been haunted.
"You sayin' you think I got some kind of ghost inside of me?" Togau exclaimed.
"Yeah, what happened to you sounds very similar to when I was first transformed into a Deku Scrub." Link said, "I eventually met someone who taught me this song to soothe regretful souls and allowed them to pass on to the world of spirits, and their bodies would become enchanted masks that allowed me to take on different forms." he explained.
"That's so weird." Aviel said with her jaw dropped.
"You don't know the half of it." Link said flatly, remembering a lot of the crazy things that happened in that world.
Kesuta and Korume meanwhile both nodded to each other and went back to scanning Togau over with their mystic power.
"So do you still have those masks you mentioned? I haven't seen you use them yet." Nabooru asked.
"No, they eventually lost their power overtime after that incident with the curse." Link said.
"Wow... I kind of wanted to see you as a Deku Scrub." Saria pondered, tapping her mouth with her finger, "I've always wanted to observe one up close without it attacking me..."
"What is he, a guinea pig?" Nabooru asked.
"I think Link is correct..." Korume said, focusing her powers on Togau, "I can sense a spirit deep within Togau... judging from the intense feeling I'm getting it could very well be a troubled soul..." She paused on that note and thought about something else that had been bothering her for a while.
'If the headdress was an enchanted mask, where could it have come from...' Link thought to himself, 'Could it have been because of... him...?'
"But do we get it out then?" Aviel asked, "Does she have to push it out like what sister Maifeki did to have her baby back at the medical clinic?"
Everyone else faulted over from Aviel's idea.
"Having a baby isn't like an exorcism!" exclaimed Nemisa.
"I'm not entirely sure about what we can do." Kesuta pondered, "Trying to forcefully remove a tormented soul that's possessing someone can be pretty tricky and dangerous, especially if we don't know the level of power that spirit has, there's a chance that the tormented soul might take the spirit of it's host with them."
"I-Isn't there any other way... somethin' that doesn't have a chance of killin' me?" Togau gulped nervously.
"Well, the safest solution would be if the soul of the Lynel left on it's own accord, likely when it's relieved of it's past regrets..." Korume said.
"That's what I was hoping the Song of Healing would do, guess there's something different about this one." Link said, "Tell you what, I'll try to get in contact with the man who taught me the song and see if he knows anything about this to help us."
"And I'll look into my books and scrolls to see if it's possible to pull the soul out of Togau without causing harm to herself." Korume said, she sighed and looked to Togau, "I'm sorry we couldn't be much help."
"... ...nah, don't you worry none about it." Togau then spoke up, she raised her head up and sporting a big grin, showing off her sharp lion teeth, "I'm sure I can get used ta this until the Lynel decides to vacate my body!"
"Y-You're taking this really well." Saria said surprised.
"Well nothin' I can do about it, right? May as well live and let live, ya know?" she asked, "Course 'letting live' might be the wrong word since the Lynel's dead and all but..."
"You sure you're going to be alright?" Link asked Togau.
"Reckon course, thanks fer everything guys!" Togau grinned, "Well I better head out then, I got some chores to catch up on!"
"No need to rush yourself out the door Togau, your assistants have been handling things up until now." Nabooru said.
"Nah, I can't go sittin' any longer while they're all breaking their backs, I gotta help now that I have two backs to spare!" she joked, slapping the back of her horse half.
"Well if you insist Togau..." Nabooru said hesitantly.
"Now then, time ta get goin' to work!" Togau stated, putting her straw hat back on, and adjusting the flower on it to stay in place, before taking her time to walk on all four of her horse legs out the door, stumbling a few times as she walked. When she went through the door however, she accidentally broke the top of the frame off with her horns.
"Uh, oops." As Togau wiped off the debris and started trotting out the door, Link watched on with a bit of worry of his own in his eyes for his friend. She seemed like she was back to her old self, but it still bothered him somewhat.
"Link, will she be all right...?" Saria asked quietly, so Togau wouldn't hear.
"I hope so..." Link whispered back.
"Well I guess we better get to work then on finding a way to drive out the cursed spirit!" Kesuta said brightly to her sister, before being grabbed by Reirousa and being held into the air, "Hey, what th-?!"
"Not so fast Kesuta." Nabooru said narrowing her eyes, "There's still the matter of the prank you pulled back at the barn with the cow to answer for."
"Uh... isn't Togau's situation a little more important though...?" Kesuta asked meekly with an innocent smile.
"I can handle the research until your punishment is over." Korume said to her sister, "You have fun with Lady Nabooru, Sister... kukuku..."
"Goddess Aifet help me!" shouted Kesuta as Reirousa hauled her off after Nabooru.
"Howdy girls! I'm back ta get to work!" shouted Togau's familiar voice, alerting the ranch hands at the barn that she was back.
"Oh, we're glad you're okay!" exclaimed one of the Gerudo girls who was in the middle of carrying some heavy bags, "Lady Nabooru and King Link wouldn't tell us what had happene-"
The Gerudo girls' enthusiasm was cut off when they all saw Togau trotting towards them, they saw her half-lion, half-horse body and froze up.
"T-Togau?" exclaimed a ranch hand.
"What the hell happened to you?" asked another.
"Na ha ha! It's a weird story, turns out that headdress I got back at the slaver hideout had a curse on it that turned me into a half Lynel, pretty funny, huh?" Togau asked with a grin, showing off her sharp teeth, which shocked the girls.
"Y-You're sure you're alright...?" asked one of the ranchers.
"Course reckon, I feel as healthy as a horse, or at least half of one!" Togau joked, "Now let me help you guys with these bags!"
"O-Okay..." said one of the ranch hands, as Togau went over and started lifting up bags of animal feed, taking time to get double the amount the other girls were carrying as she was usually accustomed to back as she was a normal Gerudo.
As Togau walked off to haul them to their destination, her legs started to wobble a bit from the weight of the bags she was carrying, and she stumbled over, causing her to crash into an unoccupied stable which broke apart on top of her, the bags then hit the ground afterwards and split open, scattering the contents everywhere.
"Ack, Togau, are you okay?!" exclaimed one of the ranch hands. The girls rushed over to help Togau, as she wiped off the things that had fallen over her, and she laughed nervously.
"Na ha ha, sorry 'bout that, guess I haven't gotten my land legs back yet!" Togau said rubbing the back of her head, "I'll just go see about repairing that fence out back then..."
Togau got herself up, staggering a bit on her legs, then walking through the door out of the barn, only to break the frame with her horns.
"Uh, guess I'll fix that later too..." Togau said sweatdropping.
"Hey... um... Togau? Why don't you just let us take care of things... you know, until you get used to your body...?" asked one of the ranch hands somewhat nervously.
"...used to it, huh...?" Togau muttered, looking down at her clawed hand.
"Or... you know, until you change back!" another one of them clarified desperately.
"Heh, y-yeah, maybe you're right... sorry. I'll just go check on the animals I guess!" Togau nodded, then went on her way.
Togau trotted up slowly to an area where the horses, sheep, goats, cows and other animals were grazing on some plants growing in the field.
"Howdy guys!" Togau waved, "How yall doin'?"
The animals all looked up, seeing before them was a half-lion and half-horse creature with powerful looking horns on it's head. To them it looked somewhat familiar, yet very strange and different...
"Uh... guys...?" Togau asked.
Some of the animals backed up out of worry of what the creature before them might do, while some of the stronger others snorted and went into defensive stances.
"H-Hey, don't you worry none, it's me Togau!" the rancher said in panic, pointing to herself and sporting a big grin to win them over, but showed off her sharp pointy lion teeth.
The more aggressive animals, all startled and threatened by the sharp teeth, let out angry cries and charged at Togau.
"Uh oh..." Togau said, as she tuned and ran as fast as her awkward body could carry her, with the animals in hot pursuit.
"Ugh, dang goats..." Togau muttered later that night, rubbing her horse half's back. Her rear end was rather sore from the animals attacking her, but she couldn't reach far enough back to rub it, "Well, guess it's my fault, shouldn't have expected them to recognize me like this."
She walked off back to her home, taking a moment to look up at the entrance door frame, and was reminded she broke that door too. She simply let out a deep sigh.
"I need to remember to duck under doors from now on..." Togau muttered, she walked in and saw her two pet animals, Imra the cucco and Oseg the pig, both hanging out in her living room.
"Hey there you two, how's things?" Togau said with a small smile, with the hint of a fang sticking out.
Imra gave a modest cluck while Oseg snorted, and Togau smile grew just a little, while the other animals were pretty hostile towards her, the two of them remained as loyal as ever, even as she was now.
"Man, whatta day." sighed Togau, "I think I'm going to turn in early tonight, hopefully this wears off by tomorrow... Night you two." she went over to her bed, which Link and Reirousa moved downstairs since she was still trying to get used to her new legs, and stairs didn't really agree with her. She went ahead sat herself down on top of the bed, ready for a good night's sleep...
...only for the bed to break down under her horse half's heaviness. Togau just sat there with a blank stare on her face, mortified by what she had just done. Imra and Oseg both sweatdropped as they watched their owner just continue to sit on her broken bed in disbelief.
"Gwaaar! I hate this!" shouted Togau in frustration, getting up and going out the door, breaking off more of the door frame with her horns, "I'm headin' to the barn ta sleep!" she shouted out.
Eventually Togau made it into the barn and looked around. The ranch hands had already gone to their homes, and the animals were asleep save for a few. Those few took one look at Togau and backed up a bit, making threatening noises to tell her to back off from them. Togau just sighed and ignored their threats, as she walked over to a pile of hay and plopped down on it. Sleeping in the barn wasn't anything new to Togau, as she would sometimes be too tired from overworking herself to go to her home and would just pass out on the hay. Usually by morning she'd wake up with a few animals sleeping beside her which always provided her with a bit of comfort no matter how bad her previous day was, but knew that wouldn't happen tonight, what with the way she looked now...
"Well good night, yall." Togau said to anyone she hoped would be willing to listen, and snuggled into the hay, her cat-like eyes growing heavy and falling fast asleep. The full moon in the night sky shined overhead through a window, a small light casting over Togau's sleeping form.
As Togau slept, she had a very clear and vivid dream. She was fighting against what seemed like a Lynel while other ones watched. Her opponent drove her back, then it got a strong hit in before knocking her to the ground. Before she would even try to get up, the other Lynel roared at her and started pummeling and stomping her into the ground without even a hint of hesitation. After they all left, she slowly crawled off, weakened, battered and bruised, until she saw a mysterious person walking up to her. She weakly looked up at the man as he gazed down at her with squinty eyes and a somewhat creepy smile...
As Togau slept, she whimpered in her sleep. She shifted around on the hay, trying to get comfortable. She growled a little, then made a slight moan, her legs shifting, then slowly stood up. She was still sleeping as her shaky horse-like legs started moving her through the barn, out the main door, and down the road towards Gerudo Town...
Meanwhile far off in the back of Gerudo Town itself, Kesuta sat in the prison Link and Remo had been confined in some time ago, as punishment for what she had done at the ranch. She was to be released by noon of the next day, but she was still feeling kind of down about what had happened, not just with scaring the cow, but she also had a strange feeling she was inadvertently responsible for what happened to Togau with her transformation.
"I really need to properly apologize to her..." sighed Kesuta.
"Hello sister," she heard a voice say, looking up to see Korume holding a small box tied up for her "I took some time from my research to sneak you some food tonight."
"Oh, thanks sister!" Kesuta said relieved, after being only able to have nothing but bread and water for her lunch and dinner while in prison she was ready for anything at that point. She eagerly took the box and opened it to see it was a fresh omelet with a bakery roll on the side, along with a bottle of milk, "Alright, this looks delicious!"
Kesuta took a fork full of the egg dish and stuck it into her mouth, and then in that moment immediately realized what this was and who prepared it. Sweat started to trickle down Kesuta's head as her body shook slightly and her eyes teared up. She looked down nervously to see the omelet was filled to the brim with spicy hot red peppers like how Korume would typically make her own food.
"Kukuku... I'll leave you to your meal then.." Korume said darkly, turning and walking off.
"KYAAA!" screamed the punished fire mystic, left alone in the jail cell for the remainder of the night.
Well that ends the chapter! As you can see, despite her seeming to take this whole thing in stride, things just seem to be going from bad to worse for Togau, but what will await her when she wanders into Gerudo Town?
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